There was once a man
who had three sons, and very little money to provide for them. So,
when the eldest had grown into a lad, and saw that there was no
means of making a livelihood at home, he went to his father and said
to him:
“Father, if thou wilt give me a horse to ride on, a hound to hunt
with, and a hawk to fly, I will go out into the wide world and seek
my fortune.”
His father gave him what he asked for; and he set out on his
travels. He rode and he rode, over mountain and glen, until, just at
nightfall, he came to a thick, dark wood. He entered it, thinking
that he might find a path that would lead him through it; but no
path was visible, and after wandering up and down for some time, he
was obliged to acknowledge to himself that he was completely lost.
There seemed to be nothing for it but to tie his horse to a tree,
and make a bed of leaves for himself on the ground; but just as he
was about to do so he saw a light glimmering in the distance, and,
riding on in the direction in which it was, lie soon came to a
clearing in the wood, in which stood a magnificent Castle.
The windows were all lit up, but the great door was barred; and,
after he had ridden up to it, and knocked, and received no answer,
the young man raised his hunting horn to his lips and blew a loud
blast in the hope of letting the inmates know that he was without.
Instantly the door flew open of its own accord, and the young man
entered, wondering very much what this strange thing would mean. And
he wondered still more when he passed from room to room, and found
that, although fires were burning brightly everywhere, and there was
a plentiful meal laid out on the table in the great hall, there did
not seem to be a single person in the whole of the vast building.
However, as he was cold, and tired, and wet, he put his horse in one
of the stalls of the enormous stable, and taking his hawk and hound
along with him, went into the hall and ate a hearty supper. After
which he sat down by the side of the fire, and began to dry his
clothes.
By this time it had grown late, and he was just thinking of retiring
to one of the bedrooms which he had seen upstairs and going to bed,
when a clock which was hanging on the wall struck twelve.
Instantly the door of the huge apartment opened, and a most
awful-looking Draiglin5 Hogney entered. His hair was matted and his
beard was long, and his eyes shone like stars of fire from under his
bushy eyebrows, and in his hands he carried a queerly shaped club.
He did not seem at all astonished to see his unbidden guest; but,
coming across the hall, he sat down upon the opposite side of the
fireplace, and, resting his chin on his hands, gazed fixedly at him.
“Doth thy horse ever kick any?” he said at last, in a harsh, rough
voice.
“Ay, doth he,” replied the young man; for the only steed that his
father had been able to give him was a wild and unbroken colt.
“I have some skill in taming horses,” went on the Draiglin' Hogney,
“and I will give thee something to tame thine withal. Throw this
over him” — and he pulled one of the long, coarse hairs out of his
head and gave it to the young man. And there was something so
commanding in the Hogney's voice that he did as he was bid, and went
out to the stable and threw the hair over the horse.
Then he returned to the hall, and sat down again by the fire. The
moment that he was seated the Draiglin" Hogney asked another
question.
"Doth thy hound ever bite arly?”
“Ay, verily,” answered the youth; for his hound was so
fierce-tempered that no man, save his master, dare lay a hand on
him.
“I can cure the wildest tempered dog in Christendom" replied the
Draiglin’ Hogney. “Take that, and throw it over him,” And he pulled
another hair out of his head and gave it to the young man, who lost
no time in flinging it over his hound.
There was still a third question to follow. “Doth ever thy hawk peck
any?”
The young man laughed. “I have ever to keep a bandage over her eyes,
save when she is ready to fly,” said he; “else were nothing safe
within her reach.”
“Things will be safe now,” said the Hogney, grimly. “Throw that over
her.” And for the third time he pulled a hair from his head and
handed it to his companion. And as the other hairs had been thrown
over the horse and the hound, so this one was thrown over the hawk.
Then, before the young man could draw breath, the fiercesome
Draiglin* Hogney had given him such a clout on the side of his head
with his queer-shaped club that he fell down in a heap on the floor.
And very soon his hawk and his hound tumbled down still and
motionless beside him; and, out in the stable, his horse became
stark and stiff, as if turned to stone. For the Draiglin's words had
meant more than at first appeared when he said that he could make
all unruly animals quiet.
Some time afterwards
the second of the three eons came to his father in the old home with
the same request that his brother had made. That he should be
provided with a horse, a hawk, and a hound, and be allowed to .go
out to seek his fortune. And his father listened to him, and gave
him what he asked, as he had given his brother.
And the young man set out, and in due time came to the wood, and
lost himself in it, just as his brother had done; then he saw the
light, and came to the Castle, and went in, and had supper, and
dried his clothes, just as it all had happened before.
And the Draiglin’ Hogney came in, and asked him the three questions,
and he gave the same three answers, and received three hairs—one to
throw over his horse, one to throw over his hound, and one to throw
over his hawk; then the Hogney killed him, just as he had killed his
brother.
Time passed, and the youngest son, finding that his two elder
brothers never returned, asked his father for a horse, a hawk, and a
hound, in order that he might go and look for them. And the poor old
man, who was feeling yery desolate in his old age, gladly gave them
to him.
So he set out on his quest, and at nightfall he came, as the others
had done, to the thick wood and the Castle. But, being a wise and
cautious youth, he liked not the way in which he found things. He
liked not the empty house; he liked not the spread-out feast; and,
most of all, he liked not the look of the Draiglin’ Hogney when he
saw him. And he determined to be very careful what he said or did as
long as he was in his company.
So when the Draiglin’ Hogney asked him if his horse kicked, he
replied that it did, in very few words ; and when he got one of the
Hogney’s hairs to throw over him, he went out to the stable, and
pretended to do so, but he brought it back, hidden in his hand, and,
when his unchancy companion was not looking, he threw it into the
fire. It fizzled up like a tongue of flame with a little hissing
sound -like that of a serpent.
“What’s that fizzling?” asked the Giant suspiciously.
“'Tis but the sap of the green wood,” replied the young man
carelessly, as he turned to caress his hound.
The answer satisfied the Draiglin’ Hogney, and he paid no heed to
the sound which the hair that should have been thrown over the
hound, or the sound which the hair that should have been thrown over
the hawk, made, when the young man threw them into the fire; and
they fizzled up in the same way that the first had done.
Then, thinking that he had the stranger in his power, he whisked
across the hearthstone to strike him with his club, as he had struck
his brothers; but the young man was on the outlook, and when he saw
him coming he gave a shrill whistle. And his horse, which loved him
dearly, came galloping in from the stable, and his hound sprang up
from the hearthstone where he had been sleeping; and his hawk, who
was sitting on his shoulder, ruffled up her feathers and screamed
harshly; and they all fell on the Draiglin’ Hogney at once, and he
found out only too well how the horse kicked, and the hound bit, and
the hawk pecked; for they kicked him, and bit him, and pecked him,
till he was as dead as a door nail.
When the young man saw that he was dead, he took his little club
from his hand, and, armed with that, he set out to explore the
Castle.
As he expected, he found that there were dark and dreary dungeons
under it, and in one of them he found his two brothers, lying cold
and stiff side by side. He touched them with the club, and instantly
they came to life again, and sprang to their feet as well as ever.
Then he went into another dungeon; and there were the two horses,
and the two hawks, and the two hounds, lying as if dead, exactly as
their Masters had lain. He touched them with his magic club, and
they, too, came to life again.
Then he called to his two brothers, and the three young men searched
the other dungeons, and they found great stores of gold and silver
hidden in them, enough to make them rich for life.
So they buried the Draiglin’ Hogney, and took possession of the
Castle; and two of them went home and brought their old father back
with them, and they all were as prosperous and happy as they could
be; and, for aught that I know, they are living there still. |