There was once a poor man who lived in the fertile glen of Aherlow, at
the foot of the gloomy Galtee mountains, and he had a great hump on
his back: he looked just as if his body had been rolled up and placed
upon his shoulders; and his head was pressed down with the weight so
much that his chin, when he was sitting, used to rest upon his knees
for support. The country people were rather shy of meeting him in any
lonesome place, for though, poor creature, he was as harmless and as
inoffensive as a newborn infant, yet his deformity was so great that
he scarcely appeared to be a human creature, and some ill-minded
persons had set strange stories about him afloat. He was said to have
a great knowledge of herbs and charms; but certain it was that he had
a mighty skilful hand in plaiting straws and rushes into hats and
baskets, which was the way he made his livelihood.
Lusmore, for that was the nickname put upon him by reason of his
always wearing a sprig of the fairy cap, or lusmore (the foxglove), in
his little straw hat, would ever get a higher penny for his plaited
work than any one else, and perhaps that was the reason why some one,
out of envy, had circulated the strange stories about him. Be that as
it may, it happened that he was returning one evening from the pretty
town of Cahir towards Cappagh, and as little Lusmore walked very
slowly, on account of the great hump upon his back, it was quite dark
when he came to the old moat of Knockgrafton, which stood on the
right-hand side of his road. Tired and weary was he, and noways
comfortable in his own mind at thinking how much farther he had to
travel, and that he should be walking all the night; so he sat down
under the moat to rest himself, and began looking mournfully enough
upon the moon, which--
"Rising in clouded majesty, at length
Apparent Queen, unveil'd her peerless light,
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw."
Presently there rose a wild strain of unearthly melody upon the ear of
little Lusmore; he listened, and he thought that he had never heard
such ravishing music before. It was like the sound of many voices,
each mingling and blending with the other so strangely that they
seemed to be one, though all singing different strains, and the words
of the song were these--
_Da Luan, Da Mort, Da Luan, Da Mort, Da Luan, Da Mort;_
when there would be a moment's pause, and then the round of melody
went on again.
Lusmore listened attentively, scarcely drawing his breath lest he might
lose the slightest note. He now plainly perceived that the singing was
within the moat; and though at first it had charmed him so much, he
began to get tired of hearing the same round sung over and over so often
without any change; so availing himself of the pause when _Da Luan, Da
Mort_, had been sung three times, he took up the tune, and raised it
with the words _augus Da Dardeen_, and then went on singing with the
voices inside of the moat, _Da Luan, Da Mort_, finishing the melody,
when the pause again came, with _augus Da Dardeen_.
The fairies within Knockgrafton, for the song was a fairy melody, when
they heard this addition to the tune, were so much delighted that,
with instant resolve, it was determined to bring the mortal among
them, whose musical skill so far exceeded theirs, and little Lusmore
was conveyed into their company with the eddying speed of a whirlwind.
Glorious to behold was the sight that burst upon him as he came down
through the moat, twirling round and round, with the lightness of a
straw, to the sweetest music that kept time to his motion. The
greatest honour was then paid him, for he was put above all the
musicians, and he had servants tending upon him, and everything to his
heart's content, and a hearty welcome to all; and, in short, he was
made as much of as if he had been the first man in the land.
Presently Lusmore saw a great consultation going forward among the
fairies, and, notwithstanding all their civility, he felt very much
frightened, until one stepping out from the rest came up to him and
said--
"Lusmore! Lusmore!
Doubt not, nor deplore,
For the hump which you bore
On your back is no more;
Look down on the floor,
And view it, Lusmore!"
When these words were said, poor little Lusmore felt himself so light,
and so happy, that he thought he could have bounded at one jump over
the moon, like the cow in the history of the cat and the fiddle; and
he saw, with inexpressible pleasure, his hump tumble down upon the
ground from his shoulders. He then tried to lift up his head, and he
did so with becoming caution, fearing that he might knock it against
the ceiling of the grand hall, where he was; he looked round and round
again with the greatest wonder and delight upon everything, which
appeared more and more beautiful; and, overpowered at beholding such a
resplendent scene, his head grew dizzy, and his eyesight became dim.
At last he fell into a sound sleep, and when he awoke he found that it
was broad daylight, the sun shining brightly, and the birds singing
sweetly; and that he was lying just at the foot of the moat of
Knockgrafton, with the cows and sheep grazing peaceably round about
him. The first thing Lusmore did, after saying his prayers, was to put
his hand behind to feel for his hump, but no sign of one was there on
his back, and he looked at himself with great pride, for he had now
become a well-shaped dapper little fellow, and more than that, found
himself in a full suit of new clothes, which he concluded the fairies
had made for him.
Towards Cappagh he went, stepping out as lightly, and springing up at
every step as if he had been all his life a dancing-master. Not a
creature who met Lusmore knew him without his hump, and he had a great
work to persuade every one that he was the same man--in truth he was
not, so far as the outward appearance went.
Of course it was not long before the story of Lusmore's hump got
about, and a great wonder was made of it. Through the country, for
miles round, it was the talk of every one, high and low.
One morning, as Lusmore was sitting contented enough at his cabin
door, up came an old woman to him, and asked him if he could direct
her to Cappagh.
"I need give you no directions, my good woman," said Lusmore, "for
this is Cappagh; and whom may you want here?"
"I have come," said the woman, "out of Decie's country, in the county
of Waterford, looking after one Lusmore, who, I have heard tell, had
his hump taken off by the fairies; for there is a son of a gossip of
mine who has got a hump on him that will be his death; and maybe, if
he could use the same charm as Lusmore, the hump may be taken off him.
And now I have told you the reason of my coming so far: 'tis to find
out about this charm, if I can."
Lusmore, who was ever a good-natured little fellow, told the woman all
the particulars, how he had raised the tune for the fairies at
Knockgrafton, how his hump had been removed from his shoulders, and
how he had got a new suit of clothes into the bargain.
The woman thanked him very much, and then went away quite happy and
easy in her own mind. When she came back to her gossip's house, in the
county of Waterford, she told her everything that Lusmore had said,
and they put the little hump-backed man, who was a peevish and cunning
creature from his birth, upon a car, and took him all the way across
the country. It was a long journey, but they did not care for that, so
the hump was taken from off him; and they brought him, just at
nightfall, and left him under the old moat of Knockgrafton.
Jack Madden, for that was the humpy man's name, had not been sitting
there long when he heard the tune going on within the moat much sweeter
than before; for the fairies were singing it the way Lusmore had settled
their music for them, and the song was going on: _Da Luan, Da Mort, Da
Luan, Da Mort, Da Luan, Da Mort, augus Da Dardeen_, without ever
stopping. Jack Madden, who was in a great hurry to get quit of his hump,
never thought of waiting until the fairies had done, or watching for a
fit opportunity to raise the tune higher again than Lusmore had; so
having heard them sing it over seven times without stopping, out he
bawls, never minding the time or the humour of the tune, or how he
could bring his words in properly, _augus Da Dardeen, augus Da Hena_,
thinking that if one day was good, two were better; and that if Lusmore
had one new suit of clothes given him, he should have two.
No sooner had the words passed his lips than he was taken up and
whisked into the moat with prodigious force; and the fairies came
crowding round about him with great anger, screeching and screaming,
and roaring out, "Who spoiled our tune? who spoiled our tune?" and one
stepped up to him above all the rest, and said--
"Jack Madden! Jack Madden!
Your words came so bad in
The tune we felt glad in;--
This castle you're had in,
That your life we may sadden;
Here's two humps for Jack Madden!"
And twenty of the strongest fairies brought Lusmore's hump, and put it
down upon poor Jack's back, over his own, where it became fixed as
firmly as if it was nailed on with twelve-penny nails, by the best
carpenter that ever drove one. Out of their castle they then kicked him;
and in the morning, when Jack Madden's mother and her gossip came to
look after their little man, they found him half dead, lying at the foot
of the moat, with the other hump upon his back. Well to be sure, how
they did look at each other! but they were afraid to say anything, lest
a hump might be put upon their own shoulders. Home they brought the
unlucky Jack Madden with them, as downcast in their hearts and their
looks as ever two gossips were; and what through the weight of his other
hump, and the long journey, he died soon after, leaving, they say, his
heavy curse to any one who would go to listen to fairy tunes again.