TOMAUS O CAHAN AND THE GHOST.
Come hear my walking, my midnight walking,
A cause of dread, and a cause of dread,
With that corpse of faierie could get no stretching
Amongst the dead men, amongst the dead.
[The Corpse speaks.]
"Raise my dead body with no rejoicing
And a beef I'll give thee, a beef I'll give,
[Tomaus answers.]
"If I should settle on that condition
Where is the beef, and where is the beef?"
[The Corpse speaks.]
"It's old Shaun Bingham and Shaun Oge Bingham
My sureties be, my sureties be,
In the crooked letter I wrote a ticket
To Bél-in-Assan beside the sea."
"You will get a heaplet beneath the midden
So green and gloomy, green and gloomy,
Then take it with thee for thy provision
Beneath thy armpit—against thy journey."
The corpse was raised on Tomaus his back,
In the ways of night, in the ways of night,
Through roads that were narrow and hard and crooked,
By the pale moonlight, by the pale moonlight.
And long was the route, and the cross-track journey,
Through miry bogs and through dripping glooms,
Westward to Lugh-moy-more-na-mrauher[77]
Of the grass green tombs, of the grass green tombs.
[The Corpse speaks.]
"At thy right hand is a spade for digging,
Behind the door post it will be found,
With a strong thrust, thrust; with a thrust not timid,
And turn the ground, and turn the ground."
[Tomaus speaks.]
"At my right hand did I find the spade,
'Twas behind the door there, behind the door,
And a strong thrust downward I quickly made
Through the earthen floor, through the earthen floor."
"I struck it strongly, I drove it down,
Through the upper earth, through the upper earth,
Till I broke the thigh of the English clown,
Who was sleeping there in his clay cold berth."
"'A thousand pililloos,' cries the trooper,
'Where is my pistol that I may slay?'
Cries Mary O'Reilly, Lord Guido's wife,
'Come clear the way there, come clear the way!'"
[The Corpse speaks.]
"Oro! oh Tomaus! oro! oh Tomaus!
Do not leave me here I beseech of thee,
I've a mother's relative's son in Craggan
And it's buried there I shall have to be."
On Tomaus his back was the body hoisted,
In the ways of night, in the ways of night,
Through roads that were crooked and rough and narrow
By the pale moonlight, by the pale moonlight.
"Going down of a race and in great disorder,
To the Craggan More, to the Craggan More,
I found a spade at my right hand lying
Behind the door there, behind the door."
"I found a spade at my right hand laid,
Behind the door there, behind the door,
Two thrusts that were heavy and strong I made
Through the earthen floor, through the earthen floor."
"'Til I broke the hip bone of Watson Harford
Was beneath the ground and he raised a clamour,
'Hubbubboo,' cried the Gowa Dhu
'Where is my hammer, where is my hammer.'"
[The Corpse speaks.]
"Oro! oh Tomaus; uch, uch, uch, oh!
Do not leave me here I beseech of thee,
For my father's brother's son is in Derry
And it's buried there I shall have to be."
"On reaching the place all spent and lonely
And I despairing, and I despairing,
The gates were all strongly barred before me
But I smote upon them with sudden daring."
"Said the Mayor of the place, in his grave clothes rising,
In his winding sheet from his clay bed taken,
'Why knock so hard, each to his part;
Come dead awaken, come dead awaken.'"
"Bodies and coffins came pouring upwards
From the ground beneath in the pale moonlight,
And they ranged themselves in a raging rabble
On the bare wall's height, on the bare wall's height."
"'A hundred pililloos!' cried they all,
'What is the matter, where are we hurried?'"
[Tomaus answers.]
"It is one of your friends who has died and here
Is the place where he says that he must be buried.
For his kindred are here and it's well they are,
Then take him from me, and good's my riddance."
[The Ghost asks.]
"Who of his people is buried here
To claim admittance, claim admittance?"
[Tomaus answers.]
"I know not myself of what tribe my man is
On the ridge of earth if I'm not a liar,
There's a stir and a voice in him, ask himself,
Of himself inquire, himself inquire."
The corpse was raised on Tomaus his back,
Than a gad more tight, than a gad more tight,
Till he took a skreep to the Teampoll-Démuis,
And he found it fastened that weary night.
[The Corpse speaks.]
"Search for the key, you will find it lying
Behind the door, or upon the wall."
He searched for the key and he found and opened
And wide and silent and dark was all.
[The Corpse speaks again.]
"Oro, oh, Tomaus! Oro, oh, Tomaus!
Oh, bury me quick out of sight and sound,
See yonder the spade forenenst you lying,
And turn the ground, and turn the ground."
He took the spade in his hand, and quickly
He turned the ground so black and bare,
Till he broke the bones of an English bodach
Who had long been there, who had long been there.
"Blood and owns, you broke my bones,"
That man kept crying with teeth that chatter,
And then spoke Smiler, the wife of Simon,
"What is the matter? What is the matter?"
"Where was he, or where did he pass his life,
That he's got no bed where he now may go?"
[Tomaus answers.]
"He's there before you who knows it best.
You must ask him yourself, for I do not know."
Then Feeny arose and he took some snuff
And he seized an alpeen and gripped it tight,
And there was the slashing and noise and smashing
Till the morning light, till the morning light.
The Corpse was raised on Tomaus his back,
Like a tightened gad, like a tightened gad,
And he brought it up, and he brought it down,
And the way was long and the way was bad.
To Carrick-vic-oruis and Teampoll-Ronáin
And Imlogue-Fhada the corpse was hurried,
But in Kill-Vreedya the skreep was over
The corpse was buried, the corpse was buried.
A stick and a stone on it,
And bad luck on it!