As I had promised I would, long I awaited you there.
"Dear, I had almost arrived when I saw, by good fortune, your uncle
Standing right there by the vines, looking now this way, now that.
Stealthily I slipped away." --Alas, what a misapprehension!
You saw the scarecrow, that's all. Nothing else drove you away.
Reeds and some discarded garments all hastily cobbled together--
I helped to make it myself: diligent in my own grief.
"Well, now his wish is fulfilled. The old gardner's most dissolute crow has
Left on this day unscathed nice little garden and niece."
