The giants are always fighting over me, but once they have me in hand, they just put me away. I have grown somewhat lackluster. I am currently in the custody of the Seven Big Women of Dhiurradh.

A handsome youth has come into the castle. I can hear him saying that he is skilled at brightening silver and gold. They open the iron closet where I am hanging, and they take me out.

The Big Women tell him to polish me until he can see his face in my shining blade.

He rubs me for weeks. The better he can see me, the better I can see him. He’s a good lad, worth his weight in gold, and well worth polishing!

White Sword of Light in How Ian Direach Got the Falcon, Orange Fairy Book. Painting of “Excalibur” by N.C. Wyeth.