"  No  ! "  cries  Conchobar.  "  She  shall  live  and  be
"  my  wife  !  "

Derdrin  is  born,  is  bred  by  the  king  in  a  tower
where  none  may  enter  save  her  guardian,  her  nurse,


IRISH    LITERATURE   AND   OSSIAN.  21 1

and  a  woman  called  Lebarcham,  to  whom  he  had  not
dared  to  forbid  all  access,  since  she  was  a  poet  and
composed  satires  of  an  enchanted  force.
One  winter's  day  the  guardian  was  killing  a  calf  on
the  snow.  The  young  girl  looked  on  from  her
tower  ;  a  raven  came  to  drink  the  red  blood  on  the
snow.     Suddenly  she  said  to  Lebarcham  :

■ "  My  lover  shall  have  those  three  colours  ;  hair
"  like  the  raven,  cheeks  red  as  blood,  and  a  skin  white
"  as  snow  !  "

And  the  poetess  answered  :

"  He  whom  thou  lovest  is  thy  neighbour.  Noise,
"the  son  of  Usnach."

"Ah!"  cried  the  gn-1.  "1  shall  not  be  well  in
"  health  till  I  have  seen  him  ! "

She  escapes  to  meet  Noise  in  secret  ;  she  offers
him  her  love.  He  refuses  ;  for  he  remembers  the
prophecy  of  the  Druid.  Then  Derdrin,  creeping
softly  up  to  him,  takes  his  head  in  her  two  hands  and
draws  it  close  to  her  own  :

"  This  head  that  I  embrace  is  the  head  of  a  coward
"  if  thou  do  not  wed  me  !  "

"  Away,  woman  !  "

"  No.     I  will  be  thme  !  "

Noise  goes  into  exile  with  Derdrin  and  his  brothers,
fleeing  from  the  wrath  of  Conchobar.      After  long


2t2  ENGLISH    STUDIES.
adventures  they  return,  called  home  by  the  king.
