y, and would
fain have eaten him, but quickly Manus stooped and spread the cloth upon
the ground. At that the lions stopped, and bowing their great heads,
kissed the back of his wrist and went their ways. But the cub rolled
itself up in the cloth; so Manus picked them both up, and carried them
with him to Old Bergen.

Another year went by, and then he took the lion cub and set forth to the
land of Lochlann. And the wife of Iarlaid came to meet him, and a brown
dog, small but full of courage, came with her. When the dog beheld the
lion cub he rushed towards him, thinking to eat him; but the cub caught
the dog by the neck, and shook him, and he was dead. And the wife of
Iarlaid mourned him sore, and her wrath was kindled, and many times she
tried to slay Manus and his cub, but she could not. And at last they two
went back to Old Bergen, and the twelve foster brothers went also.

'Let them go,' said the wife of Iarlaid, when she heard of it. 'My
brother the Red Gruagach will take the head off Manus as well in Old
Bergen as elsewhere.'

Now these words were carried by a messenger to the wife of Oireal, and
she made haste and sent a ship to Old Bergen to bear away her son before
the Red Gruagach should take the head off him. And in the ship was a
pilot. But the wife of Iarlaid made a thick fog to cover the face of the
sea, and the rowers could not row, lest they should drive the ship on
to a rock. And when night came, the lion cub, whose eyes were bright
and keen, stole up to Manus, and Manus got on his back, and the lion cub
sprang ashore and bade Manus rest on the rock and wait for him. So Manus
slept, and by-and-by a voice sounded in his ears, saying: 'Arise!' And
he saw a ship in the water beneath him, and in the ship sat the lion cup
in the shape of the pilot.

Then they sailed away through the fog, and none saw them; and they
reached the land of Lochlann, and the lion cub with the chain round his
neck sprang from the ship and Manus followed after. And the lion cub
killed all the men that guarded the castle, and Iarlaid and his wife
also, so that, in the end, Manus son of Oireal was crowned king of
Lochlann.

Pinkel the Thief

[Shortened from West Highland Tales.]

Long, long ago there lived a widow who had three sons. The two eldest
were grown up, and though they were known to be idle fellows, some of
the neighbours had given them work to do on account of the respect in
which their mother was held. But