Part 3
The next day Shawneen brought the goats to the first meadow he went to, and there came before him the mother of the three giants, that was the strongest of them all. ‘Was it you killed my three sons?’ says she. ‘It was,’ says Shawneen. ‘I thought,’ says she, ‘the man wasn’t born in Ireland that could do that much.’ So they took a hold of one another and went wrestling, and neither of them got the better of the other through the length of the day. And it is the way it was, the two farthest back teeth in the mother’s mouth were crutches to her, that reached down to the ground, the way Shawneen would not get a good grip of her at one side or the other. And at the fall of day the little bird came and sat on the bush and said: ‘Why wouldn’t you give a tip to the crutch?’ So with that he gave a tip of his boot to the tooth, that knocked it out of her head, and the mother fell, and before she died she gave him up her estate.
Shawneen left the cooper’s house then, and he went on till he came to a large garden, and he went up in the branches of a cherry-tree, and he was eating the cherries and throwing the stones down. There came in a young lady, and she looked up and she saw him in the tree. ‘Oh, you are an unruly lad,’ says she, ‘for that tree belongs to the King that is my father, and what right have you to go plundering it down?’ So he came down then out of the tree, and he asked what could he do for her. ‘Go out and bring me news,’ says she, ‘is the Black Duke coming to make a good fight against the Fiery Dragon.’ The Fiery Dragon now was a fish that used to come every seven years, and he should get the primest lady in the land to eat and to banish. And it was the King’s daughter was to be given to him on that very day, unless the Black Duke or some other champion would get the better of him. And it was given out that whatever man would kill the Dragon would get the King’s daughter for his wife.
So Shawneen went down by the road to the sea, and he came to a cluster of brambles and of bushes that was beside the road, and he looked in, and who was hiding in it but the Black Duke. ‘Why wouldn’t you go fight?’ says Shawneen; ‘and thousands of people and carriages there looking on.’ ‘Oh, I am in dread,’ says the Black Duke; for he was a great coward, and he was afeard to go on and to face the Fiery Dragon. ‘Give me here your suit of armour,’ says Shawneen. So he got the suit of armour and he went on to the brink of the sea, and it was like the Cliffs of Moher; all the people were looking down from it, and there on the strand the King’s daughter was sitting and she crying, and tied in a silver chair. And she saw Shawneen coming, and he wearing the Black Duke’s suit. ‘Let me lie a while with my head on your knee,’ says he, ‘and you can waken me when the Dragon is coming.’ So he did that, and she saw the Fiery Dragon coming, and its mouth open and a fiery flame from it, and nine miles of the sea was dry with all he drank of it. So she wakened Shawneen, and they had a great fight, and he got the better of the Fiery Dragon. ‘Oh, let me go out of this for the night,’ says the Dragon, ‘and I’ll come back in the early morning out of the salt sea.’ So Shawneen let him go, and as to himself, he put on the Shoes of Swiftness that no one would overtake him, and he went back to the cooper’s house for the night.
Well, the next day he came again, and there was no news or tidings of the Black Duke, and all happened as before, and he drove back the Fiery Dragon till the next morning.
And the third day Shawneen came again, and he lay down to take a sleep while he was waiting, with his head in the lap of the King’s daughter. And this time she thought some way he was maybe not the Black Duke, and she took her scissors and cut off a bunch of his hair. ‘Are you cutting all the hair off my head?’ says he. ‘I am cutting it,’ says she, ‘till I’ll know who was it made an end of the Fiery Dragon.’ So she made a little packet of it and put it away, and, another thing, she drew off a golden shoe from his foot. And when she saw the Dragon coming she awoke him, and he said: ‘This time I will put the Dragon in a way he will eat no more King’s daughters.’ So he took out the Sword he had got from the giant, and he drove the Dragon to his knees out in the sea, and down to the hip, and gave him a blow that split him in two halves from the head to the tail, and there was an end of him. And he put on the Cloak of Darkness he had taken from the giant, that no one saw what way did he go, and away with him to the cooper’s house.
Then the King made ready the wedding, and he sent for the Black Duke that was to marry his daughter, and he was made much of and was the right-hand man, and there was music and shouting before him, and the greatest wedding given out that ever was. But the King’s daughter knew well it was not the Black Duke had saved her, and she took out the bunch of hair she had, and she said she would marry no one but the man whose hair would match that: and she showed the gold shoe and said she would marry no one but the man whose foot would fit it. And the Black Duke tried to put on the shoe, but so much as his toe would not go into it; and as for his hair, it did not match at all to the bunch of hair she had cut from the man that saved her.
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.