irst oppressed him.

He longed for something that would allay his hunger and thirst. But he
knew that he could not go to the river to get refreshment of water and
cresses from the Glashan. Something fell beside him in the courtyard.
It was a beautiful, bright-colored apple. He went to pick it up, but
it rolled away towards the third courtyard. He followed it. Then, as he
looked back he saw that the ravens had lighted near the body of the King
of the Land of Mist, holding the head in their beaks and claws. He ran
back and the ravens lifted the head up again and flew away.

He watched for another long time, and his hunger and his thirst made him
long for the bright-colored apple he had seen.

Another apple fell down. He went to pick it up and it rolled away. But
now the King of Ireland's Son thought of nothing hut that bright-colored
apple. He followed it as it rolled.

It roiled through the third courtyard, and the second and the first. It
rolled out of the first gate and on to the rock upon which the Castle
was built. It rolled off the rock. The King of Ireland's Son sprang down
and he saw the apple become a raven's head and beak.

He climbed up the rock and ran back. And when he came into the first
courtyard he saw that the three ravens had come back again. They had
brought the head to the body, and body and head were now joined. The
King of the Land of Mist stood up again, and his head was turned towards
his left shoulder. He went to the sixth gate and took up a sword that
was beside it.

IV

They fought their last battle before the sixth gate. The guard that the
King of Ireland's Son made was weak, and if the King of the Land of Mist
could have turned fully upon him, he could have disarmed and killed him.
But his head had been so placed upon his body that it looked The King
of the Land of Mist 237 over his left shoulder. He was able to draw his
sword down the breast of the King of Ireland's Son, wounding him.
The King's Son whirled his sword around his head and flung it at his
wry-headed enemy. It swept his head off, and the King of the Land of
Mist fell down.

The King of Ireland's Son saw on the outstretched neck the mark of the
other beheading. He took up the Sword of Light again and prepared to
hold the head against all that might come for it.

But no creature came. And then the hair on the severed head became loose
and it was blown away by the wind. And the bones of the head became a
powder and