'It would be well, O King, but for the word spoken by the Wise Man, for
hath he not said, "Because of this fair child shall great sorrow come upon
the King Concobar"? If we let the babe live, then must thy people see thee
in sore distress, for the word that the Wise Man speaketh, shall it not
come to pass?'

'Of that am I not unmindful. Deep within the forest, beyond the Moor of
Loneliness, shall her childish days be spent. Gently tended shall she be,
but the eye of man shall not behold her, and solitary shall she live as
some unmated bird in distant wilderness.'

Then with one accord did the people cry, 'Wilt thou indeed be guardian to
this child, knowing the ill that the Wise Man hath foretold?'

'Yea, truly will I be guardian to the child, and when she be a woman then
shall she be my wedded wife. And if with the maiden come sorrow, then be
that sorrow upon me, and not upon the land.'

'What sayest thou, O Felim the Harper?' cried the people.

'It were better to slay the child than to let that come which hath been
foretold.'

'And what sayest thou, O Wise Man?'

'That which shall come, shall come.'

At the same moment there entered the hall a servant of Felim, and loudly
did he proclaim that the girl-babe, who had been foretold, was born.