the princess isn't one bit jealous," said the little woman. "Are
you, Ailinn?"

"Indeed I am not," said Ailinn.

"And you should not be," said the fairy queen, "for never lady yet had
truer knight than Cuglas. I loved him, and I love him dearly. I lured
him here hoping that in the delights of fairyland he might forget you.
It was all in vain. I know now that there is one thing no fairy power
above or below the stars, or beneath the waters, can ever subdue, and
that is love. And here together forever shall you and Cuglas dwell,
where old age shall never come upon you, and where pain or sorrow or
sickness is unknown."

And Cuglas never returned to the fair hills of Erin, and ages passed
away since the morning he followed the hounds into the fatal cave, but
his story was remembered by the firesides, and sometimes, even yet,
the herdboy watching his cattle in the fields hears the tuneful cry of
hounds, and follows it till it leads him to a darksome cave, and as
fearfully he listens to the sound becoming fainter and fainter he hears
the clatter of hoofs over the stony floor, and to this day the cave
bears the name of the prince who entered it never to return.[A]

[Footnote A: _Uaimh Bealach Conglais_, the cave of the road of
Cuglas--now Baltinglass--in the County Wicklow.]

THE HUNTSMAN'S SON

A long, long time ago there lived in a little hut on the borders of a
great forest a huntsman and his wife and son. From his earliest years
the boy, whose name was Fergus, used to hunt with his father in the
forest, and he grew up strong and active, sure and swift-footed as a
deer, and as free and fearless as the wind. He was tall and handsome; as
supple as a mountain ash, his lips were as red as its berries; his eyes
were as blue as the skies in spring; and his hair fell down over his
shoulders like a shower of gold. His heart was as light as a bird's,
and no bird was fonder of green woods and waving branches. He had lived
since his birth in the hut in the forest, and had never wished to leave
it, until one winter night a wandering minstrel sought shelter there,
and paid for his night's lodging with songs of love and battle. Ever
since that night Fergus pined for another life. He no longer found joy
in the music of the hounds or in the cries of the huntsmen in forest
glades. He yearned for the chance of battle, and the clang of shields,
and the fierce shouts of fighting warriors, and he spent all his spare
hours practi