A long, long time ago, Prince Cuglas,[7] master of the hounds to the
high King of Erin, set out from Tara to the chase. As he was leaving
the palace the light mists were drifting away from the hill-tops, and
the rays of the morning sun were falling aslant on the _grinan_ or
sunny bower of the Princess Ailinn. Glancing towards it the prince
doffed his plumed and jewelled hunting-cap, and the princess answered
his salute by a wave of her little hand, that was as white as a wild
rose in the hedges in June, and leaning from her bower, she watched
the huntsman until his tossing plumes were hidden by the green waving
branches of the woods.

The Princess Ailinn was over head and ears in love with Cuglas, and
Cuglas was over head and ears in love with the Princess Ailinn, and he
believed that never was summer morning half as bright, or as sweet, or
as fair as she. The glimpse which he had just caught of her filled his
heart with delight, and almost put all thought of hunting out of his
head, when suddenly the tuneful cries of the hounds, answered by a
hundred echoes from the groves, broke upon his ear.

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 view of the hounds, sometimes lost to sight, but always
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 suddenly
disappeared through the mouth of a cave which opened before him. The
dogs followed at his heels, and the prince endeavoured to rein in his
steed, but the impetuous animal bore him on, and soon was clattering
over the stony floor of the cave in perfect darkness. Cuglas could
hear ahead of him the cries of the hounds growing fainter and fainter,
as they increased the distance between them and him. Then the cries
ceased altogether, and the only sound the prince heard was the noise
of his horse's hoofs sounding in the hollow cave. Once more he
endeavoured to check his career, but the reins broke in his hands, and
in that instant the prince felt the horse had taken a plunge into a
gulf, and was sinking down and down, as a stone cast from the summit
of a cliff sinks down to the sea. At last the horse struck the
ground again, and the prince was almost thrown out of his saddle, but
he succeeded in regaining his seat. Then on through the darkness
galloped the steed, and when he came into the light the prince's eyes
were for some time unable to bear it. But when he got used to the
brightness he saw he was galloping over a grassy plain, and in the
distance he perceived the hounds rushing towards a wood faintly
visible through a luminous summer haze. The prince galloped on, and as
he approached the wood he saw coming towards him a comely champion,
wearing a shining brown cloak, fastened by a bright bronze spear-like
brooch, and bearing a white hazel wand in one hand, and a single-edged
sword with a hilt made from the tooth of a sea-horse in the other;[8]
and the prince knew by the dress of the champion, and by his wand and
sword, that he was a royal herald. As the herald came close to him the
prince's steed stopped of his own accord.

[Illustration: "The Prince endeavoured to rein in his steed, but the
impetuous animal bore him on"--p. 102]

"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 visiting her fairy kinsmen,
who dwell in one of the pleasant hills that lie near Tara, she saw you
with the high king and princes and nobles of Erin following the chase.
And seeing you her heart went out to you, and wishing to bring you to
her court, she sent one of her nymphs, in the form of a deer, to lure
you on through the cave, which is the entrance to this land."

"I am deeply honoured by the preference shown me by the princess,"
said Cuglas, "but I may not tarry in her court; for above in Erin
there is the Lady Ailinn, the loveliest of all the ladies who grace
the royal palace, and before the princess and chiefs of Erin she has
promised to be my bride."

"Of that I know not," said the herald; "but a true champion, like you,
cannot, I know, refuse to come with me to the court of the Princess
Crede."

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 champions they lowered their
spears, and dividing in two lines the prince and the herald passed
between the ranks, and the champions, forming again, followed on
behind the prince.

At last they passed through the wood, and they found themselves on a
green plain, speckled with flowers, and they had not gone far when the
prince saw coming towards him a hundred champions on snow-white
steeds, and around the breasts of the steeds were crescents of gold,
from which were hanging little golden bells.[9] 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, on the top of which was a sparkling palace; the
stream was crossed by a golden bridge, so narrow that the horsemen had
to go two-by-two. The herald asked the prince to halt and to allow all
the champions to go before him; and the cavalcade ascended the hill,
the sunlight brightly glancing on helmet and on lance, and when it
reached the palace the horsemen filed around the walls.

When at length the prince and herald crossed the bridge and began to
climb the hill, the prince thought he felt the ground moving under
them, and on looking back he could see no sign of the golden bridge,
and the blue stream had already become as wide as a great river, and
was becoming wider every second.

"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 dwarfs who dwell in the heart of the Scandinavian
Mountains, and was sent with other costly presents by the King of
Scandinavia to the King of Erin, and he gave it to the princess, and
it was the virtue of this bracelet, that whoever was wearing it could
not forget the person who gave it to him, and it could never be
loosened from the arm by any art or magic spell; but if the wearer,
even for a single moment, liked anyone better than the person who gave
it to him, that very moment the bracelet fell off from the arm and
could never again be fastened on. And when the princess promised her
hand in marriage to the Prince Cuglas, she closed the bracelet on his
arm.

The fairy queen knew nothing about the bracelet, and she hoped that
before the prince was long in the floating island he would forget all
about the princess.

"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 journey," said the queen. "My page
will lead you to your apartments, where a bath of the cool blue waters
of the lake has been made ready for you, and when you have taken your
bath the pages will lead you to the banquet hall, where the feast is
spread."

At the feast the prince was seated beside the queen, and she talked to
him of all the pleasures that were in store for him in fairyland,
where pain, and sickness, and sorrow, and old age, are unknown, 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 ready for the chase, and at their head the
fairy queen. And at that moment the pages came to say the queen wished
to know if he would join them, and the prince went out and found his
steed ready saddled and bridled, and they spent the day hunting in the
forest that stretched away for miles behind the palace, and the night
in feasting and dancing.

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 awning of various colours over the others, and
the royal boat moved off from the bank followed by all the rest, and
in every boat sat a harper with a golden harp, and when the queen
waved her wand for the third time, the harpers struck the trembling
chords, and to the sound of the delightful music the boats glided over
the sunlit lake. And on they went until they approached the mouth of a
gentle river sliding down between banks clad with trees. Up the river,
close to the bank and under the drooping trees, they sailed, and when
they came to a bend in the river, from which the lake could be no
longer seen, they pushed their prows in against the bank, and the
queen and Cuglas, and all the party, left the boats and went on under
the trees until they came to a mossy glade.

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 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 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.

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 anyone else," said the prince.

"I know that," said the little woman, "and it's because of your love
for each other, and because her mother was a friend to me in the
days gone by, that I have come here to try and help you; but there is
not much time for talking, the night advances. At the bank below a
boat awaits you. Step into it and it will lead you to the mainland,
and when you reach it you will find before you a path that will
take you to the green fields of Erin and the plains of Tara. I know
you will have to face danger. I know not what kind of danger; but
whatever it may be do not draw your sword before you tread upon the
mainland, for if you do you shall never reach it, and the boat
will come back again to the floating island; and now go and may luck
go with you;" and saying this the little woman climbed up the
moonbeams and disappeared.

The prince left the palace and descended to the lake, and there before
him he saw a glistening boat; he stepped into it, and the boat went on
and on beneath the moon, and at last he saw the mainland, and he could
trace a winding pathway going away from the shore. The sight filled
his heart with joy, but suddenly the milk-white moonshine died away,
and looking up to the sky he saw the moon turning fiery red, and the
waters of the lake, shining like silver a moment before, took a
blood-red hue, and a wind arose that stirred the waters, and they
leaped up against the little boat, tossing it from side to side. While
Cuglas was wondering at the change, he heard a strange, unearthly
noise ahead of him, and a bristling monster, lifting its claws above
the water, in a moment was beside the boat and stuck one of his claws
in the left arm of the prince, and pierced the flesh to the bone.
Maddened by the pain the prince drew his sword and chopped off the
monster's claw. The monster disappeared beneath the lake, and, as it
did so, the colour of the water changed, and the silver moonlight
shone down from the sky again, but the boat no longer went on towards
the mainland, but sped back towards the floating island, while forth
from the island came a fleet of fairy boats to meet it, led by the
shallop of the fairy queen. The queen greeted the prince as if she
knew not of his attempted flight, and to the music of the harps the
fleet returned to the palace.

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.

"You failed last night," she said, "but I come to give you another
chance. To-morrow the queen must set out on a visit to her fairy
kinsmen, who dwell in the green hill near the plain of Tara; she
cannot take you with her, for if your feet once touched the green
grass that grows in the fruitful fields of Erin, she could never bring
you back again. And so, when you find she has left the palace, go at
once into the banquet hall and look behind the throne, and you will
see a small door let down into the ground. Pull this up and descend
the steps which you will see. Where they lead to I cannot tell. What
dangers may be before you I do not know; but this I know, if you
accept anything, no matter what it is, from anyone you may meet on
your way, you shall not set foot on the soil of Erin."

And having said this the little woman, rising from the floor, floated
out through the window.

The prince returned to his couch, and the next morning, as soon as he
heard the queen had left the palace, he hastened to the banquet hall.
He discovered the door and descended the steps, and he found himself
in a gloomy and lonesome valley. Jagged mountains, black as night,
rose on either side, and huge rocks seemed ready to topple down upon
him at every step. Through broken clouds a watery moon shed a faint,
fitful 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
covered it like a pall, leaving him in perfect darkness. At the same
moment the moaning wind died away, and with it died away all sound.
The darkness and the death-like silence sent an icy chill to the heart
of Cuglas. He held his hand close to his eyes, but he saw it not. He
shouted that he might hear the sound of his own voice, but he heard it
not. He stamped his foot on the rocky ground, but no sound was
returned to him. He rattled his sword in its brazen scabbard, but it
gave no answer back to him. His heart grew colder and colder, when
suddenly the cloud above him was rent in a dozen places, and lightning
flashed through the valley, and the thunder rolled over the echoing
mountains. In the lurid glare of the lightning Cuglas saw a hundred
ghostly forms sweeping towards him, uttering as they came nearer and
nearer shrieks so terrible that the silence of death could more easily
be borne. Cuglas turned to escape, but they hemmed him round, and
pressed their clammy hands upon his face.

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.[10]

With renewed courage he pursued his way through the valley, and after
three or four windings it took him out upon a sandy desert. He had no
sooner set foot upon the desert than he heard behind him a crashing
sound louder than thunder. He looked around, and he saw that the walls
of mountain through which he had just passed had fallen into the
valley, and filled it up so that he could no longer tell where it had
been.

The sun was beating fiercely on the desert, and the sands were almost
as hot as burning cinders; and as Cuglas advanced over them his body
became dried up, and his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth, and
when his thirst was at its height a fountain of sparkling water sprang
up in the burning plain a few paces in front of him; but when he came
up quite close to it and stretched out his parched hands to cool them
in the limped waters, the fountain vanished as suddenly as it
appeared. With great pain, and almost choking with heat and thirst, he
struggled on, and again the fountain sprang up in front of him and
moved before him, almost within his reach. At last he came to the end
of the desert, and he saw a green hill up which a pathway climbed; but
as he came to the foot of the hill, there, sitting right in his way,
was a beautiful fairy holding out towards him a crystal cup, over the
rim of which flowed water as clear as crystal. Unable to resist the
temptation, the prince seized the cold, bright goblet, and drank the
water. When he did so his thirst vanished, but the fairy, and the
green hill, and the burning desert disappeared, and he was standing in
the forest behind the palace of the fairy queen.

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 he thought the feast would never end; but it was over at last, and
the prince returned to his apartments. And that night, as he lay on
his couch, he kept his eyes fixed upon the window; but hours passed,
and there was no sign of anyone. At long last, and when he had given
up all hope of seeing her, he heard a tapping at the window, and 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. The queen will go hunting
in the morning. Join the hunt, and when you are separated from the
rest of the party in the wood throw your reins upon your horse's neck
and he will lead you to the edge of the lake. Then cast this golden
bodkin into the lake in the direction of the mainland, and a golden
bridge will be thrown across, over which you can pass safely to the
fields of Erin; but take care and do not draw your sword, for if you
do your steed will bear you back again to the Floating Island, and
here you must remain for ever." Then handing the bodkin to the prince,
and saying good-bye, the little woman disappeared.

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 bodkin on to the water, and a golden bridge
was thrown across to the mainland, and the horse galloped on to it,
and when the prince was more than half-way he saw riding towards him a
champion wearing a silver helmet, and carrying on his left arm a
silver shield, and holding in his right hand a gleaming sword. As he
came nearer he struck his shield with his sword and challenged the
prince to battle. The prince's sword almost leaped out of its scabbard
at the martial sound, and, like a true knight of Tara, he dashed
against his foe, and swinging his sword above his head, with one blow
he clove the silver helmet, and the strange warrior reeled from his
horse and fell upon the golden bridge. The prince, content with this
achievement, spurred his horse to pass the fallen champion, but the
horse refused to stir, and the bridge broke in two almost at his feet,
and the part of it between him and the mainland disappeared beneath
the lake, carrying with it the horse and the body of the champion, and
before the prince could recover from his surprise, his steed wheeled
round and was galloping back, and when he reached the land he rushed
through the forest, and the prince was not able to pull him up until
he came to the palace door.

All that night the prince lay awake on his couch with his eyes fixed
upon the window, but no shadow fell upon the floor, and there was no
tapping at the pane, and with a heavy heart he joined the hunting
party in the morning. And day followed day, and his heart was sadder
and sadder, and found no pleasure in the joys and delights of
fairyland. And when all in the palace were at rest he used to roam
through the forest, always thinking of the Princess Ailinn, and hoping
against hope that the little woman would come again to him, but at
last he began to despair of ever seeing her. It chanced one night he
rambled so far that he found himself on the verge of the lake, at the
very spot from which the golden bridge had been thrown across the
waters, and as he gazed wistfully upon them a boat shot up and came
swiftly to the bank, and who should he see sitting in the stern but
the little woman.

"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; but I could
never have faced the nobles and chiefs of Erin if I had refused to
meet the challenge of the battle champion on the golden bridge."

"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 you mean?" said the prince.

"Oh, I mean what I mean," said the little woman. "But I can't stop
here all night talking to you: and, indeed, it is in your bed you
ought to be yourself. So now good night; and I have no more to say,
except that perhaps, if you happen to be here this night week at this
very hour, when the moon will be on the waters, you will see----. But
no matter what you will see," said she; "I must be off."

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
colour 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 lustre, and the king's leeches could do nothing for her, and at
last they gave up all hope, and the king and queen of Erin and the
ladies of the court watched her couch by night and by day sadly
waiting for her last hour.

At length one day, when the sun was shining brightly over Tara's
plain, and its light, softened by the intervening curtains, was
falling in the sick chamber, the royal watchers noticed a sweet change
coming over the face of the princess; the bloom of love and youth were
flushing on her cheeks, and from her eyes shone out the old, soft,
tender light, and they began to hope she was about to be restored to
them, when suddenly the room was in darkness as if the night had swept
across the sky, and blotted out the sun. Then they heard the sound of
fairy music, and over the couch where the princess lay they beheld a
gleam of golden light, but only for a moment; and again there was
perfect darkness, and the fairy music ceased. Then, as suddenly as it
came the darkness vanished, the softened sunlight once more filled the
chamber, and rested upon the couch; but the couch was empty, and the
royal watchers, looking at each other, said in whispers: "The fairies
have carried away the Princess Ailinn to fairyland."

Well, that very day the prince roamed by himself through the forest,
counting the hours until the day would fade in the sky and the moon
come climbing up, and at last, when it was shining full above the
waters, he went down to the verge of the lake, and he looked out over
the gleaming surface watching for the vision promised by the little
woman. But he could see nothing, and was about to turn away when he
heard the faint sound of fairy music. He listened and listened, and
the sound came nearer and clearer, and away in the distance, like
drops of glistening water breaking the level of the lake, he saw a
fleet of fairy boats, and he thought it was the fairy queen sailing in
the moonlight. And it was the fairy queen, and soon he was able to
recognise the royal shallop leading the others, and as it came close
to the bank he saw the little woman sitting in the prow between the
little harpers, and at the stern was the fairy queen, and by her side
the lady of his heart, the Princess Ailinn. In a second the boat was
against the bank, and the princess in his arms. And he kissed her
again and again.

"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.

"And you should not be," said the fairy queen, "for never lady yet had
truer knight than Cuglas. I loved him, and I love him dearly. I lured
him here hoping that in the delights of fairyland he might forget you.
It was all in vain. I know now that there is one thing no fairy power
above or below the stars, or beneath the waters, can ever subdue, and
that is love. And here together forever shall you and Cuglas dwell,
where old age shall never come upon you, and where pain or sorrow or
sickness are unknown."

And Cuglas never returned to the fair hills of Erin, and ages passed
away since the morning he followed the hounds into the fatal cave, but
his story was remembered by the firesides, and sometimes, even yet,
the herdboy watching his cattle in the fields hears the tuneful cry of
hounds, and follows it till it leads him to a darksome cave, and as
fearfully he listens to the sound becoming fainter and fainter he
hears the clatter of hoofs over the stony floor, and to this day the
cave bears the name of the prince who entered it never to return.
[Footnote: _Uaimh Belaigh Conglais_, the cave of the road of
Cuglas--now Baltinglass--in the county Wicklow.]