“‘And now, Manus,’ says the little man, ‘ye seen the whole o’ this, and go your ways; but never come to this place any more, or allow any one else. I must keep watch and ward till the Sassanach is druv out of Ireland, and the Thiernas o’ Breffni in their glory again.’ The little man then stopped for awhile and looked up in Manus’s face, and says to him in a great passion, ‘Arrah! bad luck to ye, Manus, why don’t ye go about your business?’
“‘How can I?—sure you must show me the way out,’ says Manus, making answer. The little man then pointed forward with his finger.
“‘Can’t we go out the way we came?’ says Manus.
“‘No, you must go out at the other end—that’s the rule o’ this place. Ye came in at Linn-na-Payshtha, and you must go out at Poul-maw-Gullyawn: ye came down like a stone to the bottom of one hole, and ye must spring up like a cork to the top of the other.’ With that the little man gave him one hoise, and all that Manus remembers was the roar of the water in his ears; and sure enough he was found the next morning, high and dry, fast asleep with the empty bottle beside him, but far enough from the place he thought he landed, for it was just below yonder on the island that his wife found him. My father, God be merciful to him! heard Manus swear to every word of the story.”
As there are few things which excite human desire throughout all nations more than wealth, the legends concerning the concealment, discovery and circulation of money, are, as may be expected, widely extended; yet in all the circumstances, which admit of so much fanciful embellishment, there every where exists a striking similarity.
Like the golden apples of the Hesperides, treasure is guarded by a dragon or serpent. Vide Creuzer, Religions de l’Antiquite, traduction de Guigniaut, i. 248. Paris, 1825. Stories of its discovery in consequence of dreams or spiritual agency are so numerous, that, if collected, they would fill many volumes, yet they vary little in detail beyond the actors and locality. Vide Grimm’s Deutsche Sagen, i. 290. Thiele’s Danske Folkesagn, i. 112, ii. 24. Kirke’s Secret Commonwealth, p. 12, &c.
The circulation of money bestowed by the fairies or supernatural personages, like that of counterfeit coin, is seldom extensive. See story, in the Arabian Nights, of the old rogue whose fine-looking money turned to leaves. When Waldemar, Holgar, and Grœn Jette in Danish tradition, bestow money upon the boors whom they meet, their gift sometimes turns to fire, sometimes to pebbles, and sometimes is so hot, that the receiver drops it from his hand, when the gold, or what appeared to be so, sinks into the ground.
In poor Ireland, the wretched peasant contents himself by soliloquizing—“Money is the devil, they say; and God is good that He keeps it from us.”
ROCKS AND STONES.
