The Daughters Three

The Daughters Three

An old man lived with his daughters three,
Alone by the shores of the Endless Sea.

Two goats they kept, and corn for grain:
They were poor but happy in an unhappy land.

"The land has no king," said the man to his daughters,
"For the Queen has been lost and he mourns her."

A woman came, and her name was Wise,
On a night when storms had darkened the sky.

The old man said, "You'll not enter my doors!"
But the woman would not go away.

"That woman is wet!" "That woman is cold!"
The old man sat in his chair by the fire.

"You know not, my daughters, what she brings!
Her words may mean death; her words may mean exile.

You must not heed the sound of her voice
Though it sound in your ears like the sea."

The three sisters woke to a morning of light;
Their father wept at the woman's feet.

"Forgive me, O Mara, I thought I could hide;
I had forgotten that your true name is Wise.

Ask what you will, and I will obey,
I, and my daughters three."

"The Queen is held captive in a far away land,
Guarded by a dragon, an army, and the Sea,

And words that were spoken in an ancient time
Have foretold who her rescuers shall be:

She-whose-heart-is-as-fierce-as-a-dragon's,
She-whose-love-is-as-deep-as-the-sea,

She-whose-voice-can-turn-the-army:
By these shall the Queen be set free."

The old man looked into the woman's eyes,
And said, "You know well to whom you speak,

For you have named my daughters' names
As surely as they are three."

Three girls set on a shining ship,
Sailing away from an unhappy land,

The woman named Wise gone back whence she came,
And a man at watch by the sea.

The ship on the Endless Sea sailed on
Until there appeared in the distant sky

A serpent shape with wings of bronze
That came upon the ship in flight.

But She-whose-heart-is-as-fierce-as-a-dragon's
Leaped from the ship in dragon shape

And twining through the sky with flame,
Drove the other away.

Then the Sea rose up in all its might
With wind and waves and thunderous roar,

But She-whose-love-is-as-deep-as-the-sea
Embraced her sisters and carried them through

To the other side of the Endless Sea,
Upon the Unreachable Shore.

An army there was camped by night,
Sworn to march on the unhappy land,

But in the night each soldier dreamed
And heard a voice extolling peace:

"Return to your homes and families,
And bring your children up in love.

Let no one raise a hand again
To harm another one."

And in the morning, bright and fair,
They found the Queen and set her free,

But when they would tell her whence they came,
She said, "I already know your names:

She-whose-heart-is-as-fierce-as-a-dragon's,
She-whose-love-is-as-deep-as-the-sea,

She-whose-voice-can-turn-the-army:
You are my daughters three."

A king reunited with the queen,
An unhappy land in jubilee,

A woman named Wise once more at peace,
And the brave daughters three.