“I promise,” said the countryman.
Then the fairy led the way to the cave’s door which opened of its own accord, and he passed out into the fields.
As he made his way to the village, he noticed that the people looked at him in astonishment. When he reached his cottage his wife, who came to the door, drew back in fear and wonder.
“Is it indeed you, my husband?” she cried out. “Where have you been so long?”
“So long?” the dazed countryman echoed. “So long? What do you mean? I don’t understand. Where are the children?”
“There they are,” said his wife, pointing to a well-grown boy and girl. “You have been gone from us seven years. No wonder you do not know us.”
“Seven years!” he exclaimed. “Seven years do you say? Let me think.”
Then suddenly he knew what the fairy queen meant by his punishment. He had been imprisoned seven long years by the wee folk of fairyland.
He was besieged with questions when the village people learned about his return, but he shook his head and said nothing.
He never explained the mystery of his long absence, but many noticed that there was one name which always made him hasten to change the subject, and that name was—Merlin’s Crag.