but the last sentences rung in her betrothed's ears; and this time he selected for his adviser a wise man. "Au! what can I do to be rid of the ill thing?" he asked, eyeing the band askance. "Take you the brace," quoth the wizard, "and go back to the river side; tie it round a tree, and cut a cross in the tree, then kneel you down, and say, 'May the Lord God Almighty bless me, and make me free of the ill word and the ill thing.'" He did as he was bid, and next morning the tree, split open, lay by the water side. The curse had passed on to it, and the couple, who were married the next week, lived long and happily all their lives.—(Peggy Munroe.)
xxiii.—An Erse Version of Jack the Giant Killer, called The Giant and the Little Herd.
The giant appeared to the little herd-boy, and threatened to kill him; but the boy gave him to understand he had better not, as he was, though small, very strong, and an enchanter, and that if the giant ate him he would make him very ill. The giant did not quite believe him, and taking up a stone which he ground to powder by closing his hand on it, bid the herd do the same, or he would make short work with him. Our little friend had a lump of curds in his pocket, which he contrived to roll in dust, till it looked like a stone; pressing it between his fingers, a stream of whey run out through them. The next trial was with the heavy hammer, which the giant threw to an immense distance, telling the would-be enchanter that unless he could match that he would blow his brains out. "I suppose," said the boy, "you have no regard for the hammer, and don't care whether you ever see it again or not?" "What do you mean?" growled the giant. "I mean that if I take up the hammer it goes out of sight in the twinkling of an eye, and into the sea." "I beg you will let the hammer alone, then, for it was my great-grandfather's hammer," replied the giant, and they were both pleased with the bargain. Then followed the hasty-pudding feat (called brose and brochen here), and the experiment with the black-pudding, which the boy had inside his jacket, and which ran blood when he pierced it. The giant, trying to imitate him, plunged a knife into himself and died, as may be seen in
