She made him come in and eat and sleep, for he was tired and hungry.
And heartily the Amadan ate and heartily he slept; and in the morning
she called him early, and directed him on his way to meet the
Beggarman of the King of Sweden.
She told him that when he reached a certain hill, the beggarman would
come down from the sky in a cloud; and that he would see the whole
world between the beggarman's legs and nothing above his head. "If
ever he finds himself beaten," she said, "he goes up into the sky in a
mist and stays there to refresh himself. You may let him go up once;
but if you let him go up the second time, he will surely kill you when
he comes down. Remember that. If you are alive when the fight is over,
come to see me. If you are dead, I will go to see you."
The Amadan thanked her, parted with her, and travelled away and away
before him until he reached the hill which she had told him of. And
when he came there, he saw a great cloud that shot out of the sky,
descending on the hill, and when it came down on the hill and melted
away, there it left the Beggarman of the King of Sweden standing, and
between his legs the Amadan saw the whole world and nothing over his
head.
And with a roar and a run the beggarman made for the Amadan, and the
roar of him rattled the stars in the sky. He asked the Amadan who he
was, and what he had done to have the impudence to come there and meet
him.
The Amadan said: "They call me the Amadan of the Dough, and I have
killed Slat Mor, Slat Marr, Slat Beag, the Cailliach of the Rocks and
her four badachs, the Black Bull of the Brown Wood, and the White
Wether of the Hill of the Waterfalls, and before night I'll have
killed the Beggarman of the King of Sweden."
"That you never will, you miserable object," says the beggarman.
"You're going to die now, and I'll give you your choice to die either
by a hard squeeze of wrestling, or a stroke of the sword."
"Well," says the Amadan, "if I have to die, I'd sooner die by a stroke
of the sword."
"All right," says the beggarman, and drew his sword.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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