, Finn served
this giant a considerable time, doing all kinds of hard and unreasonable
service for him, and receiving all kinds of hard words, and many a hard
knock and kick to boot--sorrow befall the old vagabond who could thus ill-
treat a helpless foundling. It chanced that one day the giant caught a
salmon, near a salmon-leap upon his estate--for, though a big ould
blackguard, he was a person of considerable landed property, and high
sheriff for the county Cork. Well, the giant brings home the salmon by
the gills, and delivers it to Finn, telling him to roast it for the
giant's dinner; 'but take care, ye young blackguard,' he added, 'that in
roasting it--and I expect ye to roast it well--you do not let a blister
come upon its nice satin skin, for if ye do, I will cut the head off your
shoulders.' 'Well,' thinks Finn, 'this is a hard task; however, as I
have done many hard tasks for him, I will try and do this too, though I
was never set to do anything yet half so difficult.' So he prepared his
fire, and put his gridiron upon it, and lays the salmon fairly and softly
upon the gridiron, and then he roasts it, turning it from one side to the
other just in the nick of time, before the soft satin skin could be
blistered. However, on turning it over the eleventh time--and twelve
would have settled the business--he found he had delayed a little bit of
time too long in turning it over, and that there was a small, tiny
blister on the soft outer skin. Well, Finn was in a mighty panic,
remembering the threats of the ould giant; however, he did not lose
heart, but clapped his thumb upon the blister in order to smooth it down.
Now the salmon, Shorsha, was nearly done, and the flesh thoroughly hot,
so Finn's thumb was scalt, and he, clapping it to his mouth, sucked it,
in order to draw out the pain, and in a moment--hubbuboo!--became imbued
with all the wisdom of the world.

_Myself_. Stop, Murtagh! stop!

_Murtagh_. All the witchcraft, Shorsha.

_Myself_. How wonderful!

_Murtagh_. Was it not, Shorsha? The salmon, do you see, was a fairy
salmon.

_Myself_. What a strange coincidence!

_Murtagh_. A what, Shorsha?

_Myself_. Why, that the very same tale should be told of Finn-ma-Coul,
which is related of Sigurd Fafnisbane.

"What thief was that, Shorsha?"

"Thief! 'Tis true, he took the treasure of Fafnir. Sigurd was the hero
of the North, Murtagh, even as Finn is the great hero of Ireland. He,
too, ac