ow what you are seeking; enter
in and rest and eat, and to-morrow I will give you what help I can, and
send you on your way.'

Gladly did Ian the fisher's son accept her offer, and all that day he
rested, and the woman gave him ointment to put on his feet, which healed
his sores. At daybreak he got up, ready to be gone, and the woman bade
him farewell, saying:

'I have a sister who dwells on the road which you must travel. It is a
long road, and it would take you a year and a day to reach it, but put
on these old brown shoes with holes all over them, and you will be there
before you know it. Then shake them off, and turn their toes to the
known, and their heels to the unknown, and they will come home of
themselves.'

The fisher's son did as the woman told him, and everything happened just
as she had said. But at parting the second sister said to him, as she
gave him another pair of shoes:

'Go to my third sister, for she has a son who is keeper of the birds of
the air, and sends them to sleep when night comes. He is very wise, and
perhaps he can help you.'

Then the young man thanked her, and went to the third sister.

The third sister was very kind, but had no counsel to give him, so he
ate and drank and waited till her son came home, after he had sent all
the birds to sleep. He thought a long while after his mother had told
him the young man's story, and at last he said that he was hungry, and
the cow must be killed, as he wanted some supper. So the cow was killed
and the meat cooked, and a bag made of its red skin.

'Now get into the bag,' bade the son, and the young man got in and took
his gun with him, but the dog and the falcon he left outside. The keeper
of the birds drew the string at the top of the bag, and left it to
finish his supper, when in flew an eagle through the open door, and
picked the bag up in her claws and carried it through the air to an
island. There was nothing to eat on the island, and the fisher's son
thought he would die of food, when he remembered the box that the lady
had put in his pocket. He opened the lid, and three tiny little birds
flew out, and flapping their wings they asked,

'Good master, is there anything we can do for thee?'

'Bear me to the kingdom of the king under the waves,' he answered, and
one little bird flew on to his head, and the others perched on each of
his shoulders, and he shut his eyes, and in a moment there he was in
the country under the sea. Then the