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In vain would I seek to discover
Why sad and mournful am I,
My thoughts without ceasing read more
In vain would I seek to discover
Why sad and mournful am I,
My thoughts without ceasing brood over
A tale of the time gone by.
[Ger., Ich weiss nicht was soll es bedeuten,
Dass ich so traurig bin:
Ein marchen aus alten Zeiten
Das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn.]
With a tale forsooth he cometh unto you, with a tale which
holdeth children from play, and old men read more
With a tale forsooth he cometh unto you, with a tale which
holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney corner.
In this spacious isle I think there is not one
But he hath heard some talk of Hood and read more
In this spacious isle I think there is not one
But he hath heard some talk of Hood and Little John,
Of Tuck, the merry friar, which many a sermon made
In praise of Robin Hood, his outlaws, and their trade.
His eye begets occasion for his wit;
For every object that the one doth catch
The other read more
His eye begets occasion for his wit;
For every object that the one doth catch
The other turns to a mirth-moving jest,
Which his fair tongue, conceit's expositor,
Delivers in such apt and gracious words,
That aged ears play truant at his tales,
And younger hearings are quite ravished,
So sweet and voluble is his discourse.
If a nation loses its storytellers, it loses its childhood.
If a nation loses its storytellers, it loses its childhood.
A schoolboy's tale, the wonder of an hour!
A schoolboy's tale, the wonder of an hour!
For seldom shall she hear a tale
So said, so tender, yet so true.
For seldom shall she hear a tale
So said, so tender, yet so true.
And what so tedious as a twice-told tale.
And what so tedious as a twice-told tale.
