Page:Songs, Legends, and Ballads.djvu/63

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N the old Rabbinical stories,
 * So old they might well be true,—

The sacred tales of the Talmud,
 * That David and Solomon knew,—

There is one of the Father Abram,
 * The greatest of Heber's race,

The mustard-seed of Judea
 * That filled the holy place.

'Tis said that the fiery heaven
 * His eye was first to read,

Till planets were gods no longer,
 * But helps for the human need;

He taught his simple people
 * The scope of eternal law

That swayed at once the fleecy cloud
 * And the circling suns they saw.