"I know where she must be. She has gone to the fairies. I will go to their king, Finvarra. He has always been a good friend to me. He will help me to get her back." Little did he dream that the king of the fairies, even Finvarra himself, had fallen in love with Ethna, and had spirited her away from her home. The young lord mounted his horse, and away he rode at full speed till he came to the hill of the fairies. There he stopped. All at once he heard voices. This is what he heard: "Finvarra is happy now. He has won the fair young Ethna. She will never leave his palace again." "Ah!" was the reply, "it may happen yet. For if her husband digs down through this hill, he can win Ethna again." "We shall see! We shall see!" exclaimed the lord when he heard these words. He sent off at once for workmen to come to the fairy hill. They were to bring pickaxes and spades. "Dig without stopping," was his command. "Dig till you come to the fairy palace." A great company of men was soon at work. The air rang with the noise of their spades striking against the rocks and earth. When night came they had made a tunnel into the very heart of the hill. They went home to rest, and with the first light of morning they came back to go on with their work. But, behold! The hill looked as though no man had touched it. The dirt had all been replaced at the order of the powerful fairy king, Finvarra. The young lord did not give up hope, however. The men were set to work again, and again the same thing happened as before. The work of the day was undone the next night. A third time the lord tried, and a third time he failed. He was overcome by sorrow and disappointment, when he heard a soft voice speaking somewhere near him. It said: "If you sprinkle salt over the earth the men dig up, Finvarra will have no power over it." Once more the young lord was filled with hope. He sent out into the land in every direction to get quantities of salt from the people. And when the workmen stopped digging at nightfall, the salt was plentifully sprinkled over the earth. How anxious the young lord was now! Had he really found a way of defeating the fairies? The next morning he eagerly hurried to the hill to see. What the voice said was really true. The tunnel was just as it had been left the night before. Another day's work was enough to see it dug clear to the middle of the hill, and far down into the earth. And then the men, putting their ears to the ground, could hear fairy music. Voices, too, could be heard around them. This is what they heard: "Finvarra is sad at heart. It is no wonder. His palace will crumble to dust, if one of these mortals touches it with his spade." "Why does he not save us then, and give up the young bride?" said another voice. Then King Finvarra himself spoke, in a true kingly way. He commanded the workmen to stop digging, promising that at sunset he would give Ethna up to her husband.