{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_22168/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_22168","id":"gutenberg_22168","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22168","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Children's Myths, Fairy Tales, etc.","Fairy tales","Fairy tales -- Ireland"],"text":"Produced by David Garcia, Michelle Croyle and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: \"She beckoned the children to her\"]\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE GOLDEN SPEARS\n\nAnd Other Fairy Tales\n\nBY\n\nEDMUND LEAMY\n\nILLUSTRATIONS BY CORINNE TURNER\n\n\n\n  New York\n  Desmond FitzGerald, Inc.\n\n\n\n  Copyright, 1911\n  By DESMOND FITZGERALD, INC.\n  _All Rights Reserved_\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n                                                                    PAGE\n\n  PREFACE                                                            vii\n\n  INTRODUCTORY NOTE                                                    X\n\n  THE GOLDEN SPEARS                                                    1\n\n  THE HOUSE IN THE LAKE                                               23\n\n  THE ENCHANTED CAVE                                                  49\n\n  THE HUNTSMAN'S SON                                                  76\n\n  THE FAIRY TREE OF DOOROS                                           101\n\n  THE LITTLE WHITE CAT                                               123\n\n  PRINCESS FINOLA AND THE DWARF                                      149\n\n  NOTES                                                              170\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n  \"She beckoned the children to her\"                       _Frontispiece_\n\n                                                             FACING PAGE\n\n  \"'I have mourned you as dead, my darling,' said he\"                 39\n\n  \"The queen wished to know if he would join them\"                    58\n\n  \"Fergus knew it was the Pooka, the wild horse of the mountains\"     81\n\n  \"He was very sad, and tired\"                                       106\n\n  \"At the sight of him the prince remembered everything\"             137\n\n  \"Standing before him was the little princess\"                      169\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nIt comes to me as a very welcome piece of news, and yet a piece of news\nwhich I have been long expecting, that a special American edition of\nEdmund Leamy's Irish fairy tales is about to be published. This, then,\nwill be the third issue of the little book. I venture to predict that it\nwill not be the last; and I fancy the American publisher who has had the\njudgment to take the matter up will soon be rewarded for his enterprise.\nFor I believe the book to be a little classic in its way, and that it\nwill go on making for itself a place in the libraries of those who\nunderstand children, and will hold that place permanently.\n\nThis is the verdict of competent literary judges. I am spared the\nnecessity of attempting a discussion of the grounds on which so strong\nan opinion of Leamy's fairy tales is based by the fact that this is\nalready done in Mr. T. P. Gill's Introductory Note. Mr. Gill, though he\nwas, like myself, one of Leamy's intimate friends, is a conscientious\ncritic, and to his analysis not merely of the \"Tales,\" but of that\nattractive personality which Leamy infused into all he said or wrote\nI can safely refer the reader. I think no one of taste and judgment who\nreads these Tales will fail to agree with the view which is expressed in\nthat Note and which I here, with some confidence, venture to reiterate.\n\nMy chief hope with regard to this American edition is that when it has\nmade its mark with the general public, as it is sure to do, it will be\ntaken note of by those who are specially concerned with education.\nLeamy, while a public man, a patriot steeped in the lore of Ireland's\npast and ever weaving generous visions for her future, was before all\nthings else a child-lover. That was his own, his peculiar endowment.\nHe had an exquisite gift with children and seemed always able to speak\ndirectly with the higher parts of their nature. It is this, I think,\nwhich is evident in every page of these Tales, and which gives the book\nits unique character. One to whose judgment on an educational matter\nI attach the greatest value writes to me these words: \"For refining\ninfluence, for power to stimulate the sense of beauty, the tenderness,\nthe sentiment of nobleness of the child-soul, I can imagine no volume\nmore worthy of a place on the book-shelf of the people's schools.\"\nHaving myself often witnessed this influence at work, I can emphatically\nindorse this opinion. I say I hope American educators may agree with it,\nfor if they do our educators here at home will follow so distinguished\na lead.\n\nOf Edmund Leamy, in his personal aspect, I have already said something\nin my preface to the Dublin edition. I need only add here that this\ntrue-hearted Irishman had many friends on the American continent, and\nthat to them this little flower of his genius will be a vivid and\nabiding souvenir of one of the most lovable of men.\n\nIf this book have the success in America which it deserves--and I hope\nthat success may be extended to Canada and the Australias--I believe a\ncharming and ennobling boon will have been conferred upon the child-life\nof these great communities; and it will be a source of gratification to\nthose who were the author's friends and colleagues to think that that\ngift came from one by whose side we had the honor to serve in Ireland's\nstruggles.\n\nJ. E. REDMOND.\n\nAughavannagh, _June, 1911_.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GOLDEN SPEARS\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived in a little house under a hill a little old\nwoman and her two children, whose names were Connla and Nora. Right in\nfront of the door of the little house lay a pleasant meadow, and beyond\nthe meadow rose up to the skies a mountain whose top was sharp-pointed\nlike a spear. For more than halfway up it was clad with heather, and\nwhen the heather was in bloom it looked like a purple robe falling from\nthe shoulders of the mountain down to its feet. Above the heather it was\nbare and gray, but when the sun was sinking in the sea, its last rays\nrested on the bare mountain top and made it gleam like a spear of gold,\nand so the children always called it the \"Golden Spear.\"\n\nIn summer days they gamboled in the meadow, plucking the sweet wild\ngrasses--and often and often they clambered up the mountain side, knee\ndeep in the heather, searching for frechans and wild honey, and sometimes\nthey found a bird's nest--but they only peeped into it, they never\ntouched the eggs or allowed their breath to fall upon them, for next to\ntheir little mother they loved the mountain, and next to the mountain\nthey loved the wild birds who made the spring and summer weather musical\nwith their songs.\n\nSometimes the soft white mist would steal through the glen, and creeping\nup the mountain would cover it with a veil so dense that the children\ncould not see it, and then they would say to each other: \"Our mountain\nis gone away from us.\" But when the mist would lift and float off into\nthe skies, the children would clap their hands, and say: \"Oh, there's\nour mountain back again.\"\n\nIn the long nights of winter they babbled of the spring and summertime\nto come, when the birds would once more sing for them, and never a day\npassed that they didn't fling crumbs outside their door, and on the\nborders of the wood that stretched away towards the glen.\n\nWhen the spring days came they awoke with the first light of the\nmorning, and they knew the very minute when the lark would begin to\nsing, and when the thrush and the blackbird would pour out their liquid\nnotes, and when the robin would make the soft, green, tender leaves\ntremulous at his song.\n\nIt chanced one day that when they were resting in the noontide heat,\nunder the perfumed shade of a hawthorn in bloom, they saw on the edge\nof the meadow, spread out before them, a speckled thrush cowering in\nthe grass.\n\n\"Oh, Connla! Connla! Look at the thrush--and, look, look up in the sky,\nthere is a hawk!\" cried Nora.\n\nConnla looked up, and he saw the hawk with quivering wings, and he\nknew that in a second it would pounce down on the frightened thrush.\nHe jumped to his feet, fixed a stone in his sling, and before the whir\nof the stone shooting through the air was silent, the stricken hawk\ntumbled headlong in the grass.\n\nThe thrush, shaking its wings, rose joyously in the air, and perching\nupon an elm-tree in sight of the children, he sang a song so sweet that\nthey left the hawthorn shade and walked along together until they stood\nunder the branches of the elm; and they listened and listened to the\nthrush's song, and at last Nora said:\n\n\"Oh, Connla! did you ever hear a song so sweet as this?\"\n\n\"No,\" said Connla, \"and I do believe sweeter music was never heard\nbefore.\"\n\n\"Ah,\" said the thrush, \"that's because you never heard the nine little\npipers playing. And now, Connla and Nora, you saved my life to-day.\"\n\n\"It was Nora saved it,\" said Connla, \"for she pointed you out to me,\nand also pointed out the hawk which was about to pounce on you.\"\n\n\"It was Connla saved you,\" said Nora, \"for he slew the hawk with his\nsling.\"\n\n\"I owe my life to both of you,\" said the thrush. \"You like my song, and\nyou say you have never heard anything so sweet; but wait till you hear\nthe nine little pipers playing.\"\n\n\"And when shall we hear them?\" said the children.\n\n\"Well,\" said the thrush, \"sit outside your door to-morrow evening, and\nwait and watch until the shadows have crept up the heather, and then,\nwhen the mountain top is gleaming like a golden spear, look at the line\nwhere the shadow on the heather meets the sunshine, and you shall see\nwhat you shall see.\"\n\nAnd having said this, the thrush sang another song sweeter than the\nfirst, and then saying \"good-by,\" he flew away into the woods.\n\nThe children went home, and all night long they were dreaming of the\nthrush and the nine little pipers; and when the birds sang in the\nmorning, they got up and went out into the meadow to watch the mountain.\n\nThe sun was shining in a cloudless sky, and no shadows lay on the\nmountain, and all day long they watched and waited, and at last, when\nthe birds were singing their farewell song to the evening star, the\nchildren saw the shadows marching from the glen, trooping up the\nmountain side and dimming the purple of the heather.\n\nAnd when the mountain top gleamed like a golden spear, they fixed their\neyes on the line between the shadow and the sunshine.\n\n\"Now,\" said Connla, \"the time has come.\"\n\n\"Oh, look! look!\" said Nora, and as she spoke, just above the line of\nshadow a door opened out, and through its portals came a little piper\ndressed in green and gold. He stepped down, followed by another and\nanother, until they were nine in all, and then the door slung back\nagain. Down through the heather marched the pipers in single file, and\nall the time they played a music so sweet that the birds, who had gone\nto sleep in their nests, came out upon the branches to listen to them,\nand then they crossed the meadow, and they went on and on until they\ndisappeared in the leafy woods.\n\nWhile they were passing the children were spellbound, and couldn't\nspeak, but when the music had died away in the woods, they said:\n\n\"The thrush is right, that is the sweetest music that was ever heard\nin all the world.\"\n\nAnd when the children went to bed that night the fairy music came to\nthem in their dreams. But when the morning broke, and they looked out\nupon their mountain and could see no trace of the door above the\nheather, they asked each other whether they had really seen the little\npipers, or only dreamt of them.\n\nThat day they went out into the woods, and they sat beside a stream that\npattered along beneath the trees, and through the leaves tossing in the\nbreeze the sun flashed down upon the streamlet, and shadow and sunshine\ndanced upon it. As the children watched the water sparkling where the\nsunlight fell, Nora said:\n\n\"Oh, Connla, did you ever see anything so bright and clear and glancing\nas that?\"\n\n\"No,\" said Connla, \"I never did.\"\n\n\"That's because you never saw the crystal hall of the fairy of the\nmountains,\" said a voice above the heads of the children.\n\nAnd when they looked up, who should they see perched on a branch but the\nthrush.\n\n\"And where is the crystal hall of the fairy?\" said Connla.\n\n\"Oh, it is where it always was, and where it always will be,\" said the\nthrush. \"And you can see it if you like.\"\n\n\"We would like to see it,\" said the children.\n\n\"Well, then,\" said the thrush, \"if you would, all you have to do is to\nfollow the nine little pipers when they come down through the heather,\nand cross the meadow to-morrow evening.\"\n\nAnd the thrush having said this, flew away.\n\nConnla and Nora went home, and that night they fell asleep talking of\nthe thrush and the fairy and the crystal hall.\n\nAll the next day they counted the minutes, until they saw the shadows\nthronging from the glen and scaling the mountain side. And, at last,\nthey saw the door springing open, and the nine little pipers marching\ndown.\n\nThey waited until the pipers had crossed the meadow and were about to\nenter the wood. And then they followed them, the pipers marching on\nbefore them and playing all the time. It was not long until they had\npassed through the wood, and then, what should the children see rising\nup before them but another mountain, smaller than their own, but, like\ntheir own, clad more than half way up with purple heather, and whose\ntop was bare and sharp-pointed, and gleaming like a golden spear.\n\nUp through the heather climbed the pipers, up through the heather the\nchildren clambered after them, and the moment the pipers passed the\nheather a door opened and they marched in, the children following, and\nthe door closed behind them.\n\nConnla and Nora were so dazzled by the light that hit their eyes, when\nthey had crossed the threshold, that they had to shade them with their\nhands; but, after a moment or two, they became able to bear the\nsplendor, and when they looked around they saw that they were in a noble\nhall, whose crystal roof was supported by two rows of crystal pillars\nrising from a crystal floor; and the walls were of crystal, and along\nthe walls were crystal couches, with coverings and cushions of sapphire\nsilk with silver tassels.\n\nOver the crystal floor the little pipers marched; over the crystal floor\nthe children followed, and when a door at the end of the hall was opened\nto let the pipers pass, a crowd of colors came rushing in, and floor,\nand ceiling, and stately pillars, and glancing couches, and shining\nwalls, were stained with a thousand dazzling hues.\n\nOut through the door the pipers marched; out through the door the\nchildren followed, and when they crossed the threshold they were\ntreading on clouds of amber, of purple, and of gold.\n\n\"Oh, Connla,\" said Nora, \"we have walked into the sunset!\"\n\nAnd around and about them everywhere were soft, fleecy clouds, and over\ntheir heads was the glowing sky, and the stars were shining through it,\nas a lady's eyes shine through a veil of gossamer. And the sky and stars\nseemed so near that Connla thought he could almost touch them with his\nhand.\n\nWhen they had gone some distance, the pipers disappeared, and when\nConnla and Nora came up to the spot where they had seen the last of\nthem, they found themselves at the head of a ladder, all the steps of\nwhich were formed of purple and amber clouds that descended to what\nappeared to be a vast and shining plain, streaked with purple and gold.\nIn the spaces between the streaks of gold and purple they saw soft,\nmilk-white stars. And the children thought that the great plain, so far\nbelow them, also belonged to cloudland.\n\nThey could not see the little pipers, but up the steps was borne by\nthe cool, sweet air the fairy music; and lured on by it step by step\nthey traveled down the fleecy stairway. When they were little more\nthan halfway down there came mingled with the music a sound almost\nas sweet--the sound of waters toying in the still air with pebbles\non a shelving beach, and with the sound came the odorous brine of the\nocean. And then the children knew that what they thought was a plain in\nthe realms of cloudland was the sleeping sea unstirred by wind or tide,\ndreaming of the purple clouds and stars of the sunset sky above it.\n\nWhen Connla and Nora reached the strand they saw the nine little pipers\nmarching out towards the sea, and they wondered where they were going\nto. And they could hardly believe their eyes when they saw them stepping\nout upon the level ocean as if they were walking upon the land; and away\nthe nine little pipers marched, treading the golden line cast upon the\nwaters by the setting sun. And as the music became fainter and fainter\nas the pipers passed into the glowing distance, the children began to\nwonder what was to become of themselves. Just at that very moment they\nsaw coming towards them from the sinking sun a little white horse, with\nflowing mane and tail and golden hoofs. On the horse's back was a little\nman dressed in shining green silk. When the horse galloped on to the\nstrand the little man doffed his hat, and said to the children:\n\n\"Would you like to follow the nine little pipers?\" The children said,\n\"yes.\"\n\n\"Well, then,\" said the little man, \"come up here behind me; you, Nora,\nfirst, and Connla after.\"\n\nConnla helped up Nora, and then climbed on to the little steed himself;\nand as soon as they were properly seated the little man said \"swish,\"\nand away went the steed, galloping over the sea without wetting hair or\nhoof. But fast as he galloped the nine little pipers were always ahead\nof him, although they seemed to be going only at a walking pace. When\nat last he came up rather close to the hindmost of them the nine little\npipers disappeared, but the children heard the music playing beneath\nthe waters. The white steed pulled up suddenly, and wouldn't move a\nstep further.\n\n\"Now,\" said the little man to the children, \"clasp me tight, Nora, and\ndo you, Connla, cling on to Nora, and both of you shut your eyes.\"\n\nThe children did as they were bidden, and the little man cried:\n\n\"Swish! swash!\"\n\nAnd the steed went down and down until at last his feet struck the\nbottom.\n\n\"Now open your eyes,\" said the little man.\n\nAnd when the children did so they saw beneath the horse's feet a golden\nstrand, and above their heads the sea like a transparent cloud between\nthem and the sky. And once more they heard the fairy music, and marching\non the strand before them were the nine little pipers.\n\n\"You must get off now,\" said the little man, \"I can go no farther\nwith you.\"\n\nThe children scrambled down, and the little man cried \"swish,\" and\nhimself and the steed shot up through the sea, and they saw him no more.\nThen they set out after the nine little pipers, and it wasn't long until\nthey saw rising up from the golden strand and pushing their heads up\ninto the sea above, a mass of dark gray rocks. And as they were gazing\nat them they saw the rocks opening, and the nine little pipers\ndisappearing through them.\n\nThe children hurried on, and when they came up close to the rocks they\nsaw sitting on a flat and polished stone a mermaid combing her golden\nhair, and singing a strange sweet song that brought the tears to their\neyes, and by the mermaid's side was a little sleek brown otter.\n\nWhen the mermaid saw them she flung her golden tresses back over her\nsnow-white shoulders, and she beckoned the children to her. Her large\neyes were full of sadness; but there was a look so tender upon her face\nthat the children moved towards her without any fear.\n\n\"Come to me, little one,\" she said to Nora, \"come and kiss me,\" and in a\nsecond her arms were around the child. The mermaid kissed her again and\nagain; as the tears rushed to her eyes, she said:\n\n\"Oh, Nora, mavourneen, your breath is as sweet as the wild rose that\nblooms in the green fields of Erin, and happy are you, my children, who\nhave come so lately from the pleasant land. Oh, Connla! Connla! I get\nthe scent of the dew of the Irish grasses and of the purple heather from\nyour feet. And you both can soon return to Erin of the Streams, but I\nshall not see it till three hundred years have passed away, for I am\nLiban the Mermaid, daughter of a line of kings. But I may not keep you\nhere. The Fairy Queen is waiting for you in her snow-white palace and\nher fragrant bowers. And now kiss me once more, Nora, and kiss me,\nConnla.  May luck and joy go with you, and all gentleness be upon you\nboth.\"[1]\n\nThen the children said good-by to the mermaid, and the rocks opened for\nthem and they passed through, and soon they found themselves in a meadow\nstarred with flowers, and through the meadow sped a sunlit stream. They\nfollowed the stream until it led them into a garden of roses, and beyond\nthe garden, standing on a gentle hill, was a palace white as snow.\nBefore the palace was a crowd of fairy maidens pelting each other with\nrose-leaves. But when they saw the children they gave over their play,\nand came trooping towards them.\n\n\"Our queen is waiting for you,\" they said; and then they led the\nchildren to the palace door. The children entered, and after passing\nthrough a long corridor they found themselves in a crystal hall so like\nthe one they had seen in the mountain of the golden spear that they\nthought it was the same. But on all the crystal couches fairies, dressed\nin silken robes of many colors, were sitting, and at the end of the\nhall, on a crystal throne, was seated the fairy queen, looking lovelier\nthan the evening star. The queen descended from her throne to meet\nthe children, and taking them by the hands, she led them up the shining\nsteps. Then, sitting down, she made them sit beside her, Connla on her\nright hand and Nora on her left.\n\nThen she ordered the nine little pipers to come before her, and she said\nto them:\n\n\"So far you have done your duty faithfully, and now play one more sweet\nair and your task is done.\"\n\nAnd the little pipers played, and from the couches at the first sound of\nthe music all the fairies rose, and forming partners, they danced over\nthe crystal floor as lightly as the young leaves dancing in the wind.\n\nListening to the fairy music, and watching the wavy motion of the\ndancing fairies, the children fell asleep. When they awoke next morning\nand rose from their silken beds they were no longer children. Nora was a\ngraceful and stately maiden, and Connla a handsome and gallant youth.\nThey looked at each other for a moment in surprise, and then Connla\nsaid:\n\n\"Oh, Nora, how tall and beautiful you are!\"\n\n\"Oh, not so tall and handsome as you are, Connla,\" said Nora, as she\nflung her white arms round his neck and kissed her brother's lips.\n\nThen they drew back to get a better look of each other, and who should\nstep between them but the fairy queen.\n\n\"Oh, Nora, Nora,\" said she, \"I am not as high as your knee, and as for\nyou, Connla, you look as straight and as tall as one of the round towers\nof Erin.\"\n\n\"And how did we grow so tall in one night?\" said Connla.\n\n\"In one night!\" said the fairy queen. \"One night, indeed! Why, you have\nbeen fast asleep, the two of you, for the last seven years!\"\n\n\"And where was the little mother all that time?\" said Connla and Nora\ntogether.\n\n\"Oh, the little mother was all right. She knew where you were; but she\nis expecting you to-day, and so you must go off to see her, although\nI would like to keep you--if I had my way--all to myself here in the\nfairyland under the sea. And you will see her to-day; but before you go\nhere is a necklace for you, Nora; it is formed out of the drops of the\nocean spray, sparkling in the sunshine. They were caught by my fairy\nnymphs, for you, as they skimmed the sunlit billows under the shape of\nsea-birds, and no queen or princess in the world can match their luster\nwith the diamonds won with toil from the caves of earth. As for you,\nConnla, see here's a helmet of shining gold fit for a king of Erin--and\na king of Erin you will be yet; and here's a spear that will pierce any\nshield, and here's a shield that no spear can pierce and no sword can\ncleave as long as you fasten your warrior cloak with this brooch of\ngold.\"\n\nAnd as she spoke she flung round Connla's shoulders a flowing mantle of\nyellow silk, and pinned it at his neck with a red gold brooch.\n\n\"And now, my children, you must go away from me. You, Nora, will be a\nwarrior's bride in Erin of the Streams. And you, Connla, will be king\nyet over the loveliest province in all the land of Erin; but you will\nhave to fight for your crown, and days of battle are before you. They\nwill not come for a long time after you have left the fairyland under\nthe sea, and until they come lay aside your helmet, shield, and spear,\nand warrior's cloak and golden brooch. But when the time comes when you\nwill be called to battle, enter not upon it without the golden brooch\nI give you fastened in your cloak, for if you do harm will come to you.\nNow, kiss me, children; your little mother is waiting for you at the\nfoot of the golden spear, but do not forget to say good-by to Liban the\nMermaid, exiled from the land she loves, and pining in sadness beneath\nthe sea.\"\n\nConnla and Nora kissed the fairy queen, and Connla, wearing his golden\nhelmet and silken cloak, and carrying his shield and spear, led Nora\nwith him. They passed from the palace through the garden of roses,\nthrough the flowery meadow, through the dark gray rocks, until they\nreached the golden strand; and there, sitting and singing the strange,\nsweet song, was Liban the Mermaid.\n\n\"And so you are going up to Erin,\" she said, \"up through the covering\nwaters. Kiss me, children, once again; and when you are in Erin of the\nStreams, sometimes think of the exile from Erin beneath the sea.\"\n\nAnd the children kissed the mermaid, and with sad hearts, bidding her\ngood-by, they walked along the golden strand. When they had gone what\nseemed to them a long way, they began to feel weary; and just then\nthey saw coming towards them a little man in a red jacket leading\na coal-black steed.\n\nWhen they met the little man, he said: \"Connla, put Nora up on this\nsteed; then jump up before her.\"\n\nConnla did as he was told, and when both of them were mounted--\n\n\"Now, Connla,\" said the little man, \"catch the bridle in your hands,\nand you, Nora, clasp Connla round the waist, and close your eyes.\"\n\nThey did as they were bidden, and then the little man said, \"Swash,\nswish!\" and the steed shot up from the strand like a lark from the\ngrass, and pierced the covering sea, and went bounding on over the\nlevel waters; and when his hoofs struck the hard ground, Connla and\nNora opened their eyes, and they saw that they were galloping towards\na shady wood.\n\nOn went the steed, and soon he was galloping beneath the branches that\nalmost touched Connla's head. And on they went until they had passed\nthrough the wood, and then they saw rising up before them the \"Golden\nSpear.\"\n\n\"Oh, Connla,\" said Nora, \"we are at home at last.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Connla, \"but where is the little house under the hill?\"\n\nAnd no little house was there; but in its stead was standing a\nlime-white mansion.\n\n\"What can this mean?\" said Nora.\n\nBut before Connla could reply, the steed had galloped up to the door\nof the mansion, and, in the twinkling of an eye, Connla and Nora were\nstanding on the ground outside the door, and the steed had vanished.\n\nBefore they could recover from their surprise the little mother came\nrushing out to them, and flung her arms around their necks, and kissed\nthem both again and again.\n\n\"Oh, children! children! You are welcome home to me; for though I knew\nit was all for the best, my heart was lonely without you.\"\n\nAnd Connla and Nora caught up the little mother in their arms, and they\ncarried her into the hall and set her down on the floor.\n\n\"Oh, Nora!\" said the little mother, \"you are a head over me; and as for\nyou, Connla, you look almost as tall as one of the round towers of Erin.\"\n\n\"That's what the fairy queen said, mother,\" said Nora.\n\n\"Blessings on the fairy queen,\" said the little mother. \"Turn round,\nConnla, till I look at you.\"\n\nConnla turned round, and the little mother said:\n\n\"Oh, Connla, with your golden helmet and your spear, and your glancing\nshield, and your silken cloak, you look like a king. But take them off,\nmy boy, beautiful as they are. Your little mother would like to see you,\nher own brave boy, without any fairy finery.\"\n\nAnd Connla laid aside his spear and shield, and took off his golden\nhelmet and his silken cloak. Then he caught the little mother and kissed\nher, and lifted her up until she was as high as his head. And said he:\n\n\"Don't you know, little mother, I'd rather have you than all the world.\"\n\nAnd that night, when they were sitting down by the fire together, you\nmay be sure that in the whole world no people were half as happy as\nNora, Connla, and the little mother.\n\n\n\n\nTHE HOUSE IN THE LAKE[2]\n\n\nA long, long time ago there lived in a little hut, in the midst of one\nof the inland lakes of Erin, an old fisherman and his son. The hut was\nbuilt on stakes driven into the bed of the lake, and was so high above\nthe waters that even when they were stirred into waves by the wind\ncoming down from the mountains they did not reach the threshold of the\ndoor. Around, outside the hut, on a level with the floor, was a little\nwicker-work platform, and under the platform, close to the steps leading\nup to it from the water, the fisherman's curragh, made of willows,\ncovered with skins, was moored, and it was only by means of the curragh\nthat he and his son, Enda, could leave their lake dwelling.\n\nOn many a summer evening Enda lay stretched on the platform, watching\nthe sunset fading from the mountain-tops, and the twilight creeping over\nthe waters of the lake, and it chanced that once when he was so engaged\nhe heard a rustle in a clump of sedge that grew close to one side of\nthe hut. He turned to where the sound came from, and what should he see\nbut an otter swimming towards him, with a little trout in his mouth.\nWhen the otter came up to where Enda was lying, he lifted his head and\nhalf his body from the water, and flung the trout on the platform,\nalmost at Enda's feet, and then disappeared.\n\nEnda took the little panting trout in his hand; but as he did so he\nheard, quite close to him, in the lake, a sound like that of water\nplashing upon water, and he saw the widening circles caused by a trout\nwhich had just risen to a fly; and he said to the little trout he held\nin his hand:\n\n\"I won't keep you, poor thing! Perhaps that was a little comrade come\nto look for you, and so I'll send you back to him.\"\n\nAnd saying this, he dropped the little trout into the lake.\n\nWell, when the next evening came, again Enda was lying stretched outside\nthe hut, and once more he heard the rustle in the sedge, and once more\nthe otter came and flung the little trout almost into his hands.\n\nEnda, more surprised than ever, did not know what to do. He saw that it\nwas the same little trout the otter had brought him the night before,\nand he said:\n\n\"Well, I gave you a chance last night. I'll give you another, if only to\nsee what will come of it.\"\n\nAnd he dropped the trout into the lake; but no sooner had it touched the\nwaters than it was changed into a beautiful, milk-white swan. And Enda\ncould hardly believe his eyes, as he saw it sailing across the lake,\nuntil it was lost in the sedges growing by the shore.\n\nAll that night he lay awake, thinking of what he had seen, and as soon\nas the morning stood on the hill-tops, and cast its shafts of golden\nlight across the lake, Enda rose and got into his curragh.\n\nHe rowed all round the shores, beating the sedges with his oar, in\npursuit of the swan; but all in vain; he could not catch a glimpse of\nher white plumage anywhere. Day after day he rowed about the lake in\nsearch of her, and every evening he lay outside the hut watching the\nwaters. At long last, one night, when the full moon, rising above the\nmountains, flooded the whole lake with light, he saw the swan coming\nswiftly towards him, shining brighter than the moonbeams. The swan came\non until it was almost within a boat's length of the hut; and what\nshould Enda hear but the swan speaking to him in his own language:\n\n\"Get into your curragh, Enda, and follow me,\" said she, and, saying\nthis, she turned round and sailed away.\n\nEnda jumped into the curragh, and soon the water, dripping from his oar,\nwas flashing like diamonds in the moonlight. And he rowed after the\nswan, who glided on before him, until she came to where the shadows of\nthe mountains lay deepest on the lake. Then the swan rested, and when\nEnda came up to her:\n\n\"Enda,\" said she, \"I have brought you where none may hear what I wish to\nsay to you. I am Mave, the daughter of the king of Erin. By the magic\narts of my cruel stepmother I was changed into a trout, and cast into\nthis lake a year and a day before the evening when you restored me to\nthe waters the second time. If you had not done so the first night the\notter brought me to you I should have been changed into a hooting owl;\nif you had not done so the second night, I should have been changed into\na croaking raven. But, thanks to you, Enda, I am now a snow-white swan,\nand for one hour on the first night of every full moon the power of\nspeech is and will be given to me as long as I remain a swan. And a swan\nI must always remain, unless you are willing to break the spell of\nenchantment that is over me; and you alone can break it.\"\n\n\"I'll do anything I can for you, O princess!\" said Enda. \"But how can\nI break the spell?\"\n\n\"You can do so,\" said the swan, \"only by pouring upon my plumage the\nperfumed water that fills the golden bowl that is in the inmost room of\nthe palace of the fairy queen, beneath the lake.\"\n\n\"And how can I get that?\" said Enda.\n\n\"Well,\" said the swan, \"you must dive beneath the lake, and walk along\nits bed, until you come to where the lake dragon guards the entrance of\nthe fairy queen's dominions.\"\n\n\"I can dive like a fish,\" said Enda; \"but how can I walk beneath the\nwaters?\"\n\n\"You can do it easily enough,\" said the swan, \"if you get the\nwater-dress of Brian, one of the three sons of Turenn, and his helmet\nof transparent crystal, by the aid of which he was able to walk under\nthe green salt sea.\"[3]\n\n\"And where shall I find them?\"\n\n\"They are in the water-palace of Angus of the Boyne,\" said the swan;\n\"but you should set out at once, for if the spell be not broken before\nthe moon is full again, it cannot be broken for a year and a day.\"\n\n\"I'll set out in the first ray of the morning,\" said Enda.\n\n\"May luck and joy go with you,\" said the swan. \"And now the hours\nof silence are coming upon me, and I have only time to warn you that\ndangers you little dream of will lie before you in your quest for the\ngolden cup.\"\n\n\"I am willing to face all dangers for your sake, O princess,\" said Enda.\n\n\"Blessings be upon you, Enda,\" said the swan, and she sailed away from\nthe shadow out into the light across the lake to the sedgy banks. And\nEnda saw her no more.\n\nHe rowed his curragh home, and he lay on his bed without taking off his\nclothes. And as the first faint glimmer of the morning came slanting down\nthe mountains, he stepped into his curragh and pulled across the lake,\nand took the road towards the water-palace of Angus of the Boyne.\n\nWhen he reached the banks of the glancing river a little woman, dressed\nin red, was standing there before him.\n\n\"You are welcome, Enda,\" said she. \"And glad am I to see the day that\nbrings you here to help the winsome Princess Mave. And now wait a\nsecond, and the water-dress and crystal helmet will be ready for you.\"\n\nAnd, having said this, the little woman plucked a handful of wild\ngrasses, and she breathed upon them three times and then flung them on\nthe river, and a dozen fairy nymphs came springing up through the water,\nbearing the water-dress and crystal helmet and a shining spear. And they\nlaid them down upon the bank at Enda's feet, and then disappeared.\n\n\"Now, Enda,\" said the fairy woman, \"take these; by the aid of the dress\nand the helmet you can walk beneath the waters. You will need the spear\nto enable you to meet the dangers that lie before you. But with that\nspear, if you only have courage, you can overcome everything and everyone\nthat may attempt to bar your way.\"\n\nHaving said this, she bid good-by to Enda, and stepping off the bank,\nshe floated out upon the river as lightly as a red poppy leaf. And when\nshe came to the middle of the stream she disappeared beneath the waters.\n\nEnda took the helmet, dress, and spear, and it was not long until he\ncame to the sedgy banks where his little boat was waiting for him. As he\nstepped into the curragh the moon was rising above the mountains. He\nrowed on until he came to the hut, and having moored the boat to the\ndoor, he put on the water-dress and the crystal helmet, and taking the\nspear in his hand, he leaped over the side of the curragh, and sank down\nand down until he touched the bottom. Then he walked along without\nminding where he was going, and the only light he had was the shimmering\nmoonlight, which descended as faintly through the waters as if it came\nthrough muffled glass. He had not gone very far when he heard a horrible\nhissing, and straight before him he saw what he thought were two flaming\ncoals. After a few more steps he found himself face to face with the\ndragon of the lake, the guardian of the palace of the fairy queen.\nBefore he had time to raise his spear, the dragon had wound its coils\naround him, and he heard its horrible teeth crunching against the side\nof his crystal helmet, and he felt the pressure of its coils around his\nside, and the breath almost left his body; but the dragon, unable to\npierce the helmet, unwound his coils, and soon Enda's hands were free,\nand before the dragon could attempt to seize him again, he drove his\nspear through one of its fiery eyes, and, writhing with pain, the\nhissing dragon darted through a cave behind him. Enda, gaining courage\nfrom the dragon's flight, marched on until he came to a door of dull\nbrass set in the rocks. He tried to push it in before him, but he might\nas well have tried to push away the rocks. While he was wondering what\nhe should do, he heard again the fierce hissing of the dragon, and saw\nthe red glare of his fiery eye dimly in the water.\n\nLifting his spear and hastily turning round to meet the furious monster,\nEnda accidentally touched the door with the point of the spear, and the\ndoor flew open. Enda passed through, and the door closed behind him with\na grating sound, and he marched along through a rocky pass which led to\na sandy plain.\n\nAs he stepped from the pass into the plain the sands began to move, as\nif they were alive. In a second a thousand hideous serpents, almost the\ncolor of the sand, rose hissing up, and with their forked tongues made a\nhorrible, poisonous hedge in front of him. For a second he stood\ndismayed, but then, leveling his spear, he rushed against the hedge of\nserpents, and they, shooting poison at him, sank beneath the sand. But\nthe poison did not harm him, because of his water-dress and crystal\nhelmet.\n\nWhen he had passed over the sandy plain, he had to climb a great steep,\njagged rock. When he got to the top of the rock he saw spread out before\nhim a stony waste without a tuft or blade of grass. At some distance in\nfront of him he noticed a large dark object, which he took to be a rock,\nbut on looking at it more closely he saw that it was a huge, misshapen,\nswollen mass, apparently alive. And it was growing bigger and bigger\nevery moment. Enda stood amazed at the sight, and before he knew where\nhe was the loathsome creature rose from the ground, and sprang upon him\nbefore he could use his spear, and, catching him in its horrid grasp,\nflung him back over the rocks on to the sandy plain. Enda was almost\nstunned, but the hissing of the serpents rising from the sand around him\nbrought him to himself, and, jumping to his feet, once more he drove\nthem down beneath the surface. He then approached the jagged rock, on\nthe top of which he saw the filthy monster glaring at him with bloodshot\neyes. Enda poised his spear and hurled it against his enemy. It entered\nbetween the monster's eyes, and from the wound the blood flowed down\nlike a black torrent and dyed the plain, and the shrunken carcass\nslipped down the front of the rocks and disappeared beneath the sand.\nEnda once more ascended the rock, and without meeting or seeing anything\nhe passed over the stony waste, and at last he came to a leafy wood.\nHe had not gone far in the wood until he heard the sound of fairy\nmusic, and walking on he came upon a mossy glade, and there he found the\nfairies dancing around their queen. They were so small, and were all so\nbrightly dressed, that they looked like a mass of waving flowers; but\nwhen he was seen by them they vanished like a glorious dream, and no one\nremained before him but the fairy queen. The queen blushed at finding\nherself alone, but on stamping her little foot three times upon the\nground, the frightened fairies all crept back again.\n\n\"You are welcome, Enda,\" said the queen. \"My little subjects have been\nalarmed by your strange dress and crystal helmet. I pray you take them\noff; you do not need them here.\"\n\nEnda did as he was bidden, and he laid down his water-dress and helmet\non the grass, and the little fairies, seeing him in his proper shape,\ngot over their fright, and, unrestrained by the presence of the queen,\nthey ran tumbling over one another to try and get a good look at the\ncrystal helmet.\n\n\"I know what you have come for, Enda,\" said the queen. \"The golden cup\nyou shall have to-morrow; but to-night you must share our feast, so\nfollow me to the palace.\"\n\nHaving said this, the queen beckoned her pages to her, and, attended by\nthem and followed by Enda, she went on through the wood. When they had\nleft it behind them Enda saw on a green hill before him the snow-white\npalace of the fairy queen.\n\nAs the queen approached the steps that led up to the open door,\na band of tiny fairies, dressed in rose-colored silk, came out, carrying\nbaskets of flowers, which they flung down on the steps to make a\nfragrant carpet for her. They were followed by a band of harpers dressed\nin yellow silken robes, who ranged themselves on each side of the steps\nand played their sweetest music as the queen ascended.\n\nWhen the queen, followed by Enda, entered the palace, they passed\nthrough a crystal hall that led to a banquet-room. The room was lighted\nby a single star, large as a battle-shield. It was fixed against the\nwall above a diamond throne.\n\nThe queen seated herself upon the throne, and the pages, advancing\ntowards her, and bending low, as they approached the steps, handed her\na golden wand.\n\nThe queen waved the wand three times, and a table laden with all kinds\nof delicacies appeared upon the floor. Then she beckoned Enda to her,\nand when he stood beside her the fairy table was no higher than his\nknee.\n\n\"I am afraid I must make you smaller, Enda,\" said the queen, \"or you\nwill never be able to seat yourself at my fairy table.\"\n\nAnd having said this, she touched Enda with the golden wand, and at once\nhe became as small as her tallest page. Then she struck the steps of her\nthrone, and all the nobles of her court, headed by her bards, took their\nplaces at the festive board.\n\nThe feast went on right merrily, and when the tiny jeweled drinking-cups\nwere placed upon the table, the queen ordered the harpers to play.\n\nAnd the little harpers struck the chords, and as Enda listened to the\nmusic it seemed to him as if he was being slowly lifted from his seat,\nand when the music ended the fairies vanished, the shining star went\nout, and Enda was in perfect darkness.\n\nThe air blew keenly in his face, and he knew not where he was. At\nlast he saw a faint gray light, and soon this light grew broader and\nbrighter, and as the shadows fled before it, he could hardly believe his\neyes when he found himself in his curragh on the lake, and the moonlight\nstreaming down from the mountain-tops.\n\nFor a moment he thought he must have been dreaming; but there in the\nboat before him were the crystal helmet, and the water-dress, and the\ngleaming spear, and the golden bowl of perfumed water that was to remove\nthe spell of enchantment from the white swan of the lake, and sailing\ntowards him from the sedgy bank came the snow-white swan; and when she\ntouched the boat, Enda put out his hands and lifted her in, and then\nover her plumage he poured the perfumed water from the golden bowl, and\nthe Princess Mave in all her maiden beauty stood before him.\n\n\"Take your oar, Enda,\" she said, \"and row to the southern bank.\"\n\nEnda seized his oar, and the curragh sped across the waters swifter than\na swallow in its flight. When the boat touched the shore Enda jumped\nout, and lifted the princess on to the bank.\n\n\"Send your boat adrift, Enda,\" she said; \"but first take out your\nshining spear; the water-dress and the crystal helmet will take care of\nthemselves.\"\n\nEnda took out the spear, and then pushed the boat from the bank. It sped\non towards the hut in the middle of the lake; but before it had reached\nhalfway six nymphs sprang up from the water and seizing the helmet and\ndress, sank with them beneath the tide, and the boat went on until it\npushed its prow against the steps of the little hut, where it remained.\n\nThen Enda and the princess turned towards the south, and it was not long\nuntil they came to a deep forest, that was folding up its shadows and\nspreading out its mossy glades before the glancing footsteps of the\nmorning. They had not gone far through the forest when they heard the\nmusic of hounds and the cries of huntsmen, and crashing towards them\nthrough the low branches they saw a fierce wild boar. Enda, gently\npushing the princess behind him, leveled his spear, and when the boar\ncame close to him he drove it into his throat. The brute fell dead at\nhis feet, and the dogs rushing up began to tear it to pieces. The\nprincess fainted at the sight, and while Enda was endeavoring to restore\nher, the king of Erin, followed by his huntsmen, appeared, and when the\nking saw the princess he started in amazement, as he recognized the\nfeatures of his daughter Mave.\n\n[Illustration: \"'I have mourned you as dead, my darling,' said he\"]\n\nAt that moment the princess came to herself, and her father, lifting her\ntenderly in his arms, kissed her again and again.\n\n\"I have mourned you as dead, my darling,\" said he, \"and now you are\nrestored to me more lovely than ever. I would gladly have given up my\nthrone for this. But say who is the champion who has brought you hither,\nand who has slain the wild boar we have hunted so many years in vain?\"\n\nThe princess blushed like a rose as she said:\n\n\"His name is Enda, father; it is he has brought me back to you.\"\n\nThen the king embraced Enda and said:\n\n\"Forgive me, Enda, for asking any questions about you before you have\nshared the hospitality of my court. My palace lies beyond the forest,\nand we shall reach it soon.\"\n\nThen the king ordered his huntsman to sound the bugle-horn, and all his\nnobles galloped up in answer to it, and when they saw the Princess Mave\nthey were so dazzled by her beauty that they scarcely gave a thought to\nthe death of the wild boar.\n\n\"It is my daughter, Mave, come back to me,\" said the king.\n\nAnd all the nobles lowered their lances, and bowed in homage to the\nlady.\n\n\"And there stands the champion who has brought her home,\" said the king,\npointing to Enda.\n\nThe nobles looked at Enda, and bowed courteously, but in their hearts\nthey were jealous of the champion, for they saw he was already a\nfavorite of the king's.\n\nThen the pages came up, leading milk-white steeds with golden bridles,\nand the king, ordering Enda to mount one of them, lifted Mave on to his\nown, and mounted behind her. The pages, carrying the boar's head on a\nhollow shield, preceded by the huntsmen sounding their horns, set out\ntowards the palace, and the royal party followed them.\n\nAs the procession approached the palace crowds came rushing out to see\nthe trophies of the chase, and through the snow-white door the queen,\nMave's cruel stepmother, attended by her maids-of-honor and the royal\nbards, came forth to greet the king. But when she saw seated before him\nthe Princess Mave, who she thought was at the bottom of the lake under a\nspell of enchantment, she uttered a loud cry, and fell senseless to the\nground.\n\nThe king jumped from his horse, and rushing to the queen, lifted her up\nand carried her in his arms to her apartments, for he had no suspicion\nof the wickedness of which she had been guilty.\n\nAnd the court leeches were summoned to attend her, but she died that\nvery night, and it was not until a green mound, worthy of a queen of\nErin, had been raised over her grave that the Princess Mave told her\nfather of the wickedness of her stepmother. And when she told him the\nwhole story of how Enda had broken the spell of enchantment, and of the\ndangers which he had faced for her sake, the king summoned an assembly\nof all his nobles, and seated on his throne, wearing his golden helmet,\nthe bards upon his right hand and the Druids upon his left, and the\nnobles in ranks before him with gleaming helmets and flashing spears,\nhe told them the story of the princess, and of the service which Enda\nhad rendered to her.\n\n\"And now,\" said the king, \"if the princess is willing to take her\ndeliverer for her husband, I am willing that she shall be his bride; and\nif you, my subjects, bards and Druids and nobles and chiefs of Erin,\nhave anything to say against this union, speak. But first, Mave,\" said\nthe king, as he drew the blushing princess to him, \"speak, darling, as\nbecomes the daughter of a king--speak in the presence of the nobles of\nErin, and say if it is your wish to become Enda's bride.\"\n\nThe princess flung her white arms around her father's neck, as she\nmurmured:\n\n\"Father, it was Enda brought me back to you, and before all the princes\nand nobles of Erin I am willing to be his bride.\"\n\nAnd she buried her head upon the king's breast, and as he stroked her\nsilken hair falling to her feet, the bards struck their golden harps,\nbut the sound of the joyous music could hardly drown the murmurs of the\njealous nobles.\n\nWhen the music ceased the king beckoned Enda to him, and was about to\nplace his hand in Mave's when a Druid, whose white beard almost touched\nthe ground, and who had been a favorite of the dead stepmother, and hated\nMave for her sake, stepped forward and said:\n\n\"O king of Erin, never yet has the daughter of a king been freely given\nin marriage to any save a battle champion; and that stripling there has\nnever struck his spear against a warrior's shield.\"\n\nA murmur of approbation rose from the jealous princes, and Congal, the\nbravest of them all, stepped out from the ranks, and said:\n\n\"The Druid speaks the truth, O king! That stripling has never faced a\nbattle champion yet, and, speaking for all the nobles of your land, I\nchallenge him to fight any one of us; and as he is young and unused to\narms, we are willing that the youngest and least experienced amongst us\nshould be set against him.\"\n\nWhen Congal had spoken, the nobles, in approval of his words, struck\ntheir shields with their swords, and the brazen sound ascended to the\nskies.\n\nThe face of the princess, blushing a moment before like a rose, became\nas white as a lily; but the color returned to her cheeks when she heard\nEnda's voice ringing loud and clear.\n\n\"It is true, O king!\" said he, \"that I have never used my spear in\nbattle yet. The Prince Congal has challenged me to meet the youngest and\nleast experienced of the chiefs of Erin. I have risked my life already\nfor your daughter's sake. I would face death a thousand times for the\nchance of winning her for my bride; but I would scorn to claim her hand\nif I dared not meet the boldest battle champion of the nobles of Erin,\nand here before you, O king, and bards, Druids, and nobles, and chiefs\nof Erin, and here, in the presence of the Lady Mave, I challenge the\nboldest of them all.\"\n\nThe king's eyes flashed with joy as he listened to the brave words of\nEnda.\n\n\"It is well,\" said the king; \"the contest shall take place to-morrow on\nthe lawn outside our palace gates; but before our assembly dissolves I\ncall on you, nobles and chiefs of Erin, to name your boldest champion.\"\n\nLoud cries of \"Congal! Congal!\" answered the king's speech.\n\n\"Are you willing, Congal?\" asked the king.\n\n\"Willing, O king!\" answered Congal.\n\n\"It is well,\" said the king. \"We shall all meet again to-night in our\nbanquet-hall.\"\n\nAnd the king, with the Princess Mave on his arm, attended by his bards\nand Druids, entered the palace, and the chiefs and nobles went their\nseveral ways.\n\nAt the feast that night the princess sat beside the king, and Enda\nbeside the princess, and the bards and Druids, nobles and chiefs, took\ntheir places in due order. And the bards sang songs of love and battle,\nand never merrier hours were spent than those which passed away that\nnight in the banquet-hall of Erin's king.\n\nWhen the feast was over Enda retired to his apartment to spend the night\ndreaming of the Princess Mave, and Congal went to his quarters; but not\nto sleep or dream, for the Druid who had provoked the contest came to\nhim bringing his golden wand, and all night long the Druid was weaving\nspells to charm the shield and spear and helmet of Congal, to make them\ninvulnerable in the battle of the morrow.\n\nBut while Enda lay dreaming of the Princess Mave, the little fairy woman\nwho gave him the water-dress, and crystal helmet, and shining spear on\nthe banks of the Boyne, slid into his room, and she placed beside his\ncouch a silver helmet and a silver shield. And she rubbed the helmet,\nand the shield, and the blue blade and haft of his spear with the juice\nof the red rowan berries, and she let a drop fall upon his face and\nhands, and then she slid out as silently as she came.\n\nWhen the morning broke, Enda sprang from his couch, and he could hardly\nbelieve his eyes when he saw the silver shield and helmet. At the sight\nof them he longed for the hour of battle, and he watched with eager gaze\nthe sun climbing the sky; and, after hours of suspense, he heard the\ntrumpet's sound and the clangor of the hollow shields, struck by the\nhard-pointed spears.\n\nPutting on the helmet, and fastening the shield upon his left arm, and\ntaking the spear in his right hand, he stepped out bravely to the fight.\nThe edge of the lawn before the palace gates was ringed by the princes,\nnobles, and chiefs of Erin. And the palace walls were thronged by all\nthe beauties of the Court and all the noble ladies of the land. And on\nhis throne, surrounded by his Druids, his brehons, and his bards, was\nthe king of Erin, and at his feet sat the lovely Lady Mave.\n\nAs Enda stepped out upon the lawn, he saw Congal advancing from the\nranks of the nobles, and the two champions approached each other until\nthey met right in front of the throne.\n\nThen both turned towards the throne, and bowed to the king and the\nPrincess Mave; and then facing each other again, they retired a space,\nand when their spears were poised, ready for battle, the king gave the\nsignal, which was answered by the clang of stricken shields, and Congal\nand Enda launched their gleaming spears. They flashed like lightning\nin the sunlit air, and in a second Congal's had broken against Enda's\nshield; but Enda's, piercing Congal's helmet, hurled him senseless on\nthe plain.\n\nThe nobles and chiefs could hardly realize that in that single second\ntheir boldest champion was overthrown; but when they saw him stretched\nmotionless on the grassy sward, from out their ranks six warriors\nadvanced to where the chieftain lay, and sadly they bore him away upon\ntheir battle-shields, and Enda remained victor upon the field.\n\nAnd then the king's voice rang out clear as the sound of a trumpet in\nthe still morning:\n\n\"Bards and brehons, princes and nobles, and chiefs of Erin, Enda has\nproved himself a battle champion, and who amongst you now will dare\ngainsay his right to claim my daughter for his bride?\"\n\nAnd no answer came.\n\nBut when he summoned Enda to his throne, and placed the lady's hand in\nhis, a cheer arose from the great assembly, that proved that jealousy\nwas extinguished in all hearts, and that all believed that Enda was\nworthy of the winsome bride; and never since that day, although a\nthousand years have passed, was there in all the world a brighter and\ngayer wedding than the wedding of Enda and the Princess Mave.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ENCHANTED CAVE\n\n\nA long, long time ago, Prince Cuglas,[4] master of the hounds to the\nhigh King of Erin, set out from Tara to the chase. As he was leaving the\npalace the light mists were drifting away from the hill-tops, and the\nrays of the morning sun were falling aslant on the _grinan_ or sunny\nbower of the Princess Ailinn. Glancing towards it the prince doffed his\nplumed and jeweled hunting-cap, and the princess answered his salute\nby a wave of her little hand, that was as white as a wild rose in the\nhedges in June, and leaning from her bower, she watched the huntsman\nuntil his tossing plumes were hidden by the green waving branches of\nthe woods.\n\nThe Princess Ailinn was over head and ears in love with Cuglas, and\nCuglas was over head and ears in love with the Princess Ailinn, and he\nbelieved that never was summer morning half as bright, or as sweet, or\nas fair as she. The glimpse which he had just caught of her filled his\nheart with delight, and almost put all thought of hunting out of his\nhead, when suddenly the tuneful cries of the hounds, answered by a\nhundred echoes from the groves, broke upon his ear.\n\nThe dogs had started a dappled deer that bounded away through the\nforest. The prince, spurring his gallant steed, pushed on in eager\npursuit.\n\nOn through the forest sped the deer, through soft, green, secret ways\nand flowery dells, then out from the forest, up heathery hills, and over\nlong stretches of moorland, and across brown rushing streams, sometimes\nin view of the hounds, sometimes lost to sight, but always ahead of\nthem.\n\nAll day long the chase continued, and at last, when the sun was sinking,\nthe dogs were close upon the panting deer, and the prince believed he\nwas about to secure his game, when the deer suddenly disappeared through\nthe mouth of a cave which opened before him. The dogs followed at his\nheels, and the prince endeavored to rein in his steed, but the impetuous\nanimal bore him on, and soon was clattering over the stony floor of the\ncave in perfect darkness. Cuglas could hear ahead of him the cries of\nthe hounds growing fainter and fainter, as they increased the distance\nbetween them and him. Then the cries ceased altogether, and the only\nsound the prince heard was the noise of his horse's hoofs sounding in\nthe hollow cave. Once more he endeavored to check his career, but the\nreins broke in his hands, and in that instant the prince felt the horse\nhad taken a plunge into a gulf, and was sinking down and down, as a\nstone cast from the summit of a cliff sinks down to the sea. At last the\nhorse struck the ground again, and the prince was almost thrown out of\nhis saddle, but he succeeded in regaining his seat. Then on through\nthe darkness galloped the steed, and when he came into the light the\nprince's eyes were for some time unable to bear it. But when he got used\nto the brightness he saw he was galloping over a grassy plain, and in\nthe distance he perceived the hounds rushing towards a wood faintly\nvisible through a luminous summer haze. The prince galloped on, and as\nhe approached the wood he saw coming towards him a comely champion,\nwearing a shining brown cloak, fastened by a bright bronze spear-like\nbrooch, and bearing a white hazel wand in one hand, and a single-edged\nsword with a hilt made from the tooth of a sea-horse in the other;[5]\nand the prince knew by the dress of the champion, and by his wand and\nsword, that he was a royal herald. As the herald came close to him the\nprince's steed stopped of his own accord.\n\n\"You are welcome, Cuglas,\" said the herald, \"and I have been sent by the\nPrincess Crede to greet you and to lead you to her court, where you have\nbeen so long expected.\"\n\n\"I know not how this may be,\" said Cuglas.\n\n\"How it has come about I shall tell you as we go along,\" said the\nherald. \"The Princess Crede is the Queen of the Floating Island. And it\nchanced, once upon a day, when she was visiting her fairy kinsmen, who\ndwell in one of the pleasant hills that lie near Tara, she saw you with\nthe high king and princes and nobles of Erin following the chase. And\nseeing you her heart went out to you, and wishing to bring you to her\ncourt, she sent one of her nymphs, in the form of a deer, to lure you\non through the cave, which is the entrance to this land.\"\n\n\"I am deeply honored by the preference shown me by the princess,\" said\nCuglas, \"but I may not tarry in her court; for above in Erin there is\nthe Lady Ailinn, the loveliest of all the ladies who grace the royal\npalace, and before the princes and chiefs of Erin she has promised to\nbe my bride.\"\n\n\"Of that I know not,\" said the herald; \"but a true champion, like you,\ncannot, I know, refuse to come with me to the court of the Princess\nCrede.\"\n\nAs the herald had said these words the prince and he were on the verge\nof the wood, and they entered upon a mossy pathway that broadened out as\nthey advanced until it was as wide as one of the great roads of Erin.\nBefore they had gone very far the prince heard the tinkling of silver\nbells in the distance, and almost as soon as he heard them he saw\ncoming up towards him a troop of warriors on coal black steeds. All the\nwarriors wore helmets of shining silver, and cloaks of blue silk. And\non the horses' breasts were crescents of silver, on which were hung tiny\nsilver bells, shaking out music with the motion of the horses. As the\nprince approached the champions they lowered their spears, and dividing\nin two lines the prince and the herald passed between the ranks, and the\nchampions, forming again, followed on behind the prince.\n\nAt last they passed through the wood, and they found themselves on a\ngreen plain, speckled with flowers, and they had not gone far when the\nprince saw coming towards him a hundred champions on snow-white steeds,\nand around the breast of the steeds were crescents of gold, from which\nwere hanging little golden bells.[6] The warriors all wore golden\nhelmets, and the shafts of their shining spears were of gold, and golden\nsandals on their feet, and yellow silken mantles fell down over their\nshoulders. And when the prince came near them they lowered their lances,\nand then they turned their horses' heads around and marched before him.\nAnd it was not long until above the pleasant jingle of the bells the\nprince heard the measured strains of music, and he saw coming towards\nhim a band of harpers, dressed in green and gold, and when the harpers\nhad saluted the prince they marched in front of the cavalcade, playing\nall the time, and it was not long until they came to a stream that ran\nlike a blue riband around the foot of a green hill, on the top of which\nwas a sparkling palace; the stream was crossed by a golden bridge, so\nnarrow that the horsemen had to go two-by-two. The herald asked the\nprince to halt and to allow all the champions to go before him; and the\ncavalcade ascended the hill, the sunlight brightly glancing on helmet\nand on lance, and when it reached the palace the horsemen filed around\nthe walls.\n\nWhen at length the prince and herald crossed the bridge and began\nto climb the hill, the prince thought he felt the ground moving under\nthem, and on looking back he could see no sign of the golden bridge,\nand the blue stream had already become as wide as a great river, and\nwas becoming wider every second.\n\n\"You are on the floating island now,\" said the herald, \"and before you\nis the palace of the Princess Crede.\"\n\nAt that moment the queen came out through the palace door, and the\nprince was so dazzled by her beauty, that only for the golden bracelet\nhe wore upon his right arm, under the sleeve of his silken tunic, he\nmight almost have forgotten the Princess Ailinn. This bracelet was made\nby the dwarfs who dwell in the heart of the Scandinavian Mountains, and\nwas sent with other costly presents by the King of Scandinavia to the\nKing of Erin, and he gave it to the princess, and it was the virtue of\nthis bracelet, that whoever was wearing it could not forget the person\nwho gave it to him, and it could never be loosened from the arm by any\nart or magic spell; but if the wearer, even for a single moment, liked\nanyone better than the person who gave it to him, that very moment the\nbracelet fell off from the arm and could never again be fastened on. And\nwhen the princess promised her hand in marriage to the Prince Cuglas,\nshe closed the bracelet on his arm.\n\nThe fairy queen knew nothing about the bracelet, and she hoped that\nbefore the prince was long in the floating island he would forget all\nabout the princess.\n\n\"You are welcome, Cuglas,\" said the queen, as she held out her hand, and\nCuglas, having thanked her for her welcome, they entered the palace\ntogether.\n\n\"You must be weary after your long journey,\" said the queen. \"My page\nwill lead you to your apartments, where a bath of the cool blue waters\nof the lake has been made ready for you, and when you have taken your\nbath the pages will lead you to the banquet hall, where the feast is\nspread.\"\n\nAt the feast the prince was seated beside the queen, and she talked to\nhim of all the pleasures that were in store for him in fairyland, where\npain, and sickness, and sorrow, and old age, are unknown, and where\nevery rosy hour that flies is brighter than the one that has fled before\nit. And when the feast was ended the queen opened the dance with the\nprince, and it was not until the moon was high above the floating island\nthat the prince retired to rest.\n\nHe was so tired after his journey and the dancing that he fell into\na sound sleep. When he awoke the next morning the sun was shining\nbrightly, and he heard outside the palace the jingle of bells and the\nmusic of baying hounds, and his heart was stirred by memories of the\nmany pleasant days on which he had led the chase over the plains and\nthrough the green woods of Tara.\n\nHe looked out through the window, and he saw all the fairy champions\nmounted on their steeds ready for the chase, and at their head the fairy\nqueen. And at that moment the pages came to say the queen wished to know\nif he would join them, and the prince went out and found his steed ready\nsaddled and bridled, and they spent the day hunting in the forest that\nstretched away for miles behind the palace, and the night in feasting\nand dancing.\n\nWhen the prince awoke the following morning he was summoned by the pages\nto the presence of the queen. The prince found the queen on the lawn\noutside the palace surrounded by her court.\n\n\"We shall go on the lake to-day, Cuglas,\" said the queen, and taking his\narm she led him along the water's edge, all the courtiers following.\n\n[Illustration: \"The queen wished to know if he would join them\"]\n\nWhen she was close to the water she waved her wand, and in a second a\nthousand boats, shining like glass, shot up from beneath the lake and\nset their bows against the bank. The queen and Cuglas stepped into one,\nand when they were seated two fairy harpers took their places in the\nprow. All the other boats were soon thronged by fairies, and then the\nqueen waved her wand again, and an awning of purple silk rose over the\nboat, and silken awnings of various colors over the others, and the\nroyal boat moved off from the bank followed by all the rest, and in\nevery boat sat a harper with a golden harp, and when the queen waved her\nwand for the third time, the harpers struck the trembling chords, and to\nthe sound of the delightful music the boats glided over the sunlit lake.\nAnd on they went until they approached the mouth of a gentle river\nsliding down between banks clad with trees. Up the river, close to the\nbank and under the drooping trees, they sailed, and when they came to\na bend in the river, from which the lake could be no longer seen, they\npushed their prows in against the bank, and the queen and Cuglas, and\nall the party, left the boats and went on under the trees until they\ncame to a mossy glade.\n\nThen the queen waved her wand, and silken couches were spread under the\ntrees, and she and Cuglas sat on one apart from the others, and the\ncourtiers took their places in proper order.\n\nAnd the queen waved her wand again, and wind shook the trees above them,\nand the most luscious fruit that was ever tasted fell down into their\nhands; and when the feast was over there was dancing in the glades to\nthe music of the harps, and when they were tired dancing they set out\nfor the boats, and the moon was rising above the trees as they sailed\naway over the lake, and it was not long until they reached the bank\nbelow the fairy palace.\n\nWell, between hunting in the forest, and sailing over the lake, and\ndancing in the greenwood glade and in the banquet hall, the days passed,\nbut all the time the prince was thinking of the Princess Ailinn, and one\nmoonlit night, when he was lying awake on his couch thinking of her, a\nshadow was suddenly cast on the floor.\n\nThe prince looked towards the window, and what should he see sitting\non the sill outside but a little woman tapping the pane with a golden\nbodkin.\n\nThe prince jumped from his couch and opened the window, and the little\nwoman floated on the moonbeams into the room and sat down on the floor.\n\n\"You are thinking of the Princess Ailinn,\" said the little woman.\n\n\"I never think of anyone else,\" said the prince.\n\n\"I know that,\" said the little woman, \"and it's because of your love for\neach other, and because her mother was a friend to me in the days gone\nby, that I have come here to try and help you; but there is not much\ntime for talking, the night advances. At the bank below a boat awaits\nyou. Step into it and it will lead you to the mainland, and when you\nreach it you will find before you a path that will take you to the green\nfields of Erin and the plains of Tara. I know you will have to face\ndanger. I know not what kind of danger; but whatever it may be do not\ndraw your sword before you tread upon the mainland, for if you do you\nshall never reach it, and the boat will come back again to the floating\nisland; and now go and may luck go with you;\" and saying this the little\nwoman climbed up the moonbeams and disappeared.\n\nThe prince left the palace and descended to the lake, and there before\nhim he saw a glistening boat; he stepped into it, and the boat went on\nand on beneath the moon, and at last he saw the mainland, and he could\ntrace a winding pathway going away from the shore. The sight filled his\nheart with joy, but suddenly the milk-white moonshine died away, and\nlooking up to the sky he saw the moon turning fiery red, and the waters\nof the lake, shining like silver a moment before, took a blood-red hue,\nand a wind arose that stirred the waters, and they leaped up against the\nlittle boat, tossing it from side to side. While Cuglas was wondering\nat the change, he heard a strange, unearthly noise ahead of him, and\na bristling monster, lifting its claws above the water, in a moment\nwas beside the boat and stuck one of his claws in the left arm of the\nprince, and pierced the flesh to the bone. Maddened by the pain the\nprince drew his sword and chopped off the monster's claw. The monster\ndisappeared beneath the lake, and, as it did so, the color of the water\nchanged, and the silver moonlight shone down from the sky again, but the\nboat no longer went on towards the mainland, but sped back towards the\nfloating island, while forth from the island came a fleet of fairy boats\nto meet it, led by the shallop of the fairy queen. The queen greeted the\nprince as if she knew not of his attempted flight, and to the music of\nthe harps the fleet returned to the palace.\n\nThe next day passed and the night came, and again the prince was lying\non the couch, thinking of the Princess Ailinn, and again he saw the\nshadow on the floor and heard the tapping against the window.\n\nAnd when he opened it the little woman slid into the room.\n\n\"You failed last night,\" she said, \"but I come to give you another\nchance. To-morrow the queen must set out on a visit to her fairy\nkinsmen, who dwell in the green hill near the plain of Tara; she cannot\ntake you with her, for if your feet once touched the green grass that\ngrows in the fruitful fields of Erin, she could never bring you back\nagain. And so, when you find she has left the palace, go at once into\nthe banquet hall and look behind the throne, and you will see a small\ndoor let down into the ground. Pull this up and descend the steps which\nyou will see. Where they lead to I cannot tell. What dangers may be\nbefore you I do not know; but this I know, if you accept anything, no\nmatter what it is, from anyone you may meet on your way, you shall not\nset foot on the soil of Erin.\"\n\nAnd having said this the little woman, rising from the floor, floated\nout through the window.\n\nThe prince returned to his couch, and the next morning, as soon as he\nheard the queen had left the palace, he hastened to the banquet hall.\nHe discovered the door and descended the steps, and he found himself\nin a gloomy and lonesome valley. Jagged mountains, black as night, rose\non either side, and huge rocks seemed ready to topple down upon him at\nevery step. Through broken clouds a watery moon shed a faint, fitful\nlight, that came and went as the clouds, driven by a moaning wind,\npassed over the valley.\n\nCuglas, nothing daunted, pushed on boldly until a bank of cloud shut out\ncompletely the struggling moon, and closing over the valley covered it\nlike a pall, leaving him in perfect darkness. At the same moment the\nmoaning wind died away, and with it died away all sound. The darkness\nand the deathlike silence sent an icy chill to the heart of Cuglas. He\nheld his hand close to his eyes, but he saw it not. He shouted that he\nmight hear the sound of his own voice, but he heard it not. He stamped\nhis foot on the rocky ground, but no sound was returned to him. He\nrattled his sword in its brazen scabbard, but it gave no answer back\nto him. His heart grew colder and colder, when suddenly the cloud above\nhim was rent in a dozen places, and lightning flashed through the\nvalley, and the thunder rolled over the echoing mountains. In the lurid\nglare of the lightning Cuglas saw a hundred ghostly forms sweeping\ntowards him, uttering as they came nearer and nearer shrieks so terrible\nthat the silence of death could more easily be borne. Cuglas turned to\nescape, but they hemmed him round, and pressed their clammy hands upon\nhis face.\n\nWith a yell of horror he drew his sword and slashed about him, and that\nvery moment the forms vanished, the thunder ceased, the dark cloud\npassed, and the sun shone out as bright as on a summer day, and then\nCuglas knew the forms he had seen were those of the wild people of the\nglen.[7]\n\nWith renewed courage he pursued his way through the valley, and after\nthree or four windings it took him out upon a sandy desert. He had no\nsooner set foot upon the desert than he heard behind him a crashing\nsound louder than thunder. He looked around, and he saw that the walls\nof mountain through which he had just passed had fallen into the valley,\nand filled it up so that he could no longer tell where it had been.\n\nThe sun was beating fiercely on the desert, and the sands were almost as\nhot as burning cinders; and as Cuglas advanced over them his body became\ndried up, and his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth, and when his\nthirst was at its height a fountain of sparkling water sprang up in the\nburning plain a few paces in front of him; but when he came up quite\nclose to it and stretched out his parched hands to cool them in the\nlimpid waters, the fountain vanished as suddenly as it appeared. With\ngreat pain, and almost choking with heat and thirst, he struggled on,\nand again the fountain sprang up in front of him and moved before him,\nalmost within his reach. At last he came to the end of the desert, and\nhe saw a green hill up which a pathway climbed; but as he came to the\nfoot of the hill, there, sitting right in his way, was a beautiful fairy\nholding out towards him a crystal cup, over the rim of which flowed\nwater as clear as crystal. Unable to resist the temptation, the prince\nseized the cold, bright goblet, and drank the water. When he did so his\nthirst vanished, but the fairy, and the green hill, and the burning\ndesert disappeared, and he was standing in the forest behind the palace\nof the fairy queen.\n\nThat evening the queen returned, and at the feast she talked as gaily\nto the prince as if she knew not of his attempt to leave the Floating\nIsland, and the prince spoke as gaily as he could to her, although in\nhis heart there was sadness when he remembered that if he had only\ndashed away the crystal cup, he would be at that moment in the royal\nbanquet hall of Tara, sitting beside the Princess Ailinn.\n\nAnd he thought the feast would never end; but it was over at last, and\nthe prince returned to his apartments. And that night, as he lay on his\ncouch, he kept his eyes fixed upon the window; but hours passed, and\nthere was no sign of anyone. At long last, and when he had given up all\nhope of seeing her, he heard a tapping at the window, and he got up and\nopened it, and the little woman came in.\n\n\"You failed again to-day,\" said she--\"failed just at the very moment\nwhen you were about to step on the green hills of Erin. I can give you\nonly one chance more. It will be your last. The queen will go hunting\nin the morning. Join the hunt, and when you are separated from the rest\nof the party in the wood throw your reins upon your horse's neck and he\nwill lead you to the edge of the lake. Then cast this golden bodkin into\nthe lake in the direction of the mainland, and a golden bridge will be\nthrown across, over which you can pass safely to the fields of Erin;\nbut take care and do not draw your sword, for if you do your steed will\nbear you back again to the Floating Island, and here you must remain\nforever.\" Then handing the bodkin to the prince, and saying good-by,\nthe little woman disappeared.\n\nThe next morning the queen and the prince and all the court went out\nto hunt, and a fleet white deer started out before them, and the royal\nparty pressed after him in pursuit. The prince's steed outstripped the\nothers, and when he was alone the prince flung the reins upon his\nhorse's neck, and before long he came to the edge of the lake.\n\nThen the prince cast the bodkin on to the water, and a golden bridge was\nthrown across to the mainland, and the horse galloped on to it, and when\nthe prince was more than halfway he saw riding towards him a champion\nwearing a silver helmet, and carrying on his left arm a silver shield,\nand holding in his right hand a gleaming sword. As he came nearer he\nstruck his shield with his sword and challenged the prince to battle.\nThe prince's sword almost leaped out of its scabbard at the martial\nsound, and, like a true knight of Tara, he dashed against his foe, and\nswinging his sword above his head, with one blow he clove the silver\nhelmet, and the strange warrior reeled from his horse and fell upon the\ngolden bridge. The prince, content with this achievement, spurred his\nhorse to pass the fallen champion, but the horse refused to stir, and\nthe bridge broke in two almost at his feet, and the part of it between\nhim and the mainland disappeared beneath the lake, carrying with it the\nhorse and the body of the champion, and before the prince could recover\nfrom his surprise, his steed wheeled round and was galloping back, and\nwhen he reached the land he rushed through the forest, and the prince\nwas not able to pull him up until he came to the palace door.\n\nAll that night the prince lay awake on his couch with his eyes fixed\nupon the window, but no shadow fell upon the floor, and there was no\ntapping at the pane, and with a heavy heart he joined the hunting party\nin the morning. And day followed day, and his heart was sadder and\nsadder, and found no pleasure in the joys and delights of fairyland. And\nwhen all in the palace were at rest he used to roam through the forest,\nalways thinking of the Princess Ailinn, and hoping against hope that the\nlittle woman would come again to him, but at last he began to despair of\never seeing her. It chanced one night he rambled so far that he found\nhimself on the verge of the lake, at the very spot from which the golden\nbridge had been thrown across the waters, and as he gazed wistfully upon\nthem a boat shot up and came swiftly to the bank, and who should he see\nsitting in the stern but the little woman.\n\n\"Ah, Cuglas, Cuglas,\" she said, \"I gave you three chances, and you\nfailed in all of them.\"\n\n\"I should have borne the pain inflicted by the monster's claw,\" said\nCuglas. \"I should have borne the thirst on the sandy desert, and dashed\nthe crystal cup untasted from the fairy's hand; but I could never have\nfaced the nobles and chiefs of Erin if I had refused to meet the\nchallenge of the battle champion on the golden bridge.\"\n\n\"And you would have been no true knight of Erin, and you would not have\nbeen worthy of the wee girl who loves you, the bonny Princess Ailinn, if\nyou had refused to meet it,\" said the little woman; \"but for all that\nyou can never return to the fair hills of Erin. But cheer up, Cuglas,\nthere are mossy ways and forest paths and nestling bowers in fairyland.\nLonely they are, I know, in your eyes now,\" said the little woman; \"but\nmaybe,\" she added, with a laugh as musical as the ripple on a streamlet\nwhen summer is in the air, \"maybe you won't always think them so\nlonely.\"\n\n\"You think I'll forget Ailinn for the fairy queen,\" said Cuglas, with a\nsigh.\n\n\"I don't think anything of the kind,\" said she.\n\n\"Then what do you mean?\" said the prince.\n\n\"Oh, I mean what I mean,\" said the little woman. \"But I can't stop here\nall night talking to you: and, indeed, it is in your bed you ought to\nbe yourself. So now good-night; and I have no more to say, except that\nperhaps, if you happen to be here this night week at this very hour,\nwhen the moon will be on the waters, you will see---- But no matter what\nyou will see,\" said she; \"I must be off.\"\n\nAnd before the prince could say another word the boat sped away from the\nbank, and he was alone. He went back to the palace, and he fell asleep\nthat night only to dream of the Princess Ailinn.\n\nAs for the princess, she was pining away in the palace of Tara, the\ncolor had fled from her cheeks, and her eyes, which had been once so\nbright they would have lighted darkness like a star, lost nearly all\ntheir luster, and the king's leeches could do nothing for her, and at\nlast they gave up all hope, and the king and queen of Erin and the\nladies of the court watched her couch by night and by day sadly waiting\nfor her last hour.\n\nAt length one day, when the sun was shining brightly over Tara's plain,\nand its light, softened by the intervening curtains, was falling in the\nsick chamber, the royal watchers noticed a sweet change coming over the\nface of the princess; the bloom of love and youth were flushing on her\ncheeks, and from her eyes shone out the old, soft, tender light, and\nthey began to hope she was about to be restored to them, when suddenly\nthe room was in darkness as if the night had swept across the sky, and\nblotted out the sun. Then they heard the sound of fairy music, and over\nthe couch where the princess lay they beheld a gleam of golden light,\nbut only for a moment; and again there was perfect darkness, and the\nfairy music ceased. Then, as suddenly as it came the darkness vanished,\nthe softened sunlight once more filled the chamber, and rested upon the\ncouch; but the couch was empty, and the royal watchers, looking at each\nother, said in whispers: \"The fairies have carried away the Princess\nAilinn to fairyland.\"\n\nWell, that very day the prince roamed by himself through the forest,\ncounting the hours until the day would fade in the sky and the moon come\nclimbing up, and at last, when it was shining full above the waters, he\nwent down to the verge of the lake, and he looked out over the gleaming\nsurface watching for the vision promised by the little woman. But he\ncould see nothing, and was about to turn away when he heard the faint\nsound of fairy music. He listened and listened, and the sound came\nnearer and clearer, and away in the distance, like drops of glistening\nwater breaking the level of the lake, he saw a fleet of fairy boats, and\nhe thought it was the fairy queen sailing in the moonlight. And it was\nthe fairy queen, and soon he was able to recognize the royal shallop\nleading the others, and as it came close to the bank he saw the little\nwoman sitting in the prow between the little harpers, and at the stern\nwas the fairy queen, and by her side the lady of his heart, the Princess\nAilinn. In a second the boat was against the bank, and the princess in\nhis arms. And he kissed her again and again.\n\n\"And have you never a kiss for me?\" said the little woman, tapping his\nhand with the little gold bodkin.\n\n\"A kiss and a dozen,\" said Cuglas, as he caught the little fairy up in\nhis arms.\n\n\"Oh, fie, Cuglas,\" said the queen.\n\n\"Oh, the princess isn't one bit jealous,\" said the little woman. \"Are\nyou, Ailinn?\"\n\n\"Indeed I am not,\" said Ailinn.\n\n\"And you should not be,\" said the fairy queen, \"for never lady yet had\ntruer knight than Cuglas. I loved him, and I love him dearly. I lured\nhim here hoping that in the delights of fairyland he might forget you.\nIt was all in vain. I know now that there is one thing no fairy power\nabove or below the stars, or beneath the waters, can ever subdue, and\nthat is love. And here together forever shall you and Cuglas dwell,\nwhere old age shall never come upon you, and where pain or sorrow or\nsickness is unknown.\"\n\nAnd Cuglas never returned to the fair hills of Erin, and ages passed\naway since the morning he followed the hounds into the fatal cave, but\nhis story was remembered by the firesides, and sometimes, even yet,\nthe herdboy watching his cattle in the fields hears the tuneful cry of\nhounds, and follows it till it leads him to a darksome cave, and as\nfearfully he listens to the sound becoming fainter and fainter he hears\nthe clatter of hoofs over the stony floor, and to this day the cave\nbears the name of the prince who entered it never to return.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: _Uaimh Bealach Conglais_, the cave of the road of\nCuglas--now Baltinglass--in the County Wicklow.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE HUNTSMAN'S SON\n\n\nA long, long time ago there lived in a little hut on the borders of a\ngreat forest a huntsman and his wife and son. From his earliest years\nthe boy, whose name was Fergus, used to hunt with his father in the\nforest, and he grew up strong and active, sure and swift-footed as a\ndeer, and as free and fearless as the wind. He was tall and handsome; as\nsupple as a mountain ash, his lips were as red as its berries; his eyes\nwere as blue as the skies in spring; and his hair fell down over his\nshoulders like a shower of gold. His heart was as light as a bird's,\nand no bird was fonder of green woods and waving branches. He had lived\nsince his birth in the hut in the forest, and had never wished to leave\nit, until one winter night a wandering minstrel sought shelter there,\nand paid for his night's lodging with songs of love and battle. Ever\nsince that night Fergus pined for another life. He no longer found joy\nin the music of the hounds or in the cries of the huntsmen in forest\nglades. He yearned for the chance of battle, and the clang of shields,\nand the fierce shouts of fighting warriors, and he spent all his spare\nhours practicing on the harp and learning the use of arms, for in those\ndays the bravest warriors were also bards. In this way the spring and\nsummer and autumn passed; and when the winter came again it chanced that\non a stormy night, when thunder was rattling through the forest, smiting\nthe huge oaks and hurling them crashing to the earth, Fergus lay awake\nthinking of his present lot, and wondering what the future might have in\nstore for him. The lightning was playing around the hut, and every now\nand then a flash brightened up the interior.\n\nAfter a peal, louder than any which had preceded it, Fergus heard three\nloud knocks at the door. He called out to his parents that someone was\nknocking.\n\n\"If that is so,\" said his father, \"open at once; this is no night to\nkeep a poor wanderer outside our door.\"\n\nFergus did as he was bidden, and as he opened the door a flash of\nlightning showed him, standing at the threshold, a little wizened old\nman with a small harp under his arm.\n\n\"Come in, and welcome,\" said Fergus, and the little man stepped into\nthe room.\n\n\"It is a wild night, neighbors,\" said he.\n\n\"It is, indeed, a wild night,\" said the huntsman and his wife, who had\ngot up and dressed themselves; \"and sorry we are we have no better\nshelter or better fare to offer you, but we give you the best we have.\"\n\n\"A king cannot do more than his best,\" said the little man.\n\nThe huntsman's wife lit the fire, and soon the pine logs flashed up into\na blaze, and made the hut bright and warm. She then brought forth a\npeggin of milk and a cake of barley-bread.\n\n\"You must be hungry, sir,\" she said.\n\n\"Hungry I am,\" said he; \"but I wouldn't ask for better fare than this if\nI were in the king's palace.\"\n\n\"Thank you kindly, sir,\" said she, \"and I hope you will eat enough, and\nthat it will do you good.\"\n\n\"And while you are eating your supper,\" said the huntsman, \"I'll make\nyou a bed of fresh rushes.\"\n\n\"Don't put yourself to that trouble,\" said the little man. \"When I have\ndone my supper I'll lie down here by the fire, if it is pleasing to you,\nand I'll sleep like a top until morning. And now go back to your beds\nand leave me to myself, and maybe some time when you won't be expecting\nit I'll do a good turn for your kindness to the poor wayfarer.\"\n\n\"Oh, it's no kindness at all,\" said the huntsman's wife. \"It would be\na queer thing if an Irish cabin would not give shelter and welcome in\na wild night like this. So good night, now, and we hope you will sleep\nwell.\"\n\n\"Good night,\" said the little man, \"and may you and yours never sup\nsorrow until your dying day.\"\n\nThe huntsman and his wife and Fergus then went back to their beds, and\nthe little man, having finished his supper, curled himself up by the\nfire, and was soon fast asleep.\n\nAbout an hour after a loud clap of thunder awakened Fergus, and before\nit had died away he heard three knocks at the door. He aroused his parents\nand told them.\n\n\"Get up at once,\" said his mother, \"this is no night to keep a stranger\noutside our door.\"\n\nFergus rose and opened the door, and a flash of lightning showed him a\nlittle old woman, with a shuttle in her hand, standing outside.\n\n\"Come in, and welcome,\" said he, and the little old woman stepped into\nthe room.\n\n\"Blessings be on them who give welcome to a wanderer on a wild night\nlike this,\" said the old woman.\n\n\"And who wouldn't give welcome on a night like this?\" said the\nhuntsman's wife, coming forward with a peggin of milk and a barley cake\nin her hand, \"and sorry we are we have not better fare to offer you.\"\n\n\"Enough is as good as a feast,\" said the little woman, \"and now go back\nto your beds and leave me to myself.\"\n\n\"Not till I shake down a bed of rushes for you,\" said the huntsman's\nwife.\n\n\"Don't mind the rushes,\" said the little woman; \"go back to your beds.\nI'll sleep here by the fire.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"Fergus knew it was the Pooka, the wild horse of the\nmountains\"]\n\nThe huntsman's wife went to bed, and the little old woman, having eaten\nher supper, lay down by the fire, and was soon fast asleep.\n\nAbout an hour later another clap of thunder startled Fergus. Again he\nheard three knocks at the door. He roused his parents, but he did not\nwait for orders from them. He opened the door, and a flash of lightning\nshowed him outside the threshold a low-sized, shaggy, wild-looking\nhorse. And Fergus knew it was the Pooka, the wild horse of the\nmountains. Bold as Fergus was, his heart beat quickly as he saw fire\nissuing from the Pooka's nostrils. But, banishing fear, he cried out:\n\n\"Come in, and welcome.\"\n\n\"Welcome you are,\" said the huntsman, \"and sorry we are that we have not\nbetter shelter or fare to offer you.\"\n\n\"I couldn't wish a better welcome,\" said the Pooka, as he came over near\nthe fire and sat down on his haunches.\n\n\"Maybe you would like a little bit of this, Master Pooka,\" said the\nhuntsman's wife, as she offered him a barley cake.\n\n\"I never tasted anything sweeter in my life,\" said the Pooka, crunching\nit between his teeth, \"and now if you can give me a sup of milk, I'll\nwant for nothing.\"\n\nThe huntsman's wife brought him a peggin of milk. When he had drunk it,\n\"Now,\" says the Pooka, \"go back to your beds, and I'll curl myself up by\nthe fire and sleep like a top till morning.\"\n\nAnd soon everybody in the hut was fast asleep.\n\nWhen the morning came the storm had gone, and the sun was shining\nthrough the windows of the hut. At the song of the lark Fergus got up,\nand no one in the world was ever more surprised than he when he saw no\nsign of the little old man, or the little old woman, or the wild horse\nof the mountains. His parents were also surprised, and they all thought\nthat they must have been dreaming until they saw the empty peggins\naround the fire and some pieces of broken bread; and they did not know\nwhat to think of it all.\n\nFrom that day forward the desire grew stronger in the heart of Fergus\nfor a change of life; and one day he told his parents that he was\nresolved to seek his fortune. He said he wished to be a soldier, and that\nhe would set out for the king's palace, and try to join the ranks of the\nFeni.\n\nAbout a week afterwards he took leave of his parents, and having\nreceived their blessing he struck out for the road that led to the\npalace of the High King of Erin. He arrived there just at the time when\nthe great captain of the Fenian host was recruiting his battalions,\nwhich had been thinned in recent battle.\n\nThe manly figure of Fergus, his gallant bearing, and handsome face, all\ntold in his favor. But before he could be received into the Fenian ranks\nhe had to prove that he could play the harp like a bard, that he could\ncontend with staff and shield against nine Fenian warriors, that he\ncould run with plaited hair through the tangled forest without loosening\na single hair, and that in his course he could jump over trees as high\nas his head, and stoop under trees as low as his knee, and that he could\nrun so lightly that the rotten twigs should not break under his feet.\nFergus proved equal to all the tests, thanks to the wandering minstrel\nwho taught him the use of the harp, to his own brave heart, and to his\nforest training. He was enrolled in the second battalion of the Feni,\nand before long he was its bravest and ablest champion.\n\nAt that very time it happened that the niece of the High King of\nErin was staying with the king and queen in their palace at Tara. The\nprincess was the loveliest lady in all the land. She was as proud as\nshe was beautiful. The princes and chieftains of Erin in vain sought her\nhand in marriage. From Alba and Spain, and the far-off isles of Greece,\nkings came to woo her. From the northern lands came vikings in stately\ngalleys with brazen prows, whose oarsmen tore the white foam from the\nemerald seas as they swept towards the Irish coasts. But the lady had\nvowed she would wed with no one except a battle champion who could excel\nin music the chief bard of the High King of Erin; who could outstrip on\nhis steed in the great race of Tara the white steed of the plains; and\nwho could give her as a wedding robe a garment of all the colors of the\nrainbow, so finely spun that when folded up it would fit in the palm of\nher small white hand. To fulfill these three conditions was impossible\nfor all her suitors, and it seemed as if the loveliest lady of the land\nwould go unmarried to her grave.\n\nIt chanced that once, on a day when the Fenian battalions were engaged\nin a hurling-match, Fergus beheld the lady watching the match from her\nsunny bower. He no sooner saw her than he fell over head and ears in\nlove with her, and he thought of her by night, and he thought of her by\nday, and believing that his love was hopeless, he often wished he had\nnever left his forest-home.\n\nThe great fair of Tara[8] was coming on, and all the Feni were busy from\nmorning till night practicing feats of arms and games, in order to take\npart in the contests to be held during the fair. And Fergus, knowing\nthat the princess would be present, determined to do his best to win the\nprizes which were to be contended for before the ladies' eyes.\n\nThe fair began on the 1st of August, but for a whole week before the\nfive great roads of Erin were thronged with people of all sorts. Princes\nand warriors on their steeds, battle champions in their chariots,\nharpers in hundreds, smiths with gleaming spears and shields and\nharness for battle steeds and chariots; troops of men and boys leading\nracehorses; jewelers with gold drinking-horns, and brooches, and pins,\nand earrings, and costly gems of all kinds, and chessboards of silver\nand gold, and golden and silver chessmen in bags of woven brass; dyers\nwith their many-colored fabrics; bands of jugglers; drovers goading on\nherds of cattle; shepherds driving their sheep; huntsmen with spoils\nof the chase; dwellers in the lakes or by the fish-abounding rivers\nwith salmon and speckled trout; and countless numbers of peasants on\nhorseback and on foot, all wending their way to the great meeting-place\nby the mound, which a thousand years before had been raised over the\ngrave of the great queen. For there the fair was to be held.\n\nOn the opening day the High King, attended by the four kings of Erin,\nset out from the palace, and with them went the queen and the ladies of\nthe court in sparkling chariots. The princess rode in the chariot with\nthe High Queen, under an awning made of the wings of birds, to protect\nthem from the rays of the sun. Following the queen were the court ladies\nin other chariots, under awnings of purple or of yellow silk. Then came\nthe brehons, the great judges of the land, and the chief bards of the\nhigh court of Tara, and the Druids, crowned with oak leaves, and\ncarrying wands of divination in their hands.\n\nWhen the royal party reached the ground it took its place in inclosures\nright up against the monumental mound. The High King sat with the four\nkings of Erin, all wearing their golden helmets, for they wore their\ndiadems in battle only. In an inclosure next the king's sat the queen\nand the princess and all the ladies of the court. At either side of the\nroyal pavilions were others for the dames and ladies and nobles and\nchiefs of different degrees, forming part of a circle on the plain, and\nthe stands and benches for the people were so arranged as to complete\nthe circle, and in the round green space within it, so that all might\nhear and see, the contests were to take place.\n\nAt a signal from the king, who was greeted with a thunderous cheer, the\nheralds rode round the circle, and having struck their sounding shields\nthree times with their swords, they made a solemn proclamation of peace.\nThen was sung by all the assembled bards, to the accompaniment of their\nharps, the chant in honor of the mighty dead. When this was ended, again\nthe heralds struck their shields, and the contests began. The first\ncontest was the contest of spear-throwing between the champions of the\nseven battalions of the Feni. When the seven champions took their places\nin front of the royal inclosure, everyone, even the proud princess, was\nstruck by the manly beauty and noble bearing of Fergus.\n\nThe champions poised their spears, and at a stroke from the heralds upon\ntheir shields the seven spears sped flashing through the air. They all\nstruck the ground, shafts up, and it was seen that two were standing\nside by side in advance of the rest, one belonged to Fergus, the other\nto the great chief, Oscar. The contest for the prize then lay between\nOscar and Fergus, and when they stood in front of the king, holding\ntheir spears aloft, every heart was throbbing with excitement. Once more\nthe heralds struck their shields, and, swifter than the lightning's\nflash, forth went the spears, and when Fergus's spear was seen shivering\nin the ground a full length ahead of the great chief Oscar's, the air was\nshaken by a wild cheer that was heard far beyond the plains of Tara. And\nas Fergus approached the high king to receive the prize the cheers were\nrenewed. But Fergus thought more of the winsome glance of the princess\nthan he did of the prize or the sounding cheers. And Princess Maureen\nwas almost sorry for her vow, for her heart was touched by the beauty\nof the Fenian champion.\n\nOther contests followed, and the day passed, and the night fell, and\nwhile the Fenian warriors were reveling in their camps the heart of\nFergus, victor as he was, was sad and low. He escaped from his\ncompanions, and stole away to his native forest, for--\n\n  \"When the heart is sick and sorest,\n   There is balsam in the forest--\n   There is balsam in the forest\n                       For its pain.\"\n\n\nAnd as he lay under the spreading branches, watching the stars glancing\nthrough the leaves, and listening to the slumb'rous murmur of the\nwaters, a strange peace came over him.\n\nBut in the camp which he had left, and in the vast multitude on the plains\nof Tara, there was stir and revelry, and babbling speculation as to the\ncontest of to-morrow--the contest which was to decide whether the chief\nbard of Erin was to hold his own against all comers, or yield the palm.\nFor rumor said that a great Skald had come from the northern lands to\ncompete with the Irish bard.\n\nAt last, over the Fenian camp, and over the great plain and the\nmultitude that thronged it, sleep fell, clothing them with a silence as\ndeep as that which dwelt in the forest, where, dreaming of the princess,\nFergus lay. He awoke at the first notes of the birds, but though he felt\nhe ought to go back to his companions and be witness of the contest\nwhich might determine whether the princess was to be another's bride,\nhis great love and his utter despair of winning her so oppressed him\nthat he lay as motionless as a broken reed. He scarcely heard the music\nof the birds, and paid no heed to the murmur of the brook rushing by his\nfeet. The crackling of branches near him barely disturbed him, but when\na shadow fell across his eyes he looked up gloomily, and saw, or thought\nhe saw, someone standing before him. He started up, and who should he see\nbut the little wizened old man who found shelter in his father's hut on\nthe stormy night.\n\n\"This is a nice place for a battle champion to be. This is a nice place\nfor _you_ to be on the day which is to decide who will be the successful\nsuitor of the princess.\"\n\n\"What is it to me,\" said Fergus, \"who is to win her since I cannot?\"\n\n\"I told you,\" said the little man, \"the night you opened the door for\nme, that the time might come when I might be able to do a good turn for\nyou and yours. The time has come. Take this harp, and my luck go with\nyou, and in the contest of the bards to-day you'll reap the reward of\nthe kindness you did when you opened your door to the poor old wayfarer\nin the midnight storm.\"\n\nThe little man handed his harp to Fergus and disappeared as swiftly as\nthe wind that passes through the leaves.\n\nFergus, concealing the harp under his silken cloak, reached the camp\nbefore his comrades had aroused themselves from sleep.\n\nAt length the hour arrived when the great contest was to take place.\n\nThe king gave the signal, and as the chief bard of Erin was seen\nascending the mound in front of the royal inclosures he was greeted with\na roar of cheers, but at the first note of his harp silence like that of\nnight fell on the mighty gathering.\n\nAs he moved his fingers softly over the strings every heart was hushed,\nfilled with a sense of balmy rest. The lark soaring and singing above\nhis head paused mute and motionless in the still air, and no sound was\nheard over the spacious plain save the dreamy music. Then the bard\nstruck another key, and a gentle sorrow possessed the hearts of his\nhearers, and unbidden tears gathered to their eyes. Then, with bolder\nhand, he swept his fingers across his lyre, and all hearts were moved\nto joy and pleasant laughter, and eyes that had been dimmed by tears\nsparkled as brightly as running waters dancing in the sun. When the last\nnotes had died away a cheer arose, loud as the voice of the storm in the\nglen when the live thunder is reveling on the mountain tops. As soon as\nthe bard had descended the mound the Skald from the northern lands took\nhis place, greeted by cries of welcome from a hundred thousand throats.\nHe touched his harp, and in the perfect silence was heard the strain of\nthe mermaid's song, and through it the pleasant ripple of summer waters\non the pebbly beach. Then the theme was changed, and on the air was\nborne the measured sweep of countless oars and the swish of waters\naround the prows of contending galleys, and the breezy voices of the\nsailors and the sea-bird's cry. Then his theme was changed to the mirth\nand laughter of the banquet-hall, the clang of meeting drinking-horns,\nand songs of battle. When the last strain ended, from the mighty host a\ngreat shout went up, loud as the roar of winter billows breaking in the\nhollows of the shore; and men knew not whom to declare the victor, the\nchief bard of Erin or the Skald of the northern lands.\n\nIn the height of the debate the cry arose that another competitor had\nascended the mound, and there standing in view of all was Fergus, the\nhuntsman's son. All eyes were fastened upon him, but no one looked so\neagerly as the princess.\n\nHe touched his harp with gentle fingers, and a sound low and soft as\na faint summer breeze passing through forest trees stole out, and then\nwas heard the rustle of birds through the branches, and the dreamy\nmurmur of waters lost in deepest woods, and all the fairy echoes\nwhispering when the leaves are motionless in the noonday heat; then\nfollowed notes cool and soft as the drip of summer showers on the\nparched grass, and then the song of the blackbird, sounding as clearly\nas it sounds in long silent spaces of the evening, and then in one sweet\njocund burst the multitudinous voices that hail the breaking of the\nmorn. And the lark, singing and soaring above the minstrel, sank mute\nand motionless upon his shoulder, and from all the leafy woods the birds\ncame thronging out and formed a fluttering canopy above his head.\n\nWhen the bard ceased playing no shout arose from the mighty multitude,\nfor the strains of his harp, long after its chords were stilled, held\ntheir hearts spellbound.\n\nAnd when he had passed away from the mound of contest all knew there was\nno need to declare the victor.[9] And all were glad the comely Fenian\nchampion had maintained the supremacy of the bards of Erin. But there\nwas one heart sad, the heart of the princess; and now she wished more\nthan ever that she had never made her hateful vow.\n\nOther contests went on, but Fergus took no interest in them; and once\nmore he stole away to the forest glade. His heart was sorrowful, for he\nthought of the great race of the morning, and he knew that he could not\nhope to compete with the rider of the white steed of the plains. And as\nhe lay beneath the spreading branches during the whole night long his\nthoughts were not of the victory he had won, but of the princess, who\nwas as far away from him as ever. He passed the night without sleep, and\nwhen the morning came he rose and walked aimlessly through the woods.\n\nA deer starting from a thicket reminded him of the happy days of his\nboyhood, and once more the wish came back to him that he had never left\nhis forest home. As his eyes followed the deer wistfully, suddenly he\nstarted in amazement. The deer vanished from view, and in his stead was\nthe wild horse of the mountains.\n\n\"I told you I'd do you a good turn,\" said the Pooka, \"for the kindness\nyou and yours did me on that wild winter's night. The day is passing.\nYou have no time to lose. The white steed of the plains is coming to the\nstarting-post. Jump on my back, and remember, 'Faint heart never won\nfair lady.'\"\n\nIn half a second Fergus was bestride the Pooka, whose coat of shaggy\nhair became at once as glossy as silk, and just at the very moment\nwhen the king was about to declare there was no steed to compete with\nthe white steed of the plains, the Pooka, with Fergus upon his back,\ngalloped up in front of the royal inclosure. When the people saw the\nchampion a thunderous shout rose up that startled the birds in the\nskies, and sent them flying to the groves.\n\nAnd in the ladies' inclosure was a rustle of many-colored scarves waving\nin the air. At the striking of the shields the contending steeds rushed\nfrom the post with the swiftness of a swallow's flight. But before the\nwhite steed of the plains had gone halfway round, Fergus and the wild\nhorse of the mountains had passed the winning post, greeted by such\ncheers as had never before been heard on the plains of Tara.\n\nFergus heard the cheers, but scarcely heeded them, for his heart went\nout through his eyes that were fastened on the princess, and a wild hope\nstirred him that his glance was not ungrateful to the loveliest lady of\nthe land.\n\nAnd the princess was sad and sorry for her vow, for she believed that it\nwas beyond the power of Fergus to bring her a robe of all the colors of\nthe rainbow, so subtly woven as to fit in the palm of her soft, white\nhand.\n\nThat night also Fergus went to the forest, not too sad, because there\nwas a vague hope in his heart that had never been there before. He lay\ndown under the branches, with his feet towards the rustling waters, and\nthe smiles of the princess gilded his slumbers, as the rays of the\nrising sun gild the glades of the forest; and when the morning came he\nwas scarcely surprised when before him appeared the little old woman\nwith the shuttle he had welcomed on the winter's night.\n\n\"You think you have won her already,\" said the little woman. \"And so you\nhave, too; her heart is all your own, and I'm half inclined to think\nthat my trouble will be thrown away, for if you had never a wedding robe\nto give her, she'd rather have you this minute than all the kings of\nErin, or than all the other princes and kings and chieftains in the\nwhole world. But you and your father and mother were kind to me on a\nwild winter's night, and I'd never see your mother's son without a\nwedding robe fit for the greatest princess that ever set nations to\nbattle for her beauty. So go and pluck me a handful of wild forest\nflowers, and I'll weave out of them a wedding robe with all the colors\nof the rainbow, and one that will be as sweet and as fragrant as the\nripe, red lips of the princess herself.\"\n\nFergus, with joyous heart, culled the flowers, and brought them to the\nlittle old woman.\n\nIn the twinkling of an eye she wove with her little shuttle a wedding\nrobe, with all the colors of the rainbow, as light as the fairy dew, as\nsoft as the hand of the princess, as fragrant as her little red mouth,\nand so small that it would pass through the eye of a needle.\n\n\"Go now, Fergus,\" said she, \"and may luck go with you; but, in the days\nof your greatness and of the glory which will come to you when you are\nwedded to the princess, be as kind, and have as open a heart and as open\na door for the poor as you had when you were only a poor huntsman's son.\"\n\nFergus took the robe and went towards Tara. It was the last day of the\nfair, and all the contests were over, and the bards were about to chant\nthe farewell strains to the memory of the great queen. But before the\nchief bard could ascend the mound, Fergus, attended by a troop of Fenian\nwarriors on their steeds, galloped into the inclosure, and rode up in\nfront of the queen's pavilion. Holding up the glancing and many-colored\nrobe, he said:\n\n\"O Queen and King of Erin! I claim the princess for my bride. You,\nO king, have decided that I have won the prize in the contest of the\nbards; that I have won the prize in the race against the white steed of\nthe plains; it is for the princess to say if the robe which I give her\nwill fit in the hollow of her small white hand.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the king. \"You are victor in the contests; let the princess\ndeclare if you have fulfilled the last condition.\"\n\nThe princess took the robe from Fergus, closed her fingers over it, so\nthat no vestige of it was seen.\n\n\"Yes, O king!\" said she, \"he has fulfilled the last condition; but\nbefore ever he had fulfilled a single one of them, my heart went out to\nthe comely champion of the Feni. I was willing then, I am ready now, to\nbecome the bride of the huntsman's son.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE FAIRY TREE OF DOOROS[10]\n\n\nOnce upon a time the fairies of the west, going home from a\nhurling-match with the fairies of the lakes, rested in Dooros Wood for\nthree days and three nights. They spent the days feasting and the nights\ndancing in the light of the moon, and they danced so hard that they wore\nthe shoes off their feet, and for a whole week after the leprechauns,\nthe fairies' shoemakers, were working night and day making new ones, and\nthe rip, rap, tap, tap of their little hammers were heard in all the\nhedgerows.\n\nThe food on which the fairies feasted was little red berries, which were\nso like those that grow on the rowan tree that if you only looked at\nthem you might mistake one for the other; but the fairy berries grow\nonly in fairyland, and are sweeter than any fruit that grows here in\nthis world, and if an old man, bent and gray, ate one of them, he became\nyoung and active and strong again; and if an old woman, withered and\nwrinkled, ate one of them, she became young and bright and fair; and if\na little maiden who was not handsome ate of them, she became lovelier\nthan the flower of beauty.\n\nThe fairies guarded the berries as carefully as a miser guards his gold,\nand whenever they were about to leave fairyland they had to promise in\nthe presence of the king and queen that they would not give a single\nberry to mortal man, nor allow one to fall upon the earth; for if a\nsingle berry fell upon the earth a slender tree of many branches,\nbearing clusters of berries, would at once spring up, and mortal men\nmight eat of them.\n\nBut it chanced that this time they were in Dooros Wood they kept up the\nfeasting and dancing so long, and were so full of joy because of their\nvictory over the lake fairies, that one little, weeny fairy, not much\nbigger than my finger, lost his head, and dropped a berry in the wood.\n\nWhen the feast was ended the fairies went back to fairyland, and were at\nhome for more than a week before they knew of the little fellow's fault,\nand this is how they came to know of it.\n\nA great wedding was about to come off, and the queen of the fairies sent\nsix of her pages to Dooros Wood to catch fifty butterflies with golden\nspots on their purple wings, and fifty white without speck or spot, and\nfifty golden, yellow as the cowslip, to make a dress for herself, and a\nhundred white, without speck or spot, to make dresses for the bride and\nbridesmaids.\n\nWhen the pages came near the wood they heard the most wonderful music,\nand the sky above them became quite dark, as if a cloud had shut out\nthe sun. They looked up, and saw that the cloud was formed of bees, who\nin a great swarm were flying towards the wood and humming as they flew.\nSeeing this they were sore afraid until they saw the bees settling on a\nsingle tree, and on looking closely at the tree they saw it was covered\nwith fairy berries.\n\nThe bees took no notice of the fairies, and so they were no longer\nafraid, and they hunted the butterflies until they had captured the full\nnumber of various colors. Then they returned to fairyland, and they told\nthe queen about the bees and the berries, and the queen told the king.\n\nThe king was very angry, and he sent his heralds to the four corners of\nfairyland to summon all his subjects to his presence that he might find\nout without delay who was the culprit.\n\nThey all came except the little weeny fellow who dropped the berry, and\nof course everyone said that it was fear that kept him away, and that he\nmust be guilty.\n\nThe heralds were at once sent in search of him, and after a while they\nfound him hiding in a cluster of ferns, and brought him before the king.\n\nThe poor little fellow was so frightened that at first he could scarcely\nspeak a word, but after a time he told how he never missed the berry\nuntil he had returned to fairyland, and that he was afraid to say\nanything to anyone about it.\n\nThe king, who would hear of no excuse, sentenced the little culprit to\nbe banished into the land of giants beyond the mountains, to stay there\nfor ever and a day unless he could find a giant willing to go to Dooros\nWood and guard the fairy tree. When the king had pronounced sentence\neveryone was very sorry, because the little fellow was a favorite with\nthem all. No fairy harper upon his harp, or piper upon his pipe, or\nfiddler upon his fiddle, could play half so sweetly as he could play\nupon an ivy leaf; and when they remembered all the pleasant moonlit\nnights on which they had danced to his music, and thought that they\nshould never hear or dance to it any more, their little hearts were\nfilled with sorrow. The queen was as sad as any of her subjects, but\nthe king's word should be obeyed.\n\nWhen the time came for the little fellow to set out into exile the queen\nsent her head page to him with a handful of berries. These the queen\nsaid he was to offer to the giants, and say at the same time that the\ngiant who was willing to guard the tree could feast on berries just as\nsweet from morn till night.\n\nAs the little fellow went on his way nearly all the fairies followed him\nto the borders of the land, and when they saw him go up the mountain\ntowards the land of the giants, they all took off their little red caps\nand waved them until he was out of sight.\n\nOn he went walking all day and night, and when the sun rose on the\nmorrow he was on the top of the mountain, and he could see the land of\nthe giants in the valley stretched far below him. Before beginning his\ndescent he turned round for a last glimpse of fairyland; but he could\nsee nothing, for a thick, dark cloud shut it out from view. He was\nvery sad, and tired, and footsore, and as he struggled down the rough\nmountain side, he could not help thinking of the soft, green woods and\nmossy pathways of the pleasant land he had left behind him.\n\n[Illustration: \"He was very sad, and tired\"]\n\nWhen he awoke the ground was trembling, and a noise that sounded like\nthunder fell on his ears. He looked up and saw coming towards him a\nterrible giant, with one eye that burned like a live coal in the middle\nof his forehead; his mouth stretched from ear to ear, his teeth were\nlong and crooked, the skin of his face was as black as night, and his\narms and chest were all covered with black, shaggy hair; round his body\nwas an iron band, and hanging from this by a chain was a great club with\niron spikes. With one blow of this club he could break a rock into\nsplinters, and fire could not burn him, and water could not drown him,\nand weapons could not wound him, and there was no way to kill him but\nby giving him three blows of his own club. And he was so bad-tempered\nthat the other giants called him Sharvan the Surly. When the giant spied\nthe red cap of the little fairy he gave the shout that sounded like\nthunder. The poor fairy was shaking from head to foot.\n\n\"What brought you here?\" said the giant.\n\n\"Please, Mr. Giant,\" said the fairy, \"the king of the fairies banished\nme here, and here I must stay for ever and a day, unless you come and\nguard the fairy tree in Dooros Wood.\"\n\n\"Unless what?\" roared the giant, and he gave the fairy a touch of his\nfoot that sent the little fellow rolling down head over heels.\n\nThe poor fairy lay as if he were dead, and then the giant, feeling sorry\nfor what he had done, took him up gently between his finger and thumb.\n\n\"Don't be frightened, little man,\" said he, \"and now, tell me all about\nthe tree.\"\n\n\"It is the tree of the fairy berry that grows in the Wood of Dooros,\"\nsaid the fairy, \"and I have some of the berries with me.\"\n\n\"Oh, you have, have you?\" said the giant. \"Let me see them.\"\n\nThe fairy took three berries from the pocket of his little green coat,\nand gave them to the giant.\n\nThe giant looked at them for a second. He then swallowed the three\ntogether, and when he had done so, he felt so happy that he began to\nshout and dance for joy.\n\n\"More, you little thief!\" said he. \"More, you little----what's your\nname?\" said the giant.\n\n\"Pinkeen, please, Mr. Giant,\" said the fairy, as he gave up all the\nberries.\n\nThe giant shouted louder than before, and his shouts were heard by all\nthe other giants, who came running towards him.\n\nWhen Sharvan saw them coming, he caught up Pinkeen, and put him in his\npocket, that they shouldn't see him.\n\n\"What were you shouting for?\" said the giants.\n\n\"Because,\" said Sharvan, \"that rock there fell down on my big toe.\"\n\n\"You did not shout like a man that was hurt,\" said they.\n\n\"What is it to you what way I shouted?\" said he.\n\n\"You might give a civil answer to a civil question,\" said they; \"but\nsure you were always Sharvan the Surly;\" and they went away.\n\nWhen the giants were out of sight, Sharvan took Pinkeen out of his\nwallet.\n\n\"Some more berries, you little thief--I mean little Pinkeen,\" said he.\n\n\"I have not any more,\" said Pinkeen; \"but if you will guard the tree in\nDooros Wood you can feast on them from morn till night.\"\n\n\"I'll guard every tree in the wood, if I may do that,\" said the giant.\n\n\"You'll have to guard only one,\" said Pinkeen.\n\n\"How am I to get to it?\" said Sharvan.\n\n\"You must first come with me towards fairyland,\" said the fairy.\n\n\"Very well,\" said Sharvan; \"let us go.\" And he took up the fairy and put\nhim into his wallet, and before very long they were on the top of the\nmountain. Then the giant looked around towards the giants' land; but\na black cloud shut it out from view, while the sun was shining on the\nvalley that lay before him, and he could see away in the distance the\ngreen woods and shining waters of fairyland.\n\nIt was not long until he reached its borders, but when he tried to cross\nthem his feet stuck to the ground and he could not move a step. Sharvan\ngave three loud shouts that were heard all over fairyland, and made the\ntrees in the woods tremble, as if the wind of a storm was sweeping over\nthem.\n\n\"Oh, please, Mr. Giant, let me out,\" said Pinkeen. Sharvan took out the\nlittle fellow, who, as soon as he saw he was on the borders of fairyland\nran as fast as his legs could carry him, and before he had gone very far\nhe met all the little fairies who, hearing the shouts of the giant, came\ntrooping out from the ferns to see what was the matter. Pinkeen told\nthem it was the giant who was to guard the tree, shouting because he\nwas stuck fast on the borders, and they need have no fear of him. The\nfairies were so delighted to have Pinkeen back again, that they took\nhim up on their shoulders and carried him to the king's palace, and all\nthe harpers and pipers and fiddlers marched before him playing the most\njocund music that was ever heard. The king and queen were on the lawn\nin front of the palace when the gay procession came up and halted before\nthem. The queen's eyes glistened with pleasure when she saw the little\nfavorite, and the king was also glad at heart, but he looked very grave\nas he said:\n\n\"Why have you returned, sirrah?\"\n\nThen Pinkeen told his majesty that he had brought with him a giant who\nwas willing to guard the fairy tree.\n\n\"And who is he and where is he?\" asked the king.\n\n\"The other giants called him Sharvan the Surly,\" said Pinkeen, \"and he\nis stuck fast outside the borders of fairyland.\"\n\n\"It is well,\" said the king, \"you are pardoned.\"\n\nWhen the fairies heard this they tossed their little red caps in the\nair, and cheered so loudly that a bee who was clinging to a rose-bud\nfell senseless to the ground.\n\nThen the king ordered one of his pages to take a handful of berries,\nand to go to Sharvan and show him the way to Dooros Wood. The page,\ntaking the berries with him, went off to Sharvan, whose roaring nearly\nfrightened the poor little fellow to death. But as soon as the giant\ntasted the berries he got into good humor, and he asked the page if he\ncould remove the spell of enchantment from him.\n\n\"I can,\" said the page, \"and I will if you promise me that you will not\ntry to cross the borders of fairyland.\"\n\n\"I promise that, with all my heart,\" said the giant. \"But hurry on, my\nlittle man, for there are pins and needles in my legs.\"\n\nThe page plucked a cowslip, and picking out the five little crimson\nspots in the cup of it, he flung one to the north, and one to the south,\nand one to the east, and one to the west, and one up into the sky, and\nthe spell was broken, and the giant's limbs were free. Then Sharvan\nand the fairy page set off for Dooros Wood, and it was not long until\nthey came within view of the fairy tree. When Sharvan saw the berries\nglistening in the sun, he gave a shout so loud and strong that the wind\nof it blew the little fairy back to fairyland. But he had to return to\nthe wood to tell the giant that he was to stay all day at the foot of\nthe tree ready to do battle with anyone who might come to steal the\nberries, and that during the night he was to sleep amongst the branches.\n\n\"All right,\" said the giant, who could scarcely speak, as his mouth was\nfull of berries.\n\nWell, the fame of the fairy-tree spread far and wide, and every day some\nadventurer came to try if he could carry away some of the berries; but\nthe giant, true to his word, was always on the watch, and not a single\nday passed on which he did not fight and slay a daring champion, and the\ngiant never received a wound, for fire could not burn him, nor water\ndrown him, nor weapon wound him.\n\nNow, at this time, when Sharvan was keeping watch and ward over the\ntree, a cruel king was reigning over the lands that looked towards\nthe rising sun. He had slain the rightful king by foul means, and his\nsubjects, loving their murdered sovereign, hated the usurper; but much\nas they hated him they feared him more, for he was brave and masterful,\nand he was armed with a helmet and shield which no weapon made by mortal\nhands could pierce, and he carried always with him two javelins that\nnever missed their mark, and were so fatal that they were called \"the\nshafts of death.\" The murdered king had two children--a boy, whose name\nwas Niall, and a girl, who was called Rosaleen--that is, little Rose;\nbut no rose that ever bloomed was half as sweet or fresh or fair as she.\nCruel as the tyrant king was, he was too afraid of the people to kill\nthe children. He sent the boy adrift on the sea in an open boat, hoping\nthe waves would swallow it; and he got an old witch to cast the spell of\ndeformity over Rosaleen, and under the spell her beauty faded, until at\nlast she became so ugly and wasted that scarcely anyone would speak to\nher. And, shunned by everyone, she spent her days in the out-houses with\nthe cattle, and every night she cried herself to sleep.\n\nOne day, when she was very lonely, a little robin came to pick the\ncrumbs that had fallen about her feet. He appeared so tame that she\noffered him the bread from her hand, and when he took it she cried with\njoy at finding that there was one living thing that did not shun her.\nAfter this the robin came every day, and he sang so sweetly for her that\nshe almost forgot her loneliness and misery. But once while the robin\nwas with her the tyrant king's daughter, who was very beautiful, passed\nwith her maids of honor, and, seeing Rosaleen, the princess said:\n\n\"Oh, there is that horrid ugly thing.\"\n\nThe maids laughed and giggled, and said they had never seen such a\nfright.\n\nPoor Rosaleen felt as if her heart would break, and when the princess\nand her maids were out of sight she almost cried her eyes out. When the\nrobin saw her crying he perched on her shoulder and rubbed his little\nhead against her neck and chirruped softly in her ear, and Rosaleen\nwas comforted, for she felt she had at least one friend in the world,\nalthough it was only a little robin. But the robin could do more for\nher than she could dream of. He heard the remark made by the princess,\nand he saw Rosaleen's tears, and he knew now why she was shunned by\neverybody, and why she was so unhappy. And that very evening he flew off\nto Dooros Wood, and called on a cousin of his and told him all about\nRosaleen.\n\n\"And you want some of the fairy berries, I suppose,\" said his cousin,\nRobin of the Wood.\n\n\"I do,\" said Rosaleen's little friend.\n\n\"Ah,\" said Robin of the Wood, \"times have changed since you were here\nlast. The tree is guarded now all the day long by a surly giant. He\nsleeps in the branches during the night, and he breathes upon them and\naround them every morning, and his breath is poison to bird and bee.\nThere is only one chance open, and if you try that it may cost you\nyour life.\"\n\n\"Then tell me what it is, for I would give a hundred lives for\nRosaleen,\" said her own little robin.\n\n\"Well,\" said Robin of the Wood, \"every day a champion comes to battle\nwith the giant, and the giant, before he begins the fight, puts a branch\nof berries in the iron belt that's around his waist, so that when he\nfeels tired or thirsty he can refresh himself, and there is just a bare\nchance, while he is fighting, of picking one of the berries from the\nbranch; but if his breath fall on you it is certain death.\"\n\n\"I will take the chance,\" said Rosaleen's robin.\n\n\"Very well,\" said the other. And the two birds flew through the wood\nuntil they came within sight of the fairy tree. The giant was lying\nstretched at the foot of it, eating the berries; but it was not long\nuntil a warrior came, who challenged him to battle. The giant jumped up,\nand plucking a branch from the tree stuck it in his belt, and swinging\nhis iron club above his head strode towards the warrior, and the fight\nbegan. The robin perched on a tree behind the giant, and watched and\nwaited for his chance; but it was a long time coming, for the berries\nwere in front of the giant's belt. At last the giant, with one great\nblow, struck the warrior down, but as he did so he stumbled and fell\nupon him, and before he had time to recover himself the little robin\ndarted towards him like a flash and picked off one of the berries, and\nthen, as fast as wings could carry him, he flew towards home, and on his\nway he passed over a troop of warriors on snow-white steeds. All the\nhorsemen except one wore silver helmets and shining mantles of green\nsilk, fastened by brooches of red gold, but the chief, who rode at the\nhead of the troop, wore a golden helmet, and his mantle was of yellow\nsilk, and he looked by far the noblest of them all. When the robin had\nleft the horsemen far behind him he spied Rosaleen sitting outside the\npalace gates bemoaning her fate. The robin perched upon her shoulder,\nand almost before she knew he was there he put the berry between her\nlips, and the taste was so delicious that Rosaleen ate it at once, and\nthat very moment the witch's withering spell passed away from her, and\nshe became as lovely as the flower of beauty. Just then the warriors on\nthe snow-white steeds came up, and the chief with the mantle of yellow\nsilk and the golden helmet leaped from his horse, and bending his knee\nbefore her, said:\n\n\"Fairest of all fair maidens, you are surely the daughter of the king of\nthese realms, even though you are without the palace gates, unattended,\nand wear not royal robes. I am the Prince of the Sunny Valleys.\"\n\n\"Daughter of a king I am,\" said Rosaleen, \"but not of the king who rules\nthese realms.\"\n\nAnd saying this she fled, leaving the prince wondering who she could be.\nThe prince then ordered his trumpeters to give notice of his presence\noutside the palace, and in a few moments the king and all his nobles\ncame out to greet the prince and his warriors, and give them welcome.\nThat night a great feast was spread in the banquet hall, and the Prince\nof the Sunny Valleys sat by the king, and beside the prince sat the\nking's beautiful daughter, and then in due order sat the nobles of the\ncourt and the warriors who had come with the prince, and on the wall\nbehind each noble and warrior his shield and helmet were suspended,\nflashing radiance through the room. During the feast the prince spoke\nmost graciously to the lovely lady at his side, but all the time he was\nthinking of the unknown beauty he had met outside the palace gates, and\nhis heart longed for another glimpse of her. When the feast was ended,\nand the jeweled drinking-cups had gone merrily around the table, the\nbards sang, to the accompaniment of harps, the \"Courtship of the Lady\nEimer,\" and as they pictured her radiant beauty outshining that of all\nher maidens, the prince thought that fair as Lady Eimer was there was\none still fairer.\n\nWhen the feast was ended the king asked the prince what brought him into\nhis realms.\n\n\"I come,\" said the prince, \"to look for a bride, for it was foretold\nto me in my own country that here only I should find the lady who is\ndestined to share my throne, and fame reported that in your kingdom are\nto be found the loveliest maidens in all the world, and I can well\nbelieve that,\" added the prince, \"after what I have seen to-day.\"\n\nWhen the king's daughter heard this she hung down her head and blushed\nlike a rose, for, of course, she thought the prince was alluding only to\nherself, as she did not know that he had seen Rosaleen, and she had not\nheard of the restoration of her beauty.\n\nBefore another word could be spoken a great noise and the clang of arms\nwere heard outside the palace. The king and his guests started from\ntheir seats and drew their swords, and the bards raised the song of\nbattle; but their voices were stilled and their harps silenced when they\nsaw at the threshold of the banquet hall a battle champion, in whose\nface they recognized the features of their murdered king.\n\n\"'Tis Niall come back to claim his father's throne,\" said the chief\nbard. \"Long live Niall!\"\n\n\"Long live Niall!\" answered all the others.\n\nThe king, white with rage and amazement, turned to the chiefs and nobles\nof his court, and cried out:\n\n\"Is there none loyal enough to drive that intruder from the banquet\nhall?\"\n\nBut no one stirred, and no answer was given. Then the king rushed\nforward alone, but before he could reach the spot where Niall was\nstanding he was seized by a dozen chiefs and at once disarmed.\n\nDuring this scene the king's daughter had fled frightened; but Rosaleen,\nattracted by the noise, and hearing her brother's name and the cheers\nwhich greeted it, had entered the banquet hall unperceived by anyone.\nBut when her presence was discovered every eye was dazzled with her\nbeauty. Niall looked at her for a second, wondering if the radiant\nmaiden before him could be the little sister he had been separated from\nfor so many years. In another second she was clasped in his arms.\n\nThen the feast was spread again, and Niall told the story of his\nadventures; and when the Prince of the Sunny Valley asked for the hand\nof Rosaleen, Niall told his lovely sister to speak for herself. With\ndowncast eyes and smiling lips she said, \"yes,\" and that very day was\nthe gayest and brightest wedding that ever took place, and Rosaleen\nbecame the prince's bride.\n\nIn her happiness she did not forget the little robin, who was her friend\nin sorrow. She took him home with her to Sunny Valleys, and every day\nshe fed him with her own hands, and every day he sang for her the\nsweetest songs that were ever heard in lady's bower.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LITTLE WHITE CAT\n\n\nA long, long time ago, in a valley far away, the giant Trencoss lived in\na great castle, surrounded by trees that were always green. The castle\nhad a hundred doors, and every door was guarded by a huge, shaggy hound,\nwith tongue of fire and claws of iron, who tore to pieces anyone who\nwent to the castle without the giant's leave. Trencoss had made war on\nthe King of the Torrents, and, having killed the king, and slain his\npeople, and burned his palace, he carried off his only daughter, the\nPrincess Eileen, to the castle in the valley. Here he provided her with\nbeautiful rooms, and appointed a hundred dwarfs, dressed in blue and\nyellow satin, to wait upon her, and harpers to play sweet music for her,\nand he gave her diamonds without number, brighter than the sun; but he\nwould not allow her to go outside the castle, and told her if she went\none step beyond its doors, the hounds, with tongues of fire and claws of\niron, would tear her to pieces. A week after her arrival, war broke out\nbetween the giant and the King of the Islands, and before he set out for\nbattle, the giant sent for the princess, and informed her that on his\nreturn he would make her his wife. When the princess heard this she\nbegan to cry, for she would rather die than marry the giant who had\nslain her father.\n\n\"Crying will only spoil your bright eyes, my little princess,\" said\nTrencoss, \"and you will have to marry me whether you like it or no.\"\n\nHe then bade her go back to her room, and he ordered the dwarfs to give\nher everything she asked for while he was away, and the harpers to play\nthe sweetest music for her. When the princess gained her room she cried\nas if her heart would break. The long day passed slowly, and the night\ncame, but brought no sleep to Eileen, and in the gray light of the\nmorning she rose and opened the window, and looked about in every\ndirection to see if there were any chance of escape. But the window was\never so high above the ground, and below were the hungry and ever\nwatchful hounds. With a heavy heart she was about to close the window\nwhen she thought she saw the branches of the tree that was nearest to\nit moving. She looked again, and she saw a little white cat creeping\nalong one of the branches.\n\n\"Mew!\" cried the cat.\n\n\"Poor little pussy,\" said the princess. \"Come to me, pussy.\"\n\n\"Stand back from the window,\" said the cat, \"and I will.\"\n\nThe princess stepped back, and the little white cat jumped into the\nroom. The princess took the little cat on her lap and stroked him with\nher hand, and the cat raised up its back and began to purr.\n\n\"Where do you come from, and what is your name?\" asked the princess.\n\n\"No matter where I come from or what's my name,\" said the cat. \"I am a\nfriend of yours, and I come to help you.\"\n\n\"I never wanted help worse,\" said the princess.\n\n\"I know that,\" said the cat; \"and now listen to me. When the giant comes\nback from battle and asks you to marry him, say to him you will marry\nhim.\"\n\n\"But I will never marry him,\" said the princess.\n\n\"Do what I tell you,\" said the cat. \"When he asks you to marry him, say\nto him you will if his dwarfs will wind for you three balls from the\nfairy dew that lies on the bushes on a misty morning as big as these,\"\nsaid the cat, putting his right forefoot into his ear and taking out\nthree balls--one yellow, one red, and one blue.\n\n\"They are very small,\" said the princess. \"They are not much bigger than\npeas, and the dwarfs will not be long at their work.\"\n\n\"Won't they,\" said the cat. \"It will take them a month and a day to make\none, so that it will take three months and three days before the balls\nare wound; but the giant, like you, will think they can be made in a few\ndays, and so he will readily promise to do what you ask. He will soon\nfind out his mistake, but he will keep his word, and will not press you\nto marry him until the balls are wound.\"\n\n\"When will the giant come back?\" asked Eileen.\n\n\"He will return to-morrow afternoon,\" said the cat.\n\n\"Will you stay with me until then?\" said the princess. \"I am very\nlonely.\"\n\n\"I cannot stay,\" said the cat. \"I have to go away to my palace on the\nisland on which no man ever placed his foot, and where no man but one\nshall ever come.\"\n\n\"And where is that island?\" asked the princess, \"and who is the man?\"\n\n\"The island is in the far-off seas where vessel never sailed; the man\nyou will see before many days are over; and if all goes well, he will\none day slay the giant Trencoss, and free you from his power.\"\n\n\"Ah!\" sighed the princess, \"that can never be, for no weapon can wound\nthe hundred hounds that guard the castle, and no sword can kill the\ngiant Trencoss.\"\n\n\"There is a sword that will kill him,\" said the cat; \"but I must go\nnow. Remember what you are to say to the giant when he comes home, and\nevery morning watch the tree on which you saw me, and if you see in the\nbranches anyone you like better than yourself,\" said the cat, winking\nat the princess, \"throw him these three balls and leave the rest to me;\nbut take care not to speak a single word to him, for if you do all will\nbe lost.\"\n\n\"Shall I ever see you again?\" asked the princess.\n\n\"Time will tell,\" answered the cat, and, without saying so much as\ngood-by, he jumped through the window on to the tree, and in a second\nwas out of sight.\n\nThe morrow afternoon came, and the giant Trencoss returned from battle.\nEileen knew of his coming by the furious barking of the hounds, and her\nheart sank, for she knew that in a few moments she would be summoned to\nhis presence. Indeed, he had hardly entered the castle when he sent for\nher, and told her to get ready for the wedding. The princess tried to\nlook cheerful, as she answered:\n\n\"I will be ready as soon as you wish; but you must first promise me\nsomething.\"\n\n\"Ask anything you like, little princess,\" said Trencoss.\n\n\"Well, then,\" said Eileen, \"before I marry you, you must make your\ndwarfs wind three balls as big as these from the fairy dew that lies on\nthe bushes on a misty morning in summer.\"\n\n\"Is that all?\" said Trencoss, laughing. \"I shall give the dwarfs orders\nat once, and by this time to-morrow the balls will be wound, and our\nwedding can take place in the evening.\"\n\n\"And will you leave me to myself until then?\"\n\n\"I will,\" said Trencoss.\n\n\"On your honor as a giant?\" said Eileen.\n\n\"On my honor as a giant,\" replied Trencoss.\n\nThe princess returned to her rooms, and the giant summoned all his\ndwarfs, and he ordered them to go forth in the dawning of the morn\nand to gather all the fairy dew lying on the bushes, and to wind three\nballs--one yellow, one red, and one blue. The next morning, and the\nnext, and the next, the dwarfs went out into the fields and searched\nall the hedgerows, but they could gather only as much fairy dew as would\nmake a thread as long as a wee girl's eyelash; and so they had to go out\nmorning after morning, and the giant fumed and threatened, but all to\nno purpose. He was very angry with the princess, and he was vexed with\nhimself that she was so much cleverer than he was, and, moreover, he saw\nnow that the wedding could not take place as soon as he expected.\n\nWhen the little white cat went away from the castle he ran as fast as\nhe could up hill and down dale, and never stopped until he came to the\nPrince of the Silver River. The prince was alone, and very sad and\nsorrowful he was, for he was thinking of the Princess Eileen, and\nwondering where she could be.\n\n\"Mew,\" said the cat, as he sprang softly into the room; but the prince\ndid not heed him. \"Mew,\" again said the cat; but again the prince did\nnot heed him. \"Mew,\" said the cat the third time, and he jumped up on\nthe prince's knee.\n\n\"Where do you come from, and what do you want?\" asked the prince.\n\n\"I come from where you would like to be,\" said the cat.\n\n\"And where is that?\" said the prince.\n\n\"Oh, where is that, indeed! as if I didn't know what you are thinking\nof, and of whom you are thinking,\" said the cat; \"and it would be far\nbetter for you to try and save her.\"\n\n\"I would give my life a thousand times over for her,\" said the prince.\n\n\"For whom?\" said the cat, with a wink. \"I named no name, your highness,\"\nsaid he.\n\n\"You know very well who she is,\" said the prince, \"if you knew what I\nwas thinking of; but do you know where she is?\"\n\n\"She is in danger,\" said the cat. \"She is in the castle of the giant\nTrencoss, in the valley beyond the mountains.\"\n\n\"I will set out there at once,\" said the prince, \"and I will challenge\nthe giant to battle, and will slay him.\"\n\n\"Easier said than done,\" said the cat. \"There is no sword made by the\nhands of man can kill him, and even if you could kill him, his hundred\nhounds, with tongues of fire and claws of iron, would tear you to\npieces.\"\n\n\"Then, what am I to do?\" asked the prince.\n\n\"Be said by me,\" said the cat. \"Go to the wood that surrounds the\ngiant's castle, and climb the high tree that's nearest to the window\nthat looks towards the sunset, and shake the branches, and you will see\nwhat you will see. Then hold out your hat with the silver plumes, and\nthree balls--one yellow, one red, and one blue--will be thrown into it.\nAnd then come back here as fast as you can; but speak no word, for if\nyou utter a single word the hounds will hear you, and you shall be torn\nto pieces.\"\n\nWell, the prince set off at once, and after two days' journey he came to\nthe wood around the castle, and he climbed the tree that was nearest to\nthe window that looked towards the sunset, and he shook the branches.\nAs soon as he did so, the window opened and he saw the Princess Eileen,\nlooking lovelier than ever. He was going to call out her name, but she\nplaced her fingers on her lips, and he remembered what the cat had told\nhim, that he was to speak no word. In silence he held out the hat with\nthe silver plumes, and the princess threw into it the three balls, one\nafter another, and, blowing him a kiss, she shut the window. And well\nit was she did so, for at that very moment she heard the voice of the\ngiant, who was coming back from hunting.\n\nThe prince waited until the giant had entered the castle before he\ndescended the tree. He set off as fast as he could. He went up hill and\ndown dale, and never stopped until he arrived at his own palace, and\nthere waiting for him was the little white cat.\n\n\"Have you brought the three balls?\" said he.\n\n\"I have,\" said the prince.\n\n\"Then follow me,\" said the cat.\n\nOn they went until they left the palace far behind and came to the edge\nof the sea.\n\n\"Now,\" said the cat, \"unravel a thread of the red ball, hold the thread\nin your right hand, drop the ball into the water, and you shall see what\nyou shall see.\"\n\nThe prince did as he was told, and the ball floated out to sea,\nunraveling as it went, and it went on until it was out of sight.\n\n\"Pull now,\" said the cat.\n\nThe prince pulled, and, as he did, he saw far away something on the sea\nshining like silver. It came nearer and nearer, and he saw it was a\nlittle silver boat. At last it touched the strand.\n\n\"Now,\" said the cat, \"step into this boat and it will bear you to the\npalace on the island on which no man has ever placed his foot--the\nisland in the unknown seas that were never sailed by vessels made of\nhuman hands. In that palace there is a sword with a diamond hilt, and\nby that sword alone the giant Trencoss can be killed. There also are\na hundred cakes, and it is only on eating these the hundred hounds can\ndie. But mind what I say to you: if you eat or drink until you reach the\npalace of the little cat in the island in the unknown seas, you will\nforget the Princess Eileen.\"\n\n\"I will forget myself first,\" said the prince, as he stepped into the\nsilver boat, which floated away so quickly that it was soon out of sight\nof land.\n\nThe day passed and the night fell, and the stars shone down upon the\nwaters, but the boat never stopped. On she went for two whole days\nand nights, and on the third morning the prince saw an island in the\ndistance, and very glad he was; for he thought it was his journey's end,\nand he was almost fainting with thirst and hunger. But the day passed\nand the island was still before him.\n\nAt long last, on the following day, he saw by the first light of the\nmorning that he was quite close to it, and that trees laden with fruit\nof every kind were bending down over the water. The boat sailed round\nand round the island, going closer and closer every round, until, at\nlast, the drooping branches almost touched it. The sight of the fruit\nwithin his reach made the prince hungrier and thirstier than he was\nbefore, and forgetting his promise to the little cat--not to eat\nanything until he entered the palace in the unknown seas--he caught one\nof the branches, and, in a moment, was in the tree eating the delicious\nfruit. While he was doing so the boat floated out to sea and soon was\nlost to sight; but the prince, having eaten, forgot all about it, and,\nworse still, forgot all about the princess in the giant's castle. When\nhe had eaten enough he descended the tree, and, turning his back on the\nsea, set out straight before him. He had not gone far when he heard the\nsound of music, and soon after he saw a number of maidens playing on\nsilver harps coming towards him. When they saw him they ceased playing,\nand cried out:\n\n\"Welcome! welcome! Prince of the Silver River, welcome to the island of\nfruits and flowers. Our king and queen saw you coming over the sea, and\nthey sent us to bring you to the palace.\"\n\nThe prince went with them, and at the palace gates the king and queen\nand their daughter Kathleen received him, and gave him welcome. He\nhardly saw the king and queen, for his eyes were fixed on the Princess\nKathleen, who looked more beautiful than a flower. He thought he had\nnever seen anyone so lovely, for, of course, he had forgotten all about\npoor Eileen pining away in her castle prison in the lonely valley. When\nthe king and queen had given welcome to the prince a great feast was\nspread, and all the lords and ladies of the court sat down to it, and\nthe prince sat between the queen and the Princess Kathleen, and long\nbefore the feast was finished he was over head and ears in love with\nher. When the feast was ended the queen ordered the ballroom to be made\nready, and when night fell the dancing began, and was kept up until the\nmorning star, and the prince danced all night with the princess, falling\ndeeper and deeper in love with her every minute. Between dancing by\nnight and feasting by day weeks went by. All the time poor Eileen in the\ngiant's castle was counting the hours, and all this time the dwarfs were\nwinding the balls, and a ball and a half were already wound. At last the\nprince asked the king and queen for their daughter in marriage, and they\nwere delighted to be able to say yes, and the day was fixed for the\nwedding. But on the evening before the day on which it was to take place\nthe prince was in his room, getting ready for a dance, when he felt\nsomething rubbing against his leg, and, looking down, who should he see\nbut the little white cat. At the sight of him the prince remembered\neverything, and sad and sorry he was when he thought of Eileen watching\nand waiting and counting the days until he returned to save her. But he\nwas very fond of the Princess Kathleen, and so he did not know what to\ndo.\n\n[Illustration: \"At the sight of him the prince remembered everything\"]\n\n\"You can't do anything to-night,\" said the cat, for he knew what the\nprince was thinking of, \"but when morning comes go down to the sea, and\nlook not to the right or the left, and let no living thing touch you,\nfor if you do you shall never leave the island. Drop the second ball\ninto the water, as you did the first, and when the boat comes step in\nat once. Then you may look behind you, and you shall see what you shall\nsee, and you'll know which you love best, the Princess Eileen or the\nPrincess Kathleen, and you can either go or stay.\"\n\nThe prince didn't sleep a wink that night, and at the first glimpse of\nthe morning he stole from the palace. When he reached the sea he threw\nout the ball, and when it had floated out of sight, he saw the little\nboat sparkling on the horizon like a newly-risen star. The prince had\nscarcely passed through the palace doors when he was missed, and the\nking and queen and the princess, and all the lords and ladies of the\ncourt, went in search of him, taking the quickest way to the sea. While\nthe maidens with the silver harps played sweetest music, the princess,\nwhose voice was sweeter than any music, called on the prince by his\nname, and so moved his heart that he was about to look behind, when he\nremembered how the cat had told him he should not do so until he was in\nthe boat. Just as it touched the shore the princess put out her hand and\nalmost caught the prince's arm, but he stepped into the boat in time\nto save himself, and it sped away like a receding wave. A loud scream\ncaused the prince to look round suddenly, and when he did he saw no sign\nof king or queen, or princess, or lords or ladies, but only big green\nserpents, with red eyes and tongues, that hissed out fire and poison as\nthey writhed in a hundred horrible coils.\n\nThe prince, having escaped from the enchanted island, sailed away for\nthree days and three nights, and every night he hoped the coming morning\nwould show him the island he was in search of. He was faint with hunger\nand beginning to despair, when on the fourth morning he saw in the\ndistance an island that, in the first rays of the sun, gleamed like\nfire. On coming closer to it he saw that it was clad with trees, so\ncovered with bright red berries that hardly a leaf was to be seen. Soon\nthe boat was almost within a stone's cast of the island, and it began to\nsail round and round until it was well under the bending branches. The\nscent of the berries was so sweet that it sharpened the prince's hunger,\nand he longed to pluck them; but, remembering what had happened to him\non the enchanted island, he was afraid to touch them. But the boat kept\non sailing round and round, and at last a great wind rose from the sea\nand shook the branches, and the bright, sweet berries fell into the boat\nuntil it was filled with them, and they fell upon the prince's hands,\nand he took up some to look at them, and as he looked the desire to eat\nthem grew stronger, and he said to himself it would be no harm to taste\none; but when he tasted it the flavor was so delicious he swallowed it,\nand, of course, at once he forgot all about Eileen, and the boat drifted\naway from him and left him standing in the water.\n\nHe climbed on to the island, and having eaten enough of the berries, he\nset out to see what might be before him, and it was not long until he\nheard a great noise, and a huge iron ball knocked down one of the trees\nin front of him, and before he knew where he was a hundred giants came\nrunning after it. When they saw the prince they turned towards him, and\none of them caught him up in his hand and held him up that all might see\nhim. The prince was nearly squeezed to death, and seeing this the giant\nput him on the ground again.\n\n\"Who are you, my little man?\" asked the giant.\n\n\"I am a prince,\" replied the prince.\n\n\"Oh, you are a prince, are you?\" said the giant. \"And what are you good\nfor?\" said he.\n\nThe prince did not know, for nobody had asked him that question before.\n\n\"I know what he's good for,\" said an old giantess, with one eye in her\nforehead and one in her chin. \"I know what he's good for. He's good to\neat.\"\n\nWhen the giants heard this they laughed so loud that the prince was\nfrightened almost to death.\n\n\"Why,\" said one, \"he wouldn't make a mouthful.\"\n\n\"Oh, leave him to me,\" said the giantess, \"and I'll fatten him up; and\nwhen he is cooked and dressed he will be a nice dainty dish for the\nking.\"\n\nThe giants, on this, gave the prince into the hands of the old giantess.\nShe took him home with her to the kitchen, and fed him on sugar and\nspice and all things nice, so that he should be a sweet morsel for the\nking of the giants when he returned to the island. The poor prince would\nnot eat anything at first, but the giantess held him over the fire until\nhis feet were scorched, and then he said to himself it was better to eat\nthan to be burnt alive.\n\nWell, day after day passed, and the prince grew sadder and sadder,\nthinking that he would soon be cooked and dressed for the king; but sad\nas the prince was, he was not half as sad as the Princess Eileen in the\ngiant's castle, watching and waiting for the prince to return and save\nher.\n\nAnd the dwarfs had wound two balls, and were winding a third.\n\nAt last the prince heard from the old giantess that the king of the\ngiants was to return on the following day, and she said to him:\n\n\"As this is the last night you have to live, tell me if you wish for\nanything, for if you do your wish will be granted.\"\n\n\"I don't wish for anything,\" said the prince, whose heart was dead\nwithin him.\n\n\"Well, I'll come back again,\" said the giantess, and she went away.\n\nThe prince sat down in a corner, thinking and thinking, until he heard\nclose to his ear a sound like \"purr, purr!\" He looked around, and there\nbefore him was the little white cat.\n\n\"I ought not to come to you,\" said the cat; \"but, indeed, it is not for\nyour sake I come. I come for the sake of the Princess Eileen. Of course,\nyou forgot all about her, and, of course, she is always thinking of you.\nIt's always the way--\n\n  \"'Favored lovers may forget,\n   Slighted lovers never yet.'\"\n\n\nThe prince blushed with shame when he heard the name of the princess.\n\n\"'Tis you that ought to blush,\" said the cat; \"but listen to me now, and\nremember, if you don't obey my directions this time you'll never see me\nagain, and you'll never set your eyes on the Princess Eileen. When the\nold giantess comes back tell her you wish, when the morning comes, to go\ndown to the sea to look at it for the last time. When you reach the sea\nyou will know what to do. But I must go now, as I hear the giantess\ncoming.\" And the cat jumped out of the window and disappeared.\n\n\"Well,\" said the giantess, when she came in, \"is there anything you\nwish?\"\n\n\"Is it true I must die to-morrow?\" asked the prince.\n\n\"It is.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said he, \"I should like to go down to the sea to look at it for\nthe last time.\"\n\n\"You may do that,\" said the giantess, \"if you get up early.\"\n\n\"I'll be up with the lark in the light of the morning,\" said the prince.\n\n\"Very well,\" said the giantess, and, saying \"good night,\" she went away.\n\nThe prince thought the night would never pass, but at last it faded\naway before the gray light of the dawn, and he sped down to the sea. He\nthrew out the third ball, and before long he saw the little boat coming\ntowards him swifter than the wind. He threw himself into it the moment\nit touched the shore. Swifter than the wind it bore him out to sea, and\nbefore he had time to look behind him the island of the giantess was\nlike a faint red speck in the distance. The day passed and the night\nfell, and the stars looked down, and the boat sailed on, and just as the\nsun rose above the sea it pushed its silver prow on the golden strand of\nan island greener than the leaves in summer. The prince jumped out, and\nwent on and on until he entered a pleasant valley, at the head of which\nhe saw a palace white as snow.\n\nAs he approached the central door it opened for him. On entering the hall\nhe passed into several rooms without meeting with anyone; but, when he\nreached the principal apartment, he found himself in a circular room, in\nwhich were a thousand pillars, and every pillar was of marble, and on\nevery pillar save one, which stood in the centre of the room, was a\nlittle white cat with black eyes. Ranged round the wall, from one\ndoor-jamb to the other, were three rows of precious jewels. The first\nwas a row of brooches of gold and silver, with their pins fixed in the\nwall and their heads outwards; the second a row of torques of gold and\nsilver; and the third a row of great swords, with hilts of gold and\nsilver. And on many tables was food of all kinds, and drinking horns\nfilled with foaming ale.[11]\n\nWhile the prince was looking about him the cats kept on jumping from\npillar to pillar; but seeing that none of them jumped on to the pillar\nin the centre of the room, he began to wonder why this was so, when, all\nof a sudden, and before he could guess how it came about, there right\nbefore him on the center pillar was the little white cat.\n\n\"Don't you know me?\" said he.\n\n\"I do,\" said the prince.\n\n\"Ah, but you don't know who I am. This is the palace of the Little White\nCat, and I am the King of the Cats. But you must be hungry, and the\nfeast is spread.\"\n\nWell, when the feast was ended, the King of the Cats called for the\nsword that would kill the giant Trencoss, and the hundred cakes for the\nhundred watch-dogs.\n\nThe cats brought the sword and the cakes and laid them before the king.\n\n\"Now,\" said the king, \"take these; you have no time to lose. To-morrow\nthe dwarfs will wind the last ball, and to-morrow the giant will claim\nthe princess for his bride. So you should go at once; but before you go\ntake this from me to your little girl.\"\n\nAnd the king gave him a brooch lovelier than any on the palace walls.\n\nThe king and the prince, followed by the cats, went down to the strand,\nand when the prince stepped into the boat all the cats \"mewed\" three\ntimes for good luck, and the prince waved his hat three times, and the\nlittle boat sped over the waters all through the night as brightly and\nas swiftly as a shooting star. In the first flush of the morning it\ntouched the strand. The prince jumped out and went on and on, up hill\nand down dale, until he came to the giant's castle. When the hounds\nsaw him they barked furiously, and bounded towards him to tear him to\npieces. The prince flung the cakes to them, and as each hound swallowed\nhis cake he fell dead. The prince then struck his shield three times\nwith the sword which he had brought from the palace of the little white\ncat.\n\nWhen the giant heard the sound he cried out:\n\n\"Who comes to challenge me on my wedding-day?\"\n\nThe dwarfs went out to see, and, returning, told him it was a prince who\nchallenged him to battle.\n\nThe giant, foaming with rage, seized his heaviest iron club, and rushed\nout to the fight. The fight lasted the whole day, and when the sun went\ndown the giant said:\n\n\"We have had enough of fighting for the day. We can begin at sunrise\nto-morrow.\"\n\n\"Not so,\" said the prince. \"Now or never; win or die.\"\n\n\"Then take this,\" cried the giant, as he aimed a blow with all his force\nat the prince's head; but the prince, darting forward like a flash of\nlightning, drove his sword into the giant's heart, and, with a groan,\nhe fell over the bodies of the poisoned hounds.\n\nWhen the dwarfs saw the giant dead they began to cry and tear their\nhair. But the prince told them they had nothing to fear, and he bade\nthem go and tell the Princess Eileen he wished to speak with her. But\nthe princess had watched the battle from her window, and when she saw\nthe giant fall she rushed out to greet the prince, and that very night\nhe and she and all the dwarfs and harpers set out for the Palace of the\nSilver River, which they reached the next morning, and from that day to\nthis there never has been a gayer wedding than the wedding of the Prince\nof the Silver River and the Princess Eileen; and though she had diamonds\nand pearls to spare, the only jewel she wore on her wedding-day was the\nbrooch which the prince had brought her from the Palace of the Little\nWhite Cat in the far-off seas.\n\n\n\n\nPRINCESS FINOLA AND THE DWARF\n\n\nA long, long time ago there lived in a little hut in the midst of a\nbare, brown, lonely moor an old woman and a young girl. The old woman\nwas withered, sour-tempered, and dumb. The young girl was as sweet and\nas fresh as an opening rosebud, and her voice was as musical as the\nwhisper of a stream in the woods in the hot days of summer. The little\nhut, made of branches woven closely together, was shaped like a beehive.\nIn the center of the hut a fire burned night and day from year's end to\nyear's end, though it was never touched or tended by human hand. In the\ncold days and nights of winter it gave out light and heat that made the\nhut cozy and warm, but in the summer nights and days it gave out light\nonly. With their heads to the wall of the hut and their feet towards the\nfire were two sleeping-couches--one of plain woodwork, in which slept\nthe old woman; the other was Finola's. It was of bog-oak, polished as\na looking-glass, and on it were carved flowers and birds of all kinds,\nthat gleamed and shone in the light of the fire. This couch was fit for\na princess, and a princess Finola was, though she did not know it\nherself.\n\nOutside the hut the bare, brown, lonely moor stretched for miles on\nevery side, but towards the east it was bounded by a range of mountains\nthat looked to Finola blue in the daytime, but which put on a hundred\nchanging colors as the sun went down. Nowhere was a house to be seen,\nnor a tree, nor a flower, nor sign of any living thing. From morning\ntill night, nor hum of bee, nor song of bird, nor voice of man, nor any\nsound fell on Finola's ear. When the storm was in the air the great\nwaves thundered on the shore beyond the mountains, and the wind shouted\nin the glens; but when it sped across the moor it lost its voice, and\npassed as silently as the dead. At first the silence frightened Finola,\nbut she got used to it after a time, and often broke it by talking to\nherself and singing.\n\nThe only other person beside the old woman Finola ever saw was a dumb\ndwarf who, mounted on a broken-down horse, came once a month to the hut,\nbringing with him a sack of corn for the old woman and Finola. Although\nhe couldn't speak to her, Finola was always glad to see the dwarf and\nhis old horse, and she used to give them cake made with her own white\nhands. As for the dwarf he would have died for the little princess, he\nwas so much in love with her, and often and often his heart was heavy\nand sad as he thought of her pining away in the lonely moor.\n\nIt chanced that he came one day, and she did not, as usual, come out to\ngreet him. He made signs to the old woman, but she took up a stick and\nstruck him, and beat his horse and drove him away; but as he was leaving\nhe caught a glimpse of Finola at the door of the hut, and saw that she\nwas crying. This sight made him so very miserable that he could think of\nnothing else but her sad face that he had always seen so bright, and he\nallowed the old horse to go on without minding where he was going.\nSuddenly he heard a voice saying: \"It is time for you to come.\"\n\nThe dwarf looked, and right before him, at the foot of a green hill, was\na little man not half as big as himself, dressed in a green jacket with\nbrass buttons, and a red cap and tassel.\n\n\"It is time for you to come,\" he said the second time; \"but you are\nwelcome, anyhow. Get off your horse and come in with me, that I may\ntouch your lips with the wand of speech, that we may have a talk\ntogether.\"\n\nThe dwarf got off his horse and followed the little man through a hole\nin the side of a green hill. The hole was so small that he had to go on\nhis hands and knees to pass through it, and when he was able to stand\nhe was only the same height as the little fairyman. After walking three\nor four steps they were in a splendid room, as bright as day. Diamonds\nsparkled in the roof as stars sparkle in the sky when the night is\nwithout a cloud. The roof rested on golden pillars, and between the\npillars were silver lamps, but their light was dimmed by that of the\ndiamonds. In the middle of the room was a table, on which were two\ngolden plates and two silver knives and forks, and a brass bell as big\nas a hazelnut, and beside the table were two little chairs covered with\nblue silk and satin.\n\n\"Take a chair,\" said the fairy, \"and I will ring for the wand of\nspeech.\"\n\nThe dwarf sat down, and the fairyman rang the little brass bell, and in\ncame a little weeny dwarf no bigger than your hand.\n\n\"Bring me the wand of speech,\" said the fairy, and the weeny dwarf bowed\nthree times and walked out backwards, and in a minute he returned,\ncarrying a little black wand with a red berry at the top of it, and,\ngiving it to the fairy, he bowed three times and walked out backwards as\nhe had done before.\n\nThe little man waved the rod three times over the dwarf, and struck him\nonce on the right shoulder and once on the left shoulder, and then\ntouched his lips with the red berry, and said: \"Speak!\"\n\nThe dwarf spoke, and he was so rejoiced at hearing the sound of his own\nvoice that he danced about the room.\n\n\"Who are you at all, at all?\" said he to the fairy.\n\n\"Who is yourself?\" said the fairy. \"But come, before we have any talk\nlet us have something to eat, for I am sure you are hungry.\"\n\nThen they sat down to table, and the fairy rang the little brass bell\ntwice, and the weeny dwarf brought in two boiled snails in their shells,\nand when they had eaten the snails he brought in a dormouse, and when\nthey had eaten the dormouse he brought in two wrens, and when they had\neaten the wrens he brought in two nuts full of wine, and they became\nvery merry, and the fairyman sang \"Cooleen dhas,\" and the dwarf sang\n\"The little blackbird of the glen.\"\n\n\"Did you ever hear the 'Foggy Dew'?\" said the fairy.\n\n\"No,\" said the dwarf.\n\n\"Well, then, I'll give it to you; but we must have some more wine.\"\n\nAnd the wine was brought, and he sang the \"Foggy Dew,\" and the dwarf\nsaid it was the sweetest song he had ever heard, and that the fairyman's\nvoice would coax the birds off the bushes.\n\n\"You asked me who I am?\" said the fairy.\n\n\"I did,\" said the dwarf.\n\n\"And I asked you who is yourself?\"\n\n\"You did,\" said the dwarf.\n\n\"And who are you, then?\"\n\n\"Well, to tell the truth, I don't know,\" said the dwarf, and he blushed\nlike a rose.\n\n\"Well, tell me what you know about yourself.\"\n\n\"I remember nothing at all,\" said the dwarf, \"before the day I found\nmyself going along with a crowd of all sorts of people to the great fair\nof the Liffey. We had to pass by the king's palace on our way, and as we\nwere passing the king sent for a band of jugglers to come and show their\ntricks before him. I followed the jugglers to look on, and when the play\nwas over the king called me to him, and asked me who I was and where I\ncame from. I was dumb then, and couldn't answer; but even if I could\nspeak I could not tell him what he wanted to know, for I remembered\nnothing of myself before that day. Then the king asked the jugglers, but\nthey knew nothing about me, and no one knew anything, and then the king\nsaid he would take me into his service; and the only work I have to do\nis to go once a month with a bag of corn to the hut in the lonely moor.\"\n\n\"And there you fell in love with the little princess,\" said the fairy,\nwinking at the dwarf.\n\nThe poor dwarf blushed twice as much as he had done before.\n\n\"You need not blush,\" said the fairy; \"it is a good man's case. And now\ntell me, truly, do you love the princess, and what would you give to\nfree her from the spell of enchantment that is over her?\"\n\n\"I would give my life,\" said the dwarf.\n\n\"Well, then, listen to me,\" said the fairy. \"The Princess Finola was\nbanished to the lonely moor by the king, your master. He killed her\nfather, who was the rightful king, and would have killed Finola, only he\nwas told by an old sorceress that if he killed her he would die himself\non the same day, and she advised him to banish her to the lonely moor,\nand she said she would fling a spell of enchantment over it, and that\nuntil the spell was broken Finola could not leave the moor. And the\nsorceress also promised that she would send an old woman to watch over\nthe princess by night and by day, so that no harm should come to her;\nbut she told the king that he himself should select a messenger to take\nfood to the hut, and that he should look out for someone who had never\nseen or heard of the princess, and whom he could trust never to tell\nanyone anything about her; and that is the reason he selected you.\"\n\n\"Since you know so much,\" said the dwarf, \"can you tell me who I am, and\nwhere I came from?\"\n\n\"You will know that time enough,\" said the fairy. \"I have given you back\nyour speech. It will depend solely on yourself whether you will get back\nyour memory of who and what you were before the day you entered the\nking's service. But are you really willing to try and break the spell of\nenchantment and free the princess?\"\n\n\"I am,\" said the dwarf.\n\n\"Whatever it will cost you?\"\n\n\"Yes, if it cost me my life,\" said the dwarf; \"but tell me, how can the\nspell be broken?\"\n\n\"Oh, it is easy enough to break the spell if you have the weapons,\" said\nthe fairy.\n\n\"And what are they, and where are they?\" said the dwarf.\n\n\"The spear of the shining haft and the dark blue blade and the silver\nshield,\" said the fairy. \"They are on the farther bank of the Mystic\nLake in the Island of the Western Seas. They are there for the man who\nis bold enough to seek them. If you are the man who will bring them back\nto the lonely moor you will only have to strike the shield three times\nwith the haft, and three times with the blade of the spear, and the\nsilence of the moor will be broken for ever, the spell of enchantment\nwill be removed, and the princess will be free.\"\n\n\"I will set out at once,\" said the dwarf, jumping from his chair.\n\n\"And whatever it cost you,\" said the fairy, \"will you pay the price?\"\n\n\"I will,\" said the dwarf.\n\n\"Well, then, mount your horse, give him his head, and he will take you\nto the shore opposite the Island of the Mystic Lake. You must cross to\nthe island on his back, and make your way through the water-steeds that\nswim around the island night and day to guard it; but woe betide you if\nyou attempt to cross without paying the price, for if you do the angry\nwater-steeds will rend you and your horse to pieces. And when you come\nto the Mystic Lake you must wait until the waters are as red as wine,\nand then swim your horse across it, and on the farther side you will\nfind the spear and shield; but woe betide you if you attempt to cross\nthe lake before you pay the price, for if you do, the black Cormorants\nof the Western Seas will pick the flesh from your bones.\"\n\n\"What is the price?\" said the dwarf.\n\n\"You will know that time enough,\" said the fairy; \"but now go, and good\nluck go with you.\"\n\nThe dwarf thanked the fairy, and said good-by. He then threw the reins\non his horse's neck, and started up the hill, that seemed to grow bigger\nand bigger as he ascended, and the dwarf soon found that what he took\nfor a hill was a great mountain. After traveling all the day, toiling up\nby steep crags and heathery passes, he reached the top as the sun was\nsetting in the ocean, and he saw far below him out in the waters the\nisland of the Mystic Lake.\n\nHe began his descent to the shore, but long before he reached it the sun\nhad set, and darkness, unpierced by a single star, dropped upon the sea.\nThe old horse, worn out by his long and painful journey, sank beneath\nhim, and the dwarf was so tired that he rolled off his back and fell\nasleep by his side.\n\nHe awoke at the breaking of the morning, and saw that he was almost at\nthe water's edge. He looked out to sea, and saw the island, but nowhere\ncould he see the water-steeds, and he began to fear he must have taken\na wrong course in the night, and that the island before him was not the\none he was in search of. But even while he was so thinking he heard\nfierce and angry snortings, and, coming swiftly from the island to the\nshore, he saw the swimming and prancing steeds. Sometimes their heads\nand manes only were visible, and sometimes, rearing, they rose half out\nof the water, and, striking it with their hoofs, churned it into foam,\nand tossed the white spray to the skies. As they approached nearer and\nnearer their snortings became more terrible, and their nostrils shot\nforth clouds of vapor. The dwarf trembled at the sight and sound, and\nhis old horse, quivering in every limb, moaned piteously, as if in pain.\nOn came the steeds, until they almost touched the shore, then rearing,\nthey seemed about to spring on to it. The frightened dwarf turned his\nhead to fly, and as he did so he heard the twang of a golden harp, and\nright before him who should he see but the little man of the hills,\nholding a harp in one hand and striking the strings with the other.\n\n\"Are you ready to pay the price?\" said he, nodding gayly to the dwarf.\n\nAs he asked the question, the listening water-steeds snorted more\nfuriously than ever.\n\n\"Are you ready to pay the price?\" said the little man a second time.\n\nA shower of spray, tossed on shore by the angry steeds, drenched the\ndwarf to the skin, and sent a cold shiver to his bones, and he was so\nterrified that he could not answer.\n\n\"For the third and last time, are you ready to pay the price?\" asked the\nfairy, as he flung the harp behind him and turned to depart.\n\nWhen the dwarf saw him going he thought of the little princess in the\nlonely moor, and his courage came back, and he answered bravely:\n\n\"Yes, I am ready.\"\n\nThe water-steeds, hearing his answer, and snorting with rage, struck the\nshore with their pounding hoofs.\n\n\"Back to your waves!\" cried the little harper; and as he ran his fingers\nacross his lyre, the frightened steeds drew back into the waters.\n\n\"What is the price?\" asked the dwarf.\n\n\"Your right eye,\" said the fairy; and before the dwarf could say\na word, the fairy scooped out the eye with his finger, and put it\ninto his pocket.\n\nThe dwarf suffered most terrible agony; but he resolved to bear it for\nthe sake of the little princess. Then the fairy sat down on a rock at\nthe edge of the sea, and, after striking a few notes, he began to play\nthe \"Strains of Slumber.\"\n\nThe sound crept along the waters, and the steeds, so ferocious a moment\nbefore, became perfectly still. They had no longer any motion of their\nown, and they floated on the top of the tide like foam before a breeze.\n\n\"Now,\" said the fairy, as he led the dwarf's horse to the edge of the\ntide.\n\nThe dwarf urged the horse into the water, and once out of his depth, the\nold horse struck out boldly for the island. The sleeping water-steeds\ndrifted helplessly against him, and in a short time he reached the\nisland safely, and he neighed joyously as his hoofs touched solid\nground.\n\nThe dwarf rode on and on, until he came to a bridle-path, and following\nthis, it led him up through winding lanes, bordered with golden furze\nthat filled the air with fragrance, and brought him to the summit of the\ngreen hills that girdled and looked down on the Mystic Lake. Here the\nhorse stopped of his own accord, and the dwarf's heart beat quickly as\nhis eye rested on the lake, that, clipped round by the ring of hills,\nseemed in the breezeless and sunlit air--\n\n       \"As still as death.\n  And as bright as life can be.\"\n\n\nAfter gazing at it for a long time, he dismounted, and lay at his ease\nin the pleasant grass. Hour after hour passed, but no change came over\nthe face of the waters, and when the night fell sleep closed the eyelids\nof the dwarf.\n\nThe song of the lark awoke him in the early morning, and, starting up,\nhe looked at the lake, but its waters were as bright as they had been\nthe day before.\n\nTowards midday he beheld what he thought was a black cloud sailing\nacross the sky from east to west. It seemed to grow larger as it came\nnearer and nearer, and when it was high above the lake he saw it was\na huge bird, the shadow of whose outstretched wings darkened the waters\nof the lake; and the dwarf knew it was one of the Cormorants of the\nWestern Seas. As it descended slowly, he saw that it held in one of its\nclaws a branch of a tree larger than a full-grown oak, and laden with\nclusters of ripe red berries. It alighted at some distance from the\ndwarf, and, after resting for a time, it began to eat the berries and to\nthrow the stones into the lake, and wherever a stone fell a bright red\nstain appeared in the water. As he looked more closely at the bird the\ndwarf saw that it had all the signs of old age, and he could not help\nwondering how it was able to carry such a heavy tree.\n\nLater in the day, two other birds, as large as the first, but younger,\ncame up from the west and settled down beside him. They also ate the\nberries, and throwing the stones into the lake it was soon as red as\nwine.\n\nWhen they had eaten all the berries, the young birds began to pick the\ndecayed feathers off the old bird and to smooth his plumage. As soon as\nthey had completed their task, he rose slowly from the hill and sailed\nout over the lake, and dropping down on the waters, dived beneath them.\nIn a moment he came to the surface, and shot up into the air with a\njoyous cry, and flew off to the west in all the vigor of renewed youth,\nfollowed by the other birds.\n\nWhen they had gone so far that they were like specks in the sky, the\ndwarf mounted his horse and descended towards the lake.\n\nHe was almost at the margin, and in another minute would have plunged\nin, when he heard a fierce screaming in the air, and before he had time\nto look up, the three birds were hovering over the lake.\n\nThe dwarf drew back frightened.\n\nThe birds wheeled over his head, and then, swooping down, they flew\nclose to the water, covering it with their wings, and uttering harsh\ncries.\n\nThen, rising to a great height, they folded their wings and dropped\nheadlong, like three rocks, on the lake, crashing its surface, and\nscattering a wine-red shower upon the hills.[12]\n\nThen the dwarf remembered what the fairy told him, that if he attempted\nto swim the lake, without paying the price, the three Cormorants of the\nWestern Seas would pick the flesh off his bones. He knew not what to do,\nand was about to turn away, when he heard once more the twang of the\ngolden harp, and the little fairy of the hills stood before him.\n\n\"Faint heart never won fair lady,\" said the little harper. \"Are you\nready to pay the price? The spear and shield are on the opposite bank,\nand the Princess Finola is crying this moment in the lonely moor.\"\n\nAt the mention of Finola's name the dwarf's heart grew strong.\n\n\"Yes,\" he said; \"I am ready--win or die. What is the price?\"\n\n\"Your left eye,\" said the fairy. And as soon as said he scooped out the\neye, and put it in his pocket.\n\nThe poor blind dwarf almost fainted with pain.\n\n\"It's your last trial,\" said the fairy, \"and now do what I tell you.\nTwist your horse's mane round your right hand, and I will lead him to\nthe water. Plunge in, and fear not. I gave you back your speech. When\nyou reach the opposite bank you will get back your memory, and you will\nknow who and what you are.\"\n\nThen the fairy led the horse to the margin of the lake.\n\n\"In with you now, and good luck go with you,\" said the fairy.\n\nThe dwarf urged the horse. He plunged into the lake, and went down\nand down until his feet struck the bottom. Then he began to ascend,\nand as he came near the surface of the water the dwarf thought he saw\na glimmering light, and when he rose above the water he saw the bright\nsun shining and the green hills before him, and he shouted with joy at\nfinding his sight restored.\n\nBut he saw more. Instead of the old horse he had ridden into the lake he\nwas bestride a noble steed, and as the steed swam to the bank the dwarf\nfelt a change coming over himself, and an unknown vigor in his limbs.\n\nWhen the steed touched the shore he galloped up the hillside, and on the\ntop of the hill was a silver shield, bright as the sun, resting against\na spear standing upright in the ground.\n\nThe dwarf jumped off, and, running towards the shield, he saw himself as\nin a looking-glass.\n\nHe was no longer a dwarf, but a gallant knight. At that moment his\nmemory came back to him, and he knew he was Conal, one of the Knights\nof the Red Branch, and he remembered now that the spell of dumbness\nand deformity had been cast upon him by the Witch of the Palace of the\nQuicken Trees.\n\nSlinging his shield upon his left arm, he plucked the spear from the\nground and leaped on to his horse. With a light heart he swam back over\nthe lake, and nowhere could he see the black Cormorants of the Western\nSeas, but three white swans floating abreast followed him to the bank.\nWhen he reached the bank he galloped down to the sea, and crossed to the\nshore.\n\nThen he flung the reins upon his horse's neck, and swifter than the wind\nthe gallant horse swept on and on, and it was not long until he was\nbounding over the enchanted moor. Wherever his hoofs struck the ground,\ngrass and flowers sprang up, and great trees with leafy branches rose on\nevery side.\n\nAt last the knight reached the little hut. Three times he struck the\nshield with the haft and three times with the blade of his spear. At\nthe last blow the hut disappeared, and standing before him was the\nlittle princess.\n\n[Illustration: \"Standing before him was the little princess\"]\n\nThe knight took her in his arms and kissed her; then he lifted her on to\nthe horse, and, leaping up before her, he turned towards the north, to\nthe palace of the Red Branch Knights, and as they rode on beneath the\nleafy trees from every tree the birds sang out, for the spell of silence\nover the lonely moor was broken for ever.\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\nI\n\n_Liban the Mermaid_\n\nLiban was the daughter of Ecca, son of Mario, King of Munster. Ecca,\nhaving conquered the lordship of the half of Ulster, settled down with\nhis people in the plain of the Gray Copse, which is now covered by the\nwaters of Lough Necca, now Lough Neagh. A magic well had sprung up in\nthe plain, and not being properly looked after by the woman in charge of\nit, its waters burst forth over the plain, drowning Ecca and nearly all\nhis family. Liban, although swept away like the others, was not drowned.\nShe lived for a whole year, with her lap-dog, in a chamber beneath the\nlake, and God protected her from the water. At the end of that time she\nwas weary, and when she saw the speckled salmon swimming and playing all\nround her, she prayed to be changed into a salmon that she might swim\nwith the others through the green, salt sea. Her prayer was granted; she\ntook the shape of a salmon, except her face and breast, which did not\nchange. And her lap-dog was changed into an otter, and attended her\nafterwards whithersoever she went as long as she lived in the sea.\n\nIt is nearly eight hundred years ago since the story was transcribed\nfrom some old authority into the \"Book of the Dun Cow,\" the oldest\nmanuscript of Gaelic literature we possess.--Joyce's \"Old Celtic\nRomances,\" p. 97.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nII\n\n_The House in the Lake_\n\nIn the Irish annals lake dwellings, which were formerly common in\nIreland, are called _crannogs_, from _crann_, a tree, either because of\nthe timber framework of which the island was formed or of the wooden\nhuts erected thereon.\n\nSome _crannogs_ appear to have been veritable islands, the only means\nof communication with the land being canoes. Remains of these have been\nfrequently found near the dwelling, in some instances alongside the\nlanding stage, as if sunk at their moorings.\n\n\"Favorite sites for _crannogs_ were marshes, small loughs surrounded\nby woods and large sheets of water. As providing good fishing grounds\nthe entrance to or exit of a stream from a lake was eagerly\nselected.\"--\"Lake Dwellings of Ireland,\" Col. Wood Martin, M.R.I.A.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nIII\n\n_Brian's Water-dress_\n\nBrian, Ur, and Urcar, the three sons of Turenn, were Dedanaan chiefs.\nThey slew Kian, the father of Luga of the Long Arms, who was grandson\nof Balor of the Evil Eye. Luga imposed an extraordinary eric fine on\nthe sons of Turenn, part of which was \"the cooking-spit of the women of\nFincara.\" For a quarter of a year Brian and his brothers sailed hither\nand thither over the wide ocean, landing on many shores, seeking tidings\nof the Island of Fincara. At last they met a very old man, who told them\nthat the island lay deep down in the waters, having been sunk beneath\nthe waves by a spell in times long past.\n\nThen Brian put on his water-dress, with his helmet of transparent\ncrystal on his head, telling his brothers to wait his return. He leaped\nover the side of the ship, and sank at once out of sight. He walked about\nfor a fortnight down in the green salt sea, seeking for the Island of\nFincara, and at last he found it.\n\nHis brothers waited for him in the same spot the whole time, and when he\ncame not they began to fear he would return no more. At last they were\nabout to leave the place, when they saw the glitter of his crystal\nhelmet deep down in the water, and immediately after he came to the\nsurface with the cooking-spit in his hand.--\"Old Celtic Romances\"\n(Joyce), p. 87.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nIV\n\n_Prince Cuglas_\n\nIn the list of the historic tales mentioned in the Book of Leinster,\nand which is given in O'Curry's appendix to his \"Lectures on the MSS.\nMaterials of Ancient Irish History,\" \"The Cave of the Road of Cuglas\"\nfinds place. O'Curry has the following note:--\n\n\"Cuglas was the son of Donn Desa, King of Leinster, and master of the\nhounds to the monarch Conaire Mor. Having one day followed the chase\nfrom Tara to this road, the chase suddenly disappeared in a cave,\ninto which he followed, and was _never seen after_. Hence the cave was\ncalled _Uaimh Bealach Conglais_, or the cave of the road of Cuglas\n(now Baltinglass, in the County of Wicklow). It is about this cave,\nnevertheless, that so many of our pretended Irish antiquarians have\nwritten so much nonsense in connection with some imaginary pagan worship\nto which they gravely assure the world, on etymological authority,\nthe spot was devoted. The authority for the legend of Cuglas is the\n_Dinnoean Chus_ on the place _Bealach Conglais_ (Book of Lecain).\nThe full tale has not come down to us.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nV\n\n_The Herald_\n\n\"Here comes a single champion towards us, O _Cuchulain_,\" said _Laegh_\n(Cuchulain's charioteer). \"What sort of a champion is he?\" said\n_Cuchulain_. \"A brown-haired, broad-faced, beautiful youth; a splendid\nbrown cloak on him; a bright bronze spear-like brooch fastening his\ncloak. A full and well-fitting shirt to his skin. Two firm shoes between\nhis two feet and the ground. A hand-staff of white hazel in one hand\nof his; a single-edged sword with a sea-horse hilt in his other\nhand.\" \"Good, my lad,\" said _Cuchulain_; \"these are the tokens of a\nherald.\"--Description of the herald MacRoath in the story of _The Tain\nbo Chuailgne_.--O'Curry's \"Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish,\"\nVol. II., p. 301.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nVI\n\n_Golden Bells_\n\nIn O'Curry's \"Lectures on the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish\"\nare several dazzling descriptions of cavalcades taken from the old\ntales. Silver and golden bells are frequently mentioned as part of the\nhorse furniture.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nVII\n\n_The Wild People of the Glen_\n\n\"And then he put on his helmet of battle and of combat and of fighting,\nfrom every recess and from every angle of which issued the shout as it\nwere of an hundred warriors; because it was alike that woman of the\nvalley (_de bananaig_), and hobgoblins (_bacanaig_), and wild people\nof the glen (_geinti glindi_), and demons of the air (_demna acoir_),\nshouted in front of it, and in rear of it, and over it, and around it,\nwherever he went, at the spurting of blood, and of heroes upon it.\"\n\nDescription of Cuchulain's helmet in the story of _The Tain bo\nChuailgne_.--O'Curry's \"Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish,\"\nVol. II., p. 301.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nVIII\n\n_The Fair of Tara_\n\n\"The great fairs anciently held in Ireland were not like their modern\nrepresentatives, mere markets, but were assemblies of the people to\ncelebrate funeral games, and other religious rites; during pagan times\nto hold parliaments, promulgate laws, listen to the recitation of tales\nand poems, engage in or witness contests in feats of arms, horse-racing,\nand other popular games. They were analogous in many ways to the\nOlympian and other celebrated games of ancient Greece.\n\n\"These assemblies were regulated by a strict by-law, a breach of which\nwas punishable by death. Women were especially protected, a certain\nplace being set apart for their exclusive use, as a place was set apart\nat one side of the lists of mediaeval tournaments for the Queen of Beauty\nand the other ladies.\n\n\"At the opening of the assembly there was always a solemn proclamation\nof peace, and the king who held the fair awarded prizes to the most\nsuccessful poets, musicians, and professors and masters of every\nart.\"--See Dr. Sullivan's \"Introduction to O'Curry's Lectures.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nIX\n\n_The Contest of the Bards_\n\n\"The three musical feats of the _Daghda_, a celebrated Dedanann chief\nand Druid, were the _Suantraighe_, which from its deep murmuring caused\nsleep. The _Goltraighe_, which from its meltive plaintiveness caused\nweeping, and the _Goltraighe_, which from its merriment caused laughter.\n\n\"_Bose_, the great Norse harper, could give on his harp the Gyarslager,\nor stroke of the sea gods, which produced mermaids' music.\"--O'Curry's\nLectures.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nX\n\n_The Fairy Tree of Dooros_\n\nThe forest of Dooros was in the district of Hy Fiera of the Moy (now the\nbarony of Tireragh, in Sligo).\n\nOn a certain occasion the Dedanns, returning from a hurling match\nwith the Feni, passed through the forest, carrying with them for\nfood during the journey crimson nuts, and arbutus apples, and scarlet\nquicken-berries, which they had brought from the Land of Promise. One\nof the quicken-berries dropped on the earth, and the Dedanns passed\non not heeding.\n\nFrom this berry a great quicken-tree sprang up, which had the virtues of\nthe quicken-trees that grow in fairyland. Its berries had the taste of\nhoney, and those who ate of them felt a cheerful glow, as if they had\ndrunk of wine or old mead, and if a man were even a hundred years old he\nreturned to the age of thirty as soon as he had eaten three of them.\n\nThe Dedanns having heard of this tree, and not wishing that anyone\nshould eat of the berries but themselves, sent a giant of their own\npeople to guard it, namely, Sharvan the Surly of Lochlann.--\"The\nPursuit of Diarmuid and Grania,\" \"Old Celtic Romances,\" p. 313 (Joyce).\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nXI\n\n_The Palace of the Little Cat_\n\nThe description of the rows of jewels ranged round the wall of the\npalace of the Little Cat is taken from \"The Voyage of Maildun.\"--See\nNote XII.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nXII\n\n_The Birds of the Mystic Lake_\n\nThe incident of the birds coming to the mystic lake is taken from\n\"The Voyage of Maildun,\" a translation of which is given in Joyce's\n\"Old Celtic Romances.\" The operations of the birds were witnessed by\nMaildun and his companions, who, in the course of their wanderings, had\narrived at the Isle of the Mystic Lake. One of Maildun's companions,\nDiuran, on seeing the wonder, said to the others: \"Let us bathe in the\nlake, and we shall obtain a renewal of our youth like the birds.\"\n\nBut they said: \"Not so, for the bird has left the poison of his old age\nand decay in the water.\"\n\n_Diuran_, however, plunged in, and swam about for some time; after which\nhe took a little of the water and mixed it in his mouth, and in the end\nhe swallowed a small quantity. He then came out perfectly sound and\nwhole, and remained so ever after as long as he lived. But none of the\nothers ventured in.\n\nThe return of the birds in the character of the cormorants of the\nwestern seas and guardians of the lake does not occur in the old tale.\nThe oldest copy of the voyage is in the \"Book of the Dun Cow\" (about the\nyear 1100). O'Curry says the voyage was undertaken about the year 700.\nIt was made by Maildun in search of pirates who had slain his father.\nThe story is full of fancy.","title":"The golden spears, and other fairy tales","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":36789}