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Once by the ocean’s shingly side
The fair Maria strayed;
Her graceful form, with female pride,
In purple robe arrayed.
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A bonnet on her head she bore,
With snow-white ribbands grac’d;
On which a lucid veil she wore,
Depending to her waist
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Thus as the heedless damsel strayed,
Pleased ocean stopt his roar;
Th’amourous sylphs, the lovely maid,
Pursued along the shore.
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And oft those sylphs would strive to gain,
Enamoured of her grace —
But still as oft they strove in vain,
To view her lovely face.
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And oft as shining shells to cull
She stopped upon the shore:
Or wished the plants marine to pull
Her veil they upward bore.
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But still her ready hand the veil,
In its right place supplied;
The sylphs distrest so oft to fail,
With disappointment sighed.
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To every wat’ry god they prayed —
The Tritons would not hear;
And, jealous of the beauteous maid,
No sea nymph lent an ear
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The syrens as they blew their shells
Were deaf to every prayer;
The gods superior, in their cells,
Deemed such beneath their care.
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At length arising from his cave,
Where gems supply the day;
Far, far beneath the ocean wave —
A gnome now took his way.
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Long had the sprite the damsel known,
And sought her for his bride;
But still the maid as cold as stone,
His earnest suit denied.
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Although in Henry’s shape he strove,
The nymph obdurate hears
His vows of never-ending love;
Till wearied with his prayers,
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At length she said, “Get thou this veil,
Which ne’er shall be untied;
And then, (my promise shall not fail!)
I’ll be thy faithful bride.”
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At this the gnome was sore dismayed,
From him all hopes did fly;
For ne’er, unless the sylphs would aid,
Could he the knot untie.
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And Ever Gnomes and sylphs between,
Since first their races rose;
A dreadful enmity has been,
And they must still be foes,
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And many a sylph the gnome besought,
But none would hear his prayer;
And but for this, ’twas now he brought
His aid with speedy care.
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He showed them where the ribbands white,
In mazy folds combined,
By her fair hands, a curious sight,
Held fast the veil behind.
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He showed two ends, the springs that hold
The various knots confined,
That the white ribbands various fold,
So fast together bind.
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And now each end three sylphs are pulling
With force on either side.
Th’unheeding maid her shells is culling —
And now her veil’s untied —
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The veils untied, and by her side
It fell; the sylphs amazed,
Unheeding now of ought beside,
Upon her beauty gazed.
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Admiring too, upon the shore,
The gnome one moment stood;
Then high the fatal veil he bore,
And plunged amid the flood.
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Close by the waves th’ astonished maid
Her eyes suffused with tears,
Intent the sinking veil surveyed,
That filled her heart with fears.
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The sylphids who the cause now guest,
Swift to redeem it flew;
But ere they reached the spot, their quest
Was vanished from their view.
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With drooping wings they back return,
And wail the nymph around;
But scarce had they began to mourn,
An earthquake rocked the ground.
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The affrighted maiden sought to fly
When lo, her feet before,
An hideous chasm met her eye,
Full thirty feet and more.
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And through the chasm the victor gnome,
With smile triumphant rose;
To bear her to his secret home,
And in the Earth inclose.
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Kneeling before him now appears,
The trembling weeping maid;
He pitying viewed her streaming tears,
Then raised her up and said,
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“A twelvemonth more behold the sun,
And taste the sweets of day;
But when one year his course has run,
I bear thee hence away.”
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“Till then forbade by mightier powers,
To bear thee to my cell;
Or pass on Earth my tedious hours,
Within my cave I dwell.”
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The ground swift closed upon the gnome —
The sorrowing nymph returned;
Where she repentant, in her home,
Her promise vainly mourned.