"I have no one now to fight but myself," said the king; "and I don't think it becomes me to go out and meet the like of you."
"If you don't come out to me," said Cucúlin, "I 'll go in to you and cut the head off you in your own castle."
"That 's enough of impudence from you, you scoundrel," said the king of Greece. "I won't have you come into my castle, but I 'll meet you on the open plain."
The king went out, and they fought till Cucúlin got the better of him, bound him head and heels, and said : "I 'll cut the head off you now unless you give me the ring of youth and the rod of enchantment that you took from the father of Gil an Og."
"Well, I did carry them away," said the king, "but it would n't be easy for me now to give them to you or to her; for there was a man who came and carried them away, who could take them from you and from me, and from as many more of us, if they were here."
"Who was that man? " asked Cucúlin.
"His name," said the king, "is Lug[1] Longhand. And if I had known what you wanted, there would have been no difference between us. I 'll tell you how I lost the ring and rod and I 'll go with
- ↑ Pronounced "Loog."
