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

FOLK TALES AND FAIRY LORE. 1 3
with a hard struggle, the hoop burst, and then she
said: "Though my girdle has burst, my heart has
not." She then went off with a rush, and kept travel-
hng until there was blackening on the soles of her
feet and holing on her shoes; the little nestling,
rolled-up, yellow-topped birds were taking to rest at
the foot of the bushes and in the top of the trees, and
the nimble, pretty squirrels, were choosing the best
place they could for themselves, though she, the
daughter of the Knight of the Glens and Bens and
Passes, was not. At last she saw far away from her
a little house with a light in it ; but, if it was far from
her, she took no long time to reach it.
She went in, and the mistress of the house said to
her: "Oh, hast thou come, daughter of the knight?
Thou art welcome here to-night. Thy husband was
here last night, himself and his children, and they went
away early in the morning." She got well treated by
the mistress of the house, who put warm water on her
feet and a soft bed under her side, and when she was
leaving in the morning she said, as she handed her
a needle: "There is a needle, and, after thou hast
made one stitch with it, thou shalt let it go, and it will
then sew alone."
She went away once more on her journey, and kept
going forward till she came to what appeared to be a
gentleman's place. She saw a little house before her,
and made straight for it. What was this but the house
of the gentleman's hen-wife. She went in, and got
leave to stay.
She was not long there when she noticed that there
was a great stir among the people of the town. She
enquired of the hen-wife what was the cause of the