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Title: Celtic Fairy Tales

Author: Joseph Jacobs (coll. & ed.)

Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7885]

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[This file was first posted on May 30, 2003]

Edition: 10

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CELTIC FAIRY TALES ***

Produced by Delphine Lettau, Charles Franks, and the people at DP

CELTIC FAIRY TALES

_SELECTED AND EDITED BY_

JOSEPH JACOBS

_SAY THIS

Three times, with your eyes shut_

Mothuighim boladh an Eireannaigh bhinn bhreugaigh faoi m'fhoidin

duthaigh.

_And you will see

What you will see_

_TO ALFRED NUTT_

PREFACE

Last year, in giving the young ones a volume of English Fairy Tales,

my difficulty was one of collection. This time, in offering them

specimens of the rich folk-fancy of the Celts of these islands, my

trouble has rather been one of selection. Ireland began to collect

her folk-tales almost as early as any country in Europe, and Croker

has found a whole school of successors in Carleton, Griffin,

Kennedy, Curtin, and Douglas Hyde. Scotland had the great name of

Campbell, and has still efficient followers in MacDougall, MacInnes,

Carmichael, Macleod, and Campbell of Tiree. Gallant little Wales has

no name to rank alongside these; in this department the Cymru have

shown less vigour than the Gaedhel. Perhaps the Eisteddfod, by

offering prizes for the collection of Welsh folk-tales, may remove

this inferiority. Meanwhile Wales must be content to be somewhat

scantily represented among the Fairy Tales of the Celts, while the

extinct Cornish tongue has only contributed one tale.

In making my selection I have chiefly tried to make the stories

characteristic. It would have been easy, especially from Kennedy, to

have made up a volume entirely filled with "Grimm's Goblins" _a la

Celtique_. But one can have too much even of that very good

thing, and I have therefore avoided as far as possible the more

familiar "formulae" of folk-tale literature. To do this I had to

withdraw from the English-speaking Pale both in Scotland and

Ireland, and I laid down the rule to include only tales that have

been taken down from Celtic peasants ignorant of English.

Having laid down the rule, I immediately proceeded to break it. The

success of a fairy book, I am convinced, depends on the due

admixture of the comic and the romantic: Grimm and Asbjornsen knew

this secret, and they alone. But the Celtic peasant who speaks

Gaelic takes the pleasure of telling tales somewhat sadly: so far as

he has been printed and translated, I found him, to my surprise,

conspicuously lacking in humour. For the comic relief of this volume

I have therefore had to turn mainly to the Irish peasant of the

Pale; and what richer source could I draw from?

For the more romantic tales I have depended on the Gaelic, and, as I

know about as much of Gaelic as an Irish Nationalist M. P., I have

had to depend on translators. But I have felt myself more at liberty

than the translators themselves, who have generally been over-

literal, in changing, excising, or modifying the original. I have

even gone further. In order that the tales should be characteristically

Celtic, I have paid more particular attention to tales that are to be

found on both sides of the North Channel.

In re-telling them I have had no scruple in interpolating now and

then a Scotch incident into an Irish variant of the same story, or

_vice versa_. Where the translators appealed to English folklorists

and scholars, I am trying to attract English children. They translated; I

endeavoured to transfer. In short, I have tried to put myself into the

position of an _ollamh_ or _sheenachie_ familiar with both forms

of Gaelic, and anxious to put his stories in the best way to attract

English children. I trust I shall be forgiven by Celtic scholars for the

changes I have had to make to effect this end.

The stories collected in this volume are longer and more detailed

than the English ones I brought together last Christmas. The

romantic ones are certainly more romantic, and the comic ones

perhaps more comic, though there may be room for a difference of

opinion on this latter point. This superiority of the Celtic folk-

tales is due as much to the conditions under which they have been

collected, as to any innate superiority of the folk-imagination. The

folk-tale in England is in the last stages of exhaustion. The Celtic

folk-tales have been collected while the practice of story-telling

is still in full vigour, though there are every signs that its term

of life is already numbered. The more the reason why they should be

collected and put on record while there is yet time. On the whole,

the industry of the collectors of Celtic folk-lore is to be

commended, as may be seen from the survey of it I have prefixed to

the Notes and References at the end of the volume. Among these, I

would call attention to the study of the legend of Beth Gellert, the

origin of which, I believe, I have settled.

While I have endeavoured to render the language of the tales simple

and free from bookish artifice, I have not felt at liberty to retell

the tales in the English way. I have not scrupled to retain a Celtic

turn of speech, and here and there a Celtic word, which I have

_not_ explained within brackets--a practice to be abhorred of

all good men. A few words unknown to the reader only add

effectiveness and local colour to a narrative, as Mr. Kipling well

knows.

One characteristic of the Celtic folk-lore I have endeavoured to

represent in my selection, because it is nearly unique at the

present day in Europe. Nowhere else is there so large and consistent

a body of oral tradition about the national and mythical heroes as

amongst the Gaels. Only the _byline_, or hero-songs of Russia,

equal in extent the amount of knowledge about the heroes of the past

that still exists among the Gaelic-speaking peasantry of Scotland

and Ireland. And the Irish tales and ballads have this peculiarity,

that some of them have been extant, and can be traced, for well nigh

a thousand years. I have selected as a specimen of this class the

Story of Deirdre, collected among the Scotch peasantry a few years

ago, into which I have been able to insert a passage taken from an

Irish vellum of the twelfth century. I could have more than filled

this volume with similar oral traditions about Finn (the Fingal of

Macpherson's "Ossian"). But the story of Finn, as told by the Gaelic

peasantry of to-day, deserves a volume by itself, while the

adventures of the Ultonian hero, Cuchulain, could easily fill

another.

I have endeavoured to include in this volume the best and most

typical stories told by the chief masters of the Celtic folk-tale,

Campbell, Kennedy, Hyde, and Curtin, and to these I have added the

best tales scattered elsewhere. By this means I hope I have put

together a volume, containing both the best, and the best known

folk-tales of the Celts. I have only been enabled to do this by the

courtesy of those who owned the copyright of these stories. Lady

Wilde has kindly granted me the use of her effective version of "The

Horned Women;" and I have specially to thank Messrs. Macmillan for

right to use Kennedy's "Legendary Fictions," and Messrs. Sampson Low

& Co., for the use of Mr. Curtin's Tales.

In making my selection, and in all doubtful points of treatment, I

have had resource to the wide knowledge of my friend Mr. Alfred Nutt

in all branches of Celtic folk-lore. If this volume does anything to

represent to English children the vision and colour, the magic and

charm, of the Celtic folk-imagination, this is due in large measure

to the care with which Mr. Nutt has watched its inception and

progress. With him by my side I could venture into regions where the

non-Celt wanders at his own risk.

Lastly, I have again to rejoice in the co-operation of my friend,

Mr. J. D. Batten, in giving form to the creations of the folk-fancy.

He has endeavoured in his illustrations to retain as much as

possible of Celtic ornamentation; for all details of Celtic

archaeology he has authority. Yet both he and I have striven to give

Celtic things as they appear to, and attract, the English mind,

rather than attempt the hopeless task of representing them as they

are to Celts. The fate of the Celt in the British Empire bids fair

to resemble that of the Greeks among the Romans. "They went forth to

battle, but they always fell," yet the captive Celt has enslaved his

captor in the realm of imagination. The present volume attempts to

begin the pleasant captivity from the earliest years. If it could

succeed in giving a common fund of imaginative wealth to the Celtic

and the Saxon children of these isles, it might do more for a true

union of hearts than all your politics.

JOSEPH JACOBS.

CONTENTS

I. CONNLA AND THE FAIRY MAIDEN

II. GULEESH

III. THE FIELD OF BOLIAUNS

IV. THE HORNED WOMEN

V. CONAL YELLOWCLAW

VI. HUDDEN AND DUDDEN AND DONALD O'NEARY

VII. THE SHEPHERD OF MYDDVAI

VIII. THE SPRIGHTLY TAILOR

IX. THE STORY OF DEIRDRE

X. MUNACHAR AND MANACHAR

XI. GOLD-TREE AND SILVER-TREE

XII. KING O'TOOLE AND HIS GOOSE

XIII. THE WOOING OF OLWEN

XIV. JACK AND HIS COMRADES

XV. THE SHEE AN GANNON AND THE GRUAGACH GAIRE

XVI. THE STORY-TELLER AT FAULT

XVII. THE SEA-MAIDEN

XVIII. A LEGEND OF KNOCKMANY

XIX. FAIR, BROWN, AND TREMBLING

XX. JACK AND HIS MASTER

XXI. BETH GELLERT

XXII. THE TALE OF IVAN

XXIII. ANDREW COFFEY

XXIV. THE BATTLE OF THE BIRDS

XXV. BREWERY OF EGGSHELLS

XXVI. THE LAD WITH THE GOAT-SKIN

NOTES AND REFERENCES

CONNLA AND THE FAIRY MAIDEN

Connla of the Fiery Hair was son of Conn of the Hundred Fights. One

day as he stood by the side of his father on the height of Usna, he

saw a maiden clad in strange attire coming towards him.

"Whence comest thou, maiden?" said Connla.

"I come from the Plains of the Ever Living," she said, "there where

there is neither death nor sin. There we keep holiday alway, nor

need we help from any in our joy. And in all our pleasure we have no

strife. And because we have our homes in the round green hills, men

call us the Hill Folk."

The king and all with him wondered much to hear a voice when they

saw no one. For save Connla alone, none saw the Fairy Maiden.

"To whom art thou talking, my son?" said Conn the king.

Then the maiden answered, "Connla speaks to a young, fair maid, whom

neither death nor old age awaits. I love Connla, and now I call him

away to the Plain of Pleasure, Moy Mell, where Boadag is king for

aye, nor has there been complaint or sorrow in that land since he

has held the kingship. Oh, come with me, Connla of the Fiery Hair,

ruddy as the dawn with thy tawny skin. A fairy crown awaits thee to

grace thy comely face and royal form. Come, and never shall thy

comeliness fade, nor thy youth, till the last awful day of

judgment."

The king in fear at what the maiden said, which he heard though he

could not see her, called aloud to his Druid, Coran by name.

"Oh, Coran of the many spells," he said, "and of the cunning magic,

I call upon thy aid. A task is upon me too great for all my skill

and wit, greater than any laid upon me since I seized the kingship.

A maiden unseen has met us, and by her power would take from me my

dear, my comely son. If thou help not, he will be taken from thy

king by woman's wiles and witchery."

Then Coran the Druid stood forth and chanted his spells towards the

spot where the maiden's voice had been heard. And none heard her

voice again, nor could Connla see her longer. Only as she vanished

before the Druid's mighty spell, she threw an apple to Connla.

For a whole month from that day Connla would take nothing, either to

eat or to drink, save only from that apple. But as he ate it grew

again and always kept whole. And all the while there grew within him

a mighty yearning and longing after the maiden he had seen.

But when the last day of the month of waiting came, Connla stood by

the side of the king his father on the Plain of Arcomin, and again

he saw the maiden come towards him, and again she spoke to him.

"'Tis a glorious place, forsooth, that Connla holds among short-

lived mortals awaiting the day of death. But now the folk of life,

the ever-living ones, beg and bid thee come to Moy Mell, the Plain

of Pleasure, for they have learnt to know thee, seeing thee in thy

home among thy dear ones."

When Conn the king heard the maiden's voice he called to his men

aloud and said:

"Summon swift my Druid Coran, for I see she has again this day the

power of speech."

Then the maiden said: "Oh, mighty Conn, fighter of a hundred fights,

the Druid's power is little loved; it has little honour in the

mighty land, peopled with so many of the upright. When the Law will

come, it will do away with the Druid's magic spells that come from

the lips of the false black demon."

Then Conn the king observed that since the maiden came, Connla his

son spoke to none that spake to him. So Conn of the hundred fights

said to him, "Is it to thy mind what the woman says, my son?"

"'Tis hard upon me," then said Connla; "I love my own folk above all

things; but yet, but yet a longing seizes me for the maiden."

When the maiden heard this, she answered and said "The ocean is not

so strong as the waves of thy longing. Come with me in my curragh,

the gleaming, straight-gliding crystal canoe. Soon we can reach

Boadag's realm. I see the bright sun sink, yet far as it is, we can

reach it before dark. There is, too, another land worthy of thy

journey, a land joyous to all that seek it. Only wives and maidens

dwell there. If thou wilt, we can seek it and live there alone

together in joy."

When the maiden ceased to speak, Connla of the Fiery Hair rushed

away from them and sprang into the curragh, the gleaming, straight-

gliding crystal canoe. And then they all, king and court, saw it

glide away over the bright sea towards the setting sun. Away and

away, till eye could see it no longer, and Connla and the Fairy

Maiden went their way on the sea, and were no more seen, nor did any

know where they came.

GULEESH

There was once a boy in the County Mayo; Guleesh was his name. There

was the finest rath a little way off from the gable of the house,

and he was often in the habit of seating himself on the fine grass

bank that was running round it. One night he stood, half leaning

against the gable of the house, and looking up into the sky, and

watching the beautiful white moon over his head. After he had been

standing that way for a couple of hours, he said to himself: "My

bitter grief that I am not gone away out of this place altogether.

I'd sooner be any place in the world than here. Och, it's well for

you, white moon," says he, "that's turning round, turning round, as

you please yourself, and no man can put you back. I wish I was the

same as you."

Hardly was the word out of his mouth when he heard a great noise

coming like the sound of many people running together, and talking,

and laughing, and making sport, and the sound went by him like a

whirl of wind, and he was listening to it going into the rath.

"Musha, by my soul," says he, "but ye're merry enough, and I'll

follow ye."

What was in it but the fairy host, though he did not know at first

that it was they who were in it, but he followed them into the rath.

It's there he heard the _fulparnee_, and the _folpornee_, the

_rap-lay-hoota_, and the _roolya-boolya_, that they had there,

and every man of them crying out as loud as he could: "My horse,

and bridle, and saddle! My horse, and bridle, and saddle!"

"By my hand," said Guleesh, "my boy, that's not bad. I'll imitate

ye," and he cried out as well as they: "My horse, and bridle, and

saddle! My horse, and bridle, and saddle!" And on the moment there

was a fine horse with a bridle of gold, and a saddle of silver,

standing before him. He leaped up on it, and the moment he was on

its back he saw clearly that the rath was full of horses, and of

little people going riding on them.

Said a man of them to him: "Are you coming with us to-night,

Guleesh?"

"I am surely," said Guleesh.

"If you are, come along," said the little man, and out they went all

together, riding like the wind, faster than the fastest horse ever

you saw a-hunting, and faster than the fox and the hounds at his

tail.

The cold winter's wind that was before them, they overtook her, and

the cold winter's wind that was behind them, she did not overtake

them. And stop nor stay of that full race, did they make none, until

they came to the brink of the sea.

Then every one of them said: "Hie over cap! Hie over cap!" and that

moment they were up in the air, and before Guleesh had time to

remember where he was, they were down on dry land again, and were

going like the wind.

At last they stood still, and a man of them said to Guleesh:

"Guleesh, do you know where you are now?"

"Not a know," says Guleesh.

"You're in France, Guleesh," said he. "The daughter of the king of

France is to be married to-night, the handsomest woman that the sun

ever saw, and we must do our best to bring her with us; if we're

only able to carry her off; and you must come with us that we may be

able to put the young girl up behind you on the horse, when we'll be

bringing her away, for it's not lawful for us to put her sitting

behind ourselves. But you're flesh and blood, and she can take a

good grip of you, so that she won't fall off the horse. Are you

satisfied, Guleesh, and will you do what we're telling you?"

"Why shouldn't I be satisfied?" said Guleesh. "I'm satisfied,

surely, and anything that ye will tell me to do I'll do it without

doubt."

They got off their horses there, and a man of them said a word that

Guleesh did not understand, and on the moment they were lifted up,

and Guleesh found himself and his companions in the palace. There

was a great feast going on there, and there was not a nobleman or a

gentleman in the kingdom but was gathered there, dressed in silk and

satin, and gold and silver, and the night was as bright as the day

with all the lamps and candles that were lit, and Guleesh had to

shut his two eyes at the brightness. When he opened them again and

looked from him, he thought he never saw anything as fine as all he

saw there. There were a hundred tables spread out, and their full of

meat and drink on each table of them, flesh-meat, and cakes and

sweetmeats, and wine and ale, and every drink that ever a man saw.

The musicians were at the two ends of the hall, and they were

playing the sweetest music that ever a man's ear heard, and there

were young women and fine youths in the middle of the hall, dancing

and turning, and going round so quickly and so lightly, that it put

a _soorawn_ in Guleesh's head to be looking at them. There were

more there playing tricks, and more making fun and laughing, for

such a feast as there was that day had not been in France for twenty

years, because the old king had no children alive but only the one

daughter, and she was to be married to the son of another king that

night. Three days the feast was going on, and the third night she

was to be married, and that was the night that Guleesh and the

sheehogues came, hoping, if they could, to carry off with them the

king's young daughter.

Guleesh and his companions were standing together at the head of the

hall, where there was a fine altar dressed up, and two bishops

behind it waiting to marry the girl, as soon as the right time

should come. Now nobody could see the sheehogues, for they said a

word as they came in, that made them all invisible, as if they had

not been in it at all.

"Tell me which of them is the king's daughter," said Guleesh, when

he was becoming a little used to the noise and the light.

"Don't you see her there away from you?" said the little man that he

was talking to.

Guleesh looked where the little man was pointing with his finger,

and there he saw the loveliest woman that was, he thought, upon the

ridge of the world. The rose and the lily were fighting together in

her face, and one could not tell which of them got the victory. Her

arms and hands were like the lime, her mouth as red as a strawberry

when it is ripe, her foot was as small and as light as another one's

hand, her form was smooth and slender, and her hair was falling down

from her head in buckles of gold. Her garments and dress were woven

with gold and silver, and the bright stone that was in the ring on

her hand was as shining as the sun.

Guleesh was nearly blinded with all the loveliness and beauty that

was in her; but when he looked again, he saw that she was crying,

and that there was the trace of tears in her eyes. "It can't be,"

said Guleesh, "that there's grief on her, when everybody round her

is so full of sport and merriment."

"Musha, then, she is grieved," said the little man; "for it's

against her own will she's marrying, and she has no love for the

husband she is to marry. The king was going to give her to him three

years ago, when she was only fifteen, but she said she was too

young, and requested him to leave her as she was yet. The king gave

her a year's grace, and when that year was up he gave her another

year's grace, and then another; but a week or a day he would not

give her longer, and she is eighteen years old to-night, and it's

time for her to marry; but, indeed," says he, and he crooked his

mouth in an ugly way--"indeed, it's no king's son she'll marry, if I

can help it."

Guleesh pitied the handsome young lady greatly when he heard that,

and he was heart-broken to think that it would be necessary for her

to marry a man she did not like, or, what was worse, to take a nasty

sheehogue for a husband. However, he did not say a word, though he

could not help giving many a curse to the ill-luck that was laid out

for himself, to be helping the people that were to snatch her away

from her home and from her father.

He began thinking, then, what it was he ought to do to save her, but

he could think of nothing. "Oh! if I could only give her some help

and relief," said he, "I wouldn't care whether I were alive or dead;

but I see nothing that I can do for her."

He was looking on when the king's son came up to her and asked her

for a kiss, but she turned her head away from him. Guleesh had

double pity for her then, when he saw the lad taking her by the soft

white hand, and drawing her out to dance. They went round in the

dance near where Guleesh was, and he could plainly see that there

were tears in her eyes.

When the dancing was over, the old king, her father, and her mother

the queen, came up and said that this was the right time to marry

her, that the bishop was ready, and it was time to put the wedding-

ring on her and give her to her husband.

The king took the youth by the hand, and the queen took her

daughter, and they went up together to the altar, with the lords and

great people following them.

When they came near the altar, and were no more than about four

yards from it, the little sheehogue stretched out his foot before

the girl, and she fell. Before she was able to rise again he threw

something that was in his hand upon her, said a couple of words, and

upon the moment the maiden was gone from amongst them. Nobody could

see her, for that word made her invisible. The little man_een_

seized her and raised her up behind Guleesh, and the king nor no one

else saw them, but out with them through the hall till they came to

the door.

Oro! dear Mary! it's there the pity was, and the trouble, and the

crying, and the wonder, and the searching, and the _rookawn_,

when that lady disappeared from their eyes, and without their seeing

what did it. Out of the door of the palace they went, without being

stopped or hindered, for nobody saw them, and, "My horse, my bridle,

and saddle!" says every man of them. "My horse, my bridle, and

saddle!" says Guleesh; and on the moment the horse was standing

ready caparisoned before him. "Now, jump up, Guleesh," said the

little man, "and put the lady behind you, and we will be going; the

morning is not far off from us now."

Guleesh raised her up on the horse's back, and leaped up himself

before her, and, "Rise, horse," said he; and his horse, and the

other horses with him, went in a full race until they came to the

sea.

"Hie over cap!" said every man of them.

"Hie over cap!" said Guleesh; and on the moment the horse rose under

him, and cut a leap in the clouds, and came down in Erin.

They did not stop there, but went of a race to the place where was

Guleesh's house and the rath. And when they came as far as that,

Guleesh turned and caught the young girl in his two arms, and leaped

off the horse.

"I call and cross you to myself, in the name of God!" said he; and

on the spot, before the word was out of his mouth, the horse fell

down, and what was in it but the beam of a plough, of which they had

made a horse; and every other horse they had, it was that way they

made it. Some of them were riding on an old besom, and some on a

broken stick, and more on a bohalawn or a hemlock-stalk.

The good people called out together when they heard what Guleesh

said:

"Oh! Guleesh, you clown, you thief, that no good may happen you, why

did you play that trick on us?"

But they had no power at all to carry off the girl, after Guleesh

had consecrated her to himself.

"Oh! Guleesh, isn't that a nice turn you did us, and we so kind to

you? What good have we now out of our journey to France. Never mind

yet, you clown, but you'll pay us another time for this. Believe us,

you'll repent it."

"He'll have no good to get out of the young girl," said the little

man that was talking to him in the palace before that, and as he

said the word he moved over to her and struck her a slap on the side

of the head. "Now," says he, "she'll be without talk any more; now,

Guleesh, what good will she be to you when she'll be dumb? It's time

for us to go--but you'll remember us, Guleesh!"

When he said that he stretched out his two hands, and before Guleesh

was able to give an answer, he and the rest of them were gone into

the rath out of his sight, and he saw them no more.

He turned to the young woman and said to her: "Thanks be to God,

they're gone. Would you not sooner stay with me than with them?" She

gave him no answer. "There's trouble and grief on her yet," said

Guleesh in his own mind, and he spoke to her again: "I am afraid

that you must spend this night in my father's house, lady, and if

there is anything that I can do for you, tell me, and I'll be your

servant."

The beautiful girl remained silent, but there were tears in her

eyes, and her face was white and red after each other.

"Lady," said Guleesh, "tell me what you would like me to do now. I

never belonged at all to that lot of sheehogues who carried you away

with them. I am the son of an honest farmer, and I went with them

without knowing it. If I'll be able to send you back to your father

I'll do it, and I pray you make any use of me now that you may

wish."

He looked into her face, and he saw the mouth moving as if she was

going to speak, but there came no word from it.

"It cannot be," said Guleesh, "that you are dumb. Did I not hear you

speaking to the king's son in the palace to-night? Or has that devil

made you really dumb, when he struck his nasty hand on your jaw?"

The girl raised her white smooth hand, and laid her finger on her

tongue, to show him that she had lost her voice and power of speech,

and the tears ran out of her two eyes like streams, and Guleesh's

own eyes were not dry, for as rough as he was on the outside he had

a soft heart, and could not stand the sight of the young girl, and

she in that unhappy plight.

He began thinking with himself what he ought to do, and he did not

like to bring her home with himself to his father's house, for he

knew well that they would not believe him, that he had been in

France and brought back with him the king of France's daughter, and

he was afraid they might make a mock of the young lady or insult

her.

As he was doubting what he ought to do, and hesitating, he chanced

to remember the priest. "Glory be to God," said he, "I know now what

I'll do; I'll bring her to the priest's house, and he won't refuse

me to keep the lady and care for her." He turned to the lady again

and told her that he was loth to take her to his father's house, but

that there was an excellent priest very friendly to himself, who

would take good care of her, if she wished to remain in his house;

but that if there was any other place she would rather go, he said

he would bring her to it.

She bent her head, to show him she was obliged, and gave him to

understand that she was ready to follow him any place he was going.

"We will go to the priest's house, then," said he; "he is under an

obligation to me, and will do anything I ask him."

They went together accordingly to the priest's house, and the sun

was just rising when they came to the door. Guleesh beat it hard,

and as early as it was the priest was up, and opened the door

himself. He wondered when he saw Guleesh and the girl, for he was

certain that it was coming wanting to be married they were.

"Guleesh, Guleesh, isn't it the nice boy you are that you can't wait

till ten o'clock or till twelve, but that you must be coming to me

at this hour, looking for marriage, you and your sweetheart? You

ought to know that I can't marry you at such a time, or, at all

events, can't marry you lawfully. But ubbubboo!" said he, suddenly,

as he looked again at the young girl, "in the name of God, who have

you here? Who is she, or how did you get her?"

"Father," said Guleesh, "you can marry me, or anybody else, if you

wish; but it's not looking for marriage I came to you now, but to

ask you, if you please, to give a lodging in your house to this

young lady."

The priest looked at him as though he had ten heads on him; but

without putting any other question to him, he desired him to come

in, himself and the maiden, and when they came in, he shut the door,

brought them into the parlour, and put them sitting.

"Now, Guleesh," said he, "tell me truly who is this young lady, and

whether you're out of your senses really, or are only making a joke

of me."

"I'm not telling a word of lie, nor making a joke of you," said

Guleesh; "but it was from the palace of the king of France I carried

off this lady, and she is the daughter of the king of France."

He began his story then, and told the whole to the priest, and the

priest was so much surprised that he could not help calling out at

times, or clapping his hands together.

When Guleesh said from what he saw he thought the girl was not

satisfied with the marriage that was going to take place in the

palace before he and the sheehogues broke it up, there came a red

blush into the girl's cheek, and he was more certain than ever that

she had sooner be as she was--badly as she was--than be the married

wife of the man she hated. When Guleesh said that he would be very

thankful to the priest if he would keep her in his own house, the

kind man said he would do that as long as Guleesh pleased, but that

he did not know what they ought to do with her, because they had no

means of sending her back to her father again.

Guleesh answered that he was uneasy about the same thing, and that

he saw nothing to do but to keep quiet until they should find some

opportunity of doing something better. They made it up then between

themselves that the priest should let on that it was his brother's

daughter he had, who was come on a visit to him from another county,

and that he should tell everybody that she was dumb, and do his best

to keep every one away from her. They told the young girl what it

was they intended to do, and she showed by her eyes that she was

obliged to them.

Guleesh went home then, and when his people asked him where he had

been, he said that he had been asleep at the foot of the ditch, and

had passed the night there.

There was great wonderment on the priest's neighbours at the girl

who came so suddenly to his house without any one knowing where she

was from, or what business she had there. Some of the people said

that everything was not as it ought to be, and others, that Guleesh

was not like the same man that was in it before, and that it was a

great story, how he was drawing every day to the priest's house, and

that the priest had a wish and a respect for him, a thing they could

not clear up at all.

That was true for them, indeed, for it was seldom the day went by

but Guleesh would go to the priest's house, and have a talk with

him, and as often as he would come he used to hope to find the young

lady well again, and with leave to speak; but, alas! she remained

dumb and silent, without relief or cure. Since she had no other

means of talking, she carried on a sort of conversation between

herself and himself, by moving her hand and fingers, winking her

eyes, opening and shutting her mouth, laughing or smiling, and a

thousand other signs, so that it was not long until they understood

each other very well. Guleesh was always thinking how he should send

her back to her father; but there was no one to go with her, and he

himself did not know what road to go, for he had never been out of

his own country before the night he brought her away with him. Nor

had the priest any better knowledge than he; but when Guleesh asked

him, he wrote three or four letters to the king of France, and gave

them to buyers and sellers of wares, who used to be going from place

to place across the sea; but they all went astray, and never a one

came to the king's hand.

This was the way they were for many months, and Guleesh was falling

deeper and deeper in love with her every day, and it was plain to

himself and the priest that she liked him. The boy feared greatly at

last, lest the king should really hear where his daughter was, and

take her back from himself, and he besought the priest to write no

more, but to leave the matter to God.

So they passed the time for a year, until there came a day when

Guleesh was lying by himself, on the grass, on the last day of the

last month in autumn, and he was thinking over again in his own mind

of everything that happened to him from the day that he went with

the sheehogues across the sea. He remembered then, suddenly, that it

was one November night that he was standing at the gable of the

house, when the whirlwind came, and the sheehogues in it, and he

said to himself: "We have November night again to-day, and I'll

stand in the same place I was last year, until I see if the good

people come again. Perhaps I might see or hear something that would

be useful to me, and might bring back her talk again to Mary"--that

was the name himself and the priest called the king's daughter, for

neither of them knew her right name. He told his intention to the

priest, and the priest gave him his blessing.

Guleesh accordingly went to the old rath when the night was

darkening, and he stood with his bent elbow leaning on a grey old

flag, waiting till the middle of the night should come. The moon

rose slowly; and it was like a knob of fire behind him; and there

was a white fog which was raised up over the fields of grass and all

damp places, through the coolness of the night after a great heat in

the day. The night was calm as is a lake when there is not a breath

of wind to move a wave on it, and there was no sound to be heard but

the _cronawn_ of the insects that would go by from time to

time, or the hoarse sudden scream of the wild-geese, as they passed

from lake to lake, half a mile up in the air over his head; or the

sharp whistle of the golden and green plover, rising and lying,

lying and rising, as they do on a calm night. There were a thousand

thousand bright stars shining over his head, and there was a little

frost out, which left the grass under his foot white and crisp.

He stood there for an hour, for two hours, for three hours, and the

frost increased greatly, so that he heard the breaking of the

_traneens_ under his foot as often as he moved. He was thinking,

in his own mind, at last, that the sheehogues would not come that

night, and that it was as good for him to return back again, when

he heard a sound far away from him, coming towards him, and he

recognised what it was at the first moment. The sound increased,

and at first it was like the beating of waves on a stony shore, and

then it was like the falling of a great waterfall, and at last it was like

a loud storm in the tops of the trees, and then the whirlwind burst

into the rath of one rout, and the sheehogues were in it.

It all went by him so suddenly that he lost his breath with it, but

he came to himself on the spot, and put an ear on himself, listening

to what they would say.

Scarcely had they gathered into the rath till they all began

shouting, and screaming, and talking amongst themselves; and then

each one of them cried out: "My horse, and bridle, and saddle! My

horse, and bridle, and saddle!" and Guleesh took courage, and called

out as loudly as any of them: "My horse, and bridle, and saddle! My

horse, and bridle, and saddle!" But before the word was well out of

his mouth, another man cried out: "Ora! Guleesh, my boy, are you

here with us again? How are you getting on with your woman? There's

no use in your calling for your horse to-night. I'll go bail you

won't play such a trick on us again. It was a good trick you played

on us last year?"

"It was," said another man; "he won't do it again."

"Isn't he a prime lad, the same lad! to take a woman with him that

never said as much to him as, 'How do you do?' since this time last

year!" says the third man.

"Perhaps be likes to be looking at her," said another voice.

"And if the _omadawn_ only knew that there's an herb growing up

by his own door, and if he were to boil it and give it to her, she'd

be well," said another voice.

"That's true for you."

"He is an omadawn."

"Don't bother your head with him; we'll be going."

"We'll leave the _bodach_ as he is."

And with that they rose up into the air, and out with them with one

_roolya-boolya_ the way they came; and they left poor Guleesh

standing where they found him, and the two eyes going out of his

head, looking after them and wondering.

He did not stand long till he returned back, and he thinking in his

own mind on all he saw and heard, and wondering whether there was

really an herb at his own door that would bring back the talk to the

king's daughter. "It can't be," says he to himself, "that they would

tell it to me, if there was any virtue in it; but perhaps the

sheehogue didn't observe himself when he let the word slip out of

his mouth. I'll search well as soon as the sun rises, whether

there's any plant growing beside the house except thistles and

dockings."

He went home, and as tired as he was he did not sleep a wink until

the sun rose on the morrow. He got up then, and it was the first

thing he did to go out and search well through the grass round about

the house, trying could he get any herb that he did not recognise.

And, indeed, he was not long searching till he observed a large

strange herb that was growing up just by the gable of the house.

He went over to it, and observed it closely, and saw that there were

seven little branches coming out of the stalk, and seven leaves

growing on every branch_een_ of them; and that there was a

white sap in the leaves. "It's very wonderful," said he to himself,

"that I never noticed this herb before. If there's any virtue in an

herb at all, it ought to be in such a strange one as this."

He drew out his knife, cut the plant, and carried it into his own

house; stripped the leaves off it and cut up the stalk; and there

came a thick, white juice out of it, as there comes out of the sow-

thistle when it is bruised, except that the juice was more like oil.

He put it in a little pot and a little water in it, and laid it on

the fire until the water was boiling, and then he took a cup, filled

it half up with the juice, and put it to his own mouth. It came into

his head then that perhaps it was poison that was in it, and that

the good people were only tempting him that he might kill himself

with that trick, or put the girl to death without meaning it. He put

down the cup again, raised a couple of drops on the top of his

finger, and put it to his mouth. It was not bitter, and, indeed, had

a sweet, agreeable taste. He grew bolder then, and drank the full of

a thimble of it, and then as much again, and he never stopped till

he had half the cup drunk. He fell asleep after that, and did not

wake till it was night, and there was great hunger and great thirst

on him.

He had to wait, then, till the day rose; but he determined, as soon

as he should wake in the morning, that he would go to the king's

daughter and give her a drink of the juice of the herb.

As soon as he got up in the morning, he went over to the priest's

house with the drink in his hand, and he never felt himself so bold

and valiant, and spirited and light, as he was that day, and he was

quite certain that it was the drink he drank which made him so

hearty.

When he came to the house, he found the priest and the young lady

within, and they were wondering greatly why he had not visited them

for two days.

He told them all his news, and said that he was certain that there

was great power in that herb, and that it would do the lady no hurt,

for he tried it himself and got good from it, and then he made her

taste it, for he vowed and swore that there was no harm in it.

Guleesh handed her the cup, and she drank half of it, and then fell

back on her bed and a heavy sleep came on her, and she never woke

out of that sleep till the day on the morrow.

Guleesh and the priest sat up the entire night with her, waiting

till she should awake, and they between hope and unhope, between

expectation of saving her and fear of hurting her.

She awoke at last when the sun had gone half its way through the

heavens. She rubbed her eyes and looked like a person who did not

know where she was. She was like one astonished when she saw Guleesh

and the priest in the same room with her, and she sat up doing her

best to collect her thoughts.

The two men were in great anxiety waiting to see would she speak, or

would she not speak, and when they remained silent for a couple of

minutes, the priest said to her: "Did you sleep well, Mary?"

And she answered him: "I slept, thank you."

No sooner did Guleesh hear her talking than he put a shout of joy

out of him, and ran over to her and fell on his two knees, and said:

"A thousand thanks to God, who has given you back the talk; lady of

my heart, speak again to me."

The lady answered him that she understood it was he who boiled that

drink for her, and gave it to her; that she was obliged to him from

her heart for all the kindness he showed her since the day she first

came to Ireland, and that he might be certain that she never would

forget it.

Guleesh was ready to die with satisfaction and delight. Then they

brought her food, and she ate with a good appetite, and was merry

and joyous, and never left off talking with the priest while she was

eating.

After that Guleesh went home to his house, and stretched himself on

the bed and fell asleep again, for the force of the herb was not all

spent, and he passed another day and a night sleeping. When he woke

up he went back to the priest's house, and found that the young lady

was in the same state, and that she was asleep almost since the time

that he left the house.

He went into her chamber with the priest, and they remained watching

beside her till she awoke the second time, and she had her talk as

well as ever, and Guleesh was greatly rejoiced. The priest put food

on the table again, and they ate together, and Guleesh used after

that to come to the house from day to day, and the friendship that

was between him and the king's daughter increased, because she had

no one to speak to except Guleesh and the priest, and she liked

Guleesh best.

So they married one another, and that was the fine wedding they had,

and if I were to be there then, I would not be here now; but I heard

it from a birdeen that there was neither cark nor care, sickness nor

sorrow, mishap nor misfortune on them till the hour of their death,

and may the same be with me, and with us all!

THE FIELD OF BOLIAUNS

One fine day in harvest--it was indeed Lady-day in harvest, that

everybody knows to be one of the greatest holidays in the year--Tom

Fitzpatrick was taking a ramble through the ground, and went along

the sunny side of a hedge; when all of a sudden he heard a clacking

sort of noise a little before him in the hedge. "Dear me," said Tom,

"but isn't it surprising to hear the stonechatters singing so late

in the season?" So Tom stole on, going on the tops of his toes to

try if he could get a sight of what was making the noise, to see if

he was right in his guess. The noise stopped; but as Tom looked

sharply through the bushes, what should he see in a nook of the

hedge but a brown pitcher, that might hold about a gallon and a half

of liquor; and by-and-by a little wee teeny tiny bit of an old man,

with a little _motty_ of a cocked hat stuck upon the top of his

head, a deeshy daushy leather apron hanging before him, pulled out a

little wooden stool, and stood up upon it, and dipped a little

piggin into the pitcher, and took out the full of it, and put it

beside the stool, and then sat down under the pitcher, and began to

work at putting a heel-piece on a bit of a brogue just fit for

himself. "Well, by the powers," said Tom to himself, "I often heard

tell of the Lepracauns, and, to tell God's truth, I never rightly

believed in them--but here's one of them in real earnest. If I go

knowingly to work, I'm a made man. They say a body must never take

their eyes off them, or they'll escape."

Tom now stole on a little further, with his eye fixed on the little

man just as a cat does with a mouse. So when he got up quite close

to him, "God bless your work, neighbour," said Tom.

The little man raised up his head, and "Thank you kindly," said he.

"I wonder you'd be working on the holiday!" said Tom.

"That's my own business, not yours," was the reply.

"Well, may be you'd be civil enough to tell _us_ what you've

got in the pitcher there?" said Tom.

"That I will, with pleasure," said he; "it's good beer."

"Beer!" said Tom. "Thunder and fire! where did you get it?"

"Where did I get it, is it? Why, I made it. And what do you think I

made it of?"

"Devil a one of me knows," said Tom; "but of malt, I suppose, what

else?"

"There you're out. I made it of heath."

"Of heath!" said Tom, bursting out laughing; "sure you don't think

me to be such a fool as to believe that?"

"Do as you please," said he, "but what I tell you is the truth. Did

you never hear tell of the Danes?"

"Well, what about _them_?" said Tom.

"Why, all the about them there is, is that when they were here they

taught us to make beer out of the heath, and the secret's in my

family ever since."

"Will you give a body a taste of your beer?" said Tom.

"I'll tell you what it is, young man, it would be fitter for you to

be looking after your father's property than to be bothering decent

quiet people with your foolish questions. There now, while you're

idling away your time here, there's the cows have broke into the

oats, and are knocking the corn all about."

Tom was taken so by surprise with this that he was just on the very

point of turning round when he recollected himself; so, afraid that

the like might happen again, he made a grab at the Lepracaun, and

caught him up in his hand; but in his hurry he overset the pitcher,

and spilt all the beer, so that he could not get a taste of it to

tell what sort it was. He then swore that he would kill him if he

did not show him where his money was. Tom looked so wicked and so

bloody-minded that the little man was quite frightened; so says he,

"Come along with me a couple of fields off, and I'll show you a

crock of gold."

So they went, and Tom held the Lepracaun fast in his hand, and never

took his eyes from off him, though they had to cross hedges and

ditches, and a crooked bit of bog, till at last they came to a great

field all full of boliauns, and the Lepracaun pointed to a big

boliaun, and says he, "Dig under that boliaun, and you'll get the

great crock all full of guineas."

Tom in his hurry had never thought of bringing a spade with him, so

he made up his mind to run home and fetch one; and that he might

know the place again he took off one of his red garters, and tied it

round the boliaun.

Then he said to the Lepracaun, "Swear ye'll not take that garter

away from that boliaun." And the Lepracaun swore right away not to

touch it.

"I suppose," said the Lepracaun, very civilly, "you have no further

occasion for me?"

"No," says Tom; "you may go away now, if you please, and God speed

you, and may good luck attend you wherever you go."

"Well, good-bye to you, Tom Fitzpatrick," said the Lepracaun; "and

much good may it do you when you get it."

So Tom ran for dear life, till he came home and got a spade, and

then away with him, as hard as he could go, back to the field of

boliauns; but when he got there, lo and behold! not a boliaun in the

field but had a red garter, the very model of his own, tied about

it; and as to digging up the whole field, that was all nonsense, for

there were more than forty good Irish acres in it. So Tom came home

again with his spade on his shoulder, a little cooler than he went,

and many's the hearty curse he gave the Lepracaun every time he

thought of the neat turn he had served him.

THE HORNED WOMEN

A rich woman sat up late one night carding and preparing wool, while

all the family and servants were asleep. Suddenly a knock was given

at the door, and a voice called, "Open! open!"

"Who is there?" said the woman of the house.

"I am the Witch of one Horn," was answered.

The mistress, supposing that one of her neighbours had called and

required assistance, opened the door, and a woman entered, having in

her hand a pair of wool-carders, and bearing a horn on her forehead,

as if growing there. She sat down by the fire in silence, and began

to card the wool with violent haste. Suddenly she paused, and said

aloud: "Where are the women? they delay too long."

Then a second knock came to the door, and a voice called as before,

"Open! open!"

The mistress felt herself obliged to rise and open to the call, and

immediately a second witch entered, having two horns on her

forehead, and in her hand a wheel for spinning wool.

"Give me place," she said; "I am the Witch of the two Horns," and

she began to spin as quick as lightning.

And so the knocks went on, and the call was heard, and the witches

entered, until at last twelve women sat round the fire--the first

with one horn, the last with twelve horns.

And they carded the thread, and turned their spinning-wheels, and

wound and wove, all singing together an ancient rhyme, but no word

did they speak to the mistress of the house. Strange to hear, and

frightful to look upon, were these twelve women, with their horns

and their wheels; and the mistress felt near to death, and she tried

to rise that she might call for help, but she could not move, nor

could she utter a word or a cry, for the spell of the witches was

upon her.

Then one of them called to her in Irish, and said, "Rise, woman, and

make us a cake."

Then the mistress searched for a vessel to bring water from the well

that she might mix the meal and make the cake, but she could find

none.

And they said to her, "Take a sieve and bring water in it."

And she took the sieve and went to the well; but the water poured

from it, and she could fetch none for the cake, and she sat down by

the well and wept.

Then a voice came by her and said, "Take yellow clay and moss, and

bind them together, and plaster the sieve so that it will hold."

This she did, and the sieve held the water for the cake; and the

voice said again:

"Return, and when thou comest to the north angle of the house, cry

aloud three times and say, 'The mountain of the Fenian women and the

sky over it is all on fire.'"

And she did so.

When the witches inside heard the call, a great and terrible cry

broke from their lips, and they rushed forth with wild lamentations

and shrieks, and fled away to Slievenamon, where was their chief

abode. But the Spirit of the Well bade the mistress of the house to

enter and prepare her home against the enchantments of the witches

if they returned again.

And first, to break their spells, she sprinkled the water in which

she had washed her child's feet, the feet-water, outside the door on

the threshold; secondly, she took the cake which in her absence the

witches had made of meal mixed with the blood drawn from the

sleeping family, and she broke the cake in bits, and placed a bit in

the mouth of each sleeper, and they were restored; and she took the

cloth they had woven, and placed it half in and half out of the

chest with the padlock; and lastly, she secured the door with a

great crossbeam fastened in the jambs, so that the witches could not

enter, and having done these things she waited.

Not long were the witches in coming back, and they raged and called

for vengeance.

"Open! open!" they screamed; "open, feet-water!"

"I cannot," said the feet-water; "I am scattered on the ground, and

my path is down to the Lough."

"Open, open, wood and trees and beam!" they cried to the door.

"I cannot," said the door, "for the beam is fixed in the jambs and I

have no power to move."

"Open, open, cake that we have made and mingled with blood!" they

cried again.

"I cannot," said the cake, "for I am broken and bruised, and my

blood is on the lips of the sleeping children."

Then the witches rushed through the air with great cries, and fled

back to Slievenamon, uttering strange curses on the Spirit of the

Well, who had wished their ruin; but the woman and the house were

left in peace, and a mantle dropped by one of the witches in her

flight was kept hung up by the mistress in memory of that night; and

this mantle was kept by the same family from generation to

generation for five hundred years after.

CONALL YELLOWCLAW

Conall Yellowclaw was a sturdy tenant in Erin: he had three sons.

There was at that time a king over every fifth of Erin. It fell out

for the children of the king that was near Conall, that they

themselves and the children of Conall came to blows. The children of

Conall got the upper hand, and they killed the king's big son. The

king sent a message for Conall, and he said to him--"Oh, Conall!

what made your sons go to spring on my sons till my big son was

killed by your children? but I see that though I follow you

revengefully, I shall not be much better for it, and I will now set

a thing before you, and if you will do it, I will not follow you

with revenge. If you and your sons will get me the brown horse of

the king of Lochlann, you shall get the souls of your sons."

"Why," said Conall, "should not I do the pleasure of the king,

though there should be no souls of my sons in dread at all. Hard is

the matter you require of me, but I will lose my own life, and the

life of my sons, or else I will do the pleasure of the king."

After these words Conall left the king, and he went home: when he

got home he was under much trouble and perplexity. When he went to

lie down he told his wife the thing the king had set before him. His

wife took much sorrow that he was obliged to part from herself,

while she knew not if she should see him more.

"Oh, Conall," said she, "why didst not thou let the king do his own

pleasure to thy sons, rather than be going now, while I know not if

ever I shall see thee more?"

When he rose on the morrow, he set himself and his three sons in

order, and they took their journey towards Lochlann, and they made

no stop but tore through ocean till they reached it. When they

reached Lochlann they did not know what they should do. Said the old

man to his sons, "Stop ye, and we will seek out the house of the

king's miller."

When they went into the house of the king's miller, the man asked

them to stop there for the night. Conall told the miller that his

own children and the children of his king had fallen out, and that

his children had killed the king's son, and there was nothing that

would please the king but that he should get the brown horse of the

king of Lochlann.

"If you will do me a kindness, and will put me in a way to get him,

for certain I will pay ye for it."

"The thing is silly that you are come to seek," said the miller;

"for the king has laid his mind on him so greatly that you will not

get him in any way unless you steal him; but if you can make out a

way, I will keep it secret."

"This is what I am thinking," said Conall, "since you are working

every day for the king, you and your gillies could put myself and my

sons into five sacks of bran."

"The plan that has come into your head is not bad," said the miller.

The miller spoke to his gillies, and he said to them to do this, and

they put them in five sacks. The king's gillies came to seek the

bran, and they took the five sacks with them, and they emptied them

before the horses. The servants locked the door, and they went away.

When they rose to lay hand on the brown horse, said Conall, "You

shall not do that. It is hard to get out of this; let us make for

ourselves five hiding holes, so that if they hear us we may go and

hide." They made the holes, then they laid hands on the horse. The

horse was pretty well unbroken, and he set to making a terrible

noise through the stable. The king heard the noise. "It must be my

brown horse," said he to his gillies; "find out what is wrong with

him."

The servants went out, and when Conall and his sons saw them coming

they went into the hiding holes. The servants looked amongst the

horses, and they did not find anything wrong; and they returned and

they told this to the king, and the king said to them that if

nothing was wrong they should go to their places of rest. When the

gillies had time to be gone, Conall and his sons laid their hands

again on the horse. If the noise was great that he made before, the

noise he made now was seven times greater. The king sent a message

for his gillies again, and said for certain there was something

troubling the brown horse. "Go and look well about him." The

servants went out, and they went to their hiding holes. The servants

rummaged well, and did not find a thing. They returned and they told

this.

"That is marvellous for me," said the king: "go you to lie down

again, and if I notice it again I will go out myself."

When Conall and his sons perceived that the gillies were gone, they

laid hands again on the horse, and one of them caught him, and if

the noise that the horse made on the two former times was great, he

made more this time.

"Be this from me," said the king; "it must be that some one is

troubling my brown horse." He sounded the bell hastily, and when his

waiting-man came to him, he said to him to let the stable gillies

know that something was wrong with the horse. The gillies came, and

the king went with them. When Conall and his sons perceived the

company coming they went to the hiding holes.

The king was a wary man, and he saw where the horses were making a

noise.

"Be wary," said the king, "there are men within the stable, let us

get at them somehow."

The king followed the tracks of the men, and he found them. Every

one knew Conall, for he was a valued tenant of the king of Erin, and

when the king brought them up out of the holes he said, "Oh, Conall,

is it you that are here?"

"I am, O king, without question, and necessity made me come. I am

under thy pardon, and under thine honour, and under thy grace." He

told how it happened to him, and that he had to get the brown horse

for the king of Erin, or that his sons were to be put to death. "I

knew that I should not get him by asking, and I was going to steal

him."

"Yes, Conall, it is well enough, but come in," said the king. He

desired his look-out men to set a watch on the sons of Conall, and

to give them meat. And a double watch was set that night on the sons

of Conall.

"Now, O Conall," said the king, "were you ever in a harder place

than to be seeing your lot of sons hanged tomorrow? But you set it

to my goodness and to my grace, and say that it was necessity

brought it on you, so I must not hang you. Tell me any case in which

you were as hard as this, and if you tell that, you shall get the

soul of your youngest son."

"I will tell a case as hard in which I was," said Conall. "I was

once a young lad, and my father had much land, and he had parks of

year-old cows, and one of them had just calved, and my father told

me to bring her home. I found the cow, and took her with us. There

fell a shower of snow. We went into the herd's bothy, and we took

the cow and the calf in with us, and we were letting the shower pass

from us. Who should come in but one cat and ten, and one great one-

eyed fox-coloured cat as head bard over them. When they came in, in

very deed I myself had no liking for their company. 'Strike up with

you,' said the head bard, 'why should we be still? and sing a cronan

to Conall Yellowclaw.' I was amazed that my name was known to the

cats themselves. When they had sung the cronan, said the head bard,

'Now, O Conall, pay the reward of the cronan that the cats have sung

to thee.' 'Well then,' said I myself, 'I have no reward whatsoever

for you, unless you should go down and take that calf.' No sooner

said I the word than the two cats and ten went down to attack the

calf, and in very deed, he did not last them long. 'Play up with

you, why should you be silent? Make a cronan to Conall Yellowclaw,'

said the head bard. Certainly I had no liking at all for the cronan,

but up came the one cat and ten, and if they did not sing me a

cronan then and there! 'Pay them now their reward,' said the great

fox-coloured cat. 'I am tired myself of yourselves and your

rewards,' said I. 'I have no reward for you unless you take that cow

down there.' They betook themselves to the cow, and indeed she did

not last them long.

"'Why will you be silent? Go up and sing a cronan to Conall

Yellowclaw,' said the head bard. And surely, oh king, I had no care

for them or for their cronan, for I began to see that they were not

good comrades. When they had sung me the cronan they betook

themselves down where the head bard was. 'Pay now their reward, said

the head bard; and for sure, oh king, I had no reward for them; and

I said to them, 'I have no reward for you.' And surely, oh king,

there was catterwauling between them. So I leapt out at a turf

window that was at the back of the house. I took myself off as hard

as I might into the wood. I was swift enough and strong at that

time; and when I felt the rustling toirm of the cats after me I

climbed into as high a tree as I saw in the place, and one that was

close in the top; and I hid myself as well as I might. The cats

began to search for me through the wood, and they could not find me;

and when they were tired, each one said to the other that they would

turn back. 'But,' said the one-eyed fox-coloured cat that was

commander-in-chief over them, 'you saw him not with your two eyes,

and though I have but one eye, there's the rascal up in the tree.'

When he had said that, one of them went up in the tree, and as he

was coming where I was, I drew a weapon that I had and I killed him.

'Be this from me!' said the one-eyed one--'I must not be losing my

company thus; gather round the root of the tree and dig about it,

and let down that villain to earth.' On this they gathered about the

tree, and they dug about the root, and the first branching root that

they cut, she gave a shiver to fall, and I myself gave a shout, and

it was not to be wondered at.

"There was in the neighbourhood of the wood a priest, and he had ten

men with him delving, and he said, 'There is a shout of a man in

extremity and I must not be without replying to it.' And the wisest

of the men said, 'Let it alone till we hear it again.' The cats

began again digging wildly, and they broke the next root; and I

myself gave the next shout, and in very deed it was not a weak one.

'Certainly,' said the priest, 'it is a man in extremity--let us

move.' They set themselves in order for moving. And the cats arose

on the tree, and they broke the third root, and the tree fell on her

elbow. Then I gave the third shout. The stalwart men hastened, and

when they saw how the cats served the tree, they began at them with

the spades; and they themselves and the cats began at each other,

till the cats ran away. And surely, oh king, I did not move till I

saw the last one of them off. And then I came home. And there's the

hardest case in which I ever was; and it seems to me that tearing by

the cats were harder than hanging to-morrow by the king of

Lochlann."

"Och! Conall," said the king, "you are full of words. You have freed

the soul of your son with your tale; and if you tell me a harder

case than that you will get your second youngest son, and then you

will have two sons."

"Well then," said Conall, "on condition that thou dost that, I will

tell thee how I was once in a harder case than to be in thy power in

prison to-night."

"Let's hear," said the king.

"I was then," said Conall, "quite a young lad, and I went out

hunting, and my father's land was beside the sea, and it was rough

with rocks, caves, and rifts. When I was going on the top of the

shore, I saw as if there were a smoke coming up between two rocks,

and I began to look what might be the meaning of the smoke coming up

there. When I was looking, what should I do but fall; and the place

was so full of heather, that neither bone nor skin was broken. I

knew not how I should get out of this. I was not looking before me,

but I kept looking overhead the way I came--and thinking that the

day would never come that I could get up there. It was terrible for

me to be there till I should die. I heard a great clattering coming,

and what was there but a great giant and two dozen of goats with

him, and a buck at their head. And when the giant had tied the

goats, he came up and he said to me, 'Hao O! Conall, it's long since

my knife has been rusting in my pouch waiting for thy tender flesh.'

'Och!' said I, 'it's not much you will be bettered by me, though you

should tear me asunder; I will make but one meal for you. But I see

that you are one-eyed. I am a good leech, and I will give you the

sight of the other eye.' The giant went and he drew the great

caldron on the site of the fire. I myself was telling him how he

should heat the water, so that I should give its sight to the other

eye. I got heather and I made a rubber of it, and I set him upright

in the caldron. I began at the eye that was well, pretending to him

that I would give its sight to the other one, till I left them as

bad as each other; and surely it was easier to spoil the one that

was well than to give sight to the other.

"When he saw that he could not see a glimpse, and when I myself said

to him that I would get out in spite of him, he gave a spring out of

the water, and he stood in the mouth of the cave, and he said that

he would have revenge for the sight of his eye. I had but to stay

there crouched the length of the night, holding in my breath in such

a way that he might not find out where I was.

"When he felt the birds calling in the morning, and knew that the

day was, he said--'Art thou sleeping? Awake and let out my lot of

goats.' I killed the buck. He cried, 'I do believe that thou art

killing my buck.'

"'I am not,' said I, 'but the ropes are so tight that I take long to

loose them.' I let out one of the goats, and there he was caressing

her, and he said to her, 'There thou art thou shaggy, hairy white

goat; and thou seest me, but I see thee not.' I kept letting them

out by the way of one and one, as I flayed the buck, and before the

last one was out I had him flayed bag-wise. Then I went and I put my

legs in place of his legs, and my hands in place of his forelegs,

and my head in place of his head, and the horns on top of my head,

so that the brute might think that it was the buck. I went out. When

I was going out the giant laid his hand on me, and he said, 'There

thou art, thou pretty buck; thou seest me, but I see thee not.' When

I myself got out, and I saw the world about me, surely, oh, king!

joy was on me. When I was out and had shaken the skin off me, I said

to the brute, 'I am out now in spite of you.'

"'Aha!' said he, 'hast thou done this to me. Since thou wert so

stalwart that thou hast got out, I will give thee a ring that I have

here; keep the ring, and it will do thee good.'

"'I will not take the ring from you,' said I, 'but throw it, and I

will take it with me.' He threw the ring on the flat ground, I went

myself and I lifted the ring, and I put it on my finger. When he

said me then, 'Is the ring fitting thee?' I said to him, 'It is.'

Then he said, 'Where art thou, ring?' And the ring said, 'I am

here.' The brute went and went towards where the ring was speaking,

and now I saw that I was in a harder case than ever I was. I drew a

dirk. I cut the finger from off me, and I threw it from me as far as

I could out on the loch, and there was a great depth in the place.

He shouted, 'Where art thou, ring?' And the ring said, 'I am here,'

though it was on the bed of ocean. He gave a spring after the ring,

and out he went in the sea. And I was as pleased then when I saw him

drowning, as though you should grant my own life and the life of my

two sons with me, and not lay any more trouble on me.

"When the giant was drowned I went in, and I took with me all he had

of gold and silver, and I went home, and surely great joy was on my

people when I arrived. And as a sign now look, the finger is off

me."

"Yes, indeed, Conall, you are wordy and wise," said the king. "I see

the finger is off you. You have freed your two sons, but tell me a

case in which you ever were that is harder than to be looking on

your son being hanged tomorrow, and you shall get the soul of your

eldest son."

"Then went my father," said Conall, "and he got me a wife, and I was

married. I went to hunt. I was going beside the sea, and I saw an

island over in the midst of the loch, and I came there where a boat

was with a rope before her, and a rope behind her, and many precious

things within her. I looked myself on the boat to see how I might

get part of them. I put in the one foot, and the other foot was on

the ground, and when I raised my head what was it but the boat over

in the middle of the loch, and she never stopped till she reached

the island. When I went out of the boat the boat returned where she

was before. I did not know now what I should do. The place was

without meat or clothing, without the appearance of a house on it. I

came out on the top of a hill. Then I came to a glen; I saw in it,

at the bottom of a hollow, a woman with a child, and the child was

naked on her knee, and she had a knife in her hand. She tried to put

the knife to the throat of the babe, and the babe began to laugh in

her face, and she began to cry, and she threw the knife behind her.

I thought to myself that I was near my foe and far from my friends,

and I called to the woman, 'What are you doing here?' And she said

to me, 'What brought you here?' I told her myself word upon word how

I came. 'Well then,' said she, 'it was so I came also.' She showed

me to the place where I should come in where she was. I went in, and

I said to her, 'What was the matter that you were putting the knife

on the neck of the child?' 'It is that he must be cooked for the

giant who is here, or else no more of my world will be before me.'

Just then we could be hearing the footsteps of the giant, 'What

shall I do? what shall I do?' cried the woman. I went to the

caldron, and by luck it was not hot, so in it I got just as the

brute came in. 'Hast thou boiled that youngster for me?' he cried.

'He's not done yet,' said she, and I cried out from the caldron,

'Mammy, mammy, it's boiling I am.' Then the giant laughed out HAI,

HAW, HOGARAICH, and heaped on wood under the caldron.

"And now I was sure I would scald before I could get out of that. As

fortune favoured me, the brute slept beside the caldron. There I was

scalded by the bottom of the caldron. When she perceived that he was

asleep, she set her mouth quietly to the hole that was in the lid,

and she said to me 'was I alive?' I said I was. I put up my head,

and the hole in the lid was so large, that my head went through

easily. Everything was coming easily with me till I began to bring

up my hips. I left the skin of my hips behind me, but I came out.

When I got out of the caldron I knew not what to do; and she said to

me that there was no weapon that would kill him but his own weapon.

I began to draw his spear and every breath that he drew I thought I

would be down his throat, and when his breath came out I was back

again just as far. But with every ill that befell me I got the spear

loosed from him. Then I was as one under a bundle of straw in a

great wind for I could not manage the spear. And it was fearful to

look on the brute, who had but one eye in the midst of his face; and

it was not agreeable for the like of me to attack him. I drew the

dart as best I could, and I set it in his eye. When he felt this he

gave his head a lift, and he struck the other end of the dart on the

top of the cave, and it went through to the back of his head. And he

fell cold dead where he was; and you may be sure, oh king, that joy

was on me. I myself and the woman went out on clear ground, and we

passed the night there. I went and got the boat with which I came,

and she was no way lightened, and took the woman and the child over

on dry land; and I returned home."

The king of Lochlann's mother was putting on a fire at this time,

and listening to Conall telling the tale about the child.

"Is it you," said she, "that were there?"

"Well then," said he, "'twas I."

"Och! och!" said she, "'twas I that was there, and the king is the

child whose life you saved; and it is to you that life thanks should

be given." Then they took great joy.

The king said, "Oh, Conall, you came through great hardships. And

now the brown horse is yours, and his sack full of the most precious

things that are in my treasury."

They lay down that night, and if it was early that Conall rose, it

was earlier than that that the queen was on foot making ready. He

got the brown horse and his sack full of gold and silver and stones

of great price, and then Conall and his three sons went away, and

they returned home to the Erin realm of gladness. He left the gold

and silver in his house, and he went with the horse to the king.

They were good friends evermore. He returned home to his wife, and

they set in order a feast; and that was a feast if ever there was

one, oh son and brother.

HUDDEN AND DUDDEN AND DONALD O'NEARY

There was once upon a time two farmers, and their names were Hudden

and Dudden. They had poultry in their yards, sheep on the uplands,

and scores of cattle in the meadow-land alongside the river. But for

all that they weren't happy. For just between their two farms there

lived a poor man by the name of Donald O'Neary. He had a hovel over

his head and a strip of grass that was barely enough to keep his one

cow, Daisy, from starving, and, though she did her best, it was but

seldom that Donald got a drink of milk or a roll of butter from

Daisy. You would think there was little here to make Hudden and

Dudden jealous, but so it is, the more one has the more one wants,

and Donald's neighbours lay awake of nights scheming how they might

get hold of his little strip of grass-land. Daisy, poor thing, they

never thought of; she was just a bag of bones.

One day Hudden met Dudden, and they were soon grumbling as usual,

and all to the tune of "If only we could get that vagabond Donald

O'Neary out of the country."

"Let's kill Daisy," said Hudden at last; "if that doesn't make him

clear out, nothing will."

No sooner said than agreed, and it wasn't dark before Hudden and

Dudden crept up to the little shed where lay poor Daisy trying her

best to chew the cud, though she hadn't had as much grass in the day

as would cover your hand. And when Donald came to see if Daisy was

all snug for the night, the poor beast had only time to lick his

hand once before she died.

Well, Donald was a shrewd fellow, and downhearted though he was,

began to think if he could get any good out of Daisy's death. He

thought and he thought, and the next day you could have seen him

trudging off early to the fair, Daisy's hide over his shoulder,

every penny he had jingling in his pockets. Just before he got to

the fair, he made several slits in the hide, put a penny in each

slit, walked into the best inn of the town as bold as if it belonged

to him, and, hanging the hide up to a nail in the wall, sat down.

"Some of your best whisky," says he to the landlord.

But the landlord didn't like his looks. "Is it fearing I won't pay

you, you are?" says Donald; "why I have a hide here that gives me

all the money I want." And with that he hit it a whack with his

stick and out hopped a penny. The landlord opened his eyes, as you

may fancy.

"What'll you take for that hide?"

"It's not for sale, my good man."

"Will you take a gold piece?"

"It's not for sale, I tell you. Hasn't it kept me and mine for

years?" and with that Donald hit the hide another whack and out

jumped a second penny.

Well, the long and the short of it was that Donald let the hide go,

and, that very evening, who but he should walk up to Hudden's door?

"Good-evening, Hudden. Will you lend me your best pair of scales?"

Hudden stared and Hudden scratched his head, but he lent the scales.

When Donald was safe at home, he pulled out his pocketful of bright

gold and began to weigh each piece in the scales. But Hudden had put

a lump of butter at the bottom, and so the last piece of gold stuck

fast to the scales when he took them back to Hudden.

If Hudden had stared before, he stared ten times more now, and no

sooner was Donald's back turned, than he was of as hard as he could

pelt to Dudden's.

"Good-evening, Dudden. That vagabond, bad luck to him--"

"You mean Donald O'Neary?"

"And who else should I mean? He's back here weighing out sackfuls of

gold."

"How do you know that?"

"Here are my scales that he borrowed, and here's a gold piece still

sticking to them."

Off they went together, and they came to Donald's door. Donald had

finished making the last pile of ten gold pieces. And he couldn't

finish because a piece had stuck to the scales.

In they walked without an "If you please" or "By your leave."

"Well, _I_ never!" that was all _they_ could say.

"Good-evening, Hudden; good-evening, Dudden. Ah! you thought you had

played me a fine trick, but you never did me a better turn in all

your lives. When I found poor Daisy dead, I thought to myself,

'Well, her hide may fetch something;' and it did. Hides are worth

their weight in gold in the market just now."

Hudden nudged Dudden, and Dudden winked at Hudden.

"Good-evening, Donald O'Neary."

"Good-evening, kind friends."

The next day there wasn't a cow or a calf that belonged to Hudden or

Dudden but her hide was going to the fair in Hudden's biggest cart

drawn by Dudden's strongest pair of horses.

When they came to the fair, each one took a hide over his arm, and

there they were walking through the fair, bawling out at the top of

their voices: "Hides to sell! hides to sell!"

Out came the tanner:

"How much for your hides, my good men?"

"Their weight in gold."

"It's early in the day to come out of the tavern."

That was all the tanner said, and back he went to his yard.

"Hides to sell! Fine fresh hides to sell!"

Out came the cobbler.

"How much for your hides, my men?"

"Their weight in gold."

"Is it making game of me you are! Take that for your pains," and the

cobbler dealt Hudden a blow that made him stagger.

Up the people came running from one end of the fair to the other.

"What's the matter? What's the matter?" cried they.

"Here are a couple of vagabonds selling hides at their weight in

gold," said the cobbler.

"Hold 'em fast; hold 'em fast!" bawled the innkeeper, who was the

last to come up, he was so fat. "I'll wager it's one of the rogues

who tricked me out of thirty gold pieces yesterday for a wretched

hide."

It was more kicks than halfpence that Hudden and Dudden got before

they were well on their way home again, and they didn't run the

slower because all the dogs of the town were at their heels.

Well, as you may fancy, if they loved Donald little before, they

loved him less now.

"What's the matter, friends?" said he, as he saw them tearing along,

their hats knocked in, and their coats torn off, and their faces

black and blue. "Is it fighting you've been? or mayhap you met the

police, ill luck to them?"

"We'll police you, you vagabond. It's mighty smart you thought

yourself, deluding us with your lying tales."

"Who deluded you? Didn't you see the gold with your own two eyes?"

But it was no use talking. Pay for it he must, and should. There was

a meal-sack handy, and into it Hudden and Dudden popped Donald

O'Neary, tied him up tight, ran a pole through the knot, and off

they started for the Brown Lake of the Bog, each with a pole-end on

his shoulder, and Donald O'Neary between.

But the Brown Lake was far, the road was dusty, Hudden and Dudden

were sore and weary, and parched with thirst. There was an inn by

the roadside.

"Let's go in," said Hudden; "I'm dead beat. It's heavy he is for the

little he had to eat."

If Hudden was willing, so was Dudden. As for Donald, you may be sure

his leave wasn't asked, but he was lumped down at the inn door for

all the world as if he had been a sack of potatoes.

"Sit still, you vagabond," said Dudden; "if we don't mind waiting,

you needn't."

Donald held his peace, but after a while he heard the glasses clink,

and Hudden singing away at the top of his voice.

"I won't have her, I tell you; I won't have her!" said Donald. But

nobody heeded what he said.

"I won't have her, I tell you; I won't have her!" said Donald, and

this time he said it louder; but nobody heeded what he said.

"I won't have her, I tell you; I won't have her!" said Donald; and

this time he said it as loud as he could.

"And who won't you have, may I be so bold as to ask?" said a farmer,

who had just come up with a drove of cattle, and was turning in for

a glass.

"It's the king's daughter. They are bothering the life out of me to

marry her."

"You're the lucky fellow. I'd give something to be in your shoes."

"Do you see that now! Wouldn't it be a fine thing for a farmer to be

marrying a princess, all dressed in gold and jewels?"

"Jewels, do you say? Ah, now, couldn't you take me with you?"

"Well, you're an honest fellow, and as I don't care for the king's

daughter, though she's as beautiful as the day, and is covered with

jewels from top to toe, you shall have her. Just undo the cord, and

let me out; they tied me up tight, as they knew I'd run away from

her."

Out crawled Donald; in crept the farmer.

"Now lie still, and don't mind the shaking; it's only rumbling over

the palace steps you'll be. And maybe they'll abuse you for a

vagabond, who won't have the king's daughter; but you needn't mind

that. Ah! it's a deal I'm giving up for you, sure as it is that I

don't care for the princess."

"Take my cattle in exchange," said the farmer; and you may guess it

wasn't long before Donald was at their tails driving them homewards.

Out came Hudden and Dudden, and the one took one end of the pole,

and the other the other.

"I'm thinking he's heavier," said Hudden.

"Ah, never mind," said Dudden; "it's only a step now to the Brown

Lake."

"I'll have her now! I'll have her now!" bawled the farmer, from

inside the sack.

"By my faith, and you shall though," said Hudden, and he laid his

stick across the sack.

"I'll have her! I'll have her!" bawled the farmer, louder than ever.

"Well, here you are," said Dudden, for they were now come to the

Brown Lake, and, unslinging the sack, they pitched it plump into the

lake.

"You'll not be playing your tricks on us any longer," said Hudden.

"True for you," said Dudden. "Ah, Donald, my boy, it was an ill day

when you borrowed my scales."

Off they went, with a light step and an easy heart, but when they

were near home, who should they see but Donald O'Neary, and all

around him the cows were grazing, and the calves were kicking up

their heels and butting their heads together.

"Is it you, Donald?" said Dudden. "Faith, you've been quicker than

we have."

"True for you, Dudden, and let me thank you kindly; the turn was

good, if the will was ill. You'll have heard, like me, that the

Brown Lake leads to the Land of Promise. I always put it down as

lies, but it is just as true as my word. Look at the cattle."

Hudden stared, and Dudden gaped; but they couldn't get over the

cattle; fine fat cattle they were too.

"It's only the worst I could bring up with me," said Donald O'Neary;

"the others were so fat, there was no driving them. Faith, too, it's

little wonder they didn't care to leave, with grass as far as you

could see, and as sweet and juicy as fresh butter."

"Ah, now, Donald, we haven't always been friends," said Dudden,

"but, as I was just saying, you were ever a decent lad, and you'll

show us the way, won't you?"

"I don't see that I'm called upon to do that; there is a power more

cattle down there. Why shouldn't I have them all to myself?"

"Faith, they may well say, the richer you get, the harder the heart.

You always were a neighbourly lad, Donald. You wouldn't wish to keep

the luck all to yourself?"

"True for you, Hudden, though 'tis a bad example you set me. But

I'll not be thinking of old times. There is plenty for all there, so

come along with me."

Off they trudged, with a light heart and an eager step. When they

came to the Brown Lake, the sky was full of little white clouds,

and, if the sky was full, the lake was as full.

"Ah! now, look, there they are," cried Donald, as he pointed to the

clouds in the lake.

"Where? where?" cried Hudden, and "Don't be greedy!" cried Dudden,

as he jumped his hardest to be up first with the fat cattle. But if

he jumped first, Hudden wasn't long behind.

They never came back. Maybe they got too fat, like the cattle. As

for Donald O'Neary, he had cattle and sheep all his days to his

heart's content.

THE SHEPHERD OF MYDDVAI

Up in the Black Mountains in Caermarthenshire lies the lake known as

Lyn y Van Vach. To the margin of this lake the shepherd of Myddvai

once led his lambs, and lay there whilst they sought pasture.

Suddenly, from the dark waters of the lake, he saw three maidens

rise. Shaking the bright drops from their hair and gliding to the

shore, they wandered about amongst his flock. They had more than

mortal beauty, and he was filled with love for her that came nearest

to him. He offered her the bread he had with him, and she took it

and tried it, but then sang to him:

Hard-baked is thy bread,

'Tis not easy to catch me,

and then ran off laughing to the lake.

Next day he took with him bread not so well done, and watched for

the maidens. When they came ashore he offered his bread as before,

and the maiden tasted it and sang:

Unbaked is thy bread,

I will not have thee,

and again disappeared in the waves.

A third time did the shepherd of Myddvai try to attract the maiden,

and this time he offered her bread that he had found floating about

near the shore. This pleased her, and she promised to become his

wife if he were able to pick her out from among her sisters on the

following day. When the time came the shepherd knew his love by the

strap of her sandal. Then she told him she would be as good a wife

to him as any earthly maiden could be unless he should strike her

three times without cause. Of course he deemed that this could never

be; and she, summoning from the lake three cows, two oxen, and a

bull, as her marriage portion, was led homeward by him as his bride.

The years passed happily, and three children were born to the

shepherd and the lake-maiden. But one day here were going to a

christening, and she said to her husband it was far to walk, so he

told her to go for the horses.

"I will," said she, "if you bring me my gloves which I've left in

the house."

But when he came back with the gloves, he found she had not gone for

the horses; so he tapped her lightly on the shoulder with the

gloves, and said, "Go, go."

"That's one," said she.

Another time they were at a wedding, when suddenly the lake-maiden

fell a-sobbing and a-weeping, amid the joy and mirth of all around

her.

Her husband tapped her on the shoulder, and asked her, "Why do you

weep?"

"Because they are entering into trouble; and trouble is upon you;

for that is the second causeless blow you have given me. Be careful;

the third is the last."

The husband was careful never to strike her again. But one day at a

funeral she suddenly burst out into fits of laughter. Her husband

forgot, and touched her rather roughly on the shoulder, saying, "Is

this a time for laughter?"

"I laugh," she said, "because those that die go out of trouble, but

your trouble has come. The last blow has been struck; our marriage

is at an end, and so farewell." And with that she rose up and left

the house and went to their home.

Then she, looking round upon her home, called to the cattle she had

brought with her:

Brindle cow, white speckled,

Spotted cow, bold freckled,

Old white face, and gray Geringer,

And the white bull from the king's coast,

Grey ox, and black calf,

All, all, follow me home,

Now the black calf had just been slaughtered, and was hanging on the

hook; but it got off the hook alive and well and followed her; and

the oxen, though they were ploughing, trailed the plough with them

and did her bidding. So she fled to the lake again, they following

her, and with them plunged into the dark waters.

And to this day is the furrow seen which the plough left as it was

dragged across the mountains to the tarn.

Only once did she come again, when her sons were grown to manhood,

and then she gave them gifts of healing by which they won the name

of Meddygon Myddvai, the physicians of Myddvai.

THE SPRIGHTLY TAILOR

A sprightly tailor was employed by the great Macdonald, in his

castle at Saddell, in order to make the laird a pair of trews, used

in olden time. And trews being the vest and breeches united in one

piece, and ornamented with fringes, were very comfortable, and

suitable to be worn in walking or dancing. And Macdonald had said to

the tailor, that if he would make the trews by night in the church,

he would get a handsome reward. For it was thought that the old

ruined church was haunted, and that fearsome things were to be seen

there at night.

The tailor was well aware of this; but he was a sprightly man, and

when the laird dared him to make the trews by night in the church,

the tailor was not to be daunted, but took it in hand to gain the

prize. So, when night came, away he went up the glen, about half a

mile distance from the castle, till he came to the old church. Then

he chose him a nice gravestone for a seat and he lighted his candle,

and put on his thimble, and set to work at the trews; plying his

needle nimbly, and thinking about the hire that the laird would have

to give him.

For some time he got on pretty well, until he felt the floor all of

a tremble under his feet; and looking about him, but keeping his

fingers at work, he saw the appearance of a great human head rising

up through the stone pavement of the church. And when the head had

risen above the surface, there came from it a great, great voice.

And the voice said: "Do you see this great head of mine?"

"I see that, but I'll sew this!" replied the sprightly tailor; and

he stitched away at the trews.

Then the head rose higher up through the pavement, until its neck

appeared. And when its neck was shown, the thundering voice came

again and said: "Do you see this great neck of mine?"

"I see that, but I'll sew this!" said the sprightly tailor; and he

stitched away at his trews.

Then the head and neck rose higher still, until the great shoulders

and chest were shown above the ground. And again the mighty voice

thundered: "Do you see this great chest of mine?"

And again the sprightly tailor replied: "I see that, but I'll sew

this!" and stitched away at his trews.

And still it kept rising through the pavement, until it shook a

great pair of arms in the tailor's face, and said: "Do you see these

great arms of mine?"

"I see those, but I'll sew this!" answered the tailor; and he

stitched hard at his trews, for he knew that he had no time to lose.

The sprightly tailor was taking the long stitches, when he saw it

gradually rising and rising through the floor, until it lifted out a

great leg, and stamping with it upon the pavement, said in a roaring

voice: "Do you see this great leg of mine?"

"Aye, aye: I see that, but I'll sew this!" cried the tailor; and his

fingers flew with the needle, and he took such long stitches, that

he was just come to the end of the trews, when it was taking up its

other leg. But before it could pull it out of the pavement, the

sprightly tailor had finished his task; and, blowing out his candle,

and springing from off his gravestone, he buckled up, and ran out of

the church with the trews under his arm. Then the fearsome thing

gave a loud roar, and stamped with both his feet upon the pavement,

and out of the church he went after the sprightly tailor.

Down the glen they ran, faster than the stream when the flood rides

it; but the tailor had got the start and a nimble pair of legs, and

he did not choose to lose the laird's reward. And though the thing

roared to him to stop, yet the sprightly tailor was not the man to

be beholden to a monster. So he held his trews tight, and let no

darkness grow under his feet, until he had reached Saddell Castle.

He had no sooner got inside the gate, and shut it, than the

apparition came up to it; and, enraged at losing his prize, struck

the wall above the gate, and left there the mark of his five great

fingers. Ye may see them plainly to this day, if ye'll only peer

close enough.

But the sprightly tailor gained his reward: for Macdonald paid him

handsomely for the trews, and never discovered that a few of the

stitches were somewhat long.

THE STORY OF DEIRDRE

There was a man in Ireland once who was called Malcolm Harper. The

man was a right good man, and he had a goodly share of this world's

goods. He had a wife, but no family. What did Malcolm hear but that

a soothsayer had come home to the place, and as the man was a right

good man, he wished that the soothsayer might come near them.

Whether it was that he was invited or that he came of himself, the

soothsayer came to the house of Malcolm.

"Are you doing any soothsaying?" says Malcolm.

"Yes, I am doing a little. Are you in need of soothsaying?"

"Well, I do not mind taking soothsaying from you, if you had

soothsaying for me, and you would be willing to do it."

"Well, I will do soothsaying for you. What kind of soothsaying do

you want?"

"Well, the soothsaying I wanted was that you would tell me my lot or

what will happen to me, if you can give me knowledge of it."

"Well, I am going out, and when I return, I will tell you."

And the soothsayer went forth out of the house and he was not long

outside when he returned.

"Well," said the soothsayer, "I saw in my second sight that it is on

account of a daughter of yours that the greatest amount of blood

shall be shed that has ever been shed in Erin since time and race

began. And the three most famous heroes that ever were found will

lose their heads on her account."

After a time a daughter was born to Malcolm, he did not allow a

living being to come to his house, only himself and the nurse. He

asked this woman, "Will you yourself bring up the child to keep her

in hiding far away where eye will not see a sight of her nor ear

hear a word about her?"

The woman said she would, so Malcolm got three men, and he took them

away to a large mountain, distant and far from reach, without the

knowledge or notice of any one. He caused there a hillock, round and

green, to be dug out of the middle, and the hole thus made to be

covered carefully over so that a little company could dwell there

together. This was done.

Deirdre and her foster-mother dwelt in the bothy mid the hills

without the knowledge or the suspicion of any living person about

them and without anything occurring, until Deirdre was sixteen years

of age. Deirdre grew like the white sapling, straight and trim as

the rash on the moss. She was the creature of fairest form, of

loveliest aspect, and of gentlest nature that existed between earth

and heaven in all Ireland--whatever colour of hue she had before,

there was nobody that looked into her face but she would blush fiery

red over it.

The woman that had charge of her, gave Deirdre every information and

skill of which she herself had knowledge and skill. There was not a

blade of grass growing from root, nor a bird singing in the wood,

nor a star shining from heaven but Deirdre had a name for it. But

one thing, she did not wish her to have either part or parley with

any single living man of the rest of the world. But on a gloomy

winter night, with black, scowling clouds, a hunter of game was

wearily travelling the hills, and what happened but that he missed

the trail of the hunt, and lost his course and companions. A

drowsiness came upon the man as he wearily wandered over the hills,

and he lay down by the side of the beautiful green knoll in which

Deirdre lived, and he slept. The man was faint from hunger and

wandering, and benumbed with cold, and a deep sleep fell upon him.

When he lay down beside the green hill where Deirdre was, a troubled

dream came to the man, and he thought that he enjoyed the warmth of

a fairy broch, the fairies being inside playing music. The hunter

shouted out in his dream, if there was any one in the broch, to let

him in for the Holy One's sake. Deirdre heard the voice and said to

her foster-mother: "O foster-mother, what cry is that?" "It is

nothing at all, Deirdre--merely the birds of the air astray and

seeking each other. But let them go past to the bosky glade. There

is no shelter or house for them here." "Oh, foster-mother, the bird

asked to get inside for the sake of the God of the Elements, and you

yourself tell me that anything that is asked in His name we ought to

do. If you will not allow the bird that is being benumbed with cold,

and done to death with hunger, to be let in, I do not think much of

your language or your faith. But since I give credence to your

language and to your faith, which you taught me, I will myself let

in the bird." And Deirdre arose and drew the bolt from the leaf of

the door, and she let in the hunter. She placed a seat in the place

for sitting, food in the place for eating, and drink in the place

for drinking for the man who came to the house. "Oh, for this life

and raiment, you man that came in, keep restraint on your tongue!"

said the old woman. "It is not a great thing for you to keep your

mouth shut and your tongue quiet when you get a home and shelter of

a hearth on a gloomy winter's night."

"Well," said the hunter, "I may do that--keep my mouth shut and my

tongue quiet, since I came to the house and received hospitality

from you; but by the hand of thy father and grandfather, and by your

own two hands, if some other of the people of the world saw this

beauteous creature you have here hid away, they would not long leave

her with you, I swear."

"What men are these you refer to?" said Deirdre.

"Well, I will tell you, young woman," said the hunter.

"They are Naois, son of Uisnech, and Allen and Arden his two

brothers."

"What like are these men when seen, if we were to see them?" said

Deirdre.

"Why, the aspect and form of the men when seen are these," said the

hunter: "they have the colour of the raven on their hair, their skin

like swan on the wave in whiteness, and their cheeks as the blood of

the brindled red calf, and their speed and their leap are those of

the salmon of the torrent and the deer of the grey mountain side.

And Naois is head and shoulders over the rest of the people of

Erin."

"However they are," said the nurse, "be you off from here and take

another road. And, King of Light and Sun! in good sooth and

certainty, little are my thanks for yourself or for her that let you

in!"

The hunter went away, and went straight to the palace of King

Connachar. He sent word in to the king that he wished to speak to

him if he pleased. The king answered the message and came out to

speak to the man. "What is the reason of your journey?" said the

king to the hunter.

"I have only to tell you, O king," said the hunter, "that I saw the

fairest creature that ever was born in Erin, and I came to tell you

of it."

"Who is this beauty and where is she to be seen, when she was not

seen before till you saw her, if you did see her?"

"Well, I did see her," said the hunter. "But, if I did, no man else

can see her unless he get directions from me as to where she is

dwelling."

"And will you direct me to where she dwells? and the reward of your

directing me will be as good as the reward of your message," said

the king.

"Well, I will direct you, O king, although it is likely that this

will not be what they want," said the hunter.

Connachar, King of Ulster, sent for his nearest kinsmen, and he told

them of his intent. Though early rose the song of the birds mid the

rocky caves and the music of the birds in the grove, earlier than

that did Connachar, King of Ulster, arise, with his little troop of

dear friends, in the delightful twilight of the fresh and gentle

May; the dew was heavy on each bush and flower and stem, as they

went to bring Deirdre forth from the green knoll where she stayed.

Many a youth was there who had a lithe leaping and lissom step when

they started whose step was faint, failing, and faltering when they

reached the bothy on account of the length of the way and roughness

of the road.

"Yonder, now, down in the bottom of the glen is the bothy where the

woman dwells, but I will not go nearer than this to the old woman,"

said the hunter.

Connachar with his band of kinsfolk went down to the green knoll

where Deirdre dwelt and he knocked at the door of the bothy. The

nurse replied, "No less than a king's command and a king's army

could put me out of my bothy to-night. And I should be obliged to

you, were you to tell who it is that wants me to open my bothy

door."

"It is I, Connachar, King of Ulster." When the poor woman heard who

was at the door, she rose with haste and let in the king and all

that could get in of his retinue.

When the king saw the woman that was before him that he had been in

quest of, he thought he never saw in the course of the day nor in

the dream of night a creature so fair as Deirdre and he gave his

full heart's weight of love to her. Deirdre was raised on the

topmost of the heroes' shoulders and she and her foster-mother were

brought to the Court of King Connachar of Ulster.

With the love that Connachar had for her, he wanted to marry Deirdre

right off there and then, will she nill she marry him. But she said

to him, "I would be obliged to you if you will give me the respite

of a year and a day." He said "I will grant you that, hard though it

is, if you will give me your unfailing promise that you will marry

me at the year's end." And she gave the promise. Connachar got for

her a woman-teacher and merry modest maidens fair that would lie

down and rise with her, that would play and speak with her. Deirdre

was clever in maidenly duties and wifely understanding, and

Connachar thought he never saw with bodily eye a creature that

pleased him more.

Deirdre and her women companions were one day out on the hillock

behind the house enjoying the scene, and drinking in the sun's heat.

What did they see coming but three men a-journeying. Deirdre was

looking at the men that were coming, and wondering at them. When the

men neared them, Deirdre remembered the language of the huntsman,

and she said to herself that these were the three sons of Uisnech,

and that this was Naois, he having what was above the bend of the

two shoulders above the men of Erin all. The three brothers went

past without taking any notice of them, without even glancing at the

young girls on the hillock. What happened but that love for Naois

struck the heart of Deirdre, so that she could not but follow after

him. She girded up her raiment and went after the men that went past

the base of the knoll, leaving her women attendants there. Allen and

Arden had heard of the woman that Connachar, King of Ulster, had

with him, and they thought that, if Naois, their brother, saw her,

he would have her himself, more especially as she was not married to

the King. They perceived the woman coming, and called on one another

to hasten their step as they had a long distance to travel, and the

dusk of night was coming on. They did so. She cried: "Naois, son of

Uisnech, will you leave me?" "What piercing, shrill cry is that--the

most melodious my ear ever heard, and the shrillest that ever struck

my heart of all the cries I ever heard?" "It is anything else but

the wail of the wave-swans of Connachar," said his brothers. "No!

yonder is a woman's cry of distress," said Naois, and he swore he

would not go further until he saw from whom the cry came, and Naois

turned back. Naois and Deirdre met, and Deirdre kissed Naois three

times, and a kiss each to his brothers. With the confusion that she

was in, Deirdre went into a crimson blaze of fire, and her colour

came and went as rapidly as the movement of the aspen by the stream

side. Naois thought he never saw a fairer creature, and Naois gave

Deirdre the love that he never gave to thing, to vision, or to

creature but to herself.

Then Naois placed Deirdre on the topmost height of his shoulder, and

told his brothers to keep up their pace, and they kept up their

pace. Naois thought that it would not be well for him to remain in

Erin on account of the way in which Connachar, King of Ulster, his

uncle's son, had gone against him because of the woman, though he

had not married her; and he turned back to Alba, that is, Scotland.

He reached the side of Loch-Ness and made his habitation there. He

could kill the salmon of the torrent from out his own door, and the

deer of the grey gorge from out his window. Naois and Deirdre and

Allen and Arden dwelt in a tower, and they were happy so long a time

as they were there.

By this time the end of the period came at which Deirdre had to

marry Connachar, King of Ulster. Connachar made up his mind to take

Deirdre away by the sword whether she was married to Naois or not.

So he prepared a great and gleeful feast. He sent word far and wide

through Erin all to his kinspeople to come to the feast. Connachar

thought to himself that Naois would not come though he should bid

him; and the scheme that arose in his mind was to send for his

father's brother, Ferchar Mac Ro, and to send him on an embassy to

Naois. He did so; and Connachar said to Ferchar, "Tell Naois, son of

Uisnech, that I am setting forth a great and gleeful feast to my

friends and kinspeople throughout the wide extent of Erin all, and

that I shall not have rest by day nor sleep by night if he and Allen

and Arden be not partakers of the feast."

Ferchar Mac Ro and his three sons went on their journey, and reached

the tower where Naois was dwelling by the side of Loch Etive. The

sons of Uisnech gave a cordial kindly welcome to Ferchar Mac Ro and

his three sons, and asked of him the news of Erin. "The best news

that I have for you," said the hardy hero, "is that Connachar, King

of Ulster, is setting forth a great sumptuous feast to his friends

and kinspeople throughout the wide extent of Erin all, and he has

vowed by the earth beneath him, by the high heaven above him, and by

the sun that wends to the west, that he will have no rest by day nor

sleep by night if the sons of Uisnech, the sons of his own father's

brother, will not come back to the land of their home and the soil

of their nativity, and to the feast likewise, and he has sent us on

embassy to invite you."

"We will go with you," said Naois.

"We will," said his brothers.

But Deirdre did not wish to go with Ferchar Mac Ro, and she tried

every prayer to turn Naois from going with him--she said:

"I saw a vision, Naois, and do you interpret it to me," said

Deirdre--then she sang:

O Naois, son of Uisnech, hear

What was shown in a dream to me.

There came three white doves out of the South

Flying over the sea,

And drops of honey were in their mouth

From the hive of the honey-bee.

O Naois, son of Uisnech, hear,

What was shown in a dream to me.

I saw three grey hawks out of the south

Come flying over the sea,

And the red red drops they bare in their mouth

They were dearer than life to me.

Said Naois:--

It is nought but the fear of woman's heart,

And a dream of the night, Deirdre.

"The day that Connachar sent the invitation to his feast will be

unlucky for us if we don't go, O Deirdre."

"You will go there," said Ferchar Mac Ro; "and if Connachar show

kindness to you, show ye kindness to him; and if he will display

wrath towards you display ye wrath towards him, and I and my three

sons will be with you."

"We will," said Daring Drop. "We will," said Hardy Holly. "We will,"

said Fiallan the Fair.

"I have three sons, and they are three heroes, and in any harm or

danger that may befall you, they will be with you, and I myself will

be along with them." And Ferchar Mac Ro gave his vow and his word in

presence of his arms that, in any harm or danger that came in the

way of the sons of Uisnech, he and his three sons would not leave

head on live body in Erin, despite sword or helmet, spear or shield,

blade or mail, be they ever so good.

Deirdre was unwilling to leave Alba, but she went with Naois.

Deirdre wept tears in showers and she sang:

Dear is the land, the land over there,

Alba full of woods and lakes;

Bitter to my heart is leaving thee,

But I go away with Naois.

Ferchar Mac Ro did not stop till he got the sons of Uisnech away

with him, despite the suspicion of Deirdre.

The coracle was put to sea,

The sail was hoisted to it;

And the second morrow they arrived

On the white shores of Erin.

As soon as the sons of Uisnech landed in Erin, Ferchar Mac Ro sent

word to Connachar, king of Ulster, that the men whom he wanted were

come, and let him now show kindness to them. "Well," said Connachar,

"I did not expect that the sons of Uisnech would come, though I sent

for them, and I am not quite ready to receive them. But there is a

house down yonder where I keep strangers, and let them go down to it

today, and my house will be ready before them tomorrow."

But he that was up in the palace felt it long that he was not

getting word as to how matters were going on for those down in the

house of the strangers. "Go you, Gelban Grednach, son of Lochlin's

King, go you down and bring me information as to whether her former

hue and complexion are on Deirdre. If they be, I will take her out

with edge of blade and point of sword, and if not, let Naois, son of

Uisnech, have her for himself," said Connachar.

Gelban, the cheering and charming son of Lochlin's King, went down

to the place of the strangers, where the sons of Uisnech and Deirdre

were staying. He looked in through the bicker-hole on the door-leaf.

Now she that he gazed upon used to go into a crimson blaze of

blushes when any one looked at her. Naois looked at Deirdre and knew

that some one was looking at her from the back of the door-leaf. He

seized one of the dice on the table before him and fired it through

the bicker-hole, and knocked the eye out of Gelban Grednach the

Cheerful and Charming, right through the back of his head. Gelban

returned back to the palace of King Connachar.

"You were cheerful, charming, going away, but you are cheerless,

charmless, returning. What has happened to you, Gelban? But have you

seen her, and are Deirdre's hue and complexion as before?" said

Connachar.

"Well, I have seen Deirdre, and I saw her also truly, and while I

was looking at her through the bicker-hole on the door, Naois, son

of Uisnech, knocked out my eye with one of the dice in his hand. But

of a truth and verity, although he put out even my eye, it were my

desire still to remain looking at her with the other eye, were it

not for the hurry you told me to be in," said Gelban.

"That is true," said Connachar; "let three hundred bravo heroes go

down to the abode of the strangers, and let them bring hither to me

Deirdre, and kill the rest."

Connachar ordered three hundred active heroes to go down to the

abode of the strangers and to take Deirdre up with them and kill the

rest. "The pursuit is coming," said Deirdre.

"Yes, but I will myself go out and stop the pursuit," said Naois.

"It is not you, but we that will go," said Daring Drop, and Hardy

Holly, and Fiallan the Fair; "it is to us that our father entrusted

your defence from harm and danger when he himself left for home."

And the gallant youths, full noble, full manly, full handsome, with

beauteous brown locks, went forth girt with battle arms fit for

fierce fight and clothed with combat dress for fierce contest fit,

which was burnished, bright, brilliant, bladed, blazing, on which

were many pictures of beasts and birds and creeping things, lions

and lithe-limbed tigers, brown eagle and harrying hawk and adder

fierce; and the young heroes laid low three-thirds of the company.

Connachar came out in haste and cried with wrath: "Who is there on

the floor of fight, slaughtering my men?"

"We, the three sons of Ferchar Mac Ro."

"Well," said the king, "I will give a free bridge to your

grandfather, a free bridge to your father, and a free bridge each to

you three brothers, if you come over to my side tonight."

"Well, Connachar, we will not accept that offer from you nor thank

you for it. Greater by far do we prefer to go home to our father and

tell the deeds of heroism we have done, than accept anything on

these terms from you. Naois, son of Uisnech, and Allen and Arden are

as nearly related to yourself as they are to us, though you are so

keen to shed their blood, and you would shed our blood also,

Connachar." And the noble, manly, handsome youths with beauteous,

brown locks returned inside. "We are now," said they, "going home to

tell our father that you are now safe from the hands of the king."

And the youths all fresh and tall and lithe and beautiful, went home

to their father to tell that the sons of Uisnech were safe. This

happened at the parting of the day and night in the morning twilight

time, and Naois said they must go away, leave that house, and return

to Alba.

Naois and Deirdre, Allan and Arden started to return to Alba. Word

came to the king that the company he was in pursuit of were gone.

The king then sent for Duanan Gacha Druid, the best magician he had,

and he spoke to him as follows:--"Much wealth have I expended on

you, Duanan Gacha Druid, to give schooling and learning and magic

mystery to you, if these people get away from me today without care,

without consideration or regard for me, without chance of overtaking

them, and without power to stop them."

"Well, I will stop them," said the magician, "until the company you

send in pursuit return." And the magician placed a wood before them

through which no man could go, but the sons of Uisnech marched

through the wood without halt or hesitation, and Deirdre held on to

Naois's hand.

"What is the good of that? that will not do yet," said Connachar.

"They are off without bending of their feet or stopping of their

step, without heed or respect to me, and I am without power to keep

up to them or opportunity to turn them back this night."

"I will try another plan on them," said the druid; and he placed

before them a grey sea instead of a green plain. The three heroes

stripped and tied their clothes behind their heads, and Naois placed

Deirdre on the top of his shoulder.

They stretched their sides to the stream,

And sea and land were to them the same,

The rough grey ocean was the same

As meadow-land green and plain.

"Though that be good, O Duanan, it will not make the heroes return,"

said Connachar; "they are gone without regard for me, and without

honour to me, and without power on my part to pursue them or to

force them to return this night."

"We shall try another method on them, since yon one did not stop

them," said the druid. And the druid froze the grey ridged sea into

hard rocky knobs, the sharpness of sword being on the one edge and

the poison power of adders on the other. Then Arden cried that he

was getting tired, and nearly giving over. "Come you, Arden, and sit

on my right shoulder," said Naois. Arden came and sat, on Naois's

shoulder. Arden was long in this posture when he died; but though he

was dead Naois would not let him go. Allen then cried out that he

was getting faint and nigh-well giving up. When Naois heard his

prayer, he gave forth the piercing sigh of death, and asked Allen to

lay hold of him and he would bring him to land.

Allen was not long when the weakness of death came on him and his

hold failed. Naois looked around, and when he saw his two well-

beloved brothers dead, he cared not whether he lived or died, and he

gave forth the bitter sigh of death, and his heart burst.

"They are gone," said Duanan Gacha Druid to the king, "and I have

done what you desired me. The sons of Uisnech are dead and they will

trouble you no more; and you have your wife hale and whole to

yourself."

"Blessings for that upon you and may the good results accrue to me,

Duanan. I count it no loss what I spent in the schooling and

teaching of you. Now dry up the flood, and let me see if I can

behold Deirdre," said Connachar. And Duanan Gacha Druid dried up the

flood from the plain and the three sons of Uisnech were lying

together dead, without breath of life, side by side on the green

meadow plain and Deirdre bending above showering down her tears.

Then Deirdre said this lament: "Fair one, loved one, flower of

beauty; beloved upright and strong; beloved noble and modest

warrior. Fair one, blue-eyed, beloved of thy wife; lovely to me at

the trysting-place came thy clear voice through the woods of

Ireland. I cannot eat or smile henceforth. Break not to-day, my

heart: soon enough shall I lie within my grave. Strong are the waves

of sorrow, but stronger is sorrow's self, Connachar."

The people then gathered round the heroes' bodies and asked

Connachar what was to be done with the bodies. The order that he

gave was that they should dig a pit and put the three brothers in it

side by side.

Deirdre kept sitting on the brink of the grave, constantly asking

the gravediggers to dig the pit wide and free. When the bodies of

the brothers were put in the grave, Deirdre said:--

Come over hither, Naois, my love,

Let Arden close to Allen lie;

If the dead had any sense to feel,

Ye would have made a place for Deirdre.

The men did as she told them. She jumped into the grave and lay down

by Naois, and she was dead by his side.

The king ordered the body to be raised from out the grave and to be

buried on the other side of the loch. It was done as the king bade,

and the pit closed. Thereupon a fir shoot grew out of the grave of

Deirdre and a fir shoot from the grave of Naois, and the two shoots

united in a knot above the loch. The king ordered the shoots to be

cut down, and this was done twice, until, at the third time, the

wife whom the king had married caused him to stop this work of evil

and his vengeance on the remains of the dead.

MUNACHAR AND MANACHAR

There once lived a Munachar and a Manachar, a long time ago, and it

is a long time since it was, and if they were alive now they would

not be alive then. They went out together to pick raspberries, and

as many as Munachar used to pick Manachar used to eat. Munachar said

he must go look for a rod to make a gad to hang Manachar, who ate

his raspberries every one; and he came to the rod. "What news the

day?" said the rod. "It is my own news that I'm seeking. Going

looking for a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who

ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," said the rod, "until you get an axe to cut

me." He came to the axe. "What news to-day?" said the axe. "It's my

own news I'm seeking. Going looking for an axe, an axe to cut a rod,

a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my raspberries

every one."

"You will not get me," said the axe, "until you get a flag to edge

me." He came to the flag. "What news today?" says the flag. "It's my

own news I'm seeking. Going looking for a flag, flag to edge axe,

axe to cut a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who

ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," says the flag, "till you get water to wet

me." He came to the water. "What news to-day?" says the water. "It's

my own news that I'm seeking. Going looking for water, water to wet

flag, flag to edge axe, axe to cut a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad

to hang Manachar, who ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," said the water, "until you get a deer who

will swim me." He came to the deer. "What news to-day?" says the

deer. "It's my own news I'm seeking. Going looking for a deer, deer

to swim water, water to wet flag, flag to edge axe, axe to cut a

rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my

raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," said the deer, "until you get a hound who

will hunt me." He came to the hound. "What news to-day?" says the

hound. "It's my own news I'm seeking. Going looking for a hound,

hound to hunt deer, deer to swim water, water to wet flag, flag to

edge axe, axe to cut a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang

Manachar, who ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," said the hound, "until you get a bit of

butter to put in my claw." He came to the butter. "What news to-

day?" says the butter. "It's my own news I'm seeking. Going looking

for butter, butter to go in claw of hound, hound to hunt deer, deer

to swim water, water to wet flag, flag to edge axe, axe to cut a

rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my

raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," said the butter, "until you get a cat who

shall scrape me." He came to the cat. "What news to-day?" said the

cat. "It's my own news I'm seeking. Going looking for a cat, cat to

scrape butter, butter to go in claw of hound, hound to hunt deer,

deer to swim water, water to wet flag, flag to edge axe, axe to cut

a rod, a rod to make a gad, gad to hang Manachar, who ate my

raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," said the cat, "until you will get milk which

you will give me." He came to the cow. "What news to-day?" said the

cow. "It's my own news I'm seeking. Going looking for a cow, cow to

give me milk, milk I will give to the cat, cat to scrape butter,

butter to go in claw of hound, hound to hunt deer, deer to swim

water, water to wet flag, flag to edge axe, axe to cut a rod, a rod

to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my raspberries every

one."

"You will not get any milk from me," said the cow, "until you bring

me a whisp of straw from those threshers yonder." He came to the

threshers. "What news to-day?" said the threshers. "It's my own news

I'm seeking. Going looking for a whisp of straw from ye to give to

the cow, the cow to give me milk, milk I will give to the cat, cat

to scrape butter, butter to go in claw of hound, hound to hunt deer,

deer to swim water, water to wet flag, flag to edge axe, axe to cut

a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my

raspberries every one."

"You will not get any whisp of straw from us," said the threshers,

"until you bring us the makings of a cake from the miller over

yonder." He came to the miller. "What news to-day?" said the miller.

"It's my own news I'm seeking. Going looking for the makings of a

cake which I will give to the threshers, the threshers to give me a

whisp of straw, the whisp of straw I will give to the cow, the cow

to give me milk, milk I will give to the cat, cat to scrape butter,

butter to go in claw of hound, hound to hunt deer, deer to swim

water, water to wet flag, flag to edge axe, axe to cut a rod, a rod

to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my raspberries every

one."

"You will not get any makings of a cake from me," said the miller,

"till you bring me the full of that sieve of water from the river

over there."

He took the sieve in his hand and went over to the river, but as

often as ever he would stoop and fill it with water, the moment he

raised it the water would run out of it again, and sure, if he had

been there from that day till this, he never could have filled it. A

crow went flying by him, over his head. "Daub! daub!" said the crow.

"My blessings on ye, then," said Munachar, "but it's the good advice

you have," and he took the red clay and the daub that was by the

brink, and he rubbed it to the bottom of the sieve, until all the

holes were filled, and then the sieve held the water, and he brought

the water to the miller, and the miller gave him the makings of a

cake, and he gave the makings of the cake to the threshers, and the

threshers gave him a whisp of straw, and he gave the whisp of straw

to the cow, and the cow gave him milk, the milk he gave to the cat,

the cat scraped the butter, the butter went into the claw of the

hound, the hound hunted the deer, the deer swam the water, the water

wet the flag, the flag sharpened the axe, the axe cut the rod, and

the rod made a gad, and when he had it ready to hang Manachar he

found that Manachar had BURST.

GOLD-TREE AND SILVER-TREE

Once upon a time there was a king who had a wife, whose name was

Silver-tree, and a daughter, whose name was Gold-tree. On a certain

day of the days, Gold-tree and Silver-tree went to a glen, where

there was a well, and in it there was a trout.

Said Silver-tree, "Troutie, bonny little fellow, am not I the most

beautiful queen in the world?"

"Oh! indeed you are not."

"Who then?"

"Why, Gold-tree, your daughter."

Silver-tree went home, blind with rage. She lay down on the bed, and

vowed she would never be well until she could get the heart and the

liver of Gold-tree, her daughter, to eat.

At nightfall the king came home, and it was told him that Silver-

tree, his wife, was very ill. He went where she was, and asked her

what was wrong with her.

"Oh! only a thing--which you may heal if you like."

"Oh! indeed there is nothing at all which I could do for you that I

would not do."

"If I get the heart and the liver of Gold-tree, my daughter, to eat,

I shall be well."

Now it happened about this time that the son of a great king had

come from abroad to ask Gold-tree for marrying. The king now agreed

to this, and they went abroad.

The king then went and sent his lads to the hunting-hill for a he-

goat, and he gave its heart and its liver to his wife to eat; and

she rose well and healthy.

A year after this Silver-tree went to the glen, where there was the

well in which there was the trout.

"Troutie, bonny little fellow," said she, "am not I the most

beautiful queen in the world?"

"Oh! indeed you are not."

"Who then?"

"Why, Gold-tree, your daughter."

"Oh! well, it is long since she was living. It is a year since I ate

her heart and liver."

"Oh! indeed she is not dead. She is married to a great prince

abroad."

Silver-tree went home, and begged the king to put the long-ship in

order, and said, "I am going to see my dear Gold-tree, for it is so

long since I saw her." The long-ship was put in order, and they went

away.

It was Silver-tree herself that was at the helm, and she steered the

ship so well that they were not long at all before they arrived.

The prince was out hunting on the hills. Gold-tree knew the long-

ship of her father coming.

"Oh!" said she to the servants, "my mother is coming, and she will

kill me."

"She shall not kill you at all; we will lock you in a room where she

cannot get near you."

This is how it was done; and when Silver-tree came ashore, she began

to cry out:

"Come to meet your own mother, when she comes to see you," Gold-tree

said that she could not, that she was locked in the room, and that

she could not get out of it.

"Will you not put out," said Silver-tree, "your little finger

through the key-hole, so that your own mother may give a kiss to

it?"

She put out her little finger, and Silver-tree went and put a

poisoned stab in it, and Gold-tree fell dead.

When the prince came home, and found Gold-tree dead, he was in great

sorrow, and when he saw how beautiful she was, he did not bury her

at all, but he locked her in a room where nobody would get near her.

In the course of time he married again, and the whole house was

under the hand of this wife but one room, and he himself always kept

the key of that room. On a certain day of the days he forgot to take

the key with him, and the second wife got into the room. What did

she see there but the most beautiful woman that she ever saw.

She began to turn and try to wake her, and she noticed the poisoned

stab in her finger. She took the stab out, and Gold-tree rose alive,

as beautiful as she was ever.

At the fall of night the prince came home from the hunting-hill,

looking very downcast.

"What gift," said his wife, "would you give me that I could make you

laugh?"

"Oh! indeed, nothing could make me laugh, except Gold-tree were to

come alive again."

"Well, you'll find her alive down there in the room."

When the prince saw Gold-tree alive he made great rejoicings, and he

began to kiss her, and kiss her, and kiss her. Said the second wife,

"Since she is the first one you had it is better for you to stick to

her, and I will go away."

"Oh! indeed you shall not go away, but I shall have both of you."

At the end of the year, Silver-tree went to the glen, where there

was the well, in which there was the trout.

"Troutie, bonny little fellow," said she, "am not I the most

beautiful queen in the world?"

"Oh! indeed you are not."

"Who then?"

"Why, Gold-tree, your daughter."

"Oh! well, she is not alive. It is a year since I put the poisoned

stab into her finger."

"Oh! indeed she is not dead at all, at all."

Silver-tree, went home, and begged the king to put the long-ship in

order, for that she was going to see her dear Gold-tree, as it was

so long since she saw her. The long-ship was put in order, and they

went away. It was Silver-tree herself that was at the helm, and she

steered the ship so well that they were not long at all before they

arrived.

The prince was out hunting on the hills. Gold-tree knew her father's

ship coming.

"Oh!" said she, "my mother is coming, and she will kill me."

"Not at all," said the second wife; "we will go down to meet her."

Silver-tree came ashore. "Come down, Gold-tree, love," said she,

"for your own mother has come to you with a precious drink."

"It is a custom in this country," said the second wife, "that the

person who offers a drink takes a draught out of it first."

Silver-tree put her mouth to it, and the second wife went and struck

it so that some of it went down her throat, and she fell dead. They

had only to carry her home a dead corpse and bury her.

The prince and his two wives were long alive after this, pleased and

peaceful.

I left them there.

KING O'TOOLE AND HIS GOOSE

Och, I thought all the world, far and near, had heerd o' King

O'Toole--well, well, but the darkness of mankind is untellible!

Well, sir, you must know, as you didn't hear it afore, that there

was a king, called King O'Toole, who was a fine old king in the old

ancient times, long ago; and it was he that owned the churches in

the early days. The king, you see, was the right sort; he was the

real boy, and loved sport as he loved his life, and hunting in

particular; and from the rising o' the sun, up he got, and away he

went over the mountains after the deer; and fine times they were.

Well, it was all mighty good, as long as the king had his health;

but, you see, in course of time the king grew old, by raison he was

stiff in his limbs, and when he got stricken in years, his heart

failed him, and he was lost entirely for want o' diversion, because

he couldn't go a-hunting no longer; and, by dad, the poor king was

obliged at last to get a goose to divert him. Oh, you may laugh, if

you like, but it's truth I'm telling you; and the way the goose

diverted him was this-a-way: You see, the goose used to swim across

the lake, and go diving for trout, and catch fish on a Friday for

the king, and flew every other day round about the lake, diverting

the poor king. All went on mighty well until, by dad, the goose got

stricken in years like her master, and couldn't divert him no

longer, and then it was that the poor king was lost entirely. The

king was walkin' one mornin' by the edge of the lake, lamentin' his

cruel fate, and thinking of drowning himself, that could get no

diversion in life, when all of a sudden, turning round the corner,

who should he meet but a mighty decent young man coming up to him.

"God save you," says the king to the young man.

"God save you kindly, King O'Toole," says the young man.

"True for you," says the king. "I am King O'Toole," says he, "prince

and plennypennytinchery of these parts," says he; "but how came ye

to know that?" says he.

"Oh, never mind," says St. Kavin.

You see it was Saint Kavin, sure enough--the saint himself in

disguise, and nobody else. "Oh, never mind," says he, "I know more

than that. May I make bold to ask how is your goose, King O'Toole?"

says he.

"Blur-an-agers, how came ye to know about my goose?" says the king.

"Oh, no matter; I was given to understand it," says Saint Kavin.

After some more talk the king says, "What are you?"

"I'm an honest man," says Saint Kavin.

"Well, honest man," says the king, "and how is it you make your

money so aisy?"

"By makin' old things as good as new," says Saint Kavin.

"Is it a tinker you are?" says the king.

"No," says the saint; "I'm no tinker by trade, King O'Toole; I've a

better trade than a tinker," says he--"what would you say," says he,

"if I made your old goose as good as new?"

My dear, at the word of making his goose as good as new, you'd think

the poor old king's eyes were ready to jump out of his head. With

that the king whistled, and down came the poor goose, just like a

hound, waddling up to the poor cripple, her master, and as like him

as two peas. The minute the saint clapt his eyes on the goose, "I'll

do the job for you," says he, "King O'Toole."

"By _Jaminee_!" says King O'Toole, "if you do, I'll say you're

the cleverest fellow in the seven parishes."

"Oh, by dad," says St. Kavin, "you must say more nor that--my horn's

not so soft all out," says he, "as to repair your old goose for

nothing; what'll you gi' me if I do the job for you?--that's the

chat," says St. Kavin.

"I'll give you whatever you ask," says the king; "isn't that fair?"

"Divil a fairer," says the saint; "that's the way to do business.

Now," says he, "this is the bargain I'll make with you, King

O'Toole: will you gi' me all the ground the goose flies over, the

first offer, after I make her as good as new?"

"I will," says the king.

"You won't go back o' your word?" says St. Kavin.

"Honour bright!" says King O'Toole, holding out his fist.

"Honour bright!" says St. Kavin, back agin, "it's a bargain. Come

here!" says he to the poor old goose--"come here, you unfortunate

ould cripple, and it's I that'll make you the sporting bird." With

that, my dear, he took up the goose by the two wings--"Criss o' my

cross an you," says he, markin' her to grace with the blessed sign

at the same minute--and throwing her up in the air, "whew," says he,

jist givin' her a blast to help her; and with that, my jewel, she

took to her heels, flyin' like one o' the eagles themselves, and

cutting as many capers as a swallow before a shower of rain.

Well, my dear, it was a beautiful sight to see the king standing

with his mouth open, looking at his poor old goose flying as light

as a lark, and better than ever she was: and when she lit at his

feet, patted her on the head, and "_Ma vourneen_," says he,

"but you are the _darlint_ o' the world."

"And what do you say to me," says 'Saint Kavin, "for making her the

like?"

"By Jabers," says the king, "I say nothing beats the art o' man,

barring the bees."

"And do you say no more nor that?" says Saint Kavin.

"And that I'm beholden to you," says the king.

"But will you gi'e me all the ground the goose flew over?" says

Saint Kavin.

"I will," says King O'Toole, "and you're welcome to it," says he,

"though it's the last acre I have to give."

"But you'll keep your word true?" says the saint.

"As true as the sun," says the king.

"It's well for you, King O'Toole, that you said that word," says he;

"for if you didn't say that word, the devil the bit o' your goose

would ever fly agin."

When the king was as good as his word, Saint Kavin was pleased with

him, and then it was that he made himself known to the king. "And,"

says he, "King O'Toole, you're a decent man, for I only came here to

try you. You don't know me," says he, "because I'm disguised."

"Musha! then," says the king, "who are you?"

"I'm Saint Kavin," said the saint, blessing himself.

"Oh, queen of heaven!" says the king, making the sign of the cross

between his eyes, and falling down on his knees before the saint;

"is it the great Saint Kavin," says he, "that I've been discoursing

all this time without knowing it," says he, "all as one as if he was

a lump of a _gossoon_?--and so you're a saint?" says the king.

"I am," says Saint Kavin.

"By Jabers, I thought I was only talking to a dacent boy," says the

king.

"Well, you know the difference now," says the saint. "I'm Saint

Kavin," says he, "the greatest of all the saints.".

And so the king had his goose as good as new, to divert him as long

as he lived: and the saint supported him after he came into his

property, as I told you, until the day of his death--and that was

soon after; for the poor goose thought he was catching a trout one

Friday; but, my jewel, it was a mistake he made--and instead of a

trout, it was a thieving horse-eel; and instead of the goose killing

a trout for the king's supper--by dad, the eel killed the king's

goose--and small blame to him; but he didn't ate her, because he

darn't ate what Saint Kavin had laid his blessed hands on.

THE WOOING OF OLWEN

Shortly after the birth of Kilhuch, the son of King Kilyth, his

mother died. Before her death she charged the king that he should

not take a wife again until he saw a briar with two blossoms upon

her grave, and the king sent every morning to see if anything were

growing thereon. After many years the briar appeared, and he took to

wife the widow of King Doged. She foretold to her stepson, Kilhuch,

that it was his destiny to marry a maiden named Olwen, or none

other, and he, at his father's bidding, went to the court of his

cousin, King Arthur, to ask as a boon the hand of the maiden. He

rode upon a grey steed with shell-formed hoofs, having a bridle of

linked gold, and a saddle also of gold. In his hand were two spears

of silver, well-tempered, headed with steel, of an edge to wound the

wind and cause blood to flow, and swifter than the fall of the dew-

drop from the blade of reed grass upon the earth when the dew of

June is at its heaviest. A gold-hilted sword was on his thigh, and

the blade was of gold, having inlaid upon it a cross of the hue of

the lightning of heaven. Two brindled, white-breasted greyhounds,

with strong collars of rubies, sported round him, and his courser

cast up four sods with its four hoofs like four swallows about his

head. Upon the steed was a four-cornered cloth of purple, and an

apple of gold was at each corner. Precious gold was upon the

stirrups and shoes, and the blade of grass bent not beneath them, so

light was the courser's tread as he went towards the gate of King

Arthur's palace.

Arthur received him with great ceremony, and asked him to remain at

the palace; but the youth replied that he came not to consume meat

and drink, but to ask a boon of the king.

Then said Arthur, "Since thou wilt not remain here, chieftain, thou

shalt receive the boon, whatsoever thy tongue may name, as far as

the wind dries and the rain moistens, and the sun revolves, and the

sea encircles, and the earth extends, save only my ships and my

mantle, my sword, my lance, my shield, my dagger, and Guinevere my

wife."

So Kilhuch craved of him the hand of Olwen, the daughter of

Yspathaden Penkawr, and also asked the favour and aid of all

Arthur's court.

Then said Arthur, "O chieftain, I have never heard of the maiden of

whom thou speakest, nor of her kindred, but I will gladly send

messengers in search of her."

And the youth said, "I will willingly grant from this night to that

at the end of the year to do so."

Then Arthur sent messengers to every land within his dominions to

seek for the maiden; and at the end of the year Arthur's messengers

returned without having gained any knowledge or information

concerning Olwen more than on the first day.

Then said Kilhuch, "Every one has received his boon, and I yet lack

mine. I will depart and bear away thy honour with me."

Then said Kay, "Rash chieftain! dost thou reproach Arthur? Go with

us, and we will not part until thou dost either confess that the

maiden exists not in the world, or until we obtain her."

Thereupon Kay rose up.

Kay had this peculiarity, that his breath lasted nine nights and

nine days under water, and he could exist nine nights and nine days

without sleep. A wound from Kay's sword no physician could heal.

Very subtle was Kay. When it pleased him he could render himself as

tall as the highest tree in the forest. And he had another

peculiarity--so great was the heat of his nature, that, when it

rained hardest, whatever he carried remained dry for a handbreadth

above and a handbreadth below his hand; and when his companions were

coldest, it was to them as fuel with which to light their fire.

And Arthur called Bedwyr, who never shrank from any enterprise upon

which Kay was bound. None was equal to him in swiftness throughout

this island except Arthur and Drych Ail Kibthar. And although he was

one-handed, three warriors could not shed blood faster than he on

the field of battle. Another property he had; his lance would

produce a wound equal to those of nine opposing lances.

And Arthur called to Kynthelig the guide. "Go thou upon this

expedition with the Chieftain." For as good a guide was he in a land

which he had never seen as he was in his own.

He called Gwrhyr Gwalstawt Ieithoedd, because he knew all tongues.

He called Gwalchmai, the son of Gwyar, because he never returned

home without achieving the adventure of which he went in quest. He

was the best of footmen and the best of knights. He was nephew to

Arthur, the son of his sister, and his cousin.

And Arthur called Menw, the son of Teirgwaeth, in order that if they

went into a savage country, he might cast a charm and an illusion

over them, so that none might see them whilst they could see every

one.

They journeyed on till they came to a vast open plain, wherein they

saw a great castle, which was the fairest in the world. But so far

away was it that at night it seemed no nearer, and they scarcely

reached it on the third day. When they came before the castle they

beheld a vast flock of sheep, boundless and without end. They told

their errand to the herdsman, who endeavoured to dissuade them,

since none who had come thither on that quest had returned alive.

They gave to him a gold ring, which he conveyed to his wife, telling

her who the visitors were.

On the approach of the latter, she ran out with joy to greet them,

and sought to throw her arms about their necks. But Kay, snatching a

billet out of the pile, placed the log between her two hands, and

she squeezed it so that it became a twisted coil.

"O woman," said Kay, "if thou hadst squeezed me thus, none could

ever again have set their affections on me. Evil love were this."

They entered the house, and after meat she told them that the maiden

Olwen came there every Saturday to wash. They pledged their faith

that they would not harm her, and a message was sent to her. So

Olwen came, clothed in a robe of flame-coloured silk, and with a

collar of ruddy gold, in which were emeralds and rubies, about her

neck. More golden was her hair than the flower of the broom, and her

skin was whiter than the foam of the wave, and fairer were her hands

and her fingers than the blossoms of the wood anemone amidst the

spray of the meadow fountain. Brighter were her glances than those

of a falcon; her bosom was more snowy than the breast of the white

swan, her cheek redder than the reddest roses. Whoso beheld was

filled with her love. Four white trefoils sprang up wherever she

trod, and therefore was she called Olwen.

Then Kilhuch, sitting beside her on a bench, told her his love, and

she said that he would win her as his bride if he granted whatever

her father asked.

Accordingly they went up to the castle and laid their request before

him.

"Raise up the forks beneath my two eyebrows which have fallen over

my eyes," said Yspathaden Penkawr, "that I may see the fashion of my

son-in-law."

They did so, and he promised, them an answer on the morrow. But as

they were going forth, Yspathaden seized one of the three poisoned

darts that lay beside him and threw it back after them.

And Bedwyr caught it and flung it back, wounding Yspathaden in the

knee.

Then said he, "A cursed ungentle son-in-law, truly. I shall ever

walk the worse for his rudeness. This poisoned iron pains me like

the bite of a gad-fly. Cursed be the smith who forged it, and the

anvil whereon it was wrought."

The knights rested in the house of Custennin the herdsman, but the

next day at dawn they returned to the castle and renewed their

request.

Yspathaden said it was necessary that he should consult Olwen's four

great-grandmothers and her four great-grand-sires.

The knights again withdrew, and as they were going he took the

second dart and cast it after them.

But Menw caught it and flung it back, piercing Yspathaden's breast

with it, so that it came out at the small of his back.

"A cursed ungentle son-in-law, truly," says he, "the hard iron pains

me like the bite of a horse-leech. Cursed be the hearth whereon it

was heated! Henceforth whenever I go up a hill, I shall have a scant

in my breath and a pain in my chest."

On the third day the knights returned once more to the palace, and

Yspathaden took the third dart and cast it at them.

But Kilhuch caught it and threw it vigorously, and wounded him

through the eyeball, so that the dart came out at the back of his

head.

"A cursed ungentle son-in-law, truly. As long as I remain alive my

eyesight will be the worse. Whenever I go against the wind my eyes

will water, and peradventure my head will burn, and I shall have a

giddiness every new moon. Cursed be the fire in which it was forged.

Like the bite of a mad dog is the stroke of this poisoned iron."

And they went to meat.

Said Yspathaden Penkawr, "Is it thou that seekest my daughter?"

"It is I," answered Kilhuch.

"I must have thy pledge that thou wilt not do towards me otherwise

than is just, and when I have gotten that which I shall name, my

daughter thou shalt have."

"I promise thee that willingly," said Kilhuch, "name what thou

wilt."

"I will do so," said he.

"Throughout the world there is not a comb or scissors with which I

can arrange my hair, on, account of its rankness, except the comb

and scissors that are between the two ears of Turch Truith, the son

of Prince Tared. He will not give them of his own free will, and

thou wilt not be able to compel him."

"It will be easy for me to compass this, although thou mayest think

that it will not be easy."

"Though thou get this, there is yet that which thou wilt not get. It

will not be possible to hunt Turch Truith without Drudwyn the whelp

of Greid, the son of Eri, and know that throughout the world there

is not a huntsman who can hunt with this dog, except Mabon the son

of Modron. He was taken from his mother when three nights old, and

it is not known where he now is, nor whether he is living or dead."

"It will be easy for me to compass this, although thou mayest think

that it will not be easy."

"Though thou get this, there is yet that which thou wilt not get.

Thou wilt not get Mabon, for it is not known where he is, unless

thou find Eidoel, his kinsman in blood, the son of Aer. For it would

be useless to seek for him. He is his cousin."

"It will be easy for me to compass this, although thou mayest think

that it will not be easy. Horses shall I have, and chivalry; and my

lord and kinsman Arthur will obtain for me all these things. And I

shall gain thy daughter, and thou shalt lose thy life."

"Go forward. And thou shalt not be chargeable for food or raiment

for my daughter while thou art seeking these things; and when thou

hast compassed all these marvels, thou shalt have my daughter for

wife."

Now, when they told Arthur how they had sped, Arthur said, "Which of

these marvels will it be best for us to seek first?"

"It will be best," said they, "to seek Mabon the son of Modron; and

he will not be found unless we first find Eidoel, the son of Aer,

his kinsman."

Then Arthur rose up, and the warriors of the Islands of Britain with

him, to seek for Eidoel; and they proceeded until they came before

the castle of Glivi, where Eidoel was imprisoned.

Glivi stood on the summit of his castle, and said, "Arthur, what

requirest thou of me, since nothing remains to me in this fortress,

and I have neither joy nor pleasure in it; neither wheat nor oats?"

Said Arthur, "Not to injure thee came I hither, but to seek for the

prisoner that is with thee."

"I will give thee my prisoner, though I had not thought to give him

up to any one; and therewith shalt thou have my support and my aid."

His followers then said unto Arthur, "Lord, go thou home, thou canst

not proceed with thy host in quest of such small adventures as

these."

Then said Arthur, "It were well for thee, Gwrhyr Gwalstawt

Ieithoedd, to go upon this quest, for thou knowest all languages,

and art familiar with those of the birds and the beasts. Go, Eidoel,

likewise with my men in search of thy cousin. And as for you, Kay

and Bedwyr, I have hope of whatever adventure ye are in quest of,

that ye will achieve it. Achieve ye this adventure for me."

These went forward until they came to the Ousel of Cilgwri, and

Gwrhyr adjured her for the sake of Heaven, saying, "Tell me if thou

knowest aught of Mabon, the son of Modron, who was taken when three

nights old from between his mother and the wall."

And the Ousel answered, "When I first came here there was a smith's

anvil in this place, and I was then a young bird, and from that time

no work has been done upon it, save the pecking of my beak every

evening, and now there is not so much as the size of a nut remaining

thereof; yet the vengeance of Heaven be upon me if during all that

time I have ever heard of the man for whom you inquire.

Nevertheless, there is a race of animals who were formed before me,

and I will be your guide to them."

So they proceeded to the place where was the Stag of Redynvre.

"Stag of Redynvre, behold we are come to thee, an embassy from

Arthur, for we have not heard of any animal older than thou. Say,

knowest thou aught of Mabon?"

The stag said, "When first I came hither there was a plain all

around me, without any trees save one oak sapling, which grew up to

be an oak with an hundred branches. And that oak has since perished,

so that now nothing remains of it but the withered stump; and from

that day to this I have been here, yet have I never heard of the man

for whom you inquire. Nevertheless, I will be your guide to the

place where there is an animal which was formed before I was."

So they proceeded to the place where was the Owl of Cwm Cawlwyd, to

inquire of him concerning Mabon.

And the owl said, "If I knew I would tell you. When first I came

hither, the wide valley you see was a wooded glen. And a race of men

came and rooted it up. And there grew there a second wood, and this

wood is the third. My wings, are they not withered stumps? Yet all

this time, even until to-day, I have never heard of the man for whom

you inquire. Nevertheless, I will be the guide of Arthur's embassy

until you come to the place where is the oldest animal in this

world, and the one who has travelled most, the eagle of Gwern Abwy."

When they came to the eagle, Gwrhyr asked it the same question; but

it replied, "I have been here for a great space of time, and when I

first came hither there was a rock here, from the top of which I

pecked at the stars every evening, and now it is not so much as a

span high. From that day to this I have been here, and I have never

heard of the man for whom you inquire, except once when I went in

search of food as far as Llyn Llyw. And when I came there, I struck

my talons into a salmon, thinking he would serve me as food for a

long time. But he drew me into the deep, and I was scarcely able to

escape from him. After that I went with my whole kindred to attack

him and to try to destroy him, but he sent messengers and made peace

with me, and came and besought me to take fifty fish-spears out of

his back. Unless he know something of him whom you seek, I cannot

tell you who may. However, I will guide you to the place where he

is."

So they went thither, and the eagle said, "Salmon of Llyn Llyw, I

have come to thee with an embassy from Arthur to ask thee if thou

knowest aught concerning Mabon, the son of Modron, who was taken

away at three nights old from between his mother and the wall."

And the salmon answered, "As much as I know I will tell thee. With

every tide I go along the river upwards, until I come near to the

walls of Gloucester, and there have I found such wrong as I never

found elsewhere; and to the end that ye may give credence thereto,

let one of you go thither upon each of my two shoulders."

So Kay and Gwrhyr went upon his shoulders, and they proceeded till

they came to the wall of the prison, and they heard a great wailing

and lamenting from the dungeon. Said Gwrhyr, "Who is it that laments

in this house of stone?"

And the voice replied, "Alas, it is Mabon, the son of Modron, who is

here imprisoned!"

Then they returned and told Arthur, who, summoning his warriors,

attacked the castle.

And whilst the fight was going on, Kay and Bedwyr, mounting on the

shoulders of the fish, broke into the dungeon, and brought away with

them Mabon, the son of Modron.

Then Arthur summoned unto him all the warriors that were in the

three islands of Britain and in the three islands adjacent; and he

went as far as Esgeir Ocrvel in Ireland where the Boar Truith was

with his seven young pigs. And the dogs were let loose upon him from

all sides. But he wasted the fifth part of Ireland, and then set

forth through the sea to Wales. Arthur and his hosts, and his

horses, and his dogs followed hard after him. But ever and awhile

the boar made a stand, and many a champion of Arthur's did he slay.

Throughout all Wales did Arthur follow him, and one by one the

young pigs were killed. At length, when he would fain have crossed

the Severn and escaped into Cornwall, Mabon the son of Modron came

up with him, and Arthur fell upon him together with the champions of

Britain. On the one side Mabon the son of Modron spurred his steed

and snatched his razor from him, whilst Kay came up with him on the

other side and took from him the scissors. But before they could

obtain the comb he had regained the ground with his feet, and from

the moment that he reached the shore, neither dog nor man nor horse

could overtake him until he came to Cornwall. There Arthur and his

hosts followed in his track until they overtook him in Cornwall.

Hard had been their trouble before, but it was child's play to what

they met in seeking the comb. Win it they did, and the Boar Truith

they hunted into the deep sea, and it was never known whither he

went.

Then Kilhuch set forward, and as many as wished ill to Yspathaden

Penkawr. And they took the marvels with them to his court. And Kaw

of North Britain came and shaved his beard, skin and flesh clean off

to the very bone from ear to ear.

"Art thou shaved, man?" said Kilhuch.

"I am shaved," answered he.

"Is thy daughter mine now?"

"She is thine, but therefore needst thou not thank me, but Arthur

who hath accomplished this for thee. By my free will thou shouldst

never have had her, for with her I lose my life."

Then Goreu the son of Custennin seized him by the hair of his head

and dragged him after him to the keep, and cut off his head and

placed it on a stake on the citadel.

Thereafter the hosts of Arthur dispersed themselves each man to his

own country.

Thus did Kilhuch son of Kelython win to wife Olwen, the daughter of

Yspathaden Penkawr.

JACK AND HIS COMRADES

Once there was a poor widow, as often there has been, and she had

one son. A very scarce summer came, and they didn't know how they'd

live till the new potatoes would be fit for eating. So Jack said to

his mother one evening, "Mother, bake my cake, and kill my hen, till

I go seek my fortune; and if I meet it, never fear but I'll soon be

back to share it with you."

So she did as he asked her, and he set out at break of day on his

journey. His mother came along with him to the yard gate, and says

she, "Jack, which would you rather have, half the cake and half the

hen with my blessing, or the whole of 'em with my curse?"

"O musha, mother," says Jack, "why do you ax me that question? sure

you know I wouldn't have your curse and Damer's estate along with

it."

"Well, then, Jack," says she, "here's the whole lot of 'em with my

thousand blessings along with them." So she stood on the yard fence

and blessed him as far as her eyes could see him.

Well, he went along and along till he was tired, and ne'er a

farmer's house he went into wanted a boy. At last his road led by

the side of a bog, and there was a poor ass up to his shoulders near

a big bunch of grass he was striving to come at.

"Ah, then, Jack asthore," says he, "help me out or I'll be drowned."

"Never say't twice," says Jack, and be pitched in big stones and

sods into the slob, till the ass got good ground under him.

"Thank you, Jack," says he, when he was out on the hard road; "I'll

do as much for you another time. Where are you going?"

"Faith, I'm going to seek my fortune till harvest comes in, God

bless it!"

"And if you like," says the ass, "I'll go along with you; who knows

what luck we may have!"

"With all my heart, it's getting late, let us be jogging."

Well, they were going through a village, and a whole army of

gossoons were hunting a poor dog with a kettle tied to his tail. He

ran up to Jack for protection, and the ass let such a roar out of

him, that the little thieves took to their heels as if the ould boy

was after them.

"More power to you, Jack," says the dog.

"I'm much obleeged to you: where is the baste and yourself going?"

"We're going to seek our fortune till harvest comes in."

"And wouldn't I be proud to go with you!" says the dog, "and get rid

of them ill conducted boys; purshuin' to 'em."

"Well, well, throw your tail over your arm, and come along."

They got outside the town, and sat down under an old wall, and Jack

pulled out his bread and meat, and shared with the dog; and the ass

made his dinner on a bunch of thistles. While they were eating and

chatting, what should come by but a poor half-starved cat, and the

moll-row he gave out of him would make your heart ache.

"You look as if you saw the tops of nine houses since breakfast,"

says Jack; "here's a bone and something on it."

"May your child never know a hungry belly!" says Tom; "it's myself

that's in need of your kindness. May I be so bold as to ask where

yez are all going?"

"We're going to seek our fortune till the harvest comes in, and you

may join us if you like."

"And that I'll do with a heart and a half," says the cat, "and

thank'ee for asking me."'

Off they set again, and just as the shadows of the trees were three

times as long as themselves, they heard a great cackling in a field

inside the road, and out over the ditch jumped a fox with a fine

black cock in his mouth.

"Oh, you anointed villain!" says the ass, roaring like thunder.

"At him, good dog!" says Jack, and the word wasn't out of his mouth

when Coley was in full sweep after the Red Dog. Reynard dropped his

prize like a hot potato, and was off like shot, and the poor cock

came back fluttering and trembling to Jack and his comrades.

"O musha, naybours!" says he, "wasn't it the height o' luck that

threw you in my way! Maybe I won't remember your kindness if ever I

find you in hardship; and where in the world are you all going?"

"We're going to seek our fortune till the harvest comes in; you may

join our party if you like, and sit on Neddy's crupper when your

legs and wings are tired."

Well, the march began again, and just as the sun was gone down they

looked around, and there was neither cabin nor farm house in sight.

"Well, well," says Jack, "the worse luck now the better another

time, and it's only a summer night after all. We'll go into the

wood, and make our bed on the long grass."

No sooner said than done. Jack stretched himself on a bunch of dry

grass, the ass lay near him, the dog and cat lay in the ass's warm

lap, and the cock went to roost in the next tree.

Well, the soundness of deep sleep was over them all, when the cock

took a notion of crowing.

"Bother you, Black Cock!" says the ass: "you disturbed me from as

nice a wisp of hay as ever I tasted. What's the matter?"

"It's daybreak that's the matter: don't you see light yonder?"

"I see a light indeed," says Jack, "but it's from a candle it's

coming, and not from the sun. As you've roused us we may as well go

over, and ask for lodging."

So they all shook themselves, and went on through grass, and rocks,

and briars, till they got down into a hollow, and there was the

light coming through the shadow, and along with it came singing, and

laughing, and cursing.

"Easy, boys!" says Jack: "walk on your tippy toes till we see what

sort of people we have to deal with."

So they crept near the window, and there they saw six robbers

inside, with pistols, and blunderbushes, and cutlashes, sitting at a

table, eating roast beef and pork, and drinking mulled beer, and

wine, and whisky punch.

"Wasn't that a fine haul we made at the Lord of Dunlavin's!" says

one ugly-looking thief with his mouth full, "and it's little we'd

get only for the honest porter! here's his purty health!"

"The porter's purty health!" cried out every one of them, and Jack

bent his finger at his comrades.

"Close your ranks, my men," says he in a whisper, "and let every one

mind the word of command."

So the ass put his fore-hoofs on the sill of the window, the dog got

on the ass's head, the cat on the dog's head, and the cock on the

cat's head. Then Jack made a sign, and they all sung out like mad.

"Hee-haw, hee-haw!" roared the ass; "bow-wow!" barked the dog;

"meaw-meaw!" cried the cat; "cock-a-doodle-doo!" crowed the cock.

"Level your pistols!" cried Jack, "and make smithereens of 'em.

Don't leave a mother's son of 'em alive; present, fire!" With that

they gave another halloo, and smashed every pane in the window. The

robbers were frightened out of their lives. They blew out the

candles, threw down the table, and skelped out at the back door as

if they were in earnest, and never drew rein till they were in the

very heart of the wood.

Jack and his party got into the room, closed the shutters, lighted

the candles, and ate and drank till hunger and thirst were gone.

Then they lay down to rest;--Jack in the bed, the ass in the stable,

the dog on the door-mat, the cat by the fire, and the cock on the

perch.

At first the robbers were very glad to find themselves safe in the

thick wood, but they soon began to get vexed.

"This damp grass is very different from our warm room," says one.

"I was obliged to drop a fine pig's foot," says another.

"I didn't get a tayspoonful of my last tumbler," says another.

"And all the Lord of Dunlavin's gold and silver that we left

behind!" says the last.

"I think I'll venture back," says the captain, "and see if we can

recover anything."

"That's a good boy!" said they all, and away he went.

The lights were all out, and so he groped his way to the fire, and

there the cat flew in his face, and tore him with teeth and claws.

He let a roar out of him, and made for the room door, to look for a

candle inside. He trod on the dog's tail, and if he did, he got the

marks of his teeth in his arms, and legs, and thighs.

"Thousand murders!" cried he; "I wish I was out of this unlucky

house."

When he got to the street door, the cock dropped down upon him with

his claws and bill, and what the cat and dog done to him was only a

flay-bite to what he got from the cock.

"Oh, tattheration to you all, you unfeeling vagabones!" says he,

when he recovered his breath; and he staggered and spun round and

round till he reeled into the stable, back foremost, but the ass

received him with a kick on the broadest part of his small clothes,

and laid him comfortably on the dunghill.

When he came to himself, he scratched his head, and began to think

what happened him; and as soon as he found that his legs were able

to carry him, he crawled away, dragging one foot after another, till

he reached the wood.

"Well, well," cried them all, when he came within hearing, "any

chance of our property?"

"You may say chance," says he, "and it's itself is the poor chance

all out. Ah, will any of you pull a bed of dry grass for me? All the

sticking-plaster in Enniscorthy will be too little for the cuts and

bruises I have on me. Ah, if you only knew what I have gone through

for you! When I got to the kitchen fire, looking for a sod of

lighted turf, what should be there but an old woman carding flax,

and you may see the marks she left on my face with the cards. I made

to the room door as fast as I could, and who should I stumble over

but a cobbler and his seat, and if he did not work at me with his

awls and his pinchers you may call me a rogue. Well, I got away from

him somehow, but when I was passing through the door, it must be the

divel himself that pounced down on me with his claws, and his teeth,

that were equal to sixpenny nails, and his wings--ill luck be in his

road! Well, at last I reached the stable, and there, by way of

salute, I got a pelt from a sledge-hammer that sent me half a mile

off. If you don't believe me, I'll give you leave to go and judge

for yourselves."

"Oh, my poor captain," says they, "we believe you to the nines.

Catch us, indeed, going within a hen's race of that unlucky cabin!"

Well, before the sun shook his doublet next morning, Jack and his

comrades were up and about. They made a hearty breakfast on what was

left the night before, and then they all agreed to set off to the

castle of the Lord of Dunlavin, and give him back all his gold and

silver. Jack put it all in the two ends of a sack and laid it across

Neddy's back, and all took the road in their hands. Away they went,

through bogs, up hills, down dales, and sometimes along the yellow

high road, till they came to the hall-door of the Lord of Dunlavin,

and who should be there, airing his powdered head, his white

stockings, and his red breeches, but the thief of a porter.

He gave a cross look to the visitors, and says he to Jack, "What do

you want here, my fine fellow? there isn't room for you all."

"We want," says Jack, "what I'm sure you haven't to give us--and

that is, common civility."

"Come, be off, you lazy strollers!" says he, "while a cat 'ud be

licking her ear, or I'll let the dogs at you."

"Would you tell a body," says the cock that was perched on the ass's

head, "who was it that opened the door for the robbers the other

night?"

Ah! maybe the porter's red face didn't turn the colour of his frill,

and the Lord of Dunlavin and his pretty daughter, that were standing

at the parlour window unknownst to the porter, put out their heads.

"I'd be glad, Barney," says the master, "to hear your answer to the

gentleman with the red comb on him."

"Ah, my lord, don't believe the rascal; sure I didn't open the door

to the six robbers."

"And how did you know there were six, you poor innocent?" said the

lord.

"Never mind, sir," says Jack, "all your gold and silver is there in

that sack, and I don't think you will begrudge us our supper and bed

after our long march from the wood of Athsalach."

"Begrudge, indeed! Not one of you will ever see a poor day if I can

help it."

So all were welcomed to their heart's content, and the ass and the

dog and the cock got the best posts in the farmyard, and the cat

took possession of the kitchen. The lord took Jack in hands, dressed

him from top to toe in broadcloth, and frills as white as snow, and

turnpumps, and put a watch in his fob. When they sat down to dinner,

the lady of the house said Jack had the air of a born gentleman

about him, and the lord said he'd make him his steward. Jack brought

his mother, and settled her comfortably near the castle, and all

were as happy as you please.

THE SHEE AN GANNON AND THE GRUAGACH GAIRE

The Shee an Gannon was born in the morning, named at noon, and went

in the evening to ask his daughter of the king of Erin.

"I will give you my daughter in marriage," said the king of Erin;

"you won't get her, though, unless you go and bring me back the

tidings that I want, and tell me what it is that put a stop to the

laughing of the Gruagach Gaire, who before this laughed always, and

laughed so loud that the whole world heard him. There are twelve

iron spikes out here in the garden behind my castle. On eleven of

the spikes are the heads of kings' sons who came seeking my

daughter in marriage, and all of them went away to get the knowledge

I wanted. Not one was able to get it and tell me what stopped the

Gruagach Gaire from laughing. I took the heads off them all when

they came back without the tidings for which they went, and I'm

greatly in dread that your head'll be on the twelfth spike, for I'll

do the same to you that I did to the eleven kings' sons unless you

tell what put a stop to the laughing of the Gruagach."

The Shee an Gannon made no answer, but left the king and pushed away

to know could he find why the Gruagach was silent.

He took a glen at a step, a hill at a leap, and travelled all day

till evening. Then he came to a house. The master of the house asked

him what sort was he, and he said: "A young man looking for hire."

"Well," said the master of the house, "I was going tomorrow to look

for a man to mind my cows. If you'll work for me, you'll have a good

place, the best food a man could have to eat in this world, and a

soft bed to lie on."

The Shee an Gannon took service, and ate his supper. Then the master

of the house said: "I am the Gruagach Gaire; now that you are my man

and have eaten your supper, you'll have a bed of silk to sleep on."

Next morning after breakfast the Gruagach said to the Shee an

Gannon: "Go out now and loosen my five golden cows and my bull

without horns, and drive them to pasture; but when you have them out

on the grass, be careful you don't let them go near the land of the

giant."

The new cowboy drove the cattle to pasture, and when near the land

of the giant, he saw it was covered with woods and surrounded by a

high wall. He went up, put his back against the wall, and threw in a

great stretch of it; then he went inside and threw out another great

stretch of the wall, and put the five golden cows and the bull

without horns on the land of the giant.

Then he climbed a tree, ate the sweet apples himself, and threw the

sour ones down to the cattle of the Gruagach Gaire.

Soon a great crashing was heard in the woods,--the noise of young

trees bending, and old trees breaking. The cowboy looked around and

saw a five-headed giant pushing through the trees; and soon he was

before him.

"Poor miserable creature!" said the giant; "but weren't you impudent

to come to my land and trouble me in this way? You're too big for

one bite, and too small for two. I don't know what to do but tear

you to pieces."

"You nasty brute," said the cowboy, coming down to him from the

tree, "'tis little I care for you;" and then they went at each

other. So great was the noise between them that there was nothing in

the world but what was looking on and listening to the combat.

They fought till late in the afternoon, when the giant was getting

the upper hand; and then the cowboy thought that if the giant should

kill him, his father and mother would never find him or set eyes on

him again, and he would never get the daughter of the king of Erin.

The heart in his body grew strong at this thought. He sprang on the

giant, and with the first squeeze and thrust he put him to his knees

in the hard ground, with the second thrust to his waist, and with

the third to his shoulders.

"I have you at last; you're done for now!", said the cowboy. Then he

took out his knife, cut the five heads off the giant, and when he

had them off he cut out the tongues and threw the heads over the

wall.

Then he put the tongues in his pocket and drove home the cattle.

That evening the Gruagach couldn't find vessels enough in all his

place to hold the milk of the five golden cows.

But when the cowboy was on the way home with the cattle, the son of

the king of Tisean came and took the giant's heads and claimed the

princess in marriage when the Gruagach Gaire should laugh.

After supper the cowboy would give no talk to his master, but kept

his mind to himself, and went to the bed of silk to sleep.

On the morning the cowboy rose before his master, and the first

words he said to the Gruagach were:

"What keeps you from laughing, you who used to laugh so loud that

the whole world heard you?"

"I'm sorry," said the Gruagach, "that the daughter of the king of

Erin sent you here."

"If you don't tell me of your own will, I'll make you tell me," said

the cowboy; and he put a face on himself that was terrible to look

at, and running through the house like a madman, could find nothing

that would give pain enough to the Gruagach but some ropes made of

untanned sheepskin hanging on the wall.

He took these down, caught the Gruagach, fastened him by the three

smalls, and tied him so that his little toes were whispering to his

ears. When he was in this state the Gruagach said: "I'll tell you

what stopped my laughing if you set me free."

So the cowboy unbound him, the two sat down together, and the

Gruagach said:--

"I lived in this castle here with my twelve sons. We ate, drank,

played cards, and enjoyed ourselves, till one day when my sons and I

were playing, a slender brown hare came rushing in, jumped on to the

hearth, tossed up the ashes to the rafters and ran away.

"On another day he came again; but if he did, we were ready for him,

my twelve sons and myself. As soon as he tossed up the ashes and ran

off, we made after him, and followed him till nightfall, when he

went into a glen. We saw a light before us. I ran on, and came to a

house with a great apartment, where there was a man named Yellow

Face with twelve daughters, and the hare was tied to the side of the

room near the women.

"There was a large pot over the fire in the room, and a great stork

boiling in the pot. The man of the house said to me: 'There are

bundles of rushes at the end of the room, go there and sit down with

your men!'

"He went into the next room and brought out two pikes, one of wood,

the other of iron, and asked me which of the pikes would I take. I

said, 'I'll take the iron one;' for I thought in my heart that if an

attack should come on me, I could defend myself better with the iron

than the wooden pike.

"Yellow Face gave me the iron pike, and the first chance of taking

what I could out of the pot on the point of the pike. I got but a

small piece of the stork, and the man of the house took all the rest

on his wooden pike. We had to fast that night; and when the man and

his twelve daughters ate the flesh of the stork, they hurled the

bare bones in the faces of my sons and myself. We had to stop all

night that way, beaten on the faces by the bones of the stork.

"Next morning, when we were going away, the man of the house asked

me to stay a while; and going into the next room, he brought out

twelve loops of iron and one of wood, and said to me: 'Put the heads

of your twelve sons into the iron loops, or your own head into the

wooden one;' and I said: 'I'll put the twelve heads of my sons in

the iron loops, and keep my own out of the wooden one.'

"He put the iron loops on the necks of my twelve sons, and put the

wooden one on his own neck. Then he snapped the loops one after

another, till he took the heads off my twelve sons and threw the

heads and bodies out of the house; but he did nothing to hurt his

own neck.

"When he had killed my sons he took hold of me and stripped the skin

and flesh from the small of my back down, and when he had done that

he took the skin of a black sheep that had been hanging on the wall

for seven years and clapped it on my body in place of my own flesh

and skin; and the sheepskin grew on me, and every year since then I

shear myself, and every bit of wool I use for the stockings that I

wear I clip off my own back."

When he had said this, the Gruagach showed the cowboy his back

covered with thick black wool.

After what he had seen and heard, the cowboy said: "I know now why

you don't laugh, and small blame to you. But does that hare come

here still?"

"He does indeed," said the Gruagach.

Both went to the table to play, and they were not long playing cards

when the hare ran in; and before they could stop him he was out

again.

But the cowboy made after the hare, and the Gruagach after the

cowboy, and they ran as fast as ever their legs could carry them

till nightfall; and when the hare was entering the castle where the

twelve sons of the Gruagach were killed, the cowboy caught him by

the two hind legs and dashed out his brains against the wall; and

the skull of the hare was knocked into the chief room of the castle,

and fell at the feet of the master of the place.

"Who has dared to interfere with my fighting pet?" screamed Yellow

Face.

"I," said the cowboy; "and if your pet had had manners, he might be

alive now."

The cowboy and the Gruagach stood by the fire. A stork was boiling

in the pot, as when the Gruagach came the first time. The master of

the house went into the next room and brought out an iron and a

wooden pike, and asked the cowboy which would he choose.

"I'll take the wooden one," said the cowboy; "and you may keep the

iron one for yourself."

So he took the wooden one; and going to the pot, brought out on the

pike all the stork except a small bite, and he and the Gruagach fell

to eating, and they were eating the flesh of the stork all night.

The cowboy and the Gruagach were at home in the place that time.

In the morning the master of the house went into the next room, took

down the twelve iron loops with a wooden one, brought them out, and

asked the cowboy which would he take, the twelve iron or the one

wooden loop.

"What could I do with the twelve iron ones for myself or my master?

I'll take the wooden one."

He put it on, and taking the twelve iron loops, put them on the

necks of the twelve daughters of the house, then snapped the twelve

heads off them, and turning to their father, said: "I'll do the same

thing to you unless you bring the twelve sons of my master to life,

and make them as well and strong as when you took their heads."

The master of the house went out and brought the twelve to life

again; and when the Gruagach saw all his sons alive and as well as

ever, he let a laugh out of himself, and all the Eastern world heard

the laugh.

Then the cowboy said to the Gruagach: "It's a bad thing you have

done to me, for the daughter of the king of Erin will be married the

day after your laugh is heard."

"Oh! then we must be there in time," said the Gruagach; and they all

made away from the place as fast as ever they could, the cowboy, the

Gruagach, and his twelve sons.

They hurried on; and when within three miles of the king's castle

there was such a throng of people that no one could go a step ahead.

"We must clear a road through this," said the cowboy.

"We must indeed," said the Gruagach; and at it they went, threw the

people some on one side and some on the other, and soon they had an

opening for themselves to the king's castle.

As they went in, the daughter of the king of Erin and the son of the

king of Tisean were on their knees just going to be married. The

cowboy drew his hand on the bride-groom, and gave a blow that sent

him spinning till he stopped under a table at the other side of the

room.

"What scoundrel struck that blow?" asked the king of Erin.

"It was I," said the cowboy.

"What reason had you to strike the man who won my daughter?"

"It was I who won your daughter, not he; and if you don't believe

me, the Gruagach Gaire is here himself. He'll tell you the whole

story from beginning to end, and show you the tongues of the giant."

So the Gruagach came up and told the king the whole story, how the

Shee an Gannon had become his cowboy, had guarded the five golden

cows and the bull without horns, cut off the heads of the five-

headed giant, killed the wizard hare, and brought his own twelve

sons to life. "And then," said the Gruagach, "he is the only man in

the whole world I have ever told why I stopped laughing, and the

only one who has ever seen my fleece of wool."

When the king of Erin heard what the Gruagach said, and saw the

tongues of the giant fitted in the head, he made the Shee an Gannon

kneel down by his daughter, and they were married on the spot.

Then the son of the king of Tisean was thrown into prison, and the

next day they put down a great fire, and the deceiver was burned to

ashes.

The wedding lasted nine days, and the last day was better than the

first.

THE STORY-TELLER AT FAULT

At the time when the Tuatha De Dannan held the sovereignty of

Ireland, there reigned in Leinster a king, who was remarkably fond

of hearing stories. Like the other princes and chieftains of the

island, he had a favourite story-teller, who held a large estate

from his Majesty, on condition of telling him a new story every

night of his life, before he went to sleep. Many indeed were the

stories he knew, so that he had already reached a good old age

without failing even for a single night in his task; and such was

the skill he displayed that whatever cares of state or other

annoyances might prey upon the monarch's mind, his story-teller was

sure to send him to sleep.

One morning the story-teller arose early, and as his custom was,

strolled out into his garden turning over in his mind incidents

which he might weave into a story for the king at night. But this

morning he found himself quite at fault; after pacing his whole

demesne, he returned to his house without being able to think of

anything new or strange. He found no difficulty in "there was once a

king who had three sons" or "one day the king of all Ireland," but

further than that he could not get. At length he went in to

breakfast, and found his wife much perplexed at his delay.

"Why don't you come to breakfast, my dear?" said she.

"I have no mind to eat anything," replied the story-teller; "long as

I have been in the service of the king of Leinster, I never sat down

to breakfast without having a new story ready for the evening, but

this morning my mind is quite shut up, and I don't know what to do.

I might as well lie down and die at once. I'll be disgraced for ever

this evening, when the king calls for his story-teller."

Just at this moment the lady looked out of the window.

"Do you see that black thing at the end of the field?" said she.

"I do," replied her husband.

They drew nigh, and saw a miserable looking old man lying on the

ground with a wooden leg placed beside him.

"Who are you, my good man?" asked the story-teller.

"Oh, then, 'tis little matter who I am. I'm a poor, old, lame,

decrepit, miserable creature, sitting down here to rest awhile."

"An' what are you doing with that box and dice I see in your hand?"

"I am waiting here to see if any one will play a game with me,"

replied the beggar man.

"Play with you! Why what has a poor old man like you to play for?"

"I have one hundred pieces of gold in this leathern purse," replied

the old man.

"You may as well play with him," said the story-teller's wife; "and

perhaps you'll have something to tell the king in the evening."

A smooth stone was placed between them, and upon it they cast their

throws.

It was but a little while and the story-teller lost every penny of

his money.

"Much good may it do you, friend," said he. "What better hap could I

look for, fool that I am!"

"Will you play again?" asked the old man.

"Don't be talking, man: you have all my money."

"Haven't you chariot and horses and hounds?"

"Well, what of them!"

"I'll stake all the money I have against thine."

"Nonsense, man! Do you think for all the money in Ireland, I'd run

the risk of seeing my lady tramp home on foot?"

"Maybe you'd win," said the bocough.

"Maybe I wouldn't," said the story-teller.

"Play with him, husband," said his wife. "I don't mind walking, if

you do, love."

"I never refused you before," said the story-teller, "and I won't do

so now."

Down he sat again, and in one throw lost houses, hounds, and

chariot.

"Will you play again?" asked the beggar.

"Are you making game of me, man; what else have I to stake?"

"I'll stake all my winnings against your wife," said the old man.

The story-teller turned away in silence, but his wife stopped him.

"Accept his offer," said she. "This is the third time, and who knows

what luck you may have? You'll surely win now."

They played again, and the story-teller lost. No sooner had he done

so, than to his sorrow and surprise, his wife went and sat down near

the ugly old beggar.

"Is that the way you're leaving me?" said the story-teller.

"Sure I was won," said she. "You would not cheat the poor man, would

you?"

"Have you any more to stake?" asked the old man.

"You know very well I have not," replied the story-teller.

"I'll stake the whole now, wife and all, against your own self,"

said the old man.

Again they played, and again the story-teller lost.

"Well! here I am, and what do you want with me?"

"I'll soon let you know," said the old man, and he took from his

pocket a long cord and a wand.

"Now," said he to the story-teller, "what kind of animal would you

rather be, a deer, a fox, or a hare? You have your choice now, but

you may not have it later."

To make a long story short, the story-teller made his choice of a

hare; the old man threw the cord round him, struck him with the

wand, and lo! a long-eared, frisking hare was skipping and jumping

on the green.

But it wasn't for long; who but his wife called the hounds, and set

them on him. The hare fled, the dogs followed. Round the field ran a

high wall, so that run as he might, he couldn't get out, and

mightily diverted were beggar and lady to see him twist and double.

In vain did he take refuge with his wife, she kicked him back again

to the hounds, until at length the beggar stopped the hounds, and

with a stroke of the wand, panting and breathless, the story-teller

stood before them again.

"And how did you like the sport?" said the beggar.

"It might be sport to others," replied the story-teller looking at

his wife, "for my part I could well put up with the loss of it."

"Would it be asking too much," he went on to the beggar, "to know

who you are at all, or where you come from, or why you take a

pleasure in plaguing a poor old man like me?"

"Oh!" replied the stranger, "I'm an odd kind of good-for-little

fellow, one day poor, another day rich, but if you wish to know more

about me or my habits, come with me and perhaps I may show you more

than you would make out if you went alone."

"I'm not my own master to go or stay," said the story-teller, with a

sigh.

The stranger put one hand into his wallet and drew out of it before

their eyes a well-looking middle-aged man, to whom he spoke as

follows:

"By all you heard and saw since I put you into my wallet, take

charge of this lady and of the carriage and horses, and have them

ready for me whenever I want them."

Scarcely had he said these words when all vanished, and the story-

teller found himself at the Foxes' Ford, near the castle of Red Hugh

O'Donnell. He could see all but none could see him.

O'Donnell was in his hall, and heaviness of flesh and weariness of

spirit were upon him.

"Go out," said he to his doorkeeper, "and see who or what may be

coming."

The doorkeeper went, and what he saw was a lank, grey beggarman;

half his sword bared behind his haunch, his two shoes full of cold

road-a-wayish water sousing about him, the tips of his two ears out

through his old hat, his two shoulders out through his scant

tattered cloak, and in his hand a green wand of holly.

"Save you, O'Donnell," said the lank grey beggarman.

"And you likewise," said O'Donnell. "Whence come you, and what is

your craft?"

"I come from the outmost stream of earth,

From the glens where the white swans glide,

A night in Islay, a night in Man,

A night on the cold hillside."

"It's the great traveller you are," said O'Donnell.

"Maybe you've learnt something on the road."

"I am a juggler," said the lank grey beggarman, "and for five pieces

of silver you shall see a trick of mine."

"You shall have them," said O'Donnell; and the lank grey beggarman

took three small straws and placed them in his hand.

"The middle one," said he, "I'll blow away; the other two I'll

leave."

"Thou canst not do it," said one and all.

But the lank grey beggarman put a finger on either outside straw

and, whiff, away he blew the middle one.

"'Tis a good trick," said O'Donnell; and he paid him his five pieces

of silver.

"For half the money," said one of the chief's lads, "I'll do the

same trick."

"Take him at his word, O'Donnell."

The lad put the three straws on his hand, and a finger on either

outside straw and he blew; and what happened but that the fist was

blown away with the straw.

"Thou art sore, and thou wilt be sorer," said O'Donnell.

"Six more pieces, O'Donnell, and I'll do another trick for thee,"

said the lank grey beggarman.

"Six shalt thou have."

"Seest thou my two ears! One I'll move but not t'other."

"'Tis easy to see them, they're big enough, but thou canst never

move one ear and not the two together."

The lank grey beggarman put his hand to his ear, and he gave it a

pull.

O'Donnell laughed and paid him the six pieces.

"Call that a trick," said the fistless lad, "any one can do that,"

and so saying, he put up his hand, pulled his ear, and what happened

was that he pulled away ear and head.

"Sore thou art; and sorer thou'lt be," said O'Donnell.

"Well, O'Donnell," said the lank grey beggarman, "strange are the

tricks I've shown thee, but I'll show thee a stranger one yet for

the same money."

"Thou hast my word for it," said O'Donnell.

With that the lank grey beggarman took a bag from under his armpit,

and from out the bag a ball of silk, and he unwound the ball and he

flung it slantwise up into the clear blue heavens, and it became a

ladder; then he took a hare and placed it upon the thread, and up it

ran; again he took out a red-eared hound, and it swiftly ran up

after the hare.

"Now," said the lank grey beggarman; "has any one a mind to run

after the dog and on the course?"

"I will," said a lad of O'Donnell's.

"Up with you then," said the juggler; "but I warn you if you let my

hare be killed I'll cut off your head when you come down."

The lad ran up the thread and all three soon disappeared. After

looking up for a long time, the lank grey beggarman said: "I'm

afraid the hound is eating the hare, and that our friend has fallen

asleep."

Saying this he began to wind the thread, and down came the lad fast

asleep; and down came the red-eared hound and in his mouth the last

morsel of the hare.

He struck the lad a stroke with the edge of his sword, and so cast

his head off. As for the hound, if he used it no worse, he used it

no better.

"It's little I'm pleased, and sore I'm angered," said O'Donnell,

"that a hound and a lad should be killed at my court."

"Five pieces of silver twice over for each of them," said the

juggler, "and their heads shall be on them as before."

"Thou shalt get that," said O'Donnell.

Five pieces, and again five were paid him, and lo! the lad had his

head and the hound his. And though they lived to the uttermost end

of time, the hound would never touch a hare again, and the lad took

good care to keep his eyes open.

Scarcely had the lank grey beggarman done this when he vanished from

out their sight, and no one present could say if he had flown

through the air or if the earth had swallowed him up.

He moved as wave tumbling o'er wave

As whirlwind following whirlwind,

As a furious wintry blast,

So swiftly, sprucely, cheerily,

Right proudly,

And no stop made

Until he came

To the court of Leinster's King,

He gave a cheery light leap

O'er top of turret,

Of court and city

Of Leinster's King.

Heavy was the flesh and weary the spirit of Leinster's king. 'Twas

the hour he was wont to hear a story, but send he might right and

left, not a jot of tidings about the story-teller could he get.

"Go to the door," said he to his doorkeeper, "and see if a soul is

in sight who may tell me something about my story-teller."

The doorkeeper went, and what he saw was a lank grey beggarman, half

his sword bared behind his haunch, his two old shoes full of cold

road-a-wayish water sousing about him, the tips of his two ears out

through his old hat, his two shoulders out through his scant

tattered cloak, and in his hand a three-stringed harp.

"What canst thou do?" said the doorkeeper.

"I can play," said the lank grey beggarman.

"Never fear," added he to the story-teller, "thou shalt see all, and

not a man shall see thee."

When the king heard a harper was outside, he bade him in.

"It is I that have the best harpers in the five-fifths of Ireland,"

said he, and he signed them to play. They did so, and if they

played, the lank grey beggarman listened.

"Heardst thou ever the like?" said the king.

"Did you ever, O king, hear a cat purring over a bowl of broth, or

the buzzing of beetles in the twilight, or a shrill tongued old

woman scolding your head off?"

"That I have often," said the king.

"More melodious to me," said the lank grey beggarman, "were the

worst of these sounds than the sweetest harping of thy harpers."

When the harpers heard this, they drew their swords and rushed at

him, but instead of striking him, their blows fell on each other,

and soon not a man but was cracking his neighbour's skull and

getting his own cracked in turn.

When the king saw this, he thought it hard the harpers weren't

content with murdering their music, but must needs murder each

other.

"Hang the fellow who began it all," said he; "and if I can't have a

story, let me have peace."

Up came the guards, seized the lank grey beggarman, marched him to

the gallows and hanged him high and dry. Back they marched to the

hall, and who should they see but the lank grey beggarman seated on

a bench with his mouth to a flagon of ale.

"Never welcome you in," cried the captain of the guard, "didn't we

hang you this minute, and what brings you here?"

"Is it me myself, you mean?"

"Who else?" said the captain.

"May your hand turn into a pig's foot with you when you think of

tying the rope; why should you speak of hanging me?"

Back they scurried to the gallows, and there hung the king's

favourite brother.

Back they hurried to the king who had fallen fast asleep.

"Please your Majesty," said the captain, "we hanged that strolling

vagabond, but here he is back again as well as ever."

"Hang him again," said the king, and off he went to sleep once more.

They did as they were told, but what happened was that they found

the king's chief harper hanging where the lank grey beggarman should

have been.

The captain of the guard was sorely puzzled.

"Are you wishful to hang me a third time?" said the lank grey

beggarman.

"Go where you will," said the captain, "and as fast as you please if

you'll only go far enough. It's trouble enough you've given us

already."

"Now you're reasonable," said the beggarman; "and since you've given

up trying to hang a stranger because he finds fault with your music,

I don't mind telling you that if you go back to the gallows you'll

find your friends sitting on the sward none the worse for what has

happened."

As he said these words he vanished; and the story-teller found

himself on the spot where they first met, and where his wife still

was with the carriage and horses.

"Now," said the lank grey beggarman, "I'll torment you no longer.

There's your carriage and your horses, and your money and your wife;

do what you please with them."

"For my carriage and my houses and my hounds," said the story-

teller, "I thank you; but my wife and my money you may keep."

"No," said the other. "I want neither, and as for your wife, don't

think ill of her for what she did, she couldn't help it."

"Not help it! Not help kicking me into the mouth of my own hounds!

Not help casting me off for the sake of a beggarly old--"

"I'm not as beggarly or as old as ye think. I am Angus of the Bruff;

many a good turn you've done me with the King of Leinster. This

morning my magic told me the difficulty you were in, and I made up

my mind to get you out of it. As for your wife there, the power that

changed your body changed her mind. Forget and forgive as man and

wife should do, and now you have a story for the King of Leinster

when he calls for one;" and with that he disappeared.

It's true enough he now had a story fit for a king. From first to

last he told all that had befallen him; so long and loud laughed the

king that he couldn't go to sleep at all. And he told the story-

teller never to trouble for fresh stories, but every night as long

as be lived he listened again and he laughed afresh at the tale of

the lank grey beggarman.

THE SEA-MAIDEN

There was once a poor old fisherman, and one year he was not getting

much fish. On a day of days, while he was fishing, there rose a sea-

maiden at the side of his boat, and she asked him, "Are you getting

much fish?" The old man answered and said, "Not I." "What reward

would you give me for sending plenty of fish to you?" "Ach!" said

the old man, "I have not much to spare." "Will you give me the first

son you have?" said she. "I would give ye that, were I to have a

son," said he. "Then go home, and remember me when your son is

twenty years of age, and you yourself will get plenty of fish after

this." Everything happened as the sea-maiden said, and he himself

got plenty of fish; but when the end of the twenty years was

nearing, the old man was growing more and more sorrowful and heavy

hearted, while he counted each day as it came.

He had rest neither day nor night. The son asked his father one day,

"Is any one troubling you?" The old man said, "Some one is, but

that's nought to do with you nor any one else." The lad said, "I

must know what it is." His father told him at last how the matter

was with him and the sea-maiden. "Let not that put you in any

trouble," said the son; "I will not oppose you." "You shall not; you

shall not go, my son, though I never get fish any more." "If you

will not let me go with you, go to the smithy, and let the smith

make me a great strong sword, and I will go seek my fortune."

His father went to the smithy, and the smith made a doughty sword

for him. His father came home with the sword. The lad grasped it and

gave it a shake or two, and it flew into a hundred splinters. He

asked his father to go to the smithy and get him another sword in

which there should be twice as much weight; and so his father did,

and so likewise it happened to the next sword--it broke in two

halves. Back went the old man to the smithy; and the smith made a

great sword, its like he never made before. "There's thy sword for

thee," said the smith, "and the fist must be good that plays this

blade." The old man gave the sword to his son; he gave it a shake or

two. "This will do," said he; "it's high time now to travel on my

way."

On the next morning he put a saddle on a black horse that his father

had, and he took the world for his pillow. When he went on a bit, he

fell in with the carcass of a sheep beside the road. And there were

a great black dog, a falcon, and an otter, and they were quarrelling

over the spoil. So they asked him to divide it for them. He came

down off the horse, and he divided the carcass amongst the three.

Three shares to the dog, two shares to the otter, and a share to the

falcon. "For this," said the dog, "if swiftness of foot or sharpness

of tooth will give thee aid, mind me, and I will be at thy side."

Said the otter, "If the swimming of foot on the ground of a pool

will loose thee, mind me, and I will be at thy side." Said the

falcon, "If hardship comes on thee, where swiftness of wing or crook

of a claw will do good, mind me, and I will be at thy side."

On this he went onward till he reached a king's house, and he took

service to be a herd, and his wages were to be according to the milk

of the cattle. He went away with the cattle, and the grazing was but

bare. In the evening when he took them home they had not much milk,

the place was so bare, and his meat and drink was but spare that

night.

On the next day he went on further with them; and at last he came to

a place exceedingly grassy, in a green glen, of which he never saw

the like.

But about the time when he should drive the cattle homewards, who

should he see coming but a great giant with his sword in his hand?

"HI! HO!! HOGARACH!!!" says the giant. "Those cattle are mine; they

are on my land, and a dead man art thou." "I say not that," says the

herd; "there is no knowing, but that may be easier to say than to

do."

He drew the great clean-sweeping sword, and he neared the giant. The

herd drew back his sword, and the head was off the giant in a

twinkling. He leaped on the black horse, and he went to look for the

giant's house. In went the herd, and that's the place where there

was money in plenty, and dresses of each kind in the wardrobe with

gold and silver, and each thing finer than the other. At the mouth

of night he took himself to the king's house, but he took not a

thing from the giant's house. And when the cattle were milked this

night there _was_ milk. He got good feeding this night, meat

and drink without stint, and the king was hugely pleased that he had

caught such a herd. He went on for a time in this way, but at last

the glen grew bare of grass, and the grazing was not so good.

So he thought he would go a little further forward in on the giant's

land; and he sees a great park of grass. He returned for the cattle,

and he put them into the park.

They were but a short time grazing in the park when a great wild

giant came full of rage and madness. "HI! HAW!! HOGARAICH!!!" said

the giant. "It is a drink of thy blood that will quench my thirst

this night." "There is no knowing," said the herd, "but that's

easier to say than to do." And at each other went the men.

_There_ was shaking of blades! At length and at last it seemed

as if the giant would get the victory over the herd. Then he called

on the dog, and with one spring the black dog caught the giant by

the neck, and swiftly the herd struck off his head.

He went home very tired this night, but it's a wonder if the king's

cattle had not milk. The whole family was delighted that they had

got such a herd.

Next day he betakes himself to the castle. When he reached the door,

a little flattering carlin met him standing in the door. "All hail

and good luck to thee, fisher's son; 'tis I myself am pleased to see

thee; great is the honour for this kingdom, for thy like to be come

into it--thy coming in is fame for this little bothy; go in first;

honour to the gentles; go on, and take breath."

"In before me, thou crone; I like not flattery out of doors; go in

and let's hear thy speech." In went the crone, and when her back was

to him he drew his sword and whips her head off; but the sword flew

out of his hand. And swift the crone gripped her head with both

hands, and puts it on her neck as it was before. The dog sprung on

the crone, and she struck the generous dog with the club of magic;

and there he lay. But the herd struggled for a hold of the club of

magic, and with one blow on the top of the head she was on earth in

the twinkling of an eye. He went forward, up a little, and there was

spoil! Gold and silver, and each thing more precious than another,

in the crone's castle. He went back to the king's house, and then

there was rejoicing.

He followed herding in this way for a time; but one night after he

came home, instead of getting "All hail" and "Good luck" from the

dairymaid, all were at crying and woe.

He asked what cause of woe there was that night. The dairymaid said

"There is a great beast with three heads in the loch, and it must

get some one every year, and the lot had come this year on the

king's daughter, and at midday to-morrow she is to meet the Laidly

Beast at the upper end of the loch, but there is a great suitor

yonder who is going to rescue her."

"What suitor is that?" said the herd. "Oh, he is a great General of

arms," said the dairymaid, "and when he kills the beast, he will

marry the king's daughter, for the king has said that he who could

save his daughter should get her to marry."

But on the morrow, when the time grew near, the king's daughter and

this hero of arms went to give a meeting to the beast, and they

reached the black rock, at the upper end of the loch. They were but

a short time there when the beast stirred in the midst of the loch;

but when the General saw this terror of a beast with three heads, he

took fright, and he slunk away, and he hid himself. And the king's

daughter was under fear and under trembling, with no one at all to

save her. Suddenly she sees a doughty handsome youth, riding a black

horse, and coming where she was. He was marvellously arrayed and

full armed, and his black dog moved after him. "There is gloom on

your face, girl," said the youth; "what do you here?"

"Oh! that's no matter," said the king's daughter. "It's not long

I'll be here, at all events."

"I say not that," said he.

"A champion fled as likely as you, and not long since," said she.

"He is a champion who stands the war," said the youth. And to meet

the beast he went with his sword and his dog. But there was a

spluttering and a splashing between himself and the beast! The dog

kept doing all he might, and the king's daughter was palsied by fear

of the noise of the beast! One of them would now be under, and now

above. But at last he cut one of the heads off it. It gave one roar,

and the son of earth, echo of the rocks, called to its screech, and

it drove the loch in spindrift from end to end, and in a twinkling

it went out of sight.

"Good luck and victory follow you, lad!" said the king's daughter.

"I am safe for one night, but the beast will come again and again,

until the other two heads come off it." He caught the beast's head,

and he drew a knot through it, and he told her to bring it with her

there to-morrow. She gave him a gold ring, and went home with the

head on her shoulder, and the herd betook himself to the cows. But

she had not gone far when this great General saw her, and he said to

her, "I will kill you if you do not say that 'twas I took the head

off the beast." "Oh!" says she, "'tis I will say it; who else took

the head off the beast but you!" They reached the king's house, and

the head was on the General's shoulder. But here was rejoicing, that

she should come home alive and whole, and this great captain with

the beast's head full of blood in his hand. On the morrow they went

away, and there was no question at all but that this hero would save

the king's daughter.

They reached the same place, and they were not long there when the

fearful Laidly Beast stirred in the midst of the loch, and the hero

slunk away as he did on yesterday, but it was not long after this

when the man of the black horse came, with another dress on. No

matter; she knew that it was the very same lad. "It is I am pleased

to see you," said she. "I am in hopes you will handle your great

sword to-day as you did yesterday. Come up and take breath." But

they were not long there when they saw the beast steaming in the

midst of the loch.

At once he went to meet the beast, but _there_ was

Cloopersteich and Claperstich, spluttering, splashing, raving, and

roaring on the beast! They kept at it thus for a long time, and

about the mouth of night he cut another head off the beast. He put

it on the knot and gave it to her. She gave him one of her earrings,

and he leaped on the black horse, and he betook himself to the

herding. The king's daughter went home with the heads. The General

met her, and took the heads from her, and he said to her, that she

must tell that it was he who took the head off the beast this time

also. "Who else took the head off the beast but you?" said she. They

reached the king's house with the heads. Then there was joy and

gladness.

About the same time on the morrow, the two went away. The officer

hid himself as he usually did. The king's daughter betook herself to

the bank of the loch. The hero of the black horse came, and if

roaring and raving were on the beast on the days that were passed,

this day it was horrible. But no matter, he took the third head off

the beast, and drew it through the knot, and gave it to her. She

gave him her other earring, and then she went home with the heads.

When they reached the king's house, all were full of smiles, and the

General was to marry the king's daughter the next day. The wedding

was going on, and every one about the castle longing till the priest

should come. But when the priest came, she would marry only the one

who could take the heads off the knot without cutting it. "Who

should take the heads off the knot but the man that put the heads

on?" said the king.

The General tried them; but he could not loose them; and at last

there was no one about the house but had tried to take the heads off

the knot, but they could not. The king asked if there were any one

else about the house that would try to take the heads off the knot.

They said that the herd had not tried them yet. Word went for the

herd; and he was not long throwing them hither and thither. "But

stop a bit, my lad," said the king's daughter; "the man that took

the heads off the beast, he has my ring and my two earrings." The

herd put his hand in his pocket, and he threw them on the board.

"Thou art my man," said the king's daughter. The king was not so

pleased when he saw that it was a herd who was to marry his

daughter, but he ordered that he should be put in a better dress;

but his daughter spoke, and she said that he had a dress as fine as

any that ever was in his castle; and thus it happened. The herd put

on the giant's golden dress, and they married that same day.

They were now married, and everything went on well. But one day, and

it was the namesake of the day when his father had promised him to

the sea-maiden, they were sauntering by the side of the loch, and lo

and behold! she came and took him away to the loch without leave or

asking. The king's daughter was now mournful, tearful, blind-

sorrowful for her married man; she was always with her eye on the

loch. An old soothsayer met her, and she told how it had befallen

her married mate. Then he told her the thing to do to save her mate,

and that she did.

She took her harp to the sea-shore, and sat and played; and the sea-

maiden came up to listen, for sea-maidens are fonder of music than

all other creatures. But when the wife saw the sea-maiden she

stopped. The sea-maiden said, "Play on!" but the princess said, "No,

not till I see my man again." So the sea-maiden put up his head out

of the loch. Then the princess played again, and stopped till the

sea-maiden put him up to the waist. Then the princess played and

stopped again, and this time the sea-maiden put him all out of the

loch, and he called on the falcon and became one and flew on shore.

But the sea-maiden took the princess, his wife.

Sorrowful was each one that was in the town on this night. Her man

was mournful, tearful, wandering down and up about the banks of the

loch, by day and night. The old soothsayer met him. The soothsayer

told him that there was no way of killing the sea-maiden but the one

way, and this is it--"In the island that is in the midst of the loch

is the white-footed hind of the slenderest legs and the swiftest

step, and though she be caught, there will spring a hoodie out of

her, and though the hoodie should be caught, there will spring a

trout out of her, but there is an egg in the mouth of the trout, and

the soul of the sea-maiden is in the egg, and if the egg breaks, she

is dead."

Now, there was no way of getting to this island, for the sea-maiden

would sink each boat and raft that would go on the loch. He thought

he would try to leap the strait with the black horse, and even so he

did. The black horse leaped the strait. He saw the hind, and he let

the black dog after her, but when he was on one side of the island,

the hind would be on the other side. "Oh! would the black dog of the

carcass of flesh were here!" No sooner spoke he the word than the

grateful dog was at his side; and after the hind he went, and they

were not long in bringing her to earth. But he no sooner caught her

than a hoodie sprang out of her. "Would that the falcon grey, of

sharpest eye and swiftest wing, were here!" No sooner said he this

than the falcon was after the hoodie, and she was not long putting

her to earth; and as the hoodie fell on the bank of the loch, out of

her jumps the trout. "Oh! that thou wert by me now, oh otter!" No

sooner said than the otter was at his side, and out on the loch she

leaped, and brings the trout from the midst of the loch; but no

sooner was the otter on shore with the trout than the egg came from

his mouth. He sprang and he put his foot on it. 'Twas then the sea-

maiden appeared, and she said, "Break not the egg, and you shall get

all you ask." "Deliver to me my wife!" In the wink of an eye she was

by his side. When he got hold of her hand in both his hands, he let

his foot down on the egg, and the sea-maiden died.

A LEGEND OF KNOCKMANY

What Irish man, woman, or child has not heard of our renowned

Hibernian Hercules, the great and glorious Fin M'Coul? Not one, from

Cape Clear to the Giant's Causeway, nor from that back again to Cape

Clear. And, by-the-way, speaking of the Giant's Causeway brings me

at once to the beginning of my story. Well, it so happened that Fin

and his men were all working at the Causeway, in order to make a

bridge across to Scotland; when Fin, who was very fond of his wife

Oonagh, took it into his head that he would go home and see how the

poor woman got on in his absence. So, accordingly, he pulled up a

fir-tree, and, after lopping off the roots and branches, made a

walking-stick of it, and set out on his way to Oonagh.

Oonagh, or rather Fin, lived at this time on the very tip-top of

Knockmany Hill, which faces a cousin of its own called Cullamore,

that rises up, half-hill, half-mountain, on the opposite side.

There was at that time another giant, named Cucullin--some say he

was Irish, and some say he was Scotch--but whether Scotch or Irish,

sorrow doubt of it but he was a targer. No other giant of the day

could stand before him; and such was his strength, that, when well

vexed, he could give a stamp that shook the country about him. The

fame and name of him went far and near; and nothing in the shape of

a man, it was said, had any chance with him in a fight. By one blow

of his fists he flattened a thunderbolt and kept it in his pocket,

in the shape of a pancake, to show to all his enemies, when they

were about to fight him. Undoubtedly he had given every giant in

Ireland a considerable beating, barring Fin M'Coul himself; and he

swore that he would never rest, night or day, winter or summer, till

he would serve Fin with the same sauce, if he could catch him.

However, the short and long of it was, with reverence be it spoken,

that Fin heard Cucullin was coming to the Causeway to have a trial

of strength with him; and he was seized with a very warm and sudden

fit of affection for his wife, poor woman, leading a very lonely,

uncomfortable life of it in his absence. He accordingly pulled up

the fir-tree, as I said before, and having snedded it into a

walking-stick, set out on his travels to see his darling Oonagh on

the top of Knockmany, by the way.

In truth, the people wondered very much why it was that Fin selected

such a windy spot for his dwelling-house, and they even went so far

as to tell him as much.

"What can you mane, Mr. M'Coul," said they, "by pitching your tent

upon the top of Knockmany, where you never are without a breeze, day

or night, winter or summer, and where you're often forced to take

your nightcap without either going to bed or turning up your little

finger; ay, an' where, besides this, there's the sorrow's own want

of water?"

"Why," said Fin, "ever since I was the height of a round tower, I

was known to be fond of having a good prospect of my own; and where

the dickens, neighbours, could I find a better spot for a good

prospect than the top of Knockmany? As for water, I am sinking a

pump, and, plase goodness, as soon as the Causeway's made, I intend

to finish it."

Now, this was more of Fin's philosophy; for the real state of the

case was, that he pitched upon the top of Knockmany in order that he

might be able to see Cucullin coming towards the house. All we have

to say is, that if he wanted a spot from which to keep a sharp look-

out--and, between ourselves, he did want it grievously--barring

Slieve Croob, or Slieve Donard, or its own cousin, Cullamore, he

could not find a neater or more convenient situation for it in the

sweet and sagacious province of Ulster.

"God save all here!" said Fin, good-humouredly, on putting his

honest face into his own door.

"Musha, Fin, avick, an' you're welcome home to your own Oonagh, you

darlin' bully." Here followed a smack that is said to have made the

waters of the lake at the bottom of the hill curl, as it were, with

kindness and sympathy.

Fin spent two or three happy days with Oonagh, and felt himself very

comfortable, considering the dread he had of Cucullin. This,

however, grew upon him so much that his wife could not but perceive

something lay on his mind which he kept altogether to himself. Let a

woman alone, in the meantime, for ferreting or wheedling a secret

out of her good man, when she wishes. Fin was a proof of this.

"It's this Cucullin," said he, "that's troubling me. When the fellow

gets angry, and begins to stamp, he'll shake you a whole townland;

and it's well known that he can stop a thunderbolt, for he always

carries one about him in the shape of a pancake, to show to any one

that might misdoubt it."

As he spoke, he clapped his thumb in his mouth, which he always did

when he wanted to prophesy, or to know anything that happened in his

absence; and the wife asked him what he did it for.

"He's coming," said Fin; "I see him below Dungannon."

"Thank goodness, dear! an' who is it, avick? Glory be to God!"

"That baste, Cucullin," replied Fin; "and how to manage I don't

know. If I run away, I am disgraced; and I know that sooner or later

I must meet him, for my thumb tells me so."

"When will he be here?" said she.

"To-morrow, about two o'clock," replied Fin, with a groan.

"Well, my bully, don't be cast down," said Oonagh; "depend on me,

and maybe I'll bring you better out of this scrape than ever you

could bring yourself, by your rule o' thumb."

She then made a high smoke on the top of the hill, after which she

put her finger in her mouth, and gave three whistles, and by that

Cucullin knew he was invited to Cullamore--for this was the way that

the Irish long ago gave a sign to all strangers and travellers, to

let them know they were welcome to come and take share of whatever

was going.

In the meantime, Fin was very melancholy, and did not know what to

do, or how to act at all. Cucullin was an ugly customer to meet

with; and, the idea of the "cake" aforesaid flattened the very heart

within him. What chance could he have, strong and brave though he

was, with a man who could, when put in a passion, walk the country

into earthquakes and knock thunderbolts into pancakes? Fin knew not

on what hand to turn him. Right or left--backward or forward--where

to go he could form no guess whatsoever.

"Oonagh," said he, "can you do nothing for me? Where's all your

invention? Am I to be skivered like a rabbit before your eyes, and

to have my name disgraced for ever in the sight of all my tribe, and

me the best man among them? How am I to fight this man-mountain--

this huge cross between an earthquake and a thunderbolt?--with a

pancake in his pocket that was once--"

"Be easy, Fin," replied Oonagh; "troth, I'm ashamed of you. Keep

your toe in your pump, will you? Talking of pancakes, maybe, we'll

give him as good as any he brings with him--thunderbolt or

otherwise. If I don't treat him to as smart feeding as he's got this

many a day, never trust Oonagh again. Leave him to me, and do just

as I bid you."

This relieved Fin very much; for, after all, he had great confidence

in his wife, knowing, as he did, that she had got him out of many a

quandary before. Oonagh then drew the nine woollen threads of

different colours, which she always did to find out the best way of

succeeding in anything of importance she went about. She then

platted them into three plats with three colours in each, putting

one on her right arm, one round her heart, and the third round her

right ankle, for then she knew that nothing could fail with her that

she undertook.

Having everything now prepared, she sent round to the neighbours and

borrowed one-and-twenty iron griddles, which she took and kneaded

into the hearts of one-and-twenty cakes of bread, and these she

baked on the fire in the usual way, setting them aside in the

cupboard according as they were done. She then put down a large pot

of new milk, which she made into curds and whey. Having done all

this, she sat down quite contented, waiting for his arrival on the

next day about two o'clock, that being the hour at which he was

expected--for Fin knew as much by the sucking of his thumb. Now this

was a curious property that Fin's thumb had. In this very thing,

moreover, he was very much resembled by his great foe, Cucullin; for

it was well known that the huge strength he possessed all lay in the

middle finger of his right hand, and that, if he happened by any

mischance to lose it, he was no more, for all his bulk, than a

common man.

At length, the next day, Cucullin was seen coming across the valley,

and Oonagh knew that it was time to commence operations. She

immediately brought the cradle, and made Fin to lie down in it, and

cover himself up with the clothes.

"You must pass for your own child," said she; "so just lie there

snug, and say nothing, but be guided by me."

About two o'clock, as he had been expected, Cucullin came in. "God

save all here!" said he; "is this where the great Fin M'Coul lives?"

"Indeed it is, honest man," replied Oonagh; "God save you kindly--

won't you be sitting?"

"Thank you, ma'am," says he, sitting down; "you're Mrs. M'Coul, I

suppose?"

"I am," said she; "and I have no reason, I hope, to be ashamed of my

husband."

"No," said the other, "he has the name of being the strongest and

bravest man in Ireland; but for all that, there's a man not far from

you that's very desirous of taking a shake with him. Is he at home?"

"Why, then, no," she replied; "and if ever a man left his house in a

fury, he did. It appears that some one told him of a big basthoon of

a--giant called Cucullin being down at the Causeway to look for him,

and so he set out there to try if he could catch him. Troth, I hope,

for the poor giant's sake, he won't meet with him, for if he does,

Fin will make paste of him at once."

"Well," said the other, "I am Cucullin, and I have been seeking him

these twelve months, but he always kept clear of me; and I will

never rest night or day till I lay my hands on him."

At this Oonagh set up a loud laugh, of great contempt, by-the-way,

and looked at him as if he was only a mere handful of a man.

"Did you ever see Fin?" said she, changing her manner all at once.

"How could I?" said he; "he always took care to keep his distance."

"I thought so," she replied; "I judged as much; and if you take my

advice, you poor-looking creature, you'll pray night and day that

you may never see him, for I tell you it will be a black day for you

when you do. But, in the meantime, you perceive that the wind's on

the door, and as Fin himself is from home, maybe you'd be civil

enough to turn the house, for it's always what Fin does when he's

here."

This was a startler even to Cucullin; but he got up, however, and

after pulling the middle finger of his right hand until it cracked

three times, he went outside, and getting his arms about the house,

turned it as she had wished. When Fin saw this, he felt the sweat of

fear oozing out through every pore of his skin; but Oonagh,

depending upon her woman's wit, felt not a whit daunted.

"Arrah, then," said she, "as you are so civil, maybe you'd do

another obliging turn for us, as Fin's not here to do it himself.

You see, after this long stretch of dry weather we've had, we feel

very badly off for want of water. Now, Fin says there's a fine

spring-well somewhere under the rocks behind the hill here below,

and it was his intention to pull them asunder; but having heard of

you, he left the place in such a fury, that he never thought of it.

Now, if you try to find it, troth I'd feel it a kindness."

She then brought Cucullin down to see the place, which was then all

one solid rock; and, after looking at it for some time, he cracked

his right middle finger nine times, and, stooping down, tore a cleft

about four hundred feet deep, and a quarter of a mile in length,

which has since been christened by the name of Lumford's Glen.

"You'll now come in," said she, "and eat a bit of such humble fare

as we can give you. Fin, even although he and you are enemies, would

scorn not to treat you kindly in his own house; and, indeed, if I

didn't do it even in his absence, he would not be pleased with me."

She accordingly brought him in, and placing half-a-dozen of the

cakes we spoke of before him, together with a can or two of butter,

a side of boiled bacon, and a stack of cabbage, she desired him to

help himself--for this, be it known, was long before the invention

of potatoes. Cucullin put one of the cakes in his mouth to take a

huge whack out of it, when he made a thundering noise, something

between a growl and a yell. "Blood and fury!" he shouted; "how is

this? Here are two of my teeth out! What kind of bread this is you

gave me."

"What's the matter?" said Oonagh coolly.

"Matter!" shouted the other again; "why, here are the two best teeth

in my head gone."

"Why," said she, "that's Fin's bread--the only bread he ever eats

when at home; but, indeed, I forgot to tell you that nobody can eat

it but himself, and that child in the cradle there. I thought,

however, that, as you were reported to be rather a stout little

fellow of your size, you might be able to manage it, and I did not

wish to affront a man that thinks himself able to fight Fin. Here's

another cake--maybe it's not so hard as that."

Cucullin at the moment was not only hungry, but ravenous, so he

accordingly made a fresh set at the second cake, and immediately

another yell was heard twice as loud as the first. "Thunder and

gibbets!" he roared, "take your bread out of this, or I will not

have a tooth in my head; there's another pair of them gone!"

"Well, honest man," replied Oonagh, "if you're not able to eat the

bread, say so quietly, and don't be wakening the child in the cradle

there. There, now, he's awake upon me."

Fin now gave a skirl that startled the giant, as coming from such a

youngster as he was supposed to be.

"Mother," said he, "I'm hungry-get me something to eat." Oonagh went

over, and putting into his hand a cake that had no griddle in it,

Fin, whose appetite in the meantime had been sharpened by seeing

eating going forward, soon swallowed it. Cucullin was thunderstruck,

and secretly thanked his stars that he had the good fortune to miss

meeting Fin, for, as he said to himself, "I'd have no chance with a

man who could eat such bread as that, which even his son that's but

in his cradle can munch before my eyes."

"I'd like to take a glimpse at the lad in the cradle," said he to

Oonagh; "for I can tell you that the infant who can manage that

nutriment is no joke to look at, or to feed of a scarce summer."

"With all the veins of my heart," replied Oonagh; "get up, acushla,

and show this decent little man something that won't be unworthy of

your father, Fin M'Coul."

Fin, who was dressed for the occasion as much like a boy as

possible, got up, and bringing Cucullin out, "Are you strong?" said

he.

"Thunder an' ounds!" exclaimed the other, "what a voice in so small

a chap!"

"Are you strong?" said Fin again; "are you able to squeeze water out

of that white stone?" he asked, putting one into Cucullin's hand.

The latter squeezed and squeezed the stone, but in vain.

"Ah, you're a poor creature!" said Fin. "You a giant! Give me the

stone here, and when I'll show what Fin's little son can do, you may

then judge of what my daddy himself is."

Fin then took the stone, and exchanging it for the curds, he

squeezed the latter until the whey, as clear as water, oozed out in

a little shower from his hand.

"I'll now go in," said he, "to my cradle; for I scorn to lose my

time with any one that's not able to eat my daddy's bread, or

squeeze water out of a stone. Bedad, you had better be off out of

this before he comes back; for if he catches you, it's in flummery

he'd have you in two minutes."

Cucullin, seeing what he had seen, was of the same opinion himself;

his knees knocked together with the terror of Fin's return, and he

accordingly hastened to bid Oonagh farewell, and to assure her, that

from that day out, he never wished to hear of, much less to see, her

husband. "I admit fairly that I'm not a match for him," said he,

"strong as I am; tell him I will avoid him as I would the plague,

and that I will make myself scarce in this part of the country while

I live."

Fin, in the meantime, had gone into the cradle, where he lay very

quietly, his heart at his mouth with delight that Cucullin was about

to take his departure, without discovering the tricks that had been

played off on him.

"It's well for you," said Oonagh, "that he doesn't happen to be

here, for it's nothing but hawk's meat he'd make of you."

"I know that," says Cucullin; "divil a thing else he'd make of me;

but before I go, will you let me feel what kind of teeth Fin's lad

has got that can eat griddle-bread like that?"

"With all pleasure in life," said she; "only, as they're far back in

his head, you must put your finger a good way in."

Cucullin was surprised to find such a powerful set of grinders in

one so young; but he was still much more so on finding, when he took

his hand from Fin's mouth, that he had left the very finger upon

which his whole strength depended, behind him. He gave one loud

groan, and fell down at once with terror and weakness. This was all

Fin wanted, who now knew that his most powerful and bitterest enemy

was at his mercy. He started out of the cradle, and in a few minutes

the great Cucullin, that was for such a length of time the terror of

him and all his followers, lay a corpse before him. Thus did Fin,

through the wit and invention of Oonagh, his wife, succeed in

overcoming his enemy by cunning, which he never could have done by

force.

FAIR, BROWN, AND TREMBLING

King Hugh Curucha lived in Tir Conal, and he had three daughters,

whose names were Fair, Brown, and Trembling. Fair and Brown had new

dresses, and went to church every Sunday. Trembling was kept at home

to do the cooking and work. They would not let her go out of the

house at all; for she was more beautiful than the other two, and

they were in dread she might marry before themselves.

They carried on in this way for seven years. At the end of seven

years the son of the king of Emania fell in love with the eldest

sister.

One Sunday morning, after the other two had gone to church, the old

henwife came into the kitchen to Trembling, and said: "It's at

church you ought to be this day, instead of working here at home."

"How could I go?" said Trembling. "I have no clothes good enough to

wear at church; and if my sisters were to see me there, they'd kill

me for going out of the house."

"I'll give you," said the henwife, "a finer dress than either of

them has ever seen. And now tell me what dress will you have?"

"I'll have," said Trembling, "a dress as white as snow, and green

shoes for my feet."

Then the henwife put on the cloak of darkness, clipped a piece from

the old clothes the young woman had on, and asked for the whitest

robes in the world and the most beautiful that could be found, and a

pair of green shoes.

That moment she had the robe and the shoes, and she brought them to

Trembling, who put them on. When Trembling was dressed and ready,

the henwife said: "I have a honey-bird here to sit on your right

shoulder, and a honey-finger to put on your left. At the door stands

a milk-white mare, with a golden saddle for you to sit on, and a

golden bridle to hold in your hand."

Trembling sat on the golden saddle; and when she was ready to start,

the henwife said: "You must not go inside the door of the church,

and the minute the people rise up at the end of Mass, do you make

off, and ride home as fast as the mare will carry you."

When Trembling came to the door of the church there was no one

inside who could get a glimpse of her but was striving to know who

she was; and when they saw her hurrying away at the end of Mass,

they ran out to overtake her. But no use in their running; she was

away before any man could come near her. From the minute she left

the church till she got home, she overtook the wind before her, and

outstripped the wind behind.

She came down at the door, went in, and found the henwife had dinner

ready. She put off the white robes, and had on her old dress in a

twinkling.

When the two sisters came home the henwife asked: "Have you any news

to-day from the church?"

"We have great news," said they. "We saw a wonderful grand lady at

the church-door. The like of the robes she had we have never seen on

woman before. It's little that was thought of our dresses beside

what she had on; and there wasn't a man at the church, from the king

to the beggar, but was trying to look at her and know who she was."

The sisters would give no peace till they had two dresses like the

robes of the strange lady; but honey-birds and honey-fingers were

not to be found.

Next Sunday the two sisters went to church again, and left the

youngest at home to cook the dinner.

After they had gone, the henwife came in and asked: "Will you go to

church to-day?"

"I would go," said Trembling, "if I could get the going."

"What robe will you wear?" asked the henwife.

"The finest black satin that can be found, and red shoes for my

feet."

"What colour do you want the mare to be?"

"I want her to be so black and so glossy that I can see myself in

her body."

The henwife put on the cloak of darkness, and asked for the robes

and the mare. That moment she had them. When Trembling was dressed,

the henwife put the honey-bird on her right shoulder and the honey-

finger on her left. The saddle on the mare was silver, and so was

the bridle.

When Trembling sat in the saddle and was going away, the henwife

ordered her strictly not to go inside the door of the church, but to

rush away as soon as the people rose at the end of Mass, and hurry

home on the mare before any man could stop her.

That Sunday, the people were more astonished than ever, and gazed at

her more than the first time; and all they were thinking of was to

know who she was. But they had no chance; for the moment the people

rose at the end of Mass she slipped from the church, was in the

silver saddle, and home before a man could stop her or talk to her.

The henwife had the dinner ready. Trembling took off her satin robe,

and had on her old clothes before her sisters got home.

"What news have you to-day?" asked the henwife of the sisters when

they came from the church.

"Oh, we saw the grand strange lady again! And it's little that any

man could think of our dresses after looking at the robes of satin

that she had on! And all at church, from high to low, had their

mouths open, gazing at her, and no man was looking at us."

The two sisters gave neither rest nor peace till they got dresses as

nearly like the strange lady's robes as they could find. Of course

they were not so good; for the like of those robes could not be

found in Erin.

When the third Sunday came, Fair and Brown went to church dressed in

black satin. They left Trembling at home to work in the kitchen, and

told her to be sure and have dinner ready when they came back.

After they had gone and were out of sight, the henwife came to the

kitchen and said: "Well, my dear, are you for church to-day?"

"I would go if I had a new dress to wear."

"I'll get you any dress you ask for. What dress would you like?"

asked the henwife.

"A dress red as a rose from the waist down, and white as snow from

the waist up; a cape of green on my shoulders; and a hat on my head

with a red, a white, and a green feather in it; and shoes for my

feet with the toes red, the middle white, and the backs and heels

green."

The henwife put on the cloak of darkness, wished for all these

things, and had them. When Trembling was dressed, the henwife put

the honey-bird on her right shoulder and the honey-finger on her

left, and, placing the hat on her head, clipped a few hairs from one

lock and a few from another with her scissors, and that moment the

most beautiful golden hair was flowing down over the girl's

shoulders. Then the henwife asked what kind of a mare she would

ride. She said white, with blue and gold-coloured diamond-shaped

spots all over her body, on her back a saddle of gold, and on her

head a golden bridle.

The mare stood there before the door, and a bird sitting between her

ears, which began to sing as soon as Trembling was in the saddle,

and never stopped till she came home from the church.

The fame of the beautiful strange lady had gone out through the

world, and all the princes and great men that were in it came to

church that Sunday, each one hoping that it was himself would have

her home with him after Mass.

The son of the king of Emania forgot all about the eldest sister,

and remained outside the church, so as to catch the strange lady

before she could hurry away.

The church was more crowded than ever before, and there were three

times as many outside. There was such a throng before the church

that Trembling could only come inside the gate.

As soon as the people were rising at the end of Mass, the lady

slipped out through the gate, was in the golden saddle in an

instant, and sweeping away ahead of the wind. But if she was, the

prince of Emania was at her side, and, seizing her by the foot, he

ran with the mare for thirty perches, and never let go of the

beautiful lady till the shoe was pulled from her foot, and he was

left behind with it in his hand. She came home as fast as the mare

could carry her, and was thinking all the time that the henwife

would kill her for losing the shoe.

Seeing her so vexed and so changed in the face, the old woman asked:

"What's the trouble that's on you now?" "Oh! I've lost one of the

shoes off my feet," said Trembling.

"Don't mind that; don't be vexed," said the henwife; "maybe it's the

best thing that ever happened to you."

Then Trembling gave up all the things she had to the henwife, put on

her old clothes, and went to work in the kitchen. When the sisters

came home, the henwife asked: "Have you any news from the church?"

"We have indeed," said they, "for we saw the grandest sight to-day.

The strange lady came again, in grander array than before. On

herself and the horse she rode were the finest colours of the world,

and between the ears of the horse was a bird which never stopped

singing from the time she came till she went away. The lady herself

is the most beautiful woman ever seen by man in Erin."

After Trembling had disappeared from the church, the son of the king

of Emania said to the other kings' sons: "I will have that lady for

my own."

They all said: "You didn't win her just by taking the shoe off her

foot; you'll have to win her by the point of the sword; you'll have

to fight for her with us before you can call her your own."

"Well," said the son of the king of Emania, "when I find the lady

that shoe will fit, I'll fight for her, never fear, before I leave

her to any of you."

Then all the kings' sons were uneasy, and anxious to know who was

she that lost the shoe; and they began to travel all over Erin to

know could they find her. The prince of Emania and all the others

went in a great company together, and made the round of Erin; they

went everywhere,--north, south, east, and west. They visited every

place where a woman was to be found, and left not a house in the

kingdom they did not search, to know could they find the woman the

shoe would fit, not caring whether she was rich or poor, of high or

low degree.

The prince of Emania always kept the shoe; and when the young women

saw it, they had great hopes, for it was of proper size, neither

large nor small, and it would beat any man to know of what material

it was made. One thought it would fit her if she cut a little from

her great toe; and another, with too short a foot, put something in

the tip of her stocking. But no use; they only spoiled their feet,

and were curing them for months afterwards.

The two sisters, Fair and Brown, heard that the princes of the world

were looking all over Erin for the woman that could wear the shoe,

and every day they were talking of trying it on; and one day

Trembling spoke up and said: "Maybe it's my foot that the shoe will

fit."

"Oh, the breaking of the dog's foot on you! Why say so when you were

at home every Sunday?"

They were that way waiting, and scolding the younger sister, till

the princes were near the place. The day they were to come, the

sisters put Trembling in a closet, and locked the door on her. When

the company came to the house, the prince of Emania gave the shoe to

the sisters. But though they tried and tried, it would fit neither

of them.

"Is there any other young woman in the house?" asked the prince.

"There is," said Trembling, speaking up in the closet; "I'm here."

"Oh! we have her for nothing but to put out the ashes," said the

sisters.

But the prince and the others wouldn't leave the house till they had

seen her; so the two sisters had to open the door. When Trembling

came out, the shoe was given to her, and it fitted exactly.

The prince of Emania looked at her and said: "You are the woman the

shoe fits, and you are the woman I took the shoe from."

Then Trembling spoke up, and said: "Do you stay here till I return."

Then she went to the henwife's house. The old woman put on the cloak

of darkness, got everything for her she had the first Sunday at

church, and put her on the white mare in the same fashion. Then

Trembling rode along the highway to the front of the house. All who

saw her the first time said: "This is the lady we saw at church."

Then she went away a second time, and a second time came back on the

black mare in the second dress which the henwife gave her. All who

saw her the second Sunday said: "That is the lady we saw at church."

A third time she asked for a short absence, and soon came back on

the third mare and in the third dress. All who saw her the third

time said: "That is the lady we saw at church." Every man was

satisfied, and knew that she was the woman.

Then all the princes and great men spoke up, and said to the son of

the king of Emania: "You'll have to fight now for her before we let

her go with you."

"I'm here before you, ready for combat," answered the prince.

Then the son of the king of Lochlin stepped forth. The struggle

began, and a terrible struggle it was. They fought for nine hours;

and then the son of the king of Lochlin stopped, gave up his claim,

and left the field. Next day the son of the king of Spain fought six

hours, and yielded his claim. On the third day the son of the king

of Nyerfoi fought eight hours, and stopped. The fourth day the son

of the king of Greece fought six hours, and stopped. On the fifth

day no more strange princes wanted to fight; and all the sons of

kings in Erin said they would not fight with a man of their own

land, that the strangers had had their chance, and, as no others

came to claim the woman, she belonged of right to the son of the

king of Emania.

The marriage-day was fixed, and the invitations were sent out. The

wedding lasted for a year and a day. When the wedding was over, the

king's son brought home the bride, and when the time came a son was

born. The young woman sent for her eldest sister, Fair, to be with

her and care for her. One day, when Trembling was well, and when her

husband was away hunting, the two sisters went out to walk; and when

they came to the seaside, the eldest pushed the youngest sister in.

A great whale came and swallowed her.

The eldest sister came home alone, and the husband asked, "Where is

your sister?"

"She has gone home to her father in Ballyshannon; now that I am

well, I don't need her."

"Well," said the husband, looking at her, "I'm in dread it's my wife

that has gone."

"Oh! no," said she; "it's my sister Fair that's gone."

Since the sisters were very much alike, the prince was in doubt.

That night he put his sword between them, and said: "If you are my

wife, this sword will get warm; if not, it will stay cold."

In the morning when he rose up, the sword was as cold as when he put

it there.

It happened, when the two sisters were walking by the seashore, that

a little cowboy was down by the water minding cattle, and saw Fair

push Trembling into the sea; and next day, when the tide came in, he

saw the whale swim up and throw her out on the sand. When she was on

the sand she said to the cowboy: "When you go home in the evening

with the cows, tell the master that my sister Fair pushed me into

the sea yesterday; that a whale swallowed me, and then threw me out,

but will come again and swallow me with the coming of the next tide;

then he'll go out with the tide, and come again with to-morrow's

tide, and throw me again on the strand. The whale will cast me out

three times. I'm under the enchantment of this whale, and cannot

leave the beach or escape myself. Unless my husband saves me before

I'm swallowed the fourth time, I shall be lost. He must come and

shoot the whale with a silver bullet when he turns on the broad of

his back. Under the breast-fin of the whale is a reddish-brown spot.

My husband must hit him in that spot, for it is the only place in

which he can be killed."

When the cowboy got home, the eldest sister gave him a draught of

oblivion, and he did not tell.

Next day he went again to the sea. The whale came and cast Trembling

on shore again. She asked the boy "Did you tell the master what I

told you to tell him?"

"I did not," said he; "I forgot."

"How did you forget?" asked she.

"The woman of the house gave me a drink that made me forget."

"Well, don't forget telling him this night; and if she gives you a

drink, don't take it from her."

As soon as the cowboy came home, the eldest sister offered him a

drink. He refused to take it till he had delivered his message and

told all to the master. The third day the prince went down with his

gun and a silver bullet in it. He was not long down when the whale

came and threw Trembling upon the beach as the two days before. She

had no power to speak to her husband till he had killed the whale.

Then the whale went out, turned over once on the broad of his back,

and showed the spot for a moment only. That moment the prince fired.

He had but the one chance, and a short one at that; but he took it,

and hit the spot, and the whale, mad with pain, made the sea all

around red with blood, and died.

That minute Trembling was able to speak, and went home with her

husband, who sent word to her father what the eldest sister had

done. The father came, and told him any death he chose to give her

to give it. The prince told the father he would leave her life and

death with himself. The father had her put out then on the sea in a

barrel, with provisions in it for seven years.

In time Trembling had a second child, a daughter. The prince and she

sent the cowboy to school, and trained him up as one of their own

children, and said: "If the little girl that is born to us now

lives, no other man in the world will get her but him."

The cowboy and the prince's daughter lived on till they were

married. The mother said to her husband "You could not have saved me

from the whale but for the little cowboy; on that account I don't

grudge him my daughter."

The son of the king of Emania and Trembling had fourteen children,

and they lived happily till the two died of old age.

JACK AND HIS MASTER

A poor woman had three sons. The eldest and second eldest were

cunning clever fellows, but they called the youngest Jack the Fool,

because they thought he was no better than a simpleton. The eldest

got tired of staying at home, and said he'd go look for service. He

stayed away a whole year, and then came back one day, dragging one

foot after the other, and a poor wizened face on him, and he as

cross as two sticks. When he was rested and got something to eat, he

told them how he got service with the Gray Churl of the Townland of

Mischance, and that the agreement was, whoever would first say he

was sorry for his bargain, should get an inch wide of the skin of

his back, from shoulder to hips, taken off. If it was the master, he

should also pay double wages; if it was the servant, he should get

no wages at all. "But the thief," says he, "gave me so little to

eat, and kept me so hard at work, that flesh and blood couldn't

stand it; and when he asked me once, when I was in a passion, if I

was sorry for my bargain, I was mad enough to say I was, and here I

am disabled for life."

Vexed enough were the poor mother and brothers; and the second

eldest said on the spot he'd go and take service with the Gray

Churl, and punish him by all the annoyance he'd give him till he'd

make him say he was sorry for his agreement. "Oh, won't I be glad to

see the skin coming off the old villain's back!" said he. All they

could say had no effect: he started off for the Townland of

Mischance, and in a twelvemonth he was back just as miserable and

helpless as his brother.

All the poor mother could say didn't prevent Jack the Fool from

starting to see if he was able to regulate the Gray Churl. He agreed

with him for a year for twenty pounds, and the terms were the same.

"Now, Jack," said the Gray Churl, "if you refuse to do anything you

are able to do, you must lose a month's wages."

"I'm satisfied," said Jack; "and if you stop me from doing a thing

after telling me to do it, you are to give me an additional month's

wages."

"I am satisfied," says the master.

"Or if you blame me for obeying your orders, you must give the

same."

"I am satisfied," said the master again.

The first day that Jack served he was fed very poorly, and was

worked to the saddleskirts. Next day he came in just before the

dinner was sent up to the parlour. They were taking the goose off

the spit, but well becomes Jack he whips a knife off the dresser,

and cuts off one side of the breast, one leg and thigh, and one

wing, and fell to. In came the master, and began to abuse him for

his assurance. "Oh, you know, master, you're to feed me, and

wherever the goose goes won't have to be filled again till supper.

Are you sorry for our agreement?"

The master was going to cry out he was, but he bethought himself in

time. "Oh no, not at all," said he.

"That's well," said Jack.

Next day Jack was to go clamp turf on the bog. They weren't sorry to

have him away from the kitchen at dinner time. He didn't find his

breakfast very heavy on his stomach; so he said to the mistress, "I

think, ma'am, it will be better for me to get my dinner now, and not

lose time coming home from the bog."

"That's true, Jack," said she. So she brought out a good cake, and a

print of butter, and a bottle of milk, thinking he'd take them away

to the bog. But Jack kept his seat, and never drew rein till bread,

butter, and milk went down the red lane.

"Now, mistress," said he, "I'll be earlier at my work to-morrow if I

sleep comfortably on the sheltery side of a pile of dry peat on dry

grass, and not be coming here and going back. So you may as well

give me my supper, and be done with the day's trouble." She gave him

that, thinking he'd take it to the bog; but he fell to on the spot,

and did not leave a scrap to tell tales on him; and the mistress was

a little astonished.

He called to speak to the master in the haggard, and said he, "What

are servants asked to do in this country after aten their supper?"

"Nothing at all, but to go to bed."

"Oh, very well, sir." He went up on the stable-loft, stripped, and

lay down, and some one that saw him told the master. He came up.

"Jack, you anointed scoundrel, what do you mean?" "To go to sleep,

master. The mistress, God bless her, is after giving me my

breakfast, dinner, and supper, and yourself told me that bed was the

next thing. Do you blame me, sir?"

"Yes, you rascal, I do."

"Hand me out one pound thirteen and fourpence, if you please, sir."

"One divel and thirteen imps, you tinker! what for?"

"Oh, I see, you've forgot your bargain. Are you sorry for it?"

"Oh, ya--no, I mean. I'll give you the money after your nap."

Next morning early, Jack asked how he'd be employed that day. "You

are to be holding the plough in that fallow, outside the paddock."

The master went over about nine o'clock to see what kind of a

ploughman was Jack, and what did he see but the little boy driving

the bastes, and the sock and coulter of the plough skimming along

the sod, and Jack pulling ding-dong again' the horses.

"What are you doing, you contrary thief?" said the master.

"An' ain't I strivin' to hold this divel of a plough, as you told

me; but that ounkrawn of a boy keeps whipping on the bastes in spite

of all I say; will you speak to him?"

"No, but I'll speak to you. Didn't you know, you bosthoon, that when

I said 'holding the plough,' I meant reddening the ground."

"Faith, an' if you did, I wish you had said so. Do you blame me for

what I have done?"

The master caught himself in time, but he was so stomached, he said

nothing.

"Go on and redden the ground now, you knave, as other ploughmen do."

"An' are you sorry for our agreement?"

"Oh, not at all, not at all!"

Jack, ploughed away like a good workman all the rest of the day.

In a day or two the master bade him go and mind the cows in a field

that had half of it under young corn. "Be sure, particularly," said

he, "to keep Browney from the wheat; while she's out of mischief

there's no fear of the rest."

About noon, he went to see how Jack was doing his duty, and what did

he find but Jack asleep with his face to the sod, Browney grazing

near a thorn-tree, one end of a long rope round her horns, and the

other end round the tree, and the rest of the beasts all trampling

and eating the green wheat. Down came the switch on Jack.

"Jack, you vagabone, do you see what the cows are at?"

"And do you blame, master?"

"To be sure, you lazy sluggard, I do?"

"Hand me out one pound thirteen and fourpence, master. You said if I

only kept Browney out of mischief, the rest would do no harm. There

she is as harmless as a lamb. Are you sorry for hiring me, master?"

"To be--that is, not at all. I'll give you your money when you go to

dinner. Now, understand me; don't let a cow go out of the field nor

into the wheat the rest of the day."

"Never fear, master!" and neither did he. But the churl would rather

than a great deal he had not hired him.

The next day three heifers were missing, and the master bade Jack go

in search of them.

"Where will I look for them?" said Jack.

"Oh, every place likely and unlikely for them all to be in."

The churl was getting very exact in his words. When he was coming

into the bawn at dinner-time, what work did he find Jack at but

pulling armfuls of the thatch off the roof, and peeping into the

holes he was making?

"What are you doing there, you rascal?"

"Sure, I'm looking for the heifers, poor things!"

"What would bring them there?"

"I don't think anything could bring them in it; but I looked first

into the likely places, that is, the cow-houses, and the pastures,

and the fields next 'em, and now I'm looking in the unlikeliest

place I can think of. Maybe it's not pleasing to you it is."

"And to be sure it isn't pleasing to me, you aggravating goose-cap!"

"Please, sir, hand me one pound thirteen and four pence before you

sit down to your dinner. I'm afraid it's sorrow that's on you for

hiring me at all."

"May the div--oh no; I'm not sorry. Will you begin, if you please,

and put in the thatch again, just as if you were doing it for your

mother's cabin?"

"Oh, faith I will, sir, with a heart and a half;" and by the time

the farmer came out from his dinner, Jack had the roof better than

it was before, for he made the boy give him new straw.

Says the master when he came out, "Go, Jack, and look for the

heifers, and bring them home."

"And where will I look for 'em?"

"Go and search for them as if they were your own." The heifers were

all in the paddock before sunset.

Next morning, says the master, "Jack, the path across the bog to the

pasture is very bad; the sheep does be sinking in it every step; go

and make the sheep's feet a good path." About an hour after he came

to the edge of the bog, and what did he find Jack at but sharpening

a carving knife, and the sheep standing or grazing round.

"Is this the way you are mending the path, Jack?" said he.

"Everything must have a beginning, master," said Jack, "and a thing

well begun is half done. I am sharpening the knife, and I'll have

the feet off every sheep in the flock while you'd be blessing

yourself."

"Feet off my sheep, you anointed rogue! and what would you be taking

their feet off for?"

"An' sure to mend the path as you told me. Says you, 'Jack, make a

path with the foot of the sheep.'"

"Oh, you fool, I meant make good the path for the sheep's feet."

"It's a pity you didn't say so, master. Hand me out one pound

thirteen and fourpence if you don't like me to finish my job."

"Divel do you good with your one pound thirteen and fourpence!"

"It's better pray than curse, master. Maybe you're sorry for your

bargain?"

"And to be sure I am--not yet, any way."

The next night the master was going to a wedding; and says he to

Jack, before he set out: "I'll leave at midnight, and I wish you, to

come and be with me home, for fear I might be overtaken with the

drink. If you're there before, you may throw a sheep's eye at me,

and I'll be sure to see that they'll give you something for

yourself."

About eleven o'clock, while the master was in great spirits, he felt

something clammy hit him on the cheek. It fell beside his tumbler,

and when he looked at it what was it but the eye of a sheep. Well,

he couldn't imagine who threw it at him, or why it was thrown at

him. After a little he got a blow on the other cheek, and still it

was by another sheep's eye. Well, he was very vexed, but he thought

better to say nothing. In two minutes more, when he was opening his

mouth to take a sup, another sheep's eye was slapped into it. He

sputtered it out, and cried, "Man o' the house, isn't it a great

shame for you to have any one in the room that would do such a nasty

thing?"

"Master," says Jack, "don't blame the honest man. Sure it's only

myself that was thrown' them sheep's eyes at you, to remind you I

was here, and that I wanted to drink the bride and bridegroom's

health. You know yourself bade me."

"I know that you are a great rascal; and where did you get the

eyes?"

"An' where would I get em' but in the heads of your own sheep? Would

you have me meddle with the bastes of any neighbour, who might put

me in the Stone Jug for it?"

"Sorrow on me that ever I had the bad luck to meet with you."

"You're all witness," said Jack, "that my master says he is sorry

for having met with me. My time is up. Master, hand me over double

wages, and come into the next room, and lay yourself out like a man

that has some decency in him, till I take a strip of skin an inch

broad from your shoulder to your hip."

Every one shouted out against that; but, says Jack, "You didn't

hinder him when he took the same strips from the backs of my two

brothers, and sent them home in that state, and penniless, to their

poor mother."

When the company heard the rights of the business, they were only

too eager to see the job done. The master bawled and roared, but

there was no help at hand. He was stripped to his hips, and laid on

the floor in the next room, and Jack had the carving knife in his

hand ready to begin.

"Now you cruel old villain," said he, giving the knife a couple of

scrapes along the floor, "I'll make you an offer. Give me, along

with my double wages, two hundred guineas to support my poor

brothers, and I'll do without the strap."

"No!" said he, "I'd let you skin me from head to foot first."

"Here goes then," said Jack with a grin, but the first little scar

he gave, Churl roared out, "Stop your hand; I'll give the money."

"Now, neighbours," said Jack, "you mustn't think worse of me than I

deserve. I wouldn't have the heart to take an eye out of a rat

itself; I got half a dozen of them from the butcher, and only used

three of them."

So all came again into the other room, and Jack was made sit down,

and everybody drank his health, and he drank everybody's health at

one offer. And six stout fellows saw himself and the master home,

and waited in the parlour while he went up and brought down the two

hundred guineas, and double wages for Jack himself. When he got

home, he brought the summer along with him to the poor mother and

the disabled brothers; and he was no more Jack the Fool in the

people's mouths, but "Skin Churl Jack."

BETH GELLERT

Print Llewelyn had a favourite greyhound named Gellert that had been

given to him by his father-in-law, King John. He was as gentle as a

lamb at home but a lion in the chase. One day Llewelyn went to the

chase and blew his horn in front of his castle. All his other dogs

came to the call but Gellert never answered it. So he blew a louder

blast on his horn and called Gellert by name, but still the

greyhound did not come. At last Prince Llewelyn could wait no longer

and went off to the hunt without Gellert. He had little sport that

day because Gellert was not there, the swiftest and boldest of his

hounds.

He turned back in a rage to his castle, and as he came to the gate,

who should he see but Gellert come bounding out to meet him. But

when the hound came near him, the Prince was startled to see that

his lips and fangs were dripping with blood. Llewelyn started back

and the greyhound crouched down at his feet as if surprised or

afraid at the way his master greeted him.

Now Prince Llewelyn had a little son a year old with whom Gellert

used to play, and a terrible thought crossed the Prince's mind that

made him rush towards the child's nursery. And the nearer he came

the more blood and disorder he found about the rooms. He rushed into

it and found the child's cradle overturned and daubed with blood.

Prince Llewelyn grew more and more terrified, and sought for his

little son everywhere. He could find him nowhere but only signs of

some terrible conflict in which much blood had been shed. At last he

felt sure the dog had destroyed his child, and shouting to Gellert,

"Monster, thou hast devoured my child," he drew out his sword and

plunged it in the greyhound's side, who fell with a deep yell and

still gazing in his master's eyes.

As Gellert raised his dying yell, a little child's cry answered it

from beneath the cradle, and there Llewelyn found his child unharmed

and just awakened from sleep. But just beside him lay the body of a

great gaunt wolf all torn to pieces and covered with blood. Too

late, Llewelyn learned what had happened while he was away. Gellert

had stayed behind to guard the child and had fought and slain the

wolf that had tried to destroy Llewelyn's heir.

In vain was all Llewelyn's grief; he could not bring his faithful

dog to life again. So he buried him outside the castle walls within

sight of the great mountain of Snowdon, where every passer-by might

see his grave, and raised over it a great cairn of stones. And to

this day the place is called Beth Gellert, or the Grave of Gellert.

THE TALE OF IVAN

There were formerly a man and a woman living in the parish of

Llanlavan, in the place which is called Hwrdh. And work became

scarce, so the man said to his wife, "I will go search for work, and

you may live here." So he took fair leave, and travelled far toward

the East, and at last came to the house of a farmer and asked for

work.

"What work can ye do?" said the farmer. "I can do all kinds of

work," said Ivan. Then they agreed upon three pounds for the year's

wages.

When the end of the year came his master showed him the three

pounds. "See, Ivan," said he, "here's your wage; but if you will

give it me back I'll give you a piece of advice instead."

"Give me my wage," said Ivan.

"No, I'll not," said the master; "I'll explain my advice."

"Tell it me, then," said Ivan.

Then said the master, "Never leave the old road for the sake of a

new one."

After that they agreed for another year at the old wages, and at the

end of it Ivan took instead a piece of advice, and this was it:

"Never lodge where an old man is married to a young woman."

The same thing happened at the end of the third year, when the piece

of advice was: "Honesty is the best policy."

But Ivan would not stay longer, but wanted to go back to his wife.

"Don't go to-day," said his master; "my wife bakes to-morrow, and

she shall make thee a cake to take home to thy good woman."

And when Ivan was going to leave, "Here," said his master, "here is

a cake for thee to take home to thy wife, and, when ye are most

joyous together, then break the cake, and not sooner."

So he took fair leave of them and travelled towards home, and at

last he came to Wayn Her, and there he met three merchants from Tre

Rhyn, of his own parish, coming home from Exeter Fair. "Oho! Ivan,"

said they, "come with us; glad are we to see you. Where have you

been so long?"

"I have been in service," said Ivan, "and now I'm going home to my

wife."

"Oh, come with us! you'll be right welcome." But when they took the

new road Ivan kept to the old one. And robbers fell upon them before

they had gone far from Ivan as they were going by the fields of the

houses in the meadow. They began to cry out, "Thieves!" and Ivan

shouted out "Thieves!" too. And when the robbers heard Ivan's shout

they ran away, and the merchants went by the new road and Ivan by

the old one till they met again at Market-Jew.

"Oh, Ivan," said the merchants, "we are beholding to you; but for

you we would have been lost men. Come lodge with us at our cost, and

welcome."

When they came to the place where they used to lodge, Ivan said, "I

must see the host."

"The host," they cried; "what do you want with the host? Here is the

hostess, and she's young and pretty. If you want to see the host

you'll find him in the kitchen."

So he went into the kitchen to see the host; he found him a weak old

man turning the spit.

"Oh! oh!" quoth Ivan, "I'll not lodge here, but will go next door."

"Not yet," said the merchants, "sup with us, and welcome."

Now it happened that the hostess had plotted with a certain monk in

Market-Jew to murder the old man in his bed that night while the

rest were asleep, and they agreed to lay it on the lodgers.

So while Ivan was in bed next door, there was a hole in the pine-end

of the house, and he saw a light through it. So he got up and

looked, and heard the monk speaking. "I had better cover this hole,"

said he, "or people in the next house may see our deeds." So he

stood with his back against it while the hostess killed the old man.

But meanwhile Ivan out with his knife, and putting it through the

hole, cut a round piece off the monk's robe. The very next morning

the hostess raised the cry that her husband was murdered, and as

there was neither man nor child in the house but the merchants, she

declared they ought to be hanged for it.

So they were taken and carried to prison, till a last Ivan came to

them. "Alas! alas! Ivan," cried they, "bad luck sticks to us; our

host was killed last night, and we shall be hanged for it."

"Ah, tell the justices," said Ivan, "to summon the real murderers."

"Who knows," they replied, "who committed the crime?"

"Who committed the crime!" said Ivan. "if I cannot prove who

committed the crime, hang me in your stead."

So he told all he knew, and brought out the piece of cloth from the

monk's robe, and with that the merchants were set at liberty, and

the hostess and the monk were seized and hanged.

Then they came all together out of Market-Jew, and they said to him:

"Come as far as Coed Carrn y Wylfa, the Wood of the Heap of Stones

of Watching, in the parish of Burman." Then their two roads

separated, and though the merchants wished Ivan to go with them, he

would not go with them, but went straight home to his wife.

And when his wife saw him she said: "Home in the nick of time.

Here's a purse of gold that I've found; it has no name, but sure it

belongs to the great lord yonder. I was just thinking what to do

when you came."

Then Ivan thought of the third counsel, and he said "Let us go and

give it to the great lord."

So they went up to the castle, but the great lord was not in it, so

they left the purse with the servant that minded the gate, and then

they went home again and lived in quiet for a time.

But one day the great lord stopped at their house for a drink of

water, and Ivan's wife said to him: "I hope your lordship found your

lordship's purse quite safe with all its money in it."

"What purse is that you are talking about?" said the lord.

"Sure, it's your lordship's purse that I left at the castle," said

Ivan.

"Come with me and we will see into the matter," said the lord.

So Ivan and his wife went up to the castle, and there they pointed

out the man to whom they had given the purse, and he had to give it

up and was sent away from the castle. And the lord was so pleased

with Ivan that he made him his servant in the stead of the thief.

"Honesty's the best policy!" quoth Ivan, as he skipped about in his

new quarters. "How joyful I am!"

Then he thought of his old master's cake that he was to eat when he

was most joyful, and when he broke it, to and behold, inside it was

his wages for the three years he had been with him.

ANDREW COFFEY

My grandfather, Andrew Coffey, was known to the whole barony as a

quiet, decent man. And if the whole barony knew him, he knew the

whole barony, every inch, hill and dale, bog and pasture, field and

covert. Fancy his surprise one evening, when he found himself in a

part of the demesne he couldn't recognise a bit. He and his good

horse were always stumbling up against some tree or stumbling down

into some bog-hole that by rights didn't ought to be there. On the

top of all this the rain came pelting down wherever there was a

clearing, and the cold March wind tore through the trees. Glad he

was then when he saw a light in the distance, and drawing near found

a cabin, though for the life of him he couldn't think how it came

there. However, in he walked, after tying up his horse, and right

welcome was the brushwood fire blazing on the hearth. And there

stood a chair right and tight, that seemed to say, "Come, sit down

in me." There wasn't a soul else in the room. Well, he did sit, and

got a little warm and cheered after his drenching. But all the while

he was wondering and wondering.

"Andrew Coffey! Andrew Coffey!"

Good heavens! who was calling him, and not a soul in sight? Look

around as he might, indoors and out, he could find no creature with

two legs or four, for his horse was gone.

"ANDREW COFFEY! ANDREW COFFEY! tell me a story."

It was louder this time, and it was nearer. And then what a thing to

ask for! It was bad enough not to be let sit by the fire and dry

oneself, without being bothered for a story.

"ANDREW COFFEY! ANDREW COFFEY!! Tell me a story, or it'll be the

worse for you."

My poor grandfather was so dumbfounded that he could only stand and

stare.

"ANDREW COFFEY! ANDREW COFFEY! I told you it'd be the worse for

you."

And with that, out there bounced, from a cupboard that Andrew

Coffey had never noticed before, _a man_. And the man was in a

towering rage. But it wasn't that. And he carried as fine a

blackthorn as you'd wish to crack a man's head with. But it wasn't

that either. But when my grandfather clapped eyes on him, he knew

him for Patrick Rooney, and all the world knew _he'd_ gone

overboard, fishing one night long years before.

Andrew Coffey would neither stop nor stay, but he took to his heels

and was out of the house as hard as he could. He ran and he ran

taking little thought of what was before till at last he ran up

against a big tree. And then he sat down to rest.

He hadn't sat for a moment when he heard voices.

"It's heavy he is, the vagabond." "Steady now, we'll rest when we

get under the big tree yonder." Now that happened to be the tree

under which Andrew Coffey was sitting. At least he thought so, for

seeing a branch handy he swung himself up by it and was soon snugly

hidden away. Better see than be seen, thought he.

The rain had stopped and the wind fallen. The night was blacker than

ever, but Andrew Coffey could see four men, and they were carrying

between them a long box. Under the tree they came, set the box down,

opened it, and who should they bring out but--Patrick Rooney. Never

a word did he say, and he looked as pale as old snow.

Well, one gathered brushwood, and another took out tinder and flint,

and soon they had a big fire roaring, and my grandfather could see

Patrick plainly enough. If he had kept still before, he kept stiller

now. Soon they had four poles up and a pole across, right over the

fire, for all the world like a spit, and on to the pole they slung

Patrick Rooney.

"He'll do well enough," said one; "but who's to mind him whilst

we're away, who'll turn the fire, who'll see that he doesn't burn?"

With that Patrick opened his lips: "Andrew Coffey," said he.

"Andrew Coffey! Andrew Coffey! Andrew Coffey! Andrew Coffey!"

"I'm much obliged to you, gentlemen," said Andrew Coffey, "but

indeed I know nothing about the business."

"You'd better come down, Andrew Coffey," said Patrick.

It was the second time he spoke, and Andrew Coffey decided he would

come down. The four men went off and he was left all alone with

Patrick.

Then he sat and he kept the fire even, and he kept the spit turning,

and all the while Patrick looked at him.

Poor Andrew Coffey couldn't make it all out at all, at all, and he

stared at Patrick and at the fire, and he thought of the little

house in the wood, till he felt quite dazed.

"Ah, but it's burning me ye are!" says Patrick, very short and

sharp.

"I'm sure I beg your pardon," said my grandfather "but might I ask

you a question?"

"If you want a crooked answer," said Patrick; "turn away or it'll be

the worse for you."

But my grandfather couldn't get it out of his head; hadn't

everybody, far and near, said Patrick had fallen overboard. There

was enough to think about, and my grandfather did think.

"ANDREW COFFEY! ANDREW COFFEY! IT'S BURNING ME YE ARE."

Sorry enough my grandfather was, and he vowed he wouldn't do so

again.

"You'd better not," said Patrick, and he gave him a cock of his eye,

and a grin of his teeth, that just sent a shiver down Andrew

Coffey's back. Well it was odd, that here he should be in a thick

wood he had never set eyes upon, turning Patrick Rooney upon a spit.

You can't wonder at my grandfather thinking and thinking and not

minding the fire.

"ANDREW COFFEY, ANDREW COFFEY, IT'S THE DEATH OF YOU I'LL BE."

And with that what did my grandfather see, but Patrick unslinging

himself from the spit and his eyes glared and his teeth glistened.

It was neither stop nor stay my grandfather made, but out he ran

into the night of the wood. It seemed to him there wasn't a stone

but was for his stumbling, not a branch but beat his face, not a

bramble but tore his skin. And wherever it was clear the rain pelted

down and the cold March wind howled along.

Glad he was to see a light, and a minute after he was kneeling,

dazed, drenched, and bedraggled by the hearth side. The brushwood

flamed, and the brushwood crackled, and soon my grandfather began to

feel a little warm and dry and easy in his mind.

"ANDREW COFFEY! ANDREW COFFEY!"

It's hard for a man to jump when he has been through all my

grandfather had, but jump he did. And when he looked around, where

should he find himself but in the very cabin he had first met

Patrick in.

"Andrew Coffey, Andrew Coffey, tell me a story."

"Is it a story you want?" said my grandfather as bold as may be, for

he was just tired of being frightened. "Well if you can tell me the

rights of this one, I'll be thankful."

And he told the tale of what had befallen him from first to last

that night. The tale was long, and may be Andrew Coffey was weary.

It's asleep he must have fallen, for when he awoke he lay on the

hill-side under the open heavens, and his horse grazed at his side.

THE BATTLE OF THE BIRDS

I will tell you a story about the wren. There was once a farmer who

was seeking a servant, and the wren met him and said: "What are you

seeking?"

"I am seeking a servant," said the farmer to the wren.

"Will you take me?" said the wren.

"You, you poor creature, what good would you do?"

"Try me," said the wren.

So he engaged him, and the first work he set him to do was threshing

in the barn. The wren threshed (what did he thresh with? Why a flail

to be sure), and he knocked off one grain. A mouse came out and she

eats that.

"I'll trouble you not to do that again," said the wren.

He struck again, and he struck off two grains. Out came the mouse

and she eats them. So they arranged a contest to see who was

strongest, and the wren brings his twelve birds, and the mouse her

tribe.

"You have your tribe with you," said the wren.

"As well as yourself," said the mouse, and she struck out her leg

proudly. But the wren broke it with his flail, and there was a

pitched battle on a set day.

When every creature and bird was gathering to battle, the son of the

king of Tethertown said that he would go to see the battle, and that

he would bring sure word home to his father the king, who would be

king of the creatures this year. The battle was over before he

arrived all but one fight, between a great black raven and a snake.

The snake was twined about the raven's neck, and the raven held the

snake's throat in his beak, and it seemed as if the snake would get

the victory over the raven. When the king's son saw this he helped

the raven, and with one blow takes the head off the snake. When the

raven had taken breath, and saw that the snake was dead, he said,

"For thy kindness to me this day, I will give thee a sight. Come up

now on the root of my two wings." The king's son put his hands about

the raven before his wings, and, before he stopped, he took him over

nine Bens, and nine Glens, and nine Mountain Moors.

"Now," said the raven, "see you that house yonder? Go now to it. It

is a sister of mine that makes her dwelling in it; and I will go

bail that you are welcome. And if she asks you, Were you at the

battle of the birds? say you were. And if she asks, 'Did you see any

one like me,' say you did, but be sure that you meet me to-morrow

morning here, in this place." The king's son got good and right good

treatment that night. Meat of each meat, drink of each drink, warm

water to his feet, and a soft bed for his limbs.

On the next day the raven gave him the same sight over six Bens, and

six Glens, and six Mountain Moors. They saw a bothy far off, but,

though far off, they were soon there. He got good treatment this

night, as before--plenty of meat and drink, and warm water to his

feet, and a soft bed to his limbs--and on the next day it was the

same thing, over three Bens and three Glens, and three Mountain

Moors.

On the third morning, instead of seeing the raven as at the other

times, who should meet him but the handsomest lad he ever saw, with

gold rings in his hair, with a bundle in his hand. The king's son

asked this lad if he had seen a big black raven.

Said the lad to him, "You will never see the raven again, for I am

that raven. I was put under spells by a bad druid; it was meeting

you that loosed me, and for that you shall get this bundle. Now,"

said the lad, "you must turn back on the self-same steps, and lie a

night in each house as before; but you must not loose the bundle

which I gave ye, till in the place where you would most wish to

dwell."

The king's son turned his back to the lad, and his face to his

father's house; and he got lodging from the raven's sisters, just as

he got it when going forward. When he was nearing his father's house

he was going through a close wood. It seemed to him that the bundle

was growing heavy, and he thought he would look what was in it.

When he loosed the bundle he was astonished. In a twinkling he sees

the very grandest place he ever saw. A great castle, and an orchard

about the castle, in which was every kind of fruit and herb. He

stood full of wonder and regret for having loosed the bundle--for it

was not in his power to put it back again--and he would have wished

this pretty place to be in the pretty little green hollow that was

opposite his father's house; but he looked up and saw a great giant

coming towards him.

"Bad's the place where you have built the house, king's son," says

the giant.

"Yes, but it is not here I would wish it to be, though it happens to

be here by mishap," says the king's son.

"What's the reward for putting it back in the bundle as it was

before?"

"What's the reward you would ask?" says the king's son.

"That you will give me the first son you have when he is seven years

of age," says the giant.

"If I have a son you shall have him," said the king's son.

In a twinkling the giant put each garden, and orchard, and castle in

the bundle as they were before.

"Now," says the giant, "take your own road, and I will take mine;

but mind your promise, and if you forget I will remember."

The king's son took to the road, and at the end of a few days he

reached the place he was fondest of. He loosed the bundle, and the

castle was just as it was before. And when he opened the castle door

he sees the handsomest maiden he ever cast eye upon.

"Advance, king's son," said the pretty maid; "everything is in order

for you, if you will marry me this very day."

"It's I that am willing," said the king's son. And on the same day

they married.

But at the end of a day and seven years, who should be seen coming

to the castle but the giant. The king's son was reminded of his

promise to the giant, and till now he had not told his promise to

the queen.

"Leave the matter between me and the giant," says the queen.

"Turn out your son," says the giant; "mind your promise."

"You shall have him," says the king, "when his mother puts him in

order for his journey."

The queen dressed up the cook's son, and she gave him to the giant

by the hand. The giant went away with him; but he had not gone far

when he put a rod in the hand of the little laddie. The giant asked

him--

"If thy father had that rod what would he do with it?"

"If my father had that rod he would beat the dogs and the cats, so

that they shouldn't be going near the king's meat," said the little

laddie.

"Thou'rt the cook's son," said the giant. He catches him by the two

small ankles and knocks him against the stone that was beside him.

The giant turned back to the castle in rage and madness, and he said

that if they did not send out the king's son to him, the highest

stone of the castle would be the lowest.

Said the queen to the king, "We'll try it yet; the butler's son is

of the same age as our son."

She dressed up the butler's son, and she gives him to the giant by

the hand. The giant had not gone far when he put the rod in his

hand.

"If thy father had that rod," says the giant, "what would he do with

it?"

"He would beat the dogs and the cats when they would be coming near

the king's bottles and glasses."

"Thou art the son of the butler," says the giant and dashed his

brains out too. The giant returned in a very great rage and anger.

The earth shook under the sole of his feet, and the castle shook and

all that was in it.

"OUT HERE WITH THY SON," says the giant, "or in a twinkling the

stone that is highest in the dwelling will be the lowest." So they

had to give the king's son to the giant.

When they were gone a little bit from the earth, the giant showed

him the rod that was in his hand and said: "What would thy father do

with this rod if he had it?"

The king's son said: "My father has a braver rod than that."

And the giant asked him, "Where is thy father when he has that brave

rod?"

And the king's son said: "He will be sitting in his kingly chair."

Then the giant understood that he had the right one.

The giant took him to his own house, and he reared him as his own

son. On a day of days when the giant was from home, the lad heard

the sweetest music he ever heard in a room at the top of the giant's

house. At a glance he saw the finest face he had ever seen. She

beckoned to him to come a bit nearer to her, and she said her name

was Auburn Mary but she told him to go this time, but to be sure to

be at the same place about that dead midnight.

And as he promised he did. The giant's daughter was at his side in a

twinkling, and she said, "To-morrow you will get the choice of my

two sisters to marry; but say that you will not take either, but me.

My father wants me to marry the son of the king of the Green City,

but I don't like him." On the morrow the giant took out his three

daughters, and he said:

"Now, son of the king of Tethertown, thou hast not lost by living

with me so long. Thou wilt get to wife one of the two eldest of my

daughters, and with her leave to go home with her the day after the

wedding."

"If you will give me this pretty little one," says the king's son,

"I will take you at your word."

The giant's wrath kindled, and he said: "Before thou gett'st her

thou must do the three things that I ask thee to do."

"Say on," says the king's son.

The giant took him to the byre.

"Now," says the giant, "a hundred cattle are stabled here, and it has

not been cleansed for seven years. I am going from home to-day, and

if this byre is not cleaned before night comes, so clean that a

golden apple will run from end to end of it, not only thou shalt not

get my daughter, but 'tis only a drink of thy fresh, goodly,

beautiful blood that will quench my thirst this night."

He begins cleaning the byre, but he might just as well to keep

baling the great ocean. After midday when sweat was blinding him,

the giant's youngest daughter came where he was, and she said to

him:

"You are being punished, king's son."

"I am that," says the king's son.

"Come over," says Auburn Mary, "and lay down your weariness."

"I will do that," says he, "there is but death awaiting me, at any

rate." He sat down near her. He was so tired that he fell asleep

beside her. When he awoke, the giant's daughter was not to be seen,

but the byre was so well cleaned that a golden apple would run from

end to end of it and raise no stain. In comes the giant, and he

said:

"Hast thou cleaned the byre, king's son?"

"I have cleaned it," says he.

"Somebody cleaned it," says the giant.

"You did not clean it, at all events," said the king's son.

"Well, well!" says the giant, "since thou wert so active to-day,

thou wilt get to this time to-morrow to thatch this byre with birds'

down, from birds with no two feathers of one colour."

The king's son was on foot before the sun; he caught up his bow and

his quiver of arrows to kill the birds. He took to the moors, but if

he did, the birds were not so easy to take. He was running after

them till the sweat was blinding him. About mid-day who should come

but Auburn Mary.

"You are exhausting yourself, king's son," says she.

"I am," said he.

"There fell but these two blackbirds, and both of one colour."

"Come over and lay down your weariness on this pretty hillock," says

the giant's daughter.

"It's I am willing," said he.

He thought she would aid him this time, too, and he sat down near

her, and he was not long there till he fell asleep.

When he awoke, Auburn Mary was gone. He thought he would go back to

the house, and he sees the byre thatched with feathers. When the

giant came home, he said:

"Hast thou thatched the byre, king's son?"

"I thatched it," says he.

"Somebody thatched it," says the giant.

"You did not thatch it," says the king's son.

"Yes, yes!" says the giant. "Now," says the giant, "there is a fir

tree beside that loch down there, and there is a magpie's nest in

its top. The eggs thou wilt find in the nest. I must have them for

my first meal. Not one must be burst or broken, and there are five

in the nest."

Early in the morning the king's son went where the tree was, and

that tree was not hard to hit upon. Its match was not in the whole

wood. From the foot to the first branch was five hundred feet. The

king's son was going all round the tree. She came who was always

bringing help to him.

"You are losing the skin of your hands and feet."

"Ach! I am," says he. "I am no sooner up than down."

"This is no time for stopping," says the giant's daughter. "Now you

must kill me, strip the flesh from my bones, take all those bones

apart, and use them as steps for climbing the tree. When you are

climbing the tree, they will stick to the glass as if they had grown

out of it; but when you are coming down, and have put your foot on

each one, they will drop into your hand when you touch them. Be sure

and stand on each bone, leave none untouched; if you do, it will

stay behind. Put all my flesh into this clean cloth by the side of

the spring at the roots of the tree. When you come to the earth,

arrange my bones together, put the flesh over them, sprinkle it with

water from the spring, and I shall be alive before you. But don't

forget a bone of me on the tree."

"How could I kill you," asked the king's son, "after what you have

done for me?"

"If you won't obey, you and I are done for," said Auburn Mary. "You

must climb the tree, or we are lost; and to climb the tree you must

do as I say." The king's son obeyed. He killed Auburn Mary, cut the

flesh from her body, and unjointed the bones, as she had told him.

As he went up, the king's son put the bones of Auburn Mary's body

against the side of the tree, using them as steps, till he came

under the nest and stood on the last bone.

Then he took the eggs, and coming down, put his foot on every bone,

then took it with him, till he came to the last bone, which was so

near the ground that he failed to touch it with his foot.

He now placed all the bones of Auburn Mary in order again at the

side of the spring, put the flesh on them, sprinkled it with water

from the spring. She rose up before him, and said: "Didn't I tell

you not to leave a bone of my body without stepping on it? Now I am

lame for life! You left my little finger on the tree without

touching it, and I have but nine fingers."

"Now," says she, "go home with the eggs quickly, and you will get

me to marry to-night if you can know me. I and my two sisters will

be arrayed in the same garments, and made like each other, but look

at me when my father says, 'Go to thy wife, king's son;' and you

will see a hand without a little finger."

He gave the eggs to the giant.

"Yes, yes!" says the giant, "be making ready for your marriage."

Then, indeed, there was a wedding, and it _was_ a wedding!

Giants and gentlemen, and the son of the king of the Green City was

in the midst of them. They were married, and the dancing began, that

was a dance! The giant's house was shaking from top to bottom.

But bed time came, and the giant said, "It is time for thee to go to

rest, son of the king of Tethertown; choose thy bride to take with

thee from amidst those."

She put out the hand off which the little finger was, and he caught

her by the hand.

"Thou hast aimed well this time too; but there is no knowing but we

may meet thee another way," said the giant.

But to rest they went. "Now," says she, "sleep not, or else you are

a dead man. We must fly quick, quick, or for certain my father will

kill you."

Out they went, and on the blue grey filly in the stable they

mounted. "Stop a while," says she, "and I will play a trick to the

old hero." She jumped in, and cut an apple into nine shares, and she

put two shares at the head of the bed, and two shares at the foot of

the bed, and two shares at the door of the kitchen, and two shares

at the big door, and one outside the house.

The giant awoke and called, "Are you asleep?"

"Not yet," said the apple that was at the head of the bed.

At the end of a while he called again.

"Not yet," said the apple that was at the foot of the bed.

A while after this he called again: "Are your asleep?"

"Not yet," said the apple at the kitchen door.

The giant called again.

The apple that was at the big door answered.

"You are now going far from me," says the giant.

"Not yet," says the apple that was outside the house.

"You are flying," says the giant. The giant jumped on his feet, and

to the bed he went, but it was cold--empty.

"My own daughter's tricks are trying me," said the giant. "Here's

after them," says he.

At the mouth of day, the giant's daughter said that her father's

breath was burning her back.

"Put your hand, quick," said she, "in the ear of the grey filly, and

whatever you find in it, throw it behind us."

"There is a twig of sloe tree," said he.

"Throw it behind us," said she.

No sooner did he that, than there were twenty miles of blackthorn

wood, so thick that scarce a weasel could go through it.

The giant came headlong, and there he is fleecing his head and neck

in the thorns.

"My own daughter's tricks are here as before," said the giant; "but

if I had my own big axe and wood knife here, I would not be long

making a way through this."

He went home for the big axe and the wood knife, and sure he was not

long on his journey, and he was the boy behind the big axe. He was

not long making a way through the blackthorn.

"I will leave the axe and the wood knife here till I return," says

he.

"If you leave 'em, leave 'em," said a hoodie that was in a tree,

"we'll steal 'em, steal 'em."

"If you will do that," says the giant, "I must take them home." He

returned home and left them at the house.

At the heat of day the giant's daughter felt her father's breath

burning her back.

"Put your finger in the filly's ear, and throw behind whatever you

find in it."

He got a splinter of grey stone, and in a twinkling there were

twenty miles, by breadth and height, of great grey rock behind them.

The giant came full pelt, but past the rock he could not go.

"The tricks of my own daughter are the hardest things that ever met

me," says the giant; "but if I had my lever and my mighty mattock, I

would not be long in making my way through this rock also."

There was no help for it, but to turn the chase for them; and he was

the boy to split the stones. He was not long in making a road

through the rock.

"I will leave the tools here, and I will return no more."

"If you leave 'em, leave 'em," says the hoodie, "we will steal 'em,

steal 'em."

"Do that if you will; there is no time to go back."

At the time of breaking the watch, the giant's daughter said that

she felt her father's breath burning her back.

"Look in the filly's ear, king's son, or else we are lost."

He did so, and it was a bladder of water that was in her ear this

time. He threw it behind him and there was a fresh-water loch,

twenty miles in length and breadth, behind them.

The giant came on, but with the speed he had on him, he was in the

middle of the loch, and he went under, and he rose no more.

On the next day the young companions were come in sight of his

father's house. "Now," says she, "my father is drowned, and he won't

trouble us any more; but before we go further," says she, "go you to

your father's house, and tell that you have the likes of me; but let

neither man nor creature kiss you, for if you do, you will not

remember that you have ever seen me."

Every one he met gave him welcome and luck, and he charged his

father and mother not to kiss him; but as mishap was to be, an old

greyhound was indoors, and she knew him, and jumped up to his mouth,

and after that he did not remember the giant's daughter.

She was sitting at the well's side as he left her, but the king's

son was not coming. In the mouth of night she climbed up into a tree

of oak that was beside the well, and she lay in the fork of that

tree all night. A shoemaker had a house near the well, and about

mid-day on the morrow, the shoemaker asked his wife to go for a

drink for him out of the well. When the shoemaker's wife reached the

well, and when she saw the shadow of her that was in the tree,

thinking it was her own shadow--and she never thought till now that

she was so handsome--she gave a cast to the dish that was in her

hand, and it was broken on the ground, and she took herself to the

house without vessel or water.

"Where is the water, wife?" said the shoemaker.

"You shambling, contemptible old carle, without grace, I have stayed

too long your water and wood thrall."

"I think, wife, that you have turned crazy. Go you, daughter,

quickly, and fetch a drink for your father."

His daughter went, and in the same way so it happened to her. She

never thought till now that she was so lovable, and she took herself

home.

"Up with the drink," said her father.

"You home-spun shoe carle, do you think I am fit to be your thrall?"

The poor shoemaker thought that they had taken a turn in their

understandings, and he went himself to the well. He saw the shadow

of the maiden in the well, and he looked up to the tree, and he sees

the finest woman he ever saw.

"Your seat is wavering, but your face is fair," said the shoemaker.

"Come down, for there is need of you for a short while at my house."

The shoemaker understood that this was the shadow that had driven

his people mad. The shoemaker took her to his house, and he said

that he had but a poor bothy, but that she should get a share of all

that was in it.

One day, the shoemaker had shoes ready, for on that very day the

king's son was to be married. The shoemaker was going to the castle

with the shoes of the young people, and the girl said to the

shoemaker, "I would like to get a sight of the king's son before he

marries."

"Come with me," says the shoemaker, "I am well acquainted with the

servants at the castle, and you shall get a sight of the king's son

and all the company."

And when the gentles saw the pretty woman that was here they took

her to the wedding-room, and they filled for her a glass of wine.

When she was going to drink what is in it, a flame went up out of

the glass, and a golden pigeon and a silver pigeon sprang out of it.

They were flying about when three grains of barley fell on the

floor. The silver pigeon sprung, and ate that up.

Said the golden pigeon to him, "If you remembered when I cleared the

byre, you would not eat that without giving me a share."

Again there fell three other grains of barley, and the silver pigeon

sprung, and ate that up as before.

"If you remembered when I thatched the byre, you would not eat that

without giving me my share," says the golden pigeon.

Three other grains fall, and the silver pigeon sprung, and ate that

up.

"If you remembered when I harried the magpie's nest, you would not

eat that without giving me my share," says the golden pigeon; "I

lost my little finger bringing it down, and I want it still."

The king's son minded, and he knew who it was that was before him.

"Well," said the king's son to the guests at the feast, "when I was

a little younger than I am now, I lost the key of a casket that I

had. I had a new key made, but after it was brought to me I found

the old one. Now, I'll leave it to any one here to tell me what I am

to do. Which of the keys should I keep?"

"My advice to you," said one of the guests, "is to keep the old key,

for it fits the lock better and you're more used to it."

Then the king's son stood up and said: "I thank you for a wise

advice and an honest word. This is my bride the daughter of the

giant who saved my life at the risk of her own. I'll have her and no

other woman."

So the king's son married Auburn Mary and the wedding lasted long

and all were happy. But all I got was butter on a live coal,

porridge in a basket, and they sent me for water to the stream, and

the paper shoes came to an end.

BREWERY OF EGGSHELLS

In Treneglwys there is a certain shepherd's cot known by the name of

Twt y Cymrws because of the strange strife that occurred there.

There once lived there a man and his wife, and they had twins whom

the woman nursed tenderly. One day she was called away to the house

of a neighbour at some distance. She did not much like going and

leaving her little ones all alone in a solitary house, especially as

she had heard tell of the good folk haunting the neighbourhood.

Well, she went and came back as soon as she could, but on her way

back she was frightened to see some old elves of the blue petticoat

crossing her path though it was midday. She rushed home, but found

her two little ones in the cradle and everything seemed as it was

before.

But after a time the good people began to suspect that something was

wrong, for the twins didn't grow at all.

The man said: "They're not ours."

The woman said: "Whose else should they be?"

And so arose the great strife so that the neighbours named the

cottage after it. It made the woman very sad, so one evening she

made up her mind to go and see the Wise Man of Llanidloes, for he

knew everything and would advise her what to do.

So she went to Llanidloes and told the case to the Wise Man. Now

there was soon to be a harvest of rye and oats, so the Wise Man said

to her, "When you are getting dinner for the reapers, clear out the

shell of a hen's egg and boil some potage in it, and then take it to

the door as if you meant it as a dinner for the reapers. Then listen

if the twins say anything. If you hear them speaking of things

beyond the understanding of children, go back and take them up and

throw them into the waters of Lake Elvyn. But if you don't hear

anything remarkable, do them no injury."

So when the day of the reap came the woman did all that the Wise Man

ordered, and put the eggshell on the fire and took it off and

carried it to the door, and there she stood and listened. Then she

heard one of the children say to the other:

Acorn before oak I knew,

An egg before a hen,

But I never heard of an eggshell brew

A dinner for harvest men.

So she went back into the house, seized the children and threw them

into the Llyn, and the goblins in their blue trousers came and saved

their dwarfs and the mother had her own children back and so the

great strife ended.

THE LAD WITH THE GOAT-SKIN

Long ago, a poor widow woman lived down near the iron forge, by

Enniscorth, and she was so poor she had no clothes to put on her

son; so she used to fix him in the ash-hole, near the fire, and pile

the warm ashes about him; and according as he grew up, she sunk the

pit deeper. At last, by hook or by crook, she got a goat-skin, and

fastened it round his waist, and he felt quite grand, and took a

walk down the street. So says she to him next morning, "Tom, you

thief, you never done any good yet, and you six foot high, and past

nineteen;--take that rope and bring me a faggot from the wood."

"Never say't twice, mother," says Tom--"here goes."

When he had it gathered and tied, what should come up but a big

giant, nine foot high, and made a lick of a club at him. Well become

Tom, he jumped a-one side, and picked up a ram-pike; and the first

crack he gave the big fellow, he made him kiss the clod.

"If you have e'er a prayer," says Tom, "now's the time to say it,

before I make fragments of you."

"I have no prayers," says the giant; "but if you spare my life I'll

give you that club; and as long as you keep from sin, you'll win

every battle you ever fight with it."

Tom made no bones about letting him off; and as soon as he got the

club in his hands, he sat down on the bresna, and gave it a tap with

the kippeen, and says, "Faggot, I had great trouble gathering you,

and run the risk of my life for you, the least you can do is to

carry me home." And sure enough, the wind o' the word was all it

wanted. It went off through the wood, groaning and crackling, till

it came to the widow's door.

Well, when the sticks were all burned, Tom was sent off again to

pick more; and this time he had to fight with a giant that had two

heads on him. Tom had a little more trouble with him--that's all;

and the prayers he said, was to give Tom a fife; that nobody could

help dancing when he was playing it. Begonies, he made the big

faggot dance home, with himself sitting on it. The next giant was a

beautiful boy with three heads on him. He had neither prayers nor

catechism no more nor the others; and so he gave Tom a bottle of

green ointment, that wouldn't let you be burned, nor scalded, nor

wounded. "And now," says he, "there's no more of us. You may come

and gather sticks here till little Lunacy Day in Harvest, without

giant or fairy-man to disturb you."

Well, now, Tom was prouder nor ten paycocks, and used to take a walk

down street in the heel of the evening; but some o' the little boys

had no more manners than if they were Dublin jackeens, and put out

their tongues at Tom's club and Tom's goat-skin. He didn't like that

at all, and it would be mean to give one of them a clout. At last,

what should come through the town but a kind of a bellman, only it's

a big bugle he had, and a huntsman's cap on his head, and a kind of

a painted shirt. So this--he wasn't a bellman, and I don't know what

to call him--bugleman, maybe, proclaimed that the King of Dublin's

daughter was so melancholy that she didn't give a laugh for seven

years, and that her father would grant her in marriage to whoever

could make her laugh three times.

"That's the very thing for me to try," says Tom; and so, without

burning any more daylight, he kissed his mother, curled his club at

the little boys, and off he set along the yalla highroad to the town

of Dublin.

At last Tom came to one of the city gates, and the guards laughed

and cursed at him instead of letting him in. Tom stood it all for a

little time, but at last one of them--out of fun, as he said--drove

his bayonet half an inch or so into his side. Tom done nothing but

take the fellow by the scruff o' the neck and the waistband of his

corduroys, and fling him into the canal. Some run to pull the fellow

out, and others to let manners into the vulgarian with their swords

and daggers; but a tap from his club sent them headlong into the

moat or down on the stones, and they were soon begging him to stay

his hands.

So at last one of them was glad enough to show Tom the way to the

palace-yard; and there was the king, and the queen, and the

princess, in a gallery, looking at all sorts of wrestling, and

sword-playing, and long-dances, and mumming, all to please the

princess; but not a smile came over her handsome face.

Well, they all stopped when they seen the young giant, with his

boy's face, and long black hair, and his short curly beard--for his

poor mother couldn't afford to buy razors--and his great strong

arms, and bare legs, and no covering but the goat-skin that reached

from his waist to his knees. But an envious wizened bit of a fellow,

with a red head, that wished to be married to the princess, and

didn't like how she opened her eyes at Tom, came forward, and asked

his business very snappishly.

"My business," says Tom, says he, "is to make the beautiful

princess, God bless her, laugh three times."

"Do you see all them merry fellows and skilful swordsmen," says the

other, "that could eat you up with a grain of salt, and not a

mother's soul of 'em ever got a laugh from her these seven years?"

So the fellows gathered round Tom, and the bad man aggravated him

till he told them he didn't care a pinch o' snuff for the whole

bilin' of 'em; let 'em come on, six at a time, and try what they

could do.

The king, who was too far off to hear what they were saying, asked

what did the stranger want.

"He wants," says the red-headed fellow, "to make hares of your best

men."

"Oh!" says the king, "if that's the way, let one of 'em turn out and

try his mettle."

So one stood forward, with sword and pot-lid, and made a cut at Tom.

He struck the fellow's elbow with the club, and up over their heads

flew the sword, and down went the owner of it on the gravel from a

thump he got on the helmet. Another took his place, and another, and

another, and then half a dozen at once, and Tom sent swords,

helmets, shields, and bodies, rolling over and over, and themselves

bawling out that they were kilt, and disabled, and damaged, and

rubbing their poor elbows and hips, and limping away. Tom contrived

not to kill any one; and the princess was so amused, that she let a

great sweet laugh out of her that was heard over all the yard.

"King of Dublin," says Tom, "I've quarter your daughter."

And the king didn't know whether he was glad or sorry, and all the

blood in the princess's heart run into her cheeks.

So there was no more fighting that day, and Tom was invited to dine

with the royal family. Next day, Redhead told Tom of a wolf, the

size of a yearling heifer, that used to be serenading about the

walls, and eating people and cattle; and said what a pleasure it

would give the king to have it killed.

"With all my heart," says Tom; "send a jackeen to show me where he

lives, and we'll see how he behaves to a stranger."

The princess was not well pleased, for Tom looked a different person

with fine clothes and a nice green birredh over his long curly hair;

and besides, he'd got one laugh out of her. However, the king gave

his consent; and in an hour and a half the horrible wolf was walking

into the palace-yard, and Tom a step or two behind, with his club on

his shoulder, just as a shepherd would be walking after a pet lamb.

The king and queen and princess were safe up in their gallery, but

the officers and people of the court that wor padrowling about the

great bawn, when they saw the big baste coming in, gave themselves

up, and began to make for doors and gates; and the wolf licked his

chops, as if he was saying, "Wouldn't I enjoy a breakfast off a

couple of yez!"

The king shouted out, "O Tom with the Goat-skin, take away that

terrible wolf, and you must have all my daughter."

But Tom didn't mind him a bit. He pulled out his flute and began to

play like vengeance; and dickens a man or boy in the yard but began

shovelling away heel and toe, and the wolf himself was obliged to

get on his hind legs and dance "Tatther Jack Walsh," along with the

rest. A good deal of the people got inside, and shut the doors, the

way the hairy fellow wouldn't pin them; but Tom kept playing, and

the outsiders kept dancing and shouting, and the wolf kept dancing

and roaring with the pain his legs were giving him; and all the time

he had his eyes on Redhead, who was shut out along with the rest.

Wherever Redhead went, the wolf followed, and kept one eye on him

and the other on Tom, to see if he would give him leave to eat him.

But Tom shook his head, and never stopped the tune, and Redhead

never stopped dancing and bawling, and the wolf dancing and roaring,

one leg up and the other down, and he ready to drop out of his

standing from fair tiresomeness.

When the princess seen that there was no fear of any one being kilt,

she was so divarted by the stew that Redhead was in, that she gave

another great laugh; and well become Tom, out he cried, "King of

Dublin, I have two halves of your daughter."

"Oh, halves or alls," says the king, "put away that divel of a wolf,

and we'll see about it."

So Tom put his flute in his pocket, and says he to the baste that

was sittin' on his currabingo ready to faint, "Walk off to your

mountain, my fine fellow, and live like a respectable baste; and if

ever I find you come within seven miles of any town, I'll--"

He said no more, but spit in his fist, and gave a flourish of his

club. It was all the poor divel of a wolf wanted: he put his tail

between his legs, and took to his pumps without looking at man or

mortal, and neither sun, moon, or stars ever saw him in sight of

Dublin again.

At dinner every one laughed but the foxy fellow; and sure enough he

was laying out how he'd settle poor Tom next day.

"Well, to be sure!" says he, "King of Dublin, you are in luck.

There's the Danes moidhering us to no end. Deuce run to Lusk wid

'em! and if any one can save us from 'em, it is this gentleman with

the goat-skin. There is a flail hangin' on the collar-beam, in hell,

and neither Dane nor devil can stand before it."

"So," says Tom to the king, "will you let me have the other half of

the princess if I bring you the flail?"

"No, no," says the princess; "I'd rather never be your wife than see

you in that danger."

But Redhead whispered and nudged Tom about how shabby it would look

to reneague the adventure. So he asked which way he was to go, and

Redhead directed him.

Well, he travelled and travelled, till he came in sight of the walls

of hell; and, bedad, before he knocked at the gates, he rubbed

himself over with the greenish ointment. When he knocked, a hundred

little imps popped their heads out through the bars, and axed him

what he wanted.

"I want to speak to the big divel of all," says Tom: "open the

gate."

It wasn't long till the gate was thrune open, and the Ould Boy

received Tom with bows and scrapes, and axed his business.

"My business isn't much," says Tom. "I only came for the loan of

that flail that I see hanging on the collar-beam, for the king of

Dublin to give a thrashing to the Danes."

"Well," says the other, "the Danes is much better customers to me;

but since you walked so far I won't refuse. Hand that flail," says

he to a young imp; and he winked the far-off eye at the same time.

So, while some were barring the gates, the young devil climbed up,

and took down the flail that had the handstaff and booltheen both

made out of red-hot iron. The little vagabond was grinning to think

how it would burn the hands o' Tom, but the dickens a burn it made

on him, no more nor if it was a good oak sapling.

"Thankee," says Tom. "Now would you open the gate for a body, and

I'll give you no more trouble."

"Oh, tramp!" says Ould Nick; "is that the way? It is easier getting

inside them gates than getting out again. Take that tool from him,

and give him a dose of the oil of stirrup."

So one fellow put out his claws to seize on the flail, but Tom gave

him such a welt of it on the side of the head that he broke off one

of his horns, and made him roar like a devil as he was. Well, they

rushed at Tom, but he gave them, little and big, such a thrashing as

they didn't forget for a while. At last says the ould thief of all,

rubbing his elbow, "Let the fool out; and woe to whoever lets him in

again, great or small."

So out marched Tom, and away with him, without minding the shouting

and cursing they kept up at him from the tops of the walls; and when

he got home to the big bawn of the palace, there never was such

running and racing as to see himself and the flail. When he had his

story told, he laid down the flail on the stone steps, and bid no

one for their lives to touch it. If the king, and queen, and

princess, made much of him before, they made ten times more of him

now; but Redhead, the mean scruff-hound, stole over, and thought to

catch hold of the flail to make an end of him. His fingers hardly

touched it, when he let a roar out of him as if heaven and earth

were coming together, and kept flinging his arms about and dancing,

that it was pitiful to look at him. Tom run at him as soon as he

could rise, caught his hands in his own two, and rubbed them this

way and that, and the burning pain left them before you could reckon

one. Well the poor fellow, between the pain that was only just gone,

and the comfort he was in, had the comicalest face that you ever

see, it was such a mixtherum-gatherum of laughing and crying.

Everybody burst out a laughing--the princess could not stop no more

than the rest; and then says Tom, "Now, ma'am, if there were fifty

halves of you, I hope you'll give me them all."

Well, the princess looked at her father, and by my word, she came

over to Tom, and put her two delicate hands into his two rough ones,

and I wish it was myself was in his shoes that day!

Tom would not bring the flail into the palace. You may be sure no

other body went near it; and when the early risers were passing next

morning, they found two long clefts in the stone, where it was after

burning itself an opening downwards, nobody could tell how far. But

a messenger came in at noon, and said that the Danes were so

frightened when they heard of the flail coming into Dublin, that

they got into their ships, and sailed away.

Well, I suppose, before they were married, Tom got some man, like

Pat Mara of Tomenine, to learn him the "principles of politeness,"

fluxions, gunnery, and fortification, decimal fractions, practice,

and the rule of three direct, the way he'd be able to keep up a

conversation with the royal family. Whether he ever lost his time

learning them sciences, I'm not sure, but it's as sure as fate that

his mother never more saw any want till the end of her days.

MAN OR WOMAN BOY OR GIRL THAT READS WHAT FOLLOWS 3 TIMES SHALL FALL

ASLEEP AN HUNDRED YEARS

JOHN D. BATTEN DREW THIS AUG. 20TH, 1801 GOOD-NIGHT

NOTES AND REFERENCES

It may be as well to give the reader some account of the enormous

extent of the Celtic folk-tales in existence. I reckon these to

extend to 2000, though only about 250 are in print. The former

number exceeds that known in France, Italy, Germany, and Russia,

where collection has been most active, and is only exceeded by the

MS. collection of Finnish folk-tales at Helsingfors, said to exceed

12,000. As will be seen, this superiority of the Celts is due to the

phenomenal and patriotic activity of one man, the late J. F.

Campbell, of Islay, whose _Popular Tales_ and MS. collections

(partly described by Mr. Alfred Nutt in _Folk-Lore_, i. 369-83)

contain references to no less than 1281 tales (many of them, of

course, variants and scraps). Celtic folk-tales, while more

numerous, are also the oldest of the tales of modern European races;

some of them--_e.g._, "Connla," in the present selection,

occurring in the oldest Irish vellums. They include (1) fairy tales

properly so-called--_i.e._, tales or anecdotes _about_ fairies,

hobgoblins, &c., told as natural occurrences; (2) hero-tales, stories

of adventure told of national or mythical heroes; (3) folk-tales proper,

describing marvellous adventures of otherwise unknown heroes,

in which there is a defined plot and supernatural characters

(speaking animals, giants, dwarfs, &c.); and finally (4) drolls, comic

anecdotes of feats of stupidity or cunning.

The collection of Celtic folk-tales began in IRELAND as early as

1825, with T. Crofton Croker's _Fairy Legends and Traditions of

the South of Ireland_. This contained some 38 anecdotes of the

first class mentioned above, anecdotes showing the belief of the

Irish peasantry in the existence of fairies, gnomes, goblins, and

the like. The Grimms did Croker the honour of translating part of

his book, under the title of _Irische Elfenmarchen_. Among the

novelists and tale-writers of the schools of Miss Edgeworth and

Lever folk-tales were occasionally utilised, as by Carleton in his

_Traits and Stories_, by S. Lover in his _Legends and Stories_,

and by G. Griffin in his _Tales of a Jury-Room_. These all tell their tales

in the manner of the stage Irishman. Chapbooks, _Royal Fairy Tales_

and _Hibernian Tales_, also contained genuine folk-tales, and attracted

Thackeray's attention in his _Irish Sketch-Book_. The Irish Grimm,

however, was Patrick Kennedy, a Dublin bookseller, who believed in

fairies, and in five years (1866- 71) printed about 100 folk- and hero-

tales and drolls (classes 2, 3, and 4 above) in his _Legendary Fictions

of the Irish Celts_, 1866, _Fireside Stories of Ireland_, 1870, and _Bardic

Stories of Ireland_, 1871; all three are now unfortunately out of print. He

tells his stories neatly and with spirit, and retains much that is

_volkstumlich_ in his diction. He derived his materials from the

English-speaking peasantry of county Wexford, who changed from

Gaelic to English while story-telling was in full vigour, and therefore

carried over the stories with the change of language. Lady Wylde

has told many folk-tales very effectively in her _Ancient Legends of

Ireland_, 1887. More recently two collectors have published stories

gathered from peasants of the West and North who can only speak

Gaelic. These are by an American gentleman named Curtin, _Myths

and Folk-Tales of Ireland_, 1890; while Dr. Douglas Hyde has

published in _Beside the Fireside_, 1891, spirited English versions of

some of the stories he had published in the original Irish in his _Leabhar

Sgeulaighteachta_, Dublin, 1889. Miss Maclintoch has a large MS.

collection, part of which has appeared in various periodicals; and

Messrs. Larminie and D. Fitzgerald are known to have much story

material in their possession.

But beside these more modern collections there exist in old and

middle Irish a large number of hero-tales (class 2) which formed

the staple of the old _ollahms_ or bards. Of these tales of

"cattle-liftings, elopements, battles, voyages, courtships, caves,

lakes, feasts, sieges, and eruptions," a bard of even the fourth

class had to know seven fifties, presumably one for each day of the

year. Sir William Temple knew of a north-country gentleman of

Ireland who was sent to sleep every evening with a fresh tale

from his bard. The _Book of Leinster_, an Irish vellum of the

twelfth century, contains a list of 189 of these hero-tales, many of

which are extant to this day; E. O'Curry gives the list in the

Appendix to his MS. _Materials of Irish History_. Another list

of about 70 is given in the preface to the third volume of the

Ossianic Society's publications. Dr. Joyce published a few of the

more celebrated of these in _Old Celtic Romances_; others

appeared in _Atlantis_ (see notes on "Deirdre"), others in

Kennedy's _Bardic Stories_, mentioned above.

Turning to SCOTLAND, we must put aside Chambers' _Popular Rhymes

of Scotland_, 1842, which contains for the most part folk-tales

common with those of England rather than those peculiar to the

Gaelic-speaking Scots. The first name here in time as in importance

is that of J. F. Campbell, of Islay. His four volumes, _Popular

Tales of the West Highlands_ (Edinburgh, 1860-2, recently

republished by the Islay Association), contain some 120 folk- and

hero-tales, told with strict adherence to the language of the

narrators, which is given with a literal, a rather too literal,

English version. This careful accuracy has given an un-English air

to his versions, and has prevented them attaining their due

popularity. What Campbell has published represents only a tithe of

what he collected. At the end of the fourth volume he gives a list

of 791 tales, &c., collected by him or his assistants in the two

years 1859-61; and in his MS. collections at Edinburgh are two other

lists containing 400 more tales. Only a portion of these are in the

Advocates' Library; the rest, if extant, must be in private hands,

though they are distinctly of national importance and interest.

Campbell's influence has been effective of recent years in Scotland.

The _Celtic Magazine_ (vols. xii. and xiii.), while under the

editorship of Mr. MacBain, contained several folk- and hero-tales in

Gaelic, and so did the _Scotch Celtic Review_. These were from

the collections of Messrs. Campbell of Tiree, Carmichael, and K.

Mackenzie. Recently Lord Archibald Campbell has shown laudable

interest in the preservation of Gaelic folk- and hero-tales. Under

his auspices a whole series of handsome volumes, under the general

title of _Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition_, has been

recently published, four volumes having already appeared, each

accompanied by notes by Mr. Alfred Nutt, which form the most

important aid to the study of Celtic Folk-Tales since Campbell

himself. Those to the second volume in particular (Tales collected

by Rev. D. MacInnes) fill 100 pages, with condensed information on

all aspects of the subject dealt with in the light of the most

recent research in the European folk-tales as well as on Celtic

literature. Thanks to Mr. Nutt, Scotland is just now to the fore in

the collection and study of the British Folk-Tale.

WALES makes a poor show beside Ireland and Scotland. Sikes'

_British Goblins_, and the tales collected by Prof. Rhys in

_Y Cymrodor_, vols. ii.-vi., are mainly of our first-class

fairy anecdotes. Borrow, in his _Wild Wales_, refers to a

collection of fables in a journal called _The Greal_, while the

_Cambrian Quarterly Magazine_ for 1830 and 1831 contained a few

fairy anecdotes, including a curious version of the "Brewery of

Eggshells" from the Welsh. In the older literature, the _Iolo

MS._, published by the Welsh MS. Society, has a few fables and

apologues, and the charming _Mabinogion_, translated by Lady

Guest, has tales that can trace back to the twelfth century and are

on the border-line between folk-tales and hero-tales.

CORNWALL and MAN are even worse than Wales. Hunt's _Drolls from

the West of England_ has nothing distinctively Celtic, and it is

only by a chance Lhuyd chose a folk-tale as his specimen of Cornish

in his _Archaeologia Britannica_, 1709 (see _Tale of Ivan_).

The Manx folk-tales published, including the most recent by Mr. Moore,

in his _Folk-Lore of the Isle of Man_, 1891, are mainly fairy

anecdotes and legends.

From this survey of the field of Celtic folk-tales it is clear that

Ireland and Scotland provide the lion's share. The interesting thing

to notice is the remarkable similarity of Scotch and Irish folk-

tales. The continuity of language and culture between these two

divisions of Gaeldom has clearly brought about this identity of

their folk-tales. As will be seen from the following notes, the

tales found in Scotland can almost invariably be paralleled by those

found in Ireland, and _vice versa_. This result is a striking

confirmation of the general truth that folk-lores of different

countries resemble one another in proportion to their contiguity and

to the continuity of language and culture between them.

Another point of interest in these Celtic folk-tales is the light

they throw upon the relation of hero-tales and folk-tales (classes 2

and 3 above). Tales told of Finn of Cuchulain, and therefore coming

under the definition of hero-tales, are found elsewhere told of

anonymous or unknown heroes. The question is, were the folk-tales

the earliest, and were they localised and applied to the heroes, or

were the heroic sagas generalised and applied to an unknown [Greek:

tis]? All the evidence, in my opinion, inclines to the former view,

which, as applied to Celtic folk-tales, is of very great literary

importance; for it is becoming more and more recognised, thanks

chiefly to the admirable work of Mr. Alfred Nutt, in his _Studies

on the Holy Grail_, that the outburst of European Romance in the

twelfth century was due, in large measure, to an infusion of Celtic

hero-tales into the literature of the Romance-speaking nations. Now

the remarkable thing is, how these hero tales have lingered on in

oral tradition even to the present day. (See a marked case in

"Deirdre.") We may, therefore, hope to see considerable light thrown

on the most characteristic spiritual product of the Middle Ages, the

literature of Romance and the spirit of chivalry, from the Celtic

folk-tales of the present day. Mr. Alfred Nutt has already shown

this to be true of a special section of Romance literature, that

connected with the Holy Grail, and it seems probable that further

study will extend the field of application of this new method of

research.

The Celtic folk-tale again has interest in retaining many traits of

primitive conditions among the early inhabitants of these isles

which are preserved by no other record. Take, for instance, the calm

assumption of polygamy in "Gold Tree and Silver Tree." That

represents a state of feeling that is decidedly pre-Christian. The

belief in an external soul "Life Index," recently monographed by Mr.

Frazer in his "Golden Bough," also finds expression in a couple of

the Tales (see notes on "Sea-Maiden" and "Fair, Brown, and

Trembling"), and so with many other primitive ideas.

Care, however, has to be taken in using folk-tales as evidence for

primitive practice among the nations where they are found. For the

tales may have come from another race--that is, for example,

probably the case with "Gold Tree and Silver Tree" (see Notes).

Celtic tales are of peculiar interest in this connection, as they

afford one of the best fields for studying the problem of diffusion,

the most pressing of the problems of the folk-tales just at present,

at least in my opinion. The Celts are at the furthermost end of

Europe. Tales that travelled to them could go no further and must

therefore be the last links in the chain.

For all these reasons, then, Celtic folk-tales are of high

scientific interest to the folk-lorist, while they yield to none in

imaginative and literary qualities. In any other country of Europe

some national means of recording them would have long ago been

adopted. M. Luzel, _e.g._, was commissioned by the French

Minister of Public Instruction to collect and report on the Breton

folk-tales. England, here as elsewhere without any organised means

of scientific research in the historical and philological sciences,

has to depend on the enthusiasm of a few private individuals for

work of national importance. Every Celt of these islands or in the

Gaeldom beyond the sea, and every Celt-lover among the English-

speaking nations, should regard it as one of the duties of the race

to put its traditions on record in the few years that now remain

before they will cease for ever to be living in the hearts and

memories of the humbler members of the race.

In the following Notes I have done as in my _English Fairy

Tales_, and given first, the _sources_ whence I drew the tales,

then _parallels_ at length for the British Isles, with bibliographical

references for parallels abroad, and finally, _remarks_ where the

tales seemed to need them. In these I have not wearied or worried

the reader with conventional tall talk about the Celtic genius and its

manifestations in the folk-tale; on that topic one can only repeat

Matthew Arnold when at his best, in his _Celtic Literature_. Nor have

I attempted to deal with the more general aspects of the study of

the Celtic folk-tale. For these I must refer to Mr. Nutt's series of

papers in _The Celtic Magazine_, vol. xii., or, still better, to the

masterly introductions he is contributing to the series of _Waifs and

Strays of Celtic Tradition_, and to Dr. Hyde's _Beside the

Fireside_. In my remarks I have mainly confined myself to

discussing the origin and diffusion of the various tales, so far as

anything definite could be learnt or conjectured on that subject.

Before proceeding to the Notes, I may "put in," as the lawyers say,

a few summaries of the results reached in them. Of the twenty-six

tales, twelve (i., ii., v., viii., ix., x., xi., xv., xvi., xvii.,

xix., xxiv.) have Gaelic originals; three (vii., xiii., xxv.) are

from the Welsh; one (xxii.) from the now extinct Cornish; one an

adaptation of an English poem founded on a Welsh tradition (xxi.,

"Gellert"); and the remaining nine are what may be termed Anglo-

Irish. Regarding their diffusion among the Celts, twelve are both

Irish and Scotch (iv., v., vi., ix., x., xiv.-xvii., xix., xx.,

xxiv); one (xxv.) is common to Irish and Welsh; and one (xxii.) to

Irish and Cornish; seven are found only among the Celts in Ireland

(i.-iii., xii., xviii., xxii., xxvi); two (viii., xi.) among the

Scotch; and three (vii., xiii., xxi.) among the Welsh. Finally, so

far as we can ascertain their origin, four (v., xvi., xxi., xxii.)

are from the East; five (vi., x., xiv., xx., xxv.) are European

drolls; three of the romantic tales seem to have been imported

(vii., ix., xix.); while three others are possibly Celtic

exportations to the Continent (xv., xvii., xxiv.) though the, last

may have previously come thence; the remaining eleven are, as far as

known, original to Celtic lands. Somewhat the same result would come

out, I believe, as the analysis of any representative collection of

folk-tales of any European district.

I. CONNLA AND THE FAIRY MAIDEN.

_Source_.--From the old Irish "Echtra Condla chaim maic Cuind

Chetchathaig" of the _Leabhar na h-Uidhre_ ("Book of the Dun

Cow"), which must have been written before 1106, when its scribe

Maelmori ("Servant of Mary") was murdered. The original is given by

Windisch in his _Irish Grammar_, p. 120, also in the _Trans.

Kilkenny Archaeol. Soc._ for 1874. A fragment occurs in a

Rawlinson MS., described by Dr. W. Stokes, _Tripartite Life_,

p. xxxvi. I have used the translation of Prof. Zimmer in his

_Keltische Beitrage_, ii. (_Zeits. f. deutsches Altertum_, Bd.

xxxiii. 262-4). Dr. Joyce has a somewhat florid version in, his

_Old Celtic Romances_, from which I have borrowed a touch or

two. I have neither extenuated nor added aught but the last sentence

of the Fairy Maiden's last speech. Part of the original is in

metrical form, so that the whole is of the _cante-fable_ species

which I believe to be the original form of the folk-tale (Cf. _Eng. Fairy

Tales_, notes, p. 240, and _infra_, p. 257).

_Parallels_.--Prof. Zimmer's paper contains three other

accounts of the _terra repromissionis_ in the Irish sagas, one

of them being the similar adventure of Cormac the nephew of Connla,

or Condla Ruad as he should be called. The fairy apple of gold

occurs in Cormac Mac Art's visit to the Brug of Manannan (Nutt's

_Holy Grail_, 193).

_Remarks_.--Conn the hundred-fighter had the head-kingship of

Ireland 123-157 A.D., according to the _Annals of the Four

Masters_, i. 105. On the day of his birth the five great roads

from Tara to all parts of Ireland were completed: one of them from

Dublin is still used. Connaught is said to have been named after

him, but this is scarcely consonant with Joyce's identification with

Ptolemy's _Nagnatai_ (_Irish Local Names_, i. 75). But there

can be little doubt of Conn's existence as a powerful ruler in

Ireland in the second century. The historic existence of Connla

seems also to be authenticated by the reference to him as Conly, the

eldest son of Conn, in the Annals of Clonmacnoise. As Conn was

succeeded by his third son, Art Enear, Connla was either slain or

disappeared during his father's lifetime. Under these circumstances

it is not unlikely that our legend grew up within the century after

Conn--_i.e._, during the latter half of the second century.

As regards the present form of it, Prof. Zimmer (_l.c._ 261-2)

places it in the seventh century. It has clearly been touched up by

a Christian hand who introduced the reference to the day of judgment

and to the waning power of the Druids. But nothing turns upon this

interpolation, so that it is likely that even the present form of

the legend is pre-Christian-_i.e._ for Ireland, pre-Patrician,

before the fifth century.

The tale of Connla is thus the earliest fairy tale of modern Europe.

Besides this interest it contains an early account of one of the

most characteristic Celtic conceptions, that of the earthly

Paradise, the Isle of Youth, _Tir-nan-Og_. This has impressed

itself on the European imagination; in the Arthuriad it is

represented by the Vale of Avalon, and as represented in the various

Celtic visions of the future life, it forms one of the main sources

of Dante's _Divina Commedia_. It is possible too, I think, that

the Homeric Hesperides and the Fortunate Isles of the ancients had a

Celtic origin (as is well known, the early place-names of Europe are

predominantly Celtic). I have found, I believe, a reference to the

conception in one of the earliest passages in the classics dealing

with the Druids. Lucan, in his _Pharsalia_ (i. 450-8), addresses

them in these high terms of reverence:

Et vos barbaricos ritus, moremque sinistrum,

Sacrorum, Druidae, positis repetistis ab armis,

Solis nosse Deos et coeli numera vobis

Aut solis nescire datum; nemora alta remotis

Incolitis lucis. Vobis auctoribus umbrae,

Non tacitas Erebi sedes, Ditisque profundi,

Pallida regna petunt: _regit idem spiritus artus

Orbe alio_: longae, canitis si cognita, vitae

Mors media est.

The passage certainly seems to me to imply a different conception

from the ordinary classical views of the life after death, the dark

and dismal plains of Erebus peopled with ghosts; and the passage I

have italicised would chime in well with the conception of a

continuance of youth (_idem spiritus_) in Tir-nan-Og (_orbe

alio_).

One of the most pathetic, beautiful, and typical scenes in Irish

legend is the return of Ossian from Tir-nan-Og, and his interview

with St. Patrick. The old faith and the new, the old order of things

and that which replaced it, meet in two of the most characteristic

products of the Irish imagination (for the Patrick of legend is as

much a legendary figure as Oisin himself). Ossian had gone away to

Tir-nan-Og with the fairy Niamh under very much the same

circumstances as Condla Ruad; time flies in the land of eternal

youth, and when Ossian returns, after a year as he thinks, more than

three centuries had passed, and St. Patrick had just succeeded in

introducing the new faith. The contrast of Past and Present has

never been more vividly or beautifully represented.

II. GULEESH.

_Source_.--From Dr. Douglas Hyde's _Beside the Fire_, 104-

28, where it is a translation from the same author's _Leabhar

Sgeulaighteachta_. Dr Hyde got it from one Shamus O'Hart, a

gamekeeper of Frenchpark. One is curious to know how far the very

beautiful landscapes in the story are due to Dr. Hyde, who confesses

to have only taken notes. I have omitted a journey to Rome,

paralleled, as Mr. Nutt has pointed out, by the similar one of

Michael Scott (_Waifs and Strays_, i. 46), and not bearing on

the main lines of the story. I have also dropped a part of Guleesh's

name: in the original he is "Guleesh na guss dhu," Guleesh of the

black feet, because he never washed them; nothing turns on this in

the present form of the story, but one cannot but suspect it was of

importance in the original form.

_Parallels_.--Dr. Hyde refers to two short stories, "Midnight

Ride" (to Rome) and "Stolen Bride," in Lady Wilde's _Ancient

Legends_. But the closest parallel is given by Miss Maclintock's

Donegal tale of "Jamie Freel and the Young Lady," reprinted in Mr.

Yeats' _Irish Folk and Fairy Tales_, 52-9. In the _Hibernian

Tales_, "Mann o' Malaghan and the Fairies," as reported by

Thackeray in the _Irish Sketch-Book_, c. xvi., begins like

"Guleesh."

III. FIELD OF BOLIAUNS.

_Source_.--T. Crofton Croker's _Fairy Legends of the South of

Ireland_, ed. Wright, pp. 135-9. In the original the gnome is a

Cluricaune, but as a friend of Mr. Batten's has recently heard the

tale told of a Lepracaun, I have adopted the better known title.

_Remarks_.--_Lepracaun_ is from the Irish _leith

bhrogan_, the one-shoemaker (_cf_. brogue), according to Dr.

Hyde. He is generally seen (and to this day, too) working at a

single shoe, _cf._ Croker's story "Little Shoe," _l.c._ pp. 142-4.

According to a writer in the _Revue Celtique_, i. 256, the true

etymology is _luchor pan_, "little man." Dr. Joyce also gives the same

etymology in _Irish Names and Places_, i. 183, where he mentions

several places named after them.

IV. HORNED WOMEN.

_Source_.--Lady Wilde's _Ancient Legends_, the first

story.

_Parallels_.--A similar version was given by Mr. D. Fitzgerald

in the _Revue Celtique_, iv. 181, but without the significant

and impressive horns. He refers to _Cornhill_ for February

1877, and to Campbell's "Sauntraigh" No. xxii. _Pop. Tales_,

ii. 52 4, in which a "woman of peace" (a fairy) borrows a woman's

kettle and returns it with flesh in it, but at last the woman

refuses, and is persecuted by the fairy. I fail to see much analogy.

A much closer one is in Campbell, ii. p. 63, where fairies are got

rid of by shouting "Dunveilg is on fire." The familiar "lady-bird,

lady-bird, fly away home, your house is on fire and your children at

home," will occur to English minds. Another version in Kennedy's

_Legendary Fictions_, p. 164, "Black Stairs on Fire."

_Remarks_.--Slievenamon is a famous fairy palace in Tipperary

according to Dr. Joyce, _l.c._ i. 178. It was the hill on which

Finn stood when he gave himself as the prize to the Irish maiden who

should run up it quickest. Grainne won him with dire consequences,

as all the world knows or ought to know (Kennedy, _Legend

Fict._, 222, "How Fion selected a Wife").

V. CONAL YELLOWCLAW.

_Source_.--Campbell, _Pop. Tales of West Highlands_, No.

v. pp. 105-8, "Conall Cra Bhuidhe." I have softened the third

episode, which is somewhat too ghastly in the original. I have

translated "Cra Bhuide" Yellowclaw on the strength of Campbell's

etymology, _l.c._ p. 158.

_Parallels_.--Campbell's vi. and vii. are two variants showing

how widespread the story is in Gaelic Scotland. It occurs in Ireland

where it has been printed in the chapbook, _Hibernian Tales_,

as the "Black Thief and the Knight of the Glen," the Black Thief

being Conall, and the knight corresponding to the King of Lochlan

(it is given in Mr. Lang's _Red Fairy Book_). Here it attracted

the notice of Thackeray, who gives a good abstract of it in his

_Irish Sketch-Book_, ch. xvi. He thinks it "worthy of the

Arabian Nights, as wild and odd as an Eastern tale." "That

fantastical way of bearing testimony to the previous tale by

producing an old woman who says the tale is not only true, but who

was the very old woman who lived in the giant's castle is almost"

(why "almost," Mr. Thackeray?) "a stroke of genius." The incident of

the giant's breath occurs in the story of Koisha Kayn, MacInnes'

_Tales_, i. 241, as well as the Polyphemus one, _ibid._ 265.

One-eyed giants are frequent in Celtic folk-tales (_e.g._ in _The

Pursuit of Diarmaid_ and in the _Mabinogi_ of Owen).

_Remarks._--Thackeray's reference to the "Arabian Nights" is

especially apt, as the tale of Conall is a framework story like

_The 1001 Nights_, the three stories told by Conall being

framed, as it were, in a fourth which is nominally the real story.

This method employed by the Indian story-tellers and from them

adopted by Boccaccio and thence into all European literatures

(Chaucer, Queen Margaret, &c.), is generally thought to be peculiar

to the East, and to be ultimately derived from the Jatakas or Birth

Stories of the Buddha who tells his adventures in former

incarnations. Here we find it in Celtdom, and it occurs also in

"The Story-teller at Fault" in this collection, and the story

of _Koisha Kayn_ in MacInnes' _Argyllshire Tales_, a variant

of which, collected but not published by Campbell, has no less than

nineteen tales enclosed in a framework. The question is whether the

method was adopted independently in Ireland, or was due to foreign

influences. Confining ourselves to "Conal Yellowclaw," it seems not

unlikely that the whole story is an importation. For the second

episode is clearly the story of Polyphemus from the Odyssey which

was known in Ireland perhaps as early as the tenth century (see

Prof. K. Meyer's edition of _Merugud Uilix maic Leirtis_, Pref.

p. xii). It also crept into the voyages of Sindbad in the _Arabian

Nights_. And as told in the Highlands it bears comparison even

with the Homeric version. As Mr. Nutt remarks (_Celt. Mag._

xii.) the address of the giant to the buck is as effective as that

of Polyphemus to his ram. The narrator, James Wilson, was a blind

man who would naturally feel the pathos of the address; "it comes

from the heart of the narrator;" says Campbell (_l.c._, 148),

"it is the ornament which his mind hangs on the frame of the story."

VI. HUDDEN AND DUDDEN.

_Source._--From oral tradition, by the late D. W. Logie, taken

down by Mr. Alfred Nutt.

_Parallels._--Lover has a tale, "Little Fairly," obviously

derived from this folk-tale; and there is another very similar,

"Darby Darly." Another version of our tale is given under the title

"Donald and his Neighbours," in the chapbook _Hibernian Tales_m

whence it was reprinted by Thackeray in his _Irish Sketch-

Book_, c. xvi. This has the incident of the "accidental matricide,"

on which see Prof. R. Kohler on Gonzenbach _Sicil. Mahrchen_,

ii. 224. No less than four tales of Campbell are of this type

(_Pop. Tales_, ii. 218-31). M. Cosquin, in his "Contes populaires

de Lorraine," the storehouse of "storiology," has elaborate

excursuses in this class of tales attached to his Nos. x. and xx.

Mr. Clouston discusses it also in his _Pop. Tales_, ii. 229-88.

Both these writers are inclined to trace the chief incidents

to India. It is to be observed that one of the earliest popular

drolls in Europe, _Unibos_, a Latin poem of the eleventh, and

perhaps the tenth, century, has the main outlines of the story, the

fraudulent sale of worthless objects and the escape from the sack

trick. The same story occurs in Straparola, the European earliest

collection of folk-tales in the sixteenth century. On the other

hand, the gold sticking to the scales is familiar to us in _Ali

Baba_. (_Cf._ Cosquin, _l.c._, i. 225-6, 229).

_Remarks_.--It is indeed curious to find, as M. Cosquin points

out, a cunning fellow tied in a sack getting out by crying, "I won't

marry the princess," in countries so far apart as Ireland, Sicily

(Gonzenbach, No. 71), Afghanistan (Thorburn, _Bannu_, p. 184),

and Jamaica (_Folk-Lore Record_, iii. 53). It is indeed impossible

to think these are disconnected, and for drolls of this kind a good

case has been made out for the borrowing hypotheses by M. Cosquin

and Mr. Clouston. Who borrowed from whom is another and more

difficult question which has to be judged on its merits in each

individual case.

This is a type of Celtic folk-tales which are European in spread,

have analogies with the East, and can only be said to be Celtic by

adoption and by colouring. They form a distinct section of the tales

told by the Celts, and must be represented in any characteristic

selection. Other examples are xi., xv., xx., and perhaps xxii.

VII. SHEPHERD OF MYDDVAI.

_Source_.--Preface to the edition of "The Physicians of

Myddvai"; their prescription-book, from the Red Book of Hergest,

published by the Welsh MS. Society in 1861. The legend is not

given in the Red Book, but from oral tradition by Mr. W. Rees, p. xxi.

As this is the first of the Welsh tales in this book it may be as well

to give the reader such guidance as I can afford him on the

intricacies of Welsh pronunciation, especially with regard to the

mysterious _w_'s and _y_'s of Welsh orthography. For _w_ substitute

double _o_, as in "_fool_," and for _y_, the short _u_ in b_u_t,

and as near approach to Cymric speech will be reached as is possible

for the outlander. It maybe added that double _d_ equals _th_, and

double _l_ is something like _Fl_, as Shakespeare knew in calling

his Welsh soldier Fluellen (Llewelyn). Thus "Meddygon Myddvai"

would be _Anglice_ "Methugon Muthvai."

_Parallels._--Other versions of the legend of the Van Pool are

given in _Cambro-Briton_, ii. 315; W. Sikes, _British Goblins_,

p. 40. Mr. E. Sidney Hartland has discussed these and others

in a set of papers contributed to the first volume of _The

Archaeological Review_ (now incorporated into _Folk-Lore_),

the substance of which is now given in his _Science of Fairy

Tales_, 274-332. (See also the references given in _Revue

Celtique_, iv., 187 and 268). Mr. Hartland gives there an

ecumenical collection of parallels to the several incidents that go

to make up our story--(1) The bride-capture of the Swan-Maiden, (2)

the recognition of the bride, (3) the taboo against causeless blows,

(4) doomed to be broken, and (5) disappearance of the Swan-Maiden,

with (6) her return as Guardian Spirit to her descendants. In each

case Mr. Hartland gives what he considers to be the most primitive

form of the incident. With reference to our present tale, he comes

to the conclusion, if I understand him aright, that the lake-maiden

was once regarded as a local divinity. The physicians of Myddvai

were historic personages, renowned for their medical skill for some

six centuries, till the race died out with John Jones, _fl._

1743. To explain their skill and uncanny knowledge of herbs, the

folk traced them to a supernatural ancestress, who taught them their

craft in a place still called Pant-y-Meddygon ("Doctors' Dingle").

Their medical knowledge did not require any such remarkable origin,

as Mr. Hartland has shown in a paper "On Welsh Folk-Medicine,"

contributed to _Y Cymmrodor_, vol. xii. On the other hand, the

Swan-Maiden type of story is widespread through the Old World. Mr.

Morris' "Land East of the Moon and West of the Sun," in _The

Earthly Paradise_, is taken from the Norse version. Parallels are

accumulated by the Grimms, ii. 432; Kohler on Gonzenbach, ii. 20;

or Blade, 149; Stokes' _Indian Fairy Tales_, 243, 276; and

Messrs. Jones and Koopf, _Magyar Folk-Tales_, 362-5. It remains

to be proved that one of these versions did not travel to Wales, and

become there localised. We shall see other instances of such

localisation or specialisation of general legends.

VIII. THE SPRIGHTLY TAILOR.

_Source._--_Notes and Queries_ for December 21, 1861; to

which it was communicated by "Cuthbert Bede," the author of

_Verdant Green_, who collected it in Cantyre.

_Parallels_.--Miss Dempster gives the same story in her

Sutherland Collection, No. vii. (referred to by Campbell in his

Gaelic list, at end of vol. iv.); Mrs. John Faed, I am informed by a

friend, knows the Gaelic version, as told by her nurse in her youth.

Chambers' "Strange Visitor," _Pop. Rhymes of Scotland_, 64, of

which I gave an Anglicised version in my _English Fairy Tales_,

No. xxxii., is clearly a variant.

_Remarks_.--The Macdonald of Saddell Castle was a very great

man indeed. Once, when dining with the Lord-Lieutenant, an apology

was made to him for placing him so far away from the head of the

table. "Where the Macdonald sits," was the proud response, "there is

the head of the table."

IX. DEIRDRE.

_Source_.--_Celtic Magazine_, xiii. pp. 69, _seq_. I

have abridged somewhat, made the sons of Fergus all faithful instead

of two traitors, and omitted an incident in the house of the wild

men called here "strangers." The original Gaelic was given in the

_Transactions of the Inverness Gaelic Society_ for 1887, p.

241, _seq._, by Mr. Carmichael. I have inserted Deirdre's

"Lament" from the _Book of Leinster_.

_Parallels_.--This is one of the three most sorrowful Tales

of Erin, (the other two, _Children of Lir_ and _Children of

Tureen_, are given in Dr. Joyce's _Old Celtic Romances_), and

is a specimen of the old heroic sagas of elopement, a list of

which is given in the _Book of Leinster_. The "outcast child"

is a frequent episode in folk and hero-tales: an instance occurs in

my _English Fairy Tales_, No. xxxv., and Prof. Kohler gives

many others in _Archiv. f. Slav. Philologie_, i. 288. Mr. Nutt

adds tenth century Celtic parallels in _Folk-Lore_, vol. ii.

The wooing of hero by heroine is a characteristic Celtic touch. See

"Connla" here, and other examples given by Mr. Nutt in his notes to

MacInnes' _Tales_. The trees growing from the lovers' graves

occurs in the English ballad of _Lord Lovel_ and has been

studied in _Melusine_.

_Remarks_.--The "Story of Deirdre" is a remarkable instance of

the tenacity of oral tradition among the Celts. It has been

preserved in no less than five versions (or six, including

Macpherson's "Darthula") ranging from the twelfth to the nineteenth

century. The earliest is in the twelfth century, _Book of

Leinster_, to be dated about 1140 (edited in facsimile under the

auspices of the Royal Irish Academy, i. 147, _seq._). Then

comes a fifteenth century version, edited and translated by

Dr. Stokes in Windisch's _Irische Texte_ II., ii. 109, _seq._,

"Death of the Sons of Uisnech." Keating in his _History of

Ireland_ gave another version in the seventeenth century. The

Dublin Gaelic Society published an eighteenth century version in

their _Transactions_ for 1808. And lastly we have the version

before us, collected only a few years ago, yet agreeing in all

essential details with the version of the _Book of Leinster_.

Such a record is unique in the history of oral tradition, outside

Ireland, where, however, it is quite a customary experience in the

study of the Finn-saga. It is now recognised that Macpherson had, or

could have had, ample material for his _rechauffe_ of the Finn

or "Fingal" saga. His "Darthula" is a similar cobbling of our

present story. I leave to Celtic specialists the task of settling

the exact relations of these various texts. I content myself with

pointing out the fact that in these latter days of a seemingly

prosaic century in these British Isles there has been collected from

the lips of the folk a heroic story like this of "Deirdre," full of

romantic incidents, told with tender feeling and considerable

literary skill. No other country in Europe, except perhaps Russia,

could provide a parallel to this living on of Romance among the

common folk. Surely it is a bounden duty of those who are in the

position to put on record any such utterances of the folk-

imagination of the Celts before it is too late.

X. MUNACHAR AND MANACHAR.

_Source_.--I have combined the Irish version given by Dr. Hyde

in his _Leabhar Sgeul._, and translated by him for Mr. Yeats'

_Irish Folk and Fairy Tales_, and the Scotch version given in

Gaelic and English by Campbell, No. viii.

_Parallels_.--Two English versions are given in my _Eng.

Fairy Tales_, No. iv., "The Old Woman and her Pig," and xxxiv.,

"The Cat and the Mouse," where see notes for other variants in these

isles. M. Cosquin, in his notes to No. xxxiv., of his _Contes

de Lorraine_, t. ii. pp. 35-41, has drawn attention to an

astonishing number of parallels scattered through all Europe and

the East (_cf._, too, Crane, _Ital. Pop. Tales_, notes, 372-5).

One of the earliest allusions to the jingle is in _Don Quixote_,

pt. 1, c. xvi.: "Y asi como suele decirse _el gato al rato, et rato a

la cuerda, la cuerda al palo_, daba el arriero a Sancho, Sancho

a la moza, la moza a el, el ventero a la moza." As I have pointed

out, it is used to this day by Bengali women at the end of each

folk-tale they recite (L. B. Day, _Folk-Tales of Bengal_, Pref.).

_Remarks_.--Two ingenious suggestions have been made as to the

origin of this curious jingle, both connecting it with religious

ceremonies: (1) Something very similar occurs in Chaldaic at the end

of the Jewish _Hagada_, or domestic ritual for the Passover

night. It has, however, been shown that this does not occur in early

MSS. or editions, and was only added at the end to amuse the

children after the service, and was therefore only a translation or

adaptation of a current German form of the jingle; (2) M. Basset, in

the _Revue des Traditions populaires_, 1890, t. v. p. 549, has

suggested that it is a survival of the old Greek custom at the

sacrifice of the Bouphonia for the priest to contend that _he_

had not slain the sacred beast, the axe declares that the handle did

it, the handle transfers the guilt further, and so on. This is

ingenious, but fails to give any reasonable account of the diffusion

of the jingle in countries which have had no historic connection

with classical Greece.

XI. GOLD TREE AND SILVER TREE.

_Source_.--_Celtic Magazine_, xiii. 213-8, Gaelic and

English from Mr. Kenneth Macleod.

_Parallels_.--Mr. Macleod heard another version in which "Gold

Tree" (anonymous in this variant) is bewitched to kill her father's

horse, dog, and cock. Abroad it is the Grimm's _Schneewittchen_

(No. 53), for the Continental variants of which see Kohler on

Gonzenbach, _Sicil. Mahrchen_, Nos. 2-4, Grimm's notes on 53,

and Crane, _Ital. Pop. Tales_, 331. No other version is known

in the British Isles.

_Remarks_.--It is unlikely, I should say impossible, that this

tale, with the incident of the dormant heroine, should have arisen

independently in the Highlands; it is most likely an importation

from abroad. Yet in it occurs a most "primitive" incident, the

bigamous household of the hero; this is glossed over in Mr.

Macleod's other variant. On the "survival" method of investigation

this would possibly be used as evidence for polygamy in the

Highlands. Yet if, as is probable, the story came from abroad, this

trait may have come with it, and only implies polygamy in the

original home of the tale.

XII. KING O'TOOLE AND HIS GOOSE.

_Source_.--S. Lover's _Stories and Legends of the Irish

Peasantry_.

_Remarks_.--This is really a moral apologue on the benefits of

keeping your word. Yet it is told with such humour and vigour, that

the moral glides insensibly into the heart.

XIII. THE WOOING OF OLWEN.

_Source_.--The _Mabinogi_ of Kulhwych and Olwen from the

translation of Lady Guest, abridged.

_Parallels_.--Prof. Rhys, _Hibbert Lectures_, p. 486,

considers that our tale is paralleled by Cuchulain's "Wooing of

Emer," a translation of which by Prof. K. Meyer appeared in the

_Archaeological Review_, vol. i. I fail to see much analogy. On

the other hand in his _Arthurian Legend_, p. 41, he rightly

compares the tasks set by Yspythadon to those set to Jason. They are

indeed of the familiar type of the Bride Wager (on which see Grimm-

Hunt, i. 399). The incident of the three animals, old, older, and

oldest, has a remarkable resemblance to the _Tettira Jataka_

(ed. Fausboll, No. 37, transl. Rhys Davids, i. p. 310 _seq._)

in which the partridge, monkey, and elephant dispute as to their

relative age, and the partridge turns out to have voided the seed of

the Banyan-tree under which they were sheltered, whereas the

elephant only knew it when a mere bush, and the monkey had nibbled

the topmost shoots. This apologue got to England at the end of the

twelfth century as the sixty-ninth fable, "Wolf, Fox, and Dove," of

a rhymed prose collection of "Fox Fables" (_Mishle Shu'alim_),

of an Oxford Jew, Berachyah Nakdan, known in the Records as

"Benedict le Puncteur" (see my _Fables Of Aesop_, i. p. 170).

Similar incidents occur in "Jack and his Snuff-box" in my _English

Fairy Tales_, and in Dr. Hyde's "Well of D'Yerree-in-Dowan." The

skilled companions of Kulhwych are common in European folk-tales

(_Cf._ Cosquin, i. 123-5), and especially among the Celts (see

Mr. Nutt's note in MacInnes' _Tales_, 445-8), among whom they

occur very early, but not so early as Lynceus and the other skilled

comrades of the Argonauts.

_Remarks_.--The hunting of the boar Trwyth can be traced back

in Welsh tradition at least as early as the ninth century. For it is

referred to in the following passage of Nennius' _Historia

Britonum_ ed. Stevenson, p: 60, "Est aliud miraculum in regione

quae dicitur Buelt [Builth, co. Brecon] Est ibi cumulus lapidum et

unus lapis super-positus super congestum cum vestigia canis in eo.

Quando venatus est porcum Troynt [_var. lec._ Troit] impressit

Cabal, qui erat canis Arthuri militis, vestigium in lapide et Arthur

postea congregavit congestum lapidum sub lapide in quo erat

vestigium canis sui et vocatur Carn Cabal." Curiously enough there

is still a mountain called Carn Cabal in the district of Builth,

south of Rhayader Gwy in Breconshire. Still more curiously a friend

of Lady Guest's found on this a cairn with a stone two feet long by

one foot wide in which there was an indentation 4 in. x 3 in. x 2

in. which could easily have been mistaken for a paw-print of a dog,

as maybe seen from the engraving given of it (Mabinogion, ed. 1874,

p. 269).

The stone and the legend are thus at least one thousand years old.

"There stands the stone to tell if I lie." According to Prof. Rhys

(_Hibbert Lect._ 486-97) the whole story is a mythological one,

Kulhwych's mother being the dawn, the clover blossoms that grow

under Olwen's feet being comparable to the roses that sprung up

where Aphrodite had trod, and Yspyddadon being the incarnation of

the sacred hawthorn. Mabon, again (_i.e._ pp. 21, 28-9), is the

Apollo Maponus discovered in Latin inscriptions at Ainstable in

Cumberland and elsewhere (Hubner, _Corp. Insc. Lat. Brit._ Nos.

218, 332, 1345). Granting all this, there is nothing to show any

mythological significance in the tale, though there may have been

in the names of the _dramatis personae_. I observe from the

proceedings of the recent Eisteddfod that the bardic name of Mr. W.

Abraham, M.P., is 'Mabon.' It scarcely follows that Mr. Abraham is

in receipt of divine honours nowadays.

XIV. JACK AND HIS COMRADES.

_Source_.--Kennedy's _Legendary Fictions of the Irish

Celts_.

_Parallels_.--This is the fullest and most dramatic version I

know of the Grimm's "Town Musicians of Bremen" (No. 27). I have

given an English (American) version in my _English Fairy

Tales_, No. 5, in the notes to which would be found references to

other versions known in the British Isles (_e.g._, Campbell,

No. 11) and abroad. _Cf._ remarks on No. vi.

XV. SHEE AN GANNON AND GRUAGACH GAIRE.

_Source._--Curtin, _Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland_, p.

114 _seq._ I have shortened the earlier part of the tale, and

introduced into the latter a few touches from Campbell's story of

"Fionn's Enchantment," in _Revue Celtique_, t. i., 193 _seq._

_Parallels_.--The early part is similar to the beginning of

"The Sea-Maiden" (No. xvii., which see). The latter part is

practically the same as the story of "Fionn's Enchantment," just

referred to. It also occurs in MacInnes' _Tales_, No. iii.,

"The King of Albainn" (see Mr. Nutt's notes, 454). The head-crowned

spikes are Celtic, _cf._ Mr. Nutt's notes (MacInnes' _Tales_,

453).

_Remarks_.--Here again we meet the question whether the folk-

tale precedes the hero-tale about Finn or was derived from it, and

again the probability seems that our story has the priority as a

folk-tale, and was afterwards applied to the national hero, Finn.

This is confirmed by the fact that a thirteenth century French

romance, _Conte du Graal_, has much the same incidents, and was

probably derived from a similar folk-tale of the Celts. Indeed, Mr.

Nutt is inclined to think that the original form of our story (which

contains a mysterious healing vessel) is the germ out of which the

legend of the Holy Grail was evolved (see his _Studies in the Holy

Grail_, p. 202 _seq._).

XVI. THE STORY-TELLER AT FAULT.

_Source_.--Griffin's _Tales from a Jury-Room_, combined

with Campbell, No. xvii. _c_, "The Slim Swarthy Champion."

_Parallels_.--Campbell gives another variant, _l.c._ i.

318. Dr. Hyde has an Irish version of Campbell's tale written down

in 1762, from which he gives the incident of the air-ladder (which

I have had to euphemise in my version) in his _Beside the

Fireside_, p. 191, and other passages in his Preface. The most

remarkable parallel to this incident, however, is afforded by the

feats of Indian jugglers reported briefly by Marco Polo, and

illustrated with his usual wealth of learning by the late Sir Henry

Yule, in his edition, vol. i. p. 308 _seq._ The accompanying

illustration (reduced from Yule) will tell its own tale: it is taken

from the Dutch account of the travels of an English sailor, E.

Melton, _Zeldzaame Reizen_, 1702, p. 468. It tells the tale in

five acts, all included in one sketch. Another instance quoted by

Yule is still more parallel, so to speak. The twenty-third trick

performed by some conjurors before the Emperor Jahangueir

(_Memoirs_, p. 102) is thus described: "They produced a chain

of 50 cubits in length, and in my presence threw one end of it

towards the sky, where it remained as if fastened to something in

the air. A dog was then brought forward, and being placed at the

lower end of the chain, immediately ran up, and, reaching the other

end, immediately disappeared in the air. In the same manner a hog, a

panther, a lion, and a tiger were successively sent up the chain."

It has been suggested that the conjurors hypnotise the spectators,

and make them believe they see these things. This is practically the

suggestion of a wise Mohammedan, who is quoted by Yule as saying,

"_Wallah!_ 'tis my opinion there has been neither going up nor

coming down; 'tis all hocus-pocus," hocus-pocus being presumably the

Mohammedan term for hypnotism.

_Remarks_.--Dr. Hyde (_l.c._ Pref. xxix.) thinks our tale

cannot be older than 1362, because of a reference to one O'Connor

Sligo which occurs in all its variants; it is, however, omitted in

our somewhat abridged version. Mr Nutt (_ap._ Campbell, _The

Fians_, Introd. xix.) thinks that this does not prevent a still

earlier version having existed. I should have thought that the

existence of so distinctly Eastern a trick in the tale, and the fact

that it is a framework story (another Eastern characteristic), would

imply that it is a rather late importation, with local allusions

superadded (_cf._ notes on "Conal Yellowclaw," No v.)

The passages in verse from pp 137, 139, and the description of the

Beggarman, pp. 136, 140, are instances of a curious characteristic

of Gaelic folk-tales called "runs." Collections of conventional

epithets are used over and over again to describe the same incident,

the beaching of a boat, sea-faring, travelling and the like, and are

inserted in different tales. These "runs" are often similar in both

the Irish and the Scotch form of the same tale or of the same

incident. The volumes of _Waifs and Strays_ contain numerous

examples of these "runs," which have been indexed in each volume.

These "runs" are another confirmation of my view that the original

form of the folk-tale was that of the _Cante-fable_ (see note

on "Connla" and on "Childe Rowland" in _English Fairy Tales_).

XVII. SEA-MAIDEN.

_Source_.--Campbell, _Pop. Tales_, No. 4. I have omitted

the births of the animal comrades and transposed the carlin to the

middle of the tale. Mr. Batten has considerately idealised the Sea-

Maiden in his frontispiece. When she restores the husband to the

wife in one of the variants, she brings him out of her mouth! "So

the sea-maiden put up his head (_Who do you mean? Out of her mouth

to be sure. She had swallowed him_)."

_Parallels_.--The early part of the story occurs in No. xv.,

"Shee an Gannon," and the last part in No. xix., "Fair, Brown, and

Trembling" (both from Curtin), Campbell's No. 1. "The Young King" is

much like it; also MacInnes' No. iv., "Herding of Cruachan" and No.

viii., "Lod the Farmer's Son." The third of Mr. Britten's Irish

folk-tales in the _Folk-Lore Journal_ is a Sea-Maiden story.

The story is obviously a favourite one among the Celts. Yet its main

incidents occur with frequency in Continental folk-tales. Prof.

Kohler has collected a number in his notes on Campbell's Tales in

_Orient und Occident_, Bnd. ii. 115-8. The trial of the sword

occurs in the saga of Sigurd, yet it is also frequent in Celtic saga

and folk-tales (see Mr. Nutt's note, MacInnes' _Tales_, 473,

and add. Curtin, 320). The hideous carlin and her three giant sons

is also a common form in Celtic. The external soul of the Sea-Maiden

carried about in an egg, in a trout, in a hoodie, in a hind, is a

remarkable instance of a peculiarly savage conception which has been

studied by Major Temple, _Wide-awake Stories_, 404-5; by Mr. E.

Clodd, in the "Philosophy of Punchkin," in _Folk-Lore Journal_,

vol. ii., and by Mr. Frazer in his _Golden Bough_, vol. ii.

_Remarks_.--As both Prof. Rhys (_Hibbert Lect._, 464) and

Mr. Nutt (MacInnes' _Tales_, 477) have pointed out, practically

the same story (that of Perseus and Andromeda) is told of the

Ultonian hero, Cuchulain, in the _Wooing of Emer_, a tale which

occurs in the Book of Leinster, a MS. of the twelfth century, and

was probably copied from one of the eighth. Unfortunately it is not

complete, and the Sea-Maiden incident is only to be found in a

British Museum MS. of about 1300. In this Cuchulain finds that the

daughter of Ruad is to be given as a tribute to the Fomori, who,

according to Prof. Rhys, _Folk-Lore_, ii. 293, have something

of the night_mare_ about their etymology. Cuchulain fights

_three_ of them successively, has his wounds bound up by a

strip of the maiden's garment, and then departs. Thereafter many

boasted of having slain the Fomori, but the maiden believed them not

till at last by a stratagem she recognises Cuchulain. I may add to

this that in Mr. Curtin's _Myths_, 330, the threefold trial of

the sword is told of Cuchulain. This would seem to trace our story

back to the seventh or eighth century and certainly to the

thirteenth. If so, it is likely enough that it spread from Ireland

through Europe with the Irish missions (for the wide extent of which

see map in Mrs. Bryant's _Celtic Ireland_). The very letters

that have spread through all Europe except Russia, are to be traced

to the script of these Irish monks: why not certain folk-tales?

There is a further question whether the story was originally told of

Cuchulain as a hero-tale and then became departicularised as a folk-

tale, or was the process _vice versa_. Certainly in the form in

which it appears in the _Tochmarc Emer_ it is not complete, so

that here, as elsewhere, we seem to have an instance of a folk-tale

applied to a well-known heroic name, and becoming a hero-tale or

saga.

XVIII. LEGEND OF KNOCKMANY.

_Source_.--W. Carleton, _Traits and Stories of the Irish

Peasantry_.

_Parallels_.--Kennedy's "Fion MacCuil and the Scotch Giant,"

_Legend. Fict._, 203-5.

_Remarks_.--Though the venerable names of Finn and Cucullin

(Cuchulain) are attached to the heroes of this story, this is

probably only to give an extrinsic interest to it. The two heroes

could not have come together in any early form of their sagas, since

Cuchulain's reputed date is of the first, Finn's of the third

century A.D. (_cf._ however, MacDougall's _Tales_, notes, 272).

Besides, the grotesque form of the legend is enough to remove

it from the region of the hero-tale. On the other hand, there is a

distinct reference to Finn's wisdom-tooth, which presaged the future

to him (on this see _Revue Celtique_, v. 201, Joyce, _Old Celt.

Rom._, 434-5, and MacDougall, _l.c._ 274). Cucullin's power-finger

is another instance of the life-index or external soul, on which see

remarks on Sea-Maiden. Mr. Nutt informs me that parodies of the

Irish sagas occur as early as the sixteenth century, and the present

tale may be regarded as a specimen.

XIX. FAIR, BROWN, AND TREMBLING.

_Source_.--Curtin, _Myths, &c., of Ireland, 78 seq._

_Parallels_.--The latter half resembles the second part of the

Sea-Maiden (No. xvii.), which see. The earlier portion is a

Cinderella tale (on which see the late Mr. Ralston's article in

_Nineteenth Century_, Nov. 1879, and Mr. Lang's treatment in

his Perrault). Miss Roalfe Cox is about to publish for the Folk-Lore

Society a whole volume of variants of the Cinderella group of

stories, which are remarkably well represented in these isles,

nearly a dozen different versions being known in England, Ireland,

and Scotland.

XX. JACK AND HIS MASTER.

_Source_.--Kennedy, _Fireside Stories of Ireland_, 74-80,

"Shan an Omadhan and his Master."

_Parallels_.--It occurs also in Campbell, No. xlv., "Mac a

Rusgaich." It is a European droll, the wide occurrence of which--

"the loss of temper bet" I should call it--is bibliographised by M.

Cosquin, _l.c._ ii. 50 (_cf._ notes on No. vi.).

XXI. BETH GELLERT.

_Source_.--I have paraphrased the well-known poem of Hon. W. R.

Spencer, "Beth Gelert, or the Grave of the Greyhound," first printed

privately as a broadsheet in 1800 when it was composed ("August 11,

1800, Dolymalynllyn" is the colophon). It was published in Spencer's

_Poems_, 1811, pp. 78-86. These dates, it will be seen, are of

importance. Spencer states in a note: "The story of this ballad is

traditionary in a village at the foot of Snowdon where Llewellyn the

Great had a house. The Greyhound named Gelert was given him by his

father-in-law, King John, in the year 1205, and the place to this

day is called Beth-Gelert, or the grave of Gelert." As a matter of

fact, no trace of the tradition in connection with Bedd Gellert can

be found before Spencer's time. It is not mentioned in Leland's

_Itinerary_, ed. Hearne, v. p. 37 ("Beth Kellarth"), in Pennant's

_Tour_ (1770), ii. 176, or in Bingley's _Tour in Wales_ (1800).

Borrow in his _Wild Wales_, p. 146, gives the legend, but does

not profess to derive it from local tradition.

_Parallels_.--The only parallel in Celtdom is that noticed by

Croker in his third volume, the legend of Partholan who killed his

wife's greyhound from jealousy: this is found sculptured in stone at

Ap Brune, co. Limerick. As is well known, and has been elaborately

discussed by Mr. Baring-Gould (_Curious Myths of the Middle

Ages_, p. 134 _seq._), and Mr. W. A. Clouston (_Popular Tales

and Fictions_, ii. 166, _seq._), the story of the man who

rashly slew the dog (ichneumon, weasel, &c.) that had saved his

babe from death, is one of those which have spread from East to

West. It is indeed, as Mr. Clouston points out, still current in

India, the land of its birth. There is little doubt that it is

originally Buddhistic: the late Prof. S. Beal gave the earliest

known version from the Chinese translation of the _Vinaya

Pitaka_ in the _Academy_ of Nov. 4, 1882. The conception of

an animal sacrificing itself for the sake of others is peculiarly

Buddhistic; the "hare in the moon" is an apotheosis of such a piece

of self-sacrifice on the part of Buddha (_Sasa Jataka_). There

are two forms that have reached the West, the first being that of an

animal saving men at the cost of its own life. I pointed out an

early instance of this, quoted by a Rabbi of the second century, in

my _Fables of Aesop_, i. 105. This concludes with a strangely

close parallel to Gellert; "They raised a cairn over his grave,

and the place is still called The Dog's Grave." The _Culex_

attributed to Virgil seems to be another variant of this. The second

form of the legend is always told as a moral apologue against

precipitate action, and originally occurred in _The Fables of

Bidpai_ in its hundred and one forms, all founded on Buddhistic

originals (_cf._ Benfey, _Pantschatantra_, Einleitung, S201).

[Footnote: It occurs in the same chapter as the story of La

Perrette, which has been traced, after Benfey, by Prof. M. Muller in

his "Migration of Fables" (_Sel. Essays_, i. 500-74): exactly

the same history applies to Gellert.] Thence, according to Benfey,

it was inserted in the _Book of Sindibad_, another collection

of Oriental Apologues framed on what may be called the Mrs. Potiphar

formula. This came to Europe with the Crusades, and is known in its

Western versions as the _Seven Sages of Rome_. The Gellert

story occurs in all the Oriental and Occidental versions;

_e.g._, it is the First Master's story in Wynkyn de Worde's

(ed. G. L. Gomme, for the Villon Society.) From the _Seven

Sages_ it was taken into the particular branch of the _Gesta

Romanorum_ current in England and known as the English _Gesta_,

where it occurs as c. xxxii., "Story of Folliculus." We have thus traced

it to England whence it passed to Wales, where I have discovered it as

the second apologue of "The Fables of Cattwg the Wise," in the Iolo

MS. published by the Welsh MS. Society, p.561, "The man who

killed his Greyhound." (These Fables, Mr. Nutt informs me, are a

pseudonymous production probably of the sixteenth century.) This

concludes the literary route of the Legend of Gellert from India to

Wales: Buddhistic _Vinaya Pitaka--Fables of Bidpai_;--Oriental

_Sindibad_;--Occidental _Seven Sages of Rome_;--"English" (Latin),

_Gesta Romanorum_;--Welsh, _Fables of Cattwg_.

_Remarks_.--We have still to connect the legend with Llewelyn

and with Bedd Gelert. But first it may be desirable to point out why

it is necessary to assume that the legend is a legend and not a

fact. The saving of an infant's life by a dog, and the mistaken

slaughter of the dog, are not such an improbable combination as to

make it impossible that the same event occurred in many places. But

what is impossible, in my opinion, is that such an event should have

independently been used in different places as the typical instance

of, and warning against, rash action. That the Gellert legend,

before it was localised, was used as a moral apologue in Wales is

shown by the fact that it occurs among the Fables of Cattwg, which

are all of that character. It was also utilised as a proverb: "_Yr

wy'n edivaru cymmaint a'r Gwr a laddodd ei Vilgi_" ("I repent as

much as the man who slew his greyhound"). The fable indeed, from

this point of view, seems greatly to have attracted the Welsh mind,

perhaps as of especial value to a proverbially impetuous

temperament. Croker (_Fairy Legends of Ireland_, vol. iii. p.

165) points out several places where the legend seems to have been

localised in place-names--two places, called "Gwal y Vilast"

("Greyhound's Couch"), in Carmarthen and Glamorganshire; "Llech y

Asp" ("Dog's Stone"), in Cardigan, and another place named in Welsh

"Spring of the Greyhound's Stone." Mr. Baring-Gould mentions that

the legend is told of an ordinary tombstone, with a knight and a

greyhound, in Abergavenny Church; while the Fable of Cattwg is told

of a man in Abergarwan. So widespread and well known was the legend

that it was in Richard III's time adopted as the national crest. In

the Warwick Roll, at the Herald's Office, after giving separate

crests for England, Scotland, and Ireland, that for Wales is given

as figured in the margin, and blazoned "on a coronet in a cradle or,

a greyhound argent for Walys" (see J. R. Planche, _Twelve Designs

for the Costume of Shakespeare's Richard III._, 1830, frontispiece).

If this Roll is authentic, the popularity of the legend is thrown back

into the fifteenth century. It still remains to explain how and when this

general legend of rash action was localised and specialised at Bedd

Gelert: I believe I have discovered this. There certainly was a local

legend about a dog named Gelert at that place; E. Jones, in the first

edition of his _Musical Relicks of the Welsh Bards_, 1784, p. 40, gives

the following _englyn_ or epigram:

Claddwyd Cylart celfydd (ymlyniad)

Ymlaneau Efionydd

Parod giuio i'w gynydd

Parai'r dydd yr heliai Hydd;

which he Englishes thus:

The remains of famed Cylart, so faithful and good,

The bounds of the cantred conceal;

Whenever the doe or the stag he pursued

His master was sure of a meal.

No reference was made in the first edition to the Gellert legend,

but in the second edition of 1794, p. 75, a note was added telling

the legend, "There is a general tradition in North Wales that a wolf

had entered the house of Prince Llewellyn. Soon after the Prince

returned home, and, going into the nursery, he met his dog _Kill-

hart_, all bloody and wagging his tail at him; Prince Llewellyn,

on entering the room found the cradle where his child lay

overturned, and the floor flowing with blood; imagining that the

greyhound had killed the child, he immediately drew his sword and

stabbed it; then, turning up the cradle, found under it the child

alive, and the wolf dead. This so grieved the Prince, that he

erected a tomb over his faithful dog's grave; where afterwards the

parish church was built and goes by that name--_Bedd Cilhart_,

or the grave of Kill-hart, in _Carnarvonshire_. From this

incident is elicited a very common Welsh proverb [that given above

which occurs also in 'The Fables of Cattwg;' it will be observed

that it is quite indefinite.]" "Prince Llewellyn ab Jorwerth married

Joan, [natural] daughter of King John, by _Agatha_, daughter

of Robert Ferrers, Earl of Derby; and the dog was a present to

the prince from his father-in-law about the year 1205." It was

clearly from this note that the Hon. Mr. Spencer got his account;

oral tradition does not indulge in dates _Anno Domini_. The

application of the general legend of "the man who slew his

greyhound" to the dog Cylart, was due to the learning of E. Jones,

author of the _Musical Relicks_. I am convinced of this, for by

a lucky chance I am enabled to give the real legend about Cylart,

which is thus given in Carlisle's _Topographical Dictionary of

Wales_, s.v., "Bedd Celert," published in 1811, the date of

publication of Mr. Spencer's _Poems_. "Its name, according to

tradition, implies _The Grave of Celert_, a Greyhound which

belonged to Llywelyn, the last Prince of Wales: and a large Rock is

still pointed out as the monument of this celebrated Dog, being on

the spot where it was found dead, together with the stag which it

had pursued from Carnarvon," which is thirteen miles distant. The

cairn was thus a monument of a "record" run of a greyhound: the

_englyn_ quoted by Jones is suitable enough for this, while

quite inadequate to record the later legendary exploits of Gelert.

Jones found an _englyn_ devoted to _an_ exploit of a dog named

Cylart, and chose to interpret it in his second edition, 1794, as _the_

exploit of a greyhound with which all the world (in Wales) were

acquainted. Mr. Spencer took the legend from Jones (the reference

to the date 1205 proves that), enshrined it in his somewhat _banal_

verses, which were lucky enough to be copied into several reading-books,

and thus became known to all English-speaking folk.

It remains only to explain why Jones connected the legend with

Llewelyn. Llewelyn had local connection with Bedd Gellert, which was

the seat of an Augustinian abbey, one of the oldest in Wales. An

inspeximus of Edward I. given in Dugdale, _Monast. Angl._, ed.

pr. ii. 100a, quotes as the earliest charter of the abbey "Cartam

Lewelin, magni." The name of the abbey was "Beth Kellarth"; the

name is thus given by Leland, _l.c._, and as late as 1794 an

engraving at the British Museum is entitled "Beth Kelert," while

Carlisle gives it as "Beth Celert." The place was thus named after

the abbey, not after the cairn or rock. This is confirmed by the

fact of which Prof. Rhys had informed me, that the collocation of

letters _rt_ is un-Welsh. Under these circumstances it is not

impossible, I think, that the earlier legend of the marvellous run

of "Cylart" from Carnarvon was due to the etymologising fancy of

some English-speaking Welshman who interpreted the name as Killhart,

so that the simpler legend would be only a folk-etymology.

But whether Kellarth, Kelert, Cylart, Gelert or Gellert ever existed

and ran a hart from Carnarvon to Bedd Gellert or no, there can be

little doubt after the preceding that he was not the original hero

of the fable of "the man that slew his greyhound," which came to

Wales from Buddhistic India through channels which are perfectly

traceable. It was Edward Jones who first raised him to that proud

position, and William Spencer who securely installed him there,

probably for all time. The legend is now firmly established at Bedd

Gellert. There is said to be an ancient air, "Bedd Gelert," "as sung

by the Ancient Britons"; it is given in a pamphlet published at

Carnarvon in the "fifties," entitled _Gellert's Grave; or,

Llewellyn's Rashness: a Ballad, by the Hon. W. R. Spencer, to which

is added that ancient Welsh air, "Bedd Gelert," as sung by the

Ancient Britons_. The air is from R. Roberts' "Collection of

Welsh Airs," but what connection it has with the legend I have been

unable to ascertain. This is probably another case of adapting one

tradition to another. It is almost impossible to distinguish

palaeozoic and cainozoic strata in oral tradition. According to

Murray's _Guide to N. Wales_, p. 125, the only authority for

the cairn now shown is that of the landlord of the Goat Inn, "who

felt compelled by the cravings of tourists to invent a grave." Some

old men at Bedd Gellert, Prof. Rhys informs me, are ready to testify

that they saw the cairn laid. They might almost have been present at

the birth of the legend, which, if my affiliation of it is correct,

is not yet quite 100 years old.

XXII. STORY OF IVAN.

_Source_.--Lluyd, _Archaeologia Britannia_, 1707, the

first comparative Celtic grammar and the finest piece of work in

comparative philology hitherto done in England, contains this tale

as a specimen of Cornish then still spoken in Cornwall. I have used

the English version contained in _Blackwood's Magazine_ as long

ago as May 1818. I have taken the third counsel from the Irish

version, as the original is not suited _virginibus puerisque_,

though harmless enough in itself.

_Parallels_.--Lover has a tale, _The Three Advices_. It

occurs also in modern Cornwall _ap._ Hunt, _Drolls of West of

England_, 344, "The Tinner of Chyamor." Borrow, _Wild Wales_, 41,

has a reference which seems to imply that the story had crystallised

into a Welsh proverb. Curiously enough, it forms the chief episode

of the so-called "Irish Odyssey" ("_Merugud Uilix maiec Leirtis_"

--"Wandering of Ulysses M'Laertes"). It was derived, in all probability,

from the _Gesta Romanorum_, c. 103, where two of the three pieces

of advice are "Avoid a byeway," "Beware of a house where the

housewife is younger than her husband." It is likely enough that this

chapter, like others of the _Gesta_, came from the East, for it is

found in some versions of "The Forty Viziers," and in the _Turkish

Tales_ (see Oesterley's parallels and _Gesta_, ed. Swan and

Hooper, note 9).

XXIII. ANDREW COFFEY.

_Source_.--From the late D. W. Logie, written down by Mr.

Alfred Nutt.

_Parallels_.--Dr. Hyde's "Teig O'Kane and the Corpse," and

Kennedy's "Cauth Morrisy," _Legend. Fict._, 158, are practically

the same.

_Remarks_.--No collection of Celtic Folk-Tales would be

representative that did not contain some specimen of the gruesome.

The most effective ghoul story in existence is Lover's "Brown Man."

XXIV. BATTLE OF BIRDS.

_Source_.--Campbell (_Pop. Tales, W. Highlands_, No. ii.),

with touches from the seventh variant and others, including the

casket and key finish, from Curtin's "Son of the King of Erin"

(_Myths, &c., 32 seq._). I have also added a specimen of the

humorous end pieces added by Gaelic story-tellers; on these tags see

an interesting note in MacDougall's _Tales_, note on p. 112. I

have found some difficulty in dealing with Campbell's excessive use

of the second person singular, "If thou thouest him some two or

three times, 'tis well," but beyond that it is wearisome.

Practically, I have reserved _thou_ for the speech of giants,

who may be supposed to be somewhat old-fashioned. I fear, however, I

have not been quite consistent, though the _you's_ addressed to

the apple-pips are grammatically correct as applied to the pair of

lovers.

_Parallels_.--Besides the eight versions given or abstracted by

Campbell and Mr. Curtin's, there is Carleton's "Three Tasks," Dr.

Hyde's "Son of Branduf" (MS.); there is the First Tale of MacInnes

(where see Mr. Nutt's elaborate notes, 431-43), two in the _Celtic

Magazine_, vol. xii., "Grey Norris from Warland" (_Folk-Lore

Journ._ i. 316), and Mr. Lang's Morayshire Tale, "Nicht Nought

Nothing" (see _Eng. Fairy Tales_, No. vii.), no less than

sixteen variants found among the Celts. It must have occurred early

among them. Mr. Nutt found the feather-thatch incident in the

_Agallamh na Senoraib_ ("Discourse of Elders"), which is at

least as old as the fifteenth century. Yet the story is to be found

throughout the Indo-European world, as is shown by Prof. Kohler's

elaborate list of parallels attached to Mr. Lang's variant in

_Revue Celtique_, iii. 374; and Mr. Lang, in his _Custom and

Myth_ ("A far travelled Tale"), has given a number of parallels

from savage sources. And strangest of all, the story is practically

the same as the classical myth of Jason and Medea.

_Remarks_.--Mr. Nutt, in his discussion of the tale (MacInnes,

_Tales_ 441), makes the interesting suggestion that the obstacles

to pursuit, the forest, the mountain, and the river, exactly represent

the boundary of the old Teutonic Hades, so that the story was

originally one of the Descent to Hell. Altogether it seems likely that

it is one of the oldest folk-tales in existence, and belonged to the

story-store of the original Aryans, whoever they were, was passed

by them with their language on to the Hellenes and perhaps to the

Indians, was developed in its modern form in Scandinavia (where

its best representative "The Master Maid" of Asbjornsen is still found),

was passed by them to the Celts and possibly was transmitted by

these latter to other parts of Europe, perhaps by early Irish monks

(see notes on "Sea-Maiden"). The spread in the Buddhistic world,

and thence to the South Seas and Madagascar, would be secondary

from India. I hope to have another occasion for dealing with this

most interesting of all folk-tales in the detail it deserves.

XXV. BREWERY OF EGGSHELLS.

_Source_.--From the _Cambrian Quarterly Magazine_, 1830,

vol. ii. p. 86; it is stated to be literally translated from the

Welsh.

_Parallels_.--Another variant from Glamorganshire is given in Y

Cymmrodor, vi. 209. Croker has the story under the title I have

given the Welsh one in his _Fairy Legends_, 41. Mr. Hartland,

in his _Science of Fairy Tales_, 113-6, gives the European

parallels.

XXVI. LAD WITH THE GOAT SKIN.

_Source_.--Kennedy, _Legendary Fictions_, pp. 23-31. The

Adventures of "Gilla na Chreck an Gour'."

_Parallels_.--"The Lad with the Skin Coverings" is a popular

Celtic figure, _cf._ MacDougall's Third Tale, MacInnes' Second,

and a reference in Campbell, iii. 147. According to Mr. Nutt

(_Holy Grail_, 134), he is the original of Parzival. But the

adventures in these tales are not the "cure by laughing" incident

which forms the centre of our tale, and is Indo-European in extent

(_cf._ references in _English Fairy Tales_, notes to No. xxvii.).

"The smith who made hell too hot for him is Sisyphus," says Mr.

Lang (Introd. to Grimm, p. xiii.); in Ireland he is Billy Dawson

(Carleton, _Three Wishes_). In the Finn-Saga, Conan harries

hell, as readers of _Waverley_ may remember "'Claw for claw,

and devil take the shortest nails,' as Conan said to the Devil"

(_cf._ Campbell, _The Fians_, 73, and notes, 283). Red-haired

men in Ireland and elsewhere are always rogues (see Mr. Nutt's

references, MacInnes' _Tales_, 477; to which add the case

in "Lough Neagh," Yeats, _Irish Folk-Tales_, p. 210).

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