'I am surely,' said Tom.
'Then,' said the king, 'it will be your duty to take the password. You
must stand at the foot of the glen, and as each regiment goes by, you
must take the password: it is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday, Saturday.'
'I'll do that with a heart and a half,' said Tom.
At daybreak the fiddlers took up their fiddles, the Fairy army set
itself in order, the fiddlers played before them out of the glen,
and sweet that music was. Each regiment gave the password to Tom as
it went by--Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday;
and last of all came the king, and he, too, gave it--Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Then he called in Manx to one
of his men:
'Take the hump from this fellow's back,' and before the words were
out of his mouth the hump was whisked off Tom Beg's back and thrown
into the hedge. How proud now was Tom, who so found himself the
straightest man in the Isle of Mann! He went down the mountain and
came home early in the morning with light heart and eager step. Billy
Beg wondered greatly when he saw Tom Beg so straight and strong, and
when Tom Beg had rested and refreshed himself he told his story: how
he had met the Fairies who came every night to Glen Rushen to drill.
The next night Billy Beg set off along the mountain road and came
at last to the green glen. About midnight he heard the trampling
of horses, the lashing of whips, the barking of dogs, and a great
hullabaloo, and, behold, the Fairies and their king, their dogs and
their horses, all at drill in the glen as Tom Beg had said.
When they saw the humpback they all stopped, and one came forward
and very crossly asked his business.
'I am one of Yourselves for the night, and should be glad to do you
some service,' said Billy Beg.
So he was set to take the password--Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday. And at daybreak the King said: 'It's
time for us to be off,' and up came regiment after regiment giving
Billy Beg the password--Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday. Last of all came the king with his men, and gave the password
also--Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 'and
Sunday,' says Billy Beg, thinking himself clever. Then there was a
great outcry.
'Get the hump that was taken off that fellow's back last night and put
it on this man's back,' said the King, with flashing eyes, pointing
to the hump that lay under the hedge.
Before the words were well out of his mouth the hump was clapt on to
Billy Beg's back.
'Now,' said the King, 'be off, and if ever I find you here again,
I will clap another hump on to your front!'
And on that they all marched away with one great shout, and left poor
Billy Beg standing where they had found him, with a hump growing on
each shoulder. And he came home next day dragging one foot after
another, with a wizened face and as cross as two sticks, with his
two humps on his back, and if they are not off they are there still.