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 any one so small before; but when he played they did not remember his smallness, they listened only to his music, for such sweet harping had never been heard by them hitherto. From every part of Ireland the musicians of the Fianna came to him to be instructed, and he taught them gentle faery melodies, and in the whole of Ireland there were no minstrels, except those of the Fianna, who could play such music.

"Little Nut of Melody," said Fionn to him one day, "you are far from your own people, and must often be very lonely. All my men have wives but you, and my wish is to find a fair and gentle woman for you."

"I do not want any wife at all," said the little man hastily. He was greatly alarmed lest Fionn should bestow on him one of the big tall women of the Fianna.

"I can tell you where there is a woman of his own race who would keep loneliness away from him," said one of the Fians. "She lives in a house of the Sidhe in Munster, and her name is Blaithnait. She is wise too, and is a revealer of the future.'