The Island of the Mighty by Padraic Colum

Author:Padraic Colum
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

III

Now one day when Owen sat in his hall in the city of Caerleon, there came toward him a maiden upon a bay horse, with a curling mane and covered with foam, and the bridle and so much as was seen of the saddle were of gold. The maiden was arrayed in a dress of yellow satin. And she came up to Owen, and she took the ring from off his hand. “Thus,” said she, “shall be treated the deceiver, the traitor, the faithless, and the disgraced.”

And when she said that and went her way, Owen remembered the Lady of the Fountain, and he was sorrowful; and having finished eating he went to his own abode and made preparations that night. And the next day he arose but did not go to Arthur’s Court; he wandered to the distant parts of the earth and to uncultivated mountains. He remained there until all his apparel was worn out, and his body was wasted away, and his hair was grown long. And he wandered about with the wild beasts and fed with them, until they became familiar with him.

One day as he journeyed, he heard a loud yelling in a wood. It was repeated a second and a third time. And Owen went toward the spot, and beheld a huge, craggy mound in the middle of the wood, on the side of which was a gray rock. There was a cleft in the rock, and a serpent was within the cleft. Near the rock stood a black lion, and every time the lion sought to go thence, the serpent darted toward him to attack him. Owen unsheathed his sword and drew near to the rock, and as the serpent sprang out, he struck him with his sword, and cut him in two. Then he went on his way as before. But behold, the lion followed him, and played about him, as though he had been a greyhound that he had reared.

They proceeded thus throughout the day, until the evening. And when it was time for Owen to take his rest, he dismounted, and turned his horse loose in a flat and wooded meadow. He struck fire, and when the fire was kindled, the lion brought him fuel enough to last for three nights. Then the lion disappeared. And presently he returned, bearing a large roebuck. The lion threw it down before Owen.

Then Owen took the roebuck, and skinned it, and placed collops of its flesh upon skewers, around the fire. The rest of the buck he gave to the lion to devour.

Just as he was turning to rest in the wooded meadow he heard a deep sigh near him, and a second, and a third. Owen called out to know whether the sigh he heard came from a mortal, and he received answer that it did. “Who art thou?” said Owen. “Truly,” said the voice, “I am Luned, the handmaiden of the Lady of the Fountain.” “And what dost thou here?” said Owen.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.