Evening star., 1927-11-10

Al. tsamuel Lover was born near the END 81
fairy tales and for his ~ Sketches q irish life
and s' Of
been retold here in modern English,
Once upon a time, very long ago
there was q beautiful lady who lived
in q great castle with a vast lake be
low it. Story had it that she was
pledged to marry a kings handsome
son--the date Of the wedding had
been announced, and every one was
ready to make merry at the marriage
festival. Then. suddenly. the king s
son, the lady's betrothed, was foully
murdered-Lord help us!--and thrown
into the great lake below the castle
promise to the beautiful lady-the
more's the pity.
This beautiful lady, in the great
sorrow that had SO quickly come upon
her. went out of her mind-for she
was very tender.hearted, God help
her. like the rest of us! This poor fair
lady pined away after the kings
handsome son. Then one day this
beautiful lady completely disappeared
No one saw anything of her and nc
one knew what could have become of
her, unless, as some said, she had been
whisked away by the fairies.
Time passed, and as the years went
on a great White Trout began to be
seen, God bless it, in the stream lead.
ing from the vast lake below the great
castle in which the beautiful lady had
lived when she was betrothed to the
kings handsome son. No one knew
what to make of so strange a creature
St,1,f%A FOR xl,hn hoA
seen a pure white trout before? Not
in al! the years of fishermen and fish.
ing had such q creature as white
trout been known to exist. at any rate
thereabouts. And vet, after that White
Trout was seen, for years and years
afterward 1t was there in the stream
for longer than can tell, in truth,
and beyond the memory of the Oldest
nhabitant of the village.
Finally. of course, people began to
think that the White Trout must be
some kind of a fairy, for what else
could It be, indeed? Because Of this
belief, no hurt or harm was ever done
to the White Trout. Every one took
care to see that this strange white
Ash was always safe. like something
sacred. as perhaps 1t was. All went
we'll until some wicked soldiers came
to these parts, and laughed at the peo
pie and their notions, and gibed and
jeered at them for thinking such
things. One Of the soldiers in partcu
lar--bad luck to him. for which God
forgive me for saying-swore he'd
catch the White Trout and eat 1t for
his dinner. the blackguar.l,
What would you think Of the vii
lainy OF such a man? Sure enough
he did catch the White Trout, ant
took it away home with him. There
he put it in the frying pan. The
trout squealed aloud like truly
Christian creature, but the soldier
nearly split his sides laughing at this
for he was q hardened villain. And
when he thought one side of this
White Trout was done, what did he
do but turn the fish over to fry the
other side-and what do you think!
The devil a sign of a burn or SINCE
ing was there on the side Of the fish
Sure and tic soldier thought it was
queer enough that fish should be-
have in such way in the frying
pan. but he said:
"I'll give you another turn, by and
by" and he little thought what was
in store for him. the heathen.
Well, when the soldier thought this
side was done he turned the fish over
again, and 10 and behold nary a sign
of a browning even could be seen on
the side of the White Trout!
bad lnck to me-" said the soldier
to himself. ''but this certainly does
beat anything in the world. Still. I'll
try you again. my darling" said he
land ell see who's master here and
whether you're as cunning as you
think you are"
So the soldier stood there frying
his fish. turning 1t over and over, hut
not an impression did any of the fire
make on the pretty throat of the
White Trout.
"Well," said this desperate villain
for surely he was wholly desperate,