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Flann thought he would see a long-armed creature like Crom Duv himself. Instead he saw a girl with good and kind eyes, whose disfigurements were that her face was pitted and her hair was bushy. "I am Morag, Crom Duv's byre-maid," said she. "Will Crom Duv kill me?" said Flann. "No. He'll make you serve him," said the byre-maid. "And what will he make me do for him?"
He collected his forces then, and he burned Fiachna Duv's fortress, and he killed Fiachna Duv, and he was crowned King of Ulster. Then for the first time he felt secure and at liberty to play chess. But he did not know until afterwards that the black-faced, tufty-headed person was his father Mananna'n, although that was the fact.
Then I saw the twenty-four fierce yellow cats and I was made wonder how I could get the berry from the tree. And after that I found out about the Moat of Poisoned Water that is behind the high wall at the back of Crom Duv's house. Now that he had heard the history of the Fairy Rowan Tree, Flann often looked at the clusters of scarlet berries that were high up on its branches.
They crossed the river that marked the bounds of Crom Duv's domain and they were safe. Flann pulled up the horse and jumped on to the ground. Morag sprang down with the Little Red Hen. Then the Pooka swung forward and whispered into his horse's ear. Instantly it struck fire out of its hooves and sprang down the side of a hill.
"I'd go with you, my dear," said she, "but I cannot leave Crom Duv's house until I get what I came for." "And what did you come for, Morag?" said he. "I came," said she, "for two of the rowan berries that grow on the Fairy Rowan Tree in Crom Duv's court-yard. I know now that to get these berries is the hardest task in the world.
If ever you try to escape from my service my Bull of the Mound will toss you into the air and trample you into the ground." Crom Duv blew on a horn that he had across his chest. The Bull of the Mound rushed down the slope snorting. Crom Duv shouted and the bull stood still with his tremendous head bent down. Flann's heart, I tell you, sank, when he saw the bull that guarded Crom Duv's house.
And the twenty-four yellow cats sat round and watched with burning eyes the appearances of birds that Morag made on the byre-wall. Flann looked back and saw her seated on a stone, and he thought the Byre-Maid looked lonesome. He tried with all his activity, all his cunning and all his strength, and at last he climbed the wall at the back of Crom Duv's house.
He slept soundly, although he dreamed of the twenty-four yellow cats within, and the tremendous Bull of the Mound outside Crom Duv's Keep. This is how the days were spent in the house of Crom Duv. The Giant and his two servants, Flann and Morag, were out of their beds at the mouth of the day. Crom Duv sounded his horn and the Bull of the Mound bellowed an answer.
Six of the fierce yellow cats climbed into the branches of the Fairy Rowan Tree; six stayed in the kitchen; six went into Crom Duv's chamber, and six went to march round the house, three taking each side. No sound came from the cats that were within or without. Morag drew a ball of cotton across the floor, and the cats that were in the kitchen gave no sign of seeing it.
"You crossed the moat," said Morag, "then why did you come back?" "I came back," said Flann, "to bring you with me." "But," said she, "I cannot leave Crom Duv's house." "I'll show you how to cross the moat," said he, "and we'll both be glad to be going by the moving river." Tears came into Morag's eyes.
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