[Illustration: M]
Morraha rose in the morning and washed his hands and face, and said his
prayers, and ate his food; and he asked God to prosper the day for him.
So he went down to the brink of the sea, and he saw a currach, short and
green, coming towards him; and in it there was but one youthful
champion, and he was playing hurly from prow to stern of the currach. He
had a hurl of gold and a ball of silver; and he stopped not till the
currach was in on the shore; and he drew her up on the green grass, and
put fastenings on her for a year and a day, whether he should be there
all that time or should only be on land for an hour by the clock. And
Morraha saluted the young man courteously; and the other saluted him in
the same fashion, and asked him would he play a game of cards with him;
and Morraha said that he had not the wherewithal; and the other answered
that he was never without a candle or the making of it; and he put his
hand in his pocket and drew out a table and two chairs and a pack of
cards, and they sat down on the chairs and went to card-playing. The
first game Morraha won, and the Slender Red Champion bade him make his
claim; and he asked that the land above him should be filled with stock
of sheep in the morning. It was well; and he played no second game, but
home he went.
The next day Morraha went to the brink of the sea, and the young man
came in the currach and asked him would he play cards; they played, and
Morraha won. The young man bade him make his claim; and he asked that
the land above should be filled with cattle in the morning. It was well;
and he played no other game, but went home.
On the third morning Morraha went to the brink of the sea, and he saw
the young man coming. He drew up his boat on the shore and asked him
would he play cards. They played, and Morraha won the game; and the
young man bade him give his claim. And he said he would have a castle
and a wife, the finest and fairest in the world; and they were his. It
was well; and the Red Champion went away.
On the fourth day his wife asked him how he had found her. And he told
her. "And I am going out," said he, "to play again to-day."
"I forbid you to go again to him. If you have won so much, you will lose
more; have no more to do with him."
But he went against her will, and he saw the currach coming; and the Red
Champion was driving his balls from end to end of the currach; he had
balls of silver and a hurl of gold, and he stopped not till he drew his
boat on the shore, and made her fast for a year and a day. Morraha and
he saluted each other; and he asked Morraha if he would play a game of
cards, and they played, and he won. Morraha said to him, "Give your
claim now."
Said he, "You will hear it too soon. I lay on you bonds of the art of
the Druid, not to sleep two nights in one house, nor finish a second
meal at the one table, till you bring me the sword of light and news of
the death of Anshgayliacht."
He went home to his wife and sat down in a chair, and gave a groan, and
the chair broke in pieces.
"That is the groan of the son of a king under spells," said his wife;
"and you had better have taken my counsel than that the spells should be
on you."
He told her he had to bring news of the death of Anshgayliacht and the
sword of light to the Slender Red Champion.
"Go out," said she, "in the morning of the morrow, and take the bridle
in the window, and shake it; and whatever beast, handsome or ugly, puts
its head in it, take that one with you. Do not speak a word to her till
she speaks to you; and take with you three pint bottles of ale and three
sixpenny loaves, and do the thing she tells you; and when she runs to my
father's land, on a height above the castle, she will shake herself, and
the bells will ring, and my father will say, 'Brown Allree is in the
land. And if the son of a king or queen is there, bring him to me on
your shoulders; but if it is the son of a poor man, let him come no
further.'"
He rose in the morning, and took the bridle that was in the window, and
went out and shook it; and Brown Allree came and put her head in it. He
took the three loaves and three bottles of ale, and went riding; and
when he was riding she bent her head down to take hold of her feet with
her mouth, in hopes he would speak in ignorance; but he spoke not a word
during the time, and the mare at last spoke to him, and told him to
dismount and give her her dinner. He gave her the sixpenny loaf toasted,
and a bottle of ale to drink.
"Sit up now riding, and take good heed of yourself: there are three
miles of fire I have to clear at a leap."
She cleared the three miles of fire at a leap, and asked if he were
still riding, and he said he was. Then they went on, and she told him to
dismount and give her a meal; and he did so, and gave her a sixpenny
loaf and a bottle; she consumed them and said to him there were before
them three miles of hill covered with steel thistles, and that she must
clear it. She cleared the hill with a leap, and she asked him if he were
still riding, and he said he was. They went on, and she went not far
before she told him to give her a meal, and he gave her the bread and
the bottleful. She went over three miles of sea with a leap, and she
came then to the land of the King of France; she went up on a height
above the castle, and she shook herself and neighed, and the bells rang;
and the king said that it was Brown Allree was in the land.
"Go out," said he; "and if it is the son of a king or queen, carry him
in on your shoulders; if it is not, leave him there."
They went out; and the stars of the son of a king were on his breast;
they lifted him high on their shoulders and bore him in to the king.
They passed the night cheerfully, playing and drinking, with sport and
with diversion, till the whiteness of the day came upon the morrow
morning.
Then the young king told the cause of his journey, and he asked the
queen to give him counsel and good luck, and she told him everything he
was to do.
"Go now," said she, "and take with you the best mare in the stable, and
go to the door of Rough Niall of the Speckled Rock, and knock, and call
on him to give you news of the death of Anshgayliacht and the sword of
light: and let the horse's back be to the door, and apply the spurs, and
away with you."
In the morning he did so, and he took the best horse from the stable and
rode to the door of Niall, and turned the horse's back to the door, and
demanded news of the death of Anshgayliacht and the sword of light; then
he applied the spurs, and away with him. Niall followed him hard, and,
as he was passing the gate, cut the horse in two. His wife was there
with a dish of puddings and flesh, and she threw it in his eyes and
blinded him, and said, "Fool! whatever kind of man it is that's mocking
you, isn't that a fine condition you have got your father's horse into?"
On the morning of the next day Morraha rose, and took another horse from
the stable, and went again to the door of Niall, and knocked and
demanded news of the death of Anshgayliacht and the sword of light, and
applied the spurs to the horse and away with him. Niall followed, and as
Morraha was passing, the gate cut the horse in two and took half the
saddle with him; but his wife met him and threw flesh in his eyes and
blinded him.
On the third day, Morraha went again to the door of Niall; and Niall
followed him, and as he was passing the gate, cut away the saddle from
under him and the clothes from his back. Then his wife said to Niall:
"The fool that's mocking you, is out yonder in the little currach, going
home; and take good heed to yourself, and don't sleep one wink for three
days."
For three days the little currach kept in sight, but then Niall's wife
came to him and said:
"Sleep as much as you want now. He is gone."
He went to sleep, and there was heavy sleep on him, and Morraha went in
and took hold of the sword that was on the bed at his head. And the
sword thought to draw itself out of the hand of Morraha; but it failed.
Then it gave a cry, and it wakened Niall, and Niall said it was a rude
and rough thing to come into his house like that; and said Morraha to
him:
"Leave your much talking, or I will cut the head off you. Tell me the
news of the death of Anshgayliacht."
"Oh, you can have my head."
"But your head is no good to me; tell me the story."
"Oh," said Niall's wife, "you must get the story."
"Well," said Niall, "let us sit down together till I tell the story. I
thought no one would ever get it; but now it will be heard by all."