s [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

stand before the king's palace. "Let us taste the porridge as we were bound," says Bebo, "and make off before
daybreay" They steal in and find the
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porridge-pot, to the rim of which lubdan can only reach by standing. on his horse's back. In straining
downwards to get at the porridge he overbalances himself and falls in. There in the thick porridge he sticks
fast, and there Fergus's scullions find him at the break of day, with the faithful Bebo lamenting. They bear
him off to Fergus, who is amazed at finding another wee man, with a woman too, in his palace. He treats
them hospitably, but refuses all appeals to let them go. The story now recounts in a spirit of broad humour
several Rabelaisian adventures in which Bebo is concerned, and gives a charming poem supposed to have
been uttered by lubdan in the form of advice to Fergus's fire-gillie as to the merits for burning of different
kinds of timber. The following arc extracts:
Chapter V: Tales of the Ultonian Cycle 120
 Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race
"Burn not the sweet apple-tree of drooping branches, of the white blossoms, to whose gracious head each
man puts forth his hand."
"Burn not the noble willow, the unfailing ornament of poems; bees drink from its blossoms, all delight in the
graceful tent."
"The delicate, airy tree of the Druids, the rowan with its berries, this burn ; but avoid the weak tree, burn not
the slender hazel."
"The ash-tree of the black buds burn not-timber that speeds the wheel, that yields the rider his switch the
ashen spear is the scale-beam of battle."
At last the Wee Folk come in a great multitude to beg the release of lubdan. On the king's refusal they visit
the country with various plagues, snipping off the ears of corn, letting the calves suck all the cows dry,
defiling the wells, and so forth ; but Fergus is obdurate. In their quality as earth-gods, dei terreni, they
promise to make the plains before the palace of Fergus stand thick with corn every year without ploughing or
sowing,
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but all is vain. At last, however, Fergus agrees to ransom lubdan against the best of his fairy treasures, so
lubdan recounts them-the cauldron that can never be emptied, the harp that plays of itself; and finally he
mentions a pair of water-shoes, wearing which a man can go over or under water as freely as on dry land.
Fergus accepts the shoes, and lubdan is released.
The Blemish of Fergus
But it is hard for a mortal to get the better of Fairy-land-a touch of hidden malice lurks in magical gifts, and
so it proved now. Fergus was never tired of exploring the depths of the lakes and rivers of Ireland; but one
day, in Loch Rury, he met with a hideous monster, the Muirdris, or river-horse, which inhabited that lake,
and from which he barely saved himself by flying to the shore. With the terror of this encounter his face was
twisted awry; but since a blemished man could not hold rule in Ireland, his queen and nobles took pains, on
some pretext, to banish all mirrors from the palace, and kept the knowledge of his condition from him. One
day, however, he smote a bondmaid with a switch, for some negligence, and the maid, indignant, cried out :
"lt were better for thee, Fergus, to avenge thyself on the river-horse that hath twisted thy face than to do
brave deeds on women !" Fergus bade fetch him a mirror, and looked in it. " It is true," he said; "the
river-horse of Loch Rury has done this thing."
Death of Fergus
The conclusion may be given in the words of Sir Samuel Ferguson's fine poem on this theme. Fergus
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donned the magic shoes, took sword in hand, and went to Loch Rury :
Chapter V: Tales of the Ultonian Cycle 121
 Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race
"For a day and night
Beneath the waves he rested out of sight,
But all the Ultonians on the bank who stood
Saw the loch boil and redden with his blood.
When next at sunrise skies grew also red
He rose - and in his hand the Muirdris' head.
Gone was the blemish ! On his goodly face
Each trait symmetric had resumed its place :
And they who saw him marked in all his mien
A king's composure, ample and serene.
He smiled; he cast his trophy to the bank,
Said, 'I, survivor, Ulstermen !' and sank."
This fine tale has been published in full from an Egerton MS., by Mr. Standish Hayes O'Grady, in his "Silva
Gadelica." The humorous treatment of the fairy element in the story would mark it as belonging to a late
period of Irish legend, but the tragic and noble conclusion unmistakably signs it as belonging to the Ulster
bardic literature, and it falls within the same order of ideas, if it were not composed within the same period,
as the tales of Cuchulain.
Significance of Irish Place-Names
Before leaving this great cycle of legendary literature let us notice what has already, perhaps, attracted the
attention of some readers - the extent to which its chief characters and episodes have been commemorated in
the still surviving place-names of the country. [Dr. P. W. Joyce's "Irish Names of Places" is a storehouse of
information on this subject.] This is true of Irish legend in general - it is especially so of the Ultonian Cycle. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]