206 Celtic F airy Tales

a stream flowing out of and another stream into its mouth,
whilst three streams were flowing from the mouth of the
third head. Great wonder seized Cormac, and he said:
“T will stay and gaze upon these wells, for I should find. no
man to tell me your story.” With that he set onwards till
he came to a house in the middle of a field. He entered
and greeted the inmates. There sat within a tall couple
clad in many-hued garments, and they greeted the king, and
bade him welcome for the night. ;

Then the wife bade her husband seek food, and he arose
and returned with a huge wild boar upon his back and a log
in his hand. He cast down the swine and the log upon the
floor, and said: ‘“ There is meat ; cook it for yourselves.”

“ How can I do that?” said Cormac.

“T will teach you,” said the youth. “Split this great log
make four pieces of it, and make four quarters of the hog ;
put a log under each quarter; tell a true story, and the meat
will be cooked.”

‘* Tell the first story yourself,” said Cormac.

“Seven pigs I have of the same kind as the one I
brought, and I could feed the world with them. For if a
pig is killed I have but to put its bones into the stye again,
and it will be found alive the next morning.”

The story was true, and a quarter of the pig was cooked.

Then Cormac begged the woman of the house to tell a
story.

‘“‘T have seven white cows, and they fill seven cauldrons
with milk every day, and I give my word that they yield as
much milk as would satisfy the men of the whole world if
they were out on yonder plain drinking it.”