Page:Celtic Stories by Edward Thomas.djvu/9



of Ulster had a sister named Dectora, and one day she and the fifty maidens, her companions, vanished from the palace. No man saw their going, nor could any trace or news of them be anywhere found. At midday they were seen as they always were; before the end of the afternoon they had gone away as if on wings. Their doors were shut; their embroidery lay about, and the needles were waiting for their return. If they had been birds and the palace a cage they might have flown out of the little windows and left it empty. The black-bearded king went from room to room seeking them in vain.

Three years afterwards another misfortune befell Conachoor. A flock of birds appeared about the palace and settled down to feed on the plain of Emania. They were of a strange kind and of extraordinary beauty, and it was thought they had come from the land of youth or from some island unknown to ships. Men went out to see them and wonder at them, for they were not shy. Rut they ate up everything on the plain: not a grass blade escaped them. This angered Conachoor; and he and many of his chieftains yoked their chariots and went out to hunt the birds. The faster the horses ran the faster flew the birds in low flight; yet they seemed not to be afraid or to be flying from their pursuers. They called to one another in sweet voices, and as birds are happier than men so these seemed to be happier than other birds. They kept just ahead, as if the furious