But Mick caught it before it had time to descend, and, recalling the old man’s advice to keep peaceable, he gently loosened his wife’s grasp, and placed the bottle again in his bosom. Molly sat down and wept while Mick told her his story with many a crossing and blessing between him and harm. The marvel of it caused his wife’s doubts to vanish, for she had as much faith in fairies as she had in the priest, who indeed never discouraged her belief in them—maybe he believed in them himself. She got up and began to sweep the earthen floor with a bunch of heath. That done, she tidied up everything, set out the long table, and spread a clean cloth on it. Mick then placed the bottle on the floor and said, “Bottle, do your duty.”
“Look there! look there, mammy!” exclaimed the chubby eldest son, a boy about six years old; and he sprang to his mother’s side and clung to her skirts in terror with his eyes on the bottle.
Two tiny men were climbing out of it, and in a few moments they had brought plates and other dishes, all of solid gold or silver, and put them on the table, and the dishes contained a bountiful feast of the choicest food that ever was seen. As soon as this task was finished, the tiny men went into the bottle, which Mick then picked up and carefully set on the mantel. Where the little men had gone he could not tell, for the bottle seemed to be as empty as when he first received it.
Two tiny men climbed out of the bottle
For some time Mick and his wife stood and gazed at the table in silent bewilderment. They had never seen such dishes before and did not think they could ever admire them enough. In fact, the sight of all this splendor almost took away their appetites. But at length Molly said: “Come and sit down, Mick, and try to eat a bit. Sure, you ought to be hungry after such a good day’s work.”
“It’s plain the little old man told no lie about the bottle,” said Mick; and he helped the children into seats around the table. They all made a hearty meal, though they could not eat half the food that was before them.
“Now,” said Molly, “I wonder if these fine things are ours to do as we please with them, or if those two good little gentlemen in the bottle will carry them away.”
They waited to see what would happen, but the little men remained in the bottle, and at length Molly cleared the table and put away the dishes. “Ah, Mick,” said she, “you’ll be a rich man yet, as the stranger who took your cow foretold.”
Before they went to sleep that night they decided that they would sell some of their fine tableware, and with the money it brought pay what they owed, and rent more land. So the next day Mick went to Cork laden with a number of the gold and silver dishes, which he sold for more money than he had ever had in his hands before. He did not return on foot, for he bought a horse and cart so that he was able to ride. In the weeks that followed he increased his wealth from time to time by calling forth the imps out of the bottle, and it was soon plain to everyone that Mick was prospering. He and his wife did all they could to keep the source of their good fortune a secret, but their landlord presently came to Mick and asked him where he got all his money, for he knew very well it was not from the farm.