The Giant's Stairs.
(CONTINUED.)
"'Well,' says he, 'you're a match for me any day; and sooner than be shut
up again in this dismal ould box, I'll give you what you ask for my
liberty. And the three best gifts I possess are, this brown cap, which
while you wear it will render you invisible to the fairies, while they are
all visible to you; this box of salve, by rubbing some of which to your
lips, you will have the power of commanding every fairy and spirit in the
world to obey your will; and, lastly, this little _kippeen_[1], which at
your word may be transformed into any mode of conveyance you wish. Besides
all this, you shall come with me to my palace, where all the treasures of
the earth shall be at your disposal. But mind, I give you this caution,
that if you ever permit the brown cap or the _kippeen_ to be out of your
possession for an instant, you'll lose them for ever; and if you suffer
any person to touch your lips while you remain in the underground kingdom,
you will instantly become visible, and your power over the fairies will be
at an end.'
[1] A little stick.
"'Well,' thinks I, 'there's nothing so very difficult in _that_.' So
having got the cap, the _kippeen_, and the box of salve, into my
possession, I opened the box, and out jumped the little fellow.
"'Now, Felix,' says he, 'touch your lips with the salve, for we are just
at the entrance of my dominions.'
"I did as he desired me, and, _Dharra Dhie!_ if the little chap wasn't
changed into a big black-looking giant, sitting afore my eyes on a great
rock.
"'Lord save us!' says I to myself, 'it's a marcy and a wondher how he ever
squeezed himself into that weeshy box.' 'Why thin, Sir,' says I to him,
'maybe your honour would have the civilitude to tell me your name.'
"'With the greatest of pleasure, Felix,' says he smiling; 'I'm called
Mahoon, the Giant.'
"'Tare an' agers! are you though? Well, if I thought'--but he gave me no
time to think; for calling on me to follow him, he began climbing up the
_Giant's Stairs_ as asy as I'd walk up a ladder to the hay-loft. Well, he
was at the top afore you could cry 'trapstick,' and it wasn't long till I
was at the top too, and there we found a gate opening into the hill, and a
power of lords and ladies waiting to resave Mahoon, who I larned was their
king, and who had been away from his kingdom for twenty years, by rason of
his being shut up in the box by some great fairy-man.
"Well, when we got inside the gates, I found myself in a most beautiful
city, where nobody seemed to mind anything but diversion. The music was
the most illigant thing you ever hard in your born days, and there wasn't
one less than forty Munster pipers playing before King Mahoon and his
friends, as they marched along through great broad streets,--a thousand
times finer than Great George's-street, in Cork; for, my dears, there was
nothing to be seen but goold, and jewels, and guineas, lying like sand
under our feet. As I had the little brown cap upon my head, I knew that
none of the fairy people could see me, so I walked up cheek by jowl with
King Mahoon himself, who winked at me to keep my toe in my brogue, which
you may be sure I did, and so we kept on until we came to the king's
palace. If other places were grand, this was ten times grander, for the
very sight was fairly taken out of my eyes with the dazzling light that
shone round about it. In we went into the palace, through two rows of most
engaging and beautiful young ladies; and then King Mahoon took his sate
upon his throne, and put upon his head a crown of goold, stuck all over
with di'monds, every one of them bigger than a sheep's heart. Of coorse
there was a dale of compliments past amongst the lords and ladies till
they got tired of them; and then they sat down to dinner, and,
_nabocklish!_ wasn't there rale givings-out there, with _cead mille
phailtagh_[2]. The whiskey was sarved out in tubs and buckets, for they'd
scorn to drink ale or porter; and as for the ating, there was laygions of
fat bacon and cabbage for the sarvants, and a throop of legs of mutton for
the king and his coort. Well, after we had all ate till we could hould no
more, the king called out to clear the flure for a dance. No sooner had he
said the word, than the tables were all whipped away,--the pipers began to
tune their chaunters. The king's son opened the ball with a mighty
beautiful young crather; but the mirinit I laid my eyes upon her I knew
her at once for a neighbour's daughter, one Anty Dooley, who had died a
few months before, and who, when she was alive, could beat the whole
county round at any sort of reel, jig, or hornpipe. The music struck up
'Tatter Jack Walsh,' and maybe it's she that didn't set, and turn, and
_thrush_ the boords, until the young prince hadn't as much breath left in
his body as would blow out a rushlight, and he was forced to sit down
puffing and panting, and laving his partner standing in the middle of the
room. I couldn't stand that by no means; so jumping upon the flure with a
shilloo, I flung my cap into the air:--the music stopped of a sudden, and
I then recollected that, by throwing off the cap, I had become visible,
and had lost one of Mahoon's three gifts.
[2] A hundred thousand welcomes.
"Divil may care! as Punch said when he missed mass; I'll have my dance out
at any rate, so rouse up 'The Rakes of Mallow,' my beauties. So to it we
set; and when the _cailleen_ was getting tired well becomes myself, but I
threw my arm around her slindher waist and took such a smack of her sweet
lips, that the hall resounded with the report.
"'Fetch me a glass of the best,' says I to a little fellow who was hopping
about with a tray full of all sorts of dhrink.
"'Fetch it yourself, Felix Donovan. Who's your sarvant now?' says the
chap, docking up his chin as impident as a tinker's dog. I felt my fingers
itching to give the fellow a _polthogue_[3] in the ear; but I thought I
might as well keep myself paceable in a strange place--so I only gave him
a contemptible look, and turned my back upon him.
[3] A thump.
"'Felix jewel!' whispered Anty in my ear. 'You've lost your power over the
fairies by that misfortunate kiss--'
"'_Diaoul!_--there's two of Mahoon's gifts gone already,' thinks I,
"'If you'll take my advice,' says Anty, 'you'll be off out of this as fast
as you can."
"'The sorra foot I'll stir out of this,' says I 'unless you come along
with me _ma callieen dhas_[4]--'
[4] My pretty girl.
"I wish you could have seen the deluding look she gave me as leaning her
head upon my shoulder she whispered to me in a voice sweeter than music of
a dream,
"'Felix dear! I'll go with you all the world over, and the sooner we take
to the road the better. Steal you out of the door, and I'll follow you in
a few minutes.'
"Accordingly I sneaked away as quietly as I could; they were all too busy
with their divarsions to mind me--and at the door I met Anty with her
apron full of goold and diamonds.
"'Now,' said she, 'where's the _kippeen_ Mahoon gave you?'
"'Here it is safe enough,' I answered, pulling it out of my breeches
pocket.
"'Well, now tell it to become a coach-and-four.'
"I did as she desired me--and in a moment there was a grand coach and four
prancing horses before us. You may be sure we did not stand admiring very
long, but both stepped in, and away we drove like the wind,--until we came
to a high wall; so high that it tired me to look to the top of it.
"'Step out, now,' says she, 'but mind not to let go your held of the
coach, and tell it to change itself into a ladder.'
"I had my lesson now; the coach became a ladder, reaching to the top of
the wall; so up we mounted, and descended on the other side by the same
means. There was then before us a terrible dark gulf over which hung such
a thick fog that a priest couldn't see to bless himself in it.
"'Call for a winged horse,' whispered Anty.
"I did so, and up came a fine black horse, with a pair of great wings
growing out of his back, and ready bridled and saddled to our hand. I
jumped upon his back, and took Anty up before me; when, spreading out his
wings, he flew--flew, without ever stopping until he landed us safe on the
opposite shore. We were now on the banks of a broad river.
"'This,' said Anty, 'is our last difficulty.'
"The horse was changed into a boat, and away we sailed with a fair breeze
for the opposite shore, which, as we approached, appeared more beautiful
than any country I had ever seen. The shore was crowded with young people
dancing, singing, and beckoning us to approach. The boat touched the land;
I thought all my troubles were past, and in the joy of my heart I leaped
ashore, leaving Anty in the boat; but no sooner had my foot parted from
the gunwale than the boat shot like an arrow from the bank, and drifted
down the current. I saw my young bride wringing her fair hands, weeping at
if her heart would break, and crying--
"'Why did you quit the boat so soon, Felix? Alas, alas! we shall never
meet again!' and then with a wild and melancholy scream she vanished from
my sight. A dizziness came over my senses, I fell upon the ground in a
dead faint, and when I came to myself--I found myself all alone in my
boat, with three tundhering big conger-eels fast upon my lines. And now,
neighbours, you have all my story about the _Giant's Stairs_."
* * * * *