Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland. Jeremiah Curtin
castle. Then he hid behind a rock at the water's edge, and waited.
At midday the three sisters came to the lake, and, leaving their clothes on the strand, went into the water. When all three were in the lake swimming and playing with great pleasure and sport, the king's son slipped out and took the clothes of the sister with the yellow lily.
After they had bathed in the lake to their hearts' content, the three sisters came out. When the two with the blue and the white lilies saw their sister on the shore and her clothes gone, they began to laugh and make sport of her. Then, cowering and crouching down, she began to cry and lament, saying: "How can I go home now, with my own sisters laughing at me? If I stir from this, everybody will see me and make sport of me."
The sisters went home and left her there. When they were gone, and she was alone at the water crying and sobbing, all at once she came to herself and called out: "Whoever took my clothes, I 'll forgive him if he brings them to me now, and I 'll save him from the danger he is in if I can."
When he heard this, the king's son put the clothes out to her, and stayed behind himself till she told him to come forth.
Then she said: "I know well where you are going. My father, the Giant of Loch Léin, has a soft bed waiting for you—a deep tank of water for your death. But don't be uneasy; go into the water, and wait till I come to save you. Be at that castle above before my father. When he comes home to-night and asks for you, take no meat from him, but go to rest in the tank when he tells you."
The giant's daughter left the king's son, who went his way to the castle alone at a fair and easy gait, for he had time enough on his hands and to spare.
When the Giant of Loch Léin came home that night, the first question he asked was, "Is the son of the king of Erin here?"
"I am," said the king's son.
"Come," said the giant, "and get your evening's meat."
"I 'll take no meat now, for I don't need it," said the king's son.
"Well, come with me then, and I 'll show you your bed." He went, and the giant put the king's son into the deep tank of water to drown, and being tired himself from hunting all day over the mountains and hills of Erin, he went to sleep.
That minute his youngest daughter came, took the king's son out of the tank, placed plenty to eat and to drink before him, and gave him a good bed to sleep on that night.
The giant's daughter watched till she heard her father stirring before daybreak; then she roused the king's son, and put him in the tank again.
Soon the giant came to the tank and called out: "Are you here, son of the king of Erin?"
"I am," said the king's son.
"Well, come out now. There is a great work for you to-day. I have a stable outside, in which I keep five hundred horses, and that stable has not been cleaned these seven hundred years. My great-grandmother when a girl lost a slumber-pin (bar an suan) somewhere in that stable, and never could find it. You must have that pin for me when I come home to-night; if you don't, your head will be on the seven hundredth spike to-morrow."
Then two shovels were brought for him to choose from to clean out the stable, an old and a new one. He chose the new shovel, and went to work.
For every shovelful he threw out, two came in; and soon the door of the stable was closed on him. When the stable-door was closed, the giant's daughter called from outside: "How are you thriving now, king's son?"
"I'm not thriving at all," said the king's son; "for as much as I throw out, twice as much comes in, and the door is closed against me."
"You must make a way for me to come in, and I 'll help you," said she.
"How can I do that? asked the king's son.
However, she did it. The giant's daughter made her way into the stable, and she was n't long inside till the stable was cleared, and she saw the bar an suan.
"There is the pin over there in the corner," said she to the king's son, who put it in his bosom to give to the giant.
Now he was happy, and the giant's daughter had good meat and drink put before him.
When the giant himself came home, he asked:
"How did you do your work to-day?"
"I did it well; I thought nothing of it."
"Did you find the bar an suan?"
"I did indeed; here 't is for you."
"Oh! then," said the giant, "it is either the devil or my daughter that helped you to do that work, for I know you never did it alone."
"It 's neither the devil nor your daughter, but my own strength that did the work," said the son of the king of Erin.
"You have done the work; now you must have your meat."
"I want no meat to-day; I am well satisfied as I am," said the king's son.
"Well," said the giant, "since you 'll have no meat, you must go to sleep in the tank."
He went into the tank. The giant himself was soon snoring, for he was tired from hunting over Erin all day.
The moment her father was away, Yellow Lily came, took the king's son out of the tank, gave him a good supper and bed, and watched till the giant was stirring before daybreak. Then she roused the king's son and put him in the tank.
"Are you alive in the tank?" asked the giant at daybreak.
"I am," said the king's son.
"Well, you have a great work before you to-day. That stable you cleaned yesterday has n't been thatched these seven hundred years, and if you don't have it thatched for me when I come home to-night, with birds' feathers, and not two feathers of one color or kind, I 'll have your head on the seven hundredth spike to-morrow."
"Here are two whistles—an old, and a new one; take your choice of them to call the birds."
The king's son took the new whistle, and set out over the hills and valleys, whistling as he went. But no matter how he whistled, not a bird came near him. At last, tired and worn out with travelling and whistling, he sat down on a hillock and began to cry.
That moment Yellow Lily was at his side with a cloth, which she spread out, and there was a grand meal before him. He had n't finished eating and drinking, before the stable was thatched with birds' feathers, and no two of them of one color or kind.
When he came home that evening the giant called out: "Have you the stable thatched for me to-night?"
"I have indeed," said the king's son; "and small trouble I had with it."
"If that 's true," said the giant, "either the devil or my daughter helped you."
"It was my own strength, and not the devil or your daughter that helped me," said the king's son.
He spent that night as he had the two nights before.
Next morning, when the giant found him alive in the tank, he said: "There is great work before you to-day, which you must do, or your head 'll be on the spike to-morrow. Below here, under my castle, is a tree nine hundred feet high, and there is n't a limb on that tree, from the roots up, except one small limb at the very top, where there is a crow's nest. The tree is covered with glass from the ground to the crow's nest. In the nest is one egg: you must have that egg before me here for my supper to-night, or I 'll have your head on the seven hundredth spike to-morrow."
The giant went hunting, and the king's son went down to the tree, tried to shake it, but could not make it stir. Then he tried to climb; but no use, it was all slippery glass. Then he thought, "Sure I 'm done for now; I must lose my head this time."
He stood there in sadness, when Yellow Lily came, and said: "How are you thriving in your work?"
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