The King’s daughter, who was called Fior Usga (which signifies ‘Spring Water’ in English), did not much like to be told to perform so menial a service before so many people; and though she did not venture to refuse the commands of her father, yet she hesitated to obey him, and looked down upon the ground.
The King, who loved his daughter very much, seeing this was sorry for what he had desired her to do, but having said the word he was never known to recall it. He therefore thought of a way to make his daughter go speedily to fetch the water, and this was by proposing that the young prince, her partner, should go along with her.
Accordingly, in a loud voice, he said, ‘Daughter, I wonder not at your fearing to go alone so late at night; but I doubt not the young prince at your side will go with you.’
The prince was not displeased at hearing this and, taking the golden vessel in one hand, with the other he led the King’s daughter out of the hall so gracefully that all present gazed after them with delight.
When they came to the spring of water, in the courtyard of the palace, the fair Usga unlocked the door with the greatest care. But stooping down with the golden vessel to take some of the water out of the well, she found the vessel so heavy that she lost her balance and fell in. The young prince tried to save her, but in vain, because the water rose and rose so fast that the entire courtyard was speedily covered with it, and he hastened back almost in a state of distraction to the King.
The door of the well being left open the water, so long confined, rejoiced at obtaining its liberty and rushed forth incessantly, every moment rising higher; it reached the hall of the entertainment sooner than the young prince himself, so that when he attempted to speak to the King he was up to his neck in water. At length the water rose to such a height that it filled the entire green valley in which the King’s palace stood, and so the present Lough of Cork was formed.
Yet the King and his guests were not drowned, as would now happen if such an inundation were to take place. Neither was his daughter, the fair Usga, who returned to the banquet hall the very next night after this dreadful event. And every night since then the same entertainment and dancing goes on in the palace in the bottom of the lough, and it will last until someone has the luck to bring up out of it the golden vessel which was the cause of all the mischief.
Nobody can doubt this was a judgement upon the King for his shutting up the well in the courtyard from the poor people. And if there are any who do not credit my story, they might go and see the Lough of Cork, for there it is to be seen to this day. The road to Kinsale passes at one side of it and when its waters are low and clear the tops of towers and stately buildings may be plainly viewed in the bottom by those who have good eyesight, without the help of spectacles.
Glossary
acushla: darling
avick (Ir. a mhic): my lad, my dear
baste: beast, rogue
bawn-wall: fortification
Bel/Beltaine: May Day festival (from Baal)
bodach: old man, goblin
brancheen: little branch
deeshy: smart
Diamond: the main square in an Irish market town
Emain: seat of the Kings of Ulster
Fians, or Fenians: a band of warriors
gossip: godparent
gossoon: lad, boy (from French garçon)
Lady Day: 25 March, Feast of the Annunciation
leprehaun (Ir. leith bhrogan): shoemaker, or ‘artisan of the brogue’, one of the fairy race
lusmore: foxglove
malivogue: wish evil upon
maneen: little man
mavourneen (Ir. mo mhurnin): my dear one
merrow (Ir. moruadh): sea fairy, or sea maiden. They wear a red cap (A cohuleen driuth), and if this is stolen, they cannot then go under the water.
Moy-Mell: the promised land of milk and honey
musha (Ir. maiseadh): expression of surprise
ochone (Ir. ochoin): alas! a lamentation
ogham: old Irish writing system for inscribing on stone or wood
omadawn (Ir. amadan): fool
phouka (Ir. puca): a puck, or kind of fairy which usually appears in the form of a horse, goat or bull.
pishogue: a fairy spell. The four-leafed shamrock was a talisman or safeguard against a fairy pishogue.
poteen: a kind of whiskey, made from potatoes
rath: ruined hillfort or mound (hence placenames like Rathfarnham, Rathmullan, Rathmelton, Rathfriland)
Samhain: autumn festival, Hallowe’en, All Hallows
sheehogue (Ir. sidheog): land fairy, a diminutive of sidhe
sidhe: fairies, the people of the raths or mounds. Irish for the fairy people is daoine sidhe. The banshee (the fairy who prophesies a death) is beansidhe in Irish.
soorawn: dizziness
Tara: seat of the High Kings of Ireland, in County Meath, near Navan
throng: busy
Tir nan Og: land of the young
Tuatha De Danann: ‘people of the goddess Dana’, the fourth race of invaders of prehistoric Ireland. After their defeat by the Milesians, they were said to have withdrawn into the hills and caves and waters of Ireland. They were believed to possess magical powers, and the fairy race was said to be descended from them. They were thought to have shrunk to fairy size over the centuries, as people ceased to believe in them and offer them gifts.
Contributors
william allingham (1824–89): A poet and editor from Ballyshannon, County Donegal, he also worked as a customs officer.
william carleton (1794–1869): A folklorist who was educated at ‘hedge schools’ in County Tyrone and who spent his adult life in Dublin. His Tales and Stories of the Irish Peasantry was published in 1832.
thomas crofton croker (1798–1854): Born in County Cork, his Fairy Legends and Traditions (1825–8) were admired by Sir Walter Scott.
jeremiah curtin (1835–1906): Author of Myths and Folklore of Ireland (1890).
juliana horatia ewing (1841–85): Born in Yorkshire, she was an author of books for the young.
alice furlong (1871–1946): A poet and popular writer from County Dublin.
elizabeth grierson (1869–1943): A Scottish Borderer from Hawick, she wrote mainly for children, producing The Book of Celtic Stories in 1927.
eleanor hull (1860–1935): Born in England, of a County Down family, she was a poet, hymn writer and folklorist.
douglas hyde (1860–1949): Pioneer of the revival of Irish language and culture, he became the first president of Ireland in 1938. ‘Guleesh’ is taken from Beside the Fire (1890).
joseph jacobs (1854–1916): An Australian-born folklorist, he edited several collections, including Celtic Fairy Tales (1892).
maud joynt (1868–1940): Born in County Roscommon, she was a folklorist and author of Golden Legends of the Gael (1924).
patrick kennedy (1801–73): An Irish folklorist and bookseller; author of Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts (1866).
letitia mcclintock (c. 1850 – n.d): Born in County Donegal, she was the daughter of Robert McClintock, Justice of the Peace for Counties Donegal and Londonderry.
standish o’grady (1846–1928): An influential literary historian and folklorist from West Cork.
mary patton (n.d): Author of ‘Eonin’, taken from Eilis Dillon (ed.), The Lucky Bag (1987).
jane francesca, (lady) wilde (1821–96): A Dublin poet and mother of Oscar Wilde, she was a renowned advocate of female emancipation.
w.b. yeats (1865–1939): Ireland’s most famous modern poet, he was a folklorist in his early years. ‘The Stolen Child’ is taken from Crossways (1889).
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Irish Folk and Fairy Tales Page 21