330 A Century of Science 



ant of the catastrophe in the story of the Second 

 Royal Mendicant in the &quot; Arabian Nights ; &quot; but the 

 Irishman gives us a touch of humour that is quite 

 his own. The Gruagach and his eleven artful 

 sons are chasing the fisherman s son through water 

 and air, and various forms of fish and bird are 

 assumed, until at length the fisherman s son, in the 

 shape of a swallow, hovers over the summerhouse 

 where the daughter of the king of Erin is sitting. 

 Weary with the chase, the swallow becomes a ring, 

 and falls into the girl s lap ; it takes her fancy, and 

 she puts it on her finger. Then the twelve pur 

 suers change from hawks into handsome men, and 

 entertain the king in his castle with music and 

 games, until he asks them what in the world he 

 can give them. All they want, says the old Grua 

 gach, is the ring which he once lost, and which is 

 now on the princess s finger. Of course, says the 

 king, if his daughter has got the ring, she must give 

 it to its owner. But the ring, overhearing all this, 

 speaks to the princess, and tells her what to do. 

 She gets a gallon of wheat grains and three gallons 

 of the strongest potheen that was ever brewed in 

 Ireland, and she mixes them together in an open 

 barrel before the fire. Then her father calls her 

 and asks for the ring ; and when she finds that her 

 protests are of no avail, and she must give it up, 



