“The Crystal Egg indeed,” said the Old Woman of Beare. “You must know that it was stolen out of the nest of Laheen the Eagle, and the creature that stole it was the Crow of Achill. But what happened to the Crystal Egg after that no one knows.”
“I myself had it after that,” said Gilly, “and it was stolen from me by Rory the Fox. And then it was put under a goose to hatch.” “A goose to hatch the Crystal Egg after an Eagle had half-hatched it! Aye, aye, to be sure, that’s right,” said the Old Woman of Beare. “And now you must go and find out what happened to it. Go now, and when you come back I will give you your name.”
“I will do that,” said Gilly of the Goatskin. Then he turned to the King’s Son. “Three days before Midsummer’s Day meet me on the road to the Town of the Red Castle, and I will go with you to find out what went before and what comes after the Unique Tale,” he said.
“I will meet you,” said the King of Ireland’s Son.
The two youths went to the table and ate slices of the unwasted loaf and drank draughts from the inexhaustible bottle. “I shall stay here to practise sword-cuts and sword-thrusts,” said the King’s Son, “until four days before Midsummer’s Day.” The two youths went to the door.
“Seven waves of good-luck to you, Old Woman of Beare,” said Gilly of the Goatskin.
“May your double be slain and yourself remain,” said the King’s Son. Then they went out together, but not along the same path did the two youths go.
Gilly slept as he traveled that night, for he fell in with a man who was driving a load of hay to the fair, and when he got into the cart he lay against the hay and slept. When he parted with the carter he cut a holly stick and journeyed along the road by himself. At the fall of night he came to a place that made him think he had been there before: he looked around and then he knew that this was the place he had lived in when he had the Crystal Egg. He looked to see if the house was there: it was, and people were living in it, for he saw smoke coming out of the chimney. It was dark now and Gilly thought he could not do better than take shelter in that house.
He went to the door and knocked. There was a lot of rattling behind, and then a crooked old woman opened the door to him. “What do you want?” said she.
“Can I have shelter here for to-night, ma’am?” said Gilly.