Celts -- Folklore; Fairy tales; Fairy tales -- Great Britain; Folklore -- Great Britain; Tales -- Great Britain
So the boy delayed for a quarter of an hour, and then he went into the
big bawn of the palace. There were two rows of armed men reaching from
the gate to the stable, and every man was in the depth of deep sleep,
and through them went the boy till he got into the stable. There was the
filly, as handsome a beast as ever stretched leg, and there was one
stable-boy with a currycomb in his hand, and another with a bridle, and
another with a sieve of oats, and another with an armful of hay, and all
as if they were cut out of stone. The filly was the only live thing in
the place except himself. She had a common wood and leather saddle on
her back, but a golden saddle with the nicest work on it was hung from
the post, and he thought it the greatest pity not to put it in place of
the other. Well, I believe there was some _pishrogues_ over it for a
saddle; anyhow, he took off the other, and put the gold one in its
place.
Out came a squeal from the filly's throat when she felt the strange
article, that might be heard from Tombrick to Bunclody, and all as
ready were the armed men and the stable-boys to run and surround the
_omadhan_ of a boy, and the King of Moroco was soon there along with
the rest, with a face on him as black as the sole of your foot. After he
stood enjoying the abuse the poor boy got from everybody for some time,
he says to him, "You deserve high hanging for your impudence, but I'll
give you a chance for your life and the filly, too. I lay on you all
sorts of prohibitions, and restrictions, and death, and destruction to
go bring me Princess Golden Locks, the King of Greek's daughter. When
you deliver her into my hand, you may have the 'daughter of the wind,'
and welcome. Come in and take your supper and your rest, and be off at
the flight of night."
The poor boy was down in the mouth, you may suppose, as he was walking
away next morning, and very much ashamed when the fox looked up in his
face after coming out of the wood.
"What a thing it is," says he, "not to have a head when a body wants it
worst; and here we have a fine long journey before us to the King of
Greek's palace. The worse luck now, the same always. Here, get on my
tail, and we'll be making the road shorter."
So he sat on the fox's tail, and swift as thought they went. The wind
that was before them they would overtake it, the wind that was behind
them would not overtake them, and in the evening they were eating their
bread and cold meat in the wood near the castle.
"Now," says the fox, when they were done, "I'll go before you to make
things easy. Follow me in a quarter of an hour. Don't let Princess
Golden Locks touch the jambs of the doors with her hands, or hair, or
clothes, and if you're asked any favour, mind how you answer. Once she's
outside the door, no one can take her from you."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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