The Golden Spears | Page 9

He rowed his curragh home, and he lay on his bed without taking off
his clothes. And as the first faint glimmer of the morning came slanting
down the mountains, he stepped into his curragh and pulled across the
lake, and took the road towards the water-palace of Angus of the
Boyne.
When he reached the banks of the glancing river a little woman,
dressed in red, was standing there before him.
"You are welcome, Enda," said she. "And glad am I to see the day that
brings you here to help the winsome Princess Mave. And now wait a
second, and the water-dress and crystal helmet will be ready for you."
And, having said this, the little woman plucked a handful of wild
grasses, and she breathed upon them three times and then flung them
on the river, and a dozen fairy nymphs came springing up through the
water, bearing the water-dress and crystal helmet and a shining spear.
And they laid them down upon the bank at Enda's feet, and then
disappeared.
"Now, Enda," said the fairy woman, "take these; by the aid of the dress
and the helmet you can walk beneath the waters. You will need the
spear to enable you to meet the dangers that lie before you. But with
that spear, if you only have courage, you can overcome everything and
everyone that may attempt to bar your way."
Having said this, she bid good-by to Enda, and stepping off the bank,
she floated out upon the river as lightly as a red poppy leaf. And when
she came to the middle of the stream she disappeared beneath the
waters.

Enda took the helmet, dress, and spear, and it was not long until he
came to the sedgy banks where his little boat was waiting for him. As
he stepped into the curragh the moon was rising above the mountains.
He rowed on until he came to the hut, and having moored the boat to
the door, he put on the water-dress and the crystal helmet, and taking
the spear in his hand, he leaped over the side of the curragh, and sank
down and down until he touched the bottom. Then he walked along
without minding where he was going, and the only light he had was the
shimmering moonlight, which descended as faintly through the waters
as if it came through muffled glass. He had not gone very far when he
heard a horrible hissing, and straight before him he saw what he
thought were two flaming coals. After a few more steps he found
himself face to face with the dragon of the lake, the guardian of the
palace of the fairy queen. Before he had time to raise his spear, the
dragon had wound its coils around him, and he heard its horrible teeth
crunching against the side of his crystal helmet, and he felt the pressure
of its coils around his side, and the breath almost left his body; but the
dragon, unable to pierce the helmet, unwound his coils, and soon
Enda's hands were free, and before the dragon could attempt to seize
him again, he drove his spear through one of its fiery eyes, and,
writhing with pain, the hissing dragon darted through a cave behind
him. Enda, gaining courage from the dragon's flight, marched on until
he came to a door of dull brass set in the rocks. He tried to push it in
before him, but he might as well have tried to push away the rocks.
While he was wondering what he should do, he heard again the fierce
hissing of the dragon, and saw the red glare of his fiery eye dimly in the
water.
Lifting his spear and hastily turning round to meet the furious monster,
Enda accidentally touched the door with the point of the spear, and the
door flew open. Enda passed through, and the door closed behind him
with a grating sound, and he marched along through a rocky pass which
led to a sandy plain.
As he stepped from the pass into the plain the sands began to move, as
if they were alive. In a second a thousand hideous serpents, almost the
color of the sand, rose hissing up, and with their forked tongues made a

horrible, poisonous hedge in front of him. For a second he stood
dismayed, but then, leveling his spear, he rushed against the hedge of
serpents, and they, shooting poison at him, sank beneath the sand. But
the poison did not harm him, because of his water-dress and crystal
helmet.
When he had passed over the sandy plain, he had to climb a great steep,
jagged rock. When he got to the top of the rock he saw spread out
before him a stony