Chapter 10
DonalIn the early afternoon Donal had to abandon his own horse because he had ridden it so hard — the poor beast was near to collapse. He had found a farmer who knew and respected his father and was prepared to lend him a horse until Donal returned the following day, on the understanding that he would swear to treat it with more consideration than he had his own.
Donal accepted food and a brief rest in exchange for the story of how his brother had brought a guest to the house who had put a crippling curse on his sister. The farmer and his wife and their wide-eyed children hastily crossed themselves and then, when they heard from which village she had come, they told a few highly exaggerated stories of their own about how a terrifying storm had raged the night of her birth, and
