Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/51

Rh His name should be done. If thou wilt not let me call in the bird that is benumbed with cold and sore with hunger, I myself will doubt thy teaching and thy faith. But, as I believe in thy teaching and the faith thou teachest me, I will arise and let in the bird.

Then Deirdre opened the door and set food and drink before the hunter.

While he is in shelter, the hunter lets his tongue wag, and he tells Deirdre of the three sons of Usnach and their strength and beauty, describing them under the same figures of speech as in the other tales. He is speedily dismissed with sharp words by the foster-mother, but having been much struck by the beauty of Deirdre, he thinks to make profit out of his discovery by relating the story to King Conor of Ulster, who is a widower. Inspired by his tales, the King and his party set out, and they perform with much fatigue and pain the journey to the lonely sheiling. They draw up before the door and knock, but nothing will induce the nurse to open the door, even when they threaten to break the bothie down and enter by force. "I would be obliged to you," said the woman, "to tell me who commands me to open my bothie door?" "It is I, Conor, King of Ulster," is the reply, "and let not the matter be in darkness to thee any longer." Then she is forced to obey, and the King carries off Deirdre and wishes to marry her at once, "for he had never in waking day or dreaming night seen a 'blood-drop' so lovely as Deirdre." But she would by no means consent, for "she had no knowledge of the duties of a wife or manners of a maiden, seeing that she never had seen the features of a man till now, nor sat in assembly or company before. Nor could she even sit in a chair, for she had never seen a chair till now." So she was allowed the respite of a year, and meanwhile she learned rapidly all that it was needful for her to know. One day as Deirdre and her maidens were sitting on the hill behind the house enjoying the scene and drinking the sunshine,