The Story-teller At Fault

: Celtic Folk And Fairy Tales

At the time when the Tuatha De Danann held the sovereignty of Ireland,

there reigned in Leinster a king, who was remarkably fond of hearing

stories. Like the other princes and chieftains of the island, he had a

favourite story-teller, who held a large estate from his Majesty, on

condition of telling him a new story every night of his life, before

he went to sleep. Many indeed were the stories he knew, so that he had

al
eady reached a good old age without failing even for a single night

in his task; and such was the skill he displayed that whatever cares

of state or other annoyances might prey upon the monarch's mind, his

story-teller was sure to send him to sleep.



One morning the story-teller arose early, and as his custom was,

strolled out into his garden, turning over in his mind incidents which

he might weave into a story for the king at night. But this morning he

found himself quite at fault; after pacing his whole demesne, he

returned to his house without being able to think of anything new or

strange. He found no difficulty in "there was once a king who had

three sons," or "one day the king of all Ireland," but further than

that he could not get. At length he went in to breakfast, and found

his wife much perplexed at his delay.



"Why don't you come to breakfast, my dear?" said she.



"I have no mind to eat anything," replied the story-teller; "long as I

have been in the service of the king of Leinster, I never sat down to

breakfast without having a new story ready for the evening, but this

morning my mind is quite shut up, and I don't know what to do. I might

as well lie down and die at once. I'll be disgraced for ever this

evening, when the king calls for his story-teller."



Just at this moment the lady looked out of the window.



"Do you see that black thing at the end of the field?" said she.



"I do," replied her husband.



They drew nigh, and saw a miserable-looking old man lying on the

ground with a wooden leg placed beside him.



"Who are you, my good man?" asked the story-teller.



"Oh, then, 'tis little matter who I am. I'm a poor, old, lame,

decrepit, miserable creature, sitting down here to rest awhile."



"An' what are you doing with that box and dice I see in your hand?"



"I am waiting here to see if any one will play a game with me,"

replied the beggarman.



"Play with you! Why what has a poor old man like you to play for?"



"I have one hundred pieces of gold in this leathern purse," replied

the old man.



"You may as well play with him," said the story-teller's wife; "and

perhaps you'll have something to tell the king in the evening."



A smooth stone was placed between them, and upon it they cast their

throws.



It was but a little while and the story-teller lost every penny of his

money.



"Much good may it do you, friend," said he, "What better hap could I

look for, fool that I am!"



"Will you play again?" asked the old man.



"Don't be talking, man; you have all my money."



"Haven't you chariot and horses and hounds?"



"Well, what of them?"



"I'll stake all the money I have against thine."



"Nonsense, man! Do you think for all the money in Ireland I'd run the

risk of seeing my lady tramp home on foot?"



"Maybe you'd win," said the bocough.



"Maybe I wouldn't," said the story-teller.



"Play with him, husband," said his wife. "I don't mind walking, if you

do, love."



"I never refused you before," said the story-teller, "and I won't do

so now."



Down he sat again, and in one throw lost horses, hounds, and chariot.



"Will you play again?" asked the beggar.



"Are you making game of me, man; what else have I to stake?"



"I'll stake all my winnings against your wife," said the old man.



The story-teller turned away in silence, but his wife stopped him.



"Accept his offer," said she. "This is the third time, and who knows

what luck you may have? You'll surely win now."



They played again, and the story-teller lost. No sooner had he done

so, than to his sorrow and surprise, his wife went and sat down near

the ugly old beggar.



"Is that the way you're leaving me?" said the story-teller.



"Sure I was won," said she. "You would not cheat the poor man, would

you?"



"Have you any more to stake?" asked the old man.



"You know very well I have not," replied the story-teller.



"I'll stake the whole now, wife and all, against your own self," said

the old man.



Again they played, and again the story-teller lost.



"Well! Here I am, and what do you want with me?"



"I'll soon let you know," said the old man, and he took from his

pocket a long cord and a wand.



"Now," said he to the story-teller, "what kind of animal would you

rather be, a deer, a fox, or a hare? You have your choice now, but you

may not have it later."



To make a long story short, the story-teller made his choice of a

hare; the old man threw the cord round him, struck him with the wand,

and lo! a long-eared, frisking hare was skipping and jumping on the

green.



But it wasn't for long; who but his wife called the hounds, and set

them on him. The hare fled, the dogs followed. Round the field ran a

high wall, so that run as he might, he couldn't get out, and mightily

diverted were beggar and lady to see him twist and double.



In vain did he take refuge with his wife, she kicked him back again to

the hounds, until at length the beggar stopped the hounds, and with a

stroke of the wand, panting and breathless, the story-teller stood

before them again.



"And how did you like the sport?" said the beggar.



"It might be sport to others," replied the story-teller, looking at

his wife, "for my part I could well put up with the loss of it."



"Would it be asking too much," he went on to the beggar, "to know who

you are at all, or where you come from, or why you take a pleasure in

plaguing a poor old man like me?"



"Oh!" replied the stranger, "I'm an odd kind of good-for-little

fellow, one day poor, another day rich, but if you wish to know more

about me or my habits, come with me and perhaps I may show you more

than you would make out if you went alone."



"I'm not my own master to go or stay," said the story-teller, with a

sigh.



The stranger put one hand into his wallet and drew out of it before

their eyes a well-looking middle-aged man, to whom he spoke as

follows:



"By all you heard and saw since I put you into my wallet, take charge

of this lady and of the carriage and horses, and have them ready for

me whenever I want them."



Scarcely had he said these words when all vanished, and the

story-teller found himself at the Foxes' Ford, near the castle of Red

Hugh O'Donnell. He could see all but none could see him.



O'Donnell was in his hall, and heaviness of flesh and weariness of

spirit were upon him.



"Go out," said he to his doorkeeper, "and see who or what may be

coming."



The doorkeeper went, and what he saw was a lank, grey beggarman; half

his sword bared behind his haunch, his two shoes full of cold

road-a-wayish water sousing about him, the tips of his two ears out

through his old hat, his two shoulders out through his scant, tattered

cloak, and in his hand a green wand of holly.



"Save you, O'Donnell," said the lank, grey beggarman.



"And you likewise," said O'Donnell. "Whence come you, and what is your

craft?"



"I come from the outmost stream of earth,

From the glens where the white swans glide,

A night in Islay, a night in Man,

A night on the cold hill-side."



"It's the great traveller you are," said O'Donnell. "May be you've

learnt something on the road."



"I am a juggler," said the lank, grey beggarman, "and for five pieces

of silver you shall see a trick of mine."






"You shall have them," said O'Donnell; and the lank, grey beggarman

took three small straws and placed them in his hand.



"The middle one," said he, "I'll blow away; the other two I'll leave."



"Thou canst not do it," said one and all.



But the lank, grey beggarman put a finger on either outside straw

and, whiff, away he blew the middle one.



"'Tis a good trick," said O'Donnell; and he paid him his five pieces

of silver.



"For half the money," said one of the chief's lads, "I'll do the same

trick."



"Take him at his word, O'Donnell."



The lad put the three straws on his hand, and a finger on either

outside straw and he blew; and what happened but that the fist was

blown away with the straw.



"Thou art sore, and thou wilt be sorer," said O'Donnell.



"Six more pieces, O'Donnell, and I'll do another trick for thee," said

the lank, grey beggarman.



"Six shalt thou have."



"Seest thou my two ears! One I'll move but not t'other."



"'Tis easy to see them, they're big enough, but thou canst never move

one ear and not the two together."



The lank, grey beggarman put his hand to his ear, and he gave it a

pull.



O'Donnell laughed and paid him the six pieces.



"Call that a trick?" said the fistless lad, "any one can do that," and

so saying, he put up his hand, pulled his ear, and what happened was

that he pulled away ear and head.



"Sore thou art, and sorer thou 'lt be," said O'Donnell.



"Well, O'Donnell," said the lank, grey beggarman, "strange are the

tricks I've shown thee, but I'll show thee a stranger one yet for the

same money."



"Thou hast my word for it," said O'Donnell.



With that the lank, grey beggarman took a bag from under his arm-pit,

and from out the bag a ball of silk, and he unwound the ball and he

flung it slant-wise up into the clear blue heavens, and it became a

ladder; then he took a hare and placed it upon the thread, and up it

ran; again he took out a red-eared hound, and it swiftly ran up after

the hare.



"Now," said the lank, grey beggarman, "has any one a mind to run after

the dog and on the course?"



"I will," said a lad of O'Donnell's.



"Up with you, then," said the juggler; "but I warn you if you let my

hare be killed I'll cut off your head when you come down."



The lad ran up the thread, and all three soon disappeared. After

looking up for a long time, the lank, grey beggarman said, "I'm afraid

the hound is eating the hare, and that our friend has fallen asleep."



Saying this he began to wind the thread, and down came the lad fast

asleep; and down came the red-eared hound and in his mouth the last

morsel of the hare.



He struck the lad a stroke with the edge of his sword, and so cast his

head off. As for the hound, if he used it no worse, he used it no

better.



"It's little I'm pleased, and sore I'm angered," said O'Donnell, "that

a hound and a lad should be killed at my court."



"Five pieces of silver twice over for each of them," said the

juggler, "and their heads shall be on them as before."



"Thou shalt get that," said O'Donnell.



Five pieces and again five were paid him, and lo! the lad had his head

and the hound his. And though they lived to the uttermost end of time,

the hound would never touch a hare again, and the lad took good care

to keep his eyes open.



Scarcely had the lank, grey beggarman done this when he vanished from

out their sight, and no one present could say if he had flown through

the air or if the earth had swallowed him up.



"He moved as wave tumbling o'er wave

As whirlwind following whirlwind,

As a furious wintry blast,

So swiftly, sprucely, cheerily,

Right proudly,

And no stop made

Until he came

To the court of Leinster's King,

He gave a cheery light leap

O'er top of turret,

Of court and city

Of Leinster's King."



Heavy was the flesh and weary the spirit of Leinster's king. 'Twas the

hour he was wont to hear a story, but send he might right and left,

not a jot of tidings about the story-teller could he get.



"Go to the door," said he to his doorkeeper, "and see if a soul is in

sight who may tell me something about my story-teller."



The doorkeeper went, and what he saw was a lank, grey beggarman, half

his sword bared behind his haunch, his two old shoes full of cold

road-a-wayish water sousing about him, the tips of his two ears out

through his old hat, his two shoulders out through his scant, tattered

cloak, and in his hand a three-stringed harp.



"What canst thou do?" said the doorkeeper.



"I can play," said the lank, grey beggarman.



"Never fear," added he to the story-teller, "thou shalt see all, and

not a man shall see thee."






When the king heard a harper was outside he bade him in.



"It is I that have the best harpers in the five-fifths of Ireland,"

said he, and he signed them to play. They did so, and if they played,

the lank, grey beggarman listened.



"Heardst thou ever the like?" said the king.



"Did you ever, O king, hear a cat purring over a bowl of broth, or the

buzzing of beetles in the twilight, or a shrill-tongued old woman

scolding your head off?"



"That I have often," said the king.



"More melodious to me," said the lank, grey beggarman, "were the worst

of these sounds than the sweetest harping of thy harpers."



When the harpers heard this, they drew their swords and rushed at him,

but instead of striking him, their blows fell on each other, and soon

not a man but was cracking his neighbour's skull and getting his own

cracked in turn.



When the king saw this, he thought it hard the harpers weren't content

with murdering their music, but must needs murder each other.



"Hang the fellow who began it all," said he; "and if I can't have a

story, let me have peace."



Up came the guards, seized the lank, grey beggarman, marched him to

the gallows and hanged him high and dry. Back they marched to the

hall, and who should they see but the lank, grey beggarman seated on a

bench with his mouth to a flagon of ale.



"Never welcome you in," cried the captain of the guard, "didn't we

hang you this minute, and what brings you here?"



"Is it me myself, you mean?"



"Who else?" said the captain.



"May your hand turn into a pig's foot with you when you think of tying

the rope; why should you speak of hanging me?"



Back they scurried to the gallows, and there hung the king's favourite

brother.



Back they hurried to the king who had fallen fast asleep.



"Please your Majesty," said the captain, "we hanged that strolling

vagabond, but here he is back again as well as ever."



"Hang him again," said the king, and off he went to sleep once more.



They did as they were told, but what happened was that they found the

king's chief harper hanging where the lank, grey beggarman should have

been.



The captain of the guard was sorely puzzled.



"Are you wishful to hang me a third time?" said the lank, grey

beggarman.



"Go where you will," said the captain, "and as fast as you please if

you'll only go far enough. It's trouble enough you've given us

already."



"Now, you're reasonable," said the beggarman, "and since you've given

up trying to hang a stranger because he finds fault with your music, I

don't mind telling you that if you go back to the gallows you'll find

your friends sitting on the sward none the worse for what has

happened."



As he said these words he vanished; and the story-teller found himself

on the spot where they first met, and where his wife still was with

the carriage and horses.



"Now," said the lank, grey beggarman, "I'll torment you no longer.

There's your carriage and your horses, and your money and your wife:

do what you please with them."



"For my carriage and my horses and my hounds," said the story-teller,

"I thank you; but my wife and my money you may keep."



"No," said the other. "I want neither, and as for your wife, don't

think ill of her for what she did, she couldn't help it."



"Not help it! Not help kicking me into the mouth of my own hounds! Not

help casting me off for the sake of a beggarly old----"



"I'm not as beggarly or as old as ye think. I am Angus of the Bruff;

many a good turn you've done me with the king of Leinster. This

morning my magic told me the difficulty you were in, and I made up my

mind to get you out of it. As for your wife there, the power that

changed your body changed her mind. Forget and forgive as man and wife

should do, and now you have a story for the king of Leinster when he

calls for one"; and with that he disappeared.



It's true enough he now had a story fit for a king. From first to last

he told all that had befallen him; so long and loud laughed the king

that he couldn't go to sleep at all. And he told the story-teller

never to trouble for fresh stories, but every night as long as he

lived he listened again and he laughed afresh at the tale of the lank,

grey beggarman.



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