Read Online Irish Folk Tales by Henry Glassie - Free Book Online Page B

pass that night, and the short green man said that they would be in the house of the giant over there that night.
    They came to the house, and the short green man drew the
coolaya-coric
—the pole of combat—and he did not leave child with woman, foal with mare, pigeen with pig, or badger in glen, that he did not turn over three times with the quantity of sound he knocked out of the
coolaya-coric
. The giant came out, and he said: “I feel the smell of the melodious lying Irishman under my little sod of country.”
    “I’m no melodious lying Irishman,” said the short green man. “But my master is out there at the head of the avenue, and if he comes he will whip the head off you.” The short green man was growing big, growing big, until at last he looked as big as the castle. There came fear on the giant, and he said: “Is your master as big as you?”
    “He is,” says the short green man, “and bigger.”
    “Put me in hiding till morning, until your master goes,” said the giant.
    Then he put the giant under lock and key, and went out to the king’s son. Then the king of Ireland’s son, the gunman, the earman, the footman, the blowman, and the man who broke stones with the side of his thigh, came into the castle, and they spent that night, a third of it a-storytelling, a third of it with Fenian tales, and a third of it in mild enjoyment of slumber and of true sleep.
    When the day on the morrow arose, the short green man brought with him his master, the gunman, the earman, the footman, the blowman, and the man who broke stones with the side of his thigh, and he left them outside at the head of the avenue, and he came back himself and took the lock off the giant. He told the giant that his master sent him back for the black cap that was under the head of his bed. The giant said that he would give him a hat that he never wore himself, but that he was ashamed to give him the old cap. The short green man said that unless he gave him the cap his master would come back and strike the head off him.
    “It’s best for me to give it to you,” said the giant. “And any time at all you will put it on your head you will see everybody and nobody will see you.” He gave him the cap then, and the short green man came and gave it to the king of Ireland’s son.
    They were a-going then. They would overtake the March wind that was before them, and the March wind that was behind them would not overtake them, going to the eastern world. When evening and the end of the day came, the king of Ireland’s son looked from him, and he did not see any house in which he might be that night. The short green man looked from him, and he saw a castle, and he said: “The giant that is inthat castle is the brother of the giant with whom we were last night, and we shall be in this castle tonight.”
    They came to the castle, and he left the king’s son and his people at the head of the avenue, and he went to the door and pulled the
coolaya-coric
, and he did not leave child with woman, foal with mare, pigeen with pig, or badger in glen, within seven miles of him, that he did not knock three turns out of them with all the sound he knocked out of the
coolaya-coric
.
    The giant came out, and he said, “I feel the smell of a melodious lying Irishman under my sod of country.”
    “No melodious lying Irishman am I,” says the short green man. “But my master is outside at the head of the avenue, and if he comes he will whip the head off you.”
    “I think you large of one mouthful, and I think you small of two mouthfuls,” said the giant.
    “You won’t get me of a mouthful at all,” said the short green man, and he began swelling until he was as big as the castle. There came fear on the giant, and he said:
    “Is your master as big as you?”
    “He is, and bigger.”
    “Hide me,” said the giant, “till morning, until your master goes, and anything you will be wanting you must get it.”
    He brought the giant with him, and he put