“Upon my word, you’re a fine music-master,” says the Piper, then; “but tell me where you’re bringing me.”
“There’s a great feast in the house of the Banshee, on the top of Croagh Patric to-night,” says the Puca, “and I’m for bringing you there to play music, and, take my word, you’ll get the price of your trouble.”
“By my word, you’ll save me a journey, then,” says the Piper, “for Father William put a journey to Croagh Patric on me because I stole the white gander from him last Martinmas.”
The Puca rushed him across hills and bog and rough places, till he brought him to the top of Croagh Patric.
Then the Puca struck three blows with his foot, and a great door opened, and they passed in together into a fine room.
The Piper saw a golden table in the middle of the room, and hundreds of old women sitting round about it.
The old woman rose up and said, “A hundred thousand welcomes to you, you Puca of November. Who is this you have with you?”
“The best Piper in Ireland,” says the Puca.
One of the old women struck a blow on the ground, and a door opened in the side of the wall, and what should the Piper see coming out but the white gander which he had stolen from Father William.