The Vision Of Macconglinney
CATHAL,
King of Munster, was a good king and a great warrior. But there came to dwell
within him a lawless evil beast, that afflicted him with hunger that ceased
not, and might not be satisfied, so that he would devour a pig, a cow, and a
bull calf and three-score cakes of pure wheat, and a vat of new ale, for his
breakfast, whilst as for his great feast, what he ate there passes account or
reckoning. He was like this for three half-years, and during that time it was
the ruin of Munster he was, and it is likely he would have ruined all Ireland
in another half-year.
Now there lived in Armagh a famous young scholar and his name
was Anier MacConglinney. He heard of the strange disease of King Cathal, and
of the abundance of food and drink, of whitemeats, ale and mead, there were
always to be found at the king's court. Thither then was he minded to go to
try his own fortune, and to see of what help he could be to the king.
He arose early in the morning and tucked up his shirt and
wrapped him in the folds of his white cloak. In his right hand he grasped his
even-poised knotty staff, and going right-hand-wise round his home, he bade
farewell to his tutors and started off.
He journeyed across all Ireland till he came to the house of
Pichan. And there he stayed and told tales, and made all merry. But Pichan
said:
"Though great thy mirth, son of learning, it does not
make me glad."
"And why ?" asked MacConglinney.
"Knowest thou not, scholar, that Cathal is coming here
to-night with all his host. And if the great host is trouble-some, the king's
first meal is more troublesome still ; and troublesome though the first be,
most troublesome of all is the great feast. Three things are wanted for this
last: a bushel of oats, and a bushel of wild apples, and a bushel of flour
cakes."
"What reward would you give me if I shield you from the
king from this hour to the same hour to-tnorrow ?"
"A white sheep from every fold between Cam and
Cork."
"I will take that," said MacConglinney.
Cathal, the king, came with the companies, and a host of horse
of the Munster men. But Cathal did not let the thong of his shoe be half
loosed before he began supplying his mouth with both hands from the apples
round about him. Pichan and all the men of Munster looked on sadly and
sorrowfully. Then rose Macconglinney, hastily and impatiently, and seized a
stone, against which swords were used to be sharpened ; this he thrust into
his mouth and began grinding his teeth against the stone.
"What makes thee mad, son of learning?" asked
Cathal.
"I grieve to see you eating alone," said the
scholar.
Then the king was ashamed and flung him the apples, and it is
said that for three half-years he had not performed such an act of humanity.
"Grant me a further boon," said MacConglinney.
"It is granted, on my troth," said the king.
"Fast with me the whole night," said the scholar.
And grievous though it was to the king, he did so, for he had
passed his princely troth, and no King of Munster might transgress that.
In the morning MacConglinney called for juicy old bacon, and
tender corned beef, honey in the comb, and English salt on a beautiful
polished dish of white silver. A fire he lighted of oak wood without smoke,
without fumes, without sparks.
And sticking spits into the portion of meat, he set to work to
roast them. Then he shouted, "Ropes and cords here."
Ropes and cords were given to him, and the strongest of the
warriors.
And they seized the king and bound him securely, and made him
fast with knots and hooks and staples. When the king was thus fastened,
MacConglinney sat himself down before him, and taking his knife out of his
girdle, he carved the portion of meat that was on the spits, and every morsel
he dipped in the honey, and, passing it in front of the king's mouth, put it
in his own.
When the king saw that he was getting nothing, and he had been
fasting for twenty-four hours, he roared and bellowed, and commanded the
killing of the scholar. But that was not done for him.
Listen, King of Munster," said MacConglinney, "a
vision appeared to me last night, and I will relate it to you."
He then began his vision, and as he related it he put morsel
after morsel past Cathal's mouth into his own.
"A lake of new milk I beheld
In the midst of a fair plain,
Therein a well-appointed house,
Thatched with butter.
Puddings fresh boiled,
Such were its thatch-rods,
Its two soft door posts of custard,
Its beds of glorious bacon.
Cheeses were the palisades,
Sausages the rafters.
Truly 'twas a rich filled house,
In which was great store of good feed.
Such was the vision I beheld, and a voice sounded into my
ears. 'Go now, thither, MacConglinney, for you have no power of eating in
you. What must I do,' said I, for the sight of that had made me greedy.
Then the voice bade me go to the hermitage of the Wizard Doctor, and there I
should find appetite for all kinds of savoury tender sweet food, acceptable to
the body.
"There in the harbour of the lake before me I saw a juicy
little coracle of beef; its thwarts were of curds, its prow of lard ; its
stern of butter ; its oars were flitches of venison. Then I rowed across the
wide expanse of the New Milk Lake, through seas of broth, past river mouths of
meat, over swelling boisterous waves of butter milk, by perpetual pools of
savoury lard, by islands of cheese, by headlands of old curds, until I reached
the firm level land between Butter Mount and Milk Lake, in the land of
O'Early-eating, in front of the hermitage of the Wizard Doctor.
"Marvellous, indeed, was the hermitage. Around it were
seven-score hundred smooth stakes of old bacon, and instead of thorns above
the top of every stake was fixed juicy lard. There was a gate of cream,
whereon was a bolt of sausage. And there I saw the doorkeeper, Bacon Lad, son
of Butterkins, son of Lardipole, with his smooth sandals of old bacon, his
legging of pot-meat round his shins, his tunic of corned beef, his girdle of
salmon skin round him, his hood of flummery about him, his steed of bacon
under him, with its four legs of custard, its four hoofs of oaten bread, its
ears of curds, its two eyes of honey in its head ; in his hand a whip, the
cords wher were four-and-twenty fair white puddings, and every juicy drop
that fell from each of these puddings would have made a meal for an ordinary
man.
"On going in I beheld the Wizard Doctor with his two
gloves of rump steak on his hands, setting in order the house, which was hung
all round with tripe, from roof to floor.
"I went into the kitchen, and there I saw the Wizard
Doctor's son, with his fishing hook of lard in his hand, and the line was made
of marrow, and he was angling in a lake of whey. Now he would bring up a
flitch of ham, and now a fillet of corned beef. And as he was angling, he fell
in, and was drowned.
"As I set my foot across the threshold into the house, I
saw a pure white bed of butter, on which I sat down, but I sank down into it
up to the tips of my hair. Hard work had the eight strongest men in the house
to pull me out by the top of the crown of my head.
"Then I was taken in to the Wizard Doctor. 'What aileth
thee ?' said he.
"My wish would be, that all the many wonderful viands of
the world were before me, that I might eat my fill and satisfy my greed. But
alas ! great is the misfortune to me, who cannot obtain any of these.
"'On my word,' said the Doctor, 'the disease is grievous.
But thou shall take home with thee a medicine to cure thy disease, and shalt
be for ever healed therefrom.'
" 'What is that ?' asked I.
When thou goest home to-night, warm thyself before a glowing
red fire of oak, made up on a dry hearth, so that its embers may warm thee,
its blaze may not burn thee, its smoke may not touch thee. And make for
thyself thrice nine morsels, and every morsel as big as an heath fowl's egg,
and in each morsel eight kinds of grain, wheat and barley, oats and rye, and
therewith eight condiments, and to every condiment eight sauces. And when thou
hast prepared thy food, take a drop of drink, a tiny drop, only as much as
twenty men will drink, and let it be of thick milk, of yellow bubbling milk,
of milk that will gurgle as it rushes down thy throat.'
" 'And when thou hast done this, whatever disease thou
hast, shall be removed. Go now,' said he, 'in the name of cheese, and may the
smooth juicy bacon protect thee, may yellow curdy cream protect, may the
cauldron full of pottage protect thee.' "
Now, as MacConglinney recited his vision, what with the
pleasure of the recital and the recounting of these many pleasant viands, and
the sweet savour of the honeyed morsels roasting on the spits, the lawless
beast that dwelt within the king, came forth until it was licking its lips
outside its head.
Then MacConglinney bent his hand with the two spits of food,
and put them to the lips of the king, who longed to swallow them, wood, food,
and all. So he took them an arm's length away from the king, and the lawless
beast jumped from the throat of Cathal on to the spit. MacConglinney put the
spit into the embers, and upset the cauldron of the royal house over the spit.
The house was emptied, so that not the value of a cockchafer's leg was left in
it, and four huge fires were kindled here and there in it. When the house was
a tower of red flame and a huge blaze, the lawless beast sprang to the
rooftree of the palace, and from thence he vanished, and was seen no more.
As for the king, a bed was prepared for him on a downy quilt,
and musicians and singers entertained him going from noon till twilight. And
when he awoke, this is what he bestowed upon the scholar - a cow from every
farm, and a sheep from every house in Munster. Moreover, that so long as he
lived, he should carve the king's food, and sit at his right hand.
Thus was Cathal, King of Munster, cured of his craving, and
MacConglinney honoured.
King of Munster, was a good king and a great warrior. But there came to dwell
within him a lawless evil beast, that afflicted him with hunger that ceased
not, and might not be satisfied, so that he would devour a pig, a cow, and a
bull calf and three-score cakes of pure wheat, and a vat of new ale, for his
breakfast, whilst as for his great feast, what he ate there passes account or
reckoning. He was like this for three half-years, and during that time it was
the ruin of Munster he was, and it is likely he would have ruined all Ireland
in another half-year.
Now there lived in Armagh a famous young scholar and his name
was Anier MacConglinney. He heard of the strange disease of King Cathal, and
of the abundance of food and drink, of whitemeats, ale and mead, there were
always to be found at the king's court. Thither then was he minded to go to
try his own fortune, and to see of what help he could be to the king.
He arose early in the morning and tucked up his shirt and
wrapped him in the folds of his white cloak. In his right hand he grasped his
even-poised knotty staff, and going right-hand-wise round his home, he bade
farewell to his tutors and started off.
He journeyed across all Ireland till he came to the house of
Pichan. And there he stayed and told tales, and made all merry. But Pichan
said:
"Though great thy mirth, son of learning, it does not
make me glad."
"And why ?" asked MacConglinney.
"Knowest thou not, scholar, that Cathal is coming here
to-night with all his host. And if the great host is trouble-some, the king's
first meal is more troublesome still ; and troublesome though the first be,
most troublesome of all is the great feast. Three things are wanted for this
last: a bushel of oats, and a bushel of wild apples, and a bushel of flour
cakes."
"What reward would you give me if I shield you from the
king from this hour to the same hour to-tnorrow ?"
"A white sheep from every fold between Cam and
Cork."
"I will take that," said MacConglinney.
Cathal, the king, came with the companies, and a host of horse
of the Munster men. But Cathal did not let the thong of his shoe be half
loosed before he began supplying his mouth with both hands from the apples
round about him. Pichan and all the men of Munster looked on sadly and
sorrowfully. Then rose Macconglinney, hastily and impatiently, and seized a
stone, against which swords were used to be sharpened ; this he thrust into
his mouth and began grinding his teeth against the stone.
"What makes thee mad, son of learning?" asked
Cathal.
"I grieve to see you eating alone," said the
scholar.
Then the king was ashamed and flung him the apples, and it is
said that for three half-years he had not performed such an act of humanity.
"Grant me a further boon," said MacConglinney.
"It is granted, on my troth," said the king.
"Fast with me the whole night," said the scholar.
And grievous though it was to the king, he did so, for he had
passed his princely troth, and no King of Munster might transgress that.
In the morning MacConglinney called for juicy old bacon, and
tender corned beef, honey in the comb, and English salt on a beautiful
polished dish of white silver. A fire he lighted of oak wood without smoke,
without fumes, without sparks.
And sticking spits into the portion of meat, he set to work to
roast them. Then he shouted, "Ropes and cords here."
Ropes and cords were given to him, and the strongest of the
warriors.
And they seized the king and bound him securely, and made him
fast with knots and hooks and staples. When the king was thus fastened,
MacConglinney sat himself down before him, and taking his knife out of his
girdle, he carved the portion of meat that was on the spits, and every morsel
he dipped in the honey, and, passing it in front of the king's mouth, put it
in his own.
When the king saw that he was getting nothing, and he had been
fasting for twenty-four hours, he roared and bellowed, and commanded the
killing of the scholar. But that was not done for him.
Listen, King of Munster," said MacConglinney, "a
vision appeared to me last night, and I will relate it to you."
He then began his vision, and as he related it he put morsel
after morsel past Cathal's mouth into his own.
"A lake of new milk I beheld
In the midst of a fair plain,
Therein a well-appointed house,
Thatched with butter.
Puddings fresh boiled,
Such were its thatch-rods,
Its two soft door posts of custard,
Its beds of glorious bacon.
Cheeses were the palisades,
Sausages the rafters.
Truly 'twas a rich filled house,
In which was great store of good feed.
Such was the vision I beheld, and a voice sounded into my
ears. 'Go now, thither, MacConglinney, for you have no power of eating in
you. What must I do,' said I, for the sight of that had made me greedy.
Then the voice bade me go to the hermitage of the Wizard Doctor, and there I
should find appetite for all kinds of savoury tender sweet food, acceptable to
the body.
"There in the harbour of the lake before me I saw a juicy
little coracle of beef; its thwarts were of curds, its prow of lard ; its
stern of butter ; its oars were flitches of venison. Then I rowed across the
wide expanse of the New Milk Lake, through seas of broth, past river mouths of
meat, over swelling boisterous waves of butter milk, by perpetual pools of
savoury lard, by islands of cheese, by headlands of old curds, until I reached
the firm level land between Butter Mount and Milk Lake, in the land of
O'Early-eating, in front of the hermitage of the Wizard Doctor.
"Marvellous, indeed, was the hermitage. Around it were
seven-score hundred smooth stakes of old bacon, and instead of thorns above
the top of every stake was fixed juicy lard. There was a gate of cream,
whereon was a bolt of sausage. And there I saw the doorkeeper, Bacon Lad, son
of Butterkins, son of Lardipole, with his smooth sandals of old bacon, his
legging of pot-meat round his shins, his tunic of corned beef, his girdle of
salmon skin round him, his hood of flummery about him, his steed of bacon
under him, with its four legs of custard, its four hoofs of oaten bread, its
ears of curds, its two eyes of honey in its head ; in his hand a whip, the
cords wher were four-and-twenty fair white puddings, and every juicy drop
that fell from each of these puddings would have made a meal for an ordinary
man.
"On going in I beheld the Wizard Doctor with his two
gloves of rump steak on his hands, setting in order the house, which was hung
all round with tripe, from roof to floor.
"I went into the kitchen, and there I saw the Wizard
Doctor's son, with his fishing hook of lard in his hand, and the line was made
of marrow, and he was angling in a lake of whey. Now he would bring up a
flitch of ham, and now a fillet of corned beef. And as he was angling, he fell
in, and was drowned.
"As I set my foot across the threshold into the house, I
saw a pure white bed of butter, on which I sat down, but I sank down into it
up to the tips of my hair. Hard work had the eight strongest men in the house
to pull me out by the top of the crown of my head.
"Then I was taken in to the Wizard Doctor. 'What aileth
thee ?' said he.
"My wish would be, that all the many wonderful viands of
the world were before me, that I might eat my fill and satisfy my greed. But
alas ! great is the misfortune to me, who cannot obtain any of these.
"'On my word,' said the Doctor, 'the disease is grievous.
But thou shall take home with thee a medicine to cure thy disease, and shalt
be for ever healed therefrom.'
" 'What is that ?' asked I.
When thou goest home to-night, warm thyself before a glowing
red fire of oak, made up on a dry hearth, so that its embers may warm thee,
its blaze may not burn thee, its smoke may not touch thee. And make for
thyself thrice nine morsels, and every morsel as big as an heath fowl's egg,
and in each morsel eight kinds of grain, wheat and barley, oats and rye, and
therewith eight condiments, and to every condiment eight sauces. And when thou
hast prepared thy food, take a drop of drink, a tiny drop, only as much as
twenty men will drink, and let it be of thick milk, of yellow bubbling milk,
of milk that will gurgle as it rushes down thy throat.'
" 'And when thou hast done this, whatever disease thou
hast, shall be removed. Go now,' said he, 'in the name of cheese, and may the
smooth juicy bacon protect thee, may yellow curdy cream protect, may the
cauldron full of pottage protect thee.' "
Now, as MacConglinney recited his vision, what with the
pleasure of the recital and the recounting of these many pleasant viands, and
the sweet savour of the honeyed morsels roasting on the spits, the lawless
beast that dwelt within the king, came forth until it was licking its lips
outside its head.
Then MacConglinney bent his hand with the two spits of food,
and put them to the lips of the king, who longed to swallow them, wood, food,
and all. So he took them an arm's length away from the king, and the lawless
beast jumped from the throat of Cathal on to the spit. MacConglinney put the
spit into the embers, and upset the cauldron of the royal house over the spit.
The house was emptied, so that not the value of a cockchafer's leg was left in
it, and four huge fires were kindled here and there in it. When the house was
a tower of red flame and a huge blaze, the lawless beast sprang to the
rooftree of the palace, and from thence he vanished, and was seen no more.
As for the king, a bed was prepared for him on a downy quilt,
and musicians and singers entertained him going from noon till twilight. And
when he awoke, this is what he bestowed upon the scholar - a cow from every
farm, and a sheep from every house in Munster. Moreover, that so long as he
lived, he should carve the king's food, and sit at his right hand.
Thus was Cathal, King of Munster, cured of his craving, and
MacConglinney honoured.
