Page:Poetry of the Magyars.djvu/135

Rh "WATER, WIND, REPUTATION,"

Meg gyermeklétemben hallám e' szép mesét.

a boy and heard this pretty story:

That Wind and Water play'd with Reputation

At hide-and-seek together.

The Water rushed adown the mountain passes,

But was discovered after long pursuing

In the deep valleys.

The Wind flew upwards:

But it was followed to the mountain summits,

And soon entrapp'd there.

Then Reputation was to be imprison'd,

And Reputation whispered

In a sonorous voice to her companions:

"Know, if you lose me—know, if once I hide me,

I'm lost for ever."

And so it was—she hid her; all inquiry

Was wasted in the seeking;

Nothing can renovate that perish'd treasure,

If thou have lost it— thou hast lost all with it.