In one part of the kingdom, in the castle of Alma, dwelt an old chief and his beautiful daughter, Murna. The girl was kept within the castle under heavy guard and no man was allowed to see or speak to her. There was a reason for this harsh treatment. When she was born a prophet told her father that her son would take his land and title from him. As the old chief was very fond of his castle he thought he would make a grandson impossible by never allowing his daughter to marry.
One day Cool rode by the castle and saw Murna at the upper window. He was greatly struck by her beauty.
“Who is the maiden?” he asked one of his advisers.
“It will do you little good to know,” replied the man. “Her father has forbidden any man to wed her.”
“The men of this district must have little spirit to allow such a prize to go unwon,” remarked Cool.
“You would not think so if you saw the number of guards always in place to make such a thing impossible,” was the reply.
Cool said no more. That evening he went back to the castle, overpowered the guards and climbed to the window at which he had seen the girl. When she saw this mighty hero at her window, she let him in and they talked together. Cool was already in love with her from having seen her beautiful face, but after he had talked with her and found her as gentle and sweet as she was beautiful, he vowed that he would have no one but her for a wife. Any girl of Ireland would have been proud to be wooed by such a splendid hero. The maiden was sure that she could never love any one else, so Cool took her away. They were married that very night.
You can imagine how the old chief felt about this theft of his daughter and her marriage. He saw now that the prophecy might come true. He hastened to the High King and told his story.
This put Conn in a puzzling position. As a man he sympathized with Cool, but as a King he saw that the chief was justified in complaining. He ordered Cool to appear before him.
“Do you deny that you stole the chief’s daughter for your wife?” he asked.