en in their palace at Tara. The
princess was the loveliest lady in all the land. She was as proud as
she was beautiful. The princes and chieftains of Erin in vain sought her
hand in marriage. From Alba and Spain, and the far-off isles of Greece,
kings came to woo her. From the northern lands came vikings in stately
galleys with brazen prows, whose oarsmen tore the white foam from the
emerald seas as they swept towards the Irish coasts. But the lady had
vowed she would wed with no one except a battle champion who could excel
in music the chief bard of the High King of Erin; who could outstrip on
his steed in the great race of Tara the white steed of the plains; and
who could give her as a wedding robe a garment of all the colors of the
rainbow, so finely spun that when folded up it would fit in the palm of
her small white hand. To fulfill these three conditions was impossible
for all her suitors, and it seemed as if the loveliest lady of the land
would go unmarried to her grave.

It chanced that once, on a day when the Fenian battalions were engaged
in a hurling-match, Fergus beheld the lady watching the match from her
sunny bower. He no sooner saw her than he fell over head and ears in
love with her, and he thought of her by night, and he thought of her by
day, and believing that his love was hopeless, he often wished he had
never left his forest-home.

The great fair of Tara[8] was coming on, and all the Feni were busy from
morning till night practicing feats of arms and games, in order to take
part in the contests to be held during the fair. And Fergus, knowing
that the princess would be present, determined to do his best to win the
prizes which were to be contended for before the ladies' eyes.

The fair began on the 1st of August, but for a whole week before the
five great roads of Erin were thronged with people of all sorts. Princes
and warriors on their steeds, battle champions in their chariots,
harpers in hundreds, smiths with gleaming spears and shields and
harness for battle steeds and chariots; troops of men and boys leading
racehorses; jewelers with gold drinking-horns, and brooches, and pins,
and earrings, and costly gems of all kinds, and chessboards of silver
and gold, and golden and silver chessmen in bags of woven brass; dyers
with their many-colored fabrics; bands of jugglers; drovers goading on
herds of cattle; shepherds driving their sheep; huntsmen with spoils
of the chase; dwellers in the lakes or