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56
Läsebok. X:o 63—64.
led ruy flocks on the mountains to feed, and had no care for
the morrow. But since I came to your court, all this has
changed. I have heavy cares of state upon me, and cannot
rest quietly at night for thinking of the business and
difficulties of the morrow; but throughout all my life I have kept
the staff, the pipe, and the wallet which were mine when I
was a shepherd. They are memorials of a time when I was
poor and happy; when the burden of greatness had not yet
fallen on my shoulders. I am accustomed to spend one hour,
at least, every day in this room, and that hour is to me the
happiest of the twenty-four. I am old, and cannot live much
longer. Let me return to my native hills, and transfer the
burden of state cares to younger men who are better able to
bear it than I am». When the courtiers heard the old man
speak thus, they were still more ashamed. They went away
without a word, for they did not like to meet the eye of the
kint?, as he stood with his hand on his old servant’s shoulder..
64. The Tillage Blacksmith.
Under a spreading chestnut tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.
His hair is crisp, and black, and long,
His face is like the tan;
His brow is wet with honest sweat,
He earns whate’er he can,
And looks the whole world in the face,
For he owes not any man.
Week in, week out, from morn till night,
You can hear his bellows blow;
You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,
With measured beat and slow,
Like a sexton ringing the village bell,
When the evening sun is low.
And children coming home from school
Look in at the open door;
They love to see the flaming forge,
And hear the bellows roar,
And catch the burning sparks that fly
Like chaff from a thrashing-floor.
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