Page:The book of wonder voyages (1919).djvu/147

 sorrowful to leave him. But he never stayed from his merry play and joyous laughter.

Then was fulfilled the doom of Nuca the wizard that only Maelduin and the seventeen appointed comrades should win back in safety to the land of their birth.

After this they came to an island filled with cattle, oxen, kine, and sheep. There were neither houses nor forts therein, so they fed on the sheep. Then some of them espied a large falcon, which they declared to be like the falcons of Ireland. So they agreed to watch whither it went, and when it flew to the southeast they rowed after it until even, when they sighted land like unto Ireland. Rowing towards it they found it to be the very island from which they had been driven by the wind, and thereon were the slayers of Ailill, Maelduin's father.

There they landed, and, going to the fortress where the inhabitants were dining listened at the door to their conversation.

One man said, "It would be well if we do not see Maelduin." "That Maelduin," said another, "hath been drowned." "But," said a third, "mayhap it will be he who will wake you out of your sleep." "What should we do if he came now?" asked a fourth. To that the chief replied, "We would welcome him gladly, for indeed he has suffered long." Thereat Maelduin struck the knocker against the door.

"Who is there? " said the doorkeeper.