and have a convincible mind. I'm no ill disposit to ye, and yese get
safe hame, man."
As he spoke he stooped down, and picking up half-a-dozen big stones
from the mountain-side, he gave them to the Laird, saying, "If the
gudewife asks ye about the bit stanes, say ye got them in a
compliment."[4]
[Footnote 4: "In a compliment" = "as a present."]
Brockburn put them into his pocket, briefly saying, "I'm obleeged to
ye;" but as he followed the Man of Peace down the hill-side, he found
the obligation so heavy, that from time to time he threw a stone away,
unobserved, as he hoped, by his companion. When the first stone fell,
the Man of Peace looked sharply round, saying:
"What's yon?"
"It'll be me striking my rung upon the ground," said the Laird.
"You're mad," said the Man of Peace, and Brockburn felt sure that he
knew the truth, and was displeased. But as they went on, the stones
were so heavy, and bumped the Laird's side so hard, that he threw away
a second, dropping it as gently as he could. But the sound of its
fall did not escape the ears of the Man of Peace, who cried as before:
"What's yon?"
"It's jest a nasty hoast[5] that I have," said the Laird.
[Footnote 5: "Hoast" = cough.]
"Man, you're daft," said the Dwarf, contemptuously; "that's what ails
ye."
The Laird now resolved to be prudent, but the inconvenience of his
burden was so great that after a while he resolved to risk the
displeasure of the Man of Peace once more, and gently slipped a third
stone to the ground.
"Third time's lucky," he thought. But the proverb failed him, for the
Dwarf turned as before, shouting: "What's yon?"
"It'll be my new brogues[6] that ye hear bumpin' Upon the muckle
stanes," said the Laird.
[Footnote 6: "Brogues" = shoes.]
"Ye're fou, Brockburn, I tellt ye so. Ye're fou!" growled the Man of
Peace, angrily, and the Laird dared not drop any more of the Dwarfs
gifts. After a while his companion's good-humour seemed to return, and
he became talkative and generous.
"I mind your great-grandfather weel, Brockburn. He was a hamely man, I
found his sheep for him one nicht on this verra hill-side. Mair by
token, ye'll find your beasties at hame, and the men and the dogs
forebye."
The Laird thanked him heartily, and after a while the Dwarf became
more liberal-spirited still.
"Yese no have to say that ye've been with the _Daoiné Shi_ and are no
the better for it," he said. "I'm thinking I'll grant ye three wushes.
But choose wisely, man, and dinna throw _them_ away. I hae my fears
that ye're no without a bee in your bonnet, Brockburn."
Incensed by this insinuation, the Laird defended his own sagacity at
some length, and retorted on his companion with doubts of the power of
the _Daoiné Shi_ to grant wishes.
"The proof of the pudding's in the eating o't," said the Man of Peace.
"Wush away, Brockburn, and mak the nut as hard to crack as ye will."
The Laird at once began to cast about in his mind for three wishes
sufficiently comprehensive to secure his lifelong prosperity; but the
more he beat his brains the less could he satisfy himself.
How many miles he wandered thus, the Dwarf keeping silently beside
him, he never knew, before he sank exhausted on the ground, saying:
"I'm thinking, man, that if ye could bring hame to me, in place of
bringing me hame, I'd misdoubt your powers nae mair. It's a far cry to
Loch Awe,[7] ye ken, and it's a weary long road to Brockburn."
[Footnote 7: "It's a far cry to Loch Awe."--_Scotch Proverb_.]
"Is this your wush?" asked the Man of Peace.
"This is my wush," said the Laird, striking his rung upon the ground.
The words had scarcely passed his lips when the whole homestead of
Brockburn, house and farm buildings, was planted upon the bleak
hill-side.
The astonished Laird now began to bewail the rash wish which had
removed his home from the sheltered and fertile valley where it
originally stood to the barren side of a bleak mountain.
The Man of Peace, however, would not take any hints as to undoing his
work of his own accord. All he said was:
"If ye wush it away, so it'll be. But then ye'll only have one wush
left. Ye've small discretion the nicht, Brockburn, I'm feared."
"To leave the steading in sic a spot is no to be thought on," sighed
the Laird, as he spent his second wish in undoing his first. But he
cannily added the provision:
"And ye may tak me wi' it."
The words were no sooner spoken than the homestead was back in its
place, and Brockburn himself was lying in his own bed, Jock, his
favourite collie, barking and licking his face by turns for joy.
"Whisht, whisht, Jock!" said the Laird. "Ye wouldna bark when I begged
of ye, so ye may hand your peace noo."
And pushing the collie from him, he sat up in bed and looked anxiously
but vainly round the chamber for the Man of Peace.
"Lie doun, lie doun," cried the gudewife from beside him. "Ye're
surely out o' your wuts, Brockburn. Would ye gang stravaging about the
country again the nicht?"
"Where is he?" cried the Laird.
"There's not a soul here but your lawful wife and your ain dear
doggie. Was there ae body that ye expected?" asked his wife.
"The Man o' Peace, woman!" cried Brockburn. "I've ane o' my wushes to
get, and I maun hae't."
"The man's mad!" was the gudewife's comment. "Ye've surely forgotten
yoursel, Brockburn. Ye never believed in the _Daoiné Shi_ before."
"Seein's believin'," said the Laird. "I forgathered with a Man o'
Peace the nicht on the hill, and I wush I just saw him again."
As the Laird spoke the window of the chamber was lit up from without,
and the Man of Peace appeared sitting on the window-ledge in his
daisy-lined cloak, his feet hanging down into the room, the silver
shoes glittering as they dangled.
"I'm here, Brockburn!" he cried. "But eh, man! ye've had your last
wush."
And even as the stupefied Laird gazed, the light slowly died away, and
the Man of Peace vanished also.
On the following morning the Laird was roused from sleep by loud cries
of surprise and admiration.
The good wife had been stirring for some hours, and in emptying the
pockets of her good man's coat she had found three huge cairngorms of
exquisite tint and lustre. Brockburn thus discovered the value of the
gifts, half of which he had thrown away.
But no subsequent visits to the hill-side led to their recovery. Many
a time did the Laird bring home a heavy pocketful of stones, at the
thrifty gudewife's bidding, but they only proved to be the common
stones of the mountain-side. The _Shian_ could never be distinguished
from any other crag, and the _Daoiné Shi_ were visible no more.
Yet it is said that the Laird of Brockburn prospered and throve
thereafter, in acre, stall, and steading, as those seldom prosper who
have not the good word of the People of Peace.
THE OGRE COURTING.
In days when ogres were still the terror of certain districts, there
was one who had long kept a whole neighbourhood in fear without any
one daring to dispute his tyranny.
By thefts and exactions, by heavy ransoms from merchants too old and
tough to be eaten, in one way and another, the Ogre had become very
rich; and although those who knew could tell of huge cellars full of
gold and jewels, and yards and barns groaning with the weight of
stolen goods, the richer he grew the more anxious and covetous he
became. Moreover, day by day, he added to his stores; for though (like
most ogres) he was as stupid as he was strong, no one had ever been
found, by force or fraud, to get the better of him.
What he took from the people was not their heaviest grievance. Even to
be killed and eaten by him was not the chance they thought of most. A
man can die but once; and if he is a sailor, a shark may eat him,
which is not so much better than being devoured by an ogre. No, that
was not the worst. The worst was this--he would keep getting married.
And as he liked little wives, all the short women lived in fear and
dread. And as his wives always died very soon, he was constantly
courting fresh ones.
Some said he ate his wives; some said he tormented, and others, that
he only worked them to death. Everybody knew it was not a desirable
match, and yet there was not a father who dare refuse his daughter if
she were asked for. The Ogre only cared for two things in a woman--he
liked her to be little, and a good housewife.
Now it was when the Ogre had just lost his twenty-fourth wife (within
the memory of man) that these two qualities were eminently united in
the person of the smallest and most notable woman of the district, the
daughter of a certain poor farmer. He was so poor that he could not
afford properly to dower his daughter, who had in consequence remained
single beyond her first youth. Everybody felt sure that Managing Molly
must now be married to the Ogre. The tall girls stretched themselves
till they looked like maypoles, and said, "Poor thing!" The slatterns
gossiped from house to house, the heels of their shoes clacking as
they went, and cried that this was what came of being too thrifty.
And sure enough, in due time, the giant widower came to the farmer as
he was in the field looking over his crops, and proposed for Molly
there and then. The farmer was so much put out that he did not know
what he said in reply, either when he was saying it, or afterwards,
when his friends asked about it. But he remembered that the Ogre had
invited himself to sup at the farm that day week.
Managing Molly did not distress herself at the news.
"Do what I bid you, and say as I say," said she to her father, "and if
the Ogre does not change his mind, at any rate you shall not come
empty-handed out of the business."
By his daughter's desire the farmer now procured a large number of
hares, and a barrel of white wine, which expenses completely emptied
his slender stocking, and on the day of the Ogre's visit, she made a
delicious and savoury stew with the hares in the biggest pickling tub,
and the wine-barrel was set on a bench near the table.
When the Ogre came, Molly served up the stew, and the Ogre sat down to
sup, his head just touching the kitchen rafters. The stew was perfect,
and there was plenty of it. For what Molly and her father ate was
hardly to be counted in the tubful. The Ogre was very much pleased,
and said politely:
"I'm afraid, my dear, that you have been put to great trouble and
expense on my account, I have a large appetite, and like to sup well."
"Don't mention it, sir," said Molly. "The fewer rats the more corn.
How do _you_ cook them?"
"Not one of all the extravagant hussies I have had as wives ever
cooked them at all," said the Ogre; and he thought to himself, "Such a
stew out of rats! What frugality! What a housewife!"
When he broached the wine, he was no less pleased, for it was of the
best.
"This, at any rate, must have cost you a great deal, neighbour," said
he, drinking the farmer's health as Molly left the room.
"I don't know that rotten apples could be better used," said the
farmer; "but I leave all that to Molly. Do you brew at home?"
"We give _our_ rotten apples to the pigs," growled the Ogre. "But
things will be better ordered when she is my wife."
The Ogre was now in great haste to conclude the match, and asked what
dowry the farmer would give his daughter.
"I should never dream of giving a dowry with Molly," said the farmer,
boldly. "Whoever gets her, gets dowry enough. On the contrary, I shall
expect a good round sum from the man who deprives me of her. Our
wealthiest farmer is just widowed, and therefore sure to be in a
hurry for marriage. He has an eye to the main chance, and would not
grudge to pay well for such a wife, I'll warrant."
"I'm no churl myself," said the Ogre, who was anxious to secure his
thrifty bride at any price; and he named a large sum of money,
thinking, "We shall live on rats henceforward, and the beef and mutton
will soon cover the dowry."
"Double that, and we'll see," said the farmer, stoutly.
But the Ogre became angry, and cried; "What are you thinking of, man?
Who is to hinder my carrying your lass off, without 'with your leave'
or 'by your leave,' dowry or none?"
"How little you know her!" said the farmer. "She is so firm that she
would be cut to pieces sooner than give you any benefit of her thrift,
unless you dealt fairly in the matter."
"Well, well," said the Ogre, "let us meet each other." And he named a
sum larger than he at first proposed, and less than the farmer had
asked. This the farmer agreed to, as it was enough to make him
prosperous for life.
"Bring it in a sack to-morrow morning," said he to the Ogre, "and then
you can speak to Molly; she's gone to bed now."
The next morning, accordingly, the Ogre appeared, carrying the dowry
in a sack, and Molly came to meet him.
"There are two things," said she, "I would ask of any lover of mine: a
new farmhouse, built as I should direct, with a view to economy; and a
feather-bed of fresh goose feathers, filled when the old woman plucks
her geese. If I don't sleep well, I cannot work well."
"That is better than asking for finery," thought the Ogre; "and after
all the house will be my own." So, to save the expense of labour, he
built it himself, and worked hard, day after day, under Molly's
orders, till winter came. Then it was finished.
"Now for the feather-bed," said Molly. "I'll sew up the ticking, and
when the old woman plucks her geese, I'll let you know."
When it snows, they say the old woman up yonder is plucking her geese,
and so at the first snowstorm Molly sent for the Ogre.
"Now you see the feathers falling," said she, "so fill the bed."
"How am I to catch them?" cried the Ogre.
"Stupid! don't you see them lying there in a heap?" cried Molly; "get
a shovel, and set to work."
The Ogre accordingly carried in shovelfuls of snow to the bed, but as
it melted as fast as he put it in, his labour never seemed done.
Towards night the room got so cold that the snow would not melt, and
now the bed was soon filled.
Molly hastily covered it with sheets and blankets, and said: "Pray
rest here to-night, and tell me if the bed is not comfort itself.
To-morrow we will be married."
So the tired Ogre lay down on the bed he had filled, but, do what he
would, he could not get warm.
"The sheets must be damp," said he, and in the morning he woke with
such horrible pains in his bones that he could hardly move, and half
the bed had melted away. "It's no use," he groaned, "she's a very
managing woman, but to sleep on such a bed would be the death of me."
And he went off home as quickly as he could, before Managing Molly
could call upon him to be married; for she was so managing that he was
more than half afraid of her already.
When Molly found that he had gone, she sent the farmer after him.
"What does he want?" cried the Ogre, when they told him the farmer was
at the door.
"He says the bride is waiting for you," was the reply.
"Tell him I'm too ill to be married," said the Ogre.
But the messenger soon returned:
"He says she wants to know what you will give her to make up for the
disappointment."
"She's got the dowry, and the farm, and the feather-bed," groaned the
Ogre; "what more does she want?"
But again the messenger returned:
"She says you've pressed the feather-bed flat, and she wants some more
goose feathers."
"There are geese enough in the yard," yelled the Ogre, "Let him drive
them home; and if he has another word to say, put him down to roast."
The farmer, who overheard this order, lost no time in taking his
leave, and as he passed through the yard he drove home as fine a flock
of geese as you will see on a common.
It is said that the Ogre never recovered from the effects of sleeping
on the old woman's goose feathers, and was less powerful than before.
As for Managing Molly, being now well dowered, she had no lack of
offers of marriage, and was soon mated to her mind.
THE MAGICIANS' GIFTS.
There was once a king in whose dominions lived no less than three
magicians.
When the king's eldest son was christened, the king invited the three
magicians to the christening feast, and to make the compliment the
greater, he asked one of them to stand godfather. But the other two,
who were not asked to be godfathers, were so angry at what they held
to be a slight, that they only waited to see how they might best
revenge themselves upon the infant prince.
When the moment came for presenting the christening gifts, the
godfather magician advanced to the cradle and said, "My gift is this:
Whatever he wishes for he shall have. And only I who give shall be
able to recall this gift." For he perceived the jealousy of the other
magicians, and knew that, if possible, they would undo what he did.
But the second magician muttered in his beard, "And yet I will change
it to a curse." And coming up to the cradle, he said, "The wishes
that he has thus obtained he shall not be able to revoke or change."
Then the third magician grumbled beneath his black robe, "If he were
very wise and prudent he might yet be happy. But I will secure his
punishment." So he also drew near to the cradle, and said, "For my
part, I give him a hasty temper."
After which, the two dissatisfied magicians withdrew together, saying,
"Should we permit ourselves to be slighted for nothing?"
But the king and his courtiers were not at all disturbed.
"My son has only to be sure of what he wants," said the king, "and
then, I suppose, he will not desire to recall his wishes."
And the courtiers added, "If a prince may not have a hasty temper, who
may, we should like to know?"
And everybody laughed, except the godfather magician, who went out
sighing and shaking his head, and was seen no more.
Whilst the king's son was yet a child, the gift of the godfather
magician began to take effect. There was nothing so rare and precious
that he could not obtain it, or so difficult that it could not be
accomplished by his mere wish. But, on the other hand, no matter how
inconsiderately he spoke, or how often he changed his mind, what he
had once wished must remain as he had wished it, in spite of himself;
and as he often wished for things that were bad for him, and oftener
still wished for a thing one day and regretted it the next, his power
was the source of quite as much pain as pleasure to him. Then his
temper was so hot, that he was apt hastily to wish ill to those who
offended him, and afterwards bitterly to regret the mischief that he
could not undo. Thus, one after another, the king appointed his
trustiest counsellors to the charge of his son, who, sooner or later,
in the discharge of their duty, were sure to be obliged to thwart him;
on which the impatient prince would cry, "I wish you were at the
bottom of the sea with your rules and regulations;" and the
counsellors disappeared accordingly, and returned no more.
When there was not a wise man left at court, and the king himself
lived in daily dread of being the next victim, he said, "Only one
thing remains to be done: to find the godfather magician, and persuade
him to withdraw his gift."
So the king offered rewards, and sent out messengers in every
direction, but the magician was not to be found. At last, one day he
met a blind beggar, who said to him, "Three nights ago I dreamed that
I went by the narrowest of seven roads to seek what you are looking
for, and was successful."
When the king returned home, he asked his courtiers, "Where are there
seven roads lying near to each other, some broad, and some narrow?"
And one of them replied, "Twenty-one miles to the west of the palace
is a four-cross road, where three field-paths also diverge."
To this place the king made his way, and taking the narrowest of the
field-paths, went on and on till it led him straight into a cave,
where an old woman sat over a fire.
"Does a magician live here?" asked the king.
"No one lives here but myself," said the old woman. "But as I am a
wise woman I may be able to help you if you need it."
The king then told her of his perplexities, and how he was desirous of
finding the magician, to persuade him to recall his gift.
"He could not recall the other gifts," said the wise woman. "Therefore
it is better that the prince should be taught to use his power
prudently and to control his temper. And since all the persons capable
of guiding him have disappeared, I will return with you and take
charge of him myself. Over me he will have no power."
To this the king consented, and they returned together to the palace,
where the wise woman became guardian to the prince, and she fulfilled
her duties so well that he became much more discreet and
self-controlled. Only at times his violent temper got the better of
him, and led him to wish what he afterwards vainly regretted.
Thus all went well till the prince became a man, when, though he had
great affection for her, he felt ashamed of having an old woman for
his counsellor, and he said, "I certainly wish that I had a faithful
and discreet adviser of my own age and sex."
On that very day a young nobleman offered himself as companion to the
prince, and as he was a young man of great ability, he was accepted:
whereupon the old woman took her departure, and was never seen again.
The young nobleman performed his part so well that the prince became
deeply attached to him, and submitted in every way to his counsels.
But at last a day came when, being in a rage, the advice of his friend
irritated him, and he cried hastily, "Will you drive me mad with your
long sermons? I wish you would hold your tongue for ever." On which
the young nobleman became dumb, and so remained. For he was not, as
the wise woman had been, independent of the prince's power.
The prince's grief and remorse knew no bounds. "Am I not under a
curse?" said he. "Truly I ought to be cast out from human society, and
sent to live with wild beasts in a wilderness. I only bring evil upon
those I love best--indeed, there is no hope for me unless I can find
my godfather, and make him recall this fatal gift."
So the prince mounted his horse, and, accompanied by his dumb friend,
who still remained faithful to him, he set forth to find the magician.
They took no followers, except the prince's dog, a noble hound, who
was so quick of hearing that he understood all that was said to him,
and was, next to the young nobleman, the wisest person at court.
"Mark well, my dog," said the prince to him, "we stay nowhere till we
find my godfather, and when we find him we go no further. I rely on
your sagacity to help us."
The dog licked the prince's hand, and then trotted so resolutely down
a certain road that the two friends allowed him to lead them and
followed close behind.
They travelled in this way to the edge of the king's dominions, only
halting for needful rest and refreshment. At last the dog led them
through a wood, and towards evening they found themselves in the
depths of the forest, with no sign of any shelter for the night.
Presently they heard a little bell, such as is rung for prayer, and
the dog ran down a side path and led them straight to a kind of
grotto, at the door of which stood an aged hermit.
"Does a magician live here?" asked the prince.
"No one lives here but myself," said the hermit, "but I am old, and
have meditated much. My advice is at your service if you need it."
The prince then related his history, and how he was now seeking the
magician godfather, to rid himself of his gift.
"And yet that will not cure your temper," said the hermit. "It were
better that you employed yourself in learning to control that, and to
use your power prudently."
"No, no," replied the prince; "I must find the magician."
And when the hermit pressed his advice, he cried, "Provoke me not,
good father, or I may be base enough to wish you ill; and the evil I
do I cannot undo."
And he departed, followed by his friend, and calling his dog. But the
dog seated himself at the hermit's feet, and would not move. Again and
again the prince called him, but he only whined and wagged his tail,
and refused to move. Coaxing and scolding were both in vain, and when
at last the prince tried to drag him off by force, the dog growled.
"Base brute!" cried the prince, flinging him from him in a transport
of rage. "How have I been so deceived in you? I wish you were hanged!"
And even as he spoke the dog vanished, and as the prince turned his
head he saw the poor beast's body dangling from a tree above him. The
sight overwhelmed him, and he began bitterly to lament his cruelty.
"Will no one hang me also," he cried, "and rid the world of such a
monster?"