Riley Child-Rhymes with Hoosier Pictures

The South Wind and the SUn

105 othE South Wind and the Sun how each loved the other one— Full of fancy—full of folly— Full of jollity and fun! how they romped and ran about, like two boys when school is out, With glowing face, and lisping lip, low laugh, and lifted shout! And the South Wind—he was dressed With a ribbon round his breast That floated, flapped and fluttered in a riotous unrest, And a drapery of mist From the shoulder and the wrist Flowing backward with the motion of the waving hand he kissed. 106 the south wind and the sun And the Sun had on a crown Wrought of gilded thistledown, And a scarf of velvet vapor, And a raveled-rainbow gown; And his tinsel-tangled hair, tossed and lost upon the air, Was glossier and flossier Than any anywhere. And the South Wind’s eyes were two little dancing drops of dew, As he puffed his cheeks, and pursed his lips, And blew and blew and blew! And the Sun’s—like diamond-stone, brighter yet than ever known, As he knit his brows and held his breath, And shone and shone and shone! And this pair of merry fays Wandered through the summer days; Arm-in-arm they went together over heights of morning haze— over slanting slopes of lawn They went on and on and on, Where the daisies looked like star-tracks trailing up and down the dawn. 107 the south wind and the sun And where’er they found the top of a wheat-stalk droop and lop, They chucked it underneath the chin And praised the lavish crop, till it lifted with the pride of the heads it grew beside, And then the South Wind and the Sun Went onward satisfied. over meadow-lands they tripped, Where the dandelions dipped in crimson foam of clover bloom And dripped and dripped and dripped! And they clinched the bumble-stings, Gauming honey on their wings, And bundling them in lily-bells, With maudlin murmurings. And the humming-bird, that hung like a jewel up among The tilted honeysuckle horns, They mesmerized and swung in the palpitating air, Drowsed with odors strange and rare, And, with whispered laughter, slipped away, And left him hanging there. 108 the south wind and the sun And they braided blades of grass Where the truant had to pass; And they wriggled through the rushes And the reeds of the morass, Where they danced, in rapture sweet, o’er the leaves that laid a street of undulant mosaic for The touches of their feet. by the brook with mossy brink, Where the cattle came to drink, They trilled and piped and whistled With the thrush and bobolink, till the kine, in listless pause, Switched their tails in mute applause, With lifted heads, and dreamy eyes, And bubble-dripping jaws. And where the melons grew, Streaked with yellow, green and blue, These jolly sprites went wandering Through spangled paths of dew; And the melons, here and there, They made love to, everywhere, turning their pink souls to crimson With caresses fond and fair. 111 the south wind and the sun over orchard walls they went, Where the fruited boughs were bent till they brushed the sward beneath them Where the shine and shadow blent; And the great green pear they shook till the sallow hue forsook its features, and the gleam of gold laughed out in every look. And they stroked the downy cheek of the peach, and smoothed it sleek, And flushed it into splendor; And, with many an elfish freak, Gave the russet’s rust a wipe— Prankt the rambo with a stripe, And the winesap blushed its reddest As they spanked the pippins ripe. Through the woven ambuscade That the twining vines had made, They found the grapes, in clusters, Drinking up the shine and shade— Plumpt, like tiny skins of wine, With a vintage so divine That the tongue of Fancy tingled With the tang of muscadine. 112 the south wind and the sun And the golden-banded bees, Droning o’er the flowery leas, They bridled, reined, and rode away Across the fragrant breeze, till in hollow oak and elm They had groomed and stabled them in waxen stalls that oozed with dews...