At last the young husband arrives, and finding the
trio of noodles thus grieving at an imaginary misfortune, he there and
then leaves them, declaring his purpose not to return until he has found
three as great fools as themselves. In the course of his travels he
meets with some strange folks: men whose wives make them believe
whatever they please--one, that he is dead; another, that he is clothed,
when he is stark naked; a third, that he is not himself. He meets with
the twelve fishers who always miscounted their number; the noodles who
went to drown an eel in the sea; and a man trying to get his cow on the
roof of his house, in order that she might eat the grass growing there.
But the most wonderful incident was a man coming with a cow in a cart:
and the people had found out that the man had stolen the cow, and that a
court should be held upon him, and so they did; and the justice they did
was to put the horse to death for carrying the cow.[1]
In another Gaelic version a young husband had provided his house with a
cradle, in natural anticipation that such an interesting piece of
furniture would be required in due time. In this he was disappointed,
but the cradle stood in the kitchen all the same. One day he chanced to
throw something into the empty cradle, upon which his wife, his mother,
and his wife's mother set up loud lamentations, exclaiming, "Oh, if
_he_ had been there, he had been killed!" alluding to a potential
son.
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