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They went through the deep wood then, and came to the gate of the Giant's Keep. Only a chain was across it, and Crom Duv lifted up the chain. The courtyard was filled with cattle black and red and striped. The Giant tied Flann to a stone pillar. "Are you there, Morag, my byre-maid?" he shouted. "I am here," said a voice from the byre. More cattle were in the byre and someone was milking them.
"Oh, Morag, my daughter Morag," cried the Spae-Woman, "there are signs on the clothes there are signs on the clothes!" After a while she ceased crying and clapping her hands and came up from the stream. She showed Morag that in all the shifts and dimities she washed for her, a hole came just above where her heart would be.
And while Gilveen was telling them all this Flann came to see whose horse was there, and great was his joy to find his comrade the King of Ireland's Son. They knew now that they were the sons of the one father, and they embraced each other as brothers. And Flann took the hand of Fedelma and he told her and the King's Son of his love for Morag. But when he was speaking of Morag, Gilveen went away.
Then he said in her ear, "But kisses and sweet words would make me willing to save you." Morag, in a voice raised, called him by that evil name that he was known by to the servants and their gossips. But the servants, hearing that name said in the hearing of Breas, pretended to be scandalized. They went to Morag and struck her with the besoms they had for sweeping the floor.
"What a wonderful ball of thread," said Gilveen, taking it up. "I cannot give it back to you. Ask me for a favor in place of it." "Since you would have me ask a favor," said Morag, "I ask that you let me sit at the supper-table alone with the youth you are going to marry." "That will do me no harm," said Gilveen. She took the ball of thread and went away smiling.
Then he started work on his wall, making Flann carry mortar to him. Morag put down the fire and boiled the pots. Pots of porridge, plates of butter and pans of milk were on the table when' Crom Duv and Flann came in to their breakfasts. Then, when the Giant had driven out his cattle to the pasture Flann cleaned the byre and made the mortar, mixing lime and sand with bullock's blood and new milk.
The walls round the Giant's Keep were being built higher by Crom Duv, helped by his servant Flann. The Giant's herd was now increased by many calves, and Morag the byre-maid had much to do to keep all the cows milked. And day and night Morag and Flann heard the bellowing of the Bull of the Mound. Now one day while Crom Duv was away with his herd, Flann and Morag were in the courtyard.
"If you go by the front the Bull of the Mound will toss you in the air and then trample you into the ground." "But I have strength and cunning and activity enough to climb the wall at the back." "But if you climb the wall at the back," said Morag, "you will only come to the Moat of Poisoned Water." "The Moat of Poisoned Water?" "The Moat of Poisoned Water," said Morag.
"No," said Flann, "it does not tell us how to get the berries off the tree the cats guard." The next day Morag gave grains to the Little Red Hen and begged for words.
Downal and Dermott fell in love with Morag's foster-sisters, and the King named a day for the pairs to marry. Morag waited to see the marriages, and the King and Queen made it a grand affair. There were seven hundred guests at the short table, eight hundred at the long table, nine hundred at the round table, and a thousand in the great hall. I was there, and I heard the whole story.
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