midnight before
said the boy . ` I will be as young then as you are , but now I am still old and tired , and you must help me to my chair and to my books . ' When the boy had left Aengus son of Forbis in his room , and had lighted the lamp which , by some contrivance of the wizard 's , gave forth a sweet odour as of strange flowers , he went into the wood and began cutting green boughs from the hazels , and great bundles of rushes from the western border of the isle , where the small rocks gave place to gently sloping sand and clay . It was nightfall before he had cut enough for his purpose , and well-nigh midnight before he had carried the last bundle to its place , and gone back for the roses and the lilies . It was one of those warm , beautiful nights when everything seems carved of precious stones . Sleuth Wood away to the south looked as though cut out of green beryl , and the waters that mirrored them shone like pale opal . The roses he was gathering were like glowing rubies , and the lilies had the dull lustre of pearl .