{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_76322/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_76322","id":"gutenberg_76322","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76322","summary":null,"tags":["Category: British Literature","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Folklore -- Ireland -- Juvenile literature"],"text":"THE KILTARTAN WONDER BOOK\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n          [Illustration: HE CAME DOWN SPREAD-LEGS ON A MULE.]\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                             THE KILTARTAN\n                              WONDER BOOK\n                            BY LADY GREGORY\n                             ILLUSTRATED BY\n                            MARGARET GREGORY\n\n\n\n\n                           MAUNSEL & CO. LTD.\n                     96 MIDDLE ABBEY STREET DUBLIN.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                                   To\n                                R. G. G.\n                           A Kiltartan Child\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                                CONTENTS\n\n\n                                                   PAGE\n                 THE MULE                             1\n                 BESWARRAGAL                          8\n                 THE SEVEN FISHERS                   22\n                 SHAWNEEN                            31\n                 THE MAN THAT SERVED THE SEA         52\n                 THE BULLOCKEEN                      59\n                 THE THREE SONS                      66\n                 KING SOLOMON                        75\n                 THE ROBINEEN                        79\n                 THE BALL OF THREAD                  85\n                 THE HORSE AND FOAL                  89\n                 THE WOMAN THAT WAS A GREAT FOOL     91\n                 THE DANES                           94\n                 CAILLEAC-NA-CEARC                   97\n                 THE GOATS                          100\n                 THE CURIOUS WOMAN                  102\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                             ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n      HE CAME DOWN SPREAD-LEGS ON A MULE            _Frontispiece_\n      THE KING WAS HID IN THE YELLOW EGG           _Facing page_ 6\n      BESWARRAGAL AND HER MAIDENS BATHE                         10\n      BESWARRAGAL AND THE MAN WITH WINGS                        18\n      IT IS IN THAT FOX CROAGCILL\u2019S LIFE WAS                    28\n      A GENTLEMAN\u2019S DEMESNE AND WALLS ABOUT IT                  34\n      THE BLACK BULLOCKEEN DIES                                 64\n      THE THIRD THING I\u2019LL BE TAKING IS YOURSELF                76\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                                THE MULE\n\n\nWell, I will tell you the story of a Mule was in the world one time,\nsays the old man who had promised me a codfish and had only brought me a\nhake.\n\nThere were three sons of a King that had died, and they were living\ntogether, and there was a stable and a bird, and one of the sons was a\nbit simple. The bird used to be coming to the stable every morning and\nto be singing sweetly, and they all three fell in love with it and used\nto be trying to take it, but they could not. But one day the one that\nwas a bit simple, that they called the Fool, took the tail off it. The\nbird said to him then: \u2018You must follow me now until you find me;\u2019 and\nit went away, and he went following after it. And when he was on the\nheight it was in the hollow, and when he was in the hollow it was on the\nheight, and he never could come up with it; and at last it went out of\nhis sight.\n\nHe came then to a wall, and he made a leap over it, and where did he\ncome down but spread-legs on the back of a Mule that was in the field.\n\u2018Are you a good jock?\u2019 says the Mule. \u2018I am middling good,\u2019 says he.\n\u2018Hold on so,\u2019 says the Mule, \u2018and I will bring you to the place where\nthe bird is.\u2019 There was a wall in front of them\u2014a double wall\u2014and the\nMule faced it, and went over it with one leap, and the Fool on his back.\n\u2018You are the best jock ever I saw,\u2019 says the Mule. \u2018You are the best\nMule ever I saw,\u2019 says the Fool. They went on then as far as they could\nthrough the course of the day, till the Mule said: \u2018I\u2019m hungry now; go\nget me a few grains of oats.\u2019 \u2018How can I do that,\u2019 says the Fool, \u2018when\nI have no money?\u2019 \u2018Go in there to that inn and get it for me, as I told\nyou,\u2019 says the Mule. \u2018How much will do you?\u2019 says he. \u2018Seven stone,\u2019\nsays the Mule. So they stopped at the inn, and the Fool put him into the\nstable and bade the innkeeper to give him seven stone of oats. \u2018Go in\nnow and get your own dinner,\u2019 says the Mule. So he went in and he got\nhis dinner; and when he was ready to go, the innkeeper asked for the\nmoney. \u2018I have none,\u2019 says he. \u2018Well, I will keep the Mule in the stable\ntill such time as you can pay me,\u2019 says the innkeeper, and he went out\nand was going to lock the stable door, and the Mule gave a kick that\nbroke his leg, and there he was lying on the ground. \u2018Come on now,\u2019 says\nthe Mule; and the Fool got up on his back, and away with them again, and\nthey came to a wall that was five miles in height. \u2018At it now,\u2019 says the\nFool, and the Mule faced at it and crossed it with one leap. \u2018You are a\njock that can\u2019t be beat,\u2019 says the Mule. \u2018You are a Mule that can\u2019t be\nbeat,\u2019 says the Fool.\n\nThere was before them a lake that was five miles in length and five\nmiles in breadth. \u2018I am thirsty now,\u2019 says the Mule, \u2018after that feed I\nhad. And I\u2019ll stop now till I\u2019ll take a drink,\u2019 he says. \u2018Do not,\u2019 says\nthe Fool, \u2018or you will be heavy and not able to go.\u2019 \u2018Wait till you see\nthat,\u2019 says the Mule. So he stopped and he began to drink, and he never\nstopped till he had drunk up the whole of the lake that was five miles\nin length and five miles in breadth. They went on again till they came\nto a mountain that was before them, and the whole of the mountain was in\none blaze, and there was a high wall before it, fifteen feet high. \u2018Hold\non now,\u2019 says the Mule. \u2018Here, at it,\u2019 says the Fool, and the Mule\ncrossed it with one leap; and when he came where the blaze was, he let\nout of his mouth all the water of the lake he had swallowed, and it\nquenched the blaze, and there they saw before them the bird. But if they\ndid it went under ground, and the Mule followed it under ground into the\nenchanted place where it lived; and when they got there, it was not a\nbird, but the finest young lady that could be seen, and a King\u2019s\ndaughter. The Fool asked her then to come along with him till he would\nmarry her. \u2018I will not,\u2019 she said, \u2018until such time as you will find my\nfather, that I have hidden away from you.\u2019 So he brought the Mule out to\nthe stable, and he didn\u2019t know where to go look for the King. And when\nthey were in the stable the Mule said: \u2018The young lady has a hen\nclutching, and the place where it is clutching is in her own room, under\nher bed. And under it you will find eleven eggs,\u2019 he said, \u2018and one of\nthem is yellow and spotted. And take that one in your hand, and be going\nto smash it against the floor, and the King that is inside of it will\ncry out and will ask you to spare his life.\u2019 So he went looking for the\nhen, and all happened as the Mule had said. \u2018Will you marry me now?\u2019\nsays he to the young lady. \u2018I will not,\u2019 says she, \u2018till you find my\nfather that I have hidden a second time.\u2019 So the place where she hid her\nfather that time was in a duck\u2019s bill, and she put the duck out swimming\nin the middle of a pond. The young man went then to the stable and asked\nthe Mule did he know where the King was hidden, and the Mule told him it\nwas in the duck\u2019s bill. \u2018And look at my tail,\u2019 he said, \u2018and see is\nthere e\u2019er a grey rib in it.\u2019 So he looked, and there was a grey rib.\n\u2018Pull it out,\u2019 says the Mule, \u2018and bring it to the pond where the duck\nis, and throw it out over the water, and however far the duck is, that\nrib will bring it back to the land. And catch a hold of it then, and\nthreaten to cut the neck of it, and the King will cry out from its bill\nand ask you to spare him.\u2019 So he did all that, and he spared the King,\nand then he went to the King\u2019s daughter. \u2018Will you marry me this time?\u2019\nsays he. \u2018I will not,\u2019 says she, \u2018till you find my father the third\ntime.\u2019 The place she hid him the third time was in a block of wood, and\nthe Mule said to the young man: \u2018Take a nail out from my shoe and drive\nit into the block of wood till you will split it.\u2019 So he drew the nail,\nand he put it on the block of wood, and was going to split it, and the\nKing called out for mercy, and he spared him.\n\n\n          [Illustration: THE KING WAS HID IN THE YELLOW EGG.]\n\n\nAfter that he married the young lady, and himself and herself and the\nold King lived together, and there never were three people happier. And\nthe Mule said: \u2018Where will I go now?\u2019 \u2018Go back,\u2019 says the Fool, \u2018to your\nown place, for you know the way well to it. But come back here at the\nend of seven years,\u2019 he said, \u2018till you\u2019ll see how am I getting on.\u2019 So\nat the end of the seven years the Mule came back, and he asked to be\ntaken into service. \u2018I will never make a servant of you,\u2019 says the Fool,\n\u2018when I remember all the things you did for me, and all you helped me.\u2019\n\u2018If that is so,\u2019 says the Mule, \u2018go and root up that little bush you see\nbeyond, and give me three blows with the stump of it.\u2019 So he did that,\nand with the three blows of the bush the enchantment went from the Mule,\nand who was he but the young man\u2019s own father, the King that was thought\nto be dead. So they all four lived together then and ever since, and the\ntime I saw them myself they were well and happy and having great riches.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                              BESWARRAGAL\n\n\nI will tell you the story of Beswarragal, said the old man of a hundred\nyears old.\n\nThere was a King of Ireland out walking one time with his Grand Adviser.\nAnd they came to the side of a pool, and they saw in it a wild duck with\na flock of twelve young ones, and she was pushing and beating away one\nof the young ones to make it leave the flock. \u2018I wonder why is it the\nbird is doing that?\u2019 said the King. \u2018It is the right thing, whenever\nthere is a family of twelve, to send one of them away to seek a fortune\nfor himself,\u2019 says the Grand Adviser. \u2018If that is so,\u2019 says the King,\n\u2018what way can I know which one of my sons must I send away?\u2019 \u2018I will\ntell you that,\u2019 says the Grand Adviser. \u2018Let you watch them to-morrow\nthe time they are coming home from the school, and close the gate on\nwhichever one of them will be last, and let him be the one you will send\naway.\u2019 So the next day they watched the twelve sons coming from the\nschool, and the one that was last at the gate was the youngest of them\nall. \u2018Oh, give him another chance,\u2019 says the King. So the next day they\nwatched again, and it was the same one, the youngest, that was last at\nthe gate; and the third day it was the same thing. \u2018Oh,\u2019 says the King,\n\u2018it is worse to me the youngest to go than any two of the others.\u2019 \u2018You\nneed not mind that,\u2019 says the Grand Adviser, \u2018for I can tell you that\nthe life he will have will be a happy one.\u2019 \u2018I am content so,\u2019 says the\nKing.\n\nSo the King sent for him then, and he gave him a purse of money that\nwould last him for ten years or for twenty years, and he bade him go\nmake a way for himself.\n\nSo the King\u2019s son set out, and he travelled the roads till night time,\nand he saw a cottage before him, and a light in it, and he opened the\ndoor and went in, and all he saw in it was one old man. \u2018A welcome\nbefore you, King\u2019s son,\u2019 says the old man. \u2018I thank you for that\nwelcome,\u2019 says he; \u2018but how is it you know me to be a King\u2019s son?\u2019 So\nthe old man showed him a sword that hung over the top of the door. \u2018If\nany man comes through that door,\u2019 he says, \u2018that is not a King\u2019s son,\nthat sword will fall and will whip the head of him. And it is a good\ntime you came here,\u2019 he said, \u2018and you could have come at no better\ntime.\u2019 \u2018Why is that?\u2019 says the young man. \u2018There is a pool there\nbeyond,\u2019 says the old man, \u2018and one morning in the whole year, there\ncomes to it Beswarragal, that is the most beautiful woman of the whole\nworld, having her twelve waiting maids with her, and they go swimming in\nthat pool. And to-morrow is the day they are coming,\u2019 he said, \u2018and let\nyou hide yourself till they will go into the water, and Beswarragal will\nbe the last to strip, and let you take her clothes and hide them, and\nshe will not be able to go away, and whatever you will ask her she will\ndo it. And what you will ask of her is herself,\u2019 he said.\n\n\n           [Illustration: BESWARRAGAL AND HER MAIDENS BATHE.]\n\n\nSo the young man went down to the pool, and Beswarragal and her twelve\nbeautiful waiting maids were in the water, and he took her clothes and\nhid them. And when they were tired swimming they put their clothes on,\nand then they turned to birds and they flew away, all but Beswarragal,\nand she could not fly. So the King\u2019s son came to her and he gave her the\nclothes. \u2018What will you give me now?\u2019 says he. \u2018I will give you anything\nyou will ask,\u2019 says she. \u2018I ask nothing but yourself,\u2019 says he; \u2018you to\nmarry me and to be my wife.\u2019 \u2018How will you go away with me and you not\nable to fly?\u2019 says she. But she put a loop of the chain she had about\nhis neck, and she took him by the hand and she flew away with him to a\ngarden, and she brought him into the gardener\u2019s house. \u2018And there is one\nthing I have to tell you,\u2019 she said; \u2018you must never wonder at me or say\nanything about me at all.\u2019 \u2018I will never do that,\u2019 says he. And every\nday she brought him food to the gardener\u2019s house, and they lived\ntogether there for a while.\n\n(The old man of a hundred years was getting tired, and the old woman\nthat was his wife sent out the old woman sitting on the doorstep to get\nhim a glass of porter. The old man drank a sup of it, and then the story\nwent on.)\n\nBut at last one day she passed by him in the garden, and when he saw her\nso beautiful he turned and he said to the gardener: \u2018There was never a\nlady so beautiful as mine in the whole world.\u2019 \u2018There never was,\u2019 says\nthe gardener. \u2018And you will be without her now,\u2019 he says.\n\nSo the next morning Beswarragal brought him his breakfast, and, \u2018Oh,\u2019\nshe said, \u2018why did you speak of me and wonder at me, for I must go away\nfrom you now to Righ-na-Sluagh, and you will never see me again.\u2019 \u2018How\ncould I help wondering at you,\u2019 he said, \u2018and you so beautiful passing\nby? And I will go following after you for ever,\u2019 he said.\n\nSo she went away, and before she went she left five drops of honey on\nhis five fingers. And he left the garden, and went following after and\nlooking for her in every place.\n\nHe walked on all through the day, and at the fall of night he came to a\nhouse that had but an old man in it. \u2018God be with the company left me\nto-day,\u2019 says he. \u2018What company was that?\u2019 says the King\u2019s son.\n\u2018Beswarragal and her twelve young girls,\u2019 says he. \u2018That is the one I am\nlooking for,\u2019 says the King\u2019s son. \u2018You never will get her,\u2019 says the\nold man. \u2018But I will do this for you,\u2019 he says; \u2018I will give you a ball\nwhen you leave this to-morrow, and you can go throwing it before you,\nand if you can come up with it as fast as it goes, you will come to my\nbrother and he might help you.\u2019\n\nSo after breakfast he took the ball, and he went throwing it and\nfollowing it through the day till he came to a house where the old man\u2019s\nbrother was, and he went in. \u2018God be with the company that left me\nto-day\u2014that was Beswarragal and her twelve young ladies,\u2019 says the old\nman. \u2018She is the one I am looking for,\u2019 says the King\u2019s son. \u2018You never\nwill get up to her,\u2019 says the old man; \u2018but I will do this for you,\u2019 he\nsays. \u2018There are twelve horses in the stable outside; and go into it,\u2019\nhe says, \u2018and take down the bridle you will see behind the stable door,\nand shake it, and whatever horse will come and put its head in it, let\nyou get up on it, and it will bring you on the road she is gone.\u2019 So\nafter breakfast in the morning he went out into the stable and got the\nbridle and shook it, and a little _gioblacan_ of an Arabian horse came\nrunning and put his head into it. \u2018The devil\u2019s welcome to you,\u2019 says he,\n\u2018and all the good horses there are in the stable!\u2019 \u2018He\u2019ll answer you\nwell,\u2019 says the old man, \u2018and get up on him now. And are you a good\njock?\u2019 he says. \u2018I am,\u2019 says the King\u2019s son, and he got up on it. \u2018Let\nyou leap that now,\u2019 says the old man, and he turned the horse to where\nthere was a big estate-wall at the side of the place. \u2018It is humbugging\nyou are,\u2019 says the King\u2019s son, \u2018for there is no one would be able to\nleap that wall.\u2019 But the little Arabian of a horse rose off the ground,\nand made the wild cat\u2019s bow in the air, and he came down the other side\nof the wall, but the King\u2019s son fell on the ground. But he rose up again\nand got up on the little horse. \u2018We will make a start now,\u2019 he says.\n\u2018You will never get to the place where Beswarragal is,\u2019 says the old\nman, \u2018for there is a place between this and it, and the birds that fly\nhigh in the air fall down in ashes passing over that place, with all the\nfire that is blazing up a mile high from it, and that is thrown up out\nof it.\u2019\n\nThe pony set out then, and the King\u2019s son on his back, and away with\nthem till they came in sight of the fiery place. \u2018Put your hand in my\near,\u2019 says the pony, \u2018and take out a bottle that is in it, and you will\nfind food for yourself and white-water for myself in it.\u2019 So he took the\nbottle and he gave white-water to the horse, and he rubbed what was in\nthe bottle to its hoofs, and it made a great leap into the air and over\nthe fiery place, and pitched five miles on the other side, and nothing\nharmed but that the hair was burned off its belly.\n\nAnd where they pitched there was a little house, and an old woman in it,\nand she gave them shelter for the night. And in the night seven men came\nin, and some having but half a head, and some with their hands and their\narms cut off them. \u2018Who are those and what happened them?\u2019 said the\nKing\u2019s son. \u2018They are my own sons,\u2019 says the old woman, \u2018and every night\nthrough seven years there are men coming in boats and fighting them, and\nthat leave them that way. And all they kill of them are alive again in\nthe morning,\u2019 she said, \u2018and they themselves will be healed again in the\nmorning as well as before.\u2019 \u2018I will go and kill them,\u2019 says the King\u2019s\nson. So he went down to the boats and drove away the men.\n\nThen he went on to a house that was within a quarter of a mile of the\nhouse where Beswarragal was, and he asked lodging. \u2018Why would you come\nin here,\u2019 says the man of the house, \u2018and why wouldn\u2019t you go where\neveryone is going\u2014to that big house beyond, where the wedding is going\nto be?\u2019 So he asked for a cook\u2019s suit, and he put it on him, and he went\non to Beswarragal\u2019s house, and there were hundreds and hundreds going\ninto it for her wedding. \u2018Are you wanting a cook?\u2019 says the King\u2019s son\nat the door. \u2018He was never more wanted,\u2019 said they, \u2018and if there were\nten of them they would be welcome.\u2019\n\nSo they sent him to the kitchen, and he asked the head cook for flour\nand things to mix a cake, and he mixed it; and when he had it made ready\nto bake he put the print of his five fingers on the top of it, and put\nit in the oven. And when it was baked he put a cover over it and gave it\nto the servants that were bringing up the dinner, and he said: \u2018Give\nthat cake to Beswarragal and to no other one.\u2019\n\nSo it was put before her on the table, and she took it to eat a bit of\nit; and when she tasted it, and that she broke it and saw the five drops\nof honey in it, she said: \u2018Where is the man that made that cake? And\nwherever he is send him up to me,\u2019 she said. For she had found the five\ndrops of honey inside the cake.\n\nSo they went for him, and he asked leave to change his cook\u2019s suit, and\nthey gave him that. And he came up and Beswarragal knew him, and she put\nher arms about him. And the man that was to be her husband, he jumped\nout of the window and broke his skull on the pavement.\n\n\n          [Illustration: BESWARRAGAL AND THE MAN WITH WINGS.]\n\n\nSo the King\u2019s son and Beswarragal went away back to the garden; but it\nwasn\u2019t long till a man came that had wings and could fly, and he stooped\ndown and took up Beswarragal, as if she was a child, and brought her\naway. The King\u2019s son went following her then, and he went on till he\ncame to the man that had wings, and he asked her of him. \u2018There was a\nman came that could not fly, but that was a better man than myself,\u2019\nsays he, \u2018and he took her from me.\u2019 So the King\u2019s son went on till he\nfound that man, and he asked her of him. \u2018There was a man came,\u2019 he\nsaid, \u2018that had seven colours in his eyes, and that took her from me,\u2019\nhe said.\n\nSo he went on till he came to the man that had seven colours in his eyes\nand asked her of him. \u2018She was brought away from me,\u2019 says he, \u2018by the\nQueen of the Black Wood. And there is no one will be able to take her\nout of her hands,\u2019 he said.\n\nSo the King\u2019s son went on, and he had no knowledge what way to get to\nthe Black Wood. And he was passing through a field, and a white _garran_\nthat was in the field spoke to him and said: \u2018Get up now on my back, and\nI will bring you as far as the stile that leads into the Black Wood. But\nthere is no one can go into it,\u2019 he said, \u2018because it is as dark as\nnight; and there is no one can face the strength of the Queen that is in\nthat wood.\u2019\n\nSo the King\u2019s son got up on the _garran_, and they went on till they\ncame to the road that was outside the Black Wood, and there was an old\nman there was building a castle on a very large flagstone, and he asked\nthe King\u2019s son where was he going, and he said he was going to bring\naway his wife from the Queen of the Black Wood. \u2018There is no one can do\nthat,\u2019 says the old man, \u2018unless it is the man that will put this castle\nfive yards off the flagstone, with one shove he will give it.\u2019 So the\nKing\u2019s son went at it, and he gave it one shove, and if he did he put\nthe castle eight yards from the flagstone. \u2018Oh,\u2019 says the old man when\nhe saw that, \u2018I know you must be my sister\u2019s son, for there is no one in\nthe whole world could do that unless my sister\u2019s son.\u2019 And he put his\narms about him and kissed him. And then he bade him to move the\nflagstone and he did that, and there was a sword under it. \u2018Take up that\nsword,\u2019 says the old man, \u2018and be shaking it this way and that way. And\naccording as you will be shaking it, the strength will be going out of\nthe Queen of the Black Wood, and you can go to her when she is left\nweak,\u2019 he said.\n\nSo the King\u2019s son did as he bade him, and by the time he came to the\nQueen, all he had to do was to whip the head off her.\n\nSo he brought Beswarragal out of the wood, and they went back safe and\nwell again to the garden.\n\n\u2018Is there any meaning in the name Beswarragal?\u2019\n\n\u2018Not a meaning; it was all the name ever she had, and it will be her\nname ever and always.\u2019\n\nThe old wife of the man of a hundred years, who had fallen asleep\nlistening, says to the old woman who was sitting on the doorstep. \u2018Would\nyou say was there any meaning in the name?\u2019 And she says, \u2018I suppose she\nwas just an enchanted woman.\u2019 \u2018Ah,\u2019 says the old man, \u2018I\u2019ll give you\nthree words that will bring you to Heaven as easy as walking out into\nthat street. And I will tell you now about the Seven Fishers.\u2019\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                           THE SEVEN FISHERS\n\n\nThere were Seven Fishers went out one time from Galway, and a strange\nsort of a wind blew one of the seven a long way off out into the sea.\nAnd when the fisherman came back, he went up to the house and he called\nto his daughter and he said: \u2018I have but the one fish, but let you clean\nit and bring it to the shop, and it will get us our supper.\u2019\n\nSo she brought it out of the boat, and she was cleaning it and rubbing\nit, and while she was doing that it turned to be a tall fine man\nstanding before her. And he stopped with her for a while, and when he\nwas going away he said: \u2018You will have two sons, and you will never know\nwant, and your father will get fish every time he will go out. And here\nis a letter,\u2019 he said, \u2018and give it to the sons at whatever time they\nwill ask tidings of their father.\u2019\n\nSo all happened as he said, and she brought up the sons and reared them,\nand at the last she sent them to get learning in Dublin. And when they\ngot there they saw ball-playing going on, and there was a dispute, and\nthose that were disputing called out to the young men to settle it, and\nthey gave their opinion. \u2018Ah,\u2019 said the ball-players then, \u2018who are\nthose that are giving a judgment? Scamps that don\u2019t know who is their\nfather.\u2019\n\nThen the young men looked one at another. \u2018That is true,\u2019 they said,\n\u2018and we have no business here, but let us go home again.\u2019 So they turned\nand went back, and when they came to Galway there was a hurling, and a\ngentleman that was at the head of one side came to them and said: \u2018Two\nof my own men have failed me, and come you take their place at the\nhurling.\u2019 \u2018We never played it, and we know nothing of it,\u2019 said they.\n\u2018No matter,\u2019 says he; \u2018come and stand up now.\u2019 So they stood up, and\nwhen the ball came near them, the one of them made a leap and struck it,\nand the other got the goal. And when they were leaving the field they\nheard the people saying to one another: \u2018It is the Fish\u2019s sons were the\nbest.\u2019\n\nThey looked at one another then, and they went home and asked the mother\nwas she their own mother. \u2018I am that,\u2019 says she. Then they asked news of\ntheir father, and she gave them the letter he had left with her. And it\ngave directions to the eldest son to go to such a cliff, and he would\nfind a flagstone with a keyhole and a key, and it bade him turn the key\nand take out what he would find in it.\n\nSo he went to the cliff and he opened the flagstone, and under it he\nfound a good suit and a horse, and he put on the suit and he got up on\nthe horse. \u2018How long will you stop on me?\u2019 says the horse. \u2018As long as\nthe saddle is under me,\u2019 says he. \u2018That is not enough,\u2019 says the horse.\n\u2018Well, as long as the skin is left on you,\u2019 says he. \u2018That will do,\u2019\nsays the horse. So he set out then till he came to the Court of the King\nof Munster, that had never spoken a word and never made a laugh for\nseven years.\n\nThe Fish\u2019s son went in and he asked the King why was he seven years\nwithout speaking a word. \u2018It is my daughter that was brought away from\nme,\u2019 says he, \u2018by Croagcill, that beat me in a battle, and that no man\ncan beat; for he has the strength of a man in every rib of his hair.\u2019 \u2018I\nwill go bring her back to you,\u2019 says the Fish\u2019s son.\n\nSo they made ready a cake for him, and away with him till he met with an\nold man, and he asked him did he know where was Croagcill living. \u2018I\nnever came to the place where he is living,\u2019 said the old man, \u2018and I\nhave been walking for the last four hundred years.\u2019\n\nThe Fish\u2019s son went on then till he came to a wood and he met with a\nwhite hound, and she searching after food. \u2018It is hungry you are,\u2019 says\nthe Fish\u2019s son. \u2018I am not,\u2019 says the hound, \u2018but the young ones I have\nare hungry.\u2019 So he gave her then the half of the cake, and she was very\nthankful, and she said she would come to his help at any time he would\nbe in need of her, and he to give a call for her, or a whistle. He went\non then till he came to the strand, and he sat down to eat the half of\nthe cake he had left, and there came a hawk and asked a share of it, and\nhe gave her a share. \u2018Can you give me any tidings of Croagcill and of\nwhere he is living?\u2019 says he to the hawk. \u2018I went as far as Croagcill\nonce,\u2019 says the hawk; \u2018and I will give you a little canoe of a boat,\u2019\nsays she, \u2018will bring you to him. But it will be hard for you to kill\nhim,\u2019 says she, \u2018for there is no one knows where his body is or where he\nhas it hid. And call to me if I can give help to you,\u2019 says she, \u2018and\nany good anyone can do for you I\u2019ll do it.\u2019\n\nSo he went in the boat, and it had charms in it, that it brought him as\nfar as Croagcill\u2019s house. The King\u2019s daughter saw him coming, and she\nran out to meet him. \u2018My thousand welcomes to you,\u2019 says she, \u2018for I\nthought I never would see one of Ireland\u2019s men again.\u2019 So he told her he\nhad come to bring her back to her father in Munster. \u2018Oh, what can I do\nwith you now,\u2019 says she; \u2018for when Croagcill comes home he will kill\nyou?\u2019\n\nShe put him in hiding before evening in a box, and Croagcill came in,\nand having a heavy deer upon his shoulders. He drew it through the fire,\nand through the ashes, and through his long, cold teeth, and there was\nnot one bit left but the bones. \u2018Fru, fra, feasog,\u2019 he says then; \u2018I\nfeel the smell of a sweet-voiced liar of an Irishman in some place that\nis not far off.\u2019 \u2018My dear and my love, and my man that is better than\nhis father,\u2019 says the King\u2019s daughter, \u2018it is that I myself was at the\ntop of the house, and there came a little bird from Ireland and perched\nupon my hand.\u2019 \u2018Maybe so, maybe so,\u2019 says he. \u2018You to get your death,\u2019\nsays the King\u2019s daughter; \u2018what at all would I do being left in this\nstrange house?\u2019 \u2018Och,\u2019 says he, \u2018I will never get my death; for there is\nno one knows where the life of my body is hid.\u2019 \u2018Oh, and where is it?\u2019\nsays the King\u2019s daughter. \u2018It is in the green plot that is outside the\ndoor,\u2019 says he.\n\nHe went out in the morning, and the King\u2019s daughter rose up and she took\nroses and posies and every sort that was pretty, and she put them out on\nthe green plot. And she let the Fish\u2019s son come out for the daytime, and\nshe put him back in the box at night. When Croagcill drew to the house\nin the evening there was a big beast upon his shoulders, and he drew it\nthrough the fire, and through the ashes, and through his long, cold\nteeth, and there was not a bit left on it. \u2018Fru, fra, feasog, I get the\nsmell of the sweet-voiced, lying Irishman coming to my house to-night,\u2019\nsays he. \u2018My love and my secret, there is nothing at all but what is\nused to be in it,\u2019 says she. \u2018There is, and more,\u2019 says he. \u2018Oh, I was\nup at the top of the castle, and a little bird from Ireland came and\nperched on my head,\u2019 says she. \u2018Maybe so, maybe so,\u2019 says Croagcill. He\nwent out then. \u2018What is the reason the green plot to be full of roses\nand posies?\u2019 says he. \u2018Didn\u2019t I hear you say,\u2019 says she, \u2018that is the\nplace your life is?\u2019 \u2018Och,\u2019 says he, \u2018you to know the place where my\nlife is, it is likely you would have affection for it.\u2019 \u2018I would indeed\nbe fond of it,\u2019 says she. \u2018Well,\u2019 says he, \u2018there is a green holly-bush\nbeyond at the brink of the sea, and it is inside that tree my life is,\nand I will never get my death till the Fish\u2019s son from Ireland will come\nand will cut down that tree with his sword, and that is a thing will not\nhappen for ever.\u2019\n\n\n        [Illustration: IT IS IN THAT FOX CROAGCILL\u2019S LIFE WAS.]\n\n\nIn the morning Croagcill went out to the wood, and the Fish\u2019s son took\nhis sword and began to cut the holly-tree. And when he had it near cut\nthrough, the red fox ran out from the roots, and it is in that fox\nCroagcill\u2019s life was. Then the Fish\u2019s son gave a call and a whistle, and\nthe white hound from the wood came and followed after the fox, and they\nwere going up and down and there and hither in every part, and at the\nlast the hound got a grip of the fox. But with that it changed into a\nbird and went flying up high over the tide. \u2018Oh, where is now the grey\nhawk of the dark earth?\u2019 says the Fish\u2019s son. So the hawk was there on\nthe minute, and she made a dart at the bird in the air, and caught it in\nher claws and killed it that it dropped into the sea, and at that minute\nCroagcill dropped dead where he was, and there was an end of him.\n\nThey gathered all he had of riches, and they went back to the King of\nMunster\u2019s house. The King was very glad to see them coming home. \u2018You\ncan take my daughter now,\u2019 says the King, \u2018and you can join and be\nmarried to one another.\u2019 So they married and wedded together, and there\nwas a wedding feast for a year and a day for them, and it was as good\nthe last day as at the first.\n\n\n\n\n                                SHAWNEEN\n\n\nThere was a King one time was very much put out because he had no son,\nand he went at last to consult his Chief Adviser. And the Chief Adviser\nsaid: \u2018It is easy enough managed if you do as I tell you. Let you send\nsome one,\u2019 says he, \u2018to such a place to catch a fish. And when the fish\nis brought in, give it to the Queen, your wife, to eat.\u2019\n\nSo the King sent as he was bade, and the fish was caught and brought in,\nand he gave it to the cook, and bade her put it before the fire, but to\nbe careful with it, and not to let any blob or blister rise on it. But\nit is impossible to cook a fish before the fire without the skin of it\nrising in some place or other, and so there came a blob on the skin, and\nthe cook put her finger on it to smooth it down, and then she put her\nfinger into her mouth to cool it, and so she got a taste of the fish.\nAnd then it was sent up to the Queen, and she ate it, and what was left\nof it was thrown out into the yard, and there was a mare in the yard,\nand a greyhound, and they ate the bits that were thrown out.\n\nAnd before a year was out the Queen had a young son, and the cook had a\nyoung son, and the mare had two foals, and the greyhound had two pups.\n\nAnd the two young men were sent off for a while to some place to be\ncared, and when they came back they were so much like one another no\nperson could say which was the Queen\u2019s son and which was the cook\u2019s. And\nthe Queen was vexed at that, and she went to the Chief Adviser and said:\n\u2018Tell me some way that I can know which is my own son, for I don\u2019t like\nto be giving the same eating and drinking to the cook\u2019s son as to my\nown.\u2019 \u2018It is easy to know that,\u2019 said the Chief Adviser, \u2018if you will do\nas I tell you. Go you outside, and stand at the door they will be coming\nin by, and when they see you, your own son will bow his head, but the\ncook\u2019s son will only laugh.\u2019\n\nSo she did that, and when her own son bowed his head her servants put a\nmark on him, that she would know him again. And when they were all\nsitting at their dinner after that, she said to Shawneen, that was the\ncook\u2019s son: \u2018It is time for you to go away out of this, for you are not\nmy son.\u2019 And her own son, that we will call Shamus, said: \u2018Do not send\nhim away; are we not brothers?\u2019 But Shawneen said: \u2018I would have been\nlong ago out of this house if I knew it was not my own father and mother\nowned it.\u2019 And for all Shamus could say to him, he would not stop. But\nbefore he went they were by the well that was in the garden, and he said\nto Shamus: \u2018If harm ever happens to me, that water on the top of the\nwell will be blood, and the water below will be honey.\u2019\n\n\n       [Illustration: A GENTLEMAN\u2019S DEMESNE AND WALLS ABOUT IT.]\n\n\nThen he took one of the pups, and one of the two horses that was foaled\nafter the mare eating the fish, and the wind that was after him could\nnot catch him, and he caught the wind that was before him. And he went\non till he came to a cooper\u2019s house, and he asked did he want a servant.\n\u2018Well,\u2019 says the cooper, \u2018I have thirteen goats\u2014twelve goats and a\npuck\u2014and let you bring them out and be minding them to-morrow.\u2019 \u2018I will\ndo that for you,\u2019 says Shawneen. So the cooper engaged him, and on the\nmorrow he brought out the goats to the place he was bade, that was the\ntop of a mountain. And there was a gentleman\u2019s demesne, and walls about\nit, and he looked in at the gate and he saw grass growing up as high as\nthe trees. \u2018Why wouldn\u2019t my poor goats go in there,\u2019 says he, \u2018and be\ngrazing in it, and not to be out on that red mountain where there is not\na rib of grass, and what they are eating is clay?\u2019 So he drove in the\ngoats through the gate, and they were eating the grass, and he heard\nsome person coming, and he went up in a tree. He saw a giant coming into\nthe field. The giant looked at him. \u2018I see where you are in the tree,\u2019\nsays he. \u2018And I think you too big for one mouthful,\u2019 says he; \u2018and I\nthink you too small for two mouthfuls, and I don\u2019t know what will I do\nwith you unless I will grind you up and make snuff for my nose.\u2019 \u2018As you\nare strong be merciful,\u2019 says Shawneen up in the tree. \u2018Come down out of\nthat, you little dwarf,\u2019 says the giant, \u2018or I\u2019ll tear you and the tree\nasunder.\u2019 So Shawneen came down. \u2018Would you sooner be driving red-hot\nknives into one another\u2019s hearts,\u2019 says the giant, \u2018or would you sooner\nbe fighting one another on red-hot flags?\u2019 \u2018Fighting on red-hot flags is\nwhat I\u2019m used to at home,\u2019 says Shawneen; \u2018and your dirty feet will be\nsinking in them and my feet will be rising.\u2019 So then they began the\nfight. The ground that was hard they made soft, and the ground that was\nsoft they made hard, and they made spring-wells come up through the\ngreen flags. They were like that all through the day, no one getting the\nupper hand of the other; and at last a little bird came and sat on the\nbush and said to Shawneen: \u2018If you won\u2019t make an end of him by sunset,\nhe\u2019ll make an end of you.\u2019 Then Shawneen put out his strength, and he\nbrought the giant down on his knees. \u2018Give me my life,\u2019 says the giant,\n\u2018and I\u2019ll give you the best gift I have.\u2019 \u2018What gift is that?\u2019 says\nShawneen. \u2018A Sword that nothing can stand against,\u2019 says the giant.\n\u2018Where is it to be found?\u2019 says Shawneen. \u2018In that red door you see\nthere in the hill.\u2019 So Shawneen went and got it out. \u2018Where will I try\nthe Sword?\u2019 says he. \u2018Try it on that ugly black stump of a tree,\u2019 says\nthe giant. \u2018I see nothing blacker or uglier than your own head,\u2019 says\nShawneen. And with that he made one stroke, and cut off the giant\u2019s head\nthat it went into the air, and he caught it on the Sword as it was\ncoming down, and made two halves of it. \u2018It is well for you I did not\njoin to the body again,\u2019 says the head, \u2018or you would never have been\nable to strike it off again.\u2019 \u2018I did not give you the chance of that,\u2019\nsays Shawneen. And he brought away the great Sword with him.\n\nSo he brought the goats home at evening, and everybody wondered at all\nthe milk they gave that night. And when the cooper was eating his supper\nhe said: \u2018I think I only hear two roars from beyond to-night, in place\nof three.\u2019\n\nThe next morning Shawneen went out again with the goats, and he saw\nanother demesne with good grass in it, and he brought in the goats. All\nhappened the same as the first day, but the giant that came this time\nhad two heads, and they fought together, and the little bird came and\nspoke to Shawneen as before. And when the giant was brought down by\nShawneen he said: \u2018Give me my life and I will give you the best thing I\nhave.\u2019 \u2018What thing is that?\u2019 says Shawneen. \u2018It is a Cloak of Darkness\nyou can put on, and you will see everyone but no one can see you.\u2019\n\u2018Where is it?\u2019 says Shawneen. \u2018It\u2019s inside that little red door at the\nside of the hill.\u2019 So Shawneen went and brought out the Cloak. And then\nhe cut off the giant\u2019s two heads, and caught them coming down, and made\nfour halves of them. And they said it was well for him he had not given\nthem time to join the body.\n\nThat night when the goats came home all the vessels that could be found\nwere filled up with milk.\n\nThe next morning Shawneen went out again, and all happened as before,\nand the giant this time had four heads, and Shawneen made eight halves\nof them. And the giant told him to go to a little blue door in the side\nof the hill, and there he got a pair of Shoes of Swiftness, that when\nyou put them on would make you run faster than the wind.\n\nThat night the goats gave so much milk there was no place to hold it.\n\u2018Oh, what can we do for vessels to hold the milk?\u2019 says the cooper, and\nthey were milking the poor goats on the ground, and it was given to poor\npeople and men passing the road. I was passing that way myself, and I\ngot a drink of it. \u2018Why is it,\u2019 says the cooper, \u2018the goats are giving\nso much milk these days? Are you bringing them to any other grass?\u2019 \u2018I\nam not,\u2019 says Shawneen, \u2018but I have a good stick, and whenever they\nwould stop still or lie down I give them blows of it, that they jump\nover walls and stones and ditches; that\u2019s the way to make them give\nplenty of milk.\u2019 And that night at supper the cooper said: \u2018I hear no\nroars at all.\u2019\n\nThe next day Shawneen brought the goats to the first meadow he went to,\nand there came before him the mother of the three giants, that was the\nstrongest of them all. \u2018Was it you killed my three sons?\u2019 says she. \u2018It\nwas,\u2019 says Shawneen. \u2018I thought,\u2019 says she, \u2018the man wasn\u2019t born in\nIreland that could do that much.\u2019 So they took a hold of one another and\nwent wrestling, and neither of them got the better of the other through\nthe length of the day. And it is the way it was, the two farthest back\nteeth in the mother\u2019s mouth were crutches to her, that reached down to\nthe ground, the way Shawneen would not get a good grip of her at one\nside or the other. And at the fall of day the little bird came and sat\non the bush and said: \u2018Why wouldn\u2019t you give a tip to the crutch?\u2019 So\nwith that he gave a tip of his boot to the tooth, that knocked it out of\nher head, and the mother fell, and before she died she gave him up her\nestate.\n\nShawneen left the cooper\u2019s house then, and he went on till he came to a\nlarge garden, and he went up in the branches of a cherry-tree, and he\nwas eating the cherries and throwing the stones down. There came in a\nyoung lady, and she looked up and she saw him in the tree. \u2018Oh, you are\nan unruly lad,\u2019 says she, \u2018for that tree belongs to the King that is my\nfather, and what right have you to go plundering it down?\u2019 So he came\ndown then out of the tree, and he asked what could he do for her. \u2018Go\nout and bring me news,\u2019 says she, \u2018is the Black Duke coming to make a\ngood fight against the Fiery Dragon.\u2019 The Fiery Dragon now was a fish\nthat used to come every seven years, and he should get the primest lady\nin the land to eat and to banish. And it was the King\u2019s daughter was to\nbe given to him on that very day, unless the Black Duke or some other\nchampion would get the better of him. And it was given out that whatever\nman would kill the Dragon would get the King\u2019s daughter for his wife.\n\nSo Shawneen went down by the road to the sea, and he came to a cluster\nof brambles and of bushes that was beside the road, and he looked in,\nand who was hiding in it but the Black Duke. \u2018Why wouldn\u2019t you go\nfight?\u2019 says Shawneen; \u2018and thousands of people and carriages there\nlooking on.\u2019 \u2018Oh, I am in dread,\u2019 says the Black Duke; for he was a\ngreat coward, and he was afeard to go on and to face the Fiery Dragon.\n\u2018Give me here your suit of armour,\u2019 says Shawneen. So he got the suit of\narmour and he went on to the brink of the sea, and it was like the\nCliffs of Moher; all the people were looking down from it, and there on\nthe strand the King\u2019s daughter was sitting and she crying, and tied in a\nsilver chair. And she saw Shawneen coming, and he wearing the Black\nDuke\u2019s suit. \u2018Let me lie a while with my head on your knee,\u2019 says he,\n\u2018and you can waken me when the Dragon is coming.\u2019 So he did that, and\nshe saw the Fiery Dragon coming, and its mouth open and a fiery flame\nfrom it, and nine miles of the sea was dry with all he drank of it. So\nshe wakened Shawneen, and they had a great fight, and he got the better\nof the Fiery Dragon. \u2018Oh, let me go out of this for the night,\u2019 says the\nDragon, \u2018and I\u2019ll come back in the early morning out of the salt sea.\u2019\nSo Shawneen let him go, and as to himself, he put on the Shoes of\nSwiftness that no one would overtake him, and he went back to the\ncooper\u2019s house for the night.\n\nWell, the next day he came again, and there was no news or tidings of\nthe Black Duke, and all happened as before, and he drove back the Fiery\nDragon till the next morning.\n\nAnd the third day Shawneen came again, and he lay down to take a sleep\nwhile he was waiting, with his head in the lap of the King\u2019s daughter.\nAnd this time she thought some way he was maybe not the Black Duke, and\nshe took her scissors and cut off a bunch of his hair. \u2018Are you cutting\nall the hair off my head?\u2019 says he. \u2018I am cutting it,\u2019 says she, \u2018till\nI\u2019ll know who was it made an end of the Fiery Dragon.\u2019 So she made a\nlittle packet of it and put it away, and, another thing, she drew off a\ngolden shoe from his foot. And when she saw the Dragon coming she awoke\nhim, and he said: \u2018This time I will put the Dragon in a way he will eat\nno more King\u2019s daughters.\u2019 So he took out the Sword he had got from the\ngiant, and he drove the Dragon to his knees out in the sea, and down to\nthe hip, and gave him a blow that split him in two halves from the head\nto the tail, and there was an end of him. And he put on the Cloak of\nDarkness he had taken from the giant, that no one saw what way did he\ngo, and away with him to the cooper\u2019s house.\n\nThen the King made ready the wedding, and he sent for the Black Duke\nthat was to marry his daughter, and he was made much of and was the\nright-hand man, and there was music and shouting before him, and the\ngreatest wedding given out that ever was. But the King\u2019s daughter knew\nwell it was not the Black Duke had saved her, and she took out the bunch\nof hair she had, and she said she would marry no one but the man whose\nhair would match that: and she showed the gold shoe and said she would\nmarry no one but the man whose foot would fit it. And the Black Duke\ntried to put on the shoe, but so much as his toe would not go into it;\nand as for his hair, it did not match at all to the bunch of hair she\nhad cut from the man that saved her.\n\nSo then the King gave a great ball to bring all the chief men of the\ncountry together, to try would the shoe fit any of them. And they were\nall going to carpenters and joiners getting bits of their feet cut off\nto try could they wear the shoe, but it was no use; not one of them\ncould get it on. Then the King went to his Chief Adviser and asked what\ncould he do. And the Chief Adviser bade him to give another ball. \u2018And\nthis time,\u2019 he said, \u2018give it to poor as well as rich.\u2019\n\nSo the ball was given and many came flocking to it, but the shoe would\nnot fit any one of them. And there were two Fools passing the way and\nthey said: \u2018There is a wedding going on, the greatest that ever was in\nthe world; and let us go in now,\u2019 they said, \u2018and we will be eating\nmeat.\u2019 So they went in and sat by the kitchen fire, and the King asked\nhad everyone in the house or out of the house tried to see would the\nbunch of hair fit to their poll, and they said all unless the two Fools\nthat were sitting by the kitchen fire. So they were brought up and bade\nto take their caps off, but the hair did not match their own. And the\nChief Adviser said: \u2018Is everyone here belonging to the district?\u2019 \u2018They\nare all here,\u2019 said the King, \u2018unless the boy that minds the cooper\u2019s\ngoats. And I would not like him to be coming up here,\u2019 he said. So\nShawneen was sent for, and he was told what the King said, and that\nvexed him, where he knew the two Fools had got their chance. And he got\nhis sword and came running up the stairs as if to strike off the King\u2019s\nhead. But when he got to the top of the stairs the King\u2019s daughter saw\nhim and she gave a cry and ran into his arms. And they tried the shoe\nand it fitted him, and his hair matched to the bunch that had been cut\noff. That was a good thought the King\u2019s daughter had to cut a bit of his\nhair; and there is nothing in the world so quick as a woman\u2019s thought. A\nman\u2019s thought is quick enough, but a woman\u2019s thought is quicker again.\n\nAnd Shawneen took the Black Duke and bound him with gads, that no one\nwould be able to loosen but himself, and everyone was striving to loosen\nthe gads, but they could not; and Shawneen was bade come and try his\nhand at them, but he said he would not till the Royal Family themselves\nwould come asking him. So they came, and the gads loosened of\nthemselves, and Shawneen and the King\u2019s daughter were married; and a\ngreat feast was given for three days and three nights, and there was\nevery sort of fiddlers and of pipers at the wedding.\n\nAnd at the end of that time, one morning there came a deer outside the\nwindow, with bells on it, and they ringing. And it called out: \u2018Here is\nthe hunt; where are the huntsman and the hounds?\u2019 So when Shawneen heard\nthat, he got up and took his horse and his hound and went hunting the\ndeer. When it was in the hollow he was on the hill, and when it was on\nthe hill he was in the hollow; and that went on all through the day, and\nwhen night fell it went into a wood. And Shawneen went into the wood\nafter it, and all he could see was a mud-wall cabin, and he went in, and\nthere he saw an old woman, about two hundred years old, and she sitting\nover the fire. \u2018Did you see a deer pass this way?\u2019 says Shawneen. \u2018I did\nnot,\u2019 says she. \u2018But it\u2019s too late for you to be following a deer; let\nyou stop here the night.\u2019 \u2018What will I do with my horse and hound?\u2019 says\nShawneen. \u2018Here are two ribs of hair,\u2019 says she, \u2018and let you tie them\nup with those ribs.\u2019 So Shawneen went out and tied up the horse and the\nhound, and when he came in again the old woman said: \u2018It was you killed\nmy three grandsons,\u2019 she said, \u2018and I\u2019m going to kill you now.\u2019 And she\nput on a pair of boxing gloves, each one of them nine stone weight, and\nthe nails in them fifteen inches long. Then they began to fight, and\nShawneen was getting the worst of it. \u2018Help, hound!\u2019 he cried out then.\n\u2018Squeeze, hair!\u2019 called out the old woman, and the rib of hair that was\naround the hound\u2019s neck squeezed him to death. \u2018Help, horse!\u2019 cried\nShawneen. \u2018Squeeze, hair!\u2019 screeched out the hag, and the rib of hair\nthat was about the horse\u2019s neck began to tighten and to squeeze him to\ndeath. Then the old woman made an end of Shawneen, and threw him outside\nthe door.\n\nTo go back now to Shamus. He was out in the garden one day, and he took\na look at the well, and what did he see but that the water at the top\nwas blood, and what was underneath was honey. So he went into the house\nagain, and he said to his mother: \u2018I will never eat a second meal at the\nsame table, or sleep a second night in the same bed, till I know what is\nhappening to Shawneen.\u2019\n\nSo he took the other horse then and the hound, and he set off over hills\nwhere cock never crows and wind never blows, and the old boy himself\nnever sounds his horn. And at last he came to the cooper\u2019s house, and\nwhen he came in the cooper said: \u2018You are welcome, and I can give you\nbetter treatment than I did the last time you came in to me;\u2019 for he\nthought it was Shawneen was in it, they were so much like one another.\n\u2018That is good,\u2019 says Shamus to himself. \u2018My brother has been in this\nplace.\u2019 And he gave the cooper the full of a basin of gold in the\nmorning before he left the place.\n\nThen he went on till he came to the King\u2019s house, and when he was at the\ndoor the King\u2019s daughter came running down the stairs. \u2018Oh, you are\nwelcome back to me!\u2019 says she, for she thought it was Shawneen, her\nhusband, was in it. And all the people said: \u2018It is a wonder you to have\ngone hunting three days after your marriage, and to stop so long away.\u2019\n\nWell, the next morning the deer came, and bells ringing on her, under\nthe windows, and called out: \u2018The hunt is here; where are the huntsman\nand the hounds?\u2019 Then Shamus got up and took his horse and his hound,\nand followed her over hills and hollows till they came to the wood, and\nthere he saw nothing but the mud-wall cabin, and the old woman sitting\nby the fire, and she bade him stop the night there, and gave him two\nribs of hair to tie up his horse and his hound. But Shamus was wittier\nthan Shawneen, and before he went out he threw the ribs of hair into the\nfire secretly. When he came in the old woman said: \u2018Your brother killed\nmy three grandsons, and I killed him, and I\u2019ll kill you along with him.\u2019\nAnd she put her gloves on, and they began the fight, and then Shamus\ncalled out: \u2018Help, horse!\u2019 \u2018Squeeze, hair!\u2019 called out the hag. \u2018I can\u2019t\nsqueeze; I\u2019m in the fire,\u2019 says the hair. And the horse came in and gave\nher a blow of the hoof. \u2018Help, hound!\u2019 says Shamus then. \u2018Squeeze,\nhair!\u2019 says the hag. \u2018I can\u2019t; I\u2019m in the fire,\u2019 says the second hair.\nThen the hound put his teeth in her, and Shamus brought her down, and\nshe cried for mercy. \u2018Give me my life,\u2019 says she, \u2018and I\u2019ll tell you\nwhere you\u2019ll get your brother again, and his hound and his horse.\u2019\n\u2018Where is that?\u2019 says Shamus. \u2018Do you see that rod over the fire?\u2019 says\nshe. \u2018Let you take it down and go outside the door, where you will see\nthree green stones, and strike them with the rod, for they are your\nbrother and his horse and his hound, and they will come to life again.\u2019\n\u2018I will do that, but I will make a green stone of yourself first,\u2019 says\nShamus; and he cut off her head with his sword. Then he went out and\nstruck the stones, and sure enough there was Shawneen and his horse and\nhound, alive and well. And they began striking other stones that were\nthere, and the rod rose the charm from them, and men came out that had\nbeen turned to stones, hundreds and thousands of them.\n\nThen they went home, and Shawneen and his wife lived happy ever after,\nand they had children by the basketful, and threw them out by the\nshovelful. I was passing one time myself, and they called me in and gave\nme a cup of tea.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                      THE MAN THAT SERVED THE SEA\n\n\nI will tell you a story about a man that served the sea. It came to him\nfirst in a dream to do that, and he was for seven years serving it,\ngoing down by the sea every day. And at the last he saw a mermaid in the\nwater, and she combing her head, and he made a grab at her and brought\nher to the house. And he took the cover off of her, that was the same as\na tail, and she was the most beautiful young lady that ever was seen,\nand he married her. But he hid the cover up in the roof of the house,\nthe way she would not see it, and think of the sea.\n\nShe was with him for seven years, and by the will of God they had three\nsons, and through all that time she never spoke a word, but she laughed\nthree times. The first time she laughed was one day the dinner was on\nthe fire in the pot, and a man that came in was sitting by the hearth,\nand they asked him would he eat a share of the victuals, and he gave a\ncurse and he said: \u2018Sorra bit will I eat.\u2019 She gave a laugh when she\nheard that. The second time she laughed was one day the pot was on the\nfire and the dinner was boiling, and the husband\u2019s mother that was\nminding it did not take the top off. For it is the custom with our\npeople to take the top off what is in the pot, and to throw it in behind\nthe fire.\n\nAnd the third time she laughed was one day the husband\u2019s mother was\ngoing into the parlour, and was knocked going in at the door.\n\nWell, at the end of the seven years the cover fell down from the top of\nthe house, and she got a little sketch of it, and she took it and tried\nit on. And with that she went out of the house into the sea, and brought\nthe three sons along with her, and came back to the house no more.\n\nAnd the man was going every day to the sea looking for her, and at the\nlast, at the end of nine years, he got a sketch of her where she was\nsitting on a rock, and he made a grab at her. But she said: \u2018You have no\nchance of getting me at all, or of bringing me back to the house. But\nI\u2019ll do this for you,\u2019 she said; \u2018the eldest son I had, I\u2019ll give him\nback to you if you will promise to leave him all that you have. But as\nfor myself, you will never see me again,\u2019 she said. \u2018Is it any harm to\nask you,\u2019 says the husband, \u2018what was it made you laugh the first time\nin the house?\u2019 \u2018I will tell you that,\u2019 says she. \u2018I laughed to hear that\nman make the curse, for when he did, all that was in the pot went to\nnothing.\u2019 \u2018And is it any harm to ask you why you laughed the second and\nthe third time?\u2019 says the husband. \u2018The second time I laughed,\u2019 says\nshe, \u2018was when your mother didn\u2019t take the top off the pot. For all that\nwas in it turned to poison then,\u2019 says she, \u2018and I took no taste of it\nmyself. And the third time I laughed,\u2019 she said, \u2018was when your mother\nwas knocked going in at the parlour door. For I saw what it was knocked\nher,\u2019 she said. \u2018It was the leg of a pot that was standing up out of the\nfloor, and that was full of gold. And go home now,\u2019 she said, \u2018and dig\nunder the threshold of the door, and you will find the pot of gold, and\nyou can keep all that is in it.\u2019\n\nSo the man did that, and he brought his eldest son with him, and he dug\nunder the floor and found the pot of gold, and they were very rich from\nthat time.\n\nThat is all, my lady, I know about it; and that is one of the old\nstories of Ireland.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                             THE BULLOCKEEN\n\n\nThere was a King, and it is a good while ago he was in it, and he\nmarried a King\u2019s daughter, and at the end of two years they had a son,\nand the mother died. And before dying she made a will, and she willed to\nthe son but one thing only\u2014a little black Bullockeen was out in the\nmeadow. And she laid commands on the King: \u2018Do not marry another woman,\u2019\nshe said, \u2018till the son I have left with you will give you leave three\ntimes to do it.\u2019\n\nAnd the son grew to be about seven years old, and he bought a hurling\nstick and a silver ball, and he used to go hurling. And one day he was\nputting the ball, and when he\u2019d give it a blow that sent it over, he\nwould be over before it would fall, and when he would strike it hither,\nhe\u2019d be hither before it, he was that smart, that it would not fall to\nthe ground. The King was passing that way, and when he saw him he said:\n\u2018It\u2019s a pity your mother not to see you,\u2019 says he, \u2018for it is proud out\nof you she would be this day.\u2019 \u2018Let you leave talking of my mother and\nlet you take another woman,\u2019 says the son.\n\nWell, the next day he was out with the ball again, and he was twice\nsmarter that day, and to throw the ball over, he would be over before\nit, and to hit it back hither, he would be hither before it, the way it\ndidn\u2019t touch the ground at all through that day. The King was looking at\nhim. \u2018It\u2019s a pity your mother not to be here and to see you,\u2019 says he.\n\u2018It is time for you to put another woman\u2019s skin on my mother,\u2019 says the\nson. And the same thing happened on the third day.\n\nSo he married another King\u2019s daughter, and the King\u2019s son had a\nstep-mother, and a bad step-mother she was. She had three daughters, and\nshe used to be starving the King\u2019s son, and not to be giving him\nnourishment; but he had nothing but hardship, and all she would give him\nto eat was stirabout, and she used to be giving all to the daughters.\n\nHe was out in the field one day, and the little black Bullockeen came to\nhim and it said: \u2018I know the way you are treated,\u2019 it said, \u2018and the\nsort of nourishment they are giving you. And unscrew now my left horn,\u2019\nit said, \u2018and take what you will find out of it.\u2019 So he unscrewed the\nleft horn, and the first thing he took out was a napkin, and he spread\nit out on the grass; and then he took out cups and plates and every sort\nof food, and he sat down and ate and drank his enough. And then he put\nback the napkin and all into the horn again, and screwed it on.\n\nThat was going on every day, and he used to be throwing his stirabout\naway into the ash-bin; and the servants found it, and they told the\nQueen that he was throwing away what they gave him, and getting fat all\nthe same. And the Queen did not know what to do, and she would give the\nwhole world to get quit of him, he being so smart; but she could get no\nway to do it.\n\nSo she sent for an old prophecy\u2014a woman that did foretellings\u2014and she\nasked her what way would she get quit of the step-son. \u2018It\u2019s what is\nkeeping him so smart,\u2019 says the prophecy-woman, \u2018is the little\nBullockeen out in the meadow. And let you keep a watch on him,\u2019 says\nshe, \u2018and you\u2019ll know it\u2019s truth I\u2019m telling.\u2019 So the Queen says: \u2018I\nhave three daughters,\u2019 says she, \u2018and I\u2019ll send them to watch him,\u2019 says\nshe, \u2018for the one is as sharp as an earwig, and the other is sharper\nagain, and the third has one eye in the back of her poll that can see\nthrough every enchantment.\u2019 So the first of the girls went out, but\nbefore she went the little Bullockeen says to the son: \u2018Your step-sister\nwill be coming to-day to watch you,\u2019 says he, \u2018and unscrew now my right\nhorn, and take out a pin of slumber you will find under it, and when you\nsee her coming go and play with her for a while, and put the pin of\nslumber into her ear and she will fall asleep.\u2019 So he did as the\nBullockeen told him, and he put the pin of slumber into the\nstep-sister\u2019s ear, and she fell into a deep sleep in the grass and never\nwoke till evening.\n\nThe next day the second of the girls went out to keep watch, where the\nson and the Bullockeen were eating their dinner together. But the\nBullockeen rose a fog and an enchantment around them, that she could see\nnothing, and so she went home to her mother.\n\nThe third day the third of the daughters went out, and the son took the\npin of slumber as before, and put it in her ear, and she fell asleep.\nBut if the two front eyes were shut, the eye at the back of the poll was\nopen. Then the Bullockeen put the fog and the enchantment around her;\nbut if he did, the eye at the back of her poll was able to see through\nevery enchantment, and she went back and she told the mother that the\nstep-brother got all he could use out of the Bullockeen\u2019s horn, and that\nhe got out of it the best dinner was in the world.\n\nSo the Queen sent again for the old prophecy, and she came, and the\nQueen asked her what way could she bring the King to do away with the\nBullockeen. \u2018For he will not do it for my asking,\u2019 says she.\n\n\u2018Let you let on to be sick,\u2019 says the hag, \u2018and stop in your bed,\u2019 says\nshe, \u2018and send for the King, and tell him there is nothing will cure you\nbut the liver of the Bullockeen,\u2019 says she.\n\nSo the Queen stopped in her bed and let on to be sick, and she sent for\nthe King, and she said there was nothing could cure her but to kill the\nBullockeen and to give her his liver. \u2018I cannot do that,\u2019 says the King;\n\u2018for when that boy\u2019s mother was dying,\u2019 says he, \u2018she made a will,\u2019 says\nhe, \u2018and she willed him nothing but the little Bullockeen in the meadow.\nBut ask me any other thing,\u2019 says he, \u2018and I will give it.\u2019\n\nSo the Queen sent for the hag and told her that. \u2018Let you take a little\nblack cock is without,\u2019 says the hag, \u2018and let them kill it and take the\npuddings out of him,\u2019 says she, \u2018and fill it with blood, and let you put\nthat in your mouth and squeeze it the time the King will come in, and\ntell him it is the heart\u2019s blood is running from you for the want of the\nliver of the Bullockeen,\u2019 says she.\n\nSo the Queen did as she bade her, and they killed the cock and filled\nthe pudding with blood, and the Queen put it in her mouth where she was\nin bed. \u2018Oh, go run out for the King,\u2019 says she, \u2018for I am near my\ndeath.\u2019 So the King came running in. \u2018Oh,\u2019 says she, \u2018I am near my\ndeath!\u2019 says she, and she squeezes the blood out of her mouth, and the\nKing thought it was her heart\u2019s blood was coming from her. \u2018It will not\nstop,\u2019 says she, \u2018till I\u2019ll get the liver of the little Bullockeen; and\nlet you kill him now for me,\u2019 says she. \u2018I cannot do that,\u2019 says the\nKing; and he made her the same answer as before and went out of the\nroom.\n\nSo the Queen sent again for the old prophecy and told her all. \u2018Haven\u2019t\nyou a yard out there,\u2019 says she, \u2018and a wall around it,\u2019 says she, \u2018is\nthat high a bird can hardly fly over it,\u2019 says she. \u2018And let you drive\nthe Bullockeen in there,\u2019 says she, \u2018and put your champions around to\nkill it.\u2019 So that was done, but when the Bullockeen saw all the\nchampions making an attack on him, he rose up in the air, and the Queen\nwas leaning out through the window, and he took her on his horns, and\nwhitewashed the wall with her bones.\n\nHe called to the boy then, and the boy put a halter on him, and they\nrode away together where the winds never blew, and the cocks never crew,\nand the old boy himself never sounded his horn. And they overtook the\nwind that was before them, and the wind that was after them couldn\u2019t\novertake them.\n\nThey came then to a great wood, and the Black Bullockeen says to the\nboy: \u2018Get up now into the highest tree you can find, and stop there\nthrough the day, for I have to fight with the Red Bull that is coming\nagainst me. And unscrew my right horn,\u2019 says he, \u2018and take out the\nlittle bottle that is in it,\u2019 says he, \u2018and keep it with you; and if I\nam well at the end of the day,\u2019 says he, \u2018it will be as white as snow.\u2019\n\nThe Red Bull came to meet him then, and his head was as big as another\u2019s\nbody would be; and he and the little Bullockeen went to fight together\nand the boy stopped up in the tree. And in the evening he looked at the\nlittle bottle, and what was in it was as white as before. So he came\ndown, and he found the Bullockeen, and got up on his back again, and\nthey went off the same as before.\n\nThey came then to the wood where the White Bull was, and he came out to\nfight the Bullockeen, and all happened the same as the first day. And\nthe boy came down from his tree and got on his back again, and they went\non to another wood. And the Green Bull came to meet him this time, and\nthe boy went up in a tree. And at evening he looked at the little bottle\nand it was red up to the cork. He got down then and went to look for the\nBullockeen, and he found him lying on the ground at the point of death.\n\n\n               [Illustration: THE BLACK BULLOCKEEN DIES.]\n\n\nAnd the Green Bull made a great bellow, and made away and left him\nthere. And the Bullockeen said: \u2018I am going to leave you now,\u2019 says he,\n\u2018but I won\u2019t go without leaving you something. And when I am dead,\u2019 says\nhe, \u2018cut three strips of skin off of me, from the nape of the neck to\nthe root of the tail, and put them about your body. And you to be\nwearing those,\u2019 says he, \u2018they\u2019ll give you the strength of six hundred\nmen.\u2019\n\nSo the boy sat down on the ground and cried him through three days and\nthree nights. And after that he cut off as he was bade the three strips\nof the skin, and put them around his body, and they gave him the\nstrength of six hundred men.\n\nThat now is the story of the Bullockeen, and it is a story that happened\nin the long ago.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                             THE THREE SONS\n\n\nI\u2019ll tell you a story, says the old man who was bringing fish from the\nsea; and after that I\u2019ll be going on to Ballinrobe, to one that has a\nshop there and that was reared by my grandmother. It is likely he\u2019ll\ngive me a tasty suit of clothes. Working all my life I am; working with\nthe flail in the barn, working with the spade at the potato tilling and\nthe potato digging, breaking stones on the road. And four years ago the\nwife died, and it\u2019s lonesome to be housekeeping alone.\n\nThere was a King long ago of Ireland, and he had three sons, and one of\nthem was something silly. There came a sickness on the King, and he\ncalled his three sons, and he said to them that he had knowledge the\nonly thing would cure him was the apples from Burnett\u2019s orchard, and he\nbade them to go look for them, for that orchard was in some far-away\nplace, and no one could tell where it was.\n\nThe three sons went then, and they tackled their horses, and put on\ntheir bridles, and they set out, and went on till they came to three\ncross-roads. There they stopped, and they settled among themselves that\neach one of them would take one of the roads and go searching for the\napples, and they would meet at the same place at the end of a year and a\nday.\n\nThe youngest son, that was a bit silly, took the crossest of the roads,\nand he went on till he came to a cottage by the roadside. He went in,\nand there was a withered old man in the house, and he said: \u2018There is a\ngreat welcome before the King of Ireland\u2019s son!\u2019 The son was astonished\nat that, because he thought no one could know him. He got good treatment\nthere, and in the course of the night he asked the old man did he know\nwhere was Burnett\u2019s garden. \u2018I have a hundred years on me,\u2019 said the old\nman, \u2018and I never heard of such a place. But I have a brother,\u2019 he said,\n\u2018that has a hundred years more than myself, and it may be he would\nknow,\u2019 he said.\n\nSo in the morning he gave a canoe to the King\u2019s son, and it went on of\nitself without him turning or guiding it, till it brought him to the old\nman\u2019s brother, and he got a welcome there and good treatment; and in the\ncourse of the night he asked that old man did he know where was\nBurnett\u2019s orchard. \u2018I do not,\u2019 said he; \u2018though I have two hundred years\nupon me I never heard of it. But go on,\u2019 he said, \u2018to a brother I have\nthat has a hundred years more than myself.\u2019\n\nSo in the morning he went into the canoe, and it went on of itself till\nit came to where the third old man was, that was older again than the\nother two, and the King\u2019s son asked did he know where was Burnett\u2019s\ngarden. \u2018I do not,\u2019 he said, \u2018although I have three hundred years upon\nme; but I will tell you how you will know it,\u2019 he said. \u2018Go on till you\ncome to shore, where you will see a swan-gander standing by the water,\nand he is the one that can tell you and can bring you to it,\u2019 he said.\n\u2018And ask him to bring you to that garden in the name of the Almighty\nGod.\u2019\n\nSo the King\u2019s son went on in the canoe till he came where the\nswan-gander was standing on the shore. \u2018Can you tell me,\u2019 says he,\n\u2018where can I get the apples that are in Burnett\u2019s orchard? And can you\nbring me there?\u2019 he said.\n\n\u2018Indeed,\u2019 said the swan-gander, \u2018I am in no way obliged to your leader,\nor to whoever it was sent you to me and gave you that teaching. And\nthose apples are well minded,\u2019 he said, \u2018by wolves; and the only time\nthey ever sleep is for three hours once in every seven years. And it\nchances they are asleep for those three hours at this time; and so I\nwill bring you there,\u2019 he said.\n\nWith that he stretched out his wings, and he bade the King\u2019s son to get\nup on his back. And it was long before he could start flying with the\nweight that was on him; but he flew away at last, and he brought the\nKing\u2019s son to Burnett\u2019s garden, and there was a high wall around it, but\nhe flew over the wall, and put him down in the garden. The King\u2019s son\nfilled his bag with the apples, and when he had done that, he went\nlooking around, and he came to a large cottage in the garden, and he\nwent in, and there was no one in the house but a beautiful young girl,\nand she asleep. So he went away; but he brought with him the gold rings\nand the gold garters that he saw there in the window.\n\nHe got up again on the back of the swan-gander, but it was hard for it\nto rise with the weight of the bag of apples. But it did rise at last,\nand it brought him to where the old man was that had three hundred\nyears. And the King\u2019s son gave one of the apples to the old man, and no\nsooner did he eat it than his age was gone from him, and he was like a\nboy of fifteen years.\n\nHe went on then to the two other old men, and gave an apple to both of\nthem, and no sooner did they eat it than they were like young boys\nagain.\n\nThen the King\u2019s son went back to the cross-roads, for it was the end of\na year and a day, and he was the first to come there, and he fell\nasleep. And the two brothers came, and they saw him there, and they\nstole the bag of apples from under his head, and they put in the place\nof it a bag of apples that were no use at all. Then they went on to\ntheir father\u2019s house, and they gave him the apples they had stolen, and\nhe was cured on the moment; but they told him that what the youngest son\nwas bringing to him was poison apples, that would bring him to his\ndeath.\n\nSo the King was very angry when he heard that, and he went to his butler\nand he said: \u2018Go out to the wood where my son is, and shoot him there,\nand cut him open and bring his heart here with you on the top of the\ngun, and throw it to the dogs at the door; for I will never have him, or\nanything belonging to him, brought into this house,\u2019 he said.\n\nSo the butler got the gun, and went out to the wood, and when he saw the\nyoung man he was going to shoot him. \u2018Why would you do that?\u2019 said he.\nSo the butler told him all the father ordered him; and the young man\nsaid then: \u2018Do not shoot me, but save me. And it is what you will do,\u2019\nhe said. \u2018Go into the wood till you meet with a woodcock, and shoot it,\nand take the heart out of it, for that is most like the heart of a man.\nAnd bring the woodcock\u2019s heart to my father\u2019s house,\u2019 he said, \u2018and\nthrow it there to the dogs at the door.\u2019\n\nSo the butler did that, and spared him, and took its heart and threw it\nto the dogs at the door.\n\nIt was a good while after that, the beautiful young lady came to the\nKing\u2019s doorway in a coach and four, and she stopped at the door. \u2018Send\nout my husband to me here,\u2019 she said. So the eldest son came out to her.\n\u2018Was it you came to the garden for the apples?\u2019 says she. \u2018It was,\u2019 says\nhe. \u2018What things did you take notice of in the cottage where I was?\u2019\nsays she.\n\nSo he began telling of this thing and that thing that never was in it at\nall. And when she heard that she gave him a clout that knocked his head\nas solid as any stone in the wall.\n\nThen the second son came out, and she asked him the same question, and\nhe told the same lies, and she gave him another clout that left his head\nas solid as any stone in the wall.\n\nWhen the King heard all that, he knew they had deceived him, and that it\nwas the youngest son had got the apples for his cure, and he began to\ncry after him and to lament that he was not living to come back again.\n\u2018Would you like to know he is living yet?\u2019 says the butler. \u2018I would\nsooner hear it than any word that ever I heard,\u2019 says the King. \u2018Well,\nhe is living yet, and is in the wood,\u2019 says the butler.\n\nWhen the young lady heard that, she bade the butler to bring her where\nhe was, and they went together to the wood, and there they found him\nwhere he had been living on the fruits of the trees through the most of\nthe year. So when the young lady saw him, she said: \u2018Was it you came to\nthe house where I was in the garden?\u2019 \u2018It was,\u2019 says he. \u2018What things\ndid you take notice of in it?\u2019 \u2018Here they are,\u2019 says he. And he put his\nhand in his pocket, and brought out the gold rings and the golden\ngarters and the other signs he had brought away.\n\nSo she knew then he was the right one that was there, and she married\nhim, and they lived happy ever after, and there was great rejoicing in\nthe King of Ireland\u2019s house.\n\n\n\n\n                              KING SOLOMON\n\n\nI\u2019ll tell you a story now, and I\u2019ll not be with you again till\nChristmas; and I never saw a man that could read an open book, was able\nto tell a story out of the mouth.\n\nKing Solomon made a great house for himself, the best that was ever\nseen. And there was a man passing one day, and he stopped to give a look\nat it\u2014the way I might give a look at that house there. \u2018Tell me what\nthere is stronger and finer than that house,\u2019 says King Solomon. \u2018I\ndon\u2019t know anything that is stronger and finer than it is,\u2019 says the\nman. \u2018Well,\u2019 said King Solomon, \u2018unless you can give me an answer to\nthat by to-morrow I\u2019ll have the head struck off of you,\u2019 he said.\n\nSo when the man went home, he told all that to the daughter he had, and\nhe said he could find no answer. \u2018I will give you an answer,\u2019 says she.\n\u2018Is not God stronger than that house, and isn\u2019t heaven finer than what\nit is?\u2019 So he went the next day and he gave that answer. \u2018I\u2019ll give you\nanother question,\u2019 says the King then. \u2018Tell me,\u2019 says he, \u2018what is the\nnumber of the stars of the sky! And tell me that by to-morrow,\u2019 says he,\n\u2018or I will strike the head off you.\u2019\n\nSo the man went home, and he could think of no answer, and he told the\ndaughter what happened, and how King Solomon asked him to give an\naccount of the stars in the sky. \u2018I will give you an answer,\u2019 says the\ndaughter. \u2018If you were to put twelve candles lighting on the top of the\nhighest mountain,\u2019 says she, \u2018and to be looking at them, and your sight\nto spread on you, you wouldn\u2019t know how many you were looking at, but\nyou might think it was hundreds. And there is no one can tell the number\nof the stars,\u2019 says she, \u2018or give an account of them, but God that made\nthem.\u2019\n\nSo the man went back next day, and he gave that answer to King Solomon.\n\u2018Where did you get that answer,\u2019 says the king, \u2018or who made it?\u2019 says\nhe. \u2018It was my daughter made it,\u2019 says the man. \u2018Bring her here till\nI\u2019ll have a look at her,\u2019 says the king.\n\nSo the daughter was brought before him, and she was a fine comely girl,\nand when King Solomon saw her he took a liking to her. \u2018Will you marry\nme?\u2019 says he. \u2018I will not,\u2019 says she; \u2018for if you marry me to-day, you\nmight throw me off again to-morrow.\u2019 I suppose she said that because she\nknew of him having seven hundred wives. \u2018I will not do that,\u2019 says he.\n\u2018Well,\u2019 says she, \u2018I\u2019ll make a bargain with you that I\u2019ll marry you if\nyou give me your word that the day you turn me out you\u2019ll let me carry\naway with me the three things I\u2019ll ask for, and to have them for my\nown.\u2019\n\n\n      [Illustration: THE THIRD THING I\u2019LL BE TAKING IS YOURSELF.]\n\n\nSo King Solomon agreed to that, and she married him, and she had a\nchild. And after a while he tired of her, and said she might go home. \u2018I\nwill go,\u2019 says she, \u2018but I\u2019ll bring away the three things you offered to\ngive me.\u2019 So the first thing she brought away was the child, and the\nsecond thing was a bag of gold. She came then to King Solomon. \u2018Now,\u2019\nsays she, \u2018since you said I could bring away three things, it is you\nyourself is the third. And come with me now,\u2019 she says. So when King\nSolomon heard that, he was afraid she would bring him with her, and that\nshe would have power over him. So he asked her to stop with him, and so\nshe did.\n\nHe began well and he ended badly; and Samson did the same, killing a\nlion that was going to eat him in the beginning, and killing himself in\nthe end. It was through a woman that he lost his eyesight.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                              THE ROBINEEN\n\n\nI have a new wife now, says the old man who had come back from\nBallinrobe; to keep my victuals ready and the door open before me. She\u2019s\na quiet woman at some times, but she has a queer way in her mind at the\ntime of the full moon, but it will pass away after. And here is a story\nnow, and I\u2019ll word it easy to you.\n\nThere was a woman one time and she had three sons. Well, one day one of\nthem said the quarter was too small for the three of them to be in it.\n\u2018And I\u2019ll go,\u2019 says he, \u2018and I\u2019ll try to do for myself. And let you turn\nand make a cake for me to bring with me,\u2019 says he to the mother.\n\nThe mother went at night and she baked two cakes, a big one and a small\none. And when he was going to start in the morning: \u2018Which would you\nsooner have now,\u2019 says she, \u2018to have the big one and my curse, or the\nsmall one and my blessing?\u2019 \u2018I\u2019ll take the big one and your curse,\u2019 says\nhe; \u2018the other one is too small and the road being long before me.\u2019\n\nWell, he tripped on till he got hungry, and sat down on the brink of a\nlake, and he spread out a cloth for the dinner the way he would lose\nnone of the crumbs, and he broke up a piece of the cake then and\ncommenced eating it. The Robineen Redbreast was coming around him and he\nwas hooshing him away. \u2018Every crumb that will fall,\u2019 says the Robineen,\n\u2018it will be for me.\u2019 \u2018Every crumb that will fall,\u2019 says he, \u2018it is\nlittle enough for myself.\u2019 So he hooshed away the Robineen.\n\nWhen he had part of it ate, then he got dry, and he went to the lake to\ntake a drink; and the Robineen walked to the lake before him and\ncommenced washing herself and shaking out her wings in the lake, and she\nturned it all into blood instead of water. He took a drink of it, and he\nfell dead after taking the drink. The Robineen got people to bury him\nunder a big stone was in it; for the Robineen was enchanted, and they\nsay the birds of the air had talk at that time.\n\nThe two brothers then were sitting by the hearth, the same as himself,\ntill the end of seven years. \u2018It is this day seven years,\u2019 says the\nsecond one, \u2018that the brother went out from this. And I\u2019ll go make a\npoke for him. And it\u2019s as good for you,\u2019 says he to the mother, \u2018go bake\na cake for the road in the morning.\u2019\n\nWell, the mother did the same thing as before, and she made a big cake\nand a small cake, and asked him would he have the small one with her\nblessing, or the big one with her curse. \u2018I\u2019ll have the big one with\nyour curse,\u2019 says he. So he set out, and when he came to the same place\nhe sat down on the same stone where the brother had sat, and he spread a\ncloth the way any crumb that would fall, he could pick it up for\nhimself. The Robineen came around him asking for the crumbs, and he\nwouldn\u2019t give them and he hooshed her away. So when he was going to the\nlake for a drink, she went into it before him, and spread out her wings\nand scattered the water, and after he took one drink of it he fell dead;\nand she buried the two of them under one stone, the Robineen did, the\ntwo brothers.\n\nWell, they were fourteen years gone when the third man said he would go\nlook for them, and the mother made two cakes the same as she made for\nthe other two. Well, the mother told him then to take the big one or the\nsmall one; to take the big one with her curse, or to take the small one\nwith her blessing. \u2018There\u2019s nothing like a mother\u2019s blessing,\u2019 says he.\n\u2018And I\u2019ll take the small one with your blessing,\u2019 he said.\n\nIt happened that he was walking till he went in the same place where the\nbrothers were killed, and commenced eating the cake. The Robineen was\ncoming anear him, and there wasn\u2019t a bite he would take but he would\ngive a second bite to the Robineen. She didn\u2019t stir up the lake, but let\nhim take his full drink, and she made a well in the lake and made wine\nin it and gave enough of it to him to drink. \u2018Here is a little bush,\u2019\nshe says then, \u2018an enchanted bush; and give a tip to that stone there,\nand you can rise your two brothers.\u2019 So, thanks be to God, he struck the\ntwo tips on the stone, and they rose as well as ever and as fresh. Says\nthe Robineen: \u2018They may be thankful to you, they would never stir out of\nthat only for you coming.\u2019\n\nShe gave this young fellow a bag of gold for himself and his two\nbrothers, a fine three men. They never met with the Robineen from that\nout. The mother\u2019s blessing is better with a small cake than her curse\nwith a big one.\n\nAfter the three brothers went home, they lived together in the house.\nAnd the Robineen had told the youngest brother to go where there was a\nholly-bush in the garden and to root around it. So they went out and\nrooted around it, and what they found was a crock of gold, and they\nbrought it away with them. There was a little flag, now, in the top of\nthe crock, and the flag was left aside on the grass. It happened there\ncame after a while a poor scholar walking the road, and he took notice\nof the little slab, and that there was writing on it. And he was able to\nread the writing, and it is what it said: \u2018The other side is as lucky as\nthis side.\u2019 So he showed that to the brothers, and they went rooting the\nother side, and what did they find but two more crocks of gold, the way\nthere was one apiece for them. So there were no richer farmers in the\ncountry than those three brothers, and they got gold and divided it and\nscattered it.\n\nAnd that is a nice story and a wonderful story, and a true thing that\nfell out. And Lofarey, the man that told it to me, said it was a true\nstory, and that his own father told him he was speaking to the poor\nscholar that read the flag.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                           THE BALL OF THREAD\n\n\nThere was a young lady one time, and a young boy came to her to ask her\nto marry him. He gave her a pound ball of thread, and bade her to leave\nit on the ground, and to take the end of the thread in her hand, and\nwhen the end of it would be run out, to stamp her foot on the ground and\nshe would come to him.\n\nSo she bought a shilling\u2019s worth of bread and a shilling\u2019s worth of\napples, and she took the ball of thread as he told her. And when she\nstamped her foot a door opened in the ground before her, and she went\nin, and all she saw in the room was a dog and a cat.\n\nSo she divided the bread and the apples between them, and she gave them\nhalves, and they were more than proud to eat that much of Ireland\u2019s\nbread, which they didn\u2019t get the taste of for two hundred years before.\n\nThey showed her then a store of a room where there were fifty of her\nsort that were after being beheaded, and gold rings on their hands. For\nthe man was an enchanted man, and he had brought them away the same as\nhe did herself. The cat and the dog said as she proved so well, they\nwould hide her before she\u2019d be in danger, for she accommodated them so\nwell with everything. They rose up the flag that was in the fireplace,\nand they hid her there under it, and when the man came in the man asked\ndid such a one come in, and they said, \u2018No.\u2019\n\nWhen he went to rest himself they opened the door and let her out, and\nhe awoke and told the cat to ask who came in at the door. The cat made\nhim an answer, she said: \u2018No one but the dog, that struck against it.\u2019\n\nSo the young lady went home, and after a while he came to her again the\nsame way, and he said he would bring her away with him. So when he was\ncoming she invited a great quality dinner, and before he came there she\ntold them all that had happened, and asked what should be done to him.\nThen some said he should be hung. But a big lord that was there said to\ndo nothing at all to him, only to put him into a barrel of pitch and tar\nand to burn him altogether. But when they thought to do that and to take\nhim they hadn\u2019t but his shadow, and he flew away out through the top of\nthe house, and they hadn\u2019t a trace of him, and he had brought away the\nyoung lady along with him.\n\nHer three brothers went looking for her then with the pound ball of\nthread he had left. And when they stamped their foot the door opened\nbefore them, but there was no one in the house but the cat. They told\nhim their sister was gone, and they were in dread she was killed. But he\nsaid: \u2018She is not killed, and she is here hid where she was before.\u2019 So\nthey took up the flag of the hearth, and there she was safe and well,\nand having four gold rings on her hands that belonged to four of her\nfirst cousins that were beheaded in the room. The cat told them to go\nhome, and they would meet the man easy enough. So after a while he came\nlooking for the young lady again, and he had changed his clothes, but if\nhe had they knew him. But the first time they fired a shot at him it did\nhim no harm, he being but a shadow. But whatever they did, or whatever\nshot they put in their gun or their revolver, they shot him dead after\nthat, and there was no more about him.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                           THE HORSE AND FOAL\n\n\nThere were very haunted people in the old times in Ireland, used to be\nbewitching one another. A living class of people they were, but it was\nby magic they did it.\n\nThere was a man going to the north from Mayo to sell a horse, and he was\nriding the horse, and the foal after them. And over beyond the wall he\nsaw a hare running, and two black hounds hunting it. And when they came\nto him, the hare made a leap into his arms, and he drove away the\nhounds, and put it down again safe among the rocks. He went on then to\nthe north for to sell the horse, but if he did, in the night it was\nstole from him.\n\nSo he went back to Mayo to see would he find it, and he was walking\nthrough the day, and when the night came he met with a house, and he\nwent into it like any countryman might, to ask would he get a clean\nlodging. And there was in the house a very nice-looking young woman, and\nhe asked could he get a lodging. \u2018And why wouldn\u2019t you get it?\u2019 says\nshe. \u2018And more than that,\u2019 she says, \u2018I\u2019ll call in the husband, and\nhe\u2019ll go find the horse you have lost and the foal. And you don\u2019t know\nme,\u2019 she says; \u2018but I am the woman you saved, and that had been turned\ninto a hare, and for sixteen years I was away in that shape.\u2019\n\nSo she did what she promised, and he was deserving of it; for wouldn\u2019t\nanother man have kept the hare when he got it, but something stuck in\nhim that he didn\u2019t. And wasn\u2019t it a terrible thing in those times that\nwomen could be turned into hares? And it was only a black hound could\ncome up with them.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                    THE WOMAN THAT WAS A GREAT FOOL\n\n\nThere was a woman was a great fool. She had meal to sift one day, and\nthe hens were bothering her, coming in over the door. And it was outside\nin the field she went sifting it, that it was brought away with a blast\nof wind that rose, till there wasn\u2019t one grain left on the top of\nanother, but it was brought away with the wind into the fields and over\nthe grass. And when the husband came back in the evening he asked where\nwas it, and it was all spent. \u2018Sure you have money in the bag to buy\nmore,\u2019 says she. \u2018I have not,\u2019 says he; \u2018for what is in the bag I have\nto keep for the Grey Scrape of the Spring.\u2019\n\nWell, the next day an old beggarman came asking for money, and when the\nwoman looked at him and saw that he was grey: \u2018That should be the Grey\nScrape of the Spring,\u2019 she said. And she gave him all the money was in\nthe bag.\n\nWhen the husband heard that, he didn\u2019t say much, for he was a quiet man.\nBut he went and he killed the cow that was all he had left, and he cut\nit up and put it in a barrel, and salt on it. \u2018That will be enough to\ngrease the cabbage anyway,\u2019 says he.\n\nSo the next day the wife brought out every bit of the beef, and she put\na bit of it on the top of every head of cabbage was in the garden. Well,\nwhen the night came and they were in bed, there came a thousand dogs\nfighting for the meat was in the garden, and barking, and calling, and\nroaring. And when the husband went out they had it brought away, and all\nthe cabbage destroyed and broken.\n\nSo he said then it was as good for them to go wandering, and he went out\nof the house, and the woman following him. \u2018Let you draw the door after\nyou,\u2019 says he\u2014that is, that she should close it. But what she did was to\nrise it off the hinges, and to draw it after her along the road till\nthey came to a wood. And they went up into the branches of a tree to\npass the night, and she bringing the board with her.\n\nIt happened there came some robbers under the tree, dividing a great\ndeal of gold and silver they were after robbing from a castle. And when\nthe man and the woman saw that, they dropped the door down on them with\na great noise, and the robbers were affrighted and ran away, leaving all\nthey had robbed after them. And the man and the woman got it for\nthemselves, and they were rich from that day.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                               THE DANES\n\n\nI will tell you about the Danes, said the Poet\u2019s son; and it was my\nfather that broke down Raftery in the latter end.\n\nThere was a man one time set out from Ireland to go to America or some\nplace; a common man looking for work he was. And something happened to\nthe ship on the way, and they had to put to land to mend it. And in the\ncountry where they landed he saw a forth, and he went into it, and there\nhe saw the smallest people he ever saw; and they were the Danes that\nwent out of Ireland, and it is foxes they had for dogs, and weasels were\ntheir cats.\n\nThen he went back to get into the ship, but it was gone away, and he\nleft behind. So he went back into the forth, and a young man came to\nmeet him, and he told him what had happened. And the young man said:\n\u2018Come into the room within, where my father is in bed; for he is out of\nhis health, and you might be able to serve him.\u2019 So they went in, and\nthe father was lying in the bed, and when he heard it was a man from\nIreland was in it he said: \u2018I will give you a great reward if you will\ngo back and bring me a thing I want out of Castle Hacket Hill; for if I\nhad what is there,\u2019 he said, \u2018I would be as young as my own son.\u2019 So the\nman consented to go, and they got a sailing ship ready, and it is what\nthe old man told him, to go back to Ireland. \u2018And buy a small pig in\nGalway,\u2019 he said, \u2018and bring it to the mouth of the forth at Castle\nHacket and roast it there. And inside the forth there is an enchanted\ncat that is keeping guard there, and it will come out. And here is a\nshot-gun and some cross-money,\u2019 he said, \u2018that will kill any fairy or\nany enchanted thing. And within in the forth,\u2019 he said, \u2018you will find a\nbottle and a rack-comb, and bring them here to me,\u2019 he said.\n\nSo the man did as he was told, and he bought the pig and roasted it at\nthe mouth of the forth, and out came the enchanted cat, and it having\nhair seven inches long. And he fired the cross-money out of the\nshot-gun, and the cat went away and he saw it no more. And he got the\nbottle and the rack, and brought them back to the old man. And he drank\nwhat was in the bottle, and racked his hair with the rack, and he got\nyoung again, a young as his own son.\n\nAnd when there is a marriage among the Danes, they put down the land\nthey have in Ireland with whatever else they have, for they expect to\ncome back and to own the country again some day. But whether they will\nor not, I don\u2019t know.\n\nThe Danes were surely small men, or how could they live in those little\nrooms and passages in the raths? I\u2019d have to stoop myself down when I\u2019d\ngo into them. They had the whole country once, and they used to make\nbeer out of the tops of the heather the same way the bees draw honey out\nof it. And it was on St. John\u2019s Night the people lighted wisps and\nturned them out of Ireland, and that\u2019s the reason the wisps are burned\never since.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                           CAILLEAC-NA-CEARC\n\n\nI think I didn\u2019t tell you the story of Cailleac-na-Cearc, the Woman of\nthe Hens, says the old man with the new wife; and how she committed sin.\n\nIt was one day they rose up, herself and her twelve children, and there\nwas not bit or drop in the house, and the height of the door of frost\nand snow was in it; and she sent the husband out to see could he get\nfiring with a little hatchet he had.\n\nAnd when he went out he got directions to cut a certain tree. And there\ncame out of the tree to him as much as he could carry of lumber of the\nbest of stuff, and he brought it home to the wife.\n\nWell, after a while she bade him go again to the tree and cut it. And\nthere came from it the same lumber of provisions and gold and money and\neverything they wanted. And the third time she sent him to cut the tree,\nand the tree spoke to him that time, and it said: \u2018You may take what you\ncan this time, but let you never come near me again.\u2019 And he brought\nback more than would fill the corners of the house. And he said to the\nwife, that was enough.\n\nBut she made him go the fourth time, for women is awful, and she wanted\nto get all that she could; and only for her bidding he didn\u2019t like to\ndraw back to the tree. And that time the tree spoke to him again, and it\nsaid: \u2018You have full and plenty, and you\u2019ll see the way your missus is,\nand you going back to the house.\u2019 For she was covetous and had no\npatience, and it was by the Almighty God\u2019s will he made a hen of her,\nand twelve chickens of her twelve children. And she went scraping in the\nface of the dunghill, and she never left doing that till the day of\njudgment, picking for her chickens that stopped small as they were\nalways.\n\nWhen she had too much she wasn\u2019t pleased till she got more, and so she\ncouldn\u2019t keep it and had nothing at all left her in the heel of the\nhunt.\n\nI suppose it was God that made the provision within in the tree. For the\nman was holy. Did he mind seeing his children turned into chickens? He\ndid not. He was a born saint, and it is likely it was a saint talked\nwith him abroad at the tree; and he had full and plenty while he lived;\nand the day he died the gates of heaven were open, and it was as a white\npigeon that he went in through them. That now is a true story, and that\nis a thing that surely happened.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                               THE GOATS\n\n\nThere was a girl had a sweetheart that was called Shawn Shamus. And\nthrough the crying of the Banrighean-na-breena he was brought away into\na forth. The girl went to the forth looking for him, and outside of it\nshe saw the Banrighean, the Queen, sitting and she combing her hair, and\nhaving a blue dress on her like those flowers that grow in the fields.\n\u2018Will you give me back Shawn Shamus?\u2019 says the girl. \u2018I will not,\u2019 says\nthe Queen. And she went on talking for a while, the girl asking and the\nQueen refusing. And at the last the Queen said: \u2018I will give him to you\nif you will bring me a hundred barrels of six-penny money, a hundred\nfillies all of the one colour, a hundred spotted cows, a hundred ganders\nand a fleet of geese; a hundred slips and a hundred pigs, a hundred\ngoats that are without damage or roguery.\u2019 So the girl went looking for\nall those, and she brought every one of them to the Queen of the forth\nexcept the goats, for she could not get one that was honest, they are\nall full of roguery. Everything else but the goats she brought. So the\nQueen gave up Shawn Shamus, and they married and lived happy.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                           THE CURIOUS WOMAN\n\n\nThere will be no eating in the other world, says the red-haired man\nsitting at the door. \u2018But there is a tree in it with twelve sorts of\nfruit, and what would that be for if we were not to eat it?\u2019 Well, the\nfirst man that went eating fruit made a bad hand of it. He bethought of\nhimself and it going down, and it stopped in his throat and gave us that\nlump in it ever since. Isn\u2019t that a terrible thing for a man to have?\nBut as to the woman, what she ate stopped down, and so it would if she\nate another along with it. Women are terrible for eating things. Women\nare curious, and that is what led her to it. And besides that it was\nnice-looking, and women like to have nice things. A woman to see a lady,\nshe would want all she would be wearing for herself\u2014red stockings and\nshoes and dresses, and even to umbrellas.\n\nThere was an old couple were past working and they went travelling the\nroads, and they met a King that had a palace he had no use for, and he\nsaid they could have the use of it. So he brought them in and put them\ninto a big room, and there was a big table with every sort of food on\nit, and he bade them use what they could of what was there. But there\nwas a board of the table he bade them not to touch, and the reason was\nhe had put a mouse under it that would tell him every word they would\nsay.\n\nWell, when they had ate all they could, the woman began to say she would\nlook what was under that board. \u2018Do not,\u2019 says the man, \u2018and the King\nafter telling you not to touch it.\u2019 \u2018Sorra fear he to know of it,\u2019 says\nshe. But he wouldn\u2019t let her do it that night or the next night, but the\nthird night she put out her hand and rose up the board, and out ran the\nmouse. And they tried to catch it, but you may believe they were not\nable to come up with it. And so when the King saw they had the board\nshifted, he turned them out of the palace and they were as poor as\nbefore.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                                 NOTE.\n\n\nI have not changed a word in these stories as they were told to me, but\nhaving heard some of them in different versions from different old\npeople, I have sometimes taken a passage or a phrase from one and put it\nin another where it seemed to fit. _The Seven Fishers_ for instance, the\nbeginning of which I have given as told by the old man of a hundred\nyears, drifted into the adventures of _Shawneen_ and of _The\nBullockeen_, and I took another ending for it; and the story of\n_Shawneen_, begun in a workhouse, was continued at my own door by a\npiper from County Kerry. I have only once, in _The Seven Fishers_, taken\na few sentences from a story told, not to me, but to another. I tell\nthis, because folk-lorists in these days are expected to be as exact as\nworkers at any other science.\n\nAs to the substance of the stories, there is a hint in _Shawneen_ of\nPerseus and Andromeda, and in _The Three Sons_ of the Garden of the\nHesperides, and of Eden itself in _The Curious Woman_. And who can say\nwhether these have travelled from east to west, or from west to east,\nfor the barony of Kiltartan, in common with at least three continents,\nholds fragments of the wonder tales told in the childhood of the world.\n\n                                                                   A. G.\n\n\n                 Printed by Maunsel & Co., Ltd., Dublin\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                          Transcriber\u2019s Notes\n\n\nThe full-page illustrations from the original text have been placed into\nthe text. The page numbers in the list of illustrations are those in the\noriginal text and may not reflect where the illustrations are placed in\nthis version. This file uses _underscores_ to indicate italic text.\n\nItemized changes from the original text:\n\n \u2022 Frontispiece: Added hyphen in \u201cHE CAME DOWN SPREAD-LEGS\u201d to match\n   Table of Illustrations and reference in text.\n \u2022 Dedication: Added missing period after \u201cR\u201d in \u201cR. G. G.\u201d\n \u2022 p. 19: Supplied missing closing quotation mark after \u201c\u2026that is in\n   that wood.\u201d\n \u2022 p. 21: Supplied missing word \u201cdo\u201d in \u201c\u2026all he had to do was to\u2026\u201d\n \u2022 p. 48: Changed \u201cneek\u201d to \u201cneck\u201d and supplied missing apostrophe in\n   \u201chound\u2019s\u201d in \u201c\u2026that was around the hound\u2019s neck\u2026\u201d\n \u2022 p. 48: Supplied missing closing quotation mark after \u201c\u2026till I know\n   what is happening to Shawneen.\u201d\n \u2022 p. 56: Changed \u201cocmmands\u201d to \u201ccommands\u201d in \u201cAnd she laid commands on\n   the King.\u201d\n \u2022 p. 60: Changed comma to period at end of paragraph after \u201c\u2026she went\n   home to her mother.\u201d\n \u2022 p. 65: Changed \u201cbe\u201d to \u201che\u201d in \u201c\u2026he cut off as he was bade\u2026\u201d\n \u2022 p. 66: Changed \u201cits\u201d to \u201cit\u2019s\u201d in \u201c\u2026it\u2019s lonesome to be housekeeping\n   alone.\u201d\n \u2022 p. 96: Changed \u201ca young\u201d to \u201cas young\u201d in \u201c\u2026he got young again, a\n   young as his own son.\u201d","title":"The Kiltartan wonder book","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":20362}