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016 - The Shee an Gannon and The Gruagach Gaire · Celtic Folk and Fairy Tales

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  Speaker 1: Section fifteen of Celtic Folk and Fairy Tales. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Celtic Folk and Fairy Tales, edited by Joseph Jacobs, Section fifteen.
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  Speaker 1: The Chian Gannon and the gruagach Gher. The Shei and
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  Speaker 1: Gannon was born in the morning, named at noon, and
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  Speaker 1: went in the evening to ask his daughter of the
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  Speaker 1: King of Erin. I will give you my daughter in marriage,
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  Speaker 1: said the King of Erin. You won't get her, though,
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  Speaker 1: unless you go and bring me back the tidings that
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  Speaker 1: I want, and tell me what it is that put
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  Speaker 1: a stop to the laughing of the grugak Gare, who
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  Speaker 1: before this laughed always and laughed so loud that the
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  Speaker 1: whole world heard him. There are twelve iron spikes out
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  Speaker 1: here in the garden behind the castle. On eleven of
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  Speaker 1: the spikes are the heads of King's sons who came
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  Speaker 1: seeking my daughter in marriage. And all of them went
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  Speaker 1: away to get the knowledge of I wanted. Not one
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  Speaker 1: was able to get it and tell me what stopped
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  Speaker 1: the gruaghak Gar from laughing. I took the heads off
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  Speaker 1: them all when they came back without the tidings for
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  Speaker 1: which they went. And I'm greatly in dread that your
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  Speaker 1: head'll be on the twelfth spike, for I'll do the
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  Speaker 1: same to you that I did to the eleven kings sons.
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  Speaker 1: Unless you tell what put a stop to the laughing
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  Speaker 1: of the Gruagak, the shee and Gannon made no answer,
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  Speaker 1: but left the king and pushed away to know could
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  Speaker 1: he find why the Krugak was silent. He took a
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  Speaker 1: glen at a step, a hill at a leap, and
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  Speaker 1: traveled all day till evening. Then he came to a house.
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  Speaker 1: The master of the house asked him what sort was he,
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  Speaker 1: and he said, a young man looking for hire. Well,
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  Speaker 1: said the master of the house, I was going tomorrow
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  Speaker 1: to look for a man to mind my cows. If
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  Speaker 1: you'll work for me, you'll have a good place, the
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  Speaker 1: best food a man could have to eat in this world,
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  Speaker 1: and a soft bed to lie on. He and Gannon
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  Speaker 1: took service and ate his supper. Then the master of
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  Speaker 1: the house said, I am the Grugak gare, and now
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  Speaker 1: that you are my man and have eaten your supper,
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  Speaker 1: you'll have a bed of silk to sleep on. Next morning.
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  Speaker 1: After breakfast, the Grughak said to the she and Gannon,
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  Speaker 1: go out now and loosen my five golden cows and
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  Speaker 1: my bull without horns, and drive them to pasture. But
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  Speaker 1: when you have them out on the grass, be careful
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  Speaker 1: you don't let them go near the land of the giant.
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  Speaker 1: The new cowboy drove the cattle to pasture, and when
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  Speaker 1: near the land of the giant, he saw it was
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  Speaker 1: covered with woods and surrounded by a high wall. He
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  Speaker 1: went up, put his back against the wall and threw
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  Speaker 1: in a great stretch of it. And then he went
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  Speaker 1: inside and threw out another great stretch of the wall,
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  Speaker 1: and put the five golden cows and the bull without
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  Speaker 1: horns on the land of the giant. Then he climbed
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  Speaker 1: a tree ate the sweet apples himself, and threw the
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  Speaker 1: sour ones down to the cattle of the gruagakgare. Soon
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  Speaker 1: a great crashing was heard in the woods, the noise
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  Speaker 1: of young trees bending in old trees breaking. The cowboy
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  Speaker 1: looked around and saw a five headed giant pushing through
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  Speaker 1: the trees, and soon he was before them. Poor, miserable creatures,
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  Speaker 1: said the giant. But warn't you impudent to come to
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  Speaker 1: my land and trouble me in this way. You're too
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  Speaker 1: big for one bite and too small for two. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know what to do but tear you to pieces,
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  Speaker 1: you nasty brute, said the cowboy, coming down to him
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  Speaker 1: from the tree. Tis little I care for you. And
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  Speaker 1: then they went at each other. So great was the
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  Speaker 1: noise between them that there was nothing in the world
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  Speaker 1: but what was looking on and listening to the combat.
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  Speaker 1: They fought till late in the afternoon, when the giant
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  Speaker 1: was getting the upper hand. And then the cowboy thought
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  Speaker 1: that if the giant should kill him, his father and
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  Speaker 1: mother would never find him or set eyes on him again,
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  Speaker 1: and he would never get the daughter of the King
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  Speaker 1: of erin the heart in his body were strong. At
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  Speaker 1: this thought. He sprang on the grant, and with the
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  Speaker 1: first squeeze and thrust he put him to his knees
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  Speaker 1: in the hard ground, and with the second thrust to
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  Speaker 1: his waist, and with the third to his shoulders. I
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  Speaker 1: have you at last. You're done for now, said the cowboy.
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  Speaker 1: Then he took out his knife cut the five heads
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  Speaker 1: off the giant, and when he had them off, he
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  Speaker 1: cut out the tongues and threw the heads over the wall.
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  Speaker 1: Then he put the tongues in his pocket and drove
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  Speaker 1: home the cattle. That evening, the Grughek couldn't find vessels
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  Speaker 1: enough in his palace to hold the milk of the
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  Speaker 1: five golden cows. But when the cowboy was on the
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  Speaker 1: way home with the cattle, the son of the King
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  Speaker 1: of Taysian came and took the giant's heads and claimed
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  Speaker 1: the princess in marriage. When the Gruagak gear should laugh
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  Speaker 1: after supper, the cowboy would give no talk to his master,
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  Speaker 1: but kept his mind to himself and went to the
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  Speaker 1: bed of silk to sleep. On the morning, the cowboy
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  Speaker 1: rose before his master, and the first words he said
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  Speaker 1: to Grugak were, what keeps you from laughing? You who
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  Speaker 1: used to laugh so loud that the whole world heard you.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, said the Gruagak, that the daughter of the
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  Speaker 1: King of Erin sent you here. If you don't tell
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  Speaker 1: me of your own will, I'll make you tell me,
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  Speaker 1: said the cowboy, and he put a face on himself
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  Speaker 1: that was terrible to look at, and running through the
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  Speaker 1: house like a madman could find nothing that would give
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  Speaker 1: pain to the Gruagach, but some ropes made of untanned
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  Speaker 1: sheepskin hanging on the wall. He took these down, caught
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  Speaker 1: the Gruagak, fastened him by the three smalls, and tied
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  Speaker 1: him so that his little toes were whispering to his ears.
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  Speaker 1: When he was in the state, the Gruagak said, I'll
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  Speaker 1: tell you it stopped my laughing if you set me free.
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  Speaker 1: So the cowboy unbound him, and the two sat down together,
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  Speaker 1: and the Gruagak said, I lived in this castle. Here
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  Speaker 1: with my twelve sons. We ate, drank play cards, and
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  Speaker 1: enjoyed ourselves till one day, when my sons and I
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  Speaker 1: were playing, a slender brown came rushing in, jumped on
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  Speaker 1: to the hearth, tossed up the ashes to the rafters,
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  Speaker 1: and ran away. On another day he came again, but
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  Speaker 1: if he did, we were ready for him, my twelve
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  Speaker 1: sons and myself. As soon as he tossed up the
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  Speaker 1: ashes and ran off, we made after him and followed
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  Speaker 1: him till nightfall. When he went into a glen, we
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  Speaker 1: saw a light before us. I ran on and came
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  Speaker 1: to a house with a great apartment, where there was
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  Speaker 1: a man named yellow Face, with twelve daughters, and the
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  Speaker 1: hare was tied to the side of the room near
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  Speaker 1: the women. There was a large pot over the fire
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  Speaker 1: in the room, and a great stork boiling in the pot.
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  Speaker 1: The man of the house said to me, there are
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  Speaker 1: bundles of rushes at the end of the room. Go
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  Speaker 1: there and sit down with your men. He went into
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  Speaker 1: the next room and brought out two pikes, one of wood,
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  Speaker 1: the other of iron, and ask thee which of the
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  Speaker 1: pikes I would take. I said, I'll take the iron one,
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  Speaker 1: for I thought in my heart that if an attack
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  Speaker 1: should come on me, I could defend myself better with
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  Speaker 1: them the iron. Then the wooden pike. Yellow Face gave
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  Speaker 1: me the iron pike and the first chance of taking
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  Speaker 1: what I could get out of the pot. On the
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  Speaker 1: point of the pike, I got but a small piece
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  Speaker 1: of the stork, and the man of the house took
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  Speaker 1: all of the rest on his wooden pike. We had
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  Speaker 1: to fest that night, and when the man and his
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  Speaker 1: twelve daughters ate the flesh of the stork, they hurled
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  Speaker 1: the bare bones in the faces of my sons and myself.
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  Speaker 1: We had to stop all night that way, beaten on
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  Speaker 1: the faces by the bones of the stork. Next morning,
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  Speaker 1: when we were going away, the man of the house
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  Speaker 1: asked me to stay awhile, and going into the next room,
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  Speaker 1: he brought out twelve loops of iron and one of wood,
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  Speaker 1: and said to me, put the heads of your twelve
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  Speaker 1: sons into the iron loops, or your own head into
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  Speaker 1: the wooden one. And I said, I'll put the twelve
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  Speaker 1: heads of my sons in the iron loops and keep
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  Speaker 1: my own out of the wooden one. He put the
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  Speaker 1: iron loops on the necks of my twelve sons and
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  Speaker 1: put the wooden one on his own neck. Then he
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  Speaker 1: snapped the loops one after another till he took the
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  Speaker 1: heads off my twelve sons and threw the heads and
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  Speaker 1: bodies out of the house. But he did nothing to
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  Speaker 1: hurt his own neck. When he had killed my sons,
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  Speaker 1: he took hold of me and stripped the skin and
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  Speaker 1: flesh from the small of my back down. And when
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  Speaker 1: he had done that, he took the skin of a
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  Speaker 1: black sheep that had been hanging on the wall for
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  Speaker 1: seven years and clapped it on my body in place
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  Speaker 1: of my own flesh and skin. And the sheepskin grew
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  Speaker 1: on me, and every year since then, I shear myself,
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  Speaker 1: and every bit of wool I use for the stockings
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  Speaker 1: that I wear, I clip off my own back. When
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  Speaker 1: he had said this, the Gruagach showed the cowboy his
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  Speaker 1: back covered with thick black wool. After what he had
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  Speaker 1: seen and heard, the cowboy said, I know now why
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  Speaker 1: you don't laugh and small blame to you. But does
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  Speaker 1: that hare come here? Still? He does, indeed, said the Gruagach.
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  Speaker 1: Both went to the table to play, and they were
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  Speaker 1: not long playing cards when the hare ran in, and
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  Speaker 1: before they could stop him, he was out again. But
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  Speaker 1: the cowboy made after the hare, and the Gruagac after
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  Speaker 1: the cowboy, and they ran as fast as ever the
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  Speaker 1: lakes could carry them till nightfall. And when the hare
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  Speaker 1: was entering the castle where the twelve sons of the
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  Speaker 1: Gruagach were killed, the cowboy caught him by the two
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  Speaker 1: hind legs and dashed out his brains against the wall,
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  Speaker 1: and the skull of the hare was knocked into the
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  Speaker 1: chief room of the castle and fell at the feet
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  Speaker 1: of the master of the place, who has dared to
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  Speaker 1: interfere with my fighting pet, screamed yellow face. Aye, said
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  Speaker 1: the cowboy, and if your pet had had manners, he
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  Speaker 1: might be alive. Now the cowboy and the Gruagach stood
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  Speaker 1: by the fire. A stork was boiling in the pot,
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  Speaker 1: as when the Gruagach came the first time. The master
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  Speaker 1: of the house went into the next room and brought
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  Speaker 1: out an iron and a wooden pike, and asked the
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  Speaker 1: cowboy which he would choose. I'll take the wooden one,
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  Speaker 1: said the cowboy, and you may keep the iron one
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  Speaker 1: for yourself. So he took the wooden one, and going
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  Speaker 1: to the pot, brought out on the pike all the
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  Speaker 1: stork except a small bite, and he and the Gruagak
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  Speaker 1: fell to eating, and they were eating the flesh of
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  Speaker 1: the stork all night. The cowboy and the Gruagak were
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  Speaker 1: at home in the place that time. In the morning,
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  Speaker 1: the master of the house went into the next room,
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  Speaker 1: took down the twelve iron loops with a wooden one,
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  Speaker 1: brought them out and asked the cowboy which he would take,
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  Speaker 1: the twelve iron or the one wooden loop. What could
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  Speaker 1: I do with twelve iron ones for myself or my master.
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  Speaker 1: I'll take the wooden one. He put it on, and
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  Speaker 1: taking the twelve iron loops put them on the necks
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  Speaker 1: of the twelve daughters of the house, then snapped the
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  Speaker 1: twelve heads off them, and, turning to their father, said
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  Speaker 1: I'll do the same thing to you unless you bring
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  Speaker 1: the twelve sons of my master to life and make
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  Speaker 1: them as well and strong as when you took their heads.
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  Speaker 1: The master of the house went out and brought the
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  Speaker 1: twelve to life again. And when the Gruagak saw all
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  Speaker 1: his sons alive and as well as ever, he let
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  Speaker 1: a laugh out of himself, and all the eastern world
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  Speaker 1: heard the laugh. Then the cowboy said to the Gruagach,
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  Speaker 1: it's a bad thing you have done to me, for
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  Speaker 1: the daughter of the King of Erin will be married
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  Speaker 1: the day after your laugh is heard. Oh then we
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  Speaker 1: must be there in time, said the Gruagach, and they
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  Speaker 1: all made away from the palace as fast as ever
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  Speaker 1: they could. The cowboy, the Gruagach, and his twelve sons.
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  Speaker 1: They hurried on, and when within three miles of the
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  Speaker 1: king's castle there was such a throng of people that
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  Speaker 1: no one could see a step ahead. We must clear
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  Speaker 1: a road through this, said the cowboy. We must, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: said the Gruagach, And at it they went through the people,
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  Speaker 1: some on one side and some on the other, and
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  Speaker 1: soon they had an opening for themselves to the king's castle.
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  Speaker 1: As they went in, the daughter of the King of
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  Speaker 1: Erin and the son of the King of Taysian were
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  Speaker 1: on their knees, just going to be married. The cowboy
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  Speaker 1: drew his hand on the bridegroom and gave a blow
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  Speaker 1: that sent him spinning till he stopped under a table
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  Speaker 1: at the other side of the room. What scoundrel struck
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  Speaker 1: that blow, asked the King of Erin. It was I,
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  Speaker 1: said the cowboy. What reason had you to strike the
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  Speaker 1: man who won my daughter? It was I who won
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  Speaker 1: your daughter, not he. And if you don't believe me,
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  Speaker 1: the gruagak Gare is here himself. They'll tell you the
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  Speaker 1: whole story, from beginning to end, and show you the
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  Speaker 1: tongues of the giant. So the Gruagach came up and
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  Speaker 1: told the king the whole story, how the she and
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  Speaker 1: Gannon had become his cowboy had guarded the five golden cows,
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  Speaker 1: and the bull without horns cut off the heads of
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  Speaker 1: the five headed giant, killed the wizard Hare and brought
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  Speaker 1: his own twelve sons to life, and then said the Gruagach.
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  Speaker 1: He's the only man in the world I have ever
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  Speaker 1: told why I stopped laughing, and the only one who
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  Speaker 1: has ever seen my fleece of wool. When the King
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  Speaker 1: of Erin heard what the Gruagak said and saw the
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  Speaker 1: tongues of the giant fitted in the head, he made
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  Speaker 1: the She and Gannon kneeled down by his daughter, and
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  Speaker 1: they were married on the spot. Then the son of
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  Speaker 1: the King of Tysion was thrown into prison, and the
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  Speaker 1: next day they put down a great fire, and the
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  Speaker 1: deceiver was burnt to ashes. The wedding lasted nine days,
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  Speaker 1: and the last day was better than the first end
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  Speaker 1: of section fifteen.