Page:West Irish folk-tales and romances - William Larminie.djvu/128

 96 leap. There were three sons of Kanikinn in an alley playing ball. They spied the champion coming in the gate. Said one of the young men,

“You have come in very nimbly; not so nimbly will you go out.”

“He will go,” said the eldest; “any champion who could make that leap is a gentleman. Don't speak an angry word till I permit.”

The champion of the red belt then came forward and saluted them as politely as he could. He told them how things were with him; that he had come there to seek the bottle of the water of healing that made the dead alive.

“Well!” said the other, “there is ill luck on you. The king knight of the black castle took that bottle from me seven years ago. There is not a day he does not kill three hundred men, and it is better for you to tarry here with me; I will give you a third of my possessions, for I fear he will kill you.”

“I am thankful to you for your kindness: since I have come so far I will go to meet him whether I live or die.”

He asked was there any short way at all to the castle. He showed him a short way. He said farewell. He went on till he came to the gate, till he cleared the gate out with a leap. He was going with himself then for a while till he saw the black castle. He went into the yard.