ditch be night, an' wasn't
missed whin the Pookas tuk them, the King paid no attintion, an' small
blame to him that 's.

"But wan night, the queen's babby fell ill, an' the king says to his man,
says he, 'Here, Riley, get you up an' on the white mare an' go fur the
docther.'

"'Musha thin,' says Riley, an' the king's counthry house was in the break
o' the hills, so Riley 'ud pass the rath an' the Corkschrew on the way
afther the docther; 'Musha thin,' says he, aisey and on the quiet, 'it's
mesilf that doesn't want that same job.'

"So he says to the king, 'Won't it do in the mornin'?'

"'It will not,' says the king to him. 'Up, ye lazy beggar, atin' me bread,
an' the life lavin' me child.'

"So he wint, wid great shlowness, tuk the white mare, an' aff, an' that
was the last seen o' him or the mare aither, fur the Pooka tuk 'em. Sorra
a taste av a lie's in it, for thim that said they seen him in Cork two
days afther, thrading aff the white mare, was desaved be the sper'ts, that
made it seem to be him whin it wasn't that they've a thrick o' doin'.

"Well, the babby got well agin, bekase the docther didn't get there, so
the king left botherin' afther it and begun to wondher about Riley an' the
white mare, and sarched fur thim but didn't find thim. An' thin he knewn
that they was gone entirely, bekase, ye see, the Pooka didn't lave as much
as a hair o' the mare's tail.

"'Wurra thin,' says he, 'is it horses that the Pooka 'ull be stalin'? Bad
cess to its impidince! This 'ull niver do. Sure we'll be ruinated
entirely,' says he.

"Mind ye now, it's my consate from phat he said, that the king wasn't
consarned much about Riley, fur he knewn that he cud get more Irishmen
whin he wanted thim, but phat he meant to say was that if the Pooka tuk to
horse-stalin', he'd be ruinated entirely, so he would, for where 'ud he
get another white mare? So it was a mighty sarious question an' he retired
widin himself in the coort wid a big book that he had that towld saycrets.
He'd a sight av larnin', had the king, aquel to a school-masther, an' a
head that 'ud sarcumvint a fox.

"So he read an' read as fast as he cud, an' afther readin' widout
shtoppin', barrin' fur the bit an' sup, fur siven days an' nights, he come
out, an' whin they axed him cud he bate the Pooka now, he said niver a
word, axceptin' a wink wid his eye, as fur to say he had him.

[Illustration: "He'd a sight of larnin', had the King"]

"So that day he