e steps
back to the spot where the berries grew, and, plucking several, hid them
in his bosom, and by nightfall regained the city.

The next day he went forth among his father's herds, and seizing a lamb,
forced some of the berries into his stomach, and the lamb, escaping, ran
away, and fell down dead. Then Morven took some more of the berries and
boiled them down, and mixed the juice with wine, and he gave the wine in
secret to one of his father's servants, and the servant died.

Then Morven sought the king, and coming into his presence, alone, he
said unto him, "How fares my lord?"

The king sat on a couch made of the skins of wolves, and his eye was
glassy and dim; but vast were his aged limbs, and huge was his stature,
and he had been taller by a head than the children of men, and none
living could bend the bow he had bent in youth; gray, gaunt, and
worn, as some mighty bones that are dug at times from the bosom of the
earth,--a relic of the strength of old.

And the king said faintly, and with a ghastly laugh, "The men of my
years fare ill. What avails my strength? Better had I been born a
cripple like thee, so should I have had nothing to lament in growing
old."

The red flush passed over Morven's brow; but he bent humbly,--

"O king, what if I could give thee back thy youth? What if I could
restore to thee the vigour which distinguished thee above the sons of
men, when the warriors of Alrich fell like grass before thy sword?"

Then the king uplifted his dull eyes, and he said,--

"What meanest thou, son of Osslah? Surely I hear much of thy great
wisdom, and how thou speakest nightly with the stars. Can the gods of
the night give unto thee the secret to make the old young?"

"Tempt them not by doubt," said Morven, reverently. "All things are
possible to the rulers of the dark hour; and, lo! the star that loves
thy servant spake to him at the dead of night, and said, 'Arise, and go
unto the king; and tell him that the stars honour the tribe of Oestrich,
and remember how the king bent his bow against the sons of Alrich;
wherefore, look thou under the stone that lies to the right of thy
dwelling, even beside the pine tree, and thou shalt see a vessel of
clay, and in the vessel thou wilt find a sweet liquid, that shall make
the king thy master forget his age forever.' Therefore, my lord, when
the morning rose I went forth, and looked under the stone, and behold
the vessel of clay; and I have brought it hithe