ales, for it was by him these tales were told.

THE WOOING OF BECFOLA

CHAPTER I

We do not know where Becfola came from. Nor do we know for certain where
she went to. We do not even know her real name, for the name Becfola,
"Dowerless" or "Small-dowered," was given to her as a nickname. This
only is certain, that she disappeared from the world we know of, and
that she went to a realm where even conjecture may not follow her.

It happened in the days when Dermod, son of the famous Ae of Slane, was
monarch of all Ireland. He was unmarried, but he had many foster-sons,
princes from the Four Provinces, who were sent by their fathers as
tokens of loyalty and affection to the Ard-Ri, and his duties as a
foster-father were righteously acquitted. Among the young princes of his
household there was one, Crimthann, son of Ae, King of Leinster, whom
the High King preferred to the others over whom he held fatherly sway.
Nor was this wonderful, for the lad loved him also, and was as eager and
intelligent and modest as becomes a prince.

The High King and Crimthann would often set out from Tara to hunt and
hawk, sometimes unaccompanied even by a servant; and on these excursions
the king imparted to his foster-son his own wide knowledge of forest
craft, and advised him generally as to the bearing and duties of a
prince, the conduct of a court, and the care of a people.

Dermod mac Ae delighted in these solitary adventures, and when he
could steal a day from policy and affairs he would send word privily to
Crimthann. The boy, having donned his hunting gear, would join the king
at a place arranged between them, and then they ranged abroad as chance
might direct.

On one of these adventures, as they searched a flooded river to find the
ford, they saw a solitary woman in a chariot driving from the west.

"I wonder what that means?" the king exclaimed thoughtfully.

"Why should you wonder at a woman in a chariot?" his companion inquired,
for Crimthann loved and would have knowledge.

"Good, my Treasure," Dermod answered, "our minds are astonished when we
see a woman able to drive a cow to pasture, for it has always seemed to
us that they do not drive well."

Crimthann absorbed instruction like a sponge and digested it as rapidly.

"I think that is justly said," he agreed.

"But," Dermod continued, "when we see a woman driving a chariot of two
horses, then we are amazed indeed."

When the machinery of anything is e