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

FOLK TALES AND FAIRY LORE. 257
he was told, and he now beheld, what he saw not till
then, the finest view of deer he had ever witnessed.
Donald was always pursuing the deer, and of all bens
his choice for hunting was the Yellow Mountain.
On a calm morning, at break of day, he was sitting
on a deer-pass on the ben, with his slender-barrelled
gun that never missed fire on his knee, and waiting
until the light-moving herd should descend from the
summit of the mountain to drink their morning
draught out of the clear springs which gushed forth
from the side of the slope beneath. At length he saw
them coming out of the mist which hid the rocky sum-
mit above him, and a tall Glastig driving them before
her. She at once noticed the hunter, and before the
foremost deer came within shooting distance she cried
to him: " Thou art too heavy on my hinds, Big Donald.
Thou must not be so heavy on them as thou art." Big
Donald was ready-witted, and so he put her off with
this apt answer: " I never killed a hind where I could
find a stag." He allowed the hinds to pass with the
Glastig behind them, and she gave him no further
trouble.