Page:Beside the Fire - Douglas Hyde.djvu/93

 Rh March wind that was before them, and the March wind that was behind them would not overtake them, going to the eastern world. When evening and the end of the day came, the king of Ireland's son looked from him, and he did not see any house in which he might be that night. The short green man looked from him, and he saw a castle, and he said: "The giant that is in that castle is the brother of the giant with whom we were last night, and we shall be in this castle to-night."

They came to the castle, and he left the king's son and his people at the head of the avenue, and he went to the door and pulled the coolaya-coric, and he did not leave child with woman, foal with mare, pigeen with pig, or badger in glen, within seven miles of him, that he did not knock three turns out of them with all the sound he knocked out of the coolaya-coric.

The giant came out, and he said, "I feel the smell of a melodious lying Irishman under my sod of country."

"No melodious lying Irishman am I," says the short green man; "but my master is outside at the head of the avenue, and if he comes he will whip the head off you."

"I think you large of one mouthful, and I think you small of two mouthfuls," said the giant.

"You won't get me of a mouthful at all," said the short green man, and he began swelling until he was as big as the castle. There came fear on the giant, and he said:

"Is your master as big as you?"

"He is, and bigger."

"Hide me," said the giant, "till morning, until your master goes, and anything you will be wanting you must get it."

He brought the giant with him, and he put him under