ll to the Kitchen without going himself behind the servant who
carried it. One day the servant brought it into the Kitchen to be washed
and the King came behind the servant. I took the dish and cleaned it
with thrice-boiled water and dried it with cloths of three different
kinds. Then I covered it with sweet-smelling herbs and left it in a bin
where it was sunk in soft bran. The King was pleased to see the good
care I took of his dish, and he said before his servant that he would
do me any favor I would ask. There and then I told him about my two
foster-sisters Baun and Deelish, and how they were in love with the two
youths Dermott and Downal who had come from the court of the King of
Ireland. I asked that when these two youths were being given wives, that
the King should remember my foster-sisters.

The King was greatly vexed at my request. He declared that the two
youths had on their breasts the stars that denoted the sons of Kings and
that he intended they should marry his own two foster-daughters when the
maidens were of age to wed. "It may be," he said, "that these two youths
will bring what my Queen longs for--a berry from the Fairy Rowan Tree
that is guarded by the Giant Crom Duv."

The next day the King's Councillor was feeding the birds and I was
sifting the corn. I asked him what was the history of the Fairy Rowan
Tree that the Giant Crom Duv guarded and why it was that the Queen
longed for a berry of it. There and then he told me this story:--

The Story of the Fairy Rowan Tree

The history of the Fairy Rowan Tree (said the King's Councillor) begins
with Aine', the daughter of Mananaun who is Lord of the Sea. Curoi, the
King of the Munster Fairies loved Aine' and sought her in marriage. But
the desire of the girl's heart was set upon Fergus who was a mortal,
and one of the Fianna of Ireland. Now when Mananaun MacLir heard Curoi's
proposals and learned how his daughter's heart was inclined, he said,
"Let the matter be settled in this way: we will call a hurling-match
between the Fairies of Munster and the Fianna of Ireland with Curoi to
captain one side and Fergus to captain the other, and if the Fairies
win, Aine' will marry Curoi and if the Fianna have the victory she will
have my leave to marry this mortal Fergus."

So a hurling-match was called for the first day of Lunassa, and it
was to be played along the strand of the sea. Mananaun himself set the
goal-marks, and Aine' was there to watch the