Ard-ri, they set forth themselves to find and conquer the invader;
for the king told them that there was one other quicken-tree, more

beautiful and more magical than that growing by the Fairy Palace,
and that it was set in another part of the bright-blooming, sweet-

scented old garden,--namely, in the heart of the labyrinthine maze
of the Wise Woman of Wales; but as no one of them, neither the Gilla

Dacker nor those who pursued him, had ever, even with the aid of the
Magic Thread-Clue, reached the heart of the maze, there was no

knowledge among them of the second quicken-tree. The king also told
Sheela the Scribe, secretly, that one of his knights had found a

money-piece and a breviary in the forest of Rosnaree; and the silver
was unlike any ever used in the country of the Dedannans, and the

breviary could belong only to a pious Gael known as Loskenn of the
Bare Knees.

Now Sheela the Scribe, having fasted from midnight until dawn, gazed
upon the Horn of Foreknowledge, and read there that it was wiser for

her to remain on guard at the Fairy Palace, while her sisters
explored the secret fastnesses of the labyrinth.

When Finola was apparelled to set forth upon her quest, Pearla
thought her the loveliest maiden upon the ridge of the world, and

wondered whether she meant to conquer the invader by force of arms
or by the power of beauty.

The rose and the lily were fighting together in her face, and one
could not tell which of them got the victory. Her arms and hands

were like the lime, her mouth was as red as a ripe strawberry, her
foot as small and as light as another one's hand, her form smooth

and slender, and her hair falling down from her head under combs of
gold.++ One could not look at her without being 'all over in love

with her,' as Oisin said at his first meeting with Niam of the
Golden Hair. And as for Pearla, the rose on her cheeks was

heightened by her rage against the invader, the delicateblossom of
the sloe was not whiter than her neck, and her glossy chestnut

ringlets fell to her waist.
++Description of the Princess in Guleesh na Guss Dhu.

Then the Gilla Dacker unleashed Bran, the keen-scented terrier
hound, and put a pearl-embroidered pillion on Enbarr of the Flowing

Mane, and the two dauntlessmaidens leaped upon her back, each
bearing a broad shield and a long polished, death-dealing spear.

When Enbarr had been given a free rein she set out for the
labyrinth, trailing the Magic Thread-Clue behind her, cleaving the

air with long, active strides; and if you know what the speed of a
swallow is, flying across a mountain-side, or the dry wind of a

March day sweeping over the plains, then you can understand nothing
of the swiftness of this steed of the flowing mane, acquired by the

day by the maydens of Devorgilla.
Many were the dangers that beset the path of these two noble

champions on their quest for the Fairy Quicken Tree. Here they met
an enormous white stoat, but this was slain by the intrepid Bran,

and they buried its bleeding corse and raised a cairn over it, with
the name 'Stoat' graven on it in Ogam; there a druidical fairy mist

sprang up in their path to hide the way, but they pierced it with a
note of their far-reaching, clarion-toned voices,--an art learned in

their native land beyond the wave.
Now the dog Bran, being unhungered, and refusing to eat of Toma's

loaf, as all did who were ignorant of its druidical purpose, fell
upon the Magic Thread-Clue and tore it in twain. This so greatly

affrighted the champions that they sounded the Dord-Fian slowly and
plaintively, hoping that the war-cry might bring Sheela to their

rescue. This availing nothing, Finola was forced to slay Bran with
her straight-sided, silver-shining spear; but this she felt he would

not mind if he could know that he would share the splendid fate of
the stoat, and speedily have a cairn raised over him, with the word

'Bran' graven upon it in Ogam,--since this is the consolation
offered by the victorious living to all dead Celtic heroes; and if

it be a poor substitute for life, it is at least better than
nothing.

It was now many hours after noon, and though to the Fair Strangers
it seemed they had travelled more than forty or a hundred miles,

they were apparently no nearer than ever to the heart of the
labyrinth: and this from the first had been the pestiferous

peculiarity of that malignantly meandering maze. So they
dismounted, and tied Enbarr to the branch of a tree, while they

refreshed themselves with a mouthful of Toma's loaf; and Finola now
put her thumb under her 'tooth of knowledge,' for she wished new

guidance and inspiration, and, being more than common modest, she
said: "Inasmuch as we are fairer than all the other maydens in this

labyrinth, why, since we cannot find the heart of the maze, do we
not entice the invaders from their hiding-place by the quicken-tree;

and when we see from what direction they advance, fall upon and slay
them; and after raising the usual cairn to their memory, and carving

their names over it in the customary Ogam, run to the enchanted tree
and gather all the berries that are left? For this is the hour when

Sheela brews the tea, and the knights and the ladies quaff it from
our golden cups; and truly I am weary of this quest, and far rather

would I be there than here."
So Pearla the Melodious took her timpan,*+ and chanted a Gaelic song

that she had learned in the country of the Dedannans; and presently
a round-polished, red-gleaming quicken berry dropped into her lap,

and another into Finola's, and, looking up, they saw nought save
only a cloud of quicken berries falling through the air one after

the other. And this caused them to wonder, for it seemed like unto
a snare set for them; but Pearla said, "There is nought remaining

for us but to meet the danger."
"It is well," replied Finola, shaking down the mantle of her ebon

locks, and setting the golden combs more firmly in them; "only, if I
perish, I prithee let there be no cairns or Ogams. Let me fall, as

a beauty should, face upward; and if it be but a swoon, and the
invader be a handsome prince, see that he wakens me in his own good

way."
"To arms, then!" cried Pearla, and, taking up their spears and

shields, the Fair Strangers dashed blindly in the direction whence
the berries fell.

"To arms indeed, but to yours or ours?" called two voices from the
heart of the labyrinth; and there, in an instant, the two brave

champions, Finola and Pearla, found the Fairy Tree hanging thick
with scarlet berries, and under its branches, fit fruit indeed to

raise the spirits or bring eternal youth, were, in the language of
the Dedannans, Loskenn of the Bare Knees and the Bishop of Ossory,--

known to the Children of Corr the Swift-Footed as Ronald Macdonald
and Himself!

And the hours ran on; and Sheela the Scribe brewed and brewed and
brewed and brewed the tea at her table in the Peacock Walk, and the

knights and ladies quaffed it from the golden cups belonging to the
Wise Woman of Wales; but Finola the Festive and Pearla the Melodious

lingered in the labyrinth with Loskenn of the Bare Knees and the
Bishop of Ossory. And they said to one another, "Surely, if it were

so great a task to find the heart of this maze, we should be mad to
stir from the spot, lest we lose it again."

And Pearla murmured, "That plan were wise indeed, save that the
place seemeth all too small for so many."

Then Finola drew herself up proudly, and replied, "It is no smaller
for one than for another; but come, Loskenn, let us see if haply we

can lose ourselves in some path of our own finding."
And this they did; and the content of them that departed was no

greater than the content of them that were left behind, and the sun
hid himself for very shame because the brightness of their joy was

so much more dazzling than the glory of his own face. And nothing
more is told of what befell them till they reached the threshold of

the Old Hall; and it was not the sun, but the moon, that shone upon
their meeting with Sheela the Scribe.

Chapter XXXI. Good-bye, dark Rosaleen.
'When the poor exiles, every pleasure past,

Hung round the bowers, and fondly looked their last,
And took a long farewell, and wished in vain