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Siobhan. Very powerful magic indeed. One of the most important of all the magics.’
    ‘What is it?’
    ‘’Tis said that whoever lays his lips on the cool surface of the stone will have bestowed upon them the gift of story, the gift of persuasion …’ He paused dramatically. ‘The gift, as they say, of the gab!’
    ‘The gift of the gob?’
    Delaney laughed again. ‘Don’t let Kate hear you using that expression, sweetheart.’
    ‘Why not?’
    Delaney grimaced. ‘Let’s just say that it’s not one she’s overly fond of.’
    ‘Tell me more about the gift of the gab then.’
    ‘Ah now, the magic of the Blarney Stone, you see.’ Delaney pretended to consider the matter. ‘Some say it’s best described as giving you the ability to deceive someone without offending them!’
    Siobhan made an O of her mouth. ‘To lie, you mean?’
    ‘Well now, lie – that might be too strong a word. Bending the facts to one’s advantage maybe.’
    ‘Tell me more about the Stone. Have you seen it?’
    ‘No, I haven’t. I don’t need to. We Delaneys don’t need to see or kiss it to have its magic work upon us.’
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘Maybe that should be a story for another night.’
    ‘Tonight, tonight!’ Siobhan wriggled impatiently.
    Delaney seemed to consider for a moment, before sighing and relenting. ‘Sure, and you’ll promise to go straight to sleep when the telling of it is done.’
    ‘Cross my heart and hope to die, if I should ever tell a lie. May my soul lay down to sleep, if a promise I do not keep!’
    Siobhan made a cross with her finger over her blanket and smiled as Jack sidled closer to her.
    ‘It all happened long, long ago. When a man called Cormac Laidir MacCarthy—’
    ‘The same MacCarthy as MacCarthy’s bar near where you were born, Da?’ interrupted Siobhan. ‘In Castletownbere.’
    ‘The very same name, the very same family.’
    ‘Will we go there one day?’
    ‘Did I not promise it?’
    Siobhan clapped her hands. ‘And will we see the magic Stone there?’
    ‘No,’ Delaney shook his head. ‘The Stone now resides in Blarney Castle in Blarney. Still in Cork, mind, but not where it came from originally.’
    ‘Where did it come from then?’
    Delaney looked at her for a moment before speaking. ‘From Ballydehob!’
    Siobhan gasped again, theatrically. ‘The town where you were born!’
    ‘It certainly is, but there’s more to the legend than that.’
    Siobhan settled back down on her pillow. ‘Go on then.’
    ‘Well, your great-great-great- to the power of something or other grandfather was a man called Liam Colm Delaney. And Liam was famous throughout the whole of Cork. As a fighter, as a poet and as a man who could charm the very birds down from the trees. But one day the worst thing that could ever happen to a man like him did indeed happen.’
    ‘What was it?’
    ‘He fell in love.’
    Siobhan blinked, confused. ‘Why was that so bad?’
    ‘Because the woman he fell in love with, the very first time he ever clapped eyes on her, was called Aoibheann.’
    ‘That’s a pretty name.’
    ‘It is, and Aoibheann means “beautiful”. As in the heathen English word “heavenly”. Aoibheann Aghna Finbar McCool was her name, and she was the only woman in the whole of Ireland who was impervious to Liam Delaney’s charms.’
    ‘What did he do?’
    ‘He tried everything he could. He wrote epic poems, he sent fields of flowers, he pleaded and begged, but his honeyed words had no effect. She was as cool towards him as a Nordic snow-queen.’
    ‘What happened?’
    ‘Well, in desperation, Liam prayed to the goddess Cliodna for her assistance. Now Cleena, as they say in the English tongue, was Queen of the banshees of the Tuatha De Danann. She was the goddess of love and beauty, and ruled over the Sheoques or fairy women of the hills of south Munster. And she answered his prayer.’
    ‘She made Aoibheann fall in love with him?’
    ‘It wasn’t as simple as that. At the same