"But," said the prince, "not until I am king can I give thee my
sister in marriage; for thou knowest that my sire would smite me
to the dust, if I asked him to give the flower of our race to
the son of the herdsman Osslah."

"Thou speakest the words of truth. Go home and fear not: but,
when thou art king, the sacrifice must be made, and Orna mine.
Alas! how can I dare to lift my eyes to her! But so ordain the
dread kings of the night!--Who shall gainsay their word?"

"The day that sees me king, sees Orna thine," answered the
prince.

Morven walked forth, as was his wont, alone; and he said to
himself, "the king is old, yet may he live long between me and
mine hope!" and he began to cast in his mind how he might
shorten the time.

Thus absorbed, he wandered on so unheedingly, that night
advanced, and he had lost his path among the thick woods, and
knew not how to regain his home; so he lay down quietly beneath
a tree, and rested till day dawned.

Then hunger came upon him and he searched among the bushes for
such simple roots as those with which, for he was ever careless
of food, he was used to appease the cravings of nature.

He found, among other more familiar herbs and roots, a red berry
of a sweetish taste, which he had never observed before. He ate
of it sparingly, and had not proceeded far in the wood before he