“Go back to the castle,” said Faolan to Dyeermud; “I will rest here to-night, and see what gives life to the corpses.”
“I will stay,” replied Dyeermud, “and you may return.”
“No, I will stay here,” said Faolan; “if I want help, I will run to the castle.”
Dyeermud went back to the castle. About midnight, Faolan heard the voice of a man in the air just above him. “Is there any one living?” asked the voice. Faolan, with a bound, grasped the man, and, drawing him down with one hand, pierced him through with a sword in his other hand. The man fell dead; and then, instead of the old man that he seemed at first, he rose up a fresh young man of twenty two years. The young man embraced and thanked Faolan. “I am your uncle,” said he, “brother of the poisonous hound that you freed from enchantment at sea. I was fourteen years in the power of the wild hag, and could not be freed till my father’s sword pierced me. Give me that sword which belonged to my father. It was to deliver me that your mother gave you that blade. I will give you a better one still, since you are a greater champion than I. I will give you my grandfather’s sword; here it is. When the wild hag grows uneasy at my delay, she herself will hasten hither. She knew that you were to come and release me, and she is preparing this long time to meet you. For seven years, she has been making steel nails to tear you to pieces; and she has sweet music which she will play when she sees you: that music makes every man sleep when he hears it. When you feel the sleep coming, stab your leg with your sword; that will keep you awake. She will then give you battle; and if you chance to cut off her head, let not the head come to the body: for if it comes on the body, all the world could not take it away. When you cut off her head, grasp it in one hand, and hold it till all the blood flows out; make two halves of the head, holding it in your hand all the while; and I will remove the stone cover from a very deep well here at hand; and do you throw the split head into that well, and put the cover on again.”
The uncle went aside then; and soon the hag came through the air. Seeing Faolan, she began to play strains of beautiful music, which were putting him to sleep; but he thrust his new sword in the calf of his leg, and kept away sleep. The wild hag, outwitted, attacked the youth fiercely, and he went at her in earnest. Every time that she caught him with her nails, she scraped skin and flesh from his head to his heels; and then, remembering his mother, and being aroused by his uncle, he collected his strength, and with one blow cut the head off the hag; but he was so spent from the struggle that it took him some time to seize the head, and so weak was he that he could not raise his hand to split it.
“Lay your sword on the head; the blade alone will split it!” cried the uncle.
Faolan did this. The sword cut the head; and then Faolan threw the head into the well. Just as he was going to cover the well, the head spoke, and said, “I put you under bonds of heavy enchantment not to eat two meals off the same table, nor sleep two nights on the same bed, till you tell the Cat of Gray Fort that you destroyed the wild hag out of her kingdom.”
The uncle embraced Faolan then, and said, “Now I will go to my sister, your mother; but first I will guide you to this hag’s enchanted well: if you bathe in its water, you will be as sound and well as ever.”
Faolan went, bathed in the well, and, when fully recovered, returned to the castle. Thinking Gray Fort must be near by, he did not rouse Dyeermud, but went alone in search of the cat. He travelled all day, and at last saw a great fort with the tail of a cat sticking out of it. “This may be the cat,” thought he, and he went around the whole fort to find the head. He found it thrust out just beyond the tail.
“Are you the Cat of Gray Fort?” inquired Faolan.