He went along, drawing towards the house of the king. He went looking on the lad in the place where he was lying. He took a hold of his pulse. He said he thought he would heal him. “If you heal him,” said the king, “I will give you three hundred pounds.” “If I were to get the room to myself, for a little,” says he. The king said that he should get that. He called down for a skillet of water. He put the skillet on the fire. He drew his crumskeen. He went to take the head off him as he saw the red man a-doing. He was a-sawing at the head, and it did not come with him to cut it off the neck. The blood was coming. He took the head off him at last. He threw it into the skillet. He knocked a boil out of it. When he considered the head to be boiled enough he made an attempt on the skillet. He got a hold of the two ears. The head fell in gliggar (a gurgling mass?), and the two ears came with him. The blood was coming greatly. It was going down, and out of the door of the room. When the king saw it going down he knew that his son was dead. He desired to open the door. Neil O’Carree would not open the door. They broke the door. The man was dead. The floor was full of blood. They seized Neil O’Carree. He was to hang the next day. They gathered a guard till they should carry him to the place where he was to hang. They went the next day with him. They were walking away, drawing towards the tree where he should be hanged. They stopped his screaming. They see a man stripped making a running race. When they saw him there was a fog of water round him with all he was running. When he came as far as them (he cried), “what are ye doing to my master?” “If this man is your master, deny him, or you’ll get the same treatment.” “It’s I that it’s right should suffer; it’s I who made the delay. He sent me for medicine, and I did not come in time, loose my master, perhaps he would heal the king’s son yet.”
They loosed him. They came to the king’s house. The red man went to the place where the dead man was. He began gathering the bones that were in the skillet. He gathered them all but only the two ears.
“What did you do with the ears?”
“I don’t know,” said Neil O’Carree, “I was so much frightened.”
The red man got the ears. He put them all together. He drew a green herb out of his pocket. He rubbed it round on the head. The skin grew on it, and the hair, as well as ever it was. He put the head in the skillet then. He knocked a boil out of it. He put the head back on the neck as well as ever it was. The king’s son rose up in the bed.
“How are you now?” says the red man.
“I am well,” says the king’s son, “but that I’m weak.”
The red man shouted again for the king. There was great joy on the king when he saw his son alive. They spent that night pleasantly.
The next day when they were going away, the king counted out three hundred pounds. He gave it to Neil O’Carree. He said to Neil that if he had not enough he would give him more. Neil O’Carree said he had enough, and that he would not take a penny more. He bade farewell and left his blessing, and struck out, drawing towards home.
When they saw that they were come to the place where they fell out with one another, “I think,” says the red man, “that this is the place where we differed before.” “It is, exactly,” said Neil O’Carree. They sat down and they divided the money. He gave a half to the red man, and he kept another half himself. The red man bade him farewell, and he went. He was walking away for a while. He returned back. “I am here back again,” said the red man, “I took another thought, to leave all your share of money with yourself. You yourself were open-handed. Do you mind the day you were going by past the churchyard. There were four inside in the churchyard, and a body with them in a coffin. There were a pair of them seeking to bury the body. There were debts on the body (i.e., it owed debts). The two men who had the debts on it (i.e., to whom it owed the debts), they were not satisfied for the body to be buried. They were arguing. You were listening to them. You went in. You asked how much they had on the body (i.e., how were they owed by the body). The two men said that they had a pound on the body, and that they were not willing the body to be buried, until the people who were carrying it would promise to pay a portion of the debts. You said, ‘I have ten shillings, and I’ll give it to ye, and let the body be buried.’ You gave the ten shillings, and the corpse was buried. It’s I who was in the coffin that day. When I saw you going a-doctoring, I knew that you would not do the business. When I saw you in a hobble, I came to you to save you. I bestow the money on you all entirely. You shall not see me until the last day, go home now. Don’t do a single day’s doctoring as long as you’ll be alive. It’s short you’ll walk until you get your share of cattle and your garrawn.”