free-verse132 lines

The Ballad Of The Little Black Hound

by Dora Sigerson Shorter

Who knocks at the Geraldine's door to-night

In the black storm and the rain?

With the thunder crash and the shrieking wind

Comes the moan of a creature's pain.

And once they knocked, yet never a stir

To show that the Geraldine knew;

And twice they knocked, yet never a bolt

The listening Geraldine drew.

And thrice they knocked ere he moved his chair,

And said, 'Whoever it be,

I dare not open the door to-night

For a fear that has come to me.'

Three times he rises from out his chair,

And three times he sits him down.

'Now what has made faint this heart of mine?'

He says with a growing frown.

'Now what has made me a coward to-night,

Who never knew fear before?

But I swear that the hand of a little child

Keeps pulling me from the door.'

The Geraldine rose from his chair at last

And opened the door full wide;

'Whoever is out in the storm,' said he,

'May in God's name come inside!'

He who was out in the storm and rain

Drew back at the Geraldine's call.

'Now who comes not in the Holy Name

Will never come in at all.'

He looked to the right, he looked to the left,

And never a one saw he;

But right in his path lay a coal black hound,

A-moaning right piteously.

'Come in,' he cried, 'you little black hound,

Come in, I will ease your pain;

My roof shall keep you to-night at least

From the leash of wind and rain.'

The Geraldine took up the little black hound,

And put him down by the fire.

'So sleep you there, poor wandering one,

As long as your heart desire.'

The Geraldine tossed on his bed that night,

And never asleep went he

For the crowing of his little red cock,

That did crow most woefully.

For the howling of his own wolf-hound,

That cried at the gate all night.

He rose and went to the banquet hall

At the first of morning light.

He looked to the right, he looked to the left,

At the rug where the dog lay on;

But the reindeer skin was burnt in two,

And the little black hound was gone.

And, traced in the ashes, these words he read:

'For the soul of your firstborn son,

I will make you rich as you once were rich

Ere the glass of your luck was run.'

The Geraldine went to the west window,

And then he went to the east,

And saw his desolate pasture fields,

And the stables without a beast.

'So be it, as I love no woman,

No son shall ever be mine;

I would that my stables were full of steeds,

And my cellars were full of wine.'

'I swear it, as I love no woman,

And never a son have I,

I would that my sheep and their little lambs

Should flourish and multiply.

'So yours be the soul of my firstborn son.'

Here the Geraldine slyly smiled,

But from the dark of the lonely room

Came the cry of a little child.

The Geraldine went to the west window,

He opened, and out did lean,

And lo! the pastures were full of kine,

All chewing the grass so green.

And quickly he went to the east window,

And his face was pale to see,

For lo! he saw to the empty stalls

Brave steeds go three by three.

The Geraldine went to the great hall door,

In wonder at what had been,

And there he saw the prettiest maid

That ever his eyes had seen.

And long he looked at the pretty young maid,

And swore there was none so fair;

And his heart went out of him like a hound,

And hers like a timid hare.

Each day he followed her up and down,

And each night he could not rest,

Until at last the pretty young maid

Her love for him confessed.

They wooed and they wed, and the days went by

As quick as such good days will,

And at last came the cry of his firstborn son

The cup of his joy to fill.

And the summer passed, and the winter came;

Right fair was the child to see,

And he laughed at the shriek of a bitter storm

As he sat on his father's knee.

Who rings so loud at the Geraldine's gate?

Who knocks so loud at the door?

'Now rise you up, my pretty young wife,

For twice they have knocked before.'

Quickly she opened the great hall door,

And 'Welcome you in,' she cried,

But there only entered a little black hound,

And he would not be denied.

When the Geraldine saw the little black dog,

He rose with a fearful cry,

'I sold my child to the Devil's hound

In forgotten days gone by.'

He drew his sword on the little black hound,

But it would not pierce its skin,

He tried to pray, but his lips were dumb

Because of his grievous sin.

Then the fair young wife took the black hound's throat

Both her small white hands between.

And he thought he saw one of God's angels

Where his sweet young wife had been.

Then he thought he saw from God's spirit

The hound go sore oppressed,

But he woke to find his own dead wife

With her dead child on her breast.

Quickly he went to the west window,

Quickly he went to the east;

No help in the desolate pasture fields,

Or the stables that held no beast.

He flung himself at his white wife's side,

And the dead lips moved and smiled,

Then came somewhere from the lonely room

The laugh of a little child.