And
when the people murmured and complained against Cormac, for Ethne and
her children were much beloved of them, Cormac shook the bell-branch
and their grief was turned into joy.
A year went by after this, and then Cormac longed for his wife and
children again, nor could the bell-branch any longer bring him
forgetfulness of them. So one morning he took the branch and went out
alone from Tara over the plain, taking the direction in which they had
passed away a year agone; and ere long little wreathes of mist began
to curl about his feet, and then to flit by him like long trailing
robes, and he knew no more where he was. After a time, however, he
came out again into sunshine and clear sky, and found himself in a
country of flowery meadows and of woods filled with singing-birds
where he had never journeyed before. He walked on, till at last he
came to a great and stately mansion with a crowd of builders at work
upon it, and they were roofing it with a thatch made of the wings of
strange birds. But when they had half covered the house, their supply
of feathers ran short, and they rode off in haste to seek for more.
While they were gone, however, a wind arose and whirled away the
feathers already laid on, so that the rafters were left bare as
before. And this happened again and again, as Cormac gazed on them for
he knew not how long.
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