off a soldier who had three sons,
fine youths and strong, and the best players at shinny in that country.
At Christmastide that year, when families met together and great feasts
were held, Ian, the youngest of the three brothers, said:

'Let us have a match at shinny on the lawn of the knight of Grianaig,
for his lawn is wider and the grass smoother than ours.'

But the others answered:

'Nay, for he is in sorrow, and he will think of the games that we have
played there when his daughters looked on.'

'Let him be pleased or angry as he will,' said Ian; 'we will drive our
ball on his lawn to-day.'

And so it was done, and Ian won three games from his brothers. But the
knight looked out of his window, and was wroth; and bade his men bring
the youths before him. When he stood in his hall and beheld them, his
heart was softened somewhat; but his face was angry as he asked:

'Why did you choose to play shinny in front of my castle when you knew
full well that the remembrance of my daughters would come back to me?
The pain which you have made me suffer you shall suffer also.'

'Since we have done you wrong,' answered Ian, the youngest, 'build us a
ship, and we will go and seek your daughters. Let them be to windward,
or to leeward, or under the four brown boundaries of the sea, we will
find them before a year and a day goes by, and will carry them back to
Grianaig.'

In seven days the ship was built, and great store of food and wine
placed in her. And the three brothers put her head to the sea and sailed
away, and in seven days the ship ran herself on to a beach of white
sand, and they all went ashore. They had none of them ever seen that
land before, and looked about them. Then they saw that, a short way from
them, a number of men were working on a rock, with one man standing over
them.

'What place is this?' asked the eldest brother. And the man who was
standing by made answer:

'This is the place where dwell the three daughters of the knight of
Grianaig, who are to be wedded to-morrow to three giants.'

'How can we find them?' asked the young man again. And the overlooker
answered:

'To reach the daughters of the knight of Grianaig you must get into this
basket, and be drawn by a rope up the face of this rock.'

'Oh, that is easily done,' said the eldest brother, jumping into the
basket, which at once began to move--up, and up, and up--till he had
gone about half-way, when a fat black raven flew at him and