Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

CHAPTER IV: THE EARLY MILESIAN KINGS 131adorned with gold; and near her, as for washing, was a bason ofsilver whereon four birds had been chased, and there were littlebright gems of carbuncles on the rims of the bason. A brightpurple mantle waved round her; and beneath it was anothermantle ornamented with silver fringes: the outer mantle wasclasped over her bosom with a golden brooch. A tunic she worewith a long hood that might cover her head attached to it; it wasstiff and glossy with green silk beneath red embroidery of gold,and was clasped over her breasts with marvellously wroughtclasps of silver and gold; so that men saw the bright gold andthe green silk flashing against the sun. On her head were twotresses of golden hair, and each tress had been plaited into four [158]strands; at the end of each strand was a little ball of gold. Andthere was that maiden undoing her hair that she might wash it,her two arms out through the armholes of her smock. Each of hertwo arms was as white as the snow of a single night, and eachof her cheeks was as rosy as the foxglove. Even and small werethe teeth in her head, and they shone like pearls. Her eyes wereas blue as a hyacinth, her lips delicate and crimson; very high,soft and white were her shoulders. Tender, polished and whitewere her wrists; her fingers long and of great whiteness; her nailswere beautiful and pink. White as snow, or the foam of a wave,was her neck; long was it, slender, and as soft as silk. Smoothand white were her thighs; her knees were round and firm andwhite; her ankles were as straight as the rule of a carpenter. Herfeet were slim and as white as the ocean's foam; evenly set wereher eyes; her eyebrows were of a bluish black, such as you seeupon the shell of a beetle. Never a maid fairer than she, or moreworthy of love, was till then seen by the eyes of men; and itseemed to them that she must be one of those that have comefrom the fairy mounds.” 124124I quote Mr. A.H. Leahy's translation from a fifteenth-century Egertonmanuscript (“Heroic Romances of Ireland,” vol. i. p. 12). The story is,however, found in much more ancient authorities.