Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry. Various

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СКАЧАТЬ style="font-size:15px;">       Down the rushy glen,

       We daren't go a-hunting

       For fear of little men;

       Wee folk, good folk,

       Trooping all together;

       Green jacket, red cap,

       And white owl's feather!

       Down along the rocky shore

       Some make their home,

       They live on crispy pancakes

       Of yellow tide-foam;

       Some in the reeds

       Of the black mountain lake,

       With frogs for their watch-dogs

       All night awake.

      High on the hill-top

       The old King sits;

       He is now so old and gray

       He's nigh lost his wits.

       With a bridge of white mist

       Columbkill he crosses,

       On his stately journeys

       From Slieveleague to Rosses;

       Or going up with music

       On cold starry nights,

       To sup with the Queen

       Of the gay Northern Lights.

      They stole little Bridget

       For seven years long;

       When she came down again

       Her friends were all gone.

       They took her lightly back,

       Between the night and morrow,

       They thought that she was fast asleep,

       But she was dead with sorrow.

       They have kept her ever since

       Deep within the lake,

       On a bed of flag-leaves,

       Watching till she wake.

      By the craggy hill-side,

       Through the mosses bare,

       They have planted thorn-trees

       For pleasure here and there.

       Is any man so daring

       As dig them up in spite,

       He shall find their sharpest thorns

       In his bed at night.

      Up the airy mountain,

       Down the rushy glen,

       We daren't go a-hunting

       For fear of little men;

       Wee folk, good folk,

       Trooping all together;

       Green jacket, red cap,

       And white owl's feather!

FRANK MARTIN AND THE FAIRIES.

       Table of Contents

WILLIAM CARLETON.

       Table of Contents

      Martin was a thin pale man, when I saw him, of a sickly look, and a constitution naturally feeble. His hair was a light auburn, his beard mostly unshaven, and his hands of a singular delicacy and whiteness, owing, I dare say, as much to the soft and easy nature of his employment as to his infirm health. In everything else he was as sensible, sober, and rational as any other man; but on the topic of fairies, the man's mania was peculiarly strong and immovable. Indeed, I remember that the expression of his eyes was singularly wild and hollow, and his long narrow temples sallow and emaciated.

      Now, this man did not lead an unhappy life, nor did the malady he laboured under seem to be productive of either pain or terror to him, although one might be apt to imagine otherwise. On the contrary, he and the fairies maintained the most friendly intimacy, and their dialogues—which I fear were wofully one-sided ones—must have been a source of great pleasure to him, for they were conducted with much mirth and laughter, on his part at least.

      "Well, Frank, when did you see the fairies?"

"Whist! there's two dozen of them in the shop (the weaving shop) this minute. There's a little ould fellow sittin' on the top of the sleys, an' all to be rocked while I'm weavin'. The sorrow's in them, but they're the greatest little skamers alive, so they are. See, there's another of them at my dressin' noggin. [3] Go out o' that, you shingawn; or, bad cess to me, if you don't, but I'll lave you a mark. Ha! cut, you thief you!"

      "Frank, arn't you afeard o' them?"

      "Is it me! Arra, what ud' I be afeard o' them for? Sure they have no power over me."

      "And why haven't they, Frank?"

      "Because I was baptized against them."

      "What do you mean by that?"

      "Why, the priest that christened me was tould by my father, to put in the proper prayer against the fairies—an' a priest can't refuse it when he's asked—an' he did so. Begorra, it's well for me that he did—(let the tallow alone, you little glutton—see, there's a weeny thief o' them aitin' my tallow)—becaise, you see, it was their intention to make me king o' the fairies."

      "Is it possible?"

      "Devil a lie in it. Sure you may ax them, an' they'll tell you."

      "What size are they, Frank?"

      "Oh, little wee fellows, with green coats, an' the purtiest little shoes ever you seen. There's two of them—both ould acquaintances o' mine—runnin' along the yarn-beam. That ould fellow with the bob-wig is called Jim Jam, an' the other chap, with the three-cocked hat, is called Nickey Nick. Nickey plays the pipes. Nickey, give us a tune, or I'll malivogue you—come now, 'Lough Erne Shore.' Whist, now—listen!"

      The poor fellow, though weaving as fast as he could all the time, yet bestowed every possible mark of attention to the music, and seemed to enjoy it as much as if it had been real.

      But who can tell whether that which we look upon as a privation may not after all be a fountain of increased happiness, greater, СКАЧАТЬ