riverside pasture;

Whence they all come back home in the evening, leaving the
jackals to howl in the island overgrown with weeds,

Mother, if you don't mind, I should like to become the boatman of
the ferry when I am grown up.

They say there are strange pools hidden behind that high bank,

Where flocks of wild ducks come when the rains are over, and
thick reeds grow round the margins where waterbirds lay their
eggs;

Where snipes with their dancing tails stamp their tiny footprints
upon the clean soft mud;

Where in the evening the tall grasses crested with white flowers
invite the moonbeam to float upon their waves.

Mother, if you don't mind, I should like to become the boatman of
the ferryboat when I am grown up.

I shall cross and cross back from bank to bank, and all the boys
and girls of the village will wonder at me while they are
bathing.

When the sun climbs the mid sky and morning wears on to noon, I
shall come running to you, saying, "Mother, I am hungry!"