to make; and I will release you and bestow on you the boat for ever,
marry or marry me not.”
“Oh! I will marry you, and a thousand welcomes. But I don’t know where my
comrade is gone. The old clothes that were on him are like those I see
thrown yonder.”
“Oh, you will see him, presently.”
There came to him eleven women, and he could not say which of them was
the most beautiful. They sat down, and each one of them gave him welcome.
There came a gentleman, who was the handsomest he ever saw, and took him
by the hand.
“A hundred thousand welcomes to you, Bioultach! I am Keeal-an-Iaran, son
of the King of Underwaves, who was under bonds to the Bocaw More; and my
twelve sisters were hags, as you saw; and I without power to wear any
but old clothes, as you saw. Nor could I raise a hand against him. But
when I saw you coming, I heard there was not a man to be got as good as
you, and I said it was possible we might get the better of him. But we
would not get the better of him for ever, only that you let him out each
time. But, the thief! that was the thing was worst for himself. And now
I will go with you till I leave you safe at home; and my sister, if she
is your choice. And if she is not, she will forgive you, and a thousand
welcomes, as we are released from the hole in the earth where you saw us.”
“Oh, I will marry my own wife, and will take her home.”
Bioultach, and Keeal-an-Iaran, and the woman went on board the leaden
boat till they came to the Island of the Torrent, and they took the eight
hundred men and Maunus into the leaden boat. They took Splendour, son of
the King of Greece, Splendour-of-the-Sun, son of the King of the Castle
of the Stream, Blue Niall, son of the King of Spain, and Feathery Clerk,
son of the King of the Western World, on board the leaden boat. The prow
to sea they turned, the stern to shore, and they hoisted the great sails,
etc., till they came to haven and harbour on the coast of Greece.
The King of Greece was out walking when he saw the hosts making for the
court, and he recognised Bioultach.
“Oh, my daughter,” said he, “there are three husbands coming to you alive
now; I don’t know to which of them you will be.”
“Oh, I do not know,” said the daughter.
Bioultach came, and all the champions, to the court, and the man of
welcome was before them in the king. They passed the night, a third in
story-telling, a third in conversation, and a third in soft sleep and
deep slumber.
When Maunus arose he asked where was his wife.
“Oh, she is not your wife,” said Blue Niall, “but she is my wife.”
“Oh, she is my wife,” said Feathery Clerk.
By the laws of the land she belonged to Blue Niall.
“Well,” said Maunus, “I will make laws for myself. Any man who will not
go for a day and a year into the Bake-house, and suffer three drops of
the molten torrent, he shall not get the woman. But any man of you two
who goes there, he must get the woman and welcome.”
“Oh, we will not go there, as we have got ourselves out of it.”
“I will go for a year,” said Maunus, “but I must get the woman when I
come back.”
“Oh, we will bestow her on you, but you will not go there, nor any one
else that we can keep out of it.”
Maunus got the wife; and they prepared a month’s fire and a year’s
embers, till he and the daughter of the High King of Greece were married
together; and they spent a fortnight after the month in celebrating the
wedding with every sort of sport and play. When everything was ended, and
each champion was going to his own home, Bioultach said,—
“I believe it is good and right for me to go home to see Erin, and my
father and mother.”
“Oh, you are settled now.”
“Oh,” said Keeal-an-Iaran, “I will go with you to see you and my sister
in your home.”
When Bioultach arose early, full of brightness, he rubbed palm to poll
and palm to forehead, to let it be seen that he, as a lion in his valour,
was the best in spirit, in beauty, and in courage. He went down to the
sea, with his wife and her brother. They bade farewell to the king and
the nobles of the court, and went on board the leaden boat. And they
hoisted their great sails, etc., till to haven they came and harbour at
Binn Edin Vik Shanla, the place where the first ship ever came to Erin.
They found the ford, I the stepping-stones. They were drowned, and I came
safe.
[3] Or Left-handed. The Irish word means both.
[4] Eleven would apparently be the correct number.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
_KING MANANAUN._
_Narrator, P. M’GRALE, Achill._
There was a king in Erin, whose name was King Mananaun. He was the king
of druidism and enchantments and devilscraft. A daughter was born to him,
whose name was Pampogue, and she had twelve women attending her, and
twelve maids serving her. There was another king in Erin, whose name was
King Keeluch, and to him was born a son, whose name was Kaytuch. He took
the son to the old wise man, and asked him where he should put his son
to learn druidism and devilscraft, so that neither man nor weapon should
get victory over him. The old wise man told him to put him with King
Mananaun; that he was the best man of druidism to be found. “And a year
from this night” (said he) “there was a daughter born to him, and there
are twelve women attending her, and twelve maids serving her, and his son
would have the same.”
There was a third king, whose name was Londu, son of the King of Gur,
and to him a son was born; and he also went to the wise old man to
ask him where was the best place to put his son to learn druidism and
devilscraft, and the wise old man told him to put him with King Mananaun.
The three were going to school together when Pampogue was sixteen years
old, Kaytuch fifteen, and Londu fourteen. They were coming home from
school, and they went into the smith’s forge; and Kaytuch took a bar of
iron and twisted it in his hand, and he threw it to Londu, and told him
to straighten it. And he took a nail and asked the other prince what he
would take to leave his hand on the anvil, and to leave the nail on his
hand, and a blow of the great sledge-hammer to be struck on the nail; and
(the other) said he would give it, if he would allow him a blow without
defence in the first battle between them; and Kaytuch said he would allow
it, and he drove the nail through the palm of Londu into the anvil. And
she laughed, and went out and home to her father’s house.
When the smith saw what was done in the forge he asked Londu what he
would give him to loose him. He said that he was a poor gentleman, but
that if he ever came into his heirship he would give him the price of his
service. The smith took hammering with him, and hammered at the top of
the nail, and he put something under the palm and raised it up. He went
to the house of the king and said not a word; but the king knew all.
In the morning the king wrote to their fathers, and bade them come to
dinner the next day; and the two kings came and consumed the feast, and
asked was it gold or silver was wanting to him? if it was they would give
it. And he said it was not, but that there was a dispute between their
two sons, and he would like them to settle it. “And I know” (said he)
“it is jealousy is the cause.” The fathers said that whatever he would
do they were satisfied. “I will open the doors, and I will put the three
inside. Let one man come out by one door, and the other man by the other
door, and whichever of them she follows, let her be his.”
When the fathers were gone he put the three into the house and opened the
doors, and she followed Kaytuch. When Londu went out he saw Kaytuch, and
asked if he remembered that he had a blow without defence to get on him
in their first battle. Kaytuch said, in his opinion this was no battle.
“No battle at all is there greater than a fight about a woman.”
Kaytuch dropped his hands, and Londu drew his sword, and cut the head off
him. Londu asked her, “Will you take me now he is dead?” She refused,
and said she would not marry him. She took Kaytuch and put him in a box,
and herbs of the hill about him. She went then and fitted out a ship
great and gallant, till she raised the great sails, speckled, spotted,
as long, as high as the top of the mast; and she left not a rope without
breaking, an oar without tearing, with the crawling, creeping creatures,
the little beasts, the great beasts of the deep sea coming up on the
handle and blade of the oar, till she let two thirds (of the sail) go,
and one third held in, till the eels were whistling, the froth down, and
the sand above; till she overtook the red wind of March that was before
her, and the red wind of March that was after did not overtake her; and
she was sailing nine months before she came to land.
She came near land and cast anchor, and she saw two men coming, and they
carrying a dead man with them. In the morning the three were going, and
in the evening two were coming, carrying the dead man again, and it was
like that for three days. One of the men went out in a currach, and asked
her who she was, or what she was seeking. “If it’s a husband that’s
wanting to you, come and you will get one.”
She told him to be off, or she would sink himself and his old
currach.[5] He went and told his brothers how she spoke, and the second
of them went and she said the like to him. Said the third man “it is like
this I have ever found you.” He went out himself and spoke to her, and
said “God save you, young maiden! Is it harm for me to ask who you are,
or how far you are going.”
“I will tell you. But will you tell me? Every evening there are two
carrying a dead man, and three go away alive in the morning.”
“I will tell you that, young queen, and welcome. When my father and
mother were living my father was a king, and when he died, there came
Fawgawns and Blue-men on us, and banished us out of two islands; and we
are on the top of the third island with them, and as many of them as we
kill are alive to fight us again in the morning; and every day they kill
one of us, and we bring him to life again with the healing water.”
“With me is a champion, the best that ever struck blow with sword; and I
promise you his help for a day if you bring him to life.”
The man went in, and brought the healing water, and rubbed it to the
wound; and Kaytuch arose alive again; and he rubbed his eyes with his
hands and said “Great was the sleep that was on me”; and she laughed and
told him everything from the time the young king cut his head off. “I
took you on board ship, and we were sailing for nine months before we
came here; and I promised your help for a day to this man if he would
bring you to life; but you will not go for a month until you grow strong.”
So he and she spent the night together—a third in talking, a third in
story-telling, and a third in soft rest and deep slumber, till the
whiteness of the day came upon the morrow.
Then he arose and washed his hands and face and ate his breakfast, and
went out on the island and came to the house, and asked where they gave
battle. Said they to him: “If you were a good champion you would have
searched the place, and you would know in what place they give battle.”
That made him angry, and he went away and followed the little path that
led from the house. He did not go far when he saw the blackness of the
hill with people coming towards him. He ran through them as runs a hawk
through flocks of wild birds, or a hound through flocks of sheep, till
he made a heap of their heads, a heap of their feet, and a heap of their
arms and clothes. They would be a prize for him if he thought them any
good.
He stretched himself among the dead to see who else was coming. He was
not long stretched before he saw an old man and an old woman coming, and
a pot and a feather with them; and they threw a dash on the men on this
side and that, and they (were) rising alive like midges. He told them
to make no more alive till he killed those they had brought to life. He
killed every one of them, and the old man and the old woman; and the old
woman put him under bond to tell the hag of the church that he had killed
the Hag of Slaughter and Slaughter himself. He went with himself along
the road till he met with a tall, toothless, rusty hag. He asked her if
she was the hag of the church; she said it was she. “I give you notice
that I have killed the Hag of Slaughter and Slaughter himself.” She gave
him a hundred welcomes, and she told him she had been three years in hell
to learn druidism and devilscraft; for it was foretold her that he would
come against them that way.
“Go home, and I forgive you.” He said he would not go. Said she to him,
“Use your sword.” He drew a blow of the sword at her and struck her, and
there was a dint in the sword that spoiled it for striking, and he put it
up in the sheath.
“I forgive you now, and go home.” He said he would not go. “Throw me into
a hole of water.” He threw her; and she was three quarters of an hour in
the hole, and he on top of her to keep her down. She got up as fresh as
she was before he threw her down.
“I forgive you, Kaytuch.”
“I forgive not you.”
“Throw me down into a pot of brimstone.”
He threw her; and she was three quarters of an hour in it. She arose as
fresh as she was at first. “I forgive you now.”
“I forgive not you. Defend yourself now.”
He drew his sword on her and struck her, but there was no good in the
sword. She put her hands over and took hold of his skin, and put her
nails into his blood, and took the full of her fist of his flesh with
her. He was about to give up, when the bird spoke to him, to pull her
head from its roots. He leaped high, and stood on her shoulders, and took
hold of her head, and pulled it from its roots. She put druidism on him
then. “Tell the Lamb of Luck that you have killed the Hag of Slaughter
and Slaughter himself and the Hag of the Church.”
He went along the path, and he came to a great field, and in the field
was nothing but a tree, and a big rock of stone, and the lamb. “Are you
the Lamb of Luck?”
“I am.”
“I give you notice I have killed the Hag of Slaughter and Slaughter
himself and the Hag of the Church.”
The lamb came running to him; and there came near him nothing but the
wind, and he fell on the ground; and when he got up he went to the tree,
and he and the lamb were running round the tree. He ran from the tree,
and leaped round the rock. It was nine perches high and the same in
breadth. The lamb leaped through the rock, and put his head into it;
and when his head was fastened in the rock, Kaytuch came and cut the
head off with his sword. The lamb put him under spells: “Tell the cat of
Hoorebrikë[6] that you have killed the Hag of Slaughter and Slaughter
himself and the Lamb of Luck.” He met the cat of Hoorebrikë at the edge
of a glen, and he asked, “Are you the cat of Hoorebrikë?”
“I am.”
He struck a blow of his sword at the cat and split it, and when the sword
went through the cat fastened together again. He drew a second blow at
the cat, and split it from the snout to the tip of the tail, and the cat
fastened again. When he was drawing the third blow, the cat leaped and
put the tip of her tail into his side, and there was a barb of poison at
the tip of the tail, and it took the heart of Kaytuch out; and Kaytuch
took hold of the cat, and thrust his fist into her mouth, and took her
heart and entrails out in his hand, and the cat and Kaytuch fell dead.
And one of the three men said, “Let us rise out, and let us help that
man.” Said another of them, “Oh! it was for a day; let it be for a day,
and him do the work of the day himself; that they would go to help him on
the next day.” They rose out and went with themselves after him, and as
they were going they found the slaughter made, till they came and found
himself and the cat killed. They took hold of the heart and insides that
were in his fist, and put them into his belly again. They rubbed the
healing water on him, and he was as well as he was ever before.
They went with themselves, and there came a gust of wind and stirred a
wisp, and the cat ran and struck her foot on the wisp. They said it was
the cat’s heart they put into him in place of his own; and one of them
went forward, and drew his sword, and cut his head off again. They took
the cat’s heart out, and put his own heart in again, and rubbed the
healing water on him, and he was as well as he was at first.
When they came home they had a pleasant night—three-thirds of the night:
one-third in talking, one-third in story-telling, and a third in soft
rest and deep slumber. Then came the three brothers in their arms to
Kaytuch, and (asked) him to be king in their father’s place, and they
themselves would be his messengers. He said he would not ask their
property from them, but it should remain with themselves. They asked him
to divide the property between them. He gave the first island to the
eldest, the second island to the second, and the island they were on to
the youngest son. When Kaytuch parted from them, they gave him everything
they had as a present. And Kaytuch and his wife, having taken farewell,
went from the island for Erin.
When they came to Erin, the place where they made haven and harbour was
beneath the house of Finn McCool. Finn sent one of his men and told him
he would give him five pounds and a suit of clothes if he brought him
word who the man was. Conan went and asked him, “Who are you? My master
sent me to see, and said he would give me five pounds and a suit of
clothes for bringing him word who you are.”
Kaytuch laid hold on him and bound him, and threw him under the molten
torrent, in a place where every drop would go from the fat to the marrow,
and from the marrow to the inmost marrow, and left him there. When
Finn saw what he did, he sent Keeltje to him; and Keeltje saluted him,
and spoke to him politely, and asked him to tell him, if it were his
honour’s pleasure, who he was, that he might tell Finn.
“Tell Finn I will be with him for dinner.” Then he released Conan, and
told him never to bring a message again to a gentleman.
Then he went part of the way with his wife, till he put her near her
fathers house, and he returned to Finn. Then they ate their dinner, and
they went out hunting. Kaytuch said he was a stranger, and that he would
take a glen to himself. And he took a glen to himself; and as he was
killing, he threw the game on the road, until he said it was time for
him to go home. He tied the birds together, and made a bundle of them,
until Finn and his hosts came, and he told them to take up the burden,
but they were not able to raise the burden. He put the tip of his boot
under it, and threw it over his shoulder, and ran home; and Keeltje ran
after him, and Kaytuch had his dinner eaten when Keeltje came, and they
were together till morning. The second day they went hunting, and Kaytuch
went this day to the glen they had the day before, and they had had but
two birds of that glen, but he had the same burden. And the third day the
like happened; and on the fourth day there came a great mist on them, and
they knew not where they were going, and they went into a great castle,
and there was food on the table, and they sat down and were eating; and
there came the shadow of a woman and took away the broken food, and laid
more food on the table until they had eaten enough. Then there was a bed
for every two, and a bed for Kaytuch and a bed for Finn. Then the young
girl herself showed another bed, and told the kings to go down to the
young girl; but Kaytuch said he had a wife already, but that Finn had no
wife, and for him to go down. Finn went to her, and spoke to her; and
she said that if he would give her the amber bracelet belonging to the
daughter of the Blauheen Bloyë, in the eastern world, he could come into
the bed to her. So he went into the bed, and was with her till morning.
On the morning of the morrow Kaytuch and Finn went to dinner to the
house of King Mananaun, and there was great welcome for them, and mighty
rejoicing that Kaytuch was come back alive to them. They prepared a great
dinner for them, and when it was ready they sat down to eat, and Finn
took his knife and fork and laid them on the food, and said he would not
eat a bit until Pampogue granted him a request.
“I will grant you any request, except to let my husband go to fight with
the Blauheen Bloyë.”
“Unless you grant me that, I will not eat any food.”
“Sooner than you should be without eating, I will grant you even that.”
And when Kaytuch saw he was to go, he rose and threw his knife and fork
from his hands, and he went with himself, and Finn followed him. And
Pampogue followed Finn, and asked of him one favour, to bring her husband
back to her, dead or alive; and if he were alive, to hoist the grey-green
sails, and, if dead, the red.
Kaytuch and Finn and the Feni went to go the land of the eastern world,
to the place where was the Blauheen Bloyë. And when they came to harbour
they secured the ship, and Kaytuch went to the door of the Blauheen
Bloyë, and knocked at the Cora Conra (? the knocker), and he was asked
what he wanted. And he said, a house. And they said there was a house
below, and in it were owas, and he was to go and take it. He went into
that house, and the big owas began to laugh and the little owas began to
cry; and he asked them the cause; and the big owas said they would have a
bit off him, and the little owas said there would not be one bit for them
to get. And every one of them got up and put a bolt on the door, and he
put bolt and latch on the door; and he caught hold of one of the owas by
the foot, and struck another with him, and he was killing till he killed
the last man of them. And he rose out to see if Finn and his men were
coming, and they were drawing near, twelve of the Feni, and the twelve
could not throw out one man of the dead men. He took hold of them and
threw them out.
Then he went to the criers of the kitchen, and knocked at the door, and
was asked what he sought. He said he was seeking food. They told him to
go into the field and kill an ox. He went and he saw a bull, and the
bull ran at him, and he ran away, and came into the house, and the bull
followed him in, and he ran and closed the two doors, and he had the bull
inside. He killed him and skinned him, and went out to see if his people
were coming, and they came into the house, but they were not able to
carry a quarter of the bull. He put the four quarters into the skin and
carried them home.
He went again to the criers of the kitchen, and he was asked, “What are
you seeking now?”
“I am seeking turf to make a fire.”
“There is a stack outside, and take what you want.”
There was devilment in everything. He ran and took hold of the turf
stack, and put his hands down and pulled out some of the turf, and ran
as well as he could, and the turf was running after him to the door to
smother him. Then he knocked for the keepers of the kitchen, and asked
them for the making of a bed, and they told him to take what he wanted
from the haggard; and he went and put his back to the haggard, and
pulled out some of the straw, and the straw ran after him to the door to
smother him, but he ran from the haggard. He went again to the criers of
the kitchen, and they asked him what he was looking for. He said he was
looking for water.
“There is a well outside, and take what you want of it.”
He went to the well and put his hands into the water, and took up some of
it with him, and the water was running after him in the hope of drowning
him, but he ran from it. Then again he knocked for the criers of the
kitchen, and they asked him, “What are you looking for now?”
“Fire,” said he, “and a pot.”
“Go to the house of the owas, Oramach;[7] there is fire and a pot there,
and take them with you.”