THE GIANT AND THE BIRDS
"Tis the best part of the story," said the Little Slate-colored Hen that was the Cock's mother.
"It is, it is," said the Feather-legged Hen.
"And how well he tells it, the Top of Wisdom," said the Blue Ben.
I tell it as my father told me and as his father told him," said the Cock changing legs. "The first place they went was into the Cave where the Big Man had lain for a hundred and a hundred years. They found there the heap of dust that was his two hounds, and they found too the missile-ball of brass and the trumpet and the great sword. They left the Cave and they turned south, and they went on and on till they came to the mountain that is called Slieve-na-Mon. The boy and the man and the hound rested themselves for a while on the level on the top of the mountain.
Then Little Fawn told Ardan to take the trumpet and put it to his mouth. He blew on the trumpet. O louder than ever I crowed was the noise he made on that trumpet. The trees that
125
