heart was as good as her looks. Every one loved her, but, above all, the
poor people. There wasn’t a needy man or woman within a day’s journey of
the castle who was not blessing the beautiful queen. On a time this queen
fell ill suddenly, and said to the king, “If I die and you marry a second
wife, leave not my three sons to a strange woman’s rule. Send them away
to be reared till they come to age and maturity.”
The queen died soon after. The king mourned for her one year and a
second; then his chief men and counsellors urged him to seek out a new
queen.
The king built a castle in a distant part of his kingdom, and put his
three sons there with teachers and servants to care for them. He married
a second wife then; and the two lived on happily till the new wife had a
son. The young queen never knew that the king had other children than
her son, or that there was a queen in the kingdom before her.
On a day when the king was out hunting in the mountains, the queen went
to walk near the castle, and as she was passing the cottage of a greedy
old henwife, she stumbled and fell.
“May the like of that meet you always!” said the henwife.
“Why do you say that?” asked the queen, who overheard her.
“It is all one to you what I say. It is little you care for me or the
like of me. It wasn’t the same with the queen that was here before you.
There wasn’t a week that she did not give support to poor people, and she
showed kindness to every one always.”
“Had the king a wife before me?” asked the queen.
“He had, indeed; and I could tell enough to keep you thinking for a day
and a year, if you would pay me.”
“I will pay you well if you tell all about the queen that was in it
before me.”
“If you give me one hundred speckled goats, one hundred sheep, and one
hundred cows I will tell you.”
“I will give you all those,” said the queen, “if you tell everything.”
“The queen that was here at first had three sons; and before the king
married you, he prepared a great castle, and the sons are in that castle
now with teachers and men taking care of them. When the three are of age,
your son will be without a place for his head.”
“What am I to do to keep my son in the kingdom?” asked the queen.
“Persuade the king to bring his three sons to the castle, then play
chess with them. I will give you a board with which you can win. When
you have won of the three young men, put them under bonds to go for the
three steeds of King Conal for you to ride three times around all the
boundaries of the kingdom. Many and many is the champion and hero who
went for King Conal’s horses; but not a man of them was seen again, and
so it will be with these three. Your son will be safe at home, and will
be king himself when his time comes.”
The queen went home to the castle, and if ever she had a head full of
plans it was that time. She began the same night with the king.
“Isn’t it a shame for you to keep your children away from me, and I
waiting this long time for you to bring them home to us?”
“How am I keeping my children from you?” asked the king. “Haven’t you
your own son and mine with you always?”
“You have three sons of your own. You were married before you saw me.
Bring your children home. I will be as fond of them as you are.”
No matter what the king said, the queen kept up her complaining with
sweet words and promises, and never stopped till the king brought his
sons to the castle.
The king gave a great feast in honor of the young men. After the feast
the queen played chess for a sentence with the eldest. She played twice;
won a game and lost one. Next day she played one game with the second
son. On the third day, she played with the youngest; won one game and
lost one.
On the fourth day, the three were in the queen’s company.
“What sentence do you put on me and my brothers?” asked the eldest.
“I put you and your brothers under sentence not to sleep two nights in
the same house, nor to eat twice off the same table, till you bring me
the three steeds of King Conal, so that I may ride three times around the
kingdom.”
“Will you tell me,” asked the eldest son, “where to find King Conal?”
“There are four quarters in the world; I am sure it is in one of these
that he lives,” said the queen.
“I might as well give you sentence now,” said the eldest brother. “I put
you under bonds of enchantment to stand on the top of the castle and stay
there without coming down, and watch for us till we come back with the
horses.”
“Remove from me your sentence; I will remove mine,” said the queen.
“If a young man is relieved of the first sentence put on him, he will
never do anything good,” said the king’s son. “We will go for the horses.”
Next day the three brothers set out for the castle of King Conal. They
travelled one day after another, stopping one night in one place and the
next in another, and they were that way walking till one evening, when
whom should they meet but a limping man in a black cap. The man saluted
them, and they returned the salute.
“What brought you this road, and where are you going?” asked the stranger.
“We are going to the castle of King Conal to know can we bring his three
horses home with us.”
“Well,” said the man, “my house is nearby, and the dark night is coming;
stay with me till morning, and perhaps I can help you.”
The young men went with the stranger, and soon came to his house. After
supper the man said, “It is the most difficult feat in the world to steal
King Conal’s three horses. Many a good man went for them, and never came
back. Why do you go for those horses?”
“Our father is a king in Erin, and he married a second time. Our
stepmother bound us to bring the three horses, so she may ride three
times around our father’s kingdom.”
“I will go with you,” said the man. “Without me, you would lose your
lives; together, we may bring the horses.”
Next morning the four set out, and went their way, walking one day after
another, till at long last they reached the castle of King Conal at
nightfall.
On that night, whatever the reason was, the guards fell asleep at the
stables. The stranger and the three young men made their way to the
horses; but if they did, the moment they touched them the horses let
three screeches out of them that shook the whole castle and woke every
man in the country around it.
The guards seized the young men with the stranger, and took the four to
King Conal.
The king was in a great room on the ground-floor of his castle. In front
of him was an awfully big pot full of oil, and it boiling.
“Well,” said the king when he saw the stranger before him, “only that the
Black Thief is dead, I’d say you were that man.”
“I am the Black Thief,” said the stranger.
“We will know that in time,” said the king; “and who are these three
young men?”
“Three sons of a king in Erin.”
“We’ll begin with the youngest. But stir up the fire there, one of you,”
said King Conal to the attendants; “the oil is not hot enough.” And
turning to the Black Thief, he asked, “Isn’t that young man very near his
death at this moment?”
“I was nearer death than he is, and I escaped,” said the Black Thief.
“Tell me the story,” said the king. “If you were nearer death than he is,
I will give his life to that young man.”
“When I was young,” said the Black Thief, “I lived on my land with
ease and plenty, till three witches came the way, and destroyed all my
property. I took to the roads and deep forests then, and became the most
famous thief that ever lived in Erin. This is the story of the witches
who robbed and tried to kill me:—
“There was a king not long ago in Erin, and he had three beautiful
daughters. When they grew up to be old enough for marriage, they were
enchanted in the way that the three became brazen-faced, old-looking,
venomous hags every night, and were three beautiful, harmless young women
every day, as before.
“I was living for myself on my land, and had laid in turf enough for
seven years, and I thought it the size of a mountain. I went out at
midnight, and what did I see but the hags at my reek; and they never
stopped till they put every sod of the turf into three creels on their
backs, and made off with it.
“The following season I brought turf for another seven years, and the
next midnight the witches stole it all from me; but this time I followed
them. They went about five miles, and disappeared in a broad hole twenty
fathoms deep. I waited, then looked down, and saw a great fire under a
pot with a whole bullock in it. There was a round stone at the mouth of
the hole. I used all my strength, rolled it down, broke the pot, and
spoiled the broth on the witches.
“Away I ran then, but was not long on the road when I saw the three
racing after me. I climbed a tree to escape from them. The witches came
in a rage, stopped under the tree, and looked up at me. The eldest rested
awhile, then made a sharp axe of the second, and a venomous hound of
the third, to destroy me. She took the axe herself then, gave one blow
of it, and cut one-third of the tree; she gave a second blow, and cut
another third; she had the axe raised a third time when a cock crowed,
and there before my eyes the axe turned into a beautiful woman, the hag
who had raised it into a second, and the venomous hound into a third. The
three walked away then, harmless and innocent as any young women in Erin.
Wasn’t I nearer death that time than this young man?”
“Oh, you were,” said the king; “I give him his life, and it’s his brother
that’s near death now. He has but ten minutes to live.”
“Well, I was nearer death than that young man,” said the Black Thief.
“Tell how it was. If you convince me, I’ll give him his life, too.”
“After I broke their pot, the witches destroyed my property night after
night, and I had to leave that place and find my support on the roads and
in forests. I was faring well enough till a year of hunger and want came.
I went out once into a great wood, walked up and down to know could I
find any food to take home to my wife and my children.
“I found an old white horse and a cow without horns. I tied the tails of
the two to each other, and was driving them home for myself with great
labor; for when the white horse pulled backward, the cow would pull
forward, and when the horse tried to go on, the cow wouldn’t go with him.
They were that way in disagreement till they drew the night on themselves
and on me. I had a bit of flint in my pocket, and put down a fire. I
could not make my way out of the wood in the night-time, and sat down by
the fire. I was not long sitting when thirteen cats, wild and enormous,
stood out before me. Of these, twelve were each the bulk of a man; the
thirteenth, a red one, the master of the twelve, was much larger. They
began to purr on the opposite side of the fire, and make a noise like the
rumbling of thunder. At last the big red cat lifted his head, opened his
wide eyes, and said to me, ‘I’ll be this way no longer; give me something
to eat.’”
“I have nothing to give you,” said I, “unless you take that white horse
below there and kill him.”
“He went down then, and made two halves of the horse, left half to the
twelve, and ate the other half himself. They picked every bone, and were
not long at it.
“The thirteen came up again, sat opposite me at the fire, and were
purring. The big red cat soon spoke a second time, ‘I’ll not be long this
way. Give me more food to satisfy my hunger.’
“‘I have nothing to give unless you take the cow without horns,’ replied
I.
“He made two halves of the cow, ate one-half himself, and left the other
to the twelve. While they were eating the cow, I took off my coat, for I
knew what was coming, wrapped it around a block which I made like myself,
and then climbed a tree quickly. The red cat came up to the fire a third
time, opened his great eyes, looked toward my coat, and said, ‘I’ll not
be long this way; give me more food.’
“My coat gave no answer. The big cat sprang at it, struck the block with
his tail, and found it was wood.
“‘Ah,’ said he, ‘you are gone; but whether above ground or under ground,
we will find you.’
“He put six cats above and six under ground to find me. The twelve cats
were gone in a breath. The big red cat sat there waiting; and when the
other twelve had run through all Erin, above ground and under ground, and
come back to the fire, he looked up, saw me, and cried, ‘Ah, there you
are, you deceiver. You thought to escape, but you will not. Come, now,’
said he to the cats, ‘and gnaw down this tree.’
“The twelve sprang at the tree under me, and they were not long cutting
it through. Before it fell, I escaped to another tree near by, and they
attacked that, gnawing it down. I sprang to a third. We were that way,
I escaping and they cutting, till near daybreak, when I was on the last
tree next the open country. When the tree was half cut, what should come
the way but thirteen terrible wolves,—twelve, and a thirteenth above
them, their master. They fell upon the cats, and fought desperately a
good while. At length the twelve on each side were stretched, but the two
chiefs were fighting each other yet. At last the wolf nearly took the
head off the cat with one snap; the cat whirled in falling, struck the
wolf with the sharp hook in his tail, made two halves of his skull, and
the two fell dead, side by side.
“I slipped down then, but the tree shook in the way that I was in dread
it would tumble beneath me, but it didn’t. Now, wasn’t I nearer death
that time than this young man?”
“Oh, you were,” said King Conal. “He’s not near death at all, for I give
his life to him; but if the two have escaped, we’ll put the third man in
the pot; and have you ever seen any one nearer death than he is?”
“I was nearer myself,” said the Black Thief.
“If you were, I will give his life to this young man as well as his
brothers.”
“I had apprentices in my time,” said the Black Thief. “Among them was
one, a young man of great wit, and he pleased me. I gave no real learning
to any but this one; and in the heel of the story he was a greater man
than myself,—in his own mind. There was a giant in the other end of the
kingdom; he lived in a mountain den, and had great wealth gathered in
there. I made up my mind to go with the apprentice, and take that giant’s
treasures. We travelled many days till we reached the mountain den. We
hid, and watched the ways of the giant. He went out every day, brought
back many things, but often men’s bodies. At last we went to the place in
his absence. There was only one entrance, from the top. I was lowering
the young man with a rope, but when half-way to the bottom he called out
as if in pain. I drew him up. ‘I am in dread,’ said he, ‘to go down in
that place. Go yourself. I will do the work here for you.’
“I went down, found gold and precious things in plenty, and sent up what
one man could carry. ‘I will go out of this now,’ thought I, ‘before
the giant comes on me.’ I called to the apprentice; no answer. I called
again; not a word from him. At last he looked down and said,—
“‘You gave me good learning, and I am grateful; I will gain my own living
from this out. I hope you’ll spend a pleasant night with the giant.’
“With that, he made off with himself, and carried the treasure. Oh, but
I was in trouble then! How was I to bring my life home with me? How was
I to escape from the giant? I looked, but found no way of escape. In one
corner of the giant’s kitchen were bodies brought in from time to time.
I lay down with these, and seemed dead. I was watching. After a while I
heard a great noise at the entrance, and soon the giant came in carrying
three bodies; these he threw aside with the others. He put down a great
fire then, and placed a pot on it: he brought a basket to the bodies, and
began to fill it; me he threw in first, and put six bodies on the top
of me. He turned the basket bottom upward over the pot, and six bodies
fell in. I held firmly to my place. The giant put the basket aside in a
corner bottom upward,—I was saved that time. When the supper was ready,
the giant ate the six bodies, and then lay down and slept soundly. I
crept from under the basket, went to the entrance; a tree trunk, standing
upright in the wall at one end of it, was turned around. There were steps
in its side from bottom to top; this was the giant’s ladder. Whenever the
giant wished to go up, he turned the tree till the steps came outside;
and when on top, he turned it till the smooth side was out in the way no
one could go down in his absence. When he wished to go down, he turned
the steps out; and when at the bottom, he turned them in again in the
way no one could follow him. This time he forgot to turn the tree, and
that gave me the ladder. I went up without trouble; and, by my hand, I
was glad, for I was much nearer death at the giant’s pot than this man at
yours.”
“You were, indeed, very near death,” said King Conal, “and I give his
life to the third man. The turn is on you now; the three young men are
safe, and it’s you that will go into the pot.”
“Must I die?” asked the Black Thief.
“You must, indeed,” said King Conal, “and you are very near death.”
“Near as I am,” said the Black Thief, “I was nearer.”
“Tell me the story; and if you were ever nearer death than you are at
this minute, I will give your life to you.”
“I set out another day,” said the Black Thief, “and travelled far. I came
at last to a house, and went into it. Inside was a woman with a child on
her knee, a knife in her hand, and she crying. Twice she made an offer of
the knife at the child to kill it. The beautiful child laughed, and held
out its hands to her.
“‘Why do you raise the knife on the child,’ asked I, ‘and why are you
crying?’
“‘I was at a fair,’ said the woman, ‘last year with my father and mother;
and while the people were busy each with his own work, three giants came
in on a sudden. The man who had a bite of bread in his hand did not put
the bread to his mouth, and the man who had a bite in his mouth did not
swallow it. The giants robbed this one and that, took me from my father
and mother, and brought me to this place. I bound them, and they promised
that none of the three would marry me before I was eighteen years of age.
I’ll be that in a few days, and there is no escape for me now unless I
raise hands on myself.
“‘Yesterday the giants brought this child; they said it was the son of
some king, and told me to have it cooked and prepared in a pie for their
supper this evening.’
“‘Spare the child,’ said I. ‘I have a young pig that I brought to roast
for myself on the road; take that, and prepare it instead of the child.’
“‘The giants would know the pig, and kill me,’ said the woman.
“‘They would not,’ said I; ‘there is only a small difference between the
flesh of a young pig and a child. We will cut off the first joint of the
left little finger. If they make a remark, show them that.’
“She cooked the pie, and I watched outside for the giants. At last I saw
the three coming. She hid the child in a safe place aside; and I went to
the cellar, where I found many dead bodies. I lay down among them, and
waited. When the giants came home, the eldest ate the pie, and called
to the woman, ‘That would be very good if we had enough of it.’ Then he
turned to his second brother, and sent him down to the cellar to bring
a slice from one of the bodies. The brother came down, took hold of one
body, then another, and, catching me, cut a slice from the end of my
back, and went up with it. He was not long gone when he came down again,
raised me on his back, and turned to take me with him. He had not gone
many steps when I sent my knife to his heart, and there he fell on his
face under me. I went back, and lay in my old place.
“The chief giant, who had tasted my flesh and was anxious for more of
it, now sent the youngest brother. He came, saw the middle brother lying
there, and cried out,—
“‘Oh, but you are the lazy messenger, to be sleeping when sent on an
errand!’
“With that, he raised me on his back, and was going, when I stabbed him
and stretched him on the ground not far from his brother.
“The big giant waited and waited, grew angry, took his great iron club
with nine lumps and nine hooks on it. He hurried down to the cellar, saw
his two brothers, shook them, found them dead. I had no chance of life
but to fight for it; I rose and stood a fair distance in front of the
giant. He ran toward me, raised the club, and brought it down with what
strength there was in him. I stepped aside quickly; the club sank in the
earth to the depth of a common man’s knee. While the giant was drawing
the club with both hands, I stabbed him three times in the stomach, and
sprang away to some distance. He ran forward a second time, and came
very near hitting me; again the club sank in the ground, and I stabbed
him four times, for he was weaker from blood loss, and was a longer time
freeing the club. The third time the club grazed me, and tore my whole
side with a sharp iron hook. The giant fell to his knees, but could
neither rise nor make a cast of the club at me; soon he was on his elbow,
gnashing his teeth and raging. I was growing weaker, and knew that I was
lost unless some one assisted me. The young woman had come down, and
was present at the struggle. ‘Run now,’ said I to her, ‘for the giant’s
sword, and take the head off him.’ She ran quickly, brought the sword,
and as brave as a man took the head off the giant.
“‘Death is not far from me now,’ said I.
“‘I will carry you quickly to the giant’s caldron of cure, and give you
life,’ said the woman.
“With that, she raised me on her back, and hurried out of the cellar.
When she had me on the edge of the caldron, the death faint was on me, I
was dying; but I was not long in the pot when I revived, and soon was as
well as ever.
“We searched the whole house of the giants, found all their treasures. I
gave some to the woman, kept some myself, and hid the remainder. I took
the woman home to her father and mother. She kept the child, which was
well but for the tip of its little finger. Now wasn’t I nearer death that
time than I was when I began this story?”
“You were, indeed,” said King Conal; “and even if you were not, I would
not put you in the pot, for if you had not been in the house of the three
giants that day there would be no sign of me now in this castle. I was
that child. Look here at my left little finger. My father searched for
you, and so did I when I grew up, but we could not find you. We made out
only one thing, that it was the Black Thief who saved me. Men told me
that the Black Thief was dead, and I never hoped to see you. A hundred
thousand welcomes! Now we’ll have a feast. The three young men will get
the three horses for your sake, and take them home after we have feasted
together. You will stay with me now for the rest of your life.”
“I must go with the young men as far as my own house,” said the Black
Thief; “then I’ll come back to you.”
King Conal made a feast the like of which had never been in his kingdom.
When the feast was over, he gave the three horses to the young men, and
said at parting, “When you have done the work with the horses, let them
go, and they will run home to me; no man could stop them.”
“We will do that,” said the brothers.
They set out then with them, stopped one night with the Black Thief at
his house, and after that travelled home to their father, and stood in
front of the castle. The stepmother was above, watching for them. She was
glad when she saw them, and said, “Ye brought the horses, and I am to
have them.”
“If we were bound to bring the horses,” said the elder brother, “we were
not bound to give them to you.”
With that, he turned the horses’ heads from the castle, and let them go.
They ran home to King Conal.
“I will go down now,” said the queen, “and it is time for me.”
“You will not go yet,” said the youngest; “I have a sentence which I had
no time to give when we were going. I put you under sentence to stay
where you are till you find three sons of a king to go again to King
Conal for the horses.”
When she heard that sentence, she dropped dead from the castle.
THE KING’S SON FROM ERIN, THE SPRISAWN, AND THE DARK KING.
There was a king in Erin long ago who was called King of Lochlinn, and
his wife died. He had two sons. The elder of the two was Miach Lay; the
second was Manus. Miach Lay was a fine champion, and trained in every art
that befitted a king’s son.
One day the father called Miach Lay to his presence, and said, “It is
time for you to marry, and I have chosen for you a maiden of great beauty
and high birth.”
“I am willing to marry,” said Miach Lay.
The king and his son then left the castle, and went to the house of the
young woman’s father, and there they spent seven days and seven nights.
On their way home, the king said to his son, “How do you like the young
lady?”
“I like her well, but I’ll not marry her.”
“Oh, my shame!” said the father. “How can I ever face those people a
second time?”
“I cannot help that,” said Miach Lay.