and hard
here,' said the man, 'like a wooden pole.'

"'Dig it out,' said Oisin.

"The man dug more. 'I have it out now,' he said; 'it is like a great
spear, for it has a huge head of rusty iron. I can scarcely lift it.'

"'It is a spear such as the Fenians used,' said Oisin. 'Dig still
deeper.'

"The man dug again. 'Do you find anything more?' said Oisin.

"'I have found a great horn,' the man answered, 'many times as large
as any horn that I ever saw.'

"'It is the great war-horn of my father, Finn McCool,' said Oisin.
'Dig deeper.'

"The man dug again and said, 'I have found a lump of bog butter.'

"'Now blow the horn,' said Oisin.

"The man was scarcely able to blow the horn, but he did blow it, and
it gave forth a harsh, terrible note, which sounded over the plain
and was echoed back from the woods and the rocks with a hoarse,
dreadful sound.

"'Look about you,' said Oisin, 'and tell me what you see.'

"'Oh, I see,' said the man, 'a great flock of birds coming toward us,
and every one of them is many times as large as the largest eagle that
I have ever seen. I fear that we cannot escape them and that they will
kill us. The dog is nearly dead with terror and he is trying to break
his chain.'

"'Give him a piece of the bog butter,' said Oisin, 'and let him go.
Then tell me what he does.'

"'He is running straight toward the birds,' the man answered, 'and
they are coming straight toward him and toward us, along the ground.
Ah! he has caught one of them, and all the rest have flown away! He
has killed the bird! He is rushing back to us, with madness in his
eyes and his mouth covered with blood and foam! I fear that he will be
worse for us than the birds would have been.'

"'Hold the spear straight in front of you as he comes,' said Oisin,
'and let him run upon the point of it and kill him.'

[Illustration: "HOLD THE SPEAR STRAIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU."]

"The man held the spear as Oisin told him, and when the dog came on he
was caught upon the point of it, and it went through his heart and
he fell dead.

"Then the man went and cut off one of the legs of the bird which had
been killed, and they took it with them and started back. As they went
they passed a mountain ash which had berries of enormous size, and the
man put one of them into the chariot. Then the man saw huge ivy
leaves, and he took one of them too. So they went back to St.
Patrick's house and showed all the men there what they had brought.