to fight the dhraggin afther what he heerd about him when he was
purtendin' to be asleep. But he had no sitch notion: all he intended
was--to fob the goold and ride back again to Duleek with his gains and a
good horse. But, you see, cute as the waiver was, the King was cuter
still; for these high quolity, you see, is great desaivers; and so the
horse the waiver was put an was learned an purpose; and, sure, the
minit he was mounted away powdhered the horse, and the divil a toe he'd
go but right down to Galway. Well, for four days he was goin' evermore,
until at last the waiver seen a crowd o' people runnin' as if Owld Nick
was at their heels, and they shoutin' a thousand murdhers and cryin',
"The dhraggin, the dhraggin!" and he couldn't stop the horse nor make
him turn back, but away he pelted right forinst the terrible baste that
was comin' up to him, and there was the most nefarious smell o' sulphur,
savin' your presence, enough to knock you down; and, faith, the waiver
seen he had no time to lose, and so he threwn himself off the horse and
made to a three that was growin' nigh hand, and away he clambered up
into it as nimble as a cat; and not a minit had he to spare, for the
dhraggin kem up in a powerful rage, and he devoured the horse, body and
bones, in less than no time; and then he began to sniffle and scent
about for the waiver, and at last he clapt his eye an him where he was
up in the three, and says he, "In throth, you might as well come down
out o' that," says he, "for I'll have you as sure as eggs is mate."
"Divil a fut I'll go down," says the waiver.
"Sorra care I care," says the dhraggin, "for you're as good as ready
money in my pocket this minit, for I'll lie undher this three," says he,
"and sooner or later you must fall to my share"; and, sure enough, he
sot down and began to pick his teeth with his tail afther the heavy
brekquest he made that mornin' (for he ate a whole village, let alone
the horse), and he got dhrowsy at last and fell asleep; but before he
wint to sleep he wound himself all round the three, all as one as a lady
windin' ribbon round her finger, so that the waiver could not escape.
Well, as soon as the waiver knew he was dead asleep by the snorin' of
him--and every snore he let out of him was like a clap o' thunder----
The minit, the waiver began to creep down the three as cautious as a
fox; and he was very nigh hand the bottom when, bad cess to it, a
thievin' branch he was dipindin' an bruk, and down he fell right atop o'
the dhraggin. But if he did, good luck was an his side, for where should
he fall but with his two legs right acrass the dhraggin's neck, and, my
jew'l, he laid howlt o' the baste's ears, and there he kept his grip,
for the dhraggin wakened and endayvoured for to bite him; but, you see,
by rayson the waiver was behind his ears he could not come at him, and,
with that, he endayvoured for to shake him off; but the divil of a stir
could he stir the waiver; and though he shuk all the scales an his body
he could not turn the scale again the waiver.
"By the hokey, this is too bad intirely," says the dhraggin; "but if you
won't let go," says he, "by the powers o' wildfire, I'll give you a ride
that 'ill astonish your siven small sinses, my boy"; and with that away
he flew like mad; and where do you think he did fly? By dad, he flew
sthraight for Dublin--divil a less. But the waiver bein' an his neck was
a great disthress to him, and he would rather have made him an inside
_passenger_; but, anyway, he flew and he flew till he kem slap up agin
the palace o' the King; for, bein' blind with the rage, he never seen
it, and he knocked his brains out--that is, the small thrifle he had,
and down he fell spacheless. An', you see, good luck would have it that
the King o' Dublin was lookin' out iv his dhrawin'-room windy for
divarshin that day also, and whin he seen the waiver ridin' and the
fiery dhraggin (for he was blazin' like a tar barrel), he called out to
his coortyers to come and see the show. "By the powdhers o' war, here
comes the knight arriant," says the King, "ridin' the dhraggin that's
all afire, and if he gets into the palace, yiz must be ready wid the
fire ingines," says he, "for to put him out." But when they seen the
dhraggin fall outside they all run downstairs and scampered into the
palace yard for to circumspect the curiosity; and by the time they got
down the waiver had got off o' the dhraggin's neck, and runnin' up to
the King, says he, "Plaze your holiness," says he, "I did not think
myself worthy of killin' this facetious baste, so I brought him to
yourself for to do him the honour of decripitation by your own royal
five fingers. But I tamed him first before I allowed him the liberty for
to dar' to appear in your royal prisince, and you'll oblige me if you
just make your mark with your own hand upon the onruly baste's neck."
And with that the King, sure enough, dhrew out his swoord and took the
head aff the dirty brute as clane as a new pin. Well, there was great
rejoicin' in the coort that the dhraggin was killed; and says the King
to the little waiver, says he, "You are a knight arriant as it is, and
so it would be no use for to knight you over agin; but I will make you a
lord," says he.
"Oh, Lord!" says the waiver, thunderstruck like at his own good luck.
"I will," says the King; "and as you are the first man I ever heerd tell
of that rode a dhraggin, you shall be called Lord Mount Dhraggin," says
he.
"But that is not all I'll do for you," says the King; "I'll give you my
daughter, too, in marriage," says he. Now, you see, that was nothing
more than what he promised the waiver in his first promise; for by all
accounts the King's daughter was the greatest dhraggin ever was seen,
and had the divil's own tongue, and a beard a yard long, which she
purtended was put an her, by way of a penance, by Father Mulcahy, her
confissor; but it was well known it was in the family for ages, and no
wondher it was so long by rayson of that same.
SAMUEL LOVER.
Mor of Cloyne
_Mor of Cloyne, a Munster Princess, is singing at the door of a Fairy
Rath to her sister, a captive within it, the magic tune by which she
once escaped from a like captivity._
Little Sister, whom the Fay
Hides away within his doon,
Deep below yon seeding fern,
Oh, list and learn my magic tune.
Long ago, when snared like thee
By the Shee, my harp and I
O'er them wove the slumber spell,
Warbling well its lullaby.
Till with dreamy smiles they sank,
Rank on rank, before the strain;
And I rose from out the rath,
And found my path to earth again.
Little Sister, to my woe
Hid below among the Shee,
List and learn the magic tune,
That it full soon may succour thee.
ALFRED PERCEVAL GRAVES.
Lawn Dyarrig and the Knight of Terrible Valley
(_As told by an Irish Peasant._)
There was a King in his own time in Erin, and he went hunting one day.
The King met a man whose head was out through his cap, whose elbows and
knees were out through his clothing, and whose toes were out through his
shoes.
The man went up to the King, gave him a blow on the face, and drove
three teeth from his mouth. The same blow put the King's head in the
dirt. When he rose from the earth, the King went back to his castle, and
lay down sick and sorrowful.
The King had three sons, and their names were Ur, Arthur, and Lawn
Dyarrig. The three were at school that day, and came home in the
evening. The father sighed when the sons were coming in.
"What is wrong with our father?" asked the eldest.
"Your father is sick on his bed," said the mother.
The three sons went to their father and asked what was on him.
"A strong man that I met to-day gave me a blow in the face, put my head
in the dirt, and knocked three teeth from my mouth. What would you do to
him if you met him?" asked the father of the eldest son.
"If I met that man," replied Ur, "I would make four parts of him between
four horses."
"You are my son," said the King. "What would you do if you met him?"
asked he then as he turned to the second son.
"If I had a grip on that man I would burn him between four fires."
"You, too, are my son. What would you do?" asked the King of Lawn
Dyarrig.
"If I met that man, I would do my best against him, and he might not
stand long before me."
"You are not my son. I would not lose lands or property on you," said
the father. "You must go from me, and leave this to-morrow."
On the following morning the three brothers rose with the dawn; the
order was given Lawn Dyarrig to leave the castle and make his own way
for himself. The other two brothers were going to travel the world to
know could they find the man who had injured their father. Lawn Dyarrig
lingered outside till he saw the two, and they going off by themselves.
"It is a strange thing," said he, "for two men of high degree to go
travelling without a servant."
"We need no one," said Ur.
"Company wouldn't harm us," said Arthur.
The two let Lawn Dyarrig go with them as a serving-boy, and set out to
find the man who had struck down their father. They spent all that day
walking, and came late to a house where one woman was living. She shook
hands with Ur and Arthur, and greeted them. Lawn Dyarrig she kissed and
welcomed; called him son of the King of Erin.
"It is a strange thing to shake hands with the elder, and kiss the
younger," said Ur.
"This is a story to tell," said the woman, "the same as if your death
were in it."
They made three parts of that night. The first part they spent in
conversation, the second in telling tales, the third in eating and
drinking, with sound sleep and sweet slumber. As early as the day dawned
next morning the old woman was up, and had food for the young men. When
the three had eaten, she spoke to Ur, and this is what she asked of him:
"What was it that drove you from home, and what brought you to this
place?"
"A champion met my father, and took three teeth from him and put his
head in the dirt. I am looking for that man, to find him alive or dead."
"That was the Green Knight from Terrible Valley. He is the man who took
the three teeth from your father. I am three hundred years living in
this place, and there is not a year of the three hundred in which three
hundred heroes, fresh, young, and noble, have not passed on the way to
Terrible Valley, and never have I seen one coming back, and each of them
had the look of a man better than you. And now where are you going,
Arthur?"
"I am on the same journey with my brother."
"Where are you going, Lawn Dyarrig?"
"I am going with these as a servant," said Lawn Dyarrig.
"God's help to you, it's bad clothing that's on your body," said the
woman. "And now I will speak to Ur. A day and a year since a champion
passed this way. He wore a suit as good as was ever above ground. I had
a daughter sewing there in the open window. He came outside, put a
finger under her girdle, and took her with him. Her father followed
straightway to save her, but I have never seen daughter nor father from
that day to this. That man was the Green Knight of Terrible Valley. He
is better than all the men that could stand on a field a mile in length
and a mile in breadth. If you take my advice you'll turn back and go
home to your father."
'Tis how she vexed Ur with this talk, and he made a vow to himself to go
on. When Ur did not agree to turn home, the woman said to Lawn Dyarrig,
"Go back to my chamber; you'll find in it the apparel of a hero."
He went back, and there was not a bit of the apparel he did not go into
with a spring.
"You may be able to do something now," said the woman, when Lawn Dyarrig
came to the front. "Go back to my chamber and search through all the old
swords. You will find one at the bottom. Take that."
He found the old sword, and at the first shake that he gave he knocked
seven barrels of rust out of it; after the second shake it was as bright
as when made.
"You may be able to do well with that," said the woman. "Go out, now, to
that stable abroad, and take the slim white steed that is in it. That
one will never stop nor halt in any place till he brings you to the
Eastern World. If you like, take these two men behind you; if not, let
them walk. But I think it is useless for you to have them at all with
you."
Lawn Dyarrig went out to the stable, took the slim white steed, mounted,
rode to the front, and catching the two brothers, planted them on the
horse behind him.
"Now, Lawn Dyarrig," said the woman, "this horse will never stop till he
stands on the little white meadow in the Eastern World. When he stops,
you'll come down, and cut the turf under his beautiful right front
foot."
The horse started from the door, and at every leap he crossed seven
hills and valleys, seven castles with villages, acres, roods, and odd
perches. He could overtake the whirlwind before him seven hundred times
before the whirlwind behind him could overtake him once. Early in the
afternoon of the next day he was in the Eastern World. When he
dismounted, Lawn Dyarrig cut the sod from under the foot of the slim
white steed, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and
Terrible Valley was down under him there. What he did next was to
tighten the reins on the neck of the steed and let him go home.
"Now," said Lawn Dyarrig to his brothers, "which would you rather be
doing--making a basket or twisting gads (withes)?"
"We would rather be making a basket; our help is among ourselves,"
answered they.
Ur and Arthur went at the basket and Lawn Dyarrig at twisting the gads.
When Lawn Dyarrig came to the opening with the gads all twisted and made
into one, they hadn't the ribs of the basket in the ground yet.
"Oh, then, haven't ye anything done but that?"
"Stop your mouth," said Ur, "or we'll make a mortar of your head on the
next stone."
"To be kind to one another is the best for us," said Lawn Dyarrig. "I'll
make the basket."
While they'd be putting one rod in the basket he had the basket
finished.
"Oh, brother," said they, "you are a quick workman."
They had not called him brother since they left home till that moment.
"Who will go in the basket now?" said Lawn Dyarrig when it was finished
and the gad tied to it.
"Who but me?" said Ur. "I am sure, brothers, if I see anything to
frighten me you'll draw me up."
"We will," said the other two.
He went in, but had not gone far when he cried to pull him up again.
"By my father, and the tooth of my father, and by all that is in Erin,
dead or alive, I would not give one other sight on Terrible Valley!" he
cried, when he stepped out of the basket.
"Who will go now?" said Lawn Dyarrig.
"Who will go but me?" answered Arthur.
Whatever length Ur went, Arthur didn't go the half of it.
"By my father, and the tooth of my father, I wouldn't give another look
at Terrible Valley for all that's in Erin, dead or alive!"
"I will go now," said Lawn Dyarrig, "and as I put no foul play on you, I
hope ye'll not put foul play on me."
"We will not, indeed," said they.
Whatever length the other two went, Lawn Dyarrig didn't go the half of
it, till he stepped out of the basket and went down on his own feet. It
was not far he had travelled in Terrible Valley when he met seven
hundred heroes guarding the country.
"In what place here has the Green King his castle?" asked he of the
seven hundred.
"What sort of a sprisawn goat or sheep from Erin are you?" asked they.
"If we had a hold of you, the two arms of me, that's a question you
would not put a second time; but if we haven't you, we'll not be so
long."
They faced Lawn Dyarrig then and attacked him; but he went through them
like a hawk or a raven through small birds. He made a heap of their
feet, a heap of their heads, and a castle of their arms.
After that he went his way walking, and had not gone far when he came to
a spring. "I'll have a drink before I go further," thought he. With that
he stooped down and took a drink of the water. When he had drunk he lay
on the ground and fell asleep.
Now, there wasn't a morning that the lady in the Green Knight's castle
didn't wash in the water of that spring, and she sent a maid for the
water each time. Whatever part of the day it was when Lawn Dyarrig fell
asleep, he was sleeping in the morning when the girl came. She thought
it was dead the man was, and she was so in dread of him that she would
not come near the spring for a long time. At last she saw he was asleep,
and then she took the water. Her mistress was complaining of her for
being so long.
"Do not blame me," said the maid. "I am sure that if it was yourself
that was in my place you'd not come back so soon."
"How so?" asked the lady.
"The finest hero that ever a woman laid eyes on is sleeping at the
spring."
"That's a thing that cannot be till Lawn Dyarrig comes to the age of a
hero. When that time comes he'll be sleeping at the spring."
"He is in it now," said the girl.
The lady did not stop to get any drop of the water on herself, but ran
quickly from the castle. When she came to the spring she roused Lawn
Dyarrig. If she found him lying, she left him standing. She smothered
him with kisses, drowned him with tears, dried him with garments of fine
silk and with her own hair. Herself and himself locked arms and walked
into the castle of the Green Knight. After that they were inviting each
other with the best food and entertainment till the middle of the
following day. Then the lady said:
"When the Green Knight bore me away from my father and mother he brought
me straight to this castle, but I put him under bonds not to marry me
for seven years and a day, and he cannot; still, I must serve him. When
he goes fowling he spends three days away and the next three days at
home. This is the day for him to come back, and for me to prepare his
dinner. There is no stir that you or I have made here to-day but that
brass head beyond there will tell of it."
"It is equal to you what it tells," said Lawn Dyarrig, "only make ready
a clean long chamber for me."
She did so, and he went back into it. Herself rose up then to prepare
dinner for the Green Knight. When he came, she welcomed him as every
day. She left down his food before him, and he sat to take his dinner.
He was sitting with knife and fork in hand when the brass head spoke.
"I thought when I saw you taking food and drink with your wife that you
had the blood of a man in you. If you could see that sprisawn of a goat
or sheep out of Erin taking meat and drink with her all day, what would
you do?"
"Oh, my suffering and sorrow!" cried the knight. "I'll never take
another bite or sup till I eat some of his liver and heart. Let three
hundred heroes, fresh and young, go back and bring his heart to me, with
the liver and lights, till I eat them."
The three hundred heroes went, and hardly were they behind in the
chamber when Lawn Dyarrig had them all dead in one heap.
"He must have some exercise to delay my men, they are so long away,"
said the knight. "Let three hundred more heroes go for his heart, with
the liver and lights, and bring them here to me."
The second three hundred went, and as they were entering the chamber
Lawn Dyarrig was making a heap of them, till the last one was inside,
where there were two heaps.
"He has some way of coaxing my men to delay," said the knight. "Do you
go now, three hundred of my savage hirelings, and bring him." The three
hundred savage hirelings went, and Lawn Dyarrig let every man of them
enter before he raised a hand, then he caught the bulkiest of them all
by the two ankles, and began to wallop the others with him, and he
walloped them till he drove the life out of the two hundred and
ninety-nine. The bulkiest one was worn to the shin-bones that Lawn
Dyarrig held in his two hands. The Green Knight, who thought Lawn
Dyarrig was coaxing the men, called out then, "Come down, my men, and
take dinner."
"I'll be with you," said Lawn Dyarrig, "and have the best food in the
house, and I'll have the best bed in the house. God not be good to you
for it, either."
He went down to the Green Knight, and took the food from before him and
put it before himself. Then he took the lady, set her on his own knee,
and he and she went on eating. After dinner he put his finger under her
girdle, took her to the best chamber in the castle, and stood on guard
upon it till morning. Before dawn the lady said to Lawn Dyarrig:
"If the Green Knight strikes the pole of combat first, he'll win the
day; if you strike first, you'll win if you do what I tell you. The
Green Knight has so much enchantment that if he sees it is going against
him the battle is, he'll rise like a fog in the air, come down in the
same form, strike you, and make a green stone of you. When yourself and
himself are going out to fight in the morning, cut a sod a perch long,
in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; you'll leave the sod on
the next little hillock you meet. When the Green Knight is coming down
and is ready to strike, give him a blow with the sod. You'll make a
green stone of him."
As early as the dawn Lawn Dyarrig rose and struck the pole of combat.
The blow that he gave did not leave calf, foal, lamb, kid, or child
waiting for birth, without turning them five times to the left and five
times to the right.
"What do you want?" asked the knight.
"All that's in your kingdom to be against me the first quarter of the
day, and yourself the second quarter.
"You have not left in the kingdom now but myself, and it is early enough
for you that I'll be at you."
The knight faced him, and they went at each other, and fought till late
in the day. The battle was strong against Lawn Dyarrig, when the lady
stood in the door of the castle.
"Increase on your blows and increase on your courage," cried she. "There
is no woman here but myself to wail over you, or to stretch you before
burial."
When the knight heard the voice he rose in the air like a lump of fog.
As he was coming down Lawn Dyarrig struck him with the sod on the right
side of his breast, and made a green stone of him.
The lady rushed out then, and whatever welcome she had for Lawn Dyarrig
the first time, she had twice as much now. Herself and himself went into
the castle, and spent that night very comfortably. In the morning they
rose early, and collected all the gold, utensils, and treasures. Lawn
Dyarrig found the three teeth of his father in a pocket of the Green
Knight, and took them. He and the lady brought all the riches to where
the basket was. "If I send up this beautiful lady," thought Lawn
Dyarrig, "she may be taken from me by my brothers; if I remain below
with her, she may be taken from me by people here." He put her in the
basket, and she gave him a ring so that they might know each other if
they met. He shook the gad, and she rose in the basket.
When Ur saw the basket, he thought, "What's above let it be above, and
what's below let it stay where it is."
"I'll have you as wife for ever for myself," said he to the lady.
"I put you under bonds," says she, "not to lay a hand on me for a day
and three years."
"That itself would not be long even if twice the time," said Ur.
The two brothers started home with the lady; on the way Ur found the
head of an old horse with teeth in it, and took them, saying, "These
will be my father's three teeth."
They travelled on, and reached home at last. Ur would not have left a
tooth in his father's mouth, trying to put in the three that he had
brought; but the father stopped him.
Lawn Dyarrig, left in Terrible Valley, began to walk around for himself.
He had been walking but one day when whom should he meet but the lad
Short-clothes, and he saluted him. "By what way can I leave Terrible
Valley?" asked Lawn Dyarrig.
"If I had a grip on you that's what you wouldn't ask me a second time,"
said Short-clothes.
"If you haven't touched me, you will before you are much older."
"If you do, you will not treat me as you did all my people and my
master."
"I'll do worse to you than I did to them," said Lawn Dyarrig.
They caught each other then, one grip under the arm and one on the
shoulder. 'Tis not long they were wrestling when Lawn Dyarrig had
Short-clothes on the earth, and he gave him the five thin tyings dear
and tight.
"You are the best hero I have ever met," said Short-clothes; "give me
quarter for my soul--spare me. When I did not tell you of my own will, I
must tell in spite of myself."
"It is as easy for me to loosen you as to tie you," said Lawn Dyarrig,
and he freed him.
"Since you are not dead now," said Short-clothes, "there is no death
allotted to you. I'll find a way for you to leave Terrible Valley. Go
and take that old bridle hanging there beyond and shake it; whatever
beast comes and puts its head into the bridle will carry you."
Lawn Dyarrig shook the bridle, and a dirty, shaggy little foal came and
put its head in the bridle. Lawn Dyarrig mounted, dropped the reins on
the foal's neck, and let him take his own choice of roads. The foal
brought Lawn Dyarrig out by another way to the upper world, and took him
to Erin. Lawn Dyarrig stopped some distance from his father's castle,
and knocked at the house of an old weaver.
"Who are you?" asked the old man.
"I am a weaver," said Lawn Dyarrig.
"What can you do?"
"I can spin for twelve and twist for twelve."
"This is a very good man," said the old weaver to his sons, "let us try
him."
The work they had been doing for a year he had done in one hour. When
dinner was over the old man began to wash and shave, and his two sons
began to do the same.
"Why is this?" asked Lawn Dyarrig.
"Haven't you heard that Ur, son of the King, is to marry to-night the
woman that he took from the Green Knight of Terrible Valley?"
"I have not," said Lawn Dyarrig; "as all are going to the wedding, I
suppose I may go without offence?"
"Oh, you may," said the weaver; "there will be a hundred thousand
welcomes before you."
"Are there any linen sheets within?"
"There are," said the weaver.
"It is well to have bags ready for yourself and two sons."