Chapter II: Part 2

So then the King gave a great ball to bring all the chief men of the country together, to try would the shoe fit any of them. And they were all going to carpenters and joiners getting bits of their feet cut off to try could they wear the shoe, but it was no use; not one of them could get it on. Then the King went to his Chief Adviser and asked what could he do. And the Chief Adviser bade him to give another ball. ‘And this time,’ he said, ‘give it to poor as well as rich.’

So the ball was given and many came flocking to it, but the shoe would not fit any one of them. And there were two Fools passing the way and they said: ‘There is a wedding going on, the greatest that ever was in the world; and let us go in now,’ they said, ‘and we will be eating meat.’ So they went in and sat by the kitchen fire, and the King asked had everyone in the house or out of the house tried to see would the bunch of hair fit to their poll, and they said all unless the two Fools that were sitting by the kitchen fire. So they were brought up and bade to take their caps off, but the hair did not match their own. And the Chief Adviser said: ‘Is everyone here belonging to the district?’ ‘They are all here,’ said the King, ‘unless the boy that minds the cooper’s goats. And I would not like him to be coming up here,’ he said. So Shawneen was sent for, and he was told what the King said, and that vexed him, where he knew the two Fools had got their chance. And he got his sword and came running up the stairs as if to strike off the King’s head. But when he got to the top of the stairs the King’s daughter saw him and she gave a cry and ran into his arms. And they tried the shoe and it fitted him, and his hair matched to the bunch that had been cut off. That was a good thought the King’s daughter had to cut a bit of his hair; and there is nothing in the world so quick as a woman’s thought. A man’s thought is quick enough, but a woman’s thought is quicker again.

And Shawneen took the Black Duke and bound him with gads, that no one would be able to loosen but himself, and everyone was striving to loosen the gads, but they could not; and Shawneen was bade come and try his hand at them, but he said he would not till the Royal Family themselves would come asking him. So they came, and the gads loosened of themselves, and Shawneen and the King’s daughter were married; and a great feast was given for three days and three nights, and there was every sort of fiddlers and of pipers at the wedding.

And at the end of that time, one morning there came a deer outside the window, with bells on it, and they ringing. And it called out: ‘Here is the hunt; where are the huntsman and the hounds?’ So when Shawneen heard that, he got up and took his horse and his hound and went hunting the deer. When it was in the hollow he was on the hill, and when it was on the hill he was in the hollow; and that went on all through the day, and when night fell it went into a wood. And Shawneen went into the wood after it, and all he could see was a mud-wall cabin, and he went in, and there he saw an old woman, about two hundred years old, and she sitting over the fire. ‘Did you see a deer pass this way?’ says Shawneen. ‘I did not,’ says she. ‘But it’s too late for you to be following a deer; let you stop here the night.’ ‘What will I do with my horse and hound?’ says Shawneen. ‘Here are two ribs of hair,’ says she, ‘and let you tie them up with those ribs.’ So Shawneen went out and tied up the horse and the hound, and when he came in again the old woman said: ‘It was you killed my three grandsons,’ she said, ‘and I’m going to kill you now.’ And she put on a pair of boxing gloves, each one of them nine stone weight, and the nails in them fifteen inches long. Then they began to fight, and Shawneen was getting the worst of it. ‘Help, hound!’ he cried out then. ‘Squeeze, hair!’ called out the old woman, and the rib of hair that was around the hound’s neck squeezed him to death. ‘Help, horse!’ cried Shawneen. ‘Squeeze, hair!’ screeched out the hag, and the rib of hair that was about the horse’s neck began to tighten and to squeeze him to death. Then the old woman made an end of Shawneen, and threw him outside the door.

To go back now to Shamus. He was out in the garden one day, and he took a look at the well, and what did he see but that the water at the top was blood, and what was underneath was honey. So he went into the house again, and he said to his mother: ‘I will never eat a second meal at the same table, or sleep a second night in the same bed, till I know what is happening to Shawneen.’

So he took the other horse then and the hound, and he set off over hills where cock never crows and wind never blows, and the old boy himself never sounds his horn. And at last he came to the cooper’s house, and when he came in the cooper said: ‘You are welcome, and I can give you better treatment than I did the last time you came in to me;’ for he thought it was Shawneen was in it, they were so much like one another. ‘That is good,’ says Shamus to himself. ‘My brother has been in this place.’ And he gave the cooper the full of a basin of gold in the morning before he left the place.

Then he went on till he came to the King’s house, and when he was at the door the King’s daughter came running down the stairs. ‘Oh, you are welcome back to me!’ says she, for she thought it was Shawneen, her husband, was in it. And all the people said: ‘It is a wonder you to have gone hunting three days after your marriage, and to stop so long away.’

Well, the next morning the deer came, and bells ringing on her, under the windows, and called out: ‘The hunt is here; where are the huntsman and the hounds?’ Then Shamus got up and took his horse and his hound, and followed her over hills and hollows till they came to the wood, and there he saw nothing but the mud-wall cabin, and the old woman sitting by the fire, and she bade him stop the night there, and gave him two ribs of hair to tie up his horse and his hound. But Shamus was wittier than Shawneen, and before he went out he threw the ribs of hair into the fire secretly. When he came in the old woman said: ‘Your brother killed my three grandsons, and I killed him, and I’ll kill you along with him.’ And she put her gloves on, and they began the fight, and then Shamus called out: ‘Help, horse!’ ‘Squeeze, hair!’ called out the hag. ‘I can’t squeeze; I’m in the fire,’ says the hair. And the horse came in and gave her a blow of the hoof. ‘Help, hound!’ says Shamus then. ‘Squeeze, hair!’ says the hag. ‘I can’t; I’m in the fire,’ says the second hair. Then the hound put his teeth in her, and Shamus brought her down, and she cried for mercy. ‘Give me my life,’ says she, ‘and I’ll tell you where you’ll get your brother again, and his hound and his horse.’ ‘Where is that?’ says Shamus. ‘Do you see that rod over the fire?’ says she. ‘Let you take it down and go outside the door, where you will see three green stones, and strike them with the rod, for they are your brother and his horse and his hound, and they will come to life again.’ ‘I will do that, but I will make a green stone of yourself first,’ says Shamus; and he cut off her head with his sword. Then he went out and struck the stones, and sure enough there was Shawneen and his horse and hound, alive and well. And they began striking other stones that were there, and the rod rose the charm from them, and men came out that had been turned to stones, hundreds and thousands of them.

Then they went home, and Shawneen and his wife lived happy ever after, and they had children by the basketful, and threw them out by the shovelful. I was passing one time myself, and they called me in and gave me a cup of tea.

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THE MAN THAT SERVED THE SEA

I will tell you a story about a man that served the sea. It came to him first in a dream to do that, and he was for seven years serving it, going down by the sea every day. And at the last he saw a mermaid in the water, and she combing her head, and he made a grab at her and brought her to the house. And he took the cover off of her, that was the same as a tail, and she was the most beautiful young lady that ever was seen, and he married her. But he hid the cover up in the roof of the house, the way she would not see it, and think of the sea.

She was with him for seven years, and by the will of God they had three sons, and through all that time she never spoke a word, but she laughed three times. The first time she laughed was one day the dinner was on the fire in the pot, and a man that came in was sitting by the hearth, and they asked him would he eat a share of the victuals, and he gave a curse and he said: ‘Sorra bit will I eat.’ She gave a laugh when she heard that. The second time she laughed was one day the pot was on the fire and the dinner was boiling, and the husband’s mother that was minding it did not take the top off. For it is the custom with our people to take the top off what is in the pot, and to throw it in behind the fire.

And the third time she laughed was one day the husband’s mother was going into the parlour, and was knocked going in at the door.

Well, at the end of the seven years the cover fell down from the top of the house, and she got a little sketch of it, and she took it and tried it on. And with that she went out of the house into the sea, and brought the three sons along with her, and came back to the house no more.

And the man was going every day to the sea looking for her, and at the last, at the end of nine years, he got a sketch of her where she was sitting on a rock, and he made a grab at her. But she said: ‘You have no chance of getting me at all, or of bringing me back to the house. But I’ll do this for you,’ she said; ‘the eldest son I had, I’ll give him back to you if you will promise to leave him all that you have. But as for myself, you will never see me again,’ she said. ‘Is it any harm to ask you,’ says the husband, ‘what was it made you laugh the first time in the house?’ ‘I will tell you that,’ says she. ‘I laughed to hear that man make the curse, for when he did, all that was in the pot went to nothing.’ ‘And is it any harm to ask you why you laughed the second and the third time?’ says the husband. ‘The second time I laughed,’ says she, ‘was when your mother didn’t take the top off the pot. For all that was in it turned to poison then,’ says she, ‘and I took no taste of it myself. And the third time I laughed,’ she said, ‘was when your mother was knocked going in at the parlour door. For I saw what it was knocked her,’ she said. ‘It was the leg of a pot that was standing up out of the floor, and that was full of gold. And go home now,’ she said, ‘and dig under the threshold of the door, and you will find the pot of gold, and you can keep all that is in it.’

So the man did that, and he brought his eldest son with him, and he dug under the floor and found the pot of gold, and they were very rich from that time.

That is all, my lady, I know about it; and that is one of the old stories of Ireland.

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THE BULLOCKEEN

There was a King, and it is a good while ago he was in it, and he married a King’s daughter, and at the end of two years they had a son, and the mother died. And before dying she made a will, and she willed to the son but one thing only—a little black Bullockeen was out in the meadow. And she laid commands on the King: ‘Do not marry another woman,’ she said, ‘till the son I have left with you will give you leave three times to do it.’

And the son grew to be about seven years old, and he bought a hurling stick and a silver ball, and he used to go hurling. And one day he was putting the ball, and when he’d give it a blow that sent it over, he would be over before it would fall, and when he would strike it hither, he’d be hither before it, he was that smart, that it would not fall to the ground. The King was passing that way, and when he saw him he said: ‘It’s a pity your mother not to see you,’ says he, ‘for it is proud out of you she would be this day.’ ‘Let you leave talking of my mother and let you take another woman,’ says the son.

Well, the next day he was out with the ball again, and he was twice smarter that day, and to throw the ball over, he would be over before it, and to hit it back hither, he would be hither before it, the way it didn’t touch the ground at all through that day. The King was looking at him. ‘It’s a pity your mother not to be here and to see you,’ says he. ‘It is time for you to put another woman’s skin on my mother,’ says the son. And the same thing happened on the third day.

So he married another King’s daughter, and the King’s son had a step-mother, and a bad step-mother she was. She had three daughters, and she used to be starving the King’s son, and not to be giving him nourishment; but he had nothing but hardship, and all she would give him to eat was stirabout, and she used to be giving all to the daughters.

He was out in the field one day, and the little black Bullockeen came to him and it said: ‘I know the way you are treated,’ it said, ‘and the sort of nourishment they are giving you. And unscrew now my left horn,’ it said, ‘and take what you will find out of it.’ So he unscrewed the left horn, and the first thing he took out was a napkin, and he spread it out on the grass; and then he took out cups and plates and every sort of food, and he sat down and ate and drank his enough. And then he put back the napkin and all into the horn again, and screwed it on.

That was going on every day, and he used to be throwing his stirabout away into the ash-bin; and the servants found it, and they told the Queen that he was throwing away what they gave him, and getting fat all the same. And the Queen did not know what to do, and she would give the whole world to get quit of him, he being so smart; but she could get no way to do it.

So she sent for an old prophecy—a woman that did foretellings—and she asked her what way would she get quit of the step-son. ‘It’s what is keeping him so smart,’ says the prophecy-woman, ‘is the little Bullockeen out in the meadow. And let you keep a watch on him,’ says she, ‘and you’ll know it’s truth I’m telling.’ So the Queen says: ‘I have three daughters,’ says she, ‘and I’ll send them to watch him,’ says she, ‘for the one is as sharp as an earwig, and the other is sharper again, and the third has one eye in the back of her poll that can see through every enchantment.’ So the first of the girls went out, but before she went the little Bullockeen says to the son: ‘Your step-sister will be coming to-day to watch you,’ says he, ‘and unscrew now my right horn, and take out a pin of slumber you will find under it, and when you see her coming go and play with her for a while, and put the pin of slumber into her ear and she will fall asleep.’ So he did as the Bullockeen told him, and he put the pin of slumber into the step-sister’s ear, and she fell into a deep sleep in the grass and never woke till evening.

The next day the second of the girls went out to keep watch, where the son and the Bullockeen were eating their dinner together. But the Bullockeen rose a fog and an enchantment around them, that she could see nothing, and so she went home to her mother.

The third day the third of the daughters went out, and the son took the pin of slumber as before, and put it in her ear, and she fell asleep. But if the two front eyes were shut, the eye at the back of the poll was open. Then the Bullockeen put the fog and the enchantment around her; but if he did, the eye at the back of her poll was able to see through every enchantment, and she went back and she told the mother that the step-brother got all he could use out of the Bullockeen’s horn, and that he got out of it the best dinner was in the world.

So the Queen sent again for the old prophecy, and she came, and the Queen asked her what way could she bring the King to do away with the Bullockeen. ‘For he will not do it for my asking,’ says she.

‘Let you let on to be sick,’ says the hag, ‘and stop in your bed,’ says she, ‘and send for the King, and tell him there is nothing will cure you but the liver of the Bullockeen,’ says she.

So the Queen stopped in her bed and let on to be sick, and she sent for the King, and she said there was nothing could cure her but to kill the Bullockeen and to give her his liver. ‘I cannot do that,’ says the King; ‘for when that boy’s mother was dying,’ says he, ‘she made a will,’ says he, ‘and she willed him nothing but the little Bullockeen in the meadow. But ask me any other thing,’ says he, ‘and I will give it.’

So the Queen sent for the hag and told her that. ‘Let you take a little black cock is without,’ says the hag, ‘and let them kill it and take the puddings out of him,’ says she, ‘and fill it with blood, and let you put that in your mouth and squeeze it the time the King will come in, and tell him it is the heart’s blood is running from you for the want of the liver of the Bullockeen,’ says she.

So the Queen did as she bade her, and they killed the cock and filled the pudding with blood, and the Queen put it in her mouth where she was in bed. ‘Oh, go run out for the King,’ says she, ‘for I am near my death.’ So the King came running in. ‘Oh,’ says she, ‘I am near my death!’ says she, and she squeezes the blood out of her mouth, and the King thought it was her heart’s blood was coming from her. ‘It will not stop,’ says she, ‘till I’ll get the liver of the little Bullockeen; and let you kill him now for me,’ says she. ‘I cannot do that,’ says the King; and he made her the same answer as before and went out of the room.

So the Queen sent again for the old prophecy and told her all. ‘Haven’t you a yard out there,’ says she, ‘and a wall around it,’ says she, ‘is that high a bird can hardly fly over it,’ says she. ‘And let you drive the Bullockeen in there,’ says she, ‘and put your champions around to kill it.’ So that was done, but when the Bullockeen saw all the champions making an attack on him, he rose up in the air, and the Queen was leaning out through the window, and he took her on his horns, and whitewashed the wall with her bones.

He called to the boy then, and the boy put a halter on him, and they rode away together where the winds never blew, and the cocks never crew, and the old boy himself never sounded his horn. And they overtook the wind that was before them, and the wind that was after them couldn’t overtake them.

They came then to a great wood, and the Black Bullockeen says to the boy: ‘Get up now into the highest tree you can find, and stop there through the day, for I have to fight with the Red Bull that is coming against me. And unscrew my right horn,’ says he, ‘and take out the little bottle that is in it,’ says he, ‘and keep it with you; and if I am well at the end of the day,’ says he, ‘it will be as white as snow.’

The Red Bull came to meet him then, and his head was as big as another’s body would be; and he and the little Bullockeen went to fight together and the boy stopped up in the tree. And in the evening he looked at the little bottle, and what was in it was as white as before. So he came down, and he found the Bullockeen, and got up on his back again, and they went off the same as before.

They came then to the wood where the White Bull was, and he came out to fight the Bullockeen, and all happened the same as the first day. And the boy came down from his tree and got on his back again, and they went on to another wood. And the Green Bull came to meet him this time, and the boy went up in a tree. And at evening he looked at the little bottle and it was red up to the cork. He got down then and went to look for the Bullockeen, and he found him lying on the ground at the point of death.

And the Green Bull made a great bellow, and made away and left him there. And the Bullockeen said: ‘I am going to leave you now,’ says he, ‘but I won’t go without leaving you something. And when I am dead,’ says he, ‘cut three strips of skin off of me, from the nape of the neck to the root of the tail, and put them about your body. And you to be wearing those,’ says he, ‘they’ll give you the strength of six hundred men.’

So the boy sat down on the ground and cried him through three days and three nights. And after that he cut off as he was bade the three strips of the skin, and put them around his body, and they gave him the strength of six hundred men.

That now is the story of the Bullockeen, and it is a story that happened in the long ago.

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THE THREE SONS

I’ll tell you a story, says the old man who was bringing fish from the sea; and after that I’ll be going on to Ballinrobe, to one that has a shop there and that was reared by my grandmother. It is likely he’ll give me a tasty suit of clothes. Working all my life I am; working with the flail in the barn, working with the spade at the potato tilling and the potato digging, breaking stones on the road. And four years ago the wife died, and it’s lonesome to be housekeeping alone.

There was a King long ago of Ireland, and he had three sons, and one of them was something silly. There came a sickness on the King, and he called his three sons, and he said to them that he had knowledge the only thing would cure him was the apples from Burnett’s orchard, and he bade them to go look for them, for that orchard was in some far-away place, and no one could tell where it was.

The three sons went then, and they tackled their horses, and put on their bridles, and they set out, and went on till they came to three cross-roads. There they stopped, and they settled among themselves that each one of them would take one of the roads and go searching for the apples, and they would meet at the same place at the end of a year and a day.

The youngest son, that was a bit silly, took the crossest of the roads, and he went on till he came to a cottage by the roadside. He went in, and there was a withered old man in the house, and he said: ‘There is a great welcome before the King of Ireland’s son!’ The son was astonished at that, because he thought no one could know him. He got good treatment there, and in the course of the night he asked the old man did he know where was Burnett’s garden. ‘I have a hundred years on me,’ said the old man, ‘and I never heard of such a place. But I have a brother,’ he said, ‘that has a hundred years more than myself, and it may be he would know,’ he said.

So in the morning he gave a canoe to the King’s son, and it went on of itself without him turning or guiding it, till it brought him to the old man’s brother, and he got a welcome there and good treatment; and in the course of the night he asked that old man did he know where was Burnett’s orchard. ‘I do not,’ said he; ‘though I have two hundred years upon me I never heard of it. But go on,’ he said, ‘to a brother I have that has a hundred years more than myself.’

So in the morning he went into the canoe, and it went on of itself till it came to where the third old man was, that was older again than the other two, and the King’s son asked did he know where was Burnett’s garden. ‘I do not,’ he said, ‘although I have three hundred years upon me; but I will tell you how you will know it,’ he said. ‘Go on till you come to shore, where you will see a swan-gander standing by the water, and he is the one that can tell you and can bring you to it,’ he said. ‘And ask him to bring you to that garden in the name of the Almighty God.’

So the King’s son went on in the canoe till he came where the swan-gander was standing on the shore. ‘Can you tell me,’ says he, ‘where can I get the apples that are in Burnett’s orchard? And can you bring me there?’ he said.

‘Indeed,’ said the swan-gander, ‘I am in no way obliged to your leader, or to whoever it was sent you to me and gave you that teaching. And those apples are well minded,’ he said, ‘by wolves; and the only time they ever sleep is for three hours once in every seven years. And it chances they are asleep for those three hours at this time; and so I will bring you there,’ he said.

With that he stretched out his wings, and he bade the King’s son to get up on his back. And it was long before he could start flying with the weight that was on him; but he flew away at last, and he brought the King’s son to Burnett’s garden, and there was a high wall around it, but he flew over the wall, and put him down in the garden. The King’s son filled his bag with the apples, and when he had done that, he went looking around, and he came to a large cottage in the garden, and he went in, and there was no one in the house but a beautiful young girl, and she asleep. So he went away; but he brought with him the gold rings and the gold garters that he saw there in the window.

He got up again on the back of the swan-gander, but it was hard for it to rise with the weight of the bag of apples. But it did rise at last, and it brought him to where the old man was that had three hundred years. And the King’s son gave one of the apples to the old man, and no sooner did he eat it than his age was gone from him, and he was like a boy of fifteen years.

He went on then to the two other old men, and gave an apple to both of them, and no sooner did they eat it than they were like young boys again.

Then the King’s son went back to the cross-roads, for it was the end of a year and a day, and he was the first to come there, and he fell asleep. And the two brothers came, and they saw him there, and they stole the bag of apples from under his head, and they put in the place of it a bag of apples that were no use at all. Then they went on to their father’s house, and they gave him the apples they had stolen, and he was cured on the moment; but they told him that what the youngest son was bringing to him was poison apples, that would bring him to his death.

So the King was very angry when he heard that, and he went to his butler and he said: ‘Go out to the wood where my son is, and shoot him there, and cut him open and bring his heart here with you on the top of the gun, and throw it to the dogs at the door; for I will never have him, or anything belonging to him, brought into this house,’ he said.

So the butler got the gun, and went out to the wood, and when he saw the young man he was going to shoot him. ‘Why would you do that?’ said he. So the butler told him all the father ordered him; and the young man said then: ‘Do not shoot me, but save me. And it is what you will do,’ he said. ‘Go into the wood till you meet with a woodcock, and shoot it, and take the heart out of it, for that is most like the heart of a man. And bring the woodcock’s heart to my father’s house,’ he said, ‘and throw it there to the dogs at the door.’

So the butler did that, and spared him, and took its heart and threw it to the dogs at the door.

It was a good while after that, the beautiful young lady came to the King’s doorway in a coach and four, and she stopped at the door. ‘Send out my husband to me here,’ she said. So the eldest son came out to her. ‘Was it you came to the garden for the apples?’ says she. ‘It was,’ says he. ‘What things did you take notice of in the cottage where I was?’ says she.

So he began telling of this thing and that thing that never was in it at all. And when she heard that she gave him a clout that knocked his head as solid as any stone in the wall.

Then the second son came out, and she asked him the same question, and he told the same lies, and she gave him another clout that left his head as solid as any stone in the wall.

When the King heard all that, he knew they had deceived him, and that it was the youngest son had got the apples for his cure, and he began to cry after him and to lament that he was not living to come back again. ‘Would you like to know he is living yet?’ says the butler. ‘I would sooner hear it than any word that ever I heard,’ says the King. ‘Well, he is living yet, and is in the wood,’ says the butler.

When the young lady heard that, she bade the butler to bring her where he was, and they went together to the wood, and there they found him where he had been living on the fruits of the trees through the most of the year. So when the young lady saw him, she said: ‘Was it you came to the house where I was in the garden?’ ‘It was,’ says he. ‘What things did you take notice of in it?’ ‘Here they are,’ says he. And he put his hand in his pocket, and brought out the gold rings and the golden garters and the other signs he had brought away.

So she knew then he was the right one that was there, and she married him, and they lived happy ever after, and there was great rejoicing in the King of Ireland’s house.

KING SOLOMON

I’ll tell you a story now, and I’ll not be with you again till Christmas; and I never saw a man that could read an open book, was able to tell a story out of the mouth.

King Solomon made a great house for himself, the best that was ever seen. And there was a man passing one day, and he stopped to give a look at it—the way I might give a look at that house there. ‘Tell me what there is stronger and finer than that house,’ says King Solomon. ‘I don’t know anything that is stronger and finer than it is,’ says the man. ‘Well,’ said King Solomon, ‘unless you can give me an answer to that by to-morrow I’ll have the head struck off of you,’ he said.

So when the man went home, he told all that to the daughter he had, and he said he could find no answer. ‘I will give you an answer,’ says she. ‘Is not God stronger than that house, and isn’t heaven finer than what it is?’ So he went the next day and he gave that answer. ‘I’ll give you another question,’ says the King then. ‘Tell me,’ says he, ‘what is the number of the stars of the sky! And tell me that by to-morrow,’ says he, ‘or I will strike the head off you.’

So the man went home, and he could think of no answer, and he told the daughter what happened, and how King Solomon asked him to give an account of the stars in the sky. ‘I will give you an answer,’ says the daughter. ‘If you were to put twelve candles lighting on the top of the highest mountain,’ says she, ‘and to be looking at them, and your sight to spread on you, you wouldn’t know how many you were looking at, but you might think it was hundreds. And there is no one can tell the number of the stars,’ says she, ‘or give an account of them, but God that made them.’

So the man went back next day, and he gave that answer to King Solomon. ‘Where did you get that answer,’ says the king, ‘or who made it?’ says he. ‘It was my daughter made it,’ says the man. ‘Bring her here till I’ll have a look at her,’ says the king.

So the daughter was brought before him, and she was a fine comely girl, and when King Solomon saw her he took a liking to her. ‘Will you marry me?’ says he. ‘I will not,’ says she; ‘for if you marry me to-day, you might throw me off again to-morrow.’ I suppose she said that because she knew of him having seven hundred wives. ‘I will not do that,’ says he. ‘Well,’ says she, ‘I’ll make a bargain with you that I’ll marry you if you give me your word that the day you turn me out you’ll let me carry away with me the three things I’ll ask for, and to have them for my own.’

So King Solomon agreed to that, and she married him, and she had a child. And after a while he tired of her, and said she might go home. ‘I will go,’ says she, ‘but I’ll bring away the three things you offered to give me.’ So the first thing she brought away was the child, and the second thing was a bag of gold. She came then to King Solomon. ‘Now,’ says she, ‘since you said I could bring away three things, it is you yourself is the third. And come with me now,’ she says. So when King Solomon heard that, he was afraid she would bring him with her, and that she would have power over him. So he asked her to stop with him, and so she did.

He began well and he ended badly; and Samson did the same, killing a lion that was going to eat him in the beginning, and killing himself in the end. It was through a woman that he lost his eyesight.

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THE ROBINEEN

I have a new wife now, says the old man who had come back from Ballinrobe; to keep my victuals ready and the door open before me. She’s a quiet woman at some times, but she has a queer way in her mind at the time of the full moon, but it will pass away after. And here is a story now, and I’ll word it easy to you.

There was a woman one time and she had three sons. Well, one day one of them said the quarter was too small for the three of them to be in it. ‘And I’ll go,’ says he, ‘and I’ll try to do for myself. And let you turn and make a cake for me to bring with me,’ says he to the mother.

The mother went at night and she baked two cakes, a big one and a small one. And when he was going to start in the morning: ‘Which would you sooner have now,’ says she, ‘to have the big one and my curse, or the small one and my blessing?’ ‘I’ll take the big one and your curse,’ says he; ‘the other one is too small and the road being long before me.’

Well, he tripped on till he got hungry, and sat down on the brink of a lake, and he spread out a cloth for the dinner the way he would lose none of the crumbs, and he broke up a piece of the cake then and commenced eating it. The Robineen Redbreast was coming around him and he was hooshing him away. ‘Every crumb that will fall,’ says the Robineen, ‘it will be for me.’ ‘Every crumb that will fall,’ says he, ‘it is little enough for myself.’ So he hooshed away the Robineen.

When he had part of it ate, then he got dry, and he went to the lake to take a drink; and the Robineen walked to the lake before him and commenced washing herself and shaking out her wings in the lake, and she turned it all into blood instead of water. He took a drink of it, and he fell dead after taking the drink. The Robineen got people to bury him under a big stone was in it; for the Robineen was enchanted, and they say the birds of the air had talk at that time.

The two brothers then were sitting by the hearth, the same as himself, till the end of seven years. ‘It is this day seven years,’ says the second one, ‘that the brother went out from this. And I’ll go make a poke for him. And it’s as good for you,’ says he to the mother, ‘go bake a cake for the road in the morning.’

Well, the mother did the same thing as before, and she made a big cake and a small cake, and asked him would he have the small one with her blessing, or the big one with her curse. ‘I’ll have the big one with your curse,’ says he. So he set out, and when he came to the same place he sat down on the same stone where the brother had sat, and he spread a cloth the way any crumb that would fall, he could pick it up for himself. The Robineen came around him asking for the crumbs, and he wouldn’t give them and he hooshed her away. So when he was going to the lake for a drink, she went into it before him, and spread out her wings and scattered the water, and after he took one drink of it he fell dead; and she buried the two of them under one stone, the Robineen did, the two brothers.

Well, they were fourteen years gone when the third man said he would go look for them, and the mother made two cakes the same as she made for the other two. Well, the mother told him then to take the big one or the small one; to take the big one with her curse, or to take the small one with her blessing. ‘There’s nothing like a mother’s blessing,’ says he. ‘And I’ll take the small one with your blessing,’ he said.

It happened that he was walking till he went in the same place where the brothers were killed, and commenced eating the cake. The Robineen was coming anear him, and there wasn’t a bite he would take but he would give a second bite to the Robineen. She didn’t stir up the lake, but let him take his full drink, and she made a well in the lake and made wine in it and gave enough of it to him to drink. ‘Here is a little bush,’ she says then, ‘an enchanted bush; and give a tip to that stone there, and you can rise your two brothers.’ So, thanks be to God, he struck the two tips on the stone, and they rose as well as ever and as fresh. Says the Robineen: ‘They may be thankful to you, they would never stir out of that only for you coming.’

She gave this young fellow a bag of gold for himself and his two brothers, a fine three men. They never met with the Robineen from that out. The mother’s blessing is better with a small cake than her curse with a big one.

After the three brothers went home, they lived together in the house. And the Robineen had told the youngest brother to go where there was a holly-bush in the garden and to root around it. So they went out and rooted around it, and what they found was a crock of gold, and they brought it away with them. There was a little flag, now, in the top of the crock, and the flag was left aside on the grass. It happened there came after a while a poor scholar walking the road, and he took notice of the little slab, and that there was writing on it. And he was able to read the writing, and it is what it said: ‘The other side is as lucky as this side.’ So he showed that to the brothers, and they went rooting the other side, and what did they find but two more crocks of gold, the way there was one apiece for them. So there were no richer farmers in the country than those three brothers, and they got gold and divided it and scattered it.

And that is a nice story and a wonderful story, and a true thing that fell out. And Lofarey, the man that told it to me, said it was a true story, and that his own father told him he was speaking to the poor scholar that read the flag.

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THE BALL OF THREAD

There was a young lady one time, and a young boy came to her to ask her to marry him. He gave her a pound ball of thread, and bade her to leave it on the ground, and to take the end of the thread in her hand, and when the end of it would be run out, to stamp her foot on the ground and she would come to him.

So she bought a shilling’s worth of bread and a shilling’s worth of apples, and she took the ball of thread as he told her. And when she stamped her foot a door opened in the ground before her, and she went in, and all she saw in the room was a dog and a cat.

So she divided the bread and the apples between them, and she gave them halves, and they were more than proud to eat that much of Ireland’s bread, which they didn’t get the taste of for two hundred years before.

They showed her then a store of a room where there were fifty of her sort that were after being beheaded, and gold rings on their hands. For the man was an enchanted man, and he had brought them away the same as he did herself. The cat and the dog said as she proved so well, they would hide her before she’d be in danger, for she accommodated them so well with everything. They rose up the flag that was in the fireplace, and they hid her there under it, and when the man came in the man asked did such a one come in, and they said, ‘No.’

When he went to rest himself they opened the door and let her out, and he awoke and told the cat to ask who came in at the door. The cat made him an answer, she said: ‘No one but the dog, that struck against it.’

So the young lady went home, and after a while he came to her again the same way, and he said he would bring her away with him. So when he was coming she invited a great quality dinner, and before he came there she told them all that had happened, and asked what should be done to him. Then some said he should be hung. But a big lord that was there said to do nothing at all to him, only to put him into a barrel of pitch and tar and to burn him altogether. But when they thought to do that and to take him they hadn’t but his shadow, and he flew away out through the top of the house, and they hadn’t a trace of him, and he had brought away the young lady along with him.

Her three brothers went looking for her then with the pound ball of thread he had left. And when they stamped their foot the door opened before them, but there was no one in the house but the cat. They told him their sister was gone, and they were in dread she was killed. But he said: ‘She is not killed, and she is here hid where she was before.’ So they took up the flag of the hearth, and there she was safe and well, and having four gold rings on her hands that belonged to four of her first cousins that were beheaded in the room. The cat told them to go home, and they would meet the man easy enough. So after a while he came looking for the young lady again, and he had changed his clothes, but if he had they knew him. But the first time they fired a shot at him it did him no harm, he being but a shadow. But whatever they did, or whatever shot they put in their gun or their revolver, they shot him dead after that, and there was no more about him.

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THE HORSE AND FOAL

There were very haunted people in the old times in Ireland, used to be bewitching one another. A living class of people they were, but it was by magic they did it.

There was a man going to the north from Mayo to sell a horse, and he was riding the horse, and the foal after them. And over beyond the wall he saw a hare running, and two black hounds hunting it. And when they came to him, the hare made a leap into his arms, and he drove away the hounds, and put it down again safe among the rocks. He went on then to the north for to sell the horse, but if he did, in the night it was stole from him.

So he went back to Mayo to see would he find it, and he was walking through the day, and when the night came he met with a house, and he went into it like any countryman might, to ask would he get a clean lodging. And there was in the house a very nice-looking young woman, and he asked could he get a lodging. ‘And why wouldn’t you get it?’ says she. ‘And more than that,’ she says, ‘I’ll call in the husband, and he’ll go find the horse you have lost and the foal. And you don’t know me,’ she says; ‘but I am the woman you saved, and that had been turned into a hare, and for sixteen years I was away in that shape.’

So she did what she promised, and he was deserving of it; for wouldn’t another man have kept the hare when he got it, but something stuck in him that he didn’t. And wasn’t it a terrible thing in those times that women could be turned into hares? And it was only a black hound could come up with them.

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THE WOMAN THAT WAS A GREAT FOOL

There was a woman was a great fool. She had meal to sift one day, and the hens were bothering her, coming in over the door. And it was outside in the field she went sifting it, that it was brought away with a blast of wind that rose, till there wasn’t one grain left on the top of another, but it was brought away with the wind into the fields and over the grass. And when the husband came back in the evening he asked where was it, and it was all spent. ‘Sure you have money in the bag to buy more,’ says she. ‘I have not,’ says he; ‘for what is in the bag I have to keep for the Grey Scrape of the Spring.’

Well, the next day an old beggarman came asking for money, and when the woman looked at him and saw that he was grey: ‘That should be the Grey Scrape of the Spring,’ she said. And she gave him all the money was in the bag.

When the husband heard that, he didn’t say much, for he was a quiet man. But he went and he killed the cow that was all he had left, and he cut it up and put it in a barrel, and salt on it. ‘That will be enough to grease the cabbage anyway,’ says he.