the roof he ran back to the shelter. He began the
thatching, binding the feathers down with little willow rods. He had
just finished when the sun went down. The old Enchanter came up and
when he saw what the King's Son had done he was greatly surprised. "You
surely learned from the wizard you were apprenticed to," said he.. "But
to-morrow I will try you with another task. Go now and sleep in the
place where you were last night." The King's Son, glad that the head was
still on his shoulders, went and lay down in the water-tank.

VI

Until the white moon went out in the sky; until the Secret People began
to whisper in the woods--so long did the King of Ireland's Son remain in
the dry water-tank that night.

And then, when it was neither dark nor light, he saw a crane flying
towards him. It lighted on the edge of the tank. "Have you a message for
me?" said the King of Ireland's Son. The crane tapped three times with
its beak. Then the King's Son got out of the tank and prepared to follow
the bird-messenger.

This was the way the crane went. It would fly a little way and then
light on the ground until the Prince came up to it. Then it would fly
again. Over marshes and across little streams the crane led him. And all
the time the King of Ireland's Son thought he was being brought to the
place where Fedelma was--to the place where he would get food and where
he could rest until just before the sun rose.

They went on and on till they came to an old tower. The crane lighted
upon it. The King's Son saw there was an iron door in the tower and he
pulled a chain until it opened. Then he saw a little room lighted with
candles, and he saw a young woman looking at herself in the glass. Her
back was towards him and her hair was the same as Fedelma's.

But when the young woman turned round he saw she was not Fedelma. She
was little, and she had a face that was brown and tight like a nut. She
made herself very friendly to the King of Ireland's Son and went to him
and took his hands and smiled into his face.

"You are welcome here," said she.

"Who are you?" he asked. "I am Gilveen," said she, "the second and
the most loving of the three daughters of the Enchanter of the Black
Back-Lands." She stroked his face and his hands when she spoke to him.

"And why did you send for me?"

"Because I know what great trouble you are in. My father is preparing a
task for you, and it will be a terrible one. You will never be able to
c