“Danny says there is a harp on the green flag of Ireland,” she said.
“Yes,” said her father, “it was an Irish god who made the harp and played upon its strings.”
“Tell us about it,” begged Kathleen, who loved the gods and giants as well as she did the fairies.
“The god’s name was Dagda,” her father told her, “and once when he was walking beside a blue lake he saw a beautiful maiden and wished to have her for his wife. But the maiden feared him and ran away through the forest.
“Dagda followed her and she went on running away; and so at last they came to a beautiful curving beach, with the waves washing the yellow sands.
“As the maiden fled swiftly across the wet sands she heard a strange, mournful sound, and stopped to listen to the music.
“The bones of a fish lay on the sand at her feet, and the dry skin, stretched from rib to rib, made a harp for the wind to play upon.
“When Dagda saw that the sweet sounds pleased the maiden, he took a piece of wood and made a harp after the same pattern, playing upon the strings with his fingers as the wind had taught him to do. After that the maiden followed him gladly for love of the music.
“It was the first music ever heard in all Ireland, but since that day we have had harpers from one end of the land to the other. ’Tis a wonderful country for music, and we put the harp on our green flag to show that we’re proud of the sweet songs of Erin.”
Kathleen sighed when the story was finished. “I wish it were the days of gods and giants and beautiful maidens now,” she said.