"Did you ever hear talk of Lough Derg?"
"Indeed, I did," said the Buideach; "my grandmother was once on a pilgrimage there, but I don't know where it is."
"I will bring you there to-morrow night. There is a monastery underground on the island, and an old friar in it who sees the Virgin Mary every Saturday. Tell him your case and take his advice in every single thing. He will put you to penance, but penance on this world is better than the pains of hell for ever. You know where the little dún[82] is, which is at the back of the old castle. If you are in the dún about three hours after nightfall I shall be there before you and bring you to Lough Derg.
"I shall be there if I'm alive," said the Buideach; "but is there any fear of me that the Tinker will get up before that time?"
"There is no fear," said the Black Donkey, "unless you tell somebody that you killed him. If you tell anything about him he will get up and he will slay yourself and your mother."
"By my soul, then, I'll be silent about him," said the Buideach.
That evening when the Buideach's mother came home she asked him did anybody come to the house since she went away.
"I did not see anyone," said he, "but an old pedlar with a bag, and he got nothing from me."
"I see the track of the shoe of a horse or a donkey outside the door, and it was not there in the morning when I was going out," said she.
"It was Páidin Éamoinn the fool, who was riding Big Mary O'Brien's ass," said the Buideach.