Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 4, 2025
And then the king's voice rang out 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.
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.
Perhaps that was a little comrade come to look for you, 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 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!
"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 champion 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."
For a moment he thought he must have been dreaming; but there in the boat before him were the crystal helmet, and the water-dress, and the gleaming spear, and the golden bowl of perfumed water that was to remove the spell of enchantment from the white swan of the lake, and sailing towards him from the sedgy bank came the snow-white swan; and when she touched the boat, Enda put out his hands and lifted her in, and then over her plumage he poured the perfumed water from the golden bowl, and the Princess Mave in all her maiden beauty stood before him.
Then Enda could tell of wonderful ways to cross the sea without a boat, how his sister Fanchea had done it by spreading her own cloak upon the waves, and how she and three other nuns were borne upon it.
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 down the mountains, he stepped into his curragh and pulled across the lake, and took the road towards the water-palace of Angus of the Boyne.
Perhaps that was a little comrade come to look for you, 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.
Then she beckoned Enda to her, 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.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking