Then he off and away, with Billy.
But when he came down, he told Billy Beg that he was to fight another
bull, the brother of the other two, and that this time the other bull
would be too much for him, and would kill him and drink his blood.
"When I am dead, Billy, my boy," he said, "put your hand in my left ear
and draw out the napkin, and you'll never want for eating or drinking; and
put your hand in my right ear, and you'll find a stick there, that will
turn into a sword if you wave it three times round your head, and give you
the strength of a thousand men beside your own. Keep that; then cut a
strip of my hide, for a belt, for when you buckle it on, there's nothing
can kill you."
Billy Beg was very sad to hear that his friend must die. And very soon he
heard a more dreadful roar than ever he heard, and a tremendous bull
rushed out of the forest. Then came the worst fight of all. In the end,
the other bull was too much for Billy Beg's bull, and he killed him and
drank his blood.
Billy Beg sat down and cried for three days and three nights. After that
he was hungry; so he put his hand in the bull's left ear, and drew out the
napkin, and ate all kinds of eating and drinking. Then he put his hand in
the right ear and pulled out the stick which was to turn into a sword if
waved round his head three times, and to give him the strength of a
thousand men beside his own.
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