self into the colt, and go with you to the house of the
Seven Big Women.'

Joy filed the hearts of the Big Women when they beheld the bay colt led
up to their door by Ian Direach. And the youngest of them fetched the
White Sword of Light, and gave it into the hands of Ian Direach, who
took off the golden saddle and the silver bridle, and went down the hill
with the sword to the place where the princess and the real colt awaited
him.

'Now we shall have the ride that we have longed for!' cried the Seven
Big Women; and they saddled and bridled the colt, and the eldest one got
upon the saddle. Then the second sister sat on the back of the first,
and the third on the back of the second, and so on for the whole seven.
And when they were all seated, the eldest struck her side with a whip
and the colt bounded forward. Over the moors she flew, and round and
round the mountains, and still the Big Women clung to her and snorted
with pleasure. At last she leapt high in the air, and came down on top
of Monadh the high hill, where the crag is. And she rested her fore feet
on the crag, and threw up her hind legs, and the Seven Big Women fell
over the crag, and were dead when they reached the bottom. And the colt
laughed, and became a fox again and galloped away to the sea shore,
where Ian Direach, and the princess and the real colt and the White
Sword of Light were awaiting him.

'I will make myself into a ship,' said Gille Mairtean the fox, 'and
will carry you and the princess, and the bay colt and the White Sword of
Light, back to the land.' And when the shore was reached, Gille Mairtean
the fox took back his own shape, and spoke to Ian Direach in this wise:

'Let the princess and the White Sword of Light, and the bay colt, remain
among the rocks, and I will change myself into the likeness of the White
Sword of Light, and you shall bear me to the giant, and, instead, he
will give you the blue falcon.' And Ian Direach did as the fox bade him,
and set out for the giant's castle. From afar the giant beheld the blaze
of the White Sword of Light, and his heart rejoiced; and he took the
blue falcon and put it in a basket, and gave it to Ian Direach, who bore
it swiftly away to the place where the princess, and the bay colt, and
the real Sword of Light were awaiting him.

So well content was the giant to possess the sword he had coveted for
many a year, that he began at once to whirl it through the air, and to
cut and slash with it.