The old wife of the man of a hundred years, who had fallen asleep listening, says to the old woman who was sitting on the doorstep. ‘Would you say was there any meaning in the name?’ And she says, ‘I suppose she was just an enchanted woman.’ ‘Ah,’ says the old man, ‘I’ll give you three words that will bring you to Heaven as easy as walking out into that street. And I will tell you now about the Seven Fishers.’ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE SEVEN FISHERS There were Seven Fishers went out one time from Galway, and a strange sort of a wind blew one of the seven a long way off out into the sea. And when the fisherman came back, he went up to the house and he called to his daughter and he said: ‘I have but the one fish, but let you clean it and bring it to the shop, and it will get us our supper.’ So she brought it out of the boat, and she was cleaning it and rubbing it, and while she was doing that it turned to be a tall fine man standing before her. And he stopped with her for a while, and when he was going away he said: ‘You will have two sons, and you will never know want, and your father will get fish every time he will go out. And here is a letter,’ he said, ‘and give it to the sons at whatever time they will ask tidings of their father.’ So all happened as he said, and she brought up the sons and reared them, and at the last she sent them to get learning in Dublin. And when they got there they saw ball-playing going on, and there was a dispute, and those that were disputing called out to the young men to settle it, and they gave their opinion. ‘Ah,’ said the ball-players then, ‘who are those that are giving a judgment? Scamps that don’t know who is their father.’ Then the young men looked one at another. ‘That is true,’ they said, ‘and we have no business here, but let us go home again.’ So they turned and went back, and when they came to Galway there was a hurling, and a gentleman that was at the head of one side came to them and said: ‘Two of my own men have failed me, and come you take their place at the hurling.’ ‘We never played it, and we know nothing of it,’ said they. ‘No matter,’ says he; ‘come and stand up now.’ So they stood up, and when the ball came near them, the one of them made a leap and struck it, and the other got the goal. And when they were leaving the field they heard the people saying to one another: ‘It is the Fish’s sons were the best.’ They looked at one another then, and they went home and asked the mother was she their own mother. ‘I am that,’ says she. Then they asked news of their father, and she gave them the letter he had left with her. And it gave directions to the eldest son to go to such a cliff, and he would find a flagstone with a keyhole and a key, and it bade him turn the key and take out what he would find in it.