5 When he had said this, the Gruagach showed the cowboy his back covered with thick black wool.
1 After what he had seen and heard, the cowboy said, "I know now why you don't laugh, and small blame to you (и мало порицания, вины = и неудивительно). But does that hare come here still to spoil your table (но прибегает ли заяц сюда все еще, до сих пор, чтобы портить = грязнить твой стол)?"
2 "He does indeed (да, в самом деле)," said the Gruagach.
3 Both went to the table to play, and they were not long playing cards when the hare ran in; and before they could stop him he was on the table, and had put it in such a state (и привел его /стол/ в такое состояние) that they could not play on it longer if they had wanted to (что они не смогли бы играть на нем больше: «дольше», даже если бы захотели).
4 But the cowboy made after the hare, and the Gruagach after the cowboy, and they ran as fast as ever their legs could carry them till nightfall (так быстро, как только их ноги могли нести их, до наступления ночи); and when the hare was entering the castle (входил, вбегал в замок) where the twelve sons of the Gruagach were killed, the cowboy caught him by the two hind legs (поймал его за две задние ноги; to catch) and dashed out his brains (и выбил его мозги) against the wall (о стену); and the skull of the hare was knocked into the chief room of the castle (а череп зайца вылетел: «был выбит» в главный зал, главное помещение дворца), and fell at the feet of the master of the place (и упал к ногам хозяина этого места).
5 "Who has dared (кто осмелился) to interfere (вмешаться = помешать) with my fighting pet (моему боевому любимцу; pet – любимец, баловень; любимое животное)?" screamed he (завопил он).
6 "I," said the cowboy; "and if your pet had had manners (и если бы твой любимчик умел себя вести: «имел бы манеры»), he might be alive now (он мог бы быть сейчас жив)."
skull [sk?l] dare [d??] interfere [?nte`f??]
1 After what he had seen and heard, the cowboy said, "I know now why you don't laugh, and small blame to you. But does that hare come here still to spoil your table?"
2 "He does indeed," said the Gruagach.
3 Both went to the table to play, and they were not long playing cards when the hare ran in; and before they could stop him he was on the table, and had put it in such a state that they could not play on it longer if they had wanted to.
4 But the cowboy made after the hare, and the Gruagach after the cowboy, and they ran as fast as ever their legs could carry them till nightfall; and when the hare was entering the castle where the twelve sons of the Gruagach were killed, the cowboy caught him by the two hind legs and dashed out his brains against the wall; and the skull of the hare was knocked into the chief room of the castle, and fell at the feet of the master of the place.
5 "Who has dared to interfere with my fighting pet?" screamed he.
6 "I," said the cowboy; "and if your pet had had manners, he might be alive now."
1 The cowboy and the Gruagach stood by the fire. A stork was boiling in the pot, as when the Gruagach came the first time. The master of the house went into the next room and brought out an iron and a wooden pike, and asked the cowboy which would he choose (которую /пику/ он выберет).
2 "I'll take the wooden one," said the cowboy; "and you may keep the iron one for yourself."
3 So he took the wooden one; and going to the pot, brought out on the pike all the stork except a small bite, and he and the Gruagach fell to eating (приступили к еде), and they were eating the flesh of the stork all night. The cowboy and the Gruagach were at home in the place that time.
4 In the morning the master of the house went into the next room, took down the twelve iron loops with a wooden one, brought them out, and asked the cowboy which would he take, the twelve iron or the one wooden loop.
5 "What could I do with the twelve iron ones for myself or my master? I'll take the wooden one."
6 He put it on, and taking the twelve iron loops, put them on the necks of the twelve daughters of the house, then snapped the twelve heads off them, and turning to their father, said, "I'll do the same thing to you unless you bring the twelve sons of my master to life (если только ты не оживишь: «не приведешь к жизни» двенадцать сыновей моего хозяина), and make them as well and strong (и сделаешь их такими же здоровыми и сильными) as when you took their heads (как /они были/ когда ты взял их головы)."
7 The master of the house went out and brought the twelve to life again; and when the Gruagach saw all his sons alive and as well as ever (как всегда), he let a laugh out of himself (он рассмеялся: «испустил из себя смех»), and all the Eastern world heard the laugh (и весь восточный мир слышал этот смех).
saw [so:]
1 The cowboy and the Gruagach stood by the fire. A stork was boiling in the pot, as when the Gruagach came the first time. The master of the house went into the next room and brought out an iron and a wooden pike, and asked the cowboy which would he choose.
2 "I'll take the wooden one," said the cowboy; "and you may keep the iron one for yourself."
3 So he took the wooden one; and going to the pot, brought out on the pike all the stork except a small bite, and he and the Gruagach fell to eating, and they were eating the flesh of the stork all night. The cowboy and the Gruagach were at home in the place that time.
4 In the morning the master of the house went into the next room, took down the twelve iron loops with a wooden one, brought them out, and asked the cowboy which would he take, the twelve iron or the one wooden loop.
5 "What could I do with the twelve iron ones for myself or my master? I'll take the wooden one."
6 He put it on, and taking the twelve iron loops, put them on the necks of the twelve daughters of the house, then snapped the twelve heads off them, and turning to their father, said, "I'll do the same thing to you unless you bring the twelve sons of my master to life, and make them as well and strong as when you took their heads."
7 The master of the house went out and brought the twelve to life again; and when the Gruagach saw all his sons alive and as well as ever, he let a laugh out of himself, and all the Eastern world heard the laugh.
1 Then the cowboy said to the Gruagach, "It's a bad thing you have done to me (плохую вещь ты сделал мне), for the daughter of the king of Erin will be married the day after your laugh is heard (поскольку дочь короля Эрина будет отдана замуж на следующий день после того, как будет услышан твой смех)."
2 "Oh! then we must be there in time (мы должны быть там = попасть туда вовремя)," said the Gruagach; and they all made away (отправились прочь) from the place as fast as ever they could, the cowboy, the Gruagach, and his twelve sons.
3 On the road they came to a woman (на дороге они встретили женщину) who was crying very hard (которая очень сильно, горько: «жестко» плакала).
4 "What is your trouble (что у тебя за беда)?" asked the cowboy.
5 "You need have no care (не беспокойтесь об этом, не обращайте внимания: «вам не нужно заботиться, беспокоиться»)," said she, "for I will not tell you."
6 "You must tell me," said he, "for I'll help you out of it (потому что я помогу тебе из этого = выйти из этого положения)."
7 "Well," said the woman, "I have three sons, and they used to play hurley (и они имели обыкновение играть в /ирландский/ хоккей на траве) with the three sons of the king of the Sasenach [English], and they were more than a match (они были больше, чем пара, ровня = превосходили) for the king's sons. And it was the rule (и было такое правило) that the winning side should give three wallops (что победившая сторона должна дать три сильных удара) of their hurleys to the other side (своими клюшками другой стороне); and my sons were winning every game (выигрывали каждую игру), and gave such a beating (и дали такие побои; to beat – бить) to the king's sons that they complained to their father (что те пожаловались своему отцу), and the king carried away my sons to London, and he is going to hang them there today (и он собирается повесить их там сегодня)."
8 "I'll bring them here this minute," said the cowboy.
9 "You have no time," said the Gruagach.
10 "Have you tobacco and a pipe (трубку)?" asked the cowboy of the Gruagach.
11 "I have not," said he.
12 "Well, I have," said the cowboy; and putting his hand in his pocket, he took out tobacco and a pipe, gave them to the Gruagach, and said,
13 "I'll be in London and back before you can put tobacco in this pipe and light it (и зажечь его /табак/)."
14 He disappeared (исчез), was back from London with the three boys all safe and well (невредимыми и здоровыми), and gave them to their mother before the Gruagach could get a taste of smoke out of the pipe (прежде чем Груагах смог попробовать: «получить вкус» дыма из трубки).
15 "Now come with us," said the cowboy to the woman and her sons, "to the wedding of the daughter of the king of Erin."
hurley [`h?:l?] wallop [`wol?p] complain [k?m`ple?n] tobacco [t?`bæk?u]
1 Then the cowboy said to the Gruagach: "It's a bad thing you have done to me, for the daughter of the king of Erin will be married the day after your laugh is heard."
2 "Oh! then we must be there in time," said the Gruagach; and they all made away from the place as fast as ever they could, the cowboy, the Gruagach, and his twelve sons.
3 On the road they came to a woman who was crying very hard.
4 "What is your trouble?" asked the cowboy.
5 "You need have no care," said she, "for I will not tell you."
6 "You must tell me," said he, "for I'll help you out of it."
7 "Well," said the woman, "I have three sons, and they used to play hurley with the three sons of the king of the Sasenach [English], and they were more than a match for the king's sons. And it was the rule that the winning side should give three wallops of their hurleys to the other side; and my sons were winning every game, and gave such a beating to the king's sons that they complained to their father, and the king carried away my sons to London, and he is going to hang them there today."
8 "I'll bring them here this minute," said the cowboy.
9 "You have no time," said the Gruagach.
10 "Have you tobacco and a pipe?" asked the cowboy of the Gruagach.
11 "I have not," said he.
12 "Well, I have," said the cowboy; and putting his hand in his pocket, he took out tobacco and a pipe, gave them to the Gruagach, and said,
13 "I'll be in London and back before you can put tobacco in this pipe and light it."
14 He disappeared, was back from London with the three boys all safe and well, and gave them to their mother before the Gruagach could get a taste of smoke out of the pipe.
15 "Now come with us," said the cowboy to the woman and her sons, "to the wedding of the daughter of the king of Erin."
1 They hurried on (они поспешили дальше, вперед); and when within three miles (в трех милях) of the king's castle there was such a throng of people (толпа, толкучка народу) that no one could go a step ahead (что никто не мог продвинутся вперед ни на шаг). "We must clear a road through this (очистить дорогу через это = пробиться)," said the cowboy.
2 "We must indeed," said the Gruagach; and at it they went, threw the people some on one side and some on the other (разбрасывая людей кого на одну сторону, кого на другую), and soon they had an opening for themselves (и вскоре у них: «для них самих» был проход: «открытое место, отверстие») to the king's castle.
3 As they went in, the daughter of the king of Erin and the son of the king of Tisean were on their knees (на коленях) just going to be married (как раз готовые быть обвенчанными, как раз их собирались поженить). The cowboy drew his hand on the bridegroom (поднял: «протянул» руку на жениха), and gave a blow (удар) that sent him spinning (который послал, отправил его крутящимся; to spin – прясть; крутить/ся/) till he stopped under a table at the other side of the room (пока он /не/ остановился под столом с другой стороны = в другом конце помещения).
4 "What scoundrel struck that blow (какой негодяй нанес: «ударил» этот удар)?" asked the king of Erin.
5 "It was I," said the cowboy.
6 "What reason had you (какую причину ты имел) to strike the man who won my daughter?"
7 "It was I who won your daughter, not he; and if you don't believe me (и если ты мне не веришь), the Gruagach Gaire is here himself. He'll tell you the whole story from beginning to end (он расскажет тебе всю историю от начала до конца), and show you the tongues of the giants (и покажет тебе языки великанов)."
8 So the Gruagach came up and told the king the whole story, how the Shee an Gannon had become his cowboy (стал его пастухом), had guarded (стерег) the five golden cows and the bull without horns, cut off the heads of the five-headed giants, killed the wizard hare, and brought his own twelve sons to life. "And then (и потом = кроме того)," said the Gruagach, "he is the only man in the whole world I have ever told (он единственный человек во всем, в целом мире, которому я когда-либо сказал) why I stopped laughing (почему я перестал смеяться), and the only one who has ever seen my fleece of wool (мое шерстяное руно; fleece – руно, овечья шерсть)."
9 When the king of Erin heard what the Gruagach said, and saw the tongues of the giants fitted into the heads (и увидел, что языки великанов подходят, соответствуют головам, как раз вставляются в головы), he made the Shee an Gannon kneel down by his daughter (заставил, приказал встать на колени рядом со своей дочерью), and they were married on the spot (на месте = тут же).
10 Then the son of the king of Tisean was thrown into prison (был брошен в тюрьму), and the next day they put down a great fire, and the deceiver was burned to ashes (и обманщик был сожжен дотла; ashes – пепел; to deceive ? обманывать).
11 The wedding lasted nine days (свадьба продолжалась девять дней), and the last day was better than the first (и последний день был лучше, чем первый).
scoundrel [`skaundr(?)l] believe [b?`li:v] prison [pr?zn] deceiver [d?`si:v?]
1 They hurried on; and when within three miles of the king's castle there was such a throng of people that no one could go a step ahead. "We must clear a road through this," said the cowboy.
2 "We must indeed," said the Gruagach; and at it they went, threw the people some on one side and some on the other, and soon they had an opening for themselves to the king's castle.
3 As they went in, the daughter of the king of Erin and the son of the king of Tisean were on their knees just going to be married. The cowboy drew his hand on the bridegroom, and gave a blow that sent him spinning till he stopped under a table at the other side of the room.
4 "What scoundrel struck that blow?" asked the king of Erin.
5 "It was I," said the cowboy.
6 "What reason had you to strike the man who won my daughter?"
7 "It was I who won your daughter, not he; and if you don't believe me, the Gruagach Gaire is here himself. He'll tell you the whole story from beginning to end, and show you the tongues of the giants."
8 So the Gruagach came up and told the king the whole story, how the Shee an Gannon had become his cowboy, had guarded the five golden cows and the bull without horns, cut off the heads of the five-headed giants, killed the wizard hare, and brought his own twelve sons to life. "And then," said the Gruagach, "he is the only man in the whole world I have ever told why I stopped laughing, and the only one who has ever seen my fleece of wool."
9 When the king of Erin heard what the Gruagach said, and saw the tongues of the giants fitted into the heads, he made the Shee an Gannon kneel down by his daughter, and they were married on the spot.
10 Then the son of the king of Tisean was thrown into prison, and the next day they put down a great fire, and the deceiver was burned to ashes.
11 The wedding lasted nine days, and the last day was better than the first.
The Three Daughters of the King of the East,
and the Son of a King in Erin
1 THERE was once a king in Erin, and he had an only son. While this son was a little child his mother died (когда еще, пока этот сын был маленьким ребенком, его мать умерла).
2 After a time the king married and had a second son.
3 The two boys grew up together (выросли вместе) and as the elder was far handsomer (и поскольку старший был значительно красивее) and better than the younger, the queen became jealous (стала ревнивой, завистливой), and was for banishing him out of her sight (и была за изгнание его с ее глаз: «вида»).
4 The king's castle stood near the shore of Loch Erne (возле берега озера Эрне), and three swans came every day to be in the water (и три лебедя прилетали каждый день, чтобы побыть в воде) and swim in the lake (и поплавать в озере). The elder brother used to go fishing (старший брат обычно ходил рыбачить); and once when he sat at the side of the water, the three swans made young women of themselves (превратились в девушек: «сделали из себя молодых женщин»), came to where he sat, and talked to the king's son.
5 The queen had a boy minding cows in the place (у королевы был парень /пастух/, следивший за коровами, пасущий коров в том месте), and when he went home that night he told about what he had seen, ? that there were three young women at the lake, and the king's son was talking to the three that day. Next morning the queen called the cowboy to her, and said, "Here is a pin of slumber (вот /тебе/ булавка для сна, дремы, сонная булавка); and do you stick it (воткни ее) in the clothes of the king's son before the young women come (прежде чем девушки придут), and when they go away, take out the pin and bring it back to me."
jealous [`dzel?s] banish [`bæn??] swan [swon]
1 THERE was once a king in Erin, and he had an only son. While this son was a little child his mother died.
2 After a time the king married and had a second son.
3 The two boys grew up together and as the elder was far handsomer and better than the younger, the queen became jealous, and was for banishing him out of her sight.
4 The king's castle stood near the shore of Loch Erne, and three swans came every day to be in the water and swim in the lake. The elder brother used to go fishing; and once when he sat at the side of the water, the three swans made young women of themselves, came to where he sat, and talked to the king's son.
5 The queen had a boy minding cows in the place, and when he went home that night he told about what he had seen, ? that there were three young women at the lake, and the king's son was talking to the three that day. Next morning the queen called the cowboy to her, and said, "Here is a pin of slumber; and do you stick it in the clothes of the king's son before the young women come, and when they go away, take out the pin and bring it back to me."
1 That day when the cowboy saw the three young women coming, he went near and threw the pin, which stuck in the clothes of the king's son. That instant he fell asleep on the ground (в то же мгновение он заснул: «свалился спящим» на земле).
2 When the young women came, one of them took a towel (одна из них взяла полотенце), dipped it in the cold water of the lake (мокнула его в холодную воду озера), and rubbed his face (и потерла его лицо); but she could not rouse him (но она не смогла поднять = пробудить его). When their time came to go, they were crying and lamenting (они плакали и жаловались, причитали) because the young man was asleep; and one of the three put a golden pin in his bosom (вложила, приколола золотую булавку за пазуху; bosom – грудь), so that when he woke up (с тем, чтобы когда он проснется) he would find it (он бы нашел ее) and keep her in mind (и хранил ее /девушку/ в памяти).
3 After they had gone a couple of hours (когда прошла пара часов с тех пор, как они ушли), the cowboy came up (пришел, подошел), took out the sleeping-pin, and hurried off (и поспешил прочь). The king's son woke up without delay (тут же: «безотлагательно»; to delay – откладывать, отсрочивать); and finding the golden pin in his bosom, he knew the young woman had come to see him.
towel [`tau?l] bosom [`buz?m]
1 That day when the cowboy saw the three young women coming, he went near and threw the pin, which stuck in the clothes of the king's son. That instant he fell asleep on the ground.
2 When the young women came, one of them took a towel, dipped it in the cold water of the lake, and rubbed his face; but she could not rouse him. When their time came to go, they were crying and lamenting because the young man was asleep; and one of the three put a golden pin in his bosom, so that when he woke up he would find it and keep her in mind.
3 After they had gone a couple of hours, the cowboy came up, took out the sleeping-pin, and hurried off. The king's son woke up without delay; and finding the golden pin in his bosom, he knew the young woman had come to see him.
1 Next day he fished and waited again (и ждал снова). When the cowboy saw the young women coming out of the lake, he stole tip a second time (он подкрался тихонько во второй раз; to steal – красть; красться), and threw the pin, which stuck in his clothes, and that moment he was drowsy (сонный) and fell asleep. When the young women came he was lying on the ground asleep. One of them rubbed him with a towel dipped in the water of the lake; but no matter what she did (но чтобы она не делала: «неважно, что она делала»), he slept on (он продолжал спать, спал дальше), and when they had to go (когда им нужно было уходить), she put a gold ring in his bosom (она положила ему за пазуху золотое кольцо). When the sisters were leaving the lake, and had put on their swan-skins (и надели свое лебединое оперенье: «лебединые шкуры») and become swans, they all flew around him and flapped their wings in his face (и хлопали, взмахивали крыльями ему в лицо) to know could they rouse him (чтобы узнать = попробовать, не смогут ли они его поднять, разбудить); but there was no use in trying (но не было пользы в /этих/ попытках; to try – пытаться, стараться).
2 After they had gone, the cowboy came and took out the sleeping-pin. When the king's son was awake he put his hand in his bosom, found the keepsake (нашел подарок на память), and knew that the sisters had come to him.
drowsy [`drauz?]
1 Next day he fished and waited again. When the cowboy saw the young women coming out of the lake, he stole tip a second time, and threw the pin, which stuck in his clothes, and that moment he was drowsy and fell asleep. When the young women came he was lying on the ground asleep. One of them rubbed him with a towel dipped in the water of the lake; but no matter what she did, he slept on, and when they had to go, she put a gold ring in his bosom. When the sisters were leaving the lake, and had put on their swan-skins and become swans, they all flew around him and flapped their wings in his face to know could they rouse him; but there was no use in trying.
2 After they had gone, the cowboy came and took out the sleeping-pin. When the king's son was awake he put his hand in his bosom, found the keepsake, and knew that the sisters had come to him.
1 When he went fishing the third day, he called up the cowboy (подозвал пастуха) and said, "I fall asleep every day. I know something is done to me (что-то делается мне = кто-то со мной что-то делает). Now do you tell me all (а теперь расскажи мне все). In time I'll reward you well (в /свое/ время, со временем я хорошо вознагражу тебя). I know my stepmother sends something by you (моя мачеха посылает что-то с тобой, через тебя) that takes my senses away (что лишает меня чувств: «что забирает мои чувства»)."
2 "I would tell (я бы сказал)," said the cowboy, "but I'm in dread (опасаюсь: «в опасении») my mistress might kill or banish me (что моя госпожа может убить или изгнать меня)."
3 "She will not (она не сделает этого), for I'll put you in the way she'll not harm you (я сделаю, устрою с тобой так, что она не навредит тебе, не тронет тебя). You see my fishing-bag (мой рыболовный мешок, сумку) here? Now throw the pin, which I know you have, towards me (ко мне, в направлении меня), and hit the bag (и попади: «ударь» в мешок)."
4 The cowboy did as he was told (сделал, как ему было сказано), and threw the pin into the fishing-bag, where it remained (где она и оставалась) without harm to any one (без вреда для кого-либо). The cowboy went back to his cattle, and the prince fished on as before. The three swans were out in the middle of the lake (посреди озера) swimming around (плавая вокруг = плавая без цели) for themselves (для самих себя = для своего удовольствия; сами по себе) in the water, and the prince moved on (продвигался, двигался все дальше), fishing, till he came to a bend in the shore (пока не пришел к излучине берега; bend – изгиб; to bend – сгибать). On one side of him (с одной стороны от него) a tongue of land (коса: «язык» земли, суши) ran out into the lake (выступала: «выбегала» в озеро). The swans came to the shore, leaving the piece of land between themselves and the prince (оставляя кусок суши, земли = косу между ними и принцем). Then they took off (сняли) their swan-skins, were young women, and bathed in the lake (и купались, стали купаться в озере).
5 After that they came out, put on the dress of young women, and went to where the king's son was fishing.
6 He spoke to them (он заговорил с ними; to speak), and asked where were they from (спросил, откуда они), in what place were they born (где родились: «были рождены»), and why were they swans (и почему они лебеди).
reward [r?`wo:d] remain [r?`me?n]
1 When he went fishing the third day, he called up the cowboy and said, "I fall asleep every day. I know something is done to me. Now do you tell me all. In time I'll reward you well. I know my stepmother sends something by you that takes my senses away."
2 "I would tell," said the cowboy, "but I'm in dread my mistress might kill or banish me."
3 "She will not, for I'll put you in the way she'll not harm you. You see my fishing-bag here? Now throw the pin, which I know you have, towards me, and hit the bag."
4 The cowboy did as he was told, and threw the pin into the fishing-bag, where it remained without harm to any one. The cowboy went back to his cattle, and the prince fished on as before. The three swans were out in the middle of the lake swimming around for themselves in the water, and the prince moved on, fishing, till he came to a bend in the shore. On one side of him a tongue of land ran out into the lake. The swans came to the shore, leaving the piece of land between themselves and the prince. Then they took off their swan-skins, were young women, and bathed in the lake.
5 After that they came out, put on the dress of young women, and went to where the king's son was fishing.
6 He spoke to them, and asked where were they from, in what place were they born, and why were they swans.
1 They said, "We are three sisters, daughters of the king of the East (Востока), and we have two brothers. Our mother died, and our father married again, and had two other daughters; and these two are not so good looking (не такие красивые: «хорошо выглядящие») nor so well favoured as we (и не такие нравящиеся, общие любимицы. как мы; favour – благосклонность; to favour ? благоволить), and their mother was in dread they wouldn't get such fine husbands as we (и их мать боялась, что они не получат таких хороших супругов, как мы), so she enchanted us (поэтому она заколдовала нас), and now we are going about the world from lake to lake (и теперь мы скитаемся по свету от озера к озеру) in the form of swans."
2 Then the eldest of the three sisters said to the king's son, "What kind are you, and where were you born?"
3 "I was born in Erin," said he; "and when I was a little boy my mother died, my father married again and had a second son, and that son wasn't to the eye (не был таким привлекательным, пользующимся всеобщей любовью: «не был к глазу = для глаза») what I was, and my stepmother was for banishing me from my father's house because she thought her own son was not so good as I was, and I am fishing here every day by the lake to keep out of her sight (чтобы не попадаться ей на глаза)."
4 "Well," said the eldest sister, "I thought you were a king's son, and so I came to you in my own form to know could we go on in the world together (поэтому я явилась тебе в моем собственном облике, чтобы узнать, не сможем ли мы продолжать жить: «идти дальше» в этом мире вместе)."
5 "I don't know yet what to do (я пока еще не знаю, что делать)," said the king's son.
6 "Well, be sure of your mind tomorrow (подумай до завтра: «будь, стань уверен в своем мнении, в том, что у тебя на уме» = разберись в самом себе), for that will be the last day for me here (потому что это будет последний день для меня здесь = когда я еще буду здесь)."
favour [`fe?v?] dread [dred] enchant [?n`t??:nt]
1 They said, "We are three sisters, daughters of the king of the East, and we have two brothers. Our mother died, and our father married again, and had two other daughters; and these two are not so good looking nor so well favoured as we, and their mother was in dread they wouldn't get such fine husbands as we, so she enchanted us, and now we are going about the world from lake to lake in the form of swans."
2 Then the eldest of the three sisters said to the king's son, "What kind are you, and where were you born?"
3 "I was born in Erin," said he; "and when I was a little boy my mother died, my father married again and had a second son, and that son wasn't to the eye what I was, and my stepmother was for banishing me from my father's house because she thought her own son was not so good as I was, and I am fishing here every day by the lake to keep out of her sight."
4 "Well," said the eldest sister, "I thought you were a king's son, and so I came to you in my own form to know could we go on in the world together."
5 "I don't know yet what to do," said the king's son.
6 "Well, be sure of your mind tomorrow, for that will be the last day for me here."
1 When the cowboy was going home, the king's son gave him the sleeping-pin for the stepmother. When he had driven in the cattle (когда он загнал скот /обратно, в замок/), the cowboy told the queen that the young man had fallen asleep as on the two other days.
2 But there was an old witch (старая ведьма) in the place who was wandering about the lake (которая бродила возле озера) that day. She saw everything, went to the queen, and told her how the three swans had made young women of themselves, and talked with her stepson.
3 When the queen heard the old witch, she fell into a terrible rage (пришла: «впала» в ужасную ярость) at the cowboy for telling her a lie (оттого, что пастух говорил, рассказывал ей ложь), and banished him out of her sight forever (навсегда). Then she got another cowboy, and sent him off with the sleeping-pin next day. When he came near the lake, the king's son tried to drive him off (попытался отогнать его); but the cowboy threw the sleeping-pin into his clothes, and he fell down near the edge of the water (возле кромки воды) without sight or sense (ничего не видя и не чувствуя: «без вида = способности видеть, или чувства»).
4 The three sisters came, and found him sleeping. They rubbed him, and threw water on his face, but they could not wake him. And the three were lamenting sorely (горько, тяжко; sore – чувствительный, болезненный; мучительный), for they had brought a swan's skin with them that day, so the king's son might make a swan of himself (чтобы королевский сын смог сам превратиться в лебедя: «сделать из себя лебедя») and fly away with them (и улететь с ними), for this was their last day at that place; but they could do nothing now, for he lay there dead asleep (спал как мертвый) on the ground before them.
5 The eldest sister pulled out her handkerchief (вынула свой платок), and the falling tears dropped on it (и падающие слезы закапали на него). Then she took a knife (нож), and cut one of the nipples from her breast (и отрезала один сосок от своей груди), The second sister wrote (написала; to write) on the handkerchief: "Keep this in mind (храни это в памяти) till you get more account from us (пока не получишь больше вестей от нас; account – счет; отчет)." They put it in his bosom and went away.
sore [so:] breast [brest] account [?`kaunt]
1 When the cowboy was going home, the king's son gave him the sleeping-pin for the stepmother. When he had driven in the cattle, the cowboy told the queen that the young man had fallen asleep as on the two other days.
2 But there was an old witch in the place who was wandering about the lake that day. She saw everything, went to the queen, and told her how the three swans had made young women of themselves, and talked with her stepson.
3 When the queen heard the old witch, she fell into a terrible rage at the cowboy for telling her a lie, and banished him out of her sight forever. Then she got another cowboy, and sent him off with the sleeping-pin next day. When he came near the lake, the king's son tried to drive him off; but the cowboy threw the sleeping-pin into his clothes, and he fell down near the edge of the water without sight or sense.
4 The three sisters came, and found him sleeping. They rubbed him, and threw water on his face, but they could not wake him. And the three were lamenting sorely, for they had brought a swan's skin with them that day, so the king's son might make a swan of himself and fly away with them, for this was their last day at that place; but they could do nothing now, for he lay there dead asleep on the ground before them.
5 The eldest sister pulled out her handkerchief, and the falling tears dropped on it. Then she took a knife, and cut one of the nipples from her breast, The second sister wrote on the handkerchief: "Keep this in mind till you get more account from us." They put it in his bosom and went away.
1 As soon as the sisters had gone, the cowboy came, drew out the pin (вытащил булавку), and hurried away. The stepmother was always trying to banish the king's son, hoping that something might happen to him (надеясь, что что-то может случиться с ним), and her own son be the heir (наследником). So now he went off and wandered away through Erin, always inquiring (все время спрашивая, наводя сведения) for the eldest sister, but never could find her.
2 At the end of seven years he came home, and was fishing at the side of Loch Erne again, when a swan flew up to him and said, "Your love is lying on her death-bed (твоя любовь лежит на ее смертном одре; death ? смерть), unless you go to save her (если только ты не пойдешь спасти ее). She is bleeding (кровоточит, истекает кровью; blood ? кровь) from the breast, and you must go to her now. Go straight (прямо) to the East!"
3 The king's son went straight to the East, and on the way there rose up storm and fog against him (поднялись буря и туман против него); but they did not stop him. He was going on always, and when he was three weeks' journey (в трех неделях ходьбы: «путешествия») from his father's castle he stumbled (споткнулся) one dark, misty day (одним темным, туманным днем; mist – легкий туман, дымка, мгла) and fell over a ditch (через канаву). When he rose up there stood on the other side of the ditch before him a little horse (конь), all bridled and saddled (весь = полностью экипированный: «с уздечкой» и оседланный; bridle ? уздечка), with a whip on the saddle (с кнутом на седле). The horse spoke up and said, "If you are the king's son, I was sent here to meet you, and carry you to the castle of the king of the East. There is a young woman at the castle who thinks it long till she sees you (которая жаждет тебя увидеть). Now ask me no questions, for I'm not at liberty to talk to you (не свободен: «не при свободе» = мне не разрешено говорить с тобой) till I bring you to the East."
4 "I suppose (я предполагаю, думаю) we are to be a long time going (мы будем долго ехать)?" said the king's son.
5 "Don't trouble yourself about the going; I'll take you safely (я довезу тебя невредимым: «безопасно, надежно»). Sit on my back now, and be sure you're a good rider (и будь уверен, что ты хороший наездник = держись крепче), and you'll not be long on the road. This is my last word (это мое последнее слово)."
inquire [?n`kwa??] bridle [bra?dl] liberty [`l?b?t?] suppose [s?`p?uz]
1 As soon as the sisters had gone, the cowboy came, drew out the pin, and hurried away. The stepmother was always trying to banish the king's son, hoping that something might happen to him, and her own son be the heir. So now he went off and wandered away through Erin, always inquiring for the eldest sister, but never could find her.
2 At the end of seven years he came home, and was fishing at the side of Loch Erne again, when a swan flew up to him and said, "Your love is lying on her death-bed, unless you go to save her. She is bleeding from the breast, and you must go to her now. Go straight to the East!"
3 The king's son went straight to the East, and on the way there rose up storm and fog against him; but they did not stop him. He was going on always, and when he was three weeks' journey from his father's castle he stumbled one dark, misty day and fell over a ditch. When he rose up there stood on the other side of the ditch before him a little horse, all bridled and saddled, with a whip on the saddle. The horse spoke up and said, "If you are the king's son, I was sent here to meet you, and carry you to the castle of the king of the East. There is a young woman at the castle who thinks it long till she sees you. Now ask me no questions, for I'm not at liberty to talk to you till I bring you to the East."
4 "I suppose we are to be a long time going?" said the king's son.
5 "Don't trouble yourself about the going; I'll take you safely. Sit on my back now, and be sure you're a good rider, and you'll not be long on the road. This is my last word."
1 They went on, and were going always; and as he travelled, the prince met the wind that was before him, and the wind that blew behind could not come up with him. When he was hungry (когда он проголодался: «был голоден») the pommel of the saddle opened (передняя лука седла раскрылась, раскрывалась), and he found the best of eating inside (и он находил лучшую = отличнейшую еду внутри).
2 They went on sweeping over the world for two weeks, and when they were near the East the horse said, "Get down from my back now, for it's tired I am (потому что устал я очень)."
3 "How far (как далеко) are we from the castle?" asked the king's son.
4 "Five days' journey," answered the horse. "When you come to the castle, don't stop a moment till you ask where the young woman is lying; and tell them to be sure to give good stabling and food to the horse (и скажи им, чтобы они не забыли дать хорошее стойло и корм коню). Come and see me yourself every day. If you don't, there will be nothing for me but fasting (не будет для меня ничего кроме того, как поститься = придется мне тогда поститься); and that's what I don't like (а это то, что я не люблю = а я этого как раз не выношу)."
pommel [p?ml]
1 They went on, and were going always; and as he travelled, the prince met the wind that was before him, and the wind that blew behind could not come up with him. When he was hungry the pommel of the saddle opened, and he found the best of eating inside.
2 They went on sweeping over the world for two weeks, and when they were near the East the horse said, "Get down from my back now, for it's tired I am."
3 "How far are we from the castle?" asked the king's son.
4 "Five days' journey," answered the horse. "When you come to the castle, don't stop a moment till you ask where the young woman is lying; and tell them to be sure to give good stabling and food to the horse. Come and see me yourself every day. If you don't, there will be nothing for me but fasting; and that's what I don't like."
1 When the king's son came to the castle it was evening. The two younger sisters welcomed him (приветили его, приняли радушно). (These were two of the swans at the lake in Erin, and now at home by the enchantment of their stepmother (были дома, благодаря колдовству их мачехи). They were swans in the daytime, and women only at night, so as not to be under the eye of young men (чтобы не попадаться на глаза юношам) when these came to see the stepmother's own daughters.) They said, "Our sister is on an island, and we'll go to her." They got a boat (взяли лодку) for the young man, and went with him to where their sister was lying. They said to her,
2 "The son of the king of Erin is here."
3 "Let him come in (пусть он войдет, впустите его), that I may look at him (чтобы я могла посмотреть на него)," said she.
4 The king's son went in, and when she saw him she was glad. "Have you anything that belongs to me (что принадлежит мне)?" asked she.
5 "I have."
6 "Then throw it on my breast."
7 He threw the handkerchief on her breast and went away. Next day she rose from the bed as well as ever (такой же здоровой, как всегда). On the third day after his arrival (после его прибытия), the son of the king of Erin married the eldest daughter of the king of the East, and the stepmother's enchantment was destroyed (разрушено, уничтожено); and there was the grandest wedding that ever was seen in that kingdom (великолепнейшая свадьба, которая была когда-либо видана в том королевстве).
belong [b?`lo?] arrival [?`ra?v(?)l]
1 When the king's son came to the castle it was evening. The two younger sisters welcomed him. (These were two of the swans at the lake in Erin, and now at home by the enchantment of their stepmother. They were swans in the daytime, and women only at night, so as not to be under the eye of young men when these came to see the stepmother's own daughters.) They said, "Our sister is on an island, and we'll go to her." They got a boat for the young man, and went with him to where their sister was lying. They said to her,
2 "The son of the king of Erin is here."
3 "Let him come in, that I may look at him," said she.
4 The king's son went in, and when she saw him she was glad. "Have you anything that belongs to me?" asked she.
5 "I have."
6 "Then throw it on my breast."
7 He threw the handkerchief on her breast and went away. Next day she rose from the bed as well as ever. On the third day after his arrival, the son of the king of Erin married the eldest daughter of the king of the East, and the stepmother's enchantment was destroyed; and there was the grandest wedding that ever was seen in that kingdom.
1 The king's son, thinking only of his bride, forgot all about the horse (забыл совсем о коне; to forget) that had brought him over the long road. When at last he went to see him, the stable was empty (конюшня была пуста); the horse had gone. And neither his father in Erin nor the stepmother came to his mind (не вспоминались ему), he was living so pleasantly (так приятно, счастливо) in the East.
2 But after he had been there a long time, and a son and a daughter had been born to him, he remembered his father. Then he made up his mind (он решил) not to let the stepmother's son be heir to the kingdom in place of himself (не дать сыну мачехи стать наследником королевства вместо себя самого). So taking his wife and children, he left the East and travelled to Erin. He stopped on the road, and sent word to the father that he was coming.
3 When the stepmother heard the news (услышала известие: «новости»), a great weakness came on her (большая слабость нашла на нее). She fell into a fit (впала в удар, в приступ = с ней случился удар, припадок) and died.
4 The king's son waited in a convenient place (в подходящем, приличествующем месте) till the funeral was over (пока были окончены похороны), and then he came to the castle and lived with his father. He was not long in the place when he sent messengers (посланцев) to know could they find the cowboy that the stepmother banished for telling about the sleeping-pin. They brought the cowboy to the castle, and the king made him his coachman (кучером; coach ? карета).
5 The cowboy was not twelve months in his new place before he married. Then the king's son gave him a fine piece of land to live on, with six cows and four horses. There was not a happier man in the kingdom than the cowboy. When the father died, the king's son became king in Erin himself.
convenient [k?n`vi:nj?nt] funeral [`fju:n(?)r(?)l] messenger [`mes?ndz?] coach [k?ut?]
1 The king's son, thinking only of his bride, forgot all about the horse that had brought him over the long road. When at last he went to see him, the stable was empty; the horse had gone. And neither his father in Erin nor the stepmother came to his mind, he was living so pleasantly in the East.
2 But after he had been there a long time, and a son and a daughter had been born to him, he remembered his father. Then he made up his mind not to let the stepmother's son be heir to the kingdom in place of himself. So taking his wife and children, he left the East and travelled to Erin. He stopped on the road, and sent word to the father that he was coming.
3 When the stepmother heard the news, a great weakness came on her. She fell into a fit and died.
4 The king's son waited in a convenient place till the funeral was over, and then he came to the castle and lived with his father. He was not long in the place when he sent messengers to know could they find the cowboy that the stepmother banished for telling about the sleeping-pin. They brought the cowboy to the castle, and the king made him his coachman.
5 The cowboy was not twelve months in his new place before he married. Then the king's son gave him a fine piece of land to live on, with six cows and four horses. There was not a happier man in the kingdom than the cowboy. When the father died, the king's son became king in Erin himself.
The Fisherman's Son and the
Gruagach of Tricks
1 THERE was an old fisherman once in Erin who had a wife and one son.
2 The old fisherman used to go about with a fishing-rod (с удочкой; rod – стержень, прут) and tackle (снастью) to the rivers and lochs and every place where fish resort (водится; to resort – обращаться, прибегать; часто собираться, скопляться), and he was killing salmon (лососей) and other fish to keep the life in himself and his wife and son.
3 The son was not so keen nor so wise (не был ни таким проницательным, ни таким мудрым; keen – острый, стремящийся; проницательный) as another, and the father was instructing him every day in fishing, so that if himself should be taken from the world (будет взят из мира = умрет), the son would be able to support (поддерживать) the old mother and get his own living (зарабатывать самостоятельно на жизнь).
4 One day when the father and son were fishing in a river near the sea, they looked out over the water and saw a small dark speck (пятнышко) on the waves. It grew larger and larger, till they saw a boat, and when the boat drew near they saw a man sitting in the stern of it (на корме).
5 There was a nice beach near the place where they were fishing. The man brought the boat straight to the beach, and stepping out drew it up on the sand.
6 They saw then that the stranger was a man of high degree (высокой степени, ступени = благородный, образованный) [duine uasal].
7 After he had put the boat high on the sand, he came to where the two were at work, and said,
8 "Old fisherman, you'd better let this son of yours with me for a year and a day, and I will make a very wise man of him. I am the Gruagach na g-cleasan (Gruagach of tricks ? хитростей, трюков, проделок), and I'll bind myself (обязуюсь) to be here with your son this day year.
9 "I can't let him go," said the old fisherman, till he gets his mother's advice."
10 "Whatever goes as far as women I'll have nothing to do with (насколько дело касается женщин, я с этим не связываюсь = не надо впутывать в это дело женщин)," said the Gruagach. "You had better give him to me now (лучше отдай мне его сейчас), and let the mother alone (а мать оставь в покое: «одной»)."
11 They talked till at last the fisherman promised (пообещал) to let his son go for the year and a day. Then the Gruagach gave his word to have the boy there at the seashore that day year.
12 The Gruagach and the boy went into the boat and sailed away.
13 When the year and a day were over, the old fisherman went to the same place where he had parted with his son and the Gruagach, and stood looking over the sea, thinking would he see his son that day.
14 At last he saw a black spot (пятно) on the water, then a boat. When it was near he saw two men sitting in the stern of the boat. When it touched land, the two, who were duine uasal in appearance (с виду [?`p??r(?)ns]), jumped out, and one of them pulled the boat to the top of the strand. Then that one, followed by the other, came to where the old fisherman was waiting, and asked, "What trouble is on you now, my good man?"
15 "I had a son that wasn't so keen nor so wise as another, and myself and this son were here fishing, and a stranger came, like yourself today, and asked would I let my son with him for a year and a day. I let the son go, and the man promised to be here with him today, and that's why I am waiting at this place now."
16 "Well," said the Gruagach, "am I your son?"
17 "You are not," said the fisherman.
18 "Is this man here your son?"
19 "I don't know him," said the fisherman. "Well, then, he is all you will have in place of your son," said the Gruagach.
20 The old man looked again, and knew his son. He caught hold of him (схватился за него, обнял; to catch hold of ? схватить) and welcomed him home.
21 "Now," said the Gruagach, "isn't he a better man than he was a year ago?"
22 "Oh, he's nearly (почти) a smart (умный) man now!" said the old fisherman.
23 "Well," said the Gruagach, "will you let him with me for another year and a day?"
24 "I will not," said the old man; "I want him myself."
25 The Gruagach then begged and craved (выпрашивал и требовал) till the fisherman promised to let the son with him for a year and a day again. But the old man forgot to take his word of the Gruagach to bring back the son at the end of the time; and when the Gruagach and the boy were in the boat, and had pushed out to sea, the Gruagach shouted to the old man,
26 "I kept my promise to bring back your son today. I haven't given you my word at all now. I'll not bring him back, and you'll never see him again."
27 The fisherman went home with a heavy and sorrowful heart (с сердцем, полным печали, горестным; sorrow – печаль, горе), and the old woman scolded him (бранила) all that night till next morning for letting her son go with the Gruagach a second time.
28 Then himself and the old woman were lamenting a quarter (четверть, четвертую часть) of a year; and when another quarter had passed, he said to her, "I'll leave you here now, and I'll be walking on myself till I wear my legs off up to my knees (пока не сотру ноги до колен), and from my knees to my waist (до пояса, поясницы), till I find where is my son."
29 So away went the old man walking, and he used to spend but one night in a house, and not two nights in any house, till his feet were all in blisters (в мозолях). One evening late he came to a hut (к хижине) where there was an old woman sitting at a fire.
30 "Poor man!" said she, when she laid eyes on him, "it's a great distress (огорчение, беда) you are in, to be so disfigured with wounds (быть настолько обезображенным ранами) and sores (и язвами). What is the trouble that's on you?"
31 "I had a son," said the old man, "and the Gruagach na g-cleasan came on a day and took him from me."
32 "Oh, poor man!" said she. "I have a son with that same Gruagach these twelve years, and I have never been able to get him back or get sight of him (повидать его), and I'm in dread (опасаюсь) you'II not be able (не сможешь) to get your son either (также). But tomorrow, in the morning, I'll tell you all I know, and show you the road you must go to find the house of the Gruagach na g-cleasan."
33 Next morning she showed the old fisherman the road. He was to come to the place by evening.
34 When he came and entered the house, the Gruagach shook hands with him (пожал ему руку: «потряс с ним руки»), and said,
35 "You are welcome, old fisherman. It was I that put this journey on you (заставил тебя пуститься в это путешествие), and made you come here looking for your son."
36 "It was no one else but you (не кто иной, как ты)," said the fisherman.
37 "Well," said the Gruagach, "you won't see your son today. At noon tomorrow I'll put a whistle (свисток) in my mouth and call together all the birds in my place, and they'II come. Among others will be twelve doves (голубей). I 'II put my hand in my pocket, this way, and take out wheat (пшеницу = зерно пшеницы) and throw it before them on the ground. The doves will eat the wheat, and you must pick (выбрать) your son out of the twelve. If you find him, you'II have him; if you don't, you'II never get him again."
38 After the Gruagach had said these words the old man ate his supper and went to bed.
39 In the dead of night (глухой ночью /когда все замирает/) the old fisherman's son came. "Oh, father!" said he, "it would be hard for you to pick me out among the twelve doves, if you had to do it alone; but I'll tell you. When the Gruagach calls us in (позовет нас внутрь, позовет зайти), and we go to pick up the wheat, I'll make a ring around the others (я пройдусь вокруг других), walking for myself; and as I go I'll give some of them a tip of my bill (слегка клюну: «дам кончик моего клюва»), and I'll lift my wings (подниму крылья) when I'm striking them (когда я буду ударять их). There was a spot under one of my arms when I left home, and you'll see that spot under my wing when I raise it tomorrow. Don't miss (не пропусти, не упусти, не промахнись) the bird that I'll be, and don't let your eyes off it (не своди глаз); if you do, you'll lose me forever (потеряешь меня навсегда)."
40 Next morning the old man rose, had his breakfast, and kept thinking (продолжал думать) of what his son had told him.
41 At midday the Gruagach took his whistle and blew. Birds came to him from every part, and among others the twelve doves.
42 He took wheat from his pocket, threw it to the doves, and said to the father, "Now pick out your son from the twelve."
43 The old man was watching, and soon he saw one of the doves walking around the other eleven and hitting some of them a clip of its bill (щипал; clip – скрепка; to clip ? защемлять), and then it raised its wings, and the old man saw the spot. The bird let its wings down again, and went to eating with the rest (с остальными).
44 The father never let his eyes off the bird. After a while he said to the Gruagach, "I'll have that bird there for my son."
45 "Well," said the Gruagach, "that is your son. I can't blame (обвинять) you for having him; but I blame your instructor for the information he gave you, and I give him my curse (проклятие)."
46 So the old fisherman got his son back in his proper shape (в его собственном виде, в его исконной, присущей ему форме; proper – исконно присущий, соответствующий), and away they went, father and son, from the house of the Gruagach. The old man felt stronger now, and they never stopped travelling a day till they came home.
47 The old mother was very glad to see her son, and see him such a wise, smart man.
48 After coming home they had no means but the fishing; they were as poor as ever before (настолько же бедны, как и раньше, ничуть не богаче).
49 At this time it was given out at every crossroad in Erin (было объявлено на каждом перекрестке), and in all public places in the kingdom, that there were to be great horse-races (скачки). Now, when the day came, the old fisherman's son said,
50 "Come away with me, father, to the races."
51 The old man went with him, and when they were near the race-course, the son said, "Stop here till I tell you this: I'll make myself into the best horse that's here today, and do you take me to the place where the races are to be, and when you take me in, I'll open my mouth, trying to kill (стараясь убить) and eat every man that'II be near me, I'll have such life and swiftness (быстроту); and do you find a rider (наездника) for me that'II ride me, and don't let me go till the other horses are far ahead (далеко впереди) on the course (по ходу, в забеге). Then let me go. I'll come up to them (догоню их), and I'll run ahead (впереди) of them and win the race (выиграю скачки). After that every rich man there will want to buy me of you; but don't you sell me to any man for less than (менее чем за) five hundred pounds; and be sure you get that price for me (и обязательно получи эту цену за меня). And when you have the gold, and you are giving me up (когда будешь отдавать меня), take the bit (удила, мундштук) out of my mouth, and don't sell the bridle (уздечку) for any money. Then come to this spot, shake the bridle, and I'll be here in my own form before you."
52 The son made himself a horse, and the old fisherman took him to the race. He reared (вставал на дыбы) and snorted (фыркал), trying to take the head off every man that came near him.
53 The old man shouted for a rider. A rider came; he mounted the horse and held him in (сдерживал: to hold in). The old man didn't let him start till the other horses were well ahead on the course; then he let him go.
54 The new horse caught up with the others (догнал других) and shot past them (промчался мимо них). So they had not gone half way when he was in at the winning-post.
55 When the race was ended, there was a great noise (шум) over the strange horse. Men crowded (столпились) around the old fisherman from every corner of the field, asking what would he take for the horse.
56 "Five hundred pounds," said he.
57 "Here 't is for you," said the next man to him.
58 In a moment the horse was sold (был продан), and the money in the old man's pocket. Then he pulled the bridle off (снял уздечку) the horse's head, and made his way out of the place as fast as ever he could.
59 It was not long till he was at the spot where the son had told him what to do. The minute he came, he shook the bridle, and the son was there before him in his own shape and features («в собственном облике и чертах»).
60 "Oh, but the old fisherman was glad when he had his son with him again, and the money in his pocket!"
61 The two went home together. They had money enough now to live, and quit the fishing (бросили рыбную ловлю; to quit – покидать, выходить). They had plenty to eat and drink (у них было вдоволь еды и питья; plenty – много, обильный), and they spent their lives in ease (проводили жизнь в удобстве, зажиточности; to spend – тратить) and comfort till the next year, when it was given out (объявлено) at all the cross-roads in Erin, and every public place in the kingdom, that there was to be a great hunting (охота) with hounds (с охотничими собаками, с гончими), in the same place where the races had been the year before.
62 When the day came, the fisherman's son said,
63 "Come, father, let us go away to this hunting."
64 "Ah!" said the old man, "what do we want to go for? Haven't we plenty to eat at home, with money enough and to spare (и денег с излишком; to spare ? сэкономить, отложить /деньги/)? What do we care (какое нам дело) for hunting with hounds?"
65 "Oh! They'll give us more money," said the son, "if we go."
66 The fisherman listened to his son, and away they went. When the two came to the spot where the son had made a horse of himself the year before, he stopped, and said to the father, "I'll make a hound of myself today, and when you bring me in sight of the game, you'll see me wild with jumping (как я буду дико прыгать) and trying to get away (и пытаться убежать); but do you hold me fast (держи меня крепко) till the right time comes, then let go (отпусти). I'll sweep ahead (промчусь вперед, обгоню; to sweep – мести; нестись, мчаться) of every hound in the field, catch the game (game – дичь, зверь, добытый на охоте), and win the prize (приз, награду) for you."
67 "When the hunt is over, so many men will come to buy me that they'll put you in a maze (приведут тебя в смущение, замешательство); but be sure you get three hundred pounds for me, and when you have the money, and are giving me up, don't forget to keep my rope (оставить себе мою веревку). Come to this place, shake the rope, and I'll be here before you, as I am now. If you don't keep the rope, you'll go home without me."
68 The son made a hound of himself, and the old father took him to the hunting-ground (к месту, к территории охоты).
69 When the hunt began, the hound was springing and jumping like mad (как сумасшедшая); but the father held him till the others were far out in the field. Then he let him loose (отпустил), and away went the son.
70 Soon he was up with the pack (со сворой), then in front of the pack, and never stopped till he caught the game and won the prize.
71 When the hunt was over, and the dogs and game brought in, all the people crowded around the old fisherman, saying, "What do you want of that hound? Better sell him; he's no good to you."
72 They put the old man in a maze, there were so many of them, and they pressed him so hard.
73 He said at last, "I'll sell the hound; and three hundred pounds is the price I want for him."
74 "Here 't is for you," said a stranger, putting the money into his hand.
75 The old man took the money and gave up the dog, without taking off the rope. He forgot his son's warning (предупреждение, предостережение).
76 That minute the Gruagach na g-cleasan called out, "I'll take the worth of my money out of your son now (теперь я извлеку ценность моих денег из твоего сына = теперь уж сделка будет честной);" and away he went with the hound.
77 The old man walked home alone that night, and it is a heavy heart he had in him when he came to the old woman without the son. And the two were lamenting their lot (оплакивали свою долю, судьбу) till morning.
78 Still and all (и все же, при всем при том), they were better off (они были зажиточнее, им жилось лучше) than the first time they lost their son, as they had plenty of everything, and could live at their ease.
79 The Gruagach went away home, and put the fisherman's son in a cave of concealment (в «пещеру сокрытия» [k?n`si:lm?nt]) that he had, bound (связал; to bind) him hand and foot, and tied hard knots on his neck up to the chin (завязал жесткие узлы на его шее до подбородка). From above there fell on him drops of poison (сверху на него падали капли яда), and every drop that fell went from the skin to the flesh (от кожи к плоти = проникали в тело), from the flesh to the bone, from the bone to the marrow (к костному мозгу), and he sat there under the poison drops, without meat, drink, or rest (отдыха, передышки).
80 In the Gruagach's house was a servant-maid (служанка), and the fisherman's son had been kind (мил, любезен) to her the time he was in the place before.
81 On a day when the Gruagach and his eleven sons were out hunting, the maid was going with a tub (с бадьей) of dirty water to throw it into the river that ran by the side of the house. She went through the cave of concealment where the fisherman's son was bound, and he asked of her the wetting of his mouth (попросил смочить рот) from the tub.
82 "Oh! the Gruagach would take the life of me," said she, "when he comes home, if I gave you as much as one drop (даже одну лишь каплю)."
83 "Well," said he, "when I was in this house before, and when I had power (власть) in my hands, it's good and kind I was to you; and when I get out of this confinement (выберусь из этого заключения) I'll do you a turn (я тебе отплачу добром; turn – поворот; очередь; to do a good turn – оказать услугу за услугу), if you give me the wetting of my mouth now."
84 The maid put the tub near his lips.
85 "Oh! I can't stoop (наклониться) to drink unless you untie one knot from my throat (пока не развяжешь один узел с моего горла)," said he.
86 Then she put the tub down, stooped to him, and loosed one knot from his throat. When she loosed the one knot he made an eel of himself (превратился в угря), and dropped into the tub. There he began shaking the water, till he put some of it on the ground, and when he had the place about him wet, he sprang from the tub, and slipped along out under the door (проскользнул под дверь). The maid caught him; but could not hold him, he was so slippery (скользкий). He made his way from the door to the river, which ran near the side of the house.
87 When the Gruagach na g-cleasan came home in the evening with his eleven sons, they went to take a look at the fisherman's son; but he was not to be seen.
88 Then the Gruagach called the maid, and taking his sword (меч), said, "I'll take the head off you if you don't tell me this minute what happened while I was gone."
89 "Oh!" said the maid, "he begged (молил, упрашивал) so hard for a drop of dirty water to wet his mouth that I hadn't the heart to refuse (не смогла отказать: «не имела сердца отказать»), for 't is good he was to me and kind each time he saw me when he was here in the house before. When the water touched his mouth, he made an eel of himself, spilled (пролил) water out of the tub, and slipped along over the wet place to the river outside. I caught him to bring him back, but I couldn't hold him; in spite of all I could do, he made away."
90 The Gruagach dropped his sword, and went to the water side with his sons.
91 The sons made eleven eels of themselves, and the Gruagach their father was the twelfth. They went around in the water, searching (ища; to search – искать, просматривать) in every place, and there was not a stone in the river that they passed (мимо которого они бы прошли, проплыли) without looking under and around it for the old fisherman's son.
92 And when he knew that they were after him (гонятся за ним), he made himself into a salmon (в лосося); and when they knew he was a salmon, the sons made eleven otters of themselves (превратились в выдр), and the Gruagach made himself the twelfth.
93 When the fisherman's son found that twelve otters were after him, he was weak with hunger, and when they had come near, he made himself a whale. But the eleven brothers and their father made twelve cannon whales (cannon ? пушка) of themselves, for they had all gone out of the river, and were in the sea now.
94 When they were coming near him, the fisherman's son was weak from pursuit (от преследования, погони [pF`sju:t]) and hunger, so he jumped up out of the water, and made a swallow of himself (в ласточку); but the Gruagach and his sons became twelve hawks (в ястребов), and chased (гнали, преследовали) the swallow through the air; and as they whirled round (кружили) and darted (бросались /на ласточку/ dart – стрела, дротик), they pressed (давили, теснили, нападали) him hard, till all of them came near the castle of the king of Erin.
95 Now the king had made a summer-house for his daughter; and where should she be at this time but sitting on the top of the summer-house.
96 The old fisherman's son dropped down till he was near her; then he fell into her lap (на колени: «в лоно») in the form of a ring. The daughter of the king of Erin took up the ring, looked at it, and put it on her finger. The ring took her fancy (кольцо ей приглянулось; fancy – воображение; каприз, причуда; склонность /к чему-то/, страсть), and she was glad.
97 When the Gruagach and his sons saw this, they let themselves down at the king's castle, having the form of the finest men that could be seen in the kingdom.
98 When the king's daughter had the ring on her finger she looked at it and liked it. Then the ring spoke, and said, "My life is in your hands now; don't part from the ring, and don't let it go to any man, and you'II give me a long life."
99 The Gruagach na g-cleasan and his eleven sons went into the king's castle and played on every instrument known to man, and they showed every sport that could be shown before a king. This they did for three days and three nights. When that time was over, and they were going away, the king spoke up and asked,
100 "What is the reward (награда) that you would like, and what would be pleasing to you from me?"
101 "We want neither gold nor silver," said the Gruagach; "all the reward we ask of you is the ring that I lost on a time, and which is now on your daughter's finger."
102 "If my daughter has the ring that you lost, it shall be given to you (оно должно быть отдано тебе)," said the king.
103 Now the ring spoke to the king's daughter and said, "Don't part with me for anything till you send your trusted man (пока не пошлешь верного тебе человека, человека, которому вполне доверяешь; to trust – доверять, полагаться) for three gallons of strong spirits (за тремя галлонами крепкого алкоголя; галлон /мера жидких и сыпучих тел/ = 4,54 литра) and a gallon of wheat (пшеницы); put the spirits and the wheat together in an open barrel (бочку) before the fire. When your father says you must give up the ring, do you answer back that you have never left the summer-house, that you have nothing on your hand but what is your own and paid for (что бы не было твоим собственным и за что не было бы заплачено). Your father will say then that you must part with me, and give me up to the stranger. When he forces you in this way (станет принуждать тебя таким образом), and you can keep me no longer, then throw me into the fire; and you'll see great sport and strange things."
104 The king's daughter sent for the spirits and the wheat, had them mixed together, and put in an open barrel before the fire.
105 The king called the daughter in, and asked,
106 "Have you the ring which this stranger lost?"
107 "I have a ring," said she, "but it's my own, and I'll not part with it. I'll not give it to him nor to any man."
108 "You must," said the king, "for my word is pledged (мое слово дано; to pledge – обязываться; закладывать), and you must part with the ring!"
109 When she heard this, she slipped the ring from her finger and threw it into the fire.
110 That moment the eleven brothers made eleven pairs of tongs (щипцы) of themselves; their father, the old Gruagach, was the twelfth pair.
111 The twelve jumped into the fire to know in what spark (в какой искре) of it would they find the old fisherman's son; and they were a long time working and searching through the fire, when out flew a spark, and into the barrel.
112 The twelve made themselves men, turned over the barrel, and spilled the wheat on the floor. Then in a twinkling (в мгновенье ока) they were twelve cocks strutting around (/важно/ выступающие вокруг).
113 They fell to and picked away at the wheat (они набросились на пшеницу и стали ее клевать) to know which one would find the fisherman's son. Soon one dropped on one side, and a second on the opposite side (напротив: «на противоположную сторону»), until all twelve were lying drunk (пьяны, опьянены) from the wheat.
114 Then the old fisherman's son made a fox of himself (в лису), and the first cock he came to was the old Gruagach na g-cleasan himself. He took the head off the Gruagach with one bite (укусом), and the heads off the eleven brothers with eleven other bites.
115 When the twelve were dead, the old fisherman's son made himself the finest-looking man in Erin, and began to give music and sport to the king; and he entertained him five times better than had the Gruagach and his eleven sons.
116 Then the king's daughter fell in love with him, and she set her mind on him to that degree (и привязалсь к нему в такой степени; mind – разум; настроение, расположение духа) that there was no life for her without him.
117 When the king saw the straits (трудности, трудное положение) that his daughter was in, he ordered the marriage without delay (приказал быть свадьбе без отлагательства).
118 The wedding lasted for nine days and nine nights, and the ninth night was the best of all.
119 When the wedding was over, the king felt he was losing his strength (теряет, утрачивает силу), so he took the crown off his own head, and put it on the head of the old fisherman's son, and made him king of Erin in place of himself.
120 The young couple were the luck (были счастьем), and we the stepping-stones (а мы камнями-ступеньками; to step – ступать; step ? шаг). The presents we got at the marriage were stockings of buttermilk (чулки из пахты) and shoes of paper (башмаки из бумаги), and these were worn to the soles of our feet (сносились до подошв наших ног = до дыр) when we got home from the wedding (со свадьбы).
1 THERE was an old fisherman once in Erin who had a wife and one son.
2 The old fisherman used to go about with a fishing-rod and tackle to the rivers and lochs and every place where fish resort, and he was killing salmon and other fish to keep the life in himself and his wife and son.
3 The son was not so keen nor so wise as another, and the father was instructing him every day in fishing, so that if himself should be taken from the world, the son would be able to support the old mother and get his own living.
4 One day when the father and son were fishing in a river near the sea, they looked out over the water and saw a small dark speck on the waves. It grew larger and larger, till they saw a boat, and when the boat drew near they saw a man sitting in the stern of it.
5 There was a nice beach near the place where they were fishing. The man brought the boat straight to the beach, and stepping out drew it up on the sand.
6 They saw then that the stranger was a man of high degree [duine uasal].
7 After he had put the boat high on the sand, he came to where the two were at work, and said,
8 "Old fisherman, you'd better let this son of yours with me for a year and a day, and I will make a very wise man of him. I am the Gruagach na g-cleasan (Gruagach of tricks), and I'll bind myself to be here with your son this day year.
9 "I can't let him go," said the old fisherman, till he gets his mother's advice."
10 "Whatever goes as far as women I'll have nothing to do with," said the Gruagach. "You had better give him to me now, and let the mother alone."
11 They talked till at last the fisherman promised to let his son go for the year and a day. Then the Gruagach gave his word to have the boy there at the seashore that day year.
12 The Gruagach and the boy went into the boat and sailed away.
13 When the year and a day were over, the old fisherman went to the same place where he had parted with his son and the Gruagach, and stood looking over the sea, thinking would he see his son that day.
14 At last he saw a black spot on the water, then a boat. When it was near he saw two men sitting in the stern of the boat. When it touched land, the two, who were duine uasal in appearance, jumped out, and one of them pulled the boat to the top of the strand. Then that one, followed by the other, came to where the old fisherman was waiting, and asked, "What trouble is on you now, my good man?"
15 "I had a son that wasn't so keen nor so wise as another, and myself and this son were here fishing, and a stranger came, like yourself today, and asked would I let my son with him for a year and a day. I let the son go, and the man promised to be here with him today, and that's why I am waiting at this place now."
16 "Well," said the Gruagach, "am I your son?"
17 "You are not," said the fisherman.
18 "Is this man here your son?"
19 "I don't know him," said the fisherman. "Well, then, he is all you will have in place of your son," said the Gruagach.
20 The old man looked again, and knew his son. He caught hold of him and welcomed him home.
21 "Now," said the Gruagach, "isn't he a better man than he was a year ago?"
22 "Oh, he's nearly a smart man now!" said the old fisherman.
23 "Well," said the Gruagach, "will you let him with me for another year and a day?"
24 "I will not," said the old man; "I want him myself."
25 The Gruagach then begged and craved till the fisherman promised to let the son with him for a year and a day again. But the old man forgot to take his word of the Gruagach to bring back the son at the end of the time; and when the Gruagach and the boy were in the boat, and had pushed out to sea, the Gruagach shouted to the old man,
26 "I kept my promise to bring back your son today. I haven't given you my word at all now. I'll not bring him back, and you'll never see him again."
27 The fisherman went home with a heavy and sorrowful heart, and the old woman scolded him all that night till next morning for letting her son go with the Gruagach a second time.
28 Then himself and the old woman were lamenting a quarter of a year; and when another quarter had passed, he said to her, "I'll leave you here now, and I'll be walking on myself till I wear my legs off up to my knees, and from my knees to my waist, till I find where is my son."
29 So away went the old man walking, and he used to spend but one night in a house, and not two nights in any house, till his feet were all in blisters. One evening late he came to a hut where there was an old woman sitting at a fire.
30 "Poor man!" said she, when she laid eyes on him, "it's a great distress you are in, to be so disfigured with wounds and sores. What is the trouble that's on you?"
31 "I had a son," said the old man, "and the Gruagach na g-cleasan came on a day and took him from me."
32 "Oh, poor man!" said she. "I have a son with that same Gruagach these twelve years, and I have never been able to get him back or get sight of him, and I'm in dread you'll not be able to get your son either. But tomorrow, in the morning, I'll tell you all I know, and show you the road you must go to find the house of the Gruagach na g-cleasan."
33 Next morning she showed the old fisherman the road. He was to come to the place by evening.
34 When he came and entered the house, the Gruagach shook hands with him, and said,
35 "You are welcome, old fisherman. It was I that put this journey on you, and made you come here looking for your son."
36 "It was no one else but you," said the fisherman.
37 "Well," said the Gruagach, "you won't see your son today. At noon tomorrow I'll put a whistle in my mouth and call together all the birds in my place, and they'll come. Among others will be twelve doves. I'll put my hand in my pocket, this way, and take out wheat and throw it before them on the ground. The doves will eat the wheat, and you must pick your son out of the twelve. If you find him, you'll have him; if you don't, you'll never get him again."
38 After the Gruagach had said these words the old man ate his supper and went to bed.
39 In the dead of night the old fisherman's son came. "Oh, father!" said he, "it would be hard for you to pick me out among the twelve doves, if you had to do it alone; but I'll tell you. When the Gruagach calls us in, and we go to pick up the wheat, I'll make a ring around the others, walking for myself; and as I go I'll give some of them a tip of my bill, and I'll lift my wings when I'm striking them. There was a spot under one of my arms when I left home, and you'll see that spot under my wing when I raise it tomorrow. Don't miss the bird that I'll be, and don't let your eyes off it; if you do, you'll lose me forever."
40 Next morning the old man rose, had his breakfast, and kept thinking of what his son had told him.
41 At midday the Gruagach took his whistle and blew. Birds came to him from every part, and among others the twelve doves.
42 He took wheat from his pocket, threw it to the doves, and said to the father, "Now pick out your son from the twelve."
43 The old man was watching, and soon he saw one of the doves walking around the other eleven and hitting some of them a clip of its bill, and then it raised its wings, and the old man saw the spot. The bird let its wings down again, and went to eating with the rest.
44 The father never let his eyes off the bird. After a while he said to the Gruagach, "I'll have that bird there for my son."
45 "Well," said the Gruagach, "that is your son. I can't blame you for having him; but I blame your instructor for the information he gave you, and I give him my curse."
46 So the old fisherman got his son back in his proper shape, and away they went, father and son, from the house of the Gruagach. The old man felt stronger now, and they never stopped travelling a day till they came home.
47 The old mother was very glad to see her son, and see him such a wise, smart man.
48 After coming home they had no means but the fishing; they were as poor as ever before.
49 At this time it was given out at every crossroad in Erin, and in all public places in the kingdom, that there were to be great horse-races. Now, when the day came, the old fisherman's son said,
50 "Come away with me, father, to the races."
51 The old man went with him, and when they were near the race-course, the son said, "Stop here till I tell you this: I'll make myself into the best horse that's here today, and do you take me to the place where the races are to be, and when you take me in, I'll open my mouth, trying to kill and eat every man that'll be near me, I'll have such life and swiftness; and do you find a rider for me that'II ride me, and don't let me go till the other horses are far ahead on the course. Then let me go. I'll come up to them, and I'll run ahead of them and win the race. After that every rich man there will want to buy me of you; but don't you sell me to any man for less than five hundred pounds; and be sure you get that price for me. And when you have the gold, and you are giving me up, take the bit out of my mouth, and don't sell the bridle for any money. Then come to this spot, shake the bridle, and I'll be here in my own form before you."
52 The son made himself a horse, and the old fisherman took him to the race. He reared and snorted, trying to take the head off every man that came near him.
53 The old man shouted for a rider. A rider came; he mounted the horse and held him in. The old man didn't let him start till the other horses were well ahead on the course; then he let him go.
54 The new horse caught up with the others and shot past them. So they had not gone half way when he was in at the winning-post.
55 When the race was ended, there was a great noise over the strange horse. Men crowded around the old fisherman from every corner of the field, asking what would he take for the horse.
56 "Five hundred pounds," said he.
57 "Here 't is for you," said the next man to him.
58 In a moment the horse was sold, and the money in the old man's pocket. Then he pulled the bridle off the horse's head, and made his way out of the place as fast as ever he could.
59 It was not long till he was at the spot where the son had told him what to do. The minute he came, he shook the bridle, and the son was there before him in his own shape and features.
60 Oh, but the old fisherman was glad when he had his son with him again, and the money in his pocket!
61 The two went home together. They had money enough now to live, and quit the fishing. They had plenty to eat and drink, and they spent their lives in ease and comfort till the next year, when it was given out at all the cross-roads in Erin, and every public place in the kingdom, that there was to be a great hunting with hounds, in the same place where the races had been the year before.
62 When the day came, the fisherman's son said,
63 "Come, father, let us go away to this hunting."
64 "Ah!" said the old man, "what do we want to go for? Haven't we plenty to eat at home, with money enough and to spare? What do we care for hunting with hounds?"
65 "Oh! They'll give us more money," said the son, "if we go."
66 The fisherman listened to his son, and away they went. When the two came to the spot where the son had made a horse of himself the year before, he stopped, and said to the father, "I'll make a hound of myself today, and when you bring me in sight of the game, you'll see me wild with jumping and trying to get away; but do you hold me fast till the right time comes, then let go. I'll sweep ahead of every hound in the field, catch the game, and win the prize for you."
67 "When the hunt is over, so many men will come to buy me that they'll put you in a maze; but be sure you get three hundred pounds for me, and when you have the money, and are giving me up, don't forget to keep my rope. Come to this place, shake the rope, and I'll be here before you, as I am now. If you don't keep the rope, you'll go home without me."
68 The son made a hound of himself, and the old father took him to the hunting-ground.
69 When the hunt began, the hound was springing and jumping like mad; but the father held him till the others were far out in the field. Then he let him loose, and away went the son.
70 Soon he was up with the pack, then in front of the pack, and never stopped till he caught the game and won the prize.
71 When the hunt was over, and the dogs and game brought in, all the people crowded around the old fisherman, saying, "What do you want of that hound? Better sell him; he's no good to you."
72 They put the old man in a maze, there were so many of them, and they pressed him so hard.
73 He said at last, "I'll sell the hound; and three hundred pounds is the price I want for him."
74 "Here 't is for you," said a stranger, putting the money into his hand.
75 The old man took the money and gave up the dog, without taking off the rope. He forgot his son's warning.
76 That minute the Gruagach na g-cleasan called out, "I'll take the worth of my money out of your son now;" and away he went with the hound.
77 The old man walked home alone that night, and it is a heavy heart he had in him when he came to the old woman without the son. And the two were lamenting their lot till morning.
78 Still and all, they were better off than the first time they lost their son, as they had plenty of everything, and could live at their ease.
79 The Gruagach went away home, and put the fisherman's son in a cave of concealment that he had, bound him hand and foot, and tied hard knots on his neck up to the chin. From above there fell on him drops of poison, and every drop that fell went from the skin to the flesh, from the flesh to the bone, from the bone to the marrow, and he sat there under the poison drops, without meat, drink, or rest.
80 In the Gruagach's house was a servant-maid, and the fisherman's son had been kind to her the time he was in the place before.
81 On a day when the Gruagach and his eleven sons were out hunting, the maid was going with a tub of dirty water to throw it into the river that ran by the side of the house. She went through the cave of concealment where the fisherman's son was bound, and he asked of her the wetting of his mouth from the tub.
82 "Oh! the Gruagach would take the life of me," said she, "when he comes home, if I gave you as much as one drop."
83 "Well," said he, "when I was in this house before, and when I had power in my hands, it's good and kind I was to you; and when I get out of this confinement I'll do you a turn, if you give me the wetting of my mouth now."
84 The maid put the tub near his lips.
85 "Oh! I can't stoop to drink unless you untie one knot from my throat," said he.
86 Then she put the tub down, stooped to him, and loosed one knot from his throat. When she loosed the one knot he made an eel of himself, and dropped into the tub. There he began shaking the water, till he put some of it on the ground, and when he had the place about him wet, he sprang from the tub, and slipped along out under the door. The maid caught him; but could not hold him, he was so slippery. He made his way from the door to the river, which ran near the side of the house.
87 When the Gruagach na g-cleasan came home in the evening with his eleven sons, they went to take a look at the fisherman's son; but he was not to be seen.
88 Then the Gruagach called the maid, and taking his sword, said, "I'll take the head off you if you don't tell me this minute what happened while I was gone."
89 "Oh!" said the maid, "he begged so hard for a drop of dirty water to wet his mouth that I hadn't the heart to refuse, for 't is good he was to me and kind each time he saw me when he was here in the house before. When the water touched his mouth, he made an eel of himself, spilled water out of the tub, and slipped along over the wet place to the river outside. I caught him to bring him back, but I couldn't hold him; in spite of all I could do, he made away."
90 The Gruagach dropped his sword, and went to the water side with his sons.
91 The sons made eleven eels of themselves, and the Gruagach their father was the twelfth. They went around in the water, searching in every place, and there was not a stone in the river that they passed without looking under and around it for the old fisherman's son.
92 And when he knew that they were after him, he made himself into a salmon; and when they knew he was a salmon, the sons made eleven otters of themselves, and the Gruagach made himself the twelfth.
93 When the fisherman's son found that twelve otters were after him, he was weak with hunger, and when they had come near, he made himself a whale. But the eleven brothers and their father made twelve cannon whales of themselves, for they had all gone out of the river, and were in the sea now.
94 When they were coming near him, the fisherman's son was weak from pursuit and hunger, so he jumped up out of the water, and made a swallow of himself; but the Gruagach and his sons became twelve hawks, and chased the swallow through the air; and as they whirled round and darted, they pressed him hard, till all of them came near the castle of the king of Erin.
95 Now the king had made a summer-house for his daughter; and where should she be at this time but sitting on the top of the summer-house.
96 The old fisherman's son dropped down till he was near her; then he fell into her lap in the form of a ring. The daughter of the king of Erin took up the ring, looked at it, and put it on her finger. The ring took her fancy, and she was glad.
97 When the Gruagach and his sons saw this, they let themselves down at the king's castle, having the form of the finest men that could be seen in the kingdom.
98 When the king's daughter had the ring on her finger she looked at it and liked it. Then the ring spoke, and said, "My life is in your hands now; don't part from the ring, and don't let it go to any man, and you'll give me a long life."
99 The Gruagach na g-cleasan and his eleven sons went into the king's castle and played on every instrument known to man, and they showed every sport that could be shown before a king. This they did for three days and three nights. When that time was over, and they were going away, the king spoke up and asked,
100 "What is the reward that you would like, and what would be pleasing to you from me?"
101 "We want neither gold nor silver," said the Gruagach; "all the reward we ask of you is the ring that I lost on a time, and which is now on your daughter's finger."
102 "If my daughter has the ring that you lost, it shall be given to you," said the king.
103 Now the ring spoke to the king's daughter and said, "Don't part with me for anything till you send your trusted man for three gallons of strong spirits and a gallon of wheat; put the spirits and the wheat together in an open barrel before the fire. When your father says you must give up the ring, do you answer back that you have never left the summer-house, that you have nothing on your hand but what is your own and paid for. Your father will say then that you must part with me, and give me up to the stranger. When he forces you in this way, and you can keep me no longer, then throw me into the fire; and you'll see great sport and strange things."
104 The king's daughter sent for the spirits and the wheat, had them mixed together, and put in an open barrel before the fire.
105 The king called the daughter in, and asked,
106 "Have you the ring which this stranger lost?"
107 "I have a ring," said she, "but it's my own, and I'll not part with it. I'll not give it to him nor to any man."
108 "You must," said the king, "for my word is pledged, and you must part with the ring!"
109 When she heard this, she slipped the ring from her finger and threw it into the fire.
110 That moment the eleven brothers made eleven pairs of tongs of themselves; their father, the old Gruagach, was the twelfth pair.
111 The twelve jumped into the fire to know in what spark of it would they find the old fisherman's son; and they were a long time working and searching through the fire, when out flew a spark, and into the barrel.
112 The twelve made themselves men, turned over the barrel, and spilled the wheat on the floor. Then in a twinkling they were twelve cocks strutting around.
113 They fell to and picked away at the wheat to know which one would find the fisherman's son. Soon one dropped on one side, and a second on the opposite side, until all twelve were lying drunk from the wheat.
114 Then the old fisherman's son made a fox of himself, and the first cock he came to was the old Gruagach na g-cleasan himself. He took the head off the Gruagach with one bite, and the heads off the eleven brothers with eleven other bites.
115 When the twelve were dead, the old fisherman's son made himself the finest-looking man in Erin, and began to give music and sport to the king; and he entertained him five times better than had the Gruagach and his eleven sons.
116 Then the king's daughter fell in love with him, and she set her mind on him to that degree that there was no life for her without him.
117 When the king saw the straits that his daughter was in, he ordered the marriage without delay.
118 The wedding lasted for nine days and nine nights, and the ninth night was the best of all.
119 When the wedding was over, the king felt he was losing his strength, so he took the crown off his own head, and put it on the head of the old fisherman's son, and made him king of Erin in place of himself.
120 The young couple were the luck, and we the stepping-stones. The presents we got at the marriage were stockings of buttermilk and shoes of paper, and these were worn to the soles of our feet when we got home from the wedding.
The Thirteenth Son of the King of Erin
1 THERE was a king in Erin long ago who had thirteen sons, and as they grew up he taught them good learning and every exercise and art befitting their rank (приличествующие их рангу; to befit – подходить, подобать, приличествовать).
2 One day the king went hunting, and saw a swan (лебедя) swimming in a lake with thirteen little ones. She kept driving away the thirteenth (все время прогоняла, отгоняла тринадцатого), and would not let it come near the others.
3 The king wondered greatly at this, and when he came home he summoned (вызвал) his Sean dall Glic (old blind sage), and said, "I saw a great wonder today while out hunting ? a swan with thirteen cygnets (молодыми лебедями [`s?gn?t]), and she driving away the thirteenth continually, and keeping the twelve with her. Tell me the cause and reason of this. Why should a mother hate (ненавидеть) her thirteenth little one, and guard (охранять) the other twelve?"
4 "I will tell you," said the old blind sage; "all creatures (существа, твари) on earth, whether beast or human (будь то животные или люди), which have thirteen young, should put the thirteenth away, and let it wander for itself (предоставляют ему бродить самому по себе) through the world and find its fate (и найти /самому/ свою судьбу), so that the will of Heaven may work upon it (так чтобы воля неба смогла воздействовать на него), and not come down on the others (и не сходила, не обрушивалась бы на других). Now you have thirteen sons, and you must give the thirteenth to the Diachbha [divinity or fate (божество или рок)]."
5 "Then that is the meaning of the swan on the lake, ? I must give up my thirteenth son to the Diachbha?"
6 "It is," said the old blind sage; "you must give up one of your thirteen sons."
7 "But how can I give one of them away when I am so fond of all (когда я так люблю всех); and which one shall it be?"
8 "I'll tell you what to do. When the thirteen come home tonight, shut the door against the last that comes (затвори дверь перед последним, который придет = перед тем, кто придет последним)."
9 Now one of the sons was slow, not so keen (острый, проницательный) nor so sharp as another; but the eldest, who was called Sean Ruadh [John the Red], was the best, the hero of them all. And it happened that night that he came home last, and when he came his father shut the door against him. The boy raised his hands and said, "Father, what are you going to do with me; what do you wish?"
10 "It is my duty (долг)," said the father, "to give one of my sons to the Diachbha; and as you are the thirteenth, you must go."
11 "Well, give me my outfit (снаряжение /для путешествия/; экипировку, одежду) for the road."
12 "The outfit was brought (принесено; to bring), Sean Ruadh put it on; then the father gave him a black-haired steed (коня) that could overtake the wind before him, and outstrip the wind behind.
13 Sean Ruadh mounted the steed and hurried away. He went on each day without rest, and slept in the woods at night.
14 One morning he put on some old clothes which he had in a pack on the saddle (в свертке, «упаковке» на седле), and leaving his horse in the woods, went aside (в сторону) to an opening. He was not long there when a king rode up (подскакал; to ride) and stopped before him.
15 "Who are you, and where are you going?" asked the king.
16 "Oh!" said Sean Ruadh, "I am astray (заблудился). I do not know where to go, nor what I am to do."
17 "If that is how you are, I'll tell you what to do, ? come with me."
18 "Why should I go with you?" asked Sean Ruadh.
19 "Well, I have a great many cows, and I have no one to go with them, no one to mind them (чтобы позаботиться о них). I am in great trouble also. My daughter will die a terrible death (умрет ужасной смертью) very soon (очень скоро)."
20 "How will she die?" asked Sean Ruadh.
21 "There is an urfeist [great serpent], a great serpent of the sea, a monster (чудовище) which must get a king's daughter to devour (сожрать, проглотить [d?`vau?]) every seven years. Once in seven years this thing comes up out of the sea for its meat. The turn (очередь) has now come to my daughter, and we don't know what day will the urfeist appear. The whole castle and all of us are in mourning (в трауре) for my wretched (жалкий, несчастный) child."
22 "Perhaps some one will come to save her," said Sean Ruadh.
23 "Oh! there is a whole army of kings' sons who have come, and they all promise to save her; but I'm in dread none of them will meet the urfeist."
24 Sean Ruadh agreed with the king to serve for seven years (договорился, согласился служить), and went home with him.
25 Next morning Sean Ruadh drove out the king's cows to pasture (погнал, выгнал на пастбище; to drive).
26 Now there were three giants not far from the king's place. They lived in three castles in sight of each other, and every night each of these giants shouted just before going to bed. So loud was the shout that each let out of himself that the people heard it in all the country around.
27 Sean Ruadh drove the cattle up to the giant's land, pushed down the wall, and let them in. The grass was very high, ? three times better than any on the king's pastures.
28 As Sean Ruadh sat watching the cattle, a giant came running towards him and called out, "I don't know whether to put a pinch (щипок) of you in my nose, or a bite (/откушенный/ кусок) of you in my mouth!"
29 "Bad luck to me (не повезло мне)," said Sean Ruadh, "if I came here but to take the life out of you (а я ведь пришел именно для того, чтобы лишить тебя жизни)!"
30 "How would you like to fight (как бы ты хотел сражаться), ? on the gray stones (на серых камнях), or with sharp swords (острыми мечами)?" asked the giant.
31 "I'll fight you," said Sean Ruadh, "on the gray stones, where your great legs will be going down (будут погружаться), and mine standing high."
32 They faced one another then (встали друг против друга), and began to fight. At the first encounter (при первом столкновении) Sean Ruadh put the giant down to his knees (по колени) among (среди) the hard gray stones, at the second he put him to his waist (по поясницу), and at the third to his shoulders.
33 "Come, take me out of this," cried the giant, "and I'll give you my castle and all I've got (и я отдам тебе мой замок и все, что у меня есть).
34 I'll give you my sword of light (меч света) that never fails to kill at a blow (который всегда убивает одним ударом; to fail – терпеть неудачу, не мочь). I'll give you my black horse that can overtake (обогнать) the wind before, and outstrip (обогнать) the wind behind. These are all up there in my castle."
35 Sean Ruadh killed the giant and went up to the castle, where the housekeeper (хозяйка /дома/, экономка) said to him,
36 "Oh! it is you that are welcome. You have killed the dirty (грязного = мерзкого) giant that was here. Come with me now till I show you all the riches and treasures (все богатства и сокровища)."
37 She opened the door of the giant's store-room and said, "All these are yours. Here are the keys of the castle."
38 "Keep them till I come again, and wake me in the evening," said Sean Ruadh, lying down on the giant's bed.
39 He slept till evening; then the housekeeper roused him (разбудила его), and he drove the king's cattle home. The cows never gave so much milk as that night. They gave as much as in a whole week before (они дали столько, сколько в течение целой недели до этого).
40 Sean Ruadh met the king, and asked, "What news from your daughter?"
41 "The great serpent did not come today," said the king; "but he may come tomorrow."
42 "Well, tomorrow he may not come till another day," said Sean Ruadh.
43 Now the king knew nothing of the strength of Sean Ruadh, who was bare-footed (босой; bare – голый, обнаженный), ragged (оборванный; rag – тряпка), and shabby (потрепанный, поношенный).
44 The second morning Sean Ruadh put the king's cows in the second giant's land. Out came the second giant with the same questions and threats (угрозами [?ret]) as the first, and the cowboy spoke as on the day before.
45 They fell to fighting; and when the giant was to his shoulders in the hard gray rocks (в жестких серых cкалах = камнях), he said,
46 "I'll give you my sword of light and my brown-haired horse if you'll spare my life."
47 "Where is your sword of light? " asked Sean Ruadh.
48 "It is hung tip over my bed (подвешен прямо над моей постелью)."
49 Sean Ruadh ran to the giant's castle, and took the sword, which screamed out when he seized it (который вскрикнул, когда он его схватил); but he held it fast (держал крепко; to hold), hurried back to the giant, and asked, "How shall I try the edge of this sword (как мне испытать лезвие этого меча; edge – край, ребро; лезвие)?"
50 "Against a stick (/ударив/ по палке)," was the reply (ответ).
51 "I see no stick better than your own head," said Sean Ruadh; and with that he swept the head off the giant (смахнул).
52 The cowboy now went back to the castle and hung up the sword. "Blessing (благословение) to you," said the housekeeper; "you have killed the giant! Come, now, and I'll show you his riches and treasures, which are yours forever (навсегда)."
53 Sean Ruadh found more treasure in this castle than in the first one. When he had seen all, he gave the keys to the housekeeper till he should need them. He slept as on the day before, then drove the cows home in the evening.
54 The king said, "I have the luck since you came to me. My cows give three times as much milk today as they did yesterday."
55 "Well," said Sean Ruadh, "have you any account (сведения, новости; account ? счет, подсчет; отчет, доклад) of the urfeist?"
56 "He didn't come today," said the king; "but he may come tomorrow."
57 Sean Ruadh went out with the king's cows on the third day, and drove them to the third giant's land, who came out and fought a more desperate battle than either of the other two (и «сражался» более отчаянную битву, чем любая из двух предыдущих; to fight); but the cow-boy pushed him down among the gray rocks to his shoulders and killed him.
58 At the castle of the third giant he was received with gladness (был принят, встречен с радостью) by the housekeeper, who showed him the treasures and gave him the keys; but he left the keys with her till he should need them. That evening the king's cows had more milk than ever before.
59 On the fourth day Sean Ruadh went out with the cows, but stopped at the first giant's castle. The housekeeper at his command brought out the dress of the giant, which was all black. He put on the giant's apparel (одеяние, облачение [?`pær(?)l]), black as night, and girded on (подпоясался, прикрепил на пояс) his sword of light. Then he mounted the black-haired steed, which overtook the wind before, and outstripped the wind behind; and rushing on between earth and sky, he never stopped till he came to the beach, where he saw hundreds upon hundreds of kings' sons, and champions, who were anxious (страстно желающие, озабоченные) to save the king's daughter, but were so frightened (напуганы) at the terrible urfeist that they would not go near her.
60 When he had seen the princess and the trembling champions (дрожащих воинов), Sean Ruadh turned his black steed to the castle. Presently (вскоре, теперь) the king saw, riding between earth and sky, a splendid stranger (великолепного чужака), who stopped before him.
61 "What is that I see on the shore (на берегу)?" asked the stranger. "Is it a fair (ярмарка), or some great meeting?"
62 "Haven't you heard," asked the king, "that a monster is coming to destroy (уничтожить) my daughter today?"
63 "No, I haven't heard anything," answered the stranger, who turned away and disappeared (исчез).
64 Soon the black horseman (всадник) was before the princess, who was sitting alone on a rock near the sea. As she looked at the stranger, she thought he was the finest man on earth, and her heart was cheered (приободрилось).
65 "Have you no one to save you?" he asked.
66 "No one."
67 "Will you let me lay my head on your lap (колени /верхняя чать ног у сидящего человека/, лоно) till the urfeist comes? Then rouse me."
68 He put his head on her lap and fell asleep. While he slept, the princess took three hairs from his head and hid them in her bosom (спрятала их за пазуху; to hide). As soon as she had hidden the hairs, she saw the urfeist coming on the sea, great as an island, and throwing up water to the sky as he moved. She roused the stranger, who sprang up to defend her (чтобы защищать, оборонять ее).
69 The urfeist came upon shore, and was advancing on the princess (приближался к принцессе; to advance – продвигаться вперед [?`dv?:ns]) with mouth open and wide as a bridge (широким, как мост), when the stranger stood before him and said,
70 "This woman is mine, not yours!"
71 Then drawing (вытащив) his sword of light, he swept off the monster's head with a blow; but the head rushed (поспешила, бросилась) back to its place, and grew on again.
72 In a twinkle (в мгновенье ока: «мигание») the urfeist turned and went back to the sea; but as he went, he said, "I'll be here again tomorrow, and swallow (проглочу) the whole world before me as I come."
73 "Well," answered the stranger, "maybe another will come to meet you."
74 Sean Ruadh mounted his black steed, and was gone before the princess could stop him. Sad (грустным, печальным) was her heart when she saw him rush off between the earth and sky more swiftly (быстрее) than any wind.
75 Sean Ruadh went to the first giant's castle and put away his horse, clothes, and sword. Then he slept on the giant's bed till evening, when the housekeeper woke him (разбудила; to wake), and he drove home the cows. Meeting the king, he asked, "Well, how has your daughter fared today (как все прошло, все ли обошлось; to fare – жить, поживать, обходиться)?"
76 "Oh! the urfeist came out of the sea to carry her away; but a wonderful black champion came riding between earth and sky and saved her."
77 "Who was he?"
78 "Oh! there is many a man who says he did it. But my daughter isn't saved yet, for the urfeist said he'd come tomorrow."
79 "Well, never fear; perhaps another champion will come tomorrow."
80 Next morning Sean Ruadh drove the king's cows to the land of the second giant, where he left them feeding (пастись: «питаться»), and then went to the castle, where the housekeeper met him and said, "You are welcome. I'm here before you, and all is well."
81 "Let the brown horse be brought; let the giant's apparel and sword be ready for me," said Sean Ruadh.
82 The apparel was brought, the beautiful blue dress of the second giant, and his sword of light. Sean Ruadh put on the apparel, took the sword, mounted the brown steed, and sped away (умчался; to speed) between earth and air three times more swiftly than the day before.
83 He rode first to the seashore, saw the king's daughter sitting on the rock alone, and the princes and champions far away, trembling in dread (от страха) of the urfeist. Then he rode to the king, enquired (осведомился) about the crowd on the seashore, and received the same answer as before. "But is there no man to save her?" asked Sean Ruadh.
84 "Oh! there are men enough," said the king, "who promise to save her, and say they are brave (смелые); but there is no man of them who will stand to his word (кто сдержит слово) and face the urfeist when he rises from the sea."
85 Sean Ruadh was away before the king knew it, and rode to the princess in his suit of blue (в синем костюме, одеянии), bearing his sword of light. "Is there no one to save you?" asked he.
86 "No one."
87 "Let me lay my head on your lap, and when the urfeist comes, rouse me."
88 He put his head on her lap, and while he slept she took out the three hairs, compared (сравнила) them with his hair, and said to herself: "You are the man who was here yesterday."
89 When the urfeist appeared, coming over the sea, the princess roused the stranger, who sprang up and hurried to the beach.
90 The monster, moving at a greater speed, and raising more water than on the day before, came with open mouth to land. Again Sean Ruadh stood in his way, and with one blow of the giant's sword made two halves of the urfeist. But the two halves rushed together, and were one as before.
91 Then the urfeist turned to the sea again, and said as he went, "All the champions on earth won't save her from me tomorrow!"
92 Sean Ruadh sprang to his steed aud back to the castle. He went, leaving the princess in despair at his going (в отчаянии от его ухода). She tore (рвала; to tear) her hair and wept for the loss (оплакивала потерю; to weep) of the blue champion, the one man who had dared (осмелился) to save her.
93 Sean Ruadh put on his old clothes, and drove home the cows as usual. The king said, "A strange champion, all dressed in blue, saved my daughter today; but she is grieving her life away (умирает от тоски: «горюет свою жизнь прочь»; to grieve) because he is gone."
94 "Well, that is a small matter (мелочь, ерунда), since her life is safe (раз ее жизнь в безопасности)," said Sean Ruadh.
95 There was a feast (пир) for the whole world that night at the king's castle, and gladness was on every face that the king's daughter was safe again.
96 Next day Sean Ruadh drove the cows to the third giant's pasture, went to the castle, and told the housekeeper to bring the giant's sword and apparel, and have the red steed led to the door. The third giant's dress had as many colours as there are in the sky, and his boots (ботинки, сапоги) were of blue glass.
97 Sean Ruadh, dressed and mounted on his red steed, was the most beautiful man in the world. When ready to start, the housekeeper said to him,
98 "The beast will be so enraged (разъярен) this time that no arms (никакое оружие) can stop him; he will rise from the sea with three great swords coming out of his mouth, and he could cut to pieces (разрезать на кусочки) and swallow the whole world if it stood before him in battle (для битвы, на поле битвы). There is only one way to conquer (завоевать, победить) the urfeist, and I will show it to you. Take this brown apple, put it in your bosom, and when he comes rushing from the sea with open mouth, do you throw the apple down his throat (в глотку), and the great urfeist will melt away (растает) and die on the strand."
99 Sean Ruadh went on the red steed between earth and sky, with thrice the speed (трижды быстрее) of the day before. He saw the maiden (деву, девицу) sitting on the rock alone, saw the trembling kings' sons in the distance watching to know what would happen, and saw the king hoping for some one to save his daughter; then he went to the princess, and put his head on her lap; when he had fallen asleep, she took the three hairs from her bosom, and looking at them, said, "You are the man who saved me yesterday."
100 The urfeist was not long in coming (не замедлил появиться). The princess roused Sean Ruadh, who sprang to his feet and went to the sea. The urfeist came up enormous (огромный [?`no:m?s]), terrible to look at, with a mouth big enough to swallow the world, and three sharp swords coming out of it. When he saw Sean Ruadh, he sprang at him with a roar (с ревом); but Sean Ruadh threw the apple into his mouth, and the beast fell helpless (беспомощный) on the strand, flattened out (распластался на земле; flat – плоский) and melted away to a dirty jelly (желе) on the shore.
101 Then Sean Ruadh went towards the princess and said, "That urfeist will never trouble (беспокоить) man or woman again."
102 The princess ran and tried to cling to him (прижаться, прилипнуть); but he was on the red steed, rushing away bеtween earth and sky, before she could stop him. She held, however, so firmly (крепко) to one of the blue glass boots that Sean Ruadh had to leave it (что пришлось оставить его) in her hands.
103 When he drove home the cows that night, the king came out, and Sean Ruadh asked,
104 "What news from the urfeist?"
105 "Oh," said the king, "I've had the luck since you came to me. A champion wearing all the colours of the sky, and riding a red steed between earth and air, destroyed the urfeist today. My daughter is safe forever; but she is ready to kill herself because she hasn't the man that saved her."
106 That night there was a feast in the king's castle such as no one had ever seen before.
107 The halls were filled (залы были наполнены) with princes and champions, and each one said, "I am the man that saved the princess!"
108 The king sent for the old blind sage, and asked, what should he do to find the man who saved his daughter. The old blind sage said,
109 "Send out word to all the world that the man whose foot the blue glass boot will fit is the champion who killed the urfeist, and you'll give him your daughter in marriage."
110 The king sent out word to the world to come to try on the boot. It was too large for some, too small for others. When all had failed, the old sage said,
111 "All have tried the boot but the cowboy."
112 "Oh! he is always out with the cows; what use (что толку: «какая польза») in his trying," said the king.
113 "No matter (неважно)," answered the old blind sage; "let twenty men go and bring down the cowboy."
114 The king sent up twenty men, who found the cowboy sleeping in the shadow of a stone wall (в тени каменной стены). They began to make a hay rope (веревку из сена) to bind him; but he woke up, and had twenty ropes ready before they had one. Then he jumped at them, tied the twenty in a bundle (в /одну/ связку), and fastened (прикрепил) the bundle to the wall.
115 They waited and waited at the castle for the twenty men and the cowboy, till at last the king sent twenty men more, with swords, to know what was the delay (задержка).
116 When they came, this twenty began to make a hay rope to tie the cowboy; but he had twenty ropes made before their one, and no matter how they fought (и как они ни сопротивлялись), the cowboy tied the twenty in a bundle, and the bundle to the other twenty men.
117 When neither party came back, the old blind sage said to the king,
118 "Go up now, and throw yourself down before the cowboy, for he has tied the forty men in two bundles, and the bundles to each other."
119 The king went and threw himself down before the cowboy, who raised him up and said,
120 "What is this for?"
121 "Come down now and try on the glass boot," said the king.
122 "How can I go, when I have work to do here?"
123 "Oh! never mind (неважно: «не обращай внимания»); you'll come back soon enough to do the work."
124 The cowboy untied (развязал) the forty men and went down with the king. When he stood in front of the castle, he saw the princess sitting in her upper chamber (в верхней комнате), and the glass boot on the window-sill (на подоконнике) before her.
125 That moment the boot sprang from the window through the air to him, and went on his foot of itself. The princess was downstairs (спустилась по лестнице вниз) in a twinkle, and in the arms of Sean Ruadh.
126 The whole place was crowded with kings' sons and champions, who claimed (притязали /на то, что/) that they had saved the princess.
127 "What are these men here for (для чего здесь эти люди)?" asked Sean Ruadh.
128 "Oh! they have been trying to put on (надеть) the boot," said the king.
129 With that Sean Ruadh drew his sword of light, swept the heads off every man of them, and threw heads and bodies on the dirt-heap (на мусорную кучу) behind the castle.
130 Then the king sent ships with messengers to all the kings and queens of the world, ? to the kings of Spain, France, Greece, and Lochlin, and to Diarmuid, son of the monarch of light, ? to come to the wedding of his daughter and Sean Ruadh.
131 Sean Ruadh, after the wedding, went with his wife to live in the kingdom of the giants, and left his father-in-law (тестя) on his own land.
1 THERE was a king in Erin long ago who had thirteen sons, and as they grew up he taught them good learning and every exercise and art befitting their rank.
2 One day the king went hunting, and saw a swan swimming in a lake with thirteen little ones. She kept driving away the thirteenth, and would not let it come near the others.
3 The king wondered greatly at this, and when he came home he summoned his Sean dall Glic (old blind sage), and said, "I saw a great wonder today while out hunting ? a swan with thirteen cygnets, and she driving away the thirteenth continually, and keeping the twelve with her. Tell me the cause and reason of this. Why should a mother hate her thirteenth little one, and guard the other twelve?"
4 "I will tell you," said the old blind sage; "all creatures on earth, whether beast or human, which have thirteen young, should put the thirteenth away, and let it wander for itself through the world and find its fate, so that the will of Heaven may work upon it, and not come down on the others. Now you have thirteen sons, and you must give the thirteenth to the Diachbha [divinity or fate]."
5 "Then that is the meaning of the swan on the lake, ? I must give up my thirteenth son to the Diachbha?"
6 "It is," said the old blind sage; "you must give up one of your thirteen sons."
7 "But how can I give one of them away when I am so fond of all; and which one shall it be?"
8 "I'll tell you what to do. When the thirteen come home tonight, shut the door against the last that comes."
9 Now one of the sons was slow, not so keen nor so sharp as another; but the eldest, who was called Sean Ruadh [John the Red], was the best, the hero of them all. And it happened that night that he came home last, and when he came his father shut the door against him. The boy raised his hands and said, "Father, what are you going to do with me; what do you wish?"
10 "It is my duty," said the father, " to give one of my sons to the Diachbha; and as you are the thirteenth, you must go."
11 "Well, give me my outfit for the road."
12 "The outfit was brought, Sean Ruadh put it on; then the father gave him a black-haired steed that could overtake the wind before him, and outstrip the wind behind.
13 Sean Ruadh mounted the steed and hurried away. He went on each day without rest, and slept in the woods at night.
14 One morning he put on some old clothes which he had in a pack on the saddle, and leaving his horse in the woods, went aside to an opening. He was not long there when a king rode up and stopped before him.
15 "Who are you, and where are you going?" asked the king.
16 "Oh!" said Sean Ruadh, "I am astray. I do not know where to go, nor what I am to do."
17 "If that is how you are, I'll tell you what to do, ? come with me."
18 "Why should I go with you?" asked Sean Ruadh.
19 "Well, I have a great many cows, and I have no one to go with them, no one to mind them. I am in great trouble also. My daughter will die a terrible death very soon."
20 "How will she die?" asked Sean Ruadh.
21 "There is an urfeist, [great serpent] a great serpent of the sea, a monster which must get a king's daughter to devour every seven years. Once in seven years this thing comes up out of the sea for its meat. The turn has now come to my daughter, and we don't know what day will the urfeist appear. The whole castle and all of us are in mourning for my wretched child."
22 "Perhaps some one will come to save her," said Sean Ruadh.
23 "Oh! there is a whole army of kings' sons who have come, and they all promise to save her; but I'm in dread none of them will meet the urfeist."
24 Sean Ruadh agreed with the king to serve for seven years, and went home with him.
25 Next morning Sean Ruadh drove out the king's cows to pasture.
26 Now there were three giants not far from the king's place. They lived in three castles in sight of each other, and every night each of these giants shouted just before going to bed. So loud was the shout that each let out of himself that the people heard it in all the country around.
27 Sean Ruadh drove the cattle up to the giant's land, pushed down the wall, and let them in. The grass was very high, ? three times better than any on the king's pastures.
28 As Sean Ruadh sat watching the cattle, a giant came running towards him and called out: "I don't know whether to put a pinch of you in my nose, or a bite of you in my mouth!"
29 "Bad luck to me," said Sean Ruadh, "if I came here but to take the life out of you!"
30 "How would you like to fight, ? on the gray stones, or with sharp swords?" asked the giant.
31 "I'll fight you," said Sean Ruadh, "on the gray stones, where your great legs will be going down, and mine standing high."
32 They faced one another then, and began to fight. At the first encounter Sean Ruadh put the giant down to his knees among the hard gray stones, at the second he put him to his waist, and at the third to his shoulders.
33 "Come, take me out of this," cried the giant, "and I'll give you my castle and all I've got.
34 I'll give you my sword of light that never fails to kill at a blow. I'll give you my black horse that can overtake the wind before, and outstrip the wind behind. These are all up there in my castle."
35 Sean Ruadh killed the giant and went up to the castle, where the housekeeper said to him:
36 "Oh! it is you that are welcome. You have killed the dirty giant that was here. Come with me now till I show you all the riches and treasures."
37 She opened the door of the giant's store-room and said, "All these are yours. Here are the keys of the castle."
38 "Keep them till I come again, and wake me in the evening," said Sean Ruadh, lying down on the giant's bed.
39 He slept till evening; then the housekeeper roused him, and he drove the king's cattle home. The cows never gave so much milk as that night. They gave as much as in a whole week before.
40 Sean Ruadh met the king, and asked, "What news from your daughter?"
41 "The great serpent did not come today," said the king; "but he may come tomorrow."
42 "Well, tomorrow he may not come till another day," said Sean Ruadh.
43 Now the king knew nothing of the strength of Sean Ruadh, who was bare-footed, ragged, and shabby.
44 The second morning Sean Ruadh put the king's cows in the second giant's land. Out came the second giant with the same questions and threats as the first, and the cowboy spoke as on the day before.
45 They fell to fighting; and when the giant was to his shoulders in the hard gray rocks, he said,
46 "I'll give you my sword of light and my brown-haired horse if you'll spare my life."
47 "Where is your sword of light? " asked Sean Ruadh.
48 "It is hung tip over my bed."
49 Sean Ruadh ran to the giant's castle, and took the sword, which screamed out when he seized it; but he held it fast, hurried back to the giant, and asked, "How shall I try the edge of this sword?"
50 "Against a stick," was the reply.
51 "I see no stick better than your own head," said Sean Ruadh; and with that he swept the head off the giant.
52 The cowboy now went back to the castle and hung up the sword. "Blessing to you," said the housekeeper; "you have killed the giant! Come, now, and I'll show you his riches and treasures, which are yours forever."
53 Sean Ruadh found more treasure in this castle than in the first one. When he had seen all, he gave the keys to the housekeeper till he should need them. He slept as on the day before, then drove the cows home in the evening.
54 The king said, "I have the luck since you came to me. My cows give three times as much milk today as they did yesterday."
55 "Well," said Sean Ruadh, "have you any account of the urfeist?"
56 "He didn't come today," said the king; "but he may come tomorrow."
57 Sean Ruadh went out with the king's cows on the third day, and drove them to the third giant's land, who came out and fought a more desperate battle than either of the other two; but the cow-boy pushed him down among the gray rocks to his shoulders and killed him.
58 At the castle of the third giant he was received with gladness by the housekeeper, who showed him the treasures and gave him the keys; but he left the keys with her till he should need them. That evening the king's cows had more milk than ever before.
59 On the fourth day Sean Ruadh went out with the cows, but stopped at the first giant's castle. The housekeeper at his command brought out the dress of the giant, which was all black. He put on the giant's apparel, black as night, and girded on his sword of light. Then he mounted the black-haired steed, which overtook the wind before, and outstripped the wind behind; and rushing on between earth and sky, he never stopped till he came to the beach, where he saw hundreds upon hundreds of kings' sons, and champions, who were anxious to save the king's daughter, but were so frightened at the terrible urfeist that they would not go near her.
60 When he had seen the princess and the trembling champions, Sean Ruadh turned his black steed to the castle. Presently the king saw, riding between earth and sky, a splendid stranger, who stopped before him.
61 "What is that I see on the shore?" asked the stranger. "Is it a fair, or some great meeting?"
62 "Haven't you heard," asked the king, "that a monster is coming to destroy my daughter today?"
63 "No, I haven't heard anything," answered the stranger, who turned away and disappeared.
64 Soon the black horseman was before the princess, who was sitting alone on a rock near the sea. As she looked at the stranger, she thought he was the finest man on earth, and her heart was cheered.
65 "Have you no one to save you?" he asked.
66 "No one."
67 "Will you let me lay my head on your lap till the urfeist comes? Then rouse me."
68 He put his head on her lap and fell asleep. While he slept, the princess took three hairs from his head and hid them in her bosom. As soon as she had hidden the hairs, she saw the urfeist coming on the sea, great as an island, and throwing up water to the sky as he moved. She roused the stranger, who sprang up to defend her.
69 The urfeist came upon shore, and was advancing on the princess with mouth open and wide as a bridge, when the stranger stood before him and said,
70 "This woman is mine, not yours!"
71 Then drawing his sword of light, he swept off the monster's head with a blow; but the head rushed back to its place, and grew on again.
72 In a twinkle the urfeist turned and went back to the sea; but as he went, he said, "I'll be here again tomorrow, and swallow the whole world before me as I come."
73 "Well," answered the stranger, "maybe another will come to meet you."
74 Sean Ruadh mounted his black steed, and was gone before the princess could stop him. Sad was her heart when she saw him rush off between the earth and sky more swiftly than any wind.
75 Sean Ruadh went to the first giant's castle and put away his horse, clothes, and sword. Then he slept on the giant's bed till evening, when the housekeeper woke him, and he drove home the cows. Meeting the king, he asked, "Well, how has your daughter fared today?"
76 "Oh! the urfeist came out of the sea to carry her away; but a wonderful black champion came riding between earth and sky and saved her."
77 "Who was he?"
78 "Oh! there is many a man who says he did it. But my daughter isn't saved yet, for the urfeist said he'd come tomorrow."
79 "Well, never fear; perhaps another champion will come tomorrow."
80 Next morning Sean Ruadh drove the king's cows to the land of the second giant, where he left them feeding, and then went to the castle, where the housekeeper met him and said, "You are welcome. I'm here before you, and all is well."
81 "Let the brown horse be brought; let the giant's apparel and sword be ready for me," said Sean Ruadh.
82 The apparel was brought, the beautiful blue dress of the second giant, and his sword of light. Sean Ruadh put on the apparel, took the sword, mounted the brown steed, and sped away between earth and air three times more swiftly than the day before.
83 He rode first to the seashore, saw the king's daughter sitting on the rock alone, and the princes and champions far away, trembling in dread of the urfeist. Then he rode to the king, enquired about the crowd on the seashore, and received the same answer as before. "But is there no man to save her?" asked Sean Ruadh.
84 "Oh! there are men enough," said the king, "who promise to save her, and say they are brave; but there is no man of them who will stand to his word and face the urfeist when he rises from the sea."
85 Sean Ruadh was away before the king knew it, and rode to the princess in his suit of blue, bearing his sword of light. "Is there no one to save you?" asked he.
86 "No one."
87 "Let me lay my head on your lap, and when the urfeist comes, rouse me."
88 He put his head on her lap, and while he slept she took out the three hairs, compared them with his hair, and said to herself: "You are the man who was here yesterday."
89 When the urfeist appeared, coming over the sea, the princess roused the stranger, who sprang up and hurried to the beach.
90 The monster, moving at a greater speed, and raising more water than on the day before, came with open mouth to land. Again Sean Ruadh stood in his way, and with one blow of the giant's sword made two halves of the urfeist. But the two halves rushed together, and were one as before.
91 Then the urfeist turned to the sea again, and said as he went: "All the champions on earth won't save her from me tomorrow!"
92 Sean Ruadh sprang to his steed aud back to the castle. He went, leaving the princess in despair at his going. She tore her hair and wept for the loss of the blue champion, the one man who had dared to save her.
93 Sean Ruadh put on his old clothes, and drove home the cows as usual. The king said, "A strange champion, all dressed in blue, saved my daughter today; but she is grieving her life away because he is gone."
94 "Well, that is a small matter, since her life is safe," said Sean Ruadh.
95 There was a feast for the whole world that night at the king's castle, and gladness was on every face that the king's daughter was safe again.
96 Next day Sean Ruadh drove the cows to the third giant's pasture, went to the castle, and told the housekeeper to bring the giant's sword and apparel, and have the red steed led to the door. The third giant's dress had as many colours as there are in the sky, and his boots were of blue glass.
97 Sean Ruadh, dressed and mounted on his red steed, was the most beautiful man in the world. When ready to start, the housekeeper said to him:
98 "The beast will be so enraged this time that no arms can stop him; he will rise from the sea with three great swords coming out of his mouth, and he could cut to pieces and swallow the whole world if it stood before him in battle. There is only one way to conquer the urfeist, and I will show it to you. Take this brown apple, put it in your bosom, and when he comes rushing from the sea with open mouth, do you throw the apple down his throat, and the great urfeist will melt away and die on the strand."
99 Sean Ruadh went on the red steed between earth and sky, with thrice the speed of the day before. He saw the maiden sitting on the rock alone, saw the trembling kings' sons in the distance watching to know what would happen, and saw the king hoping for some one to save his daughter; then he went to the princess, and put his head on her lap; when he had fallen asleep, she took the three hairs from her bosom, and looking at them, said, "You are the man who saved me yesterday."
100 The urfeist was not long in coming. The princess roused Sean Ruadh, who sprang to his feet and went to the sea. The urfeist came up enormous, terrible to look at, with a mouth big enough to swallow the world, and three sharp swords coming out of it. When he saw Sean Ruadh, he sprang at him with a roar; but Sean Ruadh threw the apple into his mouth, and the beast fell helpless on the strand, flattened out and melted away to a dirty jelly on the shore.
101 Then Sean Ruadh went towards the princess and said, "That urfeist will never trouble man or woman again."
102 The princess ran and tried to cling to him; but he was on the red steed, rushing away bеtween earth and sky, before she could stop him. She held, however, so firmly to one of the blue glass boots that Sean Ruadh had to leave it in her hands.
103 When he drove home the cows that night, the king came out, and Sean Ruadh asked,
104 "What news from the urfeist?"
105 "Oh," said the king, "I've had the luck since you came to me. A champion wearing all the colours of the sky, and riding a red steed between earth and air, destroyed the urfeist today. My daughter is safe forever; but she is ready to kill herself because she hasn't the man that saved her."
106 That night there was a feast in the king's castle such as no one had ever seen before.
107 The halls were filled with princes and champions, and each one said, "I am the man that saved the princess!"
108 The king sent for the old blind sage, and asked, what should he do to find the man who saved his daughter. The old blind sage said,
109 "Send out word to all the world that the man whose foot the blue glass boot will fit is the champion who killed the urfeist, and you'll give him your daughter in marriage."
110 The king sent out word to the world to come to try on the boot. It was too large for some, too small for others. When all had failed, the old sage said,
111 "All have tried the boot but the cowboy."
112 "Oh! he is always out with the cows; what use in his trying," said the king.
113 "No matter," answered the old blind sage; "let twenty men go and bring down the cowboy."
114 The king sent up twenty men, who found the cowboy sleeping in the shadow of a stone wall. They began to make a hay rope to bind him; but he woke up, and had twenty ropes ready before they had one. Then he jumped at them, tied the twenty in a bundle, and fastened the bundle to the wall.
115 They waited and waited at the castle for the twenty men and the cowboy, till at last the king sent twenty men more, with swords, to know what was the delay.
116 When they came, this twenty began to make a hay rope to tie the cowboy; but he had twenty ropes made before their one, and no matter how they fought, the cowboy tied the twenty in a bundle, and the bundle to the other twenty men.
117 When neither party came back the old blind sage said to the king,
118 "Go up now, and throw yourself down before the cowboy, for he has tied the forty men in two bundles, and the bundles to each other."
119 The king went and threw himself down before the cowboy, who raised him up and said,
120 "What is this for?"
121 "Come down now and try on the glass boot," said the king.
122 "How can I go, when I have work to do here?"
123 "Oh! never mind; you'll come back soon enough to do the work."
124 The cowboy untied the forty men and went down with the king. When he stood in front of the castle, he saw the princess sitting in her upper chamber, and the glass boot on the window-sill before her.
125 That moment the boot sprang from the window through the air to him, and went on his foot of itself. The princess was downstairs in a twinkle, and in the arms of Sean Ruadh.
126 The whole place was crowded with kings' sons and champions, who claimed that they had saved the princess.
127 "What are these men here for?" asked Sean Ruadh.
128 "Oh! they have been trying to put on the boot," said the king.
129 With that Sean Ruadh drew his sword of light, swept the heads off every man of them, and threw heads and bodies on the dirt-heap behind the castle.
130 Then the king sent ships with messengers to all the kings and queens of the world, ? to the kings of Spain, France, Greece, and Lochlin, and to Diarmuid, son of the monarch of light, ? to come to the wedding of his daughter and Sean Ruadh.
131 Sean Ruadh, after the wedding, went with his wife to live in the kingdom of the giants, and left his father-in-law on his own land.
Shaking-Head
1 THERE was once a king of a province in Erin who had an only son. The king was very careful (заботливый) of this son, and sent him to school for good instruction (для хорошего обучения).
2 The other three kings of provinces in Erin had three sons at the same school and the three sent word by this one to his father, that if he didn't put his son to death (если не убьет; death ? смерть) they would put both father and son to death themselves.
3 When the young man came home with this word to his father and mother, they were grieved when they heard it. But the king's son said that he would go out into the world to seek his fortune, and settle the trouble (разрешит проблему) in that way (таким образом). So away he went, taking with him only five pounds in money for his support (для поддержки = пропитания).
4 The young man travelled on till he came to a grave-yard (кладбище), where he saw four men fighting over a coffin (над гробом). Then he went up to the four, and saw that two of them were trying to put the coffin down into a grave (в могилу), and the other two preventing them (мешали им; to prevent – предотвращать [pr?`vent]) and keeping the coffin above ground (на поверхности: «над землей»). When the king's son came near the men, he asked, "Why do you fight in such a place as this, and why do you keep the coffin above ground?"
5 Two of the men answered, and said, "The body of our brother is in this coffin, and these two men won't let us bury it (похоронить [`ber?])."
6 The other two then said, "We have a debt of five pounds on the dead man (у нас долг пять фунтов на мертвеце = он нам остался должен пять фунтов), and we won't let his body be buried till the debt is paid."
7 The king's son said, "Do you let these men bury their brother, and I will pay what you ask."
8 Then the two let the brothers of the dead man bury him. The king's son paid the five pounds, and went away empty-handed (с пустыми руками), and, except the clothes on his back (кроме одежды «на спине» = на нем), he had no more than on the day he was born (чем в тот день, когда родился). After he had gone on his way a while and the grave-yard was out of sight he turned and saw a sprightly (бойкого, веселого) red-haired man [fear ruadh] hurrying after him. When he came up, the stranger asked, "Don't you want a serving man (слугу)?"
9 "I do not," answered the king's son, "I have nothing to support myself with, let alone (не говоря уж) a serving man."
10 "Well, never mind that," said the red-haired man; "I'll be with you wherever you go (куда бы ты ни пошел), whether you have anything or not (/независимо от того,/ есть ли у тебя что-нибудь или нет /ничего/)."
11 "What is your name?" asked the king's son.
12 "Shaking-head (трясущаяся голова)," answered the red man.
13 When they had gone on a piece of the way together the king's son stopped and asked,
14 "Where shall we be tonight?"
15 "We shall be in a giant's castle where there will be small welcome for us (где нас примут не очень доброжелательно)," said Shaking-head.
16 When evening came they found themselves in front of a castle. In they went and saw no one inside only a tall old hag (ведьму). But they were not long in the place till they heard a loud, rushing noise outside, and a blow on the castle. The giant came; and the first words he let out of his mouth were:
17 "I'm glad to have an Erinach (ирландец) on my supper-table to eat tonight." Then turning to the two he said, "What brought you here this evening; what do you want in my castle?"
18 "All the champions and heroes of Erin are going to take your property (собственность) from you and destroy yourself; we have come to warn you (предостеречь), and there is nobody to save you from them but us," said Shaking-head.
19 When the giant heard these words he changed his treatment entirely (полностью изменил свое обращение; to treat somebody – обращаться, обходиться). He gave the king's son and Shaking-head a hearty welcome and a kindly greeting (cердечно и любезно приветствовал). When he understood the news they brought (когда он понял, какие новости они принесли), he washed them with the tears of his eyes, dried them with kisses (высушил их поцелуями), and gave them a good supper and a soft bed that night.
20 Next morning the giant was up at an early hour, and he went to the bed-side of each man and told him to rise and have breakfast. Shaking-head asked his reward (вознаграждение) of the giant for telling him of the champions of Erin and the danger (опасность) he was in.
21 "Well," said the giant, "there's a pot (горшок) of gold over there under my bed; take as much out of it as ever you wish, and welcome."
22 "It isn't gold I want for my service," said Shaking-head, "you have a gift (дар, подарок) which suits me better (который мне больше подходит)."
23 "What gift is that?" asked the giant.
24 "The light black steed in your stable."
25 "That's a gift I won't give you," said the giant, "for when any one comes to trouble or attack me, all I have to do is to throw my leg over that steed, and away he carries me out of sight of every enemy (любого врага)."
26 "Well," said Shaking~head, "if you don't give me that steed I'll bring all the kingdom of Erin against you, and you'II be destroyed with all you have."
27 The giant stopped a moment, and said, "I believe you'd do that thing, so you may take the steed." Then Shaking-head took the steed of the giant, gave him to the king's son, and away they went.
28 At sunset Shaking-head said, "We are near the castle of another giant, the next brother to the one who entertained us last night (принимал, угощал [ent?`te?n]). He hasn't much welcome for us either; but he will treat us well (будет обращаться с нами хорошо) when he is threatened (когда будет напуган, если ему пригрозить; to threaten [?retn] – грозить, угрожать)."
29 The second giant was going to eat the king's son for supper, but when Shaking-head told him about the forces of Erin he changed his manner and entertained them well.
30 Next morning after breakfast, Shaking-head said,
31 "You must give me a present for my services in warning you."
32 "There is a pot of gold under my bed," said the giant; "take all you want of it."
33 "I don't want your gold," said Shaking-head, "but you have a gift which suits me well."
34 "What is that?" asked the giant.
35 "The two-handed black sword that never fails a blow."
36 "You won't get that gift from me," said the giant; "and I can't spare it; for if a whole army were to come against me, as soon as I'd have my two hands on the hilt (на рукояти) of that sword, I'd let no man near me without sweeping the head off him."
37 "Well," said Shaking-head, "I have been keeping back your enemies this long time; but I'll let them at you now, and I'll raise up more. I'll put the whole kingdom of Erin against you."
38 The giant stopped a moment, and said, "I believe you'd do that if it served you." So he took the sword off his belt (с пояса) and handed it to his guest. Shaking-head gave it to the king's son, who mounted his steed, and they both went away.
39 When they had gone some distance from the giant's castle Shaking-head said to the king's son, "Where shall we be tonight? ? you have more knowledge (знания) than I."
40 "Indeed then I have not," said the king's son; "I have no knowledge at all of where we are going; it is you who have the knowledge."
41 "Well," said Shaking-head, "we'II be at the third and youngest giant's castle tonight, and at first he'll treat us far worse (гораздо хуже) and more harshly (резко; жестоко), but still we'll take this night's lodging (жилье, ночевку) of him, and a good gift in the morning."
42 Soon after sunset they came to the castle where they met the worst reception (самый худший прием) and the harshest they had found on the road. The giant was going to eat them both for supper; but when Shaking-head told him of the champions of Erin, he became as kind as his two brothers, and gave good entertainment to both.
43 Next morning after breakfast, Shaking-head asked for a present in return (в обмен; return – возврат) for his services.
44 "Do you see the pot of gold in the corner there under my bed? ? take all you want and welcome," said the giant.
45 "It's not gold I want," said Shaking-head, "but the cloak of darkness."
46 "Oh," said the giant, "you'll not get that cloak of me, for I want it myself. If any man were to come against me, all I'd have to do would be to put that cloak on my shoulders, and no one in the world could see me, or know where I'd be."
47 "Well," said Shaking-head, "it's long enough that I am keeping your enemies away; and if you don't give me that cloak now I'll raise all the kingdom of Erin and still more forces (силы = войска) to destroy you, and it's not long you'II last (выдержишь, продержишься) after they come."
48 The giant thought a moment, and then said, "I believe you'd do what you say. There's the black cloak hanging on the wall before you; take it."
49 Shaking-head took the cloak, and the two went away together, the king's son riding on the light (на легком) black steed, and having the double-handed sword at his back. When out of sight of the giant, Shaking-head put on the cloak, and wasn't to be seen (/его/ нельзя было увидеть), and no other man could have been seen in his place (и никто другой не мог бы быть увиден /будь он/ на его месте). Then the king's son looked around, and began to call and search for his man, ? he was lonely (одинок) without him and grieved not to see him. Shaking-head, glad to see the affection (любовь, привязанность, теплые чувства) of the king's son, took off the cloak and was at his side again.
50 "Where are we going now?" asked the king's son.
51 "We are going on a long journey to Ri Chuil an Or [King Behind the Gold], to ask his daughter of him."
52 The two travelled on, till they came to the castle of King Behind the Gold. Then Shaking-head said, "Go in you, and ask his daughter of the king, and I'll stay here outside with the cloak on me." So he went in and spoke to the king, and the answer he got was this: ? "I am willing (согласен) to give you my daughter, but you won't get her unless you do what she will ask of you. And I must tell you now that three hundred kings' sons, lacking one (кроме одного; to lack – недоставать, отсутствовать), have come to ask for my daughter, and in the garden behind my castle are three hundred iron spikes, and every spike of them but one is covered with the head of a king's son who couldn't do what my daughter wanted of him, and I'm greatly in dread that your own head will be put on the one spike that is left uncovered (на колышке, который остался непокрытым)."
53 "Well," said the king's son, "I'll do my best (постараюсь изо всех сил: «сделаю мое лучшее») to keep my head where it is at present."
54 "Stay (останься, остановись) here in my castle," said the king, "and you'll have good entertainment till we know can you do what will be asked of you."
55 At night when the king's son was going to bed, the princess gave him a thimble (наперсток), and said, "Have this for me in the morning."
56 He put the thimble on his finger; and she thought it could be easily taken away, if he would sleep. So she came to him in the night, with a drink, and said, "I give you this in hopes (в надежде) I'll gain (приобрету, выиграю) more drink by you." He swallowed the liquor (напиток [`l?k?]), and the princess went away with the empty cup. Then the king's son put the thimble in his mouth between his cheek and his teeth (между щекой и зубами) for safe keeping (чтобы надежнее сохранить), and was soon asleep.
57 When the princess came to her own chamber, she struck her maid with a slat an draoichta [a rod of enchantment (жезлом колдовства = волшебным жезлом)] and turned her into a rat (и превратила ее в крысу); then she made such music of fifes (дудками) and trumpets (трубами) to sound throughout the castle, that every soul in it fell asleep. That minute, she sent the rat to where the king's son was sleeping, and the rat put her tail into the nostrils (сунула свой хвост в ноздри) of the young man, tickled his nose so that he sneezed (чихнул) and blew (выдул; to blow) the thimble out of his mouth. The rat caught it (поймала его; to catch) and ran away to the princess, who struck her (ударила; to strike) with the rod of enchantment and turned her into a maid again.
58 Then the princess and the maid set out for the eastern world, taking the thimble with them. Shaking-head, who was watching with his cloak on, unseen by all, had seen everything, and now followed at their heels (следовал по пятам). In the eastern world, at the sea-side was a rock. The princess tapped it (слегка постучала) with her finger, and the rock opened; there was a great house inside, and in the house a giant. The princess greeted him and gave him the thimble, saying, "You're to keep this so no man can get it."
59 "Oh," said the giant, taking the thimble and throwing it aside, "you need have no fear (тебе не нужно бояться); no man can find me in this place."
60 Shaking-head caught the thimble from the ground and put it in his pocket. When she had finished conversation with the giant, the princess kissed him, and hurried away. Shaking-head followed her step for step (шаг за шагом), till they came at break of day to the castle of King Behind the Gold. Shaking-head went to the king's son and asked,
61 "Was anything given you to keep last night?"
62 "Yes, before I came to this chamber the princess gave me her thimble, and told me to have it for her in the morning."
63 "Have you it now?" asked Shaking-head.
64 "It is not in my mouth where I put it last night, it is not in the bed; I'm afraid my head is lost," said the king's son.
65 "Well, look at this," said Shaking-head, taking the thimble out of his pocket and giving it to him. "The whole kingdom is moving today to see your death. All the people have heard that you are here asking for the princess, and they think your head'll be put on the last spike in the garden, with the heads of the other kings' sons. Rise up now, mount your light black steed, ride to the summer-house of the princess and her father, and give her the thimble."
66 The king's son did as Shaking-head told him. When he gave up the thimble, the king said, "You have won one third of my daughter." But the princess was bitterly angry («горько сердита, рассержена») and vexed to the heart (обижена до глубины души), that any man on earth should know that she had dealings (имеет дела, отношения) with the giant; she cared more for that than anything else (ее больше волновало это, чем что-либо другое).
67 When the second day had passed, and the king's son was going to bed, the princess gave him a comb (гребень [k?um]) to keep, and said, "If you don't have this for me in the morning, your head will be put on the spike that's left in my father's garden."
68 The king's son took the comb with him, wrapped it in a handkerchief (завернул его в платок), and tied it to his head.
69 In the night the princess came with a draught (глоток; доза жидкого лекарства [dr?:ft]) which she gave him, and soon he was asleep. Going back to her own chamber, she struck the maid with her rod of enchantment, and made a great yellow cat of her. Then she caused (вызвала) such music of fifes and trumpets to sound throughout the castle that every soul was in a deep sleep before the music was over, and that moment she sent the cat to the chamber of the king's son. The cat worked the handkerchief off his head (стянул платок с его головы), took out the comb and ran with it to the princess, who turned her into a maid again.
70 The two set out for the eastern world straightway; but if they did (но хотя они и /сразу отправились/), Shaking-head followed them in his cloak of darkness, till they came to the house of the giant in the great rock at the end of the road, at the sea. The princess gave the giant the comb, and said, "The thimble that I gave you to keep last night was taken from you, for the king's son in Erin brought it back to me this morning, and has done one third of the work of winning me (треть работы, чтобы добыть, выиграть меня), and I didn't expect you'd serve me in this way (я не ожидала, что ты так со мной поступишь)."
71 When the giant heard this, he was raging (в ярости, бесился), and threw the comb into the sea behind him. Then with Druidic spells (колдовством) he raised thunder and lightning (гром и молнию) and wind. The sea was roaring with storm and rain; but the comb had not touched the water when Shaking-head caught it.
72 When her talk was over the princess gave the giant a kiss, and home she went with the maid; but Shaking-head followed them step by step.
73 In the morning Shaking-head went to the king's son, roused him, and asked, "What was your task (задача, задание) last night?"
74 "The princess gave me a comb to have for her this morning," answered the king's son.
75 "Where is it now?" asked Shaking-head.
76 "Here on my head," said the king's son, putting up his hand to get it; but the comb was gone. "I'm done for now," said the king's son; "my head will be on the last spike today unless I have the comb for the princess."
77 "Here it is for you," said Shaking-head, taking the comb out of his pocket. "And now," said he, "the whole kingdom is coming to this castle today to see your head put on the last spike in the garden of King Behind the Gold, for all men think the same will happen to you that has happened to every king's son before you. Go up on your steed and ride to the summer-house where the king and his daughter are sitting, and give her the comb."
78 The king's son did as Shaking-head bade him. When he saw the comb the king said, "Now you have my daughter two-thirds won." But her face went from the princess entirely (на ней лица не было совершенно), she was so vexed that any man should know of her dealings with the giant.
79 The third night when he was going to bed the princess said to the king's son, "If you will not have at my father's castle tomorrow morning the head I will kiss tonight, you'll die tomorrow, and your own head will be put on the last spike in my father's garden." Later in the night she came to the bedside of the king's son with a draught. Which he drank, and before she was back in her chamber, he slept. Then she made such music all over the castle that not a soul was awake when the music had ceased (прекратилась). That moment she hurried away with her maid to the eastern world but Shaking-head followed her in his cloak of darkness. This time he carried with him the two-handed sword that never failed a blow.
80 When she came to the rock in the eastern world and entered the house of the giant, the princess said, "You let my two gifts go with the son of the king in Erin, and he'll have me won tomorrow if he'll have your head at my father's castle in the morning."
81 "Never fear," said the giant, "there is nothing in the world to take the head off me but the double-handed sword of darkness that never fails a blow, and that sword belongs (принадлежит) to my brother in the western world.''
82 The princess gave the giant a kiss at parting; and as she hurried away with her maid the giant turned to look at her. His head was covered with an iron cap (железной каской, железным шлемом); but as he looked he laid bare (обнажил, оставил открытым) a thin strip of his neck (узкую полоску шеи). Shaking-head was there near him, and said in his mind, "Your brother's sword has never been so close (близок) to your neck before," and with one blow he swept the head off him. Then began the greatest struggle that Shaking-head ever had, to keep (удержать) the head from the body of the giant. The head fought to put itself on again (билась, чтобы снова надеться /на туловище/), and never stopped till the body was dead; then it fell to the ground. Shaking-head seized (схватил), but couldn't stir (пошевелить, сдвинуть с места) the head, ? couldn't move it from its place. Then he searched all around it and found a pin of slumber – ‘bar an suan’ ? near the ear. When he took the pin away he had no trouble in carrying the head; and he made no delay but came to the castle at daybreak, and threw the head to a herd of pigs (стаду свиней) that belonged to the king. Then he went to the king's son, and asked,
83 "What happened to you last night?"
84 "The princess came to me, and said, that if I wouldn't bring to her father's castle this morning the head she was to kiss last night, my own head would be on the last spike today."
85 "Come out with me now to the pigs," said Shaking-head.
86 The two went out, and Shaking-head said, "Go in among the pigs, and take the head with you to the king; and a strange head it is to put before a king (ну и странную же голову ты предъявишь королю)."
87 So the king's son went on his steed to the summer-house, and gave the head to the king and his daughter, and turning to the princess, said,
88 "This is the head you kissed last night, and it's not a nice looking head either (и это вовсе не миловидная голова)."
89 "You have my daughter won now entirely," said the king, "and she is yours. And do you take that head to the great dark hole (темное отверстие) that is out there on one side of my castle grounds, and throw it down."
90 The king's son mounted his steed, and rode off with the head till he came to the hole going deep into the earth. When he let down the head it went to the bottom with such a roaring and such a noise that every mare (кобыла) and cow and every beast in the whole kingdom cast its young (родила «своего малыша»; to cast – бросать; преждевременно родить), such was the terror that was caused by the noise of the head in going to the bottom of the hole.
91 When the head was put away the king's son went back to the castle, and married the daughter of King Behind the Gold. The wedding lasted nine days and nights, and the last night was better than the first.
92 When the wedding was over Shaking-head went to the king and said, "You have provided (предоставил, предусмотрел) no fortune for your daughter, and it is but right that you should remember her (и было бы только = вполне справедливо, чтобы ты вспомнил о ней)."
93 "I have plenty (множество) of gold and silver to give her," said the king.
94 "It isn't gold and silver that your son-in-law wants, but men to stand against his enemies, when they come on him."
95 "I have more treasures than men," said King Behind the Gold; "but I won't see my daughter conquered for want of an army (но я не хочу увидеть свою дочь побежденной из-за недостатка в армии)."
96 They were satisfied (удовлетворены) with the king's word, and next day took the road to Erin, and kept on their way till they came opposite (напротив) the grave-yard. Then Shaking-head said to the king's son, "You are no good (ты ни на что не годишься), you have never told me a story since the first day I saw you."
97 "I have but one story to tell you, except what happened since we met."
98 "Well, tell me what happened before we met."
99 "I was passing this place (проходил здесь) before I saw you," said the king's son, "and four men were fighting over a coffin. I spoke to them, and two of them said they were burying the body of their brother which was in the coffin, and the others said the dead man owed them five pounds, and they wouldn't let the coffin into the ground until they got the money. I paid five pounds and the body was buried."
100 "It was my body that was in the coffin," said Shaking-head, "and I came back into this world to do you a good turn; and now I am going, and you'll never see me again unless trouble is on you."
101 Shaking-head disappeared, and the king's son went home. He wasn't with his father long till the other three kings' sons heard he had come back to Erin with the daughter of King Behind the Gold. They sent word, saying, "We'll take the head off you now, and put an end to your father and yourself."
102 The king's son went out to walk alone, and as he was lamenting the fate (жаловался на, оплакивал судьбу) he had brought on his father, who should come along to meet him but Shaking-head.
103 "What trouble is on you now?" asked he.
104 "Oh, three kings' sons are coming with their fleets (со своими флотами) and armies to destroy my father and myself, and what can we do with our one fleet and one army?"
105 "Well," said Shaking-head, "I'll settle that for you without delay." Then he sent a message straight to King Behind the Gold, who gave a fleet and an army, and they came to Erin so quickly that they were at the castle before the forces of the three kings' sons. And when the three came the battle began on sea and land at both sides of the castle.
106 The three fleets of the three kings' sons were sunk (потоплены; to sink), their armies destroyed, and the three heads taken off themselves. When the battle was over and the country safe the king resigned the castle and power (передал замок и власть; to resign – уходить в отставку, отказываться в чью-либо пользу [r?`za?n]) to his son, and the son of a king in a province became king over all the land of Erin.
1 THERE was once a king of a province in Erin who had an only son. The king was very careful of this son, and sent him to school for good instruction.
2 The other three kings of provinces in Erin had three sons at the same school and the three sent word by this one to his father, that if he didn't put his son to death they would put both father and son to death themselves.
3 When the young man came home with this word to his father and mother, they were grieved when they heard it. But the king's son said that he would go out into the world to seek his fortune, and settle the trouble in that way. So away he went, taking with him only five pounds in money for his support.
4 The young man travelled on till he came to a grave-yard, where he saw four men fighting over a coffin. Then he went up to the four, and saw that two of them were trying to put the coffin down into a grave, and the other two preventing them and keeping the coffin above ground. When the king's son came near the men, he asked, "Why do you fight in such a place as this, and why do you keep the coffin above ground?"
5 Two of the men answered, and said, "The body of our brother is in this coffin, and these two men won't let us bury it."
6 The other two then said, "We have a debt of five pounds on the dead man, and we won't let his body be buried till the debt is paid."
7 The king's son said, "Do you let these men bury their brother, and I will pay what you ask."
8 Then the two let the brothers of the dead man bury him. The king's son paid the five pounds, and went away empty-handed, and, except the clothes on his back, he had no more than on the day he was born. After he had gone on his way a while and the grave-yard was out of sight he turned and saw a sprightly red-haired man (fear ruadh) hurrying after him. When he came up, the stranger asked, "Don't you want a serving man?"
9 "I do not," answered the king's son, "I have nothing to support myself with, let alone a serving man."
10 "Well, never mind that," said the red-haired man; "I'll be with you wherever you go, whether you have anything or not."
11 "What is your name?" asked the king's son.
12 "Shaking-head," answered the red man.
13 When they had gone on a piece of the way together the king's son stopped and asked,
14 "Where shall we be tonight?"
15 "We shall be in a giant's castle where there will be small welcome for us," said Shaking-head.
16 When evening came they found themselves in front of a castle. In they went and saw no one inside only a tall old hag. But they were not long in the place till they heard a loud, rushing noise outside, and a blow on the castle. The giant came; and the first words he let out of his mouth were:
17 "I'm glad to have an Erinach on my supper-table to eat tonight." Then turning to the two he said, "What brought you here this evening; what do you want in my castle?"
18 "All the champions and heroes of Erin are going to take your property from you and destroy yourself; we have come to warn you, and there is nobody to save you from them but us," said Shaking-head.
19 When the giant heard these words he changed his treatment entirely. He gave the king's son and Shaking-head a hearty welcome and a kindly greeting. When he understood the news they brought, he washed them with the tears of his eyes, dried them with kisses, and gave them a good supper and a soft bed that night.
20 Next morning the giant was up at an early hour, and he went to the bed-side of each man and told him to rise and have breakfast. Shaking-head asked his reward of the giant for telling him of the champions of Erin and the danger he was in.
21 "Well," said the giant, "there's a pot of gold over there under my bed; take as much out of it as ever you wish, and welcome."
22 "It isn't gold I want for my service," said Shaking-head, "you have a gift which suits me better."
23 "What gift is that?" asked the giant.
24 "The light black steed in your stable."
25 "That's a gift I won't give you," said the giant, "for when any one comes to trouble or attack me, all I have to do is to throw my leg over that steed, and away he carries me out of sight of every enemy."
26 "Well," said Shaking-head, "if you don't give me that steed I'll bring all the kingdom of Erin against you, and you'll be destroyed with all you have."
27 The giant stopped a moment, and said, "I believe you'd do that thing, so you may take the steed." Then Shaking-head took the steed of the giant, gave him to the king's son, and away they went.
28 At sunset Shaking-head said, "We are near the castle of another giant, the next brother to the one who entertained us last night. He hasn't much welcome for us either; but he will treat us well when he is threatened."
29 The second giant was going to eat the king's son for supper, but when Shaking-head told him about the forces of Erin he changed his manner and entertained them well.
30 Next morning after breakfast, Shaking-head said,
31 "You must give me a present for my services in warning you."
32 "There is a pot of gold under my bed," said the giant; "take all you want of it."
33 "I don't want your gold," said Shaking-head, "but you have a gift which suits me well."
34 "What is that?" asked the giant.
35 "The two-handed black sword that never fails a blow."
36 "You won't get that gift from me," said the giant; "and I can't spare it; for if a whole army were to come against me, as soon as I'd have my two hands on the hilt of that sword, I'd let no man near me without sweeping the head off him."
37 "Well," said Shaking-head, "I have been keeping back your enemies this long time; but I'll let them at you now, and I'll raise up more. I'll put the whole kingdom of Erin against you."
38 The giant stopped a moment, and said, "I believe you'd do that if it served you." So he took the sword off his belt and handed it to his guest. Shaking-head gave it to the king's son, who mounted his steed, and they both went away.
39 When they had gone some distance from the giant's castle Shaking-head said to the king's son, "Where shall we be tonight? ? you have more knowledge than I."
40 "Indeed then I have not," said the king's son; "I have no knowledge at all of where we are going; it is you who have the knowledge."
41 "Well," said Shaking-head, "we'II be at the third and youngest giant's castle tonight, and at first he'll treat us far worse and more harshly, but still we'll take this night's lodging of him, and a good gift in the morning."
42 Soon after sunset they came to the castle where they met the worst reception and the harshest they had found on the road. The giant was going to eat them both for supper; but when Shaking-head told him of the champions of Erin, he became as kind as his two brothers, and gave good entertainment to both.
43 Next morning after breakfast, Shaking-head asked for a present in return for his services.
44 "Do you see the pot of gold in the corner there under my bed? ? take all you want and welcome," said the giant.
45 "It's not gold I want," said Shaking-head, "but the cloak of darkness."
46 "Oh," said the giant, "you'll not get that cloak of me, for I want it myself. If any man were to come against me, all I'd have to do would be to put that cloak on my shoulders, and no one in the world could see me, or know where I'd be."
47 "Well," said Shaking-head, "it's long enough that I am keeping your enemies away; and if you don't give me that cloak now I'll raise all the kingdom of Erin and still more forces to destroy you, and it's not long you'II last after they come."
48 The giant thought a moment, and then said, "I believe you'd do what you say. There's the black cloak hanging on the wall before you; take it."
49 Shaking-head took the cloak, and the two went away together, the king's son riding on the light black steed, and having the double-handed sword at his back. When out of sight of the giant, Shaking-head put on the cloak, and wasn't to be seen, and no other man could have been seen in his place. Then the king's son looked around, and began to call and search for his man, ? he was lonely without him and grieved not to see him. Shaking-head, glad to see the affection of the king's son, took off the cloak and was at his side again.
50 "Where are we going now?" asked the king's son.
51 "We are going on a long journey to Ri Chuil an Or [King Behind the Gold], to ask his daughter of him."
52 The two travelled on, till they came to the castle of King Behind the Gold. Then Shaking-head said, "Go in you, and ask his daughter of the king, and I'll stay here outside with the cloak on me." So he went in and spoke to the king, and the answer he got was this: ? "I am willing to give you my daughter, but you won't get her unless you do what she will ask of you. And I must tell you now that three hundred kings' sons, lacking one, have come to ask for my daughter, and in the garden behind my castle are three hundred iron spikes, and every spike of them but one is covered with the head of a king's son who couldn't do what my daughter wanted of him, and I'm greatly in dread that your own head will be put on the one spike that is left uncovered."
53 "Well," said the king's son, "I'll do my best to keep my head where it is at present."
54 "Stay here in my castle," said the king, "and you'll have good entertainment till we know can you do what will be asked of you."
55 At night when the king's son was going to bed, the princess gave him a thimble, and said, "Have this for me in the morning."
56 He put the thimble on his finger; and she thought it could be easily taken away, if he would sleep. So she came to him in the night, with a drink, and said, "I give you this in hopes I'll gain more drink by you." He swallowed the liquor, and the princess went away with the empty cup. Then the king's son put the thimble in his mouth between his cheek and his teeth for safe keeping, and was soon asleep.
57 When the princess came to her own chamber, she struck her maid with a slat an draoichta (a rod of enchantment) and turned her into a rat; then she made such music of fifes and trumpets to sound throughout the castle, that every soul in it fell asleep. That minute, she sent the rat to where the king's son was sleeping, and the rat put her tail into the nostrils of the young man, tickled his nose so that he sneezed and blew the thimble out of his mouth. The rat caught it and ran away to the princess, who struck her with the rod of enchantment and turned her into a maid again.
58 Then the princess and the maid set out for the eastern world, taking the thimble with them. Shaking-head, who was watching with his cloak on, unseen by all, had seen everything, and now followed at their heels. In the eastern world, at the sea-side was a rock. The princess tapped it with her finger, and the rock opened; there was a great house inside, and in the house a giant. The princess greeted him and gave him the thimble, saying, "You're to keep this so no man can get it."
59 "Oh," said the giant, taking the thimble and throwing it aside, "you need have no fear; no man can find me in this place."
60 Shaking-head caught the thimble from the ground and put it in his pocket. When she had finished conversation with the giant, the princess kissed him, and hurried away. Shaking-head followed her step for step, till they came at break of day to the castle of King Behind the Gold. Shaking-head went to the king's son and asked,
61 "Was anything given you to keep last night?"
62 "Yes, before I came to this chamber the princess gave me her thimble, and told me to have it for her in the morning."
63 "Have you it now?" asked Shaking-head.
64 "It is not in my mouth where I put it last night, it is not in the bed; I'm afraid my head is lost," said the king's son.
65 "Well, look at this," said Shaking-head, taking the thimble out of his pocket and giving it to him. "The whole kingdom is moving today to see your death. All the people have heard that you are here asking for the princess, and they think your head'll be put on the last spike in the garden, with the heads of the other kings' sons. Rise up now, mount your light black steed, ride to the summer-house of the princess and her father, and give her the thimble."
66 The king's son did as Shaking-head told him. When he gave up the thimble, the king said, "You have won one third of my daughter." But the princess was bitterly angry and vexed to the heart, that any man on earth should know that she had dealings with the giant; she cared more for that than anything else.
67 When the second day had passed, and the king's son was going to bed, the princess gave him a comb to keep, and said, "If you don't have this for me in the morning, your head will be put on the spike that's left in my father's garden."
68 The king's son took the comb with him, wrapped it in a handkerchief, and tied it to his head.
69 In the night the princess came with a draught which she gave him, and soon he was asleep. Going back to her own chamber, she struck the maid with her rod of enchantment, and made a great yellow cat of her. Then she caused such music of fifes and trumpets to sound throughout the castle that every soul was in a deep sleep before the music was over, and that moment she sent the cat to the chamber of the king's son. The cat worked the handkerchief off his head, took out the comb and ran with it to the princess, who turned her into a maid again.
70 The two set out for the eastern world straightway; but if they did, Shaking-head followed them in his cloak of darkness, till they came to the house of the giant in the great rock at the end of the road, at the sea. The princess gave the giant the comb, and said, "The thimble that I gave you to keep last night was taken from you, for the king's son in Erin brought it back to me this morning, and has done one third of the work of winning me, and I didn't expect you'd serve me in this way."
71 When the giant heard this, he was raging, and threw the comb into the sea behind him. Then with Druidic spells he raised thunder and lightning and wind. The sea was roaring with storm and rain; but the comb had not touched the water when Shaking-head caught it.
72 When her talk was over the princess gave the giant a kiss, and home she went with the maid; but Shaking-head followed them step by step.
73 In the morning Shaking-head went to the king's son, roused him, and asked, "What was your task last night?"
74 "The princess gave me a comb to have for her this morning," answered the king's son.
75 "Where is it now?" asked Shaking-head.
76 "Here on my head," said the king's son, putting up his hand to get it; but the comb was gone. "I'm done for now," said the king's son; "my head will be on the last spike today unless I have the comb for the princess."
77 "Here it is for you," said Shaking-head, taking the comb out of his pocket. "And now," said he, "the whole kingdom is coming to this castle today to see your head put on the last spike in the garden of King Behind the Gold, for all men think the same will happen to you that has happened to every king's son before you. Go up on your steed and ride to the summer-house where the king and his daughter are sitting, and give her the comb."
78 The king's son did as Shaking-head bade him. When he saw the comb the king said, "Now you have my daughter two-thirds won." But her face went from the princess entirely, she was so vexed that any man should know of her dealings with the giant.
79 The third night when he was going to bed the princess said to the king's son, "If you will not have at my father's castle tomorrow morning the head I will kiss tonight, you'll die tomorrow, and your own head will be put on the last spike in my father's garden." Later in the night she came to the bedside of the king's son with a draught. Which he drank, and before she was back in her chamber, he slept. Then she made such music all over the castle that not a soul was awake when the music had ceased. That moment she hurried away with her maid to the eastern world but Shaking-head followed her in his cloak of darkness. This time he carried with him the two-handed sword that never failed a blow.
80 When she came to the rock in the eastern world and entered the house of the giant, the princess said, "You let my two gifts go with the son of the king in Erin, and he'll have me won tomorrow if he'll have your head at my father's castle in the morning."
81 "Never fear," said the giant, "there is nothing in the world to take the head off me but the double-handed sword of darkness that never fails a blow, and that sword belongs to my brother in the western world.''
82 The princess gave the giant a kiss at parting; and as she hurried away with her maid the giant turned to look at her. His head was covered with an iron cap; but as he looked he laid bare a thin strip of his neck. Shaking-head was there near him, and said in his mind: "Your brother's sword has never been so close to your neck before;" and with one blow he swept the head off him. Then began the greatest struggle that Shaking-head ever had, to keep the head from the body of the giant. The head fought to put itself on again, and never stopped till the body was dead; then it fell to the ground. Shaking-head seized, but couldn't stir the head, ? couldn't move it from its place. Then he searched all around it and found a bar an suan (pin of slumber) near the ear. When he took the pin away he had no trouble in carrying the head; and he made no delay but came to the castle at daybreak, and threw the head to a herd of pigs that belonged to the king. Then he went to the king's son, and asked,
83 "What happened to you last night?"
84 "The princess came to me, and said, that if I wouldn't bring to her father's castle this morning the head she was to kiss last night, my own head would be on the last spike today."
85 "Come out with me now to the pigs," said Shaking-head.
86 The two went out, and Shaking-head said, "Go in among the pigs, and take the head with you to the king; and a strange head it is to put before a king."
87 So the king's son went on his steed to the summer-house, and gave the head to the king and his daughter, and turning to the princess, said,
88 "This is the head you kissed last night, and it's not a nice looking head either."
89 "You have my daughter won now entirely," said the king, "and she is yours. And do you take that head to the great dark hole that is out there on one side of my castle grounds, and throw it down."
90 The king's son mounted his steed, and rode off with the head till he came to the hole going deep into the earth. When he let down the head it went to the bottom with such a roaring and such a noise that every mare and cow and every beast in the whole kingdom cast its young, such was the terror that was caused by the noise of the head in going to the bottom of the hole.
91 When the head was put away the king's son went back to the castle, and married the daughter of King Behind the Gold. The wedding lasted nine days and nights, and the last night was better than the first.
92 When the wedding was over Shaking-head went to the king. and said, "You have provided no fortune for your daughter, and it is but right that you should remember her."
93 "I have plenty of gold and silver to give her," said the king.
94 "It isn't gold and silver that your son-in-law wants, but men to stand against his enemies, when they come on him."
95 "I have more treasures than men," said King Behind the Gold; "but I won't see my daughter conquered for want of an army."
96 They were satisfied with the king's word, and next day took the road to Erin, and kept on their way till they came opposite the grave-yard. Then Shaking-head said to the king's son: "You are no good, you have never told me a story since the first day I saw you."
97 "I have but one story to tell you, except what happened since we met."
98 "Well, tell me what happened before we met."
99 "I was passing this place before I saw you," said the king's son, "and four men were fighting over a coffin. I spoke to them, and two of them said they were burying the body of their brother which was in the coffin, and the others said the dead man owed them five pounds, and they wouldn't let the coffin into the ground until they got the money. I paid five pounds and the body was buried."
100 "It was my body was in the coffin," said Shaking-head, "and I came back into this world to do you a good turn; and now I am going, and you'II never see me again unless trouble is on you."
101 Shaking-head disappeared, and the king's son went home. He wasn't with his father long till the other three kings' sons heard he had come back to Erin with the daughter of King Behind the Gold. They sent word, saying, "We'll take the head off you now, and put an end to your father and yourself."
102 The king's son went out to walk alone, and as he was lamenting the fate he had brought on his father, who should come along to meet him but Shaking-head.
103 "What trouble is on you now?" asked he.
104 "Oh, three kings' sons are coming with their fleets and armies to destroy my father and myself, and what can we do with our one fleet and one army?"
105 "Well," said Shaking-head, "I'll settle that for you without delay." Then he sent a message straight to King Behind the Gold, who gave a fleet and an army, and they came to Erin so quickly that they were at the castle before the forces of the three kings' sons. And when the three came the battle began on sea and land at both sides of the castle.
106 The three fleets of the three kings' sons were sunk, their armies destroyed, and the three heads taken off themselves. When the battle was over and the country safe the king resigned the castle and power to his son, and the son of a king in a province became king over all the land of Erin.