" "Well," thinks Finn, "this is a hard task; however, as I
have done many hard tasks for him, I will try and do this too, though I
was never set to do anything yet half so difficult." So he prepared his
fire, and put his gridiron upon it, and lays the salmon fairly and softly
upon the gridiron, and then he roasts it, turning it from one side to the
other just in the nick of time, before the soft satin skin could be
blistered. However, on turning it over the eleventh time--and twelve
would have settled the business--he found he had delayed a little bit of
time too long in turning it over, and there was a small, tiny blister on
the soft outer skin. Well, Finn was in a mighty panic, remembering the
threats of the ould giant; however, he did not lose heart, but clapped
his thumb upon the blister in order to smooth it down. Now the salmon,
Shorsha, was nearly done, and the flesh thoroughly hot, so Finn's thumb
was scalt, and he, clapping it to his mouth, sucked it, in order to draw
out the pain, and in a moment--hubbuboo!--became imbued with all the
wisdom of the world.'
* * * * *
Here I interrupted the jockey.
'How singular,' said I, 'is the fall and debasement of words; you talk of
a gang, or set, of shorters; you are, perhaps, not aware that gang and
set were, a thousand years ago, only connected with the great and Divine;
they are ancient Norse words, which may be found in the heroic poems of
the north, and in the Edda, a collection of mythologic and heroic songs.
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