As for Mick and his wife, they had so much money left that the loss of the bottle did not worry them much at first; but they kept on spending their wealth as if there was no end to it. And to make a long story short, they became poorer and poorer, until they had to sell their last cow.
So one morning early, Mick once more drove his cow to the Fair of Cork. It was hardly daybreak when he left home, and he walked on until he reached the big hill; and just as he got to its top, and cast his eyes before and around him, up started the little man out of the hill.
“Well, Mick Purcell,” said he, “I told you that you would be a rich man!”
“Indeed, then, so I was, that is no lie for you, sir,” replied Mick. “But it’s not rich I am now! And if you happen to have another bottle, here is the cow for it.”
“And here is the bottle!” said the little man, smiling. “You know what to do with it.”
And with that both the cow and the stranger disappeared as they had done before.
Mick hurried away, anxious to get home with the bottle. He arrived with it safely enough, and called out to Molly to put the room to rights; and to lay a clean cloth on the table. Which she did.
Mick set the bottle on the ground, and cried out: “Bottle, do your duty!”
In a twinkling two great, stout men with two huge clubs, issued from the bottle, and belaboured poor Mick and his family until they lay groaning on the floor. Then the two men went into the bottle again.
Mick, as soon as he came to himself, got up and looked around him. He thought and he thought. He lifted up his wife and children, then leaving them to recover as best they could, he put the bottle under his arm, and went to visit his landlord.