and said the boiler was not cooking the meat for want of fire, and he
would boil it with his head. And the two caught hold of each other in
the keen, close clutches of wrestling. If you were to go seeking for fun
from the west of the world to the freshness of the world, it is to that
pair you would betake yourself. They made hard of the soft, and soft of
the hard, till Kaytuch gave him a squeeze down, and put him on his knees;
and he put his head down on the fire, and kept it there till the flesh
was cooked. He took the pot with him, and the flesh, and he himself and
Finn had enough to eat; and he told the other people who were with him
to prepare for themselves and eat. And he asked them to give him leave
to sleep, and for them to keep watch. Then he slept. And what woke him
but their snoring in their sleep? He rose out, and saw hundreds of people
coming, and with them tarred wood and straw to set fire to the house. And
Kaytuch killed them all, and went into the house and woke the others, and
bade them keep better watch. He went to sleep, and slept not long till
he woke again, and they asleep; and he rose out and saw (people) coming
the second time as they came first; then he ran forward and killed them
again, and he did that four times during the night. In the morning, when
the day rose, he went to the criers of the kitchen, and knocked at the
door, and they asked him what he was wanting. He said to them, “Three
hundred men in front of me, three hundred behind me, three hundred on
each side of me, and three hundred on each edge of my sword’s edges.”
And he had that on the spot. He ran through them as runs a hawk through
flocks of birds, or a dog through flocks of sheep, till he made a heap
of their heads, a heap of their feet, a heap of their arms and clothes.
If they were a good prize they were no profit. And again he knocked for
the criers of the kitchen, and he asked for six hundred men in front, six
hundred behind, six hundred on each side, and six hundred on each edge
of his sword’s edges. And he had them on the spot, and he did to them as
to the first. And then he asked for nine hundred, and treated them in
the same way. And he knocked again, and Brailskë More said he would go
himself to battle, and it was three hours before he killed the Brailskë.
The Blauheen Bloyë arose, and said it was a pity he did not go himself to
battle at first, before his men were all killed. And Kaytuch and he went
to fight on the ground, and the battle began between them till Kaytuch
killed him.
And he went into the house to the daughter, and she asked him where was
he going, the man who killed her father and his hosts?
“Am I not a better man for you than all of them?”
“If I had known that it was to me you were drawing, I myself would have
helped you.”
The two went into bed, and he took from her the amber bracelet, and was
going. She asked him would he not stay with her, and he said he would
not; and he went to Finn, and they prepared to go home.
When they went on board ship, he told Finn he was to be killed that day.
He said he was two-and-twenty-years old that day. “The man that killed me
at first is to kill me again to-day. He will come as a bird in the air,
and will put the same form on himself as mine, and I will ask him to come
up on board the vessel, and there will be a great battle between myself
and Londu.”
Londu came on board the vessel. His apprenticeship was over that day, and
he was cousin to the woman whom Kaytuch had treated so, and taken the
amber bracelet from her. The two went to battle on board the ship. They
began young like two little boys (and fought) until they were two old
men. They fought from being two young pups until they were two old dogs;
from being two young bulls until they were two old bulls; from being
two young stallions till they were two old stallions. Then they began a
battle in the shape of birds; and they were fighting as two hawks, and
one of them killed the other. The one that was below struck the one that
was above, and as the first one fell dead, he killed the other in falling
on him; and it was Londu, son of the king of Gur, that fell first. And
he was thrown out into the sea, and the other was brought home to the
wife of Kaytuch, son of the king, Keelach. When they came to harbour they
raised the grey-green[8] sails, and when they landed Kaytuch’s wife was
there before them; and they gave her the bird, and she said that was what
she was to get in place of her husband. She wept bitterly, and she with
the bird, and Finn and the Feni went home and gave her no heed. Then she
saw two birds fighting in the air, and one of them killed the other. And
birds came and put leaves of a tree on the bird that was killed; and it
was a half-hour of the clock, and (the bird) arose alive again. And she
put the leaves on her own bird, and then there was half an hour of the
clock, and the bird arose alive to her again. And he asked her if she
had got the amber bracelet from Finn; and she said she did not get it.
Then she and he went to her father’s house, and there was an invitation
proclaimed for nine nights and nine days for eating and drinking in the
house of King Mananaun, with exceeding joy that Kaytuch was come to them
safe out of every battle. And the priest came and the pair were married.
And Finn went to the woman who put the obligation on him to bring her
the amber bracelet; and he asked her and said to her, “If I promised to
bring it _to_ you, I did not promise to bring it _for_ you, and I will
not give it to you.” So he gave it to the wife of Kaytuch when he heard
he was alive again.
And when everything was finished I had nothing after them but shoes of
paper and stockings of buttermilk; and I threw them to themselves, till
I came home to you to the village of Kill-da-veac and Kill-da-woor, to
the little turf bog, to the village where I was born, to the village at
the beginning of week, till I fired the shot of a gun frilsjke, frælsjke,
kipini, qropaanax; till I killed Londu, and the qaanăx, till I got the
load of thirty horses of marrow I took out of the body of the king of the
wrens.[9]
[5] Aarărăx: an old-fashioned currach, without pointed bow—a square box
said to have been used in Achill within the memory of men now living.
[6] Explained by the narrator to mean a speckled black and white cat.
[7] Possibly identical with the Amhas (pron. _owas_), Ormanach of
Campbell’s “Connal Gulban.”
[8] This is not in accordance with the directions given. The red sails
ought to have been up.
[9] These nonsense endings frequently contain untranslatable words. I
give these in the phonetic spelling: but I should add that qaanăx means,
probably, a kind of wild goose. Londu means “blackbird”; kipini, sticks,
or dibbles used for planting.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
_THE CHAMPION OF THE RED BELT._
_Narrator, P. MINAHAN, Malinmore, Glencolumkille, co. Donegal._
There was a king and a queen, and they had three sons. She died with the
third. The king married another queen. She had ill-feeling towards the
children. The king had no rest till he would banish the children. She
took to her bed and would not live if he would not do something or other
with them. He went to an old man who was in the town. He told him in what
way he was. The old man told him to get a barrel made and to put the
children into it. “Put a red belt on one and a black belt on the other.”
He got the barrel made, and an air-hole in it, and a weight for ballast,
to keep it from rolling. He put the children into the barrel then. He put
two swords with them. He put them out on the sea. The barrel was going
before the wind till it came under the court and castle of the King of
Greece.
The king had a herdsman; the herdsman was herding cows. The king had one
cow, and she was troublesome minding, licking the stones that were on the
shore. There was seaweed growing on the stones. He ran down to the cow.
He came to the stone. He saw a white spot on the stone. He kept looking
at the stone, and he saw that it was wood was in it. He tumbled it and
cut the end out of it. He found two children and two swords. He put his
hand down into the barrel. He took up the two children. He never saw two
that were so fair as they. He took the two children home. He said it was
Providence sent them to him.
They were with him. When he would hear anyone coming into his house,
he ordered the children out of the room. It was told the king that the
herdsman had two children (found) in a barrel on the shore. The king was
not willing to believe it. He said he would go himself to the herdsman.
He went to him. He asked him if he found two children. The herdsman said
he did not find. “If you have found them,” said the king, “do not conceal
them from me.”
He said he had found. He told the children to come down out of the room.
They came down to the king. The king took hold of the children with
his hands. He viewed them. “Well,” said the king, “wherever it is the
children have come from, there is royal blood in them.” The king had no
child but one little girl.
“Give me the children. I will give them better care than you. I will
support yourself and your old woman as long as you are alive.”
He could not refuse. The king took the children with him. He cared
for them till they grew to be young men. The king’s daughter thought
they were her brothers. The king put learning on them. They were the
two champions. They were fowling every day that was fine. At that time
there was a great hurling match to come off. The King of Lochlann sent a
challenge to the King of Greece for a hurling match, kingdom to be staked
against kingdom. There was a pretty strand under the court and castle of
the King of Greece. When the day of the hurling match came, the King of
Greece ordered the two champions to go hunting. They went hunting. They
were not long gone from the house when they met five young men, every one
of them with a hurling stick. “I don’t know where they can be going,”
said the champion of the red belt.
“I don’t know,” said the champion of the black belt. They saw five others
coming the same way. He said to one of them he wondered where they were
going. “I will tell you; and it is a great wonder that you are going
fowling to-day.”
“Why is that?” said the champion. “I believe you have heard all about it
yourself.”
“I have heard nothing.”
“The kingdom of your father is staked against the kingdom of the King of
Lochlann in a hurling match to-day. We are going to the hurling match on
behalf of your father.”
They returned home. They said to the King of Greece they would not lose
his kingdom, but would play on his behalf. They threw off their hunting
suits. They put on light suits for running. They got two hurls. They went
to the strand. There was a great crowd on the strand. The ball was going
out. There were twenty-four men on each side. They said their father’s
kingdom should not be lost, that they would play on his behalf. Two were
then put out, and they were put then in their place. There were riders
keeping the strand clear. The ball was put in the middle of the strand
down in the sand. The forty-eight men came round the ball. The champion
of the red belt got the ball. He struck it. When it fell again he was
shaking it, and he struck it again. He sent it to the other end. He said
to the King of Lochlann that his kingdom was lost. The King of Lochlann
said his men had not got fair play in the hurling. “I will give you fair
play,” said the champion of the red belt; “myself and my brother to hurl
against your four-and-twenty; and this is the bargain I’ll make with
you:—Whoever it is that sends the ball to the goal is to have a blow with
his hurl on the others: if your four-and-twenty men win the goal against
us, they have four-and-twenty blows to strike on us. If we win the goal,
we have a blow on every one of them.”
The ball was put in the sand. They gathered round it. The champion of
the red belt had the ball. He struck it. When it fell he was shaking it
again. Not one man on the strand got a blow at it till he put it to the
goal.
“Now,” said he, “did you not get fair play?”
“I got it; you are the best champion ever I saw.”
“Put the men in a row that I may get my blows.”
He put the men standing in a row. “Now,” said he to his brother, “any man
that I don’t knock down, knock him down you.”
He struck the first blow. He killed. He struck the second blow then.
He killed. He was striking and killing. There was one man at the end
outside. When he came killing, drawing towards him, he went out of the
row. He went up on the side of a hill.
“Death and destruction and the death-bands on you, champion of the red
belt! It is you that are doing the slaughter on this strand to-day.
Don’t you know what country you came out of?—that it is out of a
two-ended barrel you came in to the court and castle of the King of
Greece?”
“Sit down, and wait till I come to you.”
“I will not wait. I saw you killing many a one. Perhaps you will kill me.”
“My word to you, I will not touch you till you tell me about the barrel.”
“I will take your word.”
He went up then till he came to the place where he was sitting. “What is
it you say about the barrel?”
“It is a two-ended barrel the old man found by the sea. He took you out
of the barrel; he took you home. The king heard he had found two children
in the barrel. He did not believe it. He went down to the old man to
see if he had found them. The old man said he had. He brought down the
youngsters. The king sat down. He took hold of them by the hand. He
viewed them. He said they had royal blood.”
“‘Give me the children. I will care for them better than you.’
“‘It is hard for me to give them from me.’
“He could not refuse the king. The king said he would not let them have
a day of want. ‘I will support you and your old woman as long as you are
alive.’
“The King of Greece is not your father,” said the man. “He had no family
but the one young girl in the house.”
“I am grateful to you for all that you have told me about the way I came
here. If I live, I will do you a service.”
They were troubled. They knew not whence they had come. They went home.
The King of Greece welcomed his two sons.
“Put not your sonship upon us. We are only the children of a poor man who
had no means to rear us. I will sleep no night but this night in your
house till I find out how I came hither.”
“Do not so,” said the king; “stay in this place. I will give you the half
of my kingdom.”
“I would not stay if you gave me your kingdom all.”
When the king’s daughter heard he was not her brother, she was ready to
die unless he married her. He said to her he would not marry her; that he
would wear his two legs down to his two knees till he found out how he
came. “If I find that out, I will come to you and marry you.”
They were greatly troubled when they were departing. They went till
they came to the sea. He threw his hat out. He made a ship of the hat,
a mast of his stick, a flag of his shirt. He hoisted the sails speckled
spotted, to the top of the straight mast. He turned the prow to sea,
the stern to shore, and he left not a rope without breaking, nor a cable
without rending, till he was listening to the blowing of the seals and
the roaring of the great beasts, to the screams of the sea-gulls; till
the little red-mouthed fishes were rising on the sole and the palm of the
oars; till they steered the vessel in under court and castle of the King
of the Underwaveland.
They put fastening on the ship. They went on the land. They were going
with themselves. There was no one at all coming towards them. They were
all going one way, so that there was a great crowd where they were
stopping. Said the brother, “Perhaps you will find some one in the crowd
to tell you how we came” (_i.e._, our origin).
They went on with themselves. A man met them. They asked him what was the
cause why the people on the island were all going one way.
“It has happened you were not reared in the island when you do not know
the reason of the people’s going. The King of Underwaveland has but one
daughter. She is going to be married to-morrow to the son of the King
of the Eastern World. There is an invitation to the wedding to all the
island. There are open cellars. There is eating and drinking to all that
come.”
They went on till they came to the king’s house. There was a great crowd
there. They were strangers in it. No one gave them any heed. No one was
there without an invitation except themselves.
“Stand at the door behind,” said the champion of the red belt to his
brother; “I will stand at this door.”
No one went in or out that they did not strike. They were killing them.
The king got word there were two blackguards at the door who were killing
numbers of people. The king rose out. He said he thought there was not
a blackguard at all in the crowd; that there was eating and drinking
for every one to get. The champion of the red belt said they were not
blackguards at all; they were two strangers on the island; they would
demean themselves by coming uninvited. The king bowed to them and gave
them an invitation. He would invite (he said) any company in which they
were.
He drew them into the parlour. The bride was there getting ready for the
marriage. She and her mother began to converse. The bride said that if
she knew he had no wife, she would not marry a man but him. The mother
told the king what the bride said. The king told the champion of the red
belt what the bride said. The champion of the red belt said, “I have a
wife. My brother is single; and if it is her will to marry him, I am
satisfied.”
She sent a letter to the son of the King of the Eastern World that she
had a husband she preferred to him. He sent a letter to her that he
would not give up his wife to any man, without his fighting for her.
The champion of the black belt sent a letter to him that he would fight
at midday on the morrow, in such and such a place. When the morrow came
the champion of the black belt washed himself for the fight. He told the
champion of the red belt to take care of the woman till he came back. He
went then. He was going up the road. He met an old red man sitting by
the road side. He had a great harp, and he was playing on it. He asked
the champion of the black belt to sit down while he played him a tune.
He said he had no time, that he was going to battle; but the old man
told him to stand a little while till he played him one tune. He stood
a while; the first strain the old man played, he fell asleep. He was
sleeping there then till the son of the King of the Eastern World came.
He jumped down from his carriage, and cut his head off. He went riding
back. The champion of the red belt knew nothing till he came to the hall
door.
“My brother is killed,” said he; “short it is till I kill you.”
“Don’t do that,” said the bride; “leave it to me to do.”
“If you don’t do it I will destroy the island.”
The son of the King of the Eastern World came up to the hall door. She
rose out. She caught him by the hand. He said he was fatigued after the
battle. They went into the house. She opened a cupboard; she gave him
a cup of drink. He drank her health. When he raised the cup of drink
he bent his head backwards. She drew a sword from under her apron. She
lopped the head from him.
“If you had not been so quick doing it, I would have done the same to you
as to him,” said the champion of the red belt.
He went then to the place where his brother was killed. When he came to
it he was troubled. There came a lump of mist out of the head. Some one
spoke to him out of the mist:
“Go to the Eastern World; the children of Kanikinn have a bottle of the
water of healing that brings the dead to life.”
It put great joy on him. He went then towards the Eastern World. He could
get no information of it. He then went on three days. He could get no
information of it. Then he went on for three days more. Every one had
information to give him then. An old man was putting bad spirits on him.
“There is a yard around the court ten feet high. It is written on the
gate: “If you go in you will never come out alive.”
He went up to the gate. He cleared it at a leap. There were three sons
of Kanikinn in an alley playing ball. They spied the champion coming in
the gate. Said one of the young men,
“You have come in very nimbly; not so nimbly will you go out.”
“He will go,” said the eldest; “any champion who could make that leap is
a gentleman. Don’t speak an angry word till I permit.”
The champion of the red belt then came forward and saluted them as
politely as he could. He told them how things were with him; that he had
come there to seek the bottle of the water of healing that made the dead
alive.
“Well!” said the other, “there is ill luck on you. The king knight of the
black castle took that bottle from me seven years ago. There is not a day
he does not kill three hundred men, and it is better for you to tarry
here with me; I will give you a third of my possessions, for I fear he
will kill you.”
“I am thankful to you for your kindness: since I have come so far I will
go to meet him whether I live or die.”
He asked was there any short way at all to the castle. He showed him a
short way. He said farewell. He went on till he came to the gate, till he
cleared the gate out with a leap. He was going with himself then for a
while till he saw the black castle. He went into the yard. He could see
no one. He feared to go in. Night was coming, and he went in, whether he
was to live or die. There was no one within, but the house was full of
feathers. He said it was like a slaughter-house. He heard a loud sound
coming into the house. He was startled. There was a barrel at the side
of the house. He went behind it. Then the light burst from the door, and
the king knight of the black castle came. He hung his sword on a peg. The
blood was dripping from the tip of it. He had on a coat of steel. He went
to put off the coat. The champion of the red belt rose from behind the
barrel. “If that is your fighting suit, do not put it off you till you
fight with me.”
Said the king knight of the black castle, “It is a man without life
you are. I am only after drawing my sword out of the last man of three
hundred, but I will not fight you till morning. If it is lodging for the
night you want, you will get it.”
“That is what I want.”
“Don’t be afraid. I will not touch you till morning.”
The king knight of the black castle set to till he lighted the fire with
sticks and faggots. He told the other to sit near the fire. The champion
of the red belt was watching the door. He asked him was there any one
there except himself. The king knight of the black castle said there
was not; “and great joy is there on me to have you here to-night. I have
talked with no one for seven years.”
The champion of the red belt said he had heard that there was with him
a bottle of the water of healing, that made the dead alive; that his
brother was killed. Would he give him the loan of the bottle?
“I have not got the bottle. That is the bottle that makes people alive.
My stepmother took it from me seven years ago. There is not a day I don’t
kill three hundred men, and my stepmother brings them to life again. A
hag of sorceries she turned out, to put pains on me, that they will never
be killed for me, while I live; and but that providence puts strength in
my heart, I would not get the better of them.”
When they took their supper the champion of the red belt asked him, “Have
you any one at all but yourself?”
“No,” said the king knight of the black castle. Then he asked if he had
been brought up on the island. He said, “Not he; that it was a son of the
King of Erin was in it; that his mother died when he was born; that the
king married another queen.”
“Were there any other (children) but yourself?” said the champion of the
red belt.
“There were two other brothers.”
“Are they alive?”
“Oh! I think not. They were put in a two-ended barrel.”
“Did you hear that your father put any mark on them?”
“He said he put a red belt on one, a black belt on the other.”
“True it is; people meet and the hills meet not. I am your brother; but
the champion of the black belt is dead.”
He stripped and showed him the belt. The two fell into an embrace. Then
they went to rest. When the day came on the morrow the king knight of
the black castle rose. He told his brother not to rise, as he was tired,
before breakfast was ready. Then he got up and washed himself. They took
their breakfast. The king knight of the black castle said it was a pity
he could not stop during the day to keep him company.
“Stay here, you, till I go and do my sufficiency of killing as quickly as
I can.”
“What would you think if I went in your place to-day?”
“It would be no use for you to go with only the strength providence has
given you. You would not get the better of them.”
Said the champion of the red belt, “We are two brothers. It is a poor
thing for me if I can’t kill for one day what you are killing for seven
years.”
The champion of the red belt took his sword. The other was not satisfied
at all to let him go. He would not stay on his advice.
“Put on my suit of steel; I could not do much without that.”
“I will not put it on. Unless I fight in the suit that’s on me, I am
beaten.”
He went till he came to the three hundred men. He asked them if they were
ready. They said they were. When they saw the little man coming they were
laughing and mocking him. He went straight in through them. He made heaps
of their heads and their feet, a prize of their arms and their clothes.
When he killed the three hundred, he stood up. He said what was the good
of killing them, and they to be alive again in the morning? Then he lay
down among the dead men to see what it was brought them to life. There
came a hag, with one leg out of her haunch, one eye in her forehead, a
bottle of the water of healing on a button that was on her breast. There
was a feather in the bottle. She rubbed the feather on the first man she
came to. She made nine of them alive. The champion of the red belt arose
and killed the nine. Then he and the one-legged hag struck together. They
were fighting a long time. He got angry that he was wasting the day. He
lopped the head off her. He took the bottle that was hanging on her
breast. He hung it on the button that was on his coat. Then said the hag,
when she was falling,—