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Updated: June 6, 2025
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.
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.
Then, as suddenly as it came the darkness vanished, the softened sunlight once more filled the chamber, and rested upon the couch; but the couch was empty, and the royal watchers, looking at each other, said in whispers: "The fairies have carried away the Princess Ailinn to fairyland."
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 you mean?" said the prince.
The queen greeted the prince as if she knew not of his attempted flight, and to the music of the harps the fleet returned to the palace. The next day passed and the night came, and again the prince was lying on the couch, thinking of the Princess Ailinn, and again he saw the shadow on the floor and heard the tapping against the window. And when he opened it the little woman slid into the room.
That evening the queen returned, and at the feast she talked as gaily to the prince as if she knew not of his attempt to leave the Floating Island, and the prince spoke as gaily as he could to her, although in his heart there was sadness when he remembered that if he had only dashed away the crystal cup, he would be at that moment in the royal banquet hall of Tara, sitting beside the Princess Ailinn.
Well, between hunting in the forest, and sailing over the lake, and dancing in the greenwood glade and in the banquet hall, the days passed, but all the time the prince was thinking of the Princess Ailinn, and one moonlit night, when he was lying awake on his couch thinking of her, a shadow was suddenly cast on the floor.
That evening the queen returned, and at the feast she talked as gaily to the prince as if she knew not of his attempt to leave the Floating Island, and the prince spoke as gaily as he could to her, although in his heart there was sadness when he remembered that if he had only dashed away the crystal cup, he would be at that moment in the royal banquet hall of Tara, sitting beside the Princess Ailinn.
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.
And when all in the palace were at rest he used to roam through the forest, always thinking of the Princess Ailinn, and hoping against hope that the little woman would come again to him, but at last he began to despair of ever seeing her.
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