The Three Ways

The Celtic Dragon Myth, by J.F. Campbell, [1911], at sacred-texts.com

p. 44

THE THREE WAYS.

32. Thus this poor old man who lived long ago had three sons who thought that they would leave their father, and that they would go out into the world to seek their fortunes. The leash of lads set off together upon one way, and they kept going on till they reached a road that spread in three branches. They said to each other when they saw these three ways, that each should take a separate path, and that they should meet there in a year and a day, and so they did, and parted.

The eldest took the way that went east. The middle brother took the middle way. The youngest took the road that went west.

33. The eldest son rode east, away from the seashore and the smell of the brine, rode into the wood till the sun was high and he did not know where he was. He could see nothing but a wilderness of trees.

34. At last he came to an open space where he saw a wolf, a hawk, and a fox standing beside a year-old sheep.

"Stop," said the wolf, "and divide this carcase amongst us."

So the lad got off his black horse and pulled out the little rusty knife that he used to have in his father's boat to split fish, and he cut the sheep into three shares and threw them down before the creatures, and bade them choose.

p. 45

That pleased them well.

Said the wolf: "When you are hard-pressed, remember me."

Said the hawk: "When you are in dire straits, remember me."

Said the fox: "When you are at the worst, think of me."

35. The beasts and the bird blessed the fisher's son, and he blessed them, and he mounted again and on he rode through the forest at speed. Each road was crooked, and each path was smooth for him and for his black horse and hound. They went so fast that they caught the swift March wind that blew before them, and the swift March wind that followed after could not catch them. And so they rode and ran through the forest and trees, till the bright clear white clouds of day were going away, and the dark, dim, dusky black clouds of night were coming on apace; and then they reached the palace gate of a great king's castle in a realm that is not of this realm at all.