School: Anach (roll number 13630)

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   told him to let him out or he would go out through the side wall. The king let him out and went back to bed.

   After some time the king got to know about the thief. He called him to his house and told him that he would have men ploughing in his field the next day and if he did succeed in taking the horses from the plough he would be put to death. The boy went home and planned how he would do this. He got up very early the next morning and went to a place where he knew there were men catching hares. He asked the men for some of the hares and the men gave them to him and then the boy went to the field and found the men ploughing. He hid behind a ditch and let out the first hare. He then let loose another hare, but the men did not notice them. He let out the third hare and the men saw her and ran after her until they were out of sight of the field. Then the boy took the horses and brought them to the king. When the men came back they found the horses gone. They went to the king but he told them he had them in the stable and that the thief had succeeded at his work.

   He then told the boy his task for the next night. He then told him he would have two horses in the stable with a man riding on each of them, and two men at the door. His task was to take the horses. The boy went to a place where he knew there were men making poteen, and he got some from them. He spilt the poteen on himself and kept the rest of it in a jar. The boy came to the stable stumbling and staggering as if drunk. When the men saw him they

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Folktales index

   AT1525: The Master Thief

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Maire Dunne

   Gender

   Female