J. F. Campbell Collection > Popular tales of the West Highlands > Volume 2

THE WIDOW AND HER DAUGHTERS. 269
shalt say to him that he must not open any of them on
the road, or else, if he opens, that thou wilt leave
him ; that thou wilt go up into a tree top, and that
thou wilt be looking, and that if he opens any of them
that thou wilt see. Then when he goes hunting, thou
shalt open the chamber, thou shalt bring out thy two
sisters ; thou shalt draw on them the magic club, and
they will be as lively and whole as they were before ;
thou shalt clean them then, and thou shalt put one in
each chest of them, and thou shalt go thyself into the
third one. Thou shalt put of silver and of gold, as
much in the chests as will keep thy mother and thy
sisters right for their lives. When he leaves the
chests in thy mother's house, and when he returns he
will fly in a wild rage ; he will then go to thy mother's
house in this fury, and he will break in the door ; be
thou behind the door, and take ofl' liis head with the
bar ; and then he will be a king's son, as precious as
he was before, and he will marry thee. Say to thy
sisters, if he attempts the chests to open them by the
way, to call out, ' I see thee, I see thee,' and that he
will think that thou wilt be calhng out in the tree."
When he came home he went away with the chests,
one after one, till he left them in her mother's house.
When he came to a glen, where he thought she in the
tree could not see him, he began to let the chest down
to see what was in it ; she that was in the chest called
out, " I see thee, I see thee !"
" Good luck be on thy pretty little head," said he,
" if thou canst not see a long way !"
This was the way with him each journey, till he
left the chests altogether in her mother's house.
When he returned home on the last journey, and
saw that she was not before him, he flew in a wild
rage ; he went back to the widow's house, and when