White Sword of Light, and gave it into the hands of Ian Direach, who
took off the golden saddle and the silver bridle, and went down the
hill with the sword to the place where the princess and the real colt
awaited him.

'Now we shall have the ride that we have longed for!' cried the Seven
Big Women; and they saddled and bridled the colt, and the eldest one
got upon the saddle. Then the second sister sat on the back of the
first, and the third on the back of the second, and so on for the whole
seven. And when they were all seated, the eldest struck her side with
a whip and the colt bounded forward. Over the moors she flew, and
round and round the mountains, and still the Big Women clung to her and
snorted with pleasure. At last she leapt high in the air, and came
down on top of Monadh the high hill, where the crag is. And she rested
her fore feet on the crag, and threw up her hind legs, and the Seven
Big Women fell over the crag, and were dead when they reached the
bottom. And the colt laughed, and became a fox again and galloped away
to the sea shore, where Ian Direach, and the princess and the real colt
and the White Sword of Light were awaiting him.

'I will make myself into a ship,' said Gille Mairtean the fox, 'and
will carry you and the princess, and the bay colt and the White Sword
of Light, back to the land.' And when the shore was reached, Gille
Mairtean the fox took back his own shape, and spoke to Ian Direach in
this wise:

'Let the princess and the White Sword of Light, and the bay colt,
remain among the rocks, and I will change myself into the likeness of
the White Sword of Light, and you shall bear me to the giant, and,
instead, he will give you the blue falcon.' And Ian Direach did as the