‘Faithless one, you have betrayed your trust!’ he said to Ardan son of Gorla. ‘Not even for one day could you keep true! Well, you shall have your reward at once that others may take warning from you.’ And waving his wand he touched with it the chest of the youth, who became a pillar of stone.
Now Gorla of the Flocks and his wife were full of grief that they had lost a son as well as a daughter, for no tidings had come to them of Ardan their eldest born. At length, when two years and two days had passed since the maiden had led her kids to feed on the mountain and had been seen no more, Ruais, second son of Gorla, rose up one morning, and said:
‘Time is long without my sister and Ardan my brother. So I have vowed to seek them wherever they may be.’
And his father answered:
‘Better it had been if you had first asked my consent and that of your mother; but as you have vowed so must you do.’ Then he bade his wife make a cake, but instead she made two, and offered Ruais his choice, as she had done to Ardan. Like Ardan, Ruais chose the large, unblessed cake, and set forth on his way, doing always, though he knew it not, that which Ardan had done; so, needless is it to tell what befell him till he too stood, a pillar of stone, on the hill behind the cottage, so that all men might see the fate that awaited those who broke their faith.
Another year and a day passed by, when Covan the Brown-haired, youngest son of Gorla of the Flocks, one morning spake to his parents, saying:
‘It is more than three years since my sister left us. My brothers have also gone, no one knows whither, and of us four none remains but I. Now, therefore, I long to seek them, and I pray you and my mother to place no hindrance in my way.’
And his father answered:
‘Go, then, and take our blessing with you.’