it was as if the eyes of the snake were still upon him. eean stopped in his story, and his eyes were wide as if they looked upon a terrible thing. one of the servers brought him a cup of wine and[pg 63] placed it in his hands, but although he kept his fingers around it, he did not raise it to his lips.
nor did he appear to hear what was being said around the king’s supper table: “a great danger the boy was in, truly.” “the danger he is in now is not as great as the danger he has told us of.” “we must hear the end of this story.” “it seems that he is too fearful to tell us any more.” this last speech came to the ears of king manus. “be not so fearful, boy,” said the king. “you have been in a greater danger than ever i heard a man speak of, and by my sword, you are in less danger now than you were then. drink the wine that is in it and keep the cup you have for a remembrance. i would have you at your ease, too, for we will sit here and listen to the rest of your story.”
when the king said this the lords who were sitting around the supper board applauded, and then the stewards signed to the attendants to bring more lights in. fresh candles were put upon the board, and fresh torches were put into the sconces, and fresh logs were put upon the[pg 64] hearth. when all this was done the king and his lords turned their faces to eean, for they were ready to listen to the rest of the story. but the boy had not seated himself in the story-teller’s chair: still he was standing with the wine cup between his hands, and still his eyes were widened as if a terrible thing was before him.
it was then, as they were waiting for him to begin, that the neigh of a horse was heard again. it was a very shrill neigh, and every one in the supper hall was startled by it. out they rushed, king and lords, stewards, servers, and attendants, and they neither stopped nor stayed until they came before the king’s great stable. then they could hardly believe what their eyes looked upon: the iron door of the stable was open wide; the watchers were there, but their heads were bent in sleep and their swords were upon the ground. through the open door of the stable came the whinnyings and the plungings and the tramplings of a horse. quickly they went into the stable. there, by the light of the torches that the attendants held, they saw the white horse and the[pg 65] red horse still in their stalls, but the black horse they saw rearing above a figure that was prone upon the ground.
the blaze of their torches made the black horse swerve so that his hoofs did not come down upon the figure that was upon the stable floor. the horse was taken hold of and put back into his stall. then the attendants raised up the one who was upon the ground. “another one come to steal my horses,” cried king manus. “well, this one shall pay the penalty that the other has been delivered from.”
they took up the one who was on the floor of the stable. they locked the stable door again and they put a double watch before it. they brought the one whom they had taken into the supper hall; a lad, younger even than eean, this second robber seemed.
eean was standing by the story-teller’s seat as they came into the supper hall. looking upon the one they brought in he cried out in the voice of the heart-broken, “o bird-of-gold, why didst thou peril thyself by staying here? too faithful[pg 66] to me thou hast been!” hearing this speech, all looked on the one who was called bird-of-gold: it was then that they saw they had taken, not a youth as they had supposed, but a young girl whose dress was a youth’s dress.
in the light of the torches and candles they looked at her wonderingly. she had knitted brows and heavy eyelids that gave to her face the look of one who ponders deeply. and there was such fire behind the depths of her eyes that it seemed as if her thought was always burning. but her lips were colorless and her cheeks were thin and sunken; her hair and her eyes and her eyebrows were dead black. and when they went to bind her as they had bound eean they saw that her hands were finely shaped and yet strong and hard.
“who is she?” said king manus.
“i have told you of her,” said eean. “this is she who found me in the pit of the serpent and who drew me away from the venom of the snake.”
there was silence for a while, and then the[pg 67] king said, “the chance that was given you shall be given her also. if she can show us that she was in a danger greater than the danger she is in now her life shall not be taken. if she cannot show that she shall be slain by the sword on to-morrow’s sunrise.”
at that some of the trouble that was on eean’s face seemed to leave it. he cried out, “o bird-of-gold, tell the king the story of your adventures from the beginning. bethink thee, bird-of-gold, of the terrible things you have gone through and speak to the king and the lords of them. this king is very generous, and you may win our lives from him.”
the girl who was called bird-of-gold turned to the king her face that seemed to him to be like the face of a slave and a victorious warrior. her hands were bound before her and her black hair fell over her breast. like one who was ever ready in deed and word, as soon as king manus made a gesture, she began:
