inspiration came to her; her voice rose and fell, commanding, warning,
whispering, beseeching; its strange rich music flooded the woods
and pierced through and through with awe the hearts of those who
listened. She spoke of the mysteries of that unseen nature; how
man is watched and ringed round with hosts who war upon him, who
wither up his joys by their breath; she spoke of the gnomes who
rise up in the woodland paths with damp arms grasping from their
earthy bed.

"Dreadful" she said "are the elementals who live in the hidden waters:
they rule the dreaming heart: their curse is forgetfulness; they
lull man to fatal rest, with drowsy fingers feeling to put out his
fire of life. But the most of all, dread the powers that move in air;
their nature is desire unquenchable; their destiny is--never to
be fulfilled--never to be at peace: they roam hither and thither
like the winds they guide; they usurp dominion over the passionate
and tender soul, but they love not in our way; where they dwell
the heart is a madness and the feet are filled with a hurrying fever,
and night has no sleep and day holds no joy in its sunlit cup.
Listen not to their whisper; they wither and burn up the body with
their fire; the beauty they offer is smitten through and through
with unappeasable anguish." She paused for a moment; here terrible
breath had hardly ceased to thrill them, when another voice was
heard singing; its note was gay and triumphant, it broke the spell
of fear upon the people,

"I never heed by waste or wood
The cry of fay or faery thing
Who tell of their own solitude;
Above them all my soul is king.