Matheson Collection > Folk tales and fairy lore in Gaelic and English

FOLK TALES AND FAIRY LORE. II
of the Knight of the Glens and Bens and Passes, was
not. In the dusk she gave a glance before her, and
saw far from her a little house with a light; but, if it
was far from her, she took not long to reach it.
The door was open, and a good fire on the middle of
the floor. She went in, and the mistress of the house,
who was sitting beyond the fire, said: " Come up, poor
woman, thou art welcome here to-night. Thy husband
was here last night, himself and his three children."
She got well cared for by the mistress of the house.
She put warm water on her feet and a soft bed under
her side, and when she was leaving in the morning
handed her a thimble and said: "There is a thimble
for thee, and, as soon as thou hast made one stitch
with it, thou shalt let it go, and it will work afterwards
alone."
She turned away and kept on her journey at a good
pace until she saw sometime during the day her
husband and his children before her. Then she
hardened her pace and stretched away after him with
all her might. He looked behind him, and, when he
saw^ her coming, he and those with him hastened their
steps; but, though they did, she was gradually gaining
upon them. He knew not how he would take himself
off from her until he beheld a smithy ahead of him.
He made straight for the smithy, and, in passing, told
the smiths to put an impediment on the woman w^ho
was coming after him. They replied that they would
do that, and when she reached them they seized her
and put so tight a hoop about her middle that it was
with difficulty she could take one step. Notwith-
standing, as soon as she got out of their hands she
went away again as well as she could until she came
to a steep ascent in her path. Ascending this brae