The King's Son looked into the well and he saw no way of getting down its deep
smooth sides. He walked back towards the Castle. On his way he met Fedelma,
and she looked at him with deep dread in her eyes. "What task did my father
set you to-day?" said she. "He bids me go down into a well," said the King's
Son. "A well!" said Fedelma, and she became all dread. "I have to take the
Ring of Youth from the bot-tom and bring it to him," said the King's Son.
"Oh," said Fedelma,'"he has set you the task I dreaded."

Then she said, "You will lose your life if the Ring of Youth is not taken out
of the well. And if you lose yours I shall lose my life too. There is one way
to get down the sides of the well. You must kill me. Take my bones and make
them as steps while you go down the sides. Then, when you have taken the Ring
of Youth out of the water, put my bones as they were before, and put the Ring
above my heart. I shall be alive again. But you must be careful that you leave
every bone as it was."

The King's Son fell into a deeper dread than Fedelma when he heard what she
said. "This can never be," he cried. "It must be," said she, "and by all your
vows and promises I command that you do it. Kill me now and do as I have
bidden you. If it be done I shall live. If it be not done you will lose your
life and I will never regain mine."

He killed her. He took the bones as she had bidden him, and he made steps down
the sides of the well. He searched at the bottom, and he found the Ring of
Youth. He brought the bones together again. Down on his knees he went, and his
heart did not beat nor did his breath come or go until he had fixed them in
their places. Over the heart he placed the Ring. Life came back to Fedelma.

"You have done well," she said. "One thing only is not in its place--the joint
of my little finger." She held up her hand and he saw that her little finger