Part 8

“I was,” said the champion to Conal. “Sit down there on that stool. I will sit here and tell you. I did not think much of your torture, for I knew that when my heart and liver were taken, I should be gone in that moment. Once I had a longer torture to suffer. Not many months ago, I was sailing on my ship in mid-ocean when I saw the biggest man ever seen on earth, and he with a beautiful woman in his hand. The moment I saw that woman I was in love with her, and I sailed toward the High King of the World, for it was he that was in it; but if I did, he let my ship go out in full sail between his two legs, and travelled on in another direction. I turned the ship again, and went after him. I climbed to the topmast, and stood there. I came up to the King of the World, for wind and wave were with me, and, being almost as high as the woman in his hand, I made a grasp at her; he let my ship out between his legs, but if he did, I took the woman with me and kissed her three times. This enraged the High King. He came to my ship, bound and tied me with strong hempen cords, then, putting a finger under me, he tossed me out on the sea and let my ship drift with the wind. I had some enchantment of my own, and the sea did not drown me. When little fish came my way, I swallowed them, and thus I got food. I was in this state for many days, and the hempen cords began to rot and weaken. Through good luck or ill, I was thrown in on this island. I pulled the cords, and struggled with them till one hand was free; then I unbound myself. I came to shore where the island is wildest. A bird called Nails of Daring had a nest in a high, rugged cliff. This bird came down, and, seizing me, rose in the air. Then she dropped me. I fell like a ball, and struck the sea close to land. I feigned death well, and was up and down with the waves that she might not seize me a second time, but soon she swooped down and placed her ear near me to know was I living. I held my breath, and she, thinking me dead, flew away. I rose up, and ran with all speed to the first house I found. Now, was I not nearer a worse death than the one to which you condemned me? Nails of Daring would have given me a frightful and slow death, and you wished to give me a quick one.”

“Short Dun Champion,” said Conal, “the woman you saw with the High King was my wife. It was luck that brought me in your way, and it was luck that Donach the Druid tied you in such a fashion. Now you must guide me to the castle of the High King.”

“Come, now, druid, bind my hands and feet, take my heart and liver and give them to young Conal’s hound whelp, rather than take me to that king. I got dread enough before from him.”

“Believe me, all I want of you now is to guide my ship; you will come back in safety and health,” said young Conal.

“I will go with you and guide you, if you put me beneath your ship’s ballast when you see him nearing us, for fear he will get a glimpse of me.”

“I will do that,” said Conal.

Now they went out to the ship, and steered away, with the Short Dun Champion as pilot. They were the fifth day at sea when he steered the ship toward the castle of the High King. “That,” said the Short Dun Champion, pointing to a great building on an island, “is the castle of the High King of the World; but as good a champion as you are, you cannot free your wife from it. That castle revolves; and as it goes around it throws out poison, and if one drop of that poison were to fall on you the flesh would melt from your bones. But the King of the World is not at home now, for to-morrow the day and the year will be up since he stole the wife from you. I have some power of enchantment and I will bring the woman to you in the ship.”

The Short Dun Champion went with one leap from the deck of the ship to the strand, and, caring for no man, walked straight to the castle where the Yellow King’s daughter was held. The castle had an opening underneath, and the Short Dun Champion, keeping the poison away by his power, passed in, found the princess, and wrapping her in the skirt of an enchanted cloak that he had, took her out, and running to the strand was in on the deck of the ship with one bound.

The moment the princess set eyes on Conal, she gave such a scream that the High King heard her, and he off in the Western World inviting all the great people to his wedding. He started that minute for the castle, and did not wait to throw fish in his basket as he went through the sea. When he came home, the princess was not there before him. “Where has my bride gone, or has some one stolen her?” asked he.

“A man who has a ship in the harbor came and stole the lady.”

“A thousand deaths! What shall I do, and all the high people on the way to the wedding?”

He seized a great club and killed half his servants, then rushed to the strand, and seeing the ship still at anchor, shouted for battle.

When the Short Dun Champion heard the king’s voice, he screamed to be put under the ballast. He was put there and hidden from sight. “If I whistle with my fingers,” asked young Conal, “will you come to me?”

“I will, if I were to die the next moment,” said the Short Dun Champion.

Conal told Donach the Druid to stand at the bows of the ship, then, walking to the stern, he was so glad at having his wife on the vessel, and he going to fight with the High King, that he made a run, seized the druid, and carried him with one leap to the strand, eleven miles distant.

The High King demanded his wife.

“She is not your wife, but mine,” said young Conal. “I won her with my sword, and you stole her away like a thief, and I sleeping. Though she is mine, I did not flee when I took her away from you.”

“It is time for battle,” said the king, and the two closed in combat. The king, being so tall, had the advantage. “I might as well make him shorter,” thought Conal, and with one blow he cut the two legs off the king at the knee joints. The king fell. No sooner was he down than the druid had him tied with hard cords of enchantment. Conal whistled through his finger. The Short Dun Champion, hearing the whistle, screamed to be freed from the ballast. The men took him out. He went in on the strand with one bound, and when he came up to where the High King was lying, Conal said, “Cut this man at the breastbone, take out his heart with his liver, and give them as food to my hound whelp.”

“He is well bound by your druid; but firmly as he is bound, I am in dread to go near him to do this.”

Conal then drew his own sword, and with a blow swept the head off the High King. Then Conal, Donach the Druid, and the Short Dun Champion went to the ship and sailed homeward. On their way, where should they sail but along the coast of Spain? While they were sailing, Conal espied three great castles, and not far from them a herd of cattle grazing.

“Will one of you go and inquire why these three castles are built near together?” asked Conal of the two island brothers.

“I will go,” said the elder.

He went on shore to the herdsman and asked, “Why are those three castles so near one another?”

“I will tell you,” said the herdsman; “but you must come first and touch my finger-tips.”

No sooner had the champion done this, than the man drew a rod of enchantment, struck him a blow, and turned him to stone.

Conal saw this from the ship, and asked, “Who will go in now?”

“I will go,” said the second brother. “I have the best right.” He went and met the same fate as his brother.

“I will go this time,” said Conal.

The Yellow King’s daughter, Donach the Druid, and the Short Dun Champion seized Conal to keep him from going.

“If I do not live but a moment, I must go and knock satisfaction out of the herdsman for what he has done to my men,” cried out Conal. So he went, and walking up to the herdsman, asked the same questions as the two brothers.

“Come here and touch my finger tips.”

Conal walked up to the herdsman, caught his fingers, then ran under the rod and seized the herdsman; but if he did, the herdsman had him that moment on the flat of his back. But Conal was up, and had the herdsman down, and, drawing his sword, said, “I’ll have your head now unless you tell me why these three castles are here close together.”

“I will tell you, but do you remember, young Conal, when in our father’s castle how I used to get the first blow on you?”

“Are you my brother?” asked Conal.

“I am,” said the herdsman.

“Why did you kill my men?”

“If I killed them, I can raise them;” and going to the two brothers, he struck each a blow, and they rose up as well and strong as ever.

“Well,” said the brother to Conal, “Saudan Og arrived in Spain the day before we did, and he had one-third of the kingdom taken before us. We went against him the following day, and kept him inside that third, and we have neither gained nor lost since. The King of Spain had a castle here; my father and the King of Leinster built a second castle near that; Saudan Og built the third near the two, for himself and his men, and that is why the three castles are here. We are ever since in battle; Saudan has the one-third, and we the rest of Spain.”

Conal arrayed himself as a champion next morning, and went to Saudan’s castle. He struck a blow on the pole of combat that shook the whole kingdom, and that day he killed Saudan and every man of his forces.

Conal’s eldest brother married the daughter of the King of Spain. He took the second brother with him, married him to the sister of the two island brothers, and gave him the three islands. He went home then, gave the kingdom of the Yellow King to the Short Dun Champion, and had the two island brothers well married to king’s daughters in Erin. All lived happily and well; if they did not, may we!

THE BLACK THIEF AND KING CONAL’S THREE HORSES.

There was a king once in Erin who had a beautiful queen, and the queen’s heart was as good as her looks. Every one loved her, but, above all, the poor people. There wasn’t a needy man or woman within a day’s journey of the castle who was not blessing the beautiful queen. On a time this queen fell ill suddenly, and said to the king, “If I die and you marry a second wife, leave not my three sons to a strange woman’s rule. Send them away to be reared till they come to age and maturity.”

The queen died soon after. The king mourned for her one year and a second; then his chief men and counsellors urged him to seek out a new queen.

The king built a castle in a distant part of his kingdom, and put his three sons there with teachers and servants to care for them. He married a second wife then; and the two lived on happily till the new wife had a son. The young queen never knew that the king had other children than her son, or that there was a queen in the kingdom before her.

On a day when the king was out hunting in the mountains, the queen went to walk near the castle, and as she was passing the cottage of a greedy old henwife, she stumbled and fell.

“May the like of that meet you always!” said the henwife.

“Why do you say that?” asked the queen, who overheard her.

“It is all one to you what I say. It is little you care for me or the like of me. It wasn’t the same with the queen that was here before you. There wasn’t a week that she did not give support to poor people, and she showed kindness to every one always.”

“Had the king a wife before me?” asked the queen.

“He had, indeed; and I could tell enough to keep you thinking for a day and a year, if you would pay me.”

“I will pay you well if you tell all about the queen that was in it before me.”

“If you give me one hundred speckled goats, one hundred sheep, and one hundred cows I will tell you.”

“I will give you all those,” said the queen, “if you tell everything.”

“The queen that was here at first had three sons; and before the king married you, he prepared a great castle, and the sons are in that castle now with teachers and men taking care of them. When the three are of age, your son will be without a place for his head.”

“What am I to do to keep my son in the kingdom?” asked the queen.

“Persuade the king to bring his three sons to the castle, then play chess with them. I will give you a board with which you can win. When you have won of the three young men, put them under bonds to go for the three steeds of King Conal for you to ride three times around all the boundaries of the kingdom. Many and many is the champion and hero who went for King Conal’s horses; but not a man of them was seen again, and so it will be with these three. Your son will be safe at home, and will be king himself when his time comes.”

The queen went home to the castle, and if ever she had a head full of plans it was that time. She began the same night with the king.

“Isn’t it a shame for you to keep your children away from me, and I waiting this long time for you to bring them home to us?”

“How am I keeping my children from you?” asked the king. “Haven’t you your own son and mine with you always?”

“You have three sons of your own. You were married before you saw me. Bring your children home. I will be as fond of them as you are.”

No matter what the king said, the queen kept up her complaining with sweet words and promises, and never stopped till the king brought his sons to the castle.

The king gave a great feast in honor of the young men. After the feast the queen played chess for a sentence with the eldest. She played twice; won a game and lost one. Next day she played one game with the second son. On the third day, she played with the youngest; won one game and lost one.

On the fourth day, the three were in the queen’s company.

“What sentence do you put on me and my brothers?” asked the eldest.

“I put you and your brothers under sentence not to sleep two nights in the same house, nor to eat twice off the same table, till you bring me the three steeds of King Conal, so that I may ride three times around the kingdom.”

“Will you tell me,” asked the eldest son, “where to find King Conal?”

“There are four quarters in the world; I am sure it is in one of these that he lives,” said the queen.

“I might as well give you sentence now,” said the eldest brother. “I put you under bonds of enchantment to stand on the top of the castle and stay there without coming down, and watch for us till we come back with the horses.”

“Remove from me your sentence; I will remove mine,” said the queen.

“If a young man is relieved of the first sentence put on him, he will never do anything good,” said the king’s son. “We will go for the horses.”

Next day the three brothers set out for the castle of King Conal. They travelled one day after another, stopping one night in one place and the next in another, and they were that way walking till one evening, when whom should they meet but a limping man in a black cap. The man saluted them, and they returned the salute.

“What brought you this road, and where are you going?” asked the stranger.

“We are going to the castle of King Conal to know can we bring his three horses home with us.”

“Well,” said the man, “my house is nearby, and the dark night is coming; stay with me till morning, and perhaps I can help you.”

The young men went with the stranger, and soon came to his house. After supper the man said, “It is the most difficult feat in the world to steal King Conal’s three horses. Many a good man went for them, and never came back. Why do you go for those horses?”

“Our father is a king in Erin, and he married a second time. Our stepmother bound us to bring the three horses, so she may ride three times around our father’s kingdom.”

“I will go with you,” said the man. “Without me, you would lose your lives; together, we may bring the horses.”

Next morning the four set out, and went their way, walking one day after another, till at long last they reached the castle of King Conal at nightfall.

On that night, whatever the reason was, the guards fell asleep at the stables. The stranger and the three young men made their way to the horses; but if they did, the moment they touched them the horses let three screeches out of them that shook the whole castle and woke every man in the country around it.

The guards seized the young men with the stranger, and took the four to King Conal.

The king was in a great room on the ground-floor of his castle. In front of him was an awfully big pot full of oil, and it boiling.

“Well,” said the king when he saw the stranger before him, “only that the Black Thief is dead, I’d say you were that man.”

“I am the Black Thief,” said the stranger.

“We will know that in time,” said the king; “and who are these three young men?”

“Three sons of a king in Erin.”

“We’ll begin with the youngest. But stir up the fire there, one of you,” said King Conal to the attendants; “the oil is not hot enough.” And turning to the Black Thief, he asked, “Isn’t that young man very near his death at this moment?”

“I was nearer death than he is, and I escaped,” said the Black Thief.

“Tell me the story,” said the king. “If you were nearer death than he is, I will give his life to that young man.”

“When I was young,” said the Black Thief, “I lived on my land with ease and plenty, till three witches came the way, and destroyed all my property. I took to the roads and deep forests then, and became the most famous thief that ever lived in Erin. This is the story of the witches who robbed and tried to kill me:—

“There was a king not long ago in Erin, and he had three beautiful daughters. When they grew up to be old enough for marriage, they were enchanted in the way that the three became brazen-faced, old-looking, venomous hags every night, and were three beautiful, harmless young women every day, as before.

“I was living for myself on my land, and had laid in turf enough for seven years, and I thought it the size of a mountain. I went out at midnight, and what did I see but the hags at my reek; and they never stopped till they put every sod of the turf into three creels on their backs, and made off with it.

“The following season I brought turf for another seven years, and the next midnight the witches stole it all from me; but this time I followed them. They went about five miles, and disappeared in a broad hole twenty fathoms deep. I waited, then looked down, and saw a great fire under a pot with a whole bullock in it. There was a round stone at the mouth of the hole. I used all my strength, rolled it down, broke the pot, and spoiled the broth on the witches.

“Away I ran then, but was not long on the road when I saw the three racing after me. I climbed a tree to escape from them. The witches came in a rage, stopped under the tree, and looked up at me. The eldest rested awhile, then made a sharp axe of the second, and a venomous hound of the third, to destroy me. She took the axe herself then, gave one blow of it, and cut one-third of the tree; she gave a second blow, and cut another third; she had the axe raised a third time when a cock crowed, and there before my eyes the axe turned into a beautiful woman, the hag who had raised it into a second, and the venomous hound into a third. The three walked away then, harmless and innocent as any young women in Erin. Wasn’t I nearer death that time than this young man?”

“Oh, you were,” said the king; “I give him his life, and it’s his brother that’s near death now. He has but ten minutes to live.”

“Well, I was nearer death than that young man,” said the Black Thief.

“Tell how it was. If you convince me, I’ll give him his life, too.”

“After I broke their pot, the witches destroyed my property night after night, and I had to leave that place and find my support on the roads and in forests. I was faring well enough till a year of hunger and want came. I went out once into a great wood, walked up and down to know could I find any food to take home to my wife and my children.

“I found an old white horse and a cow without horns. I tied the tails of the two to each other, and was driving them home for myself with great labor; for when the white horse pulled backward, the cow would pull forward, and when the horse tried to go on, the cow wouldn’t go with him. They were that way in disagreement till they drew the night on themselves and on me. I had a bit of flint in my pocket, and put down a fire. I could not make my way out of the wood in the night-time, and sat down by the fire. I was not long sitting when thirteen cats, wild and enormous, stood out before me. Of these, twelve were each the bulk of a man; the thirteenth, a red one, the master of the twelve, was much larger. They began to purr on the opposite side of the fire, and make a noise like the rumbling of thunder. At last the big red cat lifted his head, opened his wide eyes, and said to me, ‘I’ll be this way no longer; give me something to eat.’”

“I have nothing to give you,” said I, “unless you take that white horse below there and kill him.”

“He went down then, and made two halves of the horse, left half to the twelve, and ate the other half himself. They picked every bone, and were not long at it.

“The thirteen came up again, sat opposite me at the fire, and were purring. The big red cat soon spoke a second time, ‘I’ll not be long this way. Give me more food to satisfy my hunger.’

“‘I have nothing to give unless you take the cow without horns,’ replied I.

“He made two halves of the cow, ate one-half himself, and left the other to the twelve. While they were eating the cow, I took off my coat, for I knew what was coming, wrapped it around a block which I made like myself, and then climbed a tree quickly. The red cat came up to the fire a third time, opened his great eyes, looked toward my coat, and said, ‘I’ll not be long this way; give me more food.’

“My coat gave no answer. The big cat sprang at it, struck the block with his tail, and found it was wood.

“‘Ah,’ said he, ‘you are gone; but whether above ground or under ground, we will find you.’

“He put six cats above and six under ground to find me. The twelve cats were gone in a breath. The big red cat sat there waiting; and when the other twelve had run through all Erin, above ground and under ground, and come back to the fire, he looked up, saw me, and cried, ‘Ah, there you are, you deceiver. You thought to escape, but you will not. Come, now,’ said he to the cats, ‘and gnaw down this tree.’

“The twelve sprang at the tree under me, and they were not long cutting it through. Before it fell, I escaped to another tree near by, and they attacked that, gnawing it down. I sprang to a third. We were that way, I escaping and they cutting, till near daybreak, when I was on the last tree next the open country. When the tree was half cut, what should come the way but thirteen terrible wolves,—twelve, and a thirteenth above them, their master. They fell upon the cats, and fought desperately a good while. At length the twelve on each side were stretched, but the two chiefs were fighting each other yet. At last the wolf nearly took the head off the cat with one snap; the cat whirled in falling, struck the wolf with the sharp hook in his tail, made two halves of his skull, and the two fell dead, side by side.

“I slipped down then, but the tree shook in the way that I was in dread it would tumble beneath me, but it didn’t. Now, wasn’t I nearer death that time than this young man?”

“Oh, you were,” said King Conal. “He’s not near death at all, for I give his life to him; but if the two have escaped, we’ll put the third man in the pot; and have you ever seen any one nearer death than he is?”

“I was nearer myself,” said the Black Thief.

“If you were, I will give his life to this young man as well as his brothers.”