"The great serpent did not come to-day," said the king; "but he may come
to-morrow."
"Well, to-morrow he may not come till another day," said Sean Ruadh.
Now the king knew nothing of the strength of Sean Ruadh, who was
bare-footed, ragged, and shabby.
The second morning Sean Ruadh put the king's cows in the second giant's
land. Out came the second giant with the same questions and threats as
the first, and the cowboy spoke as on the day before.
They fell to fighting; and when the giant was to his shoulders in the
hard gray rocks, he said: "I'll give you my sword of light and my
brown-haired horse if you'll spare my life."
"Where is your sword of light?" asked Sean Ruadh.
"It is hung up over my bed."
Sean Ruadh ran to the giant's castle, and took the sword, which screamed
out when he seized it; but he held it fast, hurried back to the giant,
and asked, "How shall I try the edge of this sword?"
"Against a stick," was the reply.
"I see no stick better than your own head," said Sean Ruadh; and with
that he swept the head off the giant.
The cowboy now went back to the castle and hung up the sword. "Blessing
to you," said the housekeeper; "you have killed the giant! Come, now,
and I'll show you his riches and treasures, which are yours forever."
Sean Ruadh found more treasure in this castle than in the first one.
When he had seen all, he gave the keys to the housekeeper till he should
need them. He slept as on the day before, then drove the cows home in
the evening.
The king said: "I have _the_ luck since you came to me. My cows give
three times as much milk to-day as they did yesterday."
"Well," said Sean Ruadh, "have you any account of the urfeist?"
"He didn't come to-day," said the king; "but he may come to-morrow."
Sean Ruadh went out with the king's cows on the third day, and drove
them to the third giant's land, who came out and fought a more desperate
battle than either of the other two; but the cowboy pushed him down
among the gray rocks to his shoulders and killed him.
At the castle of the third giant he was received with gladness by the
housekeeper, who showed him the treasures and gave him the keys; but he
left the keys with her till he should need them. That evening the king's
cows had more milk than ever before.
On the fourth day Sean Ruadh went out with the cows, but stopped at the
first giant's castle. The housekeeper at his command brought out the
dress of the giant, which was all black. He put on the giant's apparel,
black as night, and girded on his sword of light. Then he mounted the
black-haired steed, which overtook the wind before, and outstripped the
wind behind; and rushing on between earth and sky, he never stopped
till he came to the beach, where he saw hundreds upon hundreds of kings'
sons, and champions, who were anxious to save the king's daughter, but
were so frightened at the terrible urfeist that they would not go near
her.
When he had seen the princess and the trembling champions, Sean Ruadh
turned his black steed to the castle. Presently the king saw, riding
between earth and sky, a splendid stranger, who stopped before him.
"What is that I see on the shore?" asked the stranger. "Is it a fair, or
some great meeting?"
"Haven't you heard," asked the king, "that a monster is coming to
destroy my daughter to-day?"
"No, I haven't heard anything," answered the stranger, who turned away
and disappeared.
Soon the black horseman was before the princess, who was sitting alone
on a rock near the sea. As she looked at the stranger, she thought he
was the finest man on earth, and her heart was cheered.
"Have you no one to save you?" he asked.
"No one."
"Will you let me lay my head on your lap till the urfeist comes? Then
rouse me."
He put his head on her lap and fell asleep. While he slept, the princess
took three hairs from his head and hid them in her bosom. As soon as she
had hidden the hairs, she saw the urfeist coming on the sea, great as an
island, and throwing up water to the sky as he moved. She roused the
stranger, who sprang up to defend her.
The urfeist came upon shore, and was advancing on the princess with
mouth open and wide as a bridge, when the stranger stood before him and
said: "This woman is mine, not yours!"
Then drawing his sword of light, he swept off the monster's head with a
blow; but the head rushed back to its place, and grew on again.
In a twinkle the urfeist turned and went back to the sea; but as he
went, he said: "I'll be here again to-morrow, and swallow the whole
world before me as I come."
"Well," answered the stranger, "maybe another will come to meet you."
Sean Ruadh mounted his black steed, and was gone before the princess
could stop him. Sad was her heart when she saw him rush off between the
earth and sky more swiftly than any wind.
Sean Ruadh went to the first giant's castle and put away his horse,
clothes, and sword. Then he slept on the giant's bed till evening, when
the housekeeper woke him, and he drove home the cows. Meeting the king,
he asked: "Well, how has your daughter fared to-day?"
"Oh! the urfeist came out of the sea to carry her away; but a wonderful
black champion came riding between earth and sky and saved her."
"Who was he?"
"Oh! there is many a man who says he did it. But my daughter isn't saved
yet, for the urfeist said he'd come to-morrow."
"Well, never fear; perhaps another champion will come to-morrow."
Next morning Sean Ruadh drove the king's cows to the land of the second
giant, where he left them feeding, and then went to the castle, where
the housekeeper met him and said: "You are welcome. I'm here before you,
and all is well." "Let the brown horse be brought; let the giant's
apparel and sword be ready for me," said Sean Ruadh.
The apparel was brought, the beautiful blue dress of the second giant,
and his sword of light. Sean Ruadh put on the apparel, took the sword,
mounted the brown steed, and sped away between earth and air three times
more swiftly than the day before.
He rode first to the seashore, saw the king's daughter sitting on the
rock alone, and the princes and champions far away, trembling in dread
of the urfeist. Then he rode to the king, enquired about the crowd on
the seashore, and received the same answer as before. "But is there no
man to save her?" asked Sean Ruadh.
"Oh! there are men enough," said the king, "who promise to save her, and
say they are brave; but there is no man of them who will stand to his
word and face the urfeist when he rises from the sea."
Sean Ruadh was away before the king knew it, and rode to the princess in
his suit of blue, bearing his sword of light. "Is there no one to save
you?" asked he.
"No one."
"Let me lay my head on your lap, and when the urfeist comes, rouse me."
He put his head on her lap, and while he slept she took out the three
hairs, compared them with his hair, and said to herself: "You are the
man who was here yesterday."
When the urfeist appeared, coming over the sea, the princess roused the
stranger, who sprang up and hurried to the beach.
The monster, moving at a greater speed, and raising more water than on
the day before, came with open mouth to land. Again Sean Ruadh stood in
his way, and with one blow of the giant's sword made two halves of the
urfeist. But the two halves rushed together, and were one as before.
Then the urfeist turned to the sea again, and said as he went: "All the
champions on earth won't save her from me to-morrow!"
Sean Ruadh sprang to his steed and back to the castle. He went, leaving
the princess in despair at his going. She tore her hair and wept for the
loss of the blue champion,--the one man who had dared to save her.
Sean Ruadh put on his old clothes, and drove home the cows as usual. The
king said: "A strange champion, all dressed in blue, saved my daughter
to-day; but she is grieving her life away because he is gone."
"Well, that is a small matter, since her life is safe," said Sean Ruadh.
There was a feast for the whole world that night at the king's castle,
and gladness was on every face that the king's daughter was safe again.
Next day Sean Ruadh drove the cows to the third giant's pasture, went to
the castle, and told the housekeeper to bring the giant's sword and
apparel, and have the red steed led to the door. The third giant's dress
had as many colors as there are in the sky, and his boots were of blue
glass.
Sean Ruadh, dressed and mounted on his red steed, was the most beautiful
man in the world. When ready to start, the housekeeper said to him: "The
beast will be so enraged this time that no arms can stop him; he will
rise from the sea with three great swords coming out of his mouth, and
he could cut to pieces and swallow the whole world if it stood before
him in battle. There is only one way to conquer the urfeist, and I will
show it to you. Take this brown apple, put it in your bosom, and when he
comes rushing from the sea with open mouth, do you throw the apple down
his throat, and the great urfeist will melt away and die on the strand."
Sean Ruadh went on the red steed between earth and sky, with thrice the
speed of the day before. He saw the maiden sitting on the rock alone,
saw the trembling kings' sons in the distance watching to know what
would happen, and saw the king hoping for some one to save his daughter;
then he went to the princess, and put his head on her lap; when he had
fallen asleep, she took the three hairs from her bosom, and looking at
them, said: "You are the man who saved me yesterday."
The urfeist was not long in coming. The princess roused Sean Ruadh, who
sprang to his feet and went to the sea. The urfeist came up enormous,
terrible to look at, with a mouth big enough to swallow the world, and
three sharp swords coming out of it. When he saw Sean Ruadh, he sprang
at him with a roar; but Sean Ruadh threw the apple into his mouth, and
the beast fell helpless on the strand, flattened out and melted away to
a dirty jelly on the shore.
Then Sean Ruadh went towards the princess and said: "That urfeist will
never trouble man or woman again."
The princess ran and tried to cling to him; but he was on the red steed,
rushing away between earth and sky, before she could stop him. She held,
however, so firmly to one of the blue glass boots that Sean Ruadh had to
leave it in her hands.
When he drove home the cows that night, the king came out, and Sean
Ruadh asked: "What news from the urfeist?"
"Oh!" said the king, "I've had the luck since you came to me. A champion
wearing all the colors of the sky, and riding a red steed between earth
and air, destroyed the urfeist to-day. My daughter is safe forever; but
she is ready to kill herself because she hasn't the man that saved her."
That night there was a feast in the king's castle such as no one had
ever seen before. The halls were filled with princes and champions, and
each one said: "I am the man that saved the princess!"
The king sent for the old blind sage, and asked, what should he do to
find the man who saved his daughter. The old blind sage said,--
"Send out word to all the world that the man whose foot the blue glass
boot will fit is the champion who killed the urfeist, and you'll give
him your daughter in marriage."
The king sent out word to the world to come to try on the boot. It was
too large for some, too small for others. When all had failed, the old
sage said,--
"All have tried the boot but the cowboy."
"Oh! he is always out with the cows; what use in his trying," said the
king.
"No matter," answered the old blind sage; "let twenty men go and bring
down the cowboy."
The king sent up twenty men, who found the cowboy sleeping in the shadow
of a stone wall. They began to make a hay rope to bind him; but he woke
up, and had twenty ropes ready before they had one. Then he jumped at
them, tied the twenty in a bundle, and fastened the bundle to the wall.
They waited and waited at the castle for the twenty men and the cowboy,
till at last the king sent twenty men more, with swords, to know what
was the delay.
When they came, this twenty began to make a hay rope to tie the cowboy;
but he had twenty ropes made before their one, and no matter how they
fought, the cowboy tied the twenty in a bundle, and the bundle to the
other twenty men.
When neither party came back, the old blind sage said to the king: "Go
up now, and throw yourself down before the cowboy, for he has tied the
forty men in two bundles, and the bundles to each other."
The king went and threw himself down before the cowboy, who raised him
up and said: "What is this for?"
"Come down now and try on the glass boot," said the king.
"How can I go, when I have work to do here?"
"Oh! never mind; you'll come back soon enough to do the work."
The cowboy untied the forty men and went down with the king. When he
stood in front of the castle, he saw the princess sitting in her upper
chamber, and the glass boot on the window-sill before her.
That moment the boot sprang from the window through the air to him, and
went on his foot of itself. The princess was downstairs in a twinkle,
and in the arms of Sean Ruadh.
The whole place was crowded with kings' sons and champions, who claimed
that they had saved the princess.
"What are these men here for?" asked Sean Ruadh. "Oh! they have been
trying to put on the boot," said the king.
With that Sean Ruadh drew his sword of light, swept the heads off every
man of them, and threw heads and bodies on the dirt-heap behind the
castle.
Then the king sent ships with messengers to all the kings and queens of
the world,--to the kings of Spain, France, Greece, and Lochlin, and to
Diarmuid, son of the monarch of light,--to come to the wedding of his
daughter and Sean Ruadh.
Sean Ruadh, after the wedding, went with his wife to live in the kingdom
of the giants, and left his father-in-law on his own land.