Celtic Fairy Tales (18 page)

Cucullin was surprised to find such a powerful set of grinders in
one so young; but he was still much more so on finding, when he took
his hand from Fin's mouth, that he had left the very finger upon
which his whole strength depended, behind him. He gave one loud
groan, and fell down at once with terror and weakness. This was all
Fin wanted, who now knew that his most powerful and bitterest enemy
was at his mercy. He started out of the cradle, and in a few minutes
the great Cucullin, that was for such a length of time the terror of
him and all his followers, lay a corpse before him. Thus did Fin,
through the wit and invention of Oonagh, his wife, succeed in
overcoming his enemy by cunning, which he never could have done by
force.

King Hugh Curucha lived in Tir Conal, and he had three daughters,
whose names were Fair, Brown, and Trembling. Fair and Brown had new
dresses, and went to church every Sunday. Trembling was kept at home
to do the cooking and work. They would not let her go out of the
house at all; for she was more beautiful than the other two, and
they were in dread she might marry before themselves.

They carried on in this way for seven years. At the end of seven
years the son of the king of Emania fell in love with the eldest
sister.

One Sunday morning, after the other two had gone to church, the old
henwife came into the kitchen to Trembling, and said: "It's at
church you ought to be this day, instead of working here at home."

"How could I go?" said Trembling. "I have no clothes good enough to
wear at church; and if my sisters were to see me there, they'd kill
me for going out of the house."

"I'll give you," said the henwife, "a finer dress than either of
them has ever seen. And now tell me what dress will you have?"

"I'll have," said Trembling, "a dress as white as snow, and green
shoes for my feet."

Then the henwife put on the cloak of darkness, clipped a piece from
the old clothes the young woman had on, and asked for the whitest
robes in the world and the most beautiful that could be found, and a
pair of green shoes.

That moment she had the robe and the shoes, and she brought them to
Trembling, who put them on. When Trembling was dressed and ready,
the henwife said: "I have a honey-bird here to sit on your right
shoulder, and a honey-finger to put on your left. At the door stands
a milk-white mare, with a golden saddle for you to sit on, and a
golden bridle to hold in your hand."

Trembling sat on the golden saddle; and when she was ready to start,
the henwife said: "You must not go inside the door of the church,
and the minute the people rise up at the end of Mass, do you make
off, and ride home as fast as the mare will carry you."

When Trembling came to the door of the church there was no one
inside who could get a glimpse of her but was striving to know who
she was; and when they saw her hurrying away at the end of Mass,
they ran out to overtake her. But no use in their running; she was
away before any man could come near her. From the minute she left
the church till she got home, she overtook the wind before her, and
outstripped the wind behind.

She came down at the door, went in, and found the henwife had dinner
ready. She put off the white robes, and had on her old dress in a
twinkling.

When the two sisters came home the henwife asked: "Have you any news
to-day from the church?"

"We have great news," said they. "We saw a wonderful grand lady at
the church-door. The like of the robes she had we have never seen on
woman before. It's little that was thought of our dresses beside
what she had on; and there wasn't a man at the church, from the king
to the beggar, but was trying to look at her and know who she was."

The sisters would give no peace till they had two dresses like the
robes of the strange lady; but honey-birds and honey-fingers were
not to be found.

Next Sunday the two sisters went to church again, and left the
youngest at home to cook the dinner.

After they had gone, the henwife came in and asked: "Will you go to
church to-day?"

"I would go," said Trembling, "if I could get the going."

"What robe will you wear?" asked the henwife.

"The finest black satin that can be found, and red shoes for my
feet."

"What colour do you want the mare to be?"

"I want her to be so black and so glossy that I can see myself in
her body."

The henwife put on the cloak of darkness, and asked for the robes
and the mare. That moment she had them. When Trembling was dressed,
the henwife put the honey-bird on her right shoulder and the honey-
finger on her left. The saddle on the mare was silver, and so was
the bridle.

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 to-day?" 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 to-day?"

"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-coloured 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 Emania 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 Emania 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 to-day.
The strange lady came again, in grander array than before. On
herself and the horse she rode were the finest colours 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 Emania 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 Emania, "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 Emania 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 Emania 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 Emania 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 Emania 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 third 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 Emania: "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 Emania.