THE
LEGEND OF KNOCKGRAFTON
There
was once a poor man who lived in the fertile glen
of Aherlow, at the foot of the gloomy Galtee
mountains, and he had a great hump on his back.
He looked just as if his body had been rolled up
and placed upon his shoulders; and his head
pressed down with the weight so much that his
chin, when he was sitting, used to rest upon his
knees for support. The country people were rather
shy of meeting him in any lonesome place, for
though, poor creature, he was as harmless and as
inoffensive as a new-born infant, yet his
deformity was so great that he scarcely appeared
to be a human creature, and some ill-minded
persons had set strange stories about him afloat.
He was said to have a great knowledge of herbs
and charms; but certain it was that he had a
mighty skillful hand in plaiting straws and
rushes into hats and baskets, which was the way
he made his livelihood.
Lusmore,
for that was the nickname put upon him, by reason
of his always wearing a sprig of the fairy cap,
or Lusmore (the foxglove), in his little straw
hat, would ever get a higher penny for his
plaited work than anyone else, and perhaps that
was the reason why someone, out of envy, had
circulated the strange stories about him. Be that
is it may, it happened that he was returning one
evening from the pretty town of Cahir towards
Cappagh, and as little Lusmore walked very
slowly, on account of the great hump upon his
back, it was quite dark when he came to the old
moat of Knockgrafton, which stood on the
right-hand side of the road. Tired and weary was
he, and no ways comfortable in his own mind at
thinking how much farther he had to travel, and
that he should be walking all the night; so he
sat down under the moat to rest himself, and
began looking mournfully enough upon the moon,
which--
Presently
there arose a wild strain of unearthly melody
upon the ear of little Lusmore. He listened, and
he thought that he had never heard such ravishing
music before. It was like the sound of many
voices, each mingling and blending with the
others so strangely that they seemed to be one,
though all singing different strains, and the
words of the songs were these:
Da Luan, Da Mort, Da Luan, Da Mort,
Da Luan, Da Mort, Da Luan, Da Mort;
when
there would be a moment's pause, and then the
round of melody went on again.
Lusmore
listened attentively, scarcely drawing his
breath, lest he might lose the slightest note. He
now plainly perceived that the singing was within
the moat; and though at first it had charmed him
much, he began to get tired of hearing the same
round sung over and over so often without
changing; so, availing himself of the pause when
Da Luan, Da Mort, had been sung three times, he
took up the tune and raised it with the words
augus Da Dardeen, and then went on singing with
the voices inside of the moat, Da Luan, Da Mort,
finishing the melody, when the pause came again,
with augus Da Dardeen.
The
fairies within Knockgrafton, for the song was a
fairy melody, when they heard this addition to
the tune, were so much delighted that with
instant resolve it was determined to bring the
mortal among them whose musical skill so far
exceeded theirs, and little Lusmore was conveyed
into their company with the eddying speed of a
whirlwind.
Glorious
to behold was the sight that burst upon him as he
came down through the moat, twirling round and
round, with the lightness of a straw, to the
sweetest music, that kept time to his motion. The
greatest honour was then paid him, for he was put
above all the musicians and he had servants
tending upon him and everything to his heart's
content, and a hearty welcome to all; and, in
short, he was made as much of as if he had been
the first man in the land.
Presently
Lusmore saw a great consultation going on among
the fairies, and, notwithstanding all their
civility, he felt very much frightened, until
one, stepping out from the rest, came up to him
and said:
Lusmore! Lusmore!
Doubt not, nor deplore,
For the hump which you bore
On your back is no more;
Look down on the floor,
And view it, Lusmore!
When
these words were said, poor little Lusmore felt
himself so light and so happy that he thought he
could have bounded at one jump over the moon,
like the cow in the history of the cat and the
fiddle; and he saw, with inexpressible pleasure,
his hump tumble down upon the ground from his
shoulders. He then tried to lift up his head, and
did so with becoming caution, fearing that he
might knock it against the ceiling of the great
hall where he was. He looked round and round
again with the greatest wonder and delight upon
everything, which appeared more and more
beautiful; and, overpowered at beholding such a
resplendent scene, his head grew dizzy and his
eyesight grew dim. At last he fell into a sound
sleep, and when he awoke he found that it was
broad daylight, and the sun shining brightly, and
the birds singing sweetly, and that he was lying
just at the foot of Knockgrafton, with the cows
and sheep grazing peacefully about him. The first
thing Lusmore did, after saying his prayers, was
to put his hand behind to feel for his hump, but
no sign of one was there on his back, and he
looked at himself with great pride, for he had
now become a well-shaped, dapper little fellow,
and more than that, found himself in a full suit
of new clothes, which he concluded the fairies
had made for him.
Toward
Cappgh he went, stepping out as lightly and
springing up at every step as if he had been all
his life a dancing-master. Not a creature who met
Lusmore knew him without his hump, and he had a
great work to persuade everyone that he was the
same man-in truth he was not as far as the
outward appearance went.
Of
course it was not long before the story of
Lusmore's hump got about, and a great wonder was
made of it. Throughout the country for miles
round it was the talk of everyone, high and low.
One
morning, as Lusmore was sitting, content enough,
at his cabin door, up came an old woman to him,
and asked him if he could direct her to Cappagh.
"I
need give you no directions, my good woman,"
said Lusmore, "for this is Cappagh. And whom
may you want here?"
"I
have come," said the woman, "out of
Decies country, in the county of Waterford,
looking after one Lusmore, who, I have heard
tell, had his hump taken off by the fairies; for
there is a son of a gossip of mine who has got a
hump on him that will be his death; and, maybe,
if he could use the same charm as Lusmore the
hump may be taken off him. And now I have told
you the reason of my coming so far; 'tis to find
out about this charm if I can."
Lusmore,
who was ever a good-natured little fellow, told
the woman all the particulars, how he had raised
the tune for the fairies at Knockgrafton, how his
hump had been removed from his shoulders, and how
he had got a new suit of clothes into the
bargain.
The
woman thanked him very much and then went away,
quite happy and easy in her own mind. When sher
came back to her gossip's house, in the county of
Waterford, she told her everything that Lusmore
had said, and they put the little hump-backed
man, who was a peevish and cunning creature from
his birth, upon a car, and took him all the way
across the country. It was a long journey, but
they did not care for that, so the hump was taken
from off him; so they brought him just at
nightfall, and left him under the old moat of
Knockgrafton.
Jack
Madden, for that was the humpy man's name, had
not been sitting there long when he heard the
tune going on within the moat much sweeter than
before; for the fairies were singing it the way
Lusmore had settled their music for them, and the
song was going on, Da Luan, Da Mort, Da Luan, Da
Mort, Da Luan, Da Mort, august Da Dardeen,
without ever stopping. Jack Madden, who was in a
great hurry to get quit of his hump, never
thought of waiting till the fairies had done, or
watching for a fit opportunity to raise the tune
higher than Lusmore had; so, having heard them
sing it over seven times without stopping, out he
bawls, never minding the time or the humour of
the tune, or how he could bring his words in
properly, augus Da Dardeen, augus Da Hena,
thinking that if one day was good two were
better, and that, if Lusmore had one suit of
clothes given him, he should have two.
No
sooner had the words passed his lips than he was
taken up and whisked into the moat with
prodigious force, and the fairies came crowding
round about him with great anger, screeching and
screaming, and roaring out, "Who spoiled our
tune? Who spoiled our tune?" And one stepped
up to him above all the rest and said:
And
twenty of the strongest fairies brought Lusmore's
hump and put it down upon poor Jack's back, over
his own, where it became fixed as firmly as if it
was nailed on with twelve-penny nails by the best
carpenter that ever drove one. Out of their
castle they then kicked him; and in the morning,
when Jack Madden's mother and her gossip came to
look after their little man, they found him half
dead, lying at the foot of the moat, with the
other hump upon his back. Well, to be sure, how
they did look at each other, but they were afraid
to say anything lest a hump might be put upon
their shoulders. Home they brought the unlucky
Jack Madden with them, as downcast in their
hearts and their looks as ever two gossips were;
and what through the weight of his other hump and
the long journey, he died soon after, leaving,
they say, his heavy curse to anyone who would go
to listen to fairy tunes again.
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