'A pleasant and a winsome tale,' <br />The Student said, 'though somewhat pale <br />And quiet in its coloring, <br />As if it caught its tone and air <br />From the gray suits that Quakers wear; <br />Yet worthy of some German bard, <br />Hebel, or Voss, or Eberhard, <br />Who love of humble themes to sing, <br />In humble verse; but no more true <br />Than was the tale I told to you.' <br />The Theologian made reply, <br />And with some warmth, 'That I deny; <br />'T is no invention of my own, <br />But something well and widely known <br />To readers of a riper age, <br />Writ by the skilful hand that wrote <br />The Indian tale of Hobomok, <br />And Philothea's classic page. <br />I found it like a waif afloat <br />Or dulse uprooted from its rock, <br />On the swift tides that ebb and flow <br />In daily papers, and at flood <br />Bear freighted vessels to and fro, <br />But later, when the ebb is low, <br />Leave a long waste of sand and mud.' <br />'It matters little,' quoth the Jew; <br />'The cloak of truth is lined with lies, <br />Sayeth some proverb old and wise; <br />And Love is master of all arts, <br />And puts it into human hearts <br />The strangest things to say and do.' <br />And here the controversy closed <br />Abruptly, ere 't was well begun; <br />For the Sicilian interposed <br />With, 'Lordlings, listen, every one <br />That listen may, unto a tale <br />That 's merrier than the nightingale; <br />A tale that cannot boast, forsooth, <br />A single rag or shred of truth; <br />That does not leave the mind in doubt <br />As to the with it or without; <br />A naked falsehood and absurd <br />As mortal ever told or heard. <br />Therefore I tell it; or, maybe, <br />Simply because it pleases me.'<br /><br />Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/tales-of-a-wayside-inn-part-3-interlude-iv/
