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023 - The Tale of Ivan · Celtic Folk and Fairy Tales

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty two of Celtic Folk 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 ough to volunteer, please visit
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Celtic Falk and Fairy Tales edited by
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  Speaker 1: Joseph Jacobs. Section twenty two, The Tale of Ivan. There
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  Speaker 1: were formerly a man and a woman living in the
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  Speaker 1: parish of Lonlaven, in the place which is called hardy,
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  Speaker 1: and walk became scarce, so the man said to his wife,
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  Speaker 1: I will go search for work, and you may leave here.
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  Speaker 1: So he took fair leave and traveled far toward the east,
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  Speaker 1: and at last came to the house of a farmer
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  Speaker 1: and asked for work. What work can ye do, said
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  Speaker 1: the farmer. I can do all kinds of work, said Ivan.
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  Speaker 1: Then they agreed upon three pounds for the year's wages.
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  Speaker 1: When the end of the year came, his master showed
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  Speaker 1: him the three pounds. See Ivan said he here is
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  Speaker 1: your wage, but if you will give it me back,
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  Speaker 1: I'll give you a piece of advice instead. Give me
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  Speaker 1: my wage, said Ivan. No, I'll not, said the master.
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  Speaker 1: I'll explain my advice. Tell it me. Then said Ivan.
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  Speaker 1: Then said the master, never leave the old road for
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  Speaker 1: the sake of a new one. After that they agreed
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  Speaker 1: for another year at the old wages, and at the
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  Speaker 1: end of it, Ivan took and steered a piece of advice,
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  Speaker 1: and this was it never lodge where an old man
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  Speaker 1: is married to a young woman. The same thing happened
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  Speaker 1: at the end of the third year, when the piece
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  Speaker 1: of advice was honesty is the best policy. But Ivan
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  Speaker 1: would not stay longer, but want to go back to
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  Speaker 1: his wife. Don't go to day, said his master. My
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  Speaker 1: wife begs to morrow, and she shall make thee a
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  Speaker 1: cake to take home to thy good woman. And when
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  Speaker 1: Ivan was going to leave, here said his master, here
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  Speaker 1: is a cake for thee to take home to thy wife.
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  Speaker 1: And when yeer most joyous together, then break the cake,
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  Speaker 1: and not sooner. So he took fair leave of them
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  Speaker 1: and traveled towards home. And at last he came to
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  Speaker 1: Wayne here, and there he met three merchants from Treyreen
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  Speaker 1: of his own parish, coming home from Exeter Fair oh Ho,
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  Speaker 1: Ivan said, they come with us. Glad are we to
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  Speaker 1: see you? Where have you been so long? I have
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  Speaker 1: been in service, said Ivan, And now I'm going home
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  Speaker 1: to my wife. Oh, come with us, you'll be right welcome.
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  Speaker 1: But when they took the new road, Ivan kept to
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  Speaker 1: the old one, and robbers fell upon them before they
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  Speaker 1: had gone far from Ivan. As they were going by
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  Speaker 1: the fields of the houses in the meadow, they began
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  Speaker 1: to cry out thieves, and Ivan shouted out thieves too.
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  Speaker 1: And when the robbers had Ivan's shout, they ran away.
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  Speaker 1: And the merchants went by the new road and Ivan
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  Speaker 1: by the old one, till they met again at market
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  Speaker 1: jew Oh. Ivan said the merchants, we are beholding to you,
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  Speaker 1: but for you we would have been lost. Men. Come
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  Speaker 1: lodge with us at our course, and welcome. When they
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  Speaker 1: came to the place where they used to lodge, Ivan said,
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  Speaker 1: I must see the host, the host. They cried, what
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  Speaker 1: do you want with the host? Here is the hostess,
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  Speaker 1: and she's young and pretty. If you want to see
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  Speaker 1: the host, you'll find him in the kitchen. So he
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  Speaker 1: went into the kitchen to see the host. He found
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  Speaker 1: him a weak old man, turning the speed er. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: quoth Ivan, I'll not lodge here, but we'll go next door.
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  Speaker 1: Not yet, said the merchants. Sup with us, and welcome.
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  Speaker 1: Now it happened that the hostess had plotted with a
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  Speaker 1: certain monk in market Jew to order the old man
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  Speaker 1: in his bed that night while the rest were asleep,
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  Speaker 1: and they agreed to lay it on the lodgers. So
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  Speaker 1: while Ivan was in bed next door, there was a
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  Speaker 1: hole in the pine end of the house, and he
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  Speaker 1: saw a light through it. So he got up and
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  Speaker 1: looked and heard the monk speaking. I had better cover
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  Speaker 1: this hall, said he. All people in the next house
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  Speaker 1: may see our deeds. So he stood with his back
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  Speaker 1: against it while the hostess killed the old man. But
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  Speaker 1: meanwhile Ivan out with his knife, and putting it through
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  Speaker 1: the hall, cut a round piece over the monk's robe.
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  Speaker 1: The very next morning, the hostess raised the cry that
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  Speaker 1: her husband was murdered, and as there was neither man
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  Speaker 1: nor child in the house, but the merchants, she declared
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  Speaker 1: they ought to be hanged for it. So they were
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  Speaker 1: taken in carriage to prison, till at last Ivan came
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  Speaker 1: to them alas alas. Ivan cried, they bad luck stixt
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  Speaker 1: to us. Our host was killed last night, and we
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  Speaker 1: shall be hanged for it. Ah tell the justices, said Ivan,
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  Speaker 1: to sum the real murderers, who knows, They replied, who
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  Speaker 1: committed the crime? Who committed the crime? Said Ivan, If
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  Speaker 1: I cannot prove who committed the crime, hang me in
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  Speaker 1: your stead. So he told all he knew, and brought
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  Speaker 1: out the piece of cloth from the monk's robe, and
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  Speaker 1: with that the merchants were set at liberty, and the
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  Speaker 1: hostess and the monk were seized and hanged. Then they
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  Speaker 1: came altogether out of market jew and they said to him,
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  Speaker 1: come as far as could come a wilfer the wood
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  Speaker 1: of the heap of stones of watching in the parish
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  Speaker 1: of Bermen. Then their two roads separated, and though the
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  Speaker 1: merchants wished Ivan to go with them, he would not
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  Speaker 1: go with them, but went straight home to his wife.
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  Speaker 1: And when his wife saw him, she said, home, in
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  Speaker 1: the nick of time, here's a purse of gold that
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  Speaker 1: I found. It has no name, but sure it belongs
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  Speaker 1: to the Great Lord Yonder. I was just thinking what
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  Speaker 1: to do when you came. Then Ivan thought of the
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  Speaker 1: Third Council, and he said, let us go and give
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  Speaker 1: it to the Great Lord. So they went up to
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  Speaker 1: the castle, but the Great Lord was not in it.
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  Speaker 1: So they left the purse with the servant that mined
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  Speaker 1: the gate, and then they went home again and lived
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  Speaker 1: in quiet for a time. But one day the Great
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  Speaker 1: Lord stopped at their house for a drink of water,
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  Speaker 1: and Ivan's wife said to him, I hope your lordship
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  Speaker 1: found your lordship's purse quite safe, with all its money
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  Speaker 1: in it. What purse is that you are talking about,
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  Speaker 1: said the lord. Sure, it's your lordship's spurs that I
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  Speaker 1: left to the castle, says Ivan. Come with me and
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  Speaker 1: we will see into the matter, said the lord. So
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  Speaker 1: Ivan and his wife went up to the castle, and
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  Speaker 1: there they pointed out the man to whom they had
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  Speaker 1: given the purse, and he had to give it up
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  Speaker 1: and was sent away from the castle. And the Lord
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  Speaker 1: was so pleased with Ivan that he made him his
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  Speaker 1: servant in the stead of the thief. Honesty is the
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  Speaker 1: best policy, quoth Ivan, as he skipped about in his
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  Speaker 1: new quarters. How joyful I am. Then he thought of
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  Speaker 1: his old master's keg that he was to eat when
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  Speaker 1: he was most joyful, And when he broke it, lo
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  Speaker 1: and behold, and inside it was his wages for the
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  Speaker 1: three years he had been with him. And of Section
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  Speaker 1: twenty two