Irish Folk Tales

by Henry Glassie

  When Trembling sat in the saddle and was going away, the henwife ordered her strictly not to go inside the door of the church, but to rush away as soon as the people rose at the end of Mass, and hurry home on the mare before any man could stop her.

  That Sunday the people were more astonished than ever, and gazed at her more than the first time, and all they were thinking of was to know who she was. But they had no chance, for the moment the people rose at the end of Mass she slipped from the church, was in the silver saddle, and home before a man could stop her or talk to her.

  The henwife had the dinner ready. Trembling took off her satin robe, and had on her old clothes before her sisters got home.

  “What news have you today?” asked the henwife of the sisters when they came from the church.

  “Oh, we saw the grand strange lady again! And it’s little that any man could think of our dresses after looking at the robes of satin that she had on! And all at church, from high to low, had their mouths open, gazing at her, and no man was looking at us.”

  The two sisters gave neither rest nor peace till they got dresses as nearly like the strange lady’s robes as they could find. Of course they were not so good, for the like of those robes could not be found in Erin.

  When the third Sunday came, Fair and Brown went to church dressed in black satin. They left Trembling at home to work in the kitchen, and told her to be sure and have dinner ready when they came back.

  After they had gone and were out of sight, the henwife came to the kitchen and said: “Well, my dear, are you for church today?”

  “I would go if I had a new dress to wear.”

  “I’ll get you any dress you ask for. What dress would you like?” asked the henwife.

  “A dress red as a rose from the waist down, and white as snow from the waist up; a cape of green on my shoulders; and a hat on my head with a red, a white, and a green feather in it; and shoes for my feet with the toes red, the middle white, and the backs and heels green.”

  The henwife put on the cloak of darkness, wished for all these things, and had them. When Trembling was dressed, the henwife put the honey-bird on her right shoulder and the honey-finger on her left, and placing the hat on her head, clipped a few hairs from one lock and a few from another with her scissors, and that moment the most beautiful golden hair was flowing down over the girl’s shoulders. Then the henwife asked what kind of a mare she would ride. She said white, with blue and gold-colored diamond-shaped spots all over her body, on her back a saddle of gold, and on her head a golden bridle.

  The mare stood there before the door, and a bird sitting between her ears, which began to sing as soon as Trembling was in the saddle, and never stopped till she came home from the church.

  The fame of the beautiful strange lady had gone out through the world, and all the princes and great men that were in it came to church that Sunday, each one hoping that it was himself would have her home with him after Mass.

  The son of the king of Omanya forgot all about the eldest sister, and remained outside the church, so as to catch the strange lady before she could hurry away.

  The church was more crowded than ever before, and there were three times as many outside. There was such a throng before the church that Trembling could only come inside the gate.

  As soon as the people were rising at the end of Mass, the lady slipped out through the gate, was in the golden saddle in an instant, and sweeping away ahead of the wind. But if she was, the prince of Omanya was at her side, and, seizing her by the foot, he ran with the mare for thirty perches, and never let go of the beautiful lady till the shoe was pulled from her foot, and he was left behind with it in his hand. She came home as fast as the mare could carry her, and was thinking all the time that the henwife would kill her for losing the shoe.

  Seeing her so vexed and so changed in the face, the old woman asked: “What’s the trouble that’s on you now?”

  “Oh! I’ve lost one of the shoes off my feet,” said Trembling.

  “Don’t mind that; don’t be vexed,” said the henwife. “Maybe it’s the best thing that ever happened to you.”

  Then Trembling gave up all the things she had to the henwife, put on her old clothes, and went to work in the kitchen. When the sisters came home, the henwife asked: “Have you any news from the church?”

  “We have indeed,” said they; “for we saw the grandest sight today. The strange lady came again, in grander array than before. On herself and the horse she rode were the finest colors of the world, and between the ears of the horse was a bird which never stopped singing from the time she came till she went away. The lady herself is the most beautiful woman ever seen by man in Erin.”

  After Trembling had disappeared from the church, the son of the king of Omanya said to the other kings’ sons: “I will have that lady for my own.”

  They all said: “You didn’t win her just by taking the shoe off her foot, you’ll have to win her by the point of the sword. You’ll have to fight for her with us before you can call her your own.”

  “Well,” said the son of the king of Omanya, “when I find the lady that shoe will fit, I’ll fight for her, never fear, before I leave her to any of you.”

  Then all the kings’ sons were uneasy, and anxious to know who was she that lost the shoe; and they began to travel all over Erin to know could they find her. The prince of Omanya and all the others went in a great company together, and made the round of Erin. They went everywhere—north, south, east, and west. They visited every place where a woman was to be found, and left not a house in the kingdom they did not search, to know could they find the woman the shoe would fit, not caring whether she was rich or poor, of high or low degree.

  The prince of Omanya always kept the shoe. And when the young women saw it, they had great hopes, for it was of proper size, neither large nor small, and it would beat any man to know of what material it was made. One thought it would fit her if she cut a little from her great toe; and another, with too short a foot, put something in the tip of her stocking. But no use, they only spoiled their feet, and were curing them for months afterwards.

  The two sisters, Fair and Brown, heard that the princes of the world were looking all over Erin for the woman that could wear the shoe, and every day they were talking of trying it on. And one day Trembling spoke up and said: “Maybe it’s my foot that the shoe will fit.”

  “Oh, the breaking of the dog’s foot on you! Why say so when you were at home every Sunday?”

  They were that way waiting, and scolding the younger sister, till the princes were near the place. The day they were to come, the sisters put Trembling in a closet, and locked the door on her. When the company came to the house, the prince of Omanya gave the shoe to the sisters. But though they tried and tried, it would fit neither of them.

  “Is there any other young woman in the house?” asked the prince.

  “There is,” said Trembling, speaking up in the closet. “I’m here.”

  “Oh! we have her for nothing but to put out the ashes,” said the sisters.

  But the prince and the others wouldn’t leave the house till they had seen her. So the two sisters had to open the door. When Trembling came out, the shoe was given to her, and it fitted exactly.

  The prince of Omanya looked at her and said: “You are the woman the shoe fits, and you are the woman I took the shoe from.”

  Then Trembling spoke up, and said: “Do you stay here till I return.”

  Then she went to the henwife’s house. The old woman put on the cloak of darkness, got everything for her she had the first Sunday at church, and put her on the white mare in the same fashion. Then Trembling rode along the highway to the front of the house. All who saw her the first time said: “This is the lady we saw at church.”

  Then she went away a second time, and a second time came back on the black mare in the second dress which the henwife gave her. All who saw her the second Sunday said: “That is the lady we saw at church.”

  A th
ird time she asked for a short absence, and soon came back on the third mare and in the third dress. All who saw her the third time said: “That is the lady we saw at church.” Every man was satisfied, and knew that she was the woman.

  Then all the princes and great men spoke up, and said to the son of the king of Omanya: “You’ll have to fight now for her before we let her go with you.”

  “I’m here before you, ready for combat,” answered the prince.

  Then the son of the king of Lochlin stepped forth. The struggle began, and a terrible struggle it was. They fought for nine hours. And then the son of the king of Lochlin stopped, gave up his claim, and left the field. Next day the son of the king of Spain fought six hours, and yielded his claim. On the third day the son of the king of Nyerfói fought eight hours, and stopped. The fourth day the son of the king of Greece fought six hours, and stopped. On the fifth day no more strange princes wanted to fight. And all the sons of kings in Erin said they would not fight with a man of their own land, that the strangers had had their chance, and as no others came to claim the woman, she belonged of right to the son of the king of Omanya.

  The marriage-day was fixed, and the invitations were sent out. The wedding lasted for a year and a day. When the wedding was over, the king’s son brought home the bride, and when the time came a son was born. The young woman sent for her eldest sister, Fair, to be with her and care for her. One day, when Trembling was well, and when her husband was away hunting, the two sisters went out to walk. And when they came to the seaside, the eldest pushed the youngest sister in. A great whale came and swallowed her.

  The eldest sister came home alone, and the husband asked, “Where is your sister?”

  “She has gone home to her father in Ballyshannon. Now that I am well, I don’t need her.”

  “Well,” said the husband, looking at her, “I’m in dread it’s my wife that has gone.”

  “Oh! no,” said she. “It’s my sister Fair that’s gone.”

  Since the sisters were very much alike, the prince was in doubt. That night he put his sword between them, and said: “If you are my wife, this sword will get warm; if not, it will stay cold.”

  In the morning when he rose up, the sword was as cold as when he put it there.

  It happened when the two sisters were walking by the seashore that a little cowboy was down by the water minding cattle, and saw Fair push Trembling into the sea; and next day, when the tide came in, he saw the whale swim up and throw her out on the sand. When she was on the sand she said to the cowboy: “When you go home in the evening with the cows, tell the master that my sister Fair pushed me into the sea yesterday; that a whale swallowed me, and then threw me out, but will come again and swallow me with the coming of the next tide; then he’ll go out with the tide, and come again with tomorrow’s tide, and throw me again on the strand. The whale will cast me out three times. I’m under the enchantment of this whale, and cannot leave the beach or escape myself. Unless my husband saves me before I’m swallowed the fourth time, I shall be lost. He must come and shoot the whale with a silver bullet when he turns on the broad of his back. Under the breast-fin of the whale is a reddish-brown spot. My husband must hit him in that spot, for it is the only place in which he can be killed.”

  When the cowboy got home, the eldest sister gave him a draught of oblivion, and he did not tell.

  Next day he went again to the sea. The whale came and cast Trembling on shore again. She asked the boy: “Did you tell the master what I told you to tell him?”

  “I did not,” said he. “I forgot.”

  “How did you forget?” asked she.

  “The woman of the house gave me a drink that made me forget.”

  “Well, don’t forget telling him this night. And if she gives you a drink, don’t take it from her.”

  As soon as the cowboy came home, the eldest sister offered him a drink. He refused to take it till he had delivered his message and told all to the master. The third day the prince went down with his gun and a silver bullet in it. He was not long down when the whale came and threw Trembling upon the beach as the two days before. She had no power to speak to her husband till he had killed the whale. Then the whale went out, turned over once on the broad of his back, and showed the spot for a moment only. That moment the prince fired. He had but the one chance, and a short one at that. But he took it, and hit the spot, and the whale, mad with pain, made the sea all around red with blood, and died.

  That minute Trembling was able to speak, and went home with her husband, who sent word to her father what the eldest sister had done. The father came, and told him any death he chose to give her to give it. The prince told the father he would leave her life and death with himself. The father had her put out then on the sea in a barrel, with provisions in it for seven years.

  In time Trembling had a second child, a daughter. The prince and she sent the cowboy to school, and trained him up as one of their own children, and said: “If the little girl that is born to us now lives, no other man in the world will get her but him.”

  The cowboy and the prince’s daughter lived on till they were married. The mother said to her husband: “You could not have saved me from the whale but for the little cowboy. On that account I don’t grudge him my daughter.”

  The son of the king of Omanya and Trembling had fourteen children, and they lived happily till the two died of old age.

  THE CORPSE WATCHERS

  WEXFORD

  PATRICK KENNEDY 1866

  There was once a poor woman that had three daughters, and one day the eldest said, “Mother, bake my cake and kill my cock, till I go seek my fortune.” So she did, and when all was ready, says her mother to her, “Which will you have—half of these with my blessing, or the whole with my curse?” “Curse or no curse,” says she, “the whole is little enough.” So away she set, and if the mother didn’t give her her curse, she didn’t give her her blessing.

  She walked and she walked till she was tired and hungry, and then she sat down to take her dinner. While she was eating it, a poor woman came up, and asked for a bit. “The dickens a bit you’ll get from me,” says she. “It’s all too little for myself.” And the poor woman walked away very sorrowful.

  At nightfall she got lodging at a farmer’s, and the woman of the house told her that she’d give her a spadeful of gold and a shovelful of silver if she’d only sit up and watch her son’s corpse that was waking in the next room. She said she’d do that. And so, when the family were in their bed, she sat by the fire, and cast an eye from time to time on the corpse that was lying under the table.

  All at once the dead man got up in his shroud, and stood before her, and said. “All alone, fair maid!” she gave him no answer, and when he said it the third time, he struck her with a switch, and she became a gray flag.

  About a week after, the second daughter went to seek her fortune, and she didn’t care for her mother’s blessing no more nor her sister, and the very same thing happened to her. She was left a gray flag by the side of the other.

  At last the youngest went off in search of the other two, and she took care to carry her mother’s blessing with her. She shared her dinner with the poor woman on the road, and she told her that she would watch over her.

  Well, she got lodging in the same place as the others, and agreed to mind the corpse. She sat up by the fire with the dog and cat, and amused herself with some apples and nuts the mistress gave her. She thought it a pity that the man under the table was a corpse, he was so handsome.

  But at last he got up, and says he, “All alone, fair maid!” And she wasn’t long about an answer:

  “All alone I am not.

  I’ve little dog Douse and Pussy, my cat;

  I’ve apples to roast, and nuts to crack,

  And all alone I am not.”

  “Ho, ho!” says he, “you’re a girl of courage, though you wouldn’t have enough to follow me. I am now going to cross the quaking bog, and go through the burning forest. I must
then enter the cave of terror, and climb the hill of glass, and drop from the top of it into the Dead Sea.”

  “I’ll follow you,” says she, “for I engaged to mind you.” He thought to prevent her, but she was as stiff as he was stout.

  Out he sprang through the window, and she followed him till they came to the Green Hills, and then says he:

  “Open, open, Green Hills, and let the Light of the Green Hills through.”

  “Aye,” says the girl, “and let the fair maid, too.”

  They opened, and the man and woman passed through, and there they were, on the edge of a bog.

  He trod lightly over the shaky bits of moss and sod. And while she was thinking of how she’d get across, the old beggar appeared to her, but much nicer dressed, touched her shoes with her stick, and the soles spread a foot on each side. So she easily got over the shaky marsh.

  The burning wood was at the edge of the bog, and there the good fairy flung a damp, thick cloak over her, and through the flames she went, and a hair of her head was not singed.

  Then they passed through the dark cavern of horrors, where she’d have heard the most horrible yells, only that the fairy stopped her ears with wax. She saw frightful things, with blue vapors round them, and felt the sharp rocks, and the slimy backs of frogs and snakes.

  When they got out of the cavern, they were at the mountain of glass. And then the fairy made her slippers so sticky with a tap of her rod, that she followed the young corpse easily to the top. There was the deep sea a quarter of a mile under them, and so the corpse said to her, “Go home to my mother, and tell her how far you came to do her bidding. Farewell.” He sprung head foremost down into the sea, and after him she plunged, without stopping a moment to think about it.

  She was stupefied at first, but when they reached the waters she recovered her thoughts. After piercing down a great depth, they saw a green light towards the bottom. At last they were below the sea, that seemed a green sky above them; and sitting in a beautiful meadow, she half asleep, and her head resting against his side. She couldn’t keep her eyes open, and she couldn’t tell how long she slept. But when she woke, she was in bed at his house, and he and his mother sitting by her bedside, and watching her.