"Now that he has the clothes of a boy," said his grandfather, "he might be let go."

"It's a far journey for a boy like Finn," said his grandmother, "but what you say is true—he might as well go now as at any other time. But I wouldn't hear of him going to Dublin in a train at all. I think no one could be safe in a train."

"Well, let Bartley take him in the cart and travel on the roads all the way to Dublin," said his grandfather. "Bartley could do that journey now, for the goods train isn't running and he might as well go up to Dublin."

Finn tried to keep awake to hear the rest of the arrangement, but his grandfather and grandmother were sitting at the kitchen fire while he was in bed in the room; their voices became lower and lower; Finn wet his eyes to prevent their closing, but in spite of his doing that he fell asleep.

Next day, when he considered the conversation, he knew what journey his grandfather and grandmother were speaking about. His mother's aunt who lived near Dublin had often written to his grandfather asking that Finn be let stay with her for a while. They always wrote back that Finn was too young to go on such a far journey. And now his grandfather and grandmother were actually letting him go! Finn ran along the road to Farranboley telling himself about the wonders and delights of Dublin. The houses there were bigger and more full of room than any houses he ever saw. And a boy need never carry water to these houses, for water came to them in some wonderful way. His grand-aunt had a shop and he knew that he would be always able to get apples and ginger-cakes and lucky-bags that had always some wonderful present. He would always wear new clothes. Very likely his aunt kept a little pony. Finn saw himself riding majestically and watched admiringly by a row of boys that he knew who were suddenly transported to Dublin.

He found his cousins Michael and Rose in the town and he told them that he was going to Dublin. Michael made him promise to send him a young greyhound. Then he told Rose he would bring her back a big top that made music as it spun. The three children then went to see John Staunton who was in the empty forge. When they told him of the great event John said that he had often been in Dublin and that he was going up the next week to buy iron. But John Staunton could give no account of the occasions on which he had been in Dublin. He told Finn that if a little boy like him (he called him a "malrach" although Finn had on gossoon's clothes) went out on the street he would be lost and would never be able to find again the house he was staying at. If a policeman met him, then he would arrest him and send him to a place where he would have to keep at school all his life. Then John Staunton suddenly blew up the blacksmith's fire and told the children they would have to leave the forge as he had to get ready to shoe a racehorse.

Finn went home then. On the road he told himself that if ever he got lost on a Dublin street he would walk straight on as if he knew his way perfectly. It could not be but that he would come back to his grand-aunt's some time in the day.

At home they told him nothing about the journey before him, but he saw that his grandmother was making him shirts and knitting him stockings. Then a letter came from his grand-aunt in reply to one his grandfather had sent her. That evening his grandfather took Finn on his knees and told him that he was being sent to his grand-aunt's house near Dublin. The next evening they would go to his uncle Bartley's and on the following morning he would go in his uncle's cart.

The next day his shirts and his stockings were put in one basket, and eggs and butter and honey as a present for his grand-aunt were put in another. His grandmother put a little medal round his neck and kissed him and cried over him. Then his grandfather took him by the hand, and, each carrying a basket, they went along the road to Farranboley. Finn was thinking of the hairs out of the horse's tail that he had put in a little pond. He would not see them turn into eels. He decided to tell Michael about them and ask him to look at them and then give his grandfather a message that could be sent in a letter.

That evening, in the back-garden near the little stream, the children played many games together. Michael instructed them in a new game that was called "Ghost in the Garden." One of the children put some cloth across his head and sat in a place apart. The others drew near saying, "Ghost in the Garden on a very bright night." Suddenly the figure would go towards them with hands outstretched. Finn had a feeling of dread as he ran with the others round the bushes. But it was a grand game and he should be the first to show it to the children in Dublin.

They had to go in before dark, for Finn would have to make an early start. His grandfather talked to him before he was taken up to bed. He did not sleep for a long time, for his mind was on the wonderful journey that was before him.