Boys were needed badly by the human folk. Why should the fairy folk be taking them away?
Shaun had a good, kind father. He was a fisherman. Shaun's mother was dead.
But Shaun and his father lived happily enough until one day Shaun's father married again.
He married a woman who had four sons. Grown-up boys they were, and lazy.
Like the Queen in the story of Conn-eda, this woman was unkind. Little love had she for Shaun, and she made him work hard.
Poor little lad! He was very young when he had to labor like a full grown man, while the sons of his stepmother rested or played.
Shaun was always called Shauneen by his father, who loved him dearly. "Shauneen" means "little Shaun." "Een" is the Irish for "little."
"Oh, Shauneen, lad," said the father, one night after his return from sea, "'tis tired you look, and worn. Faith! Can the school work be so hard?"