,
and to cool shade for the day. What could they do in such a place as
this? They remembered how the King of All Ireland had told them that
they did not know whether the place where they were going was a place
fit for them to live in.

The first thing that the King did was to send some of the fairies in
all directions to see if they could spy out any place where the whole
tribe could live in a decent and comfortable manner. The street, he
was sure, would never do. Of course, if the Fairy King wanted a rock
or a hill to open and let him into it, it would open, and he could
live in it, if he chose, just as he used to in his own old rath. And
no mortal who might happen to be about would know that anything
unusual was happening. And just so the street would open for him, if
he wanted it to. But before he had decided to try it he saw a place
where some men had opened it, and that was quite enough for him. If
you have ever seen a New York street opened, you know what it was
like; if you have not, it is of no use to try to tell you.

But the messengers whom the King had sent in all directions were
scarcely gone when those who had started toward the west were back
with joyful news. "We have found a beautiful place," they said. "It's
only a bit of a way from here, and if we live there we'll not be far
from the O'Briens. Ye never saw grass smoother in your life, though
it's not quite so green, maybe, as it is at home. And then there's
tall trees of all kinds, and there's bushes that'll have flowers on
them, belike, in the right time of the year. And there's smooth roads
and walks, and there's hills and great rocks, that we could live
inside of as easy as in a rath itself. It's a much quieter place than
here, too, and the air is better, though it's so near. It's not wide
toward the west, but off to the south it reaches as far as we can see,
like a forest."

The King left a guard to watch, lest the O'Briens should like the
place as little as himself and should leave it and be lost, and then
he hurried with the rest to see the new country that had been
discovered. If you know New York very well indeed, you have guessed
already that it was the north end of Central Park which the fairies
had found. But you may know New York pretty well and not know, as a
good many people who live in it do not, that there is any north end to
Central Park, still less that it is far prettier than the south end.

After all the distressing streets and