Myths and legends ; the Celtic race . he following areextracts : Burn not the sweet apple-tree of drooping branches, of the whiteblossoms, to whose gracious head each man puts forth his hand. Burn not the noble willow, the unfailing ornament of poems;bees drink from its blossoms, all delight in the graceful tent. ** The delicate, airy tree of the Druids, the rowan with its berries,this burn ; but avoid the weak tree, burn not the slender hazel, The ash-tree of the black buds burn not—timber that speedsthe wheel, that yields the rider his switch ; the ashen spear is thescale-beam of battle.* At
Myths and legends ; the Celtic race . he following areextracts : Burn not the sweet apple-tree of drooping branches, of the whiteblossoms, to whose gracious head each man puts forth his hand. Burn not the noble willow, the unfailing ornament of poems;bees drink from its blossoms, all delight in the graceful tent. ** The delicate, airy tree of the Druids, the rowan with its berries,this burn ; but avoid the weak tree, burn not the slender hazel, The ash-tree of the black buds burn not—timber that speedsthe wheel, that yields the rider his switch ; the ashen spear is thescale-beam of battle.* At last the Wee Folk come in a great multitude tobeg the release of lubdan. On the kings refusal theyvisit the country with various plagues, snipping off theears of corn, letting the calves suck all the cows dry,defiling the wells, and so forth ; but Fergus is their quality as earth-gods, dei terreni^ they promiseto make the plains before the palace of Fergus standthick with corn every year without ploughing or sowing,248. King Fergus and the Wee Man 248 DEATH OF FERGUS but all is vain. At last, however, Fergus agrees toransom lubdan against the best of his fairy treasures,so lubdan recounts them—the cauldron that can neverbe emptied, the harp that plays of itself; and finallyhe mentions a pair of water-shoes, wearing whicha man can go over or under water as freely as ondry land. Fergus accepts the shoes, and lubdan isreleased. The Blemish of Fergus But it is hard for a mortal to get the better of Fairy-land—a touch of hidden malice lurks in magical gifts,and so it proved now. Fergus was never tired ofexploring the depths of the lakes and rivers of Ireland ;but one day, in Loch Rury, he met with a hideousmonster, the Muirdris^ or river-horse, which inhabitedthat lake, and from which he barely saved himself byflying to the shore. With the terror of this encounterhis face was twisted awry ; but since a blemished mancould not hold rule in Ireland, his queen and nob
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