d on most of the day, so that it was quite late when he reached
the castle, and to his great disappointment found nothing but closed
doors and no smoke rising from the chimneys. He thought there was
nothing for it but to die after all, and had lain down beside the wall,
when he heard a window being opened high above him. At this he looked
up, and saw the most beautiful woman he had ever set eyes on.

'Oh, it is Fortune that has sent you to me,' he said.

'It is indeed,' said she. 'What are you in need of, or what has sent you
here?'

'Necessity,' said he. 'I am dying for want of food and drink.'

'Come inside, then,' she said; 'there is plenty of both here.'

Accordingly he went in to where she was, and she opened a large room for
him, where he saw a number of men lying asleep. She then set food before
him, and after that showed him to the room where the others were. He lay
down on one of the beds and fell sound asleep. And now we must go back
to the two that he left behind him in the wood.

When nightfall and the time of the wild beasts came upon these, the
Englishman happened to climb up into the very same tree on which the
Scotsman was when he got a sight of the castle; and as soon as the day
began to dawn and the Englishman looked to the four quarters of heaven,
what did he see but the castle too! Off he went without saying a word to
the Irishman, and everything happened to him just as it had done to the
Scotsman.

The poor Irishman was now left all alone, and did not know where
the others had gone to, so he just stayed where he was, very sad and
miserable. When night came he climbed up into the same tree as the
Englishman had been on the night before. As soon as day came he also saw
the castle, and set out towards it; but when he reached it he could
see no signs of fire or living being about it. Before long, however, he
heard the window opened above his head, looked up, and beheld the most
beautiful woman he had ever seen. He asked if she would give him food
and drink, and she answered kindly and heartily that she would, if he
would only come inside. This he did very willingly, and she set before
him food and drink that he had never seen the like of before. In the
room there was a bed, with diamond rings hanging at every loop of the
curtains, and everything that was in the room besides astonished him so
much that he actually forgot that he was hungry. When she saw that he
was not eating at all, she asked him