Legendary fictions of the Irish Celts

266 Fictions of the Irish Celts.
the sounds, but the effect they had was to throw him into
a deep sleep, in which the music was still present to his
brain, and kept him in a sleepy rapture.
This room was as light as the day, though window it
had none. By the wall hung a sword in a dark sheath.
Bright light flashed round the room from the diamondcrested
hilt and about three inches of the blade not let
down into the scabbard. Taking it down, he approached
the sleeping Druid chief and struck him on the side with
the flat of the blade. " Arise," said he, " great Fiach
O'Duda! reveal to the Sighe Draoi, Lassa Buaicht, through
me, the Faos Fath an aon Sceil. I will not ask for the
Cloidheamh Solais ; I have it in my keeping." The Druid's
looks were full of surprise at first, and then of fright, but
in a short time he became calm, and proceeded to
relate the
FIOS FATH AN AON SCEIL.
"I am," said he, "the eldest of three brothers, the Sighe
Draoi, Lassa Buaicht, being the youngest. By birthright
I inherited the great family treasure of the Cloidheamh
Solais, and my youngest brother envied me from the
beginning, and made many an attempt to take it from
me. But I was a Draoi as well as he, and always was
able to disappoint him. At last, wishing to get out of the
reach of his villanous tricks, and see the world, I went
on a voyage to Greece, and when I returned I was a
married man. The King of Greece had grown to like
me so much, that he gave me his daughter. The king
and his daughter were deep in Draoideachta, and he had
in his possession a slat (enchanted rod) which could
change any living being into whatever form he wished.
I never dreamed, as my wife and I talked so lovingly,
and were so happy, sitting on the deck of our vessel as
we returned over the calm central sea, that she had stolen
that rod from her father's chamber before we set out on
our return.