She then brought Cucullin down to see the place, which was then all
one solid rock; and, after looking at it for some time, he cracked his
right middle finger nine times, and, stooping down, tore a cleft about
four hundred feet deep, and a quarter of a mile in length, which has
since been christened by the name of Lumford's Glen. This feat nearly
threw Oonagh herself off her guard; but what won't a woman's sagacity
and presence of mind accomplish?
"You'll now come in," said she, "and eat a bit of such humble fare as
we can give you. Fin, even although he and you are enemies, would
scorn not to treat you kindly in his own house; and, indeed, if I
didn't do it even in his absence, he would not be pleased with me."
She accordingly brought him in, and placing half-a-dozen of the cakes we
spoke of before him, together with a can or two of butter, a side of
boiled bacon, and a stack of cabbage, she desired him to help
himself--for this, be it known, was long before the invention of
potatoes. Cucullin, who, by the way, was a glutton as well as a hero,
put one of the cakes in his mouth to take a huge whack out of it, when
both Fin and Oonagh were stunned with a noise that resembled something
between a growl and a yell. "Blood and fury!" he shouted; "how is this?
Here are two of my teeth out! What kind of bread is this you gave me?"
"What's the matter?" said Oonagh coolly.
"Matter!" shouted the other again; "why, here are the two best teeth
in my head gone."
"Why," said she, "that's Fin's bread--the only bread he ever eats when
at home; but, indeed, I forgot to tell you that nobody can eat it but
himself, and that child in the cradle there. I thought, however, that,
as you were reported to be rather a stout little fellow of your size,
you might be able to manage it, and I did not wish to affront a man
that thinks himself able to fight Fin. Here's another cake--maybe it's
not so hard as that."
Cucullin at the moment was not only hungry, but ravenous, so he
accordingly made a fresh set at the second cake, and immediately
another yell was heard twice as loud as the first. "Thunder and
giblets!" he roared, "take your bread out of this, or I will not have
a tooth in my head; there's another pair of them gone!"
"Well, honest man," replied Oonagh, "if you're not able to eat the
bread, say so quietly, and don't be wakening the child in the cradle
there. There, now, he's awake upon me."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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