'Right beautiful and strong is the child, most fair to look upon.'

'And Deirdre shall her name be,' said the Wise Man, 'Deirdre the
Star-eyed.'

And because of the words that the King Concobar had spoken, the life of
the babe was spared, and when the days of feasting were past, Concobar
returned to his palace, and with him he took the infant child and her
mother. Yet after a month he bade the mother return to Felim her husband,
but the babe Deirdre he kept.

And deep within the forest, beyond the Moor of Loneliness, did the King
command that a cottage be built, and when Deirdre was one year, thither
was she sent with a trusted nurse. But on the trees of the forest and
throughout the land was proclaimed the order of the King Concobar, that
whosoever should hunt, or for other purpose enter the wood, death should
be his portion.

Once each week did the King visit the fair babe, and daily were stores of
food and milk brought to the lone dwelling. And Deirdre each year grew
more fair, but none beheld her beauty, save her nurse, her tutor, and
Lavarcam.

This Lavarcam was a woman well trusted of the King, and she alone went to
and fro between the palace and the cottage. It was she who told to Deirdre
the old tales of knights and ladies, of dragons and of fairies that dwelt
in the Enchanted Land.

When Deirdre was seven years old the King no longer came every week to the
forest, but twice in the year only, and that as the Spring put forth her