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Penelope's Irish Experiences-Part31_Kate Douglas Wiggin(1856-1923)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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Strangers, or the Children of Corr the Swift-Footed.

This cantred of Devorgilla they acquired by paying rent and tribute



to the Wise Woman of Wales, who granted them to fish in its crystal

streams and to hunt over the green-sided hills, to roam through the



woods of yew-trees and to pluck the flowers of every hue that were

laughing all over the plains.



Thus were they circumstanced: Their palace of abode was never

without three shouts in it,--the shout of the maidens brewing tea,



the shout of the guests drinking it, and the shout of the assembled

multitude playing at their games. The same house was never without



three measures,--a measure of magic malt for raising the spirits, a

measure of Attic salt for the seasoning of tales, and a measure of



poppy leaves to induce sleep when the tales were dull.

And the manner of their lives was this: In the cool of the morning



they gathered nuts and arbutus apples and scarletquicken berries to

take back with them to Tir-thar-toinn, the Country beyond the Wave;



for this was the land of their birth. When the sun was high in the

east they went forth to the chase; sometimes it was to hunt the Ard-



ri, and at others it was in pursuit of Dermot of the Bright Face.

Then, after resting awhile on their couches of soft rushes, they



would perform champion feats, or play on their harps, or fish in

their clear-flowing streams that were swimming with salmon.



The manner of their fishing was this: to cut a long, straight

sallow-tree rod, and having fastened a hook and one of Finola's



hairs upon it, to put a quicken-tree berry upon the hook, and stand

on the brink of the swift-flowing river, whence they drew out the



shining-skinned, silver-sided salmon. These they would straightway

broil over a little fire of birch boughs; and they needed with them



no other food but the magical loaf made by Toma, one of their house-

servants. The witch hag that dwelt on that hillside of Rosnaree



called Fan-na-carpat, or the Slope of the Chariots, had cast a

druidical spell over Toma, by which she was able to knead a loaf



that would last twenty days and twenty nights, and one mouthful of

which would satisfy hunger for that length of time.**



** Fact.

Not far from the mayden castle was a certain royal palace, with a



glittering roof, and the name of the palace was Rosnaree. And upon

the level green in front of the regal abode, or in the banqueting-



halls, might always be seen noble companies of knights and ladies

bright,--some feasting, some playing at the chess, some giving ear



to the music of their own harps, some continually shaking the Chain

of Silence, and some listening to the poems and tales of heroes of



the olden time that were told by the king's bards and shanachies.

Now all went happily with the Fair Strangers until the crimson



berries were ripening on the quicken-tree near the Fairy Palace.

For the berries possessed secret virtues known only to a man of the



Dedannans, and learned from him by Sheela the Scribe, who put him

under gesa not to reveal the charm to any one else. Whosoever ate



of the honey-sweet, scarlet-glowing fruit felt a cheerful flow of

spirits, as if he had tasted wine or mead, and whosoever ate a



sufficient number of them was almost certain to grow younger. These

things were written in the Speckled Book of Salemina, but in



druidical ink, undecipherable to all eyes but those of the Scribe

herself.



So, wishing that none should possess the secret but themselves, the

Fair Strangers set the Gilla Dacker+ to watch the fruit (putting him



first under gesa to eat none of the berries himself, since he was

already too cheerful and too young to be of much service); and thus,



in their absence, the magical tree was never left alone.

+Could be freely translated as the Slothful Button Boy.



Nevertheless, when Finola the Festive went forth to the chase one

day, she found a quicken berry glowing like a ruby in the highroad,



and Sheela plucked a second from under a gnarled thorn on the Slope

of the Chariots, and Pearla discovered a third in the curiously-



compounded, swiftly-satisfying loaf of Toma. Then the Fair

Strangers became very angry, and sent out their trusty fleet-footed



couriers to scour the land for the invaders; for they knew that none

of the Dedannans would take the berries, being under gesa not to do



so. But the couriers returned, and though they were men able to

trace the trail of a fox through nine glens and nine rivers, they



could discover no proof of the presence of a foreign foe in the

mayden cantred of Devorgilla.



Then the hearts of the Fair Strangers were filled with grief and

gall, for they distrusted the couriers, and having consulted the






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