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Updated: May 9, 2025
'But eat first, and yet once more will I help you. At these words the heart returned again to Ian Direach, and he gathered sticks and made a fire and ate with Gille Mairtean the fox, and slept on the sand. At dawn next morning Gille Mairtean said to Ian Direach: 'I will change myself into a ship, and will bear you across the seas to Erin, to the land where dwells the king.
There, as he hoped, he met his friend Gille Mairtean the fox, who bade him eat his supper and lie down to sleep. And when he had wakened next morning the fox said to him: 'Let us go down to the shore of the sea. And to the shore of the sea they went.
'In that chest is the crown that has waited for you for many years, he said, 'and at last you have come for it. And he stooped down to unlock the box. In an instant Gille Mairtean the fox had sprung on his back, and gave him such a bite that he fell down unconscious.
'Plainly I see that you have not done as I bid you, nor will you ever do it, spoke Gille Mairtean the fox; 'but I will help you yet again for a third time I will change myself into a ship, and we will sail to France. And to France they sailed, and, as he was the ship, the Gille Mairtean sailed where he would, and ran himself into the cleft of a rock, high on to the land.
Hastily he led the bay colt from his stall, and put the golden saddle on her back, and the silver bridle over his head, and with the colt's bridle in his hand, he hurried to meet the princess. 'I have brought you the king of France's daughter, said Ian Direach. And the king of Erin looked at the maiden, and was well pleased, not knowing that it was Gille Mairtean the fox.
The wind was behind them, and very soon they saw the rocks of Dhiurradh in front. Then spoke Gille Mairtean the fox: 'Let the bay colt and the king's daughter hide in these rocks, and I will change myself into the colt, and go with you to the house of the Seven Big Women. Joy filed the hearts of the Big Women when they beheld the bay colt led up to their door by Ian Direach.
In a moment the king came running up, and he seized the colt's bridle. 'If you want my bay colt, you must first bring me the daughter of the king of the Franks. With slow steps went Ian Direach down to the shore where Gille Mairtean the fox awaited him.
So well content was the giant to possess the sword he had coveted for many a year, that he began at once to whirl it through the air, and to cut and slash with it. For a little while Gille Mairtean let the giant play with him in this manner; then he turned in the giant's hand, and cut through the Five Necks, so that the Five Heads rolled on the ground.
'I will make myself into a ship, said Gille Mairtean the fox, 'and will carry you and the princess, and the bay colt and the White Sword of Light, back to the land. And when the shore was reached, Gille Mairtean the fox took back his own shape, and spoke to Ian Direach in this wise: 'Let the princess and the White Sword of Light, and the bay colt, remain among the rocks, and I will change myself into the likeness of the White Sword of Light, and you shall bear me to the giant, and, instead, he will give you the blue falcon. And Ian Direach did as the fox bade him, and set out for the giant's castle.
And Ian Direach knew that all this he owed to Gille Mairtean the fox, and he made a compact with him that he might choose any beast out of his herds, whenever hunger seized him, and that henceforth no arrow should be let fly at him or at any of his race. But Gille Mairtean the fox would take no reward for the help he had given to Ian Direach, only his friendship.
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