keeping watch and ward over the
tree, a cruel king was reigning over the lands that looked towards the
rising sun. He had slain the rightful king by foul means, and his
subjects, loving their murdered sovereign, hated the usurper; but much
as they hated him they feared him more, for he was brave and
masterful, and he was armed with a helmet and shield which no weapon
made by mortal hands could pierce, and he carried always with him two
javelins that never missed their mark, and were so fatal that they
were called "the shafts of death." The murdered king had two
children--a boy, whose name was Niall, and a girl, who was called
Rosaleen--that is, little Rose; but no rose that ever bloomed was half
as sweet or fresh or fair as she. Cruel as the tyrant king was, he was
afraid of the people to kill the children. He sent the boy adrift on
the sea in an open boat, hoping the waves would swallow it; and he got
an old witch to cast the spell of deformity over Rosaleen, and under
the spell her beauty faded, until at last she became so ugly and
wasted that scarcely anyone would speak to her. And, shunned by
everyone, she spent her days in the out-houses with the cattle, and
every night she cried herself to sleep.

One day, when she was very lonely, a little robin came to pick the
crumbs that had fallen about her feet. He appeared so tame that she
offered him the bread from her hand, and when he took it she cried
with joy at finding that there was one living thing that did not shun
her. After this the robin came every day, and he sang so sweetly for
her that she almost forgot her loneliness and misery. But once while
the robin was with her the tyrant king's daughter, who was very
beautiful, passed with her maids of honour, and, seeing Rosaleen, the
princess said:

"Oh, there is that horrid ugly thing."

The maids laughed and giggled, and said they had never seen such a
fright.

Poor Rosaleen felt as if her heart would break, and when the princess
and her maids were out of sight she almost cried her eyes out. When
the robin saw her crying he perched on her shoulder and rubbed his
little head against her neck and chirruped softly in her ear, and
Rosaleen was comforted, for she felt she had at least one friend in
the world, although it was only a little robin. But the robin could do
more for her than she could dream of. He heard the remark made by the
princess, and he saw Rosaleen's tears, and he knew now why she was
shunned by