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039 - Kings Queens Princesses Earls Robbers - The Twelve Wild Geese · Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry

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  Speaker 1: Section thirty eight of Fairy and Folk Tales of the
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  Speaker 1: Irish Peasantry. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Brian Naylor. Fairy
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  Speaker 1: and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, edited and selected
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  Speaker 1: by W. B. Yates, Section thirty eight. There was once
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  Speaker 1: a king and queen that lived very happily together, and
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  Speaker 1: they had twelve sons and not a single daughter. We
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  Speaker 1: are always wishing for what we haven't and don't care
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  Speaker 1: for what we have, And so it was with the Queen.
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  Speaker 1: One day in winter, when the bond was covered with snow,
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  Speaker 1: she was looking out the parlor window and saw there
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  Speaker 1: a calf that was just killed by the butcher, and
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  Speaker 1: a raven standing near it. Oh, says she. If only
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  Speaker 1: I had a daughter, with her skin as white as
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  Speaker 1: that snow, her cheeks as red as that blood, and
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  Speaker 1: her hair as black as that raven, I'd give every
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  Speaker 1: one of my twelve sons for her. The moment she
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  Speaker 1: said the word, she got a great fright, and a
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  Speaker 1: shiver went through her, and in an instant and after
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  Speaker 1: a severe looking old woman stood before her. That was
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  Speaker 1: a wicked wish you made, said she, And to punish you,
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  Speaker 1: it will be granted. You will have such a daughter
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  Speaker 1: as you desire, But the very day of her birth
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  Speaker 1: you will lose your other children. She vanished the moment
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  Speaker 1: she said the words, and that very way it turned out.
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  Speaker 1: When she expected her delivery, she had her children all
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  Speaker 1: in a large room of the palace with guards all
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  Speaker 1: around it. But the very hour her daughter came into
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  Speaker 1: the world, the guards inside and outside heard a great
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  Speaker 1: whirling and whistling, and the twelve princes were seen flying
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  Speaker 1: one after the other through the open window and away
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  Speaker 1: like so many arrows over the woods. Well, the king
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  Speaker 1: was in great grief for the loss of his sons,
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  Speaker 1: and he would be very enraged with his wife if
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  Speaker 1: only he knew that she was so much to blame
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  Speaker 1: for it. Every One called the little princess snow white
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  Speaker 1: and rose red on account of her beautiful complexion. She
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  Speaker 1: was the most loving and lovable child that could be
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  Speaker 1: seen anywhere. When she was twelve years old, she began
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  Speaker 1: to be very sad and lonely, and to torment her mother,
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  Speaker 1: asking her about her brothers that she thought were dead,
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  Speaker 1: for none up to that time had told her the
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  Speaker 1: exact thing that happened to them. The secret was weighing
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  Speaker 1: very heavy on the Queen's conscience, and as the little
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  Speaker 1: girl persevered in her questions, at last she told her Well,
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  Speaker 1: mother said she, it was on my account my poor
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  Speaker 1: brothers were changed into wild geese and are now suffering
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  Speaker 1: all sorts of hardships. Before the world is a day older,
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  Speaker 1: I'll be off to seek them and try to restore
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  Speaker 1: them to their own shapes. The King and Queen had
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  Speaker 1: her well watched, but all was no use. Next night
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  Speaker 1: she was getting through the woods that surrounded the palace,
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  Speaker 1: and she went on and on that night till the
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  Speaker 1: evening of the next day. She had a few cakes
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  Speaker 1: with her, and she got nuts and muggerines, fruit of
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  Speaker 1: the sweetbrier, and some sweet crabs as she went along.
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  Speaker 1: At last she came to a nice wooden house just
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  Speaker 1: at sunset. There was a fine garden round it, full
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  Speaker 1: of the handsomest flowers, and a gate in the hedge.
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  Speaker 1: She went in and saw a table laid out with
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  Speaker 1: twelve plates and twelve knives and forks, and twelve spoons,
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  Speaker 1: and there were cakes and cold wild fowl and fruit
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  Speaker 1: along with and there was a good fire, and in
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  Speaker 1: another long room there were twelve beds. Well. While she
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  Speaker 1: was looking about her, she heard the gate opening and
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  Speaker 1: footsteps along the walk, and in came twelve young men,
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  Speaker 1: and there was great grief and surprise on all their
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  Speaker 1: faces when they laid eyes on her. Oh, what misfortune
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  Speaker 1: sent you here, said the eldest. For the sake of
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  Speaker 1: a girl, we were obligated to leave our father's court
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  Speaker 1: and be in the shape of wild geese all day.
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  Speaker 1: That's twelve years ago, and we took a solemn oath
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  Speaker 1: that we would kill the first young girl that came
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  Speaker 1: into our hands. It's a pity to put such an
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  Speaker 1: innocent and handsome girl as you out of the world,
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  Speaker 1: but we must keep our oath, but said she, I'm
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  Speaker 1: your only sister that never knew anything about this till yesterday,
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  Speaker 1: and I stole away from our father's and mother's palace
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  Speaker 1: last night to find you out and relieve you if
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  Speaker 1: I can. Every one of them clasped his hands and
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  Speaker 1: looked down on the floor, and you could hear a
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  Speaker 1: pin fall till the eldest cried out, a curse light
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  Speaker 1: on our oaths. What shall we do? I'll tell you
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  Speaker 1: what said an old woman that appeared at the instant
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  Speaker 1: among them. Break your wicked oath, which no one should keep.
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  Speaker 1: If you attempted to lay an uncivil finger on her,
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  Speaker 1: I change you into twelve Boullion's buis stalks of ragweed.
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  Speaker 1: But I wish well to you as well as to her.
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  Speaker 1: She is appointed to be your deliverer. In this way,
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  Speaker 1: she must spin a knit twelve shirts for you out
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  Speaker 1: of bogdown, to be gathered by her own hands on
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  Speaker 1: the moor, just outside of the wood. It will take
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  Speaker 1: her five years to do it, and if she speaks,
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  Speaker 1: or laughs or cries the whole time, you will have
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  Speaker 1: to remain wild geese by day till you are called
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  Speaker 1: out of this world. So take care of your sister.
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  Speaker 1: It is worth your while. The fairy then vanished, and
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  Speaker 1: it was only a strife with the brothers to see
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  Speaker 1: who would be first to kiss and hug their sister.
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  Speaker 1: So for three long years the poor young princess was
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  Speaker 1: occupied pulling bog down, spinning it and knitting it into shirts.
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  Speaker 1: And at the end of the three years she had
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  Speaker 1: eight made. During all that time, she never spoke a word,
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  Speaker 1: nor laughed, nor cried. The last was the hardest to
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  Speaker 1: refrain from. One fine day, she was sitting in the
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  Speaker 1: garden spinning, when in sprung a fine greyhound and bounded
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  Speaker 1: up to her and laid its paws on her shoulder
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  Speaker 1: and licked her forehead and her hair. The next minute,
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  Speaker 1: a beautiful young prince rode up to the little garden gate,
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  Speaker 1: took off his hat, and asked for leave to come in.
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  Speaker 1: She gave him a little nod, and then he walked.
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  Speaker 1: He made ever so many apologies for intruding, and asked
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  Speaker 1: her ever so many questions, but not a word he
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  Speaker 1: could get out of her. He loved her so much
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  Speaker 1: from the first moment that he could not leave her
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  Speaker 1: till he told her that he was the king of
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  Speaker 1: a country just bordering on the forest, and he begged
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  Speaker 1: her to come home with him and be his wife.
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  Speaker 1: She couldn't help loving him as much as he did her,
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  Speaker 1: And though she shook her head very often and was
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  Speaker 1: very sorry to leave her brothers, at last she nodded
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  Speaker 1: her head and put her hand in his. She knew
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  Speaker 1: well enough that the good fairy and her brothers would
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  Speaker 1: be able to find her out. Before she went, she
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  Speaker 1: brought out a basket holding all her bog down, and
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  Speaker 1: another holding the eight shirts. The attendants took charge of these,
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  Speaker 1: and the prince placed her before him on his horse.
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  Speaker 1: The only thing that disturbed him while riding along was
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  Speaker 1: the displeasure his stepmother would feel at what he had done. However,
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  Speaker 1: he was a full master at home, and as soon
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  Speaker 1: as he arrived, he sent for the bishop, got his
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  Speaker 1: bride nicely dressed, and the marriage was celebrated. The bride
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  Speaker 1: answering by signs he knew by her manner she was
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  Speaker 1: of high birth, and no two could be fonder of
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  Speaker 1: each other. The wicked stepmother did all she could to
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  Speaker 1: make mischief, saying she was sure that she was only
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  Speaker 1: a woodsman's daughter, But nothing could disturb the young king's
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  Speaker 1: opinion of his wife. In good time, the young queen
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  Speaker 1: was delivered of a beautiful boy, and the king was
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  Speaker 1: so glad he hardly knew what to do for joy.
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  Speaker 1: All the grandeur of the christening and the happiness of
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  Speaker 1: the parents tormented the bad woman more than I can
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  Speaker 1: tell you, and she determined to put a stop to
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  Speaker 1: all their comfort. She got a sleeping pisset given to
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  Speaker 1: the young mother, and while she was thinking and thinking
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  Speaker 1: how she could best make away with the child, she
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  Speaker 1: saw a wicked looking wolf in the garden, looking up
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  Speaker 1: at her and licking his chops. She lost no time
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  Speaker 1: but snatched the child from the arms of the sleeping
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  Speaker 1: woman and pitched it out. The beast caught it in
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  Speaker 1: his mouth and was over the garden fence in a minute.
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  Speaker 1: The wicked woman then pricked her own fingers and dabbled
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  Speaker 1: the blow round the mouth of a sleeping mother. While
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  Speaker 1: the young king was just then coming into the Big
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  Speaker 1: Bond from hunting, and as soon as he entered the house,
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  Speaker 1: she beckoned him, shed a few crocodile tears, began to
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  Speaker 1: cry and wring her hands, and hurried him along the
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  Speaker 1: passage to the bed chamber. Oh, wasn't the poor king
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  Speaker 1: frightened when he saw the queen's mouth bloody and missed
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  Speaker 1: his child. It would take two hours to tell you
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  Speaker 1: the devilment of the old queen, the confusion and fright,
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  Speaker 1: and the grief of the young King and queen, the
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  Speaker 1: bad opinion he began to feel for his wife, and
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  Speaker 1: the struggle she had to keep down her bitter sorrow
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  Speaker 1: and not give way to it by speaking or lamenting.
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  Speaker 1: The young king would not allow any one to be called,
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  Speaker 1: and ordered his stepmother to give out that the child
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  Speaker 1: fell from the mother's arms at the window, and then
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  Speaker 1: a wild beast ran off with it. The wicked woman
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  Speaker 1: pretended to do so, but she told underhand to every
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  Speaker 1: one she spoke to what the king and herself saw
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  Speaker 1: in the bed chamber. The young queen was the most
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  Speaker 1: unhappy woman in the three kingdoms for a long time,
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  Speaker 1: between sorrow for her child and her husband's bad opinion.
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  Speaker 1: Still she neither spoke nor cried, and she gathered bog
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  Speaker 1: down and went on with the shirts. Often the twelve
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  Speaker 1: wild geese would be seen lighting on the trees in
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  Speaker 1: the park, or on the smooth sod, and looking in
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  Speaker 1: at her windows. So she worked on to get the
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  Speaker 1: shirts finished. But another year was at the end, and
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  Speaker 1: she had the twelfth shirt finished except one arm, when
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  Speaker 1: she was obliged to take to her bed, and a
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  Speaker 1: beautiful girl was born. Now the king was on his
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  Speaker 1: guard and he would not let the mother and child
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  Speaker 1: be left alone for a minute. But the wicked woman
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  Speaker 1: bribed some of the attendants set others to sleep, gave
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  Speaker 1: a sleepy pasette to the queen, and had a person
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  Speaker 1: watching to snatch the child away and kill it. But
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  Speaker 1: what would she see but the same wolf in the garden,
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  Speaker 1: looking up and licking its chops. Again, out went the child,
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  Speaker 1: and away flew the wolf. And she smeared the sleeping
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  Speaker 1: mother's mouth and face with blood, and then roared and
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  Speaker 1: bald and cried out to the king and to every
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  Speaker 1: one she met, And the room was filled, and every
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  Speaker 1: one was sure the young queen had just devoured her
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  Speaker 1: own babe. The poor mother thought now her life would
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  Speaker 1: leave her. She was in such a state she could
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  Speaker 1: neither think nor pray, But she sat like a stone
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  Speaker 1: and worked away at the arm of the twelfth shirt.
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  Speaker 1: The king was for taking her to the house in
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  Speaker 1: the wood where he found her, but the stepmother and
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  Speaker 1: the lords of the court and the judges would not
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  Speaker 1: hear of it, and she was condemned to be burned
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  Speaker 1: in the big bond. At three o'clock the same day,
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  Speaker 1: when the hour drew near, the king went to the
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  Speaker 1: farthest part of his castle, and there was no more
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  Speaker 1: unhappy man in his kingdom. At that hour, when the
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  Speaker 1: executioners came and led her off, she took the pile
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  Speaker 1: of shirts in her arms. There was still a few
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  Speaker 1: stitches wanted, and while they were tying her to the stakes,
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  Speaker 1: she still worked on. At the last stitch, she seemed
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  Speaker 1: overcome and dropped a tear on her work. But the
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  Speaker 1: moment after she sprang up and shouted, I am innocent,
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  Speaker 1: Call my husband. The executioners stayed their hand, except one
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  Speaker 1: wicked disposed creature, who set fire to the fagot next
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  Speaker 1: to him. And while all were struck in a maze,
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  Speaker 1: there was a rushing of wings, and in a moment,
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  Speaker 1: twelve wild geese were standing round the pile. Before you
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  Speaker 1: could count to twelve, she flung a shirt over each bird,
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  Speaker 1: and there, in the twinkling of an eye, were twelve
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  Speaker 1: of the finest young men that could be collected out
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  Speaker 1: of a thousand. While some were untying their sister, the eldest,
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  Speaker 1: taking a strong stake in it hand, struck the busy
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  Speaker 1: executioner such a blow that he never needed another. While
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  Speaker 1: they were comforting the queen and the king was hurrying
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  Speaker 1: to the spot, a fine looking woman appeared among them,
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  Speaker 1: holding the babe on one arm, and the little prince
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  Speaker 1: by the hand. There was nothing but crying for joy,
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  Speaker 1: and laughing for joy, and hugging and kissing. And when
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  Speaker 1: anyone had time to thank the good fairy, who, in
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  Speaker 1: the shape of a wolf carried the child away, she
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  Speaker 1: was not to be found. Never was such happiness enjoyed
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  Speaker 1: in any palace that ever was built. And if the
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  Speaker 1: wicked queen and her helpers were not torn by wild horses,
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  Speaker 1: they richly deserved it. End of section thirty eight, recorded
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  Speaker 1: by Brian Naylor