I will tell you a story about a man that served the sea. It came to him
first in a dream to do that, and he was for seven years serving it,
going down by the sea every day. And at the last he saw a mermaid in the
water, and she combing her head, and he made a grab at her and brought
her to the house. And he took the cover off of her, that was the same as
a tail, and she was the most beautiful young lady that ever was seen,
and he married her. But he hid the cover up in the roof of the house,
the way she would not see it, and think of the sea.
She was with him for seven years, and by the will of God they had three
sons, and through all that time she never spoke a word, but she laughed
three times. The first time she laughed was one day the dinner was on
the fire in the pot, and a man that came in was sitting by the hearth,
and they asked him would he eat a share of the victuals, and he gave a
curse and he said: ‘Sorra bit will I eat.’ She gave a laugh when she
heard that. The second time she laughed was one day the pot was on the
fire and the dinner was boiling, and the husband’s mother that was
minding it did not take the top off. For it is the custom with our
people to take the top off what is in the pot, and to throw it in behind
the fire.
And the third time she laughed was one day the husband’s mother was
going into the parlour, and was knocked going in at the door.
Well, at the end of the seven years the cover fell down from the top of
the house, and she got a little sketch of it, and she took it and tried
it on. And with that she went out of the house into the sea, and brought
the three sons along with her, and came back to the house no more.
And the man was going every day to the sea looking for her, and at the
last, at the end of nine years, he got a sketch of her where she was
sitting on a rock, and he made a grab at her. But she said: ‘You have no
chance of getting me at all, or of bringing me back to the house. But
I’ll do this for you,’ she said; ‘the eldest son I had, I’ll give him
back to you if you will promise to leave him all that you have. But as
for myself, you will never see me again,’ she said. ‘Is it any harm to
ask you,’ says the husband, ‘what was it made you laugh the first time
in the house?’ ‘I will tell you that,’ says she. ‘I laughed to hear that
man make the curse, for when he did, all that was in the pot went to
nothing.’ ‘And is it any harm to ask you why you laughed the second and
the third time?’ says the husband. ‘The second time I laughed,’ says
she, ‘was when your mother didn’t take the top off the pot. For all that
was in it turned to poison then,’ says she, ‘and I took no taste of it
myself. And the third time I laughed,’ she said, ‘was when your mother
was knocked going in at the parlour door. For I saw what it was knocked
her,’ she said. ‘It was the leg of a pot that was standing up out of the
floor, and that was full of gold. And go home now,’ she said, ‘and dig
under the threshold of the door, and you will find the pot of gold, and
you can keep all that is in it.’
So the man did that, and he brought his eldest son with him, and he dug
under the floor and found the pot of gold, and they were very rich from
that time.
That is all, my lady, I know about it; and that is one of the old
stories of Ireland.
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