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The Spae-Woman put three cakes on the griddle and baked them. And when they were baked she said to Baun and Deelish: "Will you each take the half of the cake and my blessing, or the whole of the cake without my blessing?" And Baun and Deelish each said, "The whole of the cake will be little enough for our journey." Each then took her cake under her arm and went the path down the knowe.
There and then I told him about my two foster-sisters Baun and Deelish, and how they were in love with the two youths Dermott and Downal who had come from the court of the King of Ireland. I asked that when these two youths were being given wives, that the King should remember my foster-sisters. The King was greatly vexed at my request.
She cut the cake in two with a black-handled knife and gave me the even half of it. Then said she: May the old sea's Seven Daughters They who spin Life's longest threads, Protect and guard you! She put salt in my hand then, and put the Little Red Hen under my arm, and I went off. I went on then till I came in sight of Baun and Deelish.
She came back without a pitcher, for it fell and broke on the flags of the well. The next day Baun and Deelish each plaited their hair, and they said to her who was foster-mother for the three of us: "No one will come to marry us in this far-away place. We will go into the world to seek our fortunes. So," said they, "bake a cake for each of us before the fall of the night."
Just then her foster-sisters, Baun and Deelish, came into the kitchen. Seeing her there they knew her.
Come within," said she, "and if we sit long enough at the supper-board I will tell you my story." They sat at the supper-board long, and Morag told The Story of Morag I was reared in the Spae-Woman's house with two other girls, Baun and Deelish, my foster-sisters. The Spae-Woman's house is on the top of a knowe, away from every place, and few ever came that way.
That night when I felt the tears of Baun and Deelish I told them I was going to search for such a dowry for them that when they had it the King would let them marry the youths they had set their hearts on. They did not believe I could do anything to help them, but they gave me leave to go. The next day I told the Queen I was going to seek for a berry from the Fairy Rowan Tree.
One morning I went to the well for water. When I looked into it I saw, not my own image, but the image of a young man. I drew up my pitcher filled with water, and went back to the Spae-Woman's house. At noontide Baun went to the well for water. She came back and her pitcher was only half-filled. Before dark Deelish went to the well.
She told the King's foster-daughters that Morag had come back. "She was reared in the same house with us," said Baun, "but she is not of the same parents." And then she said; "If your Fair Finenesses can remember, tell the Queen that Morag has come back." The next day when they were walking with the Queen one of the King's foster-daughters said, "Did you know of a maid named Morag?
Then I ran and I ran until I caught up with Baun and Deelish again. "Let her come with us this evening," said one to the other, "and to-morrow we'll find some way of getting rid of her." The night was drawing down now, and we had to look for a house that would give us shelter. We saw a hut far off the road and we went to the broken door. It was the house of the Hags of the Long Teeth.
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