le
in the window and shake it; and whatever beast, handsome or ugly, puts
the head in it, take that one with you. Do not speak a word to her till
she speaks to you; and take with you three pint bottles of ale and three
sixpenny loaves, and do the thing she tells you; and when she runs to my
father's land, on a height above the court, she will shake herself, and
the bells will ring, and my father will say Brown Allree is in the land.
And if the son of a king or queen is there, bring him to me on your
shoulders; but if it is the son of a poor man, let him come no further."

He rose in the morning, and took the bridle that was in the window and
went out and shook it, and Brown Allree came and put her head in it. And
he took the three loaves and three bottles of ale, and went riding; and
when he was riding, she bent her head down to take hold of her feet with
her mouth, in hopes he would speak in ignorance; but he spoke not a word
during the time, and the mare at last spoke to him, and said to him to
dismount and give her her dinner. He gave her the sixpenny loaf toasted
and a bottle of ale to drink. "Sit up, now, riding and take good heed of
yourself: there are three miles of fire I have to clear at a leap."

She cleared the three miles of fire at a leap, and asked if he were
riding, and he said he was. They went on then, and she told him to
dismount and give her a meal; and he did so, and gave her a sixpenny
loaf and a bottle; and she consumed them, and said to him there were
before them three miles of hill covered with steel thistles, and that
she must clear it. And she cleared the hill with a leap, and she asked
him if he were still riding, and he said he was. They went on, and she
went not far before she told him to give her a meal, and he gave her the
bread and the bottleful. And she went over three miles of sea with a
leap, and she came then to the land of the King of France; and she went
up on a height above the castle, and she shook herself and neighed, and
the bells rang; and the King said that it was Brown Allree was in the
land. "Go out," said he, "and if it is the son of a king or queen, carry
him in on your shoulders; if it is not, leave him there."

They went out, and the stars of the son of a king were on his breast;
and they lifted him high on their shoulders and bore him in to the King.
And they passed the night cheerfully with playing and with drinking,
with sport and with diversion, till the whiteness o