There was yet another way in which Mignon tried to please Wilhelm, and make him forget his cares.  She sang to him.

The song which he liked best was one whose words he had never heard before.  Its music, too, was strange to him, and yet it pleased him very much.  He asked her to speak the words over and over again.  He wrote them down; but the sweetness of the tune was more delightful than the words.  The song began in this way:—­

     “Do you know the land where citrons, lemons, grow,
      And oranges under the green leaves glow?”

Once, when she had ended the song, she said again, “Do you know the land?”

“It must be Italy,” said Wilhelm.  “Have you ever been there?”

The child did not answer.

* * * * *