rry the Groac'h,
and no sooner was the ceremony over than she turned us into fishes, as
she had done to all our forerunners, who are in the fish-pond still,
where you will shortly join them.'

On hearing this Houarn leaped into the air, as if he already felt
himself frizzling in the golden pot. He rushed to the door, hoping to
escape that way; but the Groac'h, who had heard everything, met him on
the threshold. Instantly she threw the steel net over his head, and the
eyes of a little green frog peeped through the meshes.

'You shall go and play with the rest,' she said, carrying him off to the
fish-pond.

It was at this very moment that Bellah, who was skimming the milk in the
farm dairy, heard the fairy bell tinkle violently.

At the sound she grew pale, for she knew it meant that Houarn was in
danger; and, hastily, changing the rough dress she wore for her work,
she left the farm with the magic stick in her hand.

Her knees were trembling under her, but she ran as fast as she could to
the cross roads, where she drove her stick into the ground, murmuring as
she did so a verse her mother had taught her:

Little staff of apple-tree,
Over the earth and over the sea,
Up in the air be guide to me,
Everywhere to wander free,

and immediately the stick became a smart little horse, with a rosette
at each ear and a feather on his forehead. He stood quite still while
Bellah scrambled up, then he started off, his pace growing quicker and
quicker, till at length the girl could hardly see the trees and houses
as they flashed past. But, rapid as the pace was, it was not rapid
enough for Bellah, who stooped and said:

'The swallow is less swift than the wind, the wind is less swift than
the lightning. But you, my horse, if you love me, must be swifter than
them all, for there is a part of my heart that suffers--the best part
of my heart that is in danger.'

And the horse heard her, and galloped like a straw carried along by
a tempest till they reached the foot of a rock called the Leap of the
Deer. There he stopped, for no horse or mule that ever was born could
climb that rock, and Bellah knew it, so she began to sing again:

Horse of Leon, given to me,
Over the earth and over the sea,
Up in the air be guide to me,
Everywhere to wander free,

and when she had finished, the horse's fore legs grew shorter and spread
into wings, his hind legs became claws, feathers