{
 "id": "henry-van-dyke-jr/a-fairy-tale",
 "title": "A Fairy Tale",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": "For the Mark Twain Dinner, December 5, 1905",
 "poet": "Henry van Dyke Jr.",
 "poet_slug": "henry-van-dyke-jr",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke",
 "book_slug": "poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 150,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1920,
  "venue": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1920)",
  "note": "Taken from the 1920 collected edition. That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume gathers work published from 1897 onward, and which earlier book or magazine printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/henry-van-dyke-jr_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16229",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16134",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10679",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3525",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9372",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29314",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43094",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/buildersotherpoe00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/toilingoffelixan00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/musicotherpoems0000henr_c7v6",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsnowfirstcol00vanduoft",
   "https://archive.org/details/songsoutofdoors0000vand",
   "https://archive.org/details/thyseaisgreatour00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/chosenpoems0000vand"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 53,
  "n_stanzas": 6,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 54,
  "max_indent": 4
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Some threescore years and ten ago",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A prince was born at Florida, Mo.;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And though he came incognito,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With just the usual yells of woe,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The watchful fairies seemed to know",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Precisely what the row meant;",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "For when he was but five days old,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "(December fifth as I’ve been told,)",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They pattered through the midnight cold,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And came around his crib, to hold",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A “Council of Endowment.”",
    "indent": 4
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I give him Wit,” the eldest said,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And stooped above the little bed,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To touch his forehead round and red.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“Within this bald, unfurnished head,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Where wild luxuriant locks shall spread",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And wave in years hereafter,",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "I kindle now the lively spark,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That still shall flash by day and dark,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And everywhere he goes shall mark",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "His way with light and laughter.”",
    "indent": 4
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The fairies laughed to think of it",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That such a rosy, wrinkled bit",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Of flesh should be endowed with Wit!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But something serious seemed to hit",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The mind of one, as if a fit",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Of fear had come upon her.",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "“I give him Truth,” she quickly cried,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“That laughter may not lead aside",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To paths where scorn and falsehood hide⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I give him Truth and Honour!”",
    "indent": 4
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I give him Love,” exclaimed the third;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And as she breathed the mystic word,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I know not if the baby heard,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But softly in his dream he stirred,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And twittered like a little bird,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And stretched his hands above him.",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "The fairy’s gift was sealed and signed",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With kisses twain the deed to bind:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“A heart of love to human-kind,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And human-kind to love him!”",
    "indent": 4
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Now stay your giving!” cried the Queen.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“These gifts are passing rich I ween;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And if reporters should be mean",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Enough to spy upon this scene,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "’Twould make all other babies green",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With envy at the rumour.",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet since I love this child, forsooth,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I’ll mix your gifts, Wit, Love and Truth,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With spirits of Immortal Youth,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And call the mixture Humour!”",
    "indent": 4
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The fairies vanished with their glittering train;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But here’s the Prince with all their gifts⁠—Mark Twain",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}