IV.

The Elle-King’s palace was builded there By elves of water and earth and air; Lovingly worked each loyal sprite, And it grew to life in a summer night. Over the sheen of its limpid moat, Wafted along, in a magic boat, By fairy wings that fan the sails, And eddying through enchanted vales, Through walls of amber and crystal gates, We come where a fairy warder waits; And so, by many a winding way Where sweet bells jingle and fountains play, To the inmost, royalest room of all,— The elfin monarch’s reception-hall, The pearl and pride of Canary! To guard its fastness the elves are wary, And no weird thing, of pleasure chary, Can enter with evil in sweet Canary!