and tears dripped on his beard when he said: "Hail and Farewell!"

"If I had a hundred men so strong," said Golgothar, "I would go against
the walls of chains our rebels built, and break them one by one."

Because he had not the hundred men, the chain walls blocked the only pass
between the hills, and so cut in two the kingdom: and they who pined for
corn went wanting, and they who yearned for fish stayed hungry. And
Golgothar, brooding, said his heart bled for his country.

"If I had a hundred men so strong," said Golgothar, "I would go among the
thousand brigands of Mirnan, and bring again the beloved daughter of our
city."

Because he had not the hundred men the beloved lady languished in her
prison, for the brigands asked as ransom the city of Talgone which they
hated. And Golgothar carried in his breast a stone image she had given
him, and for very grief let no man speak her name before him.

"If I had a hundred men so strong--" said Golgothar, one day, standing on
a great point of land and looking down the valley.

As he said it, he heard a laugh, and looking down he saw Sapphire, or
Laugh of the Hills, as she was called. A long staff of iron-wood was in
her hands, with which she jumped the dykes and streams and rocky
fissures; in her breast were yellow roses, and there was a tuft of pretty
feathers in her hair. She reached up and touched him on the breast with
her staff, then she laughed again, and sang a snatch of song in mockery:

"I am a king,