the miller smiled smiled and doffed his cap......

font: Cavalier.

 

texture and effects by Remember Remember.

 

Detail of some restored machinery at Henwood Mill.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/28429128@N05/12859955785/in/set-721...

 

 

Isaac Bickerstaff.

 

There dwelt a miller, hale and bold,

Beside the river Dee;

He worked and sang from morn till night -

No lark more blithe than he;

And this the burden of his song

Forever used to be:

“I envy nobody – no, not I -

And nobody envies me!”

 

“Thou’rt wrong, my friend,” said good King Hal,

“As wrong as wrong can be;

For could my heart be light as thine,

I’d gladly change with thee.

And tell me now, what makes thee sing,

With voice so loud and free,

While I am sad, though I am king,

Beside the river Dee?””

The miller smiled and doffed his cap,

“I earn my bread,” quoth he;

“I love my wife, I love my friend,

I love my children three;

I owe no penny I can not pay,

I thank the river Dee,

That turns the mill that grinds the corn

That feeds my babes and me.”

 

“Good friend,” said Hall, and sighed the while,

“Farewell, and happy be;

But say no more, if thou’dst be true,

That no one envies thee;

Thy mealy cap is worth my crown,

Thy mill my kingdom’s fee;

Such men as thou are England’s boast,

O miller of the Dee!

Done