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024 - Andrew Coffey · Celtic Folk and Fairy Tales

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty three of Celtic Fog and Fairy Tales. This
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  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Celtic Fog and Fairy Tales edited by
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  Speaker 1: Joseph Jacobs, Section twenty three. Andrew Coffee. My grandfather, Andrew
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  Speaker 1: Coffee was known to the Hall Barony as a quiet
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  Speaker 1: descant man, And if the Hall Barony knew him, he
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  Speaker 1: knew the Hall Barony every inch, hill and dale, bog
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  Speaker 1: and pasture filled and covered fancy his surprise one evening
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  Speaker 1: when he found himself in a part of the domain
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  Speaker 1: he couldn't recognize a bit. He and his good horse
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  Speaker 1: were always stumbling up against some tree, or stumbling down
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  Speaker 1: into some bog hall that by riots didn't ought to
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  Speaker 1: be there. On the top of all this, the rain
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  Speaker 1: came pelting down wherever there was a clearing, and the
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  Speaker 1: cold march wind tore through the trees a lot. He
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  Speaker 1: was when he saw a light in the distance, and
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  Speaker 1: drawing near, found a cabin, though for the life of
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  Speaker 1: him he couldn't think how it came there. However, in
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  Speaker 1: he walked after tying up his horse, and right welcome
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  Speaker 1: was the brandwood fire placing on the hearth. And there
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  Speaker 1: stood a chair right and tied that seemed to say,
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  Speaker 1: come sit down in me. There wasn't a soul else
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  Speaker 1: in the room. Well, he did sit and got a
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  Speaker 1: little warm and cheered after his drenching. But all the
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  Speaker 1: while he was wandering and wandering. Andrew Coffee, Andrew Coffee,
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  Speaker 1: good heavens, who was calling him? And not a soul
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  Speaker 1: in sight. Look around as he might, indoors and out
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  Speaker 1: he could find no creature with two legs or four,
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  Speaker 1: for his horse was gone. Andrew Coffee, Andrew Coffee, tell
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  Speaker 1: me a story. It was louder this time, and it
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  Speaker 1: was nearer. And then what a thing to ask for?
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  Speaker 1: It was, but enough not to be let seat by
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  Speaker 1: the fire in dry without being bothered for a story,
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  Speaker 1: Andrew Coffee, Andrew Coffee, tell me a story, or it'll
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  Speaker 1: be the worse for you. My poor grandfather was so
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  Speaker 1: dumb found it that he could only stand and stare
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  Speaker 1: Andrew Coffey, Andrew Coffee, I told you it'd be the
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  Speaker 1: worse for you. And with that out there bounced from
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  Speaker 1: a cabboard that Andrew Coffey had never noticed before a man,
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  Speaker 1: and the man was in a towering rage. But it
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  Speaker 1: wasn't that. And he carried as fine a blackthorn as
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  Speaker 1: you'd wish to crack a man's head with. But it
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  Speaker 1: wasn't that either. But when my grandfather clapped eyes on him,
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  Speaker 1: he knew him for Patrick Rooney, and all the world
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  Speaker 1: knew he'd gone off a boat fishing one night long
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  Speaker 1: years before. Andrew Coffey would neither stop nor stay. But
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  Speaker 1: he took to his heels and was out of the
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  Speaker 1: house as hard as he could. He ran, and he ran,
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  Speaker 1: taking little thought of what was before, till at last
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  Speaker 1: he ran up against a big tree, and then he
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  Speaker 1: sat down to rest. He hadn't sat for a moment
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  Speaker 1: when he heard voices. It's heavy, his vagabond study. Now
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  Speaker 1: we'll rest when we get under the big tree yonder.
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  Speaker 1: Now that happened to be the tree under which Andrew
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  Speaker 1: Coffee was sitting, at least he thought so. For seeing
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  Speaker 1: a branch handy, he swung himself up by it and
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  Speaker 1: was soon snugly hidden away better sea than be seen,
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  Speaker 1: thought he. The rain had stopped, and the wind fallen.
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  Speaker 1: The night was blacker than ever. But Unrew Coffee could
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  Speaker 1: see four men, and they were carrying between them a
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  Speaker 1: long box under the tree. They came, set the box down,
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  Speaker 1: opened it, and who should they bring out? But Patrick
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  Speaker 1: Rooney never a word did he say, and he looked
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  Speaker 1: as pale as old snow. Well. One gathered brushwood, and
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  Speaker 1: another took out tinder and flint, and they soon had
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  Speaker 1: a big fire roaring, And my grandfather could see Patrick
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  Speaker 1: plainly enough. If he had kept still before, he kept stiller.
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  Speaker 1: Now soon they had four poles up, and a pole
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  Speaker 1: cross right over the fire for all the world like
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  Speaker 1: a spit, And on the pole they slunk Patrick Rooney.
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  Speaker 1: He'll do well, enough, said one. But who's to mind
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  Speaker 1: him whilst we're away? Who'll turn the fire? Who'll see
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  Speaker 1: that he doesn't burn? With that? Patrick opened his lips.
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  Speaker 1: Andrew Coffee said he, Andrea Coffee, Andrew Coffee, Andrew Coffee,
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  Speaker 1: Andrew Coffee. I'm much obliged to you, gentlemen, said Andrew Coffy,
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  Speaker 1: But indeed I know nothing about the business. You'd better
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  Speaker 1: come down, Andrew Coffy said Patrick. It was a second
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  Speaker 1: time he spoke, and Andrew Coffy decided he would come down.
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  Speaker 1: The four men went off, and he was left all
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  Speaker 1: alone with Patrick. Then he sat and he kept the
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  Speaker 1: fire even, and he kept the spit turning, and all
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  Speaker 1: the while Patrick looked at him. Poor Andrew Coffey could
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  Speaker 1: make it all out at all. And he stirreted Patrick,
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  Speaker 1: and at the fire, and he thought of the little
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  Speaker 1: house in the wood till he felt quite dazed. Ah,
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  Speaker 1: but it's burning me, you are, says Patrick, very short
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  Speaker 1: and sharp. I'm sure I beg your pardon, said my grandfather.
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  Speaker 1: But might I ask you a question? If you want
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  Speaker 1: a crooked answer, said Patrick, turn away, or it'll be
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  Speaker 1: the worse for you. But my grandfather couldn't get it
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  Speaker 1: out of his head. Hadn't everybody far and near, said Patrick,
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  Speaker 1: had fallen overboard. There was enough to think about, And
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  Speaker 1: my grandfather did think. And your coffee, and your coffee,
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  Speaker 1: it's burning me. You are sorry enough, my grandfather was,
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  Speaker 1: and he vowed he wouldn't do so again. You'd better not,
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  Speaker 1: said Patrick, And he gave him a cock of his
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  Speaker 1: eye under green of his teeth that just sent a
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  Speaker 1: shiver down andre Kovy's back. Well, it was odd that
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  Speaker 1: here he should be in a thick wood he had
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  Speaker 1: never set eyes upon, turning, Patrick Rooney upon a speed.
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  Speaker 1: You can't wonder at my grandfather thinking and thinking and
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  Speaker 1: not minding the fire and your coffee, and your coffee.
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  Speaker 1: It's the death of you, I'll be. And with that,
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  Speaker 1: what did my grandfather see but patchy again, slinking himself
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  Speaker 1: from the speed, and his eyes glad and his teeth glistened.
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  Speaker 1: It was neither stop nor stay my grandfather made, but
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  Speaker 1: out he ran into the night of the wood. It
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  Speaker 1: seemed to him there wasn't a stone, but was for
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  Speaker 1: his stumbling, Nor a branch but bit his face, not
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  Speaker 1: a bramble, but store his kin. And wherever it was clear,
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  Speaker 1: the rain pelted down, and the cold march wind hauled along.
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  Speaker 1: Glad was he to see a light, And a minute
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  Speaker 1: after he was kneeling, dazed, drenched and bedraggled by the
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  Speaker 1: hearth side. The brushwood flamed and the brush wood crackled,
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  Speaker 1: and soon my grandfather began to feel a little warm
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  Speaker 1: and dry and easy in his mind. Andrew Coffee, Andrew Coffee,
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  Speaker 1: It's hard for a man to jump when he has
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  Speaker 1: been through all My grandfather had, but the jamp he did.
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  Speaker 1: And when he looked around, where should he find himself
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  Speaker 1: But in the very cabin he had first met Patrick in,
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  Speaker 1: Andrew Coffee. Andrew Coffee, tell me a story. Is it
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  Speaker 1: a story you want? Said my grandfather, as bold as
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  Speaker 1: may be, for he was just tired of being frightened. Well,
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  Speaker 1: if you can tell me the rights of this one,
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  Speaker 1: I'll be thankful. And he told the tale of what
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  Speaker 1: had befallen him from first to last that night, the
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  Speaker 1: tail was long, and maybe Andrew Coffey was weary. It's
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  Speaker 1: a sleep he must have fallen, for when he awoke
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  Speaker 1: he lay on the hill side under the open heavens,
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  Speaker 1: and his horse grazed at his side. And of Section
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  Speaker 1: twenty three