“Then they dressed them, and boiled them for supper. When that supper was ready, they struggled to force me to eat some, but could not. Next they threw me across the broad table, plucked out one eye from my head, thrust a light in the socket, and made me lie there, and serve as a candlestick. In the morning, I was flung out through the door, while the gruagach cried after me, ‘You’ll not come to this castle a second time!’”
“Have you seen that hare since?” inquired Ceadach.
“I have, for she comes each May morning, and that renews and gives strength to my sorrow.”
“To-morrow will be May day; come with me, and we’ll hunt her,” said Ceadach.
“I will not,” said the Knight of the Island.
The hare came after breakfast next morning, and halted in front of the castle. The knight was unwilling to hunt, but still yielded to Ceadach, and followed with the others.
Time after time, they came close to the hare, but never could catch her. At last, in the height of the evening, when nearing the same fairy fort, the hound Bran snapped at the haunch of the hare, and took a full bite from her. All passed through the entrance, found the house, and no person inside but an old man and woman. The old woman was lying in bed, and she groaning.
“Have you seen a hare in this house?” inquired Ceadach.
“I have not,” said the old man.