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and your son and your little young daughter. And the king said in the end that he could have his wife and his son and his little young daughter, and so it was agreed between them, and the king got the silver bough. But when the king went and told his wife and his son and his little young daughter what he had done, then they were very sad, for they liked being with the king in the palace and didn’t want to go away. It was the sadness that came upon them then, but in the middle of it what should the king do but shake the silver bough, and the sweet music sang from it again, and all sadness and sorrow departed, and the king’s wife and his son and his little young daughter went willingly away with the young man. Now it was all right for a time, and for another time, because the king had his silver bough, but by the end of a year and a day he was missing his wife and his son and his little young daughter, and missing them very much he was, and soon he could not do without them any more, and so he set off to find them. Off he went, and on, and far away, and when at last he was very tired, a cloud came about like the darkness and he fell into a deep sleep. Then he awoke and lo! there was a palace, and a wonderful palace it was, set on a great dim plain, and he went into the palace and who should he meet but Mananan himself, the one who looks after the seas of the world—for wasn’t it Mananan who had come in disguise as the young man with the silver bough in his hand. So the king knew he was on the right track now, and he spoke to Mananan, and to Mananan’s wife, for she was there also, and told why he had come. And they understood that, for they were not bad people but only the great ones who can do what they like, except for the one thing they mustn’t ever do, not even the greatest though he is a king itself or a lord of the seas, and that is he must never be unkind to the stranger who enters at his door. So they listened to the king and nodded and gave an order to the palace servant, and soon walking down the great stairs towards them came the king’s wife and his son and his little young daughter, and right glad he was to see them, but no gladder than they were to see him. Well, at last the time came for them to go to sleep, and to sleep they went in Mananan’s palace, for what would anyone be without sleep? And then—and then—the morning came and lo! there was no Mananan’s palace, it had all vanished away, and the great dim plain had vanished away, too, and where were they but back once more in their own palace, all of them together, as if they had never left it, but behold! hanging on the wall in the morning sunlight was the silver bough with the nine golden apples on it.”
    â€œThat place where the palace of Mananan vanished away, was it like a moor and stones on it?”
    â€œIt was a bare moor and there was no stones on it as far as ever I heard.”
    â€œGranny—sing the song of the Silver Bough.”
    â€œOnly if you promise to compose yourself and keep your hands in. For if your mother comes home and finds you still awake, it’s not music you’ll catch.”
    The lullaby the old woman crooned was about as old as the sod the Silver Bough grew out of and as deep, and Grant knew when it had taken the child away by the slowing of the old woman’s voice. In the silence, he knocked gently.
    She came to the door with a wondering expression which steadied on him as he greeted her, then her eyes brightened, but at the same time with a quickened concern she asked, “Were you knocking before?”
    â€œNo.”
    She nodded, relieved at that, and hospitably invited him into the parlour, where the light was dim but soft, with a round table in the middle of the room, gilt ornaments on the mantelpiece, and an armchair of slippery horsehair upon which he was invited to sit.
    â€œMy grandchild was telling me about you,” she said, and it took