, and I shall bid them make good
what mischief they have done, and they shall return home forthwith."

Fergus granted that; and when the Wee Folk saw Iubdan approaching
them, they set up a shout of triumph that a man might have heard a
bowshot off, for they believed they had prevailed and that Iubdan was
released to them. But Iubdan said, "My faithful people, you must now
begone, and I may not go with you; make good also all the mischief
that ye have done, and know that if ye do any more I must die."

Then the Wee Folk departed, very downcast and sorrowful, but they did
as Iubdan had bidden them.

Iubdan, however, went to Fergus and said, "Take, O King, the choicest
of my treasures, and let me go."

"What is thy choicest treasure?" said Fergus.

Iubdan then began to recite to Fergus the list of his possessions,
such as druidic weapons, and love-charms, and instruments of music
that played without touch of human hand, and vats of ale that could
never be emptied; and he named among other noble treasures a pair of
shoes, wearing which a man could go over or under the sea as readily
as on dry land.

At the same time AEda, the dwarf and poet of Ulster, returned hale and
well from the land of Faylinn, and much did he entertain the King and
all the court with tales of the smallness of the Wee Folk, and their
marvel at his own size, and their bravery and beauty, and their marble
palaces and matchless minstrelsy.

So the King, Fergus mac Leda, was well content to take a ransom,
namely the magic shoes, which he desired above all the treasures of
Faylinn, and to let Iubdan go. And he gave him rich gifts, as did also
the nobles of Ulster, and wished him blessing and victory; and Iubdan
he departed, with Bebo his wife, having first bestowed upon Fergus the
magical shoes. And of him the tale hath now no more to say.

But Fergus never tired of donning the shoes of Iubdan and traversing
the secret depths of the lakes and rivers of Ulster. Thereby, too, in
the end he got his death, for as the wise say that the gifts of Faery
may not be enjoyed without peril by mortal men, so in this case too
it proved. For, one day as Fergus was exploring the depths of Loch
Rury he met the monster, namely the river-horse, which inhabited that
lake. Horrible of form it was, swelling and contracting like a
blacksmith's bellows, and with eyes like torches, and glittering
tusks, and a mane of coarse hair on its crest and neck. When it saw
Fergus i