A little brown gnome went a-digging in the ground,
Digging deeply, digging downy;
And what do you think that little digger found?
The little elf!—the little brownie!

First came the grass with the dewy leaves and shoots,
Green and wavy, green and pearly;
Then came the network of hungry little roots,
White and eager, white and curly.

Then came the mould and the sand and the clay,
Brown and grayish, red and yellow;
Then the hard stones that are always in the way
Of a scratching little fellow.

Then the great rocks with the shining streaks of gold,
And the silver, and the copper;
And he filled his little pockets as full as they could hold,
As a miller fills a hopper.

And then the great caves where the jewels are the light,
Jewels glancing, jewels gleaming;
With stalactites and stalagmites and the water dripping bright;
—Like a dream when you are dreaming.

He dug to look for loveliness, and loveliness he found,
Digging deeply, digging downy,
There is beauty in the air and sea and beauty in the ground—
No one knows it but the Brownie!