Page:Beside the Fire - Douglas Hyde.djvu/91

 Rh the avenue, and if he comes he will whip the head off you." The short green man was growing big, growing big, until at last he looked as big as the castle. There came fear on the giant, and he said: "Is your master as big as you?"

"He is," says the short green man, "and bigger."

"Put me in hiding till morning, until your master goes," said the giant.

Then he put the giant under lock and key, and went out to the king's son. Then the king of Ireland's son, the gunman, the earman, the footman, the blowman, and the man who broke stones with the side of his thigh, came into the castle, and they spent that night, a third of it a' story-telling, a third of it with Fenian tales, and a third of it in mild enjoyment(?) of slumber and of true sleep.

When the day on the morrow arose, the short green man brought with him his master, the gunman, the earman, the footman, the blowman, and the man who broke stones with the side of his thigh, and he left them outside at the head of the avenue, and he came back himself and took the lock off the giant. He told the giant that his master sent him back for the black cap that was under the head of his bed. The giant said that he would give him a hat that he never wore himself, but that he was ashamed to give him the old cap. The short green man said that unless he gave him the cap his master would come back and strike the head off him.

"It's best for me to give it to you," said the giant; "and any time at all you will put it on your head you will see everybody and nobody will see you." He gave him the cap then, and the short green man came and gave it to the king of Ireland's son.

"They were a'going then. They would overtake the