Long ago there was a widow woman living in the County Galway, and two
sons with her, whose names were Dermod and Donal. Dermod was the eldest
son, and he was the master over the house. They were large farmers, and
they got a summons from the landlord to come and pay him a year’s rent.
They had not much money in the house, and Dermod said to Donal, “bring
a load of oats to Galway, and sell it.” Donal got ready a load, put two
horses under the cart, and went to Galway. He sold the oats, and got a
good price for it. When he was coming home, he stopped at the half-way
house, as was his custom, to have a drink himself, and to give a drink
and oats to the horses.
When he went in to get a drink for himself, he saw two boys playing
cards. He looked at them for a while, and one of them said: “Will you
have a game?” Donal began playing, and he did not stop till he lost every
penny of the price of the oats. “What will I do now?” says Donal to
himself, “Dermod will kill me. Anyhow, I’ll go home and tell the truth.”
When he came home, Dermod asked him: “Did you sell the oats?” “I
sold, and got a good price for it,” says Donal. “Give me the money,”
says Dermod. “I haven’t it,” says Donal; “I lost every penny of it
playing cards at the house half-way.” “My curse, and the curse of the
four-and-twenty men on you,” says Dermod. He went and told the mother
the trick Donal did. “Give him his pardon this time,” says the mother,
“and he won’t do it again.” “You must sell another load to-morrow,” says
Dermod, “and if you lose the price, don’t come here.”
On the morning, the day on the morrow, Donal put another load on the
cart, and he went to Galway. He sold the oats, and got a good price
for it. When he was coming home, and near the half-way house, he said
to himself: “I will shut my eyes till I go past that house, for fear
there should be a temptation on me to go in.” He shut his eyes; but when
the horses came as far as the inn, they stood, and would not go a step
further, for it was their custom to get oats and water in that place
every time they would be coming out of Galway. He opened his eyes, gave
oats and water to the horses, and went in himself to put a coal in his
pipe.
When he went in he saw the boys playing cards. They asked him to play,
and (said) that perhaps he might gain all that he lost the day before.
As there is a temptation on the cards, Donal began playing, and he did
not stop until he lost every penny of all that he had. “There is no good
in my going home now,” says Donal; “I’ll stake the horses and the cart
against all I lost.” He played again, and he lost the horses and the
cart. Then he did not know what he should do, but he thought and said:
“Unless I go home, my poor mother will be anxious. I will go home and
tell the truth to her. They can but banish me.”
When he came home, Dermod asked him: “Did you sell the oats? or where are
the horses and the cart?” “I lost the whole playing cards, and I would
not come back except to leave ye my blessing before I go.” “That you may
not ever come back, or a penny of your price,” said Dermod, “and I don’t
want your blessing.”
He left his blessing with his mother then, and he went travelling,
looking for service. When the darkness of the night was coming, there was
thirst and hunger on him. He saw a poor man coming to him, and a bag on
his back. He recognised Donal, and said: “Donal, what brought you here,
or where are you going?” “I don’t know you,” said Donal.
“It’s many’s the good night I spent in your father’s house, may God have
mercy upon him,” said the poor man; “perhaps there’s hunger on you, and
that you would not be against eating something out of my bag?”
“It’s a friend that would give it to me,” says Donal. Then the poor man
gave him beef and bread, and when he ate his enough, the poor man asked
him: “Where are you going to-night?”
“Musha, then, I don’t know,” says Donal.
“There is a gentleman in the big house up there, and he gives lodging to
anyone who comes to him after the darkness of night, and I’m going to
him,” says the poor man.
“Perhaps I would get lodgings with you,” says Donal. “I have no doubt of
it,” says the poor man.
The pair went to the big house, and the poor man knocked at the door, and
the servant opened it. “I want to see the master of this house,” says
Donal.
The servant went, and the master came. “I am looking for a night’s
lodging,” said Donal.
“I will give ye that, if ye wait. Go up to the castle there above, and I
will be after ye, and if ye wait in it till morning, each man of ye will
get five score ten-penny pieces, and ye will have plenty to eat and drink
as well; and a good bed to sleep on.”
“That’s a good offer,” said they; “we will go there.”
The pair came to the castle, went into a room, and put down a fire. It
was not long till the gentleman came, bringing beef, mutton, and other
things to them. “Come with me now till I show ye the cellar, there’s
plenty of wine and ale in it, and ye can draw your enough.” When he
showed them the cellar, he went out, and he put a lock on the door behind
him.
Then Donal said to the poor man: “Put the things to eat on the table, and
I’ll go for the ale.” Then he got a light, and a cruiskeen (jug), and
went down into the cellar. The first barrel he came to he stooped down
to draw out of it, when a voice said: “Stop, that barrel is mine.” Donal
looked up, and he saw a little man without a head, with his two legs
spread straddle-wise on a barrel.
“If it is yours,” says Donal, “I’ll go to another.” He went to another;
but when he stooped down to draw, Trunk-without-head said: “That barrel
is mine.” “They’re not all yours,” says Donal, “I’ll go to another
one.” He went to another one; but when he began drawing out of it,
Trunk-without-head said: “That’s mine.” “I don’t care,” said Donal, “I’ll
fill my cruiskeen.” He did that, and came up to the poor man; but he did
not tell him that he saw Trunk-without-head. Then they began eating and
drinking till the jug was empty. Then said Donal: “It’s your turn to go
down and fill the jug.” The poor man got the candle and the cruiskeen,
and went down into the cellar. He began drawing out of a barrel, when
he heard a voice saying: “That barrel is mine.” He looked up, and when
he saw Trunk-without-head, he let cruiskeen and candle fall, and off
and away with him to Donal. “Oh! it’s little but I’m dead,” says the
poor man; “I saw a man without a head, and his two legs spread out on
the barrel, and he said it was his.” “He would not do you any harm,”
said Donal, “he was there when I went down; get up and bring me the jug
and the candle.” “Oh, I wouldn’t go down again if I were to get Ireland
without a division,” says the poor man. Donal went down, and he brought
up the jug filled. “Did you see Trunk-without-head?” says the poor man.
“I did,” says Donal; “but he did not do me any harm.”
They were drinking till they were half drunk, then said Donal: “It’s time
for us to be going to sleep, what place would you like best, the outside
of the bed, or next the wall?”
“I’ll go next the wall,” said the poor man. They went to bed leaving the
candle lit.
They were not long in bed till they saw three men coming in, and a
bladder (football) with them. They began beating _bayrees_ (playing at
ball) on the floor; but there were two of them against one. Donal said to
the poor man: “It is not right for two to be against one,” and with that
he leaped out and began helping the weak side, and he without a thread on
him. Then they began laughing, and walked out.
Donal went to bed again, and he was not long there till there came in a
piper playing sweet music. “Rise up,” says Donal, “until we have a dance;
it’s a great pity to let good music go to loss.” “For your life, don’t
stir,” says the poor man.
Donal gave a leap out of the bed, and he fell to dancing till he was
tired. Then the piper began laughing, and walked out.
Donal went to bed again; but he was not long there till there walked in
two men, carrying a coffin. They left it down on the floor, and they
walked out. “I don’t know who’s in the coffin, or whether it’s for us
it’s meant,” said Donal; “I’ll go till I see.” He gave a leap out, raised
the board of the coffin, and found a dead man in it. “By my conscience,
it’s the cold place you have,” says Donal; “if you were able to rise
up, and sit at the fire, you would be better.” The dead man rose up and
warmed himself. Then said Donal, “the bed is wide enough for three.”
Donal went in the middle, the poor man next the wall, and the dead man on
the outside. It was not long until the dead man began bruising Donal, and
Donal bruising in on the poor man, until he was all as one as dead, and
he had to give a leap out through the window, and to leave Donal and the
dead man there. The dead man was crushing Donal then until he nearly put
him out through the wall.
“Destruction on you,” said Donal, then; “it’s you’re the ungrateful man;
I let you out of the coffin; I gave you a heat at the fire, and a share
of my bed; and now you won’t keep quiet; but I’ll put you out of the
bed.” Then the dead man spoke, and said: “You are a valiant man, and it
stood you upon[31] to be so, or you would be dead.” “Who would kill me?”
said Donal. “I,” says the dead man; “there never came any one here this
twenty years back, that I did not kill. Do you know the man who paid you
for remaining here?” “He was a gentleman,” said Donal. “He is my son,”
said the dead man, “and he thinks that you will be dead in the morning;
but come with me now.”
The dead man took him down into the cellar, and showed him a great flag.
“Lift that flag. There are three pots under it, and they filled with
gold. It is on account of the gold they killed me; but they did not get
the gold. Let yourself have a pot, and a pot for my son, and the other
one—divide it on the poor people.” Then he opened a door in the wall, and
drew out a paper, and said to Donal: “Give this to my son, and tell him
that it was the butler who killed me, for my share of gold. I can get no
rest until he’ll be hanged; and if there is a witness wanting I will come
behind you in the court without a head on me, so that everybody can see
me. When he will be hanged, you will marry my son’s daughter, and come to
live in this castle. Let you have no fear about me, for I shall have gone
to eternal rest. Farewell now.”
Donal went to sleep, and he did not awake till the gentleman came in the
morning, and he asked him did he sleep well, or where did the old man
whom he left with him go? “I will tell you that another time; I have
a long story to tell you first.” “Come to my house with me,” says the
gentleman.
When they were going to the house, whom should they see coming out of the
bushes, but the poor man without a thread on him, more than the night
he was born, and he shaking with the cold. The gentleman got him his
clothes, gave him his wages, and off for ever with him.
Donal went to the gentleman’s house, and when he ate and drank his
enough, he said: “I have a story to tell you.” Then he told him
everything that happened to him the night before, until he came as far
as the part about the gold. “Come with me till I see the gold,” said the
gentleman. He went to the castle, he lifted the flag, and when he saw the
gold, he said: “I know now that the story is true.”
When he got the entire information from Donal, he got a warrant against
the butler; but concealed the crime it was for. When the butler was
brought before the judge, Donal was there, and gave witness. Then the
judge read out of his papers, and said: “I cannot find this man guilty
without more evidence.”
“I am here,” said Trunk-without-head, coming behind Donal. When the
butler saw him, he said to the judge: “Go no farther, I am guilty; I
killed the man, and his head is under the hearth-stone in his own room.”
Then the judge gave order to hang the butler, and Trunk-without-head went
away.
The day on the morrow, Donal was married to the gentleman’s daughter, and
got a great fortune with her, and went to live in the castle.
A short time after this, he got ready his coach and went on a visit to
his mother.
When Dermod saw the coach coming, he did not know who the great man was
who was in it. The mother came out and ran to him, saying: “Are you not
my own Donal, the love of my heart you are? I was praying for you since
you went.” Then Dermod asked pardon of him, and got it. Then Donal gave
him a purse of gold, saying at the same time: “There’s the price of the
two loads of oats, of the horses, and of the cart.” Then he said to his
mother: “You ought to come home with me. I have a fine castle without
anybody in it but my wife and the servants.” “I will go with you,” said
the mother; “and I will remain with you till I die.”
Donal took his mother home, and they spent a prosperous life together in
the castle.