Produced by David Edwards, Diane Monico, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.) [Illustration] The Boy Who Knew What The Birds Said THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK :: BOSTON :: CHICAGO :: DALLAS ATLANTA :: SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON :: BOMBAY :: CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO [Illustration: Round and round the Castle they went and the Giant with his strength was wearing out Feet-in-the-Ashes.] The Boy Who Knew What The Birds Said By Padraic Colum _Illustrated by Dugald Stewart Walker_ [Illustration] The Macmillan Company, Publishers New York Mcmxx [Illustration] COPYRIGHT, 1918 BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1918. For The Boy In The Brocken [Illustration] Contents PAGE How he came to know what the birds said 13 The Stone of Victory. And how Feet-in-the-Ashes, the Swineherd's Son, came to find it 21 The King of the Birds 51 Bloom-of-Youth and the Witch of the Elders 67 The Hen-wife's Son and the Princess Bright Brow 85 The Giant and the Birds 113 The Sea-Maiden who became a Sea-Swan 133 What the Peacock and the Crow Told Each Other 149 The Treasure of King Labraid Lorc 163 [Illustration] [Illustration] List of Full Page Illustrations _Frontispiece_ Round and Round the Castle they went, and the Giant with his strength was wearing out Feet-in-the-Ashes PAGE "No bird will ever out-soar this flight of mine," said the Eagle 61 But just as the Witch was dragging her to the stone a robin began to sing 79 The Red Champion said, "Good is the Champion that the King of this Land has sent against me." 97 All flew from the mountain except one bird and he was the greatest amongst them all 117 I put it to my lips, I drank it when he took a step towards me 141 O most beauteous of all the birds, do you know of any arms by which a hero can slay a dragon? 155 "Ernan is Lord, is Lord of the Fair Islands" 173 [Illustration] The Boy Who Knew What The Birds Said [Illustration] [Illustration] How He Came to Know What the Birds Said [Illustration]