were sitting cross-legged on the floor round the fire, and presently
they began to sing. Some of the verses were like this, but there were
many more, and their singing went on for a long while:
     “The wind was on the withered heath,
     but in the forest stirred no leaf:
     there shadows lay by night and day,
     and dark things silent crept beneath.
     The wind came down from mountains cold,
     and like a tide it roared and rolled;
     the branches groaned, the forest moaned,
     and leaves were laid upon the mould.
     The wind went on from West to East ;
     all movement in the forest ceased,
     but shrill and harsh across the marsh
     its whistling voices were released.
     The grasses hissed, their tassels bent,
     the reeds were rattling-on it went
     o’ er shaken pool under heavens cool
     where racing clouds were torn and rent.
     It passed the lonely Mountain bare