Donegal Fairy Tales - McManus Seumas - Страница 17

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Seeing the little red man had been such a good friend to him, Jack consented to do this. He broke a blackthorn on her every morning for ten mornings, and for every blackthorn he broke on her she was dispossessed of a devil. And on the tenth day she had lost all her rage and all her fury and all the devils, and she was the best and most perfect girl, as well as the most beautiful one, in all the world.

The little red man on the tenth day asked Jack if he remembered when he set out on his travels paying a hundred guineas to get a corpse buried. Jack said he did.

“Then,” said the little red man, “it was I whom you buried, and I have tried to repay you a little. Now, good-bye, and may you and your wife prosper ever after.”

The little red man disappeared, and Jack and his beautiful wife lived long and happily.

CIAD, Ceud, and Mith-Ceud were the three sons of the King of Norway. All over the world they were celebrated as fine, brave fellows, and they had come to think themselves so, too.

On a day after Ciad had been walking by the shore for a long time, thinking, he came back to his father’s castle. He said to his father and his brothers: “Ceud and Mith-Ceud and Ciad are celebrated far and wide as great heroes and gallant champions, but I have just been thinking, do we deserve this? Neither of us has ever done anything great. I think it is not right to bear the name of champion without having done something to earn it. I will leave my father’s castle, and go away and prove my right to the title of hero, or, if I fail, I will never come back.”

The King of Norway tried hard to persuade him not to go, but Ciad would not be persuaded. He said: “I am sorely ashamed of myself for bearing a title that I have not deserved.”

Then, when the King found that Ciad was bent on going, he asked him to take the pick of his men to accompany him on his adventures.

Ciad said: “No, I’ll go by myself.”

The King could not induce him to take any men.

Early next morning Ciad was up and breakfasted. He took his arms and his shield with him, and started off. He went to the seashore, and traveled away and away, along it.

When he had been traveling for three hours, he saw a speck far out at sea, but it was coming nearer and getting bigger every minute. At last he saw it was a boat, and when it came still nearer, he saw that a woman sat in it. When it was nearer still, he saw that she was a very beautiful lady.

He stood his ground, as the boat was coming straight toward him. At length the boat’s keel grated on the gravel, and Ciad helped the young lady on shore. He said: “Beautiful lady, who are you? Where do you come from? Or where do you go all alone?”

“Before I answer that,” she said, “give me your name; for I will not reply to those questions unless you are of royal blood.”

He said: “I am of royal blood. I am Ciad, son of the King of Norway.”

She said: “I am glad of that. I am Dark Eye, the daughter of the King of France. From France I have come, but where I am going I do not know. For a year and a day I have been wandering over the seas in this little boat, seeking for a champion. A cruel stepmother has laid a spell on me, under which I have to leave home, and must wander forever and ever over the seas and the oceans in this little boat, unless I can find for her the bottle of loca [loca was a balm that could instantly cure all wounds, and even restore life itself to the dead] that is owned by the Queen of the Island of the Riches of the World. When I find that, my stepmother’s spell will be lifted off me. For three years now I have been wandering over the world seeking for this island, but cannot find it, and can find no one who knows where it is. I have already put geasa on the twelve greatest champions of the world, ordering them to bring me this bottle. None of them got it, but instead the twelve lost their lives. As you are a King’s son and a hero I put geasa upon you to bring me this bottle of loca of the Queen of the Island of the Riches of the World, and hand it to me on this spot in three years and a day from now.”

Ciad said: “I accept the geasa, Dark Eye.”

Dark Eye thanked him. He helped her into her boat; she pushed off, and sailed away and away until he lost sight of her. Then Ciad turned and walked back to his father’s castle. He told his father of his adventure and of the geasa that had been laid on him.

“My poor boy,” his father said, “I am very sorry for you. There are not three in all the world who know where the Island of the Riches of the World is, and even if you could find that, you would lose your life in trying to take the bottle of loca.”

Ciad said that better men than he had already lost their lives in the search, so it would be no shame for him if he, too, lost his.

His father asked him to take nine times nine nines of men with him, if he was bent on fulfilling his geasa.

But Ciad said: “No. I shall not take nine men. Give me a ship, and let my brothers Ceud and Mith-Ceud go along with me. If it is possible to get the bottle of loca of the Queen of the Island of the Riches of the World, I, with Ceud and Mith-Ceud, will get it. If it is impossible, then your nine times nine nines of men would be lost to you, as well as we.”

His father gave him the best ship in the harbor, and with Ceud and Mith-Ceud, Ciad, on the morrow, set out on his quest.

They sailed for two days and two nights without meeting any adventure; and on the third day they saw a speck on the sea, far off. Very soon they saw it was a ship coming towards them. As they came nearer to it they found that it was very large, and when they came very near they saw that in the ship was one person, a great giant, greater than any giant in Norway.

When the strange ship came up beside them, the giant asked Ciad who he was and what right he had to sail these waters.

Ciad said: “My name I’m not ashamed of. I am Ciad, the son of the King of Norway, a hero. Who are you, and by what right do you question me?”

He said: “I am the Giant of the Great Seas, and I allow no ship upon these waters.”

Said Ciad: “If that is your law I am sorry for you, for it’s going to be broken this day.”

The giant raised his spear, and Ciad, without waiting, leaped aboard the giant’s ship with his spear in his hand and with his shield before him.

Ciad and the Giant of the Great Seas fell to, and fought as two men never fought before. Their fight was so loud and so fierce and so terrible that the seals came from the North Seas and the whales came from the deeps of the ocean, and the little red fishes came up from the sea-meadows and gathered around the ships to watch the fight. The giant was brave and a great fighter, without doubt; his strength and skill were wonderful; but the courageous spirit of Ciad was greater than the giant’s strength and skill. When the sun was two hours above the Eastern waters they had begun the fight, and when it was going down into the Western waters the fight was not ended. But it was very nearly so, for the giant was weakening, and soon he would have been beaten, but he gave three calls, and a blue mist came down from the skies and wrapped his ship round.

When the mist cleared away, the giant and the ship were gone, and Ciad was struggling in the water.

Ceud and Mith-Ceud took him aboard and found he was so badly abused and so weak from fighting and loss of blood, that there was nothing for it but to return home; so home they went.

At home Ciad lay in his bed for three days, with his father’s doctors attending him. At the end of that time he got up and asked his father to give him thirty men and another ship, that he might set out on his journey again.

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