LAWN DYARRIG, SON OF THE KING OF ERIN, AND THE KNIGHT OF TERRIBLE VALLEY.
There was a king in his own time in Erin, and he went hunting one day. The king met a man whose head was out through his cap, whose elbows and knees were out through his clothing, and whose toes were out through his shoes.
The man went up to the king, gave him a blow on the face, and drove three teeth from his mouth. The same blow put the king’s head in the dirt. When he rose from the earth the king went back to his castle, and lay down sick and sorrowful.
The king had three sons, and their names were Ur, Arthur, and Lawn Dyarrig. The three were at school that day and came home in the evening. The father sighed when the sons were coming in.
“What is wrong with our father?” asked the eldest.
“Your father is sick on his bed,” said the mother.
The three sons went to their father and asked what was on him.
“A strong man that I met to-day gave me a blow in the face, put my head in the dirt, and knocked three teeth from my mouth. What would you do to him if you met him?” asked the father of the eldest son.
“If I met that man,” replied Ur, “I would make four parts of him between four horses.”
“You are my son,” said the king. “What would you do if you met him?” asked he then, as he turned to the second son.
“If I had a grip on that man I would burn him between four fires.”
“You, too, are my son. What would you do?” asked the king of Lawn Dyarrig.
“If I met that man I would do my best against him, and he might not stand long before me.”
“You are not my son. I would not lose lands or property on you,” said the father. “You must go from me, and leave this to-morrow.”
On the following morning the three brothers rose with the dawn; the order was given Lawn Dyarrig to leave the castle, and make his own way for himself. The other two brothers were going to travel the world to know could they find the man who had injured their father. Lawn Dyarrig lingered outside till he saw the two, and they going off by themselves.
“It is a strange thing,” said he, “for two men of high degree to go travelling without a servant.”
“We need no one,” said Ur.
“Company wouldn’t harm us,” said Arthur.
The two let Lawn Dyarrig go with them then as a serving-boy, and set out to find the man who had struck down their father. They spent all that day walking, and came late to a house where one woman was living. She shook hands with Ur and Arthur, and greeted them. Lawn Dyarrig she kissed and welcomed, called him son of the King of Erin.
“’Tis a strange thing to shake hands with the elder and kiss the younger,” said Ur.
“This is a story to tell,” said the woman; “the same as if your death were in it.”
They made three parts of that night. The first part they spent in conversation, the second in telling tales, the third in eating and drinking, with sound sleep and sweet slumber. As early as the day dawned next morning, the old woman was up and had food for the young men. When the three had eaten she spoke to Ur, and this is what she asked of him, “What was it that drove you from home, and what brought you to this place?”
“A champion met my father, took three teeth from him, and put his head in the dirt. I am looking for that man to find him alive or dead.”
“That was the Green Knight from Terrible Valley. He is the man who took the three teeth from your father. I am three hundred years living in this place, and there is not a year of the three hundred in which three hundred heroes fresh, young, and noble have not passed on the way to Terrible Valley, and never have I seen one coming back, and each of them had the look of a man better than you. And now, where are you going, Arthur?”
“I am on the same journey with my brother.”
“Where are you going, Lawn Dyarrig?”
“I am going with these as a servant,” said Lawn Dyarrig.
“God’s help to you, it’s bad clothing that’s on your body,” said the woman; “and now I will speak to Ur. A day and a year since a champion passed this way; he wore a suit as good as was ever above ground. I had a daughter sewing there in the open window. He came outside, put a finger under her girdle, and took her with him. Her father followed straightway to save her, but I have never seen daughter or father from that day to this. That man was the Green Knight of Terrible Valley. He is better than all the men that could stand on a field a mile in length and a mile in breadth. If you take my advice you’ll turn back and go home to your father.”
’Tis how she vexed Ur with this talk, and he made a vow to himself to go on. When Ur did not agree to turn home, the woman said to Lawn Dyarrig, “Go back to my chamber, you’ll find in it the apparel of a hero.”
He went back, and there was not a bit of the apparel that he did not go into with a spring.
“You may be able to do something now,” said the woman, when Lawn Dyarrig came to the front. “Go back to my chamber and search through all the old swords. You will find one at the bottom; take that.”
He found the old sword, and at the first shake that he gave he knocked seven barrels of rust out of it; after the second shake, it was as bright as when made.
“You may be able to do well with that,” said the woman. “Go out now to that stable abroad, and take the slim white steed that is in it. That one will never stop nor halt in any place till he brings you to the Eastern World. If you like, take these two men behind you; if not, let them walk. But I think it is useless for you to have them at all with you.”
Lawn Dyarrig went out to the stable, took the slim white steed, mounted, rode to the front, and catching the two brothers, planted them on the horse behind him.
“Now, Lawn Dyarrig,” said the woman, “this horse will never stop till he stands on the little white meadow in the Eastern World. When he stops, you’ll come down and cut the turf under his beautiful right front foot.”
The horse started from the door, and at every leap he crossed seven hills and valleys, seven castles with villages, acres, roods, and odd perches. He could overtake the whirlwind before him seven hundred times before the whirlwind behind could overtake him once. Early in the afternoon of the next day he was in the Eastern World. When he dismounted, Lawn Dyarrig cut the sod from under the foot of the slim white steed in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and Terrible Valley was down under him there. What he did next was to tighten the reins on the neck of the steed and let him go home.
“Now,” said Lawn Dyarrig to the brothers, “which would ye rather be doing, making a basket or twisting gads (withes)?”
“We would rather be making a basket; our help is among ourselves,” answered they.
Ur and Arthur went at the basket and Lawn Dyarrig at twisting the gads. When Lawn Dyarrig came to the opening with the gads, all twisted and made into one, they hadn’t the ribs of the basket in the ground yet.
“Oh, then, haven’t ye anything done but that?”
“Stop your mouth,” said Ur, “or we’ll make a mortar of your head on the next stone.”
“To be kind to one another is the best for us,” said Lawn Dyarrig. “I’ll make the basket.”
While they’d be putting one rod in the basket he had the basket finished.
“Oh, brother,” said they, “you are a quick workman.”
They had not called him brother since they left home till that moment.
“Who will go in the basket now?” asked Lawn Dyarrig, when it was finished, and the gad tied to it.
“Who but me?” said Ur. “I am sure, brothers, if I see anything to frighten me ye’ll draw me up.”
“We will,” said the other two.
He went in, but had not gone far when he cried to pull him up again.
“By my father and the tooth of my father, and by all that is in Erin dead or alive, I would not give one other sight on Terrible Valley!” cried he, when he stepped out of the basket.
“Who will go now?” asked Lawn Dyarrig.
“Who will go but me?” answered Arthur.
Whatever length Ur went, Arthur didn’t go the half of it.
“By my father and the tooth of my father, I wouldn’t give another look at Terrible Valley for all that’s in Erin dead or alive!”
“I will go now,” said Lawn Dyarrig, “and as I put no foul play on you, I hope ye’ll not put foul play on me.”
“We will not, indeed,” said they.
Whatever length the other two went, Lawn Dyarrig didn’t go the half of it till he stepped out of the basket and went down on his own feet. It was not far he had travelled in Terrible Valley when he met seven hundred heroes guarding the country.
“In what place here has the Green Knight his castle?” asked he of the seven hundred.
“What sort of a sprisawn goat or sheep from Erin are you?” asked they.
“If we had a hold of you, that’s a question you would not put the second time; but if we haven’t you, we’ll not be so long.”
They faced Lawn Dyarrig then and attacked him; but he went through them like a hawk or a raven through small birds. He made a heap of their feet, a heap of their heads, and a castle of their arms.
After that he went his way walking, and had not gone far when he came to a spring. “I’ll have a drink before I go farther,” thought he. With that he stooped down and took a drink of the water. When he had drunk he lay on the ground and fell asleep.
Now there wasn’t a morning that the lady in the Green Knight’s castle didn’t wash in the water of that spring, and she sent a maid for the water each time. Whatever part of the day it was when Lawn Dyarrig fell asleep, he was sleeping in the morning when the girl came. She thought it was dead the man was, and she was so in dread of him that she would not come near the spring for a long time. At last she saw he was asleep, and then she took the water. Her mistress was complaining of her for being so long.
“Do not blame me,” said the maid. “I am sure that if it was yourself that was in my place you’d not come back so soon.”
“How so?” asked the lady.
“The finest hero that a woman ever laid eyes on is sleeping at the spring.”
“That’s a thing that cannot be till Lawn Dyarrig comes to the age of a hero. When that time comes he’ll be sleeping at the spring.”
“He is in it now,” said the girl.
The lady did not stay to get any drop of the water on herself, but ran quickly from the castle. When she came to the spring she roused Lawn Dyarrig. If she found him lying, she left him standing. She smothered him with kisses, drowned him with tears, dried him with garments of fine silk, and with her own hair. Herself and himself locked arms and walked into the castle of the Green Knight. After that they were inviting each other with the best food and entertainment till the middle of the following day. Then the lady said,—
“When the Green Knight bore me away from my father and mother, he brought me straight to this castle, but I put him under bonds not to marry me for seven years and a day, and he cannot; still I must serve him. When he goes fowling he spends three days away, and the next three days at home. This is the day for him to come back, and for me to prepare his dinner. There is no stir that you or I have made here to-day but that brass head beyond there will tell of it.”
“It is equal to you what it tells,” said Lawn Dyarrig, “only make ready a clean, long chamber for me.”
She did so, and he went back into it. Herself rose up then to prepare dinner for the Green Knight. When he came she welcomed him as every day. She left down his food before him, and he sat to take his dinner. He was sitting with knife and fork in hand when the brass head spoke. “I thought when I saw you taking food and drink with your wife that you had the blood of a man in you. If you could see that sprisawn of a goat or sheep out of Erin taking meat and drink with her all day, what would you do?”
“Oh, my suffering and sorrow!” cried the knight. “I’ll never take another bite or sup till I eat some of his liver and heart. Let three hundred heroes fresh and young go back and bring his heart to me, with the liver and lights, till I eat them.”
The three hundred heroes went, and hardly were they behind in the chamber when Lawn Dyarrig had them all dead in one heap.
“He must have some exercise to delay my men, they are so long away,” said the knight. “Let three hundred more heroes go for his heart, with the liver and lights, and bring them here to me.”
The second three hundred went, and as they were entering the chamber, Lawn Dyarrig was making a heap of them, till the last one was inside, where there were two heaps.
“He has some way of coaxing my men to delay,” said the knight. “Do you go now, three hundred of my savage hirelings, and bring him.”
The three hundred savage hirelings went, and Lawn Dyarrig let every man of them enter before he raised a hand, then he caught the bulkiest of them all by the two ankles and began to wallop the others with him, and he walloped them till he drove the life out of the two hundred and ninety-nine. The bulkiest one was worn to the shin bones that Lawn Dyarrig held in his two hands. The Green Knight, who thought Lawn Dyarrig was coaxing the men, called out then, “Come down, my men, and take dinner!”
“I’ll be with you,” said Lawn Dyarrig, “and have the best food in the house, and I’ll have the best bed in the house. God not be good to you for it, either.”
He went down to the Green Knight and took the food from before him and put it before himself. Then he took the lady, set her on his own knee, and he and she went on eating. After dinner he put his finger under her girdle, took her to the best chamber in the castle, and remained there till morning. Before dawn the lady said to Lawn Dyarrig,—
“If the Green Knight strikes the pole of combat first, he’ll win the day; if you strike first, you’ll win, if you do what I tell you. The Green Knight has so much enchantment that if he sees it is going against him the battle is, he’ll rise like a fog in the air, come down in the same form, strike you, and make a green stone of you. When yourself and himself are going out to fight in the morning, cut a sod a perch long in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; you’ll leave the sod on the next little hillock you meet. When the Green Knight is coming down and is ready to strike, give him a blow with the sod; you’ll make a green stone of him.”
As early as the dawn Lawn Dyarrig rose and struck the pole of combat. The blow that he gave did not leave calf, foal, lamb, kid, or child waiting for birth, without turning them five times to the left and five times to the right.
“What do you want?” asked the knight.
“All that’s in your kingdom to be against me the first quarter of the day, and yourself the second quarter.”
“You have not left in the kingdom now but myself, and it is early enough for you that I’ll be at you.”
The knight faced him, and they went at each other and fought till late in the day. The battle was strong against Lawn Dyarrig when the lady stood in the door of the castle.
“Increase on your blows and increase on your courage,” cried she. “There is no woman here but myself to wail over you, or to stretch you before burial.”
When the knight heard the voice, he rose in the air like a lump of fog. As he was coming down, Lawn Dyarrig struck him with the sod on the right side of his breast, and made a green stone of him.
The lady rushed out then, and whatever welcome she had for Lawn Dyarrig the first time, she had twice as much now. Herself and himself went into the castle and spent that night very comfortably. In the morning they rose early, and collected all the gold, utensils, and treasures. Lawn Dyarrig found the three teeth of his father in a pocket of the Green Knight, and took them. He and the lady brought all the riches to where the basket was. “If I send up this beautiful lady,” thought Lawn Dyarrig, “she may be taken from me by my brothers; if I remain below with her, she may be taken from me by people here.” He put her in the basket, and she gave him a ring so that they might know each other if they met. He shook the gad, and she rose in the basket.
When Ur saw the basket he thought, “What’s above let it be above, and what’s below let it stay where it is.”
“I’ll have you as wife forever for myself,” said he to the lady.
“I put you under bonds,” said she, “not to lay a hand on me for a day and three years.”
“That itself would not be long even if twice the time,” said Ur.
The two brothers started home with the lady; on the way Ur found the head of an old horse with teeth in it and took them, saying, “These will be my father’s three teeth.”
They travelled on, and reached home at last. Ur would not have left a tooth in his father’s mouth, trying to put in the three that he had brought; but the father stopped him.
Lawn Dyarrig, left in Terrible Valley, began to walk around for himself. He had been walking but one day when whom should he meet but the lad Shortclothes, and he saluted him. “By what way can I leave Terrible Valley?” asked Lawn Dyarrig.
“If I had a grip on you that’s what you wouldn’t ask of me a second time,” said Shortclothes.
“If you have not touched me you will before you are much older.”
“If I do, you will not treat me as you did all my people and my master.”
“I’ll do worse to you than I did to them,” said Lawn Dyarrig.
They caught each other then, one grip under the arm and one grip on the shoulder. ’Tis not long they were wrestling when Lawn Dyarrig had Shortclothes on the earth, and he gave him the five thin tyings dear and tight.
“You are the best hero I have ever met,” said Shortclothes; “give me quarter for my soul,—spare me. When I did not tell you of my own will, I must tell in spite of myself.”
“It is as easy for me to loosen you as to tie you,” said Lawn Dyarrig, and he freed him. The moment he was free, Shortclothes said,—
“I put you under bonds, and the misfortune of the year to be walking and going always till you go to the northeast point of the world, and get the heart and liver of the serpent which is seven years asleep and seven years awake.”
Lawn Dyarrig went away then, and never stopped till he was in the northeast of the world, where he found the serpent asleep.
“I will not go unawares on you while you are asleep,” said Lawn Dyarrig, and he turned to go. When he was going, the serpent drew him down her throat with one breath.
Inside he found three men playing cards in her belly. Each laughed when he looked at Lawn Dyarrig.
“What reason have you for laughing?” asked he.
“We are laughing with glee to have another partner to fill out our number.”
Lawn Dyarrig did not sit down to play. He drew his sword, and was searching and looking till he found the heart and liver of the serpent. He took a part of each, and cut out a way for himself between two ribs. The three card-players followed when they saw the chance of escape.
Lawn Dyarrig, free of the serpent, never stopped till he came to Shortclothes, and he was a day and three years on the journey, and doing the work.
“Since you are not dead now,” said Shortclothes, “there is no death allotted to you. I’ll find a way for you to leave Terrible Valley. Go and take that old bridle hanging there beyond and shake it; whatever beast comes and puts its head into the bridle will carry you.”
Lawn Dyarrig shook the bridle, and a dirty, shaggy little foal came and put head in the bridle. Lawn Dyarrig mounted, dropped the reins on the foal’s neck, and let him take his own choice of roads. The foal brought Lawn Dyarrig out by another way to the upper world, and took him to Erin. Lawn Dyarrig stopped some distance from his father’s castle, and knocked at the house of an old weaver.
“Who are you?” asked the old man.
“I am a weaver,” said Lawn Dyarrig.
“What can you do?”
“I can spin for twelve and twist for twelve.”
“This is a very good man,” said the old weaver to his sons. “Let us try him.”
The work they would be doing for a year he had done in one hour. When dinner was over the old man began to wash and shave, and his two sons began to do the same.
“Why is this?” asked Lawn Dyarrig.
“Haven’t you heard that Ur, son of the king, is to marry to-night the woman that he took from the Green Knight of Terrible Valley?”
“I have not,” said Lawn Dyarrig; “but as all are going to the wedding, I suppose I may go without offence.”
“Oh, you may,” said the weaver. “There will be a hundred thousand welcomes before you.”
“Are there any linen sheets within?”
“There are,” said the weaver.
“It is well to have bags ready for yourself and two sons.”
The weaver made bags for the three very quickly. They went to the wedding. Lawn Dyarrig put what dinner was on the first table into the weaver’s bag, and sent the old man home with it. The food of the second table he put in the eldest son’s bag, filled the second son’s bag from the third table, and sent the two home.
The complaint went to Ur that an impudent stranger was taking all the food.
“It is not right to turn any man away,” said the bridegroom; “but if that stranger does not mind he will be thrown out of the castle.”
“Let me look at the face of the disturber,” said the bride.
“Go and bring the fellow who is troubling the guests,” said Ur, to the servants.
Lawn Dyarrig was brought right away, and stood before the bride, who filled a glass with wine and gave it to him. Lawn Dyarrig drank half the wine, and dropped in the ring which the lady had given him in Terrible Valley.
When the bride took the glass again the ring went of itself with one leap to her finger. She knew then who was standing before her.
“This is the man who conquered the Green Knight, and saved me from Terrible Valley,” said she to the King of Erin; “this is Lawn Dyarrig, your son.”
Lawn Dyarrig took out the three teeth, and put them in his father’s mouth. They fitted there perfectly, and grew into their old place. The king was satisfied; and as the lady would marry no man but Lawn Dyarrig he was the bridegroom.
“I must give you a present,” said the bride to the queen. “Here is a beautiful scarf which you are to wear as a girdle this evening.”
The queen put the scarf around her waist.
“Tell me now,” said the bride to the queen, “who was Ur’s father?”
“What father could he have but his own father, the King of Erin?”
“Tighten, scarf,” said the bride.
That moment the queen thought that her head was in the sky, and the lower half of her body down deep in the earth.
“Oh, my grief and my woe!” cried the queen.
“Answer my question in truth, and the scarf will stop squeezing you. Who was Ur’s father?”
“The gardener,” said the queen.
“Whose son is Arthur?”
“The king’s son.”
“Tighten, scarf,” said the bride.
If the queen suffered before, she suffered twice as much this time, and screamed for help.
“Answer me truly, and you’ll be without pain; if not, death will be on you this minute. Whose son is Arthur?”
“The swine-herd’s.”
“Who is the king’s son?”
“The king has no son but Lawn Dyarrig.”
“Tighten, scarf.”
The scarf did not tighten, and if the bride had been commanding it for a day and a year it would not have tightened, for the queen told the truth that time. When the wedding was over, the king gave Lawn Dyarrig half his kingdom, and made Ur and Arthur his servants.