“Of that I have thought, that I have foreseen, Congal, son of Rossa of the Lakes. For I shall send the child into a lonely place, and there in a solitary rath shall she dwell and grow in years, and no man shall look upon her save I myself, and that only in the fulness of time. She shall be solitary and apart as the Crane of Innisbea, that has dwelt upon its isle since the world was made, and is seen of none.” “Tell us once more, Concobar MacNessa; dost thou take this child, and the doom of this child unto thee, and to thee alone?” “I have sworn. She shall grow in years, and be wife to me when the time is come. And if sorrow come with her, that sorrow shall be my sorrow. Not upon Uladh be it, but upon me. I have spoken.” “And as for thee, Felim?” “It would be better to slay the child than to drown the land in blood.” “And as for thee, Cathba?” “There is but one law: that which has to come, cometh.” But while they were thus debating, the loud chanting voices of women were heard, and soon a messenger came, crying loudly that a child had been born to Elva, wife of Felim, and that it was a woman-child, and exceeding comely, and strong, and white as milk. Once more Cathba the Druid spoke. “She shall be called Darthool,[16] this woman whose beauty shall be a flame, and whose eyes shall be as stars.” And so it was. The child was spared, and that night Elva slept in peace, and for many nights. When the days of the feasting were over, Concobar left the dun of Felim, and returned with all his company to Emania. With him he took the little child Darthool, and Elva came with him for a month and a day. The month and the day soon passed, and then Elva went back to her own place. It was the will of the high king and of Felim, her husband; nevertheless, she sorrowed to part with her little child, who, even as a breast-babe, had eyes of so great a beauty that it was a joy to look into them. Before the year was over--for, according to what Cathba the wise Druid said, the child must either be slain or hidden away before the first year of her life were past--Concobar sent Darthool with the nursing woman to whom he entrusted her, to a small _lios_, or fort, deep in the heart of the royal forest. A ban was upon that forest that none might hunt or even stray there without the king’s will; and now that ban was made absolute, and it was known that death would be the portion of any man who went under these branches. None was to enter that woodland save Concobar, or whosoever might be of his chosen company, or whom the king might thither lead.