"On my honour," said he, "it is some king or other has lost him,
when he came on the island; and I will keep him, as he is trained;
and perhaps he will serve us yet."
And this is the sort of king he was,--a king who had not a child
living. Eight sons were born to him and three daughters, and they
were stolen the same night they were born. No matter what guard
was placed over them, the child would be gone in the morning. A
twelfth child now came to the queen, and the king took me with him
to watch the baby. The women were not satisfied with me.
"Oh," said the king, "what was all your watching ever good for?
One that was born to me I have not; I will leave this one in the
dog's care, and he will not let it go."
A coupling was put between me and the cradle, and when every one
went to sleep I was watching till the person woke who attended in
the daytime; but I was there only two nights; when it was near the
day, I saw a hand coming down through the chimney, and the hand
was so big that it took round the child altogether, and thought to
take him away. I caught hold of the hand above the wrist, and as I
was fastened to the cradle, I did not let go my hold till I cut
the hand from the wrist, and there was a howl from the person
without. I laid the hand in the cradle with the child, and as I
was tired I fell asleep; and when I awoke, I had neither child nor
hand; and I began to howl, and the king heard me, and he cried out
that something was wrong with me, and he sent servants to see what
was the matter with me, and when the messenger came he saw me
covered with blood, and he could not see the child; and he went to
the king and told him the child was not to be got. The king came
and saw the cradle coloured with the blood, and he cried out
"where was the child gone?" and every one said it was the dog had
eaten it.
The king said: "It is not: loose him, and he will get the pursuit
himself."
[Illustration: MORRAHA]
When I was loosed, I found the scent of the blood till I came to a
door of the room in which the child was. I went back to the king
and took hold of him, and went back again and began to tear at the
door. The king followed me and asked for the key. The servant said
it was in the room of the stranger woman. The king caused search
to be made for her, and she was not to be found. "I will break the
door," said the king, "as I can't get the key." The king broke
the door, and I went in, and went to the trunk, and the king asked
for a key to unlock it. He got no key, and he broke the lock. When
he opened the trunk, the child and the hand were stretched side by
side, and the child was asleep. The king took the hand and ordered
a woman to come for the child, and he showed the hand to every one
in the house. But the stranger woman was gone, and she did not see
the king;--and here she is herself to say if I am telling lies of
her.
"Oh, it's nothing but the truth you have!"
The king did not allow me to be tied any more. He said there was
nothing so much to wonder at as that I cut the hand off, as I was
tied.
The child was growing till he was a year old. He was beginning to
walk, and no one cared for him more than I did. He was growing
till he was three, and he was running out every minute; so the
king ordered a silver chain to be put between me and the child,
that he might not go away from me. I was out with him in the
garden every day, and the king was as proud as the world of the
child. He would be watching him everywhere we went, till the child
grew so wise that he would loose the chain and get off. But one
day that he loosed it I failed to find him; and I ran into the
house and searched the house, but there was no getting him for me.
The king cried to go out and find the child, that had got loose
from the dog. They went searching for him, but could not find him.
When they failed altogether to find him, there remained no more
favour with the king towards me, and every one disliked me, and I
grew weak, for I did not get a morsel to eat half the time. When
summer came, I said I would try and go home to my own country. I
went away one fine morning, and I went swimming, and God helped me
till I came home. I went into the garden, for I knew there was a
place in the garden where I could hide myself, for fear my wife
should see me. In the morning I saw her out walking, and the child
with her, held by the hand. I pushed out to see the child, and as
he was looking about him everywhere, he saw me and called out, "I
see my shaggy papa. Oh!" said he; "oh, my heart's love, my shaggy
papa, come here till I see you!"
[Illustration]
I was afraid the woman would see me, as she was asking the child
where he saw me, and he said I was up in a tree; and the more the
child called me, the more I hid myself. The woman took the child
home with her, but I knew he would be up early in the morning.
I went to the parlour-window, and the child was within, and he
playing. When he saw me he cried out, "Oh! my heart's love, come
here till I see you, shaggy papa." I broke the window and went in,
and he began to kiss me. I saw the rod in front of the chimney,
and I jumped up at the rod and knocked it down. "Oh! my heart's
love, no one would give me the pretty rod," said he. I hoped he
would strike me with the rod, but he did not. When I saw the time
was short I raised my paw, and I gave him a scratch below the
knee. "Oh! you naughty, dirty, shaggy papa, you have hurt me so
much, I'll give you a blow of the rod." He struck me a light blow,
and so I came back to my own shape again. When he saw a man
standing before him he gave a cry, and I took him up in my arms.
The servants heard the child. A maid came in to see what was the
matter with him. When she saw me she gave a cry out of her, and
she said, "Oh, if the master isn't come to life again!"
Another came in, and said it was he really. When the mistress
heard of it, she came to see with her own eyes, for she would not
believe I was there; and when she saw me she said she'd drown
herself. But I said to her, "If you yourself will keep the secret,
no living man will ever get the story from me until I lose my
head." Here she is herself to say if I am telling the truth. "Oh,
it's nothing but truth you are telling."
When I saw I was in a man's shape, I said I would take the child
back to his father and mother, as I knew the grief they were in
after him. I got a ship, and took the child with me; and as I
journeyed I came to land on an island, and I saw not a living soul
on it, only a castle dark and gloomy. I went in to see was there
any one in it. There was no one but an old hag, tall and
frightful, and she asked me, "What sort of person are you?" I
heard some one groaning in another room, and I said I was a
doctor, and I asked her what ailed the person who was groaning.
"Oh," said she, "it is my son, whose hand has been bitten from his
wrist by a dog."
I knew then that it was he who had taken the child from me, and I
said I would cure him if I got a good reward.
"I have nothing; but there are eight young lads and three young
women, as handsome as any one ever laid eyes on, and if you cure
him I will give you them."
"Tell me first in what place his hand was cut from him?"
"Oh, it was out in another country, twelve years ago."
"Show me the way, that I may see him."
She brought me into a room, so that I saw him, and his arm was
swelled up to the shoulder. He asked me if I would cure him; and I
said I would cure him if he would give me the reward his mother
promised.
"Oh, I will give it; but cure me."
"Well, bring them out to me."
The hag brought them out of the room. I said I should burn the
flesh that was on his arm. When I looked on him he was howling
with pain. I said that I would not leave him in pain long. The
wretch had only one eye in his forehead. I took a bar of iron, and
put it in the fire till it was red, and I said to the hag, "He
will be howling at first, but will fall asleep presently, and do
not wake him till he has slept as much as he wants. I will close
the door when I am going out." I took the bar with me, and I stood
over him, and I turned it across through his eye as far as I
could. He began to bellow, and tried to catch me, but I was out
and away, having closed the door. The hag asked me, "Why is he
bellowing?"
"Oh, he will be quiet presently, and will sleep for a good while,
and I'll come again to have a look at him; but bring me out the
young men and the young women."
I took them with me, and I said to her, "Tell me where you got
them."
"My son brought them with him, and they are all the children of
one king."
I was well satisfied, and I had no wish for delay to get myself
free from the hag, so I took them on board the ship, and the child
I had myself. I thought the king might leave me the child I nursed
myself; but when I came to land, and all those young people with
me, the king and queen were out walking. The king was very aged,
and the queen aged likewise. When I came to converse with them,
and the twelve with me, the king and queen began to cry. I asked,
"Why are you crying?"
"It is for good cause I am crying. As many children as these I
should have, and now I am withered, grey, at the end of my life,
and I have not one at all."
I told him all I went through, and I gave him the child in his
hand, and "These are your other children who were stolen from you,
whom I am giving to you safe. They are gently reared."
When the king heard who they were he smothered them with kisses
and drowned them with tears, and dried them with fine cloths
silken and the hair of his own head, and so also did their mother,
and great was his welcome for me, as it was I who found them all.
The king said to me, "I will give you the last child, as it is you
who have earned him best; but you must come to my court every
year, and the child with you, and I will share with you my
possessions."
"I have enough of my own, and after my death I will leave it to
the child."
I spent a time, till my visit was over, and I told the king all
the troubles I went through, only I said nothing about my wife.
And now you have the story.
* * * * *
And now when you go home, and the Slender Red Champion asks you for news
of the death of Anshgayliacht and for the sword of light, tell him the
way in which his brother was killed, and say you have the sword; and he
will ask the sword from you. Say you to him, "If I promised to bring it
to you, I did not promise to bring it for you"; and then throw the sword
into the air and it will come back to me.
* * * * *
He went home, and he told the story of the death of Anshgayliacht to the
Slender Red Champion, "And here," said he, "is the sword." The Slender
Red Champion asked for the sword; but he said: "If I promised to bring
it to you, I did not promise to bring it for you"; and he threw it into
the air and it returned to Blue Niall.
[Illustration]