ra the white steed
of the plains; and who could give her as a wedding robe a garment of
all the colours of the rainbow, so finely spun that when folded up it
would fit in the palm of her small white hand. To fulfil these three
conditions was impossible for all her suitors, and it seemed as if the
loveliest lady of the land should go unmarried to her grave.

It chanced that once, on a day when the Fenian battalions were engaged
in a hurling-match, Fergus beheld the lady watching the match from her
sunny bower. He no sooner saw her than he fell over head and ears in
love with her, and he thought of her by night, and he thought of her
by day, and believing that his love was hopeless, he often wished he
had never left his forest-home.

The great fair of Tara[11] was coming on, and all the Feni were busy
from morning till night practising feats of arms and games, in order
to take part in the contests to be held during the fair. And Fergus,
knowing that the princess would be present, determined to do his best
to win the prizes which were to be contended for before the ladies'
eyes.

The fair began on the 1st of August, but for a whole week before the
five great roads of Erin were thronged with people of all sorts.
Princes and warriors on their steeds, battle champions in their
chariots, harpers in hundreds, smiths with gleaming spears and shields
and harness for battle steeds and chariots; troops of men and boys
leading racehorses; jewellers with gold drinking-horns, and
brooches, and pins, and ear-rings, and costly gems of all kinds, and
chess-boards of silver and gold, and golden and silver chessmen in
bags of woven brass; dyers with their many-coloured fabrics; bands
of jugglers; drovers goading on herds of cattle; shepherds driving
their sheep; huntsmen with spoils of the chase; dwellers in the lakes
or by the fish-abounding rivers with salmon and speckled trout; and
countless numbers of peasants on horseback and on foot, all wending
their way to the great meeting-place by the mound, which a thousand
years before had been raised over the grave of the great queen. For
there the fair was to be held.

On the opening day the High King, attended by the four kings of Erin,
set out from the palace, and with them went the queen and the ladies
of the court in sparkling chariots. The princess rode in the chariot
with the high queen, under an awning made of the wings of birds, to
protect them from the rays of the sun. Following