when the boy began to grow up he had no wit, and the Goban knew by
that he was no son of his. That is the reason he wanted a witty wife
for him. So there came a girl to the house one day, and the Goban Saor
bade her look round at all that was in the room, and he said 'Do you
think a couple could get a living out of this?' 'They could not,' she
said. So he said she wouldn't do, and he sent her away. Another girl
came another day, and he bade her take notice of all that was in the
house, and he said 'Do you think could a couple knock a living out of
this?' 'They could if they stopped in it,' she said. So he said that
girl would do. Then he asked her could she bring a sheepskin to the
market and bring back the price of it, and the skin itself as well. She
said she could, and she went to the market, and there she pulled off the
wool and sold it and brought back the price and the skin as well. Then
he asked could she go to the market and not be dressed or undressed. And
she went having only one shoe and one stocking on her, so she was
neither dressed or undressed. Then he sent her to walk neither on the
road or off the road, and she walked on the path beside it. So he said
then she would do as a wife for his son."

AN ADVICE SHE GAVE

"One time some great king or lord sent for the Goban to build a
_caislean_ for him, and the son's wife said to him before he went 'Be
always great with the women of the house, and always have a comrade
among them.' So when the Goban went there he coaxed one of the women the
same as if he was not married. And when the castle was near built, the
woman told him the lord was going to play him a trick, and to kill him
or shut him up when he had the castle made, the way he would not build
one for any-other lord that was as good. And as she said, the lord came
and bade the Goban to make a cat and two-tails, for no one could make
that but himself, and it was meaning to kill him on it he was. And the
Goban said he would do that when he had finished the castle, but he
could not finish it without some tool he had left at home. And they must
send the lord's son for it--- for he said it would not be given to any
other one. So the son was sent, and the Goban sent a message to the
daughter-in-law that the tool he was wanting was called 'When you open
it shut it.' And she was surprised, for there was no such tool in the
house; but she guessed by the message what she had to do, and there was
a big chest in