There was once a little farmer and his wife living near Coolgarrow. They
had three children, and my story happened while the youngest was a baby.
The wife was a good wife enough, but her mind was all on her family and
her farm, and she hardly ever went to her knees without falling asleep,
and she thought the time spent in the chapel was twice as long as it
need be. So, friends, she let her man and her two children go before
her one day to Mass, while she called to consult a fairy man about a
disorder one of her cows had. She was late at the chapel, and was sorry
all the day after, for her husband was in grief about it, and she was
very fond of him.
Late that night he was wakened up by the cries of his children calling
out ‘Mother! Mother!’ When he sat up and rubbed his eyes, there was no
wife by his side, and when he asked the little ones what was become of
their mother, they said they saw the room full of nice little men and
women, dressed in white and red and green, and their mother in the
middle of them, going out by the door as if she was walking in her
sleep. Out he ran, and searched everywhere round the house but, neither
tale nor tidings did he get of her for many a day.
Well, the poor man was miserable enough, for he was as fond of his woman
as she was of him. It used to bring the salt tears down his cheeks
to see his poor children neglected and dirty, as they often were, and
they’d be bad enough only for a kind neighbour that used to look in
whenever she could spare time. The infant was away with a nurse.
About six weeks after--just as he was going out to his work one
morning--a neighbour, that used to mind women when they were ill, came
up to him, and kept step by step with him to the field, and this is what
she told him.
‘Just as I was falling asleep last night, I heard a horse’s tramp on
the grass and a knock at the door, and there, when I came out, was a
fine-looking dark man, mounted on a black horse, and he told me to get
ready in all haste, for a lady was in great want of me. As soon as I put
on my cloak and things, he took me by the hand, and I was sitting behind
him before I felt myself stirring. “Where are we going, sir?” says I.
“You’ll soon know,” says he; and he drew his fingers across my eyes,
and not a ray could I see. I kept a tight grip of him, and I little knew
whether he was going backwards or forwards, or how long we were about
it, till my hand was taken again, and I felt the ground under me. The
fingers went the other way across my eyes, and there we were before
a castle door, and in we went through a big hall and great rooms all
painted in fine green colours, with red and gold bands and ornaments,
and the finest carpets and chairs and tables and window curtains, and
grand ladies and gentlemen walking about. At last we came to a bedroom,
with a beautiful lady in bed, with a fine bouncing boy beside her. The
lady clapped her hands, and in came the Dark Man and kissed her and the
baby, and praised me, and gave me a bottle of green ointment to rub the
child all over.
‘Well, the child I rubbed, sure enough; but my right eye began to smart,
and I put up my finger and gave it a rub, and then stared, for never
in all my life was I so frightened. The beautiful room was a big, rough
cave, with water oozing over the edges of the stones and through the
clay; and the lady, and the lord, and the child weazened, poverty-bitten
creatures--nothing but skin and bone--and the rich dresses were old
rags. I didn’t let on that I found any difference, and after a bit says
the Dark Man, “Go before me to the hall door, and I will be with you in
a few moments, and see you safe home.” Well, just as I turned into the
outside cave, who should I see watching near the door but poor Molly.
She looked round all terrified, and says she to me in a whisper, “I’m
brought here to nurse the child of the king and queen of the fairies;
but there is one chance of saving me. All the court will pass the cross
near Templeshambo next Friday night, on a visit to the fairies of Old
Ross. If John can catch me by the hand or cloak when I ride by, and has
courage not to let go his grip, I’ll be safe. Here’s the king. Don’t
open your mouth to answer. I saw what happened with the ointment.”
‘The Dark Man didn’t once cast his eye towards Molly, and he seemed to
have no suspicion of me. When we came out I looked about me, and where
do you think we were but in the dyke of the Rath of Cromogue. I was
on the horse again, which was nothing but a big rag-weed, and I was
in dread every minute I’d fall off; but nothing happened till I found
myself in my own cabin. The king slipped five guineas into my hand as
soon as I was on the ground, and thanked me, and bade me good night. I
hope I’ll never see his face again. I got into bed, and couldn’t sleep
for a long time; and when I examined my five guineas this morning, that
I left in the table drawer the last thing, I found five withered leaves
of oak--bad luck to the giver!’
Well, you may all think the fright, and the joy, and the grief the
poor man was in when the woman finished her story. They talked and they
talked, but we needn’t mind what they said till Friday night came, when
both were standing where the mountain road crosses the one going to
Ross.
There they stood, looking towards the bridge of Thuar, in the dead of
the night, with a little moonlight shining from over Kilachdiarmid. At
last she gave a start, and “By this and by that,” says she, “here they
come, bridles jingling and feathers tossing!” He looked, but could see
nothing; and she stood trembling and her eyes wide open, looking down
the way to the ford of Ballinacoola. “I see your wife,” says she,
“riding on the outside just so as to rub against us. We’ll walk on
quietly, as if we suspected nothing, and when we are passing I’ll give
you a shove. If you don’t do YOUR duty then, woe be with you!”
Well, they walked on easy, and the poor hearts beating in both their
breasts; and though he could see nothing, he heard a faint jingle and
trampling and rustling, and at last he got the push that she promised.
He spread out his arms, and there was his wife’s waist within them, and
he could see her plain; but such a hullabulloo rose as if there was an
earthquake, and he found himself surrounded by horrible-looking things,
roaring at him and striving to pull his wife away. But he made the sign
of the cross and bid them begone in God’s name, and held his wife as if
it was iron his arms were made of. Bedad, in one moment everything was
as silent as the grave, and the poor woman lying in a faint in the arms
of her husband and her good neighbour. Well, all in good time she was
minding her family and her business again; and I’ll go bail, after the
fright she got, she spent more time on her knees, and avoided fairy men
all the days of the week, and particularly on Sunday.
It is hard to have anything to do with the good people without getting
a mark from them. My brave nurse didn’t escape no more than another.
She was one Thursday at the market of Enniscorthy, when what did she see
walking among the tubs of butter but the Dark Man, very hungry-looking,
and taking a scoop out of one tub and out of another. ‘Oh, sir,’ says
she, very foolish, ‘I hope your lady is well, and the baby.’ ‘Pretty
well, thank you,’ says he, rather frightened like. ‘How do I look in
this new suit?’ says he, getting to one side of her. ‘I can’t see you
plain at all, sir,’ says she. ‘Well, now?’ says he, getting round her
back to the other side. ‘Musha, indeed, sir, your coat looks no
better than a withered dock-leaf.’ ‘Maybe, then,’ says he, ‘it will be
different now,’ and he struck the eye next him with a switch. Friends,
she never saw a glimmer after with that one till the day of her death.
‘Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts,’ by Patrick Kennedy.