[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Periwinkle standing patiently and reverently beside them, and set themselves to the learning of this
new song. But Zachariah leaped over the top of the door that led into the Merryweather pew, and sat
himself down inside upon the cushions as though he were all the Pharaohs who had ever lived
combined into one magnificent purring personage.
The words of the new song that Old Parson had written for this historic occasion were easy to pick
up, and Love day and Maria were soon singing them as lustily as any child present.
SPRING SONG
Praised be our Lord for our brother the sun,
Most comely is he, and bright,
Praised be our Lord for our sister the moon,
With her pure and lovely light.
Praised be our Lord for the sparkling bright stars
Encircling the dome of night.
143
Praised be our Lord for the wind and the rain,
For clouds, for dew and the air,
For the rainbow set in the sky above
Most precious and kind and fair.
For all these things tell the love of our Lord,
The love that is everywhere.
Praised be our Lord for our mother the earth,
Most gracious is she and good,
With her gifts of flowers and nuts and fruit,
Of grass and corn and wood,
For she it is who upholds us in life
And gives us our daily food.
Praised be our Lord for the turn of the year,
For new-born life up springing
For buds and for blossoms, for lambs and babes,
For thrush and blackbird singing:
May praise, like the lark, leap up from our hearts,
To heavens gate up winging
"That will do, I think," said Old Parson, when everyone was singing to his satisfaction. "Maria, will
you please go to the Merryweather Chantry and see if Robin has finished the task that I set him
there."
Maria put down Serena, who was in her lap, and hurried to the chantry. Robin was seated cross-
legged on the floor, his back against Sir Wrolfs tomb. Sir Wrolf's great cross-handled sword was
laid across his knees and he was scrubbing it vigorously with emery paper. When he saw Maria he
looked up and grinned.
"I can't make the steel come really clean and bright," he said, "it's too old. But it's better than it was.
We're to take it with us, Old Parson says."
144
Maria dimpled with pleasure. That was a good idea of Old Parson's! Sir Wrolf himself couldn't
come with them, to restore the property that he had stolen, but at least they could take his sword!
Robin got up and dusted himself, put the emery paper neatly away with his scrubbing brush and pail
in the corner of the chantry, and he and Maria together carried the sword to Old Parson. When they
got back to the chancel steps again Old Parson had put away his violin and hitched up his cassock,
and Loveday Minette was lifting the statue of the Lady and the Child down from its niche, and the
children were taking the Bell from its place by the pulpit.
"Are we taking them?" asked Maria.
"Of course," said Old Parson, "they are monastery property and we are going to restore them where
they belong."
Some of the children were a bit tearful.
"We shall miss the Lady dreadfully," they lamented.
"Nonsense," said Old Parson. "You can take your gifts to her on Paradise Hill just as well as here.
From this day on we shall be going there often to praise God. Now come along, all of you. We are
going there in procession this very moment. I will go first and the rest of you, animals and children,
will follow me two by two, singing that song of praise that I have just taught you at the tops of your
voices. You can take it in turns to carry the Lady and the Bell."
"We shall look like the animals going into the ark," said Maria.
"We could not look like anything better," said Old Parson. "Come along, now, Robin, give me the
sword."
Robin gave him the great cross-handled sword, and holding it aloft like a processional cross Old
Parson went striding down the aisle with it, and out into the sunshine, singing at the top of his
voice. And close behind him, side by side, went Wrolf and Periwinkle, and behind them went Maria
and Robin, with Wiggins and Zachariah making a pair behind them, and then came Loveday
Minette leading little Peterkin Pepper, followed by Prudence Honeybun and all the other children,
carrying the Lady and the Bell, singing lustily the song Old Parson had taught them.
145
By the time they reached the steep lane the sun was high in the sky and it was the most glorious
spring morning ever seen. As they climbed upwards, still singing, though rather breathlessly now,
the children picked the ferns and periwinkles and primroses and made them into great bunches. And
all about them the birds were singing too, caroling so
loudly that the noise they made nearly drowned the children's singing. When they came out from
the lane onto Paradise Hill the sun seemed to blaze more gloriously than ever, and climbing the hill
they all felt very happy, making their way in and out between the sheep and the frisking lambs, over
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]