When the tailor was a day gone, himself and his wife, they repented and followed him to take his wife off him again.  The people who were after him were following him till they came to the place where the lion was, and the lion said to them:  “The tailor and his wife were here yesterday.  I saw them going by, and if ye loose me now, I am swifter than ye, and I will follow them till I overtake them.”  When they heard that, they loosed out the lion.

The lion and the people of Dublin went on, and they were pursuing him, until they came to the place where the fox was, and the fox greeted them, and said:  “The tailor and his wife were here this morning, and if ye will loose me out, I am swifter than ye, and I will follow them, and overtake them.”  They loosed out the fox then.

The lion and the fox and the army of Dublin went on then, trying would they catch the tailor, and they were going till they came to the place where the old white garraun was, and the old white garraun said to them that the tailor and his wife were there in the morning, and “Loose me out,” said he; “I am swifter than ye, and I’ll overtake them.”  They loosed out the old white garraun then, and the old white garraun, the fox, the lion, and the army of Dublin pursued the tailor and his wife together, and it was not long till they came up with him, and saw himself and the wife out before them.

When the tailor saw them coming, he got out of the coach with his wife, and he sat down on the ground.

When the old white garraun saw the tailor sitting down on the ground, he said, “That’s the position he had when he made the hole for me, that I couldn’t come up out of, when I went down into it.  I’ll go no nearer to him.”

“No!” said the fox, “but that’s the way he was when he was making the thing for me, and I’ll go no nearer to him.”

“No!” says the lion, “but that’s the very way he had, when he was making the plough that I was caught in.  I’ll go no nearer to him.”

They all went from him then and returned.  The tailor and his wife came home to Galway.

THE CASTLE OF FORTUNE[1]

[1] Adapted from the German of Der Faule und der Fleissige by Robert Reinick.

One lovely summer morning, just as the sun rose, two travelers started on a journey.  They were both strong young men, but one was a lazy fellow and the other was a worker.

As the first sunbeams came over the hills, they shone on a great castle standing on the heights, as far away as the eye could see.  It was a wonderful and beautiful castle, all glistening towers that gleamed like marble, and glancing windows that shone like crystal.  The two young men looked at it eagerly, and longed to go nearer.

Suddenly, out of the distance, something like a great butterfly, of white and gold, swept toward them.  And when it came nearer, they saw that it was a most beautiful lady, robed in floating garments as fine as cobwebs and wearing on her head a crown so bright that no one could tell whether it was of diamonds or of dew.  She stood, light as air, on a great, shining, golden ball, which rolled along with her, swifter than the wind.  As she passed the travelers, she turned her face to them and smiled.