Explore "The Legend of the Lily" by Oliver Herford on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Once a Tiger for a freak, / Fell in love / With a Lily, pure and meek / And as timid, white, and weak, / As a dove.
Yet withal a wee bit chilly, / Just enough the Tiger's silly / Pride to pique.
By-and-by the Lily cold, / Felt the charm; / Learned, though dreadful to behold, / That the Tiger, fierce and bold, / Meant no harm.
And she smiled upon him shyly, / Till at length the Tiger wily, / Was consoled.
So in time the Beauty grew / To adore / The Royal Beast who came to woo, / Loved him for his golden hue -- / For his roar; / All for him with blushes burning, / To a Tiger-lily turning, / Golden too.
But alas, the luckless Lily, / Loved in vain; / For a painted daffodilly / Came between them, and the Lily, / Pale with pain, / In a dark pool, drooped and pining, / Drowned herself, and rose a shining / Water-lily.