e
features of his daughter Mave.

[Illustration: "'I have mourned you as dead, my darling,' said he"]

At that moment the princess came to herself, and her father, lifting her
tenderly in his arms, kissed her again and again.

"I have mourned you as dead, my darling," said he, "and now you are
restored to me more lovely than ever. I would gladly have given up my
throne for this. But say who is the champion who has brought you hither,
and who has slain the wild boar we have hunted so many years in vain?"

The princess blushed like a rose as she said:

"His name is Enda, father; it is he has brought me back to you."

Then the king embraced Enda and said:

"Forgive me, Enda, for asking any questions about you before you have
shared the hospitality of my court. My palace lies beyond the forest,
and we shall reach it soon."

Then the king ordered his huntsman to sound the bugle-horn, and all his
nobles galloped up in answer to it, and when they saw the Princess Mave
they were so dazzled by her beauty that they scarcely gave a thought to
the death of the wild boar.

"It is my daughter, Mave, come back to me," said the king.

And all the nobles lowered their lances, and bowed in homage to the
lady.

"And there stands the champion who has brought her home," said the king,
pointing to Enda.

The nobles looked at Enda, and bowed courteously, but in their hearts
they were jealous of the champion, for they saw he was already a
favorite of the king's.

Then the pages came up, leading milk-white steeds with golden bridles,
and the king, ordering Enda to mount one of them, lifted Mave on to his
own, and mounted behind her. The pages, carrying the boar's head on a
hollow shield, preceded by the huntsmen sounding their horns, set out
towards the palace, and the royal party followed them.

As the procession approached the palace crowds came rushing out to see
the trophies of the chase, and through the snow-white door the queen,
Mave's cruel stepmother, attended by her maids-of-honor and the royal
bards, came forth to greet the king. But when she saw seated before him
the Princess Mave, who she thought was at the bottom of the lake under a
spell of enchantment, she uttered a loud cry, and fell senseless to the
ground.

The king jumped from his horse, and rushing to the queen, lifted her up
and carried her in his arms to her apartments, for he had no suspicion
of the wickedness of which she had been guilty.

And the co