Lady Gregory

“ And in his play he went beyond all his comrades, in throwing of balls and in running and leaping, and in racing of horses, for it is he took the sway in all these things. One day now a proud fighting man got to be jealous of him and he said in the dint of his anger "You" he said "whose race and kindred no one knows, and whose father and mother no one knows, to be getting the better of us in every game, whether by land or by water or on the draught board." Maeldune was silent when he heard that, for till that time he thought himself to be a son of the king and of the queen his foster mother. ”

“ Then Diuran struck his hand off, and it fell and the thread with it into the sea. And when the queen saw that she began to cry and to call out till the whole island was one loud cry and one lament. And in that way they made their escape from her out of the island. ”

“ When he used to throw a white sheep over the near side of the fence to the black sheep, it would turn to black on the moment; and when he used to throw a black sheep over the fence to the far side, it would turn to white in the same way. There was dread on the men when they saw that. "It is best for us" said Maeldune "to throw two rods into the island, and if they change their colour we will know that our own colour would change." So they threw a rod having black bark on the side where the white sheep were, and it turned to white there and then. ”

“ The Bird from Ireland After they were gone from that now, they came to an island having in it a great many cattle, oxen and cows and sheep, but there were no houses in it or duns. They ate the flesh of the sheep, and one of them said then, and he looking at a large bird, "That bird is like the birds of Ireland." "That is true indeed" said some of the rest. "Keep a watch on it" said Maeldune "and see what way will it go from us." ”

“ And I said to myself in my mind I would never be satisfied to eat the salmon raw, and I put it out again into the sea; and I was fasting through the length of another three days. And at the third none I saw the otter bringing the salmon to me again out of the sea; and another otter brought kindled wood and put it down and blew it with his breath that the fire blazed up. So I roasted the salmon, and for another seven years I lived that way. And a salmon would come to me every day" he said "and with it firing, and the rock was increasing until now it is large. ”

“ They stopped in that island through the three months of the winter, and they seemed to them to be three years. "It is long we are here" said a man of Maeldune's people to him then. "And why do we not go back to our own country?" he said. "What you are saying is not right" said Maeldune "for we will not find in our own country any better thing than what we are getting here." His people began to murmur greatly against him. then, and it is what they said: "It is great love he has for his wife. ”

“ They asked him then what nourishment he used. "I will tell you the truth" he said "there is a well in this island, and on a Friday and on a Wednesday whey or water is given out from it, and on Sunday and on the feasts of martyrs it is good milk is given out. But on the feasts of the apostles and of Mary and John Baptist, and on the high times of the year, it is beer and wine that it gives out." At nones then there came to every man of them a cake and a bit of a fish, and they drank their fill of what came to them out of the well. ”

“ And no sooner did he reach to the people that were crying than he was as if one of them, and he began crying and lamenting the same as themselves. Then two of his comrades were sent to bring him out from the rest, and they could not make him out from the rest, and they bowed themselves down and cried along with them. ”

“ And let him stop with her if he has a mind" they said "and we will go to our own country." "I will not stop here after you" said Maeldune. One day now the queen went to the judging where she went every day, and no sooner was she gone than they went into their currach. But she came on her horse and she threw a ball of thread after them, and Maeldune caught it, and it held to his hand, and a thread of the ball was in her own hand, and she drew back the boat to the harbour and to herself with that thread. ”

“ And when they rose up in the morning the queen said "Let you stop here" she said "and age will not fall on you beyond the age you are found in at this time, and you will have lasting life for ever" she said "and what you got last night you will get for ever without any labour, and give up this wandering from island to island of the sea" she said. "Tell us" said Maeldune "what way are, you here?" "It is not hard to say that" she said. "There was a good man in this place, the king of the island ”