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  “A potent wand doth Sorrow wield;
  What spell so strong as guilty Fear! 
  Repentance is a tender Sprite;
  If aught on earth have heavenly might,
  ’Tis lodged within her silent tear. 150

  “But grant my wishes,—­let us now
  Descend from this ethereal height;
  Then take thy way, adventurous Skiff,
  More daring far than Hippogriff,
  And be thy own delight! 155

  “To the stone-table in my garden,
  Loved haunt of many a summer hour, [E]
  The Squire is come:  his daughter Bess
  Beside him in the cool recess
  Sits blooming like a flower. 160

  “With these are many more convened;
  They know not I have been so far;—­
  I see them there, in number nine,
  Beneath the spreading Weymouth-pine! 
  I see them—­there they are! 165

  “There sits the Vicar and his Dame;
  And there my good friend, Stephen Otter;
  And, ere the light of evening fail,
  To them I must relate the Tale
  Of Peter Bell the Potter.” 170

  Off flew the Boat—­away she flees,
  Spurning her freight with indignation! [16]
  “And I, as well as I was able,
  On two poor legs, toward my stone-table
  Limped on with sore vexation. [17] 175

  “O, here he is!” cried little Bess—­
  She saw me at the garden-door;
  “We’ve waited anxiously and long,”
  They cried, and all around me throng,
  Full nine of them or more! 180

  “Reproach me not—­your fears be still—­
  Be thankful we again have met;—­
  Resume, my Friends! within the shade
  Your seats, and quickly [18] shall be paid
  The well-remembered debt.” 185

  I spake with faltering voice, like one
  Not wholly rescued from the pale
  Of a wild dream, or worse illusion;
  But, straight, to cover my confusion,
  Began the promised Tale. [19] 190

PART FIRST

  All by the moonlight river side
  Groaned the poor Beast—­alas! in vain;
  The staff was raised to loftier height,
  And the blows fell with heavier weight
  As Peter struck—­and struck again. [20] 195

  [21]

  “Hold!” cried the Squire, “against the rules
  Of common sense you’re surely sinning;
  This leap is for us all too bold; [22]
  Who Peter was, let that be told,
  And start from the beginning.” 200

—­“A Potter, [F] Sir, he was by trade,”
  Said I, becoming quite collected;
  “And wheresoever he appeared,
  Full twenty times was Peter feared
  For once that Peter was respected. 205