"It was foretold to me that in this realm the beautifullest princess of the day was to be found, although," he says, "you are not attended by your maids of honour."
She slipped one side and made no reply; and he gave his signal to the king of his coming. The king sent out his heralds to meet him; and, as the banquet-hall and the tables were spread, in the height of their feasting he asked what brought him there. The prince said it was foretold to him that in his realm was the beautifullest princess of the day to be found, who was to share the happiness of his throne in the Sunny Valleys; "and well I may believe it from what I have seen to-day." The king's daughter, being at his right hand, smiled; for she thought it was to her he was hinting.
At that same moment they found a great confusion outside the castle; and the king asked who was the intruder that made such a noise. He ordered the Song of Battle to be sung, and his javelins to accompany him each side, the javelins being so deadly they were called the Shafts of Death. He ordered also his helmet to be got for him, which sword nor axe had never pierced. At this time the intruder was in the banquet-hall; and they knew his voice, for it was their banished prince Moranna. They all cried out, "Moranna, be our king!" and immediately the king was taken prisoner by Moranna and put to death.
In all this confusion the Prince of the Sunny Valleys got a glimpse of the beautiful Rosaline. She, hearing the name of her brother, rushed in; and the Prince of the Sunny Valleys caught her in his arms and asked her hand in marriage. She told him to ask her brother; but her brother told her to speak for herself; and she consented, and gave her hand in marriage, and the wedding took place. When the wedding was over she did not forget her robin; for she brought him off out to the Sunny Valleys. There she fed him with her own two white hands, and herself and the prince lived happily for ever after.
Written down, September, 1894, from the dictation of
