Latest / Celtic Folk and Fairy Tales / 027 - The Lad with the Goat-Skin

Transcript

027 - The Lad with the Goat-Skin · Celtic Folk and Fairy Tales

0:00
Speaker 1: Section twenty six of Celtic Folk and Fairy Tales. This
0:04
Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
0:07
Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
0:11
Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Celtic Folk at Fairy Tales edited by
0:15
Speaker 1: Joseph Jacob's Section twenty six. The lad with the goat Skin.
0:21
Speaker 1: Long ago, a poor widow woman lived down near the
0:24
Speaker 1: iron forge by Enniscorth, and she was so poor she
0:27
Speaker 1: had no clothes to put on her son. So she
0:30
Speaker 1: used to fix him in the ash hole near the
0:32
Speaker 1: fire and pile the warm ashes about him, And according
0:36
Speaker 1: as he grew up, she sunk the pit deeper. At
0:39
Speaker 1: last by hook or by crook, she got a goat
0:41
Speaker 1: skin and fastened it round his waist. And he felt
0:44
Speaker 1: quite grand and took a walk down the street, so
0:48
Speaker 1: says she to him. Next morning, Tom, you thief, you
0:52
Speaker 1: never done any good yet, and you six foot high
0:55
Speaker 1: and past nineteen. Take that rope and bring me a
0:58
Speaker 1: faggot from the wood. Never say twice, mother, says Tom.
1:03
Speaker 1: Here goes when he had gathered it and tied it,
1:06
Speaker 1: what should come up but a big giant nine foot
1:09
Speaker 1: high and made a lick of a club at him.
1:12
Speaker 1: Well became Tom. He jumped one side and picked up
1:15
Speaker 1: a rampike, and the first crack he gave the big
1:18
Speaker 1: fellow he made him kiss the clod. If you are
1:22
Speaker 1: a prayer, says Tom, now's the time to say it
1:24
Speaker 1: before I make fragments of you. I have no prayers,
1:28
Speaker 1: says the giant. But if you spare my life, I'll
1:30
Speaker 1: give you that club, and as long as you keep
1:32
Speaker 1: from sin, you'll win every battle you ever fight with it.
1:37
Speaker 1: Tom made no bones about letting him off, and as
1:39
Speaker 1: soon as he got the club in his hands, he
1:41
Speaker 1: sat down on the bresna and gave it a tap
1:44
Speaker 1: with the kippeine, and says, faggot, I had great trouble
1:48
Speaker 1: gathering you and run the risk of my life for you.
1:51
Speaker 1: The least you can do is to carry me home.
1:54
Speaker 1: And sure enough the wind o the word was all
1:57
Speaker 1: it wanted. It went off through the wood, groaning and
1:59
Speaker 1: c backing till it came to the widow's door. Well
2:03
Speaker 1: whether sticks were all burned. Tom was sent off again
2:06
Speaker 1: to pick more, and this time he had to fight
2:08
Speaker 1: with the giant that had two heads on him. Tom
2:10
Speaker 1: had a little more trouble with him, that's all. And
2:13
Speaker 1: the prayers he said was to give Tom a fife
2:16
Speaker 1: that nobody could help dancing when he was playing it,
2:19
Speaker 1: but Gory's he made the big faggot dance home with
2:21
Speaker 1: himself sitting on it. The next giant was a beautiful
2:25
Speaker 1: boy with three heads on him. He had neither prayers
2:27
Speaker 1: nor catechism, no more than the others. And so he
2:31
Speaker 1: gave Tom a bottle of green ointment that wouldn't let
2:34
Speaker 1: you be burned, nor scalded, nor wounded. And now he says,
2:39
Speaker 1: there's no more of us. You may come and gather
2:41
Speaker 1: sticks here till little lunacy day in harvest, without giant
2:45
Speaker 1: or fairy man to disturb you. Well, now, Tom was
2:48
Speaker 1: prouder nor ten paycock, and used to take a walk
2:51
Speaker 1: down street in the heel of the evening. But some
2:54
Speaker 1: of the little boys had no more manners than if
2:56
Speaker 1: they were dublin je keens, and put out their tongues
2:59
Speaker 1: at Tom's club and Tom's goat skin. He didn't like
3:02
Speaker 1: that at all, and it would be mean to give
3:04
Speaker 1: one of them a clout. At last, what should come
3:07
Speaker 1: through the town but a kind of a bellman. Only
3:11
Speaker 1: it's a big bugle he had, and a huntsman's cap
3:13
Speaker 1: on his head in a kind of painted shirt. So
3:15
Speaker 1: this he wasn't a bellman, and I don't know what
3:18
Speaker 1: to call him. Bugle man maybe. Proclaimed that the King
3:21
Speaker 1: of Dublin's daughter was so melancholy that she didn't give
3:25
Speaker 1: a laugh for seven years, and that her father would
3:27
Speaker 1: grant her in marriage to whoever could make her laugh
3:30
Speaker 1: three times. That's the very thing for me to try,
3:33
Speaker 1: says Tom. And so, without burning any more daylight, he
3:37
Speaker 1: kissed his mother, curled his club at the little boys,
3:40
Speaker 1: and off he set along the yellow high road to
3:42
Speaker 1: the town of Dublin. At last Tom came to one
3:45
Speaker 1: of the city gates, and the guards laughed and cursed
3:47
Speaker 1: at him instead of letting him in. Tom stood at
3:50
Speaker 1: all for a little time. But at last one of them,
3:53
Speaker 1: out of fun, as he said, drove his bayonet half
3:55
Speaker 1: an inch or so into his side. Tom done nothing
3:58
Speaker 1: but take the fellow by the scruff the neck and
4:00
Speaker 1: the waistban of his corduroys, and fling him into the canal.
4:04
Speaker 1: Some run to pull the fellow out, but others to
4:07
Speaker 1: let manners into the vulgarian with their swords and daggers,
4:11
Speaker 1: but a tap from his club sent them headlong into
4:13
Speaker 1: the moat or down on the stones, and they were
4:16
Speaker 1: soon begging him to stay his hands. So at last
4:20
Speaker 1: one of them was glad enough to show Tom the
4:22
Speaker 1: way to the palace yard. And there was the King
4:24
Speaker 1: and the Queen and the princess in a gallery, looking
4:27
Speaker 1: at all sorts of rustling and sword playing and long
4:29
Speaker 1: dances and mumming, all to please the princess, but not
4:33
Speaker 1: a smile came over her handsome face. Well, they all
4:36
Speaker 1: stopped when they seen the young giant with his boy's
4:39
Speaker 1: face and long black hair and his short curly beard,
4:43
Speaker 1: for his mother couldn't afford to buy razors, and his
4:45
Speaker 1: strong great arms and bare legs, and no covering but
4:48
Speaker 1: the goat skin that reached from his waist to his knees.
4:51
Speaker 1: But an envious wise and a bit of a fellow
4:54
Speaker 1: with a red head that wished to be married to
4:56
Speaker 1: the princess and didn't like how she opened her eyes
4:59
Speaker 1: at Tom came forward and asked his business, very snappishly.
5:03
Speaker 1: My business, said Tom, says he is to make the
5:06
Speaker 1: beautiful princess God bless her laugh three times? Do you
5:11
Speaker 1: see all the merry fellows and skillful swordsmen, said the
5:13
Speaker 1: other that could eat you up with a grain of salt,
5:15
Speaker 1: And not a mother OF's soul ever got a laugh
5:18
Speaker 1: from her in these seven years. So the fellows gathered
5:22
Speaker 1: around Tom, and the bad man aggravated him till he
5:25
Speaker 1: told them that he didn't care a pinch of snuff
5:27
Speaker 1: for the whole billin of em. Let him come on,
5:29
Speaker 1: six at a time and try what they could do.
5:32
Speaker 1: The king, who was too far off to hear what
5:34
Speaker 1: they were saying, ask what did the stranger want? He wants,
5:38
Speaker 1: said the red headed fellow, to make hairs of your
5:41
Speaker 1: best men. Oh, says the king. If that's the way,
5:45
Speaker 1: let one of em turn out and try his mettle.
5:47
Speaker 1: So one stood forward with sword and pot lid, and
5:50
Speaker 1: made a cut at Tom. He struck the fellow's elbow
5:53
Speaker 1: with the club, and up over their heads flew the sword,
5:56
Speaker 1: and down went the owner of it on the gravel.
5:58
Speaker 1: From a thump he got on the helmet. Another took
6:01
Speaker 1: his place, and another, and another, and then half a
6:04
Speaker 1: dozen at once, and Tom sent swords, helmets, shields, and
6:08
Speaker 1: bodies rolling over and over, and themselves bawling out that
6:12
Speaker 1: they were to be kilt and disabled and damaged, and
6:16
Speaker 1: rubbing their poor elbows and hips and limping away. Tom
6:20
Speaker 1: contrived not to kill any one, and the princess was
6:23
Speaker 1: so amused that she let a great sweet laugh out
6:27
Speaker 1: of her that was heard all over the yard. King
6:30
Speaker 1: of Dublin said Tom, i've quarter of your daughter, and
6:33
Speaker 1: the king didn't know whether he was glad or sorry,
6:36
Speaker 1: and all the blood in the princess's heart run into
6:39
Speaker 1: her cheeks. So there was no more fighting that day,
6:42
Speaker 1: and Tom was invited to dine with the royal family
6:46
Speaker 1: next day. Redhead told Tom of a wolf the size
6:49
Speaker 1: of a hearling heifer that used to be serenading about
6:52
Speaker 1: the walls and eating people and cattle, and said, what
6:54
Speaker 1: a pleasure it would give the king to have it kilt.
6:57
Speaker 1: With all my heart, says Tom, send a jaquin to
7:00
Speaker 1: show me where he lives, and will see how he
7:02
Speaker 1: behaves to a stranger. The princess was not well pleased,
7:07
Speaker 1: for Tom looked a different person, with fine clothes and
7:09
Speaker 1: a nice green burda over his long curly hair, and besides,
7:13
Speaker 1: he'd got one laugh out of her. However, the King
7:16
Speaker 1: gave his consent, and in an hour and a half
7:18
Speaker 1: the horrible wolf was walking into the palace yard, and
7:21
Speaker 1: Tom a step or two behind, with his club on
7:24
Speaker 1: his shoulder, just as a shepherd would be walking after
7:27
Speaker 1: a pet lamb. The King and Queen and princess were
7:30
Speaker 1: safe up in their gallery, but the officers and people
7:33
Speaker 1: of the court that were patrolling about the great Bawd,
7:36
Speaker 1: when they saw the big baste coming in, gave themselves
7:39
Speaker 1: up and began to make for doors and gates, and
7:42
Speaker 1: the wolf licked his chops as if he was saying,
7:44
Speaker 1: wouldn't I enjoy a breakfast of a couple of yous.
7:48
Speaker 1: The King shouted out, O Tom with the goat skin,
7:51
Speaker 1: take away that terrible wolf, and you must have all
7:54
Speaker 1: my daughter. But Tom didn't mind him a bit. He
7:57
Speaker 1: pulled out his flute and began to play like vengeance
8:00
Speaker 1: and dickens a man or boy in the yard, but
8:02
Speaker 1: began shoveling away heel and toe, and the wolf himself
8:05
Speaker 1: was obliged to get up on his hind legs and
8:08
Speaker 1: dance tather Jack Wallish. Along with the rest. A good
8:12
Speaker 1: deal of the people got inside and shut the doors
8:15
Speaker 1: the way the hairy fellow wouldn't pin them in. But
8:18
Speaker 1: Tom kept playing, and the outsiders kept dancing and shouting,
8:21
Speaker 1: and the wolf kept dancing and roaring with the pain
8:24
Speaker 1: his legs were giving him, and all the time he
8:27
Speaker 1: had his eyes on Redhead, who was shut out along
8:30
Speaker 1: with the rest. Wherever Redhead went, the wolf followed and
8:34
Speaker 1: kept one eye on him and the other on Tom,
8:38
Speaker 1: to see if he would give him leave to eat him.
8:40
Speaker 1: But Tom shook his head and never stopped the tune,
8:44
Speaker 1: and Redhead never stopped dancing and bawling, and the wolf
8:47
Speaker 1: dancing and roaring, one leg up and the other down,
8:50
Speaker 1: and he ready to drop out of his standing from
8:53
Speaker 1: fair tiresomeness. When the princess seen that there was no
8:56
Speaker 1: fear of any one being killed, she was so diverted
8:59
Speaker 1: by the stew that read Head was in that she
9:01
Speaker 1: gave another great laugh, and well become Tom out. He cried,
9:04
Speaker 1: King of Dublin, I have two halves of your daughter.
9:07
Speaker 1: Oh halves are all, says the king. Put away that
9:10
Speaker 1: devil of a wolf, and we'll see about it. So
9:12
Speaker 1: Tom put his flute in his pocket and says he
9:15
Speaker 1: to the base that was sitting on the Karabungo, ready
9:17
Speaker 1: to faint. Walk off to your mountain, my fine fellow,
9:20
Speaker 1: and live like a respectable beast. And if ever I
9:23
Speaker 1: find you within seven miles of any tie now he
9:26
Speaker 1: said no more, but spit in his fist and gave
9:28
Speaker 1: a flourish of his club. It was all the poor
9:31
Speaker 1: devil of a wolf wanted. He put his tail between
9:33
Speaker 1: his legs and took two his pumps without looking at
9:36
Speaker 1: man or mortal, And neither sun, moon nor stars ever
9:39
Speaker 1: saw sight of him. In Dublin again at dinner, every
9:43
Speaker 1: one laughed but the foxy fellow, and sure enough he
9:46
Speaker 1: was laying out how he'd settle poor Tom the next day. Well,
9:51
Speaker 1: to be sure, says he King of Dublin, you are
9:53
Speaker 1: in luck. There's the Danes modering us to no end.
9:56
Speaker 1: Deuce run to lusquidum, And if any one of us
9:59
Speaker 1: can save from em, it is this gentleman with the
10:01
Speaker 1: goat skin. There is a flail hanging on a collar
10:04
Speaker 1: beam in hell, and neither dane nor devil can stand
10:07
Speaker 1: before it. So says Tom to the king, Will you
10:10
Speaker 1: let me have the other half of the princess? If
10:12
Speaker 1: I bring you the flail. No, no, says the princess.
10:15
Speaker 1: I'd rather never be your wife than to see you
10:17
Speaker 1: in that danger. But Red had whispered and nudged Tom
10:21
Speaker 1: about how shabby it would look to renig the adventure.
10:25
Speaker 1: So he asked which way he was to go, and
10:27
Speaker 1: Red had directed him. Well, he traveled and traveled till
10:31
Speaker 1: he came in sight of the walls of Hell, and
10:33
Speaker 1: but Dad, before he knocked at the gates, he rubbed
10:35
Speaker 1: himself over with the greenish ointment. When he knocked, a
10:39
Speaker 1: hundred little imps popped their heads out through the bars
10:42
Speaker 1: and axed him what he wanted. I want to speak
10:45
Speaker 1: to the big devil of y'all open the gate, said Tom.
10:49
Speaker 1: It wasn't long till the gate was thrown open, and
10:52
Speaker 1: the old boy received Tom with bows and scrapes and
10:55
Speaker 1: axed his business. My business isn't much, said Tom. I
10:59
Speaker 1: only came for the loan of that flail that I
11:01
Speaker 1: see hangin on the collar, being for the King of
11:03
Speaker 1: Dublin to give a thrashing to the Danes. Well, says
11:07
Speaker 1: the other. The Danes is much better customers to me.
11:09
Speaker 1: But since you walk so far, I won't refuse hand
11:13
Speaker 1: that flail, says he to a young imp, and he
11:15
Speaker 1: winked the far off eye at the same time. So
11:18
Speaker 1: while some were barring the gates, the young devil climbed
11:20
Speaker 1: up and took down the flail that had the hand
11:23
Speaker 1: staff and the bull teen, both made out of red
11:26
Speaker 1: hot iron. The little vagabond was grinning to think how
11:29
Speaker 1: it burned the hands of Tom. But the dickens a
11:33
Speaker 1: burn it made on him no more than if it
11:35
Speaker 1: was a good oak sapling. Thank ye, says Tom. Now
11:39
Speaker 1: which open the gate for a body, and I'll give
11:40
Speaker 1: you no more trouble, Oh tramp, says old nick, is
11:44
Speaker 1: that the way it is easier getting inside them gates
11:47
Speaker 1: than getting out again, take that tool from him and
11:50
Speaker 1: give him a dose of the oil of stirrup. So
11:53
Speaker 1: one fellow put out his claws to seize on the flail,
11:56
Speaker 1: but Tom gave him such a welt of it on
11:58
Speaker 1: the side of the head that he broke off one
12:00
Speaker 1: of his horns and made him roar like a devil.
12:02
Speaker 1: As he was well. They rushed to Tom, but he
12:05
Speaker 1: gave them little and big such a thrashing as they
12:08
Speaker 1: didn't forget for a while. At last, says the old
12:12
Speaker 1: thief of all, rubbing his elbow, let the fool out,
12:15
Speaker 1: and woe to whoever lets him in again, great or small.
12:19
Speaker 1: So out marched Tom, and away with him without minding
12:22
Speaker 1: the shouting and cursing. They kept up at him from
12:25
Speaker 1: the tops of the walls. And when he got home
12:27
Speaker 1: to the big bawn of the palace, there never was
12:30
Speaker 1: such running and racing as to see himself and the flail.
12:33
Speaker 1: When he had his story told, he laid down the
12:35
Speaker 1: flail on the stone steps and bid no one for
12:37
Speaker 1: their lives to touch it. If the King and Queen
12:40
Speaker 1: and princess made much of him before, they made ten
12:43
Speaker 1: times more of him now. But Redhead, the mean scruffhound,
12:47
Speaker 1: stole over and thought to catch hold of the flail
12:50
Speaker 1: to make an end of him. His fingers hardly touched
12:53
Speaker 1: it when he let a roar out of him, as
12:55
Speaker 1: if heaven and Earth were coming together, and kept flinging
12:58
Speaker 1: his arms about and dance that it was pitiful to
13:01
Speaker 1: look at him. Tom ran at him as soon as
13:04
Speaker 1: he could rise, caught his hands in his own too,
13:07
Speaker 1: and rubbed them this way and that, and the burning
13:09
Speaker 1: pain left them before you could reckon one. Well. The
13:12
Speaker 1: poor fellow between the pain that was only just gone
13:15
Speaker 1: and the comfort he was in, had the comicalist face
13:19
Speaker 1: that you've ever seen. It was such a mixed thorrum
13:22
Speaker 1: gatherum of laughing and crying. Everybody burst out a laughing.
13:26
Speaker 1: The princess could not stop no more than the rest.
13:28
Speaker 1: And then says Tom, now, ma'am, if there were fifty
13:30
Speaker 1: halves of you, I hope you'll give me all of them. Well,
13:33
Speaker 1: the princess looked at her father, and by word she
13:36
Speaker 1: came over to Tom and put her two delicate hands
13:38
Speaker 1: into his two rough ones. And I wish it was
13:41
Speaker 1: myself in his shoes. That day Tom would not bring
13:44
Speaker 1: the flail into the palace. You may be sure no
13:46
Speaker 1: other body went near it. And when the early risers
13:49
Speaker 1: were passing next morning, they found two long clefts in
13:52
Speaker 1: the stone where it was after burning itself and opening downwards.
13:56
Speaker 1: Nobody could tell how far when a messenger came in
14:00
Speaker 1: at noon and said that the Danes were so frightened
14:02
Speaker 1: when they heard of the flail coming into Dublin that
14:05
Speaker 1: they got into their ships and sailed away. Well, I
14:08
Speaker 1: suppose before they were married, Tom got some man like
14:12
Speaker 1: Pat Marrow of Tominine to learn him the principles of politeness, fluxions,
14:17
Speaker 1: gunnery and fortification, decimal fractions, practice, and the rule of
14:22
Speaker 1: three direct the way he'd be able to keep up
14:24
Speaker 1: a conversation with the royal family. Whether he ever lost
14:28
Speaker 1: his time learning them sciences, I'm not sure, but it's
14:31
Speaker 1: as sure as fate that his mother never saw any
14:33
Speaker 1: more want till the end of her days. End of
14:37
Speaker 1: section twenty six, end of Celtic Folk and Fairy Tales,
14:42
Speaker 1: edited by Joseph Jacobs,