"The blessing of G.o.d and Mary be with you, my boy," says Owen. "Every one knows me, and I don"t know any one at all."
"Where are you going this time of night?" says the boy.
"I"m going to America, with a letter from the master; is this the right road?" says Owen.
"It is; keep straight to the west; but how are you going to get over the water?" says the boy.
"Time enough to think of that when I get to it," replied Owen.
He went on the road again, till he came to the brink of the sea; there he saw a crane standing on one foot on the sh.o.r.e.
"The blessing of G.o.d be with you, Owen O"Mulready," says the crane.
"The blessing of G.o.d and Mary be with you, Mrs. Crane," says Owen.
"Everybody knows me, and I don"t know any one."
"What are you doing here?"
Owen told her his business, and that he didn"t know how he"d get over the water.
"Leave your two feet on my two wings, and sit on my back, and I"ll take you to the other side," says the crane.
"What would I do if tiredness should come on you before we got over?"
says Owen.
"Don"t be afraid, I won"t be tired or wearied till I fly over."
Then Owen went on the back of the crane, and she arose over the sea and went forward, but she hadn"t flown more than half-way, when she cried out:
"Owen O"Mulready get off me; I"m tired."
"That you may be seven times worse this day twelvemonths, you rogue of a crane," says Owen; "I can"t get off you now, so don"t ask me."
"I don"t care," replied the crane, "if you"ll rise off me a while till I"ll take a rest."
With that they saw threshers over their heads, and Owen shouted:
"Och! thresher, thresher, leave down your flail at me, that I may give the crane a rest!"
The thresher left down the flail, but when Owen took a hold with his two hands, the crane went from him laughing and mocking.
"My share of misfortunes go with you!" said Owen, "It"s you"ve left me in a fix hanging between the heavens and the water in the middle of the great sea."
[Ill.u.s.tration]
It wasn"t long till the thresher shouted to him to leave go the flail.
"I won"t let it go," said Owen; "shan"t I be drowned?"
"If you don"t let it go, I"ll cut the whang."
"I don"t care," says Owen; "I have the flail"; and with that he looked away from him, and what should he see but a boat a long way off.
"O sailor dear, sailor, come, come; perhaps you"ll take my lot of bones," said Owen.
"Are we under you now?" says the sailor.
"Not yet, not yet," says Owen.
"Fling down one of your shoes, till we see the way it falls," says the captain.
Owen shook one foot, and down fell the shoe.
"Uill, uill, puil, uil liu--who is killing me?" came a scream from Margaret in the bed. "Where are you, Owen?"
"I didn"t know whether "twas you were in it, Margaret."
"Indeed, then it is," says she, "who else would it be?"
She got up and lit the candle. She found Owen half-way up the chimney, climbing by the hands on the crook, and he black with soot! He had one shoe on, but the point of the other struck Margaret, and "twas that which awoke her.
Owen came down off the crook and washed himself, and from that out there was no envy on him ever to have a dream again.
Morraha
[Ill.u.s.tration: M]
Morraha rose in the morning and washed his hands and face, and said his prayers, and ate his food; and he asked G.o.d to prosper the day for him.
So he went down to the brink of the sea, and he saw a currach, short and green, coming towards him; and in it there was but one youthful champion, and he was playing hurly from prow to stern of the currach. He had a hurl of gold and a ball of silver; and he stopped not till the currach was in on the sh.o.r.e; and he drew her up on the green gra.s.s, and put fastenings on her for a year and a day, whether he should be there all that time or should only be on land for an hour by the clock. And Morraha saluted the young man courteously; and the other saluted him in the same fashion, and asked him would he play a game of cards with him; and Morraha said that he had not the wherewithal; and the other answered that he was never without a candle or the making of it; and he put his hand in his pocket and drew out a table and two chairs and a pack of cards, and they sat down on the chairs and went to card-playing. The first game Morraha won, and the Slender Red Champion bade him make his claim; and he asked that the land above him should be filled with stock of sheep in the morning. It was well; and he played no second game, but home he went.
The next day Morraha went to the brink of the sea, and the young man came in the currach and asked him would he play cards; they played, and Morraha won. The young man bade him make his claim; and he asked that the land above should be filled with cattle in the morning. It was well; and he played no other game, but went home.
On the third morning Morraha went to the brink of the sea, and he saw the young man coming. He drew up his boat on the sh.o.r.e and asked him would he play cards. They played, and Morraha won the game; and the young man bade him give his claim. And he said he would have a castle and a wife, the finest and fairest in the world; and they were his. It was well; and the Red Champion went away.
On the fourth day his wife asked him how he had found her. And he told her. "And I am going out," said he, "to play again to-day."
"I forbid you to go again to him. If you have won so much, you will lose more; have no more to do with him."
But he went against her will, and he saw the currach coming; and the Red Champion was driving his b.a.l.l.s from end to end of the currach; he had b.a.l.l.s of silver and a hurl of gold, and he stopped not till he drew his boat on the sh.o.r.e, and made her fast for a year and a day. Morraha and he saluted each other; and he asked Morraha if he would play a game of cards, and they played, and he won. Morraha said to him, "Give your claim now."
Said he, "You will hear it too soon. I lay on you bonds of the art of the Druid, not to sleep two nights in one house, nor finish a second meal at the one table, till you bring me the sword of light and news of the death of Anshgayliacht."
He went home to his wife and sat down in a chair, and gave a groan, and the chair broke in pieces.