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diff --git a/29311-h/29311-h.htm b/29311-h/29311-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a666ca1 --- /dev/null +++ b/29311-h/29311-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5368 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> +<title> +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Irish Fairy Tales, by Edmund Leamy. +</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + p {margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.5em;} + body {margin-left: 11%; margin-right: 10%;} + a {text-decoration: none;} + @media screen { + hr.pb {margin:30px 0; width:100%; border:none;border-top:thin dashed silver;} + .pagenum {display: inline; font-size: x-small; text-align: right; position: absolute; right: 2%; padding: 1px 3px; font-style: normal; font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; border:1px solid #eee;} + .pncolor {color: silver;} + } + @media print { + hr.pb {border:none;page-break-after: always;} + .pagenum { display:none; } + } + .blockquote {font-size:0.9em; margin-left:4em; margin-right:4em; text-align:left;} + div.ldesc {background-color: #E6E6FA; color: black; font-size:smaller; padding:0.5em; margin-bottom:5em; margin-top: 2em; font-family:sans-serif, serif;} + h3 {font-size:1.2em;} + hr.fn {width:3em; border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; margin-left:0; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em;} + .trnote {background-color: #EEE; color: inherit; margin: 2em 5% 1em 5%; font-size: 80%; padding: 0.5em 1em 0.5em 1em; border: dotted 1px gray;} + h4 {font-size:1.0em;margin:1px;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .inlinenote {display: inline; font-size: x-small; text-align: center; padding: 1px 3px; font-style: normal; font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; text-decoration: none; color: black; background-color: inherit; border:1px solid #eee} + .footnote {position:static; text-align:left;} + ins.trchange {text-decoration: none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + .nowrap {white-space:nowrap;} + .poem {font-size:0.9em; margin-top:1.5em; margin-bottom:1.5em} + .fnanchor {font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + .figcenter {margin: 2em auto 2em auto; text-align: center;} + .figtag {height: 1px;} + blockquote {display: block; margin: .75em 10% .75em 5%; font-size:0.9em;} + p.tp {font-size:1em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:center;} + hr.note_rule {width: 40%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; border:none; border-bottom:1px solid silver; clear:both;} + .label {display:none;} + .caption {font-size:smaller;} + table {text-align:justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4 {text-align:center; font-weight:normal;} + p.h2 {font-size:1.3em; text-align:center; font-weight:normal;} + h1 {font-size:1.5em;} + hr.major {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; border:none; border-bottom:1px solid silver; clear:both;} + h2 {font-size:1.3em;} +</style> + +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Irish Fairy Tales, by Edmond Leamy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Irish Fairy Tales + +Author: Edmond Leamy + +Illustrator: S. Fazoin + +Release Date: July 4, 2009 [EBook #29311] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IRISH FAIRY TALES *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Dan Horwood and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<hr class='pb' /> +<h1>IRISH FAIRY TALES</h1> +<hr class='pb' /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src='images/illus-003.png' longdesc='#illus003' alt='Title Page' style='width:350px; height:500px' /><br /> +<p class="caption" style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center; width: 350px;"'> +[<a href="#illus003">Textual content of the title page.</a>] +</p> +</div> +<hr class='pb' /> +<p style="margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:2em; text-align:center; font-size:smaller">M. H. Gill & Son, Ltd.,<br /> +Dublin.</p> +<hr class='pb' /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<table border='0' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto;'> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'></td> + <td valign='top' align='right'><p style="font-size:smaller;text-align:right">PAGE</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Preface</span>,</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#PREFACE'>vii</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Note</span>,</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#NOTE'>xi</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'>Princess Finola and the Dwarf,</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#PRINCESS_FINOLA_AND_THE_DWARF'>1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'>The House in the Lake,</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_HOUSE_IN_THE_LAKE'>19</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'>The Little White Cat,</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_LITTLE_WHITE_CAT'>41</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'>The Golden Spears,</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_GOLDEN_SPEARS'>63</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'>The Fairy Tree of Dooros,</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_FAIRY_TREE_OF_DOOROS'>82</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'>The Enchanted Cave,</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_ENCHANTED_CAVE'>101</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'>The Huntsman’s Son,</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#THE_HUNTSMANS_SON'>124</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'>Notes,</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#NOTES'>145</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<hr class='pb' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_vii' name='page_vii'></a>vii</span> +<a name='PREFACE' id='PREFACE'></a> +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> +</div> +<p>The author of the tales contained in this volume +was one of the brightest and most poetic spirits +who have appeared in Ireland in the last half +century. It is needless to say that he was also +one of the most patriotic Irishmen of his generation––patriotic +in the highest and widest sense of +that term, loving with an ardent love his country, +its people, its historic traditions, its hills and plains, +its lakes and streams, its raths and mounds. Like +all men of his type, he lived largely in the past, +and his fancy revelled much in fairy scenes of +childhood and youth.</p> +<p>The distractions of political life, into which he +entered with characteristic enthusiasm, prevented +Edmund Leamy from cultivating his favourite +field of literature with that assiduity and sustained +application necessary for the purpose of bringing +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_viii' name='page_viii'></a>viii</span> +out the really great intellectual powers with which +he was endowed; otherwise, he would certainly +have left to Ireland a large body of literature which +would have been the delight of old and young. +But in this volume he has given at least an indication +of what he was capable of doing towards +that end. No one can read these pages without +feeling the charm of a fine and delicate fancy, a +rare power of poetic expression, and a genuinely +Irish instinct; without feeling also an intense regret +that the mind and heart from which they proceeded +were stilled in death long before the powers +of his genius could have been exhausted.</p> +<p>To myself, as one of the most intimate friends +of Edmund Leamy, it is a melancholy pleasure to +have the privilege of writing these few words of +introduction to a volume which, for the purpose +of preserving his memory amongst his countrymen, +needs no introduction at all. The claims of a +long friendship, the knowledge of as stainless a +life as has ever been lived, and admiration for +moral and intellectual endowments of the rarest +character, render it easy to praise. But I do not +think that I indulge in undue expectation in predicting +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_ix' name='page_ix'></a>ix</span> +that the new audience to which this volume +will come will rise from its perusal with something +of the feelings of love, admiration, and regret which +those who knew Edmund Leamy personally will +ever cherish in their hearts.</p> +<p style="text-align:right; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:2em; margin-right:2em">J. E. REDMOND.</p> +<p style="margin-left:2em"><span style="font-variant:small-caps">Dublin</span>, <i>June 2nd, 1906</i>.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_xi' name='page_xi'></a>xi</span> +<a name='NOTE' id='NOTE'></a> +<h2>NOTE.</h2> +</div> +<p>When the friends of the late Edmund Leamy +were considering ways of honouring his memory +they agreed that one way should be to republish +this little book of Irish fairy tales. They knew +that nothing would have been more grateful to +himself, and that, in a manner, it would be an act +of justice to his remarkable gifts. It would introduce +a characteristic specimen of Leamy’s work +to a race of readers who have appeared since it +was written and who ought to be in a mood more +appreciative of such literature than the mood +which prevailed in that day. For the book has +long been out of print. These “Irish Fairy Tales” +were written, and printed on Irish paper, and +published through an Irish publisher––Leamy +would not bring out a book in any other way––before +the Celtic renaissance had arrived. This is one +of the facts which make them interesting. Perhaps, +as some would tell us, seventeen years ago was a +benighted time; at any rate we must admit it was +rather dark from an Irish literary, or even “Irish +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_xii' name='page_xii'></a>xii</span> +Ireland,” point of view. It was before the Gaelic +movement, and before we had such things as +“intellectuals” and the “economic man,” or even +the Irish Literary Theatre. Leamy’s gentle and +loyal soul could have taken no influence from the +asperity of some of the intervening ferment, +“Parliamentarian” though he was. Had the +impulse to write this volume come to him in this +later period he would only have drawn from the +time the nourishment which the atmosphere of +sympathy always brings to the artist. But the +impulse came to him before this period, in an atmosphere +which held little that could nourish the +sentiment so abundant among us to-day. O’Curry’s +and Dr. Joyce’s books were almost the only sources +of Gaelic inspiration open to a writer who was not +a professed student. Douglas Hyde, though always +at work, had not yet brought the fruits of his researches +to light; Miss Eleanor Hull had not +collected into a handy volume the materials of +“The Cuchullin Saga”; Kuno Meyer we did not +know; Standish O’Grady, though he had published +his “Heroic Period,” had not yet begun +popularising the bardic tales in such volumes as +“Finn and his Companions.” No one was reading +anything about Ireland but political matter. I +think one may fairly claim some respect from this +later day for a writer who seventeen years ago, of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_xiii' name='page_xiii'></a>xiii</span> +his own motion, with scarce a word of <ins class="trchange" title="Was 'encourage ment' over line break">encouragement</ins> +save from his wife and a friend or two––perhaps +only one friend––turned to our Gaelic past +and strove to give to Irish children something +which would implant in them a love for the beauty +and dignity of their country’s traditions.</p> +<p>The modest author would never have claimed +for these little tales the interest which I think they +deserve. He wrote them for children, for he loved +children, and one can detect the presence of the +child listener at nearly every line. He was not +thinking of a literary audience; the child at his knee +was enough. This is why we hear (occasionally) +a certain <i>naïve</i> accent which will not, perhaps, please +the contemporary critic; but (as there are many +who again find pleasure in early Victorian furniture) +it may please others; I confess it pleases me. +And the absence of literary self-consciousness is +itself pleasant; indeed, much of the charm of these +stories is the charm of their unpremeditated art. +But, though he did not write for the critics, Leamy +was in spite of himself a man of letters. He was +so genuinely an artist that he could not do the +thing ill. Any one of these stories will prove his +capacity: the first, for instance, about that princess +on the “bare, brown, lonely moor” who was “as +sweet and as fresh as an opening rosebud, and her +voice was as musical as the whisper of a stream in +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_xiv' name='page_xiv'></a>xiv</span> +the woods in the hot days of summer.” There is +not a flaw in it. It is so filled with simple beauty +and tenderness, and there is so much of the genuine +word-magic in its language, that one is carried away +as by the spell of natural oratory. It has, too, that +intimate sympathy with nature which is another +racial note in these stories. The enchanted moor, +with its silence, where no sound is heard––the +wind which shouted beyond the mountains, “when +it sped across the moor it lost its voice, and passed +as silently as the dead”––is affected by the fortune +of the tale equally with its human and its elfin +personages. When the knight arrives at last, +“wherever his horse’s hoofs struck the ground, +grass and flowers sprang up, and great trees with +leafy branches rose on every side.... As they +rode on beneath the leafy trees from every tree the +birds sang out, for the spell of silence over the lonely +moor was broken for ever.” This unpretentious +story, a child’s story, is as engaging as a gem. +And so, I think, are most of the others. One more +example to illustrate the quality of Leamy’s +style––say, the description of the contest of the +bards before the High King at the Feis of Tara +in the story called “The Huntsman’s Son.” +The King gives the signal, the chief bard of Erin +ascends the mound in front of the royal enclosure, +and is greeted with a roar of cheers; but at +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_xv' name='page_xv'></a>xv</span> +the first note of his harp there is silence like that +of night.</p> +<p class="blockquote" >“As he moved his fingers softly over the strings every +heart was hushed, filled with a sense of balmy rest. The +lark, soaring and singing above his head, paused mute and +motionless in the still air, and no sound was heard over the +spacious plain save the dreamy music. Then the bard struck +another key, and a gentle sorrow possessed the hearts of his +hearers, and unbidden tears gathered to their eyes. Then, +with bolder hand, he swept his fingers across his lyre, and +all hearts were moved to joy and pleasant laughter, and +eyes that had been dimmed by tears sparkled as brightly +as running waters dancing in the sun. When the last notes +had died away a cheer arose, loud as the voice of the storm +in the glen when the live thunder is revelling on the mountain +tops.”</p> +<p>As soon as the bard descends the mound the +Skald from the northern lands takes his place, +amid shouts of welcome.</p> +<p class="blockquote" >“He touched his harp, and in the perfect silence was heard +the strains of the mermaid’s song, and through it the pleasant +ripple of summer waters on the pebbly beach. Then the theme +was changed, and on the air was borne the measured sweep +of countless oars and the swish of waters around the prows +of contending galleys, and the breezy voices of the sailors +and the sea-bird’s cry. Then his theme was changed to the +mirth and laughter of the banquet hall, the clang of meeting +drinking-horns and songs of battle. When the last strain +ended, from the mighty host a great shout went up loud as the +roar of winter billows breaking in the hollows of the shore.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_xvi' name='page_xvi'></a>xvi</span></p> +<p>Then comes the hero of the tale, Fergus, the +huntsman’s son.</p> +<p class="blockquote" >“He touched his harp with gentle fingers, and a sound, +low and soft as a faint summer breeze passing through forest +trees, stole out, and then was heard the rustle of birds through +the branches, and the dreamy murmur of waters lost in +deepest woods, and all the fairy echoes whispering when +the leaves are motionless in the noonday heat; then followed +notes, cool and soft as the drip of summer showers on the +parched grass, and then the song of the blackbird sounding +as clearly as it sounds in long silent spaces of the evening, +and then in one sweet jocund burst the multitudinous voices +that hail the breaking of the morn. And the lark, singing +and soaring above the minstrel, sank mute and motionless +upon his shoulder, and from all the leafy woods the birds +came thronging out and formed a fluttering canopy above +his head.</p> +<p>“When the bard ceased playing no shout arose from the +mighty multitude, for the strains of his harp, long after its +chords were stilled, held their hearts spell-bound.”</p> +<p>This passage reveals the poetry of the author’s +style, and it shows how charged it is with qualities +that are peculiar to the Celtic temperament: a style +in which expressions like “the song of the blackbird +sounding as clearly as it sounds in long silent +spaces of the evening,” or “she answered his salute +by a wave of her little hand, that was as white as +a wild rose in the hedges in June,” spring up +naturally, like daisies in the grass, at every turn. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_xvii' name='page_xvii'></a>xvii</span> +I have said enough, too, to indicate the type of +Celtic temperament to which Leamy’s belonged. +His habitual mood was the exquisitely sensitive, +the tender, playful, reverent mood. He was, in +this, the antithesis of the “cloudy and lightning” +Standish O’Grady, whose temperament, equally +Gaelic, is that of the fighting bard, delighting in +battle, fierce, fuliginous, aristocratic, pagan, with the +roll of Homeric hexameters in his martial style. If +O’Grady recalls the Oisin who contended with +Patrick and longed to be slaying with the Fianna, +even though they were in hell, Leamy, <i>anima +naturaliter Christiana</i>, reminds one rather of the +Irish monk in a distant land moved to write lyrics +in his missal by the song of the bird that makes +him think of Erin, or Marban, the hermit, rejoicing +to his brother, the king, in his “sheiling in the +wood,” his</p> +<div class="poem"> +<table style='margin: auto' summary=''><tr><td> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> +“Tree of apples like a hostel vast, ...<br /> +The music of the bright red-breasted men, ...<br /> +Swarms of bees and chafers, the little musicians of the world,<br /> +A gentle chorus.”</p> +</td></tr></table> +</div> +<p>It may not be amiss, in concluding this note, +to add a word about the author other than as he +appears in this book. These stories exhibit only +one aspect of his gifts. They happen to be one of +the things he wrote down. Most of the coinage +of his mind, and I think the best of it, came forth +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_xviii' name='page_xviii'></a>xviii</span> +in a form which does not permit of its being recalled, +the form of the spoken and unrecorded word. +He was by nature an improvisor. In the inclusive +sense of the term, the sense which includes +poetry, story-telling, description as well as pleading +and exhortation, he was a born orator; and he was +at his best when in the glow of pure improvisation. +It thus happened that it was often a group of friends +around a fireside, or a casual audience, who were the +witnesses of the most brilliant play of his genius. +He had a most observant and seeing eye. +A walk in the street was fraught with surprise, and +he would come back delighted with his adventures. +Every little common incident––three little boys +with their backs to a wall looking up at a church +tower: he would catch snatches of their talk, +speculations about deep things and strange; he +would note that an old Irish apple-woman in a +grimy English town left her basket, with all her +stock-in-trade, outside in the street while she went +into a church to commune with her heavenly friends; +the conversation between a sapient publican, +a friendly constable and a group of dubious <i>bona +fide</i> travellers––such things were materials for his +insight or his fancy or his delightful humour. +Often when he returned in the evening full of his +day’s observations one wished there had been a +shorthand-writer present to take down what fell +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_xix' name='page_xix'></a>xix</span> +from his lips. And just as it fell it would have +been literature. He was urged to write these things. +But Leamy had not readily the will or the power +to compel his spirit when the favoured moment +had passed. He was mostly passive, like an +Æolian harp, under the visitation. Ill-health, too, +extreme and distressing, burdened him. He bore +his trials cheerfully, and strove manfully to write, +especially in his later days when the power and the +will seemed to come to him just as illness tightened +its hold. But he was sustained by the most +precious of blessings––a wife with a brave and +bright soul, who appreciated him, and had a heart +as romantic as his own. Their love, indeed, was +an idyll, untouched by a shadow, through illness +and pain and hardship, to the hour of his death.</p> +<p>One ventures to wish that this little book may +make his kindly Irish spirit friends among a wider +circle, and especially amongst the children.</p> +<p style='margin-left:0.0em; margin-right:4.0em; text-align:right'>T. P. G.<br /></p> +<hr class='major' /> +<h1>FAIRY TALES.</h1> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_1' name='page_1'></a>1</span> +<a name='PRINCESS_FINOLA_AND_THE_DWARF' id='PRINCESS_FINOLA_AND_THE_DWARF'></a> +<h2>PRINCESS FINOLA AND THE DWARF.</h2> +</div> +<p>A long, long time ago there lived in a little hut in +the midst of a bare, brown, lonely moor an old +woman and a young girl. The old woman was +withered, sour-tempered, and dumb. The young +girl was as sweet and as fresh as an opening rosebud, +and her voice was as musical as the whisper of a +stream in the woods in the hot days of summer. +The little hut, made of branches woven closely +together, was shaped like a beehive. In the centre +of the hut a fire burned night and day from year’s +end to year’s end, though it was never touched or +tended by human hand. In the cold days and nights +of winter it gave out light and heat that made the +hut cosy and warm, but in the summer nights and +days it gave out light only. With their heads to +the wall of the hut and their feet towards the fire +were two sleeping-couches––one of plain woodwork, +in which slept the old woman; the other was +Finola’s. It was of bog-oak, polished as a looking-glass, +and on it were carved flowers and birds of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_2' name='page_2'></a>2</span> +all kinds, that gleamed and shone in the light of +the fire. This couch was fit for a princess, and a +princess Finola was, though she did not know it +herself.</p> +<p>Outside the hut the bare, brown, lonely moor +stretched for miles on every side, but towards the +east it was bounded by a range of mountains that +looked to Finola blue in the daytime, but which +put on a hundred changing colours as the sun went +down. Nowhere was a house to be seen, nor a +tree, nor a flower, nor sign of any living thing. +From morning till night, nor hum of bee, nor song +of bird, nor voice of man, nor any sound fell on +Finola’s ear. When the storm was in the air the +great waves thundered on the shore beyond the +mountains, and the wind shouted in the glens; +but when it sped across the moor it lost its voice, +and passed as silently as the dead. At first the +silence frightened Finola, but she got used to it +after a time, and often broke it by talking to herself +and singing.</p> +<p>The only other person beside the old woman +Finola ever saw was a dumb dwarf who, mounted +on a broken-down horse, came once a month to the +hut, bringing with him a sack of corn for the old +woman and Finola. Although he couldn’t speak +to her, Finola was always glad to see the dwarf +and his old horse, and she used to give them cake +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_3' name='page_3'></a>3</span> +made with her own white hands. As for the dwarf +he would have died for the little princess, he was +so much in love with her, and often and often his +heart was heavy and sad as he thought of her +pining away in the lonely moor.</p> +<p>It chanced that he came one day, and she did +not, as usual, come out to greet him. He made +signs to the old woman, but she took up a stick +and struck him, and beat his horse and drove him +away; but as he was leaving he caught a glimpse +of Finola at the door of the hut, and saw that she +was crying. This sight made him so very miserable +that he could think of nothing else but her sad face +that he had always seen so bright, and he allowed +the old horse to go on without minding where he +was going. Suddenly he heard a voice saying: +“It is time for you to come.”</p> +<p>The dwarf looked, and right before him, at the +foot of a green hill, was a little man not half as big +as himself, dressed in a green jacket with brass +buttons, and a red cap and tassel.</p> +<p>“It is time for you to come,” he said the second +time; “but you are welcome, anyhow. Get off +your horse and come in with me, that I may touch +your lips with the wand of speech, that we may +have a talk together.”</p> +<p>The dwarf got off his horse and followed the little +man through a hole in the side of a green hill. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_4' name='page_4'></a>4</span> +The hole was so small that he had to go on his +hands and knees to pass through it, and when he +was able to stand he was only the same height as +the little fairyman. After walking three or four +steps they were in a splendid room, as bright as day. +Diamonds sparkled in the roof as stars sparkle in +the sky when the night is without a cloud. The +roof rested on golden pillars, and between the pillars +were silver lamps, but their light was dimmed by +that of the diamonds. In the middle of the room +was a table, on which were two golden plates and +two silver knives and forks, and a brass bell as big +as a hazelnut, and beside the table were two little +chairs covered with blue silk and satin.</p> +<div class='figtag'> +<a name='linki_1' id='linki_1'></a> +</div> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/illus-024.png' alt='' title='' style='width: 357px; height: 500px;' /><br /> +<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center; width: 357px;'> +“The dwarf followed the little man through a hole in the side of a green hill”––p. 3.<br /> +</p> +</div> +<p>“Take a chair,” said the fairy, “and I will ring +for the wand of speech.”</p> +<p>The dwarf sat down, and the fairyman rang the +little brass bell, and in came a little weeny dwarf +no bigger than your hand.</p> +<p>“Bring me the wand of speech,” said the fairy, +and the weeny dwarf bowed three times and walked +out backwards, and in a minute he returned, +carrying a little black wand with a red berry at +the top of it, and, giving it to the fairy, he bowed +three times and walked out backwards as he had +done before.</p> +<p>The little man waved the rod three times over +the dwarf, and struck him once on the right shoulder +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_5' name='page_5'></a>5</span> +and once on the left shoulder, and then touched +his lips with the red berry, and said: “Speak!”</p> +<p>The dwarf spoke, and he was so rejoiced at +hearing the sound of his own voice that he danced +about the room.</p> +<p>“Who are you at all, at all?” said he to the +fairy.</p> +<p>“Who is yourself?” said the fairy. “But come, +before we have any talk let us have something to +eat, for I am sure you are hungry.”</p> +<p>Then they sat down to table, and the fairy rang +the little brass bell twice, and the weeny dwarf +brought in two boiled snails in their shells, and +when they had eaten the snails he brought in a +dormouse, and when they had eaten the dormouse +he brought in two wrens, and when they had eaten +the wrens he brought in two nuts full of wine, and +they became very merry, and the fairyman sang +“Cooleen dhas,” and the dwarf sang “The little +blackbird of the glen.”</p> +<p>“Did you ever hear the ‘Foggy Dew?’” said +the fairy.</p> +<p>“No,” said the dwarf.</p> +<p>“Well, then, I’ll give it to you; but we must +have some more wine.”</p> +<p>And the wine was brought, and he sang the +“Foggy Dew,” and the dwarf said it was the +sweetest song he had ever heard, and that the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6' name='page_6'></a>6</span> +fairyman’s voice would coax the birds off the +bushes.</p> +<p>“You asked me who I am?” said the fairy.</p> +<p>“I did,” said the dwarf.</p> +<p>“And I asked you who is yourself?”</p> +<p>“You did,” said the dwarf.</p> +<p>“And who are you, then?”</p> +<p>“Well, to tell the truth, I don’t know,” said the +dwarf, and he blushed like a rose.</p> +<p>“Well, tell me what you know about yourself.”</p> +<p>“I remember nothing at all,” said the dwarf, +“before the day I found myself going along with +a crowd of all sorts of people to the great fair of +the Liffey. We had to pass by the king’s palace +on our way, and as we were passing the king sent +for a band of jugglers to come and show their +tricks before him. I followed the jugglers to look +on, and when the play was over the king called me +to him, and asked me who I was and where I came +from. I was dumb then, and couldn’t answer; +but even if I could speak I could not tell him what +he wanted to know, for I remember nothing of +myself before that day. Then the <ins class="trchange" title="Was 'King'">king</ins> asked +the jugglers, but they knew nothing about me, +and no one knew anything, and then the king +said he would take me into his service; and the +only work I have to do is to go once a month with +a bag of corn to the hut in the lonely moor.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7' name='page_7'></a>7</span></p> +<p>“And there you fell in love with the little +princess,” said the fairy, winking at the dwarf.</p> +<p>The poor dwarf blushed twice as much as he had +done before.</p> +<p>“You need not blush,” said the fairy; “it is a +good man’s case. And now tell me, truly, do you +love the princess, and what would you give to free +her from the spell of enchantment that is over her?”</p> +<p>“I would give my life,” said the dwarf.</p> +<p>“Well, then, listen to me,” said the fairy. “The +Princess Finola was banished to the lonely moor +by the king, your master. He killed her father, +who was the rightful king, and would have killed +Finola, only he was told by an old sorceress that +if he killed her he would die himself on the same +day, and she advised him to banish her to the +lonely moor, and she said she would fling a spell +of enchantment over it, and that until the spell +was broken Finola could not leave the moor. And +the sorceress also promised that she would send an +old woman to watch over the princess by night +and by day, so that no harm should come to her; +but she told the king that he himself should select +a messenger to take food to the hut, and that he +should look out for some one who had never seen +or heard of the princess, and whom he could trust +never to tell anyone anything about her; and that +is the reason he selected you.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_8' name='page_8'></a>8</span></p> +<p>“Since you know so much,” said the dwarf, “can +you tell me who I am, and where I came from?”</p> +<p>“You will know that time enough,” said the +fairy. “I have given you back your speech. It +will depend solely on yourself whether you will get +back your memory of who and what you were +before the day you entered the king’s service. +But are you really willing to try and break the +spell of enchantment and free the princess?”</p> +<p>“I am,” said the dwarf.</p> +<p>“Whatever it will cost you?”</p> +<p>“Yes, if it cost me my life,” said the dwarf; +“but tell me, how can the spell be broken?”</p> +<p>“Oh, it is easy enough to break the spell if you +have the weapons,” said the fairy.</p> +<p>“And what are they, and where are they?” +said the dwarf.</p> +<p>“The spear of the shining haft and the dark blue +blade and the silver shield,” said the fairy. “They +are on the farther bank of the Mystic Lake in the +Island of the Western Seas. They are there for the +man who is bold enough to seek them. If you are +the man who will bring them back to the lonely +moor you will only have to strike the shield three +times with the haft, and three times with the +blade of the spear, and the silence of the moor +will be broken for ever, the spell of enchantment +will be removed, and the princess will be free.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9' name='page_9'></a>9</span></p> +<p>“I will set out at once,” said the dwarf, jumping +from his chair.</p> +<p>“And whatever it cost you,” said the fairy, +“will you pay the price?”</p> +<p>“I will,” said the dwarf.</p> +<p>“Well, then, mount your horse, give him his +head, and he will take you to the shore opposite +the Island of the Mystic Lake. You must cross +to the island on his back, and make your way +through the water-steeds that swim around the +island night and day to guard it; but woe betide +you if you attempt to cross without paying the +price, for if you do the angry water-steeds will +rend you and your horse to pieces. And when you +come to the Mystic Lake you must wait until the +waters are as red as wine, and then swim your +horse across it, and on the farther side you will find +the spear and shield; but woe betide you if you +attempt to cross the lake before you pay the price, +for if you do, the black Cormorants of the Western +Seas will pick the flesh from your bones.”</p> +<p>“What is the price?” said the dwarf.</p> +<p>“You will know that time enough,” said the +fairy; “but now go, and good luck go with you.”</p> +<p>The dwarf thanked the fairy, and said good-bye! +He then threw the reins on his horse’s neck, and +started up the hill, that seemed to grow bigger and +bigger as he ascended, and the dwarf soon found +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10' name='page_10'></a>10</span> +that what he took for a hill was a great mountain. +After travelling all the day, toiling up by steep +crags and heathery passes, he reached the top as +the sun was setting in the ocean, and he saw far +below him out in the waters the island of the +Mystic Lake.</p> +<p>He began his descent to the shore, but long +before he reached it the sun had set, and darkness, +unpierced by a single star, dropped upon the sea. +The old horse, worn out by his long and painful +journey, sank beneath him, and the dwarf was so +tired that he rolled off his back and fell asleep by +his side.</p> +<p>He awoke at the breaking of the morning, and +saw that he was almost at the water’s edge. He +looked out to sea, and saw the island, but nowhere +could he see the water-steeds, and he began to fear +he must have taken a wrong course in the night, +and that the island before him was not the one he +was in search of. But even while he was so thinking +he heard fierce and angry snortings, and, coming +swiftly from the island to the shore, he saw the +swimming and prancing steeds. Sometimes their +heads and manes only were visible, and sometimes, +rearing, they rose half out of the water, and, striking +it with their hoofs, churned it into foam, and tossed +the white spray to the skies. As they approached +nearer and nearer their snortings became more +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11' name='page_11'></a>11</span> +terrible, and their nostrils shot forth clouds of +vapour. The dwarf trembled at the sight and +sound, and his old horse, quivering in every limb, +moaned piteously, as if in pain. On came the +steeds, until they almost touched the shore, then +rearing, they seemed about to spring on to it. +The frightened dwarf turned his head to fly, and as +he did so he heard the twang of a golden harp, +and right before him who should he see but the +little man of the hills, holding a harp in one hand +and striking the strings with the other.</p> +<p>“Are you ready to pay the price?” said he, +nodding gaily to the dwarf.</p> +<p>As he asked the question, the listening water-steeds +snorted more furiously than ever.</p> +<p>“Are you ready to pay the price?” said the +little man a second time.</p> +<p>A shower of spray, tossed on shore by the angry +steeds, drenched the dwarf to the skin, and sent a +cold shiver to his bones, and he was so terrified +that he could not answer.</p> +<p>“For the third and last time, are you ready to +pay the price?” asked the fairy, as he flung the +harp behind him and turned to depart.</p> +<p>When the dwarf saw him going he thought of +the little princess in the lonely moor, and his +courage came back, and he answered bravely:</p> +<p>“Yes, I am ready.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12' name='page_12'></a>12</span></p> +<p>The water-steeds, hearing his answer, and snorting +with rage, struck the shore with their pounding +hoofs.</p> +<p>“Back to your waves!” cried the little harper; +and as he ran his fingers across his lyre, the +frightened steeds drew back into the waters.</p> +<p>“What is the price?” asked the dwarf.</p> +<p>“Your right eye,” said the fairy; and before +the dwarf could say a word, the fairy scooped out +the eye with his finger, and put it into his pocket.</p> +<p>The dwarf suffered most terrible agony; but he +resolved to bear it for the sake of the little princess. +Then the fairy sat down on a rock at the edge of +the sea, and, after striking a few notes, he began +to play the “Strains of Slumber.”</p> +<p>The sound crept along the waters, and the steeds, +so ferocious a moment before, became perfectly +still. They had no longer any motion of their own, +and they floated on the top of the tide like foam +before a breeze.</p> +<p>“Now,” said the fairy, as he led the dwarf’s +horse to the edge of the tide.</p> +<p>The dwarf urged the horse into the water, and +once out of his depth, the old horse struck out +boldly for the island. The sleeping water-steeds +drifted helplessly against him, and in a short time +he reached the island safely, and he neighed joyously +as his hoofs touched solid ground. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13' name='page_13'></a>13</span></p> +<p>The dwarf rode on and on, until he came to a +bridle-path, and following this, it led him up +through winding lanes, bordered with golden furze +that filled the air with fragrance, and brought him +to the summit of the green hills that girdled and +looked down on the Mystic Lake. Here the horse +stopped of his own accord, and the dwarf’s heart +beat quickly as his eye rested on the lake, that, +clipped round by the ring of hills, seemed in the +breezeless and sunlit air––</p> +<div class="poem"> +<table style='margin: auto' summary=''><tr><td> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> +“As still as death,<br /> +And as bright as life can be.”</p> +</td></tr></table> +</div> +<p>After gazing at it for a long time, he dismounted, +and lay at his ease in the pleasant grass. Hour +after hour passed, but no change came over the +face of the waters, and when the night fell sleep +closed the eyelids of the dwarf.</p> +<p>The song of the lark awoke him in the early +morning, and, starting up, he looked at the lake, +but its waters were as bright as they had been the +day before.</p> +<p>Towards midday he beheld what he thought was +a black cloud sailing across the sky from east to +west. It seemed to grow larger as it came nearer +and nearer, and when it was high above the lake +he saw it was a huge bird, the shadow of whose +outstretched wings darkened the waters of the lake; +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14' name='page_14'></a>14</span> +and the dwarf knew it was one of the Cormorants +of the Western Seas. As it descended slowly, he +saw that it held in one of its claws a branch of a +tree larger than a full-grown oak, and laden with +clusters of ripe red berries. It alighted at some +distance from the dwarf, and, after resting for a +time, it began to eat the berries and to throw the +stones into the lake, and wherever a stone fell a +bright red stain appeared in the water. As he +looked more closely at the bird the dwarf saw that +it had all the signs of old age, and he could not +help wondering how it was able to carry such a +heavy tree.</p> +<p>Later in the day, two other birds, as large as the +first, but younger, came up from the west and +settled down beside him. They also ate the +berries, and throwing the stones into the lake it +was soon as red as wine.</p> +<p>When they had eaten all the berries, the young +birds began to pick the decayed feathers off the old +bird and to smooth his plumage. As soon as they +had completed their task, he rose slowly from the +hill and sailed out over the lake, and dropping +down on the waters, dived beneath them. In a +moment he came to the surface, and shot up into +the air with a joyous cry, and flew off to the west +in all the vigour of renewed youth, followed by the +other birds. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15' name='page_15'></a>15</span></p> +<p>When they had gone so far that they were like +specks in the sky, the dwarf mounted his horse and +descended towards the lake.</p> +<p>He was almost at the margin, and in another +minute would have plunged in, when he heard a +fierce screaming in the air, and before he had time +to look up, the three birds were hovering over the +lake.</p> +<p>The dwarf drew back frightened.</p> +<p>The birds wheeled over his head, and then, +swooping down, they flew close to the water, +covering it with their wings, and uttering harsh +cries.</p> +<p>Then, rising to a great height, they folded their +wings and dropped headlong, like three rocks, on +the lake, crashing its surface, and scattering a +wine-red shower upon the hills.<a name='FNanchor_0001' id='FNanchor_0001'></a><a href='#Footnote_0001' class='fnanchor'>[1]</a></p> +<p>Then the dwarf remembered what the fairy told +him, that if he attempted to swim the lake, without +paying the price, the three Cormorants of the +Western Seas would pick the flesh off his bones. +He knew not what to do, and was about to turn +away, when he heard once more the twang of the +golden harp, and the little fairy of the hills stood +before him.</p> +<p>“Faint heart never won fair lady,” said the +little harper. “Are you ready to pay the price? +The spear and shield are on the opposite bank, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16' name='page_16'></a>16</span> +and the Princess Finola is crying this moment in +the lonely moor.”</p> +<p>At the mention of Finola’s name the dwarf’s +heart grew strong.</p> +<p>“Yes,” he said; “I am ready––win or die. +What is the price?”</p> +<p>“Your left eye,” said the fairy. And as soon +as said he scooped out the eye, and put it in his +pocket.</p> +<p>The poor blind dwarf almost fainted with +pain.</p> +<p>“It’s your last trial,” said the fairy, “and now +do what I tell you. Twist your horse’s mane round +your right hand, and I will lead him to the water. +Plunge in, and fear not. I gave you back your +speech. When you reach the opposite bank you +will get back your memory, and you will know who +and what you are.”</p> +<p>Then the fairy led the horse to the margin of the +lake.</p> +<p>“In with you now, and good luck go with you,” +said the fairy.</p> +<p>The dwarf urged the horse. He plunged into +the lake, and went down and down until his feet +struck the bottom. Then he began to ascend, and +as he came near the surface of the water the dwarf +thought he saw a glimmering light, and when he +rose above the water he saw the bright sun shining +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17' name='page_17'></a>17</span> +and the green hills before him, and he shouted with +joy at finding his sight restored.</p> +<p>But he saw more. Instead of the old horse he +had ridden into the lake he was bestride a noble +steed, and as the steed swam to the bank the dwarf +felt a change coming over himself, and an unknown +vigour in his limbs.</p> +<p>When the steed touched the shore he galloped +up the hillside, and on the top of the hill was a +silver shield, bright as the sun, resting against a +spear standing upright in the ground.</p> +<p>The dwarf jumped off, and, running towards the +shield, he saw himself as in a looking-glass.</p> +<p>He was no longer a dwarf, but a gallant knight. +At that moment his memory came back to him, +and he knew he was Conal, one of the Knights of +the Red Branch, and he remembered now that the +spell of dumbness and deformity had been cast +upon him by the Witch of the Palace of the Quicken +Trees.</p> +<p>Slinging his shield upon his left arm, he plucked +the spear from the ground and leaped on to his +horse. With a light heart he swam back over the +lake, and nowhere could he see the black Cormorants +of the Western Seas, but three white swans +floating abreast followed him to the bank. When +he reached the bank he galloped down to the sea, +and crossed to the shore. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18' name='page_18'></a>18</span></p> +<p>Then he flung the reins upon his horse’s neck, +and swifter than the wind the gallant horse swept +on and on, and it was not long until he was bounding +over the enchanted moor. Wherever his hoofs +struck the ground, grass and flowers sprang up, +and great trees with leafy branches rose on every +side.</p> +<p>At last the knight reached the little hut. Three +times he struck the shield with the haft and three +times with the blade of his spear. At the last +blow the hut disappeared, and standing before him +was the little princess.</p> +<p>The knight took her in his arms and kissed her; +then he lifted her on to the horse, and, leaping up +before her, he turned towards the north, to the palace +of the Red Branch Knights, and as they rode on +beneath the leafy trees from every tree the birds +sang out, for the spell of silence over the lonely +moor was broken for ever.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19' name='page_19'></a>19</span> +<a name='THE_HOUSE_IN_THE_LAKE' id='THE_HOUSE_IN_THE_LAKE'></a> +<h2>THE HOUSE IN THE LAKE.<a name='FNanchor_0002' id='FNanchor_0002'></a><a href='#Footnote_0002' class='fnanchor'>[2]</a></h2> +</div> +<p>A long, long time ago there lived in a little hut, +in the midst of one of the inland lakes of Erin, an +old fisherman and his son. The hut was built on +stakes driven into the bed of the lake, and was so +high above the waters that even when they were +stirred into waves by the wind coming down from +the mountains they did not reach the threshold of +the door. Around, <ins class="trchange" title="Was 'ouside'">outside</ins> the hut, on a level with +the floor, was a little wicker-work platform, and +under the platform, close to the steps leading up +to it from the water, the fisherman’s curragh, made +of willows, covered with skins, was moored, and it +was only by means of the curragh that he and his +son, Enda, could leave their lake dwelling.</p> +<p>On many a summer evening Enda lay stretched +on the platform, watching the sunset fading from +the mountain-tops, and the twilight creeping over +the waters of the lake, and it chanced that once +when he was so engaged he heard a rustle in a +clump of sedge that grew close to one side of the +hut. He turned to where the sound came from, +and what should he see but an otter swimming +towards him, with a little trout in his mouth. +When the otter came up to where Enda was lying, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20' name='page_20'></a>20</span> +he lifted his head and half his body from the water, +and flung the trout on the platform, almost at +Enda’s feet, and then disappeared.</p> +<p>Enda took the little panting trout in his hand; +but as he did so he heard, quite close to him, in the +lake, a sound like that of water plashing upon +water, and he saw the widening circles caused by +a trout which had just risen to a fly; and he said +to the little trout he held in his hand:</p> +<p>“I won’t keep you, poor thing! Perhaps that +was a little comrade come to look for you, and so +I’ll send you back to him.”</p> +<p>And saying this, he dropped the little trout into +the lake.</p> +<p>Well, when the next evening came, again Enda +was lying stretched outside the hut, and once more +he heard the rustle in the sedge, and once more +the otter came and flung the little trout almost +into his hands.</p> +<p>Enda, more surprised than ever, did not know +what to do. He saw that it was the same little +trout the otter had brought him the night before, +and he said:</p> +<p>“Well, I gave you a chance last night. I’ll give +you another, if only to see what will come of it.”</p> +<p>And he dropped the trout into the lake; but no +sooner had it touched the waters than it was +changed into a beautiful, milk-white swan. And +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21' name='page_21'></a>21</span> +Enda could hardly believe his eyes, as he saw it +sailing across the lake, until it was lost in the +sedges growing by the shore.</p> +<p>All that night he lay awake, thinking of what +he had seen, and as soon as the morning stood +on the hill-tops, and cast its shafts of golden +light across the lake, Enda rose and got into his +curragh.</p> +<p>He rowed all round the shores, beating the sedges +with his oar, in pursuit of the swan; but all in vain; +he could not catch a glimpse of her white plumage +anywhere. Day after day he rowed about the lake +in search of her, and every evening he lay outside +the hut watching the waters. At long last, one +night, when the full moon, rising above the mountains, +flooded the whole lake with light, he saw +the swan coming swiftly towards him, shining +brighter than the moonbeams. The swan came +on until it was almost within a boat’s length of the +hut; and what should Enda hear but the swan +speaking to him in his own language:</p> +<p>“Get into your curragh, Enda, and follow me,” +said she, and, saying this, she turned round and +sailed away.</p> +<p>Enda jumped into the curragh, and soon the +water, dripping from his oar, was flashing like +diamonds in the moonlight. And he rowed after +the swan, who glided on before him, until she came +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22' name='page_22'></a>22</span> +to where the shadows of the mountains lay deepest +on the lake. Then the swan rested, and when Enda +came up to her:</p> +<p>“Enda,” said she, “I have brought you where +none may hear what I wish to say to you. I am +Mave, the daughter of the king of Erin. By the +magic arts of my cruel stepmother I was changed +into a trout, and cast into this lake a year and a +day before the evening when you restored me to +the waters the second time. If you had not done +so the first night the otter brought me to you I +should have been changed into a hooting owl; if +you had not done so the second night, I should +have been changed into a croaking raven. But, +thanks to you, Enda, I am now a snow-white swan, +and for one hour on the first night of every full +moon the power of speech is and will be given to +me as long as I remain a swan. And a swan I +must always remain, unless you are willing to break +the spell of enchantment that is over me; and you +alone can break it.”</p> +<p>“I’ll do anything I can for you. O princess!” +said Enda. “But how can I break the spell?”</p> +<p>“You can do so,” said the swan, “only by pouring +upon my plumage the perfumed water that fills +the golden bowl that is in the inmost room of the +palace of the fairy queen, beneath the lake.”</p> +<p>“And how can I get that?” said Enda. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23' name='page_23'></a>23</span></p> +<p>“Well,” said the swan, “you must dive beneath +the lake, and walk along its bed, until you come to +where the lake dragon guards the entrance of the +fairy queen’s dominions.”</p> +<p>“I can dive like a fish,” said Enda; “but how +can I walk beneath the waters?”</p> +<p>“You can do it easily enough,” said the swan, +“if you get the water-dress of Brian, one of the +three sons of Turenn, and his helmet of transparent +crystal, by the aid of which he was able to walk +under the green salt sea.”<a name='FNanchor_0003' id='FNanchor_0003'></a><a href='#Footnote_0003' class='fnanchor'>[3]</a></p> +<p>“And where shall I find them?”</p> +<p>“They are in the water-palace of Angus of the +Boyne,” said the swan; “but you should set out +at once, for if the spell be not broken before the +moon is full again, it cannot be broken for a year +and a day.”</p> +<p>“I’ll set out in the first ray of the morning,” +said Enda.</p> +<p>“May luck and joy go with you,” said the swan. +“And now the hours of silence are coming upon +me, and I have only time to warn you that dangers +you little dream of will lie before you in your quest +for the golden cup.”</p> +<p>“I am willing to face all dangers for your sake, +O princess,” said Enda.</p> +<p>“Blessings be upon you, Enda,” said the swan, +and she sailed away from the shadow out into the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24' name='page_24'></a>24</span> +light across the lake to the sedgy banks. And +Enda saw her no more.</p> +<p>He rowed his curragh home, and he lay on his +bed without taking off his clothes. And as the +first faint glimmer of the morning came slanting +down the mountains, he stepped into his curragh +and pulled across the lake, and took the road +towards the water-palace of Angus of the Boyne.</p> +<p>When he reached the banks of the glancing river +a little woman, dressed in red, was standing there +before him.</p> +<p>“You are welcome, Enda,” said she. “And +glad am I to see the day that brings you here to +help the winsome Princess Mave. And now wait +a second, and the water-dress and crystal helmet +will be ready for you.”</p> +<p>And, having said this, the little woman plucked +a handful of wild grasses, and she breathed upon +them three times and then flung them on the river, +and a dozen fairy nymphs came springing up +through the water, bearing the water-dress and +crystal helmet and a shining spear. And they laid +them down upon the bank at Enda’s feet, and then +disappeared.</p> +<p>“Now, Enda,” said the fairy woman, “take +these; by the aid of the dress and the helmet you +can walk beneath the waters. You will need the +spear to enable you to meet the dangers that lie +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25' name='page_25'></a>25</span> +before you. But with that spear, if you only have +courage, you can overcome everything and everyone +that may attempt to bar your way.”</p> +<p>Having said this, she bid good-bye to Enda, and +stepping off the bank, she floated out upon the +river as lightly as a red poppy leaf. And when she +came to the middle of the stream she disappeared +beneath the waters.</p> +<p>Enda took the helmet, dress, and spear, and it was +not long until he came to the sedgy banks where +his little boat was waiting for him. As he stepped +into the curragh the moon was rising above the +mountains. He rowed on until he came to the +hut, and having moored the boat to the door, he +put on the water-dress and the crystal helmet, and +taking the spear in his hand, he leaped over the +side of the curragh, and sank down and down until +he touched the bottom. Then he walked along +without minding where he was going, and the only +light he had was the shimmering moonlight, which +descended as faintly through the waters as if it +came through muffled glass. He had not gone very +far when he heard a horrible hissing, and straight +before him he saw what he thought were two +flaming coals. After a few more steps he found +himself face to face with the dragon of the lake, +the guardian of the palace of the fairy queen. +Before he had time to raise his spear, the dragon +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26' name='page_26'></a>26</span> +had wound its coils around him, and he heard its +horrible teeth crunching against the side of his +crystal helmet, and he felt the pressure of its coils +around his side, and the breath almost left his +body; but the dragon, unable to pierce the helmet, +unwound his coils, and soon Enda’s hands were +free, and before the dragon could attempt to seize +him again, he drove his spear through one of its +fiery eyes, and, writhing with pain, the hissing +dragon darted through a cave behind him. Enda, +gaining courage from the dragon’s flight, marched +on until he came to a door of dull brass set in the +rocks. He tried to push it in before him, but he +might as well have tried to push away the rocks. +While he was wondering what he should do, he +heard again the fierce hissing of the dragon, and +saw the red glare of his fiery eye dimly in the water.</p> +<p>Lifting his spear and hastily turning round to +meet the furious monster, Enda accidently touched +the door with the point of the spear, and the door +flew open. Enda passed through, and the door +closed behind him with a grating sound, and he +marched along through a rocky pass which led to +a sandy plain.</p> +<p>As he stepped from the pass into the plain the +sands began to move, as if they were alive. In a +second a thousand hideous serpents, almost the +colour of the sand, rose hissing up, and with their +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27' name='page_27'></a>27</span> +forked tongues made a horrible, poisonous hedge +in front of him. For a second he stood dismayed, +but then, levelling his spear, he rushed against the +hedge of serpents, and they, shooting poison at +him, sank beneath the sand. But the poison did +not harm him, because of his water-dress and +crystal helmet.</p> +<p>When he had passed over the sandy plain, he +had to climb a great steep, jagged rock. When he +got to the top of the rock he saw spread out before +him a stony waste without a tuft or blade of grass. +At some distance in front of him he noticed a large +dark object, which he took to be a rock, but on +looking at it more closely he saw that it was a huge, +misshapen, swollen mass, apparently alive. And it +was growing bigger and bigger every moment. +Enda stood amazed at the sight, and before he +knew where he was the loathsome creature rose +from the ground, and sprang upon him before he +could use his spear, and, catching him in its horrid +grasp, flung him back over the rocks on to the +sandy plain. Enda was almost stunned, but the +hissing of the serpents rising from the sand around +him brought him to himself, and, jumping to his +feet, once more he drove them down beneath the +surface. He then approached the jagged rock, +on the top of which he saw the filthy monster +glaring at him with bloodshot eyes. Enda poised +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28' name='page_28'></a>28</span> +his spear and hurled it against his enemy. It +entered between the monster’s eyes, and from the +wound the blood flowed down like a black torrent +and dyed the plain, and the shrunken carcase +slipped down the front of the rocks and disappeared +beneath the sand. Enda once more ascended the +rock, and without meeting or seeing anything he +passed over the stony waste, and at last he came +to a leafy wood. He had not gone far in the wood +until he heard the sound of fairy music, and walking +on he came upon a mossy glade, and there he found +the fairies dancing around their queen. They were +so small, and were all so brightly dressed, that they +looked like a mass of waving flowers; but when he +was seen by them they vanished like a glorious +dream, and no one remained before him but the +fairy queen. The queen blushed at finding herself +alone, but on stamping her little foot three times +upon the ground, the frightened fairies all crept +back again.</p> +<p>“You are welcome, Enda,” said the queen. +“My little subjects have been alarmed by your +strange dress and crystal helmet. I pray you take +them off; you do not need them here.”</p> +<p>Enda did as he was bidden, and he laid down +his water-dress and helmet on the grass, and the +little fairies, seeing him in his proper shape, got +over their fright, and, unrestrained by the presence +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29' name='page_29'></a>29</span> +of the queen, they ran tumbling over one another +to try and get a good look at the crystal helmet.</p> +<p>“I know what you have come for, Enda,” said +the queen. “The golden cup you shall have to-morrow; +but to-night you must share our feast, +so follow me to the palace.”</p> +<p>Having said this, the queen beckoned her pages +to her, and, attended by them and followed by +Enda, she went on through the wood. When they +had left it behind them Enda saw on a green hill +before him the snow-white palace of the fairy +queen.</p> +<p>As the queen approached the steps that led up +to the open door, a band of tiny fairies, dressed in +rose-coloured silk, came out, carrying baskets of +flowers, which they flung down on the steps to make +a fragrant carpet for her. They were followed by a +band of harpers dressed in yellow silken robes, +who ranged themselves on each side of the steps +and played their sweetest music as the queen +ascended.</p> +<p>When the queen, followed by Enda, entered the +palace, they passed through a crystal hall that led +to a banquet-room. The room was lighted by a +single star, large as a battle-shield. It was fixed +against the wall above a diamond throne.</p> +<p>The queen seated herself upon the throne, and +the pages, advancing towards her, and bending +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30' name='page_30'></a>30</span> +low, as they approached the steps, handed her a +golden wand.</p> +<p>The queen waved the wand three times, and a +table laden with all kinds of delicacies appeared +upon the floor. Then she beckoned Enda to her, +and when he stood beside her the fairy table was +no higher than his knee.</p> +<p>“I am afraid I must make you smaller, Enda,” +said the queen, “or you will never be able to seat +yourself at my fairy table.”</p> +<p>And having said this, she touched Enda with the +golden wand, and at once he became as small as +her tallest page. Then she struck the steps of her +throne, and all the nobles of her court, headed by +her bards, took their places at the festive board.</p> +<p>The feast went on right merrily, and when the +tiny jewelled drinking-cups were placed upon the +table, the queen ordered the harpers to play.</p> +<p>And the little harpers struck the chords, and as +Enda listened to the music it seemed to him as if +he was being slowly lifted from his seat, and when +the music ended the fairies vanished, the shining +star went out, and Enda was in perfect darkness.</p> +<p>The air blew keenly in his face, and he knew not +where he was. At last he saw a faint grey light, +and soon this light grew broader and brighter, +and as the shadows fled before it, he could hardly +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31' name='page_31'></a>31</span> +believe his eyes when he found himself in his +curragh on the lake, and the moonlight streaming +down from the mountain-tops.</p> +<p>For a moment he thought he must have been +dreaming; but there in the boat before him were +the crystal helmet, and the water-dress, and the +gleaming spear, and the golden bowl of perfumed +water that was to remove the spell of enchantment +from the white swan of the lake, and sailing towards +him from the sedgy bank came the snow-white +swan; and when she touched the boat, Enda put +out his hands and lifted her in, and then over her +plumage he poured the perfumed water from the +golden bowl, and the Princess Mave in all her +maiden beauty stood before him.</p> +<p>“Take your oar, Enda,” she said, “and row to +the southern bank.”</p> +<p>Enda seized his oar, and the curragh sped across +the waters swifter than a swallow in its flight. +When the boat touched the shore Enda jumped +out, and lifted the princess on to the bank.</p> +<p>“Send your boat adrift, Enda,” she said; “but +first take out your shining spear; the water-dress +and the crystal helmet will take care of themselves.”</p> +<p>Enda took out the spear, and then pushed the +boat from the bank. It sped on towards the hut +in the middle of the lake; but before it had reached +halfway six nymphs sprang up from the water and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32' name='page_32'></a>32</span> +seizing the helmet and dress, sank with them +beneath the tide, and the boat went on until it +pushed its prow against the steps of the little hut, +where it remained.</p> +<p>Then Enda and the princess turned towards the +south, and it was not long until they came to a +deep forest, that was folding up its shadows and +spreading out its mossy glades before the glancing +footsteps of the morning. They had not gone far +through the forest when they heard the music of +hounds and the cries of huntsmen, and crashing +towards them through the low branches they saw +a fierce wild boar. Enda, gently pushing the +princess behind him, levelled his spear, and when +the boar came close to him he drove it into his +throat. The brute fell dead at his feet, and the +dogs rushing up began to tear it to pieces. The +princess fainted at the sight, and while Enda was +endeavouring to restore her, the king of Erin, +followed by his huntsmen, appeared, and when the +king saw the princess he started in amazement, as +he recognised the features of his daughter Mave.</p> +<p>At that moment the princess came to herself, +and her father, lifting her tenderly in his arms, +kissed her again and again.</p> +<p>“I have mourned you as dead, my darling,” +said he, “and now you are restored to me more +lovely than ever. I would gladly have given up +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33' name='page_33'></a>33</span> +my throne for this. But say who is the champion +who has brought you hither, and who has slain +the wild boar we have hunted so many years in +vain?”</p> +<p>The princess blushed like a rose as she said:</p> +<p>“His name is Enda, father; it is he has brought +me back to you.”</p> +<p>Then the king embraced Enda and said:</p> +<p>“Forgive me, Enda, for asking any questions +about you before you have shared the hospitality +of my court. My palace lies beyond the forest, +and we shall reach it soon.”</p> +<p>Then the king ordered his huntsman to sound +the bugle-horn, and all his nobles galloped up in +answer to it, and when they saw the Princess Mave +they were so dazzled by her beauty that they +scarcely gave a thought to the death of the wild +boar.</p> +<p>“It is my daughter, Mave, come back to me,” +said the king.</p> +<p>And all the nobles lowered their lances, and +bowed in homage to the lady.</p> +<p>“And there stands the champion who has brought +her home,” said the king, pointing to Enda.</p> +<p>The nobles looked at Enda, and bowed courteously, +but in their hearts they were jealous of +the champion, for they saw he was already a +favourite of the king’s. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34' name='page_34'></a>34</span></p> +<p>Then the pages came up, leading milk-white +steeds with golden bridles, and the king, ordering +Enda to mount one of them, lifted Mave on to his +own, and mounted behind her. The pages, carrying +the boar’s head on a hollow shield, preceded +by the huntsmen sounding their horns, set out +towards the palace, and the royal party followed +them.</p> +<p>As the procession approached the palace crowds +came rushing out to see the trophies of the chase, +and through the snow-white door the queen, Mave’s +cruel stepmother, attended by her maids-of-honour +and the royal bards, came forth to greet the king. +But when she saw seated before him the Princess +Mave, who she thought was at the bottom of the +lake under a spell of enchantment, she uttered a +loud cry, and fell senseless to the ground.</p> +<p>The king jumped from his horse, and rushing to +the queen, lifted her up and carried her in his arms +to her apartments, for he had no suspicion of the +wickedness of which she had been guilty.</p> +<p>And the court leeches were summoned to attend +her, but she died that very night, and it was not +until a green mound, worthy of a queen of Erin, +had been raised over her grave that the Princess +Mave told her father of the wickedness of her stepmother. +And when she told him the whole story +of how Enda had broken the spell of enchantment, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35' name='page_35'></a>35</span> +and of the dangers which he had faced for her sake, +the king summoned an assembly of all his nobles, +and seated on his throne, wearing his golden +helmet, the bards upon his right hand and the Druids +upon his left, and the nobles in ranks before him +with gleaming helmets and flashing spears, he told +them the story of the princess, and of the service +which Enda had rendered to her.</p> +<p>“And now,” said the king, “if the princess is +willing to take her deliverer for her husband, I am +willing that she shall be his bride; and if you, my +subjects, Bards and Druids and Nobles and Chiefs +of Erin, have anything to say against this union, +speak. But first, Mave,” said the king, as he drew +the blushing princess to him, “speak, darling, as +becomes the daughter of a king––speak in the +presence of the nobles of Erin, and say if it is your +wish to become Enda’s bride.”</p> +<p>The princess flung her white arms around her +father’s neck, as she murmured:</p> +<p>“Father, it was Enda brought me back to you, +and before all the princes and nobles of Erin I am +willing to be his bride.”</p> +<p>And she buried her head upon the king’s breast, +and as he stroked her silken hair falling to her feet, +the bards struck their golden harps, but the sound +of the joyous music could hardly drown the murmurs +of the jealous nobles. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36' name='page_36'></a>36</span></p> +<p>When the music ceased the king beckoned Enda +to him, and was about to place his hand in Mave’s +when a Druid, whose white beard almost touched +the ground, and who had been a favourite of the +dead stepmother, and hated Mave for her sake, +stepped forward and said:</p> +<p>“O King of Erin, never yet has the daughter of +a king been freely given in marriage to any save a +battle champion; and that stripling there has never +struck his spear against a warrior’s shield.”</p> +<p>A murmur of approbation rose from the jealous +princes, and Congal, the bravest of them all, stepped +out from the ranks, and said:</p> +<p>“The Druid speaks the truth, O king! That +stripling has never faced a battle champion yet, +and, speaking for all the nobles of your land, I +challenge him to fight any one of us; and as he is +young and unused to arms, we are willing that the +youngest and least experienced amongst us should +be set against him.”</p> +<p>When Congal had spoken, the nobles, in approval +of his words, struck their shields with their swords, +and the brazen sound ascended to the skies.</p> +<p>The face of the princess, blushing a moment +before like a rose, became as white as a lily; but +the colour returned to her cheeks when she heard +Enda’s voice ringing loud and clear.</p> +<p>“It is true, O king!” said he, “that I have +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37' name='page_37'></a>37</span> +never used my spear in battle yet. The Prince +Congal has challenged me to meet the youngest +and least experienced of the chiefs of Erin. I have +risked my life already for your daughter’s sake. +I would face death a thousand times for the chance +of winning her for my bride; but I would scorn to +claim her hand if I dared not meet the boldest +battle champion of the nobles of Erin, and here +before you, O king, and bards, Druids, and nobles, +and chiefs of Erin, and here, in the presence of the +Lady Mave, I challenge the boldest of them all.”</p> +<p>The king’s eyes flashed with joy as he listened to +the brave words of Enda.</p> +<p>“It is well,” said the king; “the contest shall +take place to-morrow on the lawn outside our +palace gates; but before our assembly dissolves I +call on you, nobles and chiefs of Erin, to name +your boldest champion.”</p> +<p>Loud cries of “Congal! Congal!” answered the +king’s speech.</p> +<p>“Are you willing, Congal?” asked the king.</p> +<p>“Willing, O king!” answered Congal.</p> +<p>“It is well,” said the king. “We shall all meet +again to-night in our banquet-hall.”</p> +<p>And the king, with the Princess Mave on his +arm, attended by his bards and Druids, entered the +palace, and the chiefs and nobles went their several +ways. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38' name='page_38'></a>38</span></p> +<p>At the feast that night the princess sat beside +the king, and Enda beside the princess, and the +bards and Druids, nobles and chiefs, took their +places in due order. And the bards sang songs of +love and battle, and never merrier hours were +spent than those which passed away that night in +the banquet-hall of Erin’s king.</p> +<p>When the feast was over Enda retired to his +apartment to spend the night dreaming of the +Princess Mave, and Congal went to his quarters; +but not to sleep or dream, for the Druid who had +provoked the contest came to him bringing his +golden wand, and all night long the Druid was +weaving spells to charm the shield and spear and +helmet of Congal, to make them invulnerable in the +battle of the morrow.</p> +<p>But while Enda lay dreaming of the Princess +Mave, the little fairy woman who gave him the +water-dress, and crystal helmet, and shining spear +on the banks of the Boyne, slid into his room, and +she placed beside his couch a silver helmet and a +silver shield. And she rubbed the helmet, and the +shield, and the blue blade and haft of his spear +with the juice of the red rowan berries, and she let +a drop fall upon his face and hands, and then she +slid out as silently as she came.</p> +<p>When the morning broke, Enda sprang from his +couch, and he could hardly believe his eyes when +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39' name='page_39'></a>39</span> +he saw the silver shield and helmet. At the sight +of them he longed for the hour of battle, and he +watched with eager gaze the sun climbing the sky; +and, after hours of suspense, he heard the trumpet’s +sound and the clangour of the hollow shields, +struck by the hard-pointed spears.</p> +<p>Putting on the helmet, and fastening the shield +upon his left arm, and taking the spear in his right +hand, he stepped out bravely to the fight. The +edge of the lawn before the palace gates was ringed +by the princes, nobles, and chiefs of Erin. And the +palace walls were thronged by all the beauties of +the Court and all the noble ladies of the land. +And on his throne, surrounded by his Druids, his +brehons, and his bards, was the king of Erin, and +at his feet sat the lovely Lady Mave.</p> +<p>As Enda stepped out upon the lawn, he saw +Congal advancing from the ranks of the nobles, +and the two champions approached each other until +they met right in front of the throne.</p> +<p>Then both turned towards the throne, and bowed +to the king and the Princess Mave; and then facing +each other again, they retired a space, and when +their spears were poised, ready for battle, the king +gave the signal, which was answered by the clang +of stricken shields, and Congal and Enda launched +their gleaming spears. They flashed like lightning +in the sunlit air, and in a second Congal’s had +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40' name='page_40'></a>40</span> +broken against Enda’s shield; but Enda’s, piercing +Congal’s helmet, hurled him senseless on the plain.</p> +<p>The nobles and chiefs could hardly realize that +in that single second their boldest champion was +overthrown; but when they saw him stretched +motionless on the grassy sward, from out their +ranks six warriors advanced to where the chieftain +lay, and sadly they bore him away upon their +battle-shields, and Enda remained victor upon the +field.</p> +<p>And then the king’s voice rang out clear as the +sound of a trumpet in the still morning:</p> +<p>“Bards and brehons, princes and nobles, and +chiefs of Erin, Enda has proved himself a battle +champion, and who amongst you now will dare +gainsay his right to claim my daughter for his +bride?”</p> +<p>And no answer came.</p> +<p>But when he summoned Enda to his throne, and +placed the lady’s hand in his, a cheer arose from +the great assembly, that proved that jealousy was +extinguished in all hearts, and that all believed +that Enda was worthy of the winsome bride; and +never since that day, although a thousand years +have passed, was there in all the world a brighter +and gayer wedding than the wedding of Enda and +the Princess Mave.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41' name='page_41'></a>41</span> +<a name='THE_LITTLE_WHITE_CAT' id='THE_LITTLE_WHITE_CAT'></a> +<h2>THE LITTLE WHITE CAT</h2> +</div> +<p>A long, long time ago, in a valley far away, the +giant Trencoss lived in a great castle, surrounded +by trees that were always green. The castle had a +hundred doors, and every door was guarded by a +huge, shaggy hound, with tongue of fire and claws +of iron, who tore to pieces anyone who went to the +castle without the giant’s leave. Trencoss had +made war on the King of the Torrents, and, having +killed the king, and slain his people, and burned +his palace, he carried off his only daughter, the +Princess Eileen, to the castle in the valley. Here +he provided her with beautiful rooms, and appointed +a hundred dwarfs, dressed in blue and yellow satin, +to wait upon her, and harpers to play sweet music +for her, and he gave her diamonds without number, +brighter than the sun; but he would not allow her +to go outside the castle, and told her if she went +one step beyond its doors, the hounds, with tongues +of fire and claws of iron, would tear her to pieces. +A week after her arrival, war broke out between +the giant and the king of the islands, and before +he set out for battle, the giant sent for the princess, +and informed her that on his return he would make +her his wife. When the princess heard this she +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42' name='page_42'></a>42</span> +began to cry, for she would rather die than marry +the giant who had slain her father.</p> +<p>“Crying will only spoil your bright eyes, my +little princess,” said Trencoss, “and you will have +to marry me whether you like it or no.”</p> +<p>He then bade her go back to her room, and he +ordered the dwarfs to give her everything she asked +for while he was away, and the harpers to play the +sweetest music for her. When the princess gained +her room she cried as if her heart would break. +The long day passed slowly, and the night came, +but brought no sleep to Eileen, and in the grey +light of the morning she rose and opened the window, +and looked about in every direction to see if there +were any chance of escape. But the window was +ever so high above the ground, and below were the +hungry and ever watchful hounds. With a heavy +heart she was about to close the window when she +thought she saw the branches of the tree that was +nearest to it moving. She looked again, and she +saw a little white cat creeping along one of the +branches.</p> +<p>“Mew!” cried the cat.</p> +<p>“Poor little pussy,” said the princess. “Come +to me, pussy.”</p> +<p>“Stand back from the window,” said the cat, +“and I will.”</p> +<div class='figtag'> +<a name='linki_2' id='linki_2'></a> +</div> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/illus-065.png' alt='' title='' style='width: 344px; height: 500px;' /><br /> +<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center; width: 344px;'> +“‘Poor little pussy,’ said the Princess”––p. 42.<br /> +</p> +</div> +<p>The princess stepped back, and the little white +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43' name='page_43'></a>43</span> +cat jumped into the room. The princess took the +little cat on her lap and stroked him with her hand, +and the cat raised up its back and began to purr.</p> +<p>“Where do you come from, and what is your +name?” asked the princess.</p> +<p>“No matter where I come from or what’s my +name,” said the <ins class="trchange" title="Changed '.' to ','">cat,</ins> “I am a friend of yours, +and I come to help you?”</p> +<p>“I never wanted help worse,” said the princess.</p> +<p>“I know that,” said the cat; “and now listen +to me. When the giant comes back from battle +and asks you to marry him, say to him you will +marry him.”</p> +<p>“But I will never marry him,” said the princess.</p> +<p>“Do what I tell you,” said the cat. “When he +asks you to marry him, say to him you will if his +dwarfs will wind for you three balls from the fairy +dew that lies on the bushes on a misty morning as +big as these,” said the cat, putting his right forefoot +into his ear and taking out three balls––one yellow, +one red, and one blue.</p> +<p>“They are very small,” said the princess. “They +are not much bigger than peas, and the dwarfs +will not be long at their work.”</p> +<p>“Won’t they,” said the cat. “It will take them +a month and a day to make one, so that it will take +three months and three days before the balls are +wound; but the giant, like you, will think they can +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44' name='page_44'></a>44</span> +be made in a few days, and so he will readily +promise to do what you ask. He will soon find +out his mistake, but he will keep his word, and will +not press you to marry him until the balls are +wound.”</p> +<p>“When will the giant come back?” asked +Eileen.</p> +<p>“He will return to-morrow afternoon,” said the +cat.</p> +<p>“Will you stay with me until then?” said the +princess. “I am very lonely.”</p> +<p>“I cannot stay,” said the cat. “I have to go +away to my palace on the island on which no man +ever placed his foot, and where no man but one +shall ever come.”</p> +<p>“And where is that island?” asked the princess, +“and who is the man?”</p> +<p>“The island is in the far-off seas where vessel +never sailed; the man you will see before many +days are over; and if all goes well, he will one day +slay the giant Trencoss, and free you from his +power.”</p> +<p>“Ah!” sighed the princess, “that can never +be, for no weapon can wound the hundred hounds +that guard the castle, and no sword can kill the +giant Trencoss.”</p> +<p>“There is a sword that will kill him,” said the +cat; “but I must go now. Remember what you +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45' name='page_45'></a>45</span> +are to say to the giant when he comes home, and +every morning watch the tree on which you saw +me, and if you see in the branches anyone you like +better than yourself,” said the cat, winking at the +princess, “throw him these three balls and leave +the rest to me; but take care not to speak a single +word to him, for if you do all will be lost.”</p> +<p>“Shall I ever see you again?” asked the princess.</p> +<p>“Time will tell,” answered the cat, and, without +saying so much as good-bye, he jumped through +the window on to the tree, and in a second was out +of sight.</p> +<p>The morrow afternoon came, and the giant +Trencoss returned from battle. Eileen knew of his +coming by the furious barking of the hounds, and +her heart sank, for she knew that in a few moments +she would be summoned to his presence. Indeed, +he had hardly entered the castle when he sent for +her, and told her to get ready for the wedding. +The princess tried to look cheerful, as she answered:</p> +<p>“I will be ready as soon as you wish; but you +must first promise me something.”</p> +<p>“Ask anything you like, little princess,” said +Trencoss.</p> +<p>“Well, then,” said Eileen, “before I marry you, +you must make your dwarfs wind three balls as +big as these from the fairy dew that lies on the +bushes on a misty morning in summer.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46' name='page_46'></a>46</span></p> +<p>“Is that all?” said Trencoss, laughing. “I +shall give the dwarfs orders at once, and by this +time to-morrow the balls will be wound, and our +wedding can take place in the evening.”</p> +<p>“And will you leave me to myself until then?”</p> +<p>“I will,” said Trencoss.</p> +<p>“On your honour as a giant?” said Eileen.</p> +<p>“On my honour as a giant,” replied Trencoss.</p> +<p>The princess returned to her rooms, and the +giant summoned all his dwarfs, and he ordered +them to go forth in the dawning of the morn and +to gather all the fairy dew lying on the bushes, and +to wind three balls––one yellow, one red, and one +blue. The next morning, and the next, and the +next, the dwarfs went out into the fields and +searched all the hedgerows, but they could gather +only as much fairy dew as would make a thread as +long as a wee girl’s eyelash; and so they had to +go out morning after morning, and the giant fumed +and threatened, but all to no purpose. He was +very angry with the princess, and he was vexed +with himself that she was so much cleverer than +he was, and, moreover, he saw now that the +wedding could not take place as soon as he expected.</p> +<p>When the little white cat went away from the +castle he ran as fast as he could up hill and down +dale, and never stopped until he came to the Prince +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47' name='page_47'></a>47</span> +of the Silver River. The prince was alone, and +very sad and sorrowful he was, for he was thinking +of the Princess Eileen, and wondering where she +could be.</p> +<p>“Mew,” said the cat, as he sprang softly into the +room; but the prince did not heed him. “Mew,” +again said the cat; but again the prince did not +heed him. “Mew,” said the cat the third time, and +he jumped up on the prince’s knee.</p> +<p>“Where do you come from, and what do you +want?” asked the prince.</p> +<p>“I come from where you would like to be,” said +the cat.</p> +<p>“And where is that?” said the prince.</p> +<p>“Oh, where is that, indeed! as if I didn’t know +what you are thinking of, and of whom you are +thinking,” said the cat; “and it would be far +better for you to try and save her.”</p> +<p>“I would give my life a thousand times over for +her,” said the prince.</p> +<p>“For whom?” said the cat, with a wink. “I +named no name, your highness,” said he.</p> +<p>“You know very well who she is,” said the +prince, “if you knew what I was thinking of; +but do you know where she is?”</p> +<p>“She is in danger,” said the cat. “She is in +the castle of the giant Trencoss, in the valley +beyond the mountains.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48' name='page_48'></a>48</span></p> +<p>“I will set out there at once,” said the prince +“and I will challenge the giant to battle, and will +slay him.”</p> +<p>“Easier said than done,” said the cat. “There +is no sword made by the hands of man can kill +him, and even if you could kill him, his hundred +hounds, with tongues of fire and claws of iron, +would tear you to pieces.”</p> +<p>“Then, what am I to do?” asked the prince.</p> +<p>“Be said by me,” said the cat. “Go to the +wood that surrounds the giant’s castle, and climb +the high tree that’s nearest to the window that +looks towards the sunset, and shake the branches, +and you will see what you will see. Then hold +out your hat with the silver plumes, and three +balls––one yellow, one red, and one blue––will be +thrown into it. And then come back here as fast +as you can; but speak no word, for if you utter a +single word the hounds will hear you, and you shall +be torn to pieces.”</p> +<p>Well, the prince set off at once, and after two +days’ journey he came to the wood around the +castle, and he climbed the tree that was nearest +to the window that looked towards the sunset, and +he shook the branches. As soon as he did so, the +window opened and he saw the Princess Eileen, +looking lovelier than ever. He was going to call +out her name, but she placed her fingers on her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49' name='page_49'></a>49</span> +lips, and he remembered what the cat had told +him, that he was to speak no word. In silence he +held out the hat with the silver plumes, and the +princess threw into it the three balls, one after +another, and, blowing him a kiss, she shut the +window. And well it was she did so, for at that +very moment she heard the voice of the giant, who +was coming back from hunting.</p> +<p>The prince waited until the giant had entered the +castle before he descended the tree. He set off as +fast as he could. He went up hill and down dale, +and never stopped until he arrived at his own +palace, and there waiting for him was the little +white cat.</p> +<p>“Have you brought the three balls?” said he.</p> +<p>“I have,” said the prince.</p> +<p>“Then follow me,” said the cat.</p> +<p>On they went until they left the palace far +behind and came to the edge of the sea.</p> +<p>“Now,” said the cat, “unravel a thread of the +red ball, hold the thread in your right hand, drop +the ball into the water, and you shall see what +you shall see.”</p> +<p>The prince did as he was told, and the ball +floated out to sea, unravelling as it went, and it +went on until it was out of sight.</p> +<p>“Pull now,” said the cat.</p> +<p>The prince pulled, and, as he did, he saw far +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50' name='page_50'></a>50</span> +away something on the sea shining like silver. It +came nearer and nearer, and he saw it was a little +silver boat. At last it touched the strand.</p> +<p>“Now,” said the cat, “step into this boat and it +will bear you to the palace on the island on which +no man has ever placed his foot––the island in the +unknown seas that were never sailed by vessels +made of human hands. In that palace there is a +sword with a diamond hilt, and by that sword +alone the giant Trencoss can be killed. There also +are a hundred cakes, and it is only on eating +these the hundred hounds can die. But mind what +I say to you: if you eat or drink until you reach +the palace of the little cat in the island in the +unknown seas, you will forget the Princess Eileen.”</p> +<p>“I will forget myself first,” said the prince, as +he stepped into the silver boat, which floated away +so quickly that it was soon out of sight of land.</p> +<p>The day passed and the night fell, and the stars +shone down upon the waters, but the boat never +stopped. On she went for two whole days and +nights, and on the third morning the prince saw +an island in the distance, and very glad he was; +for he thought it was his journey’s end, and he was +almost fainting with thirst and hunger. But the +day passed and the island was still before him.</p> +<p>At long last, on the following day, he saw by the +first light of the morning that he was quite close +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51' name='page_51'></a>51</span> +to it, and that trees laden with fruit of every kind +were bending down over the water. The boat +sailed round and round the island, going closer and +closer every round, until, at last, the drooping +branches almost touched it. The sight of the fruit +within his reach made the prince hungrier and +thirstier than he was before, and forgetting his +promise to the little cat––not to eat anything until +he entered the palace in the unknown seas––he +caught one of the branches, and, in a moment, +was in the tree eating the delicious fruit. While +he was doing so the boat floated out to sea and soon +was lost to sight; but the prince, having eaten, +forgot all about it, and, worse still, forgot all about +the princess in the giant’s castle. When he had +eaten enough he descended the tree, and, turning +his back on the sea, set out straight before him. +He had not gone far when he heard the sound of +music, and soon after he saw a number of maidens +playing on silver harps coming towards him. When +they saw him they ceased playing, and cried out:</p> +<p>“Welcome! welcome! Prince of the Silver River, +welcome to the island of fruits and flowers. Our +king and queen saw you coming over the sea, and +they sent us to bring you to the palace.”</p> +<p>The prince went with them, and at the palace +gates the king and queen and their daughter +Kathleen received him, and gave him welcome. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52' name='page_52'></a>52</span> +He hardly saw the king and queen, for his eyes +were fixed on the princess Kathleen, who looked +more beautiful than a flower. He thought he had +never seen anyone so lovely, for, of course, he had +forgotten all about poor Eileen pining away in her +castle prison in the lonely valley. When the king +and queen had given welcome to the prince a great +feast was spread, and all the lords and ladies of +the court sat down to it, and the prince sat between +the queen and the princess Kathleen, and long +before the feast was finished he was over head +and ears in love with her. When the feast was +ended the queen ordered the ballroom to be made +ready, and when night fell the dancing began, and +was kept up until the morning star, and the prince +danced all night with the princess, falling deeper +and deeper in love with her every minute. Between +dancing by night and feasting by day weeks went +by. All the time poor Eileen in the giant’s castle +was counting the hours, and all this time the dwarfs +were winding the balls, and a ball and a half were +already wound. At last the prince asked the king +and queen for their daughter in marriage, and they +were delighted to be able to say yes, and the day +was fixed for the wedding. But on the evening +before the day on which it was to take place the +prince was in his room, getting ready for a dance, +when he felt something rubbing against his leg, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53' name='page_53'></a>53</span> +and, looking down, who should he see but the little +white cat. At the sight of him the prince remembered +everything, and sad and sorry he was +when he thought of Eileen watching and waiting +and counting the days until he returned to save +her. But he was very fond of the princess +Kathleen, and so he did not know what to do.</p> +<p>“You can’t do anything to-night,” said the cat, +for he knew what the prince was thinking of, “but +when morning comes go down to the sea, and look +not to the right or the left, and let no living thing +touch you, for if you do you shall never leave the +island. Drop the second ball into the water, as +you did the first, and when the boat comes step +in at once. Then you may look behind you, and +you shall see what you shall see, and you’ll know +which you love best, the Princess Eileen or the +Princess Kathleen, and you can either go or <ins class="trchange" title="Added closing double-quote">stay.”</ins></p> +<p>The prince didn’t sleep a wink that night, and +at the first glimpse of the morning he stole from the +palace. When he reached the sea he threw out the +ball, and when it had floated out of sight, he saw +the little boat sparkling on the horizon like a +newly-risen star. The prince had scarcely passed +through the palace doors when he was missed, and +the king and queen and the princess, and all the +lords and ladies of the court, went in search of him, +taking the quickest way to the sea. While the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54' name='page_54'></a>54</span> +maidens with the silver harps played sweetest +music, the princess, whose voice was sweeter than +any music, called on the prince by his name, and so +moved his heart that he was about to look behind, +when he remembered how the cat had told him +he should not do so until he was in the boat. Just +as it touched the shore the princess put out her +hand and almost caught the prince’s arm, but he +stepped into the boat in time to save himself, and +it sped away like a receding wave. A loud scream +caused the prince to look round suddenly, and +when he did he saw no sign of king or queen, or +princess, or lords or ladies, but only big green +serpents, with red eyes and tongues, that hissed +out fire and poison as they writhed in a hundred +horrible coils.</p> +<p>The prince, having escaped from the enchanted +island, sailed away for three days and three nights, +and every night he hoped the coming morning +would show him the island he was in search of. +He was faint with hunger and beginning to despair, +when on the fourth morning he saw in the distance +an island that, in the first rays of the sun, gleamed +like fire. On coming closer to it he saw that it +was clad with trees, so covered with bright red +berries that hardly a leaf was to be seen. Soon the +boat was almost within a stone’s cast of the island, +and it began to sail round and round until it was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55' name='page_55'></a>55</span> +well under the bending branches. The scent of the +berries was so sweet that it sharpened the prince’s +hunger, and he longed to pluck them; but, remembering +what had happened to him on the +enchanted island, he was afraid to touch them. +But the boat kept on sailing round and round, and +at last a great wind rose from the sea and shook +the branches, and the bright, sweet berries fell +into the boat until it was filled with them, and +they fell upon the prince’s hands, and he took up +some to look at them, and as he looked the desire +to eat them grew stronger, and he said to himself +it would be no harm to taste one; but when he +tasted it the flavour was so delicious he swallowed +it, and, of course, at once he forgot all about +Eileen, and the boat drifted away from him and +left him standing in the water.</p> +<p>He climbed on to the island, and having eaten +enough of the berries, he set out to see what might +be before him, and it was not long until he heard +a great noise, and a huge iron ball knocked down +one of the trees in front of him, and before he +knew where he was a hundred giants came running +after it. When they saw the prince they turned +towards him, and one of them caught him up in +his hand and held him up that all might see him. +The prince was nearly squeezed to death, and +seeing this the giant put him on the ground again. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56' name='page_56'></a>56</span></p> +<p>“Who are you, my little man?” asked the giant.</p> +<p>“I am a prince,” replied the prince.</p> +<p>“Oh, you are a prince, are you?” said the giant. +“And what are you good for?” said he.</p> +<p>The prince did not know, for nobody had asked +him that question before.</p> +<p>“I know what he’s good for,” said an old giantess, +with one eye in her forehead and one in her chin. +“I know what he’s good for. He’s good to eat.”</p> +<p>When the giants heard this they laughed so loud +that the prince was frightened almost to death.</p> +<p>“Why,” said one, “he wouldn’t make a mouthful.”</p> +<p>“Oh, leave him to me,” said the giantess, “and +I’ll fatten him up; and when he is cooked and +dressed he will be a nice dainty dish for the king.”</p> +<p>The giants, on this, gave the prince into the +hands of the old giantess. She took him home +with her to the kitchen, and fed him on sugar and +spice and all things nice, so that he should be a +sweet morsel for the king of the giants when he +returned to the island. The poor prince would +not eat anything at first, but the giantess held +him over the fire until his feet were scorched, and +then he said to himself it was better to eat than to +be burnt alive.</p> +<p>Well, day after day passed, and the prince grew +sadder and sadder, thinking that he would soon be +cooked and dressed for the king; but sad as the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57' name='page_57'></a>57</span> +prince was, he was not half as sad as the Princess +Eileen in the giant’s castle, watching and waiting +for the prince to return and save her.</p> +<p>And the dwarfs had wound two balls, and were +winding a third.</p> +<p>At last the prince heard from the old giantess +that the king of the giants was to return on the +following day, and she said to him:</p> +<p>“As this is the last night you have to live, tell +me if you wish for anything, for if you do your +wish will be granted.”</p> +<p>“I don’t wish for anything,” said the prince, +whose heart was dead within him.</p> +<p>“Well, I’ll come back again,” said the giantess, +and she went away.</p> +<p>The prince sat down in a corner, thinking and +thinking, until he heard close to his ear a sound +like “purr, purr!” He looked around, and there +before him was the little white cat.</p> +<p>“I ought not to come to you,” said the cat; +“but, indeed, it is not for your sake I come. I +come for the sake of the Princess Eileen. Of course, +you forgot all about her, and, of course, she is +always thinking of you. It’s always the way––</p> +<div class="poem"> +<table style='margin: auto' summary=''><tr><td> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> +“Favoured lovers may forget,<br /> +Slighted lovers never yet.”</p> +</td></tr></table> +</div> +<p>The prince blushed with shame when he heard +the name of the princess. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58' name='page_58'></a>58</span></p> +<p>“’Tis you that ought to blush,” said the cat; +“but listen to me now, and remember, if you don’t +obey my directions this time you’ll never see me +again, and you’ll never set your eyes on the Princess +Eileen. When the old giantess comes back tell +her you wish, when the morning comes, to go down +to the sea to look at it for the last time. When you +reach the sea you will know what to do. But I +must go now, as I hear the giantess coming.” +And the cat jumped out of the window and disappeared.</p> +<p>“Well,” said the giantess, when she came in, +“is there anything you wish?”</p> +<p>“Is it true I must die to-morrow?” asked the +prince.</p> +<p>“It is.”</p> +<p>“Then,” said he, “I should like to go down to +the sea to look at it for the last time.”</p> +<p>“You may do that,” said the giantess, “if you +get up early.”</p> +<p>“I’ll be up with the lark in the light of the +morning,” said the prince.</p> +<p>“Very well,” said the giantess, and, saying +“good night,” she went away.</p> +<p>The prince thought the night would never pass, +but at last it faded away before the grey light of +the dawn, and he sped down to the sea. He threw +out the third ball, and before long he saw the little +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59' name='page_59'></a>59</span> +boat coming towards him swifter than the wind. +He threw himself into it the moment it touched +the shore. Swifter than the wind it bore him out +to sea, and before he had time to look behind him +the island of the giantess was like a faint red speck +in the distance. The day passed and the night fell, +and the stars looked down, and the boat sailed on, +and just as the sun rose above the sea it pushed +its silver prow on the golden strand of an island +greener than the leaves in summer. The prince +jumped out, and went on and on until he entered +a pleasant valley, at the head of which he saw a +palace white as snow.</p> +<p>As he approached the central door it opened for +him. On entering the hall he passed into several +rooms without meeting with anyone; but, when he +reached the principal apartment, he found himself +in a circular room, in which were a thousand +pillars, and every pillar was of marble, and on +every pillar save one, which stood in the centre of +the room, was a little white cat with black eyes. +Ranged round the wall, from one door-jamb to the +other, were three rows of precious jewels. The +first was a row of brooches of gold and silver, with +their pins fixed in the wall and their heads outwards; +the second a row of torques of gold and +silver; and the third a row of great swords, with +hilts of gold and silver. And on many tables was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60' name='page_60'></a>60</span> +food of all kinds, and drinking horns filled with +foaming ale.<a name='FNanchor_0004' id='FNanchor_0004'></a><a href='#Footnote_0004' class='fnanchor'>[4]</a></p> +<p>While the prince was looking about him the cats +kept on jumping from pillar to pillar; but seeing +that none of them jumped on to the pillar in the +centre of the room, he began to wonder why this +was so, when, all of a sudden, and before he could +guess how it came about, there right before him on +the centre pillar was the little white cat.</p> +<p>“Don’t you know me?” said he.</p> +<p>“I do,” said the prince.</p> +<p>“Ah, but you don’t know who I am. This is +the palace of the Little White Cat, and I am the +King of the Cats. But you must be hungry, and +the feast is spread.”</p> +<p>Well, when the feast was ended, the king of the +cats called for the sword that would kill the giant +Trencoss, and the hundred cakes for the hundred +watch-dogs.</p> +<p>The cats brought the sword and the cakes and +laid them before the king.</p> +<p>“Now,” said the king, “take these; you have no +time to lose. To-morrow the dwarfs will wind the last +ball, and to-morrow the giant will claim the princess +for his bride. So you should go at once; but before +you go take this from me to your little girl.”</p> +<p>And the king gave him a brooch lovelier than any +on the palace walls. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61' name='page_61'></a>61</span></p> +<p>The king and the prince, followed by the cats, +went down to the strand, and when the prince +stepped into the boat all the cats “mewed” three +times for good luck, and the prince waved his hat +three times, and the little boat sped over the waters +all through the night as brightly and as swiftly as +a shooting star. In the first flush of the morning +it touched the strand. The prince jumped out and +went on and on, up hill and down dale, until he +came to the giant’s castle. When the hounds saw +him they barked furiously, and bounded towards +him to tear him to pieces. The prince flung the +cakes to them, and as each hound swallowed his +cake he fell dead. The prince then struck his +shield three times with the sword which he had +brought from the palace of the little white cat.</p> +<p>When the giant heard the sound he cried out: +“Who comes to challenge me on my wedding-day?”</p> +<p>The dwarfs went out to see, and, returning, +told him it was a prince who challenged him to +battle.</p> +<p>The giant, foaming with rage, seized his heaviest +iron club, and rushed out to the fight. The fight +lasted the whole day, and when the sun went down +the giant said:</p> +<p>“We have had enough of fighting for the day. +We can begin at sunrise to-morrow.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62' name='page_62'></a>62</span></p> +<p>“Not so,” said the prince. “Now or never; +win or die.”</p> +<p>“Then take this,” cried the giant, as he aimed +a blow with all his force at the prince’s head; but +the prince, darting forward like a flash of lightning, +drove his sword into the giant’s heart, and, with +a groan, he fell over the bodies of the poisoned +hounds.</p> +<p>When the dwarfs saw the giant dead they began +to cry and tear their hair. But the prince told +them they had nothing to fear, and he bade them +go and tell the princess Eileen he wished to speak +with her. But the princess had watched the battle +from her window, and when she saw the giant fall +she rushed out to greet the prince, and that very +night he and she and all the dwarfs and harpers +set out for the Palace of the Silver River, which +they reached the next morning, and from that +day to this there never has been a gayer wedding +than the wedding of the Prince of the Silver River +and the Princess Eileen; and though she had +diamonds and pearls to spare, the only jewel she +wore on her wedding-day was the brooch which +the prince had brought her from the Palace of the +Little White Cat in the far-off seas.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63' name='page_63'></a>63</span> +<a name='THE_GOLDEN_SPEARS' id='THE_GOLDEN_SPEARS'></a> +<h2>THE GOLDEN SPEARS.</h2> +</div> +<p>Once upon a time there lived in a little house +under a hill a little old woman and her two +children, whose names were Connla and Nora. +Right in front of the door of the little house lay +a pleasant meadow, and beyond the meadow rose +up to the skies a mountain whose top was sharp-pointed +like a spear. For more than half-way up +it was clad with heather, and when the heather +was in bloom it looked like a purple robe falling +from the shoulders of the mountain down to its +feet. Above the heather it was bare and grey, +but when the sun was sinking in the sea, its last +rays rested on the bare mountain top and made it +gleam like a spear of gold, and so the children +always called it the “Golden Spear.”</p> +<p>In summer days they gambolled in the meadow, +plucking the sweet wild grasses––and often and +often they clambered up the mountain side, knee +deep in the heather, searching for frechans and +wild honey, and sometimes they found a bird’s +nest––but they only peeped into it, they never +touched the eggs or allowed their breath to fall +upon them, for next to their little mother they +loved the mountain, and next to the mountain +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64' name='page_64'></a>64</span> +they loved the wild birds who made the spring and +summer weather musical with their songs.</p> +<p>Sometimes the soft white mist would steal +through the glen, and creeping up the mountain +would cover it with a veil so dense that the children +could not see it, and then they would say to each +other: “Our mountain is gone away from us.” +But when the mist would lift and float off into the +skies, the children would clap their hands, and say: +“Oh, there’s our mountain back again.”</p> +<p>In the long nights of winter they babbled of the +spring and summertime to come, when the birds +would once more sing for them, and never a day +passed that they didn’t fling crumbs outside their +door, and on the borders of the wood that stretched +away towards the glen.</p> +<p>When the spring days came they awoke with +the first light of the morning, and they knew the +very minute when the lark would begin to sing, +and when the thrush and the blackbird would pour +out their liquid notes, and when the robin would +make the soft, green, tender leaves tremulous at +his song.</p> +<p>It chanced one day that when they were resting +in the noontide heat, under the perfumed shade +of a hawthorn in bloom, they saw on the edge of +the meadow, spread out before them, a speckled +thrush cowering in the grass. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65' name='page_65'></a>65</span></p> +<p>“Oh, Connla! Connla! Look at the thrush––and, +look, look up in the sky, there is a hawk!” +cried Nora.</p> +<p>Connla looked up, and he saw the hawk with +quivering wings, and he knew that in a second it +would pounce down on the frightened thrush. He +jumped to his feet, fixed a stone in his sling, and +before the whirr of the stone shooting through the +air was silent, the stricken hawk tumbled headlong +in the grass.</p> +<p>The thrush, shaking its wings, rose joyously in +the air, and perching upon an elm-tree in sight of +the children, he sang a song so sweet that they left +the hawthorn shade and walked along together +until they stood under the branches of the elm; +and they listened and listened to the thrush’s song, +and at last Nora said:</p> +<p>“Oh, Connla! did you ever hear a song so sweet +as this?”</p> +<p>“No,” said Connla, “and I do believe sweeter +music was never heard before.”</p> +<p>“Ah,” said the thrush, “that’s because you never +heard the nine little pipers playing. And now, +Connla and Nora, you saved my life to-day.”</p> +<p>“It was Nora saved it,” said Connla, “for she +pointed you out to me, and also pointed out the +hawk which was about to pounce on you.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66' name='page_66'></a>66</span></p> +<p>“It was Connla saved you,” said Nora, “for he +slew the hawk with his sling.”</p> +<p>“I owe my life to both of you,” said the thrush. +“You like my song, and you say you have never +heard anything so sweet; but wait till you hear +the nine little pipers playing.”</p> +<p>“And when shall we hear them?” said the +children.</p> +<p>“Well,” said the thrush, “sit outside your door +to-morrow evening, and wait and watch until the +shadows have crept up the heather, and then, when +the mountain top is gleaming like a golden spear, +look at the line where the shadow on the heather +meets the sunshine, and you shall see what you +shall see.”</p> +<p>And having said this, the thrush sang another +song sweeter than the first, and then saying “good-bye,” +he flew away into the woods.</p> +<p>The children went home, and all night long they +were dreaming of the thrush and the nine little +pipers; and when the birds sang in the morning, +they got up and went out into the meadow to +watch the mountain.</p> +<p>The sun was shining in a cloudless sky, and no +shadows lay on the mountain, and all day long they +watched and waited, and at last, when the birds +were singing their farewell song to the evening +star, the children saw the shadows marching from +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67' name='page_67'></a>67</span> +the glen, trooping up the mountain side and +dimming the purple of the heather.</p> +<p>And when the mountain top gleamed like a +golden spear, they fixed their eyes on the line +between the shadow and the sunshine.</p> +<p>“Now,” said Connla, “the time has come.”</p> +<p>“Oh, look! look!” said Nora, and as she spoke, +just above the line of shadow a door opened out, +and through its portals came a little piper dressed +in green and gold. He stepped down, followed by +another and another, until they were nine in all, +and then the door slung back again. Down +through the heather marched the pipers in single +file, and all the time they played a music so sweet +that the birds, who had gone to sleep in their nests, +came out upon the branches to listen to them +and then they crossed the meadow, and they +went on and on until they disappeared in the +leafy woods.</p> +<p>While they were passing the children were spell-bound, +and couldn’t speak, but when the music had +died away in the woods, they said:</p> +<p>“The thrush is right, that is the sweetest music +that was ever heard in all the world.”</p> +<p>And when the children went to bed that night the +fairy music came to them in their dreams. But +when the morning broke, and they looked out upon +their mountain and could see no trace of the door +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68' name='page_68'></a>68</span> +above the heather, they asked each other whether +they had really seen the little pipers, or only +dreamt of them.</p> +<p>That day they went out into the woods, and they +sat beside a stream that pattered along beneath the +trees, and through the leaves tossing in the breeze +the sun flashed down upon the streamlet, and +shadow and sunshine danced upon it. As the +children watched the water sparkling where the +sunlight fell, Nora said:</p> +<p>“Oh, Connla, did you ever see anything so +bright and clear and glancing as that?”</p> +<p>“No,” said Connla, “I never did.”</p> +<p>“That’s because you never saw the crystal hall +of the fairy of the mountains,” said a voice above +the heads of the children.</p> +<p>And when they looked up, who should they see +perched on a branch but the thrush.</p> +<p>“And where is the crystal hall of the fairy?” +said Connla.</p> +<p>“Oh, it is where it always was, and where it +always will be,” said the thrush. “And you can +see it if you like.”</p> +<p>“We would like to see it,” said the children.</p> +<p>“Well, then,” said the thrush, “if you would, +all you have to do is to follow the nine little pipers +when they come down through the heather, and +cross the meadow to-morrow evening.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69' name='page_69'></a>69</span></p> +<p>And the thrush having said this, flew away.</p> +<p>Connla and Nora went home, and that night they +fell asleep talking of the thrush and the fairy and +the crystal hall.</p> +<p>All the next day they counted the minutes, until +they saw the shadows thronging from the glen and +scaling the mountain side. And, at last, they saw +the door springing open, and the nine little pipers +marching down.</p> +<p>They waited until the pipers had crossed the +meadow and were about to enter the wood. And +then they followed them, the pipers marching on +before them and playing all the time. It was not +long until they had passed through the wood, and +then, what should the children see rising up before +them but another mountain, smaller than their +own, but, like their own, clad more than half-way +up with purple heather, and whose top was bare +and sharp-pointed, and gleaming like a golden spear.</p> +<p>Up through the heather climbed the pipers, up +through the heather the children clambered after +them, and the moment the pipers passed the +heather a door opened and they marched in, the +children following, and the door closed behind +them.</p> +<p>Connla and Nora were so dazzled by the light +that hit their eyes, when they had crossed the +threshold, that they had to shade them with their +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70' name='page_70'></a>70</span> +hands; but, after a moment or two, they became +able to bear the splendour, and when they looked +around they saw that they were in a noble hall, +whose crystal roof was supported by two rows of +crystal pillars rising from a crystal floor; and the +walls were of crystal, and along the walls were +crystal couches, with coverings and cushions of +sapphire silk with silver tassels.</p> +<p>Over the crystal floor the little pipers marched; +over the crystal floor the children followed, and +when a door at the end of the hall was opened to +let the pipers pass, a crowd of colours came rushing +in, and floor, and ceiling, and stately pillars, and +glancing couches, and shining walls, were stained +with a thousand dazzling hues.</p> +<p>Out through the door the pipers marched; out +through the door the children followed, and when +they crossed the threshold they were treading on +clouds of amber, of purple, and of gold.</p> +<p>“Oh, Connla,” said Nora, “we have walked into +the sunset!”</p> +<p>And around and about them everywhere were +soft, fleecy clouds, and over their heads was the +glowing sky, and the stars were shining through it, +as a lady’s eyes shine through a veil of gossamer. +And the sky and stars seemed so near that Connla +thought he could almost touch them with his +hand. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71' name='page_71'></a>71</span></p> +<p>When they had gone some distance, the pipers +disappeared, and when Connla and Nora came up +to the spot where they had seen the last of them, +they found themselves at the head of a ladder, all +the steps of which were formed of purple and amber +clouds that descended to what appeared to be a +vast and shining plain, streaked with purple and +gold. In the spaces between the streaks of gold +and purple they saw soft, milk-white stars. And +the children thought that the great plain, so far +below them, also belonged to cloudland.</p> +<p>They could not see the little pipers, but up the +steps was borne by the cool, sweet air the fairy +music; and lured on by it step by step they travelled +down the fleecy stairway. When they were little +more than half way down there came mingled +with the music a sound almost as sweet––the +sound of waters toying in the still air with pebbles +on a shelving beach, and with the sound came the +odorous brine of the ocean. And then the children +knew that what they thought was a plain in the +realms of cloudland was the sleeping sea unstirred +by wind or tide, dreaming of the purple clouds +and stars of the sunset sky above it.</p> +<p>When Connla and Nora reached the strand they +saw the nine little pipers marching out towards +the sea, and they wondered where they were going +to. And they could hardly believe their eyes when +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72' name='page_72'></a>72</span> +they saw them stepping out upon the level ocean +as if they were walking upon the land; and away +the nine little pipers marched, treading the golden +line cast upon the waters by the setting sun. And +as the music became fainter and fainter as the +pipers passed into the glowing distance, the children +began to wonder what was to become of +themselves. Just at that very moment they saw +coming towards them from the sinking sun a little +white horse, with flowing mane and tail and golden +hoofs. On the horse’s back was a little man +dressed in shining green silk. When the horse +galloped on to the strand the little man doffed his +hat, and said to the children:</p> +<p>“Would you like to follow the nine little pipers?” +The children said, “yes.”</p> +<p>“Well, then,” said the little man, “come up here +behind me; you, Nora, first, and Connla after.”</p> +<p>Connla helped up Nora, and then climbed on to +the little steed himself; and as soon as they were +properly seated the little man said “swish,” and +away went the steed, galloping over the sea without +wetting hair or hoof. But fast as he galloped the +nine little pipers were always ahead of him, +although they seemed to be going only at a walking +pace. When at last he came up rather close to +the hindmost of them the nine little pipers disappeared, +but the children heard the music playing +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73' name='page_73'></a>73</span> +beneath the <ins class="trchange" title="Changed ',' to '.'">waters.</ins> The white steed pulled up +suddenly, and wouldn’t move a step further.</p> +<p>“Now,” said the little man to the children, +“clasp me tight, Nora, and do you, Connla, cling +on to Nora, and both of you shut your eyes.”</p> +<p>The children did as they were bidden, and the +little man cried:</p> +<p>“Swish! swash!”</p> +<p>And the steed went down and down until at +last his feet struck the bottom.</p> +<p>“Now open your eyes,” said the little man.</p> +<p>And when the children did so they saw beneath +the horse’s feet a golden strand, and above their +heads the sea like a transparent cloud between +them and the sky. And once more they heard the +fairy music, and marching on the strand before +them were the nine little pipers.</p> +<p>“You must get off now,” said the little man, “I +can go no farther with you.”</p> +<p>The children scrambled down, and the little man +cried “swish,” and himself and the steed shot up +through the sea, and they saw him no more. Then +they set out after the nine little pipers, and it +wasn’t long until they saw rising up from the +golden strand and pushing their heads up into the +sea above, a mass of dark grey rocks. And as they +were gazing at them they saw the rocks opening, +and the nine little pipers disappearing through them. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74' name='page_74'></a>74</span></p> +<p>The children hurried on, and when they came up +close to the rocks they saw sitting on a flat and +polished stone a mermaid combing her golden hair, +and singing a strange sweet song that brought the +tears to their eyes, and by the mermaid’s side was +a little sleek brown otter.</p> +<p>When the mermaid saw them she flung her golden +tresses back over her snow-white shoulders, and she +beckoned the children to her. Her large eyes were +full of sadness; but there was a look so tender +upon her face that the children moved towards her +without any fear.</p> +<p>“Come to me, little one,” she said to Nora, +“come and kiss me,” and in a second her arms +were around the child. The mermaid kissed her +again and again, as the tears rushed to her eyes, +she said:</p> +<p>“Oh, Nora, avourneen, your breath is as sweet as +the wild rose that blooms in the green fields of +Erin, and happy are you, my children, who have +come so lately from the pleasant land. Oh, +Connla! Connla! I get the scent of the dew of the +Irish grasses and of the purple heather from your +feet. And you both can soon return to Erin of +the Streams, but I shall not see it till three hundred +years have passed away, for I am Liban the Mermaid, +daughter of a line of kings. But I may not +keep you here. The Fairy Queen is waiting for +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75' name='page_75'></a>75</span> +you in her snow-white palace and her fragrant +bowers. And now kiss me once more, Nora, and +kiss me, Connla. May luck and joy go with you, +and all gentleness be upon you both.”<a name='FNanchor_0005' id='FNanchor_0005'></a><a href='#Footnote_0005' class='fnanchor'>[5]</a></p> +<p>Then the children said good-bye to the mermaid, +and the rocks opened for them and they passed +through, and soon they found themselves in a +meadow starred with flowers, and through the +meadow sped a sunlit stream. They followed the +stream until it led them into a garden of roses, and +beyond the garden, standing on a gentle hill, was +a palace white as snow. Before the palace was a +crowd of fairy maidens pelting each other with +rose-leaves. But when they saw the children they +gave over their play, and came trooping towards +them.</p> +<p>“Our queen is waiting for you,” they said; and +then they led the children to the palace door. The +children entered, and after passing through a long +corridor they found themselves in a crystal hall so +like the one they had seen in the mountain of the +golden spear that they thought it was the same. +But on all the crystal couches fairies, dressed in +silken robes of many colours, were sitting, and at +the end of the hall, on a crystal throne, was seated +the fairy queen, looking lovelier than the evening +star. The queen descended from her throne to +meet the children, and taking them by the hands, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76' name='page_76'></a>76</span> +she led them up the shining steps. Then, sitting +down, she made them sit beside her, Connla on her +right hand and Nora on her left.</p> +<p>Then she ordered the nine little pipers to come +before her, and she said to them:</p> +<p>“So far you have done your duty faithfully, +and now play one more sweet air and your task is +done.”</p> +<p>And the little pipers played, and from the couches +at the first sound of the music all the fairies rose, +and forming partners, they danced over the crystal +floor as lightly as the young leaves dancing in the +wind.</p> +<p>Listening to the fairy music, and watching the +wavy motion of the dancing fairies, the children fell +asleep. When they awoke next morning and rose +from their silken beds they were no longer children. +Nora was a graceful and stately maiden, and Connla +a handsome and gallant youth. They looked at +each other for a moment in surprise, and then +Connla said:</p> +<p>“Oh, Nora, how tall and beautiful you are!”</p> +<p>“Oh, not so tall and handsome as you are, +Connla,” said Nora, as she flung her white arms +round his neck and kissed her brother’s lips.</p> +<p>Then they drew back to get a better look of each +other, and who should step between them but the +fairy queen. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77' name='page_77'></a>77</span></p> +<p>“Oh, Nora, Nora,” said she, “I am not as high +as your knee, and as for you, Connla, you look as +straight and as tall as one of the round towers of +Erin.”</p> +<p>“And how did we grow so tall in one night?” +said Connla.</p> +<p>“In one night!” said the fairy queen. “One +night, indeed! Why, you have been fast asleep, +the two of you, for the last seven years!”</p> +<p>“And where was the little mother all that time?” +said Connla and Nora together.</p> +<p>“Oh, the little mother was all right. She knew +where you were; but she is expecting you to-day, +and so you must go off to see her, although I would +like to keep you––if I had my way––all to myself +here in the fairyland under the sea. And you will +see her to-day; but before you go here is a necklace +for you, Nora; it is formed out of the drops +of the ocean spray, sparkling in the sunshine. +They were caught by my fairy nymph, for you, as +they skimmed the sunlit billows under the shape +of sea-birds, and no queen or princess in the world +can match their lustre with the diamonds won +with toil from the caves of earth. As for you, +Connla, see here’s a helmet of shining gold fit for +a king of Erin––and a king of Erin you will be yet; +and here’s a spear that will pierce any shield, and +here’s a shield that no spear can pierce and no +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78' name='page_78'></a>78</span> +sword can cleave as long as you fasten your warrior +cloak with this brooch of gold.”</p> +<p>And as she spoke she flung round Connla’s +shoulders a flowing mantle of yellow silk, and +pinned it at his neck with a red gold brooch.</p> +<p>“And now, my children, you must go away from +me. You, Nora, will be a warrior’s bride in Erin +of the Streams. And you, Connla, will be king yet +over the loveliest province in all the land of Erin; +but you will have to fight for your crown, and days +of battle are before you. They will not come for a +long time after you have left the fairyland under +the sea, and until they come lay aside your helmet, +shield, and spear, and warrior’s cloak and golden +brooch. But when the time comes when you will +be called to battle, enter not upon it without the +golden brooch I give you fastened in your cloak, +for if you do harm will come to you. Now, kiss me, +children; your little mother is waiting for you at +the foot of the golden spear, but do not forget to +say good-bye to Liban the Mermaid, exiled from +the land she loves, and pining in sadness beneath +the sea.”</p> +<p>Connla and Nora kissed the fairy queen, and +Connla, wearing his golden helmet and silken +cloak, and carrying his shield and spear, led Nora +with him. They passed from the palace through +the garden of roses, through the flowery meadow, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79' name='page_79'></a>79</span> +through the dark grey rocks, until they reached the +golden strand; and there, sitting and singing the +strange, sweet song, was Liban the Mermaid.</p> +<p>“And so you are going up to Erin,” she said, +“up through the covering waters. Kiss me, +children, once again; and when you are in Erin +of the Streams, sometimes think of the exile from +Erin beneath the sea.”</p> +<p>And the children kissed the mermaid, and with +sad hearts, bidding her good-bye, they walked +along the golden strand. When they had gone +what seemed to them a long way, they began to +feel weary; and just then they saw coming towards +them a little man in a red jacket leading a coal-black +steed.</p> +<p>When they met the little man, he said: “Connla, +put Nora up on this steed; then jump up before +her.”</p> +<p>Connla did as he was told, and when both of +them were mounted––</p> +<p>“Now, Connla,” said the little man, “catch the +bridle in your hands, and you, Nora, clasp Connla +round the waist, and close your eyes.”</p> +<p>They did as they were bidden, and then the little +man said, “Swash, swish!” and the steed shot up +from the strand like a lark from the grass, and +pierced the covering sea, and went bounding on +over the level waters; and when his hoofs struck +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80' name='page_80'></a>80</span> +the hard ground, Connla and Nora opened their +eyes, and they saw that they were galloping towards +a shady wood.</p> +<p>On went the steed, and soon he was galloping +beneath the branches that almost touched Connla’s +head. And on they went until they had passed +through the wood, and then they saw rising up +before them the “Golden Spear.”</p> +<p>“Oh, Connla,” said Nora, “we are at home at +last.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Connla, “but where is the little +house under the hill?”</p> +<p>And no little house was there; but in its stead +was standing a lime-white mansion.</p> +<p>“What can this mean?” said Nora.</p> +<p>But before Connla could reply, the steed had +galloped up to the door of the mansion, and, in the +twinkling of an eye, Connla and Nora were standing +on the ground outside the door, and the steed had +vanished.</p> +<p>Before they could recover from their surprise the +little mother came rushing out to them, and flung +her arms around their necks, and kissed them both +again and again.</p> +<p>“Oh, children! children! You are welcome home +to me; for though I knew it was all for the best, +my heart was lonely without you.”</p> +<p>And Connla and Nora caught up the little mother +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81' name='page_81'></a>81</span> +in their arms, and they carried her into the hall +and set her down on the floor.</p> +<p>“Oh, Nora!” said the little mother, “you are a +head over me; and as for you, Connla, you look +almost as tall as one of the round towers of Erin.”</p> +<p>“That’s what the fairy queen said, mother,” +said Nora.</p> +<p>“Blessings on the fairy queen,” said the little +mother. “Turn round, Connla, till I look at you.”</p> +<p>Connla turned round, and the little mother said:</p> +<p>“Oh, Connla, with your golden helmet and your +spear, and your glancing shield, and your silken +cloak, you look like a king. But take them off, my +boy, beautiful as they are. Your little mother +would like to see you, her own brave boy, without +any fairy finery.”</p> +<p>And Connla laid aside his spear and shield, and +took off his golden helmet and his silken cloak. +Then he caught the little mother and kissed her, +and lifted her up until she was as high as his head. +And said he:</p> +<p>“Don’t you know, little mother, I’d rather have +you than all the world.”</p> +<p>And that night, when they were sitting down by +the fire together, you may be sure that in the whole +world no people were half as happy as Nora, +Connla, and the little mother.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82' name='page_82'></a>82</span> +<a name='THE_FAIRY_TREE_OF_DOOROS' id='THE_FAIRY_TREE_OF_DOOROS'></a> +<h2>THE FAIRY TREE OF DOOROS.<a name='FNanchor_0006' id='FNanchor_0006'></a><a href='#Footnote_0006' class='fnanchor'>[6]</a></h2> +</div> +<p>Once upon a time the fairies of the west, going +home from a hurling-match with the fairies of the +lakes, rested in Dooros Wood for three days and +three nights. They spent the days feasting and +the nights dancing in the light of the moon, and +they danced so hard that they wore the shoes off +their feet, and for a whole week after the +leprechauns, the fairies’ shoemakers, were working +night and day making new ones, and the rip, rap, +tap, tap of their little hammers were heard in all +the hedgerows.</p> +<p>The food on which the fairies feasted were little +red berries, and were so like those that grow on the +rowan tree that if you only looked at them you +might mistake one for the other; but the fairy +berries grow only in fairyland, and are sweeter than +any fruit that grows here in this world, and if an +old man, bent and grey, ate one of them, he became +young and active and strong again; and if an old +woman, withered and wrinkled, ate one of them, +she became young and bright and fair; and if a +little maiden who was not handsome ate of them, +she became lovelier than the flower of beauty.</p> +<p>The fairies guarded the berries as carefully as a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83' name='page_83'></a>83</span> +miser guards his gold, and whenever they were +about to leave fairyland they had to promise in the +presence of the king and queen that they would not +give a single berry to mortal man, nor allow one to +fall upon the earth; for if a single berry fell upon +the earth a slender tree of many branches, bearing +clusters of berries, would at once spring up, and +mortal men might eat of them.</p> +<p>But it chanced that this time they were in Dooros +Wood they kept up the feasting and dancing so +long, and were so full of joy because of their victory +over the lake fairies, that one little, weeny fairy, +not much bigger than my finger, lost his head, and +dropped a berry in the wood.</p> +<p>When the feast was ended the fairies went back +to fairyland, and were at home for more than a +week before they knew of the little fellow’s fault, +and this is how they came to know of it.</p> +<p>A great wedding was about to come off, and the +queen of the fairies sent six of her pages to Dooros +Wood to catch fifty butterflies with golden spots on +their purple wings, and fifty white without speck or +spot, and fifty golden, yellow as the cowslip, to +make a dress for herself, and a hundred white, +without speck or spot, to make dresses for the +bride and bridesmaids.</p> +<p>When the pages came near the wood they heard +the most wonderful music, and the sky above them +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84' name='page_84'></a>84</span> +became quite dark, as if a cloud had shut out the +sun. They looked up, and saw that the cloud was +formed of bees, who in a great swarm were flying +towards the wood and humming as they flew. +Seeing this they were sore afraid until they saw the +bees settling on a single tree, and on looking +closely at the tree they saw it was covered with +fairy berries.</p> +<p>The bees took no notice of the fairies, and so they +were no longer afraid, and they hunted the butterflies +until they had captured the full number of +various colours. Then they returned to fairyland, +and they told the queen about the bees and the +berries, and the queen told the king.</p> +<p>The king was very angry, and he sent his heralds +to the four corners of fairyland to summon all his +subjects to his presence that he might find out +without delay who was the culprit.</p> +<p>They all came except the little weeny fellow who +dropped the berry, and of course every one said +that it was fear that kept him away, and that he +must be guilty.</p> +<p>The heralds were at once sent in search of him, +and after a while they found him hiding in a cluster +of ferns, and brought him before the king.</p> +<p>The poor little fellow was so frightened that at +first he could scarcely speak a word, but after a +time he told how he never missed the berry until +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85' name='page_85'></a>85</span> +he had returned to fairyland, and that he was +afraid to say anything to anyone about it.</p> +<p>The king, who would hear of no excuse, sentenced +the little culprit to be banished into the land of +giants beyond the mountains, to stay there for ever +and a day unless he could find a giant willing to go +to Dooros Wood and guard the fairy tree. When +the king had pronounced sentence everyone was +very sorry, because the little fellow was a favourite +with them all. No fairy harper upon his harp, or +piper upon his pipe, or fiddler upon his fiddle, could +play half so sweetly as he could play upon an ivy +leaf; and when they remembered all the pleasant +moonlit nights on which they had danced to his +music, and thought that they should never hear or +dance to it any more, their little hearts were filled +with sorrow. The queen was as sad as any of her +subjects, but the king’s word should be obeyed.</p> +<p>When the time came for the little fellow to set out +into exile the queen sent her head page to him with a +handful of berries. These the queen said he was to +offer to the giants, and say at the same time that +the giant who was willing to guard the tree could +feast on berries just as sweet from morn till night.</p> +<p>As the little fellow went on his way nearly all the +fairies followed him to the borders of the land, and +when they saw him go up the mountain towards +the land of the giants, they all took off their +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86' name='page_86'></a>86</span> +little red caps and waved them until he was out +of sight.</p> +<p>On he went walking all day and night, and +when the sun rose on the morrow he was on the top +of the mountain, and he could see the land of the +giants in the valley stretched far below him. +Before beginning his descent he turned round for a +last glimpse of fairyland; but he could see nothing, +for a thick, dark cloud shut it out from view. He +was very sad, and tired, and footsore, and as he +struggled down the rough mountain side, he could +not help thinking of the soft, green woods and +mossy pathways of the pleasant land he had left +behind him.</p> +<p>When he awoke the ground was trembling, and a +noise that sounded like thunder fell on his ears. +He looked up and saw coming towards him a +terrible giant, with one eye that burned like a live +coal in the middle of his forehead, his mouth +stretched from ear to ear, his teeth were long and +crooked, the skin of his face was as black as night, +and his arms and chest were all covered with +black, shaggy hair; round his body was an iron +band, and hanging from this by a chain was a +great club with iron spikes. With one blow of this +club he could break a rock into splinters, and fire +could not burn him, and water could not drown +him, and weapons could not wound him, and there +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87' name='page_87'></a>87</span> +was no way to kill him but by giving him three +blows of his own club. And he was so bad-tempered +that the other giants called him Sharvan +the Surly. When the giant spied the red cap of +the little fairy he gave the shout that sounded like +thunder. The poor fairy was shaking from head +to foot.</p> +<p>“What brought you here?” said the giant.</p> +<p>“Please, Mr. Giant,” said the fairy, “the king of +the fairies banished me here, and here I must stay +for ever and a day, unless you come and guard the +fairy tree in Dooros Wood.”</p> +<p>“Unless what?” roared the giant, and he gave +the fairy a touch of his foot that sent the little +fellow rolling down head over heels.</p> +<p>The poor fairy lay as if he were dead, and then +the giant, feeling sorry for what he had done, took +him up gently between his finger and thumb.</p> +<div class='figtag'> +<a name='linki_3' id='linki_3'></a> +</div> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/illus-112.png' alt='' title='' style='width: 347px; height: 500px;' /><br /> +<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center; width: 347px;'> +“Sharvan took him up gently between his finger and thumb”––p. 87.<br /> +</p> +</div> +<p>“Don’t be frightened, little man,” said <ins class="trchange" title="Added comma">he,</ins> “and +now, tell me all about the tree.”</p> +<p>“It is the tree of the fairy berry that grows in +the Wood of Dooros,” said the fairy, “and I have +some of the berries with me.”</p> +<p>“Oh, you have, have you?” said the giant. +“Let me see them.”</p> +<p>The fairy took three berries from the pocket of +his little green coat, and gave them to the giant.</p> +<p>The giant looked at them for a second. He then +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88' name='page_88'></a>88</span> +swallowed the three together, and when he had +done so, he felt so happy that he began to shout +and dance for joy.</p> +<p>“More, you little thief!” said he. “More, you +little–––what’s your name?” said the giant.</p> +<p>“Pinkeen, please, Mr. Giant,” said the fairy, as +he gave up all the berries.</p> +<p>The giant shouted louder than before, and his +shouts were heard by all the other giants, who came +running towards him.</p> +<p>When Sharvan saw them coming, he caught up +Pinkeen, and put him in his pocket, that they +shouldn’t see him.</p> +<p>“What were you shouting for?” said the giants.</p> +<p>“Because,” said Sharvan, “that rock there fell +down on my big toe.”</p> +<p>“You did not shout like a man that was hurt,” +said they.</p> +<p>“What is it to you what way I shouted?” +said he.</p> +<p>“You might give a civil answer to a civil question,” +said they; “but sure you were always +Sharvan the Surly;” and they went away.</p> +<p>When the giants were out of sight, Sharvan took +Pinkeen out of his wallet.</p> +<p>“Some more berries, you little thief––I mean +little Pinkeen,” said he.</p> +<p>“I have not any more,” said Pinkeen; “but if +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89' name='page_89'></a>89</span> +you will guard the tree in Dooros Wood you can +feast on them from morn till night.”</p> +<p>“I’ll guard every tree in the wood, if I may do +that,” said the giant.</p> +<p>“You’ll have to guard only one,” said Pinkeen.</p> +<p>“How am I to get to it?” said Sharvan.</p> +<p>“You must first come with me towards fairyland,” +said the fairy.</p> +<p>“Very well,” said Sharvan; “let us go.” And +he took up the fairy and put him into his wallet, and +before very long they were on the top of the +mountain. Then the giant looked around towards +the giant’s land; but a black cloud shut it out from +view, while the sun was shining on the valley that +lay before him, and he could see away in the +distance the green woods and shining waters of +fairyland.</p> +<p>It was not long until he reached its borders, but +when he tried to cross them his feet stuck to the +ground and he could not move a step. Sharvan +gave three loud shouts that were heard all over +fairyland, and made the trees in the woods tremble, +as if the wind of a storm was sweeping over them.</p> +<p>“Oh, please, Mr. Giant, let me out,” said Pinkeen. +Sharvan took out the little fellow, who, as soon as +he saw he was on the borders of fairyland ran as +fast as his legs could carry him, and before he had +gone very far he met all the little fairies who, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90' name='page_90'></a>90</span> +hearing the shouts of the giant, came trooping out +from the ferns to see what was the matter. Pinkeen +told them it was the giant who was to guard the +tree, shouting because he was stuck fast on the +borders, and they need have no fear of him. The +fairies were so delighted to have Pinkeen back +again, that they took him up on their shoulders +and carried him to the king’s palace, and all the +harpers and pipers and fiddlers marched before +him playing the most jocund music that was ever +heard. The king and queen were on the lawn in +front of the palace when the gay procession came +up and halted before them. The queen’s eyes +glistened with pleasure when she saw the little +favourite, and the king was also glad at heart, +but he looked very grave as he said:</p> +<p>“Why have you returned, sirrah?”</p> +<p>Then Pinkeen told his majesty that he had +brought with him a giant who was willing to guard +the fairy tree.</p> +<p>“And who is he and where is he?” asked the +king.</p> +<p>“The other giants called him Sharvan the Surly,” +said Pinkeen, “and he is stuck fast outside the +borders of fairyland.”</p> +<p>“It is well,” said the king, “you are pardoned.”</p> +<p>When the fairies heard this they tossed their little +red caps in the air, and cheered so loudly that a bee +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91' name='page_91'></a>91</span> +who was clinging to a rose-bud fell senseless to +the ground.</p> +<p>Then the king ordered one of his pages to take a +handful of berries, and to go to Sharvan and show +him the way to Dooros Wood. The page, taking +the berries with him, went off to Sharvan, whose +roaring nearly frightened the poor little fellow to +death. But as soon as the giant tasted the berries +he got into good humour, and he asked the page +if he could remove the spell of enchantment from +him.</p> +<p>“I can,” said the page, “and I will if you +promise me that you will not try to cross the borders +of fairyland.”</p> +<p>“I promise that, with all my heart,” said the +giant. “But hurry on, my little man, for there +are pins and needles in my legs.”</p> +<p>The page plucked a cowslip, and picking out the +five little crimson spots in the cup of it, he flung one +to the north, and one to the south, and one to +the east, and one to the west, and one up into the +sky, and the spell was broken, and the giant’s +limbs were free. Then Sharvan and the fairy +page set off for Dooros Wood, and it was not long +until they came within view of the fairy tree. +When Sharvan saw the berries glistening in the +sun, he gave a shout so loud and strong that the +wind of it blew the little fairy back to fairyland. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92' name='page_92'></a>92</span> +But he had to return to the wood to tell the giant +that he was to stay all day at the foot of the tree +ready to do battle with anyone who might come +to steal the berries, and that during the night he +was to sleep amongst the branches.</p> +<p>“All right,” said the giant, who could scarcely +speak, as his mouth was full of berries.</p> +<p>Well, the fame of the fairy-tree spread far and +wide, and every day some adventurer came to try +if he could carry away some of the berries; but +the giant, true to his word, was always on the +watch, and not a single day passed on which he +did not fight and slay a daring champion, and the +giant never received a wound, for fire could not +burn him, nor water drown him, nor weapon +wound him.</p> +<p>Now, at this time, when Sharvan was keeping +watch and ward over the tree, a cruel king was +reigning over the lands that looked towards the +rising sun. He had slain the rightful king by +foul means, and his subjects, loving their murdered +sovereign, hated the usurper; but much as they +hated him they feared him more, for he was brave +and masterful, and he was armed with a helmet +and shield which no weapon made by mortal +hands could pierce, and he carried always with +him two javelins that never missed their mark, +and were so fatal that they were called “the shafts +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93' name='page_93'></a>93</span> +of death.” The murdered king had two children––a +boy, whose name was Niall, and a girl, who was +called Rosaleen––that is, little Rose; but no rose +that ever bloomed was half as sweet or fresh or fair +as she. Cruel as the tyrant king was, he was +afraid of the people to kill the children. He sent +the boy adrift on the sea in an open boat, hoping +the waves would swallow it; and he got an old +witch to cast the spell of deformity over Rosaleen, +and under the spell her beauty faded, until at last +she became so ugly and wasted that scarcely +anyone would speak to her. And, shunned by +everyone, she spent her days in the out-houses +with the cattle, and every night she cried herself +to sleep.</p> +<p>One day, when she was very lonely, a little robin +came to pick the crumbs that had fallen about her +feet. He appeared so tame that she offered him the +bread from her hand, and when he took it she cried +with joy at finding that there was one living thing +that did not shun her. After this the robin came +every day, and he sang so sweetly for her that she +almost forgot her loneliness and misery. But once +while the robin was with her the tyrant king’s +daughter, who was very beautiful, passed with her +maids of honour, and, seeing Rosaleen, the princess +said:</p> +<p>“Oh, there is that horrid ugly thing.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94' name='page_94'></a>94</span></p> +<p>The maids laughed and giggled, and said they +had never seen such a fright.</p> +<p>Poor Rosaleen felt as if her heart would break, and +when the princess and her maids were out of sight +she almost cried her eyes out. When the robin saw +her crying he perched on her shoulder and rubbed +his little head against her neck and chirruped softly +in her ear, and Rosaleen was comforted, for she +felt she had at least one friend in the world, although +it was only a little robin. But the robin could do +more for her than she could dream of. He heard +the remark made by the princess, and he saw +Rosaleen’s tears, and he knew now why she was +shunned by everybody, and why she was so +unhappy. And that very evening he flew off to +Dooros Wood, and called on a cousin of his and +told him all about Rosaleen.</p> +<p>“And you want some of the fairy berries, I +suppose,” said his cousin, Robin of the Wood.</p> +<p>“I do,” said Rosaleen’s little friend.</p> +<p>“Ah,” said Robin of the Wood, “times have +changed since you were here last. The tree is +guarded now all the day long by a surly giant. He +sleeps in the branches during the night, and he +breathes upon them and around them every +morning, and his breath is poison to bird and bee. +There is only one chance open, and if you try +that it may cost you your life.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95' name='page_95'></a>95</span></p> +<p>“Then tell me what it is, for I would give a +hundred lives for Rosaleen,” said her own little +robin.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Robin of the Wood, “every day a +champion comes to battle with the giant, and the +giant, before he begins the fight, puts a branch of +berries in the iron belt that’s around his waist, so +that when he feels tired or thirsty he can refresh +himself, and there is just a bare chance, while he is +fighting, of picking one of the berries from the +branch; but if his breath fall on you it is certain +death.”</p> +<p>“I will take the chance,” said Rosaleen’s robin.</p> +<p>“Very well,” said the other. And the two birds +flew through the wood until they came within sight +of the fairy tree. The giant was lying stretched at +the foot of it, eating the berries; but it was not long +until a warrior came, who challenged him to battle. +The giant jumped up, and plucking a branch from +the tree stuck it in his belt, and swinging his iron +club above his head strode towards the warrior, and +the fight began. The robin perched on a tree +behind the giant, and watched and waited for his +chance; but it was a long time coming, for the +berries were in front of the giant’s belt. At last +the giant, with one great blow, struck the warrior +down, but as he did so he stumbled and fell upon +him, and before he had time to recover himself +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96' name='page_96'></a>96</span> +the little robin darted towards him like a flash and +picked off one of the berries, and then, as fast as +wings could carry him, he flew towards home, and +on his way he passed over a troop of warriors on +snow-white steeds. All the horsemen except one +wore silver helmets and shining mantles of green +silk, fastened by brooches of red gold, but the +chief, who rode at the head of the troop, wore a +golden helmet, and his mantle was of yellow silk, +and he looked by far the noblest of them all. When +the robin had left the horsemen far behind him he +spied Rosaleen sitting outside the palace gates +bemoaning her fate. The robin perched upon her +shoulder, and almost before she knew he was there +he put the berry between her lips, and the taste was +so delicious that Rosaleen ate it at once, and that +very moment the witch’s withering spell passed +away from her, and she became as lovely as the +flower of beauty. Just then the warriors on the +snow-white steeds came up, and the chief with +the mantle of yellow silk and the golden helmet +leaped from his horse, and bending his knee before +her, said:</p> +<p>“Fairest of all fair maidens, you are surely the +daughter of the king of these realms, even though +you are without the palace gates, unattended, and +wear not royal robes. I am the Prince of the Sunny +Valleys.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97' name='page_97'></a>97</span></p> +<p>“Daughter of a king I am,” said Rosaleen, “but +not of the king who rules these realms.”</p> +<p>And saying this she fled, leaving the prince +wondering who she could be. The prince then +ordered his trumpeters to give notice of his presence +outside the palace, and in a few moments the king +and all his nobles came out to greet the prince and +his warriors, and give them welcome. That night +a great feast was spread in the banquet-hall, and +the Prince of the Sunny Valleys sat by the king, +and beside the prince sat the king’s beautiful +daughter, and then in due order sat the nobles +of the court and the warriors who had come with +the prince, and on the wall behind each noble and +warrior his shield and helmet were suspended, +flashing radiance through the room. During the +feast the prince spoke most graciously to the lovely +lady at his side, but all the time he was thinking +of the unknown beauty he had met outside the +palace gates, and his heart longed for another +glimpse of her. When the feast was ended, and the +jewelled drinking-cups had gone merrily around +the table, the bards sang, to the accompaniment +of harps, the “Courtship of the Lady Eimer,” and +as they pictured her radiant beauty outshining +that of all her maidens, the prince thought that +fair as Lady Eimer was there was one still fairer. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98' name='page_98'></a>98</span></p> +<p>When the feast was ended the king asked the +prince what brought him into his realms.</p> +<p>“I come,” said the prince, “to look for a bride, +for it was foretold to me in my own country that +here only I should find the lady who is destined to +share my throne, and fame reported that in your +kingdom are to be found the loveliest maidens in +all the world, and I can well believe that,” added +the prince, “after what I have seen to-day.”</p> +<p>When the king’s daughter heard this she hung +down her head and blushed like a rose, for, of +course, she thought the prince was alluding only to +herself, as she did not know that he had seen +Rosaleen, and she had not heard of the restoration +of her beauty.</p> +<p>Before another word could be spoken a great noise +and the clang of arms were heard outside the +palace. The king and his guests started from +their seats and drew their swords, and the bards +raised the song of battle; but their voices were +stilled and their harps silenced when they saw +at the threshold of the banquet hall a battle +champion, in whose face they recognised the features +of their murdered king.</p> +<p>“’Tis Niall come back to claim his father’s +throne,” said the chief bard. “Long live Niall!”</p> +<p>“Long live Niall!” answered all the others.</p> +<p>The king, white with rage and amazement, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99' name='page_99'></a>99</span> +turned to the chiefs and nobles of his court, and +cried out:</p> +<p>“Is there none loyal enough to drive that +intruder from the banquet hall?”</p> +<p>But no one stirred, and no answer was given. +Then the king rushed forward alone, but before he +could reach the spot where Niall was standing +he was seized by a dozen chiefs and at once disarmed.</p> +<p>During this scene the king’s daughter had fled +frightened; but Rosaleen, attracted by the noise, +and hearing her brother’s name and the cheers +which greeted it, had entered the banquet hall +unperceived by anyone. But when her presence +was discovered every eye was dazzled with her +beauty. Niall looked at her for a second, wondering +if the radiant maiden before him could be the little +sister he had been separated from for so many +years. In another second she was clasped in his +arms.</p> +<p>Then the feast was spread again, and Niall told +the story of his adventures; and when the Prince +of the Sunny Valley asked for the hand of Rosaleen, +Niall told his lovely sister to speak for herself. +With downcast eyes and smiling lips she said, +“yes,” and that very day was the gayest and +brightest wedding that ever took place, and Rosaleen +became the prince’s bride. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100' name='page_100'></a>100</span></p> +<p>In her happiness she did not forget the little +robin, who was her friend in sorrow. She took him +home with her to Sunny Valleys, and every day +she fed him with her own hands, and every day +he sang for her the sweetest songs that were ever +heard in lady’s bower.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101' name='page_101'></a>101</span> +<a name='THE_ENCHANTED_CAVE' id='THE_ENCHANTED_CAVE'></a> +<h2>THE ENCHANTED CAVE.</h2> +</div> +<p>A long, long time ago, Prince Cuglas,<a name='FNanchor_0007' id='FNanchor_0007'></a><a href='#Footnote_0007' class='fnanchor'>[7]</a> master of the +hounds to the high King of Erin, set out from Tara +to the chase. As he was leaving the palace the +light mists were drifting away from the hill-tops, +and the rays of the morning sun were falling aslant +on the <i>grinan</i> or sunny bower of the Princess Ailinn. +Glancing towards it the prince doffed his plumed +and jewelled hunting-cap, and the princess answered +his salute by a wave of her little hand, that was as +white as a wild rose in the hedges in June, and +leaning from her bower, she watched the huntsman +until his tossing plumes were hidden by the green +waving branches of the woods.</p> +<p>The Princess Ailinn was over head and ears in +love with Cuglas, and Cuglas was over head and ears +in love with the Princess Ailinn, and he believed +that never was summer morning half as bright, or as +sweet, or as fair as she. The glimpse which he had +just caught of her filled his heart with delight, and +almost put all thought of hunting out of his head, +when suddenly the tuneful cries of the hounds, +answered by a hundred echoes from the groves, +broke upon his ear.</p> +<p>The dogs had started a dappled deer that bounded +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102' name='page_102'></a>102</span> +away through the forest. The prince, spurring his +gallant steed, pushed on in eager pursuit.</p> +<p>On through the forest sped the deer, through soft, +green, secret ways and flowery dells, then out from +the forest, up heathery hills, and over long stretches +of moorland, and across brown rushing streams, +sometimes in view of the hounds, sometimes lost to +sight, but always ahead of them.</p> +<p>All day long the chase continued, and at last, +when the sun was sinking, the dogs were close upon +the panting deer, and the prince believed he was +about to secure his game, when the deer suddenly +disappeared through the mouth of a cave which +opened before him. The dogs followed at his heels, +and the prince endeavoured to rein in his steed, but +the impetuous animal bore him on, and soon was +clattering over the stony floor of the cave in perfect +darkness. <ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Cuglass'">Cuglas</ins> could hear ahead of him the +cries of the hounds growing fainter and fainter, as +they increased the distance between them and him. +Then the cries ceased altogether, and the only +sound the prince heard was the noise of his horse’s +hoofs sounding in the hollow cave. Once more he +endeavoured to check his career, but the reins broke +in his hands, and in that instant the prince felt the +horse had taken a plunge into a gulf, and was +sinking down and down, as a stone cast from the +summit of a cliff sinks down to the sea. At last +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103' name='page_103'></a>103</span> +the horse struck the ground again, and the prince +was almost thrown out of his saddle, but he +succeeded in regaining his seat. Then on through +the darkness galloped the steed, and when he +came into the light the prince’s eyes were for some +time unable to bear it. But when he got used to +the brightness he saw he was galloping over a +grassy plain, and in the distance he perceived the +hounds rushing towards a wood faintly visible +through a luminous summer haze. The prince +galloped on, and as he approached the wood he saw +coming towards him a comely champion, wearing +a shining brown cloak, fastened by a bright bronze +spear-like brooch, and bearing a white hazel wand +in one hand, and a single-edged sword with a hilt +made from the tooth of a sea-horse in the other;<a name='FNanchor_0008' id='FNanchor_0008'></a><a href='#Footnote_0008' class='fnanchor'>[8]</a> +and the prince knew by the dress of the champion, +and by his wand and sword, that he was a royal +herald. As the herald came close to him the +prince’s steed stopped of his own accord.</p> +<div class='figtag'> +<a name='linki_4' id='linki_4'></a> +</div> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/illus-129.png' alt='' title='' style='width: 360px; height: 500px;' /><br /> +<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center; width: 360px;'> +“The Prince endeavoured to rein in his steed, but the impetuous animal bore him on”––p. 102<br /> +</p> +</div> +<p>“You are welcome, Cuglas,” said the herald, +“and I have been sent by the Princess Crede to +greet you and to lead you to her court, where you +have been so long expected.”</p> +<p>“I know not how this may be,” said Cuglas.</p> +<p>“How it has come about I shall tell you as we go +along,” said the herald. “The Princess Crede is +the Queen of the Floating Island. And it chanced, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104' name='page_104'></a>104</span> +once upon a day, when she was visiting her fairy +kinsmen, who dwell in one of the pleasant hills that +lie near Tara, she saw you with the high king and +princes and nobles of Erin following the chase. +And seeing you her heart went out to you, and +wishing to bring you to her court, she sent one of +her nymphs, in the form of a deer, to lure you on +through the cave, which is the entrance to this +land.”</p> +<p>“I am deeply honoured by the preference shown +me by the princess,” said Cuglas, “but I may not +tarry in her court; for above in Erin there is the +Lady Ailinn, the loveliest of all the ladies who +grace the royal palace, and before the princess and +chiefs of Erin she has promised to be my bride.”</p> +<p>“Of that I know not,” said the herald; “but a +true champion, like you, cannot, I know, refuse to +come with me to the court of the Princess Crede.”</p> +<p>As the herald had said these words the prince +and he were on the verge of the wood, and they +entered upon a mossy pathway that broadened +out as they advanced until it was as wide as one +of the great roads of Erin. Before they had gone +very far the prince heard the tinkling of silver +bells in the distance, and almost as soon as he heard +them he saw coming up towards him a troop of +warriors on coal black steeds. All the warriors +wore helmets of shining silver, and cloaks of blue +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105' name='page_105'></a>105</span> +silk. And on the horses’ breasts were crescents +of silver, on which were hung tiny silver bells, +shaking out music with the motion of the horses. +As the prince approached the champions they +lowered their spears, and dividing in two lines the +prince and the herald passed between the ranks, +and the champions, forming again, followed on +behind the prince.</p> +<p>At last they passed through the wood, and they +found themselves on a green plain, speckled with +flowers, and they had not gone far when the prince +saw coming towards him a hundred champions on +snow-white steeds, and around the breasts of the +steeds were crescents of gold, from which were +hanging little golden bells.<a name='FNanchor_0009' id='FNanchor_0009'></a><a href='#Footnote_0009' class='fnanchor'>[9]</a> The warriors all wore +golden helmets, and the shafts of their shining +spears were of gold, and golden sandals on their +feet, and yellow silken mantles fell down over their +shoulders. And when the prince came near them +they lowered their lances, and then they turned +their horses’ heads around and marched before him. +And it was not long until above the pleasant jingle +of the bells the prince heard the measured strains +of music, and he saw coming towards him a band of +harpers, dressed in green and gold, and when the +harpers had saluted the prince they marched in +front of the cavalcade, playing all the time, and it +was not long until they came to a stream that ran +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106' name='page_106'></a>106</span> +like a blue riband around the foot of a green hill, +on the top of which was a sparkling palace; the +stream was crossed by a golden bridge, so narrow +that the horsemen had to go two-by-two. The +herald asked the prince to halt and to allow all +the champions to go before him; and the cavalcade +ascended the hill, the sunlight brightly glancing on +helmet and on lance, and when it reached the +palace the horsemen filed around the walls.</p> +<p>When at length the prince and herald crossed the +bridge and began to climb the hill, the prince +thought he felt the ground moving under them, +and on looking back he could see no sign of the +golden bridge, and the blue stream had already +become as wide as a great river, and was becoming +wider every second.</p> +<p>“You are on the floating island now,” said the +herald, “and before you is the palace of the +Princess Crede.”</p> +<p>At that moment the queen came out through the +palace door, and the prince was so dazzled by her +beauty, that only for the golden bracelet he wore +upon his right arm, under the sleeve of his silken +tunic, he might almost have forgotten the Princess +Ailinn. This bracelet was made by the dwarfs who +dwell in the heart of the Scandinavian Mountains, +and was sent with other costly presents by the King +of Scandinavia to the King of Erin, and he gave it to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107' name='page_107'></a>107</span> +the princess, and it was the virtue of this bracelet, +that whoever was wearing it could not forget the +person who gave it to him, and it could never be +loosened from the arm by any art or magic spell; +but if the wearer, even for a single moment, liked +anyone better than the person who gave it to him, +that very moment the bracelet fell off from the arm +and could never again be fastened on. And when +the princess promised her hand in marriage to the +Prince Cuglas, she closed the bracelet on his arm.</p> +<p>The fairy queen knew nothing about the bracelet, +and she hoped that before the prince was long in +the floating island he would forget all about the +princess.</p> +<p>“You are welcome, <ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Cuglass'">Cuglas</ins>,” said the queen, as +she held out her hand, and Cuglas, having thanked +her for her welcome, they entered the palace +together.</p> +<p>“You must be weary after your long journey,” +said the queen. “My page will lead you to your +apartments, where a bath of the cool blue waters of +the lake has been made ready for you, and when +you have taken your bath the pages will lead you +to the banquet hall, where the feast is spread.”</p> +<p>At the feast the prince was seated beside the +queen, and she talked to him of all the pleasures +that were in store for him in fairyland, where pain, +and sickness, and sorrow, and old age, are unknown, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108' name='page_108'></a>108</span> +and where every rosy hour that flies is brighter than +the one that has fled before it. And when the +feast was ended the queen opened the dance with +the prince, and it was not until the moon was high +above the floating island that the prince retired +to rest.</p> +<p>He was so tired after his journey and the dancing +that he fell into a sound sleep. When he awoke +the next morning the sun was shining brightly, +and he heard outside the palace the jingle of bells +and the music of baying hounds, and his heart was +stirred by memories of the many pleasant days on +which he had led the chase over the plains and +through the green woods of Tara.</p> +<p>He looked out through the window, and he saw +all the fairy champions mounted on their steeds +ready for the chase, and at their head the fairy +queen. And at that moment the pages came to +say the queen wished to know if he would join +them, and the prince went out and found his steed +ready saddled and bridled, and they spent the day +hunting in the forest that stretched away for miles +behind the palace, and the night in feasting and +dancing.</p> +<p>When the prince awoke the following morning he +was summoned by the pages to the presence of the +queen. The prince found the queen on the lawn +outside the palace surrounded by her court. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109' name='page_109'></a>109</span></p> +<p>“We shall go on the lake to-day, Cuglas,” said +the queen, and taking his arm she led him along +the water’s edge, all the courtiers following.</p> +<p>When she was close to the water she waved her +wand, and in a second a thousand boats, shining +like glass, shot up from beneath the lake and set +their bows against the bank. The queen and Cuglas +stepped into one, and when they were seated two +fairy harpers took their places in the prow. All the +other boats were soon thronged by fairies, and then +the queen waved her wand again, and an awning of +purple silk rose over the boat, and silken awning of +various colours over the others, and the royal boat +moved off from the bank followed by all the rest, +and in every boat sat a harper with a golden harp, +and when the queen waved her wand for the third +time, the harpers struck the trembling chords, and +to the sound of the delightful music the boats +glided over the sunlit lake. And on they went +until they approached the mouth of a gentle river +sliding down between banks clad with trees. Up +the river, close to the bank and under the drooping +trees, they sailed, and when they came to a bend +in the river, from which the lake could be no longer +seen, they pushed their prows in against the bank, +and the queen and Cuglas, and all the party, left +the boats and went on under the trees until they +came to a mossy glade. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110' name='page_110'></a>110</span></p> +<p>Then the queen waved her wand, and silken +couches were spread under the trees, and she and +Cuglas sat on one apart from the others, and the +courtiers took their places in proper order.</p> +<p>And the queen waved her wand again, and wind +shook the trees above them, and the most luscious +fruit that was ever tasted fell down into their +hands; and when the feast was over there was +dancing in the glades to the music of the harps, +and when they were tired dancing they set out +for the boats, and the moon was rising above the +trees as they sailed away over the lake, and it was +not long until they reached the bank below the +fairy palace.</p> +<p>Well, between hunting in the forest, and sailing +over the lake, and dancing in the greenwood glade +and in the banquet hall, the days passed, but all +the time the prince was thinking of the Princess +Ailinn, and one moonlit night, when he was lying +awake on his couch thinking of her, a shadow was +suddenly cast on the floor.</p> +<p>The prince looked towards the window, and what +should he see sitting on the sill outside but a little +woman tapping the pane with a golden bodkin.</p> +<p>The prince jumped from his couch and opened +the window, and the little woman floated on the +moonbeams into the room and sat down on the +floor. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111' name='page_111'></a>111</span></p> +<p>“You are thinking of the Princess Ailinn,” said +the little woman.</p> +<p>“I never think of anyone else,” said the prince.</p> +<p>“I know that,” said the little woman, “and it’s +because of your love for each other, and because her +mother was a friend to me in the days gone by, +that I have come here to try and help you; but +there is not much time for talking, the night +advances. At the bank below a boat awaits you. +Step into it and it will lead you to the mainland, and +when you reach it you will find before you a path +that will take you to the green fields of Erin and +the plains of Tara. I know you will have to face +danger. I know not what kind of danger; but +whatever it may be do not draw your sword before +you tread upon the mainland, for if you do you +shall never reach it, and the boat will come back +again to the floating island; and now go and may +luck go with you;” and saying this the little +woman climbed up the moonbeams and disappeared.</p> +<p>The prince left the palace and descended to the +lake, and there before him he saw a glistening boat; +he stepped into it, and the boat went on and on +beneath the moon, and at last he saw the mainland, +and he could trace a winding pathway going away +from the shore. The sight filled his heart with joy, +but suddenly the milk-white moonshine died away, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112' name='page_112'></a>112</span> +and looking up to the sky he saw the moon turning +fiery red, and the waters of the lake, shining like +silver a moment before, took a blood-red hue, and a +wind arose that stirred the waters, and they leaped +up against the little boat, tossing it from side to side. +While Cuglas was wondering at the change, he +heard a strange, unearthly noise ahead of him, and +a bristling monster, lifting its claws above the +water, in a moment was beside the boat and stuck +one of his claws in the left arm of the prince, and +pierced the flesh to the bone. Maddened by the +pain the prince drew his sword and chopped off +the monster’s claw. The monster disappeared +beneath the lake, and, as it did so, the colour of the +water changed, and the silver moonlight shone down +from the sky again, but the boat no longer went on +towards the mainland, but sped back towards the +floating island, while forth from the island came a +fleet of fairy boats to meet it, led by the shallop +of the fairy queen. The queen greeted the prince +as if she knew not of his attempted flight, and to +the music of the harps the fleet returned to the +palace.</p> +<p>The next day passed and the night came, and +again the prince was lying on the couch, thinking +of the Princess Ailinn, and again he saw the shadow +on the floor and heard the tapping against the +window. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113' name='page_113'></a>113</span></p> +<p>And when he opened it the little woman slid into +the room.</p> +<p>“You failed last night,” she said, “but I come +to give you another chance. To-morrow the queen +must set out on a visit to her fairy kinsmen, who +dwell in the green hill near the plain of Tara; she +cannot take you with her, for if your feet once +touched the green grass that grows in the fruitful +fields of Erin, she could never bring you back again. +And so, when you find she has left the palace, go at +once into the banquet hall and look behind the +throne, and you will see a small door let down into +the ground. Pull this up and descend the steps +which you will see. Where they lead to I cannot +tell. What dangers may be before you I do not +know; but this I know, if you accept anything, no +matter what it is, from anyone you may meet on +your way, you shall not set foot on the soil of Erin.”</p> +<p>And having said this the little woman, rising +from the floor, floated out through the window.</p> +<p>The prince returned to his couch, and the next +morning, as soon as he heard the queen had left the +palace, he hastened to the banquet hall. He discovered +the door and descended the steps, and he +found himself in a gloomy and lonesome valley. +Jagged mountains, black as night, rose on either +side, and huge rocks seemed ready to topple down +upon him at every step. Through broken clouds a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114' name='page_114'></a>114</span> +watery moon shed a faint, fitful light, that came +and went as the clouds, driven by a moaning wind, +passed over the valley.</p> +<p>Cuglas, nothing daunted, pushed on boldly until +a bank of cloud shut out completely the struggling +moon, and closing over the valley covered it like a +pall, leaving him in perfect darkness. At the same +moment the moaning wind died away, and with it +died away all sound. The darkness and the death-like +silence sent an icy chill to the heart of Cuglas. +He held his hand close to his eyes, but he saw it not. +He shouted that he might hear the sound of his own +voice, but he heard it not. He stamped his foot on +the rocky ground, but no sound was returned to him. +He rattled his sword in its brazen scabbard, but it +gave no answer back to him. His heart grew +colder and colder, when suddenly the cloud above +him was rent in a dozen places, and lightning flashed +through the valley, and the thunder rolled over +the echoing mountains. In the lurid glare of the +lightning Cuglas saw a hundred ghostly forms +sweeping towards him, uttering as they came +nearer and nearer shrieks so terrible that the +silence of death could more easily be borne. +Cuglas turned to escape, but they hemmed him +round, and pressed their clammy hands upon his +face.</p> +<p>With a yell of horror he drew his sword and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115' name='page_115'></a>115</span> +slashed about him, and that very moment the +forms vanished, the thunder ceased, the dark +cloud passed, and the sun shone out as bright as +on a summer day, and then Cuglas knew the forms +he had seen were those of the wild people of the +glen.<a name='FNanchor_0010' id='FNanchor_0010'></a><a href='#Footnote_0010' class='fnanchor'>[10]</a></p> +<p>With renewed courage he pursued his way +through the valley, and after three or four windings +it took him out upon a sandy desert. He had no +sooner set foot upon the desert than he heard +behind him a crashing sound louder than thunder. +He looked around, and he saw that the walls of +mountain through which he had just passed had +fallen into the valley, and filled it up so that he +could no longer tell where it had been.</p> +<p>The sun was beating fiercely on the desert, and +the sands were almost as hot as burning cinders; +and as Cuglas advanced over them his body became +dried up, and his tongue clove to the roof of his +mouth, and when his thirst was at its height a +fountain of sparkling water sprang up in the burning +plain a few paces in front of him; but when he +came up quite close to it and stretched out his +parched hands to cool them in the limped waters, +the fountain vanished as suddenly as it appeared. +With great pain, and almost choking with heat and +thirst, he struggled on, and again the fountain +sprang up in front of him and moved before him, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116' name='page_116'></a>116</span> +almost within his reach. At last he came to the +end of the desert, and he saw a green hill up which +a pathway climbed; but as he came to the foot of +the hill, there, sitting right in his way, was a beautiful +fairy holding out towards him a crystal cup, over +the rim of which flowed water as clear as crystal. +Unable to resist the temptation, the prince seized +the cold, bright goblet, and drank the water. When +he did so his thirst vanished, but the fairy, and the +green hill, and the burning desert disappeared, and +he was standing in the forest behind the palace of +the fairy queen.</p> +<p>That evening the queen returned, and at the +feast she talked as gaily to the prince as if she +knew not of his attempt to leave the Floating +Island, and the prince spoke as gaily as he could to +her, although in his heart there was sadness when +he remembered that if he had only dashed away +the crystal cup, he would be at that moment in +the royal banquet hall of Tara, sitting beside the +Princess Ailinn.</p> +<p>And he thought the feast would never end; but it +was over at last, and the prince returned to his +apartments. And that night, as he lay on his +couch, he kept his eyes fixed upon the window; but +hours passed, and there was no sign of anyone. At +long last, and when he had given up all hope of +seeing her, he heard a tapping at the window, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117' name='page_117'></a>117</span> +he got up and opened it, and the little woman +came in.</p> +<p>“You failed again to-day,” said she––“failed just +at the very moment when you were about to step on +the green hills of Erin. I can give you only one +chance more. It will be your last. The queen +will go hunting in the morning. Join the hunt, and +when you are separated from the rest of the party +in the wood throw your reins upon your horse’s neck +and he will lead you to the edge of the lake. Then +cast this golden bodkin into the lake in the direction +of the mainland, and a golden bridge will be +thrown across, over which you can pass safely to +the fields of Erin; but take care and do not draw +your sword, for if you do your steed will bear you +back again to the Floating Island, and here you +must remain for ever.” Then handing the bodkin +to the prince, and saying good-bye, the little +woman disappeared.</p> +<p>The next morning the queen and the prince and +all the court went out to hunt, and a fleet white +deer started out before them, and the royal party +pressed after him in pursuit. The prince’s steed +outstripped the others, and when he was alone the +prince flung the reins upon his horse’s neck, and +before long he came to the edge of the lake.</p> +<p>Then the prince cast the bodkin on to the water, +and a golden bridge was thrown across to the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118' name='page_118'></a>118</span> +mainland, and the horse galloped on to it, and when +the prince was more than half-way he saw riding +towards him a champion wearing a silver helmet, +and carrying on his left arm a silver shield, and +holding in his right hand a gleaming sword. As +he came nearer he struck his shield with his sword +and challenged the prince to battle. The prince’s +sword almost leaped out of its scabbard at the +martial sound, and, like a true knight of Tara, he +dashed against his foe, and swinging his sword +above his head, with one blow he clove the silver +helmet, and the strange warrior reeled from his +horse and fell upon the golden bridge. The prince, +content with this achievement, spurred his horse +to pass the fallen champion, but the horse refused +to stir, and the bridge broke in two almost at his +feet, and the part of it between him and the mainland +disappeared beneath the lake, carrying with +it the horse and the body of the champion, and +before the prince could recover from his surprise, +his steed wheeled round and was galloping back, +and when he reached the land he rushed through +the forest, and the prince was not able to pull him +up until he came to the palace door.</p> +<p>All that night the prince lay awake on his couch +with his eyes fixed upon the window, but no +shadow fell upon the floor, and there was no +tapping at the pane, and with a heavy heart he +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119' name='page_119'></a>119</span> +joined the hunting party in the morning. And +day followed day, and his heart was sadder and +sadder, and found no pleasure in the joys and +delights of fairyland. And when all in the palace +were at rest he used to roam through the forest, +always thinking of the Princess Ailinn, and hoping +against hope that the little woman would come +again to him, but at last he began to despair of ever +seeing her. It chanced one night he rambled +so far that he found himself on the verge of the +lake, at the very spot from which the golden +bridge had been thrown across the waters, and as +he gazed wistfully upon them a boat shot up and +came swiftly to the bank, and who should he see +sitting in the stern but the little woman.</p> +<p>“Ah, Cuglas, Cuglas,” she said, “I gave you +three chances, and you failed in all of them.”</p> +<p>“I should have borne the pain inflicted by the +monster’s claw,” said Cuglas. “I should have +borne the thirst on the sandy desert, and dashed +the crystal cup untasted from the fairy’s hand; +but I could never have faced the nobles and chiefs +of Erin if I had refused to meet the challenge of +the battle champion on the golden bridge.”</p> +<p>“And you would have been no true knight of +Erin, and you would not have been worthy of the +wee girl who loves you, the bonny Princess Ailinn, +if you had refused to meet it,” said the little +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120' name='page_120'></a>120</span> +woman; “but for all that you can never return to +the fair hills of Erin. But cheer up, Cuglas, there +are mossy ways and forest paths and nestling +bowers in fairyland. Lonely they are, I know, in +your eyes now,” said the little woman; “but +maybe,” she added, with a laugh as musical as the +ripple on a streamlet when summer is in the air, +“maybe you won’t always think them so lonely.”</p> +<p>“You think I’ll forget Ailinn for the fairy queen,” +said Cuglas, with a sigh.</p> +<p>“I don’t think anything of the kind,” said she.</p> +<p>“Then what do you mean?” said the prince.</p> +<p>“Oh, I mean what I mean,” said the little woman. +“But I can’t stop here all night talking to you: +and, indeed, it is in your bed you ought to be +yourself. So now good night; and I have no more +to say, except that perhaps, if you happen to be +here this night week at this very hour, when the +moon will be on the waters, you will see–––. But +no matter what you will see,” said she; “I +must be off.”</p> +<p>And before the prince could say another word +the boat sped away from the bank, and he was alone. +He went back to the palace, and he fell asleep that +night only to dream of the Princess Ailinn.</p> +<p>As for the princess, she was pining away in the +palace of Tara, the colour had fled from her cheeks, +and her eyes, which had been once so bright they +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121' name='page_121'></a>121</span> +would have lighted darkness like a star, lost nearly +all their lustre, and the king’s leeches could do +nothing for her, and at last they gave up all hope, +and the king and queen of Erin and the ladies of +the court watched her couch by night and by day +sadly waiting for her last hour.</p> +<p>At length one day, when the sun was shining +brightly over Tara’s plain, and its light, softened +by the intervening curtains, was falling in the sick +chamber, the royal watchers noticed a sweet change +coming over the face of the princess; the bloom of +love and youth were flushing on her cheeks, and +from her eyes shone out the old, soft, tender light, +and they began to hope she was about to be restored +to them, when suddenly the room was in darkness +as if the night had swept across the sky, and blotted +out the sun. Then they heard the sound of fairy +music, and over the couch where the princess lay +they beheld a gleam of golden light, but only for a +moment; and again there was perfect darkness, +and the fairy music ceased. Then, as suddenly as +it came the darkness vanished, the softened sunlight +once more filled the chamber, and rested upon +the couch; but the couch was empty, and the +royal watchers, looking at each other, said in +whispers: “The fairies have carried away the +Princess Ailinn to fairyland.”</p> +<p>Well, that very day the prince roamed by himself +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122' name='page_122'></a>122</span> +through the forest, counting the hours until the day +would fade in the sky and the moon come climbing +up, and at last, when it was shining full above the +waters, he went down to the verge of the lake, and he +looked out over the gleaming surface watching for +the vision promised by the little woman. But he +could see nothing, and was about to turn away +when he heard the faint sound of fairy music. +He listened and listened, and the sound came +nearer and clearer, and away in the distance, like +drops of glistening water breaking the level of the +lake, he saw a fleet of fairy boats, and he thought +it was the fairy queen sailing in the moonlight. +And it was the fairy queen, and soon he was able to +recognise the royal shallop leading the others, and +as it came close to the bank he saw the little woman +sitting in the prow between the little harpers, and +at the stern was the fairy queen, and by her side +the lady of his heart, the Princess Ailinn. In a +second the boat was against the bank, and the +princess in his arms. And he kissed her again +and again.</p> +<p>“And have you never a kiss for me,” said the +little woman, tapping his hand with the little gold +bodkin.</p> +<p>“A kiss and a dozen,” said Cuglas, as he caught +the little fairy up in his arms.</p> +<p>“Oh, fie, Cuglas,” said the queen. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123' name='page_123'></a>123</span></p> +<p>“Oh, the princess isn’t one bit jealous,” said the +little woman. “Are you, Ailinn?”</p> +<p>“Indeed I am not,” said Ailinn.</p> +<p>“And you should not be,” said the fairy queen, +“for never lady yet had truer knight than Cuglas. +I loved him, and I love him dearly. I lured him +here hoping that in the delights of fairyland he +might forget you. It was all in vain. I know +now that there is one thing no fairy power above +or below the stars, or beneath the waters, can ever +subdue, and that is love. And here together +forever shall you and Cuglas dwell, where old age +shall never come upon you, and where pain or +sorrow or sickness are unknown.”</p> +<p>And Cuglas never returned to the fair hills of +Erin, and ages passed away since the morning he +followed the hounds into the fatal cave, but his +story was remembered by the firesides, and sometimes, +even yet, the herdboy watching his cattle +in the fields hears the tuneful cry of hounds, and +follows it till it leads him to a darksome cave, and +as fearfully he listens to the sound becoming +fainter and fainter he hears the clatter of hoofs +over the stony floor, and to this day the cave bears +the name of the prince who entered it never to +return. <span class="inlinenote">[Footnote: <i>Uaimh Belaigh Conglais</i>, the cave of the road of Cuglas––now +Baltinglass––in the county Wicklow.]</span></p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124' name='page_124'></a>124</span> +<a name='THE_HUNTSMANS_SON' id='THE_HUNTSMANS_SON'></a> +<h2>THE HUNTSMAN’S SON.</h2> +</div> +<p>A long, long time ago there lived in a little hut on +the borders of a great forest a huntsman and his +wife and son. From his earliest years the boy, +whose name was Fergus, used to hunt with his +father in the forest, and he grew up strong and +active, sure and swift-footed as a deer, and as +free and fearless as the wind. He was tall and +handsome; as supple as a mountain ash, his lips +were as red as its berries; his eyes were as blue as +the skies in spring; and his hair fell down over his +shoulders like a shower of gold. His heart was as +light as a bird’s, and no bird was fonder of green +woods and waving branches. He had lived since +his birth in the hut in the forest, and had never +wished to leave it, until one winter night a wandering +minstrel sought shelter there, and paid for his +night’s lodging with songs of love and battle. +Ever since that night Fergus pined for another +life. He no longer found joy in the music of the +hounds or in the cries of the huntsmen in forest +glades. He yearned for the chance of battle, +and the clang of shields, and the fierce +shouts of fighting warriors, and he spent +all his spare hours practising on the harp and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125' name='page_125'></a>125</span> +learning the use of arms, for in those days the +bravest warriors were also bards. In this way the +spring and summer and autumn passed; and when +the winter came again it chanced that on a stormy +night, when thunder was rattling through the +forest, smiting the huge oaks and hurling them +crashing to the earth, Fergus lay awake thinking +of his present lot, and wondering what the future +might have in store for him. The lightning was +playing around the hut, and every now and then +a flash brightened up the interior.</p> +<p>After a peal, louder than any which had preceded +it, Fergus heard three loud knocks at the door. He +called out to his parents that some one was knocking.</p> +<p>“If that is so,” said his father, “open at once; +this is no night to keep a poor wanderer outside +our door.”</p> +<p>Fergus did as he was bidden, and as he opened +the door a flash of lightning showed him, standing +at the threshold, a little wizened old man with a +small harp under his arm.</p> +<p>“Come in, and welcome,” said Fergus, and the +little man stepped into the room.</p> +<p>“It is a wild night, neighbours,” said he.</p> +<p>“It is, indeed, a wild night,” said the huntsman +and his wife, who had got up and dressed themselves; +“and sorry we are we have no better shelter +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126' name='page_126'></a>126</span> +or better fare to offer you, but we give you the best +we have.”</p> +<p>“A king cannot do more than his best,” said +the little man.</p> +<p>The huntsman’s wife lit the fire, and soon the +pine logs flashed up into a blaze, and made the hut +bright and warm. She then brought forth a peggin +of milk and a cake of barley-bread.</p> +<p>“You must be hungry, sir,” she said.</p> +<p>“Hungry I am,” said he; “but I wouldn’t ask +for better fare than this if I were in the king’s +palace.”</p> +<p>“Thank you kindly, sir,” said she, “and I hope +you will eat enough, and that it will do you good.”</p> +<p>“And while you are eating your supper,” said +the huntsman, “I’ll make you a bed of fresh +rushes.”</p> +<p>“Don’t put yourself to that trouble,” said the +little man. “When I have done my supper I’ll +lie down here by the fire, if it is pleasing to you, +and I’ll sleep like a top until morning. And now +go back to your beds and leave me to myself, and +maybe some time when you won’t be expecting +it I’ll do a good turn for your kindness to the poor +wayfarer.”</p> +<p>“Oh, it’s no kindness at all,” said the huntsman’s +wife. “It would be a queer thing if an Irish +cabin would not give shelter and welcome in a wild +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127' name='page_127'></a>127</span> +night like this. So good night, now, and we hope +you will sleep well.”</p> +<p>“Good night,” said the little man, “and may +you and yours never sup sorrow until your dying +day.”</p> +<p>The huntsman and his wife and Fergus then went +back to their beds, and the little man, having +finished his supper, curled himself up by the fire, +and was soon fast asleep.</p> +<p>About an hour after a loud clap of thunder +awakened Fergus, and before it had died away he +heard three knocks at the door. He aroused his +parents and told them.</p> +<p>“Get up at once,” said his mother, “this is no +night to keep a stranger outside our door.”</p> +<p>Fergus rose and opened the door, and a flash of +lightning showed him a little old woman, with a +shuttle in her hand, standing outside.</p> +<p>“Come in, and welcome,” said he, and the little +old woman stepped into the room.</p> +<p>“Blessings be on them who give welcome to a +wanderer on a wild night like this,” said the old +woman.</p> +<p>“And who wouldn’t give welcome on a night +like this?” said the huntsman’s wife, coming +forward with a peggin of milk and a barley cake +in her hand, “and sorry we are we have not better +fare to offer you.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128' name='page_128'></a>128</span></p> +<p>“Enough is as good as a feast,” said the little +woman, “and now go back to your beds and leave +me to myself.”</p> +<p>“Not till I shake down a bed of rushes for you,” +said the huntsman’s wife.</p> +<p>“Don’t mind the rushes,” said the little woman; +“go back to your beds. I’ll sleep here by the fire.”</p> +<p>The huntsman’s wife went to bed, and the little +old woman, having eaten her supper, lay down by +the fire, and was soon fast asleep.</p> +<p>About an hour later another clap of thunder +startled Fergus. Again he heard three knocks at +the door. He roused his parents, but he did not +wait for orders from them. He opened the door, +and a flash of lightning showed him outside the +threshold a low-sized, shaggy, wild-looking horse. +And Fergus knew it was the Pooka, the wild horse +of the mountains. Bold as Fergus was, his heart +beat quickly as he saw fire issuing from the Pooka’s +nostrils. But, banishing fear, he cried out:</p> +<p>“Come in, and welcome.”</p> +<p>“Welcome you are,” said the huntsman, “and +sorry we are that we have not better shelter or +fare to offer you.”</p> +<p>“I couldn’t wish a better welcome,” said the +Pooka, as he came over near the fire and sat down +on his haunches.</p> +<p>“Maybe you would like a little bit of this, Master +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129' name='page_129'></a>129</span> +Pooka,” said the huntsman’s wife, as she offered +him a barley cake.</p> +<p>“I never tasted anything sweeter in my life,” +said the Pooka, crunching it between his teeth, +“and now if you can give me a sup of milk, I’ll +want for nothing.”</p> +<p>The huntsman’s wife brought him a peggin of +milk. When he had drunk it, “Now,” says the +Pooka, “go back to your beds, and I’ll curl myself +up by the fire and sleep like a top till morning.”</p> +<p>And soon everybody in the hut was fast asleep.</p> +<p>When the morning came the storm had gone, +and the sun was shining through the windows of +the hut. At the song of the lark Fergus got up, +and no one in the world was ever more surprised +than he when he saw no sign of the little old man, +or the little old woman, or the wild horse of the +mountains. His parents were also surprised, and +they all thought that they must have been dreaming +until they saw the empty peggins around the +fire and some pieces of broken bread; and they +did not know what to think of it all.</p> +<p>From that day forward the desire grew stronger +in the heart of Fergus for a change of life; and one +day he told his parents that he was resolved to seek +his fortune. He said he wished to be a soldier, +and that he would set out for the king’s palace, +and try to join the ranks of the Feni. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130' name='page_130'></a>130</span></p> +<p>About a week afterwards he took leave of his +parents, and having received their blessing he +struck out for the road that led to the palace of +the High King of Erin. He arrived there just at +the time when the great captain of the Fenian host +was recruiting his battalions, which had been +thinned in recent battle.</p> +<p>The manly figure of Fergus, his gallant bearing, +and handsome face, all told in his favour. But +before he could be received into the Fenian ranks +he had to prove that he could play the harp like a +bard, that he could contend with staff and shield +against nine Fenian warriors, that he could run +with plaited hair through the tangled forest without +loosening a single hair, and that in his course he +could jump over trees as high as his head, and +stoop under trees as low as his knee, and that he +could run so lightly that the rotten <ins class="trchange" title="Was 'twigg'">twigs</ins> should +not break under his feet. Fergus proved equal to +all the tests, thanks to the wandering minstrel who +taught him the use of the harp, to his own brave +heart, and to his forest training. He was enrolled +in the second battalion of the Feni, and before long +he was its bravest and ablest champion.</p> +<p>At that very time it happened that the niece of +the High King of Erin was staying with the king +and queen in their palace at Tara. The princess +was the loveliest lady in all the land. She was as +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131' name='page_131'></a>131</span> +proud as she was beautiful. The princes and +chieftains of Erin in vain sought her hand in +marriage. From Alba and Spain, and the far-off +isles of Greece, kings came to woo her. From the +northern lands came vikings in stately galleys with +brazen prows, whose oarsmen tore the white foam +from the emerald seas as they swept towards the +Irish coasts. But the lady had vowed she would +wed with no one except a battle champion who +could excel in music the chief bard of the High +King of Erin; who could outstrip on his steed in +the great race of Tara the white steed of the plains; +and who could give her as a wedding robe a garment +of all the colours of the rainbow, so finely spun that +when folded up it would fit in the palm of her small +white hand. To fulfil these three conditions was +impossible for all her suitors, and it seemed as if +the loveliest lady of the land should go unmarried +to her grave.</p> +<p>It chanced that once, on a day when the Fenian +battalions were engaged in a hurling-match, Fergus +beheld the lady watching the match from her sunny +bower. He no sooner saw her than he fell over +head and ears in love with her, and he thought of +her by night, and he thought of her by day, and +believing that his love was hopeless, he often +wished he had never left his forest-home.</p> +<p>The great fair of Tara<a name='FNanchor_0011' id='FNanchor_0011'></a><a href='#Footnote_0011' class='fnanchor'>[11]</a> was coming on, and all +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132' name='page_132'></a>132</span> +the Feni were busy from morning till night practising +feats of arms and games, in order to take +part in the contests to be held during the fair. +And Fergus, knowing that the princess would be +present, determined to do his best to win the +prizes which were to be contended for before the +ladies’ eyes.</p> +<p>The fair began on the 1st of August, but for a +whole week before the five great roads of Erin were +thronged with people of all sorts. Princes and +warriors on their steeds, battle champions in their +chariots, harpers in hundreds, smiths with gleaming +spears and shields and harness for battle steeds +and chariots; troops of men and boys leading racehorses; +jewellers with gold drinking-horns, and +brooches, and pins, and ear-rings, and costly gems +of all kinds, and chess-boards of silver and gold, +and golden and silver chessmen in bags of woven +brass; dyers with their many-coloured fabrics; +bands of jugglers; drovers goading on herds of +cattle; shepherds driving their sheep; huntsmen +with spoils of the chase; dwellers in the lakes or by +the fish-abounding rivers with salmon and speckled +trout; and countless numbers of peasants on horseback +and on foot, all wending their way to the great +meeting-place by the mound, which a thousand +years before had been raised over the grave of the +great queen. For there the fair was to be held. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133' name='page_133'></a>133</span></p> +<p>On the opening day the High King, attended by +the four kings of Erin, set out from the palace, +and with them went the queen and the ladies of the +court in sparkling chariots. The princess rode in +the chariot with the high queen, under an awning +made of the wings of birds, to protect them from +the rays of the sun. Following the queen were the +court ladies in other chariots, under awnings of +purple or of yellow silk. Then came the brehons, +the great judges of the land, and the chief bards of +the high court of Tara, and the Druids, crowned +with oak leaves, and carrying wands of divination +in their hands.</p> +<p>When the royal party reached the ground it +took its place in enclosures right up against the +monumental mound. The High King sat with the +four kings of Erin, all wearing their golden helmets, +for they wore their diadems in battle only. In an +enclosure next the king’s sat the queen and the +princess and all the ladies of the court. At either +side of the royal pavilions were others for the +dames and ladies and nobles and chiefs of different +degrees, forming part of a circle on the plain, and +the stands and benches for the people were so +arranged as to complete the circle, and in the +round green space within it, so that all might +hear and see, the contests were to take place.</p> +<p>At a signal from the king, who was greeted with +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134' name='page_134'></a>134</span> +a thunderous cheer, the heralds rode round the +circle, and having struck their sounding shields +three times with their swords, they made a solemn +proclamation of peace. Then was sung by all the +assembled bards, to the accompaniment of their +harps, the chant in honour of the mighty dead. +When this was ended, again the heralds struck +their shields, and the contests began. The first +contest was the contest of spear-throwing between +the champions of the seven battalions of the Feni. +When the seven champions took their places in +front of the royal enclosure, everyone, even the +proud princess, was struck by the manly beauty +and noble bearing of Fergus.</p> +<p>The champions poised their spears, and at a +stroke from the heralds upon their shields the seven +spears sped flashing through the air. They all +struck the ground, shafts up, and it was seen that +two were standing side by side in advance of the +rest, one belonged to Fergus, the other to the great +chief, Oscar. The contest for the prize then lay +between Oscar and Fergus, and when they stood +in front of the king, holding their spears aloft, +every heart was throbbing with excitement. Once +more the heralds struck their shields, and, swifter +than the lightning’s flash, forth went the spears, +and when Fergus’s spear was seen shivering in the +ground a full length ahead of the great chief +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135' name='page_135'></a>135</span> +Oscar’s, the air was shaken by a wild cheer that +was heard far beyond the plains of Tara. And as +Fergus approached the high king to receive the +prize the cheers were renewed. But Fergus thought +more of the winsome glance of the princess than +he did of the prize or the sounding cheers. And +Princess Maureen was almost sorry for her vow, +for her heart was touched by the beauty of the +Fenian champion.</p> +<p>Other contests followed, and the day passed, +and the night fell, and while the Fenian warriors +were revelling in their camps the heart of Fergus, +victor as he was, was sad and low. He escaped +from his companions, and stole away to his native +forest, for––</p> +<div class="poem"> +<table style='margin: auto' summary=''><tr><td> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> +“When the heart is sick and sorest,<br /> +There is balsam in the forest––<br /> +There is balsam in the forest<br /> +<span style='margin-left: 7.8125em;'>For its pain.”</span></p> +</td></tr></table> +</div> +<p>And as he lay under the spreading branches, +watching the stars glancing through the leaves, +and listening to the slumb’rous murmur of the +waters, a strange peace came over him.</p> +<p>But in the camp which he had left, and in the +vast multitude on the plains of Tara, there was +stir and revelry, and babbling speculation as to +the contest of to-morrow––the contest which was +to decide whether the chief bard of Erin was to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136' name='page_136'></a>136</span> +hold his own against all comers, or yield the palm. +For rumour said that a great Skald had come +from the northern lands to compete with the Irish +bard.</p> +<p>At last, over the Fenian camp, and over the +great plain and the multitude that thronged it, +sleep fell, clothing them with a silence as deep as +that which dwelt in the forest, where, dreaming of +the princess, Fergus lay. He awoke at the first +notes of the birds, but though he felt he ought to +go back to his companions and be witness of the +contest which might determine whether the princess +was to be another’s bride, his great love and his +utter despair of winning her so oppressed him that +he lay as motionless as a broken reed. He scarcely +heard the music of the birds, and paid no heed to +the murmur of the brook rushing by his feet. The +crackling of branches near him barely disturbed +him, but when a shadow fell across his eyes he +looked up gloomily, and saw, or thought he saw, +someone standing before him. He started up, and +who should he see but the little wizened old man +who found shelter in his father’s hut on the stormy +night.</p> +<div class='figtag'> +<a name='linki_5' id='linki_5'></a> +</div> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/illus-165.png' alt='' title='' style='width: 348px; height: 500px;' /><br /> +<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center; width: 348px;'> +“He started up, and who should he see but a little wizened old man”––p. 136.<br /> +</p> +</div> +<p>“This is a nice place for a battle champion to +be. This is a nice place for <i>you</i> to be on the day +which is to decide who will be the successful suitor +of the princess.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137' name='page_137'></a>137</span></p> +<p>“What is it to me,” said Fergus, “who is to +win her since I cannot.”</p> +<p>“I told you,” said the little man, “the night +you opened the door for me, that the time might +come when I might be able to do a good turn for +you and yours. The time has come. Take this +harp, and my luck go with you, and in the contest +of the bards to-day you’ll reap the reward of the +kindness you did when you opened your door to +the poor old wayfarer in the midnight storm.”</p> +<p>The little man handed his harp to Fergus and +disappeared as swiftly as the wind that passes +through the leaves.</p> +<p>Fergus, concealing the harp under his silken +cloak, reached the camp before his comrades had +aroused themselves from sleep.</p> +<p>At length the hour arrived when the great contest +was to take place.</p> +<p>The king gave the signal, and as the chief bard of +Erin was seen ascending the mound in front of +the royal enclosures he was greeted with a roar +of cheers, but at the first note of his harp silence +like that of night fell on the mighty gathering.</p> +<p>As he moved his fingers softly over the strings +every heart was hushed, filled with a sense of balmy +rest. The lark soaring and singing above his head +paused mute and motionless in the still air, and no +sound was heard over the spacious plain save the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138' name='page_138'></a>138</span> +dreamy music. Then the bard struck another key, +and a gentle sorrow possessed the hearts of his +hearers, and unbidden tears gathered to their eyes. +Then, with bolder hand, he swept his fingers across +his lyre, and all hearts were moved to joy and +pleasant laughter, and eyes that had been dimmed +by tears sparkled as brightly as running waters +dancing in the sun. When the last notes had died +away a cheer arose, loud as the voice of the storm +in the glen when the live thunder is revelling on the +mountain tops. As soon as the bard had descended +the mound the Skald from the northern lands took +his place, greeted by cries of welcome from a +hundred thousand throats. He touched his harp, +and in the perfect silence was heard the strains of +the mermaid’s song, and through it the pleasant +ripple of summer waters on the pebbly beach. +Then the theme was changed, and on the air was +borne the measured sweep of countless oars and +the swish of waters around the prows of contending +galleys, and the breezy voices of the sailors and the +sea-bird’s cry. Then his theme was changed to +the mirth and laughter of the banquet-hall, the +clang of meeting drinking-horns, and songs of +battle. When the last strain ended, from the +mighty host a great shout went up, loud as the +roar of winter billows breaking in the hollows of +the shore; and men knew not whom to declare the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139' name='page_139'></a>139</span> +victor, the chief bard of Erin or the Skald of the +northern lands.</p> +<p>In the height of the debate the cry arose that +another competitor had ascended the mound, and +there standing in view of all was Fergus, the +huntsman’s son. All eyes were fastened upon him, +but no one looked so eagerly as the princess.</p> +<p>He touched his harp with gentle fingers, and a +sound low and soft as a faint summer breeze +passing through forest trees stole out, and then +was heard the rustle of birds through the branches, +and the dreamy murmur of waters lost in deepest +woods, and all the fairy echoes whispering when +the leaves are motionless in the noonday heat; +then followed notes cool and soft as the drip of +summer showers on the parched grass, and then +the song of the blackbird, sounding as clearly as it +sounds in long silent spaces of the evening, and then +in one sweet jocund burst the multitudinous voices +that hail the breaking of the morn. And the lark, +singing and soaring above the minstrel, sank mute +and motionless upon his shoulder, and from all the +leafy woods the birds came thronging out and +formed a fluttering canopy above his head.</p> +<p>When the bard ceased playing no shout arose +from the mighty multitude, for the strains of his +harp, long after its chords were stilled, held their +hearts spell-bound. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140' name='page_140'></a>140</span></p> +<p>And when he had passed away from the mound +of contest all knew there was no need to declare +the victor.<a name='FNanchor_0012' id='FNanchor_0012'></a><a href='#Footnote_0012' class='fnanchor'>[12]</a> And all were glad the comely Fenian +champion had maintained the supremacy of the +bards of Erin. But there was one heart sad, the +heart of the princess; and now she wished more +than ever that she had never made her hateful +vow.</p> +<p>Other contests went on, but Fergus took no +interest in them; and once more he stole away to +the forest glade. His heart was sorrowful, for he +thought of the great race of the morning, and he +knew that he could not hope to compete with the +rider of the white steed of the plains. And as he +lay beneath the spreading branches during the +whole night long his thoughts were not of the +victory he had won, but of the princess, who was +as far away from him as ever. He passed the night +without sleep, and when the morning came he rose +and walked aimlessly through the woods.</p> +<p>A deer starting from a thicket reminded him of +the happy days of his boyhood, and once more the +wish came back to him that he had never left his +forest home. As his eyes followed the deer wistfully, +suddenly he started in amazement. The deer +vanished from view, and in his stead was the wild +horse of the mountains.</p> +<p>“I told you I’d do you a good turn,” said the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141' name='page_141'></a>141</span> +Pooka, “for the kindness you and yours did me +on that wild winter’s night. The day is passing. +You have no time to lose. The white steed of the +plains is coming to the starting-post. Jump on +my back, and remember, ‘Faint heart never won +fair lady.’”</p> +<p>In half a second Fergus was bestride the Pooka, +whose coat of shaggy hair became at once as glossy +as silk, and just at the very moment when the king +was about to declare there was no steed to compete +with the white steed of the plains, the Pooka with +Fergus upon his back, galloped up in front of the +royal enclosure. When the people saw the champion +a thunderous shout rose up that startled the +birds in the skies, and sent them flying to the +groves.</p> +<p>And in the ladies’ enclosure was a rustle of +many-coloured scarves waving in the air. At the +striking of the shields the contending steeds rushed +from the post with the swiftness of a swallow’s +flight. But before the white steed of the plains +had gone half-way round, Fergus and the wild +horse of the mountains had passed the winning +post, greeted by such cheers as had never before +been heard on the plains of Tara.</p> +<p>Fergus heard the cheers, but scarcely heeded +them, for his heart went out through his eyes that +were fastened on the princess, and a wild hope +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142' name='page_142'></a>142</span> +stirred him that his glance was not ungrateful to +the loveliest lady of the land.</p> +<p>And the princess was sad and sorry for her vow, +for she believed that it was beyond the power of +Fergus to bring her a robe of all the colours of the +rainbow, so subtly woven as to fit in the palm of +her soft, white hand.</p> +<p>That night also Fergus went to the forest, not +too sad, because there was a vague hope in his +heart that had never been there before. He lay +down under the branches, with his feet towards the +rustling waters, and the smiles of the princess +gilded his slumbers, as the rays of the rising sun +gild the glades of the forest; and when the morning +came he was scarcely surprised when before him +appeared the little old woman with the shuttle he +had welcomed on the winter’s night.</p> +<p>“You think you have won her already,” said the +little woman. “And so you have, too; her heart +is all your own, and I’m half inclined to think +that my trouble will be thrown away, for if you +had never a wedding robe to give her, she’d rather +have you this minute than all the kings of Erin, +or than all the other princes and kings and chieftains +in the whole world. But you and your father +and mother were kind to me on a wild winter’s +night, and I’d never see your mother’s son without +a wedding robe fit for the greatest princess that +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143' name='page_143'></a>143</span> +ever set nations to battle for her beauty. So go +and pluck me a handful of wild forest flowers, and +I’ll weave out of them a wedding robe with all the +colours of the rainbow, and one that will be as +sweet and as fragrant as the ripe, red lips of the +princess herself.”</p> +<p>Fergus, with joyous heart, culled the flowers, +and brought them to the little old woman.</p> +<p>In the twinkling of an eye she wove with her +little shuttle a wedding robe, with all the colours +of the rainbow, as light as the fairy dew, as soft +as the hand of the princess, as fragrant as her +little red mouth, and so small that it would pass +through the eye of a needle.</p> +<p>“Go now, Fergus,” said she, “and may luck go +with you; but, in the days of your greatness and +of the glory which will come to you when you are +wedded to the princess, be as kind, and have as +open a heart and as open a door for the poor as +you had when you were only a poor huntsman’s +son.”</p> +<p>Fergus took the robe and went towards Tara. +It was the last day of the fair, and all the contests +were over, and the bards were about to chant the +farewell strains to the memory of the great queen. +But before the chief bard could ascend the mound, +Fergus, attended by a troop of Fenian warriors on +their steeds, galloped into the enclosure, and rode +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144' name='page_144'></a>144</span> +up in front of the queen’s pavilion. Holding up +the glancing and many-coloured robe, he said:</p> +<p>“O Queen and King of Erin! I claim the princess +for my bride. You, O king, have decided that I +have won the prize in the contest of the bards; +that I have won the prize in the race against the +white steed of the plains; it is for the princess to say +if the robe which I give her will fit in the hollow +of her small white hand.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said the king. “You are victor in the +contests; let the princess declare if you have +fulfilled the last condition.”</p> +<p>The princess took the robe from Fergus, closed +her fingers over it, so that no vestige of it was +seen.</p> +<p>“Yes, O king!” said she, “he has fulfilled the +last condition; but before ever he had fulfilled a +single one of them, my heart went out to the +comely champion of the Feni. I was willing then, +I am ready now, to become the bride of the huntsman’s +son.”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='NOTES' id='NOTES'></a> +<h2>NOTES.</h2> +</div> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147' name='page_147'></a>147</span></div> +<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0001' id='Footnote_0001'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0001'><span class='label'>[1]</span></a> +<p> +</p><h2><a href='#FNanchor_0001'>I.</a></h2> + +<h3><i>The Birds of the Mystic Lake.</i></h3> + +<p>The incident of the birds coming to the mystic lake is taken +from “The Voyage of Maildun,” a translation of which is +given in Joyce’s Old Celtic Romances. The operations of the +birds were witnessed by Maildun and his companions, who, in +the course of their wanderings, had arrived at the Isle of the +Mystic Lake. One of Maildun’s companions, Diuran, on seeing +the wonder, said to the others: “Let us bathe in the lake, +and we shall obtain a renewal of our youth like the birds.”</p> + +<p>But they said: “Not so, for the bird has left the poison of +his old age and decay in the water.”</p> + +<p><i>Diuran</i>, however, plunged in, and swam about for some +time; after which he took a little of the water and mixed it +in his mouth, and in the end he swallowed a small quantity. +He then came out perfectly sound and whole, and remained +so ever after as long as he lived. But none of the others +ventured in.</p> + +<p>The return of the birds in the character of the cormorants +of the western seas and guardians of the lake does not occur +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148' name='page_148'></a>148</span> +in the old tale. The oldest copy of the voyage is in the book +of “The Dun Cow” (about the year 1100). O’Curry says the +voyage was undertaken about the year 700. It was made by +Maildun in search of pirates who had slain his father. The +story is full of fancy. +</p></div> +<hr class="note_rule" /> +<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0002' id='Footnote_0002'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0002'><span class='label'>[2]</span></a> +<p> +</p><h2><a href='#FNanchor_0002'>II.</a></h2> + +<h3><i>The House in the Lake.</i></h3> + +<p>In the Irish annals lake dwellings, which were formerly +common in Ireland, are called <i>crannogs</i>, from crann, a tree, +either because of the timber framework of which the island +was formed or of the wooden huts erected thereon.</p> + +<p>Some <i>crannogs</i> appear to have been veritable islands, the +only means of communication with the land being canoes. +Remains of these have been frequently found near the dwelling, +in some instances alongside the landing stage, as if sunk at +their moorings.</p> + +<p>“Favourite sites for <i>crannogs</i> were marshes, small loughs +surrounded by woods and large sheets of water. As providing +good fishing grounds the entrance to or exit of a stream from +a lake was eagerly selected.”––“Lake Dwellings of Ireland,” +Col. Wood Martin, M.R.I.A. +</p></div> +<hr class="note_rule" /> +<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0003' id='Footnote_0003'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0003'><span class='label'>[3]</span></a> +<p> +</p><h2><a href='#FNanchor_0003'>III.</a></h2> + +<h3><i>Brian’s Water-dress.</i></h3> + +<p>Brian, Ur, and Urcar, the three sons of Turenn, were +Dedanaan chiefs. They slew Kian, the father of Luga of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149' name='page_149'></a>149</span> +Long Arms, who was grandson of Balor of the Evil Eye. +Luga imposed an extraordinary eric fine on the sons of Turenn, +part of which was “the cooking-spit of the women of Fincara.” +For a quarter of a year Brian and his brothers sailed hither +and thither over the wide ocean, landing on many shores, +seeking tidings of the Island of Fincara. At last they met a +very old man, who told them that the island lay deep down +in the waters, having been sunk beneath the waves by a spell +in times long past.</p> + +<p>Then Brian put on his water-dress, with his helmet of +transparent crystal on his head, telling his brothers to wait +his return. He leaped over the side of the ship, and sank at +once out of sight. He walked about for a fortnight down in +the green salt sea, seeking for the Island of Fincara, and at +last he found it.</p> + +<p>His brothers waited for him in the same spot the whole +time, and when he came not they began to fear he would +return no more. At last they were about to leave the place, +when they saw the glitter of his crystal helmet deep down in +the water, and immediately after he came to the surface with +the cooking-spit in his hand.––“Old Celtic Romances” +(Joyce), p. 87. +</p></div> +<hr class="note_rule" /> +<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0004' id='Footnote_0004'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0004'><span class='label'>[4]</span></a> +<p> +</p><h2><a href='#FNanchor_0004'>IV.</a></h2> + +<h3><i>The Palace of the Little Cat.</i></h3> + +<p>The description of the rows of jewels ranged round the +wall of the palace of the Little Cat is taken from “The Voyage +of Maildun.”––See Note I. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150' name='page_150'></a>150</span> +</p></div> +<hr class="note_rule" /> +<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0005' id='Footnote_0005'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0005'><span class='label'>[5]</span></a> +<p> +</p><h2><a href='#FNanchor_0005'>V.</a></h2> + +<h3><i>Liban the Mermaid.</i></h3> + +<p>Liban was the daughter of Ecca, son of Mario, King of +Munster. Ecca, having conquered the lordship of the half of +Ulster, settled down with his people in the plain of the Grey +Copse, which is now covered by the waters of Lough Necca, +now Lough Neagh. A magic well had sprung up in the plain, +and not being properly looked after by the woman in charge +of it, its waters burst forth over the plain, drowning Ecca +and nearly all his family. Liban, although swept away like +the others, was not drowned. She lived for a whole year, +with her lap-dog, in a chamber beneath the lake, and God +protected her from the water. At the end of that time she +was weary, and when she saw the speckled salmon swimming +and playing all round her, she prayed to be changed into a +salmon that she might swim with the others through the +green, salt sea. Her prayer was granted; she took the shape +of a salmon, except her face and breast, which did not change. +And her lap-dog was changed into an otter, and attended her +afterwards whithersoever she went as long as she lived in the +sea.</p> + +<p>It is nearly eight hundred years ago since the story was +transcribed from some old authority into the Book of the +Dun Cow, the oldest manuscript of Gaelic literature we possess.––Joyce’s +“Old Celtic Romances,” p. 97. +</p></div> +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151' name='page_151'></a>151</span></p> +<hr class="note_rule" /> +<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0006' id='Footnote_0006'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0006'><span class='label'>[6]</span></a> +<p> +</p><h2><a href='#FNanchor_0006'>VI.</a></h2> + +<h3><i>The Fairy Tree of Dooros.</i></h3> + +<p>The forest of Dooros was in the district of Hy Fiera of the +Moy (now the barony of Tireragh, in Sligo).</p> + +<p>On a certain occasion the Dedanns, returning from a hurling +match with the Feni, passed through the forest, carrying with +them for food during the journey crimson nuts, and arbutus +apples, and scarlet quicken-berries, which they had brought +from the Land of Promise. One of the quicken-berries +dropped on the earth, and the Dedanns passed on not heeding.</p> + +<p>From this berry a great quicken-tree sprang up, which had +the virtues of the quicken-trees that grow in fairyland. Its +berries had the taste of honey, and those who ate of them +felt a cheerful glow, as if they had drunk of wine or old mead, +and if a man were even a hundred years old he returned to +the age of thirty as soon as he had eaten three of them.</p> + +<p>The Dedanns having heard of this tree, and not wishing +that anyone should eat of the berries but themselves, sent a +giant of their own people to guard it, namely, Sharvan the +Surly, of Lochlann.––“The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grania,” +“Old Celtic Romances,” p. 313 (Joyce). +</p></div> +<hr class="note_rule" /> +<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0007' id='Footnote_0007'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0007'><span class='label'>[7]</span></a> +<p> +</p><h2><a href='#FNanchor_0007'>VII.</a></h2> + +<h3><i>Prince Cuglas.</i></h3> + +<p>In the list of the historic tales mentioned in the Book of +Leinster, and which is given in O’Curry’s appendix to his +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152' name='page_152'></a>152</span> +“Lectures on the MSS. Materials of Ancient Irish History,” +“The Cave of the Road of Cuglas” finds place. O’Curry has +the following note:––</p> + +<p>“Cuglas was the son of Donn Desa, King of Leinster, and +master of the hounds to the monarch Conairé Mor. Having +one day followed the chase from Tara to this road, the chase +suddenly disappeared in a cave, into which he followed, and +was <i>never seen after</i>. Hence the cave was called <i>Uaimh +Bealach Conglais</i>, or the cave of the road of Cuglas (now +Baltinglass, in the County of Wicklow). It is about this cave, +nevertheless, that so many of our pretended Irish antiquarians +have written so much nonsense in connection with some +imaginary pagan worship to which they gravely assure the +world, on <ins class="trchange" title="Was 'entymological'">etymological</ins> authority, the spot was devoted. +The authority for the legend of Cuglas is the <i>Dinnoean Chus</i> +on the place <i>Bealach Conglais</i> (Book of Lecain). The full tale +has not come down to us.” +</p></div> +<hr class="note_rule" /> +<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0008' id='Footnote_0008'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0008'><span class='label'>[8]</span></a> +<p> +</p><h2><a href='#FNanchor_0008'>VIII.</a></h2> + +<h3><i>The Herald.</i></h3> + +<p>“Here comes a single champion towards us, O <i>Cuchulain</i>,” +said <i>Laegh</i> (Cuchulain’s charioteer). “What sort of a champion +is he?” said <i>Cuchulain</i>. “A brown-haired, broad faced, +beautiful youth; a splendid brown cloak on him; a bright +bronze spear-like brooch fastening his cloak. A full and well-fitting +shirt to his skin. Two firm shoes between his two feet +and the ground. A hand-staff of white hazel in one hand of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153' name='page_153'></a>153</span> +his; a single-edged sword with a sea-horse hilt in his other +hand.” “Good, my lad,” said <i>Cuchulain</i>; “these are the +tokens of a herald.”––Description of the herald <i>MacRoath</i> in +the story of the Tain bo <ins class="trchange" title="Was 'Chuaillgné'">Chuailgné</ins>.––O’Curry’s “Manners +and Customs of the Ancient Irish,” Vol. II., p. 301. +</p></div> +<hr class="note_rule" /> +<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0009' id='Footnote_0009'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0009'><span class='label'>[9]</span></a> +<p> +</p><h2><a href='#FNanchor_0009'>IX.</a></h2> + +<h3><i>Golden Bells.</i></h3> + +<p>In O’Curry’s “Lectures on the Manners and Customs of +the Ancient Irish” are several dazzling descriptions of <ins class="trchange" title="Was 'calvacades'">cavalcades</ins> +taken from the old tales. Silver and golden bells are +frequently mentioned as part of the horse furniture. +</p></div> +<hr class="note_rule" /> +<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0010' id='Footnote_0010'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0010'><span class='label'>[10]</span></a> +<p> +</p><h2><a href='#FNanchor_0010'>X.</a></h2> + +<h3><i>The Wild People of the Glen.</i></h3> + +<p>“And then he put on his helmet of battle and of combat +and of fighting, from every recess and from every angle of +which issued the shout as it were of an hundred warriors; +because it was alike that woman of the valley (<i>de bananaig</i>), +and hobgoblins (<i>bacanaig</i>), <i>and wild people of the glen (geinti +glindi)</i>, and demons of the air (<i>demna acoir</i>), shouted in front +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154' name='page_154'></a>154</span> +of it, and in rear of <ins class="trchange" title="Added comma">it,</ins> and over it, and around it, wherever he +went, at the spurting of blood, and of heroes upon it.”</p> + +<p>Description of Cuchulain’s helmet in the story of The +<i>Tain bo Chuailgné</i>.––“O’Curry’s Manners and Customs of the +Ancient Irish,” Vol. II., p. 301. +</p></div> +<hr class="note_rule" /> +<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0011' id='Footnote_0011'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0011'><span class='label'>[11]</span></a> +<p> +</p><h2><a href='#FNanchor_0011'>XI.</a></h2> + +<h3><i>The Fair of Tara.</i></h3> + +<p>“The great fairs anciently held in Ireland were not like +their modern representatives, mere markets, but were assemblies +of the people to celebrate funeral games, and other +religious rites; during pagan times to hold parliaments, +promulgate laws, listen to the recitation of tales and poems, +engage in or witness contests in feats of arms, horse-racing, +and other popular games. They were <ins class="trchange" title="Was 'analagous'">analogous</ins> in many ways +to the Olympian and other celebrated games of ancient Greece.</p> + +<p><ins class="trchange" title="Added opening double-quote">“These</ins> assemblies were regulated by a strict by-law, a breach +of which was punishable by death. Women were especially +protected, a certain place being set apart for their exclusive +use, as a place was set apart at one side of the lists of mediæval +tournaments for the Queen of Beauty and the other ladies.</p> + +<p><ins class="trchange" title="Added opening double-quote">“At</ins> the opening of the assembly there was always a solemn +proclamation of peace, and the king who held the fair awarded +prizes to the most successful poets, musicians, and professors +and masters of every art.”––See Dr. Sullivan’s “Introduction +to O’Curry’s Lectures.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155' name='page_155'></a>155</span> +</p></div> +<hr class="note_rule" /> +<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0012' id='Footnote_0012'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0012'><span class='label'>[12]</span></a> +<p> +</p><h2><a href='#FNanchor_0012'>XII.</a></h2> + +<h3><i>The Contest of the Bards.</i></h3> + +<p>“The three musical feats of the <i>Daghda</i>, a celebrated Dedanann +chief and Druid, were the <i>Suantraighe</i>, which from its +deep murmuring caused sleep. The <i>Goltraighe</i>, which from its +meltive plaintiveness caused weeping, and the Goltraighe, +which from its merriment caused laughter.</p> + +<p><ins class="trchange" title="Added opening double-quote">“<i>Bose</i></ins>, the great Norse harper, could give on his harp the +Gyarslager, or stroke of the sea gods, which produced mermaids’ +music.”––O’Curry’s Lectures. +</p></div> +<hr class="major" /> +<div class="ldesc"> +<h4 id="illus003">Textual representation of the title page.</h4> +<h2><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Irish<br /> +Fairy Tales</span></h2> + +<h3><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>By<br /> +Edmund.<br /> +Leamy.</span></h3> + +<h4 style="margin-bottom:2em">Pictured by.<br /> +S.W. Fazáin.</h4> + +<h4><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>M.A. Gill & Son. Ltd<br /> +Publishers<br /> +Dublin. 1906</span></h4></div> +<div class="trnote"> +<p><span style='font-weight:bold'>Transcriber’s Notes</span></p> +<p>Typographical problems have been changed and these are +<ins class="trchange" title="Was 'hgihligthed'">highlighted</ins>.</p> +<p>Archaic and variable spelling is preserved.</p> +<p>Author’s punctuation style is preserved.</p> +</div> + +<!-- generated by ppg.rb version: ppg0606 --> +<!-- timestamp: Sun Jun 07 17:43:46 +0800 2009 --> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Irish Fairy Tales, by Edmond Leamy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IRISH FAIRY TALES *** + +***** This file should be named 29311-h.htm or 29311-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/1/29311/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Dan Horwood and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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