Irish Folk Tales (58 page)

No sooner was the offer made than the Irish men made one rush for the corpse to see which of them would have it first so that he could earn his
fistful of gold. Cromwell drew his sword, “Stand back,” he said, “and don’t touch the corpse.”

Then Cromwell turned to his own army. “Now,” says he, “the day you see one Irish man ready to burn another for a fistful of gold, we can take Ireland that day with roasted apples!”

C
ROMWELL’S BIBLE

One time Cromwell was planning to put a wall or a paling all around the coast of England. He thought that was the only way to keep an enemy out.

He had a huge, black Bible—it would take a horse to draw it!—and he had a servant always with him to take care of the Bible. One day, himself and the servant set out and they never stopped until they reached the coast. It was a very warm day, and Cromwell was exhausted when he reached the sea. Drowsiness and sleep were coming over him, and he lay down on the strand to close his eyes.

“Now,” said he to the servant, “I’ll stretch myself for a while, and you’re to take care of the Bible until I awake. And as if your life depended on it, you’re not to open it. If you do, it will be the worse for you!”

He lay down and it wasn’t long till he was snoring for himself. When the servant saw that he was asleep,

“By heavens, it won’t be long now till I find out what power is in this Bible!”

He opened it and, if he did, it wasn’t long until a small, stout man jumped out on the strand before his eyes, and then another and another until the strand was covered with them. None of them was the size of your thumb, and they all were running around and shouting: “Give me work! Give me work! Give me work!”

The poor servant was terrified, I’d say, when he saw the huge crowd all over the strand, and his heart was full of fear that they would rouse Cromwell.

“May the Devil take the pack of ye!” he shouted. “Where would I get work for ye? Why don’t ye start making ropes out of the sand?”

They started making ropes out of the sand, but, of course, if they were at it since, they couldn’t make any ropes of it. They had to give up in the end, and told the servant that it was beyond their powers.

“If that’s the way with ye,” said the servant, “I can’t help ye. Off ye go in the name of the Devil to wherever ye came from, and don’t be annoying me, yourselves and your work!”

In they went, every single madman of them, into the Bible, and when the servant was rid of the last one of them, I promise you that it didn’t take him long to close the Bible on them. Nor did he open it again.

When Cromwell had slept through, he sat up, took hold of the Bible and opened it, but, if he was opening it since, no help would come out of the Bible to him.

“I’m afraid that you opened this Bible, fellow, while I was asleep,” said he to the servant. “And if you did, that leaves England without a paling!”

P
ATRICK SARSFIELD

Sarsfield was a great general the time he turned the shoes on his horse. The English it was were pursuing him, and he got off and changed the shoes the way when they saw the tracks they would think he went another road. That was a great plan.

He got to Limerick then, and he killed thousands of the English. He was a great general.

S
ARSFIELD SURRENDERS AND RORY TAKES TO THE HILLS

My uncle Donal used to tell me how his grandfather often told him that when Limerick at last surrendered to William of Orange and there looked nothing more to fight for, and that the French flag was set on one hill and William’s flag on another for choice of the Irish fighters as they marched out; and when these thronged solid to the French, with brave Patrick Sarsfield at their head, one rough fellow, Rory, who in the fighting had drawn everyone’s admiration, so reckless he was—this Rory struck away on
his own. A captain of Sarsfield’s headed for King Louis’s flag, seeing Rory strike off by himself, called, “Rory, aren’t you coming with us to France?”

“No!” Rory answered, shortly.

“You’re surely not going to William?”

“No, no!” said Rory.

“In the Lord’s name, are you making no choice?”

“I’m choosing Ireland.”

“You’re mad. Ireland’s lost, and there isn’t a solitary soul left to fight for her.”

“You’re standing on Ireland,” Rory said, like that. “And I’m to fight for her.”

“But you haven’t even a handful behind you, and England has a hundred thousand.”

“I’ll have behind me an army more plentiful,” said Rory, “than the hairs on your head.”

“What do you mean?”

“Every angel God can spare He will strap a sword on and send to my helping—and England’s hundred thousand will melt like the mists before us.”

“When?” asked the captain with a chuckle.

“In God’s own good time. Maybe in a year, maybe five hundred years; but, be it soon or be it long, Rory wins.”

And, his gun on his shoulder, Rory turned away and headed to the hills.

B
LACK FRANCIS

He was the leader of a highway gang that was in Fermanagh in days gone by.

The way it was, do ye see, after the Williamite War, there was a lot of the Irish army went away to France.

And they figured in a lot of wars that France had with other European countries.

And they were known as the
Irish Brigade
.

But then there was a section of them that didn’t leave this country, but they took to the hills.

And they were called the rapparees.

And what they followed up was: they used to rob the rich, and they used to give the money to poor people, do ye know.

So that went on for a length of time.

And they were in every county in Ireland.

But this was a part of them was in Fermanagh, and whether this man was O’Brien or not, I just can’t remember, but I heard it anyway.

But there was five of them.

And there was one fellow,

      he was Corrigan.

And he was a terrible jump

      or a terrible leap.

It was supposed that it was Lisgoole Abbey that they were going to rob this night for some ones that wasn’t able to pay their rates, or meet their accounts. And they used to give the money to people like that, do ye see.

So anyway, there was one of the gang and he insulted a girl that was in this house.

And this Black Francis bid to have been clear, only for a lacerating that he gave this fellow for interfering with his girl.

He was chastising this fellow for his bad manners, and for the crime it was for to interfere with a woman-person, do ye see.

But anyway the word went to Enniskillen.

And whatever kind of a post—whether it was military or whether it was the revenue men, I can’t just tell you which of the two it was—but they started out, and didn’t they get the length of the place before the gang got away.

Only this Corrigan fellow.

And this Corrigan fellow leapt the Sillees River.

So Black Francis and the other ones, they were arrested.

And there was a death penalty for robbery in them days.

So anyway these ones were tried, and they were found guilty, and they were executed at Enniskillen, where the technical school is—that was the jail in them days.

So anyway, the executions took place outside in them days.

And this Corrigan fellow, he dressed himself up as a woman.

And he came along.

And when Black Francis was brought out for to be hanged, whatever way Corrigan managed it, he attracted his attention.

So he made a very long speech, Black Francis did, about seeing his sweetheart in the crowd, and that he hoped she’d be able for to protect herself.

Aw, it was a terrible speech. He was a very clever fellow, you know. And it was all on this supposed lady that was in the Gaol Square, as they called it.