THE GOLDEN SPEARS 
 
 And Other Fairy Tales 
 
 BY 
 
 EDMUND 
 
 LEAMY . 
 
 
 
 y^ 
 
 
 "n 
 
 K 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS BY yCOEINNE TUUNER 
 
 ) 
 
 EXLIBRIS- 
 
 AURORA HPMGIRALDA 
 
 FOIST HISTORIAN O^ LJTBRARV CALrPOW 
 
 TITLE CONrgRRCU BV'CALIFORNIA 
 
 LEaiStATHtje, Al>RrL 1919 
 
 SAN FRAN«lsm», CAUPORNIA 
 
 New York 
 
 Desmond FitzGerald, Inc. 
 
• • • » • • • 
 
 • • • •. • • « 
 
 • • • • • ' 
 
 
 
 Copyright, 1911 
 By Desmond FitzGerald, Inc. 
 
 All Eights Reserved 
 
 mrx Of 
 
 D 
 
 7 . 
 
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CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface vii 
 
 Introductory Note ...... x 
 
 The Golden Spears 1 
 
 The House in the Lake ..... 23 
 
 The Enchanted Cave ..... 49 
 
 The Huntsman's Son 16 
 
 The Fairy Tree of Dooros .... 101 
 
 The Little White Cat 123 
 
 Princess Finola and the Dwarf . , .149 
 
 Notes IVO 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 "She beckoned the chihlren to her" . Frontisjnece 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 "'I have mourned you as dead, my darling,' 
 
 said he" 39 
 
 "The queen wished to know if he would join 
 
 them" 58 
 
 "Fergus knew it was the Pooka, the wild horse of 
 
 the mountains" 81 
 
 "He was very sad, and tired " . . . .106 
 
 "At the sight of him the prince remembered 
 
 everything" 137 
 
 "Standing before him was the little princess" . 169 
 
PREFACE 
 
 It comes to me as a very welcome piece of 
 news, and yet a piece of news which I have 
 been long expecting, that a special American 
 edition of Edmund Leamy's Irish fairy tales is 
 about to be published. This, then, will be the 
 third issue of the little book. I venture to 
 predict that it will not be the last ; and I fancy 
 the American publisher who has had the judg- 
 ment to take the matter up will soon be rewarded 
 for his enterprise. For I believe the book to be 
 a little classic in its way, and that it will go on 
 making for itself a place in the libraries of those 
 who understand children, and will hold that 
 place permanently. 
 
 This is the verdict of competent literary judges. 
 I am spared the necessity of attempting a dis- 
 cussion of the grounds- on which so strong an 
 opinion of Leamy's fairy tales is based by the fact 
 that this is already done in Mr. T. P. Gill's In- 
 troductory Note. Mr. Gill, though he was, like 
 myself, one of Leamy's intimate friends, is a con- 
 scientious critic, and to his analysis not merely 
 of the " Tales," but of that attractive personality 
 
 iz 
 
X PEEFACE 
 
 which Leamy infused into all he said or wrote I 
 can safely refer the reader. I think no one of 
 taste and judgment who reads these Tales will 
 fail to agree with the view which is expressed in 
 that Note and which I here, with some confidence, 
 venture to reiterate. 
 
 My chief hope with regard to this American 
 edition is that when it has made its mark with 
 the general public, as it is sure to do, it will be 
 taken note of by those who are specially con- 
 cerned with education. Leamy, while a public 
 man, a patriot steeped in the lore of Ireland's 
 past and ever weaving generous visions for her 
 future, was before all things else a child-lover. 
 That was his own, his peculiar endowment. He 
 had an exquisite gift with children and seemed 
 always able to speak directly with the higher 
 parts of their nature. It is this, I think, which is 
 evident in every page of these Tales, and which 
 gives the book its unique character. One to 
 whose judgment on an educational matter I at- 
 tach the greatest value writes to me these words : 
 " For refining influence, for power to stimulate 
 the sense of beauty, the tenderness, the sentiment 
 of nobleness of the child-soul, I can imagine no 
 volume more worthy of a place on the book-shelf 
 of the people's schools." Having myself often 
 witnessed this influence at work, I can em- 
 phatically indorse this opinion. I say I hope 
 
PREFACE xi 
 
 American educators may agree with it, for if they 
 do our educators here at home will follow so dis- 
 tinguished a lead. 
 
 Of Edmund Leamy, in his personal aspect, I 
 have already said something in my preface to the 
 Dublin edition. I need only add here that this 
 true-hearted Irishman had many friends on the 
 American continent, and that to them this little 
 flower of his genius will be a vivid and abiding 
 souvenir of one of the most lovable of men. 
 
 If this book have the success in America which 
 it deserves — and I hope that success may be ex- 
 tended to Canada and the Australias — I believe 
 a charming and ennobling boon will have been 
 conferred upon the child-life of these great com- 
 munities ; and it will be a source of gratification 
 to those who were the author's friends and col- 
 leagues to think that that gift came from one by 
 whose side we had the honor to serve in Ireland's 
 struggles. 
 
 J. E. Redmond. 
 
 AuGHAVANNAGH, June, 1911. 
 
( 
 
 I 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 
 I THINK one may fairly claim some respect from this 
 later day for a writer who seventeen years ago, of 
 his own motion, with scarce a word of encourage- 
 ment save from his wife and a friend or two — per- 
 haps 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. 
 
 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 (occa- 
 sionally) a certain naive accent which will not, per- 
 haps, please the contemporary critic; but (as there 
 are many who again find pleasure in early Vic- 
 torian furniture) it may please others; I confess it 
 pleases me. And the absence of literary self-con- 
 sciousness is itself pleasant; indeed, much of the 
 charm of these stories is the charm of their un- 
 premeditated 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 : 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 
 
 xiii 
 
xiv INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 
 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 per- 
 sonages. When the knight arrives at last, " wher- 
 ever 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 the most of the others. 
 
 It may not be amiss 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 in a form which 
 does not permit of its being recalled, the form 
 of the spoken and unrecorded word. He was by 
 nature an improviser. 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 fire- 
 side, or a casual audience, who were the witnesses 
 of the most brilliant play of his genius. He had 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE xv 
 
 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 w^ould note that an old 
 Irish apple-woman in a grimy English tow^n 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 bona fide travelers — such things were 
 materials for his insight or his fancy or his delight- 
 ful humor. Often when he returned in the even- 
 ing, full of his day's observations, one wished 
 there had been a shorthand-writer present to take 
 down what fell from his lips. And just as it fell it 
 would have been literature. He w^as urged to write 
 these things. But Leamy had not readily the will 
 or the power to compel his spirit when the favored 
 moment had passed. He was mostly passive, like an 
 Jilolian harp, under the visitation. Ill-health, too, 
 extreme and distressing, burdened him. He bore his 
 trials cheerfully, and strove manfully to write, es- 
 pecially in his later days when the powder 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, un- 
 touched by a shadow, through illness and pain and 
 hardship, to the hour of his death. 
 
 One ventures to wish that this little book may 
 make his kindly Irish spirit friends among a wider 
 circle, and especially amongst the children. 
 
 T. P. Gill. 
 
THE GOLDEN SPEARS 
 
 ONCE upon a timg there liYefi-in. a* little 
 house under a hill a Htile old 'woman and 
 her two children, whose names were 
 Connla and Nora. Right in front of the door of 
 the little house lay a pleasantmeadow,andbeyond 
 the meadow rose up to the skies a mountain whose 
 top was sharp-pointed like a spear. For more 
 than halfway 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 gray, but when the sun was sinking 
 in the sea, its last rays rested on the bare moun- 
 tain top and made it gleam like a spear of gold, 
 and so the children always called it the " Golden 
 Spear." 
 
 In summer days they gamboled 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 
 
2 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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' moiintailB, : and next to the moun- 
 tain they loved the wild birds who made the 
 spiing and summer weather musical with their 
 songs. 
 
 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 chil- 
 dren 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." 
 
 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. 
 
 When the spring days came they awoke with 
 the first light of the morning, and they knew the 
 
THE GOLDEN SPEARS 3 
 
 very minute wlien the lark would begin to sing, 
 and when the thrush and the blackbird would 
 pour out their liquid notes, and w^hen the robin 
 would make the soft, green, tender leaves trem- 
 ulous at his song. 
 
 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. 
 
 " Oh, Connla ! Connla ! Look at the thrush — 
 and, look, look up in the sky, there is a hawk ! '^ 
 cried Nora. 
 
 Connla looked up, and he saw the hawk with 
 quivering wings, and he kncAV 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 whir of the stone shooting 
 through the air was silent, the stricken hawk 
 tumbled headlong in the grass. 
 
 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 to- 
 gether until they stood under the branches of the 
 
4 FAIRY TALES 
 
 elm; and they listened and listened to the 
 thrush's song, and at last Nora said : 
 
 " Oh, Connla ! did you ever hear a song so sweet 
 as this? " 
 
 " No," said Connla, " and I do believe sweeter 
 music was never heard before." 
 
 " 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." 
 
 " 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." 
 
 " It was Connla saved you," said Nora, " for he 
 slew the hawk with his sling." 
 
 " 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 placing." 
 
 "And when shall we hear them?" said the 
 children. 
 
 " Well," said the thrush, " sit outside your 
 door to-morrow evening, and wait and watch un- 
 til the shadows have crept up the heather, and 
 then, when the mountain top is gleaming like a 
 
THE GOLDEN SPEARS 5 
 
 golden spear, look at the line wliere the shadow 
 on the heather meets the sunshine, and you shall 
 see what you shall see." 
 
 And having said this, the thrush sang another 
 song sweeter than the first, and then saying 
 " good-by," he flew away into the woods. 
 
 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. 
 
 The sun Avas 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 the glen, trooping up the moun- 
 tain side and dimming the purple of the heather. 
 
 And when the mountain top gleamed like a 
 golden spear, they fixed their eyes on the line 
 between the shadow and the sunshine. 
 
 " Now," said Connla, " the time has come." 
 
 " 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 
 
6 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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. 
 
 While they were passing the children were 
 spellbound, and couldn't speak, but when the 
 music had died away in the woods, they said: 
 
 " The thrush is right, that is the sweetest music 
 that was ever heard in all the world." 
 
 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 above the heather, they asked each other 
 whether they had really seen the little pipers, or 
 only dreamt of them. 
 
 That day they went out into the woods, and 
 they sat beside a stream that pattered along be- 
 neath the trees, and through the leaves tossing in 
 
THE GOLDEN SPEAKS 7 
 
 the breeze the sun flashed down upon the stream- 
 let, and shadow and sunshine danced upon it. 
 As the children watched the water sparkling 
 where the sunlight fell, Nora said: 
 
 " Oh, Connla, did you ever see anything so 
 bright and clear and glancing as that? " 
 
 " No," said Connla, " I never did." 
 
 " That's because you never saw the crystal hall 
 of the fairy of the mountains," said a voice above 
 the heads of the children; ^ 
 
 And when they looked up, who should they see 
 perched on a branch but the thrush. 
 
 " And where is the crystal hall of the fairy? " 
 said Connla. 
 
 " Oh, it is where it always was, and where it 
 always will be," said the thrush. " And you can 
 see it if you like." 
 
 " We would like to see it," said the children. 
 
 " Well, then," said the thrush, " if you would, 
 all you have to do is to follow the nine 
 little pipers w^hen they come down through 
 the heather, and cross the meadow to-morrow 
 evening." 
 
 And the thrush having said this, flew away. 
 
 Connla and Nora went home, and that night 
 
8 FAIRY TALES 
 
 they fell asleep talking of tlie thrush and the 
 fairy and the crystal hall. 
 
 All the next day they counted the minutes, un- 
 til 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. 
 
 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 be- 
 fore 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 Connla and Nora were so dazzled by the light 
 
THE GOLDEN SPEARS 9 
 
 that liit their eyes, when they had crossed the 
 threshold, that they had to shade them with their 
 hands; but, after a moment or two, they became 
 able to bear the splendor, 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. 
 
 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 colors came rush- 
 ing in, and floor, and ceiling, and stately pillars, 
 and glancing couches, and shining walls, were 
 stained with a thousand dazzling hues. 
 
 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. 
 
 " Oh, Connla," said Nora, " we have walked 
 into the sunset! " 
 
 And around and about them everywhere were 
 soft, fleecy clouds, and over their heads was the 
 
10 FAIRY TALES 
 
 glowing sky, and the stars were shining through 
 it, as a lady's eyes shine through a veil of gossa- 
 mer. And the sky and stars seemed so near that 
 Connla thought he could almost touch them with 
 his hand. 
 
 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 pur- 
 ple 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 cloud- 
 land. 
 
 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 trav- 
 eled down the fleecy stairway. When they were 
 little more than halfway 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 
 
THE GOLDEN SPEARS 11 
 
 came the odorous brine of the ocean. And then 
 the children knew that what they thought was a 
 plain in the realms of cloudlaud was the sleep- 
 ing sea unstirred by wind or tide, dreaming 
 of the purple clouds and stars of the sunset 
 sky above it. 
 
 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 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 : 
 
12 FAIRY TALES 
 
 " Would you like to follow the nine little 
 pipers? " The children said, " yes." 
 
 " Well, then,-' said the little man, " come up 
 here behind me; you, Nora, first, and Connla 
 after." 
 
 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 with- 
 out wetting hair or hoof. But fast as he gal- 
 loped 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 beneath the waters. The 
 white steed pulled up suddenly, and wouldn't 
 move a step further. 
 
 " 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." 
 
 The children did as they were bidden, and the 
 little man cried : 
 
 " Swish ! swash ! " 
 
THE GOLDEN SPEAKS 13 
 
 And the steed went down and down until at 
 last his feet struck the bottom. 
 
 " Now open your eyes/' said the little man. 
 
 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. 
 
 " You must get off now," said the little man, 
 " I can go no farther with you." 
 
 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 gray 
 rocks. And as they were gazing at them they 
 saw the rocks opening, and the nine little pipers 
 disappearing through them. 
 
 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 sinoino- a strange sweet song that 
 
14 FAIRY TALES 
 
 brought the tears to their eyes, and by the mer- 
 maid's side was a little sleek brown otter. 
 
 When the mermaid saw them she flung her 
 golden tresses back over her snow-white shoul- 
 ders, 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. 
 
 " 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 : 
 
 " Oh, Nora, mavourneen, 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 you in her snow-white palace and her 
 
THE GOLDEN SPEARS 15 
 
 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.'' ^ 
 
 Then the children said good-by to the mer- 
 maid, 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 gen- 
 tle 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. 
 
 " 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 colors, were sit- 
 ting, and at the end of the hall, on a crystal 
 throne, was seated the fairy queen, looking love- 
 
/ t^* n < <^ "^ 
 
 16 FAIRY TALES 
 
 lier than the evening star. The queen descended 
 from her throne to meet the children, and taking 
 them by the hands, she led them up the shining 
 steps. Then, sitting down, she made them sit be- 
 side her, Connla on her right hand and Nora on 
 her left. 
 
 Then she ordered the nine little pipers to come 
 before her, and she said to them : 
 
 " So far you have done your duty faithfully, 
 and now play one more sweet air and your task is 
 done." 
 
 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. 
 
 Listening to the fairy music, and watching the 
 wavy motion of the dancing fairies, the children 
 fell asleep. AVhen 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: 
 
 " Oh, Nora, how tall and beautiful you are! " 
 
THE GOLDEN SPEARS 17 
 
 " 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. 
 
 Then they drew back to get a better look of 
 each other, and who should step between them 
 but the fairy queen. 
 
 " 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." 
 
 " And how did we grow so tall in one night? " 
 said Connla. 
 
 " In one night! " said the fairy queen. " One 
 i night, indeed ! Why, you have been fast asleep, 
 the two of you, for the last seven years ! " 
 
 "And where was the little mother all that 
 time? " said Connla and Nora together. 
 
 " 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 
 
18 FAIRY TALES 
 
 sunshine. They were caught by my fairy nymphs, 
 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 luster with the dia- 
 monds 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 Eriui — 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 sword can cleave as long as you 
 fasten your warrior cloak with this brooch of 
 gold." 
 
 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. 
 
 " 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 war- 
 rior's cloak and golden brooch. But when the 
 
THE GOLDEN SPEARS 19 
 
 time comes when you will be called to battle, en- 
 ter 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-by 
 to Liban the Mermaid, exiled from the land she 
 loves, and pining in sadness beneath the sea." 
 
 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, 
 through the dark gray rocks, until they reached 
 the golden strand ; and there, sitting and singing 
 the strange, sweet song, was Liban the Mermaid. 
 
 " And so you are going up to Erin," she said, 
 " up through the covering waters. Kiss me, chil- 
 dren, once again; and when you are in Erin of 
 the Streams, sometimes think of the exile from 
 Erin beneath the sea." 
 
 And the children kissed the mermaid, and with 
 sad hearts, bidding her good-by, they walked 
 along the golden strand. When they had gone 
 what seemed to them a long way, they began to 
 
20 FAIRY TALES 
 
 feel weary; and just then they saw coming 
 towards them a little man in a red jacket leading 
 a coal-black steed. 
 
 When they met the little man, he said: 
 " Connla, put Nora up on this steed; then jump 
 up before her." 
 
 Connla did as he was told, and when both of 
 them were mounted — 
 
 " Now, Connla," said the little man, " catch 
 the bridle in your hands, and you, Nora, 
 clasp Connla round the waist, and close your 
 eyes." 
 
 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 the hard ground, Connla and Nora 
 opened their eyes, and they saw that they were 
 galloping towards a shady wood. 
 
 ,0n went the steed, and soon he was galloping 
 beneath the branches that almost touched Conn- 
 la's head. And on they went until they had 
 passed through the wood, and then they saw 
 rising up before them the " Golden Spear." 
 
THE GOLDEN SPEARS 21 
 
 " Oh, Connla," said Nora, " we are at home at 
 last." 
 
 " Yes," said Connla, " but where is the little 
 house under the hill?" 
 
 And no little house was there ; but in its stead 
 was standing a lime-white mansion. 
 
 " What can this mean? " said Nora, 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 " 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." 
 
 And Connla and Nora caught up the little 
 mother in their arms, and they carried her into 
 the hall and set her down on the floor. 
 
 " Oh, Nora ! " said the little mother, " you are 
 a head over me ; and as for you, Connla, you look 
 
22 FAIRY TALES 
 
 almost as tall as one of the round towers of 
 Erin." 
 
 " That's what the fairy queen said, mother," 
 said Nora. 
 
 " Blessings on the fairy queen," said the little 
 mother. " Turn round, Connla, till I look at you." 
 
 Connla turned round, and the little mother 
 said: 
 
 " 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." 
 
 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: 
 
 " Don't you know, little mother, I'd rather 
 have you than all the world." 
 
 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. 
 
J- 
 
 THE HOUSE IN THE LAKE ^ 
 
 ALONG, 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, out- 
 side 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, cov- 
 ered with skins, was moored, and it was only by 
 means of the curragh that he and his son, Enda, 
 could leave their lake dwelling. 
 
 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 
 
 23 
 
24 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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, 
 he lifted his head and half his body from the 
 water, and flung the trout on the platform, al- 
 most at Enda's feet, and then disappeared. 
 
 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 : 
 
 " I won't keep you, poor thing! Perhaps that 
 was a little comrade come to look for j^ou, and so 
 I'll send you back to him." 
 
 And saying this, he dropped the little trout 
 into the lake. 
 
 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. 
 
 Enda, more surprised than ever, did not know 
 
THE HOUSE IN THE LAKE 25 
 
 what to do. He saw that it was the same little 
 trout the otter had brought him the night before, 
 and he said : 
 
 " Well, I gave you a chance last night. I'll 
 give you another, if only to see what will come 
 of it." 
 
 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 
 Enda could hardly believe his eyes, as he saw 
 it sailing across the lake, uutil it was lost in the 
 rTS^dges growing by the shore. 
 
 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 cur- 
 ragh. 
 
 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 
 
26 FAIRY TALES 
 
 whole lake with light, he saw the swan coming 
 swiftly towards him, shining brighter than the 
 moonbeams. The swan came on until it was al- 
 most within a boat's length of the hut ; and what 
 should Enda hear but the swan speaking to him 
 in his own lang-uage : 
 
 " Get into your curragh, Enda, and follow me," 
 said she, and, saying this, she turned round and 
 sailed away. 
 
 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 to where the shadows of the mountains lay 
 deepest on the lake. Then the swan rested, and 
 when Enda came up to her : 
 
 " 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 
 
THE HOUSE IN THE LAKE 27 
 
 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." 
 
 " I'll do anything I can for you, O princess ! " 
 said Enda. " But how can I break the spell? " 
 
 " You can do so," said the swan, " only by pour- 
 ing 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." 
 
 " And how can I get that? " said Enda. 
 
 " Well," said the swan, " you must dive be- 
 neath the lake, and walk along its bed, until you 
 come to where the lake dragon guards the en- 
 trance of the fairy queen's dominions." 
 
 " I can dive like a fish," said Enda; " but how 
 can I walk beneath the waters? " 
 
 " You can do it easily enough," said the swan, 
 " if you get the water-dress of Brian, one of the 
 
28 FAIRY TALES 
 
 three sons of Turenn, and his helmet of trans- 
 parent crystal, by the aid of which he was able to 
 walk under the green salt sea." ^ 
 
 " And where shall I find them? " 
 
 " 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." 
 
 " I'll set out in the first ray of the morning," 
 said Enda. 
 
 " May luck and joy go with you," said the 
 swan. " And now the hours of silence are com- 
 ing 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." 
 ' " I am willing to face all dangers for your sake, 
 O princess," said Enda. 
 
 " Blessings be upon you, Enda," said the swan, 
 and she sailed away from the shadow out into the 
 light across the lake to the sedgy banks. And 
 Enda saw her no more. 
 
 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 
 
THE HOUSE IN THE LAKE 29 
 
 down the mountains, he stepped into his cnrragh 
 and pulled across the lake, and took the road 
 towards the water-palace of Angus of the 
 Boyne. 
 
 When he reached the banks of the glancing 
 river a little woman, dressed in red, was standing 
 there before him. 
 
 " 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." 
 
 And, having said this, the little woman plucked 
 a handful of wild grasses, and she breathed upon 
 i 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 
 I and crj^stal helmet and a shining spear. And 
 they laid them down upon the bank at Enda's 
 feet, and then disappeared. 
 
 " 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 
 before you. But with that spear, if you only 
 
30 FAIRY TALES 
 
 have courage, you can overcome everything and 
 everyone that may attempt to bar your way." 
 
 Having said this, she bid good-by 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 disap- 
 peared beneath the waters. 
 
 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. lie rowed on until he 
 came to the hut, and having moored the boat to 
 the door, he put on the water-dress and the crys- 
 tal 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 go- 
 ing, and the only light he had was the shimmer- 
 ing moonlight, which descended as faintly 
 through the waters as if it came through muffled 
 glass. He had not gone very far wlien 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 
 
THE HOUSE IN THE LAKE 31 
 
 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 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 spoar 
 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. 
 
 Lifting his spear and hastily turning round to 
 meet the furious monster, Enda accidentally 
 touched the door with the point of the spear, and 
 the door flew open. Enda passed through, and 
 
32 FAIRY TALES 
 
 the door closet! behind him with a grating sound, 
 and he marched along through a rocky pass 
 which led to a sandy plain. 
 
 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 
 color of the sand, rose hissing up, and with their 
 forked tongues made a horrible, poisonous hedge 
 in front of him. For a second he stood dismayed, 
 but then, leveling 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. 
 
 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 be- 
 fore him a stony waste without a tuft or blade of 
 grass. At some dist^ince in front of him he no- 
 ticed 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, appar- 
 ently alive. And it was growing bigger and big- 
 ger every moment. Enda stood amazed at the 
 sight, and before he knew where he was the loath- 
 
THE HOUSE IN THE LAKE 35 
 
 they had left it behind them Enda saw on a green 
 hill before him the snow-white palace of the 
 fairy queen. 
 
 As the queen approached the steps that led up 
 to the open door, a band of tiny fairies, dressed in 
 rose-colored silk, came out, carrying baskets of 
 flowers, which they flung down on the steps to 
 make a fragrant carpet for her. They were fol- 
 lowed 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 The queen seated herself upon the throne, and 
 the pages, advancing towards her, and bending 
 low, as they approached the steps, handed her a 
 golden wand. 
 
 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, 
 
3G FAIRY TALES 
 
 and when he stood beside her the fairy table was 
 no higher than his knee. 
 
 " 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." 
 
 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. 
 
 The feast went on right merrily, and when the 
 tiny jeweled drinking-cups were placed upon 
 the table, the queen ordered the harpers to play. 
 
 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 per- 
 fect darkness. 
 
 The air blew keenly in his face, and he knew 
 not where he was. At last he saw a faint gray 
 light, and soon this light grew broader and 
 brighter, and as the shadows fled before it, he 
 could hardly believe his eyes when he found him- 
 
THE HOUSE IN THE LAKE 37 
 
 self in his curragli on the lake, and the moonlight 
 streaming clown from the mountain-tops. 
 
 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 enchant- 
 ment from the Vv^hite 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. 
 
 " Take your oar, Enda," she said, " and row 
 to the southern bank." 
 
 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. 
 
 " 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 them- 
 selves." 
 
38 FAIRY TALES 
 
 Encla 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 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. 
 
 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, leveled 
 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 endeavoring to restore 
 her, the king of Erin, followed by his huntsmen, 
 appeared, and when the king saw the princess he 
 
I have mourned you as dead, my darling,' 
 said he" Page 39 
 
THE HOUSE IN THE LAKE 39 
 
 started in amazement, as he recognized the 
 features of his daughter Mave. 
 
 At that moment the princess came to herself, 
 and her father, lifting her tenderly in his arms, 
 kissed her again and again. 
 
 " 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 
 my throne for this. But say who is the cham- 
 pion who has brought you hither, and who has 
 slain the wild boar we have hunted so many 
 years in vain? " 
 
 The princess blushed like a rose as she 
 said: 
 
 " His name is Enda, father ; it is he has 
 brought me back to you." 
 
 Then the king embraced Enda and said : 
 
 " 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." 
 
 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 
 
40 FAIRY TALES 
 
 they scarcely gave a thouglit to the death of the 
 wild boar. 
 
 " It is my daughter, Mave, come back to me," 
 said the king. 
 
 And all the nobles lowered their lances, and 
 bowed in homage to the lady. 
 
 "And there stands the champion who has 
 brought her home," said the king, pointing to 
 Enda. 
 
 The nobles looked at Enda, and bowed cour- 
 teously, but in their hearts they were jealous of 
 the champion, for they saw he was already a 
 favorite of the king's. 
 
 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, car- 
 rying the boar's head on a hollow shield, pre- 
 ceded by the huntsmen sounding their horns, set 
 out towards the palace, and the royal party fol- 
 lowed them. 
 
 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 
 
THE HOUSE IN THE LAKE 41 
 
 maids-of-honor and the royal bards, came forth 
 to greet the king. But when she saw seated be- 
 fore 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. 
 
 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 sus- 
 picion of the wickedness of which she had been 
 guilty. 
 
 And the court leeches were summoned to at- 
 tend 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, 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 gleam- 
 ing helmets and flashing spears, he told them 
 
42 FAIRY TALES 
 
 the story of the princess, and of the service which 
 Enda had rendered to her. 
 
 " 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." 
 
 The princess flung her white arms around her 
 father's neck, as she murmured: 
 
 " 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." 
 
 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. 
 
 When the music ceased the king beckoned 
 Enda to him, and was about to place his hand 
 
THE HOUSE IN THE LAKE 43 
 
 in Mave's when a Druid, whose white beard al- 
 most touched the ground, and who had been a 
 favorite of the dead stepmother, and hated Mave 
 for her sake, stepped forward and said : 
 
 " 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." ' 
 
 A murmur of approbation rose from the jeal- 
 ous princes, and Congal, the bravest of them all, 
 stepped out from the ranks, and said: 
 
 " 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." 
 
 When Congal had spoken, the nobles, in ap- 
 proval of his words, struck their shields with 
 their swords, and the brazen sound ascended to 
 the skies. 
 
 The face of the princess, blushing a moment 
 before like a rose, became as white as a lily ; but 
 
44 FAIEY TALES 
 
 the color returned to her cheeks when she heard 
 Enda's voice ringing loud and clear. 
 
 " It is true, O king ! " said he, " that I have 
 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 chal- 
 lenge the boldest of them all." 
 
 The king's eyes flashed with joy as he listened 
 to the brave words of Enda. 
 
 " 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." 
 
 Loud cries of " Congal ! Congal ! " answered 
 the king's speech. 
 
 "Are you willing, Congal?" asked the king. 
 
THE HOUSE IN THE LAKE 45 
 
 " Willing, O king! " answered Congal. 
 
 " It is well," said the king. " We shall all 
 meet again to-night in our banquet-hall." 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 But while Enda lay dreaming of the Princess 
 Mave, the little faii'y woman who gave him the 
 
4G FAIRY TALES 
 
 water-dress, and crystal helmet, and shining 
 spear on the banks of the Boyne, slid into his 
 room, and she placed beside his conch 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. 
 
 When the morning broke, Enda sprang from 
 his couch, and he could hardly believe his eyes 
 when 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 climb- 
 ing the sky; and, after hours of suspense, he 
 heard the trumpet's sound and the clangor of 
 the hollow shields, struck by the hard-pointed 
 spears. 
 
 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 
 
THE HOUSE IN THE LAKE 47 
 
 ladies of the land. And on Lis throne, sur- 
 rounded by his Druids, his brehons, and his 
 bards, was the king of Erin, and at his feet sat 
 the lovely Lady Mave. 
 
 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. 
 
 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 sun- 
 lit air, and in a second CongaFs had broken 
 against Enda's shield ; but Enda's, piercing Con- 
 gal's helmet, hurled him senseless on the plain. 
 
 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 chief- 
 tain lay, and sadly they bore him away upon 
 
48 FAIRY TALES 
 
 their battle-sliields, and Enda remained victor 
 upon the field. 
 
 And then the king's voice rang ont clear as the 
 sound of a trumpet in the still morning : 
 
 " 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? " 
 
 And no answer came. 
 
 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 jeal- 
 ousy was extinguished in all hearts, and that all | 
 believed that Enda was worthy of the winsome 
 bride ; and never since that day, although a thou- 
 sand years have passed, was there in all the 
 world a brighter and gayer wedding than the 
 wedding of Enda and the Princess Mave. 
 
THE ENCHANTED CAVE 
 
 ALONG, long time ago, Prince Cuglas,* 
 master of the hounds to the high King of 
 Erin, set out from Tara to the chase. As 
 he Avas 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 
 grinan or sunny bower of the Princess Ailinn. 
 Glancing towards it the prince doffed his plumed 
 and jeweled hunting-cap, and the princess an- 
 swered 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 hid- 
 den by the green waving branches of the woods. 
 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 be- 
 lieved 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 
 
 49 
 
50 FAIRY TALES 
 
 heart with delight, and almost put all thought of 
 hunting out of his head, when suddenly the tune- 
 ful cries of the hounds, answered by a hundred 
 echoes from the groves, broke upon his ear. 
 
 The dogs had started a dappled deer that 
 bounded away through the forest. The prince, 
 spurring his gallant steed, pushed on in eager 
 pursuit. 
 
 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 yiew of the 
 hounds, sometimes lost to sight, but alwaysv, 
 ahead of them. 
 
 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 sud- 
 denly disappeared through the mouth of a cave 
 which opened before him. The dogs followed at 
 his heels, and the prince endeavored 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. Cuglas could 
 
THE ENCHANTED CAVE 51 
 
 hear ahead of him the cries of the hounds grow- 
 ing 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 sound- 
 ing in the hollow cave. Once more he en- 
 deavored 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 tlie summit of a cliff sinks down to the 
 sea. At last 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 gal- 
 loping 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, fas- 
 tened by a bright bronze spear-like brooch, and 
 
52 FAIEY TALES 
 
 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 ; '^ and the prince 
 knew by the dress of the champion, and by his 
 wand and sword, that ke was a royal herald. As 
 the herald came close to him the prince's steed 
 stopped of his own accord. 
 
 " 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." 
 
 " I know not how this may be," said Cuglas. 
 
 " 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, once upon a day, when she was visit- 
 ing 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." 
 
 " I am deeply honored by the preference shown 
 
THE ENCHANTED CAVE 53 
 
 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 princes 
 and chiefs of Erin she has promised to be my 
 bride." 
 
 " Of that I know not," said the herald ; " but 
 a true champion, like you, cannot, I know, re- 
 fuse to come with me to the court of the Princess 
 Crede." 
 
 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 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 cham- 
 pions they lowered their spears, and dividing in 
 
54 FAIRY TALES 
 
 two lines the prince and the herald passed be- 
 tween the ranks, and the champions, forming 
 again, followed on behind the prince. 
 
 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 cham- 
 pions on snow-white steeds, and around the 
 breast of the steeds were crescents of gold, from 
 which were hanging little golden bells.^ 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 
 like a blue riband around the foot of a green hill. 
 
THE ENCHANTED CAVE 55 
 
 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 caval- 
 cade ascended the hill, the sunlight brightly 
 glancing on helmet and on lance, and when it 
 reached the palace the horsemen filed around the 
 walls. 
 
 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 becom- 
 ing wider every second. 
 
 " You are on the floating island now," said the 
 herald, "and before you is the palace of the 
 Princess Crede." 
 
 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 
 
56 FAIEY TALES 
 
 dwarfs who dwell in the heart of the Scandina- 
 vian Mountains, and was sent with other costly 
 presents by the King of Scandinavia to the King 
 of Erin, and he gave it to the i)rincess, 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 mo- 
 ment 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. 
 
 The fairy queen knew nothing about the brace- 
 let, and she hof>ed that before the prince was long 
 in the floating island he would forget all about 
 the princess. 
 
 " You are welcome, Cuglas," said the queen, 
 as she held out her hand, and Cuglas, having 
 thanked her for her welcome, they entered the 
 palace together. 
 
 " You must be weary after your long jour- 
 ney," said the queen. " My page will lead you to 
 your apartments, where a bath of the cool blue 
 
THE ENCHANTED CAVE 57 
 
 waters of the lake lias 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." 
 
 At the feast the prince was seated beside the 
 queen, and she talked to him of all the x^leasures 
 that were in store for him in fairyland, where 
 pain, and sickness, and sorrow, and old age, are 
 unknown, 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 He looked out through the window, and he saw 
 all the fairy champions mounted on their steeds 
 
58 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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 ijrince 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 " 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. 
 
 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 awnings of various colors over 
 
r 
 
 The queen wished to know if he would join 
 
 them' 
 
 . Page 58 
 
THE ENCHANTED CAVE 59 
 
 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 slid- 
 ing down between banks clad with trees. Up 
 the river, close to the bank and under the droop- 
 ing 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 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 
 
60 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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. 
 
 Well, between hunting in the forest, and sail- 
 ing 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 " You are thinking of the Princess Ailinn," 
 said the little woman. 
 
 " I never think of anj^one else," said the prince. 
 
 " I know that," said the little woman, " and 
 it's because of your love for each other, and be- 
 
THE ENCHANTED CAVE 61 
 
 cause her mother was a friend to me iii the days 
 gone by, that I have come here to try and help 
 you ; but there is not much time for talking, the 
 nidit 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 
 iind 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 float- 
 ing island; and now go and may luck go with 
 you ; " and saying this the little woman climbed 
 up the moonbeams and disappeared. 
 
 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 path- 
 way going away from the shore. The sight filled 
 his heart with joy, but suddenly the milk-white 
 moonshine died away, and looking up to the sky 
 he saw the moon turning fiery red, and the waters 
 
62 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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 color 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 at- 
 tempted flight, and to the music of the harps the 
 fleet returned to the palace. 
 
 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 
 
THE ENCHANTED CAVE 63 
 
 shadow on the floor and heard the tapping 
 against the window. 
 
 And when he opened it the little woman slid 
 into the room. 
 
 " 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 kins- 
 men, 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 j^ou 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 
 
 j 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." 
 And having said this the little woman, rising 
 
 i from the floor, floated out through the window. 
 The prince returned to his couch, and the next 
 
 j morning, as soon as he heard the queen had left 
 
64 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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 val- 
 ley. 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 watery moon shed a faint, fit- 
 ful light, that came and went as the clouds, 
 driven by a moaning wind, passed over the 
 valley. 
 
 Cuglas, nothing daunted, pushed on boldly 
 until a bank of cloud shut out completely the 
 struggling moon, and closing over the valley cov- 
 ered it like a pall, leaving him in perfect dark- 
 ness. At the same moment the moaning wind 
 died away, and with it died away all sound. The 
 darkness and the deathlike 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 
 
THE ENCHANTED CAVE 65 
 
 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. 
 
 With a yell of horror he drew his sword and 
 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.^ 
 
 With renewed courage he pursued his way 
 through the valley, and after three or four wind- 
 ings 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 
 
66 FAIRY TALES 
 
 so that he could no longer tell where it had 
 been. 
 
 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 be- 
 came 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 limi)id waters, the fountain vanished as sud- 
 denly as it appeared. With great pain, and al- 
 most choking with heat and thirst, he struggled 
 on, and again the fountain sprang up in front 
 of him and moved before him, 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 fair}'. 
 
THE ENCHANTED CAVE 67 
 
 and the green hill, and the burning desert disap- 
 peared, and he was standing in the forest behind 
 the palace of the fairy queen. 
 
 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 mo- 
 ment in the royal banquet hall of Tara, sitting 
 beside the Princess Ailinn. 
 
 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 win- 
 dow; 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 he got up and opened it, and the 
 little woman came in. 
 
 " 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. 
 
68 FAIRY TALES 
 
 The queen will go liimting in the morning. Join 
 the hunt, and Avhen 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 bod- 
 kin into the lake in the direction of the main- 
 land, 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 re- 
 main forever." Then handing the bodkin to the 
 prince, and saying good-by, the little woman dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 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. 
 
 Then the prince cast the bodlvin on to the 
 water, and a golden bridge was thrown across 
 to the mainland, and the horse galloped on to it, 
 
THE ENCHANTED CAVE 69 
 
 and when the prince was more than halfway he 
 saw riding towards him a champion wearing a 
 silver helmet, and carrying on his left arm a sil- 
 ver shield, and holding in his right hand a gleam- 
 ing 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 disap- 
 peared 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. 
 
 All that night the prince lay awake on his 
 
70 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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 
 joined the hunting party in the morning. And 
 day folloTv'ed day, and his heart was sadder and 
 sadder, and found no pleasure in the joys and 
 delights of fairyland. And when all in the pal- 
 ace 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 Jiim, 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 lit- 
 tle woman. 
 
 " Ah, Cuglas, Cuglas," she said, " I gave you 
 three chances, and you failed in all of them." 
 
 " 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; 
 
THE ENCHANTED CAVE 71 
 
 but I could never have faced the nobles and 
 chiefs of Erin if I had refused to meet the chal- 
 lenge of the battle champion on the golden 
 bridge." 
 
 " 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 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." 
 
 " You think I'll forget Ailinn for the fairy 
 queen," said Cuglas, with a sigh. 
 
 " I don't think anything of the kind," said she. 
 
 " Then what do jou mean? " said the prince. 
 
 " Oh, I mean what I mean," said the little 
 woman. " But I can't stop here all night talk- 
 ing to you: and, indeed, it is in your bed you 
 ought to be yourself. So now" good-night; and 
 
72 • FAIRY TALES 
 
 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." 
 
 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. 
 
 As for the princess, she was pining away in the 
 palace of Tara, the color had fled from her 
 cheeks, and her eyes, which had been once so 
 bright they would have lighted darkness like a 
 star, lost nearly all their luster, 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. 
 
 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 
 
THE ENCHANTED CAVE 73 
 
 bloom of love and youth were fliisliiug 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 ui)on the 
 couch; but the couch was empty, and the royal 
 watchers, looking at each other, said in whis- 
 pers : " The fairies have carried away the 
 Princess Ailinn to fairyland." 
 
 Well, that very day the prince roamed by him- 
 self 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 
 
74 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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 
 recognize 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. 
 
 " And have you never a kiss for me? " said the 
 little woman, tapping his hand with the little 
 gold bodkin. 
 
 "A kiss and a dozen," said Cuglas, as he 
 caught the little fairy up in his arms. 
 
 " Oh, fie, Cuglas," said the queen. 
 
 " Oh, the princess isn't one bit jealous," said 
 the little woman. " Are you, Ailinn? " 
 
 " Indeed I am not," said Ailinn. 
 
THE ENCHANTED CAVE 75 
 
 " And you should not be," said the fairy queen, 
 " for never lady yet had truer knight than Cug- 
 las. 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 is unknown." 
 
 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 some- 
 times, even yet, the heiniboy 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 heai's 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,* 
 
 * Uaimh Benla'h Conglais, the cave of the road of Cuglas — now 
 Baltinglass— in the County Wicklow. 
 
THE HUNTSMAN'S SON 
 
 ALONG, 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 Fer- 
 gus, 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 ber- 
 ries ; 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 Avaving 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 wan- 
 dering 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 
 
 76 
 
THE HUNTSMAN'S SON 77 
 
 music of tlie hounds or in the cries of the hunts- 
 men in forest glacles. 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 practicing on the harp and 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. 
 
 After a peal, louder than any which had pre- 
 ceded it, Fergus heard three loud knocks at the 
 door. He called out to his parents that some- 
 one was knocking. 
 
 " If that is so," said his father, " open at once; 
 this is no night to keep a poor wanderer outside 
 our door." 
 
 Fergus did as he was bidden, and as he opened 
 
78 FAIRY TALES 
 
 the door a flash of lightning showed him, stand- 
 ing at the threshold, a little wizened old man 
 with a small harp under his arm. 
 
 " Come in, and welcome," said Fergus, and 
 the little man stepped into the room. 
 
 " It is a wild night, neighbors," said he. 
 
 " It is, indeed, a wild night," said the hunts- 
 man and his wife, who had got up and dressed 
 themselves ; " and sorry we are we have no bet- 
 ter shelter or better fare to offer you, but we give 
 you the best we have." 
 
 " A king cannot do more than his best," said 
 the little man. 
 
 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. 
 
 " You must be hungry, sir," she said. 
 
 " Hungry I am," said he ; " but I wouldn't ask 
 for better fare than this if I were in the king's 
 palace." 
 
 " Thank you kindly, sir," said she, " and I 
 hope you will eat enough, and that it will do you 
 good." 
 
THE HUNTSMAN'S SON 79 
 
 " And while you are eating your supper," said 
 the huntsman, " I'll make you a bed of fresh 
 rushes." 
 
 " Don't put 3'ourself 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 exj)ect- 
 ing it I'll do a good turn for your kindness to the 
 poor wayfarer." 
 
 " Oh, it's no kindness at all," said the hunts- 
 man's wife. " It would be a queer thing if an 
 Irish cabin would not give shelter and welcome 
 in a wild night like this. So good night, now, 
 and we hope you will sleep well.'' 
 
 " Good night," said the little man, " and may 
 you and yours never sup sorrow until your djdng 
 day." 
 
 The huntsman and his wife and Fergus then 
 went back to their beds, and the little man, hav- 
 ing finished his supper, curled himself up by the 
 fire, and was soon fast asleep. 
 
 About an hour after a loud clap of thunder 
 awakened Fergus, and before it had died away 
 
80 FAIRY TxiLES 
 
 lie heard three knocks at the door. He aroused 
 his parents and told them. 
 
 " Get up at once," said his mother, "■ this is no 
 night to keep a stranger outside our door." 
 
 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. 
 
 " Come in, and welcome," said he, and the lit- 
 tle old woman stepped into the room. 
 
 " Blessings be on them who give welcome to a 
 wanderer on a wild night like this," said the old 
 woman. 
 
 " 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 bet- 
 ter fare to offer you." 
 
 " Enough is as good as a feast," said the little 
 woman, " and now go back to your beds and 
 leave me to myself." 
 
 " Not till I shake down a bed of rushes for 
 you," said the huntsman's wife. 
 
 " Don't mind the rushes," said the little 
 woman ; " go back to your beds. I'll sleep here 
 by the fire." 
 
Fergus knew it was the Pooka, the wild horse of 
 
 the mountjiins" .... Page 81 
 
THE HUNTSMAN'S SON 81 
 
 The huntsman's wife went to bed, and the lit- 
 tle old woman, having eaten her supper, lay down 
 by the fire, and was soon fast asleep. 
 
 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 : 
 
 " Come in, and welcome." 
 
 " Welcome you are," said the huntsman, " and 
 sorry we are that we have not better shelter or 
 fare to offer you." 
 
 " I couldn't wish a better welcome," said the 
 Pooka, as he came over near the fire and sat down 
 on his haunches. 
 
 " Maybe you would like a little bit of this, 
 Master Pooka," said the huntsman's wife, as she 
 offered him a barley cake. 
 
 " I never tasted anything sweeter in my life," 
 
82 FAIRY TALES 
 
 said the Pooka, crunching it between his teeth, 
 " and now if you can give me a sup of milk, I'll 
 want for nothing." 
 
 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 my- 
 self up by the fire and sleep like a top till morn- 
 ing.'^ 
 
 And soon everybody in the hut was fast 
 asleep. 
 
 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. 
 
 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 
 
THE HUNTSMAN'S SON 83 
 
 to be a soldier, and that he would set out for the 
 king's palace, and try to join the ranks of the 
 Feni. 
 
 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 gi'eat captain of the Fenian 
 host was recruiting his battalions, which had 
 been thinned in recent battle. 
 
 The manly figure of Fergus, his gallant bear- 
 ing, and handsome face, all told in his favor. 
 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 twigs 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 
 
84 FAIEY TALES 
 
 forest training. He was enrolled in the second 
 battalion of the Feni, and before long he was its 
 bravest and ablest champion. 
 
 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 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 gal- 
 leys 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 out- 
 strip 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 colors 
 of the rainbow, so finely spun that when folded 
 up it would fit in the palm of her small white 
 hand. To fulfill these three conditions was im- 
 possible for all her suitors, and it seemed as if 
 
 
THE HUNTSMAN'S SON 85 
 
 the loveliest lady of the land would go unmar- 
 ried to her grave. 
 
 It chanced that once, on a day when the Fenian 
 battalions were engaged in a hurling-match, Fer- 
 gus 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. 
 
 The great fair of Tara ^ was coming on, and 
 all the Feni were busy from morning till night 
 practicing feats of arms and games, in qrder 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. 
 
 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 
 
86 FAIEY TALES 
 
 for battle steeds and chariots ; troops of men and 
 boys leading racehorses; jewelers 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 wdth 
 their many-colored 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 tt) 
 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. 
 
 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, 
 
THE HUNTSMAN'S SON 87 
 
 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. 
 
 When the royal party reached the ground it 
 took its place in inclosures right up against the 
 monumental mound. The High King sat with 
 the four kings of Erin, all wearing their golden 
 helmets, for thev wore their diadems in battle 
 only. In an inclosure 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. 
 
 At a signal from the king, who was greeted 
 with 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 
 
88 FAIRY TALES 
 
 by all the assembled bards^ to the accompani- 
 ment of their harj^s, the chant in honor of the 
 mighty dead. When this was ended, again the 
 heralds struck their shields, and the contests be- 
 gan. The first contest was the contest of spear- 
 throwing between the champions of the seven 
 battalions of the Feni. When the seven cham- 
 pions took their places in front of the royal in- 
 closure, everyone, even the proud princess, was 
 struck by the manly beauty and noble bearing of 
 Fergus. 
 
 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 
 
THE HUNTSMAN'S SON 89 
 
 length ahead of the great chief Oscar's, the air 
 was shaken by a wild cheer that was heard far 
 beyond the plains of Tara. And as Fergus ap- 
 proached 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. 
 
 Other contests followed, and the day passed, 
 and the night fell, and while the Fenian warriors 
 were reveling in their camps the heart of Fer- 
 gus, victor as he was, was sad and low. He 
 escaped from his companions, and stole away 
 to his native forest, for — 
 
 " When the heart is sick and sorest, 
 There is balsam in the forest — 
 There is balsam in the forest 
 
 For its pain. " 
 
 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. 
 
 But in the camp which he had left, and in the 
 
90 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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 
 hold his own against all comers, or yield the 
 palm. For rumor said that a great Skald had 
 come from the northern lands to compete with 
 the Irish bard. 
 
 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 wit- 
 ness 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 scarcelj^ 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 barelj^ disturbed him, but 
 when a shadow fell across his eyes he looked up 
 gloomil}^, and saw, or thought he saw, someone 
 
THE HUNTSMAN'S SON 91 
 
 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. 
 
 " This is a nice place for a battle cham]3ion to 
 be. This is a nice place for you to be on the day 
 which is to decide who will be the successful 
 suitor of the princess." 
 
 " What is it to me." said Fergus, " who is to 
 win her since I cannot? " 
 
 " 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." 
 
 The little man handed his harp to Fergus and 
 disappeared as swiftly as the wind that passes 
 through the leaves. 
 
 Fergus, concealing the harp under his silken 
 cloak, reached the camp before his comrades had 
 aroused themselves from sleep. 
 
92 FAIRY TALES 
 
 At length the hour arrived when the great con- 
 test was to take place. 
 
 The king gave the signal, and as the chief bard 
 of Erin was seen ascending the mound in front 
 of the royal inclosures 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. 
 
 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 pos- 
 sessed 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 reveling on the mountain 
 tops. As soon as the bard had descended the 
 
THE HUNTSMAN'S SON 93 
 
 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 
 strain 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 laugh- 
 ter 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 victor, the chief 
 bard of Erin or the Skald of the northern lands. 
 
 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 Avere fastened upon 
 him, but no one looked so eagerly as the princess. 
 
 He touched his harp with gentle fingers, and a 
 
94 FAIRY TALES 
 
 sound low and soft as a faint summer breeze 
 passing tlirougli 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 whis- 
 pering 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, sound- 
 ing 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. 
 
 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 spellbound. 
 
 And when he had passed away from the mound 
 of contest all knew there was no need to declare 
 the victor.^ And all were glad the comely 
 Fenian champion had maintained the supremacy 
 
THE HUNTSMAN'S SON 95 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 I 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 " I told you I'd do you a good turn," said the 
 
96 FAIRY TALES 
 
 Pooka, " for tlie 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,' " 
 
 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 inclosure. 
 When the people saw the champion a thun- 
 derous shout rose up that startled the birds in 
 the skies, and sent them flying to the groves. 
 
 And in the ladies' inclosure was a rustle of 
 many-colored scarves wa^dng 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 halfway round, Fergus and 
 the wild horse of the mountains had passed thi^ 
 winning post, greeted by such cheers as had 
 never before been heard on the plains of Tara. 
 
THE HUNTSMAN'S SON 97 
 
 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 stirred him that his glance was not ungrate- 
 ful to the loveliest lady of the land. 
 
 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 
 colors of the rainbow, so subtly woven as to fit 
 in the palm of her soft, white hand. 
 
 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, Avith 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 win- 
 ter's night. 
 
 " 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 
 
98 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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 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 thein 
 a wedding robe with all the colors of the rain- 
 bow, and one that will be as sweet and as fra- 
 grant as the ripe, red lips of the princess herself." 
 
 Fergus, with joyous heart, culled the flowers, 
 and brought them to the little old woman. 
 
 In the twinkling of an eye she wove with her 
 little shuttle a wedding robe, with all the colors 
 of the rainbow, as light as the fairy dew, as soft ! 
 as the hand of the princess, as fragrant as herj 
 little red mouth, and so small that it would pass 
 through the eye of a needle. 
 
 " 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 
 
THE HUNTSMAN'S SON 99 
 
 have as open a lieart and as open a door for the 
 poor as you had when you were only a poor 
 huntsman's son." 
 
 Fergus took the robe and went towards Tara. 
 It was the last day of the fair, and all the con- 
 tests 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 inclosure, and rode up in front of the queen's 
 pavilion. Holding up the glancing and many- 
 colored robe, he said : 
 
 " O Queen and King of Erin ! I claim the 
 princess for my bride. You, O king, have de- 
 cided 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." 
 
 " Yes," said the king. " You are victor in the 
 contests; let the princess declare if you have 
 fulfilled the last condition." 
 
 The princess took the robe from Fergus, closed 
 
100 FAIRY TALES 
 
 her fingers over it, so that no vestige of it was 
 seen. 
 
 " 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 ',vas willing 
 then, I am ready now, to become the bride of 
 the huntsman-s son." 
 
THE FAIRY TREE OF DOOROS ^° 
 
 ONCE upon a time the fainess of t.lie;west, 
 goiug home from a htirliiig-mateh with 
 the fairies of th'i lales, rest.k( 'in 'a^Goros 
 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 mak- 
 ing new ones, and the rip, rap, tap, tap of their 
 little hammers were heard in all the hedgerows. 
 
 The food on which the fairies feasted was 
 little red berries, which 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 gray, ate one 
 of them, he became young and active and strong 
 again; and if an old woman, withered and 
 
 101 
 
102 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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. 
 
 The fairies guarded the berries as carefully as 
 a miser guards his gold, and whenever they were 
 about to leave fa.3ry:;a,Tid they had to promise in 
 the 'Presence '.of the kiiig 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. 
 
 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 lit- 
 tle, weeny fairy, not much bigger than my finger, 
 lost his head, and dropped a berry in the wood. 
 
 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 fel- 
 low's fault, and this is how they came to know 
 of it. 
 
THE FAIRY TREE OP DOOROS 103 
 
 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 her- 
 self, and a hundred white, without speck or spot, 
 to make dresses for the bride and bridesmaids. 
 
 When the pages came near the wood they 
 heard the most wonderful music, and the sky 
 above them 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 hum- 
 ming as they flew. Seeing this they were sore 
 afraid until they saw the bees settling on a single 
 S-ee, and on looking closely at the tree they saw 
 it was covered with fairy berries. 
 
 The bees took no notice of the fairies, and so 
 they were no longer afraid, and they hunted the 
 butterflies until tbey had captured the full num- 
 ber of various colors. Then they returned to 
 fairyland, and they told the queen about the bees 
 and the berries, and the queen told the king. 
 
 The king was very angry, and he sent his 
 
104 FAIRY TALES 
 
 heralds to the four corners of fairyland to sum- 
 mon all his subjects to his presence that he 
 might find out without delay who was the 
 culprit. 
 
 They all came except the little weeny fellow 
 who dropped the berry, and of course everyone 
 said that it was fear that kept him away, and 
 that he must be guilty. 
 
 / 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. 
 
 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 
 he had returned to fairyland, and that he was 
 afraid to say anything to anyone about it. 
 
 The king, who would hear of no excuse, 
 sentenced the little culprit to be banished into 
 the land of giants bej^ond 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 favorite with them all. No 
 
THE FAIRY TREE OF DOOROS 105 
 
 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 thut 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. 
 
 When the time came for the little fellow to set 
 out into exile the queen sent her luad page to 
 him with a handful of berries. Theso the queen 
 said he was to offer to the giants, and say at the 
 same time that the giant who wa^ willing to 
 guard the tree could feast on berries just as 
 sweet from morn till night. 
 
 As the little fellow went on his a\ ay 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 little red caps and waved them until he 
 was out of sight. 
 
 On he went walking all day and night, and 
 when the sun rose on the morrow he was on the 
 
106 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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. 
 
 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 was no way to kill him but 
 
r^ 
 
 i_j 
 
 'He was very sad, and tired,' 
 
 Page 106 
 
THE FAIRY TREE OF DOOROS 107 
 
 by giving liim three blows of his own club. And 
 he was so bad-tempered that the other giants 
 called him Sharvan the Surlj. 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. 
 
 " What brought you here? " said the giant. 
 
 " 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." 
 
 " 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. 
 
 The poor fairy lay as if he were dead, and then 
 the giant, feeling sorry for what he had done, 
 took him uj) gently between his finger and 
 thumb. 
 
 " Don't be frightened, little man," said he, 
 " and now, tell me all about the tree." 
 
 " 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." 
 
 " Oh, you have, have you? " said the giant. 
 " Let me see them." 
 
108 FAIRY TALES 
 
 The fairy took three berries from the pocket of 
 his little green coat, and gave them to the giant. 
 
 The giant looked at them for a second. He 
 then swallowed the three together, and when he 
 had done so, he felt so happy that he began to 
 shout and dance for joy. 
 
 "More, you little thief!" said he. "More,, 
 you little what's ;four name? " said the giant. 
 
 "Pinkeen, please, Mr. Giant," said the fairy, 
 as he gave up all the berries. 
 
 The giant shouted louder than before, and his 
 shouts were heard by all the other giants, who 
 came running towards him. 
 
 When Sharyau saw them coming, he caught up 
 Pinkeen, and put him in his pocket, that they 
 shouldn't see him. 
 
 " What were you shouting for? " said the 
 giants. 
 
 " Because," said Sharvan, " that rock there 
 fell down on my big toe." 
 
 " You did not shout like a man that was hurt," 
 said they. 
 
 "What is it to jou what way I shouted?" 
 said he. 
 
 " You might give a civil answer to a civil ques- 
 
THE FAIRY TREE OF DOOROS 109 
 
 tion," said they; "but sure you were always 
 Sliarvan the Surly; " and they went away. 
 
 When the giants were out of sight, Sharvan 
 took Pinkeen out of his wallet. 
 
 " Some more berries, you little thief — I mean 
 little Pinkeen," said he. 
 
 " I have not any more," said Pinkeen ; " but if 
 you will guard the tree in Dooros Wood you can 
 feast on them from morn till night." 
 
 " I'll guard every tree in the wood, if I may 
 do that," said the giant. 
 
 " You'll have to guard only one," said Pinkeen. 
 
 " How am I to get to it? " said Sharvan. 
 
 " You must first come with me towards fairy- 
 land," said the fairy. 
 
 " 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 giants' 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. 
 
 It was not long until he reached its borders, 
 
110 FAIRY TALES 
 
 but when he tried to cross them his feet stuck to 
 the ground and he could not move a step. Shar- 
 van 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. 
 
 " Oh, please, Mr. Giant, let me out," said 
 Pinkeen.w 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, 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, shout- 
 ing 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 car- 
 ried him to the king's palace, and all the harpers 
 and pipers and fiddlers marched before him play- 
 ing the most jocund music that w^as 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 
 
THE FAIRY TEEE OF DOOROS 111 
 
 with pleasure when she saw the little favorite, 
 and the king was also glad at heart, but he 
 looked very grave as he said : 
 
 " Why have you returned, sirrah? " 
 
 Then Pinkeen told his majesty that he had 
 brought with him a giant who was willing to 
 guard the fairy tree. 
 
 " And who is he and where is he? " asked the 
 king. 
 
 " The other giants called him Sharvan the 
 Surly," said Pinkeen, " and he is stuck fast out- 
 side the borders of fairyland." 
 
 " It is well," said the king, " you are par- 
 doned." 
 
 When the fairies heard this they tossed their 
 little red caps in the air, and cheered so loudly 
 that a bee who was clinging to a rose-bud fell 
 senseless to the ground. 
 
 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 W^ood. The page, 
 taking the berries w4th him, went off to Shar- 
 van, whose roaring nearly frightened the poor 
 little fellow to death. But as soon as the giant 
 tasted the berries he got into good humor, and 
 
112 FAIRY TALES 
 
 he asked the page if he could remove the spell of 
 enchantment from him. 
 
 " I can," said the page, " and I will if you 
 promise me that you will not try to cross the 
 borders of fairyland." 
 
 " 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." 
 
 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. 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 any- 
 one who might come to steal the berries, and that 
 during the night he was to sleep amongst the 
 branches. 
 
THE FAIRY TREE OF DOOROS 113 
 
 " All right/' said the giant, who could scarcely 
 speak, as his mouth was full of berries. 
 
 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. 
 
 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 mur- 
 dered 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 Avhich 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 of death." The murdered king had 
 two children — a boy, whose name was Niall, and 
 
114 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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 too 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. 
 
 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, wlio 
 was very beautiful, passed with her maids of 
 honor, and, seeing Rosaleen, the princess said: 
 
THE FAIKY TREE OF DOOROS 115 
 
 " Oil, there is that horrid ugly thing." 
 
 The maids laughed and giggled, and said they 
 had never seen such a fright. 
 
 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 every- 
 body, 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. 
 
 " And you want some of the fairy berries, I 
 suppose," said his cousin, Robin of the Wood. 
 
 " I do," said Rosaleen's little friend. 
 
 " Ah," said Robin of the Wood, " times have 
 changed since you were here last. The tree is 
 L guarded now all the day long by a surly giant. 
 
116 FAIRY TALES 
 
 He sleeps in the brandies 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." 
 
 " Then tell me what it is, for I would give a 
 hundred lives for Eosaleen," said her own little 
 robin. 
 
 " 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." 
 
 " I will take the chance," said Rosaleen's 
 robin. 
 
 " 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 ber- 
 ries; but it was not long until a warrior came, 
 who challenged him to battle. The giant 
 
THE FAIRY TREE OF DOOROS 117 
 
 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 war- 
 rior down, but as he did so he stumbled and fell 
 upon him, and before he had time to recover him- 
 self 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 horse- 
 men 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 
 
118 FAIRY TALES 
 
 berry between her lips, and the taste was so deli- 
 cious 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 be- 
 fore her, said : 
 
 " Fairest of all fair maidens, you are surely 
 the daughter of the king of these realms, even 
 though you are without the palace gates, unat- 
 tended, and wear not rojal robes. I am the 
 Prince of the Sunny Valleys." 
 
 " Daughter of a king I am," said Rosaleen, 
 " but not of the king who rules these realms." 
 
 And saying this she fled, leaving the prince 
 wondering who she could be. The prince then 
 ordered his trumpeters to give notice of his pres- 
 ence 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 ban- 
 quet hall, and the Prince of the Sunny Valleys 
 sat by the king, and beside the prince sat the 
 
THE FAIRY TREE OP DOOROS 119 
 
 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 un- 
 known beauty he had met outside the palace 
 gates, and his heart longed for another glimpse 
 of her. When the feast was ended, and the 
 jeweled 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 outshin- 
 ing that of all her maidens, the prince thought 
 that fair as Lady Eimer was there was one still 
 fairer. 
 
 When the feast was ended the king asked the 
 prince what brought him into his realms. 
 
 " 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 maid- 
 
120 FAIKY TALES 
 
 ens in all the world, and I can well believe that," 
 added the prince, " after what I have seen to- 
 day." 
 
 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 restora- 
 tion of her beauty. 
 
 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 
 chami)ion, in whose face they recognized the 
 features of their murdered king. 
 
 " 'Tis Niall come back to claim his father's 
 throne," said the chief bard. " Long live 
 Mall!" 
 
 " Long live Niall ! " answered all the others. 
 
 The king, white Avith rage and amazement, 
 turned to the chiefs and nobles of his court, and 
 cried out : 
 
THE FAIRY TEEE OP DOOROS 121 
 
 " Is there none loyal enough to drive that in- 
 truder from the banquet hall? " 
 
 But no one stirred, and no answer was given. 
 Then the king rushed forward alone, but before 
 he could reach the spot where Niall Avas stand- 
 ing he was seized by a dozen chiefs and at once 
 disarmed. 
 
 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 anj^one. But when her presence 
 was discovered every eye was dazzled with her 
 beauty. Niall looked at her for a second, won- 
 dering 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. 
 
 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 
 
122 FAIRY TALES 
 
 took place, and Rosaleen became the prince's 
 bride. 
 
 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. 
 
A 
 
 THE LITTLE WHITE CAT. 
 
 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 pro- 
 vided 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 
 
 123 
 
124 FAIEY TALES 
 
 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 wdfe. When 
 the princess heard this she began to cry, for she 
 would rather die than marry the giant who had 
 slain her father. 
 
 " Crying will only spoil your bright eyes, my 
 little princess,'' said Trencoss, " and you will 
 have to marry me whether vou like it or no," 
 
 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 gray 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. \<\\h a heavy heart she was 
 about to close the window when she thought she 
 
THE LITTLE WHITE CAT 125 
 
 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. 
 
 " Mew ! '' cried the cat. 
 
 " Poor little pussy/' said the princess. " Come 
 to me, pussy." 
 
 " Stand back from the window," said the cat, 
 " and I will." 
 
 The princess stepped back, and the little 
 white 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. 
 
 " Where do you come from, and what is your 
 name? " asked the princess. 
 
 " No matter where I come from or what's my 
 name," said the cat. " I am a friend of yours, 
 and I come to help you? " 
 
 " I never wanted help worse," said the 
 princess. 
 
 " 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." 
 
126 FAIRY TALES 
 
 " But I will never marry him," said tlie 
 princess. 
 
 " 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. 
 
 " They are very small," said the prin- 
 cess. '^ They are not much bigger than peas, 
 and the dwarfs will not be long at their 
 work." 
 
 "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 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." 
 
 "When will the giant come back?" asked 
 Eileen. 
 
THE LITTLE WHITE CAT 127 
 
 " He will return to-morrow afternoon," said 
 the cat. 
 
 "Will you stay with me until then?" said 
 the princess. " I am very lonely." 
 
 " 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." 
 
 '' And where is that island? " asked the 
 princess, " and who is the man? " 
 
 " 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." 
 
 " 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." 
 
 " There is a sword that will kill him," said 
 the cat ; " but I must go now. Kemember what 
 you 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, wink- 
 
128 FAIRY TALES 
 
 ing at the princess, " tlirow 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." 
 
 " Shall I ever see you again? " asked the 
 princess. 
 
 " Time will tell/' answered the cat, and, with- 
 out saying so much as good-by, he jumped 
 through the window on to the tree, and in a sec- 
 ond was out of sight. 
 
 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: 
 
 " I will be ready as soon as you wish ; but you 
 must first promise me something." 
 
 " Ask anything you like, little princess," said 
 Trencoss. 
 
 " Well, then," said Eileen, " before I marry 
 you, you must make your dwarfs wind three balls 
 
THE LITTLE WHITE CAT 129 
 
 as big as these from the fairy dew that lies on 
 the bushes on a misty morning in summer."' 
 
 "Is that all?" said Treneoss, 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." 
 
 " And will you leave me to myself until then? " 
 
 " I will," said Treneoss. 
 
 " On your honor as a giant? " said Eileen. 
 
 " On my honor as a giant," replied Treneoss. 
 
 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 tliree 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 clev- 
 erer than he was, and, moreover, he saw now that 
 
130 FAIRY TALES 
 
 the wedding could not take place as soon as he 
 expected. 
 
 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 of the Silver Eiver. The prince was 
 alone, and very sad and sorrowful he was, for he 
 was thinking of the Princess Eileen, and wonder- 
 ing where she could be. 
 
 " 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. 
 
 " Where do you come from, and what do you 
 want? " asked the prince. 
 
 " I come from where you would like to be," 
 said the cat. 
 
 " And where is that? " said the prince. 
 
 " 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." 
 
 " I would give my life a thousand times over 
 for her," said the prince. 
 
THE LITTLE WHITE CAT 131 
 
 " For whom? " said the cat, with a wink. " I 
 named no name, your highness," said he. 
 
 " You know very well who she is," said the 
 prince, " if you knew what I was thinking of ; 
 but do you know Vv'here she is? " 
 
 " She is in danger," said the cat. " She is in 
 the castle of the giant Trencoss, in the valley 
 beyond the mountains." 
 
 " I will set out there at once," said the prince, 
 " and I will challenge the giant to battle, and 
 will slay him." 
 
 " 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." 
 
 '' Then, what am I to do? " asked the prince. 
 
 " 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 
 
132 FAIRY TALES 
 
 as you can ; but speak no word, for if you utter a 
 single word the liounds will hear you, and you 
 shall be torn to pieces." 
 
 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 
 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. 
 
 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 eat. 
 
THE LITTLE WHITE CAT 133 
 
 " Have you brought the three balls? " said he. 
 
 " I have," said the prince. 
 
 " Then follow me," said the cat. 
 
 On they went until they left the palace far 
 behind and came to the edge of the sea. 
 
 " 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." 
 
 The prince did as he was told, and the ball 
 floated out to sea, unraveling as it went, and it 
 went on until it was out of sight. 
 
 " Pull now," said the cat. 
 
 The prince pulled, and, as he did, he saw far 
 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. 
 
 " 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 
 
134 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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 for- 
 get the Princess Eileen." 
 
 " 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. 
 
 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 be- 
 fore him. 
 
 At long last, on the following day, he saw by 
 the first ligat of the morning that he was quite 
 close 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, go- 
 ing closer and closer every round, until, at last. 
 
THE LITTLE WHITE CAT 135 
 
 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 eat- 
 ing 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 maid- 
 ens playing on silver harps coming towards him. 
 When they saw him they ceased playing, and 
 cried out : 
 
 " 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." 
 
 The prince went with them, and at the palace 
 
136 FAIRY TALES 
 
 gates the king and queen and their daughter 
 Kathleen received him, and gave him welcome. 
 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 
 
I 
 
V5 
 
 At the sight of him the prince remembered 
 
 eyery thing" .... Page 137 
 
THE LITTLE WHITE CAT 137 
 
 the king- and queen for their daughter in mar- 
 riage, 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 rub- 
 bing against his leg, and, looking down, who 
 should he see but the little white cat. At 
 the sight of him the prince remembered every- 
 thing, 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. 
 
 " 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 
 
138 FAIRY TALES 
 
 Eileen or the Princess Kathleen, and you can 
 either go or stay." 
 
 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 ncAvly-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 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 re- 
 ceding 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 
 
THE LITTLE WHITE CAT 139 
 
 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. 
 
 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 be- 
 ginning 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 w^as 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 w^as 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 
 

 140 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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 flavor 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. 
 
 He climbed on to the island, and ha"sdng 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. 
 
 "Who are you, my little man?" asked the 
 giant. 
 
 " I am a prince," replied the prince. 
 
 " Oh, you are a prince, are you? " said the 
 giant. " And what are you good for? " said he. 
 
THE LITTLE WHITE CAT Un 
 
 The prince did not know, for nobody had 
 asked him that question before. 
 
 " I know what he's good for," said an okl 
 giantess, with one eye in her forehead and one in 
 her chin. " I know what he's good for. He's 
 good to eat." 
 
 When the giants heard this they laughed so 
 loud that the prince was frightened almost to 
 death. 
 
 " Why," said one, " he wouldn't make a mouth- 
 ful." "'^ 
 
 " 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." 
 
 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. 
 
142 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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 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. 
 
 And the dwarfs had wound two balls, and 
 were winding a third. 
 
 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 : 
 
 " 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." 
 
 " I don't wish for anything," said the prince, 
 whose heart was dead within him. 
 
 "Well, I'll come back again," said the 
 giantess, and she went away. 
 
 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. 
 
 " 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 
 
THE LITTLE WHITE CAT 1-13 
 
 course, you forgot all about her, and, of course, 
 she is always thinking of you. It's always the 
 way— 
 
 " ' Favored lovers may forget. 
 Slighted lovers never yet. '" 
 
 The prince blushed with shame when he heard 
 the name of the princess. 
 
 " '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. Wlien 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. 
 
 " Well," said the giantess, when she came in, 
 " is there anything you wish? " 
 
 " Is it true I must die to-morrow? " asked the 
 prince. 
 
 " It is." 
 
 " Then," said he, " I should like to go down to 
 the sea to look at it for the last time." 
 
 h 
 
144 FAIRY TALES 
 
 " You may do tliat/' said the giantess, " if you 
 get up early." 
 
 " I'll be up with the lark in the light of the 
 morning/' said the prince. 
 
 " Very well," said the giantess, and, saying 
 " good night," she went away. 
 
 The prince thought the night would never 
 pass, but at last it faded away before the gray 
 light of the dawn, and he sped down to the sea. 
 He threw out thg third ball, and before long he 
 saw the little boat coming towards him swifter 
 than the wind. He threw himself into it the mo- 
 ment 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 Avent on and on until he entered a pleas- 
 ant valley, at the head of which he saw a palace 
 white as snow. 
 
 As he approached the central door it opened 
 
THE LITTLE WHITE CAT 145 
 
 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 food of all kinds, and 
 drinking horns filled with foaming ale.^^ 
 
 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 be- 
 fore he could guess how it came about, there 
 right before him on the center pillar was the lit- 
 tle white cat. 
 
 " Don't you know me? " said he. 
 
146 FAIEY TALES 
 
 " I do/' said the prince. 
 
 " All, 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." 
 
 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. 
 
 The cats brought the sword and the cakes and 
 laid them before the king. 
 
 "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." 
 
 And the king gave him a brooch lovelier than 
 any on the palace walls. 
 
 The king and the prince, followed by the cats, 
 went down to the strand, and vviien 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 
 
THE LITTLE WHITE CAT 147 
 
 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. 
 
 When the giant heard the sound he cried out : 
 
 " Who comes to challenge me on my wedding- 
 day? " 
 
 The dwarfs went out to see, and, returning, 
 told him it was a prince who challenged him to 
 battle. 
 
 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: 
 
 ".We have had enough of fighting for the day. 
 We can begin at sunrise to-morrow." 
 
 "Not so," said the prince. "Now or never; 
 win or die." 
 
148 FAIRY TALES 
 
 " Tlien 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. 
 
 When the dwarfs saw the giant dead they be- 
 gan 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 w^edding- 
 day was the brooch which the prince had brought 
 her from the Palace of the Little White Cat in 
 the far-off seas. 
 
PRINCESS FINOLA AND THE DWARF 
 
 ALONG, 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, Avas shaped 
 like a beehive. In the center of the hut a fire 
 burned night and day from year's end to year's 
 end, thougli 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 cozy 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- 
 
 149 
 
150 FAIKY TALES 
 
 oak, polished as a looking-glass, and on it were 
 carved flowers and birds of all kinds, that 
 gleamed and shone in the light of the fire. This 
 couch was fit for a princess, and a princess Fi- 
 nola was, though she did not know it herself. 
 
 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 colors 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. 
 
 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 
 
PRINCESS AND DWARF 151 
 
 the hut, bringing with him a sack of corn for the 
 okl 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 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. 
 
 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 glimijse 
 of Finola at the door of the hut, and saw that she 
 was crying. This sight made him so very miser- 
 able 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. Suddenl}^ he 
 heard a voice saying :^ " It is time for you to 
 come." 
 
 The dwarf looked, and right before him, at the 
 foot of a green hill, was a little man not half as 
 
152 FAIRY TALES 
 
 big as himself, dressed in a green jacket with 
 brass buttons, and a red cap and tassel. 
 
 " It is time for you to come," he said the sec- 
 ond time ; " but you are ^Yelcome, 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." 
 
 The dwarf got off his horse and followed the 
 little man through a hole in the side of a green 
 hill. 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 pil- 
 lars, and between the pillars were silver lamps, 
 but their light was dimmed by that of the dia- 
 monds. 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. 
 
PRINCESS AND DWARF 153 
 
 " Take a chair," said the fairy, " and I will 
 ring for the wand of speech." 
 
 The dwarf sat down, and the fairyman rang 
 the little brass bell, and in came a little weeny 
 dwarf no bigger than your hand. 
 
 " 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 back- 
 Avards as he had done before. 
 
 The little man waved the rod three times over 
 the dwarf, and struck him once on the right 
 shoulder and once on the left shoulder, and then 
 touched his lips with the red berry, and said: 
 "Speak!" 
 
 The dwarf spoke, and he was so rejoiced at 
 hearing the sound of his own voice that he 
 danced about the room. 
 
 " Who are you at all, at all? " said he to the 
 fairy. 
 
 "Who is yourself?" said the fairy. "But 
 come, before we have any talk let us have some- 
 thing to eat, for I am sure you are hungry." 
 
154 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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 dor- 
 mouse 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." 
 
 " Did you ever hear the ' Foggy Dew '? " said 
 the fairy. 
 
 " No," said the dwarf. 
 
 " Well, then, I'll give it to you ; but we must 
 have some more wine." 
 
 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 
 fairyman 's voice would coax the birds off the 
 bushes. 
 
 " You asked me who I am? " said the fairy. 
 
 " I did," said the dwarf. 
 
 " And I asked you who is yourself? " 
 
 " You did," said the dwarf. 
 
 " And who are you, then? " 
 
PRINCESS AND DWARF 155 
 
 " Well, to tell the truth, I don't know," said 
 the dwarf, and he blushed like a rose. 
 
 " Well, tell me what you know about your- 
 self." 
 
 " 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 remembered nothing of myself before that day. 
 Then the king 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." 
 
 " And there you fell in loi^e with the little 
 princess," said the fairy, winking at the dwarf. 
 
156 FAIRY TALES 
 
 The poor dwarf blushed twice as much as he 
 had done before. 
 
 '^ 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? " 
 
 " I would give my life," said the dwarf. 
 
 " 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 him- 
 self 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 prom- 
 ised 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 
 someone who had never seen or heard of the 
 
PRINCESS AND DWARF 157 
 
 princess, and whom lie could trust never to tell 
 anyone anything about her; and that is the rea- 
 son he selected you/' 
 
 " Since you know so much," said the dwarf, 
 " can you tell me who I am, and where I came 
 from? " 
 
 " 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? " 
 
 " I am," said the dwarf. 
 
 " WhateA^er it will cost you? " 
 
 " Yes, if it cost me my life," said the dwarf ; 
 " but tell me, how can the spell be broken? " 
 
 '' Oh, it is easy enough to break the spell if you 
 have the weapons," said the fairy. 
 
 " And what are they, and where are they? " 
 said the dwarf. 
 
 " 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 
 
158 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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." 
 
 " I will set out at once," said the dwarf, jump- 
 ing from his chair. 
 
 "And whatever it cost you," said the fairy, 
 " will you pay the price? " 
 
 " I will," said the dwarf. 
 
 " 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 
 
PRINCESS AND DWAEF 159 
 
 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." 
 
 " What is the price? " said the dwarf. 
 
 " You will know that time enough," said the 
 fairy ; " but now go, and good luck go with you." 
 
 The dwarf thanked the fairy, and said good-by. 
 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 that what he took for a hill was a great 
 mountain. After traveling 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. 
 
 He began his descent to the shore, but long 
 before he reached it the sun had set, and dark- 
 ness, 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. 
 
160 FAIRY TALES 
 
 He awoke at the breaking of tlie morning, and 
 saw that he was almost at the water's edge. He 
 looked out to sea, and saw the island, but no- 
 where could he see the water-steeds, and he be- [J 
 gan 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 terrible, 
 and their nostrils shot forth clouds of vapor. 
 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 rear- 
 ing, 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 
 
PKINCESS AND DWARF 161 
 
 little man of the hills, holding a harp in one 
 hand and striking the strings with the other. 
 
 " Are you ready to pay the price? " said he, 
 nodding gayly to the dwarf. 
 
 As he asked the question, the listening water- 
 steeds snorted more furiously than ever. 
 
 " Are you ready to pay the price? " said the 
 little man a second time. 
 
 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. 
 
 " 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. 
 
 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 : 
 
 " Yes, I am ready." 
 
 The water-steeds, hearing his answer, and 
 snorting with rage, struck the shore with their 
 pounding hoofs. 
 
 " 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. 
 
162 FAIRY TALES 
 
 " What is the price? " asked the dwarf. 
 
 "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. 
 
 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 Slum- 
 ber." 
 
 The sound crept along the waters, and the 
 steeds, so ferocious a moment before, became per- 
 fectly still. They had no longer any motion of 
 their own, and they floated on the top of the tide 
 like foam before a breeze. 
 
 " Now," said the fairy, as he led the dwarf's 
 horse to the edge of the tide. 
 
 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. 
 
 The dwarf rode on and on, until he came to a 
 bridle-path, and following this, it led him up 
 
PEINCESS AND DWARF 163 
 
 throngli 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 — 
 
 "As still as death. 
 And as bright as life can be." 
 
 After gazing at it for a long time, he dis- 
 mounted, 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. 
 
 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 
 tlie day before. 
 
 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 
 
164 FAIRY TALES 
 
 above the lake he saw it was a huge bird, the 
 shadow of whose outstretched wings darkened 
 the waters of the lake; 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 won- 
 dering how it was able to carry such a heavy 
 tree. 
 
 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 ber- 
 ries, and throwing the stones into the lake it was 
 soon as red as wine. 
 
 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 
 
PRINCESS AND DWARF 165 
 
 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 vigor of renewed youth, 
 followed by the other birds. 
 
 When they had gone so far that they were like 
 specks in the sky, the dwarf mounted his horse 
 and descended towards the lake. 
 
 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. 
 
 The dwarf drew back frightened. 
 
 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. 
 
 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. ^" 
 
 Then the dwarf remembered what the fairy 
 told him, that if he attempted to swim the lake, 
 
166 FAIKY TALES 
 
 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, w hen he heard once more the twang 
 of the golden harp, and the little fairy of the hills 
 stood before him. 
 
 " 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, 
 and the Princess Finola is crying this moment 
 in the lonely moor.-' 
 
 At the mention of Finola's name the dwarf's 
 heart grew strong. 
 
 " Yes," he said ; " I am ready — win or die. 
 What is the price? " 
 
 " Your left eye," said the fairy. And as soon 
 as said he scooped out the eye, and put it in his 
 pocket. 
 
 The poor blind dwarf almost fainted with 
 pain. 
 
 " 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 
 
PEINCESS AND DWARF 167 
 
 bank you will get back your memory, and you 
 will know who and whiit you are." 
 
 Then the fairy led the horse to the margin of 
 the lake. 
 
 " In with you now, and good luck go with 
 you," said the fairy. 
 
 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 and the green hills before him, and 
 he shouted with joy at finding his sight restored. 
 
 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 vigor in his limbs. 
 
 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. 
 
 The dwarf jumped off, and, running towards 
 the shield, he saw himself as in a looking-glass. 
 
168 FAIRY TALES 
 
 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 Pal- 
 ace of the Quicken Trees. 
 
 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 w^hite 
 swans floating abreast followed him to the bank. 
 When he reached the bank he galloped down to 
 the sea, and crossed to the shore. 
 
 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. 
 
 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 
 
I 
 
r^ 
 
 
 ^-/ 
 
 'Standing before him was the little princess" Page 169 
 
PRINCESS AND DWARF 169 
 
 the last blow the hut disappeared, and standing 
 before him was the little princess. 
 
 The knight took her in his arms and kissed 
 her ; then he lifted her on to the horse, and, leap- 
 ing 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. 
 
NOTES 
 I 
 
 Lihan the Mermaid 
 
 LiBAN was the daughter of Ecca, son of Mario, 
 King of Mimster. Ecca, having conquered the lord- 
 ship of the half of Ulster, settled down with his peo- 
 ple in the plain of the Gray Copse, which is now cov- 
 ered by the waters of Lough Necca, now Lough 
 Neagh. A magic well had sprung up in the plain, 
 and not being properl}^ 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 pro- 
 tected 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 
 
 170 
 
NOTES 171 
 
 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. 
 
 It is nearly eight hnndred 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. 
 
 II 
 
 The House in the Lake 
 
 In the Irish annals lake dwellings, which were 
 formerly common in Ireland, are called crannogs, 
 from crann, a tree, either because of the timber 
 framework of which the island w^as formed or of 
 the wooden huts erected thereon. 
 
 Some crannogs appear to have been veritable 
 islands, the only means of communication with the 
 land being canoes. Remains of these have been fre- 
 quently found near the dwelling, in some instances 
 alongside the. landing stage, as if sunk at their 
 moorings. 
 
 " Favorite sites for crannogs were marshes, small 
 
172 FAIRY TALES 
 
 loughs surrounded by woods and large sheets of 
 water. As proYiding good fishing grounds the en- 
 trance to or exit of a stream from a lake was eagerly 
 selected." — " Lake Dwellings of Ireland," Col. Wood 
 Martin, M.R.I.A. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Brian's Water-dress 
 
 Brian, Ur, and TJrcar, the three sons of Turenn, 
 were Dedanaan chiefs. They slew Kian, the father 
 of Luga of the Long Arms, who was grandson of 
 Balor of the Evil Eye. Luga imposed an extraor- 
 dinary 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 Fin- 
 cara. 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. 
 
 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 
 
NOTES 173 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 IV 
 
 Prince Cuglas 
 
 In the list of the historic tales mentioned in the 
 Book of Leinster, and which is given in O'Curry's 
 appendix to his "■ Lectures on the MSS. Materials of 
 Ancient Irish History," " The Cave of the Road of 
 Cuglas " finds place. O'Curry has the following 
 note : — 
 
 " Cuglas was the son of Donn Desa, King of 
 Leinster, and master of the hounds to the monarch 
 Conaire Mor. Having one day followed the chase 
 
174 FAIRY TALES 
 
 from Tara to this road, the chase siiddenh' disap- 
 peared in a cave, into which he followed, and was 
 never seen after. Hence the cave was called Uaimh 
 Bealach Conglais, or the cave of the road of Cuglas 
 (now Baltinglass, in the Connty of Wicklow). It 
 is about this cave, nevertheless, that so many of onr 
 pretended Irish antiquarians have written so much 
 nonsense in connection with some imaginary pagan 
 worship to which they gravely assure the world, 
 on et3auological authorit}', the spot was devoted. 
 The authority for the legend of Cuglas is the Din- 
 uoemi Chus on the place Bealach Cowjlais (Book 
 of Lecain). The full tale has not come down to 
 us." 
 
 The Herald 
 
 " Here comes a single champion towards us, O 
 Cuchiilain,'' said Laegh (Cuchulain's charioteer). 
 "What sort of a champion is he?" said Cuchulain. 
 " 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 
 
NOTES 175 
 
 hazel in one hand of his ; a single-edged sword with 
 a sea-horse hilt in his other hand." " Good, my 
 lad," said Cuchulain; " these are the tokens of a 
 herald." — Description of the herald MacRoath in 
 the story of The Tain ho Chuailgne. — O'Curry's 
 " Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish," Vol. 
 II., p. 301. 
 
 VI 
 
 Golden Bells 
 
 In O'Curry's " Lectures on the Manners and Cus- 
 toms of the Ancient Irish " are several dazzling de- 
 scriptions of cavalcades taken from the old tales. 
 Silver and golden bells are frequently mentioned as 
 part of the horse furniture. 
 
 VII 
 
 The Wild People of the Glen 
 
 " 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 
 
176 FAIRY TALES 
 
 an hundred warriors; because it was alike that 
 woman of the valley (de lananaig), and hobgoblins 
 (bacaiiaig), and wild people of the glen {geinti 
 glindi), and demons of the air (demna acoir), 
 shouted in front of it, and in rear of it, and over it, 
 and around it, wherever he went, at the spurting of 
 blood, and of heroes upon it." 
 
 Description of Cuchulain's helmet in the story of 
 The Tain bo Chwailgne. — O'Curry's " Manners and 
 Customs of the Ancient Irish," Vol. II., p. 301. 
 
 VIII 
 
 Tlie Fair of Tar a 
 
 " 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 analogous in many ways 
 to the Olympian and other celebrated games of an- 
 cient Greece. 
 
 " These assemblies were regulated by a strict by- 
 
NOTES 177 
 
 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 mediaeval 
 tournaments for the Queen of Beauty and the other 
 ladies. 
 
 " At 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." 
 
 IX 
 
 The Contest of the Bards 
 
 " The three musical feats of the Daghda, a cele- 
 brated Dedanann chief and Druid, were the Suan- 
 traighe, which from its deep murmuring caused 
 sleep. The Goltraighe, which from its meltive 
 plaintiveness caused weeping, and the Goltraighe, 
 which from its merriment caused laughter. 
 
 " Bose, 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. 
 
178 FAIRY TALES 
 
 Tlie Fairy Tree of Dooros 
 
 The forest of Dooros was in the district of Hy 
 Fiera of the Moy (now the barony of Tireragh, in 
 Sligo) . 
 
 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 apijles, 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 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 
 
KOTES 179 
 
 Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grania," " Old Celtic Eo- 
 mances," p. 313 (Joyce). 
 
 XI 
 
 The Palace of the Little Cat 
 
 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 
 XII. 
 
 XII 
 
 The Birds of the Mystic Lake 
 
 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 wit- 
 nessed 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." 
 
180 FAIEY TALES 
 
 But they said : " Not so, for the bird has left the 
 poison of his old age and decay in the water." 
 
 Diuran, 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 swal- 
 lowed a small quantity. He then came out per- 
 fectly sound and whole, and remained so ever after 
 as long as he lived. But none of the others ven- 
 tured in. 
 
 The return of the birds in the character of the 
 cormorants of the western seas and guardians of the 
 lake does not occur 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. 
 
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