Blair Collection > Beside the fire

THE KING OF IRELAND'S SON. 25
The son of the king of Ireland, the short green man,
the gunman, and the earman, went forward, and it
was not far they went until they met another man, and
his one foot on his shoulder, and he keeping a field of
hares, without letting one hare in or out of the field.
There was wonder on the king's son, and he asked him
"What was the sense of his having one foot on his
shoulder like that"
" Oh," says he, " if I had my two feet on the ground
I should be so swift that I would go out of sight."
" Will you come on service with me?" says the king'5
son.
" I'll come if I get the place of a house and garden."
" You'll get that if the thing I have in my head suc-
ceeds with me."
The son of the king of Ireland, the short green man,
the gunman, the earman, and the footman, went for-
ward, and it was not far they went till they came to a
man and he turning round a wind-mill with one nostril,
and his finger left on his nose shutting the other nostril.
" Why have you your finger on your nose ?" said the
king of Ireland's son.
" Oh," says he, " if I were to blow with the two nos-
trils I would sweep the mill altogether out of that up
into the air."
"Will you come on hire with me ?"
" I will if I get the place of a house and garden."
" You'll get that if the thing I have in my head succeeds
with me."
The son of the king of Ireland, the short green man,
the gunman, the earman, the footman, and the blow-
man went forward until they came to a man who was
sitting on the side of the road and he a' breaking stones
with one thigh, and he had no hammer or anything else.