For a year and a day they lived in King Manus’s royal castle. Now Eean had learnt so much of the arts and crafts and mysteries that belong to an Enchanter that he was able to do great works for the King. Castles he built that gave security, and bridges that brought people together, and mills that ground for the people abundance of corn. He had become so strong and so sure of himself since his encounter with Zabulun that all he set out to perform he did well. And his wife, Bird-of-Gold, loved him so much that her thought never went back to the country she had come from. Always, they say, she kept a flock of white ducks; perhaps they reminded her of the thousand ducks that was the fortune she brought into Babylon.
But the story-teller must not forget to tell you about the question that Eean asked Merlin the Enchanter on King Manus’s behalf. It was about a game of chess that King Manus had been playing with his brother-in-law, King Connal, for half their lifetimes without either having victory in sight. Moreover, they had inherited the game from their fathers, and it was now being played for fifty years. Merlin told Eean what the moves should be, and the day after he came to the castle, Eean took the chess board and showed them to the King. With that instruction he played. The game of chess was finished three days afterwards, and great fame and honor came to King Manus.
Printed in the United States of America.
Transcriber's Note:
Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible.
The following change was made to the original. The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one.
Page 119:
you have heard from him to answer to the riddle
you have heard from him the answer to the riddle