another of the Captains, 'but now that such and such a thing is
done I can go to-morrow and bring you back your three teeth.' 'I am
tired of hearing you all talk,' said the King, 'and it's my belief
that my teeth will be lost and my daughter unwedded till the day of
doom.'"

It was then that Feet-in-the-Ashes appeared before them,
"Good health to you, King," said he.

"Good health to you, good man," said the King, "and what, may
I ask, have you come here for?"

He was covered with the feathers of the eagle and the mud of
the bog, and, as you may be sure, the King and the captains
and the guards looked sourly at him.

"I have come first of all, King," said he, "to give you
advice."

"And what is your advice?" asked the King.

"My advice to you is that you send away all these you have
around you--your captains and your guards--and that you turn
them into dog-boys or horse-boys or anything else in which
they would give useful service, for as they are here, they
can neither serve nor guard you."

"All that may be true," said the King, "but what right have
you to say it?"

Feet-in-the-Ashes said nothing but he held the cup up to the
King and the King saw three teeth in it and he took them out
and placed them in his mouth and the teeth went into their
places and there firmly they stayed.

Then Feet-in-the-Ashes told how he had gone to the Green
Island and how he had avenged the insult offered to the king
and how he had got what he had gone to search for. Then he
demanded the King's daughter in marriage and a quarter of the
Kingdom, and both were made over to him on the spot. As for
the powerful captains and the strong-armed guards, some of
them were made horse-boys and some were made dog-boys and
Feet-in-the-Ashes was made Captain over the new guards. When
he came to rule a quarter of the Kingdom he was given a horse
and made a duke and he was called by a better name than
Feet-in-the-Ashes. But what that name was I don't remember
now.

"Cluck, cluck, cluck," said the Hen-grouse, "and did he go to visit
the grandmother at all?"

"If he did," said the Cock-grouse, "that's another story, and if it
was ever told I don't remember it. Pray go to the right, my lady, for
I'm hungry for the sweet buds of the heather."

[Illustration]

[Illustration: The King of the Birds]

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