the hound, so he assembled his servants and retainers and addressed
them.

He told them that the hound was the Queen of Creatures, the Pulse of his
Heart, and the Apple of his Eye, and he warned them that the person who
as much as looked sideways on her, or knocked one shiver out of her,
would answer for the deed with pains and indignities. He recited a list
of calamities which would befall such a miscreant, and these woes began
with flaying and ended with dismemberment, and had inside bits of such
complicated and ingenious torment that the blood of the men who heard it
ran chill in their veins, and the women of the household fainted where
they stood.

CHAPTER V

In course of time the news came to Fionn that his mother's sister
was not living with Iollan. He at once sent a messenger calling
for fulfilment of the pledge that had been given to the Fianna, and
demanding the instant return of Tuiren. Iollan was in a sad condition
when this demand was made. He guessed that Uct Dealv had a hand in the
disappearance of his queen, and he begged that time should be given him
in which to find the lost girl. He promised if he could not discover
her within a certain period that he would deliver his body into Fionn's
hands, and would abide by whatever judgement Fionn might pronounce. The
great captain agreed to that.

"Tell the wife-loser that I will have the girl or I will have his head,"
said Fionn.

Iollan set out then for Faery. He knew the way, and in no great time he
came to the hill where Uct Dealv was.

It was hard to get Uct Dealv to meet him, but at last she consented, and
they met under the apple boughs of Faery.

"Well!" said Uct Dealv. "Ah! Breaker of Vows and Traitor to Love," said
she.

"Hail and a blessing," said Iollan humbly.

"By my hand," she cried, "I will give you no blessing, for it was no
blessing you left with me when we parted."

"I am in danger," said Iollan.

"What is that to me?" she replied fiercely.

"Fionn may claim my head," he murmured.

"Let him claim what he can take," said she.

"No," said Iollan proudly, "he will claim what I can give."

"Tell me your tale," said she coldly.

Iollan told his story then, and, he concluded, "I am certain that you
have hidden the girl."

"If I save your head from Fionn," the woman of the Shi' replied, "then
your head will belong to me."

"That is true," said Iollan.

"And if your head is mine, the body that goes under it is mine. Do yo