A still life drawing of a peach

But we always make them presentable in case someone comes. It's the last thing we can do for 'em

“The Liberation of the Prestidigitator Jacoby”

from the book ‘Moderne Wunder’ by Carl Willmann, 1897

John William Waterhouse, La Belle Dame sans Merci Dicksee Frank, La Belle Dame Sans Merci

"La Belle Dame sans Merci" ("The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy") is a ballad written by John Keats in 1819. The poem tells the story of a knight who meets a mysterious and beautiful woman in a meadow. (I met a lady in the meads, / Full beautiful, a faery's child; / Her hair was long, her foot was light, / And her eyes were wild.)

She enchants him with her beauty, sings to him, and takes him to her "elfin grot". (She took me to her elfin grot, / And there she gaz'd and sighed deep, / And there I shut her wild sad eyes / So kiss'd to sleep.)