



Produced by sp1nd, Sam W. and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)







Transcriber's Note

This book contains a small number of characters which are not
available in this file encoding. These are a and e with a macron
(straight line) above, which are rendered as [=a] and [=e]
respectively, and u with a breve (upward curve) above, which is
rendered as [)u].




          THE
   WASHER OF THE FORD

  LEGENDARY MORALITIES
   AND BARBARIC TALES

    BY FIONA MACLEOD


      [Decoration]


        NEW YORK
    STONE & KIMBALL
      M DCCC XCVI




    BY THE SAME AUTHOR

    Pharais: _A Romance of the Isles_
    The Mountain Lovers: _A Romance_
    The Sin-Eater


    IN PREPARATION:

    Green Fire: _A Romance_
    Lyric Rimes and Founsheen




CONTENTS


                                                        PAGE
    Prologue                                               3

    The Washer of the Ford                                25

    St. Bride of the Isles                                51

    The Fisher of Men                                     97

    The Last Supper                                      117

    The Dark Nameless One                                135

    The Three Marvels of Hy                              149

        I. The Festival of the Birds                     151

       II. The Sabbath of the Fishes and the Flies       161

      III. The Moon-Child                                170

    The Annir-Choille                                    183

    The Shadow-Seers                                     237

        I. The Sight                                     239

       II. The Dark Hour of Fergus                       244

      III. The White Fever                               254

       IV. The Smoothing of the Hand                     260

    Seanachas                                            267

    The Song of the Sword                                271

    The Flight of the Culdees                            289

    Mircath                                              301

    The Laughter of Scathach the Queen                   309

    Ula and Urla                                         321


"Here are told the stories of these pictures of the imagination, of
magic and romance. Yet they were gravely chosen withal, and for
reasons manifold.... What if they be but dreams? 'We are such stuff as
dreams are made of.' What if they be but magic and romance?