again, and the Goban said again to shorten the road for him, and this
time he began to run, and the Goban sent him home again. When he went in
and told the wife he was sent home the second time, she began to think,
and she said, 'When he bids you shorten the road, it is that he wants
you to be telling him stories.' For that is what the Goban meant, but it
took the daughter-in-law to understand it. And it is what I was saying
to that other woman, that if one of ourselves was making a journey, if
we had another along with us, it would not seem to be one half as long
as if we would be alone. And if that is so with us, it is much more with
a stranger, and so I went up the hill with you to shorten the road,
telling you that story."


THE GOBAN'S SECRET

"The Goban and his son were seven years building the castle, and they
never said a word all that time. And at the end of seven years the son
was at the top, and he said 'I hear a cow lowing.' And the Goban said
then 'Make all strong below you, for the work is done,' and they went
home. The Goban never told the secret of his building, and when he was
on the bed dying they wanted to get it from him, and they went in and
said 'Claregalway Castle is after falling in the night.' And the Goban
said 'How can that be when I put a stone in and a stone out and a stone
across.' So then they knew the way he built so well."


THE SCOTCH ROGUE

"One time he was on the road going to the town, and there was a Scotch
rogue on the road that was always trying what could he pick off others,