idence!

_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, according to one account, was an exposed child, and came floating in
a casket to a wild shore, where he was suckled by a hind, and afterwards
found and fostered by Mimir, a fairy blacksmith; he, too, sucked wisdom
from a burn. According to the Edda, he burnt his finger whilst feeling
of the heart of Fafnir, which he was roasting, and putting it into his
mouth in order to suck out the pain, became imbued with all the wisdom of
the world, the knowledge of the language of birds, and what not. I have
heard you tell the tale of Finn a dozen times in the blessed days of old,
but its identity with the tale of Sigurd never occurred to me till now.
It is true, when I knew you of old I had never read the tale of Sigurd,
and have since almost dismissed matters of Ireland from my mind; but as
soon as you told me again about Finn's burning his finger, the
coincidence struck me. I say, Murtagh, the Irish owe much to the Danes
. . ."

"Devil a bit, Shorsha, do they owe to the thaives, except many a bloody
bating and plundering, which they never paid them back. Och, Shorsha!
you, edicated in ould Ireland, to say that the Irish owes anything good
to the plundering villains--the Siol Loughlin."

"They owe them half their traditions, Murtagh, and amongst others Finn-ma-
Coul and the burnt finger; and if ever I publish the Loughlin songs, I'll
tell the world so."

"But, Shorsha, the world will never believe ye--to say nothing of the
Irish part of it."

"Then the world, Murtagh--to say nothing of the Irish part of it--will be
a fool, even as I have often thought it; the grand thing, Murtagh, is to
be able to believe oneself, and respect oneself. How few whom the world
believes, believe and respect themselves."

"Och, Shorsha! shall I go on with the tale of Finn?"

"I'd rather you should not, Murtagh; I know all about it already."

"Then why did you bother me to tell it at first, Shorsha? Och, it was
doing my ownself good, and making me forget my own sorrowful state, when
ye interrupted me with your thaives of Danes! Och, Shorsha! let me tell
you how Finn, by means of sucking his thumb, and the