United States or Burkina Faso ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Many a sharp cry the hound gave in that journey, many a mild lament. "Ah, supplanter! Ah, taker of another girl's sweetheart!" said Uct Dealv fiercely. "How would your lover take it if he could see you now? How would he look if he saw your pointy ears, your long thin snout, your shivering, skinny legs, and your long grey tail. He would not love you now, bad girl!"
Tuiren then walked from the house with the messenger, but when they had gone a short distance Uct Dealv drew a hazel rod from beneath her cloak and struck it on the queen's shoulder, and on the instant Tuiren's figure trembled and quivered, and it began to whirl inwards and downwards, and she changed into the appearance of a hound.
"Tell the wife-loser that I will have the girl or I will have his head," said Fionn. Iollan set out then for Faery. He knew the way, and in no great time he came to the hill where Uct Dealv was. It was hard to get Uct Dealv to meet him, but at last she consented, and they met under the apple boughs of Faery. "Well!" said Uct Dealv. "Ah! Breaker of Vows and Traitor to Love," said she.
News was brought to Tlr na n-Og of the marriage of Iollan and Tuiren, and when Uct Dealv heard that news her heart ceased to beat for a moment, and she closed her eyes. "Now!" said her sister of the Shi'. "That is how long the love of a mortal lasts," she added, in the voice of sad triumph which is proper to sisters.
"They feel other things," she murmured; and an endless conversation recommenced. Then for some time Iollan did not come to Faery, and Uct Dealv marvelled at that, while her sister made an hundred surmises, each one worse than the last. "He is not dead or he would be here," she said. "He has forgotten you, my darling."
"Leave that dog outside," said the servant. "I will not do so," said the pretended messenger. "You can come in without the dog, or you can stay out with the dog," said the surly guardian. "By my hand," cried Uct Dealv, "I will come in with this dog, or your master shall answer for it to Fionn." At the name of Fionn the servant almost fell out of his standing.
"If I could refuse anything to Fionn it would be a dog," said Fergus, "but I could not refuse anything to Fionn, so give me the hound." Uct Dealv put the chain in his hand. "Ah, bad dog!" said she. And then she went away well satisfied with her revenge, and returned to her own people in the Shi. On the following day Fergus called his servant. "Has that dog stopped shivering yet?" he asked.
You shall whine and squeal at the moon, and shiver in the cold, and you will never take another girl's sweetheart again." And it was in those terms and in that tone that she spoke to Tuiren as they journeyed forward, so that the hound trembled and shrank, and whined pitifully and in despair. They came to Fergus Fionnliath's stronghold, and Uct Dealv demanded admittance.
Then Iollan would go back to the world of men, and Uct Dealv would return to her occupations in the Land of the Ever Young. "What did he say?" her sister of the Shi' would ask. "He said I was the Berry of the Mountain, the Star of Knowledge, and the Blossom of the Raspberry." "They always say the same thing," her sister pouted. "But they look other things," Uct Dealv insisted.
He flew to acquaint his master, and Fergus himself came to the great door of the stronghold. "By my faith," he cried in amazement, "it is a dog." "A dog it is," growled the glum servant. "Go you away," said Fergus to Uct Dealv, "and when you have killed the dog come back to me and I will give you a present."
Word Of The Day