re in my mind!
I shall speak them and I shall be ashamed. But I shall die in pain if I
hold them back. Loosen the girdle, loosen the girdle! Take the rose you
gave me and loosen the girdle." She let the rose fall on the ground.

"I will loosen the girdle for you," said Flann.

"But loosen it now. How I have to strive to keep truths back, and
oh, what pain I am in! Take the Comb of Magnificence, and loosen the
girdle." She threw the comb down on the ground.

He took up the Rose of Sweet Smells and the Comb of Magnificence and he
took the girdle off her waist. "Oh, what a terrible thing I put round my
waist," said Flame-of-Wine. "Take it away, Flann, take it away. But give
me back the Rose of Sweet Smells and the Comb of Magnificence,--give
them back to me and I shall love you always."

"You cannot love me. And why should I give seven years in service for
your sake? I will leave these treasures back in Mogue's pack."

"Oh, you are a peddler, a peddler. Go from me," said Flame-of-Wine. "And
do not be in the Town of the Red Castle to-morrow, or I shall have my
father's hunting dogs set upon you." She turned away angrily and went
into the Castle.

Flann went back to Mogue's tent and left the Rose of Sweet Smells, the
Comb of Magnificence and the Girdle of Truth upon Mogue's pack. He sat
in the corner and cried bitterly. Then the King of Ireland's Son came and
told him that his sword was bright once more--that the stains that had
blemished its blade had been cleared away by the Gobaun Saor who had
also shown him the way to the Land of the Mist. He put his arm about
Flann and told him that he was starting now to rescue his love Fedelma
from the Castle of the King of the Land of Mist.

THE KING OF THE LAND OF MIST

I

The King of Ireland's Son came to the place where the river that he
followed takes the name of the River of the Broken Towers. It is called
by that name because the men of the old days tried to build towers
across its course. The towers were built a little way across the river
that at this place was tremendously wide.

"The Glashan will carry you across the River of the Broken Towers to
the shore of the Land of Mist," the Gobaun Saor had said to the King of
Ireland's Son. And now he was at the River of the Broken Towers but the
Glashan-creature was not to be seen.

Then he saw the Glashan. He was leaning his back against one of the
Towers and smoking a short pipe. The water of the river wa