Where should the king go now in his trouble but to find the henwife. She was not at home. He sent men to look for the old woman; no tidings of her that day. They waited till the next day; not a sight of her. The following morning the king sent servants and messengers to look for the henwife. They searched the whole neighborhood; could not find her. He sent all his warriors and forces. They looked up and down, searched the whole kingdom, searched for nine days and nights, but found no trace of the henwife.
The king consented at last to give the daughter to Dyeermud, and he had to consent, and no thanks to him, for he couldn’t help himself. The daughter was glad and willing; she loved Dyeermud from the first, but the father would not part with her.
The wedding lasted a day and a year, and when that time was over, Dyeermud went home on the ship to Kilcar, and there he paid all his men their wages, and they went each to his own place.
The red man stayed sometime in the neighborhood, and what should he do one day but seize Dyeermud’s wife, put her in the ship, and sail away with her. When going, she put him under injunction not to marry her for a day and a year.
Now Dyeermud, who was hunting when the red man stole his wife, was in great grief and misery, for he knew not where the red man lived nor where he should travel to find him. At last he sent a message of inquiry to the King of Spain; and the king’s answer was, “Only two persons in the whole world know where that man lives, Great Limper, King of Light, and Black Thorn of Darkness. I have written to these two, and told them to go to you.”
The two men came in their own ship through the air to Kilcar, to Dyeermud, and talked and took counsel.
“I do not know where the red man can be,” said Black Thorn, “unless in Kilchroti; let us go to that place.”
They sailed away in their ship, and it went straight to the place they wanted. They had more power than the red man, and could send their ship anywhere.
In five days and nights they were at Kilchroti. They went straight to the house, and no one in the world could see the red man’s house there but these two. Black Thorn struck the door, and it flew open. The red man, who was inside, took their hands, welcomed them heartily, and said, “I hope it is not to do me harm that ye are here.”
“It is not to harm you or any one that we are here,” replied they. “We are here only to get what is right and just, but without that, we will not go from this.”