ad
directed him, and he bore it away with him in his boat. So softly went
he upon the waters that none of them that danced upon the fair green
holm either saw or heard him. Still danced they on to the sweet music
made by the white fingers of the waves, and still shone the white moon
upon the fair green holm where they so danced.

Now when came Harold to his home, bearing the precious skin with him,
he saw the fairies at play upon the floor of his hut, and they feared
no evil, for there was barley strewn upon the sill so that no wicked
sprite could enter there. And when Membril, the fairy queen, saw him
bringing the skin that he had found upon the shore, she bade him good
welcome, and she said and she sung:--

I am Membril, queen of Fay,--
Ponder well what words I say;
Hide that fair and velvet skin
Some secluded spot within;
In the tree where ravens croak,--
In the hollow of the oak,
In the cave with mosses lined,
In the earth where none may find;
Hide it quick and hide it deep,--
So secure shall be thy sleep,
Thine shall bride and blessings be,
Thine a fair posterity,--
So doth Membril counsel thee!

So, pondering upon this counsel and thinking well of it, Harold took
the fair velvet skin and hid it, and none knew where it was hid,--none
save only the raven that lived in the hollow oak. And when he had so
done he returned unto his home and lay upon his bed and slept. It came
to pass that early upon the morrow, when the sun made all the eastward
sky blush for the exceeding ardor of his morning kiss, there came a
knocking at the door of Harold's hut, and Harold opened the door, and
lo! there stood upon the threshold the fairest maiden that eyes ever
beheld. Unlike was she to maidens dwelling in those islands, for her
hair was black as the waters of the long winter night, and her eyes
were as the twin midnight rocks that look up from the white waves of
the moonlit sea in yonder reef; withal was she most beautiful to look
upon, and her voice was as music that stealeth to one over pleasant
waters.

The maiden's name was Persis, and she was the daughter of a Pagan king
that ruled in a country many, many--oh, many leagues to the southward
of these islands, in a country where unicorns and dragons be, and where
dwelleth the phoenix and hippogriffins and the cockatrix, and where
bloometh a tree that runneth blood, and where mighty princes do
wondrous things. Now it fortuned that the