Page:The Boy Who Knew What The Birds Said.djvu/178

 the harp. Everyone was silent in the hall. Then one voice was heard saying "It is true. The King Labraid Lorc has the ears of a horse."

The King had the man who said it taken by his soldiers and flung from the top of the Castle. No one else spoke. But the next day when he rode abroad the King heard the people behind the hedges saying "Labraid Lorc has the ears of a horse."

After that, whenever he came near them, people went from him, and at last no one was left in his Castle. And there was no one to take him over to the fair Islands that Mananaun, Lord of the Sea, had given him for a possession. And there was no one to bring over the fruits that grew on the islands nor the cattle and sheep that pastured there.

Then the King went to Mananaun, Lord of the Sea, and he offered him back the keys Mananaun had given him—the silver keys that struck each other when they were brought together and rang like bells, chiming out "Labraid Lorc is King, is King of the two Fair Islands." But no gift that Mananaun gives is ever taken back and the keys were