{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_3495/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_3495","id":"gutenberg_3495","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3495","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Novels","Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy","Fairy tales","Fairy tales -- Ireland","Folklore -- Ireland","Tales -- Ireland"],"text":"Produced by A. Elizabeth Warren\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE KING OF IRELAND\u2019S SON\n\nby Padraic Colum\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS:\n\n  FEDELMA, THE ENCHANTER\u2019S DAUGHTER\n\n  WHEN THE KING OF THE CATS CAME TO KING CONNAL\u2019S DOMINION\n\n  THE SWORD OF LIGHT AND THE UNIQUE TALE, WITH AS MUCH OF THE ADVENTURES\n       OF GILLY OF THE GOAT-SKIN AS IS GIVEN IN \u201cTHE CRANESKIN BOOK\u201d\n\n  THE TOWN OF THE RED CASTLE\n\n  THE KING OF THE LAND OF MIST\n\n  THE HOUSE OF CROM DUV\n\n  THE SPAE-WOMAN\n\n\n\n\n\nFEDELMA, THE ENCHANTER\u2019S DAUGHTER\n\n\n\nI\n\nConnal was the name of the King who ruled over Ireland at that time.\nHe had three sons, and, as the fir-trees grow, some crooked and some\nstraight, one of them grew up so wild that in the end the King and the\nKing\u2019s Councillor had to let him have his own way in everything. This\nyouth was the King\u2019s eldest son and his mother had died before she could\nbe a guide to him.\n\nNow after the King and the King\u2019s Councillor left him to his own way the\nyouth I\u2019m telling you about did nothing but ride and hunt all day. Well,\none morning he rode abroad--\n\n    His hound at his heel,\n    His hawk on his wrist;\n    A brave steed to carry him whither he list,\n    And the blue sky over him,\n\nand he rode on until he came to a turn in the road. There he saw a gray\nold man seated on a heap of stones playing a game of cards with himself.\nFirst he had one hand winning and then he had the other. Now he would\nsay \u201cThat\u2019s my good right,\u201d and then he would say \u201cPlay and beat that,\nmy gallant left.\u201d The King of Ireland\u2019s Son sat on his horse to watch\nthe strange old man, and as he watched him he sang a song to himself\n\n    I put the fastenings on my boat\n    For a year and for a day,\n    And I went where the rowans grow,\n    And where the moorhens lay;\n\n    And I went over the stepping-stones\n    And dipped my feet in the ford,\n    And came at last to the Swineherd\u2019s house,--\n    The Youth without a Sword.\n\n    A swallow sang upon his porch\n    \u201cGlu-ee, glu-ee, glu-ee,\u201d\n     \u201cThe wonder of all wandering,\n    The wonder of the sea;\u201d\n     A swallow soon to leave ground sang\n    \u201cGlu-ee, glu-ee, glu-ee.\u201d\n\n\u201cPrince,\u201d said the old fellow looking up at him, \u201cif you can play a game\nas well as you can sing a song, I\u2019d like if you would sit down beside\nme.\u201d\n\n\u201cI can play any game,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son. He fastened his\nhorse to the branch of a tree and sat down on the heap of stones beside\nthe old man.\n\n\u201cWhat shall we play for?\u201d said the gray old fellow.\n\n\u201cWhatever you like,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cIf I win you must give me anything I ask, and if you win I shall give\nyou anything you ask. Will you agree to that?\u201d\n\n\u201cIf it is agreeable to you it is agreeable to me,\u201d said the King of\nIreland\u2019s Son.\n\nThey played, and the King of Ireland\u2019s Son won the game. \u201cNow what do\nyou desire me to give, King\u2019s Son?\u201d said the gray old fellow.\n\n\u201cI shan\u2019t ask you for anything,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son, \u201cfor I\nthink you haven\u2019t much to give.\u201d\n\n\u201cNever mind that,\u201d said the gray old fellow. \u201cI mustn\u2019t break my\npromise, and so you must ask me for something.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son. \u201cThen there\u2019s a field at the back of\nmy father\u2019s Castle and I want to see it filled with cattle to-morrow\nmorning. Can you do that for me?\u201d\n\n\u201cI can,\u201d said the gray old fellow.\n\n\u201cThen I want fifty cows, each one white with a red ear, and a white calf\ngoing beside each cow.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe cattle shall be as you wish.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, when that\u2019s done I shall think the wager has been paid,\u201d said the\nKing of Ireland\u2019s son. He mounted his horse, smiling at the foolish\nold man who played cards with himself and who thought he could bring\ntogether fifty white kine, each with a red ear, and a white calf by the\nside of each cow. He rode away\n\n   His hound at his heel,\n   His hawk on his wrist;\n   A brave steed to carry him whither he list,\n   And the green ground under him,\n\nand he thought no more of the gray old fellow.\n\n\nBut in the morning, when he was taking his horse out of the stable,\nhe heard the grooms talking about a strange happening. Art, the King\u2019s\nSteward, had gone out and had found the field at the back of the Castle\nfilled with cattle. There were fifty white red-eared kine there and each\ncow had a white calf at her side. The King had ordered Art, his Steward,\nto drive them away. The King of Ireland\u2019s Son watched Art and his men\ntrying to do it. But no sooner were the strange cattle put out at one\nside of the field than they came back on the other. Then down came\nMaravaun, the King\u2019s Councillor. He declared they were enchanted cattle,\nand that no one on Ireland\u2019s ground could put them away. So in the\nseven-acre field the cattle stayed.\n\nWhen the King of Ireland\u2019s Son saw what his companion of yesterday could\ndo he rode straight to the glen to try if he could have another game\nwith him. There at the turn of the road, on a heap of stones, the gray\nold fellow was sitting playing a game of cards, the right hand against\nthe left. The King of Ireland\u2019s Son fastened his horse to the branch of\na tree and dismounted.\n\n\u201cDid you find yesterday\u2019s wager settled?\u201d said the gray old fellow.\n\n\u201cI did,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cThen shall we have another game of cards on the same understanding?\u201d\n said the gray old fellow.\n\n\u201cI agree, if you agree,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s son. He sat under\nthe bush beside him and they played again. The King of Ireland\u2019s Son\nwon.\n\n\u201cWhat would you like me to do for you this time?\u201d said the gray old\nfellow.\n\nNow the King\u2019s Son had a step-mother, and she was often cross-tempered,\nand that very morning he and she had vexed each other. So he said, \u201cLet\na brown bear, holding a burning coal in his mouth, put Caintigern the\nQueen from her chair in the supper-room to-night.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt shall be done,\u201d said the gray old fellow.\n\nThen the King of Ireland\u2019s Son mounted his horse and rode away\n\n  His hound at his heel,\n  His hawk on his wrist;\n  A brave steed to carry him whither he list,\n  And the green ground under him,\n\nand he went back to the Castle. That night a brown bear, holding a\nburning coal in his mouth, came into the supper-room and stood between\nCaintigern the Queen and the chair that belonged to her. None of the\nservants could drive it away, and when Maravaun, the King\u2019s Councillor,\ncame he said, \u201cThis is an enchanted creature also, and it is best for us\nto leave it alone.\u201d So the whole company went and left the brown bear in\nthe supper-room seated \u2018in the Queen\u2019s chair.\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nThe next morning when he wakened the King\u2019s Son said, \u201cThat was a\nwonderful thing that happened last night in the supper-room. I must go\noff and play a third game with the gray old fellow who sits on a heap of\nstones at the turn of the road.\u201d So, in the morning early he mounted and\nrode away\n\n  His hound at his heel,\n  His hawk on his wrist;\n  A brave steed to carry him whither he list,\n  And the green ground under him,\n\nand he rode on until he came to the turn in the road. Sure enough the\nold gray fellow was there. \u201cSo you\u2019ve come to me again, King\u2019s Son,\u201d\n said he. \u201cI have,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son, \u201cand I\u2019ll play a last\ngame with you on the same understanding as before.\u201d He tied his horse to\nthe branch and sat down on the heap of stones. They played. The King of\nIreland\u2019s Son lost the game. Immediately the gray old fellow threw\nthe cards down on the stones and a wind came up and carried them away.\nStanding up he was terribly tall.\n\n\u201cKing\u2019s Son,\u201d said he, \u201cI am your father\u2019s enemy and I have done him an\ninjury. And to the Queen who is your father\u2019s wife I have done an injury\ntoo. You have lost the game and now you must take the penalty I put upon\nyou. You must find out my dwelling-place and take three hairs out of my\nbeard within a year and a day, or else lose your head.\u201d\n\nWith that he took the King of Ireland\u2019s Son by the shoulders and lifted\nhim on his horse, turning the horse in the direction of the King\u2019s\nCastle. The King\u2019s Son rode on\n\n  His hound at his heel,\n  His hawk on his wrist;\n  A brave steed to carry him whither he list,\n  And the blue sky over him.\n\nThat evening the King noticed that his son was greatly troubled. And\nwhen he lay down to sleep everyone in the Castle heard his groans and\nhis moans. The next day he told his father the story from beginning to\nend. The King sent for Maravaun his Councillor and asked him if he knew\nwho the Enchanter was and where his son would be likely to find him.\n\n\u201cFrom what he said,\u201d said Maravaun, \u201cwe may guess who he is. He is the\nEnchanter of the Black Back-Lands and his dwelling-place is hard to\nfind. Nevertheless your son must seek for him and take the three hairs\nout of his beard or else lose his head. For if the heir to your kingdom\ndoes not honorably pay his forfeit, the ground of Ireland won\u2019t give\ncrops and the cattle won\u2019t give milk.\u201d \u201cAnd,\u201d said the Councillor, \u201cas a\nyear is little for his search, he should start off at once, although I\u2019m\nbound to say, that I don\u2019t know what direction he should go in.\u201d\n\nThe next day the King\u2019s Son said good-by to his father and his\nfoster-brothers and started off on his journey. His step-mother would\nnot give him her blessing on account of his having brought in the brown\nbear that turned her from her chair in the supper-room. Nor would she\nlet him have the good horse he always rode. Instead the Prince was given\na horse that was lame in a leg and short in the tail. And neither hawk\nnor hound went with him this time.\n\n\nAll day the King\u2019s Son was going, traveling through wood and waste until\nthe coming on of night. The little fluttering birds were going from the\nbush tops, from tuft to tuft, and to the briar-roots, going to rest; but\nif they were, he was not, till the night came on, blind and dark. Then\nthe King\u2019s Son ate his bread and meat, put his satchel under his head\nand lay down to take his rest on the edge of a great waste.\n\nIn the morning he mounted his horse and rode on. And as he went across\nthe waste he saw an extraordinary sight--everywhere were the bodies of\ndead creatures--a cock, a wren, a mouse, a weasel, a fox, a badger, a\nraven---all the birds and beasts that the King\u2019s Son had ever known. He\nwent on, but he saw no living creature before him. And then, at the end\nof the waste he came upon two living creatures struggling. One was an\neagle and the other was an eel. And the eel had twisted itself round the\neagle, and the eagle had covered her eyes with the black films of death.\nThe King\u2019s Son jumped off his horse and cut the eel in two with a sharp\nstroke of his sword.\n\nThe eagle drew the films from her eyes and looked full at the King\u2019s\nSon. \u201cI am Laheen the Eagle,\u201d she said, \u201cand I will pay you for this\nservice, Son of King Connal. Know that there has been a battle of the\ncreatures--a battle to decide which of the creatures will make laws for\na year. All were killed except the eel and myself, and if you had not\ncome I would have been killed and the eel would have made the laws. I am\nLaheen the Eagle and always I will be your friend. And now you must tell\nme how I can serve you.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou can serve me,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son, \u201cby showing me how I may come\nto the dominion of the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am the only creature who can show you, King\u2019s Son. And if I were not\nold now I would carry you there on my back. But I can tell you how you\ncan get there. Ride forward for a day, first with the sun before you and\nthen with the sun at your back, until you come to the shore of a lake.\nStay there until you see three swans flying down. They are the three\ndaughters of the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands. Mark the one who\ncarries a green scarf in her mouth. She is the youngest daughter and\nthe one who can help you. When the swans come to the ground they will\ntransform themselves into maidens and bathe in the lake. Two will come\nout, put on their swanskins and transform themselves and fly away. But\nyou must hide the swanskin that belongs to the youngest maiden. She will\nsearch and search and when she cannot find it she will cry out, \u2018I would\ndo anything in the world for the creature who would find my swanskin for\nme.\u2019 Give the swanskin to her then, and tell her that the only thing she\ncan do for you is to show you the way to her father\u2019s dominion. She will\ndo that, and so you will come to the House of the Enchanter of the Black\nBack-Lands. And now farewell to you, Son of King Connal.\u201d\n\nLaheen the Eagle spread out her wings and flew away, and the King\u2019s Son\njourneyed on, first with the sun before him and then with the sun at\nhis back, until he came to the shore of a wide lake. He turned his horse\naway, rested himself on the ground, and as soon as the clear day came he\nbegan to watch for the three swans.\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThey came, they flew down, and when they touched the ground they\ntransformed themselves into three maidens and went to bathe in the lake.\nThe one who carried the green scarf left her swanskin under a bush. The\nKing\u2019s Son took it and hid it in a hollow tree.\n\nTwo of the maidens soon came out of the water, put on their swanskins\nand flew away as swans. The younger maiden stayed for a while in the\nlake. Then she came out and began to search for her swanskin. She\nsearched and searched, and at last the King\u2019s Son heard her say, \u201cI\nwould do anything in the world for the creature who would find my\nswanskin for me.\u201d Then he came from where he was hiding and gave her the\nswanskin. \u201cI am the Son of the King of Ireland,\u201d he said, \u201cand I want\nyou to show me the way to your father\u2019s dominion.\u201d\n\n\u201cI would prefer to do anything else for you,\u201d said the maiden. \u201cI do not\nwant anything else,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cIf I show you how to get there will you be content?\u201d\n\n\u201cI shall be content.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou must never let my father know that I showed you the way. And he\nmust not know when you come that you are the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will not tell him you showed me the way and I will not let him know\nwho I am.\u201d\n\n\nNow that she had the swanskin she was able to transform herself. She\nwhistled and a blue falcon came down and perched on a tree. \u201cThat falcon\nis my own bird,\u201d said she. \u201cFollow where it flies and you will come to\nmy father\u2019s house. And now good-by to you. You will be in danger, but\nI will try to help you. Fedelma is my name.\u201d She rose up as a swan and\nflew away.\n\nThe blue falcon went flying from bush to bush and from rock to rock.\nThe night came, but in the morning the blue falcon was seen again. The\nKing\u2019s Son followed, and at last he saw a house before him. He went in,\nand there, seated on a chair of gold was the man who seemed so tall when\nhe threw down the cards upon the heap of stones. The Enchanter did not\nrecognize the King\u2019s Son without his hawk and his hound and the fine\nclothes he used to wear. He asked who he was and the King\u2019s Son said he\nwas a youth who had just finished an apprenticeship to a wizard. \u201cAnd,\u201d\n said he, \u201cI have heard that you have three fair daughters, and I came to\nstrive to gain one of them for a wife.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn that case,\u201d said the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands, \u201cyou will\nhave to do three tasks for me. If you are able to do them I will give\nyou one of my three daughters in marriage. If you fail to do any one of\nthem you will lose your head. Are you willing to make the trial?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am willing,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cThen I shall give you your first task to-morrow. It is unlucky that you\ncame to-day. In this country we eat a meal only once a week, and we have\nhad our meal this morning.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is all the same to me,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son, \u201cI can do without food\nor drink for a month without any hardship.\u201d\n\n\u201cI suppose you can do without sleep too?\u201d said the Enchanter of the\nBlack Back-Lands.\n\n\u201cEasily,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cThat is good. Come outside now, and I\u2019ll show you your bed.\u201d He took\nthe King\u2019s Son outside and showed him a dry narrow water-tank at the\ngable end of the house. \u201cThere is where you are to sleep\u201d said the\nEnchanter. \u201cTuck yourself into it now and be ready for your first task\nat the rising of the sun.\u201d\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son went into the little tank. He was\nuncomfortable there you may be sure. But in the middle of the night\nFedelma came and brought him into a fine room where he ate and then\nslept until the sun was about to rise in the morning. She called him and\nhe went outside and laid himself down in the water-tank.\n\nAs soon as the sun rose the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands came out\nof the house and stood beside the water-tank. \u201cCome now,\u201d said he, \u201cand\nI will show you the first task you have to perform.\u201d He took him to\nwhere a herd of goats was grazing. Away from the goats was a fawn with\nwhite feet and little bright horns. The fawn saw them, bounded into the\nair, and raced away to the wood as quickly as any arrow that a man ever\nshot from a bow.\n\n\u201cThat is Whitefoot the Fawn,\u201d said the Enchanter of the Black\nBack-Lands. \u201cShe grazes with my goats but none of my gillies can bring\nher into my goat-house. Here is your first task--run down Whitefoot the\nFawn and bring her with my goats into the goat-shelter this evening.\u201d\n When he said that the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands went away\nlaughing to himself.\n\n\u201cGood-by, my life,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son, \u201cI might as well try\nto catch an eagle on the wing as to run down the deer that has gone out\nof sight already.\u201d He sat down on the ground and his despair was great.\nThen his name was called and he saw Fedelma coming towards him. She\nlooked at him as though she were in dread, and said, \u201cWhat task has my\nfather set you?\u201d He told her and then she smiled. \u201cI was in dread it\nwould be a more terrible task,\u201d she said. \u201cThis one is easy. I can help\nyou to catch Whitefoot the Fawn. But first eat what I have brought you.\u201d\n\n\nShe put down bread and meat and wine, and they sat down and he ate\nand drank. \u201cI thought he might set you this task,\u201d she said, \u201cand so I\nbrought you something from my father\u2019s store of enchanted things. Here\nare the Shoes of Swiftness. With these on your feet you can run down\nWhitefoot the Fawn. But you must catch her before she has gone very far\naway. Remember that she must be brought in when the goats are going into\ntheir shelter at sunset. You will have to walk back for all the time you\nmust keep hold of her silver horns. Hasten now. Run her down with the\nShoes of Swiftness and then lay hold of her horns. Above all things\nWhitefoot dreads the loss of her silver horns.\u201d\n\nHe thanked Fedelma. He put on the Shoes of Swiftness and went into the\nwood. Now he could go as the eagle flies. He found Whitefoot the Fawn\ndrinking at the Raven\u2019s pool.\n\nWhen she saw him she went from thicket to thicket. The Shoes of\nSwiftness were hardly any use to him in these shut-in places. At last he\nbeat her from the last thicket. It was the hour of noon-tide then. There\nwas a clear plain before them and with the Shoes of Swiftness he ran her\ndown. There were tears in the Fawn\u2019s eyes and he knew she was troubled\nwith the dread of losing her silver horns.\n\nHe kept his hands on the horns and they went back over miles of plain\nand pasture, bog and wood. The hours were going quicker than they were\ngoing. When \u2018he came within the domain of the Enchanter of the Black\nBack-Lands he saw the goats going quickly before him. They were hurrying\nfrom their pastures to the goat-shelter, one stopping, maybe, to bite\nthe top of a hedge and another giving this one a blow with her horns to\nhurry her on. \u201cBy your silver horns, we must go faster,\u201d said the King\nof Ireland\u2019s Son to the Fawn. They went more quickly then.\n\nHe saw the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands waiting at the goat-house,\nnow counting the goats that came along and now looking at the sun. When\nhe saw the King of Ireland\u2019s Son coming with his capture he was so angry\nthat he struck an old full-bearded goat that had stopped to rub itself.\nThe goat reared up and struck him with his horns. \u201cWell,\u201d said the\nEnchanter of the Black Back-Lands, \u201cyou have performed your first task,\nI see. You are a greater enchanter than I thought you were.\nWhitefoot the Fawn can go in with my goats. Go back now to your own\nsleeping-place. To-morrow I\u2019ll come to you early and give you your\nsecond task.\u201d\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son went back and into the dry water-tank. He was\ntired with his day\u2019s journey after Whitefoot the Fawn. It was his hope\nthat Fedelma would come to him and give him shelter for that night.\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nUntil the white moon rose above the trees; until the hounds went out\nhunting for themselves; until the foxes came down and hid in the hedges,\nwaiting for the cocks and hens to stir out at the first light--so long\ndid the King of Ireland\u2019s Son stay huddled in the dry water-tank.\n\nBy that time he was stiff and sore and hungry. He saw a great white owl\nflying towards the tank. The owl perched on the edge and stared at the\nKing\u2019s Son. \u201cHave you a message for me?\u201d he asked. The owl shrugged with\nits wings three times. He thought that meant a message. He got out of\nthe tank and prepared to follow the owl. It flew slowly and near the\nground, so he was able to follow it along a path through the wood.\n\nThe King\u2019s Son thought the owl was bringing him to a place where Fedelma\nwas, and that he would get food there, and shelter for the rest of the\nnight. And sure enough the owl flew to a little house in the wood. The\nKing\u2019s Son looked through the window and he saw a room lighted with\ncandles and a table with plates and dishes and cups, with bread and meat\nand wine. And he saw at the fire a young woman spinning at a spinning\nwheel, and her back was towards him, and her hair was the same as\nFedelma\u2019s. Then he lifted the latch of the door and went very joyfully\ninto the little house.\n\nBut when the young woman at the spinning wheel turned round he saw that\nshe was not Fedelma at all. She had a little mouth, a long and a hooked\nnose, and her eyes looked cross-ways at a person. The thread she was\nspinning she bit with her long teeth, and she said, \u201cYou are welcome\nhere, Prince.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd who are you?\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son. \u201cAefa is my name,\u201d\n said she, \u201cI am the eldest and the wisest daughter of the Enchanter of\nthe Black Back-lands. My father is preparing a task for you,\u201d said she,\n\u201cand it will be a terrible task, and there will be no one to help you\nwith it, so you will lose your head surely. And what I would advise you\nto do is to escape out of this country at once.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd how can I escape?\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son, \u201cThere\u2019s only\none way to escape,\u201d said she, \u201cand that is for you to take the Slight\nRed Steed that my father has secured under nine locks. That steed is the\nonly creature that can bring you to your own country. I will show you\nhow to get it and then I will ride to your home with you.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd why should you do that?\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cBecause I would marry you,\u201d said Aefa.\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d said he, \u201cif I live at all Fedelma is the one I will marry.\u201d\n\nNo sooner did he say the words than Aefa screamed out, \u201cSeize him,\nmy cat-o\u2019-the-mountain. Seize him and hold him.\u201d Then the\ncat-o\u2019-the-mountain that was under the table sprang across the room and\nfixed himself on his shoulder. He ran out of the house. All the time he\nwas running the cat-o\u2019-the-mountain was trying to tear his eyes out. He\nmade his way through woods and thickets, and mighty glad he was when\nhe saw the tank at the gable-end of the house. The cat-\u2019o-the-mountain\ndropped from his back then. He got into the tank and waited and waited.\nNo message came from Fedelma. He was a long time there, stiff and\nsore and hungry, before the sun rose and the Enchanter of the Black\nBack-Lands came out of the house.\n\n\n\nV\n\n\u201cI hope you had a good night\u2019s rest,\u201d said the Enchanter of the Black\nBack-Lands, when he came to where the King of Ireland\u2019s Son was\ncrouched, just at the rising of the sun. \u201cI had indeed,\u201d said the King\u2019s\nSon. \u201cAnd I suppose you feel fit for another task,\u201d said the Enchanter\nof the Black Back-Lands. \u201cMore fit than ever in my life before,\u201d said\nthe King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\nThe Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands took him past the goat-house\nand to where there was an open shelter for his bee-hives. \u201cI want this\nshelter thatched,\u201d said he, \u201cand I want to have it thatched with the\nfeathers of birds. Go,\u201d said he, \u201cand get enough feathers of wild birds\nand come back and thatch the bee-hive shelter for me, and let it be done\nbefore the set of sun.\u201d He gave the King\u2019s Son arrows and a bow and\na bag to put the feathers in, and advised him to search the moor for\nbirds. Then he went back to the house.\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son ran to the moor and watched for birds to fly\nacross. At last one came. He shot at it with an arrow but did not bring\nit down. He hunted the moor all over but found no other bird. He hoped\nthat he would see Fedelma before his head was taken off.\n\nThen he heard his name called and he saw Fedelma coming towards him. She\nlooked at him as before with dread in thier eyes and asked him what task\nher father had set him. \u201cA terrible task,\u201d he said, and he told her\nwhat it was. Fedelma laughed. \u201cI was in dread he would give you another\ntask,\u201d she said. \u201cI can help you with this one. Sit down now and eat and\ndrink from what I have brought you.\u201d\n\nHe sat down and ate and drank and he felt hopeful seeing Fedelma beside\nhim. When he had eaten Fedelma said, \u201cMy blue falcon will gather the\nbirds and pull the feathers off for you. Still, unless you gather them\nquickly there is danger, for the roof must be thatched with feathers at\nthe set of sun.\u201d She whistled and her blue falcon came. He followed\nit across the moor. The blue falcon flew up in the air and gave a\nbird-call. Birds gathered and she swooped amongst them pulling feathers\noff their backs and out of their wings. Soon there was a heap of\nfeathers on the ground--pigeons\u2019 feathers and pie\u2019s feathers, crane\u2019s\nand crow\u2019s, blackbird\u2019s and starling\u2019s. The King of Ireland\u2019s Son\nquickly gathered them into his bag. The falcon flew to another place and\ngave her bird-call again. The birds gathered, and she went amongst\nthem, plucking their feathers. The King\u2019s Son gathered them and the blue\nfalcon flew to another place. Over and over again the blue falcon called\nto the birds and plucked out their feathers, and over and over again the\nKing\u2019s Son gathered them into his bag. When he thought he had feathers\nenough to thatch the roof he ran back to the shelter. He began the\nthatching, binding the feathers down with little willow rods. He had\njust finished when the sun went down. The old Enchanter came up and\nwhen he saw what the King\u2019s Son had done he was greatly surprised. \u201cYou\nsurely learned from the wizard you were apprenticed to,\u201d said he.. \u201cBut\nto-morrow I will try you with another task. Go now and sleep in the\nplace where you were last night.\u201d The King\u2019s Son, glad that the head was\nstill on his shoulders, went and lay down in the water-tank.\n\n\n\nVI\n\nUntil the white moon went out in the sky; until the Secret People began\nto whisper in the woods--so long did the King of Ireland\u2019s Son remain in\nthe dry water-tank that night.\n\nAnd then, when it was neither dark nor light, he saw a crane flying\ntowards him. It lighted on the edge of the tank. \u201cHave you a message for\nme?\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son. The crane tapped three times with\nits beak. Then the King\u2019s Son got out of the tank and prepared to follow\nthe bird-messenger.\n\nThis was the way the crane went. It would fly a little way and then\nlight on the ground until the Prince came up to it. Then it would fly\nagain. Over marshes and across little streams the crane led him. And all\nthe time the King of Ireland\u2019s Son thought he was being brought to the\nplace where Fedelma was--to the place where he would get food and where\nhe could rest until just before the sun rose.\n\nThey went on and on till they came to an old tower. The crane lighted\nupon it. The King\u2019s Son saw there was an iron door in the tower and he\npulled a chain until it opened. Then he saw a little room lighted with\ncandles, and he saw a young woman looking at herself in the glass. Her\nback was towards him and her hair was the same as Fedelma\u2019s.\n\nBut when the young woman turned round he saw she was not Fedelma. She\nwas little, and she had a face that was brown and tight like a nut. She\nmade herself very friendly to the King of Ireland\u2019s Son and went to him\nand took his hands and smiled into his face.\n\n\u201cYou are welcome here,\u201d said she.\n\n\u201cWho are you?\u201d he asked. \u201cI am Gilveen,\u201d said she, \u201cthe second and\nthe most loving of the three daughters of the Enchanter of the Black\nBack-Lands.\u201d She stroked his face and his hands when she spoke to him.\n\n\u201cAnd why did you send for me?\u201d\n\n\u201cBecause I know what great trouble you are in. My father is preparing a\ntask for you, and it will be a terrible one. You will never be able to\ncarry it out.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what should you advise me to do, King\u2019s daughter?\u201d\n\n\u201cLet me help you. In this tower,\u201d said she, \u201cthere are the wisest books\nin the world. We\u2019ll surely find in one of them a way for you to get from\nthis country. And then I\u2019ll go back with you to your own land.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy would you do that?\u201d asked the King of Ire-land\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cBecause I wish to be your wife,\u201d Gilveen said.\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d said he, \u201cif I live at all Fedelma is the one I\u2019ll marry.\u201d\n\nWhen he said that Gilveen drew her lips together and her chin became\nlike a horn. Then she whistled through her teeth, and instantly\neverything in the room began to attack the King\u2019s Son. The looking glass\non the wall flung itself at him and hit him on the back of the head. The\nleg of the table gave him a terrible blow at the back of the knees. He\nsaw the two candles hopping across the floor to burn his legs. He ran\nout of the room, and when he got to the door it swung around and gave\nhim a blow that flung him away from the tower. The crane that was\nwaiting on the tower flew down, its neck and beak outstretched, and gave\nhim a blow on the back.\n\nSo the King of Ireland\u2019s Son went back over the marshes and across the\nlittle streams, and he was glad when he saw the gable-end of the house\nagain. Je went into the tank. He knew that he had not long to wait\nbefore the sun would rise and the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands\nwould come to him and give him the third and the most difficult of the\nthree tasks. And he thought that Fedelma was surely shut away from him\nand that she would not be able to help him that day.\n\n\n\nVII\n\n\nAt the rising of the sun the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands came to\nwhere the King of Ireland\u2019s Son was huddled and said, \u201cI am now going to\nset you the third and last task. Rise up now and come with me.\u201d\n\nThe King\u2019s Son came out of the water-tank and fol-lowed the Enchanter.\nThey went to where there was a well. The King\u2019s Son looked down and he\ncould not see the bottom, so deep the well was. \u201cAt the bottom,\u201d said\nthe Enchanter \u201cis the Ring of Youth. You must get it and bring it to me,\nor else you must lose your head at the setting of that sun.\u201d That was\nall he said. He turned then and went away.\n\nThe King\u2019s Son looked into the well and he saw no way of getting down\nits deep smooth sides. He walked back towards the Castle. On his way he\nmet Fedelma, and she looked at him with deep dread in her eyes. \u201cWhat\ntask did my father set you to-day?\u201d said she. \u201cHe bids me go down into\na well,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son. \u201cA well!\u201d said Fedelma, and she became all\ndread. \u201cI have to take the Ring of Youth from the bot-tom and bring it\nto him,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son. \u201cOh,\u201d said Fedelma,\u2019\u201dhe has set you the\ntask I dreaded.\u201d\n\nThen she said, \u201cYou will lose your life if the Ring of Youth is not\ntaken out of the well. And if you lose yours I shall lose my life too.\nThere is one way to get down the sides of the well. You must kill me.\nTake my bones and make them as steps while you go down the sides. Then,\nwhen you have taken the Ring of Youth out of the water, put my bones\nas they were before, and put the Ring above my heart. I shall be alive\nagain. But you must be careful that you leave every bone as it was.\u201d\n\nThe King\u2019s Son fell into a deeper dread than Fedelma when he heard what\nshe said. \u201cThis can never be,\u201d he cried. \u201cIt must be,\u201d said she, \u201cand by\nall your vows and promises I command that you do it. Kill me now and do\nas I have bidden you. If it be done I shall live. If it be not done you\nwill lose your life and I will never regain mine.\u201d\n\nHe killed her. He took the bones as she had bidden him, and he made\nsteps down the sides of the well. He searched at the bottom, and he\nfound the Ring of Youth. He brought the bones together again. Down on\nhis knees he went, and his heart did not beat nor did his breath come or\ngo until he had fixed them in their places. Over the heart he placed the\nRing. Life came back to Fedelma.\n\n\u201cYou have done well,\u201d she said. \u201cOne thing only is not in its place--the\njoint of my little finger.\u201d She held up her hand and he saw that her\nlittle finger was bent.\n\n\u201cI have helped you in everything,\u201d said Fedelma, \u201cand in the last task\nI could not have helped you if you had not been true to me when Aefa and\nGilveen brought you to them. Now the three tasks are done, and you can\nask my father for one of his daughters in marriage. When you bring him\nthe Ring of Youth he will ask you to make a choice. I pray that the one\nchosen will be myself.\u201d\n\n\u201cNone other will I have but you, Fedelma, love of my heart,\u201d said the\nKing of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\n\nVIII\n\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son went into the house before the setting of the\nsun. The Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands was seated on his chair of\ngold. \u201cHave you brought me the Ring of Youth?\u201d he asked.\n\n\u201cI have brought it,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cGive it to me then,\u201d said the Enchanter.\n\n\u201cI will not,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son, \u201cuntil you give what you promised me\nat the end of my tasks--one of your three daughters for my wife.\u201d\n\nThe Enchanter brought him to a closed door. \u201cMy three daughters are\nwithin that room,\u201d said he. \u201cPut your hand through the hole in the door,\nand the one whose hand you hold when I open it--it is she you will have\nto marry.\u201d\n\nThen wasn\u2019t the mind of the King\u2019s Son greatly troubled? If he held the\nhand of Aefa or Gilveen he would lose his love Fedelma. He stood without\nputting out his hand. \u201cPut your hand through the hole of the door or\ngo away from my house altogether,\u201d said the Enchanter of the Black\nBack-Lands.\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son ventured to put his hand through the hole in\nthe door. The hands of the maidens inside were all held in a bunch. But\nno sooner did he touch them than he found that one had a broken finger.\nThis he knew was Fedelma\u2019s hand, and this was the hand he held.\n\n\u201cYou may open the door now,\u201d said he to the Enchanter. He opened the\ndoor and the King of Ireland\u2019s Son drew Fedelma to him. \u201cThis is the\nmaiden I choose,\u201d said he, \u201cand now give her her dowry.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe dowry that should go with me,\u201d said Fedelma, \u201cis the Slight\nRed Steed.\u201d \u201cWhat dowry do you want with her, young man?\u201d said the\nEnchanter.\n\n\u201cNo other dowry but the Slight Red Steed.\u201d\n\n\u201cGo round to the stable then and get it. And I hope no well-trained\nwizard like you will come this way again.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo well-trained wizard am I, but the King of Ire-land\u2019s Son. And I have\nfound your dwelling-place within a year and a day. And now I pluck the\nthree hairs out of your heard, Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands.\u201d\n\nThe beard of the Enchanter bristled like spikes on a hedgehog, and the\nballs of his eyes stuck out of his head. The King\u2019s Son plucked the\nthree hairs of his beard before he could lift a hand or say a word.\n\u201cMount the Slight Red Steed and be off, the two of you,\u201d said the\nEnchanter.\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son and Fedelma mounted the Slight Red Steed\nand rode off, and the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands, and his two\ndaughters, Aefa and Gilveen, in a rage watched them ride away.\n\n\n\nIX\n\n\nThey crossed the River of the Ox, and went over the Mountain of the Fox\nand were in the Glen of the Badger before the sun rose. And there, at\nthe foot of the Hill of Horns, they found an old man gathering dew from\nthe grass.\n\n\u201cCould you tell us where we might find the Little Sage of the Mountain?\u201d\n Fedelma asked the old man.\n\n\u201cI am the Little Sage of the Mountain,\u201d said he, \u201cand what is it you\nwant of me?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo betroth us for marriage,\u201d said Fedelma.\n\n\u201cI will do that. Come to my house, the pair of you. And as you are both\nyoung and better able to walk than I am it would be fitting to let me\nride on your horse.\u201d\n\nThe King\u2019s Son and Fedelma got off and the Little Sage of the Mountain\ngot on the Slight Red Steed. They took the path that went round the Hill\nof Horns. And at the other side of the hill they found a hut thatched\nwith one great wing of a bird. The Little Sage got off the Slight Red\nSteed. \u201cNow,\u201d said he, \u201cyou\u2019re both young, and I\u2019m an old man and it\nwould be fitting for you to do my day\u2019s work before you call upon me to\ndo anything for you. Now would you,\u201d said he to the King of Ireland\u2019s\nSon, \u201ctake this spade in your hand and go into the garden and dig my\npotatoes for me? And would you,\u201d said he to Fedelma, \u201csit down at the\nquern-stone and grind the wheat for me?\u201d\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son went into the garden and Fedelma sat at the\nquern-stone that was just outside the door; he dug and she ground\nwhile the Little Sage sat at the fire looking into a big book. And when\nFedelma and the King\u2019s Son were tired with their labor he gave them a\ndrink of buttermilk.\n\nShe made cakes out of the wheat she had ground and the King\u2019s Son washed\nthe potatoes and the Little Sage boiled them and so they made their\nsupper. Then the Little Sage of the Mountain melted lead and made two\nrings; and one ring he gave to Fedelma to give to the King\u2019s Son and one\nhe gave to the King\u2019s Son to give to Fedelma. And when the rings were\ngiven he said, \u201cYou are betrothed for your marriage now.\u201d\n\nThey stayed with the Little Sage of the Mountain that night, and when\nthe sun rose they left the house that was thatched with the great wing\nof a bird and they turned towards the Meadow of Brightness and the Wood\nof Shadows that were between them and the King of Ireland\u2019s domain. They\nrode on the Slight Red Steed, and the Little Sage of the Mountain went\nwith them a part of the way. He seemed downcast and when they asked him\nthe reason he said, \u201cI see dividing ways and far journeys for you both.\u201d\n \u201cBut how can that be,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son, \u201cwhen, in a little while we\nwill win to my father\u2019s domain?\u201d \u201cIt may be I am wrong,\u201d said the Little\nSage, \u201cand if I am not, remember that devotion brings together dividing\nways and that high hearts win to the end of every journey.\u201d He bade\nthem good-by then, and turned back to his hut that was thatched with the\ngreat wing of a bird.\n\nThey rode across the Meadow of Brightness and Fedelma\u2019s blue falcon\nsailed above them. \u201cYonder is a field of white flowers,\u201d said she, \u201cand\nwhile we are crossing it you must tell me a story.\u201d\n\n\u201cI know by heart,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son, \u201conly the stories that Maravaun,\nmy father\u2019s Councillor, has put into the book he is composing--the book\nthat is called \u2018The Breastplate of Instruction.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d said Fedelma, \u201ctell me a story from \u2018The Breastplate of\nInstruction,\u2019 while we are crossing this field of white flowers.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will tell you the first story that is in it,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son.\nThen while they were crossing the field of white flowers the King\u2019s Son\ntold Fedelma the story of\n\n\n\nThe Ass and the Seal\n\n\nX\n\nA seal that had spent a curious fore-noon paddling around the island\nof Ilaun-Beg drew itself up on a rock the better to carry on its\ninvestigations. It was now within five yards of the actual island. On\nthe little beach there were three curraghs in which the island-men went\nover the sea; they were turned bottom up and heavy stones were placed\nupon them to prevent their being carried away by the high winds. The\nseal noted them as he rested upon the flat rock. He noted too a little\nass that was standing beyond the curraghs, sheltering himself where the\ncliffs hollowed in.\n\nNow this ass was as curious as the seal, and when he saw the smooth\ncreature that was moving its head about with such intelligence he came\ndown to the water\u2019s edge. Two of his legs were spancelled with a piece\nof straw rope, but being used to such impediment he came over without\nany awkwardness. He looked inquiringly at the seal.\n\nThe gray-headed crow of the cliff lighted on a spar of rock and made\nherself an interpreter between the two. \u201cShaggy beast of the Island,\u201d\n said the seal, \u201cfriend and follower of men, tell me about their fabulous\nexistence.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you mean the hay-getters?\u201d said the ass.\n\n\u201cYou know well whom he means,\u201d said the gray-headed crow viciously.\n\u201cAnswer him now.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou gravell me entirely when you ask about men,\u201d said the ass. \u201cI don\u2019t\nknow much about them. They live to themselves and I live to myself.\nTheir houses are full of smoke and it blinds my eyes to go in. There\nused to be green fields here and high grass that became hay, but there\u2019s\nnothing like that now. I think men have given up eating what grows out\nof the ground. I see nothing, I smell nothing, but fish, fish, fish.\u201d\n\nThe gray-headed crow had a vicious eye fixed on the ass all the time he\nwas speaking. \u201cYou\u2019re saying all that,\u201d said she, \u201cbecause they let the\nlittle horse stay all night in the house and beat you out of it.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy friend,\u201d said the seal, \u201cit is evident that men deceive you by\nappearances. I know men. I have followed their boats and have\nlistened to the wonderful sounds they make with their voices and with\ninstruments. Do they not draw fish out of the depths by enchantments? Do\nthey not build their habitations with music? Do they not draw the moon\nout of the sea and set it for a light in their houses? And is it not\nknown that the fairest daughters of the sea have loved men?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen I\u2019m awake long o\u2019 moonlit nights I feel like that myself,\u201d said\nthe ass. Then the recollections of these long, frosty nights made him\nyawn. Then he brayed.\n\n\u201cWhat it is to live near men,\u201d said the seal in admiration. \u201cWhat\nwonderful sounds!\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019d cross the water and rub noses with you,\u201d said the ass, \u201conly I\u2019m\nafraid of crocodiles.\u201d\n\n\u201cCrocodiles?\u201d said the gray-headed crow.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the ass. \u201cIt\u2019s because I\u2019m of a very old family, you know.\nThey were Egyptians. My people never liked to cross water in their own\ncountry. There were crocodiles there.\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t want to waste any more time listening to nonsense,\u201d said the\ngray-headed crow. She flew to the ass\u2019s back and plucked out some of the\nfelt. \u201cI\u2019ll take this for my own habitation,\u201d she said, and flew back to\nthe cliff.\n\nThe ass would have kicked up his heels only two of his legs were\nfastened with the straw rope. He turned away, and without a word of\nfarewell to the seal went scrambling up the bank of the island.\n\nThe seal stayed for a while moving his head about intelligently. Then\nhe slipped into the water and paddled off. \u201cOne feels their lives in\nmusic,\u201d he said; \u201cgreat tones vibrate round the island where men live.\nIt is very wonderful.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son, \u201cis the first story in \u2018The Breastplate of\nInstruction,\u2019--\u2018The Ass and the Seal.\u2019 And now you must tell me a story\nwhile we are crossing the field of blue flowers.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen it will be a very little story,\u201d said Fedelma. They crossed a\nlittle field of blue flowers, and Fedelma told\n\n\n\nThe Sending of the Crystal Egg\n\n\nXI\n\nThe Kings of Murias heard that King Atlas had to bear The world upon his\nback, so they sent him then and there The Crystal Egg that would be\nthe Swan of Endless Tales That his burthen for a while might lie on his\nshoulder-scales Fair-balanced while he heard the Tales the Swan poured\nforth--North-world Tales for the while he watched the Star of the North;\nAnd East-world Tales he would hear in the morning swart and cool, When\nthe Lions Nimrod had spared came up from the drinking pool; West-world\nTales for the King when he turned him with the sun; Then whispers of\nmagic Tales from Africa, his own.\n\nBut the Kings of Murias made the Crane their messenger--The fitful Crane\nwhose thoughts are always frightening her She slipped from Islet to\nIsle, she sloped from Foreland to Coast; She passed through cracks in\nthe mountains and came over trees like a ghost; And then fled back in\ndismay when she saw on the hollow plains The final battle between the\nPigmies and the Cranes.\n\nWhere is the Crystal Egg that was sent King Atlas then? Hatched it will\nbe one day and the Tales will be told to men: That is if it be not laid\nin some King\u2019s old Treasury: That is if the fitful Crane did not lose it\nthreading the Sea!\n\nThey were not long going through the little field of blue flowers, and\nwhen they went through it they came to another field of white flowers.\nFedelma asked the King\u2019s Son to tell her another story, and thereupon he\ntold her the second story in \u201cThe Breastplate of Instruction.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe Story of the Young Cuckoo\n\n\nXII\n\nThe young cuckoo made desperate attempts to get himself through the\nnarrow opening in the hollow tree. He screamed when he failed to get\nthrough.\n\nHis foster-parents had remained so long beside him that they were wasted\nand sad while the other birds, their broods reared, were vigorous and\njoyful. They heard the one that had been reared in their nest, the young\ncuckoo, scream, but this time they did not fly towards him. The young\ncuckoo screamed again, but there was something in that scream that\nreminded the foster-parents of hawks. They flew away. They were\nmiserable in their flight, these birds, for they knew they were\ncommitting a treason.\n\nThey had built their nest in a hollow tree that had a little opening.\nA cuckoo laid her egg on the ground and, carrying it in her beak, had\nplaced it in the nest. Their own young had been pushed out. They had\nworn themselves to get provision for the terrible and fascinating\ncreature who had remained in their nest.\n\nWhen the time came for him to make his flight he could not get his\nbody through the little opening. Yesterday he had begun to try. The two\nfoster-parents flew to him again and again with food. But now their own\nnesting place had become strange to them. They would never go near it\nagain. The young cuckoo was forsaken.\n\nA woodpecker ran round the tree. He looked into the hollow and saw the\nbig bird crumpled up.\n\n\u201cHello,\u201d said the woodpecker. \u201cHow did you get here?\u201d\n\n\u201cBorn here,\u201d said the young cuckoo sulkily.\n\n\u201cOh, were you?\u201d said the woodpecker and he ran round the tree again.\n\nWhen he came back to the opening the young cuckoo was standing up with\nhis mouth open.\n\n\u201cFeed me,\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve to rush round frightfully to get something for myself,\u201d said the\nwoodpecker.\n\n\u201cAt least, someone ought to bring me food,\u201d said the young cuckoo.\n\n\u201cHow is that?\u201d said the woodpecker.\n\n\u201cWell, oughtn\u2019t they to?\u201d said the young cuckoo.\n\n\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say so,\u201d said the woodpecker, \u201cyou have the use of your\nwits, haven\u2019t you?\u201d He ran round the trunk of the tree again and\ndevoured a lean grub. The young cuckoo struggled at the opening and\nscreamed again.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t be drawing too much attention to yourself,\u201d advised the\nwoodpecker when he came to the opening again. \u201cThey might take you for a\nyoung hawk, you know.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho might?\u201d said the cuckoo. \u201cThe neighbors. They would pull a young\nhawk to pieces.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat am I to do?\u201d said the young cuckoo.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s in your nature to do?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy nature?\u201d said the young cuckoo. \u201cIt\u2019s my nature to swing myself on\nbranches high up in a tree. It\u2019s my nature to spread out my wings and\nfly over pleasant places. It is my nature to be alone. But not alone as\nhere. Alone with the sound of my own voice.\u201d Suddenly he cried, \u201cCuckoo,\ncuckoo, cuckoo!\u201d\n\n\u201cI know you now,\u201d said the woodpecker. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be a storm,\u201d he\nsaid; \u201ctrust a woodpecker to know that.\u201d\n\nThe young cuckoo strove towards the big sky again, and he screamed so\nviciously that a rat that had just come out of the ditch fastened his\neyes on him. That creature looked bad to the young cuckoo. Rain plopped\non the leaves. Thunder crashed. A bolt struck the tree, and the part\nabove the opening was torn away.\n\nThe young cuckoo flung himself out on the grass and went awkwardly\namongst the blue bells. \u201cWhat a world,\u201d said he. \u201cAll this wet and fire\nand noise to get me out of the nest. What a world!\u201d The young cuckoo\nwas free, and these were the first words he said when he went into the\nworld.\n\nThat was the last story the King\u2019s Son told from Maravaun\u2019s book, \u201cThe\nBreastplate of Instruction.\u201d They had another little field of blue\nflowers to cross, and as they went across it Fedelma told the King\u2019s Son\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE CLOUD-WOMAN\n\nXIII\n\n     The Cloud-woman, Mor, was the daughter\n     Of Griann, the Sun,--well, and she\n     Made a marriage to equal that grandeur,\n     For her Goodman was Lir, the Sea.\n\n     The Cloud-woman Mor, she had seven\n     Strong sons, and the story-books say\n     Their inches grew in the night-time,\n     And grew over again in the day.\n\n     The Cloud-woman Mor,--as they grew in\n     Their bone, she grew in her pride,\n     Till her haughtiness turned away, men say,\n     Her goodman Lir from her side;\n\n     Then she lived in Mor\u2019s Home and she watched\n     With pride her sons and her crop,\n     Till one day the wish in her grew\n     To view from the mountain-top\n     All, all that she owned, so she\n     Traveled without any stop.\n\n     And what did she see? A thousand\n\n     Fields and her own fields small, small!\n     \u201cWhat a fine and wide place is Eirinn,\u201d said she,\n     \u201cI am Mor, but not great after all.\u201d\n\n     Then a herdsman came, and he told her\n     That her sons had stolen away:\n     They had left the calves in the hollow,\n     With the goose-flock they would not stay:\n\n     They had seen three ships on the sea\n     And nothing would do them but go:\n     Mor wept and wept when she heard it,\n     And her tears made runnels below.\n\n     Then her shining splendor departed:\n     She went, and she left no trace,\n     And the Cloud-woman, Mor, was never\n     Beheld again in that place.\n\n     The proud woman, Mor, who was daughter\n     Of Griann, the Sun, and who made\n     A marriage to equal that grandeur,\n     Passed away as a shade.\n\n\nXIV\n\nAnd that was the last story that Fedelma told, for they had crossed the\nMeadows of Brightness and had come to a nameless place--a stretch of\nbroken ground where there were black rocks and dead grass and bare roots\nof trees with here and there a hawthorn tree in blossom. \u201cI fear this\nplace. We must not halt here,\u201d Fedelma said.\n\nAnd then a flock of ravens came from the rocks, and flying straight\nat them attacked Fedelma and the King of Ireland\u2019s Son. The King\u2019s Son\nsprang from the steed and taking his sword in his hand he fought the\nravens until he drove them away. They rode on again. But now the ravens\nflew back and attacked them again and the King of Ireland\u2019s Son fought\nthem until his hands were wearied. He mounted the steed again, and they\nrode swiftly on. And the ravens came the third time and attacked them\nmore fiercely than before. The King\u2019s Son fought them until he had\nkilled all but three and until he was covered with their blood and\nfeathers.\n\nThe three that had escaped flew away. \u201cOh, mount the Slight Red Steed\nand let us ride fast,\u201d said Fedelma to the King\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cI am filled with weariness,\u201d he said. \u201cBid the steed stay by the rock,\nlay my sword at my side, and let me sleep with my head on your lap.\u201d\n\n\u201cI fear for us both if you slumber here,\u201d said Fedelma.\n\n\u201cI must sleep, and I pray that you let me lay my head on your lap.\u201d\n\n\u201cI know not what would awaken you if you slumber here.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will awaken,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son, \u201cbut now I must sleep, and I would\nslumber with my head on your lap.\u201d\n\nShe got down from the Slight Red Steed and she bade it stay by a rock;\nshe put his sword by the place he would sleep and she took his head upon\nher lap. The King\u2019s Son slept.\n\nAs she watched over him a great fear grew in Fedelma. Every hour she\nwould say to him, \u201cAre you near waking, my dear, my dear?\u201d But no flush\nof waking appeared on the face of the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\nThen she saw a man coming across the nameless place, across the broken\nground, with its dead grass and black rocks and with its roots and\nstumps of trees. The man who came near them was taller than any man she\nhad seen before--he was tall as a tree. Fedelma knew him from what she\nhad heard told about him--she knew him to be the King of the Land of\nMist.\n\nThe King of the Land of Mist came straight to them. He stood before\nFedelma and he said, \u201cI seek Fedelma, the daughter of the Enchanter of\nthe Black Back-Lands and the fairest woman within the seas of Eirinn.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen go to her father\u2019s house and seek Fedelma there,\u201d said she to him.\n\n\u201cI have sought her there,\u201d said the King of the Land of Mist, \u201cbut she\nleft her father\u2019s house to go with the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen seek her in the Castle of the King of Ireland,\u201d said Fedelma.\n\n\u201cThat I will not. Fedelma is here, and Fedelma will come with me,\u201d said\nthe King of the Land of Mist.\n\n\u201cI will not leave him with whom I am plighted,\u201d said Fedelma.\n\nThen the King of the Land of Mist took up the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\nHigh he held him--higher than a tree grows. \u201cI will dash him down on the\nrocks and break the life within him,\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cDo not so,\u201d said Fedelma. \u201cTell me. If I go with you what would win me\nback?\u201d\n\n\u201cNothing but the sword whose stroke would slay me--the Sword of Light,\u201d\n said the King of the Land of Mist. He held up the King of Ireland\u2019s Son\nagain, and again he was about to dash him against the rocks. The blue\nfalcon that was overhead flew down and settled on the rock behind her.\nFedelma knew that what she and the King of the Land of Mist would say\nnow would be carried some place and told to someone. \u201cLeave my love, the\nKing\u2019s Son, to his rest,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cIf I do not break the life in him will you come with me, Fedelma?\u201d\n\n\u201cI will go with you if you tell again what will win me back from you.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Sword of Light whose stroke will slay me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will go with you if you swear by all your vows and promises not to\nmake me your wife nor your sweetheart for a year and a day.\u201d\n\n\u201cI swear by all my vows and promises not to make you my wife nor my\nsweetheart for a year and a day.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will go with you if you let it be that I fall into a slumber that\nwill last for a year and a day.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will let that be, fairest maid within the seas of Eirinn.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will go with you if you will tell me what will take me out of that\nslumber.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf one cuts a tress of your hair with a stroke of the Sword of Light it\nwill take you out of that slumber.\u201d\n\nThe blue falcon that was behind heard what the King of the Land of\nMist said. She rose up and remained overhead with her wings outspread.\nFedelma took the ring off her own finger and put it on the finger of the\nKing of Ireland\u2019s Son, and she wrote upon the ground in Ogham letters,\n\u201cThe King of the Land of Mist.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf it be not you who wakens me, love,\u201d she said, \u201cmay it be that I\nnever waken.\u201d\n\n\u201cCome, daughter of the Enchanter,\u201d said the King of the Land of Mist.\n\n\u201cPluck the branch of hawthorn and give it to me that I may fall into my\nslumber here,\u201d said Fedelma.\n\nThe King of the Land of Mist plucked a flowering branch of hawthorn\nand gave it to her. She held the flowers against her face and fell into\nslumber. For a while she and the King of Ireland\u2019s Son were side by side\nin sleep.\n\nThen the King of the Land of Mist took Fedelma in his arms and strode\nalong that nameless place, over the broken ground with its dead grass\nand its black rocks and its stumps and roots of trees and the three\nravens that had escaped the sword of the King of Ire-land\u2019s Son followed\nwhere he went.\n\n\nXV\n\nLong, long after Fedelma had been taken by the King of the Land of Mist\nthe King of Ireland\u2019s Son came out of his slumber. He saw around him\nthat nameless place with its black rocks and bare roots of trees. He\nremembered he had come to it with Fedelma. He sprang up and looked for\nher, but no one was near him. \u201cFedelma, Fedelma!\u201d He searched and he\ncalled, but it was as if no one had ever been with him. He found his\nsword; be searched for his steed, but the Slight Red Steed was gone too.\n\nHe thought that the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands had followed them\nand had taken Fedelma from him. He turned to go towards the Enchanter\u2019s\ncountry and then he found what Fedelma had written upon the ground in\nOgham letters\n\n____II_____________\\/______//___        IIII       /\\\n\n\u201cThe King of the Land of Mist\u201d\n\nHe did not know what direction to take to get to the dominion of the\nKing of the Land of Mist. He crossed the broken ground and he found no\ntrace of Fedelma nor of him who had taken her. He found himself close to\nthe Wood of Shadows. He went through it. As he went on he saw scores and\nscores of shadows. Nothing else was in the wood--no bird, no squirrel,\nno cricket. The shadows had the whole wood to themselves. They ran\nswiftly from tree to tree, and now and then one would stop at a tree and\nwait. Often the King of Ireland\u2019s Son came close to a waiting shadow.\nOne became like a small old man with a beard. The King\u2019s Son saw this\nshadow again and again. What were they, the shadows, he asked himself?\nMaybe they were wise creatures and could tell him what he wanted to\nknow.\n\nHe thought he heard them whispering together. Then one little shadow\nwith trailing legs went slowly from tree to tree. The King of Ireland\u2019s\nSon thought he would catch and hold a shadow and make it tell him where\nhe should go to find the dominion of the King of the Land of Mist.\n\nHe went after one shadow and another and waited beside a tree for one to\ncome. Often he thought he saw the small old man with the beard and\nthe little creature with trailing legs. And then he began to see other\nshadows--men with the heads of rooks and men with queer heavy swords\nupon their shoulders. He followed them on and on through the wood and he\nheard their whispering becoming louder and louder, and then he thought\nthat as he went on the shadows, instead of slipping before him, began to\nturn back and go past and surround him. Then he heard a voice just under\nthe ground at his feet say, \u201cShout--shout out your own name, Son of King\nConnal!\u201d Then the King\u2019s Son shouted out his own name and the whispers\nceased in the wood and the shadows went backward and forward no more.\n\nHe went on and came to a stream within the wood and he went against its\nflow all night as well as all day, hoping to meet some living thing that\nwould tell him how he might come to the dominion of the King of the Land\nof Mist. In the forenoon of another day he came to where the wood grew\nthin and then he went past the last trees.\n\nHe saw a horse grazing: he ran up to it and found that it was the Slight\nRed Steed that had carried Fedelma and himself from the house of the\nEnchanter. Then as he laid hold of the steed a hound ran up to him and\na hawk flew down and he saw that they were the hawk and the hound that\nused to be with him when he rode abroad from his father\u2019s Castle.\n\nHe mounted and seeing his hound at his heel and his hawk circling above\nhe felt a longing to go back to his father\u2019s Castle which he knew to be\nnear and where he might find out where the King of the Land of Mist had\nhis dominion.\n\nSo the King of Ireland\u2019s Son rode back to his father\u2019s Castle--\n\n   His hound at his heel,\n   His hawk on his wrist.\n\n\n\n\nWHEN THE KING OF THE CATS CAME TO KING CONNAL\u2019S DOMINION\n\n\n\nI\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son was home again, but as he kept asking about a\nKing and a Kingdom no one had ever heard of, people thought he had lost\nhis wits in his search for the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands. He\nrode abroad every day to ask strangers if they knew where the King of\nthe Land of Mist had his dominion and he came back to his father\u2019s every\nnight in the hope that one would be at the Castle who could tell him\nwhere the place that he sought was. Maravaun wanted to relate to him\nfables from \u201cThe Breastplate of Instruction\u201d but the King\u2019s Son did not\nhear a word that Maravaun said. After a while he listened to the things\nthat Art, the King\u2019s Steward, related to him, for it was Art who had\nshown the King\u2019s Son the leaden ring that was on his finger. He took it\noff, remembering the betrothal ring that the Little Sage had made, and\nthen he saw that it was not his, but Fedelma\u2019s ring that he wore. Then\nhe felt as if Fedelma had sent a message to him, and he was less wild in\nhis thoughts.\n\nAfterwards, in the evenings, when he came back from his ridings, he\nwould cross the meadows with Art, the King\u2019s Steward, or would stand\nwith him while the herdsmen drove the cattle into the byres. Then he\nwould listen to what Art related to him. And one evening he heard Art\nsay, \u201cThe most remarkable event that happened was the coming into this\nland of the King of the Cats.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will listen to what you tell me about it,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son.\n\u201cThen,\u201d said Art, the King\u2019s Steward, \u201cto your father\u2019s Son in all truth\nbe it told\u201d--\n\n\n\nThe King of the Cats stood up. He was a grand creature. His body was\nbrown and striped across as if one had burned on wood with a hot poker.\nLike all the race of the Royal Cats of the Isle of Man he was without a\ntail. But he had extraordinarily fine whiskers. They went each side of\nhis face to the length of a dinner-dish. He had such eyes that when he\nturned one of them upward the bird that was flying across dropped from\nthe sky. And when he turned the other one down he could make a hole in\nthe floor.\n\nHe lived in the Isle of Man. Once he had been King of the Cats of\nIreland and Britain, of Norway and Denmark, and the whole Northern and\nWestern World. But after the Norsemen won in the wars the Cats of Norway\nand Britain swore by Thor and Odin that they would give him no more\nallegiance. So for a hundred years and a day he had got allegiance\nonly from the Cats of the Western World; that is, from Ireland and the\nIslands beyond.\n\nThe tribute he received was still worth having. In May he was sent a\nboatful of herring. In August he was let have two boatfuls of mackerel.\nIn November he was given five barrels of preserved mice. At other\nseasons he had for his tribute one out of every hundred birds that flew\nacross the Island on their way to Ireland--tomtits, pee-wits, linnets,\nsiskins, starlings, martins, wrens and tender young barn owls. He was\nalso sent the following as marks of allegiance and respect: a salmon,\nto show his dominion over the rivers; the skin of a marten to show his\ndominion in the woods; a live cricket to show his dominion in the houses\nof men; the horn of a cow, to show his right to a portion of the milk\nproduced in the Western World.\n\n\nBut the tribute from the Western World became smaller and smaller. One\nyear the boat did not come with the herring. Mackerel was sent to him\nafterwards but he knew it was sent to him because so much was\nbeing taken out of the sea that the farmer-men were plowing their\nmackerel-catches into the land to make their crops grow. Then a year\ncame when he got neither the salmon nor the marten skin, neither the\nlive cricket nor the cow\u2019s horn. Then he got righteously and royally\nindignant. He stood up on his four paws on the floor of his palace, and\ndeclared to his wife that he himself was going to Ireland to know what\nprevented the sending of his lawful tribute to him. He called for\nhis Prime Minister then and said, \u201cPrepare for Us our Speech from the\nThrone.\u201d\n\nThe Prime Minister went to the Parliament House and wrote down \u201cOyez,\nOyez, Oyez!\u201d But he could not remember any more of the ancient language\nin which the speeches from the Throne were always written. He went home\nand hanged himself with a measure of tape and his wife buried the body\nunder the hearth-stone.\n\n\u201cSpeech or no speech,\u201d said the King of the Cats, \u201cI\u2019m going to pay a\nroyal visit to my subjects in Ireland.\u201d\n\nHe went to the top of the cliff and he made a spring. He landed on the\ndeck of a ship that was bringing the King of Norway\u2019s daughter to be\nmarried to the King of Scotland\u2019s son. The ship nearly sank with the\ncrash of his body on it. He ran up the sails and placed himself on the\nmast of the ship. There he gathered his feet together and made another\nspring. This time he landed on a boat that was bringing oak-timber to\nbuild a King\u2019s Palace in London. He stood where the timber was highest\nand made another spring. This time he landed on the Giant\u2019s Causeway\nthat runs from Ireland out into the sea. He picked his steps from\nboulder to boulder, and then walked royally and resolutely on the ground\nof Ireland. A man was riding on horseback with a woman seated on the\nsaddle behind him. The King of the Cats waited until they came up.\n\n\u201cMy good man,\u201d said he very grandly, \u201cwhen you go back to your house,\ntell the ash-covered cat in the corner that the King of the Cats has come\nto Ireland to see him.\u201d\n\nHis manner was so grand that the man took off his hat and the woman made\na courtesy. Then the King of the Cats sprang into the branch of a tree\nof the forest and slept till it was past the mid-day heat.\n\nI nearly forgot to tell you that as he slept on the branch his whiskers\nstood around his face the breadth of a dinner-dish either way.\n\n\n\nII\n\nThe next day the King\u2019s Son rode abroad and where he went that day he\nsaw no man nor woman nor living creature in the land around. But coming\nback he saw a falcon sailing in the air above. He rode on and the falcon\nsailed above, never rising high in the air, and never swooping down.\nThe King\u2019s Son fitted an arrow to his bow and shot at the falcon.\nImmediately it rose in the air and flew swiftly away, but a feather from\nit fell before him. The King\u2019s Son picked the feather up. It was a blue\nfeather. Then the King\u2019s Son thought of Fedelma\u2019s falcon--of the bird\nthat flew above them when they rode across the Meadows of Brightness.\nIt might be Fedelma\u2019s falcon, the one he had shot at, and it might have\ncome to show him the way to the Land of Mist. But the falcon was not to\nbe seen now.\n\nHe did not go amongst the strangers in his father\u2019s Castle that evening;\nbut he stood with Art who was watching the herdsmen drive the cattle\ninto the byres. And Art after a while said, \u201cI will tell you more about\nthe coming of the King of the Cats into King Connal\u2019s Dominion. And as\nbefore I say\n\n\u201cTo your father\u2019s Son in all truth be it told \u201c--\n\n\nThe King of the Cats waited on the branch of the tree until the moon\nwas in the sky like a roast duck on a dish of gold, and still neither\nretainer, vassal nor subject came to do him service. He was vexed, I\ntell you, at the want of respect shown him.\n\nThis was the reason why none of his subjects came to him for such a long\ntime: The man and woman he had spoken to went into their house and did\nnot say a word about the King of the Cats until they had eaten their\nsupper. Then when the man had smoked his second pipe, he said to the\nwoman: \u201cThat was a wonderful thing that happened to us to-day. A cat to\nwalk up to two Christians and say to them, \u2018Tell the ashy pet in your\nchimney corner at home that the King of the Cats has come to see him.\u2019\u201d\n\nNo sooner were the words said than the lean, gray, ash-covered cat that\nlay on the hearthstone sprang on the back of the man\u2019s chair.\n\n\u201cI will say this,\u201d said the man; \u201cit\u2019s a bad time when two Christians\nlike ourselves are stopped on their way back from the market and\nordered--ordered, no less--to give a message to one\u2019s own cat lying on\none\u2019s own hearthstone.\u201d\n\n\u201cBy my fur and daws, you\u2019re a long time coming to his message,\u201d said the\ncat on the back of the chair; \u201cwhat was it, anyway?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe King of the Cats has come to Ireland to see you,\u201d said the man,\nvery much surprised.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a wonder you told it at all,\u201d said the cat, going to the door.\n\u201cAnd where did you see His Majesty?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou shouldn\u2019t have spoken,\u201d said the man\u2019s wife.\n\n\u201cAnd how did I know a cat could understand?\u201d said the man.\n\n\u201cWhen you have done talking amongst yourselves,\u201d said the cat, \u201cwould\nyou tell me where you met His Majesty?\u201d\n\n\u201cNothing will I tell you,\u201d said the man, \u201cuntil I hear your own name\nfrom you.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy name,\u201d said the cat, \u201cis Quick-to-Grab, and well you should know\nit.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot a word will we tell you,\u201d said the woman, \u201cuntil we hear what the\nKing of the Cats is doing in Ireland. Is he bringing wars and rebellions\ninto the country?\u201d\n\n\u201cWars and rebellions,--no, ma\u2019am,\u201d said Quick-to-Grab, \u201cbut deliverance\nfrom oppression. Why are the cats of the country lean and lazy and\ncovered with ashes? It is because the cat that goes outside the house in\nthe sunlight, to hunt or to play, is made to suffer with the loss of an\neye.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd who makes them suffer with the loss of an eye?\u201d said the woman.\n\u201cOne whose reign is nearly over now,\u201d said Quick-to-Grab. \u201cBut tell me\nwhere you saw His Majesty?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said the man. \u201cNo,\u201d said the woman, \u201cfor we don\u2019t like your\nimpertinence. Back with you to the hearthstone, and watch the mouse-hole\nfor us.\u201d\n\nQuick-to-Grab walked straight out of the door.\n\n\u201cMay no prosperity come to this house,\u201d said he, \u201cfor denying me when I\nasked where the King of the Cats was pleased to speak to you.\u201d\n\nBut he put his ear to the door when he went outside and he heard the\nwoman say,--\n\n\u201cThe horse will tell him that we saw the King of the Cats a mile this\nside of the Giant\u2019s Causeway.\u201d (That was a mistake. The horse could\nnot have told it at all, because horses never know the language that is\nspoken in houses--only cats know it fully and dogs know a little of it.)\n\nQuick-to-Grab now knew where the King of the Cats might be found. He\nwent creeping by hedges, loping across fields, bounding through woods,\nuntil he came under the branch in the forest where the King of the\nCats rested, his whiskers standing round his face the breadth of a\ndinner-dish.\n\nWhen he came-under the branch Quick-to-Grab mewed a little in Egyptian,\nwhich is the ceremonial language of the Cats. The King of the Cats came\nto the end of the branch.\n\n\u201cWho are you, vassal?\u201d said he in Phoenician.\n\n\u201cA humble retainer of my lord,\u201d said Quick-to-Grab in High-Pictish (this\nis a language very suitable to cats but it is only their historians who\nnow use it).\n\nThey continued their conversation in Irish.\n\n\u201cWhat sign shall I show the others that will make them know you are the\nKing of the Cats?\u201d said Quick-to-Grab.\n\nThe King of the Cats chased up the tree and pulled down heavy branches.\n\u201cThere is a sign of my royal prowess,\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a good sign,\u201d said Quick-to-Grab. They were about to talk again\nwhen Quick-to-Grab put down his tail and ran up another tree greatly\nfrightened.\n\n\u201cWhat ails you?\u201d said the King of the Cats. \u201cCan you not stay still\nwhile you are speaking to your lord and master?\u201d\n\n\u201cOld-fellow Badger is coming this way,\u201d said Quick-to-Grab, \u201cand when he\nputs his teeth in one he never lets go.\u201d\n\nWithout saying a word the King of the Cats jumped down from the tree.\nOld-fellow Badger was coming through the glade. When he saw the King of\nthe Cats crouching there he stopped and bared his terrible teeth. The\nKing of the Cats bent himself to spring. Then Old-fellow Badger turned\nround and went lumbering back.\n\n\u201cOh, by my claws and fur,\u201d said Quick-to-Grab, \u201cyou are the real King of\nthe Cats. Let me be your Councillor. Let me advise your Majesty in the\ntimes that will be so difficult for your subjects and yourself. Know\nthat the Cats of Ireland are impoverished and oppressed. They are under\na terrible tyranny.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho oppresses my vassals, retainers and subjects?\u201d said the King of the\nCats.\n\n\u201cThe Eagle-Emperor. He has made a law that no cat may leave a man\u2019s\nhouse as long as the birds (he makes an exception in the case of owls)\nhave any business abroad.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will tear him to pieces,\u201d said the King of the Cats. \u201cHow can I reach\nhim?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo cat has thought of reaching him,\u201d said Quick-to-Grab, \u201cthey only\nthink of keeping out of his way. Now let me advise your Majesty. None\nof our enemies must know that you have come into this country. You must\nappear as a common cat.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat, me?\u201d said the King of the Cats.\n\n\u201cYes, your Majesty, for the sake of the deliverance of your subjects you\nwill have to appear as a common cat.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd be submissive and eat scraps?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat will be only in the daytime,\u201d said Quick-to-Grab, \u201cin the\nnight-time you will have your court and your feasts.\u201d\n\n\u201cAt least, let the place I stay in be no hovel,\u201d said the King of\nthe Cats. \u201cI shall refuse to go into a house where there are washing\ndays--damp clothes before a fire and all that.\u201d\n\n\u201cI shall use my best diplomacy to safeguard your comfort and dignity,\u201d\n said Quick-to-Grab, \u201cplease invest me as your Prime Minister.\u201d\n\nThe King of the Cats invested Quick-to-Grab by biting the fur round his\nneck. Then the King and his Prime Minister parted. The King of the Cats\ntook up quarters for a day or two in a round tower. Quick-to-Grab made a\njourney through the country-side. He went into every house and whispered\na word to every cat that was there, and whether the cat was watching a\nmouse-hole, or chasing crickets, or playing with kittens, when he or she\nheard that word they sat up and considered.\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nEarly, early, next day the King of Ireland\u2019s Son rode out in search\nof the blue falcon, but although he rode from the ring of day to the\ngathering of the dark clouds he saw no sign of it on rock or tree or in\nthe air. Very wearily he rode back, and after his horse was stabled he\nstood with Art in the meadows watching the cattle being driven by. And\nArt, the King\u2019s Steward, said: \u201cThe Coming of the King of the Cats into\nKing Connal\u2019s dominion is a story still to be told. To your father\u2019s\nSon in all truth be it told\u201d--\n\n\nQuick-to-Grab, in consultation with the Seven Elders of the Cat-Kin\ndecided that the Blacksmith\u2019s forge would be a fit residence for the\nKing of the Cats. It was clean and commodious. But the best reason of\nall for his going there was this: people and beasts from all parts\ncame into the forge and the King of the Cats might learn from their\ndiscussions where the Eagle-Emperor was and how he might be destroyed.\n\nHis Majesty found that the Forge was not a bad residence for a King\nliving unbeknownst. It was dry and warm. He liked the look of the flames\nthat mounted up with the blowing of the bellows. He used to sit on a\nheap of old saddles on the floor and watch the horses being shod or\nwaiting to be shod. He listened to the talk of the men. The people in\nthe Forge treated him respectfully and often referred to his size, his\nappearance and his fine manners.\n\nEvery night he went out to a feast that the cats had prepared for him.\nQuick-to-Grab always walked back to the Forge with him to give a Prime\nMinister\u2019s advice. He warned His Majesty not to let the human beings\nknow that he understood and could converse in their language--(all cats\nknow men\u2019s language, but men do not know that the cats know). He told\nhim not to be too haughty (as a King might be inclined to be) to any\ncreature in the Forge.\n\nThe King of the Cats took this advice. He used even to twitch his ears\nas a mark of respect to Mahon, the hound whose kennel was just outside\nthe forge, and to the hounds that Mahon had to visit him. He even made\nadvances to the Cock who walked up and down outside.\n\nThis Cock made himself very annoying to the King of the Cats. He used\nto strut up and down saying to himself over and over again, \u201cI\u2019m\nCock-o\u2019-the-Walk, I\u2019m Cock-o\u2019-the-Walk.\u201d Sometimes he would come into\nthe Forge and say it to the horses. The King of the Cats wondered how\nthe human beings could put up with a creature who was so stupid and so\nvain. He had a red comb that fell over one eye. He had purple feathers\non his tail. He had great spurs on his heels. He used to put his head on\none side and yawn when the King of the Cats appeared.\n\nCock-o\u2019-the-Walk used to come into the Forge at night and sleep on the\nbellows. And when the King of the Cats came back from the feasts he\nused to waken up and say to himself, \u201cI\u2019m Cock-o\u2019-the-Walk, I\u2019m\nCock-o\u2019-the-Walk. The Cats are not a respectable people.\u201d\n\nOne noonday there were men in the Forge. They were talking to the Smith.\nSaid one, \u201cCould you tell us, Smith, where iron came from?\u201d The King of\nthe Cats knew but he said nothing. Cock-o\u2019-the-Walk came to the door and\nheld his head as if he were listening.\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t tell where iron came from,\u201d said the Smith, \u201cbut if that Cock\ncould talk he could tell you. The world knows that the Cock is the\nwisest and the most ancient of creatures.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m Cock-o\u2019-the-Walk,\u201d said the Cock to a rusty ass\u2019s shoe.\n\n\u201cYes, the Cock is a wonderful creature,\u201d said the man who had asked the\nquestion.\n\n\u201cNot wonderful at all,\u201d said the King of the Cats, \u201cand if you had asked\nme I could have told you where iron came from.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd where did iron come from?\u201d said the Smith.\n\n\u201cFrom the Mountains of the Moon,\u201d said the King of the Cats.\n\nThe men in the Forge put their hands on their knees and looked down at\nhim. Mahon the hound came into the Forge with other hounds at his tail,\nand seeing the men looking at the King of the Cats, Mahon put his nose\nto him. Cock-o\u2019-the-Walk flapped his wings insolently. The King of the\nCats struck at the red hanging comb with his paw. The Cock flew up in\nthe air. The King of the Cats sprang out of the window, and as he did,\nMahon and the other hounds sprang after him--\n\n\nIV\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son rode towards the East the next day, and in the\nfirst hour\u2019s journey he saw the blue falcon sailing above. He followed\nwhere it went and the falcon never lifted nor stooped, but sailed\nsteadily on, only now and again beating the air with its wings. Over\nbenns and through glens and across moors the blue falcon flew and the\nKing of Ireland\u2019s Son followed. Then his horse stumbled; he could not go\nany further, and he lost sight of the blue falcon.\n\nBlack night was falling down on the ground when he came back to the\nKing\u2019s Castle. Art, the King\u2019s Steward, was waiting for him and he\nwalked beside his limping horse. And Art said when they were a little\nway together, \u201cThe Coming of the King of the Cats is a story still to be\ntold.\n\n\u201cTo your father\u2019s Son in all truth be it told \u201c--\n\n\nBy the magic powers they possessed it was made known to all the cats\nin the country that their King was being pursued by the hounds. Then on\nevery hearthstone a cat howled. Cats sprang to the doors, overturning\ncradles upon children. They stood upon the thresholds and they all made\nthe same curse--\u201cThat ye may break your backs, that ye may break your\nbacks before ye catch the King of the Cats.\u201d\n\nWhen he heard the howls of his vassals, retainers and subjects, the King\nof the Cats turned over on his back and clawed at the first hound that\ncame after him. He stood up then. So firmly did he set himself on his\nfour legs that those that dashed at him did not overthrow him. He\nhumped up his body and lifted his forepaws. The hounds held back. A horn\nsounded and that gave them an excuse to get away from the claws and the\nteeth, the power and the animosity of the King of the Cats.\n\nThen, even though it might cost each and every one of them the loss of\nan eye, the cats that had sight of him came running up. \u201cWe will go with\nyou, my lord, we will help you, my lord,\u201d they cried all together.\n\n\u201cGo back to the hearthstones,\u201d said the King of the Cats. \u201cGo back and\nbe civil and quiet again in the houses. You will hear of my deeds. I go\nto find the tracks of our enemy, the Eagle-Emperor.\u201d\n\nWhen they heard that announcement the cats lamented, and the noise of\ntheir lamentation was so dreadful that horses broke their harnesses\nwhere they were yoked; men and women lost the color of their faces\nthinking some dreadful visitation was coming on the land; every bag of\noats and rye turned five times to the right and five times to the left\nwith the fright it got; dishes were broken, knives were hurled round,\nand the King\u2019s Castle was shaken to the bottom stone.\n\n\u201cIt is not the time to seek the tracks of the Eagle-Emperor,\u201d said\nQuick-to-Grab. \u201cStay for a while longer in men\u2019s houses.\u201d\n\n\u201cNever,\u201d said the King of the Cats. \u201cNever will I stay by the\nhearthstone and submit to be abused by cocks and hounds and men. I will\nrange the world openly now and seek out the enemy of the Cat-Kind, the\nEagle-Emperor.\u201d\n\nWithout once turning his back he went towards the wood that was filled\nwith his enemies, the birds. The cats, when they saw their petitions\nwere no use, went everyone back to the house where he or she stayed.\nEach one sat before a mouse-hole and pretended to be watching. But\nthough mice stirred all round them the cats of Ireland never turned a\nhead that night.\n\nIt was the wren, the smallest of birds, that saw him and knew him for\nthe King of the Cats. The wren flew through the wood to summon the\nHawk-Clan. But it was towards sunset now and the hawks had taken up\ntheir stations at the edge of the wood to watch that they might pick up\nthe farmers\u2019 chickens. They wouldn\u2019t turn an eye when the wren told\nthem that a cat was in the wood during the time forbidden to cats to be\noutside the houses of men. \u201cIt is the King of the Cats,\u201d said the wren.\nNone of the hawks lifted a wing. They were waiting for the chickens that\nwould stray about the moment after sunset.\n\nBut if the wren couldn\u2019t rouse the Hawk-Clan she was able to rouse the\nother bird-tribes. \u201cA cat, a cat, on your lives a cat,\u201d she called out\nas she flew through the wood. The rooks that were going home now rose\nabove the trees, cawing threats. The blackbirds, thrushes and jays\nscreamed as they flew before the King of the Cats. The woodpeckers,\nhedge-sparrows, tom-tits, robins and linnets chattered as they flew\nbehind him. Sometimes the young rooks made a great show of attacking\nhim. They flew down from the flock. \u201cHe is here, here, here,\u201d they cawed\nand flew up again. The rooks kept telling themselves and the other birds\nin the wood what they were going to do with the King of the Cats. But a\nsingle raven did more against him than the thousand rooks that made so\nmuch noise. This raven was in a hole in the tree. She struck the King of\nthe Cats on the head with her beak as he went past.\n\nThe King of the Cats was annoyed by the uproar the birds were making and\nhe was angered by the raven\u2019s stroke, but he did not want to enter into\na battle with the birds. He was on his way to the house of the Hag of\nthe Wood who was then known as the Hag of the Ashes. Now as this is the\nfirst time you have heard of the Hag of the Ashes, I\u2019ll have to tell\nyou how the King of the Cats had heard of her and how he knew where her\nhouse was in the wood.\n\n\n\nV\n\nThe next day the King\u2019s Son put a bridle on the Slight Red Steed and\nrode towards the East again. He saw the blue falcon and he followed\nwhere it flew. Over benns, and through glens and across mountains and\nmoors the blue falcon went and the Slight Red Steed neither swerved nor\nstumbled but went as the bird flew. The falcon lighted on a pine tree\nthat grew alone. The King\u2019s Son rode up and put his hands to the tree\nto climb and put his head against it, and as he did he heard speech from\nthe tree. \u201cThe stroke of the Sword of Light will slay the King of the\nLand of Mist and the stroke of the Sword of Light that will cut a tress\nof her hair will awaken Fedelma.\u201d There was no more speech from the tree\nand the falcon rose from its branches and flew high up in the air. Then\nthe King of Ireland\u2019s Son rode back towards his father\u2019s Castle.\n\nHe went to the meadow and stood with Art and listened to what Art had to\ntell him. And as before the King\u2019s Steward began--\n\n\u201cTo your father\u2019s Son in all truth be it told\u201d--\n\n\nQuick-to-Grab had said to the King of the Cats, \u201cIf ever you need the\ncounsel of a human being, go to no one else but the Hag of the Ashes who\nwas once called the Hag of the Wood. In the very centre of the wood four\nash trees are drawn together at the tops, wattles are woven round these\nash trees, and in the little house made in this way the Hag of the Ashes\nlives, with no one near her since her nine daughters went away, but her\ngoat that\u2019s her only friend.\u201d The King of the Cats was now in the centre\nof the wood. He saw four ash trees drawn together at the tops and he\njumped to them.\n\nNow the Hag of the Ashes had a bad neighbor. This was a crane that had\nbuilt her nest across the roof of the little house. The nest prevented\nthe smoke from coming out at the top and the house below was filled\nwith it. The Hag could hardly keep alive on account of the smoke and she\ncould neither take away the nest nor banish the bird.\n\nThe crane was there when the King of the Cats sprang on the roof. She\nwas sitting with her two legs stretched out, and when the King of the\nCats came down beside her she slipped away and sailed over the trees.\n\u201cTime for me to be going,\u201d said the crane. And from that day to this she\nnever came back to the house of the Hag of the Ashes.\n\n\u201cOh, thanks to you, good creature,\u201d said the Hag of the Ashes, coming\nout of the house. \u201cTear down her nest now and let the smoke rise up\nthrough the roof.\u201d\n\nThe King of the Cats tore up the sticks and wool that the crane\u2019s nest\nwas made of, and the smoke came up through the top of the house. \u201cOh,\nthanks to you, good creature, that has destroyed the cross crane\u2019s nest.\nCome down on my floor now and I\u2019ll do everything that will serve you.\u201d\n\nThe King of the Cats jumped down on the floor of the Hag\u2019s house and saw\nthe Hag of the Ashes sitting in a corner, She was a little, little woman\nin a gray cloak. All over the floor there were ashes in heaps, for\nshe used to light a fire in one corner and when it was burnt out light\nanother beside the ashes of the first. The smoke had never gone through\nthe hole in the roof since the crane had built her nest on the top of\nthe house. Her face was yellow with the smoke and her eyes were half\nclosed on account of it.\n\n\u201cDo you know who I am, Hag of the Ashes?\u201d said the King of the Cats when\nhe stood on the floor.\n\n\u201cYou are a cat, honey,\u201d said the Hag of the Ashes. \u201cI am the King of the\nCats.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe King of the Cats you are indeed. And it was you who let the smoke\nout of the top of my little house by destroying the nest the cross crane\nhad built on it.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt was I who did that.\u201d\n\n\u201cWelcome to you then, King of the Cats. And what service can the Hag of\nthe Ashes do for you in return?\u201d\n\n\u201cI would go to where the Eagle-Emperor is. You must show me the way.\u201d\n\n\u201cBy my cloak I will do that. The Eagle-Emperor lives on the top of the\nHill of Horns.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd how can I get to the top of the Hill of Horns?\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know how you can get there at all. All over the Hill is bare\nstarvation. No four-footed thing can reach the top--no four-footed\nthing, I mean, but my goat that\u2019s tied to the hawthorn bush outside.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will ride on the back of your goat to the top of the Hill of Horns.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no, good King of the Cats. I have only my goat for company and how\ncould I bear to be parted from him?\u201d\n\n\u201cLend me your goat, and when I come back from the Hill of Horns I will\nplate his horns with gold and shoe his hooves with silver.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no, good King of the Cats. How could I bear my goat to be away from\nme, and I having no other company?\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you do not let me ride on your goat to the top of the Hill of Horns\nI will leave a sign on your house that will bring the cross crane to\nbuild her nest on the top of it again.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen take my goat, King of the Cats, take my goat but let him come back\nto me soon.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will. Come with me now and bid him take me to the top of the Hill of\nHorns.\u201d\n\nThe King of the Cats marched out of the house and the Hag of the Ashes\nhobbled after him. The goat was lying under the hawthorn bush. He put\nhis horns to the ground when they came up to him.\n\n\u201cWill you go to the Hill of Horns?\u201d said the Hag of the Ashes.\n\n\u201cIndeed, that I will not do,\u201d said the goat.\n\n\u201cOh, the soft tops of the hedges on the way to the Hill of Horns--sweet\nin the mouth of a goat they should be,\u201d said the Hag of the Ashes. \u201cBut\nmy own poor goat wants to stay here and eat the tops of the burnt-up\nthistles.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell me of the hedges on the way to the Hill of Horns\nbefore?\u201d said the goat, rising to his feet. \u201cTo the Hill of Horns I\u2019ll\ngo.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd will you let a cat ride on your back to the Hill of Horns?\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed, I will not do that.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, my poor goat, I\u2019ll not untie the rope that\u2019s round your neck, for\nyou can\u2019t go to the Hill of Horns without this cat riding on your back.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet him sit on my back then and hold my horns, and I\u2019ll take no notice\nof him.\u201d\n\nThe Hag of the Ashes untied the rope that was round his neck, the King\nof the Cats jumped up on the goat\u2019s back, and they started off on the\npath through the wood. \u201cOh, how I\u2019ll miss my goat, until he comes back\nto me with gold on his horns and silver on his hooves,\u201d the Hag of the\nAshes cried after them.\n\n\n\nVI\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son did not leave the Castle the next day, but\nstayed to question those who came to it about the Sword of Light. And\nsome had heard of the Sword of Light and some had not heard of it. In\nthe afternoon he was in the chambers of the Castle and he watched his\ntwo foster-brothers, Dermott and Downal, the sons of Caintigern, the\nQueen, playing chess. They played the game upon his board and with his\nfigures. And when he went up to them and told them they had permission\nto use the board and the figures, they said, \u201cWe had forgotten that you\nowned these things.\u201d The King\u2019s Son saw that everything in the Castle\nwas coming into the possession of his foster-brothers.\n\nHe found another board with other chess-men and he played a game with\nthe King\u2019s Steward. And Art said, \u201cThe coming of the King of the Cats\ninto King Connal\u2019s Dominion is a story still to be told.\n\n\u201cTo your father\u2019s Son in all truth be it told \u201c--\n\n\nWhat should a goat do but ramble down laneways, wander across fields,\nstray along hedges and stay to rest under shady trees? All this the\nHag\u2019s goat did. But at last he brought the King of the Cats to the foot\nof the Hill of Horns.\n\nAnd what was the Hill of Horns like, asks my kind foster-child. It was\nhills of stones on the top of a hill of stones. Only a goat could foot\nit from pebble to stone, from stone to boulder, from boulder Ko crag,\nand from crag to mountain-shoulder. It was well and not ill what the\nHag\u2019s goat did. But then thunder sounded; lightning struck fire out of\nthe stones, the wind mixed itself with the rain and the tempest pelted\ncat and goat. The goat stood on a mountain-shoulder. The wind rushed\nup from the bottom and carried the companions to the top of the Hill of\nHorns. Down sprang the cat. But the goat stood on his hind-legs to\nbutt back at the wind. The wind caught him between the beard and the\nunder-quarters and swept him from the top and down the other side of the\nhill (and what happened to the Hag\u2019s goat after this I never heard). The\nKing of the Cats put his claws into the crevices of a standing stone and\nheld to it with great tenacity. And then, when the wind abated and he\nlooked across his shoulder, he found that he was standing beside the\nnest of the Eagle-Emperor.\n\nIt was a hollow edged with rocks, and round that hollow were scattered\nthe horns of the deer and goats that the Eagle-Emperor had carried off.\nAnd in the hollow there was a calf and a hare and a salmon. The King of\nthe Cats sprang into the Eagle-Emperor\u2019s nest. First he ate the salmon.\nThen he stretched himself between the hare and the calf and waited for\nthe Eagle-Emperor.\n\nAt last he appeared. Down he came to the nest making circles in the air.\nHe lighted on the rocky rim. The King of the Cats rose with body bent\nfor the spring, and if the Eagle-Emperor was not astonished at his\nappearance it was because an Eagle can never be astonished.\n\nA brave man would be glad if he could have seen the Eagle-Emperor as\nhe crouched there on the rock rim of his nest. He spread down his wings\ntill they were great strong shields. He bent down his outspread tail.\nHe bent down his neck so that his eyes might look into the creature that\nfaced him. And his cruel, curved, heavy beak was ready for the stroke.\n\nBut the King of the Cats sprang into the air. The Eagle lifted himself\nup but the Cat came down on his broad back. The Eagle-Emperor screamed\nhis war-scream and flew off the hill. He struck at the King of the Cats\nwith the backs of his broad wings. Then he plunged down. On the stones\nbelow he would tear his enemy with beak and claws.\n\nIt was the Cat that reached the ground. As the Eagle went to strike at\nhim he sprang again and tore the Eagle\u2019s breast. Then the Eagle-Emperor\ncaught the King of the Cats in his claws and flew up again, screaming\nhis battle-scream. Drops of blood from both fell on the ground. The\nEagle had not a conqueror\u2019s grip on his enemy and the King of the Cats\nwas able to tear at him.\n\nIt happened that Curoi, King of the Munster Fairies, was marching at the\nhead of his troop to play a game of hurling with the Fianna of Ireland,\ncaptained by Fergus, and for the hand of Aine\u2019, the daughter of\nMananaun, the Lord of the Sea. Just when the ball was about to be thrown\nin the air the Eagle-Emperor and the King of the Cats were seen mixed\ntogether in their struggle. One troop took the side of the Eagle and the\nother took the side of the Cat. The men of the country came up and took\nsides too. Then the men began to fight amongst themselves and some were\nleft dead on the ground. And this went on until there were hosts of the\nmen of Ireland fighting each other on account of the Eagle-Emperor\nand the King of the Cats. The King of the Fairies and the Chief of the\nFianna marched their men away to a hill top where they might watch the\nbattle in the air and the battles on the ground. \u201cIf this should go\non,\u201d said Curoi, \u201cour troops will join in and men and Fairies will be\nslaughtered. We must end the combat in the air.\u201d Saying this he took up\nthe hurling-ball and flung it at the Cat and Eagle. Both came down on\nthe ground. The Cat was about to spring, the Eagle was about to pounce,\nwhen Curoi darted between them and struck both with his spear. Eagle and\nCat became figures of stone. And there they are now, a Stone Eagle with\nhis wings outspread and a Stone Cat with his teeth bared and his paws\nraised. And the Eagle-Emperor and the King of the Cats will remain like\nthat until Curoi strikes them again with his fairy-spear.\n\nWhen the Cat and the Eagle were turned into stone the men of the country\nwondered for a while and then they went away. And the Fairies of Munster\nand the Fianna of Ireland played the hurling match for the hand of Aine\u2019\nthe daughter of Mananaun who is Lord of the Sea, and what the result of\nthat hurling match was is told in another book.\n\nAnd that ends my history of the coming into Ire-land of the King of the\nCats.\n\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son left Art and went into an unused room in the\nCastle to search for a little bell that he might put upon the Slight Red\nSteed. He found the little bell, but it fell out of his hand and slipped\nthrough a crack in the floor. He went and looked through the crack. He\nsaw below a room and in it was Caintigern, the Queen, and beside her\nwere two women in the cloaks of enchantresses. And when he looked again\nhe knew the two of them--they were Aefa and Gilveen, the daughters of\nthe enchanter of the Black Back-Lands and Fedelma\u2019s sisters. \u201cAnd\nwill my two sons come to rule over their father\u2019s dominion?\u201d he heard\nCaintigern ask.\n\n\u201cThe Prince who gains the Sword of Light will rule over his father\u2019s\ndominion,\u201d Aefa said.\n\n\u201cThen one of my sons must get the Sword of Light,\u201d Caintigern said.\n\u201cTell me where they must go to get knowledge of where it is.\u201d\n\n\u201cOnly the Gobaun Saor knows where the Sword of Light is,\u201d said Aefa.\n\n\u201cThe Gobaun Saor! Can he be seen by men?\u201d said Caintigern.\n\n\u201cHe can be seen,\u201d said Aefa. \u201cAnd there is one--the Little Sage of the\nMountain--who can tell what road to go to find the Gobaun Saor.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d said Caintigern, \u201cmy two sons, Dermott and Downal, will ride out\nto-morrow to find the Little Sage of the Mountain, and the Gobaun Saor,\nso that one of them may find the Sword of Light and come to rule over\nhis father\u2019s dominion.\u201d\n\nWhen the King of Ireland\u2019s Son heard that, he went to the stable where\nthe Slight Red Steed was, and put the bridle upon him and rode towards\nthe Hill of Horns, on one side of which was the house thatched with the\none great wing of a bird, where the Little Sage of the Mountain lived.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SWORD OF LIGHT\n\nAND THE UNIQUE TALE WITH AS MUCH OF THE ADVENTURES OF GILLY OF THE\nGOATSKIN AS IS GIVEN IN \u201cTHE CRANESKIN BOOK\u201d\n\n\n\nI\n\nHe came to the house that was thatched with the one great wing of a\nbird, and, as before, the Little Sage of the Mountain asked him to do a\nday\u2019s work. The King\u2019s Son reaped the corn for the Little Sage, and as\nhe was reaping it his two foster-brothers, Dermott and Downal, rode by\non their fine horses. They did not know who the young fellow was who\nwas reaping in the field and they shouted for the Little Sage of the\nMountain to come out of the house and speak to them. \u201cWe want to know\nwhere to find the Gobaun Saor who is to give us the Sword of Light,\u201d\n said Dermott.\n\n\u201cCome in,\u201d said the Sage, \u201cand help me with my day\u2019s work, and I\u2019ll\nsearch in my book for some direction.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t do such an unprincely thing as take service with you,\u201d said\nDownal. \u201cTell us now where we must go to find the Gobaun Saor.\u201d\n\n\u201cI think you have made a mistake,\u201d said the Little Sage. \u201cI\u2019m an\nignorant man, and I can\u2019t answer such a question without study.\u201d\n\n\u201cRide on, brother,\u201d said Downal, \u201che can tell us nothing.\u201d Dermott and\nDownal rode off on their fine horses, the silver bells on their bridles\nringing.\n\nThat night, when he had eaten his supper, the Little Sage told the\nKing\u2019s Son where to go. It is forbidden to tell where the King of\nIreland\u2019s Son found the Builder and Shaper for the Gods. In a certain\nplace he came to where the Gobaun Saor had set up his forge and planted\nhis anvil, and he saw the Gobaun Saor beating on a shape of iron.\n\n\u201cYou want to find the Sword of Light,\u201d said the Gobaun, his eyes as\nstraight as the line of a sword-blade, \u201cbut show me first your will,\nyour mind and your purpose.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow can I do that?\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cGuard my anvil for a few nights,\u201d said the Gobaun Saor. \u201cA Fua comes\nout of the river sometimes and tries to carry it off.\u201d\n\nThe Gobaun Saor had to make a journey to look at trees that were growing\nin the forest, and the King\u2019s Son guarded his anvil. And at night a Fua\ncame out of the river and flung great stones, striving to drive him away\nfrom the anvil. He ran down to the river bank to drive it away, but the\ncreature caught him in its long arms and tried to drown him in the deep\nwater. The King of Ireland\u2019s Son was near his death, but he broke away\nfrom the Fua, and when the creature caught him again, he dragged it up\nthe bank and held it against a tree. \u201cI will give you the mastery of\nall arts because you have mastered me,\u201d said the Fua. \u201cI do not want the\nmastery of arts, but maybe you can tell me where to find the Sword\nof Light.\u201d \u201cYou want to know that--do you?\u201d said the Fua, and then it\ntwisted from him and went into the river.\n\nThe Fua came the next night and flung stones as before, and the King\u2019s\nSon wrestled with it in the very middle of the river, and held him\nso that he could not get to the other bank. \u201cI will give you heaps of\nwealth because you have mastered me,\u201d said the creature with the big\neyes and the long arms. \u201cNot wealth, but the knowledge of where to\ncome on the Sword of Light is what I want from you,\u201d said the King of\nIreland\u2019s Son. But the Fua twisted from him and ran away again.\n\nThe next night the Fua came again, and the King\u2019s Son wrestled with him\nin the middle of the river and followed him up the other bank, and held\nhim against a tree. \u201cI will give you the craft that will make you\nthe greatest of Kings, because you have mastered me.\u201d \u201cNot craft, but\nknowledge of where the Sword of Light is, I want from you,\u201d said the\nKing\u2019s Son. \u201cOnly one of the People of Light can tell you that,\u201d said\nthe Fua. It became a small, empty sort of creature and lay on the ground\nlike a shadow.\n\nThe Gobaun Saor came back to his forge and his anvil. \u201cYou have guarded\nmy anvil for me,\u201d he said, \u201cand I will tell you where to go for the\nSword of Light. It is in the Palace of the Ancient Ones under the Lake.\nYou have an enchanted steed that can go to that Lake. I shall turn his\nhead, and he shall go straight to it. When you come to the edge of the\nLake pull the branches of the Fountain Tree and give the Slight Red\nSteed the leaves to eat. Mount now and go.\u201d\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son mounted the Slight Red Steed and went\ntraveling again.\n\n\nII\n\nFrom all its branches, high and low, water was falling in little\nstreams. This was the Fountain Tree indeed. He did not dismount, the\nKing of Ireland\u2019s Son, but pulled the branches and he gave them to the\nSlight Red Steed to eat.\n\nHe ate no more than three mouthfuls. Then he stamped on the ground with\nhis hooves, lifted his head high and neighed three times. With that he\nplunged into the water of the Lake and swam and swam as if he had the\nstrength of a dragon. He swam while there was light on the water and he\nswam while there was night on the water, and when the sun of the next\nday was a hand\u2019s breadth above the lake he came to the Black Island.\n\nAll on that Island was black and burnt, and there were black ashes up to\nthe horse\u2019s knees. And no sooner had the Slight Red Steed put his hooves\non the Island than he galloped straight to the middle of it. He\ngalloped through an opening in the black rock and went through a hundred\npassages, each going lower than the other, and at last he came into the\nwide space of a hall.\n\nThe hall was lighted. When the King\u2019s Son looked to see where the light\ncame from he saw a sword hanging from the roof. And the brightness of\nthe Sword was such that the hall was well lighted. The King of Ireland\u2019s\nSon galloped the Slight Red Steed forward and made it rear up. His hand\ngrasped the hilt of the Sword. As he pulled it down the Sword screeched\nin his hand.\n\nHe flashed it about and saw what other things were in the Cave. He saw\none woman, and two women and three women. He came to them and he saw\nthey were sleeping. And as he flashed the Sword about he saw other women\nsleeping too. There were twelve women in the Cave where the Sword of\nLight had been hanging and the women were sleeping.\n\nAnd in the hands of each of the sleeping women was a great gemmed cup.\nThe spirit of the King\u2019s Son had grown haughty since he felt the Sword\nin his hands. \u201cYou have the sword, why should you not have the cup?\u201d\n something within him said. He took a cup from the hands of one of the\nsleeping women and drank the bubbling water that it held. His spirit\ngrew more haughty with that draught. From the hands of each of the\ntwelve sleeping women he took the cup and he drank the draught of\nbubbling water that it held. And when he had drunk the twelve draughts\nof bubbling water he felt that with the Sword of Light in his hands he\ncould cut his way through the earth.\n\nHe mounted the Slight Red Steed and rode it through the Cave and swam\nit across the Lake with No Name. He held the Sword of Light across his\nsaddle. The Steed went as the current drew him, for it was long since he\nhad eaten the leaves of the Fountain Tree, and the spirit that had made\nhim vigorous coming was feeble now. The current brought them to the\nshore below where the Fountain Tree grew.\n\n\nAnd there on the shore he saw a bunch of little men, little women and\nlittler children, all with smoke-colored skins, all with but one eye in\ntheir heads, all crying and screaming at each other like sea-birds, and\nall sitting round a fire of dried water weeds, cooking and eating eels\nand crab-apples.\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son put his hands on the bridle-rein and drew the\nSlight Red Steed out of the water. The women with one right eye and\nthe men with one left eye, and the children in their bare smoky skins\nscreamed at him, \u201cWhat do you want, what do you want, man with the\nhorse?\u201d\n\n\u201cFeed and water my steed for me,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cWe are the Swallow People, and no one commands us to do things,\u201d said\nan old fellow with a beard like knots of ropes.\n\n\u201cFeed my steed with red wheat and water it with pure spring water,\u201d said\nthe King\u2019s Son fiercely. \u201cI am the King of Ireland\u2019s Son and the Sword\nof Light is in my hands, and what I command must be done.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are the Swallow People and we are accounted a harmless people,\u201d said\nthe old fellow.\n\n\u201cWhy are ye harmless?\u201d said the King\u2019s Son, and he flourished the sword\nat them.\n\n\u201cCome into our cave, King\u2019s Son,\u201d said the old fellow, \u201cwe will give you\nrefreshment there, and the children will attend to your steed.\u201d\n\nHe went into the cave with certain of the Swallow People. They were all\nunmannerly. They kept screaming and crying to each other; they pulled\nat the clothes of the King\u2019s Son and pinched him. One of them bit his\nhands. When they came into the cave they all sat down on black stones.\nOne pulled in a black ass loaded with nets. They took the nets off its\nback, and before the King\u2019s Son knew that anything was about to happen\nthey threw the nets around him. The meshes of the nets were sticky. He\nfelt himself caught. He ran at the Swallow People and fell over a stone.\nThen they drew more nets around his legs.\n\nThe old fellow whom he had commanded took up the Sword of Light. Then\nthe Swallow People pulled up the ass that had carried the nets and\nrubbed its hard hoof on the Sword. The King\u2019s Son did not know what\nhappened to it. Then he heard them cry, \u201cThe brightness is gone off the\nthing now.\u201d They left the Sword on a black rock, and now no light came\nfrom it. Then all the Swallow People scrambled out of the cave.\n\nThey came back eating eels and crab-apples out of their hands. They paid\nno attention to the King of Ireland\u2019s Son, but climbed into a cave above\nwhere he was lying.\n\nHe broke the nets that were round him. He found the Sword on the black\nstones, with the brightness all gone from it because of the rubbing with\nthe ass\u2019s hoof. He climbed up the wall of the other cave to punish the\nSwallow People. They saw him before he could see them in the darkness,\nand they all went into holes and hid themselves as if they were rats and\nmice.\n\nWith the blackened sword in his hands the King of Ireland\u2019s Son went out\nof the Cave, and the horse he had left behind, the Slight Red Steed, was\nnot to be found.\n\n\nIII\n\nWithout a steed and with a blackened sword the King of Ireland\u2019s Son\ncame to where the Gobaun Saor had set up his forge and planted his\nanvil. No water nor sand would clean the Sword, but he left it down\nbefore the Gobaun Saor, hoping that he would show him a way to dean it.\n\u201cThe Sword must be bright that will kill the King of the Land of Mist\nand cut the tress that will awaken the Enchanter\u2019s daughter,\u201d said the\nGobaun Saor. \u201cYou have let the Sword be blackened. Carry the blackened\nSword with you now.\u201d\n\n\u201cBrighten it for me and I will serve you,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s\nSon.\n\n\u201cIt is not easy for me to brighten the Sword now,\u201d said the Gobaun Saor.\n\u201cBut find me the Unique Tale and what went before its beginning and what\ncomes after its end, and I shall brighten the sword for you and show you\nthe way to the Land of Mist. Go now, and search for the Unique Tale.\u201d\n\nHe went, and he had many far journeys, I can tell you, and he found no\nperson who had any knowledge of the Unique Tale or who knew any way of\ncoming to the Land of Mist. One twilight in a wood he saw a great bird\nflying towards him. It lighted on an old tree, and the King of Ireland\u2019s\nSon saw it was Laheen the Eagle.\n\n\u201cAre you still a friend to me, Eagle?\u201d said the King\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cI am still a friend to you, King\u2019s Son,\u201d said Laheen.\n\n\u201cThen tell me where I should go to get knowledge of the Unique Tale,\u201d\n said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cThe Unique Tale--I never heard of it at all,\u201d said Laheen the Eagle,\nchanging from one leg to the other. \u201cI am old,\u201d she said, shaking her\nwings, \u201cand I never heard of the Unique Tale.\u201d\n\nThe King\u2019s Son looked and saw that Laheen was really old. Her neck was\nbare of feathers and her wings were gray. \u201cOh, if you are so old,\u201d said\nthe King\u2019s Son, \u201cand have gone to so many places, and do not know of the\nUnique Tale, to whom can I go to get knowledge of it?\u201d\n\n\u201cListen,\u201d said Laheen the Eagle, \u201cthere are five of us that are called\nthe Five Ancient Ones of Ireland, and it is not known which one of\nthe five is the oldest. There is myself, Laheen the Eagle; there is\nBlackfoot the Elk of Ben Gulban, there is the Crow of Achill, the Salmon\nof Assaroe and the Old Woman of Beare. We do not know ourselves which\nof us is the oldest, but we know that we five are the most ancient of\nliving things. I have never heard of the Unique Tale,\u201d said Laheen, \u201cbut\nmaybe one of the other Ancients has heard of it.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will go to them,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son. \u201cTell me how I will find the\nCrow of Achill, the Elk of Ben Gulban, the Salmon of Assaroe and the Old\nWoman of Beare--tell me how to go to them, Laheen the Eagle.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou need not go to the Salmon of Assaroe,\u201d said the Eagle, \u201cfor the\nSalmon would not have heard any tale. I will get you means of finding\nthe other three. Follow the stream now until you come to the river. Wait\nat the ford and I will fly to you there.\u201d Laheen the Eagle then shook\nher wings and flew slowly away. The King of Ireland\u2019s Son followed the\nstream until he came to the river--the River of the Ox it was.\n\n\n\nIV\n\nAnd having come to the River of the Ox he sought the ford and waited\nthere for Laheen the Eagle. When it was high noon he saw the shadow of\nthe Eagle in the water of the ford. He looked up. Laheen let something\nfall into the shallows. It was a wheel. Then Laheen lighted on the rocks\nof a waterfall above the ford and spoke to the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cSon of King Connal,\u201d she said, \u201croll this wheel before you and follow\nit where it goes. It will bring you first where Blackfoot the Elk\nabides. Ask the Elk has he knowledge of the Unique Tale. If he has no\nknowledge of it start the wheel rolling again. It will bring you then\nwhere the Crow of Achill abides. If the Crow cannot tell you anything of\nthe Unique Tale, let the wheel bring you to where the Old Woman of Beare\nlives. If she cannot tell you of the Unique Tale, I cannot give you any\nfurther help.\u201d\n\nLaheen the Eagle then spread out her wings and rising above the mist of\nthe waterfall flew away.\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son took the wheel out of the shallow water and\nset it rolling before him. It went on without his touching it again.\nThen he was going and ever going with the clear day going before him\nand the dark night coming behind him, going through scrubby fields and\nshaggy bog-lands, going up steep mountain sides and along bare mountain\nridges, until at last he came to a high mound on a lonesome mountain.\nAnd as high as the mound and as lonesome as the mountain was the Elk\nthat was standing there with wide, wide horns. The wheel ceased rolling.\n\n\u201cI am from Laheen the Eagle,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\nThe Elk moved his wide-horned head and looked down at him. \u201cAnd why have\nyou come to me, son?\u201d said the Elk.\n\n\u201cI came to ask if you had knowledge of the Unique Tale,\u201d said the King\nof Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cI have no knowledge of the Unique Tale,\u201d said the Elk in a deep voice.\n\n\u201cAnd are you not Blackfoot, the Elk of Ben Gulban, one of the five of\nthe oldest creatures in the world?\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cI am the Elk of Ben Gulban,\u201d said Blackfoot, \u201cand it may be that there\nis no creature in the world more ancient than I am. The Fianna hunted me\nwith their hounds before the Sons of Mile\u2019 came to the Island of Woods.\nIf it was a Tale of Finn or Caelta or Goll, of Oscar or Oisin or Conan,\nI could tell it to you. But I know nothing of the Unique Tale.\u201d\n\nThen Blackfoot the Elk of Ben Gulban turned his wide-horned head away\nand looked at the full old moon that was coming up in the sky. And the\nKing of Ireland\u2019s Son took up the wheel and went to look for a shelter.\nHe found a sheep-cote on the side of the mountain and lay down and slept\nbetween sheep.\n\n\n\nV\n\n\nWhen the sun rose he lifted up the wheel and set it going before him. He\nwas going and ever going down long hillsides and across spreading plains\ntill he came to where old trees and tree-stumps were standing hardly\nclose enough together to keep each other company. The wheel went through\nthis ancient wood and stopped before a fallen oak-tree. And sitting on a\nbranch of that oak, with a gray head bent and featherless wings gathered\nup to her neck was a crow.\n\n\u201cI come from Laheen the Eagle,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cWhat did you say?\u201d said the Crow, opening one eye.\n\n\u201cI come from Laheen the Eagle,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son again.\n\n\u201cOh, from Laheen,\u201d said the Crow and dosed her eye again.\n\n\u201cAnd I came to ask for knowledge of the Unique Tale,\u201d said the King of\nIreland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cLaheen,\u201d said the Crow, \u201cI remember Laheen the Eagle.\u201d Keeping her eyes\nshut, she laughed and laughed until she was utterly hoarse. \u201cI remember\nLaheen the Eagle,\u201d she said again. \u201cLaheen never found out what I did\nto her once. I stole the Crystal Egg out of her nest. Well, and how is\nLaheen the Eagle?\u201d she said sharply, opening one eye.\n\n\u201cLaheen is well,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son. \u201cShe sent me to ask if\nyou had knowledge of the Unique Tale.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am older than Laheen,\u201d said the Crow. \u201cI remember Paralon\u2019s People.\nThe Salmon of Assaroe always said he was before Paralon\u2019s People. But\nnever mind! Laheen can\u2019t say that. If I could only get the feathers to\nstay on my wings I\u2019d pay Laheen a visit some day. How are Laheen and her\nbird-flocks?\u201d\n\n\u201cO Crow of Achill,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son, \u201cI was sent to ask\nif you had knowledge of the Unique Tale.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Unique Tale! No, I never heard of it,\u201d said the Crow. She gathered\nher wings up to her neck again and bent her gray head.\n\n\u201cThink, O Crow of Achill,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son. \u201cI will bring\nyou the warmest wool for your nest.\u201d\n\n\u201cI never heard of the Unique Tale,\u201d said the Crow. \u201cTell Laheen I was\nasking for her.\u201d Nothing would rouse the Crow of Achill again. The King\nof Ireland\u2019s Son set the wheel rolling and followed it. Then he was\ngoing and ever going with the clear day before him and the dark night\ncoming behind him. He came to a wide field where there were field-fares\nor ground larks in companies. He crossed it. He came to a plain of tall\ndaisies where there were thousands of butterflies. He crossed it.\nHe came to a field of buttercups where blue pigeons were feeding. He\ncrossed it. He came to a field of flax in blue blossom. He crossed it\nand came to a smoke-blackened stone house deep sunk in the ground. The\nwheel stopped rolling before it and he went into the house.\n\n\nAn old woman was seated on the ground before the fire basting a goose. A\nrabbit-skin cap was on her hairless head and there were no eye-brows on\nher face. Three strange birds were eating out of the pot--a cuckoo, a\ncorncrake and a swallow. \u201cCome to the fire, gilly,\u201d said the old woman\nwhen she looked round.\n\n\u201cI am not a gilly, but the King of Ireland\u2019s Son,\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cWell, let that be. What do you want of me?\u201d\n\n\u201cAre you the Old Woman of Beare?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have been called the Old Woman of Beare since your\nfore-great-grandfather\u2019s time.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow old are you, old mother?\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not know. But do you see the three birds that are picking out\nof my pot? For two score years the swallow was coming to my house and\nbuilding outside. Then he came and built inside. Then for three score\nyears he was coming into my house to build here. Now he never goes\nacross the sea at all, and do you see the corncrake? For five score\nyears she was coming to the meadow outside. Then she began to run into\nthe house to see what was happening here. For two score years she was\nrunning in and out. Then she stayed here altogether. Now she never goes\nacross the sea at all. And do you see the cuckoo there? For seven score\nyears she used to come to a tree that was outside and sing over her\nnotes. Then when the tree was gone, she used to light on the roof of my\nhouse. Then she used to come in to see herself in a looking glass. I\ndo not know how many score years the cuckoo was going and coming, but I\nknow it is many score years since she went across the sea.\u201d\n\n\u201cI went from Laheen the Eagle to Blackfoot the Elk, and from the Elk of\nBen Gulban to the Crow of Achill, and from the Crow of Achill, I come to\nyou to ask if you have knowledge of the Unique Tale.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Unique Tale, indeed,\u201d said the Old Woman of Beare. \u201cOne came to me\nonly last night to tell me the Unique Tale. He is the young man who is\ncounting the horns.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat young man is he and what horns is he counting?\u201d\n\n\u201cHe is no King\u2019s Son, but a gilly--Gilly of the Goat-skin he is called.\nHe is counting the horns that are in two pits outside. When the horns\nare counted I will know the number of my half-years.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow is that, old mother?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy father used to kill an ox every year on my birthday, and after my\nfather\u2019s death, my servants, one after the other, used to kill an ox for\nme. The horns of the oxen were put into two pits, one on the right-hand\nside of the house and one on the left-hand side. If one knew the number\nof the horns one would know the number of, my half-years, for every\npair of horns goes to make a year of my life. Gilly of the Goatskin is\ncounting the horns for me now, and when he finishes counting them I will\nlet him tell the Unique Tale.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you must let me listen to the tale too, Old Woman of Beare.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you count the horns in one pit I will let you listen to the tale.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen I will count the horns in one pit.\u201d\n\n\u201cGo outside then and count them.\u201d\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son went outside. He found on the right-hand side\nof the house a deep quarry-pit. Round the edge of it were horns of all\nkinds, black horns and white horns, straight horns and crooked horns.\nAnd below in the pit he saw a young man digging for horns that were sunk\nin the ground. He had on a jacket made of the skin of a goat.\n\n\u201cWho are you?\u201d said the young man in the quarry-pit. \u201cI am the King of\nIreland\u2019s Son. And who may you be?\u201d\n\n\u201cWho I am I don\u2019t know,\u201d said the young man in the goatskin, \u201cbut they\ncall me Gilly of the Goatskin. What have you come here for?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo get knowledge of the Unique Tale.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd it was to tell the same Unique Tale that I came here myself. Why do\nyou want to know the Unique Tale?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat would make a long story. Why do you want to tell it?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat would make a longer story. There is a quarry-pit at the left-hand\nside of the house filled with horns and it must be your task to count\nthem.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will count them,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son. \u201cBut you will be\nfinished before me. Do not tell the Old Woman of Beare the Tale until we\nboth sit down together.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf that suits you it will suit me,\u201d said Gilly of the Goatskin, and he\nbegan to dig again.\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son went to the left-hand side of the house.\nHe found the quarry-pit and went into it to count the horns that were\nthere--black horns and white horns, straight horns and crooked horns.\nAnd now, while the King of Ireland\u2019s Son is in the quarry-pit, I\nwill tell you the adventures of Gilly--the Lad or the Servant--of the\nGoatskin, which adventures are written in \u201cThe Craneskin Book.\u201d\n\n\n\nVI\n\nHe never stirred out of the cradle till he was past twelve years of age,\nbut lay there night and day, long days and short days; the only garment\nhe ever put on was a goatskin; a hunter had once put it down on the\nfloor beside his cradle and he reached out with his two hands, drew it\nin and put the goatskin on him. He got his name and his coat at the same\ntime, for he was called ever afterwards \u201cGilly of the Goatskin.\u201d\n\nBut although he never stirred out of the cradle, Gilly of the Goatskin\nhad ways of diverting himself. He used to shoot arrows with a bow out\nof the door of the house and hit a mark on a tree that was opposite him.\n_And where did he get the bow and arrows?_ The bow fell down from the\nroof of the house and into the cradle. And as for arrows he used to make\nthem out of the wands that the Hags brought in to make baskets with. But\nthe Hags never saw him using the bow and sending off the arrows. All day\nthey would be going along the streams gathering the willow wands for the\nbaskets they made.\n\nHe knew nobody except the three Hags of the Long Teeth, and he had never\nheard the name of mother or father. Often, when she was peeling the\nwands with a black-handled knife, the Hag of the House used to tell\nGilly of the Goatskin the troubles that were in store for him--danger\nfrom the sword and the spear and the knife, from water and fire, from\nthe beasts of the earth and the birds of the air. She delighted to tell\nhim about the evils that would befall him. And she used to laugh when\nshe told him he was a hump-back and that people would throw stones at\nhim.\n\n\nOne day when the Hags were away gathering willow wands, Gilly turned the\ncradle over and lay under it. He wanted to see what they would do when\nthey did not see him sitting up in the cradle. They came in. Gilly\nlooked through a crack in the cradle and saw the Hags--they were old and\ncrooked and had long teeth that came down below their chins.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s gone, he\u2019s gone, he\u2019s gone!\u201d screamed the Hag of the House, when\nshe did not see Gilly in the cradle.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s gone,\u201d said one of the long-toothed Hags. \u201cI told you he would go\naway. Why didn\u2019t you cut out his heart yesterday, or the day before?\u201d\n\n\u201cMind what I tell you,\u201d said the other Hag of the Long Teeth. \u201cMind what\nI tell you. His father\u2019s son will grow into a powerful champion.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot he,\u201d said the Hag of the House, with great anger. \u201cHe\u2019ll never\nbecome a Champion. He\u2019s only a little hump-backed fellow with no weapons\nand with no garment but a goatskin.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt would be better to kill him when he comes back,\u201d said the first of\nthe Hags with the Long Teeth.\n\n\u201cAnd if he doesn\u2019t come back, tell the Giant Crom Duv,\u201d said the second.\n\nGilly of the Goatskin crept from under the cradle, put his bow resting\non the bottom that was now turned uppermost, took up some of the rods\nthat were on the floor and then shouted at the Hags. \u201cOh, if that\u2019s\na hazel rod he has at his bow he will kill us all,\u201d they screamed out\ntogether.\n\nHe drew back the string, fired the willow rod and struck the middle Hag\nfull on the breast. The three Hags fell down on the ground. The pot that\nwas always hanging over the fire turned itself upside down and the\nhouse was filled with smoke. Gilly of the Goatskin, the bow in his hand,\nsprang across the cradle, over the threshold of the door, and out into\nthe width and the height, the length and the breadth, the gloom and the\ngleam of the world.\n\n\n\nVII\n\nHe was out, as I have said, in the width and the height, the length and\nthe breadth, the gloom and the gleam of the world. He fired arrows into\nthe air. He leaped over ditches, he rolled down hillsides, he raced\nover level places until he came to what surprised him more than all the\nthings in the world--a river. He had never seen such water before and\nhe wondered to see it moving with swiftness. \u201cWhere is it going?\u201d said\nGilly of the Goatskin. \u201cDoes it go on like that in the night as well\nas in the day?\u201d He ran by its side and shouted to the river. He saw\na wide-winged bird flying across it. It was the bird that we call the\ncrane or the heron. And as Gilly watched the great winged thing he saw\nthat it held a little animal in its claws. Gilly fired an arrow and\nthe crane dropped towards the ground. The little animal that was in its\nclaws fell down. The crane rose up again and flew back across the river.\n\nThe little animal that had been in the claws of the crane came to Gilly\nof the Goatskin. It was smaller than the one-eyed cat that used to sit\non the hearth of the Hag of the House. It kept its head up and was very\nbold-looking. \u201cGood morning, Lad in the Goatskin,\u201d it said to Gilly,\n\u201cyou saved my life and I\u2019m very thankful to you.\u201d \u201cWhat are you?\u201d said\nGilly of the Goat-skin. \u201cI\u2019m the Weasel. I\u2019m the boldest and bravest\ncreature in this country. I\u2019m the lion of these parts, I am. And,\u201d said\nthe Weasel, \u201cI never served anyone before, but I\u2019ll be your servant\nfor a quarter of a year. Tell me what way you\u2019re going and I\u2019ll go with\nyou.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m going the way he\u2019s going,\u201d said Gilly, nodding towards the\nriver, \u201cand I\u2019ll keep beside him till he wants to turn back.\u201d \u201cOh, then\nyou\u2019ll have to go a long way,\u201d said the Weasel, \u201cbut I\u2019ll go with you no\nmatter bow far you go.\u201d The Weasel walked by Gilly\u2019s side very bravely\nand very independently.\n\n\u201cOh, look,\u201d said Gilly to the Weasel, \u201cwhat is that that\u2019s in the\nwater?\u201d\n\nThe Weasel looked and saw a crystal egg in the shallows.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s an egg,\u201d said the Weasel, \u201cI often eat one myself. I\u2019ll bring it\nup from the bottom to you. I\u2019m good at carrying eggs.\u201d\n\nThe Weasel went into the water and put his mouth to the egg and tried to\nlift it. He could not move it. He tried to lift it with his paws as well\nas with his mouth; but this did not do either. He came up the bank then,\nand said to Gilly, \u201cYou\u2019ll think I\u2019m a poor sort of a servant because I\ncan\u2019t take an egg out of the water. But if I can\u2019t win one way I\u2019ll win\nanother way.\u201d He went into the reeds by the river and he said, \u201cHear me,\nfrogs! There\u2019s a great army coming to take you out of the reeds and eat\nyou red and raw.\u201d Then Gilly saw the queer frogs lifting up their\nheads, \u201cOh, what will we do, what will we do?\u201d they cried to the Weasel.\n\u201cThere\u2019s only one thing to be done,\u201d said the Weasel. \u201cYou gather up\nall the pebbles in the bed of the fiver and we\u2019ll make a big wail on the\nbank to defend you.\u201d The frogs dived into the water at once and dragged\nup pebbles. Gilly and the Weasel piled them on the bank. Then three\nfrogs carried up the Crystal Egg. The Weasel took it from them when they\nleft it on the bank. Then he climbed a tree and cried out to the frogs,\n\u201cThe army is frightened and is running away.\u201d \u201cOh, thank you, thank\nyou,\u201d said the frogs, \u201cwe\u2019ll never forget your goodness to us.\u201d Then\nthey sat down in the marsh and told each other what a narrow escape they\nall had.\n\nThe Weasel gave Gilly the Crystal Egg. It was heavy and he carried it\nfor a while in his hand. They went on. After a while said Gilly of the\nGoatskin, \u201cThe night\u2019s coming on and the fiver shows no sign of turning\nback. I wish there was a nice place to shelter us.\u201d No sooner did he say\nthe word than he and the Weasel found them-selves standing before the\nopen door of a nice little house. They went in. A clear fire was burning\non the hearth, an arm chair was before it, and a bed was made at the\nother side of the fire. \u201cThis is good,\u201d said Gilly, \u201cand now I wish that\nwe had something to eat.\u201d No sooner did he say the words than a table\nappeared with bread and meat, fruit and wine on it. \u201cWhere do these\nfine things come from, I wonder,\u201d said Gilly of the Goatskin. \u201cIt\u2019s my\nbelief,\u201d said the Weasel, \u201cthat all these things come to us on account\nof the egg you have in your hand. It\u2019s a magic egg.\u201d Gilly of the\nGoatskin put the egg on the table and wished that he might see himself\nas he had seen himself in the river. Nothing appeared. Then he took the\negg in his hand and wished again. And then there was a looking glass on\nthe wall before him, and he saw himself in it better than he had seen\nhimself in the river. Gilly of the Goatskin knew that he had only to\nhold the Crystal Egg in his hand and wish, to get all he could think of.\n\n\n\nVIII\n\n\nGilly of the Goatskin wished for wide windows in his house and he got\nthem. He wished for a light within when there was darkness without, and\nhe got a silver lamp that burned until he wished to sleep. He wished for\nthe songs of birds and he had a blackbird singing upon his half-door, a\nlark over his chimney, a goldfinch and a green linnet within his window,\nand a shy wren in the evening singing from the top of his dresser. Then\nhe wished to hear the conversation of the beasts and all the creatures\nof the fields and the wood and the mountain top came into his house.\n\nThe hare used to come in early in the morning. He was always the first\nvisitor and he never remained long, and always while he was there he\nkept running up and down the house, and he generally ended his visit by\njumping through the open window. The martens, the beautiful wild cats of\nthe wood, came in to see Gilly once; they were very proud and told\nhim nothing. The little black rabbits were very much impressed by the\nmartens, and all the time the martens were there they stayed under the\nbed and the chairs. Two or three times the King of the Wood himself--the\nBoar of the Bristles and the Long Tusks--came to see Gilly; he used to\npush open the door and then stand in the middle of the floor grunting\nand grunting. Once he brought his wife with him, and six or seven of\ntheir little pigs that went running over the floor, with their ears\nhanging over their eyes, came with them too. The hedgehogs used to come,\nbut they always made themselves disagreeable. They just lay down by\nthe fire and snored, and when they wakened up they quarrelled with\neach other. Everybody said that the hedgehogs\u2019 children were very badly\nbrought up and very badly provided for. The squirrels who were so clean\nand careful, and so fond of their children, thought the hedgehogs were\nvery bad creatures indeed. \u201cIt is just like them to have dirty sticky\nthorns around them instead of nice clean fur,\u201d said the squirrel\u2019s wife.\n\u201cBut, my dear,\u201d said the squirrel, \u201cevery animal can\u2019t have fur.\u201d\n \u201cHow well,\u201d said she, \u201cthe rabbits have fur, though dear knows they\u2019re\ncreatures of not much account. It\u2019s all just to let us see that they\u2019re\nsome relation of that horrible, horrible boar that goes crashing and\nmarching through the wood.\u201d\n\nThe deer never came into the house, and Gilly had a shed made for them\noutside. They would come into it and stay there for many nights and\ndays, and Gilly used to go out and talk with them. They knew about far\ncountries, and strange paths and passes, but they did not know so much\nabout men and about the doings of other creatures as the Fox did.\n\nThe Fox used to come in the evening and stay until nearly morning\nwhether Gilly fell asleep or kept awake. The Fox was a very good talker.\nHe used to lie down at the hearth with his paws stretched out, and tell\nabout this one and that one, and what she said and what he did. If the\nFox came to see you, and if he was in good humor for talking, you would\nstay up all night to listen to him. I know I should. It was the Fox\nwho told Gilly what the Crow of Achill did to Laheen the Eagle. She had\nstolen the Crystal Egg that Laheen was about to hatch--the Crystal Egg\nthat the Crane had left on a bare rock. It was the Fox who told Gilly\nhow the first cat came into the world. And it was the Fox who told Gilly\nabout the generations of the eel. All I say is that it is a pity the Fox\ncannot be trusted, for a better one to talk and tell a story it would be\nhard to find. He was always picking up and eating things that had been\nleft over--a potato roasting in the ashes, an apple left upon a plate,\na piece of meat under a cover. Gilly did not grudge these things to Rory\nthe Fox and he always left something in a bag for him to take home to\nthe young foxes.\n\n\nI had nearly forgotten to tell you about Gilly\u2019s friend, the brave\nWeasel. He had made a home for himself under the roof. Sometimes he\nwould go away for a day or so and he would never tell Gilly where he\nhad been. When he was at home he made himself the door-keeper of\nGilly\u2019s house. If any of the creatures made themselves disagreeable by\nquarrelling amongst each other, or by being uncivil to Gilly, the\nWeasel would just walk over to them and look them in the eyes. Then that\ncreature went away. Always he held his head up and if Gilly asked him\nfor advice he would say three words, \u201cHave no fear; have no fear.\u201d\n\nOne day Gilly wanted to have a bunch of cherries with his dinner, and he\nwent to find the Crystal Egg so that he might wish for it. The Crystal\nEgg was not in the place he had left it. He called the Weasel and the\ntwo of them searched the house. The Crystal Egg was nowhere to be found.\n\u201cOne of the creatures has stolen the Egg,\u201d said the Weasel, \u201cbut whoever\nstole it I will make bring it back. I\u2019ll soon find out who did it.\u201d The\nWeasel walked up to every creature that came in, looked him or her in\nthe eye and said, \u201cDid you steal the Crystal Egg?\u201d And every creature\nthat came in said, \u201cNo, Little Lion, I didn\u2019t steal it.\u201d Next day they\nhad examined every creature except the Fox. The Fox had not been in the\nnight before nor the night before that again. He did not come in the\nevening they missed the Crystal Egg nor the evening after that evening.\nThat night the Weasel said, \u201cAs sure as there are teeth in my head the\nFox stole the Crystal Egg. As soon as there is light we\u2019ll search for\nhim and make him give the Egg back to us.\u201d\n\n\n\nIX\n\n\nThe Weasel was right; it was Rory the Fox who had stolen Gilly\u2019s Crystal\nEgg. One night, just as he was leaving Gilly\u2019s house, the moon shone\nfull upon the Crystal Egg. In the turn of a hand Rory the Fox had made a\nlittle spring and had taken the Egg in his mouth. Then he slipped out by\nthe door as quick and as quiet as a leaf blown in the wind.\n\nHe couldn\u2019t help himself stealing the Egg, when the chance came. He had\nhad a dream about it. He dreamt that the Egg had been hatched and that\nout of it had come the most toothsome bird that a Fox had ever taken by\nthe neck. He snapped his teeth in his sleep when he dreamt of it. The\nFox told his youngsters about the bird he had dreamt of--a bird as big\nas a goose and so fat on the neck and the breast that it could hardly\nstir from sitting. The youngsters had smacked their lips and\nsnapped their teeth. Every time he came home now they used to say to\nhim--\u201cFather, have you brought us the Boobrie Bird?\u201d No wonder that his\neyes used to turn to the Crystal Egg when he sat in Gilly\u2019s house. And\nthen because the moon shone on it just as he was leaving, and because he\nknew that Gilly\u2019s back was turned, he could not keep himself from making\na little spring and taking the Crystal Egg softly in his mouth.\n\nHe went amongst the dark, dark trees with the soft and easy trot of a\nFox. He knew well what he should do with the Egg. He had dreamt that it\nhad been hatched by the Spae-Woman\u2019s old rheumatic goose. This goose was\ncalled Old Mother Hatchie and the Fox had never carried her off because\nhe knew she was always hatching out goslings for his table. He went\nthrough the trees and across the fields towards the Spae-Woman\u2019s house.\n\nThe Spae-Woman lived by telling people their fortunes and reading them\ntheir dreams. That is why she was called the Spae-Woman. The people gave\nher goods for telling them their dreams and fortunes and she left her\nland and stock to whatever chanced. The fences of her fields were broken\nand rotted. Her hens had been carried off by the Fox. Her goat had gone\nwild. She had neither ox nor ass nor sheep nor pig. The Fox went through\nher fence now as lightning would go through a gooseberry bush and he\ncame out before her barn. There was a hole in the barn-door and he went\nthrough that. And in the north-west corner of the barn, he saw Old Mother\nHatchie sitting on a nest of straw and he knew that there was a clutch\nof eggs under her. She cackled when she saw the Fox on the floor of the\nbarn but she never stirred off the nest. Rory left what was in his mouth\non the ground. Old Mother Hatchie put her head on one side and looked at\nthe Egg that was clear in the full moonlight.\n\n\u201cThis egg, Mistress Hatchie,\u201d said Rory the Fox, \u201cis from the Hen-wife\nof the Queen of Ireland. The Queen asked the Hen-wife to ask me to leave\nit with you. She thinks there\u2019s no bird in the world but yourself that\nis worthy to hatch it and to rear the gosling that comes out of it.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right, that\u2019s right,\u201d said Mother Hatchie. \u201cPut it here, put\nit here.\u201d She lifted her wing and the Fox put the Crystal Egg into the\nbrood-nest.\n\nHe went out of the barn, crossed the field again, and went amongst the\ndark, dark trees. He went along slowly now for he began to think that\nGilly might find out who stole the Crystal Egg and be vexed with him.\nThen he thought of the Weasel. The Fox began to think he might be sorry\nfor himself if the Weasel was set on his track.\n\nRory did not go to Gilly\u2019s house the next night nor the night after. The\nthird night, as he was going home from a ramble, the Owl hooted at him.\n\u201cWhy do you hoot at me, Big Moth?\u201d said the Fox stopping in his trot.\n(He always called the Owl \u201cBig Moth\u201d to pretend that he thought she\nwasn\u2019t a bird at all, but a moth. He made this pretence because he was\nannoyed that he could never get an owl to eat). \u201cWhy do you hoot at\nme, Big Moth?\u201d said he. \u201cThe Weasel\u2019s going to have your bones for\nhis stepping-stones and your blood for his morning dram,\u201d said the Owl\nbalefully as she went amongst the dark, dark trees. The Fox stopped long\nto consider. Then he went to his burrow and told his youngsters they\nwould have to move house. He had them stirring at the first light.\nHe gave them a frog each for their breakfast and took them across the\ncountry. They came to a burrow that Old-Fellow Badger had just left and\nRory the Fox brought his youngsters into it and told them that it would\nbe their new house.\n\n\n\nX\n\n\nThe evening after when Rory the Fox was taking his nap he heard one of\nhis youngsters give a sharp cry. They were playing outside the burrow,\nlie looked out and he saw that his three youngsters were afraid of\nsomething that was between them and the burrow. He looked again and saw\nthe Weasel.\n\n\u201cAhem,\u201d said Rory the Fox, \u201cand how are we this morning?\u201d\n\nThe Weasel had marked one of Rory\u2019s youngsters for attack. Although Rory\nspoke, he never took his eyes off the youngster he had marked.\n\n\u201cMy dear friend,\u201d said the Fox, \u201cI was just going to say--if you are\nlooking for anything, perhaps I could tell you where it might be found.\u201d\n\n\u201cCrystal Egg,\u201d said the Weasel without ever taking away his\nblood-thirsty gaze from Rory\u2019s youngster.\n\n\u201cOh, the Crystal Egg,\u201d said Rory the Fox. \u201cYes, to be sure. I could\nbring you at once to the place where the Crystal Egg is.\u201d He came out of\nthe burrow and saw Gilly standing on the bank behind.\n\n\u201cI think it is time for my children to go back to their burrow,\u201d said\nRory the Fox. \u201cPlease excuse them, my friends.\u201d The Weasel took his eyes\noff the youngster he had marked and the three little foxes scampered\ninto the burrow.\n\n\u201cThis way, friends,\u201d said the Fox, and he started off towards the\nSpae-Woman\u2019s house with the light and easy trot of a fox. Gilly and the\nWeasel went behind him. They crossed a field of flax, a field of\nhemp and a field of barley. They came to the broken fence before the\nSpae-Woman\u2019s house, and in front of the house they saw the Spae-Woman\nherself and she was crying and crying.\n\nThe Fox hid behind the fence, the Weasel climbed up on the ditch and\nGilly himself went to the woman.\n\n\u201cWhat ails you at all?\u201d said Gilly to her.\n\n\u201cMy goose--the only fowl left to me has been taken by robbers.\u201d\n\n\u201cAsk her where the clutch of eggs is that the goose was hatching,\u201d said\nRory the Fox anxiously, putting his head over the fence.\n\n\u201cAnd where is the clutch of eggs, ma\u2019am, that your goose was hatching?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe robbers took the nest with the goose and the eggs with the nest,\u201d\n said the Spae-Woman.\n\n\u201cAnd the Crystal Egg was with the other eggs,\u201d said the Fox to Gilly. He\nsaid no more. He made a quick turn and got clear away before the Weasel\ncould spring on him. He ran back to his burrow. He told the little foxes\nthey must change houses again. That night they lay in a wood and at the\nfirst light they crossed water and went to live on an island where the\nWeasel never came.\n\n\u201cWhere did the robbers go with the goose, the nest, and the eggs?\u201d said\nGilly of the Goatskin.\n\n\u201cThey went to the river,\u201d said the Spae-Woman. \u201cI followed them every\ninch of the way. They got into a boat and they hoisted their sails. They\nrowed and they rowed, so that the hard gravel of the bottom was brought\nto the top, and the froth of the top was driven down to the bottom of\nthe river. And wherever they are,\u201d said the Spae-Woman, \u201cthey are far\nfrom us now.\u201d\n\n\u201cWill you come with me?\u201d said Gilly to the Weasel, \u201cwe will track them\ndown and take back the Crystal Egg.\u201d\n\n\u201cI engaged myself to be with you for a quarter of a year,\u201d said the\nWeasel, \u201cand the three months are up now, Gilly. Winter is coming on and\nI must see to my own affairs.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen good-by, Weasel,\u201d said Gilly. \u201cI will search for the Crystal Egg\nmyself. But first I must ask the woman to let me rest in the house and\nto give me some provision for my journey.\u201d The Weasel looked up into\nGilly\u2019s face and said good-by to him. Then Gilly followed the Spae-Woman\ninto her house. \u201cOcone,\u201d she was saying to herself, \u201cmy dream told me\nI was to lose my poor goose, and still I never did anything to make it\nhard for the robbers to take her from me.\u201d\n\n\n\nXI\n\n\nWell, in the Spae-Woman\u2019s house he stayed for three-quarters of a year.\nHe often went in search of the robbers who had taken the Crystal Egg\nwith the Spae-Woman\u2019s goose, but no trace of them nor their booty could\nhe ever find. He met birds and beasts who were his friends, but he could\nnot have speech with them without the Egg that let him have anything he\nwished. He did work for the Spae-Woman--fixed her fences and repaired\nher barn and brought _brosna_ for her fire every evening from the wood.\nAt night, before he went to sleep, the Spae-Woman used to tell him her\ndreams of the night before and tell him about the people who had come to\nher house to have their fortunes told.\n\nOne Monday morning she said to him, \u201cI have had an inlook, son of\nmy heart, and I know that my gossip, the Churl of the Townland of\nMischance, is going to come and take you into his service.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what sort of a man is your gossip, the Churl of the Townland of\nMischance?\u201d Gilly asked.\n\n\u201cAn unkind man. Two youths who served me he took away, one after the\nother, and miserable are they made by what he did to them. I\u2019m in dread\nof your being brought to the Townland of Mischance.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy are you in dread of it, Spae-Woman?\u201d said Gilly. \u201cSure, I\u2019ll be\nglad enough to see the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what the other two youths said,\u201d said the Spae-Woman. \u201cNow I\u2019ll\ntell you what my gossip the Churl of the Townland of Mischance does: he\nmakes a bargain with the youth that goes into his service, telling him\nhe will give him a guinea, a groat and a tester for his three months\u2019\nservice. And he tells the youth that if he says he is sorry for the\nbargain he must lose his wages and part with a strip of his skin, an\ninch wide. He rode on a bob-tailed, big-headed, spavined and spotted\nhorse, from his neck to his heel. Oh, he is an unkind man, my gossip,\nthe Churl of the Townland of Mischance.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd is there no way to get the better of him?\u201d asked Gilly.\n\n\u201cThere is, but it is a hard way,\u201d said the Spae-Woman. \u201cIf one could\nmake him say that he, the master, is sorry for the bargain, the Churl\nhimself would lose a strip of his skin an inch wide from his neck to his\nheel, and would have to pay full wages no matter how short a time the\nyouth served him.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a bargain anyway,\u201d said Gilly, \u201cand if he comes I\u2019ll take service\nwith the Churl of the Townland of Mischance.\u201d\n\nThe first wet day that came brought the Churl of the Townland of\nMischance. He rode on a bob-tailed, big-headed, spavined and spotted\nhorse. He carried an ash-plant in his hand to flog the horse and to\nstrike at the dogs that crossed his way. He had blue lips, eyes looking\ncrossways and eyebrows like a furze bush. He had a bag before him filled\nwith boiled pigs\u2019 feet. Now when he rode up to the house, he had a\npig\u2019s foot to his mouth and was eating. He got down off the bob-tailed,\nbig-headed, spavined and spotted horse, and came in.\n\n\u201cI heard there was a young fellow at your house and I want him to take\nservice with me,\u201d said he to the Spae-Woman.\n\n\u201cIf the bargain is a good one I\u2019ll take service with you,\u201d said Gilly.\n\n\u201cAll right, my lad,\u201d said the Churl. \u201cHere is the bargain, and it\u2019s as\nfair as fair can be. I\u2019ll give you a guinea, a groat and a tester for\nyour three months\u2019 work with me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI believe it\u2019s good wages,\u201d said Gilly.\n\n\u201cIt is. Howsoever, if you ever say you are sorry you made the bargain\nyou will lose your wages, and besides that you will lose a strip of your\nskin an inch wide from your neck to your heel. I have to put that in\nor I\u2019d never get work done for me at all. The serving boys are always\nsaying \u2018I can\u2019t do that,\u2019 and \u2018I\u2019m sorry I made the bargain with you.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd if you say you\u2019re sorry you made the bargain?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, then I\u2019ll have to lose a strip of my skin an inch wide from my neck\nto my heel, and besides that I\u2019ll have to give you full wages no matter\nhow short a time you served me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, if that suits you it will suit me,\u201d said Gilly of the Goatskin.\n\n\u201cThen walk beside my horse and we\u2019ll get back to the Townland of\nMischance to-night,\u201d said the Churl. Then he swished his ash-plant\ntowards Gilly and ordered him to get ready. The Spae-Woman wiped the\ntears from her face with her apron, gave Gilly a cake with her blessing,\nand he started off with the Churl for the Townland of Mischance.\n\n\n\n\nXII\n\n\nWhat did Gilly of the Goatskin do in the Townland of Mischance? He got\nup early and went to bed late; he was kept digging, delving and ditching\nuntil he was so tired that he could go to sleep in a furze bush; he ate\na breakfast that left him hungry five hours before dinner-time, and he\nate a dinner that made it seem long until supper-time. If he complained\nthe Churl would say, \u201cWell, then you are sorry for your bargain,\u201d and\nGilly would say \u201cNo,\u201d rather than lose the wages he had earned and a\nstrip of his skin into the bargain.\n\nOne day the Churl said to him, \u201cGo into the town for salt for my supper,\ntake the short way across the pasture-field, and be sure not to let the\ngrass grow under your feet.\u201d \u201cAll right, master,\u201d said Gilly. \u201cMaybe\nyou would bring me my coat out of the house so that I needn\u2019t make two\njourneys.\u201d The Churl went into the house for Gilly\u2019s coat. When he came\nback he found Gilly standing in the nice grass of the pasture-field\nlighting a wisp of hay. \u201cWhat are you doing that for?\u201d said the Churl to\nhim. \u201cTo burn the grass on the pasture-field,\u201d said Gilly. \u201cTo burn the\ngrass on my pasture-field, you villain--the grass that is for my good\nrace-horse\u2019s feeding! What do you mean, at all?\u201d \u201cSure, you told me not\nto let the grass grow under my feet,\u201d said Gilly. \u201cDoesn\u2019t the world\nknow that the grass is growing every minute, and how will I prevent it\nfrom growing under my feet if I don\u2019t burn it?\u201d With that he stooped\ndown to put the lighted hay to the grass of the pasture-field. \u201cStop,\nstop,\u201d said the Churl, \u201cI meant that you were to go to the town,\nwithout loitering on the way.\u201d \u201cWell, it\u2019s a pity you didn\u2019t speak more\nclearly,\u201d said Gilly, \u201cfor now the grass is a-fire.\u201d The Churl bad to\nstamp on the grass to put the fire out. He burnt his shins, and that\nmade him very angry. \u201cO you fool,\u201d said he to Gilly, \u201cI\u2019m sorry--\u201d \u201cAre\nyou sorry for the bargain you made with me, Master?\u201d \u201cNo. I was going\nto say I was sorry I hadn\u2019t made my meaning clear to you. Go now to the\ntown and bring me back salt for my supper as quickly as you can.\u201d\n\nAfter that the Churl was very careful when he gave Gilly an order to\nspeak to him very exactly. This became a great trouble to him, for the\npeople in the Townland of Mischance used always to say, \u201cDon\u2019t let the\ngrass grow under your feet,\u201d when they meant \u201cMake haste,\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t\nbe there until you\u2019re back,\u201d when they meant \u201cGo quickly\u201d and \u201cCome with\nhorses\u2019 legs\u201d when they meant \u201ccome with great speed.\u201d He became tired\nof speaking to Gilly by the letter, so he made up his mind to give him\nan order that could not be carried out, so that he might have a chance\nof sending him away without the wages he had earned.\n\nOne Monday morning he called Gilly to the door of the house and said to\nhim, \u201cTake this sheep-skin to the market and bring me back the price\nof it and the skin.\u201d \u201cVery well, Master,\u201d said Gilly. He put the skin\nacross his arm and went towards the town. The people on the road said\nto him, \u201cWhat do you want for the sheep-skin, young fellow?\u201d \u201cI want\nthe skin and the price of it,\u201d Gilly said. The people laughed at him and\nsaid, \u201cYou\u2019re going to give yourself a long journey, young fellow.\u201d\n\nHe went through the market asking for the skin and the price of it.\nEveryone joked about him. He went into the market-house and came to a\nwoman who was buying things that no one else would buy. \u201cWhat do you\nwant, youth?\u201d said she. \u201cThe price of the skin and the skin itself,\u201d\n said Gilly. She took the skin from him and plucked the wool out of it.\nShe put the wool in her bag and put the skin back on the board. \u201cThere\u2019s\nthe skin,\u201d said she, \u201cand here\u2019s the price of it.\u201d She left three groats\nand a tester on top of the skin.\n\nThe Churl had finished his supper when Gilly came into the house. \u201cWell,\nMaster, I\u2019ve come back to you,\u201d said Gilly. \u201cDid you bring me the price\nof it and the skin itself?\u201d said the Churl. \u201cThere is the skin,\u201d said\nGilly, putting on the table the sheep-skin with the wool plucked out of\nit. \u201cAnd here\u2019s the price of it--three groats and a tester,\u201d said he,\nleaving the money on top of the skin.\n\nAfter that the Churl of the Townland of Mischance began to be afraid\nthat Gilly of the Goatskin would be too wise for him, and would get away\nat the end of the three months with his wages, a guinea, a groat and a\ntester, in his fist. This thought made the Churl very downcast, because,\nfor many months now, he had got hard labor out of his serving-boys,\nwithout giving them a single cross for wages.\n\n\n\nXIII\n\n\nThe day after Christmas the Churl said to Gilly, \u201cThis is Saint\nStephen\u2019s Day. I\u2019m going to such a man\u2019s barn to see the mummers perform\na play. Foolish people give these idle fellows money for playing, but\nI won\u2019t do any such thing as that. I\u2019ll see something of what they are\ndoing, drink a few glasses and get away before they start collecting\nmoney from the people that are watching them. They call this collection\ntheir dues, no less.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what can I do for you, Master?\u201d said Gilly. \u201cRun into the barn at\nmidnight and shout out, \u2018Master, Master, your mill is on fire.\u2019 That\nwill give me an excuse for running out. Do you understand now what I\nwant you to do?\u201d\n\n\u201cI understand, Master.\u201d\n\nThe Churl put on his coat and took his stick in his hand. \u201cMind what\nI\u2019ve said to you,\u201d said he. \u201cDon\u2019t be a minute later than midnight. Be\nsure to come in with a great rash--come in with horse\u2019s legs--do you\nunderstand me?\u201d\n\n\u201cI understand you, Master,\u201d said Gilly.\n\nThe mummers were dancing before they began the play when the Churl came\ninto the barn. \u201cThat\u2019s a rich man,\u201d said one of them to another. \u201cWe\nmust see that he puts a good handful into our bag.\u201d The Churl sat on the\nbench with the farmer who had a score of cows, with the blacksmith who\nshod the King\u2019s horses, and with the merchant who had been in foreign\nparts and who wore big silver rings in his ears. Half the people who\nwere there I could not tell you, but there were there--\n\n   Biddie Early\n   Tatter-Jack Walsh\n   Aunt Jug\n   Lundy Foot\n   Matt the Thresher\n   Nora Criona\n   Conan Maol, and\n   Shaun the Omadhaun.\n\nSome said that the King of Ireland\u2019s Son was there too. The play was\n\u201cThe Unicorn from the Stars.\u201d The mummers did it very well although they\nhad no one to take the part of the Unicorn.\n\nThey were in the middle of the play when Gilly of the Goatskin rushed\ninto the barn. \u201cMaster, master,\u201d he shouted, \u201cyour mill--your mill is\non fire.\u201d The Churl stood up, and then put his glass to his head and\ndrained what was in it. \u201cMake way for me, good people,\u201d said he. \u201cLet\nme out of this, good people.\u201d Some people near the door began to talk\nof what Gilly held in his hands. \u201cWhat have you there, my servant?\u201d said\nthe Churl. \u201cA pair of horse\u2019s legs, Master. I could only carry two of\nthem.\u201d\n\nThe Churl caught Gilly by the throat. \u201cA pair of horse\u2019s legs,\u201d said he.\n\u201cWhere did you get a pair of horse\u2019s legs?\u201d\n\n\u201cOff a horse,\u201d said Gilly. \u201cI had trouble in cutting them off. Bad cess\nto you for telling me to come here with horse\u2019s legs.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd whose horse did you cut the legs off?\u201d \u201cYour own, Master. You\nwouldn\u2019t have liked me to cut the legs off any other person\u2019s horse. And\nI thought your race-horse\u2019s legs would be the most suitable to cut off.\u201d\n\nThe mummers and the people were gathered round them and they saw the\nChurl\u2019s face get black with vexation.\n\n\u201cO my misfortune, that ever I met with you,\u201d said the Churl.\n\n\u201cAre you sorry for your bargain, Master?\u201d said Gilly.\n\n\u201cSorry--I\u2019ll be sorry every day and night of my life for it,\u201d said the\nChurl.\n\n\u201cYou hear what my Master says, good people,\u201d said Gilly.\n\n\u201cAye, sure. He says he\u2019s sorry for the bargain he made with you,\u201d said\nsome of the people.\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d said Gilly, \u201cstrip him and put him across the bench until I cut\na strip of his skin an inch wide from his neck to his heel.\u201d\n\n\nNone of the people would consent to do that. \u201cWell, I\u2019ll tell you\nsomething that will make you consent,\u201d said Gilly. \u201cThis man made two\npoor servant-boys work for him, paid them no wages, and took a strip of\ntheir skin, so that they are sick and sore to this day. Will that make\nyou strip him and put him across the bench?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said some of the people.\n\n\u201cHe ordered me to come here to-night and to shout \u2018Master, master, your\nmill is on fire,\u2019 so that he might be able to leave without paying the\nmummers their dues. His mill is not on fire at all.\u201d\n\n\u201cStrip him,\u201d said the first mummer.\n\n\u201cPut him across the bench,\u201d said another.\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s a skinner\u2019s knife for you,\u201d said a third.\n\nThe mummers seized the Churl, stripped him and put him across the bench.\nGilly took the knife and began to sharpen it on the ground.\n\n\u201cHave mercy on me,\u201d said the Churl.\n\n\u201cYou did not have mercy on the other two poor servant-boys,\u201d said Gilly.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll give you your wages in full.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s not enough.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll give you double wages to give to the other servant-boys.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd will you pay the mummers\u2019 dues for all the people here?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no, no. I can\u2019t do that.\u201d\n\n\u201cStretch out your neck then until I mark the place where I shall begin\nto cut the skin.\u201d\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t put the knife to me. I\u2019ll pay the dues for all,\u201d said the Churl.\n\n\u201cYou heard what he said,\u201d said Gilly to the people. \u201cHe will pay me\nwages in full, give me double wages to hand to the servant-boys he has\ninjured, and pay the mummers\u2019 dues for everyone.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe heard him say that,\u201d said the people.\n\n\u201cStand up and dress yourself,\u201d said Gilly to the Churl. \u201cWhat do I want\nwith a strip of your skin? But I hope all here will go home with you\nand stand in your house until you have paid all the money that\u2019s claimed\nfrom you.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll go home with him,\u201d said the mummers.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll stand on his floor until he has paid all the money he has agreed\nto pay,\u201d said the others.\n\n\u201cAnd now I must tell you, neighbors,\u201d said Gilly, \u201cthat I never cut the\nlegs of a living horse--neither his horse nor anyone else\u2019s. This pair\nwas taken off a poor dead horse by the skinners that were cutting it\nup.\u201d\n\nWell, they all went to the Churl\u2019s house and there they stayed until\nhe opened his stone chest and took out his money-box and paid to the\nmummers the dues of all the people with sixpence over, and paid Gilly\nhis wages in full, one guinea, one groat and a tester, and handed him\ndouble wages to give to each of the servant-boys he had injured. Gilly\ntook the money and left the house of the Churl of the Townland of\nMischance, and the people and the mummers went to the road with him, and\ncheered him as he went on his way.\n\n\n\n\nXIV\n\n\nSo, without hap or mishap, Gilly came again to the house of the\nSpae-Woman. She was sitting at her door-step grinding corn with a quern\nwhen he came before her. She cried over him, not believing that he had\ncome safe from the Townland of Mischance. And as long as he was with her\nshe spoke to him of his \u201cpoor back.\u201d\n\nHe stayed with her for two seasons. He mended her fences and he cleaned\nher spring-well; he ground her corn and he brought back her swarm of\nbees; he trained a dog to chase the crows out of her field; he had the\nass shod, the sheep washed and the goat spancelled. The Spae-Woman was\nmuch beholden to him for all he did for her, and one day she said to\nhim, \u201cGilly of the Goat-skin you are called, but another name is due\nto you now.\u201d \u201cAnd who will give me another name?\u201d said Gilly of the\nGoatskin. \u201cWho\u2019ll give it to you? Who but the Old Woman of Beare,\u201d said\nthe Spae-Woman.\n\nThe next day she said to him, \u201cI had a dream last night, and I know now\nwhat you are to do. You must go now to the Old Woman of Beare for the\nname that is due to you. And before she gives it to you, you must tell\nher and whoever else is in her house as much as you know of the Unique\nTale.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I know nothing at all of the Unique Tale,\u201d said Gilly of the\nGoatskin.\n\n\u201cThere is always a blank before a beginning,\u201d said the Spae-Woman. \u201cThis\nevening, when I am grinding the corn at the quern I shall tell you the\nUnique Tale.\u201d\n\nThat evening when she sat at the door-step of her house and when the sun\nwas setting behind the elder-bushes the Spae-Woman told Gilly the third\npart of the Unique Tale. Then she baked a cake and killed a cock for him\nand told him to start on the morrow\u2019s morning for the house of the Old\nWoman of Beare.\n\nWell, he started off in the morning bright and early, leaving good\nhealth with the Spae-Woman behind him, and away he went, crossing high\nhills, passing low dales, and keeping on his way without halt or rest,\nthe clear day going and the dark night coming, taking lodgings each\nevening wherever he found them, and at last he came to the house of the\nOld Woman of Beare.\n\nHe went into the house and found her making marks in the ashes of her\nfire while her cuckoo, her corncrake and her swallow were picking grains\noff the table.\n\n\u201cAnd what can I do for you, good youth?\u201d said the Old Woman of Beare.\n\n\u201cGive me a name,\u201d said Gilly, \u201cand listen to the story I have to tell\nyou.\u201d\n\n\n\u201cThat I will not,\u201d said the Old Woman of Beare, \u201cuntil you have done a\ntask for me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat task can I do for you?\u201d said Gilly of the Goatskin. \u201cI would\nknow,\u201d said she, \u201cwhich of us four is the oldest creature in the\nworld--myself or Laheen the Eagle, Blackfoot the Elk or the Crow of\nAchill--I leave the Salmon of Assaroe out of account altogether.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd how can a youth like me help you to know that?\u201d said Gilly of the\nGoatskin.\n\n\u201cAn ox was killed on the day I was born and on every one of my birthdays\nafterwards. The horns of the oxen are in two quarries outside. You must\ncount them and tell me how much half of them amounts to and then I shall\nknow my age.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat I\u2019ll do if you feed me and give me shelter,\u201d said Gilly of the\nGoatskin. \u201cEat as you like,\u201d said the Old Woman of Beare. She pushed him\na loaf of bread and a bottle of water. When he cut a slice of the loaf\nit was just as if nothing had been cut off, and when he took a cupful\nout of the bottle it was as if no water had been taken out of it at\nall. When he had drunk and eaten he left the complete loaf and the full\nbottle of water on the shelf, went outside and began to count the horns\non the right-hand side.\n\nOn the second day a strange youth came to him and saluted him, and then\nwent to count the horns in the quarry on the left-hand side. This youth\nwas none other than the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\nOn the third day they had the horns all counted. Then Gilly of the\nGoatskin and the King of Ireland\u2019s Son met together under a bush. \u201cHow\nmany horns have you counted?\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son. \u201cSo many,\u201d\n said Gilly of the Goatskin. \u201cAnd how many horns have you counted?\u201d \u201cSo\nmany,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\nJust as they were adding the two numbers together they both heard sounds\nin the air--they were like the sounds that Bards make chanting their\nverses. And when they looked up they saw a swan flying round and\nround above them. And the swan chanted the story of the coming of the\nMilesians to Eirinn, and as the two youths listened they forgot the\nnumber of horns they had counted. And when the swan had flown away they\nlooked at each other and as they were hungry they went into the house\nand ate slices of the unwasted loaf and drank cupfuls out of the\ninexhaustible bottle. Then the Old Woman of Beare wakened up and asked\nthem to tell her the number of her years.\n\n\u201cWe cannot tell you although we counted all the horns,\u201d said the King of\nIreland\u2019s Son, \u201cfor just as we were putting the numbers together a swan\nsang to us and we forgot the number we had counted.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou didn\u2019t do your task rightly,\u201d she said, \u201cbut as I promised to give\nthis youth a name and to listen to the story he had to tell, I shall\nhave to let it be. You may tell the story now, Gilly of the Goatskin.\u201d\n\nThey sat at the fire, and while the Old Woman of Beare spun threads on\na very ancient spindle, and while the corncrake, the cuckoo and the\nswallow picked up grains and murmured to themselves, Gilly of the\nGoatskin told them the Unique Tale. And the story as Gilly of the\nGoatskin told it follows this.--\n\n\n\n\nA Unique Tale\n\n\nA King and a Queen were walking one day by the blue pool in their\ndomain. The swan had come to the blue pool, and the bright yellow\nflowers of the broom were above the water. \u201cOch,\u201d said the Queen, \u201cif I\nmight have a daughter that would show such colors--the blue of the pool\nin her eyes, the bright yellow of the broom in her hair, and the white\nof the swan in her skin--I would let my seven sons go with the wild\ngeese.\u201d \u201cHush,\u201d said the King. \u201cYou ask for a doom, and it may be sent\nyou.\u201d A shivering came upon the Queen. They went back to the Castle, and\nthat evening the nurse told them that a gray man had passed in a circle\nround her seven sons saying, \u201cIf it be as your mother desired, let it be\nas she has said.\u201d\n\nWell, before the broom blossomed again and before the swan came to the\nblue pool, a child was born to the Queen. It was a girl. The King was\nsitting with his seven sons when the women came to tell him of the new\nbirth. \u201cO my sons,\u201d said he, \u201cmay ye be with me all my life.\u201d But his\nsons moved from him as he said it. Out through the door they went, and\nup the mound that was before the door. There they changed into gray wild\ngeese, and the seven flew towards the empty hills.\n\nNo councillor that the King consulted could help to win them back\nagain, and no hunter that he sent through the country could gain tale or\ntidings of them. The King and Queen were left with one child only, the\ngirl just born. They called her \u201cSheen,\u201d a word that means \u201cStorm,\u201d\n because her coming was a storm that swept away her seven brothers. The\nQueen died, my hearers. Then little Sheen was forgotten by her father,\nand she was reared and companioned by the servants of the house.\n\nOne day, when she was the age her eldest brother was when he was changed\nfrom his human form, Sheen went with Mor, the Woodman\u2019s daughter, and\nSiav, the basket-maker\u2019s foster-child, to gather berries in the wood.\nGoing here and there she got separated from Siav and Mor. She came to a\nplace where there were lots of berries and went step after step to pick\nthem. Her feet went down in a marsh. She cried to Mor and Siav, but no\nanswers came from them. She cried and cried again. Her cries startled\nseven wild geese that rose up and flew round her. \u201cSave me,\u201d she cried\nto them. Then one of the wild geese spoke to her. \u201cAnyone but a girl we\nwould save from the marsh, but such a one we cannot save, because it was\na girl who lost us our human forms and the loving companionship of\nour father.\u201d Then Sheen knew--for the servants had often told her the\nstory--that it was one of her seven brothers who spoke. \u201cSince ever I\nknew of it,\u201d said she, \u201cthe whole of my trouble has been that I was the\ncause of your losing your human form and the companionship of our father\nwho is now called the Lonely King. Believe me,\u201d said she, \u201cthat I would\nhave striven and striven to win you back.\u201d There was so much feeling in\nher voice that her seven brothers, although they had been hardened by\nthinking about their misfortune, were touched at their hearts and\nthey flew down to help her. They bore up her arms, they caught at her\nshoulders, they raised up her feet. They carried her beyond the marsh.\nThen she knelt down and cried to them, \u201cO my brothers dear, is there\nanything I can do to restore you to your human forms?\u201d \u201cThere is,\u201d said\nthe first of the seven wild geese. She begged them to tell it to her.\n\u201cIt\u2019s a long and a tiresome labor we would put on you,\u201d said one. \u201cIf\nyou would gather the light down that grows on the bogs with your own\nhands,\u201d said another, \u201cand if you spun that down into threads, and wove\nthe threads into a cloth and sewed the cloth into a shirt, and did that\nover and over again until you had made seven shirts for us, all that\ntime without laughing or crying or saying a word, you could save us. One\nshirt you could weave and spin and sew in a year. And it would not be\nuntil the seven shirts were put upon us that the human form would be\nrestored to each of us.\u201d \u201cI would be glad to do all that,\u201d said Sheen,\n\u201cand I would cry no tear, laugh no laugh, and say no word all the time I\nwas doing this task.\u201d\n\nThen said the eldest brother, \u201cThe marsh is between you and our father\u2019s\nhouse, and between you and the companions who were with you to-day. If\nyou would do the task that would restore us to our human forms, it were\nbest you did not go back. Beyond the trees is the house of a lone woman,\nand there you may live until your task is finished.\u201d The seven wild\ngeese then flew back to the marsh, and Sheen went to the house beyond\nthe trees. The Spae-Woman lived there. She took Sheen to be a dumb girl,\nand she gave her food and shelter for the services she did--bringing\nwater from the well in the daytime and grinding corn at the quern\nat dusk. She had the rest of the day and night for her own task. She\ngathered the bog-down between noon and sunset and spun the thread at\nnight. When she had lengths of thread spun she began to weave them on\nthe loom. At the end of a year she had the first shirt made. In another\nyear she made the second, then the third, then the fourth, the fifth and\nthe sixth. And all the time she said no word, laughed no laugh and cried\nno tear.\n\n\nShe was gathering the bog-down for the seventh and last shirt. Once she\nwent abroad on a day when the snow was melted and she felt her footsteps\nlight. Hundreds of birds were on the ground eating plentifully and\ncalling to one another. Sheen could hardly keep from her mouth the song\nthat was in her mind. She would sing and laugh and talk when the last\nthread was spun and woven, when the last stitch was sewn, and when the\nshirts of bog-down she had made in silence would have brought back her\nbrothers to their own human forms. She gathered the scarce heads of the\ncannavan or bog-down with one hand, while she held the other hand to her\nlips.\n\nSomething dropped down at her feet. It was a white grouse and it\nremained cowering on the ground. Sheen looked up and she saw a hawk\nabove. And when she looked round she saw a man coming across the bog.\nThe hawk flew towards him and lighted on his shoulder.\n\nSheen held the white grouse to her breast. The man came near to her\nand spoke to her and his voice made her stand. He wore the dress of a\nhunter. His face was brown and lean and his eyes were bright-blue like\ngentian-flowers. No word did Sheen say to him and he passed on with the\nhawk on his shoulder. Then with the grouse held at her breast she went\nback to the Spae-Woman\u2019s house.\n\nThat night when she spun her thread she thought of the blue-eyed,\nbrown-faced man. Would any of her brothers be like him, she wondered,\nwhen they were restored to their human shapes. She fed the white grouse\nwith grains of corn and left it to rest in the window-niche above her\nbed. And then she lay awake and tried to know the meaning in the song\nthe Spae-Woman sang when she sat spinning wool in the chimney Corner--\n\n   You would not slumber\n   If laid at my breast!\n   Little sister,\n   I\u2019ll rock you to rest!\n\n   The flood on the river beats\n   The swan from its nest!\n   You would not slumber\n   If laid at my breast!\n\n   The rain-drops encumber\n   The hawthorn\u2019s crest:\n   My thoughts have no number:\n   You would not slumber\n   If laid at my breast,\n   Little sister,\n   I\u2019ll rock you to rest.\n\nShe passed the night between sleeping and waking, and when the light\ngrew she saw the white grouse crouching against the window-opening.\nShe opened the door and stepped outside to let the grouse fly from her\nhands.\n\nAnd there, on the ground before her was a sword! Sheen knew it to be the\nsword of the man she had seen yesterday, and she knew the man had been\nbefore the door in the night-time. She knelt on the ground to look at\nthe bright blue blade. O my listeners, if I was there I was in the\ncrows that flew down heavily and cawed as they picked up something that\npleased them, in the wood-cushats that cooed in the trees, in the small\nbirds that quarreled in the thatch of the house, and in the breeze that\nblew round--the first breeze of the day.\n\nThe Spae-Woman came outside and saw what Sheen was looking at--the sword\non the ground. \u201cIt is wrought with cunning that only the smiths of Kings\npossess,\u201d she said. She took the sword and hung it on the branch of a\ntree so that the dews of the ground might not rust it. \u201cI think the\none who owns it is the stranger who is seen in the wild places\nhereabouts--the man whom the neighbors call the Hunter-King,\u201d she said\nto Sheen.\n\nOn another day Sheen went to gather bog-down. This time she crossed the\nriver by the stepping-stones and went into a country where there were\nmany cattle. She stood wondering at their numbers and wishing that such\na cow and such a calf might belong to the Spae-Woman. Then the next\nthing she saw was two black horses striving with each other. They showed\ntheir teeth at each other and bit and kicked. Then they came racing\ntowards her. \u201cOh,\u201d said Sheen to herself, \u201cthey are Breogan\u2019s wild\nstallions.\u201d She ran, but the horses were able to make circles round her.\n\u201cBreogan\u2019s wild stallions,\u201d said she, \u201cthey will rush in and trample me\nto death.\u201d Then she heard someone shouting commands to the horses. She\nsaw a man strike one of the stallions with a staff, making him rear\nhigh. She saw him make the other stand with the command that was in his\nvoice. She ran to the river, but she slipped on the stepping-stones;\nshe fell down and she felt the water flowing upon her. The man came and\nlifting her up carried her to her own side of the river. Across the bog\nhe carried her, and when she looked at him she saw the lean face and\neyes blue like gentian-flowers--she saw the face of the man who was\ncalled the Hunter-King. He left her on the ground when they passed the\nbog, and she went on her way without speaking.\n\nNothing of this no more than of anything else that happened to her, or\nanything that she thought of, did Sheen tell the Spae-Woman. But she\nwished and she wished that the Hunter-King might come past while there\nwas a light in the house and step within and talk to the Spae-Woman, so\nthat she herself, while spinning the thread, could hear his voice and\nlisten to the things he talked about. She often stood at the door and\nwatched across the bog to see if anything was coming to her.\n\nA neighbor-woman came across the door-step one evening and Sheen went\ninto the house after her, for she felt that something was going to be\ntold. There was a dead man in a house. He had been found in the wood. He\nwas known as the Hunter-King. Sheen stood at her bed and heard what the\nneighbor-woman said.\n\nThe Hunter-King was being waked in the neighbor-woman\u2019s house, and her\neldest daughter had been the corpse-watcher the first night. In the\nmorning they found that the girl\u2019s hand had been withered. The woman\u2019s\nsecond daughter was the corpse-watcher the second night and her right\nhand had been left trembling. This was the third and last night that the\nHunter-King would be waked, and to-night there was no one to watch his\ncorpse.\n\nSheen thought that nothing would ever happen in the world again, now\nthat the Hunter-King was dead. She thought that there was no loneliness\nso great as that of his corpse with no one to watch it on the last\nstrange night it would be above ground. The neighbor-woman went from the\nSpae-Woman and Sheen went after her. She was standing on the door-step\nof her house. \u201cOh, colleen,\u201d said the neighbor-woman, \u201cI am wanting\na girl to watch a corpse in my house to-night--the third and the last\nnight for watching. Will you watch and I will give you a comb for your\nhair?\u201d Sheen showed that she would serve the woman and she went into the\nwake-house. At first she was afraid to look at the bed. Then she went\nover and saw the Hunter-King with his face still, his eyes closed down,\nand the plate of salt on his breast. His gray gaunt hound was stretched\nacross his feet.\n\n\nThe woman and her daughters lighted candles and placed them in the\nwindow recesses and at the head of the corpse. Then they went into their\ndormer-room and left Sheen to her watching. She sat at the fire and made\none fagot after another blaze up. She had brought her basket of bog-down\nand she began to spin a thread upon the neighbor-woman\u2019s wheel.\n\nShe finished the thread and put it round her neck. Then she began to\nsearch for more candles so that she might be able to light one, as\nanother went out. But as she rose up all the candles went out all at\nonce. The hound started from the foot of the bed. Then she saw the\ncorpse sitting up stiffly in the place where it had been laid.\n\nSomething in Sheen overcame her dread, and she went over to the corpse\nand took the salt that was on its breast and put it on its lips. Then a\nvoice came from between the lips. \u201cFair Maid,\u201d said the voice, \u201chave\nyou the courage to follow me? The others failed me and they have been\nstricken. Are you faithful?\u201d \u201cI will follow you,\u201d said Sheen. \u201cThen,\u201d\n said the corpse, \u201cput your hands on my shoulders and come with me. I\nmust go over the Quaking Bog, and through the Burning forest, and across\nthe Icy Sea.\u201d Sheen put her hands on his shoulders. A storm came and\nthey were swept through the roof of the house. They were carried through\nthe night. Down they came on the ground and the dead man sprang away\nfrom Sheen. She went to follow him and found her feet upon a shaking\nsod. They were on the Quaking Bog, she knew. The corpse of the\nHunter-King went ahead and she knew that she must keep it in sight. He\nwent swiftly. The sod went under her feet and she was in the watery mud.\nShe struggled out and jumped over a pool that was hidden with heather.\nAll the time she was in dread that the figure that went before her so\nquickly would be lost to her. She sank and she struggled and she sprang\nacross pools and morasses. All the time what had been the corpse of the\nHunter-King went before her.\n\nThen she saw fires against the sky and she knew they were coming to the\nBurning Forest. The figure before her sprang across a ditch and went\ninto the forest. Sheen sprang across it too. Burning branches fell\nacross her path as she went on. Hot winds burnt her face. Flames dazzled\nand smoke dazed her. But the figure before her went straight on and\nSheen went straight on too.\n\nThe forest ended on a cliff. Below was the sea. The figure before her\ndived down and Sheen dived too. The cold chilled her to the marrow. She\nthought the chill would drive the life out of her. But she saw the head\nof one swimming before her and she swam on.\n\nAnd then they were on land again. \u201cFair Maid,\u201d said the corpse of the\nHunter-King, \u201cput your hands on my shoulders again.\u201d She put her hands\non his shoulders. A storm came and swept them away. They were driven\nthrough the roof of the neighbor-woman\u2019s house. The candle-wicks\nfluttered and light came on them again. She saw the hound standing in\nthe middle of the floor. She saw the corpse sitting where it had been\nlaid and the eyes were now open.\n\n\u201cFair Maid,\u201d said the voice of the Hunter-King, \u201cyou have brought me\nback to life. I am a man under enchantment. There is a witch-woman in\nthe wood that I gave my love to. She enchanted me so that the soul was\nout of my body, and wandering away. It was my soul you followed. And the\nenchantment was to be broken when I found a heart so faithful that it\nwould follow my soul over the Quaking Bog, through the Burning Forest\nand across the Icy Sea. You have brought my soul and my life back to\nme.\u201d\n\nThen she ran out of the neighbor\u2019s house. The night after, in the\nSpae-Woman\u2019s house she finished weaving the threads that were on the\nloom. The next night she stitched the cloth and made the sixth shirt.\nThe day after she went into the bog to gather the bog-down for the\nseventh shirt. She had gathered her basketful and was going through the\nwood about the hour of sunset. At the edge of the thin wood she saw the\nHunter-King standing. He took her hands and his were warm hands. His\nbrown face and his gentian-blue eyes were high and noble. And Sheen\nfelt a joy like the sharpness of a sword when he sang to her about the\nbrightness of her hair and the blue of her eyes. \u201cO Maid,\u201d said he,\n\u201cis there anything that binds you to this place?\u201d Sheen showed him the\nbog-down in the basket and the woven thread that was round her neck.\n\u201cCome with me to my kingdom,\u201d said he, \u201cand you shall be my wife and the\nlove of my heart.\u201d The next evening Sheen went with him. She took the\nsix shirts she had spun and woven and stitched. The Hunter-King lifted\nher before him on a black horse and they rode into his Kingdom.\n\n\nAnd now Sheen was the wife of the Hunter-King. She would have been happy\nif her husband\u2019s sisters had been kind. But they were jealous and they\nmade everything in the Castle unfriendly to her. And often they talked\nbefore her brother saying that Sheen was not noble at all, and that the\nreason she did not speak was because her language was a base one. They\nwatched her when she went out to gather bog-down in the daytime, and\nthey watched her when she spun by herself at night. Sheen longed for the\ndays and nights to pass so that the last threads might be spun and woven\nand the last stitches put in the seventh shirt. Then her brothers would\nbe with her. She could tell the King about herself and silence the bad\ntalk of his sisters. But as she neared the end of her task she became\nmore and more in dread.\n\nThe threads were spun and woven for the seventh shirt. The cloth was\nmade and the first stitches were put in it. Then Sheen\u2019s little son was\nborn. The King was away at the time, gathering his men together at far\nparts of the Kingdom, and he sent a message saying that Sheen and her\nbaby were to be well-minded, and that his sisters were not to leave the\nchamber where she was until he returned.\n\nOn the third night, while Sheen was in her bed with her baby beside her,\nand while her sisters-in-law were in the room, a strange music was heard\noutside. It was played all round the King\u2019s house. Whoever heard it fell\ninto deep slumber. The kern that were on guard slept. The maids that\nwere whispering together fell into a slumber. And a deep sleep came upon\nSheen and her child and on her three sisters-in-law who watched in the\nchamber.\n\nThen a gray wolf that had been seen outside sprang in through the window\nopening. He took Sheen\u2019s child in his mouth. He sprang back through the\nwindow opening and was seen about the place no more. Her sisters-in-law\nwakened while Sheen still slept. They went to tend it and found the\nchild was gone. Then they were afraid of what their brother would do to\nthem for letting this happen. They made a plot to clear themselves,\nand before Sheen wakened they had killed a little beast and smeared its\nblood upon the pillows of the bed.\n\n\nWhen the King came into his wife\u2019s chamber he saw his sisters on the\nground lamenting and tearing the hairs out of their heads. He went to\nwhere his wife was sleeping and saw blood upon her hands and upon the\npillows. He turned on his sisters with his sword in his hand. They cried\nout that they could not have prevented the thing that had happened--that\nthe Queen had laid hands on the child and having killed it had thrown\nits body to the gray wolf that had been watching outside.\n\nAnd while they were speaking Sheen awakened. She put out her arms but\nher child was not beside her. She found blood upon the pillows. Then\nshe heard her sisters-in-law accuse her to the King of having killed her\nchild and flung its body to the gray wolf outside. She fell into a swoon\nand when she came out of it her mind was lost to her.\n\nThe King knelt to her and begged her to tell him what had happened. But\nshe only knew she was to say no word. Then he used to watch her and he\nwondered why she cried no tear. On the fourth day after she rose from\nher bed and searched the Castle for the piece of cloth she had spun\nand woven out of the bog-down. She found it and began to sew it for the\nseventh shirt. The King\u2019s sisters came to him and said, \u201cThe woman you\nbrought here is of another race from ours. She has forgotten that a\nchild was born to her, and that she killed it and flung its body to the\ngray wolf. She sits there now just stitching a garment.\u201d The King went\nand saw her stitching and stitching as if her life depended on each\nstitch she put into the cloth. He spoke to her and she looked up but did\nnot speak. Then the King\u2019s heart was hardened. He took her and brought\nher outside the gate of the Castle. \u201cGo back to the people you came\nfrom,\u201d said he, \u201cfor I cannot bear that you should be here, and not\nspeak to me of what has happened.\u201d Sheen knew she was being sent from\nthe house he had brought her to. A bitter cry came from her. Then the\nstitched cloth that was in her hand became bog-down and was blown away\non the breeze. When she saw this happen she turned from the King\u2019s\nCastle and ran through the woods crying and crying.\n\nShe went through the woods for many days, living on berries and the\nwater of springs. At last she came to the Spae-Woman\u2019s house. The\nSpae-Woman was before the door and she welcomed Sheen back. She gave her\ndrinks she had made from strange herbs, and in a season Sheen\u2019s mind and\nhealth came back to her, and she knew all that had happened. She thought\nshe would win back her seven brothers, and then, with their help, win\nback her child and her husband. But she knew she would have to gather\nthe bog-down, spin the threads and weave them all over again, as\nher tears and cries had broken her task. She told her story to the\nSpae-Woman. Then she went into silence again, gathering the bog-down and\nspinning the thread.\n\nBut when the first thread was spun the memory of her child blew against\nher heart and she cried tears down. The thread she had spun became\nbog-down and was blown away. For days she wept and wept. Then\nthe Spae-Woman said to her, \u201cCommit the child you have lost to\nDiachbha--that is, to Destiny--and Diachbha may bring it about that\nhe shall be the one that will restore your seven brothers their human\nforms. And when you have committed your lost little son to Diachbha go\nback to your husband and tell him all you have lived through.\u201d\n\nSheen, believing in the Spae-Woman\u2019s wisdom, did what was told her. She\nmade an image of her lost little son with leaves and left it on the top\nof the house where it was blown away by the winds. Then she was ready to\ngo back to her husband and tell him all that had happened in her life.\nBut on the day she was bringing the last pitcher of water from the well\nshe met him on the path before her. \u201cDo you remember that I carried\nyou across the bog?\u201d he said. \u201cAnd do you remember that I followed your\nsoul?\u201d said she.\n\nThese were the first words she ever spoke to him. They went back\ntogether to the Spae-Woman\u2019s and she told him all that had been in her\nlife. He told her how his sisters had acknowledged that they had spoken\nfalsely against her.\n\nHe took her back to his own Kingdom, and there, as King and Queen they\nstill live. But the name she bears is not Sheen or Storm now. Two sons\nmore were born to her. But her seven brothers are still seven wild\ngeese, and the Queen has found no trace of her first-born son. But the\nSpae-Woman has had a dream, and the dream has revealed this to her: the\nSon that Sheen lost is in the world, and if the maiden who will come to\nlove him, will give seven drops of her heart\u2019s blood, the Queen\u2019s seven\nbrothers will regain their human forms.\n\n\n\u201cSo that is the Unique Tale,\u201d said the Old Woman of Beare. \u201cIf you ever\nfind out what went before it and what comes after it come back here and\ntell it to me. But I don\u2019t think you\u2019ll get the rest of it,\u201d said she,\n\u201cseeing that the two of you weren\u2019t able to count the horns outside.\u201d\n She went on talking and talking, Gilly and the King\u2019s Son hearing what\nshe said when she spoke in a sudden high voice, and not hearing when\nshe murmured on as if talking to the ashes or to the pot or to the\ncorncrake, the cuckoo or the swallow that were picking grains off the\nfloor. \u201cIf you see Laheen the Eagle again, or Blackfoot the Elk or the\nCrow of Achill tell them to come and visit me sometime. I\u2019m all alone\nhere except for my swallow and cuckoo and corncrake. And mind you, great\nKings and Princes used to come to see me.\u201d So she went on talking in low\ntones and in sudden high tones.\n\n\u201cYou must come with me and help me to get the rest of the Unique Tale,\u201d\n said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son. \u201cThat I\u2019ll do,\u201d said Gilly of the\nGoatskin. \u201cBut I must get a name first.\n\n\u201cOld Mother,\u201d said he, to the Old Woman of Beare. \u201cYou must now give me\na name.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll give you a name,\u201d said the Old Woman of Beare, \u201cbut you must stand\nbefore me and strip off the goatskin that covers you.\u201d\n\nGilly pulled at the strings and the goatskin fell on the ground. The Old\nWoman of Beare nodded her head. \u201cYou have the stars on your breast that\ndenote the Son of a King,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cThe Son of a King--me!\u201d said Gilly of the Goatskin. \u201cYou have the stars\non your breast,\u201d said the Old Woman of Beare.\n\nGilly looked at himself and saw the three stars on his breast. \u201cIf I am\nthe Son of a King I never knew it until now,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cYou are the son of a King,\u201d said the Old Woman of Beare, \u201cand I will\ngive you a name when you come back to me. But I want you, first of all,\nto find out what happened to the Crystal Egg.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Crystal Egg!\u201d said Gilly in great surprise.\n\n\u201cThe Crystal Egg indeed,\u201d said the Old Woman of Beare. \u201cYou must know\nthat it was stolen out of the nest of Laheen the Eagle, and the creature\nthat stole it was the Crow of Achill. But what happened to the Crystal\nEgg after that no one knows.\u201d\n\n\u201cI myself had it after that,\u201d said Gilly, \u201cand it was stolen from me by\nRory the Fox. And then it was put under a goose to hatch.\u201d \u201cA goose to\nhatch the Crystal Egg after an Eagle had half-hatched it! Aye, aye, to\nbe sure, that\u2019s right,\u201d said the Old Woman of Beare. \u201cAnd now you must\ngo and find out what happened to it. Go now, and when you come back I\nwill give you your name.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will do that,\u201d said Gilly of the Goatskin. Then he turned to the\nKing\u2019s Son. \u201cThree days before Midsummer\u2019s Day meet me on the road to\nthe Town of the Red Castle, and I will go with you to find out what went\nbefore and what comes after the Unique Tale,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cI will meet you,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\nThe two youths went to the table and ate slices of the unwasted loaf\nand drank draughts from the inexhaustible bottle. \u201cI shall stay here to\npractise sword-cuts and sword-thrusts,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son, \u201cuntil four\ndays before Midsummer\u2019s Day.\u201d The two youths went to the door.\n\n\u201cSeven waves of good-luck to you, Old Woman of Beare,\u201d said Gilly of the\nGoatskin.\n\n\u201cMay your double be slain and yourself remain,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son.\nThen they went out together, but not along the same path did the two\nyouths go.\n\n\nGilly slept as he traveled that night, for he fell in with a man who was\ndriving a load of hay to the fair, and when he got into the cart he lay\nagainst the hay and slept. When he parted with the carter he cut a holly\nstick and journeyed along the road by himself. At the fall of night he\ncame to a place that made him think he had been there before: he looked\naround and then he knew that this was the place he had lived in when he\nhad the Crystal Egg. He looked to see if the house was there: it\nwas, and people were living in it, for he saw smoke coming out of the\nchimney. It was dark now and Gilly thought he could not do better than\ntake shelter in that house.\n\nHe went to the door and knocked. There was a lot of rattling behind,\nand then a crooked old woman opened the door to him. \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d\n said she.\n\n\u201cCan I have shelter here for to-night, ma\u2019am?\u201d said Gilly.\n\n\u201cYou can get no shelter hem,\u201d said the old woman, \u201cand I\u2019d advise you to\nbegone.\u201d\n\n\u201cMay I ask who lives here?\u201d said Gilly, putting his foot inside the\ndoor.\n\n\u201cSix very honest men whose business keeps them out until two and three\nin the morning,\u201d said the crooked old woman.\n\nGilly guessed that the honest men whose business kept them out until\ntwo and three in the morning were the robbers he had heard about. And he\nthought they might be the very men who had carried off the Spae-Woman\u2019s\ngoose and the Crystal Egg along with it. \u201cWould you tell me, good\nwoman,\u201d said Gilly, \u201cdid your six honest men ever bring to this house an\nold hatching goose?\u201d\n\n\u201cThey did indeed,\u201d said the crooked woman, \u201cand a heart-scald the same\nold hatching goose is. It goes round the house and round the house,\ntrying to hatch the cups I leave out of my hands.\u201d\n\nThen Gilly pushed the door open wide and stepped into the house.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t stay in the house,\u201d said the crooked old woman. \u201cI\u2019ll tell you\nthe truth now. My masters are robbers, and they\u2019ll skin you alive if\nthey find you here when they come back in the morning.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s more likely I\u2019ll skin them alive,\u201d said Gilly, and he looked\nso fierce that he fairly frightened the old woman. \u201cAnd if you don\u2019t\nsatisfy me with supper and a bed I\u2019ll leave you to meet them hanging\nfrom the door.\u201d\n\nThe crooked old woman was so terrified that she gave him a supper of\nporridge and showed him a bed to sleep in. He turned in and slept. He\nwas roused by a candle being held to his eyes. He wakened up and saw six\nrobbers standing round him with knives in their hands.\n\n\u201cWhat brings you under our roof?\u201d said the Captain. \u201cAnswer me now\nbefore we skin you as we would skin an eel.\u201d\n\n\u201cSpeak up and answer the Captain,\u201d said the robbers.\n\n\u201cWhy shouldn\u2019t I be under this roof?\u201d said Gilly. \u201cI am the Master-Thief\nof the World.\u201d\n\nThe robbers put their hands on their knees and laughed at that. Gilly\njumped out of the bed. \u201cI have come to show you the arts of thievery and\nroguery,\u201d said he. \u201cI\u2019ll show you some tricks that will let you hold up\nyour heads amongst the thieves and robbers of the world.\u201d\n\n\nHe looked so bold and he spoke so bold that the robbers began to think\nhe might have some reason for talking as he did. They left him and went\noff to their beds. Gilly slept again. At the broad noon they were all\nsitting at breakfast--Gilly and the six robbers. A farmer went past\nleading a goat to the fair.\n\n\u201cCould any of you steal that goat without doing any violence to the man\nwho is driving it?\u201d said Gilly.\n\n\u201cI couldn\u2019t,\u201d said one robber, and \u201cI couldn\u2019t,\u201d said another robber,\nand \u201cI\u2019d be hardly able to do that myself,\u201d said the Captain of the\nRobbers.\n\n\u201cI can do it,\u201d said Gilly. \u201cI\u2019ll be back with the goat before you are\nthrough with your breakfast.\u201d He went outside.\n\nGilly knew that country well and he ran through the wood until he was\na bend of the road ahead of the farmer who was leading his goat to the\nfair. He took off one shoe and left it in the middle of the road. He\nran on then until he was round another bend of the road. He took off the\nother shoe and left it down. Then he hid behind the hedge and waited.\n\nThe farmer came to where the first shoe was. \u201cThat\u2019s not a bad shoe,\u201d\n said he, \u201cand if there was a comrade for it, it would be worth picking\nup.\u201d He went on then and came to where the other shoe was lying. \u201cHere\nis the comrade,\u201d said he, \u201cand it\u2019s worth my while now to go back for\nthe first.\u201d\n\nHe tied the goat to the mile-stone and went back. As soon as the farmer\nhad turned his back, Gilly took the collar off the goat, left it on the\nmilestone and took the goat through a gap in the hedge. He brought it\nto the house before the robbers were through with their breakfast. They\nwere all terribly surprised. The Captain began to bite at his nails.\n\nThe farmer, with the two shoes under his arm, came to where he had left\nthe goat. The goat was gone and its collar was left on the milestone. He\nknew that a robber had taken his goat. \u201cAnd I had promised Ann, my\nwife, to buy her a new shawl at the fair,\u201d said he. \u201cShe\u2019ll never stop\nscolding me if I go back to her now with one hand as long as the other.\nThe best thing I can do is to take a sheep out of my field and sell\nthat. Then when she is in good humor on account of getting the shawl\nI\u2019ll tell her about the loss of my goat.\u201d So the farmer went back to the\nfield.\n\nThey were sitting down to a game of cards after breakfast--the six\nrobbers and Gilly--when they saw the farmer going past with the sheep.\n\u201cI\u2019ll be bound that he\u2019ll watch that sheep more closely than he watched\nthe goat,\u201d said one of the robbers. \u201cCould any of you steal that sheep\nwithout doing him any violence?\u201d said Gilly. \u201cI couldn\u2019t,\u201d said one\nrobber, and \u201cI couldn\u2019t,\u201d said another robber. \u201cI could hardly do that\nmyself,\u201d said the Captain of the Robbers. \u201cI\u2019ll bring the sheep here\nbefore you\u2019re through with the game of cards,\u201d said Gilly.\n\nThe farmer was just past the milestone when he saw a man hanging on a\ntree. \u201cThe saints between us and harm,\u201d said he, \u201cdo they hang men along\nthis road?\u201d Now the man hanging from the tree was Gilly. He had fastened\nhimself to a branch with his belt, putting it under his arm-pits. He\nslipped down from the branch and ran till he was ahead of the farmer.\nThe farmer saw another man hanging from a tree. \u201cThe saints preserve\nus,\u201d said he, \u201csure; it\u2019s not possible that they hanged two men along\nthis road?\u201d Gilly slipped down from that tree too and ran on until he\nwas ahead of the farmer again. The farmer saw a third man hanging from\na tree. \u201cAm I leaving my senses?\u201d said he. \u201cI\u2019ll go back and see if the\nother men are hanging there as I thought they were.\u201d He tied the sheep\nto a bush and went back. As soon as he turned, Gilly slipped down from\nthe tree, took the sheep through a gap, and got back to the robbers\nbefore they were through with the game. All the robbers said it was\na wonderful thing he had done. The Captain of the Robbers was left\nstanding by himself scratching his head.\n\nThe farmer found no men hanging on trees and he thought he was out of\nhis mind. He came back and he found his sheep gone. \u201cWhat will I do\nnow?\u201d said he. \u201cI daren\u2019t let Ann know I lost a goat and a sheep until\nI put her into good humor by showing the shawl I bought her at the fair.\nThere\u2019s nothing to be done now, but take a bullock out of the field and\nsell it at the fair.\u201d He went to the field then, took a bullock out of\nit, and passed the house just as the robbers were lighting their pipes.\n\u201cIf he watched the goat and the sheep closely he\u2019ll watch the bullock\nnine times as closely,\u201d said one of the robbers.\n\n\u201cWhich of you could take the bullock without doing the man any\nviolence?\u201d said Gilly. \u201cI couldn\u2019t,\u201d said one robber, and \u201cI couldn\u2019t,\u201d\n said another robber. \u201cIf you could do it,\u201d said the Captain of the\nRobbers to Gilly, \u201cI\u2019ll resign my command and give it to you.\u201d \u201cDone,\u201d\n said Gilly, and he went out of the house again.\n\nHe went quickly through the wood, and when he came near where the farmer\nwas he began to bleat like a goat. The farmer stopped and listened. Then\nGilly began to baa like the sheep. \u201cThat sounds very like my goat and\nsheep,\u201d said the farmer. \u201cMaybe they weren\u2019t taken at all, but just\nstrayed off. If I can get them now, I needn\u2019t make any excuses to Ann my\nwife.\u201d He tied the bullock to a tree and went into the wood. As soon as\nhe did, Gilly slipped out, took the bullock by the rope and hurried back\nto the house. The robbers were gathered at the door to watch for his\ncoming back. When they saw him with the bullock they threw up their\nhats. \u201cThis man must be our Captain,\u201d they said. The Captain was biting\nhis lips and his nails. At last he took off his hat with the feathers in\nit and gave it to Gilly. \u201cYou\u2019re our Captain now,\u201d said the robbers.\n\nGilly ordered that the goat, the sheep and the bullock be put into the\nbyre, that the door be locked and the key be given to him. All that was\ndone. Then said he to all the robbers, \u201cI demand to know what became of\nthe Crystal Egg that was with the goose you stole from the Spae-Woman.\u201d\n \u201cThe Crystal Egg,\u201d said one of the robbers. \u201cIt hatched, and a queer\nbird came out of it.\u201d \u201cWhere is that bird now?\u201d said Gilly. \u201cOn the\nwaves of the lake near at hand,\u201d said the robbers. \u201cWe see it every\nday.\u201d \u201cTake me to the lake till I see the Bird out of the Crystal Egg,\u201d\n said Gilly. They locked the door of the house behind them, and the\nseven, Gilly at their head, wearing the hat with feathers, marched down\nto the lake.\n\n\n\n\nXVI\n\n\n\nThen they showed him the bird that was on the waves of the lake--a swan\nshe was and she floated proudly. The swan came towards them and as she\ndrew nearer they could hear her voice. The sounds she made were not\nlike any sound of birds, but like the sounds bards make chanting their\nverses. Words came on high notes and low notes, but they were like words\nin a strange language. And still the swan chanted as she drew near to\nthe shore where Gilly and the six robbers stood.\n\nShe spread out her wings, and, raising her neck she curved it, while\nshe stayed watching the men on the bank. \u201cHear the Swan of Endless\nTales--the Swan of Endless Tales\u201d she sang in words they knew. Then she\nraised herself out of the water, turned round in the air, and flew back\nto the middle of the lake.\n\n\u201cTime for us to be leaving the place when there is a bird on the lake\nthat can speak like that,\u201d said Mogue, who had been the Captain of the\nRobbers. \u201cTo-night I\u2019m leaving this townland.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd I am leaving too,\u201d said another robber. \u201cAnd I too,\u201d said another.\n\u201cAnd I may be going away from this place,\u201d said Gilly of the Goatskin.\n\nThe robbers went away from him and back to the house and Gilly sat by\nthe edge of the lake waiting to see if the Swan of Endless Tales would\ncome back and tell him something. She did not come. As Gilly sat there\nthe farmer who had lost his goat, his sheep and his bullock came by. He\nwas dragging one foot after the other and looking very downcast. \u201cWhat\nis the matter with you, honest man?\u201d said Gilly.\n\nThe farmer told him how he had lost his goat, his sheep and his bullock.\nHe told him how he had thought he heard his goat bleating and his sheep\nba\u2019ing, and how he went through the wood to search for them, and how his\nbullock was gone when he came back to the road. \u201cAnd what to say to\nmy wife Ann I don\u2019t know,\u201d said he, \u201cparticularly as I have brought no\nshawl to put her in good humor. Heavy is the blame she\u2019ll give me on\naccount of my losing a goat, a sheep and a bullock.\u201d\n\nGilly took a key out of his pocket. \u201cDo you see this key?\u201d said he.\n\u201cTake it and open the byre door at such a place, and you\u2019ll find in that\nbyre your goat, your sheep and your bullock. There are robbers in that\nhouse, but if they try to prevent your taking your own tell them that\nall the threshers of the country are coming to beat them with flails.\u201d\n The farmer took the key and went away very thankful to Gilly. The story\nsays that he got back his goat, his sheep and his bullock and made it an\nexcuse that he had seen three magpies on the road for not going to the\nfair to buy a shawl for his wife Ann. The robbers were very frightened\nwhen he told them about the threshers coming and they went away from\nthat part of the country.\n\nAs for Gilly, he thought he would go back to the Old Woman of Beare for\nhis name. He took the path by the edge of the lake. And as he journeyed\nalong with his holly-stick in his hand he heard the Swan of Endless\nTales chanting.\n\n\n\n\nTHE TOWN OF THE RED CASTLE\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nFlann was the name that the Old Woman of Beare gave to Gilly of the\nGoatskin when he came back to tell her that the Swan of Endless Tales\nhad been hatched out of the Crystal Egg. He went from her house then and\ncame to where the King of Ireland\u2019s Son waited for him. The two comrades\nwent along a well-traveled road. As they went on they fell in with men\ndriving herds of ponies, men carrying packs on their backs, men with\ntools for working gold and silver, bronze and iron. Every man whom they\nasked said, \u201cWe are going to the Town of the Red Castle, and to the\ngreat fair that will be held there.\u201d The King\u2019s Son and Flann thought\nthey should go to the Town of the Red Castle too, for where so many\npeople would be, there was a chance of hearing what went before and what\ncame after the Unique Tale. So they went on.\n\nAnd when they had come to a well that was under a great rock those whom\nthey were with halted. They said it was the custom for the merchants\nand sellers to wait there for a day and to go into the Town of the Red\nCastle the day following. \u201cOn this day,\u201d they said, \u201cthe people of the\nTown celebrate the Festival of Midsummer, and they do not like a great\ncompany of people to go into their Town until the Festival is over.\u201d\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son and Flann went on, and they were let into the\ntown. The people had lighted great fires in their market-place and they\nwere driving their cattle through the fires: \u201cIf there be evil on you,\nmay it burn, may it burn,\u201d they were crying. They were afraid that\nwitches and enchanters might come into the town with the merchants and\nthe sellers, and that was the reason they did not permit a great company\nto enter.\n\nThe fires in all their houses had been quenched that day, and they might\nnot be lighted except from the fires the cattle had gone through. The\nfires were left blazing high and the King\u2019s Son and Flann spent hours\nwatching them, and watching the crowds that were around.\n\nThen the time came to take fire to the houses. They who came for fire\nwere all young maidens. Each came into the light of one of the great\nfires, took coals from a fire that had burnt low, placed them in a new\nearthen vessel and went away. Flann thought that all the maidens were\nbeautiful and wonderful, although the King\u2019s Son told him that some were\nblack-faced, and some crop-headed and some hunchbacked. Then a maiden\ncame, who was so high above the rest that Flann had no words to speak of\nher.\n\nShe had silver on her head and silver on her arms, and the people around\nthe fires all bowed to her. She had black, black hair and she had a\nsmiling face--not happily smiling, but proudly smiling. Flann thought\nthat a star had bent down with her. And when she had taken the fire and\nhad gone away, Flann said, \u201cShe is surely the King\u2019s daughter!\u201d\n\n\u201cShe is,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son. \u201cThe people here have spoken\nher name.\u201d \u201cWhat is her name?\u201d asked Flann. \u201cIt is Lassarina,\u201d said the\nKing\u2019s Son, \u201cFlame-of-Wine.\u201d\n\n\u201cShall we see her again?\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cThat I do not know,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son. \u201cCome now, and let us ask the\npeople here if they have knowledge of the Unique Tale.\u201d\n\n\u201cWait,\u201d said Flann, \u201cthey are talking about Princess Flame-of-Wine.\u201d He\ndid not move, but listened to what was said. All said that the King\u2019s\ndaughter was proud. Some said she was beautiful, but others answered\nthat her lips were thin, and her eyes were mocking. No other maidens\ncame for fire. Flann stood before the one that still blazed, and thought\nand thought. The King\u2019s Son asked many if they had knowledge of the\nUnique Tale, but no one had heard of it. Some told him that there would\nbe merchants and sellers from many parts of the world at the fair that\nwould be held on the morrow, and that there would be a chance of meeting\none who had knowledge of it. Then the King\u2019s Son went with one who\nbrought him to a Brufir\u2019s--that is, to a House of Hospitality maintained\nby the King for strangers. As for Flann, he sat looking into the fire\nuntil it died down, and then he slept before it.\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nFlann was wakened by a gander and his flock of geese that stood round\nhim; shook their wings and set up their goose-gabble. It was day then,\nalthough there was still a star in the sky. He threw furze-roots where\nthere was a glow, and made a fire blaze up again. Then the dogs of the\ntown came down to look at him, and then stole away.\n\nHorns were blown outside, and the watchman opened the gates. Flann shook\nhimself and stood up to see the folk that were coming in. First came the\nmen who drove the mountain ponies that had lately fed with the deer\nin wild places. Then came men in leathern jerkins who led wide-horned\nbulls--a black bull and a white bull, and a white bull and a black bull,\none after the other. Then there were men who brought in high, swift\nhounds, three to each leash they held. Women in brown cloaks carried\ncages of birds. Men carried on their shoulders and in their belts tools\nfor working gold and silver, bronze and iron. And there were calves and\nsheep, and great horses and weighty chariots, and colored cloths, and\nthings closed in packs that merchants carried on their shoulders.\nThe famous bards, and story-tellers and harpists would not come until\nnoon-time when the business of the fair would have abated, but with the\ncrowd of beggars came ballad-singers, and the tellers of the stories\nthat were called \u201cGo-by-the-Market-Stake,\u201d because they were told around\nthe stake in the market place and were very common.\n\nAnd at the tail of the comers whom did Flann see but Mogue, the Captain\nof the Robbers!\n\n\nMogue wore a hare-skin cap, his left eye protruded as usual, and he\nwalked limpingly. He had a pack on his back, and he led a small, swift\nlooking horse of a reddish color. Flann called to him as he passed and\nMogue gave a great start. He grinned when he saw it was Flann and walked\nup to him.\n\n\u201cMogue,\u201d said Flann, \u201cwhat are you doing in the Town of the Red Castle?\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m here to sell a few things,\u201d said Mogue, \u201cthis little horse,\u201d said\nhe, \u201cand a few things I have in my pack.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd where are your friends?\u201d asked Flann. \u201cMy band, do you mean?\u201d\n said Mogue. \u201cSure, they all left me when you proved you were the better\nrobber. What are you doing here?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have no business at all,\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cBy the Hazel! that\u2019s what I like to hear you say. Join me then. You and\nme would do well together.\u201d\n\n\u201cI won\u2019t join you,\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cI\u2019d rather have you with me than the whole of the band. What were they\nanyway? Cabbage-heads!\u201d Mogue winked with his protruding eye. \u201cWait till\nyou see me again,\u201d said he. \u201cI\u2019ve the grandest things in my pack.\u201d He\nwent on leading the little horse. Then Flann set out to look for the\nKing\u2019s Son.\n\nHe found him at the door of the Brufir\u2019s, and they drank bowls of milk\nand ate oaten bread together, and then went to the gate of the town to\nwatch the notable people who were coming in.\n\nAnd with the bards and harpers and Kings\u2019 envoys who came in, the King\u2019s\nSon saw his two half-brothers, Dermott and Downal. He hailed them and\nthey knew him and came up to him gladly. The King\u2019s Son made Flann known\nto them, saying that he too was the son of a King.\n\nThey looked fine youths, Downal and Dermott, in their red cloaks, with\ntheir heads held high, and a brag in their walk and their words. They\nleft their horses with the grooms and walked with Flann and the King\u2019s\nSon. They were tall and ruddy; the King\u2019s Son was more brown in the\nhair and more hawk-like in the face: the three were different from the\ndark-haired, dark-eyed, red-lipped lad to whom the Old Woman of Beare\nhad given the name of Flann.\n\nNo one had seen the King who lived in the Red Castle, Dermott and Downal\ntold the other two. He was called the Wry-faced King, and, on account of\nhis disfigurement, he let no one but his Councilors see him.\n\n\u201cWe are to go to his Castle to-day,\u201d said Dermott and Downal. \u201cYou come\ntoo, brother,\u201d said he to the King\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cAnd you too, comrade,\u201d said Downal to Flann. \u201cWhy should we not all go?\nBy Ogma! Are we not all sons of Kings?\u201d\n\nFlann wondered if he would see the King\u2019s daughter, Flame-of-Wine. He\nwould surely go to the Castle.\n\nThey drank ale, played chess and talked until it was afternoon. Then the\ngrooms who were with Downal and Dermott brought the four youths new red\ncloaks. They put them on and went towards the King\u2019s Castle.\n\n\u201cBrother,\u201d said Dermott to the King\u2019s Son, \u201cI want to tell you that we\nare not going back to our father\u2019s Castle nor to his Kingdom. We have\ntaken the world for our pillow. We are going to leave the grooms asleep\none fine morning, and go as the salmon goes down the river.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy do you want to leave our father\u2019s Kingdom?\u201d\n\n\u201cBecause we don\u2019t want to rule nor to learn to rule. We\u2019ll let you,\nbrother, do all that. We\u2019re going to learn the trade of a sword-smith.\nWe would make fine swords. And with the King of Senlabor there is a\nfamous sword-smith, and we are going to learn the trade from him.\u201d\n\n\nThe four went to the Red Castle, and they were brought in and they went\nand sat on the benches to wait for the King\u2019s Steward who would receive\nthem. And while they waited they watched the play of a pet fox in\nthe courtyard. Flann was wondering all the time if the Princess\nFlame-of-Wine would pass through the court-yard or come into the hall\nwhere they waited.\n\nThen he saw her come up the courtyard. She saw the youths in the hall\nand she turned round to watch the pet fox for a while. Then she came\ninto the chamber and stood near the door.\n\nShe wore a mask across her face, but her brow and mouth and chin were\nshown. The youths saluted her, and she bent her head to them. One of the\nwomen who had brought birds to the Fair followed her, bringing a cage.\nFlame-of-Wine talked to this woman in a strange language.\n\nAlthough she talked to the woman, Flann saw that she watched his three\ncompanions. Him she did not notice, because the bench on which he sat\nwas behind the others. Flame-of-Wine looked at the King\u2019s Son first,\nand then turned her eyes from him. She bent her head to listen to what\nDownal and Dermott were saying. Flann she did not look at at all, and he\nbecame sick at heart of the Red Castle.\n\nThe King\u2019s Steward came into the Hall and when he announced who the\nyouths were--three sons of the King of Ireland traveling with their\nfoster-brother--Flame-of-Wine went over and spoke to them. \u201cMay we see\nyou to-morrow, Kings\u2019 Sons,\u201d she said. \u201cTo-morrow is our feast of the\nGathering of Apples. It might be pleasant for you to hear music in the\nKing\u2019s garden.\u201d\n\nShe smiled on Downal and Dermott and on the King\u2019s Son and went out of\nthe Chamber. The King\u2019s Steward feasted the four youths and afterwards\nmade them presents. But Flann did not heed what he ate nor what he heard\nsaid, nor what present was given him.\n\n\n\nIII\n\nThe four youths left the Castle and Downal and Dermott took their own\nway when they came to the foot-bridge that was across the river. Then\nwhen they were crossing it the King\u2019s Son and Flann saw two figures--a\nmiddle-aged, sturdy man and an old, broken-looking woman--meet before\nthe Bull\u2019s Field. \u201cIt is the Gobaun Saor,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son. \u201cIt is\nthe Spae-Woman,\u201d said Flann. They went to them, each wishing to greet\nhis friend and helper.\n\nThere they saw a sturdy, middle-aged man and a broken-looking old woman.\nBut the woman looking on the man saw one who had full wisdom to plan and\nfull strength to build, whose wisdom and whose strength could neither\ngrow nor diminish. And the man looking on the woman saw one whose brow\nhad all quiet, whose heart had all benignity. \u201cHail, Gobaun, Builder for\nthe Gods,\u201d said the woman. \u201cHail, Grania Oi, Reconciler for the Gods,\u201d\n said the man.\n\nThen the two youths came swiftly up to them, and the King\u2019s Son greeted\nthe middle-aged man, and Flann kissed the hands of the old woman.\n\n\u201cWhat of your search, King\u2019s Son?\u201d said the Gobaun Saor.\n\n\u201cI have found the Unique Tale, but not what went before nor what comes\nafter it,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cI will clear the Sword of Light of its stain when you bring me the\nwhole of the Unique Tale,\u201d said the Gobaun Saor.\n\n\u201cI would search the whole world for it,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son. \u201cBut now\nthe time is becoming short for me.\u201d \u201cBe quick and active,\u201d said the\nGobaun Saor. \u201cI have set up my forge,\u201d said he, \u201coutside the town\nbetween two high stones. When you bring the whole of the Tale to me I\nshall clear your sword.\u201d\n\n\u201cWill you not tell him, Gobaun Saor,\u201d said the Spae-Woman, \u201cwhere he may\nfind the one who will tell him the rest of the story?\u201d\n\n\u201cIf he sees one he knows in this town,\u201d said the Gobaun Saor, \u201clet him\nmount a horse he has mounted before and pursue that one and force him to\ntell what went before and what comes after the Unique Tale.\u201d\n\nSaying this the Gobaun Saor turned away and walked along the road that\nwent out of the town.\n\nThe Spae-Woman had brought besoms to the town to sell. She showed the\ntwo youths the little house she lived in while she was there. It was\nfilled with the heather-stalks which she bound together for besoms.\n\nThey left the Spae-Woman and went through the town, the King of\nIreland\u2019s Son searching every place for a man he knew or a horse he had\nmounted before, while Flann thought about the Princess Flame-of-Wine,\nand how little she considered him beside the King\u2019s Son and Dermott\nand Downal. They came to where a crowd was standing before a conjurer\u2019s\nbooth. They halted and stood waiting for the conjurer to appear. He came\nout and put a ladder standing upright with nothing to lean against and\nbegan climbing up. Up, up, up, he went, and the ladder grew higher and\nhigher as he climbed. Flann thought he would climb into the sky. Then\nthe ladder got smaller and smaller and Flann saw the conjurer coming\ndown on the other side. \u201cHe has come here to take that horse,\u201d said a\nvoice behind the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\nThe King\u2019s Son looked round, and on the outskirts of the crowd he saw a\nman with a hare-skin cap and a protruding eye who was holding a reddish\nhorse, while he watched the conjuror. The King of Ireland\u2019s Son knew the\nhorse--it was the Slight Red Steed that had carried him and Fedelma from\nthe Enchanter\u2019s house and had brought him to the Cave where he had found\nthe Sword of Light. He looked at the conjuror again and he saw he was\nno other than the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands. Then it crossed his\nmind what the Gobaun Saor had said to him.\n\nHe had seen a man he knew and a horse he had mounted before. He was to\nmount that horse, follow the man, and force him to tell the rest of the\nUnique Tale.\n\nThe King\u2019s Son drew back to the outskirts of the crowd. He snatched the\nbridle from the hands of Mogue, the man who held it, and jumped up on\nthe back of the Slight Red Steed.\n\nAs soon as he did this the ladder that was standing upright fell on the\nground. The people shouted and broke away. And then the King\u2019s Son saw\nthe Enchanter jump across a house and make for the gate of the town.\n\nBut if he could jump across a house so could the Slight Red Steed. The\nKing\u2019s Son turned its head, plucked at its rein, and over the same house\nit sprang too. The more he ran the more swift the Enchanter became. He\njumped over the gate of the town, the Slight Red Steed after him. He\nwent swiftly across the country, making high springs over ditches and\nhedges. No other steed but the Slight Red Steed could have kept its\nrider in sight of him.\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nUp hill and down dale the Enchanter went, but, mounted on the Slight Red\nSteed, the King of Ireland\u2019s Son was in hot pursuit. The Enchanter raced\nup the side of the seventh hill, and when the King\u2019s Son came to the top\nof it he found no one in sight.\n\nHe raced on, however, and he passed a dead man hanging from a tree. He\nraced on and on, but still the Enchanter was not to be seen. Then the\nthought came into his mind that the man who was hanging from the tree\nand who he thought was dead was the crafty old Enchanter. He turned the\nSlight Red Steed round and raced back. The man that had been hanging\nfrom the tree was there no longer.\n\nThe King\u2019s Son turned his horse amongst the trees and began to search\nfor the Enchanter. He found no trace of him. \u201cI have lost again,\u201d he\nsaid. Then he threw the bridle on the neck of the horse and he said, \u201cGo\nyour own way now, my Slight Red Steed.\u201d\n\nWhen he said that the Slight Red Steed twitched its ears and galloped\ntowards the West. It went through woods and across streams, and when the\ncrows were flying home and the kites were flying abroad it brought the\nKing\u2019s Son to a stone house standing in the middle of a bog. \u201cIt may be\nthe Enchanter is in this house,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son. He jumped off the\nSlight Red Steed, pushed the door of the house open, and there, seated\non a chair in the middle of the floor with a woman sitting beside him,\nwas the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands. \u201cSo,\u201d said the Enchanter, \u201cmy\nSlight Red Steed has brought you to me.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son, \u201cI have found you, my crafty old Enchanter.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd now that you have found me, what do you want of me?\u201d said the\nEnchanter.\n\n\u201cYour head,\u201d said the King\u2019s Son, drawing the tarnished Sword of Light.\n\n\u201cWill nothing less than my head content you?\u201d said the Enchanter.\n\n\u201cNothing less--unless it be what went before, and what comes after the\nUnique Tale.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Unique Tale,\u201d said the Enchanter. \u201cI will tell you what I know of\nit.\u201d Thereupon he began\n\n\nI was a Druid and the Son of a Druid, and I had learned the language of\nthe birds. And one morning, as I walked abroad, I heard a blackbird and\na robin talking, and when I heard what they said I smiled to myself.\n\n\u201cNow the woman I had just married noticed that I kept smiling, and she\nquestioned me. \u2018Why do you keep smiling to yourself?\u2019 I would not tell\nher. \u2018Is that not the truth? \u2018\u201c said the Enchanter to a woman who sat\nbeside him. \u201cIt is the truth,\u201d said she.\n\n\u201cOn the third day I was still smiling to myself, and my wife questioned\nme, and when I did not answer threw dish-water into my face. \u2018May\nblindness come upon you if you do not tell me why you are smiling,\u2019 said\nshe. Then I told her why I smiled to myself. I had heard what the birds\nsaid. The blackbird said to the robin, \u2018Do you know that just under\nwhere we are sitting are three rods of enchantment, and if one were to\ntake one of them and strike a man with it, he would be changed to any\ncreature one named?\u2019 That is what I had heard the birds say and I smiled\nbecause I was the only creature who knew about the rods of enchantment.\n\n\u201cMy wife made me show her where the rods were. She cut one of them when\nI went away. That evening she came behind me and struck me with a rod.\n\u2018Go out now and roam as a wolf,\u2019 she said, and there and then I was\nchanged into a wolf. \u2018Is that not true?\u2019\u201d said he to the woman. \u201cIt is\ntrue,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cAnd being changed into a wolf, I went through the woods seeking wolf\u2019s\nmeat. And now you must ask my wife to tell you more of the story.\u201d The\nKing of Ireland\u2019s Son turned to the woman who sat on the seat next the\nEnchanter, and asked her to tell him more of the story. And thereupon\nshe began\n\n\nBefore all that happened I was known as the Maid of the Green Mantle.\nOne day a King rode up a mountain with five score followers and a mist\ncame on them as they rode. The King saw his followers no more. He called\nout after a while and four score answered him. And he called out again\nafter another while and two score answered him. And after another while\nhe called out again and only a score answered him through the mist, and\nwhen he called out again no one answered him at all.\n\n\u201cThe King went up the mountain until he came to the place where I lived\nwith the Druids who reared me. He stayed long in that place. The King\nloved me for a while and I loved the King, and when he went away I\nfollowed him.\n\n\u201cBecause he would not come back to me I enchanted him so that there\nwere times when he was left between life and death. Once when he was\nseemingly dead a girl watched by him, and she followed his spirit into\nmany terrible places and so broke my enchantment.\u201d\n\n\u201cSheen was the girl\u2019s name,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cSheen was her name,\u201d said the woman. \u201cHe brought her to his Kingdom,\nand made her his queen. After that I married the man who is here\nnow--the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands, the Son of the Druid of the\nGray Rock. Ask him now to tell you the rest of the story.\u201d\n\nWhen she changed me into a gray wolf,\u201d said the Enchanter, \u201cI went\nthrough the woods searching for what a wolf might eat, but could find\nnothing to stay my hunger. Then I came back and stood outside my house\nand the woman who had been called the Maid of the Green Mantle came to\nme. \u2018I will give you back your human form,\u2019 she said, \u2018if you do as I\nbid you.\u2019\n\n\u201cI promised her I would do as she bade.\n\n\u201cShe bade me go to a King\u2019s house where a child had been born. She bade\nme steal the child away. I went to the King\u2019s house. I went into the\nchamber and I stole the child from the mother\u2019s side. Then I ran through\nthe woods. But in the end I fell into a trap that the Giant Crom Duv had\nset for the wolves that chased his stray cattle.\n\n\u201cFor a night I lay in the trap with the child beside me. Then Crom Duv\ncame and lifted out wolf and child. Three Hags with Long Teeth were\nthere when he took us out of the trap, and he gave the child to one of\nthem, telling her to rear it so that the child might be a servant for\nhim.\n\n\u201cHe put me into a sack, promising himself that he would give me a good\nbeating. He left me on the floor of his house. But while he was gone for\nhis club I bit my way out of the sack and made my escape. I came back\nto my own house, and my wife struck me with the wand of enchantment, and\nchanged me from a wolf into a man again. \u2018Is that not true?\u2019\u201d said he to\nthe woman.\n\n\u201cIt is true,\u201d said she.\n\n\u201cThat is all of the Unique Tale that I know,\u201d said the Enchanter of\nthe Black Back-Lands, \u201cand now that I have told it to you, put up your\nsword.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will put up no sword,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son, \u201cuntil you\ntell me what King and Queen were the father and mother of the child that\nwas reared by the Hags of the Long Teeth.\u201d\n\n\u201cI made no promise to tell you that,\u201d said the En-chanter of the Black\nBack-Lands. \u201cYou have got the story you asked for, and now let me see\nyour back going through my door.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, you have got the story, and be off with you now,\u201d said the woman\nwho sat by the fire.\n\n\nHe put up his sword; he went to the door; he left the house of the\nEnchanter of the Black Back-Lands. He mounted the Slight Red Steed and\nrode off. He knew now what went before and what came after the Unique\nTale. The Gobaun Saor would clean the blemish of the blade of the Sword\nof Light and would show him how to come to the Land of Mist. Then he\nwould win back his love Fedelma.\n\nHe thought too on the tidings he had for his comrade Flann--Flann was\nthe Son of the King who was called the Hunter-King and of Sheen whose\nbrothers had been changed into seven wild geese. He shook his horse\u2019s\nreins and went back towards the Town of the Red Castle.\n\n\nV\n\n\nFlann thought upon the Princess Flame-of-Wine. He walked through the\ntown after the King\u2019s Son had ridden after the Enchanter, without\nnoticing anyone until he heard a call and saw Mogue standing beside a\nlittle tent that he had set up before the Bull\u2019s Field.\n\nFlann went to Mogue and found him very disconsolate on account of the\nloss of the horse he had brought into the town. \u201cThis is a bad town to\nbe in,\u201d said Mogue, \u201cand unless I persuade yourself to become partners\nwith me I shall have done badly in it. Join with me now and we\u2019ll do\nsome fine feats together.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt would not become a King\u2019s Son to join with a robber-captain,\u201d said\nFlann.\n\n\u201cFine talk, fine talk,\u201d said Mogue. He thought that Flann was jesting\nwith him when he spoke of himself as a King\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cI want to sell three treasures I have with me,\u201d said Mogue. \u201cI have the\nmost wonderful things that were ever brought into this town.\u201d\n\n\u201cShow them to me,\u201d said Flann.\n\nMogue opened one of his packs and took out a box. When he opened this\nbox a fragrance came such as Flann had never felt before. \u201cWhat is that\nthat smells like a garden of sweet flowers?\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cIt is the Rose of Sweet Smells,\u201d said Mogue, and he took a little rose\nout of the box. \u201cIt never withers and its fragrance is never any less.\nIt is a treasure for a King\u2019s daughter. But I will not show it in this\ntown.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what is that shining thing in the box?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is the Comb of Magnificence. That is another treasure for a King\u2019s\ndaughter. The maiden who would wear it would look the most queenly woman\nin the Kingdom. But I won\u2019t show that either.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat else have you, Mogue?\u201d\n\n\u201cA girdle. The woman who wears it would have to speak the truth.\u201d The\nTown of\n\nFlann thought he would do much to get the Rose of Sweet Smells or\nthe Comb of Magnificence and bring them as presents to the Princess\nFlame-of-Wine.\n\nHe slept in Mogue\u2019s tent, and at the peep of day, he rose up and went\nto the House of Hospitality where Dermott and Downal were. With them he\nwould go to the King\u2019s orchard, and he would see, and perhaps he\nwould speak to, Flame-of-Wine. But Dermott and Downal were not in the\nBrufir\u2019s. Flann wakened their grooms and he and they made search for the\ntwo youths. But there was no trace of Dermott and Downal. It seemed they\nhad left before daybreak with their horses. Flann went with the grooms\nto the gate of the town. There they heard from the watchman that the two\nyouths had gone through the gate and that they had told the watchman to\ntell the grooms that they had gone to take the world for their pillow.\n\nThe grooms were dismayed to hear this, and so indeed was Flann. Without\nthe King\u2019s Son and without Downal and Dermott how would he go to the\nKing\u2019s Garden? He went back to Mogue\u2019s tent to consider what he\nshould do. And first he thought he would not go to the Festival of the\nGathering of the Apples, as he knew that Flame-of-Wine had only asked\nhim with his comrades. And then he thought that whatever else happened\nhe would go to the King\u2019s orchard and see Flame-of-Wine.\n\nIf he had one of the wonderful things that Mogue had shown him--the Rose\nof Sweet Smells or the Comb of Magnificence! These would show her that\nhe was of some consequence. If he had either of these wonderful things\nand offered it to her she might be pleased with him!\n\nHe sat outside the tent and waited for Mogue to return. When he came\nFlann said to him, \u201cI will go with you as a servant, and I will serve\nyou well although I am a King\u2019s Son, if you will give me something now.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you want from me?\u201d said Mogue.\n\n\u201cGive me the Rose of Sweet Smells,\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cSure that\u2019s the finest thing I have. I couldn\u2019t give you that.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will serve you for two years if you will give it to me,\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Mogue.\n\n\u201cI will serve you for three years if you will give it to me,\u201d said\nFlann.\n\n\u201cI will give it to you if you will serve me for three years.\u201d Thereupon\nMogue opened his pack and took the box out. He opened it and put the\nRose of Sweet Smells into Flann\u2019s hand.\n\nAt once Flann started off for the King\u2019s orchard. The Steward who had\nseen him the day before signed to the servants to let him pass through\nthe gate. He went into the King\u2019s orchard.\n\nMaidens were singing the \u201cSong for the Time of the Blossoming of the\nApple-trees\u201d and all that day and night Flann held their song in his\nmind\n\n   The touch of hands that drew it down\n   Kindled to blossom all the bough\n   O breathe the wonder of the branch,\n   And let it through the darkness go!\n\n\n\nYouths were gathering apples, and the Princess Flame-of-Wine walked by\nherself on the orchard paths.\n\nAt last she came to where Flann stood and lifting her eyes she looked at\nhim. \u201cI had companions,\u201d said Flann, \u201cbut they have gone away.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey are unmannerly,\u201d said Flame-of-Wine with anger, and she turned\naway.\n\nFlann took the rose from under his cloak. Its fragrance came to\nFlame-of-Wine and she turned to him again.\n\n\u201cThis is the Rose of Sweet Smells,\u201d said Flann. \u201cWill you take it from\nme, Princess?\u201d\n\nShe came back to him and took the rose in her hand, and there was wonder\nin her face.\n\n\u201cIt will never wither, and its fragrance will never fail,\u201d said Flann.\n\u201cIt is the Rose of Sweet Smells. A King\u2019s daughter should have it.\u201d\n\nFlame-of-Wine held the rose in her hand, and smiled on Flann. \u201cWhat is\nyour name, King\u2019s Son?\u201d said she, with bright and friendly eyes.\n\n\u201cFlann,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cWalk with me, Flann,\u201d said she. They walked along the orchard paths,\nand the youths and maidens turned towards the fragrance that the Rose of\nSweet Smells gave. Flame-of-Wine laughed, and said, \u201cThey all wonder at\nthe treasure you have brought me, Flann. If you could hear what I shall\ntell them about you! I shall tell them that you are the son of a King of\nArabia--no less. They will believe me because you have brought me such a\ntreasure! I suppose there is nothing more wonderful than this rose!\u201d\n\nThen Flann told her about the other wonderful thing he had seen--the\nComb of Magnificence. \u201cA King\u2019s daughter should have such a treasure,\u201d\n said Flame-of-Wine. \u201cOh, how jealous I should be if someone brought the\nComb of Magnificence to either of my two sisters--to Bloom-of-Youth\nor Breast-of-Light. I should think then that this rose was not such a\ntreasure after all.\u201d\n\nWhen he was leaving the orchard she plucked a flower and gave it to him.\n\u201cCome and walk in the orchard with me to-morrow,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cSurely I will come,\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cBring the Comb of Magnificence to me too,\u201d said she. \u201cI could not be\nproud of this rose, and I could not love you so well for bringing it\nto me if I thought that any other maiden had the Comb of Magnificence.\nBring it to me, Flann.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will bring it to you,\u201d said Flann.\n\n\n\nVI\n\n\nHe was at the gate of the town when the King of Ireland\u2019s Son rode back\non the Slight Red Steed. The King\u2019s Son dismounted, put his arm about\nFlann and told him that he now had the whole of the Unique Tale. They\nsat before Mogue\u2019s tent, and the King\u2019s Son told Flann the whole of the\nstory he had searched for--how a King traveling through the mist had\ncome to where Druids and the Maid of the Green Mantle lived, how the\nKing was enchanted, and how the maiden Sheen released him from the\nenchantment. He told him, too, how the Enchanter was changed into a\nwolf, and how the wolf carried away Sheen\u2019s child. \u201cAnd the Unique Tale\nis in part your own history, Flann,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son,\n\u201cfor the child that was left with the Hags of the Long Teeth was no one\nelse than yourself, for you, Flann, have on your breast the stars that\ndenote the Son of a King.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is so, it is so,\u201d said Flann, \u201cand I will find out what King and\nQueen were my father and my mother.\u201d\n\n\u201cGo to the Hags of the Long Teeth and force them to tell you,\u201d said the\nKing\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cI will do that,\u201d said Flann, but in his own mind he said, \u201cI will first\nbring the Comb of Magnificence to Flame-of-Wine, and I will tell her\nthat I will have to be away for so many years with Mogue and I shall ask\nher to remember me until I come back to her. Then I shall go to the Hags\nof the Long Teeth and force them to tell me what King and Queen were my\nfather and mother.\u201d\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son left Flann to his thoughts and went to find\nthe Gobaun Saor who would clear for him the tarnished blade of the Sword\nof Light and would show him the way to where the King of the Land of\nMist had his dominion.\n\nMogue spent his time with the ballad-singers and the story-tellers\naround the market-stake, and when he came back to his tent he wanted\nto drink ale and go to sleep, but Flann turned him from the ale-pot by\nsaying to him, \u201cI want the Comb of Magnificence from you, Mogue.\u201d\n\n\u201cBy my skin,\u201d said Mogue, \u201cit\u2019s my blood you\u2019ll want next, my lad.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you give me the Comb of Magnificence, Mogue, I shall serve you for\nsix years--three years more than I said yesterday. I shall serve you\nwell, even though I am the son of a King and can find out who my father\nand mother are.\u201d\n\n\u201cI won\u2019t give you the Comb of Magnificence.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll serve you seven years if you do, Mogue.\u201d\n\nMogue drank and drank out of the ale-pot, frowning to himself. He put\nthe ale-pot away and said, \u201cI suppose your life won\u2019t be any good to you\nunless I give you the Comb of Magnificence?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is so, Mogue.\u201d\n\nMogue sighed heavily, but he went to his pack and took out the box that\nthe treasures were in. He let Flann take out the Comb of Magnificence.\n\n\u201cSeven years you will have to serve me,\u201d said Mogue, \u201cand you will have\nto begin your service now.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will begin it now,\u201d said Flann, but he stole out of the tent, put on\nhis red cloak and went to the King\u2019s orchard.\n\n\n\nVII\n\n\n\u201cOh, Flann, my treasure-bringer,\u201d said Flame-of-Wine, when she came to\nhim. \u201cI have brought you the Comb of Magnificence,\u201d said he. Her hands\nwent out and her eyes became large and shining. He put the Comb of\nMagnificence into her hands.\n\nShe put the comb into the back of her hair, and she became at once like\nthe tower that is builded--what broke its height and turned the full\nsunlight from it has been taken away, and the tower stands, the pride\nof a King and the delight of a people. When she put the Comb of\nMagnificence into her hair she became of all Kings\u2019 daughters the most\nstately.\n\nShe walked with Flann along the paths of the orchard, but always she\nwas watching her shadow to see if it showed her added magnificence. Her\nshadow showed nothing. She took Flann to the well in the orchard, and\nlooked down into it, but her image in the well did not show her added\nmagnificence either. Soon she became tired of walking on the orchard\npaths, and when she came to the gate she walked no further but stood\nwith Flann at the gate. \u201cA kiss for you, Flann, my treasure-bringer,\u201d\n said she, and she kissed him and then went hurrying away. And as Flann\nwatched her he thought that although she had kissed him he was not now\nin her mind.\n\nHe went out of the orchard disconsolate, thinking that when he was on\nhis seven years\u2019 service with Mogue Princess Flame-of-Wine might forget\nhim. As he walked on he passed the little house where the Spae-Woman had\nher besoms and heather-stalks. She ran to him when she saw him.\n\n\u201cHave you heard that the King\u2019s Son has found what went before, and what\ncomes after the Unique Tale?\u201d said she.\n\n\u201cThat I have. And I have to go to the Hags of the Long Teeth to find out\nwho my father and mother were, for surely I am the child who was taken\nfrom Sheen.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd do you remember that Sheen\u2019s seven brothers were changed into seven\nwild geese?\u201d said she.\n\n\u201cI remember that, mother.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd seven wild geese they will be until a maiden who loves you will\ngive seven drops of her heart\u2019s blood to bring them back to their human\nshapes.\u201d\n\n\u201cI remember that, mother.\u201d \u201cWhatever maid you love, her you must ask\nif she would give seven drops of her heart\u2019s blood. It may be that she\nwould. It may be that she would not and that you would still love her\nwithout thought of her giving one drop of blood of her little finger.\u201d\n\n\u201cI cannot ask the maiden I love to give seven drops of her heart\u2019s\nblood.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho is the maiden you love?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe King\u2019s daughter, Flame-of-Wine.\u201d\n\nHe told the Spae-Woman about the presents he had given her--he told\nthe Spae-Woman too that he had bound himself to seven years\u2019 service\nto Mogue on account of these presents. The Spae-Woman said, \u201cWhat other\ntreasures are in Mogue\u2019s pack?\u201d\n\n\u201cOne treasure more the Girdle of Truth. Whoever puts it on can speak\nnothing but the truth.\u201d\n\nSaid the Spae-Woman, \u201cYou are to take the Girdle of Truth and give it\nto Flame-of-Wine. Tell Mogue that I said he is to give it to you without\nadding one day to your years\u2019 service. When Flame-of-Wine has put the\ngirdle around her waist ask her for the seven drops of heart\u2019s blood\nthat will bring your mother\u2019s seven brothers back to their human shapes.\nShe may love you and yet refuse to give you the seven drops from her\nheart. But tell her of this, and hear what she will say.\u201d\n\nFlann left the Spae-Woman\u2019s and went back to Mogue\u2019s tent. The loss of\nhis treasures had overcome Mogue and he was drinking steadily and went\nfrom one bad temper to another.\n\n\u201cBegin your service now by watching the tent while I sleep,\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cThere is one thing more I want from you, Mogue,\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cBy the Eye of Balor! you\u2019re a cuckoo in my nest. What do you want now?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Girdle of Truth.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it my last treasure you\u2019d be taking on me?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Spae-Woman bid me tell you that you\u2019re to give me the Girdle of\nTruth.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a pity of me, it\u2019s a pity of me,\u201d said Mogue. But he took the box\nout of his pack, and let Flann take the girdle.\n\n\n\nVIII\n\n\nFlame-of-Wine saw him. She walked slowly down the orchard path so that\nall might notice the stateliness of her appearance.\n\n\u201cI am glad to see you again, Flann,\u201d said she. \u201cHave your comrades yet\ncome back to my father\u2019s town?\u201d\n\n\nFlann told her that one of them had returned.\n\n\u201cBid him come see me,\u201d said Flame-of-Wine. Then she saw the girdle in\nhis hands.\n\n\u201cWhat is it you have?\u201d said she.\n\n\u201cSomething that went with the other treasures--a girdle.\u201d\n\n\u201cWill you not let me have it, Flann?\u201d She took the girdle in her hands.\n\u201cTell me, youth,\u201d she said, \u201chow you got all these treasures?\u201d\n\n\u201cI will have to give seven years\u2019 service for them,\u201d Flann said.\n\n\u201cSeven years,\u201d said she, \u201cbut you will remember--will you not--that I\nloved you for bringing them to me?\u201d\n\n\u201cWill you remember me until I come back from my seven years\u2019 service?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, yes,\u201d said Flame-of-Wine, and she put the girdle around her waist\nas she spoke.\n\n\u201cSomeone said to me,\u201d said Flann, \u201cthat I should ask the maiden who\nloved me for seven drops of her heart\u2019s blood.\u201d The girdle was now round\nFlame-of-Wine\u2019s waist. She laughed with mockery. \u201cSeven drops of heart\u2019s\nblood,\u201d said she. \u201cI would not give this fellow seven eggs out of my\nrobin\u2019s nest. I tell him I love him for bringing me the three treasures\nfor a King\u2019s daughter. I tell him that, but I should be ashamed of\nmyself if I thought I could have any love for such a fellow.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you tell me the truth now,\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cThe truth, the truth,\u201d said she, \u201cof course I tell you the truth. Oh,\nand there are other truths. I shall be ashamed forever if I tell them.\nOh, oh. They are rising to my tongue, and every time I press them back\nthis girdle tightens and tightens until I think it will kill me.\u201d\n\n\u201cFarewell, then, Flame-of-Wine.\u201d\n\n\u201cTake off the girdle, take off the girdle! What truths are in my mind!\nI shall speak them and I shall be ashamed. But I shall die in pain if I\nhold them back. Loosen the girdle, loosen the girdle! Take the rose you\ngave me and loosen the girdle.\u201d She let the rose fall on the ground.\n\n\u201cI will loosen the girdle for you,\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cBut loosen it now. How I have to strive to keep truths back, and\noh, what pain I am in! Take the Comb of Magnificence, and loosen the\ngirdle.\u201d She threw the comb down on the ground.\n\nHe took up the Rose of Sweet Smells and the Comb of Magnificence and he\ntook the girdle off her waist. \u201cOh, what a terrible thing I put round my\nwaist,\u201d said Flame-of-Wine. \u201cTake it away, Flann, take it away. But give\nme back the Rose of Sweet Smells and the Comb of Magnificence,--give\nthem back to me and I shall love you always.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou cannot love me. And why should I give seven years in service for\nyour sake? I will leave these treasures back in Mogue\u2019s pack.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, you are a peddler, a peddler. Go from me,\u201d said Flame-of-Wine. \u201cAnd\ndo not be in the Town of the Red Castle to-morrow, or I shall have my\nfather\u2019s hunting dogs set upon you.\u201d She turned away angrily and went\ninto the Castle.\n\nFlann went back to Mogue\u2019s tent and left the Rose of Sweet Smells, the\nComb of Magnificence and the Girdle of Truth upon Mogue\u2019s pack. He sat\nin the corner and cried bitterly. Then the King of Ireland\u2019s Son came and\ntold him that his sword was bright once more--that the stains that had\nblemished its blade had been cleared away by the Gobaun Saor who had\nalso shown him the way to the Land of the Mist. He put his arm about\nFlann and told him that he was starting now to rescue his love Fedelma\nfrom the Castle of the King of the Land of Mist.\n\n\n\n\nTHE KING OF THE LAND OF MIST\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son came to the place where the river that he\nfollowed takes the name of the River of the Broken Towers. It is called\nby that name because the men of the old days tried to build towers\nacross its course. The towers were built a little way across the river\nthat at this place was tremendously wide.\n\n\u201cThe Glashan will carry you across the River of the Broken Towers to\nthe shore of the Land of Mist,\u201d the Gobaun Saor had said to the King of\nIreland\u2019s Son. And now he was at the River of the Broken Towers but the\nGlashan-creature was not to be seen.\n\nThen he saw the Glashan. He was leaning his back against one of the\nTowers and smoking a short pipe. The water of the river was up to his\nknees. He was covered with hair and had a big head with horse\u2019s\nears. And the Glashan twitched his horse\u2019s ears as he smoked in great\ncontentment.\n\n\u201cGlashan, come here,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\nBut the Glashan gave him no heed at all.\n\n\u201cI want you to carry me across the River of the Broken Towers,\u201d shouted\nthe King of Ireland\u2019s Son. The Glashan went on smoking and twisting his\nears.\n\nAnd the King of Ireland\u2019s Son might have known that the whole clan\nof the Gruagachs and Glashans are fond of their own ease and will do\nnothing if they can help it. He twitched his ears more sharply when the\nKing\u2019s Son threw a pebble at him. Then after about three hours he came\nslowly across the river. From his big knees down he had horse\u2019s feet.\n\n\u201cTake me on your big shoulders, Glashan,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s\nSon, \u201cand carry me across to the shore of the Land of Mist.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot carrying any more across,\u201d said the Glashan. The King of Ireland\u2019s\nSon drew the Sword of Light and flashed it.\n\n\u201cOh, if you have that, you\u2019ll have to be carried across,\u201d said the\nGlashan. \u201cBut wait until I rest myself.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat did you do that you should rest?\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\u201cTake me on your shoulders and start off.\u201d\n\n\u201cMusha,\u201d said the Glashan, \u201caren\u2019t you very anxious to lose your life?\u201d\n\n\u201cTake me on your shoulders.\u201d \u201cWell, come then. You\u2019re not the first\nliving dead man I carried across.\u201d The Glashan put his pipe into his\near. The King of Ireland\u2019s Son mounted his shoulders and laid hold of\nhis thick mane. Then the Glashan put his horse\u2019s legs into the water and\nstarted to cross the River of the Broken Towers.\n\n\u201cThe Land of Mist has a King,\u201d said the Glashan, when they were in the\nmiddle of the river.\n\n\u201cThat, Glashan, I know,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cAll right,\u201d said the Glashan.\n\nThen said he when they were three-quarters of the way across, \u201cMaybe you\ndon\u2019t know that the King of the Land of Mist will kill you?\u201d\n\n\u201cMaybe \u2018tis I who will kill him,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019d be a hardy little fellow if you did that,\u201d said the Glashan. \u201cBut\nyou won\u2019t do it.\u201d\n\n\nThey went on. The water was up to the Glashan\u2019s waist but that gave him\nno trouble. So broad was the river that they were traveling across it\nall day. The Glashan threw the King\u2019s Son in once when he stooped to\npick up an eel. Said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son, \u201cWhat way is the Castle\nof the King of the Land of Mist guarded, Glashan?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt has seven gates,\u201d said the Glashan.\n\n\u201cAnd how are the gates guarded?\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m tired,\u201d said the Glashan, \u201cand I can\u2019t talk.\u201d\n\n\u201cTell me, or I\u2019ll twist the horse\u2019s ears off your head.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, the first gate is guarded by a plover only. It sits on the third\npinnacle over the gate, and when anyone comes near it rises up and flies\nround the Castle crying until its sharp cries put the other guards on\nthe watch.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what other guards are there?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, I\u2019m tired, and I can talk no more.\u201d\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son twisted his horse\u2019s ears, and then the Glashan\nsaid\n\n\n\u201cThe second gate is guarded by five spear-men.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd how is the third gate guarded?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe third gate is guarded by seven swordsmen.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd how is the fourth gate guarded?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe fourth gate is guarded by the King of the Land of Mist himself.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd the fifth gate?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe fifth gate is guarded by the King of the Land of Mist himself.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd the sixth gate?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe sixth gate is guarded by the King of the Land of Mist.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd how is the seventh gate guarded?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe seventh gate is guarded by a Hag.\u201d\n\n\u201cBy a Hag only?\u201d \u201cBy a Hag with poisoned nails. But I\u2019m tired now, and\nI\u2019ll talk no more to you. If I could strike a light now I\u2019d smoke a\npipe.\u201d\n\nStill they went on, and just at the screech of the day they came to the\nother shore of the River of the Broken Towers. The King of Ireland\u2019s Son\nsprang from the shoulders of the Glashan and went into the mist.\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nHe came to where turrets and pinnacles appeared above the mist. He\nclimbed the rock upon which the Castle was built. He came to the first\ngate, and as he did the plover that was on the third pinnacle above rose\nup and flew round the Castle with sharp cries.\n\nHe raised a fragment of the ground-rock and flung it against the gate.\nHe burst it open. He dashed in then and through the first courtyard of\nthe Castle.\n\nAs he went towards the second gate it was flung open, and the five\nspear-men ran upon him. But they had not counted on what was to face\nthem--the Sword of Light in the bands of the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\nIts stroke cut the spear heads from the spear-holds, and its quick\nglancing dazzled the eyes of the spear-men. On each and every one of\nthem it inflicted the wound of death. He dashed through the second gate\nand into the third courtyard.\n\nBut as he did the third gate was flung open and seven swordsmen came\nforth. They made themselves like a half circle and came towards the King\nof Ireland\u2019s Son. He dazzled their eyes with a wide sweep of his sword.\nHe darted it swiftly at each of them and on the seven swordsmen too he\ninflicted wounds of death.\n\nHe went through the third courtyard and towards the fourth gate. As he\ndid it opened slowly and a single champion came forth. He closed the\ngate behind him and stood with a long gray sword in his hand. This was\nthe King of the Land of Mist. His shoulders were where a tall man\u2019s\nhead would be. His face was like a stone, and his eyes had never looked\nexcept with scorn upon a foe.\n\nWhen his enemy began his attack the King of Ireland\u2019s Son had power to\ndo nothing else but guard himself from that weighty sword. He had the\nSword of Light for a guard and well did that bright, swift blade guard\nhim. The two fought across the courtyard making hard places soft and\nsoft places hard with their trampling. They fought from when it was\nearly to when it was noon, and they fought from when it was noon until\nit was long afternoon. And not a single wound did the King of Ireland\u2019s\nSon inflict upon the King of the Land of Mist, and not a single wound\ndid the King of the Land of Mist inflict upon him.\n\nBut the King of Ireland\u2019s Son was growing faint and weary. His eyes\nwere worn with watching the strokes and thrusts of the sword that was\nbattling against him. His arms could hardly bear up his own sword. His\nheart became a stream of blood that would have gushed from his breast.\n\nAnd then, as he was about to fall down with his head under the sword\nof the King of the Land of Mist a name rose above all his\nthoughts--\u201cFedelma.\u201d If he sank down and the sword of the King of the\nLand of Mist fell on him, never would she be saved. The will became\nstrong again in the King of Ireland\u2019s Son. His heart became a steady\nbeating thing. The weight that was upon his arms passed away. Strongly\nhe held the sword in his hand and he began to attack the King of the\nLand of Mist.\n\nAnd now he saw that the sword in the hand of his enemy was broken and\nworn with the guard that the Sword of Light had put against it. And now\nhe made a strong attack. As the light was leaving the sky and as the\ndarkness was coming down he saw that the strength was waning in the\nKing of the Land of Mist. The sword in his hand was more worn and more\nbroken. At last the blade was only a span from the hilt. As he drew back\nto the gate of the fourth courtyard the King of Ireland\u2019s Son sprang at\nhim and thrust the Sword of Light through his breast. He stood with his\nface becoming exceedingly terrible. He flung what remained of his sword,\nand the broken blade struck the foot of the King of Ireland\u2019s Son and\npierced it. Then the King of the Land of Mist fell down on the ground\nbefore the fourth gate.\n\nSo weary from his battles, so pained with the wound of his foot was\nthe King of Ireland\u2019s Son that he did not try to cross the body and go\ntowards the fifth gate. He turned back. He climbed down the rock and\nwent towards the River of the Broken Towers.\n\nThe Glashan was broiling on a hot stone the eel he had taken out of the\nriver. \u201cWash my wound and give me refreshment, Glashan,\u201d said the King\nof Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\nThe Glashan washed the wound in his foot and gave him a portion of the\nbroiled eel with cresses and water.\n\n\u201cTo-morrow\u2019s dawn I shall go back,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son, \u201cand\ngo through the fifth and sixth and seventh gate and take away Fedelma.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf the King of the Land of Mist lets you,\u201d said the Glashan.\n\n\u201cHe is dead,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son, \u201cI thrust my sword through\nhis breast.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd where is his head?\u201d said the Glashan.\n\n\u201cIt is on his corpse,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son.\n\n\u201cThen you will have another fight to-morrow. His life is in his head,\nand his life will come back to him if you did not cut it off. It is he,\nI tell you, who will guard the fourth and fifth and sixth gate.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat I do not believe, Glashan,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son. \u201cThere\nis no one to guard the gates now but the Hag you spoke of. To-morrow I\nshall take Fedelma out of her captivity, and we will both leave the Land\nof Mist. But I must sleep now.\u201d\n\nHe laid the Sword of Light beside him, stretched himself on the ground\nand went to sleep. The Glashan drew his horse\u2019s legs under him, took the\npipe out of his ear, and smoked all through the night.\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son rose in the morning but he was in pain and\nweariness on account of his wounded foot. He ate the cresses and drank\nthe water that the Glashan gave him, and he started off for the Castle\nof the King of the Mist. \u201c\u2018Tis only an old woman I shall have to deal\nwith to-day,\u201d he said, \u201cand then I shall awaken Fedelma, my love.\u201d\n\nHe passed through the first gate and the first court-yard, through the\nsecond gate and the second court-yard, through the third gate and the\nthird courtyard. The fourth gate was closed, and as he went towards it,\nit opened slowly, and the King of the Land of Mist stood there--as high,\nas stone-faced, and as scornful as before, and in his hand he had a\nweighty gray sword.\n\nThey fought as they fought the day before. But the guard the King of\nIreland\u2019s Son made against the sword of the King of the Land of Mist was\nweaker than before, because of the pain and weariness that came from his\nwound. But still he kept the Sword of Light before him and the Sword of\nthe King of the Land of Mist could not pass it. They fought until it was\nafternoon. The heart in his body seemed turned to a jet of blood that\nwould gush forth. His eyes were straining themselves out of their\nsockets. His arms could hardly bear up his sword. He fell down upon one\nknee, but he was able to hold the sword so that it guarded his head.\n\nThen the image of Fedelma appeared before him. He sprang up and his arms\nregained their power. His heart became steady in his breast. And as he\nmade an attack upon the King of the Land of Mist, he saw that the blade\nin his hand was broken and worn because of its strokes against the Sword\nof Light.\n\nThey fought with blades that seemed to kindle each other into sparks and\nflashes of light. They fought until the blade in the hand of the King of\nthe Land of Mist was worn to a hand breadth above the hilt. He drew\nback towards the gate of the fifth courtyard. The King of Ireland\u2019s Son\nsprang at him and thrust the Sword of Light through his breast. Down on\nthe stones before the fifth gate of his Castle fell the King of the Land\nof Mist.\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son stepped over the body and went towards the\nfifth gate. Then he remembered what the Glashan had said, \u201cHis life is\nin his head.\u201d He went back to where the King of the Land of Mist had\nfallen. With a clean sweep of his sword he cut the head off the body.\n\nThen out of the mist that was all around three ravens came. With beak\nand claws they laid hold of the head and lifted it up. They fluttered\nheavily away, keeping near the ground.\n\nWith his sword in his hand the King of Ireland\u2019s Son chased the ravens.\nHe followed them through the fourth courtyard, the third courtyard, the\nsecond and the first. They flew off the rock on which the Castle was\nbuilt and disappeared in the mist.\n\nHe knew he would have to watch by the body of the King of the Land of\nMist, so that the head might not be placed upon it. He sat down before\nthe fifth gate. Pain and weariness, hunger and thirst oppressed him.\n\nHe longed for something that would allay his hunger and thirst. But he\nknew that he could not go to the river to get refreshment of water and\ncresses from the Glashan. Something fell beside him in the courtyard.\nIt was a beautiful, bright-colored apple. He went to pick it up, but\nit rolled away towards the third courtyard. He followed it. Then, as he\nlooked back he saw that the ravens had lighted near the body of the King\nof the Land of Mist, holding the head in their beaks and claws. He ran\nback and the ravens lifted the head up again and flew away.\n\nHe watched for another long time, and his hunger and his thirst made him\nlong for the bright-colored apple he had seen.\n\nAnother apple fell down. He went to pick it up and it rolled away. But\nnow the King of Ireland\u2019s Son thought of nothing hut that bright-colored\napple. He followed it as it rolled.\n\nIt roiled through the third courtyard, and the second and the first. It\nrolled out of the first gate and on to the rock upon which the Castle\nwas built. It rolled off the rock. The King of Ireland\u2019s Son sprang down\nand he saw the apple become a raven\u2019s head and beak.\n\nHe climbed up the rock and ran back. And when he came into the first\ncourtyard he saw that the three ravens had come back again. They had\nbrought the head to the body, and body and head were now joined. The\nKing of the Land of Mist stood up again, and his head was turned towards\nhis left shoulder. He went to the sixth gate and took up a sword that\nwas beside it.\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nThey fought their last battle before the sixth gate. The guard that the\nKing of Ireland\u2019s Son made was weak, and if the King of the Land of Mist\ncould have turned fully upon him, he could have disarmed and killed him.\nBut his head had been so placed upon his body that it looked The King\nof the Land of Mist 237 over his left shoulder. He was able to draw his\nsword down the breast of the King of Ireland\u2019s Son, wounding him.\nThe King\u2019s Son whirled his sword around his head and flung it at his\nwry-headed enemy. It swept his head off, and the King of the Land of\nMist fell down.\n\nThe King of Ireland\u2019s Son saw on the outstretched neck the mark of the\nother beheading. He took up the Sword of Light again and prepared to\nhold the head against all that might come for it.\n\nBut no creature came. And then the hair on the severed head became loose\nand it was blown away by the wind. And the bones of the head became a\npowder and the flesh became a froth, and all was blown away by the wind.\n\nThen the King of Ireland\u2019s Son went through the sixth courtyard and came\nto the seventh gate. And before it he saw the last of the sentinels. A\nHag, she was seated on the top of a water-tank taking white doves out of\na basket and throwing them to ravens that flew down from the walls and\ntore the doves to pieces.\n\nWhen the Hag saw the King of Ireland\u2019s Son she sprang down from the\nwater-tank and ran towards him with outstretched arms and long poisoned\nnails. With a sweep of his sword he cut the nails from her hands. Ravens\npicked up the nails, and then, as they tried to fly away, they fell\ndead.\n\n\u201cThe Sword of Light will take off your head if you do not take me on the\nmoment to where Fedelma is,\u201d said the King of Ireland\u2019s Son. \u201cI am sorry\nto do it,\u201d said the Hag, \u201cbut come, since you are the conqueror.\u201d\n\nHe followed the Hag into the Castle. In a net, hanging across a chamber,\nhe saw Fedelma. She was still, but she breathed. And the branch of\nhawthorn that put her asleep was fresh beside her. Strands of her bright\nhair came through the meshes of the net and were fastened to the wall.\nWith a sweep of the Sword of Light he cut the strands.\n\n\nHer eyes opened. She saw the King of Ireland\u2019s Son, and the full light\ncame back to her eyes, and the full life into her face.\n\nHe cut the net from where it hung and laid it on the ground. He cut open\nthe meshes. Fedelma rose out of it and went into his arms.\n\nHe lifted her up and carried her out into the seventh courtyard. Then\nthe Hag who had been one of the sentinels came out of the Castle, closed\nthe door behind her and ran away into the mist, three ravens flying\nafter her.\n\nAnd as for Fedelma and the King of Ireland\u2019s Son, they went through the\ncourtyards of the Castle and through the mists of the country and down\nto the River of the Broken Towers. They found the Glashan broiling a\nsalmon upon hot stones. Salmon were coming from the sea and the Glashan\nwent in and caught more, The King of the Land of Mist 239 broiled and\ngave them to the King of Ireland\u2019s Son and Fedelma to eat. The little\nblack water-hen came out of the river and they fed it. The next day the\nKing of Ireland\u2019s Son bade the Glashan take Fedelma on his shoulders and\ncarry her to the other shore of the River of the Broken Towers. And\nhe himself followed the little black water-hen who showed him all the\nshallow places in the river so that he crossed with the water never\nabove his waist. But he was nearly dead from cold and weariness, and\nfrom the wounds on breast and foot when he came to the other side and\nfound the Glashan and Fedelma waiting for him.\n\nThey ate salmon again and rested for a day. They bade good-by to the\nGlashan, who went back to the river to hunt for salmon. Then they went\nalong the bank of the river hand in hand while the King of Ireland\u2019s Son\ntold Fedelma of all the things that had happened to him in his search\nfor her.\n\nThey came to where the river became known as the River of the Morning\nStar. And then, in the distance, they saw the Hill of Horns. Towards the\nHill of Horns they went, and, at the near side of it, they found a house\nthatched with the wing of a bird. It was the house of the Little Sage\nof the Mountain. To the house of the Little Sage of the Mountain Fedelma\nand the King\u2019s Son now went.\n\n\n\n     TO THE MEMORY OF BEATRICE CASSIDY COLUM\n\n\n\n\nTHE HOUSE OF CROM DUV\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThe story is now about Flann. He went through the East gate of the Town\nof the Red Castle and his journey was to the house of the Hags of the\nLong Teeth where he might learn what Queen and King were his mother and\nhis father. It is with the youth Flann, once called the Gilly of the\nGoatskin, that we will go if it be pleasing to you, Son of my Heart. He\nwent his way in the evening, when, as the bard said:--\n\n   The blackbird shakes his metal notes\n   Against the edge of day,\n   And I am left upon my road\n   With one star on my way.\n\nAnd he went his way in the night, when, as the same bard said:--\n\n   The night has told it to the hills,\n   And told the partridge in the nest,\n   And left it on the long white roads,\n   She will give light instead of rest.\n\nAnd he went on between the dusk and the dawn, when, as the same bard\nsaid again:--\n\n   Behold the sky is covered,\n   As with a mighty shroud:\n   A forlorn light is lying\n   Between the earth and cloud.\n\n\nAnd he went on in the dawn, when as the bard said (and this is the\nlast stanza he made, for the King said there was nothing at all in his\nadventure):--\n\n   In the silence of the morning\n   Myself, myself went by,\n   Where lonely trees sway branches\n   Against spaces of the sky.\n\nAnd then, when the sun was looking over the first high hills he came to\na river. He knew it was the river he followed before, for no other river\nin the country was so wide or held so much water. As he had gone with\nthe flow of the river then he thought he would go against the flow of\nthe river now, and so he might come back to the glens and ridges and\ndeep boggy places he had traveled from.\n\n\nHe met a Fisherman who was drying his nets and he asked him what name\nthe river had. The Fisherman said it had two names. The people on the\nright bank called it the Day-break River and the people on the left bank\ncalled it the River of the Morning Star. And the Fisherman told him he\nwas to be careful not to call it the River of the Morning Star when he\nwas on the right bank nor the Daybreak River when he was on the left, as\nthe people on either side wanted to keep to the name their fathers had\nfor it and were ill-mannered to the stranger who gave it a different\nname. The Fisherman told Flann he was sorry he had told him the two\nnames for the River and that the best thing he could do was to forget\none of the names and call it just the River of the Morning Star as he\nwas on the left bank.\n\nFlann went on with the day widening before him and when the height of\nthe noon was past he came to the glens and ridges and deep boggy places\nhe had traveled from. He went on with the bright day going before him\nand the brown night coming behind him, and at dusk he came to the black\nand burnt place where the Hags of the Long Teeth had their house of\nstone.\n\nHe saw the house with a puff of smoke coming through every crevice\nin the stones. He went to the shut door and knocked on it with the\nknocking-stone.\n\n\u201cWho\u2019s without?\u201d said one of the Hags.\n\n\u201cWho\u2019s within?\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cThe Three Hags of the Long Teeth,\u201d said one of the Hags, \u201cand if you\nwant to know it,\u201d said she, \u201cthey are the runners and summoners, the\nbrewers and candle-makers for Crom Duv, the Giant.\u201d\n\nFlann struck a heavier blow with the knocking-stone and the door broke\nin. He stepped into the smoke-filled house.\n\n\u201cNo welcome to you, whoever you are,\u201d said one of the three Hags who\nwere seated around the fire.\n\n\u201cI am the lad who was called Gilly of the Goatskin, and whom you reared\nup here,\u201d said he, \u201cand I have come back to you.\u201d\n\nThe three Hags turned from the fire then and screamed at him.\n\n\u201cAnd what brought you back to us, humpy fellow?\u201d said the first Hag.\n\n\u201cI came back to make you tell me what Queen and King were my mother and\nfather.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy should you think a King and Queen were your father and mother?\u201d\n they said to him.\n\n\u201cBecause I have on my breast the stars of a son of a King,\u201d said Flann,\n\u201cand,\u201d said he, \u201cI have in my hand a sword that will make you tell me.\u201d\n\nHe came towards them and they were afraid. Then the first Hag bent her\nknee to him, and, said she, \u201cLoosen the hearthstone with your sword and\nyou will find a token that will let you know who your father was.\u201d\n\nFlann put his sword under the hearthstone and pried it up. But if\nit were a token, what was under the hearthstone was an evil thing--a\ncockatrice. It had been hatched out of a serpent\u2019s egg by a black cock\nof nine years. It had the head and crest of a cock and the body of a\nblack serpent. The cockatrice lifted itself up on its tail and looked at\nhim with red eyes. The sight of that head made Flann dizzy and he fell\ndown on the floor. Then it went down and the Hags put the hearthstone\nabove it.\n\n\u201cWhat will we do with the fellow?\u201d said one of the Hags, looking at\nFlann who was in a swoon on the floor.\n\n\u201cCut of his head with the sword that he threatened us with,\u201d said\nanother.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said the third Hag. \u201cCrom Duv the Giant is in want of a servant.\nLet him take this fellow. Then maybe the Giant will give us what he has\npromised us for so long--a Berry to each of us from the Fairy Rowan Tree\nthat grows in his courtyard.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet it be, let it be,\u201d said the other Hags. They put green branches on\nthe fire so that Crom Duv would see the smoke and come to the house. In\nthe morning he came. He brought Flann outside, and after awhile Flann\u2019s\nsenses came back to him. Then the Giant tied a rope round his arms and\ndrove him before him with a long iron spike that he had for a staff.\n\n\n\n\nII\n\n\n\nCrom Duv\u2019s arms stretched down to his twisted knees; he had long,\nyellow, overlapping horse\u2019s teeth in his mouth, with a fall-down\nunder-lip and a drawn-back upper-lip; he had a matted rug of hair on his\nhead. He was as high as a haystack. He carried in his twisted hand an\niron spike pointed at the end. And wherever he was going he went as\nquickly as a running mule.\n\nHe tied Flann\u2019s hands behind his back and drew the rope round Flann\u2019s\nbody. Then he started off. Flann was dragged on as if at the tail of\na cart. Over ditches and through streams; up hillsides and down into\nhollows he was hauled. Then they came into a plain as round as the wheel\nof a cart. Across the plain they went and into a mile-deep wood. Beyond\nthe wood there were buildings--such walls and such heaps of stones Flann\nnever saw before.\n\nBut before they had entered the wood they had come to a high grassy\nmound. And standing on that grassy mound was the most tremendous bull\nthat Flann had ever seen.\n\n\u201cWhat bull is that, Giant?\u201d said Flann.\n\n \u201cMy own bull,\u201d said Crom Duv, \u201cthe Bull of the Mound. Look back at him,\nlittle fellow. If ever you try to escape from my service my Bull of the\nMound will toss you into the air and trample you into the ground.\u201d Crom\nDuv blew on a horn that he had across his chest. The Bull of the Mound\nrushed down the slope snorting. Crom Duv shouted and the bull stood\nstill with his tremendous head bent down.\n\nFlann\u2019s heart, I tell you, sank, when he saw the bull that guarded Crom\nDuv\u2019s house. They went through the deep wood then, and came to the gate\nof the Giant\u2019s Keep. Only a chain was across it, and Crom Duv lifted\nup the chain. The courtyard was filled with cattle black and red and\nstriped. The Giant tied Flann to a stone pillar. \u201cAre you there, Morag,\nmy byre-maid?\u201d he shouted.\n\n\u201cI am here,\u201d said a voice from the byre. More cattle were in the byre\nand someone was milking them.\n\nThere was straw on the ground of the courtyard and Crom Duv lay down on\nit and went to sleep with the cattle trampling around him. A great stone\nwall was being built all round the Giant\u2019s Keep--a wall six feet thick\nand built as high as twenty feet in some places and in others as high\nas twelve. The wall was still being built, for heaps of stones and great\nmixing-pans were about. And just before the door of the Keep was a\nRowan Tree that grew to a great height. At the very top of the tree were\nbunches of red berries. Cats were lying around the stems of the tree and\ncats were in its branches--great yellow cats. More yellow cats stepped\nout of the house and came over to him. They looked Flann all over and\nwent back, mewing to each other.\n\nThe cattle that were in the courtyard went into the byre one by one as\nthey were called by the voice of the byre-maid. Crom Duv still slept. By\nand by a little red hen that was picking about the courtyard came near\nhim and holding up her head looked Flann all over.\n\nWhen the last cow had gone in and the last stream of milk had sounded in\nthe milking-vessel the byre-maid came into the courtyard. Flann thought\nhe would see a long-armed creature like Crom Duv himself. Instead he saw\na girl with good and kind eyes, whose disfigurements were that her face\nwas pitted and her hair was bushy. \u201cI am Morag, Crom Duv\u2019s byre-maid,\u201d\n said she.\n\n\u201cWill Crom Duv kill me?\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cNo. He\u2019ll make you serve him,\u201d said the byre-maid.\n\n\u201cAnd what will he make me do for him?\u201d\n\n\u201cHe will make you help to build his wall. Crom Duv goes out every\nmorning to bring his cattle to pasture on the plain. And when he comes\nback he builds the wall round his house. He\u2019ll make you mix mortar and\ncarry it to him, for I heard him say he wants a servant to do that.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll escape from this,\u201d said Flann, \u201cand I\u2019ll bring you with me.\u201d\n\n\u201cHush,\u201d said Morag, and she pointed to seven yellow cats that were\nstanding at Crom Duv\u2019s door, watching them. \u201cThe cats,\u201d said she,\n\u201care Crom Duv\u2019s watchers here and the Bull of the Mound is his watcher\nout-side.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd is this Little Red Hen a watcher too?\u201d said Flann, for the Little\nRed Hen was watching them sideways. \u201cThe Little Red Hen is my friend and\nadviser,\u201d Morag, and she went into the house with two vessels of milk.\n\n\nCrom Duv wakened up. He untied Flann and left him free. \u201cYou must mix\nmortar for me now,\u201d he said. He went into the byre and came out with a\ngreat vessel of milk. He left it down near the mixing-pan. He went to\nthe side of the house and came back with a trough of blood.\n\n\u201cWhat are these for, Crom Duv?\u201d said Flann. \u201cTo mix the mortar with,\ngilly,\u201d said the Giant. \u201cBullock\u2019s blood and new milk is what I mix my\nmortar with, so that nothing can break down the walls that I\u2019m building\nround the Fairy Rowan Tree. Every day I kill a bullock and every day my\nbyre-maid fills a vessel of milk to mix with my mortar. Set to now, and\nmix the mortar for me.\u201d\n\nFlann brought lime and sand to the mixing-pan and he mixed them in\nbullock\u2019s blood and new milk. He carried stones to Crom Duv. And so\nhe worked until it was dark. Then Crom Duv got down from where he was\nbuilding and told Flann to go into the house.\n\nThe yellow cats were there and Flann counted sixteen of them. Eight\nmore were outside, in the branches or around the stem of the Rowan Tree.\nMorag came in, bringing a great dish of porridge. Crom Duv took up a\nwooden spoon and ate porridge out of vessel after vessel of milk. Then\nhe shouted for his beer and Morag brought him vessel after vessel of\nbeer. Crom Duv emptied one after the other..Then he shouted for his\nknife and when Morag brought it he began to sharpen it, singing a queer\nsong to himself.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s sharpening a knife to kill a bullock in the morning,\u201d said Morag.\n\u201cCome now, and I\u2019ll give you your supper.\u201d\n\nShe took him to the kitchen at the back of the house. She gave him\nporridge and milk and he ate his supper. Then she showed him a ladder to\na room above, and he went up there and made a bed for himself. He slept\nsoundly, although he dreamed of the twenty-four yellow cats within, and\nthe tremendous Bull of the Mound outside Crom Duv\u2019s Keep.\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nThis is how the days were spent in the house of Crom Duv. The Giant and\nhis two servants, Flann and Morag, were out of their beds at the mouth\nof the day. Crom Duv sounded his horn and the Bull of the Mound bellowed\nan answer. Then he started work on his wall, making Flann carry mortar\nto him. Morag put down the fire and boiled the pots. Pots of porridge,\nplates of butter and pans of milk were on the table when\u2019 Crom Duv and\nFlann came in to their breakfasts. Then, when the Giant had driven out\nhis cattle to the pasture Flann cleaned the byre and made the mortar,\nmixing lime and sand with bullock\u2019s blood and new milk. In the afternoon\nthe Giant came back and he and Flann started work on the wall.\n\nAll the time the twenty-four yellow cats lay on the branches of the\nRowan Tree or walked about the court-yard or lapped up great crocks\nof milk. Morag\u2019s Little Red Hen went hopping round the courtyard. She\nseemed to be sleepy or to be always considering something. If one of the\ntwenty-four yellow cats looked at her the Little Red Hen would waken up,\nmurmur something, and hop away.\n\nOne day the cattle came home without Crom Duv. \u201cHe has gone on one of\nhis journeys,\u201d said Morag, \u201cand will not be back for a night and a day.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen it is time for me to make my escape,\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cHow can you make your escape, my dear, my dear?\u201d said Morag. \u201cIf you\ngo by the front the Bull of the Mound will toss you in the air and then\ntrample you into the ground.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I have strength and cunning and activity enough to climb the wall\nat the back.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut if you climb the wall at the back,\u201d said Morag, \u201cyou will only come\nto the Moat of Poisoned Water.\u201d \u201cThe Moat of Poisoned Water?\u201d \u201cThe\nMoat of Poisoned Water,\u201d said Morag. \u201cThe water poisons the skin of any\ncreature that tries to swim across the Moat.\u201d\n\nFlann was downcast when he heard of the Moat of Poisoned Water. But his\nmind was fixed on climbing the wall. \u201cI may find some way of crossing\nthe poisoned water,\u201d he said, \u201cso bake my cake and give me provision for\nmy journey.\u201d\n\nMorag baked a cake and put it on the griddle. And when it was baked she\nwrapped it in a napkin and gave it to him. \u201cTake my blessing with it,\u201d\n said she, \u201cand if you escape, may you meet someone who will be a better\nhelp to you than I was. I must keep the twenty-four cats from watching\nyou while you are climbing the wall.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd how will you do that?\u201d said Flann.\n\nShe showed him what she would do. With a piece of glass she made on the\nwall of the byre the shadows of flying birds. Birds never flew\nacross the House of Crom Duv and the cats were greatly taken with the\nappearances that Morag made with the piece of glass. Six cats watched,\nand then another six came, and after them six more, and after them the\nsix that watched in the Rowan Tree. And the twenty-four yellow cats sat\nround and watched with burning eyes the appearances of birds that Morag\nmade on the byre-wall. Flann looked back and saw her seated on a stone,\nand he thought the Byre-Maid looked lonesome.\n\nHe tried with all his activity, all his cunning and all his strength,\nand at last he climbed the wall at the back of Crom Duv\u2019s house. He gave\na whistle to let Morag know he was over. Then he went through a little\nwood and came to the Moat of Poisoned Water.\n\nVery ugly the dead water looked. Ugly stakes stuck up from the mud to\npierce any creature that tried to leap across. And here and there on the\nwater were patches of green poison as big as cabbage leaves. Flann drew\nback from the Moat. Leap it he could not, and swim it he dare not. And\njust as he drew back he saw a creature he knew come down to the bank\nopposite to him. It was Rory the Fox. Rory carried in his mouth the skin\nof a calf. He dropped the skin into the water and pushed it out before\nhim. Then he got into the water and swam very cautiously, always pushing\nthe calf\u2019s skin before him. Then Rory climbed up on the bank where Flann\nwas, and the skin, all green and wrinkled, sank down into the water.\n\nRory was going to turn tail, but then he recognized Flann. \u201cMaster,\u201d\n said he, and he licked the dust on the ground.\n\n\u201cWhat are you doing here, Rory?\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cI won\u2019t mind telling you if you promise to tell no other creature,\u201d\n said Rory.\n\n\u201cI won\u2019t tell,\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cWell then,\u201d said Rory, \u201cI have moved my little family over here. I was\nbeing chased about a good deal, and my little family wasn\u2019t safe. So I\nmoved them over here.\u201d The fox turned and looked round at the country\nbehind him. \u201cIt suits me very well,\u201d said he; \u201cno creature would think\nof crossing this moat after me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Flann, \u201ctell me how you are able to cross it.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will,\u201d said the fox, \u201cif you promise never to hunt me nor any of my\nlittle family.\u201d\n\n\u201cI promise,\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Rory, \u201cthe water poisons every skin. Now the reason that I\npushed the calf\u2019s skin across was that it might take the poison out of\nthe water. The water poisons every skin. But where the skin goes the\npoison is taken out of the water for a while, and a living creature can\ncross behind it if he is cautious.\u201d\n\n\u201cI thank you for showing me the way to cross the moat,\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t mind showing you,\u201d said Rory the Fox, and he went off to his\nburrow.\n\nThere were deer-skins and calf-skins both sides of the moat. Flann\ntook a calf\u2019s skin. He pushed it into the water with a stick. He swam\ncautiously behind it. When he reached the other side of the moat, the\nskin, all green and wrinkled, sank in the water.\n\nFlann jumped and laughed and shouted when he found himself in the forest\nand clear of Crom Duv\u2019s house. He went on. It was grand to see the\nwoodpecker hammering on the branch, and to see him stop, busy as he\nwas to say \u201cPass, friend.\u201d Two young deer came out of the depths of the\nwood. They were too young and too innocent to have anything to tell him,\nbut they bounded alongside of him as he raced along the Hunter\u2019s Path.\nHe jumped and he shouted again when he saw the river before him--the\nriver that was called the Daybreak River on the right bank and the River\nof the Morning Star on the left. He said to himself, \u201cThis time, in\ntroth, I will go the whole way with the river. A moving thing is my\ndelight. The river is the most wonderful of all the things I have seen\non my travels.\u201d\n\nThen he thought he would eat some of the cake that Morag had baked for\nhim. He sat down and broke it. Then as he ate it the thought of Morag\ncame into his mind. He thought he was looking at her putting the cake on\nthe griddle. He went a little way along the river and then he began to\nfeel lonesome. He turned back, \u201cI\u2019ll go to Crom Duv\u2019s House,\u201d said he,\n\u201cand show Morag the way to escape. And then she and I will follow the\nriver, and I won\u2019t be lonesome while she\u2019s with me.\u201d\n\nSo back along the Hunter\u2019s Path Flann went. He came to the Moat of\nPoisoned Water. He found a deer-skin and pushed it into the water and\nthen swam cautiously across the moat. He climbed the wall then, and when\nhe put his head above it he saw Morag. She was watching for him.\n\n\u201cCrom Duv has not come back yet,\u201d said she, \u201cbut oh, my dear, my dear, I\ncan\u2019t prevent the yellow cats from watching you come over the wall.\u201d\n\nFirst six cats came and then another six and they sat round and watched\nFlann come down the wall. They did nothing to him, but when he came down\non the ground they followed him wherever he went.\n\n\u201cYou crossed the moat,\u201d said Morag, \u201cthen why did you come back?\u201d\n\n\u201cI came back,\u201d said Flann, \u201cto bring you with me.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d said she, \u201cI cannot leave Crom Duv\u2019s house.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll show you how to cross the moat,\u201d said he, \u201cand we\u2019ll both be glad\nto be going by the moving river.\u201d\n\nTears came into Morag\u2019s eyes. \u201cI\u2019d go with you, my dear,\u201d said she, \u201cbut\nI cannot leave Crom Duv\u2019s house until I get what I came for.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what did you come for, Morag?\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cI came,\u201d said she, \u201cfor two of the rowan berries that grow on the\nFairy Rowan Tree in Crom Duv\u2019s court-yard. I know now that to get these\nberries is the hardest task in the world. Come within,\u201d said she, \u201cand\nif we sit long enough at the supper-board I will tell you my story.\u201d\n\nThey sat at the supper-board long, and Morag told\n\n\n\n\nThe Story of Morag\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nI was reared in the Spae-Woman\u2019s house with two other girls, Baun and\nDeelish, my foster-sisters. The Spae-Woman\u2019s house is on the top of a\nknowe, away from every place, and few ever came that way.\n\nOne morning I went to the well for water. When I looked into it I saw,\nnot my own image, but the image of a young man. I drew up my pitcher\nfilled with water, and went back to the Spae-Woman\u2019s house. At noontide\nBaun went to the well for water. She came back and her pitcher was only\nhalf-filled. Before dark Deelish went to the well. She came back without\na pitcher, for it fell and broke on the flags of the well.\n\nThe next day Baun and Deelish each plaited their hair, and they said\nto her who was foster-mother for the three of us: \u201cNo one will come to\nmarry us in this far-away place. We will go into the world to seek our\nfortunes. So,\u201d said they, \u201cbake a cake for each of us before the fall of\nthe night.\u201d\n\nThe Spae-Woman put three cakes on the griddle and baked them. And when\nthey were baked she said to Baun and Deelish: \u201cWill you each take the\nhalf of the cake and my blessing, or the whole of the cake without my\nblessing?\u201d And Baun and Deelish each said, \u201cThe whole of the cake will\nbe little enough for our journey.\u201d\n\nEach then took her cake under her arm and went the path down the knowe.\nThen said I to myself, \u201cIt would be well to go after my foster-sisters\nfor they might meet misfortune on the road.\u201d So I said to my\nfoster-mother, \u201cGive me the third cake on the griddle until I go after\nmy foster-sisters.\u201d\n\n\u201cWill you have half of the cake and my blessing or the whole of the cake\nwithout my blessing?\u201d said she to me.\n\n\u201cThe half of the cake and your blessing, mother,\u201d said I.\n\nShe cut the cake in two with a black-handled knife and gave me the even\nhalf of it. Then said she:--\n\n      May the old sea\u2019s\n      Seven Daughters\n      They who spin\n      Life\u2019s longest threads,\n      Protect and guard you!\n\nShe put salt in my hand then, and put the Little Red Hen under my arm,\nand I went off.\n\nI went on then till I came in sight of Baun and Deelish. Just as I\ncaught up on them I heard one say to the other, \u201cThis ugly, freckled\ngirl will disgrace us if she comes with us.\u201d They tied my hands and feet\nwith a rope they found on the road and left me in a wood.\n\n\nI got the rope off my hands and feet and ran and ran until I came in\nsight of them again. And when I was coming on them I heard one say to\nthe other, \u201cThis ugly, freckled girl will claim relationship with us\nwherever we go, and we will get no good man to marry us.\u201d They laid hold\nof me again and put me in a lime-kiln, and put beams across it, and put\nheavy stones on the beams. But my Little Red Hen showed me how to get\nout of the lime-kiln. Then I ran and I ran until I caught up with Baun\nand Deelish again.\n\n\u201cLet her come with us this evening,\u201d said one to the other, \u201cand\nto-morrow we\u2019ll find some way of getting rid of her.\u201d\n\nThe night was drawing down now, and we had to look for a house that\nwould give us shelter. We saw a hut far off the road and we went to the\nbroken door. It was the house of the Hags of the Long Teeth. We asked\nfor shelter. They showed us a big bed in the dormer-room, and they told\nus we could have supper when the porridge was boiled.\n\nThe three Hags sat round the fire with their heads together. Baun and\nDeelish were in a corner plaiting their hair, but the Little Red Hen\nmurmured that I was to listen to what the Hags said.\n\n\u201cWe will give them to Crom Duv in the morning\u201d one said. And another\nsaid, \u201cI have put a sleeping-pin in the pillow that will be under each,\nand they will not waken.\u201d\n\nWhen I heard what they said I wanted to think of what we could do to\nmake our escape. I asked Baun to sing to me. She said she would if I\nwashed her feet. I got a basin of water and washed Baun\u2019s feet, and\nwhile she sang, and while the Hags thought we were not minding them, I\nconsidered what we might do to escape. The Hags hung a pot over the fire\nand the three of them sat around it once more.\n\nWhen I had washed my foster-sister\u2019s feet I took a besom and began to\nsweep the floor of the house. One of the Hags was very pleased to see me\ndoing that. She said I would make a good servant, and after a while she\nasked me to sit at the fire. I sat in the corner of the chimney. They\nhad put meal in the water, and I began to stir it with a pot-stick.\nThen the Hag that had asked me to the fire said, \u201cI will give you a good\nshare of milk with your porridge if you keep stirring the pot for us.\u201d\n This was just what I wanted to be let do. I sat in the chimney-corner\nand kept stirring the porridge while the Hags dozed before the fire.\n\nFirst, I got a dish and ladle and took out of the pot some half-cooked\nporridge. This I left one side. Then I took down the salt-box that was\non the chimney-shelf and mixed handfuls of salt in the porridge left in\nthe pot.\n\n\nWhen it was all cooked I emptied it into another dish and brought the\ntwo dishes to the table. Then I told the Hags that all was ready. They\ncame over to the table and they gave my foster-sisters and myself three\nporringers of goat\u2019s milk. We ate out of the first dish and they ate out\nof the second. \u201cBy my sleep to-night,\u201d said one Hag, \u201cthis porridge is\nsalty.\u201d \u201cToo little salt is in it for my taste,\u201d said my foster-sister\nDeelish. \u201cIt is as salt as the depths of the sea,\u201d said another of the\nHags. \u201cMy respects to you, ma\u2019am,\u201d said Baun, \u201cbut I do not taste any\nsalt on it at all.\u201d My foster-sisters were so earnest that the Hags\nthought themselves mistaken, and they ate the whole dishful of porridge.\n\nThe bed was made for us, and the pillows were laid on the bed, and I\nknew that the slumber-pin was in each of the pillows. I wanted to put\noff the time for going to bed so I began to tell stories. Baun and\nDeelish said it was still young in the night, and that I should tell no\nshort ones, but the long story of Eithne, Balor\u2019s daughter. I had just\nbegun that story, when one of the Hags cried out that she was consumed\nwith thirst.\n\nShe ran to the pitcher, and there was no water in it. Then another Hag\nshouted out that the thirst was strangling her. The third one said she\ncould not live another minute without a mouthful of water. She took the\npitcher and started for the well. No sooner was she gone than the\nsecond Hag said she couldn\u2019t wait for the first one to come back and she\nstarted out after her. Then the third one thought that the pair\nwould stay too long talking at the well, and she started after them.\nImmediately I took the pillows off our bed and put them on the Hags\u2019\nbed, taking their pillows instead.\n\nThe Hags came back with a half-filled pitcher, and they ordered us to\ngo to our bed. We went, and they sat for a while drinking porringers of\nwater. \u201cCrom Duv will be here the first thing in the morning,\u201d I heard\none of them say. They put their heads on the pillows and in the turn of\na hand they were dead-fast-sound asleep. I told my foster-sisters then\nwhat I had done and why I had done it. They were very frightened, but\nseeing the Hags so sound asleep they composed themselves and slept too.\n\nBefore the screech of day Crom Duv came to the house. I went outside and\nsaw the Giant. I said I was the servant of the Hags, and that they were\nsleeping still. He said, \u201cThey are my runners and summoners, my brewers,\nbakers and candle-makers, and they have no right to be sleeping so\nlate.\u201d Then he went away.\n\nI knew that the three Hags would slumber until we took the pillows from\nunder their heads. We left them sleeping while we put down a fire and\nmade our break-fast. Then, when we were ready for our journey, we took\nthe pillows from under their heads. The three Hags started up then,\nbut we were out on the door, and had taken the first three steps of our\njourney.\n\n\n\n\nV\n\n\nWithout hap or mishap we came at last to the domain of the King of\nSenlabor. Baun went to sing for the King\u2019s foster-daughters, and Deelish\nwent to work at the little loom in the King\u2019s chamber. We were not long\nat the court of the King of Senlabor when two youths came there from the\ncourt of the King of Ireland--Dermott and Downal were their names. There\nwas a famous sword-smith with the King of Senlabor and these two came\nto learn the trade from him. And my two foster-sisters fell so deeply in\nlove with the two youths that every night the pillow on each side of me\nwas wet with their tears.\n\nI went to work in the King\u2019s kitchen. Now the King had a dish of such\nfine earthware and with such beautiful patterns upon it that he never\nlet it be carried from the Kitchen to the Feast-Hall, nor from the\nFeast-Hall to the Kitchen without going himself behind the servant who\ncarried it. One day the servant brought it into the Kitchen to be washed\nand the King came behind the servant. I took the dish and cleaned it\nwith thrice-boiled water and dried it with cloths of three different\nkinds. Then I covered it with sweet-smelling herbs and left it in a bin\nwhere it was sunk in soft bran. The King was pleased to see the good\ncare I took of his dish, and he said before his servant that he would\ndo me any favor I would ask. There and then I told him about my two\nfoster-sisters Baun and Deelish, and how they were in love with the two\nyouths Dermott and Downal who had come from the court of the King of\nIreland. I asked that when these two youths were being given wives, that\nthe King should remember my foster-sisters.\n\nThe King was greatly vexed at my request. He declared that the two\nyouths had on their breasts the stars that denoted the sons of Kings and\nthat he intended they should marry his own two foster-daughters when the\nmaidens were of age to wed. \u201cIt may be,\u201d he said, \u201cthat these two youths\nwill bring what my Queen longs for--a berry from the Fairy Rowan Tree\nthat is guarded by the Giant Crom Duv.\u201d\n\nThe next day the King\u2019s Councillor was feeding the birds and I was\nsifting the corn. I asked him what was the history of the Fairy Rowan\nTree that the Giant Crom Duv guarded and why it was that the Queen\nlonged for a berry of it. There and then he told me this story:--\n\n\n\n\nThe Story of the Fairy Rowan Tree\n\n\nThe history of the Fairy Rowan Tree (said the King\u2019s Councillor) begins\nwith Aine\u2019, the daughter of Mananaun who is Lord of the Sea. Curoi, the\nKing of the Munster Fairies loved Aine\u2019 and sought her in marriage. But\nthe desire of the girl\u2019s heart was set upon Fergus who was a mortal,\nand one of the Fianna of Ireland. Now when Mananaun MacLir heard Curoi\u2019s\nproposals and learned how his daughter\u2019s heart was inclined, he said,\n\u201cLet the matter be settled in this way: we will call a hurling-match\nbetween the Fairies of Munster and the Fianna of Ireland with Curoi to\ncaptain one side and Fergus to captain the other, and if the Fairies\nwin, Aine\u2019 will marry Curoi and if the Fianna have the victory she will\nhave my leave to marry this mortal Fergus.\u201d\n\nSo a hurling-match was called for the first day of Lunassa, and it\nwas to be played along the strand of the sea. Mananaun himself set the\ngoal-marks, and Aine\u2019 was there to watch the game. It was played from\nthe rising of the sun until the high tide of noon, and neither side won\na goal. Then the players stopped to eat the refreshment that Mananaun\nhad provided.\n\nThis is what Mananaun had brought from his own country, Silver-Cloud\nPlain: a branch of bright-red rowan berries. Whoever ate one of these\nrowan berries his hunger and his weariness left him in a moment. The\nberries were to be eaten by the players, Mananaun said, and not one of\nthem was to be taken into the world of the mortals or the world of the\nFairies.\n\nWhen they stopped playing at the high tide of noon the mortal Fergus saw\nAine\u2019 and saw her for the first time. A spirit that he had never felt\nbefore flowed into him at the sight of Mananaun\u2019s daughter. He forgot to\neat the berry he was given and held it in his mouth by the stalk.\n\nHe went into the hurling-match again and now he was like a hawk amongst\nsmall birds. Curoi defended the goal and drove the ball back. Fergus\ndrove it to the goal again; the two champions met and Curoi\u2019s hurl, made\nout of rhinoceros\u2019 horn, did not beat down Fergus\u2019s hurl made out of the\nash of the wood. The hosts stood aside and left the game to Fergus and\nCuroi. Curoi\u2019s hurl jerked the ball upward; then Fergus gave it the\ndouble stroke first with the handle and then with the weighted end\nof the hurl and drove it, beautifully as a flying bird, between the\ngoal-marks that Mananaun had set up. The match was won by the goal that\nFergus had gained.\n\nThe Fianna then invited the Fairies of Munster to a feast that they were\ngiving to Fergus and his bride. The Fairies went, and Mananaun and Aine\u2019\nwent before them all. Fergus marched at the head of his troop with the\nrowan berry still hanging from his mouth. And as he went he bit the\nstalk and the berry fell to the ground. Fergus never heeded that.\n\nWhen the feast was over he went to where Mananaun stood with his\ndaughter. Aine\u2019 gave him her hand. \u201cAnd it is well,\u201d said Conan, the\nFool of the Fianna, \u201cthat this thick-witted Fergus has at last dropped\nthe berry out of his mouth.\u201d \u201cWhat berry?\u201d said Curoi, who was standing\nby. \u201cThe rowan berry,\u201d said Conan, \u201cthat he carried across two townlands\nthe same as if he were a bird.\u201d\n\nWhen Mananaun heard this he asked about the berry that Fergus had\ncarried. It was not to be found. Then the Fianna and the Fairies of\nMunster started back to look for a trace of it. What they found was a\nwonderful Rowan Tree. It had grown out of the berry that Fergus had let\nfall, but as yet there were no berries on its branches.\n\nMananaun, when he saw the tree said, \u201cNo mortal may take a berry that\ngrows on it. Hear my sentence now. Fergus will have to guard this tree\nuntil he gets one who will guard it for him. And he may not see nor keep\ncompany with Aine\u2019 his bride until he finds one who will guard it better\nthan he can guard it himself.\u201d Then Mananaun wrapped his daughter in his\ncloak and strode away in a mist. The Fairy Host went in one direction\nand the Fianna in another, and Fergus was left standing sorrowfully by\nthe Fairy Rowan Tree.\n\n\nNext day (said Morag), when the King\u2019s Councillor was feeding the birds\nand I was sifting the corn, he told me the rest of the history of the\nFairy Rowan Tree. Fergus thought and thought how he might leave off\nwatching it and be with Aine\u2019, his bride. At last he bethought him of\na Giant who lived on a rocky island with only a flock of goats for his\npossessions. This Giant had begged Finn, the Chief of the Fianna, for\na strip of the land of Ireland, even if it were only the breadth of a\nbull\u2019s hide. Finn had refused him. But now Fergus sent to Finn and asked\nhim to bring the Giant to be the guardian of the Fairy Rowan Tree and to\ngive him the land around it. \u201cI mislike letting this giant Crom Duv have\nany portion of the land of Ireland,\u201d said Finn, \u201cnevertheless we cannot\nrefuse Fergus.\u201d\n\nSo Finn sent some of the Fianna to the Giant and they found him\nliving on a bare rock of an island with only a flock of goats for his\npossessions. Crom Duv lay on his back and laughed when he heard what\nmessage the men of the Fianna brought to him. Then he put them and his\nflock of goats into his big boat and rowed them over to Ireland.\n\nCrom Duv swore by his flock of goats he would guard the Fairy Rowan Tree\nuntil the red berries ceased to come on its branches. Fergus left his\nplace at the tree then and went to Aine\u2019, and it may be that she and he\nare still together.\n\nWell did Crom Duv guard the tree, never going far from it and sleeping\nat night in its branches. And one year a heifer came and fed with his\nflock of goats and another year a bullock came. And these were the\nbeginning of his great herd of cattle. He has become more and more\ngreedy for cattle, said the King\u2019s Councillor, and now he takes them\naway to far pastures. But still the Fairy Rowan Tree is well guarded.\nThe Bull that is called the Bull of the Mound is on guard near by, and\ntwenty-four fierce yellow cats watch the tree night and day.\n\nThe Queen of Senlabor and many another woman besides desires a berry\nfrom the Fairy Rowan Tree that stands in Crom Duv\u2019s courtyard. For\nthe woman who is old and who eats a berry from that tree becomes young\nagain, and the maid who is young and who eats a berry gets all the\nbeauty that should be hers of right. And now, my maid, said the King\u2019s\nCouncillor to me, I have told you the history of the Fairy Rowan Tree.\n\nWhen I heard all this (said Morag), I made up my mind to get a berry for\nthe Queen and maybe another berry besides from the Fairy Rowan Tree in\nCrom Duv\u2019s courtyard. When the King came into the kitchen again, I asked\nhim would he permit my foster-sisters to marry Downal and Dermott if I\nbrought to his Queen a berry from the Fairy Rowan Tree. He said he would\ngive permission heartily. That night when I felt the tears of Baun and\nDeelish I told them I was going to search for such a dowry for them that\nwhen they had it the King would let them marry the youths they had set\ntheir hearts on. They did not believe I could do anything to help them,\nbut they gave me leave to go.\n\nThe next day I told the Queen I was going to seek for a berry from the\nFairy Rowan Tree. She told me that if I could bring back one berry to\nher she would give me all the things she possessed. I said good-by to my\nfoster-sisters and with the Little Red Hen under my arm I went towards\nthe house of the Hags of the Long Teeth. I built a shelter and waited\ntill Crom Duv came that way. One early morning he came by. I stood\nbefore him and I told him that I wanted to take service in his house.\n\nCrom Duv had never had a servant in his house. But I told him that he\nshould have a byre-maid and that I was well fitted to look after his\ncattle. He told me to follow him. I saw the Bull of the Mound and I was\nmade wonder how I could get away with the berry from the Fairy Rowan\nTree. Then I saw the twenty-four fierce yellow cats and I was made\nwonder how I could get the berry from the tree. And after that I found\nout about the Moat of Poisoned Water that is behind the high wall at the\nback of Crom Duv\u2019s house. And so now (said Morag), you know why I have\ncome here and how hard the task is I have taken on myself.\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\n\n\nNow that he had heard the history of the Fairy Rowan Tree, Flann often\nlooked at the clusters of scarlet berries that were high up on its\nbranches. The Tree could be climbed, Flann knew. But on the top of the\ntree and along its branches were the fierce yellow cats--the cats that\nthe Hags of the Long Teeth had reared for Crom Duv, thinking that he\nwould some time give each of them the berry that would make them young\nagain. And at the butt of the tree there were more cats. And all about\nthe courtyard the Hags\u2019 fierce cats paraded themselves.\n\nThe walls round the Giant\u2019s Keep were being built higher by Crom Duv,\nhelped by his servant Flann. The Giant\u2019s herd was now increased by many\ncalves, and Morag the byre-maid had much to do to keep all the cows\nmilked. And day and night Morag and Flann heard the bellowing of the\nBull of the Mound.\n\nNow one day while Crom Duv was away with his herd, Flann and Morag were\nin the courtyard. They saw the Little Red Hen rouse herself up, shake\nher wings and turn a bright eye on them. \u201cWhat dost thou say, my Little\nRed Hen?\u201d said Morag.\n\n\u201cThe Pooka,\u201d murmured the Little Red Hen. \u201cThe Pooka rides a fierce\nhorse, but the Pooka himself is a timid little fellow.\u201d Then the Little\nRed Hen drooped her wings again, and went on picking in the courtyard.\n\n\u201cThe Pooka rides a fierce horse,\u201d said Morag, \u201cif the Pooka rides a\nfierce horse he might carry us past the Bull of the Mound.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd if the Pooka himself is a timid little fellow we might take the\nfierce horse from him,\u201d said Flann.\n\n\u201cBut this does not tell us how to get the berries off the Fairy Rowan\nTree,\u201d said Morag.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Flann, \u201cit does not tell us how to get the berries off the\ntree the cats guard.\u201d\n\nThe next day Morag gave grains to the Little Red Hen and begged for\nwords. After a while the Little Red Hen murmured, \u201cThere are things I\nknow, and things I don\u2019t know, but I do know what grows near the ground,\nand if you pull a certain herb, and put it round the necks of the cats\nthey will not be able to see in the light nor in the dark. And to-morrow\nis the day of Sowain,\u201d said the Little Red Hen. She said no more words.\nShe had become sleepy and now she flew down and roosted under the table.\nThere she went on murmuring to herself--as all hens murmur--where the\nChildren of Dana hid their treasures--they know, for it was the Children\nof Dana who brought the hens to Ireland.\n\n\u201cTo-morrow,\u201d said Morag to Flann, \u201cfollow the Little Red Hen, and if\nshe makes any sign when she touches an herb that grows near the ground,\npluck that herb and bring it to me.\u201d\n\nThat night Morag and Flann talked about the Pooka and his fierce horse.\nOn Sowain night--the night before the real short days begin--the Pooka\nrides through the countryside touching any fruit that remains, so that\nit may bring no taste into winter. The blackberries that were good\nto eat the day before are no good on November day, because the Pooka\ntouched them the night before. What else the Pooka does no one really\nknows. He is a timid fellow as the Little Red Hen said, and he hopes\nthat the sight of his big black horse and the sound of its trampling and\npanting as he rides by will frighten people out of his way, for he has a\ngreat fear of being seen.\n\nThe next day the Little Red Hen stayed in the courtyard until Crom Duv\nleft with his herd. Flann followed her. She went here and there between\nthe house and the wall at the back, now picking a grain of sand and\nnow an ant or spider or fly. And as she went about the Little Red Hen\nmurmured a song to herself:--\n\n   When sleep would settle on me\n   Like the wild bird down on the nest,\n   The wind comes out of the West:\n   It tears at the door, maybe,\n   And frightens away my rest--\n   When sleep would come upon me\n   Like the wild bird down on the nest.\n\n   The cock is aloft with his crest:\n   The barn-owl comes from her quest\n   She fixes an eye upon me\n   And frightens away my rest\n   When sleep would settle on me\n   Like the wild bird down on its nest.\n\nFlann watched all the Little Red Hen did. He saw her put her head on\none side and look down for a while at a certain herb that grew near the\nground. Flann plucked that herb and brought it to Morag.\n\nThe cattle had come home, but Crom Duv was not with them. Morag milked\nthe cows and brought all the milk within, leaving no milk for the cats\nto drink outside. Six came into the kitchen to get their supper there.\nOne after another they sprang up on the table, one more proud and\noverbearing than the other. Each cat ate without condescending to make\na single mew. \u201cCat of my heart,\u201d said Morag to the first, when he had\nfinished drinking his milk. \u201cCat of my heart! How noble you would look\nwith this red around your neck.\u201d She held out a little satchel in which\na bit of the herb was sewn. The first cat gave a look that said, \u201cWell,\nyou may put it on me.\u201d Morag put the red satchel around his neck and he\njumped off the table.\n\nIt was so with all the other cats. They finished lapping their milk and\nMorag showed them the red ribbon satchel. They let her put it round each\nof their necks and then they sprang off the table, and marched off more\nscornful and overbearing than before.\n\n\nSix of the fierce yellow cats climbed into the branches of the Fairy\nRowan Tree; six stayed in the kitchen; six went into Crom Duv\u2019s chamber,\nand six went to march round the house, three taking each side. No sound\ncame from the cats that were within or without. Morag drew a ball of\ncotton across the floor, and the cats that were in the kitchen gave no\nsign of seeing it. \u201cThe sight has left their eyes,\u201d said Morag. \u201cThen,\u201d\n said Flann, \u201cI will climb the Fairy Rowan Tree and bring down two\nberries.\u201d \u201cBe sure you bring down two, my dear, my dear,\u201d said Morag.\n\nThey went out to the courtyard and Flann began to climb the Fairy Rowan\nTree with all suppleness, strength and cunning. The cats that were\nbelow felt him going up the tree and the cats that were above humped\nthemselves up. Flann passed the first branch on which a cat was\ncrouched. He went above where the rowan berries were, and bending down\nhe picked two of them and put them into his mouth.\n\nHe came down quickly with the cats tearing at him. Others had come out\nof the house and were mewing and spitting in the courtyard. Only one had\nfastened itself on Flann\u2019s jerkin, and this one would not let go. \u201cCome\ninto the wood, come into the wood,\u201d said Morag. \u201cNow we must stand\nbetween the house and the mound, and wait till the Pooka rides by.\u201d\n Flann put the two berries into her hand, they jumped across the chain,\nand ran from the house of the Giant Crom Duv.\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\n\n\nThey went into the wood, Flann and Morag, and the Little Red Hen was\nunder Morag\u2019s arm. They thought they would hide behind trees until they\nheard the coming of the Pooka and his horse. But they were not far in\nthe wood when they heard Crom Duv coming towards his house. He came\ntowards them with the iron spike in his hand. Flann and Morag ran.\nThen from tree to tree Crom Duv chased them, shouting and snorting and\nsmashing down branches with the iron spike in his hand. Morag and\nFlann came to a stream, and as they ran along its bank they heard the\ntrampling and panting of a horse coming towards them. Up it came, a\ngreat black horse with a sweeping mane. \u201cHalt, Pooka,\u201d said Flann in\na commanding voice. The black horse halted and the Pooka that was its\nrider slipped down to its tail.\n\nFlann held the snorting horse and Morag got on its back. Then Flann\nsprang up between Morag and the horse\u2019s head. Crom Duv was just beside\nthem. \u201cAway, Pooka, away,\u201d said Flann, and the horse started through the\nwood like the wind of March.\n\nAnd then Crom Duv blew on the horn that was across his breast and the\nBull of the Mound bellowed in answer. As they went by the mound the Bull\ncharged down and its horns tossed the tail of the Pooka\u2019s horse. The\nBull turned and swept after them with his head down and hot breath\ncoming out of his nostrils. And when they were in the hollow he was on\nthe height, and when they were on the height he was in the hollow. And a\nhollow or a height behind his Bull came Crom Duv himself.\n\nThen the breath of the Bull became hot upon Morag and Flann and the\nPooka. \u201cOh, what shall we do now?\u201d said Morag to the Pooka who was\nhanging on to the horse\u2019s tail, his little face all twisted up with\nfear.\n\n\n\u201cPut your hand into my horse\u2019s ear and fling behind what you will find\nthere,\u201d said the Pooka, his teeth chattering. Flann put his hand into\nthe horse\u2019s right ear and found a twig of ash. He flung it behind them.\nInstantly a tangled wood sprang up. They heard the Bull driving through\nthe tangle of the wood and they heard Crom Duv shouting as he smashed\nhis way through the brakes and branches. But the Bull and the man got\nthrough the wood and again they began to gain on the Pooka\u2019s horse.\nAgain the breath of the Bull became hot upon them. \u201cOh, Pooka, what\nshall we do now?\u201d said Morag.\n\n\u201cPut your hand into my horse\u2019s ear and fling behind what you will find\nthere,\u201d said the Pooka, his teeth chattering with fear as he held on to\nhis horse\u2019s tail. Flann put his hand into the horse\u2019s left ear and he\nfound a bubble of water. He flung it behind them. Instantly it spread\nout as a lake and as they rode on, the lake waters spread behind them.\n\nMorag and Flann never knew whether the Giant and the Bull went into that\nlake, or if they did, whether they ever came out of it. They crossed the\nriver that marked the bounds of Crom Duv\u2019s domain and they were safe.\nFlann pulled up the horse and jumped on to the ground. Morag sprang down\nwith the Little Red Hen. Then the Pooka swung forward and whispered into\nhis horse\u2019s ear. Instantly it struck fire out of its hooves and sprang\ndown the side of a hill. From that day to this Morag nor Flann ever saw\nsight of the Pooka and his big, black, snorting and foaming horse.\n\n\u201cDost thou know where we are, my Little Red Hen?\u201d said Morag when the\nsun was in the sky again.\n\n\u201cThere are things I know and things I don\u2019t know,\u201d said the Little Red\nHen, \u201cbut I know we are near the place we started from.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhich way do we go to come to that place, my Little Red Hen?\u201d said\nMorag. \u201cThe way of the sun,\u201d said the Little Red Hen. So Morag and Flann\nwent the way of the sun and the Little Red Hen hopped beside them. Morag\nhad in a weasel-skin purse around her neck the two rowan berries that\nFlann had given her.\n\nThey went towards the house of the Spae-Woman. And as they went Morag\ntold Flann of the life she had there when she and her foster-sisters\nwere growing up, and Flann told Morag of the things he did when he was\nin the house of the Spae-Woman after she and her foster-sisters had left\nit.\n\nThey climbed the heather-covered knowe on which was the Spae-Woman\u2019s\nhouse and the Little Red Hen went flitting and fluttering towards the\ngate. The Spae-Woman\u2019s old goat was standing in the yard, and its horns\nwent down and its beard touched its knees and it looked at the Little\nRed Hen. Then the Little Red Hen flew up on its back. \u201cWe\u2019re here again,\nhere again,\u201d said the Little Red Hen.\n\nAnd then the Spae-Woman came to the door and saw who the comers were.\nShe covered them with kisses and watered them with tears, and dried them\nwith cloths silken and with the hair of her head.\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\n\n\nFlann told the Spae-Woman all his adventures. And when he had told her\nall he said--\u201cWhat Queen is my mother, O my fosterer?\u201d \u201cYour mother,\u201d\n said the Spae-Woman, \u201cis Caintigern, the Queen of the King of Ireland.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd is my mother then not Sheen whose story has been told me?\u201d \u201cHer\nname was changed to Caintigern when her husband who was called the\nHunter-King made himself King over Ireland and began to rule as King\nConnal.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen who is my comrade who is called the King of Ireland\u2019s Son?\u201d\n\n\u201cHe too is King Connal\u2019s son, born of a queen who died at his birth and\nwho was wife to King Connal before he went on his wanderings and met\nSheen your mother.\u201d\n\nAnd as the Spae-Woman said this someone came and stood at the doorway. A\ngirl she was and wherever the sun was it shone on her, and wherever the\nbreeze was it rippled over her. White as the snow upon a lake frozen\nover was the girl, and as beautiful as flowers and as alive as birds\nwere her eyes, while her cheeks had the red of fox-gloves and her hair\nwas the blending of five bright soft colors. She looked at Flann happily\nand her eyes had the kind look that was always in Morag\u2019s eyes. And\nshe came and \u2018knelt down, putting her hands on his knees. \u201cI am Morag,\nFlann,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cMorag indeed,\u201d said he, \u201cbut how have you become so fair?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have eaten the berry from the Fairy Rowan Tree,\u201d said she, \u201cand now I\nam as fair as I should be.\u201d\n\nAll day they were together and Flann was happy that his friend was so\nbeautiful and that so beautiful a being was his friend. And he told\nher of his adventures in the Town of the Red Castle and of the Princess\nFlame-of-Wine and his love for her. \u201cAnd if you love her still I will\nnever see you again,\u201d said Morag.\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d said Flann, \u201cI could not love her after the way she mocked at\nme.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen did she mock at you?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen I took her a message that the Spae-Woman told me to give her.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what was that message?\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018Ask her,\u2019 said the Spae-Woman, \u2018for seven drops of her heart\u2019s\nblood--she can give them and live--so that the spell may be taken from\nthe seven wild geese and the mother who longs for you may be at\npeace again.\u2019 This was the message the Spae-Woman told me to give\nFlame-of-Wine. And though I had given her wonderful gifts she laughed at\nme when I took it to her. And by the way she laughed I knew she was hard\nof heart.\u201d\n\n\u201cYet seven drops of heart\u2019s blood are hard to give,\u201d said Morag sadly.\n\n\u201cBut the maiden who loves can give them,\u201d said the Spae-Woman who was\nbehind.\n\n\u201cIt is true, foster-mother,\u201d said Morag.\n\nThat evening Morag said, \u201cTo-morrow I must pre-pare for my journey to\nthe Queen of Senlabor. You, Flann, may not come with me. The Spae-Woman\nhas sent a message to your mother, and you must be here to meet her when\nshe comes. A happy meeting to her and you, O Flann of my heart. And I\nshall leave you a token to give to her. So to-morrow I go to the Queen\nof Senlabor with the Rowan Berry and I shall bring my Little Red Hen\nfor company, and shall stay only until my sisters are wed to Dermott and\nDownal, your brothers.\u201d\n\nThe next day when he came into the house he saw Morag dressed for her\njourney but seated at the fire. She was pale and ill-looking. \u201cDo not\ngo to-day, Morag,\u201d said he. \u201cI shall go to-day,\u201d said Morag. She put her\nhand into the bosom of her dress and took out a newly-woven handkerchief\nfolded. \u201cThis is a token for your mother,\u201d she said. \u201cI have woven it\nfor her. Give her this gift from me when you have welcomed her.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat I will do, Morag, my heart,\u201d said Flann.\n\nThe Spae-Woman came in and kissed Morag good-by and said the charm for a\njourney over her.\n\n   May my Silver-\n   Shielded Magian\n   Shed all lights\n   Across your path.\n\nThen Morag put the Little Red Hen under her arm and started out. \u201cI\nshall find you,\u201d said she to Flann, \u201cat the Castle of the King of\nIreland, for it is there I shall go when I part from my foster-sisters\nand the Queen of Senlabor. Kiss me now. But if you kiss anyone until you\nkiss me again you will forget me. Remember that.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will remember,\u201d said Flann, and he kissed Morag and said, \u201cWhen you\ncome to the King of Ireland\u2019s Castle we will be married.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou gave me the Rowan Berry,\u201d said Morag, \u201cand the Rowan Berry gave me\nall the beauty that should be mine. But what good will my beauty be to\nme if you forget me?\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, Morag,\u201d said he, \u201chow could I forget you?\u201d\n\nShe said nothing but went down the side of the knowe and Flann watched\nand watched until his eyes had no power to see any more.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SPAE-WOMAN\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nThere are many things to tell you still, my kind foster-child, but\nlittle time have I to tell you them, for the barnacle-geese are flying\nover the house, and when they have all flown by I shall have no more to\nsay. And I have to tell you yet how the King of Ireland\u2019s Son won home\nwith Fedelma, the Enchanter\u2019s daughter, and how it came to pass that the\nSeven Wild Geese that were Caintigern\u2019s brothers were disenchanted and\nbecame men again. But above all I have to tell you the end of that story\nthat was begun in the house of the Giant Crom Duv--the story of Flann\nand Morag.\n\nThe barnacle-geese are flying over the house as I said. And so they were\ncrossing and flying on the night the King of Ireland\u2019s Son and Fedelma\nwhom he had brought from the Land of Mist stayed in the house of the\nLittle Sage of the Mountain. On that night the Little Sage told them\nfrom what bird had come the wing that thatched his house. That was a\nwonderful story. And he told them too about the next place they should\ngo to--the Spae-woman\u2019s house. There, he said he would find people that\nthey knew--Flann, the King\u2019s Son\u2019s comrade, and Caintigern, the wife of\nthe King of Ireland, and Fedelma\u2019s sister, Gilveen.\n\nIn the morning the Little Sage of the Mountain took them down the\nhillside to the place where Fedelma and the King\u2019s Son would get a horse\nto ride to the Spae-Woman\u2019s house. The Little Sage told them from\nwhat people the Spae-Woman came and why she lived amongst the poor\nand foolish without name or splendor or riches. And that, too, was a\nwonderful story.\n\n\nNow as the three went along the river-side they saw a girl on the other\nside of the river and she was walking from the place towards which they\nwere going. The girl sang to herself as she went along, and the King\u2019s\nSon and Fedelma and the Little Sage of the Mountain heard what she\nsang,--\n\n   A berry, a berry, a red rowan berry,\n   A red rowan berry brought mc beauty and love.\n\n   But drops of my heart\u2019s blood, drops of my heart\u2019s blood,\n   Seven drops of my heart\u2019s blood I have given away.\n\n   Seven wild geese were men, seven wild geese were men,\n   Seven drops of my heart\u2019s blood are there for your spell.\n\n   A kiss for my love, a kiss for my love,\n   May his kiss go to none till he meet me again.\n\n   If to one go his kiss, if to one go his kiss,\n   He may meet, he may meet, and not know me again.\n\nThe girl on the other bank of the river passed on, and the King\u2019s Son\nand Fedelma with the Little Sage of the Mountain came to the meadow\nwhere the horse was. A heavy, slow-moving horse he seemed. But when they\nmounted him they found he had the three qualities of Finn\u2019s steeds--a\nquick rush against a hill, the gait of a fox, easy and proud, on the\nlevel ground, and the jump of a deer over harriers. They left health and\ngood luck with the Little Sage of the Mountain, and on the horse he gave\nthem they rode on to the Spae-Woman\u2019s house.\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nWhen Fedelma and the King of Ireland\u2019s Son came to the Spae-Woman\u2019s\nhouse, who was the first person they saw there but Gilveen, Fedelma\u2019s\nsister! She came to where they reined their horse and smiled in the\nfaces of her sister and the King of Ireland\u2019s Son. And she it was who\ngave them their first welcome. \u201cAnd you will be asking how I came here,\u201d\n said Gilveen, \u201cand I will tell you without wasting candle-light. Myself\nand sister Aefa went to the court of the King of Ireland after you, my\nsister, had gone from us with the lucky man of your choice. And as for\nAefa, she has been lucky too in finding a match and she is now married\nto Maravaun the King\u2019s Councillor. I have been with Caintigern the\nQueen. And now the Queen is in the house of the Spae-Woman with the\nyouth Flann and she is longing to give the clasp of welcome to both of\nyou. And if you sit beside me on this grassy ditch I will tell you the\nwhole story from the first to the last syllable.\u201d\n\nThey sat together, and Gilveen told Fedelma and the King\u2019s Son the\nstory. The Spae-Woman had sent a message to Caintigern the Queen to tell\nher she had tidings of her first-born son. Thereupon Caintigern went to\nthe Spae-Woman\u2019s house and Gilveen, her attendant, went with her. She\nfound there Flann who had been known as Gilly of the Goatskin, and knew\nhim for the son who had been stolen from her when he was born. Flann\ngave his mother a token which had been given him by a young woman. The\ntoken was a handkerchief and it held seven drops of heart\u2019s blood. The\nSpae-Woman told the Queen that these seven drops would disenchant her\nbrothers who had been changed from their own forms into the forms of\nseven wild geese.\n\nAnd while Gilveen was telling them all this Flann came to see whose\nhorse was there, and great was his joy to find his comrade the King of\nIreland\u2019s Son. They knew now that they were the sons of the one father,\nand they embraced each other as brothers. And Flann took the hand of\nFedelma and he told her and the King\u2019s Son of his love for Morag. But\nwhen he was speaking of Morag, Gilveen went away.\n\nThen Flann took them into the Spae-Woman\u2019s house, and the Queen who was\nseated at the fire rose up and gave them the clasp of welcome. The\nface she turned to the King\u2019s Son was kindly and she called him by his\nchild\u2019s name. She said too that she was well pleased that he and Flann\nher son were good comrades, and she prayed they would be good comrades\nalways.\n\n\nFedelma and the King of Ireland\u2019s Son rested themselves for a day. Then\nthe Spae-Woman said that the Queen would strive on the next night--it\nwas the night of the full moon--to bring back her seven brothers to\ntheir own forms. The Spae-Woman said too that the Queen and herself\nshould be left alone in the house and that the King of Ireland\u2019s\nSon with Flann and Fedelma and Gilveen should go towards the King of\nIreland\u2019s Castle with MacStairn the woodman, and wait for the Queen at a\nplace a day\u2019s journey away.\n\nSo the King of Ireland\u2019s Son and Flann, Fedelma and Gilveen bade good-by\nto the Queen, to the Spae-Woman and to the Spae-Woman\u2019s house, and\nstarted their journey towards the King\u2019s Castle with MacStairn the\nWoodman who walked beside their horses, a big axe in his hands.\n\nAt night MacStairn built two bothies for them--one covered with green\nboughs for Fedelma and Gilveen and one covered with cut sods for Flann\nand the King of Ireland\u2019s Son. Flann lay near the opening of this\nbothie. And at night, when the only stir in the forest was that of the\nleaves whispering to the Secret People, Gilveen arose from where she lay\nand came to the other bothie and whispered Flann\u2019s name. He awakened,\nand thinking that Morag had come back to him (he had been dreaming of\nher), he put out his arms, drew Gilveen to him and kissed her. Then\nGilveen ran back to her own bothie. And Flann did not know whether he\nhad awakened or whether he had remained in a dream.\n\nBut when he arose the next morning no thought of Morag was in his\nmind. And when the King\u2019s Son rode with Fedelma he rode with Gilveen.\nAfterwards Gilveen gave him a drink that enchanted him, so that he\nthought of her night and day.\n\nNeither Fedelma nor the King\u2019s Son knew what had come over Flann. They\nmentioned the name he had spoken of so often--Morag\u2019s name but it seemed\nas if it had no meaning for him. At noon they halted to bide until the\nQueen came with or without her seven brothers. Flann and Gilveen were\nalways together. And always Gilveen was smiling.\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\nWhen Caintigern had come, when she knew her son Flann, and when it was\nknown to her and to the Spae-Woman that the token Morag had given him\nheld the seven drops of heart\u2019s blood that would bring back to their\nown forms the seven wild geese that were Caintigern\u2019s brothers--when\nall this was known the Spae-Woman sent her most secret messenger to the\nmarshes to give word to the seven wild geese that they were to fly to\nher house on the night when the moon was full. Her messenger was the\ncorncrake. She traveled night and day, running swiftly through the\nmeadows. She hid on the edge of the marshes and craked out her message\nto the seven wild geese. At last they heard what she said. On the day\nbefore the night of the full moon they flew, the seven together, towards\nthe Spae-Woman\u2019s house.\n\nNo one was in the house but Caintigern the Queen. The door was left\nopen to the light of the moon. The seven wild geese flew down and stayed\noutside the door, moving their heads and wings in the full moonlight.\n\nThen Caintigern arose and took bread that the Spae-Woman had made. She\nmoistened it in her mouth, and into each bit of moistened bread she put\na piece of the handkerchief that had a drop of blood. She held out\nher hand, giving each the moistened bread. The first that ate it fell\nforward on the floor of the Spae-Woman\u2019s house, his head down on the\nground. His sister saw him then as a kneeling man with this arms held\nbehind him as if they were bound. And when she looked outside she saw\nthe others like kneeling men with their heads bent and their arms held\nbehind them. Then Caintigern said, giving the Spae-Woman her secret\nname, \u201cO Grania Oi, let it be that my brothers be changed back to men!\u201d\n When she said this she saw the Spae-Woman coming across the court-yard.\nThe Spae-Woman waved her hands over the bent figures. They lifted\nthemselves up as men--as naked, gray men.\n\nThe Spae-Woman gave each a garment and the seven men came into the\nhouse. They would stand and not sit, and for long they had no speech.\nTheir sister knelt before each and wet his hand with her tears. She\nthought she should see them as youths or as young men, and they were\ngray now and past the prime of their lives.\n\nThey stayed at the house and speech came back to them. Then they longed\nto go back to their father\u2019s, but Caintigern could not bear that they\nshould go from her sight. At last four of her brothers went and three\nstayed with her. They would go to her husband\u2019s Castle and the others\nwould go too after they had been at their father\u2019s. Then one day\nCaintigern said farewell. The thanks that was due to the Spae-Woman, she\nsaid she would give by her treatment of the maid who had given the\ntoken to her son Flann. And she prayed that Morag would soon come to the\nKing\u2019s Castle.\n\n\nShe went with her three brothers to the place where Flann and the King\nof Ireland\u2019s Son, Fedelma and Gilveen waited for them. A smith groomed\nand decked horses for all of them and they rode towards the King of\nIreland\u2019s Castle, MacStairn, the Woodman, going before to announce their\ncoming.\n\nThe King of Ireland waited at the stone where the riders to his Castle\ndismount, and his steward, his Councillor and his Druid were beside him.\nHe lifted his wife off her horse and she brought him to Flann. And when\nthe King looked into Flann\u2019s eyes he knew he was his son and the son\nof Sheen, now known as Caintigern. He gave Flann a father\u2019s clasp of\nwelcome. And the queen brought him to her own three brothers who had\nbeen estranged from human companionship from before he knew her. And she\nbrought him to the youth who was always known as the King of Ireland\u2019s\nSon, and him his father welcomed from the path of danger.\n\nAnd then the King\u2019s Son took Fedelma to his father and told him she\nwas his love and his wife to be. And the King welcomed Fedelma to the\nCastle. Then said Gilveen, \u201cThere is a secret between this young man,\nFlann, and myself.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is the secret?\u201d said the Queen, laying her hands suddenly upon\nGilveen\u2019s shoulders.\n\n\u201cThat I am his wife to be,\u201d said Gilveen.\n\nThe Queen went to her son and said, \u201cDost thou not remember Morag,\nFlann, who gave the token that thou gavest me?\u201d\n\nAnd Flann said, \u201cMorag! I think the Spae-Woman spoke of her name in a\nstory.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am Flann\u2019s wife to be,\u201d said Gilveen, smiling in his face.\n\n\u201cYes, my wife to be,\u201d said Flann. Then the King welcomed Gilveen too,\nand they all went into the Castle. He told his wife he had messages from\nthe King of Senlabor about his other sons Dermott and Downal, saying\nthat they were making good names for themselves, and that everything\nthey did was becoming to sons of Kings. In the hall Fedelma saw Aefa her\nother sister. Aefa was so proud of herself since she married Maravaun\nthe King\u2019s Councillor that she would hardly speak to anyone. She gave\nher sisters the tips of her fingers and she bowed very slightingly to\nthe two youths. The King questioned his druid as to when it would be\nwell to have marriages made in his Castle and the druid said it would be\nwell not to make them until the next appearance of the full moon.\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\n\nAs for Morag she went by track and path, by boher and bohereen, through\nfords in rivers and over stepping-stones across them, until at last she\ncame to the country of Senlabor and to the Castle of the King.\n\nNo one of high degree was in the Castle, for all had gone to watch the\nyoung horses being broken in the meadow by the river; the King and\nQueen had gone, and the King\u2019s foster-daughters; and of the maids in the\nCastle, Baun and Deelish had gone too. The King\u2019s Councillor also had\ngone from the Castle. Morag went and stayed in the kitchen, and the\nmaids who were there did not know her, either because they were new and\nhad not heard her spoken of at all, or because she had changed to such\nbeauty through eating the berry of the Fairy Rowan Tree that no one\ncould know her now for Morag who had cleaned dishes in that kitchen\nbefore.\n\nIt was Breas the King\u2019s Steward who came to her and asked her who she\nwas. She told him. Then Breas looked sharply at her and saw she was\nindeed Morag who had been in the King\u2019s kitchen. Then he said loudly,\n\u201cBefore you left you broke the dish that the King looked on as his\nespecial treasure, and for this, you will be left in the Stone House. I\nwho have power in this matter order that it be so.\u201d Then he said in her\near, \u201cBut kisses and sweet words would make me willing to save you.\u201d\n\nMorag, in a voice raised, called him by that evil name that he was known\nby to the servants and their gossips. But the servants, hearing that\nname said in the hearing of Breas, pretended to be scandalized. They\nwent to Morag and struck her with the besoms they had for sweeping the\nfloor.\n\n\nJust then her foster-sisters, Baun and Deelish, came into the kitchen.\nSeeing her there they knew her. They spoke to her quietly, but with\nanger, saying they had not wanted her to go on the journey she had\ntaken, but, as she had gone it was a pity she had come back, for now she\nhad behaved in an iii-mannered way, and they who were her foster-sisters\nwould be thought to be as ill-mannered; they told her too that before\nshe came back they were well-liked by all, and that Breas had even\nordered a shady place to be given them at the horse-breaking sports,\nand they had been able to see the two youths who had broken the horses,\nDermott and Downal.\n\n\u201cIt was for a benefit to you that I came back,\u201d said Morag. \u201cI shall\nask one of you to do a thing for me. You, Baun, sing for the\nfoster-daughters of the King. Before they sleep to-night ask them to\ntell the Queen that Morag has returned, and has a thing to give her.\u201d\n\n\u201cI shall try to remember that, Morag,\u201d said Baun. Morag was taken to\nthe Stone House by strong-armed bondswomen, and Baun and Deelish sat in\ncorners and cried and did not go near her.\n\nThat night the King\u2019s foster-daughters kept awake for long, and after\nBaun had sung to them they asked her to tell them what had happened in\nthe Castle. Then Baun remembered the tumult in the kitchen that had come\nfrom the name given to Breas. She told the King\u2019s foster-daughters that\nMorag had come back. \u201cShe was reared in the same house with us,\u201d said\nBaun, \u201cbut she is not of the same parents.\u201d And then she said; \u201cIf your\nFair Finenesses can remember, tell the Queen that Morag has come back.\u201d\n\nThe next day when they were walking with the Queen one of the King\u2019s\nfoster-daughters said, \u201cDid you know of a maid named Morag? I have heard\nthat she has been away and has come back.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow did she fare?\u201d said the Queen.\n\n\u201cWe have not heard that,\u201d said the maiden who spoke.\n\nThe Queen went to where Baun and Deelish were and from them she heard\nthat Morag had been put into the Stone House on the charge that she had\nbroken the King\u2019s dish when she had been in the Castle before. Now the\nQueen knew that the dish had been safe after Morag had left. She went\nto the King\u2019s Steward and accused him of having broken it and Breas\nadmitted that it was so. Thereupon he lost his rank and became the\nmeanest and the most despised servant in the Castle.\n\nThe Queen went to the Stone House and took Morag out. She asked her how\nshe had fared and thereupon Morag put the Rowan Berry in the Queen\u2019s\nhand. She hastened to her own chamber and ate it, and her youth and\nbeauty came back to her, and the King who had grown solitary, loved the\nQueen again.\n\nThen Morag came to great honor in the Castle and the Queen asked her\nto name the greatest favor she could think of. And the favor that Morag\nnamed was marriages for her foster-sisters with the two youths they\nloved, Downal and Dermott from the court of the King of Ireland.\n\nThe Queen, when she heard this, brought fine clothes out of her chests\nand gave them to Baun and Deelish. When they had dressed in these\nclothes the Queen made them known to the two youths. Downal and Dermott\nfell in love with Morag\u2019s foster-sisters, and the King named a day for\nthe pairs to marry.\n\nMorag waited to see the marriages, and the King and Queen made it a\ngrand affair. There were seven hundred guests at the short table,\neight hundred at the long table, nine hundred at the round table, and\na thousand in the great hall. I was there, and I heard the whole story.\nBut I got no present save shoes of paper and stockings of butter-milk\nand these a herdsman stole from me as I crossed the mountains.\n\nBut Morag got better presents, for the Queen gave her three gifts--a\nscissors that cut cloth of itself, a ball of thread that went into the\nneedle of itself, and a needle that sewed of itself.\n\n\n\n\nV\n\n\n\nMorag, with the three gifts that the Queen of Senlabor gave her,\ncame again to the Spae-Woman\u2019s house. Her Little Red Hen was in the\ncourtyard, and she fluttered up to meet her. But there was no sign of\nany other life about the place. Then, below at the washing-stream\nshe found the Spae-Woman rinsing clothes. She was standing on the\nmiddle-stones, clapping her hands as if in great trouble. \u201cOh, Morag,\nmy daughter Morag,\u201d cried the Spae-Woman, \u201cthere are signs on the\nclothes--there are signs on the clothes!\u201d\n\nAfter a while she ceased crying and clapping her hands and came up from\nthe stream. She showed Morag that in all the shifts and dimities she\nwashed for her, a hole came just above where her heart would be. Morag\ngrew pale when she saw that, but she stood steadily and she did not\nwail. \u201cShould I go to the King\u2019s Castle, fosterer?\u201d said she. \u201cNo,\u201d\n said the Spae-Woman, \u201cbut to the woodman\u2019s hut that is near the King\u2019s\nCastle. And take your Little Red Hen with you, my daughter,\u201d said she,\n\u201cand do not forget the three presents that the Queen of Senlabor gave\nyou.\u201d Then the Spae-Woman stood up and said the blessing of the journey\nover Morag:--\n\n   May the Olden\n   One, whom Fairy\n   Women nurtured\n   Through seven ages,\n   Bring you seven\n   Waves of fortune.\n\nMorag gave her the clasp of farewell then, and went on her way with the\nLittle Red Hen under her arm and the three presents that the Queen of\nSenlabor gave her in her pouch.\n\n\nMorag was going and ever going from the blink of day to the mouth of\ndark and that for three crossings of the sun, and at last she came\nwithin sight of the Castle of the King of Ireland. She asked a dog-boy\nfor the hut of MacStairn the Woodman and the hut was shown to her. She\nwent to it and saw the wife of MacStairn. She told her she was a girl\ntraveling alone and she asked for shelter. \u201cI can give you shelter,\u201d\n said MacStairn\u2019s wife, \u201cand I can get you earnings too, for there is\nmuch sewing-work to be done at this time.\u201d Morag asked her what reason\nthere was for that, and the woodman\u2019s wife told her there were two\ncouples in the Castle to be married soon. \u201cOne is the youth whom we have\nalways called the King of Ireland\u2019s Son. He is to be married to a maiden\ncalled Fedelma. The other is a youth who is the King\u2019s son too, hut\nwho has been away for a long time. Flann is his name. And he is to be\nmarried to a damsel called Gilveen.\u201d\n\nWhen she heard that, it was as if a knife had been put into and turned\nin her heart. She let the Little Red Hen drop from her arm. \u201cI would sew\nthe garments that the damsel Gilveen is to wear,\u201d said she, and she sat\ndown on the stone outside the woodman\u2019s hut. MacStairn\u2019s wife then sent\nto the Castle to say that there was one in her hut who could sew all the\ngarments that Gilveen would send her.\n\nThe next day, with a servant walking behind, Gilveen came to the\nwoodman\u2019s hut with a basket of cloths and patterns. The basket was left\ndown and Gilveen began to tell MacStairn\u2019s wife how she wanted them cut,\nstitched and embroidered. Morag took up the crimson doth and let her\nscissors--the scissors that the Queen of Senlabor gave her--run through\nit. It cut out the pattern exactly. \u201cWhat a wonderful scissors,\u201d said\nGilveen. She stooped down to where Morag was sitting on the stone\noutside of the woodman\u2019s house and took up the scissors in her hand. She\nexamined it. \u201cI cannot give it back to you,\u201d said she. \u201cGive it to me,\nand I will let you have any favor you ask.\u201d \u201cSince you want me to\nask you for a favor,\u201d said Morag, \u201cI ask that you let me sit at the\nsupper-table to-night alone with the youth you are to marry.\u201d \u201cThat will\ndo me no harm,\u201d said Gilveen. She went away, taking the scissors and\nsmiling to herself.\n\nThat night Morag went into the Castle and came to the supper-table where\nFlann was seated alone. But Gilveen had put a sleeping-draught into\nFlann\u2019s cup and he neither saw nor knew Morag when she sat at the\ntable. \u201cDo you remember, Flann,\u201d said she, \u201chow we used to sit at the\nsupper-board in the house of Crom Duv?\u201d But Flann did not hear her, nor\nsee her, and then Morag had to go away.\n\n\n\nVI\n\n\nThe next day Gilveen came to where Morag sat on the stone outside the\nwoodman\u2019s hut to watch her stitch the garment she had cut out. The\nthread went into the needle of itself. \u201cWhat a wonderful ball of\nthread,\u201d said Gilveen, taking it up. \u201cI cannot give it back to you. Ask\nme for a favor in place of it.\u201d \u201cSince you would have me ask a favor,\u201d\n said Morag, \u201cI ask that you let me sit at the supper-table alone with\nthe youth you are going to marry.\u201d \u201cThat will do me no harm,\u201d said\nGilveen. She took the ball of thread and went away smiling.\n\nThat night Morag went into the Castle and came to the supper-table where\nFlann was seated alone. But Gilveen again had put a sleeping-draught\ninto his cup, and Flann did not see or know Morag. \u201cDo you not remember,\nFlann,\u201d said she, \u201cthe story of Morag that I told you across the\nsupper-board in the House of Crom Duv?\u201d But Flann gave no sign of\nknowing her, and then Morag had to go away.\n\nThe next day Gilveen came to watch Morag make the red embroideries upon\nthe white garment. When she put the needle into the cloth it worked out\nthe pattern of itself. \u201cThis is the most wonderful thing of all,\u201d said\nGilveen. She stooped down and took the needle in her hand. \u201cI cannot\ngive this back to you,\u201d she said, \u201cand you will have to ask for a favor\nthat will recompense you.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf I must ask for a favor,\u201d said Morag, \u201cthe only favor I would ask is\nthat you let me sit at the supper-table to-night alone with the youth\nyou are to marry.\u201d \u201cThat will do me no harm,\u201d said Gilveen, and she took\nthe needle and went away smiling. Morag went to the Castle again that\nnight, but this time she took the Little Red Hen with her. She scattered\ngrains on the table and the Little Red Hen picked them up. \u201cLittle Hen,\nLittle Red Hen,\u201d said Morag, \u201che slept too when I gave the seven drops\nof my heart\u2019s blood for his mother\u2019s sake.\u201d The Little Red Hen flew\ninto Flann\u2019s face. \u201cSeven drops of heart\u2019s blood, seven drops of heart\u2019s\nblood,\u201d said the Little Red Hen, and Flann heard the words.\n\nHe opened his eyes and saw the Little Red Hen on the table and knew that\nshe belonged to one that he had known. Morag, at the other side of the\ntable, looked strange and shadowy to him. But he threw crumbs on the\ntable and fed the Little Red Hen, and as he watched her picking up the\ncrumbs the memory of Morag came back to him. Then he saw her. He knew\nher for his sweetheart and his promised wife and he went to her and\nasked her how it came that she had not been in his mind for so long. \u201cI\nwill tell you how you came to forget me,\u201d said she, \u201cit was because of\nthe kiss you gave Gilveen, and the enchantment she was able to put on\nyou because of that kiss.\u201d\n\nThere was sorrow on Morag\u2019s face when she said that, but the sorrow went\nas the thin clouds go from before the face of the high-hung moon, and\nFlann saw her as his kind comrade of Crom Duv\u2019s and as his beautiful\nfriend of the Spae-Woman\u2019s house. They kissed each other then, and every\nenchantment went but the lasting enchantment of love, and they sat with\nhands joined until the log in the fire beside them had burnt itself down\ninto a brand and the brand had burnt itself into ashes, and all the time\nthat passed was, as they thought, only while the watching-gilly outside\nwalked from one side of the Castle Gate to the other.\n\n\nGilveen had come into the room and she saw Flann and Morag give each\nother a true-lover\u2019s kiss. She went away. But the next day she came to\nthe King\u2019s Steward, Art, who at one time wanted to marry her, and whom\nshe had refused because Aefa, her sister, had married one of a higher\ndegree--she came to Art and she told him that she would not marry Flann\nbecause she had found out that he had a low-born sweetheart. \u201cAnd I am\nready to marry you, Art,\u201d she said. And Art was well pleased, and he and\nGilveen left the Castle to be married.\n\nThen the day came when Fedelma and the King of Ireland\u2019s Son, and Morag\nand Flann were married. They were plighted to each other in the Circle\nof Stones by the Druids who invoked upon them the powers of the Sun, the\nMoon, the Earth, and the Air. They were married at the height of the day\nand they feasted at night when the wax candles were lighted round the\ntables. They had Greek honey and Lochlinn beer; ducks from Achill,\napples from Emain and venison from the Hunting Hill; they had trout\nand grouse and plovers\u2019 eggs and a boar\u2019s head for every King in the\ncompany. And these were the Kings who sat down to table with the King of\nEirinn: the King of Sorcha, the King of Hispania, the King of Lochlinn\nand the King of the Green Island who had Sunbeam for his daughter. And\nthey had there the best heroes of Lochlinn, the best story-tellers of\nAlba, the best bards of Eirinn. They laid sorrow and they raised music,\nand the harpers played until the great champion Split-the-Shields told a\ntale of the realm of Greece and how he slew the three lions that guarded\nthe daughter of the King. They feasted for six days and the last day\nwas better than the first, and the laugh they laughed when Witless, the\nSaxon fool, told how Split-the-Shield\u2019s story should have ended, shook\nthe young jackdaws out of every chimney in the Castle and brought them\ndown fluttering on the floors.\n\nThe King of Ireland lived long, but he died while his sons were in their\nstrong manhood, and after he passed away the Island of Destiny came\nunder the equal rule of the two. And one had rule over the courts and\ncities, the harbors and the military encampments. And the other had rule\nover the waste places and the villages and the roads where masterless\nmen walked. And the deeds of one are in the histories the shanachies\nhave written in the language of the learned, and the deeds of the other\nare in the stories the people tell to you and to me.\n\n   When I crossed the Ford\n   They were turning the Mountain Pass;\n   When I stood on the Stepping-stones\n   They were travelling the Road of Glass.\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg\u2019s The King of Ireland\u2019s Son, by Padraic Colum","title":"The King of Ireland's Son","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":66207}