'And what can you do?' asked the giant again.

'I can feed birds and tend pigs; I can feed and milk a cow, and also
goats and sheep, if you have any of these,' replied Ian Direach.

'Then enter, for I have great need of such a one,' said the giant.

So Ian Direach entered, and tended so well and carefully all the birds
and beasts, that the giant was better satisfied than ever he had been,
and at length he thought that he might even be trusted to feed the
falcon. And the heart of Ian was glad, and he tended the blue falcon
till his fathers shone like the sky, and the giant was well pleased;
and one day he said to him:

'For long my brothers on the other side of the mountain have besought
me to visit them, but never could I go for fear of my falcon. Now I
think I can leave her with you for one day, and before nightfall I
shall be back again.'

Scarcely was the giant out of sight next morning when Ian Direach
seized the falcon, and throwing a cloth over her head hastened with her
to the door. But the rays of the sun pierced through the thickness of
the cloth, and as they passed the doorpost she gave a spring, and the
tip of one of her feathers touched the post, which gave a scream, and
brought the giant back in three strides. Ian Direach trembled as he
saw him; but the giant only said:

'If you wish for my falcon you must first bring me the White Sword of
Light that is in the house of the Big Women of Dhiurradh.'