rown
bear that turned her from her chair in the supper-room. Nor would she
let him have the good horse he always rode. Instead the Prince was given
a horse that was lame in a leg and short in the tail. And neither hawk
nor hound went with him this time.

All day the King's Son was going, traveling through wood and waste until
the coming on of night. The little fluttering birds were going from the
bush tops, from tuft to tuft, and to the briar-roots, going to rest; but
if they were, he was not, till the night came on, blind and dark. Then
the King's Son ate his bread and meat, put his satchel under his head
and lay down to take his rest on the edge of a great waste.

In the morning he mounted his horse and rode on. And as he went across
the waste he saw an extraordinary sight--everywhere were the bodies of
dead creatures--a cock, a wren, a mouse, a weasel, a fox, a badger, a
raven---all the birds and beasts that the King's Son had ever known. He
went on, but he saw no living creature before him. And then, at the end
of the waste he came upon two living creatures struggling. One was an
eagle and the other was an eel. And the eel had twisted itself round the
eagle, and the eagle had covered her eyes with the black films of death.
The King's Son jumped off his horse and cut the eel in two with a sharp
stroke of his sword.

The eagle drew the films from her eyes and looked full at the King's
Son. "I am Laheen the Eagle," she said, "and I will pay you for this
service, Son of King Connal. Know that there has been a battle of the
creatures--a battle to decide which of the creatures will make laws for
a year. All were killed except the eel and myself, and if you had not
come I would have been killed and the eel would have made the laws. I am
Laheen the Eagle and always I will be your friend. And now you must tell
me how I can serve you."

"You can serve me," said the King's Son, "by showing me how I may come
to the dominion of the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands."

"I am the only creature who can show you, King's Son. And if I were not
old now I would carry you there on my back. But I can tell you how you
can get there. Ride forward for a day, first with the sun before you and
then with the sun at your back, until you come to the shore of a lake.
Stay there until you see three swans flying down. They are the three
daughters of the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands. Mark the one who
carries a green scarf in her mouth. S