The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-29
CONAN AND HIS
 MYSTERIOUS HARP Music Learned from Woman
 At Tarn of Darkness G0ATMAN RELATES TALE For Love of Beautiful Maiden, the Player of Instrument Gives Up
 His Own Life to Save
 That of His Rival

l in ragged cloudlets; mountain and moor glowed purple. brown and gold. with cool blue shadows where the level rays failed to reach some deep glen. Already the breeze had the chill of evening, sky and sea were opalescent, and snake-lil1e lines of fire darted sideways from our i prov with every stroke of the oar 1 No, the young people are not caring for the old stories," said the boatman mournfully, swaying as he rowed. And the stories will dwindle and disappear as the dewdrops grow less when the sun rises. Whose tongue shall tell them when I am gone?'
 "The more reason to let me hear them now" I urged eagerly.
 He hesitated Flow shall you tell them again in English?" he demanded. l ''They were born in Gaelic--the language l clothed them, and as they grew older their dress became richer with each tell ing. They are like the music of the harp of Conan; few are the ears to which they speak,
 And who was Conan" I asked insin- uatingly
 1 "Conan of the Harp the boatman cor rected me. Men called him that be- cause wherever he went he carried his i harp with nina harp on which he never played. He lived on the shore of 1 a loch at the mouth of a long, winding i glen; his fathers house faces eastward, so that the sun looked on it first when it rose over the mountains. His father and his brothers would often be disput- i ing with Conan because of his leaving | his work to wander alone on the hill side, and no man the gainer from his roamings. But his mother pleaded for him, and said, Be kindly to him; he has the gift and one day he will bring honor to his fathers name.'
 Conan Goes to Tarn. | up in the glen there was a tarn; it was called the Yarn of Darkness, because i it's waters were never clear, and the docks around it were black. Tn the 1 brighest sunlight men shivered as they passed 1t, and those who lost their way 1 and came upon the tarn at night would | hear strange meanings, and sec woman in black, with black hair and white face. There 1t was that Conan would go; and folks thought it strange that he should be spending his time near the Tarn of Darkness.
 Not far from the house of Conan's l father lived old man with a daugh- ter-black-haired Sheila, with the slow moving eyelids, and skin so white that her feet gleamed like snow when she came stepping over the heather. She 1t was that Conan wished to take for his wife; but she would not think of him, because of Connacher, young man who lived across the loch.
 ''Once there came a great storm: the wind drove all the clouds down from the mountain tops, the rain did not cease by night or day, and the streams were all overfiowing. The loch was tossing like the pool beneath a waterfall, and tear ing at the trees along the shore as a dog snatches at bone. Then out in the darkness they saw boat-just one man was in 1t. and all were saying that he must drown. But Sheila saw clearer than all with the eyes of her soul, and she cried: Tt Is Connacherl' and threw herself on the ground, swaying with grief.
 Saves Him With His Harp. 'sThe others looked and waited and as , the boat drove closer they saw that Con nacher it was. Will no one try to save himY asked Shella. If four strong arms should be in that boat instead of } two he might yet be saved When the waters have taken him, he will not be standing in my way any more, said Conan; but Sheila begged for his hell with the tears undred on her face. Ther said: Tt may be that I can save Con- | the boat comes safe with one it will also come safe with two answered Sheila Conans face grew gray as the face oi a dead man. Tt is i'll speaking to ears that will not understand he said. 'Bu' do not forget that 1t was my fathers sor who put Connacher's life before his own! And he took his harp, and for the first time he played on it.
 When he began they could hear noth- ing, the music was so low; but after ward there were some who seemed to hear the drops falling from the heather when the mist hangs thick, and the rustic of the little leaves when the but tercup bud opens. The storm stayed to listen, and the loch quieted down to hear; the sedgegrass stood straight and silent, and the streams flowed on with never a sound. Connacher's boat came over the smooth water and touched the shore-and Conan fell dead at that in- stant
 '"They took him up and mourned for him, Sheia sorest of all; but when they went to take his harp there came a white haired woman In black dress the black-haired woman from the Tarn of Darkness She took up the harp. There Is none left worthy to hold the Harp of Conan she said. Let 1t bide with me until the man comes who can play it. and she went back to the tarn, weeping for Conan"
 The sun had dipped; the afterglow was beginning to fade. My old boatman gave a little shiver we had best get back the quickest we can" said he flor the wind is rising. and the white-armed Daughters of the Sea"-ponting to the foam-capped waves-"are coming forth to hound the doomed to their fate.' l