Explore "Tales of a Wayside Inn" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"A pleasant and a winsome tale," / The Student said, "though somewhat pale / And quiet in its coloring, / As if it caught its tone and air / From the gray suits that Quakers wear; / Yet worthy of some German bard, / Hebel, or Voss, or Eberhard, / Who love of humble themes to sing, / In humble verse; but no more true / Than was the tale I told to you."
The Theologian made reply, / And with some warmth, "That I deny; / 'T is no invention of my own, / But something well and widely known / To readers of a riper age, / Writ by the skilful hand that wrote / The Indian tale of Hobomok, / And Philothea's classic page. / I found it like a waif afloat / Or dulse uprooted from its rock, / On the swift tides that ebb and flow / In daily papers, and at flood / Bear freighted vessels to and fro, / But later, when the ebb is low, / Leave a long waste of sand and mud."