I
Connal was the name of the King who ruled over Ireland at that time.
He had three sons, and, as the fir-trees grow, some crooked and some
straight, one of them grew up so wild that in the end the King and the
King’s Councillor had to let him have his own way in everything. This
youth was the King’s eldest son and his mother had died before she could
be a guide to him.
Now after the King and the King’s Councillor left him to his own way the
youth I’m telling you about did nothing but ride and hunt all day. Well,
one morning he rode abroad--
His hound at his heel,
His hawk on his wrist;
A brave steed to carry him whither he list,
And the blue sky over him,
and he rode on until he came to a turn in the road. There he saw a gray
old man seated on a heap of stones playing a game of cards with himself.
First he had one hand winning and then he had the other. Now he would
say “That’s my good right,” and then he would say “Play and beat that,
my gallant left.” The King of Ireland’s Son sat on his horse to watch
the strange old man, and as he watched him he sang a song to himself
I put the fastenings on my boat
For a year and for a day,
And I went where the rowans grow,
And where the moorhens lay;
And I went over the stepping-stones
And dipped my feet in the ford,
And came at last to the Swineherd’s house,--
The Youth without a Sword.
A swallow sang upon his porch
“Glu-ee, glu-ee, glu-ee,”
“The wonder of all wandering,
The wonder of the sea;”
A swallow soon to leave ground sang
“Glu-ee, glu-ee, glu-ee.”
“Prince,” said the old fellow looking up at him, “if you can play a game
as well as you can sing a song, I’d like if you would sit down beside
me.”
“I can play any game,” said the King of Ireland’s Son. He fastened his
horse to the branch of a tree and sat down on the heap of stones beside
the old man.
“What shall we play for?” said the gray old fellow.
“Whatever you like,” said the King of Ireland’s Son.
“If I win you must give me anything I ask, and if you win I shall give
you anything you ask. Will you agree to that?”
“If it is agreeable to you it is agreeable to me,” said the King of
Ireland’s Son.
They played, and the King of Ireland’s Son won the game. “Now what do
you desire me to give, King’s Son?” said the gray old fellow.
“I shan’t ask you for anything,” said the King of Ireland’s Son, “for I
think you haven’t much to give.”
“Never mind that,” said the gray old fellow. “I mustn’t break my
promise, and so you must ask me for something.”
“Very well,” said the King’s Son. “Then there’s a field at the back of
my father’s Castle and I want to see it filled with cattle to-morrow
morning. Can you do that for me?”
“I can,” said the gray old fellow.
“Then I want fifty cows, each one white with a red ear, and a white calf
going beside each cow.”
“The cattle shall be as you wish.”
“Well, when that’s done I shall think the wager has been paid,” said the
King of Ireland’s son. He mounted his horse, smiling at the foolish
old man who played cards with himself and who thought he could bring
together fifty white kine, each with a red ear, and a white calf by the
side of each cow. He rode away
His hound at his heel,
His hawk on his wrist;
A brave steed to carry him whither he list,
And the green ground under him,
and he thought no more of the gray old fellow.
But in the morning, when he was taking his horse out of the stable,
he heard the grooms talking about a strange happening. Art, the King’s
Steward, had gone out and had found the field at the back of the Castle
filled with cattle. There were fifty white red-eared kine there and each
cow had a white calf at her side. The King had ordered Art, his Steward,
to drive them away. The King of Ireland’s Son watched Art and his men
trying to do it. But no sooner were the strange cattle put out at one
side of the field than they came back on the other. Then down came
Maravaun, the King’s Councillor. He declared they were enchanted cattle,
and that no one on Ireland’s ground could put them away. So in the
seven-acre field the cattle stayed.
When the King of Ireland’s Son saw what his companion of yesterday could
do he rode straight to the glen to try if he could have another game
with him. There at the turn of the road, on a heap of stones, the gray
old fellow was sitting playing a game of cards, the right hand against
the left. The King of Ireland’s Son fastened his horse to the branch of
a tree and dismounted.
“Did you find yesterday’s wager settled?” said the gray old fellow.
“I did,” said the King of Ireland’s Son.
“Then shall we have another game of cards on the same understanding?”
said the gray old fellow.
“I agree, if you agree,” said the King of Ireland’s son. He sat under
the bush beside him and they played again. The King of Ireland’s Son
won.
“What would you like me to do for you this time?” said the gray old
fellow.
Now the King’s Son had a step-mother, and she was often cross-tempered,
and that very morning he and she had vexed each other. So he said, “Let
a brown bear, holding a burning coal in his mouth, put Caintigern the
Queen from her chair in the supper-room to-night.”
“It shall be done,” said the gray old fellow.