“We need draw no lots; lay Jemmy Nowlan in the coffin!”
And the men seized hold of him and tried to cast him to the ground. But
Jemmy was strong and powerful, and fought them all. Still they would
not let go their hold, though he dealt them such blows as would have
killed any other men. And at last he felt faint, for he had no weapon
to fight with, and his strength was going.
Then he saw that the leader carried a hazel switch in his hand, and he
knew that a hazel switch brought luck; so he made a sudden spring and
seized it, and whirled it three times round his head, and struck right
and left at his assailants, when a strange and wondrous thing happened;
for the three men who were ready to kill him, fell down at once to the
ground, and remained there still as the dead. And the coffin stood
white in the moonlight by itself, and no hand touched it, and no voice
spoke.
But Jemmy never waited to look or think, for the fear of the men was on
him, lest they should rise up again; so he fled away, still holding the
hazel twig in his hand, and ran on over field and bog, through briars
and thorns, till he found himself again at the castle gate. Then all
the grand servants came out, and the little men, and they said—
“You are welcome, Jemmy Nowlan. Come in; his lordship is waiting for
you.”
And they brought him to a room where the lord was lying on a velvet
couch, and he said—
“Now, young man, tell me a story, for no one in my castle is allowed to
eat, drink, or sleep till they have related something wonderful that
has happened to them.”
“Then, my lord,” said Jemmy, “I can tell you the most wonderful of
stories; and very proud I am to be able to amuse your lordship.”
So he told him the story of the three men and the coffin, and the lord
was so pleased that he ordered the servants to bring the youth a fine
supper, and the best of wine, and Jemmy ate like a prince from gold
dishes, and drank from crystal cups of the wine, and had the best of
everything; but after the supper he felt rather queer and dazed-like,
and fell down on the ground asleep like one dead.
After that he knew nothing till he awoke next morning, and found
himself lying under a haystack in his own field, and all his beautiful
clothes were gone—the velvet suit and cap and feather that he had
looked so handsome in at the dance, when all the fine ladies fell in
love with him. Nothing was left to him of all the night’s adventure
save the hazel twig, which he still held firmly in his hand.
And a very sad and down-hearted man was Jemmy Nowlan that day,
especially when the herd came to tell him that none of the cattle
were sold at the fair, for the men were waiting for the master, and
wondering why he did not come to look after his money, while all the
other farmers were selling their stock at the finest prices.
And Jemmy Nowlan has never yet made out why the fairies played him
such a malicious and ill turn as to prevent him selling his cattle.
But if ever again he meets that dark stranger on the black horse, he
is determined to try the strength of his shillelagh on his head, were
he ever such a grand man among the fairies. For at least he might have
left him the velvet suit; and it was a shabby thing to take it away
just when he couldn’t help himself, and had fallen down from fair
weakness and exhaustion after all the dancing, and the wine he drank at
supper, when the lovely ladies poured it out for him with their little
hands covered with jewels.
It was truly a bad and shabby trick, as Jemmy said to himself that May
morning, when he stood up from under the hay-rick; and just shows us
never to trust the fairies, for with all their sweet words and pleasant
ways and bright red wine, they are full of malice and envy and deceit,
and are always ready to ruin a poor fellow and then laugh at him, just
for fun, and for the spite and jealousy they have against the human
race.