urt leeches were summoned to attend her, but she died that
very night, and it was not until a green mound, worthy of a queen of
Erin, had been raised over her grave that the Princess Mave told her
father of the wickedness of her stepmother. And when she told him the
whole story of how Enda had broken the spell of enchantment, and of the
dangers which he had faced for her sake, the king summoned an assembly
of all his nobles, and seated on his throne, wearing his golden helmet,
the bards upon his right hand and the Druids upon his left, and the
nobles in ranks before him with gleaming helmets and flashing spears,
he told them the story of the princess, and of the service which Enda
had rendered to her.

"And now," said the king, "if the princess is willing to take her
deliverer for her husband, I am willing that she shall be his bride; and
if you, my subjects, bards and Druids and nobles and chiefs of Erin,
have anything to say against this union, speak. But first, Mave," said
the king, as he drew the blushing princess to him, "speak, darling, as
becomes the daughter of a king--speak in the presence of the nobles of
Erin, and say if it is your wish to become Enda's bride."

The princess flung her white arms around her father's neck, as she
murmured:

"Father, it was Enda brought me back to you, and before all the princes
and nobles of Erin I am willing to be his bride."

And she buried her head upon the king's breast, and as he stroked her
silken hair falling to her feet, the bards struck their golden harps,
but the sound of the joyous music could hardly drown the murmurs of the
jealous nobles.

When the music ceased the king beckoned Enda to him, and was about to
place his hand in Mave's when a Druid, whose white beard almost touched
the ground, and who had been a favorite of the dead stepmother, and hated
Mave for her sake, stepped forward and said:

"O king of Erin, never yet has the daughter of a king been freely given
in marriage to any save a battle champion; and that stripling there has
never struck his spear against a warrior's shield."

A murmur of approbation rose from the jealous princes, and Congal, the
bravest of them all, stepped out from the ranks, and said:

"The Druid speaks the truth, O king! That stripling has never faced a
battle champion yet, and, speaking for all the nobles of your land, I
challenge him to fight any one of us; and as he is young and unused to
arms, we are willing that the y