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The Three Princesses of Connaught |
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ONCE upon a time when there were plenty of kings and queens--it's many of them we've heard of, but few of them ever we've seen except in drawings in parlors, and pictures in gentlemen's halls---there were three beautiful sisters, Princesses of Connaught, who were taken away by three giants. The King and Queen of Connaught, in great distress, they gave it out that whatever three champions would rescue them and bring them back would have them in marriage, and the Kingdom of Connaught divided among them.
Now, as you may guess, there was many's and many's the lad of high and low station, and both fair and ugly, who set out before them in hopes of finding the Princesses and rescuing them; and you may well suppose, too, it was few and very few of these lads ever came back to their homes at all.
Now there was one poor man in the hills o' Donegal, who hadn't much to live on, and who was in poverty more months of the year than he was in plenty, and he had one son, Conal, a brave, big, strapping, bold lump of a fellow, and maybe handsome too, if I say it.
Now doesn't this Conal get up one morning and begin speaking to his father.
"Father," says he, "I think I'll go and have a try for capturing the Princesses. Who knows but I'll be the luckiest lad of them all l"
'Tis sorry the father would be to lose his son Conal, for a great help entirely he always was to him. And he took some time to think over the matter, for he did not wish to advise him in any way that he might afterward regret. Then he said; 'Conal darling, don't leave me, for if you go on that wild-goose chase, it's never more I'll see the face of you."
"Father dear," says Conal, says he, "what is there at home but poverty, and cold potatoes; you have a big struggle to live upon the bit of land as it is, and one mouth will be easier filled than two.
God's good," says Conal, says he, "and there's no saying what luck is afore me. I am come to the time of day now," says he, "that I should be going out into the world to push my fortune. And, `Never venture; never win'-if I run a big risk sure the price is big too. And Father," says he, "if I succeed I'll not be forgetting you anyhow, but will soon lift you out of your poverty, and you can live in luxury all the rest of your days."
Well, there was nothing for it but for his father to give Conal a blessing, and three gold guineas in money, and shake his hand and wish him "God speed" and "soon and safe back again"-and then Conal was off, and the old man was left alone.
Now the first crossroads Conal came to he found a poor man sitting crying there, and Conal, who was always a kind-hearted poor boy, drew on him and asked him what was the matter, and the man told him he was that poor and that disabled that he could neither work nor want, and there was nothing but starvation lookin' him in the face.
Poor Conal put his hand in his pocket and handed him one of his three gold guineas, and then he went on; and the next crossroads he come to, he met another poor old disabled man who was crying with the same complaint, and poor Conal put his hand in his pocket and gave him one of the precious gold guineas.
And when he come to a third crossroads he found a third poor man crying likewise over hardships and want, and the last gold guinea was in his pocket Conal took out and handed him; so that he left him without a penny to bless himself with. But he said he had his father's blessing, and the blessing of three poor men; and that was better than all the gold in Guinealand.
Well, on and on he traveled till he come to the ocean, and when he come there, what did he see but a captain taking two Princes aboard of a boat, and all of them making ready to sail away.
Conal, he asked them whither they were going, or what they were going to do; and the two Princes said this captain was fetching them to the Island of Grey Rocks and Longbilled Fowls, where they were going in quest of the three beautiful sisters, the Princesses of Connaught.
Conal asked to join them, but they said that was death for him, and they only laughed at him. Then he proposed to go as the captain's servant, and the captain packed him into the boat.
They sailed to the island, and when they come there all four of them traveled to the top of a high hill, and there was a big round opening in the ground there that went down, down, down, till Conal could see no bottom to it.
Now they had carried with them a basket tied to the end of a long, long rope, and one of the Princes was put into this basket and lowered down through the hole, down and down till they had to let out a mile of the rope, and then the basket stopped and they knew that it had reached the island under the earth.
The young Prince had agreed with them that they were to watch the rope, and at the end of a year and a day if he was alive and well and had rescued the Princesses he would arrive back at the bottom again and shake the rope, and they would draw him and them up.
Very well and good. Away they went every man about his own business through the island, where they lived for a year and a day, and at the end of a year and a day the three of them met at the hole. They observed the rope, but not a shake nor shake did the rope get for all the day long, and then they knew that something had happened.
"Well," says the second Prince, "it's my turn now."
And down they let him, and parted with him on the same conditions that if at the end of a year and a day he was alive and well, he was to come and shake the rope.
But to make a long story short, when the year and a day was up and the captain and Conal went to the hole and watched the rope, there wasn't a shake nor a tremble in it for all the day long; and they then knew again that something had happened to him. And then says my bold Conal to the captain:
"I would like to try my chance at rescuing the three beautiful Princesses of Connaught, if you don't mind."
Very well and good, the captain had no objections, and on the same terms down he lets Conal; and down, and down, and down he went, till he thought he would never be done going down.
But at length and at last doesn't he reach the bottom where he finds a beautiful country with hills and dales and green woods stretching away and away from him as far as his eye could carry. And forward through this country my brave Conal starts, and on he traveled away and away far further than I could tell you, and twice as far as you could tell me, till at length and at last late one fine evenin' he came to a wee thatched house, with a red-headed man on top of it fixing the chimney, and Conal asked him if he could get a bite to eat, and a bed to lie on for the night.
"You can that," says the red-headed man, says he, coming down off the house, "but whether will ye stand me a good round of boxin' for a bite and a bed in the parlor, or have a bite and a bed in the kitchen free?"
"By all means," says Conal, says he, "a good round of boxin' for a bite and a bed in the parlor will be my choice."
And there and then both of them peeled off, and squared up and went at it like two men at a day's work, and they fought up and down, and rings around them, for as good as an hour; and the Red Fellow wasn't gettin' the better of Conal, nor Conal wasn't gettin' the better of the Red Fellow, though a harder, or a better, or a sharper fight Conal never had at home in Ireland; and it's many's the fight he had fought with bigger and stronger fellows in his day.
And at an hour's end when Conal was pretty well out of puff, and every bone in his body beaten sore, the Wee Red Fellow dropped his hands and he said, "That will do, Conal, I have got enough of it; ye're the best box man, barrin' one, that I fought with for this last three hundred years, and," says he, "that one was three hundred years older than myself, and so had the advantage of me. Come in," says he, "and make yourself at home in the parlor."
And when Conal went in what did he see but the two Princes, his comrades, lying stretched as if they were asleep, one by every side of the kitchen fire.
And says he to the Wee Red Man, "What's the meanin' of this?"
Says the Wee Red Man, "One of them chaps is lyin' in his sleep for twelve months, and the other for two years. When they come here asking for lodgings," says he, "and I gave them their choice like- I gave you last night; they both chose a bite an' a bed in the kitchen free. Droll lads they were," says he, "comin' to rescue Princesses; they were afraid to stand up to a wee old man for one round of boxin'."
So Conal saw they were enchanted; and indeed, he said to himself, it was enchanted they deserved to be, since they were cowards.
A good supper and a soft bed Conal had, and a hearty breakfast when he got up in the morning; and outside the Wee Red Man then fetched him, and gave him a hazel rod and a ram's horn, and a bushel of brass filings, and he directed him to get astride of the hazel rod, and that he would reach the castle of the one-eyed Giant, who had the three Princesses as his prisoners. And then he was to make up a plan with the three Princesses that they would escape with him in the middle of the night when everybody at the castle was fast asleep.
"The one-eyed Giant," says he, "has three stables, one of black horses, one of white horses, and one of chestnut mares; in the third stable of chestnut mares, there's three that stand farthest from the door; give the oldest Princess this bag of brass filings, and before they go to bed at night tell her to give each of those three mares a feed of these filings.
"In the middle of the night when the old fellow is asleep you are all to get out as quietly as you can; the three ladies will mount the three chestnut mares and you will mount the hazel rod, and when you are all right, sound your ram's horn three times and then don't wait on the wind to catch you, but ride for here."
Well and good, as he was directed Conal done. That evening he reached the Giant's castle. The Giant was from home, and it's the joy was in the hearts of the Princesses when they found a young stranger from Ireland to rescue them; but as the Giant was then coming home they hid him away in a tower at one end of the castle where he could not be discovered.
Everything was done as the Wee Red Fellow had ordered. The oldest Princess, before she went to bed, made three mashes of the brass filings and gave one to every one' of three chestnut mares; and when the old fellow was well asleep out the four of them went and mounted, and when they were mounted and ready Conal raised the ram's horn and gave three terrific blows on it.
At the first blow every door in the castle fell off it, and everything that wasn't solid masonwork fell down. At the second blow the castle itself shook and bent over, and at the third blow the stars rattled in the sky and the castle come to the ground, and out from the ruins leaps the one-eyed Giant, the face of him black with rage and fury, and he bounds for them; and that instant off they started without waiting for the wind to catch them, and so fast went the chestnut mares that it was only the tops of the hills their feet touched. But fast as they went the Giant himself was coming every bit as fast, and, if anything, gaining on them.
But, behold ye! as they reached the but of the Wee Red Man he was outside waiting, and a wee ball of yarn in his hand; and between them and the Giant he steps, and he throws the ball of yarn at him, and the yarn goes round him in a circle of fire, and there and then he was standing a big tall lump of a stone, and never a move could he make.
In the morning the Wee Red Man touched the two sleeping Princes with a white hazel rod, and they jumped up to their feet as well as ever.
Says the Wee Red Man: "There's now three pairs of ye, and when ye go back the King will marry ye and divide up his kingdom amongst ye, and a wedding-present I would like to give each bride. Here," says he, "is three crowns for each, a crown of gold, a crown of silver, and a crown of copper. Now all three brides must be married together, and every one of them must wear her three crowns, there and then, that's the obligation I leave on each and every one of ye."
Right heartily they thanked the Wee Red Man.
He told them to stay in his house and rest themselves as long as they liked, and to go when they pleased, and then he himself went away and disappeared. And when they had waited to rest themselves as long as they liked, they set out, and they traveled away and away before them, and were traveling for long and for long, till at length and at last they reached the basket at the bottom of the hole.
They put each of the Princesses in, in turn, and shook the rope and she was hauled up, and then the Princes said they would go in turn, so that Conal was left to the very last.
And when they were all gone up except Conal, and it came his turn to go, something somehow struck him, and instead of getting into the basket himself he said he would try something else first, and he piled into it a lot of stones, and then shook the rope, and when the basket was hauled about half up, didn't it and the rope come tearing, tumbling down again; for as Conal had suspected, the cruel captain and two Princes above cut the rope and let it drop. Their intention was, of course, that poor Conal would be killed and done with forever out of their road.
And then the captain and two Princes set out with the three Princesses for their home, and brought them there and said it was they who had rescued them.
Now Conal had with him the three crowns belonging to the youngest Princess, which he had been carrying for her. He went wandering about, below, in despair, not knowing what to do, and at length he said to himself he would travel back to the but of the Wee Red Fellow and see if he could help him out of his dilemma. Perhaps he could tell him what to do.
But when Conal came to the but it' was deserted, and there was no one there, or no one to be seen, only there was plenty to eat and drink; so he settled down to live in it, and for a year and a day he lived there all by his lee alone.
At the end of that time, when he got up out of his bed one morning, what does he see on the table but a lovely wee round skull-cap with gold lace on it. He knew well he hadn't put it there himself, and that it wasn't in the house before; and he wondered and wondered, but he thought it very nice, and when he went out for a walk in the garden he brought the cap with him and was admiring it. Then he put it on his head and tried how it fitted him. And after a little Conal says to himself, says he
"The purty fit it is, and the purty cap, only sure there's no one to admire it on me here. I wish," says he, "it's at home in Ireland and near the King's castle in Connaught I was."
And to and behold ye! that very instant doesn't he find himself walking by the wall of the King's castle at Connaught, and he rubbed his eyes hard, for he could scarcely believe his own senses. But it was awake he was sure enough, and at home, and not dreaming. He looked down at himself, and surely he looked a wonderful picture, for his clothes were tattered and torn, and well worn; and he thought to himself that his own mother if she was alive wouldn't know him in that distressful condition.
He walked till he came to a blacksmith's forge not far from the castle, and then he went in there and he asked for work, and the blacksmith asked what he could do. And Conal said he could do 'most anything that any handy man could, and the blacksmith hired him and Conal went to work with him and was a big help to him entirely.
Into the blacksmith's shop the neighbors they would drop every day to gossip about all the goings on, and to talk about what was a-doing at the castle; and Conal, he wasn't many days there when he heard that there was a great wedding to come off, for the three Princesses of Connaught were to be married to a captain and two Princes who had rescued them from a terrible Giant that had taken them away, and all the world was going to see the wedding, and they asked Conal to come, too.
And on the day of the wedding, Conal he rolled up his apron round him, and he went over to the castle with the crowds to see the marriage.
There was a big platform built in the castle yard on which the three Princesses were to be married all at the one time. The gathering that came to see them was the greatest that ever Conal had seen in all his life, and when the time come, out came the King and Queen first, and then the priest, and then the captain and Princes with the three Princesses, and all of them dressed in the most gorgeous silks and satins, and silver and gold. And up on the platform they went to be married.
But the minute the priest begun, down fell the platform and smashed into smithereens, and it was a miracle that any of them escaped without some of their bones being broken.
The wedding was put off that day, and before the next wedding-day come round the King had got a great goldsmith to make three crowns for the youngest sister, a gold one, a silver one and a copper one, identically like the three crowns that her other sisters had, and no one could have told them from the others.
And on this second wedding-day again all the three sisters were wearing their three crowns, and all the world and his wife was gathered there to see them married, and Conal had come, too, with his leather apron rolled up and tied round him. But again at the last minute just as the priest went to tie the knot, down fell the platform into smithereens; and the three pairs and the priest, it was the miracle of the world that their bones were not made into powder.
Then the King and all of them saw that the three crowns the youngest Princess wore were not the right thing, and the King gave out that if there was any goldsmith in the land who would guarantee to make the right crowns for the youngest he would give her to him for a wife, and the third of the kingdom; but if the crowns were wrong the goldsmith would lose his head.
One great goldsmith was asked to do it, and another, and another, but not one of them would venture, for they didn't want to lose their heads yet awhile; and then the King and everybody didn't know what to do, and it was the whole talk in Conal's master's forge among the people every day.
At last says Conal, says he, to his master when they were still at the forge one night
"Would you undertake to make these crowns?"
"What do you mean?" says the master.
"I mean," says Conal, says he, "that I can make them for you, if you only go to the castle in the morning and say that you are going to make the crowns, and that you want three pounds of gold, three pounds of silver, and three pounds of copper." And he talked over the master till he persuaded him to do as he was bid.
And on the morrow sure enough the master went to the castle and said he would undertake to make the crowns, and he got the three pounds of gold, three pounds of silver, and three pounds of copper, and fetching them home with him he gave them to Conal that he might make the crowns.
Now Conal got ready the three crowns which he had with him from the underworld, and that evening when all the rest of the work was finished Conal got the forge empty of everybody except himself, and the gold and the silver and the copper, and his own crowns which he had kept without anybody ever seeing them, and the doors and the windows were barred and stuffed so that nobody could see in. And Conal set the fire going hard, and the people of the countryside were all gathered outside round the forge listening to the fire going, and the bellows blowing, and Conal ding-donging and hammering and sledging away all the night long, and he every now and then shoving out scraps of gold and copper out through the windows, and the fellows all scrambling and fighting for the castaway scraps:
And in the morning Conal opened the doors and the windows and the people all flocked in, and their mouths and their eyes were opened with wonder when they saw the three beautiful crowns of gold, silver and copper that Conal had set on the anvil. And Conal sent the smith with them to the castle, making him pretend that it was he, himself, made them.
And when the King and the Princesses and all of them saw the three beautiful crowns and saw that they were as like the crowns of the other sisters as no mortal man could make them, they were astonished and delighted, and the smith was hailed as a genius.
And the King said at once that the smith should have the youngest daughter at marriage. And they washed the smith and dressed him up in silk and satin and gold and silver, and the marriage, it was ordered to come off at once.
And the people all gathered into the courtyard and the two Princes with their Princesses and the smith with his (for the captain was now left out in the cold).
They went onto the platform to get married; and the instant they did, the smith felt the platform beginning to shake, and he called out to stop the marriage, for it wasn't him made the crowns, at all, at all, but a poor journeyman who was working with him and who was now at home in the forge banging away at his work.
When the King heard this he sent one of his servants to the forge with a coach to fetch Conal in it.
Now Conal took his wishing-cap in his pocket and he stepped into the coach, and when the servant looked at the black and ragged picture of him as he was closing the coach door he says, "The Lord pity the poor Princess that is to take the likes of that fellow." And the coach door was closed on Conal and the coach started.
He put his wishing-cap on his head and wished that the coach might be filled with rotten cabbages and he himself be back in his forge again.
So when the coach drove into the King's yard and the servant before them all went and opened the coach door to let Conal out, down on top of him falls and breaks scores upon scores of rotten cabbages, and he was a spectacle and the people chased him for his life out of the courtyard.
"I see," says the King, "it wasn't right of me to send a common servant for Conal."
So he then orders one of his nobles to go with the coach and fetch him. And when the noble went to the forge and got Conal into the coach and was closing the door upon him he shook his head and says, "The Lord pity the poor Princess who has to marry the likes of that tattered fellow."
Conal said nothing, only, when the coach was well started, put on his wishing-cap again and wished himself back in his forge and the coach filled with old dirty brogues; so that when the coach drove into the King's yard and the great nobleman went and opened the door, down on top of him falls the coachful of old dirty brogues, and the people hunted him and he run for his life.
"I see," says the King, "that I have insulted that boy twice, and he going to be married to a King's daughter and be a King himself. It is a King should go for him and no one else."
So out he set himself, and when he come to the forge there was Conal in his tatters banging away at old iron.
The King made his lowest curtsey to him and asked him wouldn't he do him the honor of stepping into his coach and coming to the castle to marry his fairest daughter?
And Conal said he surely would; and he stepped into the coach and the King closed the door and sat up behind like a footman. And Conal put on his wishing-cap as he went, and he wished to be dressed in a dress becoming to a man who was going to marry a King's daughter; so that when the King opened the coach door in the courtyard out of it there stepped the nicest, and bravest and handsomest young man any of them had ever seen before. And he dressed in the beautifullest dress of silk and satin that ever they laid their eyes on, and plenty of gold and silver lace all over it. And when the young Princess laid eyes upon him it's quickly she knew Conal and it's deeply in love with him she was; for he was as handsome as herself, and that's saying a great deal indeed.
She flew to him and threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, and up on the platform she led him for the marriage.
It's right well and right heartily the two Princes were ashamed of themselves then, and they went on their knees to Conal before all the people, and confessed what they had done, and asked his pardon.
And my brave Conal didn't think they were worth spending a spite upon; so he told them to get up and to marry the Princesses, and there and then all three pairs of them were married together, and such a marriage and such rejoicement was never known in all of Ireland before nor since.
Conal sent to Donegal for his poor father and fetched him to the wedding, and the King bade him sit up beside himself, and the wedding lasted for a year and a day. The first day was as good as the last and the last as good as the first; and every other day of their lives was as happy as the best of them days.
I was at the wedding myself and got a bite of a pie for telling a lie; brogues of glass and slippers of bread, and came hopping home on my head. Only I ate all the good things I would have some of them now to give you.
(from The Donegal Wonder Book , by Seumas MacManus)
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