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Page 31
One of these minstrels was a young man named Harmonius; and while the
others talked of the songs that they would sing, he gathered the wild
flowers that grew by the roadside.
"I can sing of the drums and battles," said the oldest minstrel, whose
hair was white and whose step was slow.
"I can sing of ladies and their fair faces," said the youngest minstrel;
but Harmonius whispered: "Listen! listen!"
"Oh! we hear nothing but the wind in the tree-tops," said the others.
"We have no time to stop and listen."
Then they hurried on and left Harmonius; and he stood under the trees
and listened, for he heard something very sweet. At last he knew that it
was the wind singing of its travels through the wide world; telling how
it raced over the blue sea, tossing the waves and rocking the white
ships, and hurried on to the hills, where the trees made harps of their
branches, and then how it blew down into the valleys, where all the
flowers danced gayly in time to the tune.
Harmonius could understand every word:--
"_Nobody follows me where I go,
Over the mountains or valleys below;
Nobody sees where the wild winds blow,
Only the Father in Heaven can know_."
That was the chorus of the wind's song. Harmonius listened until he knew
the whole song from beginning to end; and then he ran on and soon
reached his friends, who were still talking of the grand sights that
they were to see.
"We shall see the king and speak to him," said the oldest minstrel.
"And his golden crown and the queen's jewels," added the youngest; and
Harmonius had no chance to tell of the wind's song, although he thought
about it time and again.
Now their path led them through the wood; and as they talked, Harmonius
said:--
"Hush! listen!" But the others answered:--
"Oh! that is only the sound of the brook trickling over the stones. Let
us make haste to the king's court."
But Harmonius stayed to hear the song that the brook was singing, of
journeying through mosses and ferns and shady ways, and of tumbling over
the rocks in shining waterfalls on its way to the sea.
"_Rippling and bubbling through shade and sun,
On to the beautiful sea I run;
Singing forever, though none be near,
For God in Heaven can always hear,"_
sang the little brook. Harmonius listened until he knew every word of
the song, and then he hurried on.
When he reached the others, he found them still talking of the king and
queen, so he could not tell them of the brook. As they talked, he heard
something again that was wonderfully sweet, and he cried: "Listen!
listen!"
"Oh! that is only a bird!" the others replied. "Let us make haste to the
king's court!"
But Harmonius would not go, for the bird sang so joyfully that Harmonius
laughed aloud when he heard the song.
It was singing a song of green trees, and in every tree a nest, and in
every nest eggs! Oh! the bird was so gay as it sang:--
"_Merrily, merrily, listen to me,
Flitting and flying from tree to tree.
Nothing fear I, by land or sea,
For God in Heaven is watching me"_
"Thank you, little bird," said Harmonius; "you have taught me a song."
And he made haste to join his comrades, for by this time they were near
the palace.
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