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021 - The Radiant Boy - The Fate of Frank M'Kenna · Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty of Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Fairy and Folk Tales of Irish Peasantry,
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  Speaker 1: edited as elected by W. B. Yates, Section twenty. The
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  Speaker 1: Radiant Boy, Missus Crow, Captain Stewart, Afterwards Lord Casserie, when
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  Speaker 1: he was a young man, happened to be quartered in Ireland.
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  Speaker 1: He was fond of sport, and one day the pursuit
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  Speaker 1: of game carried him so far that he lost his way.
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  Speaker 1: The weather, too, had become very rough, and in this
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  Speaker 1: trait he presented himself at the door of a gentleman's house, and,
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  Speaker 1: sending in his card, requested shelter for the night. The
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  Speaker 1: hospitality of the Irish country gentry is proverbial. The master
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  Speaker 1: of the house received him warmly, said he feared he
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  Speaker 1: could not make him so comfortable as he would have wished,
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  Speaker 1: his house being full of visitors already, added to which
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  Speaker 1: some strangers, driven by the inclemency of the night, had
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  Speaker 1: sought shelter before him. But such a commendation as he
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  Speaker 1: could give, he was hardly welcome to. Whereupon he called
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  Speaker 1: his butler, and, committing the guest to his good offices,
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  Speaker 1: told him he must put him up somewhere and do
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  Speaker 1: the best he could for him. There was no lady,
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  Speaker 1: the gentleman, being a widower. Captain Stewart found the house
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  Speaker 1: scrammed and the very jolly party it was. His host
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  Speaker 1: invited him to stay and promised him good shooting if
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  Speaker 1: he would prolong his visit a few days, And in fine,
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  Speaker 1: he thought himself extremely fortunate to have fallen into such
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  Speaker 1: pleasant quarters. At length, after unagreeable evening, they all retired
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  Speaker 1: to and the butler conducted him to a large room,
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  Speaker 1: almost divested of furniture, but with a blazing turf fire
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  Speaker 1: in the grate and a shakedown on the floor composed
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  Speaker 1: of cloaks and other heterogeneous materials. Nevertheless, to the tired
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  Speaker 1: limbs of Captain Stewart, who had had a hard days shooting,
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  Speaker 1: it looked very inviting. But before he laid down, he
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  Speaker 1: thought it advisable to take off some of the fire
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  Speaker 1: which was blazing up the chimney in what he thought
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  Speaker 1: an alarming manner. Having done this, he stretched himself on
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  Speaker 1: his couch and soon fell asleep. He believed he had
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  Speaker 1: slept about a couple of hours when he awoke suddenly
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  Speaker 1: and was startled by such a vivid light in the
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  Speaker 1: room that he thought it on fire, But on turning
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  Speaker 1: to look at the grate, he saw the fire was out,
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  Speaker 1: though it was from the chimney. The light proceeded. He
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  Speaker 1: sat up in bed, trying to discover what it was,
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  Speaker 1: when he perceived the form of a beautiful naked boy
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  Speaker 1: surrounded by a dazzling radium. The boy looked at him earnestly,
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  Speaker 1: and then the vision faded and was all dark. Captain Stewart,
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  Speaker 1: so far from supposing what he had seen to be
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  Speaker 1: of a spiritual nature, had no doubt that the host
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  Speaker 1: or the visitors had been trying to frighten him. Accordingly,
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  Speaker 1: he felt indignant at the liberty, and on the following morning,
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  Speaker 1: when he appeared at breakfast, he took care to evince
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  Speaker 1: his displeasure by the reserve of his demeanor and by
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  Speaker 1: announcing his intention to depart immediately. The host exposedulated, reminding
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  Speaker 1: him of his promise to stay and should Captain Stewart
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  Speaker 1: coldly excused himself, and at length the gentleman, seeing something
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  Speaker 1: was wrong, took him aside and pressed for an explanation,
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  Speaker 1: whereupon Captain Stewart, without entering into particulars, said he had
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  Speaker 1: been made the victim of a sort of practical joking
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  Speaker 1: that he thought quite unwarrantable with the stranger. The gentleman
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  Speaker 1: considered this not impossible amongst a parcel of thoughtless young men,
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  Speaker 1: and appealed to them to make an apology, But one
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  Speaker 1: and all, on honor, denied the impeachment. Suddenly a thought
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  Speaker 1: seemed to strike him. He clapped his hand to his forehead,
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  Speaker 1: uttered an exclamation, and rang the bell. Hamilton said he
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  Speaker 1: to the butler, where did Captain Stewart sleep last night? Well, Sir,
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  Speaker 1: replied the man. You know every place was full. The
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  Speaker 1: gentlemen were lying on the floor three or four inner room,
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  Speaker 1: so I gave him the boy's room, but I lit
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  Speaker 1: a blazing fire to keep him from coming out. You
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  Speaker 1: are very wrong, said the host. You know I have
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  Speaker 1: positively forbidden you to put any one there, and have
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  Speaker 1: taken the furniture out of the room to insure its
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  Speaker 1: not being occupied. Then retiring with Captain Stewart, he informed
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  Speaker 1: him very gravely of the nature of the phenomena he
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  Speaker 1: had seen, and, at length, being pressed for further information,
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  Speaker 1: he confessed that there existed a tradition in the family
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  Speaker 1: that whoever the Radiant Boy appeared to will rise to
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  Speaker 1: the summit of power, and when he has reached the climax,
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  Speaker 1: will die a violent death. And I must say, he added,
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  Speaker 1: that the records that have been kept of his appearance
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  Speaker 1: go to confirm this persuasion and of the Radiant Boy
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  Speaker 1: the fate of Frank mc kennah William Carleton. There lived
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  Speaker 1: a man named Mkenna at the heap of one of
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  Speaker 1: the mountains hills which divide the country of Arran from
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  Speaker 1: that of Monaghan. This Mkenna had two sons, one of
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  Speaker 1: whom was in the habit of tracing hairs of a
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  Speaker 1: sunday whenever there happened to be a fall of snow.
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  Speaker 1: His father, it seems, had frequently demonstrated him with what
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  Speaker 1: he considered to be a violation of the Lord's day,
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  Speaker 1: as well as for his general neglect of mass. The
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  Speaker 1: young man, however, found otherwise harmless and inoffensive, was in
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  Speaker 1: this matter quite insensible to paternal reproof and continued to
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  Speaker 1: trace wherever the avocations of labor would allow him to It.
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  Speaker 1: So happened that upon Christmas morning, I think in the
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  Speaker 1: year eighteen fourteen, there was a deep fall of snow,
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  Speaker 1: and young Ukanda, instead of going to mass, got down
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  Speaker 1: his cockstick, which he is a staff, much thicker and
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  Speaker 1: heavier at one and then at the other, and prepared
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  Speaker 1: to set out on his favorite amusement. His father, seeing this,
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  Speaker 1: reproved him seriously and insisted that he should attend prayers.
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  Speaker 1: His enthusiasm for the sport, however, was stronger than his
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  Speaker 1: love of religion, and he refused to be guided by
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  Speaker 1: his father's advice. The old man, doing the other kasion,
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  Speaker 1: got warm, and on finding that the sun obstinately scorned
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  Speaker 1: his authority, he knelt down and pray that if the
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  Speaker 1: boy persisted in following his own will, he might never
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  Speaker 1: return from the mountains, unless as a corpse. The imprecation,
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  Speaker 1: which was certainly as harsh as it was mbeous and senseless,
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  Speaker 1: might have startled many a mind from a purpose that
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  Speaker 1: was to save the least of it. At variance with
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  Speaker 1: religion and the respect due to a father, it had
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  Speaker 1: no effect however, upon the Sun, who is said to
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  Speaker 1: have replied that whether he ever returned or not, he
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  Speaker 1: was determined on going. And though accordingly he did, he
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  Speaker 1: was not, however, alone, for it appears that three or
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  Speaker 1: four of the neighboring young men accompanied him. Whether their
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  Speaker 1: sport was good or otherwise is not on to the purpose,
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  Speaker 1: neither am I able to say. But the story goes
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  Speaker 1: that towards the later part of the day they started
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  Speaker 1: a larger and darker hair than any they had ever seen,
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  Speaker 1: and that she kept dubling on before them, bit by bit,
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  Speaker 1: leading them to suppose that every succeeding cast of the
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  Speaker 1: cockstick would bring her down. It was observed afterwards that
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  Speaker 1: she also led them into the recess of the mountains,
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  Speaker 1: and that although they tried to turn her course homewards,
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  Speaker 1: they could not succeed in doing so. As evening advanced,
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  Speaker 1: the companions of m Kenna began to feel the folly
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  Speaker 1: of pursuing her further, and to perceive the danger of
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  Speaker 1: losing their way in the mountains should night or snow
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  Speaker 1: storm come upon them. They therefore proposed to give over
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  Speaker 1: the chase and return home. But m Kenna would not
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  Speaker 1: hear of it. If you wish to go home, you may,
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  Speaker 1: said he. As for me, I'll never leave the hills
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  Speaker 1: till I have her with me. They begged and entreated
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  Speaker 1: of him to decease and return, but all to no purpose.
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  Speaker 1: He appeared to be what the Scotch called faye, that is,
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  Speaker 1: to act as if he were moved by some impulse
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  Speaker 1: that leads to death, and from the influence of which
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  Speaker 1: a man cannot withdraw himself at length. On finding him
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  Speaker 1: invincibly obstinate, they left him, pursuing the hair directly into
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  Speaker 1: the heart of the mountains, and returned to their respective homes.
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  Speaker 1: In the meantime, one of the most terrible snow storms
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  Speaker 1: ever remembered in that part of the country came on,
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  Speaker 1: and the consequence was that the self willed young man,
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  Speaker 1: who had equally trembled on the sanctities of religion and
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  Speaker 1: parental authority, was given over for lost. As soon as
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  Speaker 1: attempts became still, the neighbors assembled in a body and
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  Speaker 1: proceeded to look for him. The snow, however, have fallen
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  Speaker 1: so heavily that not a single mark of a footstep
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  Speaker 1: could be seen, nothing but one wide waste of white
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  Speaker 1: undulating heels met the eye wherever it turned, and of McKenna,
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  Speaker 1: no trace whatever was visible or could be found. His father,
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  Speaker 1: now remembering the unnatural character of his imprecation, was nearly distracted,
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  Speaker 1: for although the body had not been yet found, still
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  Speaker 1: by every one who witnessed the sudden rage of the
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  Speaker 1: storm and who knew the mountains, escape or survival was
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  Speaker 1: felt to be impossible. Every day, for about a week,
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  Speaker 1: large parties were out among the hill ranges seeking him,
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  Speaker 1: but to no purpose. At length there came a thaw,
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  Speaker 1: and his body was found on a snow wreath, lying
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  Speaker 1: in a fine posture, within a circle which he had
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  Speaker 1: drawn around him with his cockstick. His prayer book lay
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  Speaker 1: opened upon his mouth, and his head was pulled down
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  Speaker 1: so as to cover it and his face. It is
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  Speaker 1: unnecessary to say that the rumor of his death and
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  Speaker 1: of the circumstances under which he left home, created a
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  Speaker 1: most extraordinary sensation in the country, a sensation that was
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  Speaker 1: the greater in proportion to the uncertainty occasioned by his
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  Speaker 1: not having been found, either alive or death. Some affirmed
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  Speaker 1: that he had crossed the mountains and was seen in Monaghan.
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  Speaker 1: Others that he had been seen in clones in em
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  Speaker 1: Whale in five Mile Town. But despite all these agreeable reports,
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  Speaker 1: the melancholy truth was at length made clear by the
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  Speaker 1: appearance of the body. As just stated now, it so
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  Speaker 1: happened that the house nearest spot where he lay was
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  Speaker 1: inhabited by a man named Delhi I think, but of
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  Speaker 1: the name I am not certain. Who was a heard
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  Speaker 1: or caretaker to doctor Porter than Bishop of Close. The
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  Speaker 1: situation of this house was the most lonely and deathless
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  Speaker 1: looking that could be imagined. It was at least two
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  Speaker 1: mile system from any hue human habitation, being surrounded by
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  Speaker 1: one wide and dreary waste of dark moor. By this
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  Speaker 1: house lay the root of those who had found the corpse,
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  Speaker 1: and I believe the door of it was borrowed for
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  Speaker 1: the purpose of conveying it home. Bit this as it may,
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  Speaker 1: the family witnessed the melancholy procession as it passed slowly
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  Speaker 1: through the mountains, And when the place and circumstances are
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  Speaker 1: all considered, we may admit that to ignored and superstitious people,
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  Speaker 1: whose minds, even upon ordinary occasions, were strongly affected by
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  Speaker 1: such matters, it was a side calculated to leave behind
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  Speaker 1: it a deep, if not terrible impression. Time soon proved
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  Speaker 1: that it did so. An incident is said to have
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  Speaker 1: occurred at the funeral, in fine keeping with the wild
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  Speaker 1: spirit of the whole melancholy event, when the procession had
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  Speaker 1: advanced to a place called Molactiny, a large dark colored hair,
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  Speaker 1: which was instantly recognized by those who had been out
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  Speaker 1: with him on the heels as the identical one that
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  Speaker 1: led him to his faith, is said to have crossed
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  Speaker 1: the roads about twenty yards or so before the coffin.
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  Speaker 1: The story goes that the man struck it on the
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  Speaker 1: side with a stone, and that the blow, which would
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  Speaker 1: have killed any ordinary hare, not only did it no injury,
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  Speaker 1: but occasioned a sound to proceed from the body, resembling
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  Speaker 1: the hollow one emitted by an empty barrel when struck.
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  Speaker 1: In the meantime, the interment took place, and the sensation began,
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  Speaker 1: like every other, to die away the natural progress of time,
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  Speaker 1: when behold a report ran abroad like wildfire, that, to
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  Speaker 1: use the language of the people, Frank mc kenna was
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  Speaker 1: appearing one night, about a fortnight after his funeral, the
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  Speaker 1: daughter of Dally the Herd, a girl about fourteen while
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  Speaker 1: lying in bed, so what appeared to be the likeness
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  Speaker 1: of mc kenna, who had been lost. She screamed out, and,
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  Speaker 1: covering her head with the bed clothes, told her father
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  Speaker 1: and mother that Frank mc kenna was in the house.
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  Speaker 1: This alarming intelligence naturally produced great terror. Still Dally, who
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  Speaker 1: notwithstanding his belief in such matters, possessed a good deal
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  Speaker 1: of moral courage, was cool enough to rise and examine
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  Speaker 1: the house, which consisted of only one apartment. This gave
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  Speaker 1: the daughter some courage, who, on finding that her father
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  Speaker 1: could not see him, peturged to look out, and she
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  Speaker 1: then could see nothing of him herself. She very soon
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  Speaker 1: fell asleep, and her father attributed what she sought to
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  Speaker 1: fear or some accidental combination of shadows proceeding from the furniture,
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  Speaker 1: for it was a clear moonlight night. The light of
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  Speaker 1: the following day dispelled a great deal of their apprehensions,
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  Speaker 1: and comparatively little was thought of it until evening again advanced,
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  Speaker 1: when the fears of the daughter began to return. They
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  Speaker 1: appeared to be prophetic, for she said, when night came
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  Speaker 1: that she knew he would appear again, and accordingly, at
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  Speaker 1: the same hour he did so, This was repeated for
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  Speaker 1: several successive nights, until the girl from the Very Hardihood
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  Speaker 1: of Terror began to become so far from realized to
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  Speaker 1: the specter as to venture to address it. In the
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  Speaker 1: name of God. She asked, what is troubling you? Or
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  Speaker 1: why do you appear to me instead of to some
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  Speaker 1: of your own family or relations. The ghosts, as Sir alone,
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  Speaker 1: might settle the question involved in the authenticity of its appearance,
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  Speaker 1: bearing as it was an account of one of the
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  Speaker 1: most ludicrous visions that ever a spirit was despatched upon.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not allowed, said he to speak to any of
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  Speaker 1: my friends where I parted with them in anger. But
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  Speaker 1: I come to tell you that they are quarreling about
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  Speaker 1: my breeches, a new pair that I got made for
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  Speaker 1: Christmas Day, and as I was coming up to chance
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  Speaker 1: in the mountains, I thought the old one would do patter,
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  Speaker 1: and of course I didn't put a new pair on me.
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  Speaker 1: My reason for appearing, he added, is that you may
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  Speaker 1: tell my friends that none of them is to wear them.
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  Speaker 1: They must be given in charity. The serious and solemn
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  Speaker 1: intimation from the ghost was dull and communicated to the family,
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  Speaker 1: and it was found that the circumstances were exactly as
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  Speaker 1: it had represented them. This, of course, was considered as
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  Speaker 1: sufficient proof of the truth of its mission. Their conversations
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  Speaker 1: now became not only frequent, but quite friendly and familiar.
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  Speaker 1: The girl became a favorite with the specter, and specter,
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  Speaker 1: on the other hand, soon lost all his terrors in
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  Speaker 1: her eyes. He told her that, whilst his friends were
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  Speaker 1: bearing home his body, the handspikes or poles on which
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  Speaker 1: they carried him had cut his back and occasioned him
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  Speaker 1: great pain. The cutting of the back also was known
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  Speaker 1: to be true and strengthened, of course, the truth and
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  Speaker 1: authenticity of their dialogs. The whole neighborhood was now in
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  Speaker 1: a commotion with the story of the apparition, and persons,
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  Speaker 1: incited by curiosity, began to visit the girl in order
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  Speaker 1: to satisfy themselves of the truth of what they had heard. Everything, however,
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  Speaker 1: was corroborated, and the child herself, without any symptoms of
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  Speaker 1: anxiety or terror, heartlessly related her conversations with the spirit
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  Speaker 1: hit turtle. Their interviews had been all nocturnal, but now
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  Speaker 1: that the girls found his food and made good, he
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  Speaker 1: put a hearty face on and ventured to appear by daylight.
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  Speaker 1: The girl fell into stairs of singlepy, and while the
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  Speaker 1: fits lasted, no conversation with him upon the subject of God,
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  Speaker 1: the blessed, Burden and Heaven took place between them. He
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  Speaker 1: was certainly an excellent moralist, and gave the best advice. Swearing, Drunkness, theft,
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  Speaker 1: and every evil propensity of our nature were declaimed against
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  Speaker 1: with a degree of spectral eloquence. Quite surprising common thing
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  Speaker 1: had now a topic dear to her heart, And never
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  Speaker 1: was a ghost nade more of by his best friends
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  Speaker 1: than she made of him. The whole country was in
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  Speaker 1: a tumult, and I will remember the crowds which flocked
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  Speaker 1: to the lonely little cabin in the mountains now the
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  Speaker 1: scene of matters so interesting and important. Not a single
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  Speaker 1: day passed in which I should think from ten to
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  Speaker 1: twenty thirty or fifty persons were not present at these
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: singular interviews. Nothing else was talked of, thought of, And
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  Speaker 1: as I can well testify, dreamt off, I would myself
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  Speaker 1: have gone to Dallis were it not for a confounded
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  Speaker 1: misgiving I had that perhaps the ghost might take such
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  Speaker 1: a fancy of appearing to me as he had taken
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  Speaker 1: to cultivate an intimacy with the girl. And it so
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  Speaker 1: happens that when I see the face of an individual
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: nailed town in the coffin, chilling at the gloomy operation,
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  Speaker 1: experienced no particular wish to look upon it again. The
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: spot where the body of mc kenna was found is
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  Speaker 1: now marked by a little heap of stones, which has
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  Speaker 1: been collected since the melancholy event of his death. Every
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  Speaker 1: person who passes it throws a stone upon the heap.
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  Speaker 1: But why this old custom is practiced, or what it means,
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  Speaker 1: I do not know, unless it be simply to mark
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  Speaker 1: the spot as a visible means of preserving the memory
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  Speaker 1: of the occurrence. Belly's House, the scene of the supposed apparition,
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  Speaker 1: is now a shapeless ruin, which could scarcely be seen
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  Speaker 1: were it not for the great spot that once was
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  Speaker 1: a garden, and which now shines at a distance like
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  Speaker 1: an emerald. But with no agreeable or pleasing associations. It
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  Speaker 1: is a spot which no solitary schoolboy will ever visit,
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  Speaker 1: nor indeed, with the unflinching believer in the popular nonsense
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  Speaker 1: of ghosts, wish to pass it without a companion. It
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  Speaker 1: is under any circumstances, a gloomy and barren place, but
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  Speaker 1: when looked upon in connection with what we have just recited,
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  Speaker 1: it is lonely, desolate and awful. And of Section twenty