The Dwarf urged the horse. He plunged into the lake, and went down and
down until his feet struck the bottom. Then he began to ascend, and
as he came near the surface of the water the Dwarf thought he saw a
glimmering light, and when he rose above the water he saw the bright sun
shining and the green hills before him, and he shouted with joy at
finding his sight restored.

But he saw more. Instead of the old horse he had ridden into the lake he
was bestride a noble steed, and as the steed swam to the bank the Dwarf
felt a change coming over himself, and an unknown vigor in his limbs.

When the steed touched the shore he galloped up the hillside, and on the
top of the hill was a silver shield, bright as the sun, resting against
a spear standing upright in the ground.

The Dwarf jumped off, and, running toward the shield, he saw himself as
in a looking-glass.

He was no longer a dwarf, but a gallant knight. At that moment his
memory came back to him, and he knew he was Conal, one of the Knights of
the Red Branch, and he remembered now that the spell of dumbness and
deformity had been cast upon him by the Witch of the Palace of the
Quicken Trees.

Slinging his shield upon his left arm, he plucked the spear from the
ground and leaped on to his horse. With a light heart he swam back over
the lake, and nowhere could he see the black Cormorants of the Western
Seas, but three white swans floating abreast followed him to the bank.
When he reached the bank he galloped down to the sea, and crossed to the
shore.

Then he flung the reins upon his horse's neck, and swifter than the wind
the gallant horse swept on and on, and it was not long until he was
bounding over the enchanted moor. Wherever his hoofs struck the ground,
grass and flowers sprang up, and great trees with leafy branches rose on
every side.

At last the knight reached the little hut. Three times he struck the
shield with the haft and three times with the blade of his spear. At the
last blow the hut disappeared, and standing before him was the little
Princess.

The knight took her in his arms and kissed her; then he lifted her on to
the horse, and, leaping up before her, he turned toward the north, to
the palace of the Red Branch Knights; and as they rode on beneath the
leafy trees, from every tree the birds sang out, for the spell of
deathly silence over the lonely moor was broken forever.

[H] From "The Golden Spear," by Edmund Leamy; used by permission o