he feast was ended the queen opened the dance with the
prince, and it was not until the moon was high above the floating island
that the prince retired to rest.

He was so tired after his journey and the dancing that he fell into
a sound sleep. When he awoke the next morning the sun was shining
brightly, and he heard outside the palace the jingle of bells and the
music of baying hounds, and his heart was stirred by memories of the
many pleasant days on which he had led the chase over the plains and
through the green woods of Tara.

He looked out through the window, and he saw all the fairy champions
mounted on their steeds ready for the chase, and at their head the fairy
queen. And at that moment the pages came to say the queen wished to know
if he would join them, and the prince went out and found his steed ready
saddled and bridled, and they spent the day hunting in the forest that
stretched away for miles behind the palace, and the night in feasting
and dancing.

When the prince awoke the following morning he was summoned by the pages
to the presence of the queen. The prince found the queen on the lawn
outside the palace surrounded by her court.

"We shall go on the lake to-day, Cuglas," said the queen, and taking his
arm she led him along the water's edge, all the courtiers following.

[Illustration: "The queen wished to know if he would join them"]

When she was close to the water she waved her wand, and in a second a
thousand boats, shining like glass, shot up from beneath the lake and
set their bows against the bank. The queen and Cuglas stepped into one,
and when they were seated two fairy harpers took their places in the
prow. All the other boats were soon thronged by fairies, and then the
queen waved her wand again, and an awning of purple silk rose over the
boat, and silken awnings of various colors over the others, and the
royal boat moved off from the bank followed by all the rest, and in
every boat sat a harper with a golden harp, and when the queen waved her
wand for the third time, the harpers struck the trembling chords, and to
the sound of the delightful music the boats glided over the sunlit lake.
And on they went until they approached the mouth of a gentle river
sliding down between banks clad with trees. Up the river, close to the
bank and under the drooping trees, they sailed, and when they came to
a bend in the river, from which the lake could be no longer seen, they
pushed their prows in ag