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The Queen of the Lonely Isle |
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ONCE upon a time the King of Donegal was in the south of Ireland hunting; for he was a very great sportsman indeed. And on a day he started a fox which left all the hounds behind, and all the hunters, too, except only the King. My brave King stuck to the fox over hill and vale and long green plain, till at last, late in the evening, the fox reached the River Shannon, plunged in and swam out of sight toward the mouth of the river and was lost to the King.
Next day the King set out for the hunt again, and at the selfsame spot, started the same fox. The fox flew at such a rate that it outdistanced all the dogs and left all the hunters behind-except only the King, who stuck close by the fox over hill and vale, and long green plain, till in the evening late, when they reached the River Shannon, the fox took to the water, and passed away out of the King's sight. When the King got home that night, he swore that if he started that fox again he would never stop till he had killed it.
And the next day, when the King and his party went out, the same fox was started from the same spot. But this day the King's hound almost caught her-he had her by the heel before she had well started-but the fox freed herself and again outdistanced all the dogs; and left far behind all the hunters-except the King, who this time, stuck still closer and closer by her, over hill and vale, and long green plain, till late in the evening they reached the River Shannon. The fox took to the river, swimming toward its mouth, but the King plunged in his horse after, and fast as the fox swam, the King's horse didn't swim any less fast.
Till at long and at last the fox reached an island far out at sea, and ran inland on the island. The King reached it and galloped inland also, tracing the animal by a trail of blood from its wounded heel. At length the trail took him to a little hut-the only sign of habitation he had seen an this lonely isle. At the but he lost trace of the fox.
The King said, "I'll go into this but and inquire.
He was surprised to see an old woman sitting by the fireside, washing a wounded, bleeding heel. Feeling great pity for the poor woman, the King knelt down and washed and dressed her wound. And the foot, which looked to be a rough and common foot, when he first began dressing it, became the most beautiful foot he had ever seen, before he was finished. And when he rose, behold! he found himself not in a little hut, but in a dazzling hall of a most magnificent castle. And instead of an old woman, he found he had dressed the foot of the most beautiful damsel his eye had ever beheld.
"What's the meaning of all this?" said the King.
Said the damsel: "I'm the Queen of the Isle of Loneliness, and sometimes long to see something of the world. But I cannot visit it in my own shape; so by my magical power I turn myself into a fox. I was the fox whom you hunted, and the old woman whose wounded foot you pitied and dressed. I didn't intend to let you know me in reality, but since you showed such fine feeling for one whom you believed to be an old woman, I could not help letting you know the truth. Myself and my court," she said, "make you welcome to remain as long as you like in the Isle of Loneliness."
The King, enchanted with the damsel, and with everything he saw, agreed to remain for a day. But the day grew to a week, and the week to a month and he was still more enchanted with the damsel, and wooing her eagerly. Till at length, when he had wooed her without ceasing for three months, she consented to marry him.
And when he was married to the Queen of the Lonely Isle, his days were happy, each succeeding day happier even than the one before; and he neither thought of his kingdom nor of his people for six months.
At the end of that time he remembered his duty, and begged of his Queen to let him go back to Ireland and Donegal, till he would settle the affairs of his kingdom, and leave a new King to reign in his stead. Then he would return to the Isle of Loneliness and never be parted from his Queen again.
She begged him not to leave her. But so much did he grieve for his people without a King, that at length, to satisfy and make him happy, she consented to let him go. She mounted him on a magic white steed, which could go over water as easily as over land; and she warned him, on leaving, not to let living being touch his lips till he returned. For, she said, if his lips were touched by living being, he would forget all about her and the Isle of Loneliness.
He gave the promise, and rode away. And when, after riding long, and long, and far and far, he reached the banks of the Shannon at the same place that he had left it long months ago, he found his hunting party, who had traced him so far on the third day of the hunt, and had been waiting there ever since for his return. Woebegone they were, and hungry as well, after this long watch; but now that he was come, they all rejoiced. Many of them ran to kiss him; but remembering his wife's warning, he gently pushed them off. At length, however, his favorite dog jumped up, put his paws on his master's shoulders, and kissed his lips.
That instant all memory of his Queen and his life in the Isle of Loneliness went from him. And joyfully, with his friends, he rode back to Donegal, to resume his reign over the people, who had been lamenting his loss.
For years after, his people, who wanted an heir to the throne, wished him to marry, but he, without being able to give a reason to them or to himself, refused. There was in Donegal a handsome Princess, who was anxious to marry the King and be Queen of Donegal. She tried every plan she could think of to make the King take her in marriage. But the King wouldn't think of any woman. Then she began to incense the people against the King, because he would not marry. And she thought that if the King was dethroned, she would be chosen Queen in his stead. At length she found three fearsome Giants in the Islands of Scotland, who were willing, for pay, to come against the King of Donegal, and to kill him and make her Queen. And with these men she bargained.
Now, in less than six months after the King had left the Isle of Loneliness, his Queen gave birth to a son. And when this son grew up, his mother, on his eighteenth birthday, said to him, "Your father, the King of Donegal, in Ireland, who left the Isle of Loneliness before you were born, and has lost all memory of it and of me, is now in great danger. Would you risk your life to save him?"
And the young Prince said, "Surely, I would gladly risk my life to save my father's."
Then she told him that three of the most terrible Giants in the world had come from the Isles of Scotland, and were challenging the King's champions to give up their lives or the King's.
She- took from her walls a sword which she buckled on her son, telling him that-it was the Sword of Victory. "With this Sword," she said, "you will be invincible. Go and save your father, and when you have saved him, tell him who you are, and maybe he'll remember."
She led him into the castle garden, and, plucking a sunflower, tossed it into the air, when it became a yellow balloon. Into this balloon she put her son, and blew three times on it when the balloon immediately sailed away, over land and sea, and alighted with the Prince close to the castle of the King of Donegal.
When the Prince reached the castle, he found himself only in the nick of time to save the King's life. Every champion who had gone out against the Giants to fight for their King had thrown away his life. For no one of them could stand for a moment against the smallest of the Giants. Nine champions already had been killed, and all others were afraid to go out.
The young Prince then stepped out, facing first the smallest Giant.
The Giant laughed when he saw this lad of eighteen come against him. He put his finger to the lad, and with one push, pushed him away a mile, saying, "I scorn to kill children!"
The Prince immediately drew his Sword and crying, "Sword be at him!" flew back at the Giant, with such fury that the Giant had to fight.
And a terrible fight it was-the fiercest ever beheld in Donegal. But at length the Prince, giving a bound into the air, ran the Sword of Victory through the Giant and killed him.
Then he went against the second Giant, who laughed at the lad of eighteen, and, putting his finger to him, pushed him away three miles. But the Prince, drawing his Sword, ran back at the Giant; and as he came up, he said, "Sword, be at him!" He attacked the Giant with such fury that the Giant had to fight. And the fight was a hard and terrible one-the fiercest ever beheld in Donegal. But at length the Prince, giving a bound into the air, ran the Sword of Victory through the Giant and killed him.
Then he went to fight the third Giant, who laughed at the lad, and, putting his finger to him, pushed him seven miles. But the young Prince ran back at the Giant, drawing his Sword of Victory and crying, "Sword beat him!" He attacked the Giant with such fury that the Giant had to fight. And a hard and a terrible fight it was-the fiercest ever beheld in Donegal. But at length the young Prince, giving a bound into the air, ran the Sword of Victory through the Giant and killed him.
Great was the rejoicing then. The King led up the young Prince and placed him on a throne at his side, and asked him who he was, and where he came from.
He answered, "I have come from the Island of Loneliness, to save my father's life. My mother is the Queen of the Lonely Isle, and my father is the King of Donegal."
"That's false," said the King. "I never heard of the Lonely Isle, nor of its Queen."
And the boy tried his best to make the King remember, but the King couldn't remember, and said that the young warrior had got crazed by the fight. Still the boy persisted.
The bad Princess, fearing that there might be truth in it, and that the King would yet remember, worked upon the King's feelings, wanting to have the boy killed-to which the King would not consent. But he did give consent to have the boy cast adrift on the ocean.
Far from land the young Prince was taken, and cast adrift in a boat, without food or drink. His mother, seeing from the Island of Loneliness what was happening, took a reel of purple ribbon, and threw it over the waters, till it alighted in her son's boat. She held one end of the ribbon, and then drew it to her till his boat was brought safely back to the Island of Loneliness.
A year and a day later, the Queen called the young prince to her and said, "Today your father is in great peril. The Princess who is working against him has brought three fleets of ships from the Islands of Scotland to attack him in his castle, and kill him, that she may reign in his stead. Would you again risk your life for your father?"
And the young Prince said, "With pleasure would I again risk my life for my father."
She took the Prince with her down to the seaside, and, plucking a lily that grew by the sea-wall, threw it on the waters, where immediately it was a beautiful little ship, fullrigged, and manned by little men. Three stones from, her pocket she took and gave to the Prince, and said, "Get into that boat, and go to the harbor by the castle of your father, where the three fleets are getting ready to attack him. Into each fleet; throw one of these stones, and your father's life will be saved."
The Prince got aboard the boat, which immediately started over the waters with the speed of the sunlight, and in a short time sailed into the harbor by the castle of his father.
There he saw three fleets from the Scottish Isles getting ready to attack his father in his castle, and he went out with his little boat against the three fleets. And the captains of the fleets, when they saw him come, laughed heartily at the crazy little fellow, as they called him. Up to one fleet he sailed, and threw a 'stone into it, when immediately the whole fleet went afire. Then the second fleet he charged, and threw a stone into the center of it-which went afire also. Then the third fleet he charged, and threw a stone into the center of it.
And that instant the third fleet was afire. And quickly all three fleets were burnt upon the waters.
The King and his people went down to the sea, and there was great rejoicing. Since the Prince had gone away, the King, who had loved him from the first and who had consented against his will to send him away, had deeply grieved. He now received the young Prince with the greatest delight, asked him where he had been, and where he now came from.
The young Prince said, "I have been at home in the Isle of Loneliness, with the Queen, my mother, who today sent me here to save the life of my father, the King of Donegal."
The King was sorry to hear him say this, and said, "The poor boy is crazed by the battle."
But the boy persisted in saying that the King was his mother's husband.
The bad Princess worked upon the King and the people to consent, though they would not directly take the boy's blood on their hands, to let him walk blindfolded over a precipice to his death.
When the day for his death had come, and the boy, blindfolded, was sent to walk over the terrible precipice, behold you! his mother, the Queen, who knew from the Isle of Loneliness what was happening, threw from her to the cliff over which he was about to walk, a golden clew-and immediately there was a bridge of gold from the cliff to the Isle of Loneliness, thousands of miles away. And over the bridge of gold the Prince passed to his home.
A year and a day after that the Queen of the Isle of Loneliness called her son, and said, "Your father is about to lose his life this day. Are you willing to risk your life for his?"
Said the young prince: "With pleasure would I risk my life to save my father's."
Then she said, "Because your father still refuses to marry, the Princess who has twice before tried to-have him killed has now succeeded in stirring up his people against him. He is a prisoner in his castle, and in short time he is to be led out before the castle wall, where a hundred of the best marksmen in Donegal are to shoot him dead with their arrows. You must instantly go to save him."
She led the young Prince to the castle gate, and striking the gate with her wand, a winged horse appeared. She breathed three times on her son, saying, "That's the breath of God's blessing; you have now nothing to fear, and naught can harm you. Ride to your father's castle on this winged horse, stand before him when the arrows are let fly, and save his life."
The young Prince mounted the winged horse, and off through the air sped like the lightning, and he alighted at his father's castle just as his father was led out and stood up against the castle wall, with a hundred of the best marksmen in Donegal drawn up before him, a hundred yards away.
But as the Princess, whom the people were now about to make Queen, gave the marksmen the command to bend their bows and shoot, the Prince sprang in front of his father, and throwing out his arms he gathered to his own breast the hundred arrows that filled the air. And instantly he held an armful of fragrant lilies.
With a great shout of surprise all the people rushed forward. And the King sprang to the Prince, took him in his arms and kissed him.
The moment that the King's lips touched his son's the memory of all forgotten things rushed upon him. He recalled the Isle of Loneliness and its beautiful Queen, his wife. Then he proclaimed to the people that he was indeed married, and to the most beautiful Queen in all the world, and that this was his son who had three times saved his life. He told them of his adventure, and of how he had lost his memory through letting the dog kiss him.
He gave them his son to be King of Donegal. And he went to the Isle of Loneliness and brought his Queen from there for the son's crowning. There was never such joy and delight in any kingdom, as was that day in Donegal, for they were to crown the bravest young hero that the world had ever known.
And if that day was joyous for the people of Donegal, it was not one bit less joyous for the King and Queen and their brave son. And happy as that day was, each following day of their lives was happier still.
(from The Donegal Wonder Book , by Seumas MacManus)
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