Earl Mar’s Daughter

Long ago in Scotland, there lived a great lord called Earl Mar, and he had one daughter. One summer day, she was sitting in the castle garden under a tall tree. She looked up and saw a lovely gray dove sitting on a branch.

“Coo-my-doo, come down to me,” she called softly. “If you come, I will give you a golden cage and the sweetest seeds to eat.” The dove fluttered down and landed gently on her hand. She carried it up to her room, and she put it in a little golden cage.

That evening, when the sun went down, something wonderful happened. The dove hopped out of the cage, and suddenly a handsome young man stood there instead. The lady was so surprised that she nearly dropped her candle. “Please don’t be frightened,” he said. “My name is Florentine, and I am a prince.” “My mother is a queen who knows magic, and she can turn me into a bird.” “As a dove, I can fly anywhere I like, and I flew here because I saw your kind face.”

From then on, Florentine was a dove by day and a prince by night. The lady and the prince talked and laughed together every evening. Soon they loved each other very much, and they were secretly married.

Years went by, and one day Earl Mar came to his daughter. “A rich old lord has asked to marry you,” he said. “The wedding will be next week.” “But I do not want to marry him, Father!” she cried. The earl would not listen, and he went to get everything ready.

That night, Florentine flew away over the sea to his mother. “Please help me, Mother,” he begged, “or I will lose my true love.” The queen thought for a moment, and then she smiled and waved her hands. She turned twenty-four of his friends into tall white storks, and seven more into graceful swans. And she turned Florentine into a swift gray hawk.

On the wedding day, the castle was full of guests. Just as the bride came down the stairs, there was a great rushing sound of wings. Storks, swans, and a gray hawk swooped in through the windows! The guests shrieked and hid under the tables, and the rich old lord ran away. The birds gently lifted the lady up and carried her away over the sea.

Far away, in the queen’s castle, all the birds turned back into men. Florentine and his lady were married again, with music and flowers, and they lived happily ever after.