THE CHILDREN OF THE CASTLE

Do you remember how full of fancies and stories Gratian''s little head was, and how sometimes he put them into words to please Fergus, the lame child he loved so much?

The story I am now going to tell you is one of these. I think it was theirfavourite one. I can not say that it is in the very words in which Gratian used to tell it, for it was not till long, long after those boyish days that it came to be written down. But all the same it is his story.