Lot 119: Norman Ault (British, 1880-1950) Flame folk unframed

Flame folk
signed and dated 'NORMAN AULT 1916' (lower left) and inscribed 'return to norman ault, 83 cowley road, Oxford' (verso)
watercolour heightened with bodycolour
27 x 18.5cm (10 5/8 x 7 5/16in).
unframed

Published:
Norman Ault, Dreamland Shores (London 1920), ill. p. 43.

The present lot is accompanied by a poem of the same name by the artist:

When by the fire I lie at night
To read a book, I sometimes see
The flame folk shyly peep at me,
And quickly hide again from sight.

Then I pretend that I'm asleep,
And start to snore, to let them know
They need not fear me; even so
At first they peep, then hide, then peep.

But very soon they lose all fear,
And dull of fun, no longer hide;
They hop about or leap astride
The coals, forgetting I am near.

And then they dance. A few begin
With graceful bend, and leap, and whirl,
With curtsy low, and tiptoe twirl;
Till more and more crowding in.

Then faster grow the fun and play-
And dancing, leaping, higher and higher,
By ones and twos they leave the fire,
And up the chimney dance away.

And on they dance up through the air
Until they reach the sky afar;
Then each, I think, becaomes a star,
To dance and dance for ever there.