Page:West Irish folk-tales and romances - William Larminie.djvu/190

 158 here. We shall get lodging to-night. Stay you here, till I go up.”

The red men went in to the giant's house.

“Uncle, dear, is it here you are resting?”

“Yes, kinsman, dear: what is coming on me?”

“The King of the prodigious East is coming to kill you. Hide yourself as quick as you can.”

“I have an iron house here outside. Lock me into it.”

He locked him in. He brought his master. They made ready their supper. This was the giant's cry in the morning, “Let them open.”

“I will not open,” said the red man, “till you tell me where are the slippery shoes.”

“They are under the bed.”

“I know myself where they are,” said the red man. “Stop there as long as you like.”

When the giant saw he was not to get out, he took a leap between two bars of the iron house. Two halves were made of him. Half fell inside, and half out.

The red man and his master went on travelling till evening. They came to another wood. There was a giant in the wood. The red man did to him as to the other giants. He took from him the sword of light, and plenty of gold and silver.

“Now,” said the red man to his master, “we shall be going home. We have got enough: go forward no farther. The woman you are