Page:Celtic Stories by Edward Thomas.djvu/23

 Cohoolin forgot Eefa, and Conla he never knew. It was part of Cohoolin's reputation that he had no children. Men said that this was why Cohoolin was so little afraid of death, because he had no son to watch growing up. They said that this also was why he thought so much of fame after death, because no son of his would be living after him to carry on his name and some likeness of his beauty and courage. As Cohoolin lived without a child, so Conla lived without a father. His mother taught him the same arts of battle as Cohoolin, and he became a great warrior. He asked his mother about his father, and, under promise of secrecy, she told him that his father was Cohoolin. Sometimes the boy had a great longing to see so glorious a warrior; sometimes he felt that he could hate the man who had left Queen Eefa and himself and never returned. When Conla had learned everything that can be learnt without wrinkles and grey hair and hollow teeth, she gave him Cohoolin's ring, and sent him to Erin. 'Remember,' she said, 'tell no man thy name or history, and whatever man shall challenge thee to combat, fight him. Thy father would do the same.'

In Erin every one loved him at first for his comeliness and his open ways. Many a girl would have been glad to have him for a lover or husband, but to those who spoke of love he answered:

'No. This is not my country, and I shall return alone to whence I came. I will not leave a son behind me as my father did, nor a wife as my mother was left.'

They asked who was his father, and who his mother, and if they were still alive; but he would not tell. He would not even tell his name. Nevertheless he made one exception. One maid who loved him looked at him with eyes which he could not resist, and he said, 'I am