Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By John KendrickBangs

1500 The Little Elf

I MET a little Elf-man, once,

Down where the lilies blow.

I asked him why he was so small

And why he didn’t grow.

He slightly frowned, and with his eye

He looked me through and through.

“I ’m quite as big for me,” said he,

“As you are big for you,”