They came to where the river became known as the River of the Morning Star. And then, in the distance, they saw the Hill of Horns. Towards the Hill of Horns they went, and, at the near side of it, they found a house thatched with the wing of a bird. It was the house of the Little Sage of the Mountain. To the house of the Little Sage of the Mountain Fedelma and the King’s Son now went.
TO THE MEMORY OF BEATRICE CASSIDY COLUM
THE HOUSE OF CROM DUV
I
The story is now about Flann. He went through the East gate of the Town of the Red Castle and his journey was to the house of the Hags of the Long Teeth where he might learn what Queen and King were his mother and his father. It is with the youth Flann, once called the Gilly of the Goatskin, that we will go if it be pleasing to you, Son of my Heart. He went his way in the evening, when, as the bard said:—
The blackbird shakes his metal notes
Against the edge of day,
And I am left upon my road
With one star on my way.
And he went his way in the night, when, as the same bard said:—
The night has told it to the hills,
And told the partridge in the nest,
And left it on the long white roads,
She will give light instead of rest.
And he went on between the dusk and the dawn, when, as the same bard said again:—