The Golden Spears | Page 8

that it
was the same little trout the otter had brought him the night before, and
he said:

"Well, I gave you a chance last night. I'll give you another, if only to
see what will come of it."
And he dropped the trout into the lake; but no sooner had it touched the
waters than it was changed into a beautiful, milk-white swan. And
Enda could hardly believe his eyes, as he saw it sailing across the lake,
until it was lost in the sedges growing by the shore.
All that night he lay awake, thinking of what he had seen, and as soon
as the morning stood on the hill-tops, and cast its shafts of golden light
across the lake, Enda rose and got into his curragh.
He rowed all round the shores, beating the sedges with his oar, in
pursuit of the swan; but all in vain; he could not catch a glimpse of her
white plumage anywhere. Day after day he rowed about the lake in
search of her, and every evening he lay outside the hut watching the
waters. At long last, one night, when the full moon, rising above the
mountains, flooded the whole lake with light, he saw the swan coming
swiftly towards him, shining brighter than the moonbeams. The swan
came on until it was almost within a boat's length of the hut; and what
should Enda hear but the swan speaking to him in his own language:
"Get into your curragh, Enda, and follow me," said she, and, saying this,
she turned round and sailed away.
Enda jumped into the curragh, and soon the water, dripping from his
oar, was flashing like diamonds in the moonlight. And he rowed after
the swan, who glided on before him, until she came to where the
shadows of the mountains lay deepest on the lake. Then the swan rested,
and when Enda came up to her:
"Enda," said she, "I have brought you where none may hear what I
wish to say to you. I am Mave, the daughter of the king of Erin. By the
magic arts of my cruel stepmother I was changed into a trout, and cast
into this lake a year and a day before the evening when you restored me
to the waters the second time. If you had not done so the first night the
otter brought me to you I should have been changed into a hooting owl;
if you had not done so the second night, I should have been changed

into a croaking raven. But, thanks to you, Enda, I am now a snow-white
swan, and for one hour on the first night of every full moon the power
of speech is and will be given to me as long as I remain a swan. And a
swan I must always remain, unless you are willing to break the spell of
enchantment that is over me; and you alone can break it."
"I'll do anything I can for you, O princess!" said Enda. "But how can I
break the spell?"
"You can do so," said the swan, "only by pouring upon my plumage the
perfumed water that fills the golden bowl that is in the inmost room of
the palace of the fairy queen, beneath the lake."
"And how can I get that?" said Enda.
"Well," said the swan, "you must dive beneath the lake, and walk along
its bed, until you come to where the lake dragon guards the entrance of
the fairy queen's dominions."
"I can dive like a fish," said Enda; "but how can I walk beneath the
waters?"
"You can do it easily enough," said the swan, "if you get the
water-dress of Brian, one of the three sons of Turenn, and his helmet of
transparent crystal, by the aid of which he was able to walk under the
green salt sea."[3]
"And where shall I find them?"
"They are in the water-palace of Angus of the Boyne," said the swan;
"but you should set out at once, for if the spell be not broken before the
moon is full again, it cannot be broken for a year and a day."
"I'll set out in the first ray of the morning," said Enda.
"May luck and joy go with you," said the swan. "And now the hours of
silence are coming upon me, and I have only time to warn you that
dangers you little dream of will lie before you in your quest for the

golden cup."
"I am willing to face all dangers for your sake, O princess," said Enda.
"Blessings be upon you, Enda," said the swan, and she sailed away
from the shadow out into the light across the lake to the sedgy banks.
And Enda saw her no more.