again manus, king of the western island, sat in his supper hall. the torches were in their sconces, the candles were lighted on the table,[pg 163] the hearth fire was blazing on the hearth, and his lords once again sat to the right and the left of him. but this time they sat without laughter and without high words.

the harper and the story-teller were at the table too, but they neither made music nor told stories. they had tried, both, that evening, but no one had listened to them. outside, the iron door of the stable gaped wide, and the grooms and horse boys and watchers stood idly around or went quarreling amongst themselves. it was very difficult, as you may imagine, for the harper to play upon his harp when he would hear the king say into his wine cup, “o, raven, my black horse, where art thou now?” and it was equally difficult for the story-teller to get on with his tale when he would see the king looking at him with unseeing eyes and hear him say, “o, my white and my red horses, what would i not give if i saw you back in my courtyard again?”

so you can imagine the silence that was upon the supper board that was wont to resound with conversation and story-telling, with music and[pg 164] pledges of the wine cup. “o, raven, my black horse, where art thou now?” said the king once again; and then, “what would i not give to have my white and my red horse in the courtyard again?” and these were all the words that king manus could be got to say.

and then, suddenly, a loud neigh was heard outside. straightway king manus ran out of the supper hall. the lords, the minstrel, and the story-teller, the stewards, servers, and attendants, ran with him. and when they came as far as the wide door of the castle they ran into the grooms and the horse boys who were running from the stable. all ran together. and there, in the middle of the courtyard, without a rider upon his back, was raven, the king’s black horse.

they brought him into his stall in the stable, and they combed him and they groomed him; they gave him the red wheat and the white barley to eat and the clear spring water to drink. king manus could hardly be prevailed upon to leave raven’s stall and come back into the supper hall. but at length they got him back into his[pg 165] seat, and then the supper board resounded with pledges of the wine cup as the king and his lords drank to each other merrily.

again there was neighing in the courtyard, this time a double neighing. straightway the king ran out and all who were near ran with him. they ran into the grooms and the horse boys who were running from the stable. there in the courtyard were the white horse and the red horse. they were not unmounted, however, for eean and bird-of-gold were upon them.

this time king manus grew into such glee that he swore by the open hand of his father that he would make a duke of every lord who was with him that night. there were great rejoicings. some tossed their torches so high that they frightened the owls out of the cornices on the castle. the grooms brought the white horse and the red horse into their stalls in the stable, and they fed them with red wheat and white barley, and gave them the clear spring water to drink.

then they went to carry eean and bird-of-gold into the supper hall. they were not to be[pg 166] found for a while, for anluan, eean’s father, had led them away. he was seen to weep over eean, and to take the hands of bird-of-gold and kiss her while he called her daughter. and to anluan king manus gave the privilege of bringing them to the supper board.

the king put eean into the story-teller’s seat, but he had bird-of-gold sit beside him on his left hand. the feast began all over again, and went on from egg to apple. and when wine had been drunk king manus called upon eean to tell the story of his journey to merlin’s island and the full tale of how he had defeated zabulun the enchanter.

when all was told the king gave presents to eean and bird-of-gold and he swore that for a year and a day he would have them live with him in his castle. “and,” said he, “this girl, bird-of-gold, has been very loving and faithful to you as you have been to her, and for a further benefit to you i shall have the old blind sage come down from his attic in the castle and marry you here and now.” eean and bird-of-gold took each[pg 167] other’s hands as he said this, and the old blind sage was brought down from his attic chamber, and he married bird-of-gold and eean by the rays of the rising sun.

for a year and a day they lived in king manus’s royal castle. now eean had learnt so much of the arts and crafts and mysteries that belong to an enchanter that he was able to do great works for the king. castles he built that gave security, and bridges that brought people together, and mills that ground for the people abundance of corn. he had become so strong and so sure of himself since his encounter with zabulun that all he set out to perform he did well. and his wife, bird-of-gold, loved him so much that her thought never went back to the country she had come from. always, they say, she kept a flock of white ducks; perhaps they reminded her of the thousand ducks that was the fortune she brought into babylon.

but the story-teller must not forget to tell you about the question that eean asked merlin the enchanter on king manus’s behalf. it was about[pg 168] a game of chess that king manus had been playing with his brother-in-law, king connal, for half their lifetimes without either having victory in sight. moreover, they had inherited the game from their fathers, and it was now being played for fifty years. merlin told eean what the moves should be, and the day after he came to the castle, eean took the chess board and showed them to the king. with that instruction he played. the game of chess was finished three days afterwards, and great fame and honor came to king manus.