“Good-day, Barney,” said he.
“Good-day, and bad luck to you,” answered Barney. “It was an ill trick you played upon me when you took from me our three cows, and gave me only such nonsense as I carry here in my pocket.”
“Barney,” said the little man, and he spoke solemnly, “never again in all your life will you make as good a bargain as you made with me. I tell you now for a truth that the price I paid you shall be the making of you.”
“And how will that be?” asked Barney.
“That is what I came here to tell you,” said the little man. “It is no doubt well-known to you that the king of Erin has a daughter.”
“It is that,” answered Barney.
“But it may not also be known to you that this princess is so beautiful that there never was anything like it seen in all the world before, and that she is also as sad as she is beautiful. It is feared, indeed, that unless something happens to cheer her she will grieve her life away. Therefore, the king, her father, has promised that whoever can make her laugh three times shall have her for his wife.”
“But what have I to do with all that?” asked Barney.
“You have this to do with it, that you may be the lad to raise the laugh and to have her for a wife, and it is with the cockchafer, the mouse and the bumblebee that you shall do it.”
“And that’s the truth!” cried Barney slapping his leg, “for sure there’s never a soul in all the world that could see those creatures at their tricks and keep a sober face on him.”