Page:Heroes of the dawn.djvu/225

 preparations for a great banquet, to celebrate his victory over the Prince of Thessaly. Their arrangements were almost completed when the sound of a sweet, far-off music came floating over the hill-top towards them. So entrancing was the melody that the Fians ceased their occupations; ceased, too, their laughter and conversation, and gazed at the hillside, wondering if the folk of the Tuatha de Danann who had chosen it for a home in ancient days were coming forth again.

The music drew nearer, and still they listened, while the deer and wild boar roasted untended by the fires. Then on the hill-top a strange and wonderful man appeared, with many-coloured lights shining around him, and over his head two waving rays of light, like the wings of a golden bird. In his hand he held a branch covered with blossoms like silver bells, and as he moved these swayed and touched each other, filling the air with a sweet, delicate music, and, so it seemed to the Fians, with singing also.

Nearer and nearer the man came, moving steadily towards them through the darkness,