THE
FAIRY FROG
She
was only a small girl, about fourteen or fifteen
years of age. Her people had a cow and they told
her to drive her to pasture one morning. She was
herding the cow in a field, and there was nobody
anywhere near her. When some of the day had
passed, the girl went up on the highest hillock
in the field. She started to hum a tune and to
dance on the hillock. It wasn't long till she saw
a frog coming up the hillock towards her--the
biggest frog she'd ever laid eyes on. The frog
sat down on the hillock, looking straight into
the girl's face. The frog had a very large belly
and, for devilment, the girl said: "Don't
give birth to your load until I am with
you!" The frog turned away from her and went
off down the slope.
The
girl went home and forgot all about what had
happened. Just a month from that day, herself and
her father and mother were asleep one night, when
they heard the sound of a horse's hooves
approaching the door. There was a knock at the
door, and the voice of a man from outside asked
that it be opened. The girl's father jumped out
of bed and opened the door, and the finest
gentleman he had ever seen walked in.
"I
don't recognise you, sir," said the man of
the house.
"I
don't blame you for that," said the
gentleman. "I cam to ask you to do something
for me?" said he.
"'Tisn't
much I can do for you sir," said the man of
the house. "I'm a poor man."
"Tis
for your daughter I have come. I want her for
twenty-four hours."
The
father didn't like that, nor did the girl, who
spoke from her bed and said that she wouldn't go
with him.
"Ah,
you will," said the gentleman. "I give
my hand and word to yourself and to your father
and mother that you'll be home here again safe
and sound, within twenty-four hours."
"Well,
sir, I'll take your word," said the father.
"She'll have to go with you for that
length."
"Thank
you," said the gentleman.
"Get
up and go along with him," said the father.
She
rose with great reluctance.
"Good
girl!" said the gentleman, taking her by the
hand and leading her out of the house.
He
caught hold of her shoulder and lifted her up
behind him on the horse. He gave spurs to the
horse and rode away, conversing with the girl.
"You
need not have the slightest fear now," said
he to the girl. "There's no need for it, for
I'll bring you home, safe and sound, to your
father and mother tomorrow night. Give the back
of your hand to the first food that will be
offered to you," said he; "say that you
won't eat it. But you may eat the second food
that will offered to you, and any food given to
you after that won't do you any harm."
They
rode along until they reached a hill, in the side
of which was a high, awesome cliff. It would
surprise anybody. A door opened in the cliff, and
they entered the finest court that ever rose to
the sky. There were many people inside, moving
around and chatting with one another at their
ease. The gentleman and the girl walked through
the crowd till they entered the central room of
the court. There were three nurses there, tending
a woman who was ill in bed. There was a huge fire
blzing in the grate, with flames rising from it.
The moment the two of them entered the room, the
woman in the bed gave birth to a child. As soon
as the baby was born, two of the nurses took it
from the mother, and the third started to poke
the fire, kmaking a hole in it. The child was
laid down into the hole in the middle of the
fire, and, to the wiailing of the mother, was
covered up with live coals.
The
baby wasn't yet fully burned, when in came a man
and a woman; the woman was carrying a baby in her
arms. She handed it to the sick woman, who had
just given birth to the other baby. The baby
began to drink at the woman's breast. It was a
baby from the human world whom the fairies had
taken in order that the woman would suckle
it--that's the way they abduct children. The
other baby was roasting away all this time, until
it was burned to ashes. They lifted up the
remains and they fell apart like ashes. There was
a very large trough, as big as a vat, by the
sides of the wall near the exit-door. They
sprinkled some of the ashes of the baby on the
water in the trough; it was full to the brim.
The
girl who had been brought there by the gentleman
watched everything with wonder. A table of food
was then laid out, and the girl was invited to
eat. She refused, saying that that kind of food
would not suit her. She asked for different food,
and this was offered to her. She ate it. The
gentleman had not left the room during the whole
time, and he watched the girl.
"Good
girl!" said he, when she had eaten the
second food.
Just
then three pipers struck up music for dancing.
The house was overflowing with people, men and
women, but none of them said a word to the girl.
When day broke, the crowd started to leave. AS
each man or woman went out of the room, they
dipped their fingeres into the trough and rubbed
the water to their eyes. The girl saw them doing
this. She spent the day in the house until it was
almost night. The gentleman left the room ahead
of her and put some of the trough-water to his
eyes as he went out. The girl was at his heels,
and she was wondering what she should do about
the water; she decided to rub one of her eyes
with it, and even if she lost the sight of it,
she would still have the other eye.
"I
may as well give you a present before you
leave," said the woman with the baby on the
bed, "since you were so kind to come when I
sent for you."
The
woman turned about in the bed, pulled out a
silken little neck-shawl and handed it and a
stocking full of gold and silver to the girl. She
had barely done so when the gentleman re-entered
the room.
"You
had better get ready to leave," said he to
the girl. "I will leave you safely back with
your father and mother."
As
the girl was leaving the room, behind him, she
dipped her hand into the trough and put some of
the water to one of her eyes. When she went
outside, the gentleman jumped on the horse, took
the girl by the shoulder and lifted her up on the
horse behind himself. He conversed with her as
they went along, until they came to a wood, a
good distance away.
"Did
the mistress give you any present?" he
asked.
"Faith
then, she did, and I'm very grateful to
her," said the girl.
"I
see," said the gentleman.
They
were passing by a huge tree in the wood, when the
gentleman jumped down from the horse and lifted
down the girl in his arms.
"Go
now, like a good girl," said the gentleman,
"and wind the little shawl around that
tree."
No
sooner than she had done so, than the tree split
into two halves, as if a hundred men had torn it
apart.
"Leave
the little shawl there!" said the gentleman.
She
left it there. They mounted the horse again and
rode on.
"Did
the mistress give you any other present?" he
asked her.
"She
did," said the girl, "a stocking full
of gold and silver."
"Very
good," said the gentleman. "Now, as
soon ever as you reach home, you must go to all
the fine houses and shops, and change that money,
for within six nights from now, every house that
will have any of the mistress's money in it will
be burned by the next morning. But your own money
will be safe. You must do what I have told you
for your sake."
Within
a minute they were at the door of her father's
house. The father and mother were sitting by the
fire talking about their daughter when they heard
the sound of a horse's hooves approaching. The
horse stopped at the door. The gentleman
dismounted, took hold of the girl and placed her
feet on the ground. He entered the house with
her.
"Here
is your daughter back to you now," said he.
"I am very thankful to ye. Good night!"
He
went out of the house. On the following day, when
the girl got up, she went around to the big
houses asking for change of her gold and silver.
Before six days haad passed, she changed it all.
On the sixth night, every house that had any of
the fairy money in it burned to the ground.
The
girl started to buy land and cattle and she went
to every fair, buying and selling them. She went
one day to a very large fair far from her home,
and it wasn't long before she noticed there
people whom she had seen in the fairy court. They
were moving here and there through the crowds at
the fair. She also saw the gentleman who had
taken her from home and brought her back again.
"I
must speak to him," said she to herself,
walking towards him through the crowd and shaking
hands with him.
He
shook her hand too.
"I'm
very glad to see you," said she.
"Wasn't
it quick of you to notice and to recognize
me?" said he. "Did you see me with both
eyes?"
"Oh,
no, only with one," said she.
"Might
I ask you with which of your eyes did you see
me?" he asked.
"Of
course," said she.
"Put
your hand to the eye that you saw me with,"
said he.
She
did so. He immediately thrust his finger into
that eye and tore it from her head.
"You
won't see me any more," said he.
And
it was true for him. She never laid eyes on him
again till she died.
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