Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry By William Butler Yeats
THE LEGEND OF KNOCKGRAFTON.
T. CROFTON CROCKER.
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 was 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 [Pg 41] meeting
him in any lonesome place, for though, poor creature,
he was as harmless and as inoffensive as a newborn
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 skilful 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 any one else, and perhaps that was the reason
why some one, out of envy, had circulated the strange
stories about him.
Be that as 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 his road.
Tired
and weary was he, and noways 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—
"Rising in clouded majesty, at length
Apparent Queen, unveil'd her peerless light,
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw."
Presently there rose 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 other so strangely
that they seemed to be one, though all singing different
strains, and the words of the song were these—
Da Luan, Da Mort, Da Luan, Da Mort, Da Luan, Da Mort;
[Pg 42] 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 so much,
he began to get tired of hearing the same round sung
over and over so often without any change; 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
again came, 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 forward
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!"
[Pg 43] 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 he did so with
becoming caution, fearing that he might knock it against
the ceiling of the grand 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 became
dim. At last he fell into a sound sleep, and when
he awoke he found that it was broad daylight, the
sun shining brightly, and the birds singing sweetly;
and that he was lying just at the foot of the moat
of Knockgrafton, with the cows and sheep grazing peaceably
round 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.
Towards Cappagh 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 every one that he was the same man—in
truth he was not, so 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.
Through the country, for miles round, it was the talk
of every one, high and low.
One morning, as Lusmore was sitting contented 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 [Pg 44] Lusmore, "for this is Cappagh; and
whom may you want here?"
"I have come," said the woman, "out
of Decie's 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 she 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; and 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, augus Da Dardeen, without ever stopping. Jack
Madden, who was in a great hurry to get quit of his
hump, never thought of waiting until the fairies had
done, or watching for a fit opportunity to raise the
tune higher again than Lusmore had; so having heard
them sing it over seven times without stopping, out
he bawls, never minding the time or the humour [Pg
45] 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 new 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—
"Jack Madden! Jack Madden!
Your words came so bad in
The tune we felt glad in;—
This castle you're had in,
That your life we may sadden;
Here's two humps for Jack Madden!"
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 own 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 any one who would go
to listen to fairy tunes again.