I never remember such wonderful times as those.
"Yes, the song came in a moment, and as I was saying...."
And an old wanderer walking with a stick came by and the blackbird
flew away, and the poet told the old man the blackbird's wonderful
story.
"That song new?" said the wanderer. "Not a bit of it. God made it
years ago. All the blackbirds used to sing it when I was young. It
was new then."
THE MESSENGERS
One wandering nigh Parnassus chasing hares heard the high Muses.
"Take us a message to the Golden Town."
Thus sang the Muses.
But the man said: "They do not call to me. Not to such as me speak
the Muses."
And the Muses called him by name.
"Take us a message," they said, "to the Golden Town."
And the man was downcast for he would have chased hares.
And the Muses called again.
And when whether in valleys or on high crags of the hills he still
heard the Muses he went at last to them and heard their message,
though he would fain have left it to other men and chased the fleet
hares still in happy valleys.
And they gave him a wreath of laurels carved out of emeralds as
only the Muses can carve. "By this," they said, "they shall know that
you come from the Muses."
And the man went from that place and dressed in scarlet silks
as befitted one that came from the high Muses. And through the
gateway of the Golden Town he ran and cried his message, and his
cloak floated behind him.
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