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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Many of the stories in this volume were told by an old man who said he had more and better learning nor the scholars. “The like of them,” he declared, “do be filled with conceit out of books, and the most of it only nonsense; ’tis myself has the real old knowledge was handed down from the ancient times.” The spread of education and cheap literature robbed him of audience: the boys read of adventure by land and sea, the girls interested themselves in the fate of heroes with marble-white complexio
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I THE KING’S DAUGHTER OF FRANCE
I THE KING’S DAUGHTER OF FRANCE
“I could go through a fair share of gold,” says Paddy. “I am determined for to make a rich man of you,” the little boy goes on. “There is a lady at the point of death, and she is the King’s daughter of France. I have a bottle here in my pocket, and that is the cure for the disease is on her. I’ll be giving it to you, and let you set out for France at the morning of the day. When you come to the King’s palace the servants will bid you be gone for an ignorant beggar, but let you not be heeding the
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II THE COW OF A WIDOW OF BREFFNY
II THE COW OF A WIDOW OF BREFFNY
“The last drop was in this townland, stranger, and it is heart glad I am that it refreshed you. I had but the one cow only, the grandest milker in the land, and she was driven from me this day—up yonder to the masons are working with their shovels dripping red.” “I am thinking it is four strong walls in the pit of Hell are building for that chieftain’s soul. Maybe it’s red hot they’ll be, and he imprisoned within them for a thousand years and more,” says the traveller. “Let there be what masonry
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III KATE ELLEN’S WAKE
III KATE ELLEN’S WAKE
The whole party were sitting round, and the jar of itself was in the middle of the floor. There came a noise and shouting on the street, like as if there was a powerful assembly of people without; and then a great battering on the windows. The door opened wide and the disturbance came into the kitchen, yet no person sitting there seen a heth that was not in it from the start. It was a queer gathering surely, for the friends and neighbours of the dead were silent and still, and the crying went ro
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IV THE DARK OATH
IV THE DARK OATH
Sure enough, in a month’s time, he was in a field, and the appearance of the black bull came against him. Three times it struck him, the way he was tormented with the agony of the goring horns. With that the likeness of the living beast faded from the place leaving the young lad sore and sorry but alive. He had peace for a short space only to be thinking on his escape. Didn’t a second warning come in the night to restore the cold fear to his heart:— He seen a black goat come at him in standing l
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V FAIRY GOLD
V FAIRY GOLD
When the man and woman of the house were shut of the company they went out to the yard, and they fair wild with delight. Himself told the story of the three dreams and the finding of the gold in under the roots of the lone bush. “Did you spit on it?” she inquires. “I did not,” says he. With that she allowed he was after making a big mistake. “How would that be?” he asks. “My father had great knowledge of the like,” says herself. “I often heard him tell of how those treasures do be enchanted, and
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I
I
With that the young gentleman began telling the secrets of his heart. “It is no disease is on me,” says he, “but a terrible misfortune.” “’Tis heart scalded I am that you have either a sorrow or a sickness, and you grand to look on and better to listen to,” says the other. “It is in love I am,” says M’Carthy. “And how would that be a misfortune to a fine lad like yourself?” asks the man. “Let you never let on!” says M’Carthy. “The way of it is this: I am lamenting for no lady is walking the worl
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II
II
“I’ll be winning the money off you, surely!” says M’Carthy. “Not at all,” says the Englishman. “I’m not in the least uneasy about it, for I’m full sure it’s the truth I’m after speaking of how she does be playing herself in your absence.” “You’ll find me in this place and you coming back,” says M’Carthy. “Let you be prepared with the money to have along with you.” The Englishman took ship to Ireland, and he came to the house of the lady M’Carthy. Herself was in the kitchen making a cake, and she
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VII NALLAGH’S CHILD
VII NALLAGH’S CHILD
The whole time they were at their diversions Nallagh’s child never quit watching the pair. Maybe it’s in expectation he was of getting his taste of the feast. The butter cake was doing nicely, turning a grand colour and a lovely smell rising off it. The two heroes were in the best of humour, chatting other and funning, when all of a sudden the servant boy chanced to look out over the half door. “I declare to man, we’re destroyed entirely,” says he. “Himself and the mistress are without!” Sure en
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VIII THE ENCHANTED HARE
VIII THE ENCHANTED HARE
The man came up, cursing himself for spoiling the diversion, but he was well determined to follow on. He took the coat off his back and he stuffed it into the opening the way the hare had no chance to get out where she was after entering, then he walked round the house for to see was there any means of escape for what was within. There wasn’t evenly a space where a fly might contrive to slip through, and himself was satisfied the hunt was shaping well. He went to the door, and it was there the t
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IX THE BRIDGE OF THE KIST
IX THE BRIDGE OF THE KIST
“Are you waiting on any person in this place?” says he to Michael Hugh. “It’s bitter weather to be abroad and you be to be as hardy as a wild duck to endure the cold blast on the bridge.” “I’m hardy surely,” Michael Hugh makes his answer. “But ’tis no easy matter to tell if I’m waiting on any person.” “You’re funning me,” says the Englishman. “How would you be abroad without reason, and you having a beautiful wise countenance on you?” With that Michael Hugh told him the story of the dreams that
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X THE CHILD AND THE FIDDLE
X THE CHILD AND THE FIDDLE
“That is a strange child you have, mistress,” says he. “A strange child, surely, and a sorrowful,” she makes answer. “It is tormented with his roaring you are, no person could be enduring it continually.” “Did ever he play on the fiddle in your hearing?” asks the man. “Is it raving you are?” says she. “I am not, mistress,” he answers. “He is after giving me the best of entertainment with reels and marches and jigs.” “Let you quit funning me!” says she, getting vexed. “I see you are doubting my w
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XI THE CUTTING OF THE TREE
XI THE CUTTING OF THE TREE
“Where’ll we carry the wood?” says a voice. “To the house on the hill,” says another. “We be to bring out the wife of Francis Pat, and the tree may stop there in her stead.” “He’ll never know the differ,” says the first. “It’s a fine thing surely to make an image from a tree that a man couldn’t know from herself.” With that there was great laughter and cheering, but the lad didn’t wait to hear more—he sped away home to the house on the hill. Not a heth did he let on to the wife about what he was
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XII THE LITTLE SETTLEMENT
XII THE LITTLE SETTLEMENT
The next suitor to come was a beautiful young lad the name of Shan Alec. He was a tasty worker, and he had the best of good money was left him by his da. Now if you were to seek all Ireland ten times through, I’ll go bail you wouldn’t be finding a more suitable match nor Shan Alec and Bride. The girl and her mother were fair wild with delight, but they got an odious disappointment for didn’t himself run the poor boy out of the house. “I’m surprised at you,” says the wife. “Why couldn’t you have
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XIII THE TILLAGE IN THE FORT
XIII THE TILLAGE IN THE FORT
“Quit raving,” says he. “Many and many’s the time I have seen them, they riding down by the hill; their fiddles and fifes I have heard, their shouts and their laughs. But I had no cause for a dread till it come on me now,” she replies. With that herself took the thorn from the fire, where he was after casting it down; she left it out on the door of the house. “Let their branch stop beyond on the street,” says she, “the way they will not be entering here and they seeking for to bring it away.” In
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XIV THE NEW DECK OF CARDS
XIV THE NEW DECK OF CARDS
At long last he thought of the new deck of cards, and he laid them down by the roadside before he made another attempt to go home. He passed the bridge without the least hindrance, but when he went into the house he began to consider it was all a foolishness only. “What use is there in laying out money for cards, and throwing them there to be rotting with damp?” says he. Back he went across the river to fetch the new deck of cards. But if he was to strive till he died of exhaustion he couldn’t g
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XV THE LIFTING OF A CHILD
XV THE LIFTING OF A CHILD
“Not a lie in the world, mam,” he answers. “Sure I am just after leaving your child by my own kitchen fire, and he wrapped up in a shawl.” With that she took a hold of the pot stick for to run him from the place—she was odious vexed to think he’d make mock of her sore lamentations. “Ar’n’t you the ungrateful besom,” says he, “to go destroying a decent neighbour with a pot stick, and he after saving your son from the power of the Good People?” “Let you tell a straight story, or quit off from here
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XVI THE VOICE AT THE DOOR
XVI THE VOICE AT THE DOOR
“It’s myself is walking the world, and I not buried at all,” says the voice. “The Good People have me away, and the corpse was an old image cut from bog stick that they left in my bed to deceive you.” “Then it’s yourself is using the food from this house, my poor boy?” says Shan. “Aye, indeed,” says the voice, “and sometimes it’s little I find. It does be hard on me to refuse the noble refreshment the fairies set out, but if I’d eat of the like I could never escape from their power. Do you tell
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XVII THE EARL’S SON OF THE SEA
XVII THE EARL’S SON OF THE SEA
“You’re a beautiful girl,” says the stranger, “and the wish is on me to please you. Climb up out of reach of the rising sea and I’ll play you a tune on the harp.” Well she travelled back over the sand and up by the path to the cliff, never doubting but the stranger was following on. But when she looked down she seen him below on the rock. “It is drownded you’ll be,” she calls out. “Let you not be uneasy,” says he. With that he began for to play on the harp, and the music enchanted the fisherman’
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XVIII THE GIRL AND THE FAIRIES
XVIII THE GIRL AND THE FAIRIES
She went away off the street, and the mother went back to her bed. The next evening there were some of the neighbours came in, and herself gave out all she was after hearing. There were two clever lads in it and they promised for to bring the girl snug and safe to her home. Not a long after Bridget came back to the window to speak with the mother, so when she heard of the offer was made she says: “The Good People are going away over the moor on Wednesday night and I must journey with them. It is
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XIX GOOD-NIGHT, MY BRAVE MICHAEL
XIX GOOD-NIGHT, MY BRAVE MICHAEL
“Good-night, my brave Michael,” says the horsemen. Then another of them took him by the shoulder and faced him away round again. “Good-night, my brave Michael,” says he. Well the whole score of fairies kept turning him round until he seen the stars dropping down from the sky and his ears were deafened with a sound like the sea. And every one that took him by the shoulder would say: “Good-night, my brave Michael, good-night!” The poor fellow didn’t know what in under the shining Heaven was he to
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XX THE LAD AND THE OLD LASSIE’S SONG
XX THE LAD AND THE OLD LASSIE’S SONG
Ye that she bakes before the fire, Bring me the milk from the neighbour’s byre; Gather the butter from off the churn And set it forenenst me before you burn. With the power of the words coming from him didn’t the boots on his feet fill up with sweet milk, and it running out on the lace holes. “Man, but that’s an enchanted song,” says he. And what did he do only step into four pounds of butter that fell on the threshold before him, for he never remarked it at all! There was a woman one time, and
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XXI THE BASKET OF EGGS
XXI THE BASKET OF EGGS
“I’d have you to know,” he replies, “that the pot of gold I could convey you in sight of is guarded by the appearance of a very strange frog.” “What do I care for the creeping beasts of the world,” says she. “Worse nor a frog wouldn’t scare me at all.” “You’re a terrible fine woman, mistress dear,” says the leprachaun. “I’ve travelled a power of the earth and I never came in with your equal.” “Go on with your old-fashioned chat,” she replies, but she was middling well pleased all the same. “I’m
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XXII THE BROKEN BRANCH
XXII THE BROKEN BRANCH
“There is no woman here,” says the other. “I seen her a while past, and I coming down to your side. She was sitting in under the bush, but now she is gone. When you drove the thorn through your hand she let a lamentable laugh that was worse nor a cry.” The man didn’t believe it at all. But the jag in his hand festered up and he died for breaking the branch of the thorn. In the ancient times a poor decent labouring man dreamt three nights of finding a kist was hid in the fort near his home. So aw
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XXIII DIGGING FOR GOLD
XXIII DIGGING FOR GOLD
There was a woman renowned for making the best of good butter. Now it chanced in the spring that her man had three boys hired for to work at the setting of spuds. One morning they passed through the house when the churn was a making, and not one put his hand to the work nor uttered a blessing upon it. Herself was horrid annoyed to think they’d be that unseemly and ignorant, yet she passed no remark of the sort. Didn’t her whole morning’s work go to loss for no yield come on the churn. She was no
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XXIV STORY OF A CHURN
XXIV STORY OF A CHURN
“Now,” says the mother, “go out to the churn.” What did she find only five pounds of butter sitting within on the dry wood! There was once a man of these parts and he had a great longing for to find a treasure. It chanced one evening that he seen a gankeynogue in the field, sitting in under a bush, and he says: “Yon lad will surely be worth a powerful weight of gold.” With that he went over and caught a hold of the gankey. “Let you discover a treasure,” says he, “or else I’ll keep you like a dog
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XXV THE GANKEYNOGUE IN THE OAK CHEST
XXV THE GANKEYNOGUE IN THE OAK CHEST
“You’ll never get out except for to show me where treasure is lodged,” he allows. But the gankeynogue wasn’t in notion of giving the least information. He sat up in the oak chest, hammering, shouting and singing until he had the people’s heads light. All the while the farmer was determined to get the better of him and he never agreed to let him go. The lad was his tenth day in the chest when the man of the house came running in that evening, shouting at the top of his voice: “Darragh fort’s on f
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XXVI THE MAKER OF BROGUES
XXVI THE MAKER OF BROGUES
“It’s a slow worker I’m counted in these parts,” says the leprachaun. “Let you look down into the pit at the man is cobbling below. I warrant it’s three nails he’s driving for each one of mine.” The lad looked over the edge. “There is no man in it at all!” says he. With that the leprachaun let a laugh. “There is not,” says he. “There’s a sore chastisement waiting on you for deceiving me,” answers the other. But when he stood on his feet and looked round wasn’t the leprachaun gone. “I’m the fool
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GLOSSARY
GLOSSARY
Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited , Edinburgh . LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. New Six-Shilling Novels MRS. LANCELOT. By Maurice Hewlett . THE HEROINE IN BRONZE. By James Lane Allen . A REGULAR MADAM. By Alice Wilson Fox . VAN CLEVE. By Mary S. Watts . EDWARD FAIRLIE FRANKFORT, or Politics among the People . By Sir Henry Wrixon , K.C. THE STRANGER AT THE GATE. By M. O. Wright . Illustrated. LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd....
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