But the fox was not there to hear this insult , for she had gone off to a neighbouring fowl-house , where she had noticed some fat young chickens the day before . ` Perhaps I did treat him rather badly , ' she said to herself . ` But it seems getting cloudy , and if there should be heavy rain the other bucket will fill and sink to the bottom , and his will go up -- at least it may ! ' How Ian Direach Got the Blue Falcon -LSB- From Cuentos Populares , por Antonio de Trueba . -RSB- Long ago a king and queen ruled over the islands of the west , and they had one son , whom they loved dearly . The boy grew up to be tall and strong and handsome , and he could run and shoot , and swim and dive better than any lad of his own age in the country . Besides , he knew how to sail about , and sing songs to the harp , and during the winter evenings , when everyone was gathered round the huge hall fire shaping bows or weaving cloth , Ian Direach would tell them tales of the deeds of his fathers . So the time slipped by till Ian was almost a man , as they reckoned men in those days , and then his mother the queen died . There was great mourning throughout all the isles , and the boy and his father mourned her bitterly also ; but before the new year came the king had married another wife , and seemed to have forgotten his old one . Only Ian remembered . On a morning when the leaves were yellow in the trees of the glen , Ian slung his bow over his shoulder , and filling his quiver with arrows , went on to the hill in search of game . But not a bird was to be seen anywhere , till at length a blue falcon flew past him , and raising his bow he took aim at her . His eye was straight and his hand steady , but the falcon 's flight was swift , and he only shot a feather from her wing . As the sun was now low over the sea he put the feather in his game bag , and set out homewards . ` Have you brought me much game to-day ? ' asked his stepmother as he entered the hall . ` Nought save this , ' he answered , handing her the feather of the blue falcon , which she held by the tip and gazed at silently . Then she turned to Ian and said : ' I am setting it on you as crosses and as spells , and as the fall of the year ! That you may always be cold , and wet and dirty , and that your shoes may ever have pools in them , till you bring me hither the blue falcon on which that feather grew . ' ` If it is spells you are laying I can lay them too , ' answered Ian Direach ; ` and you shall stand with one foot on the great house and another on the castle , till I come back again , and your face shall be to the wind , from wheresoever it shall blow . '
Then he went away to seek the bird , as his stepmother bade him ; and , looking homewards from the hill , he saw the queen standing with one foot XXXXX the great house , and the other on the castle , and her face turned towards whatever tempest should blow .
Besides If ago as from in on throughout till to