Page:West Irish folk-tales and romances - William Larminie.djvu/38

 6 "I will give you that," said he.

He went with himself then, and was following her tracks till he came to the sea. He was up and down on the shore, plucking his hair from his head, in trouble after the Gloss. There was a man out on the sea in a currach. He rowed in to him. It was the tawny Mananaun, the son of Lir. He asked him—

"What is the matter with you to-day?"

He told him.

"How much will you give to any one who will leave you in the place where the Gloss is?"

"I have nothing to give him."

"I will ask nothing of you, but the half of all you gain till you come back."

"I will give you that," said Kian, son of Contje.

"Be into the currach."

In the winking of an eye he left him over in the kingdoms of the cold; nor on that island was a morsel cooked ever, but they ate every kind of food raw. Kian, son of Contje, made a fire, and began to cook his food. When Balar Beimann heard the like was there, he took him to be his cook, his story-teller, and his fireman. Well, Balar Beimann had one daughter, and a prediction was made that she would have a son, who would kill his grandfather. He then put her into prison for fear a man would come near her; and it was