." His
master gave him a sword, and at the same time he told him to be sure to
be at the place mentioned a while before sunset, and to draw a circle
round himself with the point of the sword in the name of Trinity. "When
you do this, draw a cross in the centre of the circle, upon which you
will stand yourself; and do not move out of that position till the
rising of the sun next morning." He also told him that he would wish him
to come out of the circle to put his name in the book; but that upon no
account he was to leave the circle; "but ask the book till you would
write your name yourself, and when once you get hold of the book keep
it, he cannot touch a hair of your head, if you keep inside the circle."

So the boy was at the place long before the gentleman made his
appearance; but sure enough he came after sunset; he tried all his arts
to get the boy outside the circle, to sign his name in the red book, but
the boy would not move one foot out from where he stood; but, at the
long last, he handed the book to the boy, so as to write his name
therein. The book was no sooner inside the circle than it fell out of
the gentleman's hand inside the circle; the boy cautiously stretched out
his hand for the book, and as soon as he got hold of it, he put it in
his oxter. When the fine gentleman saw that he did not mean to give him
back the book, he got furious; and at last he transformed himself into
great many likenesses, blowing fire and brimstone out of his mouth and
nostrils; at times he would appear as a horse, other times a huge cat,
and a fearful beast (uille bbeast); he was going round the circle the
length of the night; when day was beginning to break he let out one
fearful screech; he put himself in the shape of a large raven, and he
was soon out of the boy's sight. The boy still remained where he was
till he saw the sun in the morning, which no sooner he observed, than he
took to his soles home as fast as he could. He gave the book to his
master; and this is how the far-famed red book of Appin was got.

LV

THE GOOD O'DONOGHUE

Irish Folk Tales

In an age so distant that the precise period is unknown, a chieftain
named O'Donoghue ruled over the country which surrounds the romantic
Lough Lean, now called the Lake of Killarney. Wisdom, beneficence, and
justice distinguished his reign, and the prosperity and happiness of his
subjects were their natural results. He is said to have been as renowned
for his wa