Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 6 1888.djvu/181

Rh bar across the entrance to the Dornoch Firth to this day.—(D. Murray, Skibo.)

[Froissart tells how in 1381, when the Duke of Anjou was besieging a strong castle on the coast of Naples, a necromancer built a bridge which carried ten soldiers abreast, until any that passed on the bridge made "the sign of the crosse on hym, then all went to nought, and they that were on the bridge fell into the sea."]—Vol. i. p. 391.

xxi.—.

It happened to the Righ na Lirriach, after his marriage, to lose his way in the hills, while on a hunting expedition. He wandered long, and at last discovered a hut, and entered it, to be hospitably received by the Ben-ee (an enchantress, a fairy of the mountains), its only occupant. Here, under spell, he lived for twelve months; and not till the Ben-ee had given birth to a son did she set him free to return to the palace. There he found that in the first months of his absence the queen had also given birth to a son, over which he rejoiced, while the people rejoiced to see again the Righ na Lirriach. Not long after he went again to hunt on the hills. Now the henwife was one skilled in enchantment, and she came to the queen, and declared to her that the king had another son, and that that son's mother was the great Ben-ee. In order to get the king to return the queen feigned herself sick, and sent to tell him that she lay a-dying, and that, to see her ahve, he must come instantly. On receiving the message, the king hastened home, and to his wife's chamber, where he asked her if nothing would do her good? "One thing," she said, might, but he would have to vow to give it to her before she revealed what it was; so he swore that he would do it. "Then," she said, "bring me here the son of the Ben-ee." To this he replied that the thing grieved him, and, had he not vowed, he would not perform it—however, now he must and would. He started for the hut of the Ben-ee, and had to remain long with her before he could obtain her consent; but at last he brought the boy to the palace, and the queen, receiving him kindly, ordered him to be brought up with her own son. The boys grew up together. One day, as they were amusing themselves together, there passed by them