“No, no!” said Mick, “they never will be stopped by me till I get that bottle I used to own, which I see high up on the shelf there.”
“Give it to him, give it to him before we are all killed!” beseeched the battered ladies and gentlemen.
“Take it, and make haste,” cried the landlord.
So Mick climbed up and got the bottle that had been the source of his former good fortune. By this time the men with the cudgels had pounded the company to their satisfaction. They retired to their bottle, and off went Mick with both bottles in his bosom.
As the years passed he became richer and richer, and when, in his old age, his servants broke the bottles while fighting at a wake he was careful not to squander his riches as he had previously. So he and his wife lived happily to the end of their days.
A PEACE MEETING
ONCE upon a time there was a big pasture in which were kept many horses and cattle and pigs. The pigs were very greedy, and the horses and cattle were not on good terms with them. At last one of the horses said: “Let us have a peace meeting and invite to it all the animals that feed in this pasture. Perhaps it will enable us to settle our quarrels with the pigs, and establish more friendly relations with them.”
“Yes,” said a cow, “I wish we might have peace with those pigs. They are always taking our food, drinking our water, and rooting up our nice, green grass. But it is also true that our own calves and colts have hurt many of the young pigs. This trouble and fighting are not right, and we know that our master wishes us to dwell peaceably together.”
So it was agreed that there should be a peace meeting, and a small and gentle cow was sent to invite the pigs to attend. As she approached the pigs’ yard, the young pigs jumped up and grunted: “What are you coming here for? Do you want to fight?”