Then running lightly to the wall, which is on the river side, she leaned
over and sung in a high, unearthly, wild voice, while her dark hair
waved in the night wind,


"Beautiful river rushing on,
Touched with light by the silver moon,
Grant me now this simple boon.
Let thy merry spirits come,
And elfin dancers with beating drum,
Here with me for the wild night long,
To dance and whirl with eldrich song
Till the moon shall faint and her light be gone."


Then running merrily to the other side nearer my window, she sung in the
same wild key, as she turned her face to the forest,


"Spirits of the black larch-wood
Come to-night to dance and sing,
Come and all thy flowers bring,
Come and gaily join our ring,
Come upon thy fleetest wing,
Come, oh come, ere the moon be fading."


The low chanting of the Monks ceased, and as I opened my window wider I
could hear, like the higher notes of an organ, voices rising from the
river and mingling in heavenly harmony; I could not at first catch the