content.
And in time he and Guaire were reconciled; and Seanchan and all the
ollaves, and the whole Bardic Association, were feasted by the king
for thirty days in noble style, and had the choicest of viands and
the best of French wines to drink, served in goblets of silver. And in
return for his splendid hospitality the Bardic Association decreed
unanimously a vote of thanks to the king. And they praised him in
poems as 'Guaire the Generous,' by which name he was ever after known
in history, for the words of the poet are immortal.

OWNEY AND OWNEY-NA-PEAK

BY GERALD GRIFFEN

When Ireland had kings of her own--when there was no such thing as a
coat made of red cloth in the country--when there was plenty in men's
houses, and peace and quietness at men's doors (and that is a long
time since)--there lived, in a village not far from the great city of
Lumneach,[7] two young men, cousins: one of them named Owney, a smart,
kind-hearted, handsome youth, with limb of a delicate form, and a very
good understanding. His cousin's name was Owney too, and the
neighbours christened him Owney-na-peak (Owney of the nose), on
account of a long nose he had got--a thing so out of all proportion,
that after looking at one side of his face, it was a smart morning's
walk to get round the nose and take a view of the other (at least, so
the people used to say). He was a stout, able-bodied fellow, as stupid
as a beaten hound, and he was, moreover, a cruel tyrant to his young
cousin, with whom he lived in a kind of partnership.

[Footnote 7: The present Limerick.]

Both of them were of a humble station. They were
smiths--white-smiths--and they got a good deal of business to do from
the lords of the court, and the knights, and all the grand people of
the city. But one day young Owney was in town, he saw a great
procession of lords, and ladies, and generals, and great people, among
whom was the king's daughter of the court--and surely it is not
possible for the young rose itself to be so beautiful as she was. His
heart fainted at her sight, and he went home desperately in love, and
not at all disposed to business.

Money, he was told, was the surest way of getting acquainted with the
king, and so he began saving until he had put together a few
_hogs_,[8] but Owney-na-peak, finding where he had hid them, seized on
the whole, as he used to do on all young Owney's earnings.

[Footnote 8: A _hog_, 1s. 1d.]

One evening young Owney's