unto the people a token that they may choose that king
whom the gods of the night prefer!' Then a low voice, sweeter than the
music of the bard, stole along the silence. 'Thy love for thy race is
grateful to the stars of night: go, then, son of Osslah, and seek the
meeting of the chiefs and the people to choose a king, and tell them not
to scorn thee because thou art slow to the chase, and little known in
war; for the stars give thee wisdom as a recompense for all. Say unto
the people that as the wise men of the council shape their lessons by
the flight of birds, so by the flight of birds shall a token be given
unto them, and they shall choose their kings. For, saith the star of
night, the birds are the children of the winds, they pass to and fro
along the ocean of the air, and visit the clouds that are the war-ships
of the gods; and their music is but broken melodies which they glean
from the harps above. Are they not the messengers of the storm? Ere the
stream chafes against the bank, and the rain descends, know ye not, by
the wail of birds and their low circle over the earth, that the tempest
is at hand? Wherefore, wisely do ye deem that the children of the air
are the fit interpreters between the sons of men and the lords of the
world above. Say then to the people and the chiefs that they shall take,
from among the doves that build their nests in the roof of the palace, a
white dove, and they shall let it loose in the air, and verily the gods
of the night shall deem the dove as a prayer coming from the people, and
they shall send a messenger to grant the prayer and give to the tribes
of Oestrich a king worthy of themselves.'

"With that the star spoke no more."

Then the friends of Voltoch murmured among themselves, and they said,
"Shall this man dictate to us who shall be king?" But the people and
the warriors shouted, "Listen to the star; do we not give or deny battle
according as the bird flies,--shall we not by the same token choose him
by whom the battle should be led?" And the thing seemed natural to them,
for it was after the custom of the tribe. Then they took one of the
doves that built in the roof of the palace, and they brought it to the
spot where Morven stood, and he, looking up to the stars and muttering
to himself, released the bird.

There was a copse of trees at a little distance from the spot, and as
the dove ascended, a hawk suddenly rose from the copse and pursued the
dove; and the dove wa