...don't be alarm-ed; it's just a sprinkling for the May Queen
That quasi-medieval lyric from "Stairway to Heaven" might be the most famous mixed-metaphor in rock music (thanks to Robert Plant and Jimmy Page).
If I heard a bustle in a hedgerow, I'd assume it was the noise made by bird or a small mammal (I'm dating myself, but the gopher in Caddyshack comes immediately to mind, as does the argument between Bugs and Daffy over whether it's duck season or rabbit season).
"Sprinkling," on the other hand, implies baptismal water or pollen; it doesn't generally "bustle."
The various lyric sites that transcribe the line as "spring clean" make even less sense. Druids weren't that into domesticity.
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I was with my family on vacation in Ireland a few years ago. We walked down a hedged path to reach the ruins of a ring of standing stones. The hedges were fuschia, in riotous bloom. I heard a loud hum, and it took me a minute to realize that the hum came from what must have been thousands of bees busy in the flowers (the hedges stretched for about a 1/4 mile). Perhaps that could be the bustle in the hedgerow, with the pollen collected acting as the sprinkling for the May Queen.
Patrick, it's not "sprinking," it's "spring clean," as if little gnomes or pixies are straightening things up for the arrival of the May Queen. Zep was less into Druidism than into nature/spirit fantasy in general, although Page got notably more into the dark side. But like most rock bands, lyrical integrity not at the top of their priority list.
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