J. F. Campbell Collection > Popular tales of the West Highlands > Volume 1

WEST HIGHLAXD TALES.
swift hero, and they reached the house long before day.
Tlie queen was without rest till he arrived. They
raised music, and they laid down woe. On the morrow,
he said, "I am obliged to go to see the Gniagach
to-day, to try if my spells will be loose." " Mind that
it is not as usual the Gruagach will meet thee. He
will meet thee furiously, wildly, and he will say to thee,
didst thou get the sword ? and say thou that thou hast
got it ; he will say, how didst thou get it Ì and thou
shalt sa}^, if it were not the knob that was on its end
1 had not got it. He mil ask thee again, how didst
thou get the sword Ì and thou wilt say, if it were not
the knob that was on its end, I had not got it. Then
he will give himself a lift to look what knob is on the
sword, and thou wilt see a mole on the right side of
Ms neck, and stab the point of the sword in the mole ;
and if thou dost not liit the mole, thou and I are done.
His brother was the king of the oak windows, and he
knows that till the other had lost his life, he would
not part with the sword. Tlie death of the two is in
the sword, but there is no other sword that wiU touch
them but it." The queen kissed him, and she called
on victory of battlefields (to be) with him, and he went
away.
The Gruagach met him in the very same place
where he was before. " Didst thou get the sword ? "
" I got the sword." " How didst thou get the sword ?"
" If it were not the knob that was on its end I had not
got it," said he. " Let me see the sword." " It was
not laid on me to let thee see it." " How didst thou
get the sword?" "If it were not the knob that was
on its end, I got it not." The Gruagach gave his head
a lift to look at the sword ; he saw the mole ; he was
sliarp and quick, and he thrust the sword into the
mole, and the Gruagach fell down dead.