The Orange Fairy Book Read Online Free PDF Page B

goes by, and will carry them back to
Grianaig.'
    In seven days the ship was built, and great store of food and wine
placed in her. And the three brothers put her head to the sea and
sailed away, and in seven days the ship ran herself on to a beach of
white sand, and they all went ashore. They had none of them ever seen
that land before, and looked about them. Then they saw that, a short
way from them, a number of men were working on a rock, with one man
standing over them.
    'What place is this?' asked the eldest brother. And the man who was
standing by made answer:
    'This is the place where dwell the three daughters of the knight of
Grianaig, who are to be wedded to-morrow to three giants.'
    'How can we find them?' asked the young man again. And the overlooker
answered:
    'To reach the daughters of the knight of Grianaig you must get into
this basket, and be drawn by a rope up the face of this rock.'
    'Oh, that is easily done,' said the eldest brother, jumping into the
basket, which at once began to move—up, and up, and up—till he had
gone about half-way, when a fat black raven flew at him and pecked him
till he was nearly blind, so that he was forced to go back the way he
had come.
    After that the second brother got into the creel; but he fared no
better, for the raven flew upon him, and he returned as his brother had
done.
    'Now it is my turn,' said Ian. But when he was halfway up the raven
set upon him also.
    'Quick! quick!' cried Ian to the men who held the rope. 'Quick! quick!
or I shall be blinded!' And the men pulled with all their might, and in
another moment Ian was on top, and the raven behind him.
    'Will you give me a piece of tobacco?' asked the raven, who was now
quite quiet.
    'You rascal! Am I to give you tobacco for trying to peck my eyes out?'
answered Ian.
    'That was part of my duty,' replied the raven; 'but give it to me, and
I will prove a good friend to you.' So Ian broke off a piece of
tobacco and gave it to him. The raven hid it under his wing, and then
went on; 'Now I will take you to the house of the big giant, where the
knight's daughter sits sewing, sewing, till even her thimble is wet
with tears.' And the raven hopped before him till they reached a large
house, the door of which stood open. They entered and passed through
one hall after the other, until they found the knight's daughter, as
the bird had said.
    'What brought you here?' asked she. And Ian made answer:
    'Why may I not go where you can go?'
    'I was brought hither by a giant,' replied she.
    'I know that,' said Ian; 'but tell me where the giant is, that I may
find him.'
    'He is on the hunting hill,' answered she; 'and nought will bring him
home save a shake of the iron chain which hangs outside the gate. But,
there, neither to leeward, nor to windward, nor in the four brown
boundaries of the sea, is there any man that can hold battle against
him, save only Ian, the soldier's son, and he is now but sixteen years
old, and how shall he stand against the giant?'
    'In the land whence I have come there are many men with the strength of
Ian,' answered he. And he went outside and pulled at the chain, but he
could not move it, and fell on to his knees. At that he rose swiftly,
and gathering up his strength, he seized the chain, and this time he
shook it so that the link broke. And the giant heard it on the hunting
hill, and lifted his head, thinking—
    'It sounds like the noise of Ian, the soldier's son,' said he; 'but as
yet he is only sixteen years old. Still, I had better look to it.'
And home he came.
    'Are you Ian, the soldier's son?' he asked, as he entered the castle.
    'No, of a surety,' answered the youth, who had no wish that they should
know him.
    'Then who are you in the leeward, or in the windward, or in the four
brown boundaries of the sea, who are able to move my battle- chain?'
    'That will be plain to you after wrestling with me as I wrestle with my
mother. And one time she got the better of me, and two times she did
not.'
    So