Accordingly he went to the hillock, and having dug it up, found therein a great treasure of golden ducats, as the merman had told him.  After this the farmer took the merman down to the boat, and to that place in the sea whence he had brought him.  Before he put him in, the latter said to him: 

“Farmer, you have been an honest man, and I will reward you for restoring me to my mother, if only you have skill enough to take possession of property that I shall throw in your way.  Be happy and prosper.”

Then the farmer put the merman into the sea, and he sank out of sight.

It happened that not long after seven sea-gray cows were seen on the beach, close to the farmer’s land.  These cows appeared to be very unruly, and ran away directly the farmer approached them.  So he took a stick and ran after them, possessed with the fancy that if he could burst the bladder which he saw on the nose of each of them, they would belong to him.  He contrived to hit the bladder on the nose of one cow, which then became so tame that he could easily catch it, while the others leaped into the sea and disappeared.

The farmer was convinced that this was the gift of the merman.  And a very useful gift it was, for better cow was never seen nor milked in all the land, and she was the mother of the race of gray cows so much esteemed now.

And the farmer prospered exceedingly, but never caught any more mermen.  As for his wife, nothing further is told about her, so we can repeat nothing.

THE FISHERMAN OF GOeTUR

It is told that long ago a peasant living at Goetur in Myrdalur went out fishing round the island of Dyrholar.  In returning from the sea, he had to cross a morass.  It happened once that on his way home after nightfall, he came to a place where a man had lost his horse in the bog, and was unable to recover it without help.  The fisherman, to whom this man was a stranger, aided him in freeing his horse from the peat.

When the animal stood again safe and sound upon the dry earth, the stranger said to the fisherman, “I am your neighbor, for I live in Hvammsgil, and am returning from the sea, like you.  But I am so poor that I cannot pay you for this service as you ought to be paid.  I will promise you, however, this much:  that you shall never go to sea without catching fish, nor ever, if you will take my advice, return with empty hands.  But you must never put to sea without having first seen me pass your house, as if going toward the shore.  Obey me in this matter, and I promise you that you shall never launch your boat in vain.”

The fisherman thanked him for this advice; and sure enough it was that for three years afterward, never putting to sea till he had first seen his neighbor pass his door, he always launched his boat safely, and always came home full-handed.