"This is a wonderful hour and a glorious minute,"said the hag,"for this is the first time in sixty years that any one wanted to talk to me.Talk on now,"said she,"and I'll listen to you if Ican remember how to do it.Talk gently,"said she,"the way you won't disturb the animals,for they are all sick.""They are sick indeed,"said mac an Da'v pityingly.
"The cat has a sore tail,"said she,"by reason of sitting too close to a part of the hob that was hot.The dog has a toothache,the horse has a pain in her stomach,and the hen has the pip.""Ah,it's a sad world,"said mac an Da'v.
"There you are!"said the hag.
"Tell me,"Mongan commenced,"if you got a wish,what it is you would wish for?"The hag took the cat off her shoulder and gave it to mac an Da'v.
"Hold that for me while I think,"said she.
"Would you like to be a lovely young girl?"asked Mongan.
"I'd sooner be that than a skinned eel,"said she.
"And would you like to marry me or the King of Leinster?""I'd like to marry either of you,or both of you,or whichever of you came first.""Very well,"said Mongan,"you shall have your wish."He touched her with his finger,and the instant he touched her all dilapidation and wryness and age went from her,and she became so beautiful that one dared scarcely look on her,and so young that she seemed but sixteen years of age.
"You are not the Hag of the Mill any longer,"said Mongan,"you are Ivell of the Shining Cheeks,daughter of the King of Munster."He touched the dog too,and it became a little silky lapdog that could nestle in your palm.Then he changed the old mare into a brisk,piebald palfrey.Then he changed himself so that he became the living image of Ae,the son of the King of Connaught,who had just been married to Ivell of the Shining Cheeks,and then he changed mac an Da'v into the likeness of Ae's attendant,and then they all set off towards the fortress,singing the song that begins:My wife is nicer than any one's wife,Any one's wife,any one's wife,My wife is nicer than any one's wife,Which nobody can deny.
CHAPTER XX
The doorkeeper brought word to the King of Leinster that the son of the King of Connaught,Ae the Beautiful,and his wife,Ivell of the Shining Cheeks,were at the door,that they had been banished from Connaught by Ae's father,and they were seeking the protection of the King of Leinster.
Branduv came to the door himself to welcome them,and the minute he looked on Ivell of the Shining Cheeks it was plain that he liked looking at her.
It was now drawing towards evening,and a feast was prepared for the guests with a banquet to follow it.At the feast Duv Laca sat beside the King of Leinster,but Mongan sat opposite him with Ivell,and Mongan put more and more magic into the hag,so that her cheeks shone and her eyes gleamed,and she was utterly bewitching to the eye;and when Branduv looked at her she seemed to grow more and more lovely and more and more desirable,and at last there was not a bone in his body as big as an inch that was not filled with love and longing for the girl.
Every few minutes he gave a great sigh as if he had eaten too much,and when Duv Laca asked him if he had eaten too much he said he had hut that he had not drunk enough,and by that he meant that he had not drunk enough from the eyes of the girl before him.
At the banquet which was then held he looked at her again,and every time he took a drink he toasted Ivell across the brim of his goblet,and in a little while she began to toast him back across the rim of her cup,for he was drinking ale,but she was drinking mead.Then he sent a messenger to her to say that it was a far better thing to be the wife of the King of Leinster than to be the wife of the son of the King of Connaught,for a king is better than a prince,and Ivell thought that this was as wise a thing as anybody had ever said.And then he sent a message to say that he loved her so much that he would certainly burst of love if it did not stop.
Mongan heard the whispering,and he told the hag that if she did what he advised she would certainly get either himself or the King of Leinster for a husband.
"Either of you will be welcome,"said the hag.
"When the king says he loves you,ask him to prove it by gifts;ask for his drinking-horn first."
She asked for that,and he sent it to her filled with good liquor;then she asked for his girdle,and he sent her that.
