ed Steed that had carried him and Fedelma from
the Enchanter's house and had brought him to the Cave where he had found
the Sword of Light. He looked at the conjuror again and he saw he was
no other than the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands. Then it crossed his
mind what the Gobaun Saor had said to him.

He had seen a man he knew and a horse he had mounted before. He was to
mount that horse, follow the man, and force him to tell the rest of the
Unique Tale.

The King's Son drew back to the outskirts of the crowd. He snatched the
bridle from the hands of Mogue, the man who held it, and jumped up on
the back of the Slight Red Steed.

As soon as he did this the ladder that was standing upright fell on the
ground. The people shouted and broke away. And then the King's Son saw
the Enchanter jump across a house and make for the gate of the town.

But if he could jump across a house so could the Slight Red Steed. The
King's Son turned its head, plucked at its rein, and over the same house
it sprang too. The more he ran the more swift the Enchanter became. He
jumped over the gate of the town, the Slight Red Steed after him. He
went swiftly across the country, making high springs over ditches and
hedges. No other steed but the Slight Red Steed could have kept its
rider in sight of him.

IV

Up hill and down dale the Enchanter went, but, mounted on the Slight Red
Steed, the King of Ireland's Son was in hot pursuit. The Enchanter raced
up the side of the seventh hill, and when the King's Son came to the top
of it he found no one in sight.

He raced on, however, and he passed a dead man hanging from a tree. He
raced on and on, but still the Enchanter was not to be seen. Then the
thought came into his mind that the man who was hanging from the tree
and who he thought was dead was the crafty old Enchanter. He turned the
Slight Red Steed round and raced back. The man that had been hanging
from the tree was there no longer.

The King's Son turned his horse amongst the trees and began to search
for the Enchanter. He found no trace of him. "I have lost again," he
said. Then he threw the bridle on the neck of the horse and he said, "Go
your own way now, my Slight Red Steed."

When he said that the Slight Red Steed twitched its ears and galloped
towards the West. It went through woods and across streams, and when the
crows were flying home and the kites were flying abroad it brought the
King's Son to a stone house stand