tasted anything sweeter in my life," said the Pooka, crunching
it between his teeth, "and now if you can give me a sup of milk, I'll
want for nothing."

The huntsman's wife brought him a peggin of milk. When he had drunk it,
"Now," says the Pooka, "go back to your beds, and I'll curl myself up by
the fire and sleep like a top till morning."

And soon everybody in the hut was fast asleep.

When the morning came the storm had gone, and the sun was shining
through the windows of the hut. At the song of the lark Fergus got up,
and no one in the world was ever more surprised than he when he saw no
sign of the little old man, or the little old woman, or the wild horse
of the mountains. His parents were also surprised, and they all thought
that they must have been dreaming until they saw the empty peggins
around the fire and some pieces of broken bread; and they did not know
what to think of it all.

From that day forward the desire grew stronger in the heart of Fergus
for a change of life; and one day he told his parents that he was
resolved to seek his fortune. He said he wished to be a soldier, and that
he would set out for the king's palace, and try to join the ranks of the
Feni.

About a week afterwards he took leave of his parents, and having
received their blessing he struck out for the road that led to the
palace of the High King of Erin. He arrived there just at the time when
the great captain of the Fenian host was recruiting his battalions,
which had been thinned in recent battle.

The manly figure of Fergus, his gallant bearing, and handsome face, all
told in his favor. But before he could be received into the Fenian ranks
he had to prove that he could play the harp like a bard, that he could
contend with staff and shield against nine Fenian warriors, that he
could run with plaited hair through the tangled forest without loosening
a single hair, and that in his course he could jump over trees as high
as his head, and stoop under trees as low as his knee, and that he could
run so lightly that the rotten twigs should not break under his feet.
Fergus proved equal to all the tests, thanks to the wandering minstrel
who taught him the use of the harp, to his own brave heart, and to his
forest training. He was enrolled in the second battalion of the Feni,
and before long he was its bravest and ablest champion.

At that very time it happened that the niece of the High King of
Erin was staying with the king and que