j IN LEGEND AND FABLE 59 



money, the little party did not want for food 

 nor fuel from the inhabitants of the island, but 

 as soon as her money was gone they left her 

 alone, and then she began to cry. The little 

 girls asked her: "Why doesn't the summer, 

 which, they say, makes the grass grow and 

 the roses bloom in Ireland, also come here ? " 



" It is said," replied the queen, " that the 

 little swallows who bring the summer do 

 not want to come so far north as this. They 

 stop on the other side of the Gulf." 



"Very well; don't cry. We will go and 

 beg the swallows to come here." 



The queen smiled sadly at their innocence. 

 The next day the princesses began to run, 

 hand in hand, over the frozen Gulf so as to 

 reach the other side and talk with the swal- 

 lows. But SQon they were caught in a dense 

 fog and knew not whether they were going 

 forward or backward. They began to call 

 for their mother and to shed tears so warm 

 that they melted the ice they fell upon. 

 Then from out a cave near by came a Fairy 



