t would I
do if you gave me leave? What wouldn't I do?"

"Well, you've done enough as it is," said the King, "to get the whole
of us into throuble, and now let's hear what you're goin' to do to
get us out of it. Here they are lavin' the counthry and takin' the
O'Briens wid them, that was always the good neighbors to us, and they
themselves were sometimes useful in their own way, in spite of
themselves. And now I ask ye, Naggeneen, what are ye goin' to do to
get us out of the throuble ye've got us into?"

"I'm in no throuble meself," Naggeneen answered, "and I dunno what I
have to do wid any throuble that you may be in."

"You're in no throuble yourself? Haven't ye been as good as livin' on
the Sullivans all this time? And now what are ye goin' to do widout
them?"

"I'm goin' to do nothin' widout them; I'm goin' wid them."

"Goin' wid them! Goin' wid them!"

"Them was me words; you and your silly little thribe can do what ye
like; I'm goin' wid them. It's a stuffy little place, this rath of
yours, and I've a notion thravellin' would be good for me health, any
way."

"But how can ye go wid them?"

"It's not hard at all," said Naggeneen, "and it's been done before
this. I was near doin' it meself once. I don't suppose ye remember me
old friend MacCarthy."

"MacCarthy of Ballinacarthy?" the King asked.

"The same," said Naggeneen, "and it was he was the good friend to
mortal or fairy. It was he kept the good house and the good table and
the good cellar--more especially the good cellar. That was not so many
years ago--a hundred and odd, maybe. A fine man he was; we don't see
his like now. I lived wid him the most of the time--in the cellar. And
the strange thing about him was that, though nobody ever had a bad
word for him, though all his servants said that he was the kindest and
the best masther that ever stepped, he could get nobody to stay in the
place of butler. It was all well enough wid the rest--cooks, maids,
hostlers, stable boys--but the first time ever a new butler went into
that beautiful wine cellar for wine, back he'ld come in a hurry and
say that he'ld lave his place the next day, and nothing on earth would
keep him in it. Now, wasn't that strange?"

"Did you say you lived in that cellar?" the King asked.

"The most of the time," said Naggeneen.

"Then it was not strange," said the King.

"Any way, strange or not strange," Naggeneen went on, "it was the
truth. Never a butler could he keep in