ying to write the brogue. It is hard to spell and confusing to read.
If you do not know what a good Irish brogue is, you would never learn
from any attempt of mine to spell it out for you; and if you do know
what it is, you can put it in for yourself. I may have to try to write
a little of it now and then, for there is some Irish that does not
look like Irish when it is written in English, but I shall use as
little of it after this as I can. Naggeneen is back by this time.

Naggeneen sauntered into the hall where the King and the Queen and all
the company were waiting for him, with his hands in his pockets, quite
as if he had been out for a quiet stroll and had come back because he
was tired of it. "Well," said the King, "did you see the King of All
Ireland?"

"I saw him with my good-looking eyes," Naggeneen answered.

"And what did he say?"

"He said he'ld come here and talk to you himself, and, by the look of
him, I think it's a pleasant time he'll be giving you."

"Then why is he not here as soon as you?" the King asked.

"Oh, nothing would do for him," said Naggeneen, "but that he and his
men must come on horseback. They can come no faster that way, but they
think it's due to their dignity. They had to wait for the horses to be
ready, and so I beat them."

Naggeneen had scarcely said this when the door flew open at the end of
the hall, and, with a rush and a whirl, in came a great troupe of
fairies on horseback--the King of All Ireland and his men. They all
leaped down from their horses, and instantly every horse turned into a
green rush, such as grows beside the bogs. The King of All Ireland
walked quickly up to the King of the rath and stood before him, with
an awful frown on his face. The King of the rath was plainly nervous.
"Will you have a light for your pipe, Your Majesty?" he asked.

"Never mind my pipe now," said the King of All Ireland. "Tell me first
of all, who is this messenger that you sent to me?" The King of All
Ireland had only a little bit of brogue--the Dublin kind.

"Sure," said the King of the rath, "that's only poor Naggeneen."

"Only poor Naggeneen!" cried the King of All Ireland. "And what are
you doing with him? Do you see the red jacket he has on? Why doesn't
he wear a green jacket, like your people? You know what his red jacket
means as well as I. He belongs to the fairies who live by themselves,
not to those who live together honestly in a rath. Why do you have him
with your ho