"Come hither, my sparrows,
My little arrows.
If a tear or a smile
Will a man beguile,
If an amorous delay
Clouds a sunshiny day,
If the step of a foot
Smites the heart to its root,
'Tis the marriage-ring -
Makes each fairy a king."
So a Fairy sung.
From the leaves I sprung;
He leap'd from the spray
To flee away;
But in my hat caught,
He soon shall be taught.
Let him laugh, let him cry,
He's my Butterfly;
For I've pull'd out the sting
Of the marriage-ring.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by William Henry Bell (1873 - 1946), "The fairy", 1940, from Twelve Blake Songs, no. 8 [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "The fairy", op. 138 no. 8 (c1977) [ double chorus of mixed chorus a cappella ], from Nine poems from the note-book (1793) of William Blake, no. 8 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ole Carsten Green (b. 1922), "The marriage ring", op. 27c no. 3 (1973) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Leif Thybo (1922 - 2001), "The fairy", alternate title: "The butterfly", 1974, published c1978 [ SSA trio a cappella ], Copenhagen : Edition Wilhelm Hansen [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- CHI Chinese (中文) (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 90
“过来吧，麻雀们，
小箭纷纷。
若眼泪或微笑
会将人骗倒，
如果多情的云翳
会将晴天延迟，
如果迈出一步
将心连根拔出，
婚戒照眼亮——
让仙女成国王。”
所以仙女讴。
我从叶中出；
他从浪里跳
便逃跑了;
我帽被抓到，
他会被照料。
让他笑和嗟，
他是我的蝶；
因我已经拔之
婚戒的毒刺。