The King of Ireland's Son, Illustrated Edition (Yesterday's Classics) Read Online Free Page A

You must kill me. Take my bones and make them as steps while you go down the sides. Then, when you have taken the Ring of Youth out of the water, put my bones as they were before, and put the Ring above my heart. I shall be alive again. But you must be careful that you leave every bone as it was."
    The King's Son fell into a deeper dread than Fedelma when he heard what she said. "This can never be," he cried. "It must be," said she, "and by all your vows and promises I command that you do it. Kill me now and do as I have bidden you. If it be done I shall live. If it be not done you will lose your life and I will never regain mine."
    He killed her. He took the bones as she had bidden him, and he made steps down the sides of the well. He searched at the bottom, and he found the Ring of Youth. He brought the bones together again. Down on his knees he went, and his heart did not beat nor did his breath come or go until he had fixed them in their places. Over the heart he placed the Ring. Life came back to Fedelma.
    "You have done well," she said. "One thing only is not in its place—the joint of my little finger." She held up her hand and he saw that her little finger was bent.
    "I have helped you in everything," said Fedelma, "and in the last task I could not have helped you if you had not been true to me when Aefa and Gilveen brought you to them. Now the three tasks are done, and you can ask my father for one of his daughters in marriage. When you bring him the Ring of Youth he will ask you to make a choice. I pray that the one chosen will be myself."
    "None other will I have but you, Fedelma, love of my heart," said the King of Ireland's Son.

VIII
    T HE King of Ireland's Son went into the house before the setting of the sun. The Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands was seated on his chair of gold. "Have you brought me the Ring of Youth?" he asked.
    "I have brought it," said the King's Son.
    "Give it to me then," said the Enchanter.
    "I will not," said the King's Son, "until you give what you promised me at the end of my tasks—one of your three daughters for my wife."
    The Enchanter brought him to a closed door. "My three daughters are within that room," said he. "Put your hand through the hole in the door, and the one whose hand you hold when I open it—it is she you will have to marry."
    Then wasn't the mind of the King's Son greatly troubled? If he held the hand of Aefa or Gilveen he would lose his love Fedelma. He stood without putting out his hand. "Put your hand through the hole of the door or go away from my house altogether," said the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands.
    The King of Ireland's Son ventured to put his hand through the hole in the door. The hands of the maidens inside were all held in a bunch. But no sooner did he touch them than he found that one had a broken finger. This he knew was Fedelma's hand, and this was the hand he held.
    "You may open the door now," said he to the Enchanter.
    He opened the door and the King of Ireland's Son drew Fedelma to him. "This is the maiden I choose," said he, "and now give her her dowry."
    "The dowry that should go with me," said Fedelma, "is the Slight Red Steed."
    "What dowry do you want with her, young man?" said the Enchanter.
    "No other dowry but the Slight Red Steed."
    "Go round to the stable then and get it. And I hope no well-trained wizard like you will come this way again."
    "No well-trained wizard am I, but the King of Ireland's Son. And I have found your dwelling-place within a year and a day. And now I pluck the three hairs out of your beard, Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands."
    The beard of the Enchanter bristled like spikes on a hedgehog, and the balls of his eyes stuck out of his head. The King's Son plucked the three hairs of his beard before he could lift a hand or say a word. "Mount the Slight Red Steed and be off, the two of you," said the Enchanter.
    The King of Ireland's Son and Fedelma mounted the Slight Red Steed and rode off, and the Enchanter of