him to the kitchen at the back of the house. She gave him
porridge and milk and he ate his supper. Then she showed him a ladder to
a room above, and he went up there and made a bed for himself. He slept
soundly, although he dreamed of the twenty-four yellow cats within, and
the tremendous Bull of the Mound outside Crom Duv's Keep.

III

This is how the days were spent in the house of Crom Duv. The Giant and
his two servants, Flann and Morag, were out of their beds at the mouth
of the day. Crom Duv sounded his horn and the Bull of the Mound bellowed
an answer. 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. In the afternoon
the Giant came back and he and Flann started work on the wall.

All the time the twenty-four yellow cats lay on the branches of the
Rowan Tree or walked about the court-yard or lapped up great crocks
of milk. Morag's Little Red Hen went hopping round the courtyard. She
seemed to be sleepy or to be always considering something. If one of the
twenty-four yellow cats looked at her the Little Red Hen would waken up,
murmur something, and hop away.

One day the cattle came home without Crom Duv. "He has gone on one of
his journeys," said Morag, "and will not be back for a night and a day."

"Then it is time for me to make my escape," said Flann.

"How can you make your escape, my dear, my dear?" said Morag. "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. "The water poisons the skin of any
creature that tries to swim across the Moat."

Flann was downcast when he heard of the Moat of Poisoned Water. But his
mind was fixed on climbing the wall. "I may find some way of crossing
the poisoned water," he said, "so bake my cake and give me provision for
my journey."

Morag baked a cake and put it on the griddle. And when it was ba