I am a little bearded gnome;
Deep in the underworld I roam,
A mighty cavern is my home.

I find my way on wintry nights
With my companions, by the lights
Of glorious, glittering stalactites.

We live on dainty herbs and roots,
Honey we steal from men, and fruits
And nuts we take from owls and newts.

We sip the dew from sleepy flowers,
In the serene, calm midnight hours,
And drain the grape-juice from the bowers.

Then spry and noiseless, we return
To our mysterious sojourn,
To see our jewels glow and burn.

For we have diamonds in huge piles,
White pearls from oceanic isles,
And golden coin that covers miles.

The fortunes that our fathers took,
Are hidden in our treasure-nook,
And on their brilliancy we look.

When the bright moon points down its lance
Of silver on the woods in trance,
We hurry to the dell to dance.

Over the mushrooms nestling there,
We play at leap-frog till the air
Rosy with dawn, becometh fair.

At hide-and-seek amid the fern,
We laughing pause and laughing turn,
While over us the pale stars burn.

And if we meet the dreaded toad,
We slay the monster on the road,
And drag him down to our abode.

We love on silent eves to sail
Upon the water-lilies pale,
Down on the lakelet in the vale,

And see the lustrous moon on high,
Flooding with light the dreamy sky,
Guarding us with her silver eye.

But we are happiest when we see
Some maiden sleeping 'neath a tree
Wrapped in delicious reverie.

For then we know she cannot pray,
And so we seize her in dismay,
And steal her deathless soul away!