Poets and Dreamers Part 15

'So when the company heard that, they sent for her; and she went up, and she put out the c.o.c.k and the hen on the table, and she threw down a few grains of oats; and when the hen was going to pick at it, the c.o.c.k drove her away. And the hen said then: "You should not do that, after the way I helped you, cleaning out the stable you were not able to clean by yourself." But Stepney took no notice of what she was saying.

'Then she threw a little more oats, and the c.o.c.k was taking it all for himself. And the hen said again: "You should not do that, when you remember how I helped you to cut down the forest." But still Stepney took no notice of what was being said. Then she threw a little more oats, and the c.o.c.k was shoving the hen away, and the hen said: "You would not have treated me this way the time I caught the horse for you, after you driving the spurs into my side."

'And with that Stepney remembered all; and he jumped up, and drove all the others away, and took her for his wife, and they lived happy ever after.'

Another old man said: 'There was a mouse one time said to a robin, that they would lay up a store of provisions together against the winter. And he bade the robin to go up in the hedges and to be picking berries, and he would have the hole ready to put them in. And then he said: "Let you go to where they are threshing wheat; for if they saw me there, they would kill me; but if they see you, they'll be throwing grains to you."

'So the robin went and brought back the grains; and when the hole was full, the mouse said: "I have enough for myself now, and go and look after your own house-keeping for the winter."

'So the robin was vexed; and they agreed to go fight it out. And when the day came, all the animals came together, and all the birds of the air. And the place they fought was in a field before a big house. And they fought till all were dead but one eagle.

'And the young man of the house came out and looked at the field; and he saw the eagle moving, and it said to him: "Go in now, and bring me out three sheaves of wheat." So he did that; and the eagle nicked the grain off two of the sheaves, and then he was strong. And he said: "I will bring you now on a voyage if you will come with me. But go in first to the house and bring me out a bit of yellow soap." So he got the bit of soap; and the eagle took him and the soap and the sheaf on its back, and flew away. And at last it began to get tired and to droop; and the place where it dropped was in the middle of the sea. And the young man said: "I don't like this, to be left down into the sea." Then the eagle bade him to throw away the bit of yellow soap, and where he threw it there came a green island. And they rested on it, and eat the grain from the sheaf they had with them.

'Then the eagle took him up again; and when they came to land, it threw him down. And there was a house near, and a giant came out of it; and he brought him in, and said to his servant: "Give him barley bread to fatten him, and when he is fat enough, I will eat him."'

(Then he was given tasks to do, and a girl came to help him, much as Lanka Pera helped Stepney St. George in the other story.)

'And afterwards the girl said to him that they would make their escape; and they got into a boat; and what she brought with her was the three young pups of the dog that minded the giant's house.

'And when they had gone a little way on the sea, the giant missed them; and he sent the dog after them to bring the girl back. But as soon as the dog came close to them, and opened its mouth to take hold of her, she put one of the pups into it, and it turned back to the sh.o.r.e again to bring the pup safe to land. And the giant was very angry when he saw it coming without the girl, and he sent it after them again. And the girl did the same thing as before, and put the second pup into its mouth, that it turned back again. And the giant sent it back the third time, and gave it great abuse for coming to sh.o.r.e without her. And the third time she dropped the pup into the water, for she was vexed, the dog to come so often. And the dog would not pick it up at first, for he was afraid to pick it up again after all the abuse he got from the giant. But when he saw it going to drown, he took it up and turned back, and they were free of him then.

'And they came to land; and the young man left the girl down by a shoemaker's house while he went on to make all ready for her at his own house. But she bade him not to let a dog lick his face or touch it, or he would forget all about her. But when he went in, his dog jumped up and licked his face; and he forgot the girl or that he ever had seen her.

'And as for her, she waited; and he did not come back, and she knew no one in the place; and she went up in a tree that was over the well in the shoemaker's garden to hide herself. And after a while the shoemaker sent out one of his daughters to the well to bring in water. And when she stooped down, she saw the shadow of the girl in the tree, and she thought it was herself, and she said: "My father should not be sending such a handsome girl as that to be bringing in water;" and she threw the tin can down against a wall and broke it, and went in.

'Then the shoemaker sent out the second daughter for water; and she stooped down; and she thought it was her own face she saw; and she no better-looking than myself, and that's not saying much.' (Applause from all the old men.) 'So she wouldn't bring the water, but went in without it.

'Then he sent his missus out, that was the ugliest you ever saw--old and withered. But that did not hinder her from thinking the shadow she saw was herself; and it is proud she was going into the house again.

'So at last the shoemaker himself went out, and when he stooped and saw the shadow, he looked up in the tree, and he said: "Come down out of that, for you have given me trouble enough." So she came down, and told him her story; and he brought her to the young man's house.' (The c.o.c.k and hen now come in as in Lanka Pera.) 'And they lived happily ever after.'

Another says: 'There was a young man killed a deer one time he was out hunting. And a lion and a hound and a hawk came by, and they asked a share of it. And he gave the flesh to the lion, and the bones to the dog, and the guts to the hawk. And they thanked him; and they said from that time he would have the strength of a lion, and the quickness of a hound, and the lightness of a hawk.

'It was a good while after that he fell in love with a young girl; and her father said that before he could marry her he must go out and see who was it was stealing his cows; for there were some of them stolen every night.

'So he watched, and he saw a witch coming and driving them away. And he attacked her, and fought with her, and beat her by his strength, and she made off. And he went to the place she had driven the cows, that was underground, and he found the cows belonging to the whole neighbourhood.

And he drove them all out, and gave them to the owners.

'And after a little time the father said to him, that there was a fox in the country, that no hound could catch, and that it was to be hunted again on the next day. So the young man went out, and when he saw the fox, he took the shape of a hound and followed it. And he was gaining on it, and it took to a lake, and he went in after it, and it turned to its own shape of a witch, and dragged him down.

'The girl used to go and be looking at the lake every day, but she never got a sight of him. And at last, someone told her those water-witches were very fond of music, and to get a musical instrument. So she brought a musical instrument to the side of the lake, and she was playing it; and the witch put up her hand out of the water. "What will you take for that?" she said. "I will give it to you," the girl said, "if you will let me see my husband's head above the water." "I will do that much for you," said the witch.

'Then the young man put up his head above the water, and she could see his face; but she could not touch him, and she went away.

'The next day she came again with a musical instrument that was better again than the first, and she began to play it. The witch put up her hand, and asked what would she take for it. "Let me see my husband to his waist this time," she said. So the young man was let up out of the water as far as his waist, and then he disappeared again.

'The next day she came again, and the musical instrument she brought with her was seven times better than the other two. "What will you take for that?" said the witch. "Let my husband stand up on your shoulders, clear and clean out of the water," she said. So the witch put him up on her shoulder; and when she did, he took the shape of a hawk on the moment, and away with him through the air, back to his own home again.

'The witch followed him then; and when he was in a field, she came to fight him, and they fought the whole day, and they were both tired, and they stopped to rest. "Oh, if I had three drops of sea-water and a crumb of wheaten bread!" said the witch. "Oh, if I had three drops of fresh water and a crumb of barley bread!" said the young man.

'And a fairy brought the witch the three drops of sea-water and the crumb of bread. And a little serving-girl from the farm brought the young man the three drops of fresh water and the crumb of bread. And then they fought together again; and he having the strength of a lion, he killed her in the end.'

Another old man said: 'There was a young man looking for service one time; and a farmer said he would take him to mind his cattle. For a great many of his cattle had died with the herds he had, and he didn't know what the reason was.

So the first morning the young man led them up as he was told, to the green gra.s.sy place on the top of Cruachmaa. And when he looked about him there, he noticed it to be very dirty and trampled by the cattle. So he brought them to graze in the fields at the side of the hill; and he came back, and cleared all the dirt from that field till it was green and smooth. And no more of the cattle died.

'He was up in the field one day, and he saw a great hurling match going on; and one side had a young man at the head of it, and it was beating the other. So the next day he went to the wood, and he cut a hurl; and he was all that day and the next shaping it; and his mother asked was he going to a match, and he said he was only amusing himself with it.

'The next night he went up to the field to give a hand; and the king of the fairies came up to him, and asked would he join his side that was the weakest, and he said he would. And he drove the ball to the goal every time, and they gave the other side a great beating. And the king of the fairies thanked him, and said they had been able to do nothing till they had a living person along with them.

'Then the king asked would he come along with him to bring away the King of Spain's daughter that he wanted for a wife. And the young man agreed to that. And the king raised them both into the air as if they were a wisp of straw; and they flew away on the air like two feathers.

'When they came to the court of the King of Spain, there was a great ball going on; and they went in, but no one could see them. And the fairy king said to the young man that he would know which was the princess by hearing her sneeze. And presently the most beautiful young lady that was there gave a sneeze; and the young man said, "G.o.d bless her." "Don't say that again," said the fairy king, "or she'll be lost to us." So she sneezed twice after that, and he said nothing. And then the fairy king said: "Let you take hold of her now and bring her out, and I will make something in her own shape to put in her place, the way they won't miss her." So the young man took a hold of her and brought her outside; and then the fairy king came out, and they went away like feathers in the air.

'And when they came to Irish land, the fairy king said: "Now you may give her to me." "Indeed I will not," said the young man, "after all the trouble I went through; but I will keep her for myself to be my own wife." "If you do," said the fairy king "you will have nothing better than a stone, for she will have no speech."

'But the young man brought her to his own house; and his mother seeing her in her ball dress, thought it was one of the ladies from Castle Hacket come for a visit, and she was astonished when the son said she was to be his wife. But all the time she could not speak; and at last the young man went up to the field on the hill, and he brought a tar-barrel with him, and he gathered sticks and ferns, and put them all around, and began to set fire to them.

'Then the fairy king came and asked what was he doing. "I am burning you out of the place," he said, "till you give back speech to my wife." So the king agreed to that, and they made friends again; and the young man went home, and found his wife speaking. And she wrote a letter then to her father and mother, the King and Queen of Spain; and they were very glad to hear that she was well, and they sent her money and clothes of all sorts.

'Then the fairy king came and asked the young man to go with him to Germany to help him to bring back a wife for himself from the king's court there. So he agreed to go; and before he went, the wife said: "When you come back, you will bring a t.i.tle for yourself and put an O to your name. And it is what you must do," she said, "when you are near the land, cut off your hand, and throw it on the sh.o.r.e, and bring it back to me after."

'So they went to Germany, and brought away a wife for the fairy king.

And when they were coming home and were near the strand, the young man cut off his hand, and threw it on the land.

'And his wife put the hand on to him again after; and he was O'Connor from that time, that was the first of all; and the fairy king put an O to his name, and he was O'Neill, that was second.

'But now at this time, there isn't a Tom, d.i.c.k, or John, but puts an O before his name.'

An old one-eyed man gave me a new version of Deirdre's story. He said: 'The King of Ulster and his men were out hunting one time; and they met with the fairy king, Mannanan of the Hill. They sat down with him; and himself and the King of Ulster began to play cards together, and whichever of them won could put some command upon the other. It was Mannanan won; and what he put on the King of Ulster was to follow after him to whatever place he would go.

'With that he changed into the shape of a hare, and away with him, and the hounds after him, and the king and his men after them again; but they lost sight of him. But the hounds followed on till they came to a hill, and an old stump of a tree on top of it; and they began scratching at the stump where it was rotten. And when there was a hole scratched in it, the king looked down; and he saw steps; and he and his men went down the steps; and they pa.s.sed through gardens and beside a pond with flowers about it; and then they came to a big house, and in it an old man sitting on a chair reading a book; and they knew him to be Mannanan that they were looking for.

'And he rose up and bade them welcome; and there was a feast spread out before them, with every sort of food and drink. And while they were at the feast they heard something like the cry of a child from an inner room. And the King of Ulster rose up, and he said: "I will go see what is in there; for that is the cry of a child."

'So he went in; and he came back again, bringing a baby in his arms, the most beautiful that was ever seen, and her hair like gold. "I will bring away this child with me, and rear her up," he said. "Do not," said Mannanan; "for if you do, your country will be destroyed, and your throne will be lost through her, and there will be a great many killed for her sake."

'But the king would not mind him; but he brought her away, and he had a house made for her, and she was reared up in it. And she grew to be a nice young girl, and there were women about her to care her and to attend on her; but she never saw a man but the king himself, that used to come and see her every week. And he had great love for her; and he thought she loved him.'

The account of Deirdre's meeting with Naoise, and their flight to Scotland, and the king's message bringing them back, was much the same as in some of the printed versions; but Mannanan's part at the end was new to me. The old man went on: 'When they came to Ulster, the king made an attack on them, to bring away Deirdre from them; but they killed all that came near them, and drove the whole army back.