INTRODUCTIONPiping down the valleys wild,Piping songs of pleasant glee,On a cloud I saw a child,And he laughing said to me:‘Pipe a song about a Lamb!’So I piped with merry cheer.‘Piper, pipe that song again.’So I piped: he wept to hear.‘Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;Sing thy songs of happy cheer!’So I sung the same again,While he wept with joy to hear.‘Piper, sit thee down and writeIn a book, that all may read.’So he vanished from my sight;And I plucked a hollow reed,And I made a rural pen,And I stained the water clear,And I wrote my happy songsEvery child may joy to hear.Illustration:
Piping down the valleys wild,Piping songs of pleasant glee,On a cloud I saw a child,And he laughing said to me:
‘Pipe a song about a Lamb!’So I piped with merry cheer.‘Piper, pipe that song again.’So I piped: he wept to hear.
‘Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;Sing thy songs of happy cheer!’So I sung the same again,While he wept with joy to hear.
‘Piper, sit thee down and writeIn a book, that all may read.’So he vanished from my sight;And I plucked a hollow reed,
And I made a rural pen,And I stained the water clear,And I wrote my happy songsEvery child may joy to hear.
Illustration: