The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends

by Peter Berresford Ellis

  Gil, rather surprised, replied: “There is a beautiful country.”

  “And directly before you?”

  “Before me is a great sea.”

  “Then, if it is your destiny, and you are the rightful heir of your father, we shall cross this sea without trouble.”

  So saying, the mare galloped forward across the shore and into the sea. Gil was amazed when, instead of sinking into the waves, the mare cantered easily across them as though they were nothing but dry land.

  They continued on a long time until they saw, in the sea, three small islands and on each island the mare said she had to rest. Gil, being kindly, though worried about his brothers and the old man waiting for him, allowed the mare to rest as long as she liked.

  Finally they came to a magnificent shore.

  “What do you see now, Gil, son of the King of Ellan Vannin?” called the mare.

  Gil looked along the shore. “Why, I see a splendid palace of white stone with golden currents. Who lives in this palace?”

  “The King of the Land of the Goldfinch,” replied the mare. “The bird that you are looking for is in that palace. But there are difficulties in finding it. Behind the castle are thirteen stables. At each of the first twelve stables, ostlers will come out and try to take me from you, saying they will tend and care for my needs. You must refuse them. Go on until you reach the thirteenth stable, and there you may dismount and lead me into it.”

  So it transpired as the mare said.

  At each one of the first twelve stables, ostlers ran out and tried to take away the mare, but Gil told them to go away. He rode on to the thirteenth stable and there dismounted.

  At that moment, a tall man with a red-gold crown came striding out. His face was wreathed in anger. “Do you dare refuse my ostlers? Are they not good enough to take care of your shabby mare?”

  “Not they,” replied Gil boldly. “I will rest any place, but you will not deny me the choice of stable for my mare, who has brought me through many dangers to this palace.”

  The King of the Land of the Goldfinch, for such he was, gave a sigh. “You are Gil, son of the King of Ellan Vannin. I know why you have come here.”

  “That makes my task the easier,” smiled Gil.

  “Not so. For you cannot take the goldfinch until you have performed twice times three deeds.”

  “What are they?”

  “We will start with the first deed. At dawn tomorrow, I shall go off and hide. You must find me.”

  “Easy enough.”

  “If you do not find me before sunset, your head will be cut off,” added the king with a smile. Then he went away, chuckling to himself.

  Gil went into the stable and fed his mare and sadly observed that his task was going to be harder than he imagined.

  “You must follow my advice. Tonight, sleep in the stable, in this manger before me.”

  So Gil did and, in the morning, the mare nudged him when dawn came.

  “Now, Gil, you must go into the palace garden. There will be many beautiful maidens there and each one will shower praise on you and give you spectacular blooms and invite you to walk with her. Do not pay any attention to them, but go straight to the end of the garden. There you will find an apple tree. On it a single rosy-red apple will be growing. Pluck it and break it in half. It is in the apple that the king will be hiding.”

  As the mare had said, when Gil went into the palace garden, beautiful maidens came to him and tried to give him magnificent flowers and invited him to walk with them. He kept his eyes lowered and did not even look on them. He made his way straight to the apple tree and plucked the apple.

  One of the maidens came up.

  “You must not take that, for that is my father’s apple.”

  Gil smiled and took out a knife. “Then I shall take only the half of it.”

  So saying, he cut the apple in half and out jumped the King of the Land of the Goldfinch.

  “You have beaten me today,” he said sourly. “But you have not won yet. Tomorrow I shall hide again and you must find me. That is the second task.”

  “Easy enough,” replied Gil.

  “If you do not find me before sunset, I shall have your head taken off.”

  So Gil returned to the mare and the mare told him to sleep in the stable, in the manger, with her. And at sunrise she roused him.

  “Today you must go into the kitchen of the palace. There will be many maidens there, and they will tease you, push you, or slap you with their napkins. Do not take any notice of them. Walk up to the kitchen fire and the cook will offer you a bowl of broth. Say you cannot take the broth without onions and go to the vegetable basket. You will see a three-headed onion. Cut the onion open with your knife and the king will be in there.”

  It happened exactly as the mare had said. He avoided the maidens, took the bowl of broth and declared that he could not drink the broth without an onion. In the vegetable basket he saw a three-headed onion and so he picked it up.

  “Wait,” cried one of the maidens. “That onion was one my father was keeping for his broth.”

  “Then I’ll just take the half of it,” Gil said, and took out his knife and cut it.

  Out jumped the king. “You have beaten me again today,” he said sourly, “but you have not won, yet. Tomorrow I shall hide and you must find me. That shall be your third task.”

  “Easy enough,” replied Gil.

  “If you have not found me by sunset, I shall cut off your head myself.”

  So Gil went to the stable and the mare told him to sleep with her in the manger that night. In the morning the mare awakened him.

  “Harder it will be for you today, but listen to me. Take some grains of barley and go to that pond near the garden. You will find a duck swimming there. Throw the barley to the duck and she’ll come towards you. While she is picking the grain, catch her and tell her to lay an egg. She will refuse, of course. Say that if she does not, you will kill her. When she lays the egg, the King will be in it.”

  So it happened exactly as the mare said.

  He went to the pond and saw the duck. He threw the barley to the duck and, when she came ashore to peck it, he caught her and told her to lay an egg.

  “I can’t lay an egg when I have none,” cried the duck.

  “Then I shall have to kill you,” said Gil, putting a hand around the duck’s neck.

  The duck laid an egg immediately, and Gil took it up.

  “I will crack open this egg and eat it,” he said.

  Then the king’s daughter came by and said: “You must not, for that egg is my father’s.”

  “Then I will take only the half of it,” said Gil, and cracked the egg open with his knife.

  The king sprang out with a doleful countenance. “A third time you have beaten me, son of the King of Ellan Vannin. But you have not won, yet. Now it is your turn to hide and mine to seek. You will hide tomorrow and, if I find you before sunset, I will have your head.”

  Weary and disconsolate, Gil returned the stable and told the mare of the new development.

  “You have only to best him three more times,” said the mare, “if you want to win the goldfinch. So sleep here in the manger.” Then, just before sunrise, she awakened him. The next minute, Gil found he had been transformed into a flea in the coat of the mare.

  All that day the King of the Land of the Goldfinch looked in every place, but he failed to find Gil. At sunset, the mare turned Gil back into a man and warned Gil not to answer the king’s inevitable question of where he had been hidden. Gil went into the palace and, when the king asked him where he had been hiding, Gil said: “I did not ask such a question when you were in the apple.”

  “True enough. Tomorrow you must hide again and, if I find you before sunset, I shall have your head.”

  So Gil slept in the manger again. The following morning, the mare turned him into a bee.

  All day, the King of the Land of the Goldfinch searched for Gil and could not find him.

 
At sunset, the mare turned Gil back into his human form and told him not to answer if the king asked where he had been hiding. Gil went to the palace and the king asked where he had been hiding. Gil replied: “I did not ask you that question when you hid in the three-headed onion.”

  “True enough,” sighed the king. “Tomorrow, you must hide again and, if I find you before sunset, I shall have your head.”

  Once more, Gil slept in the manger and, at sunrise, the mare turned him into one of her eye-lashes.

  The king came and searched and searched and grew angry but could not find him. At sunset, the mare turned Gil back and told him not to answer the king’s question as to where he was hiding. Furthermore, the mare said that the king only slept once in seven years and, as he had been so exhausted by the hide-and-seek game, he would fall asleep and his entire court with him.

  Gil went into the palace and when the king asked him he replied; “I did not ask you that question when you hid in the duck’s egg.”

  So the king bent his head forward and sighed and soon he had nodded off to sleep and his entire court with him.

  Then Gil heard the voice of the mare. “Go now into the king’s chamber behind the throne. There is the goldfinch in a silver cage. Seize it. I shall be waiting at the door of the castle.”

  So Gil went into the chamber and saw the cage and the bird. He seized it. No sooner had he done so when the bird let out a strange scream and everyone in the castle came awake. But Gil was away and at the door of the castle. There was the mare and into the saddle went Gil. The mare took off like a bird herself.

  After they had galloped a while the mare called: “Look behind; what do you see?”

  “The largest army I have ever seen,” gasped Gil. “They have great standards and many weapons.”

  “What colour are the standards?”

  “White.”

  “Then we can escape from them.”

  The mare galloped across the sea to the first of the islands.

  “Look behind; what do you see?” she called.

  “A great army, larger than the first,” replied Gil. “They have great standards and many weapons.”

  “What colour are the standards?”

  “Red.”

  “Then we shall escape from them.”

  She galloped across the sea to the second island.

  “Look behind; what do you see?”

  “As terrible and immense an army as I have ever seen,” cried Gil. “They have great standards and more weapons than I can count.”

  “What colour are their standards?”

  “Black.”

  “Then we shall escape from them.”

  They came to the smallest island and continued on without difficulty to the far shore.

  Then they rode up to the castle from which Gil had acquired the mare. There was the young woman standing at the castle gate. She saw that he had the goldfinch in the cage and came forward, laughing with joy.

  “Welcome back, son of the King of Ellan Vannin. Do you know what bird you have in your cage?”

  “That I do not,” confessed Gil.

  “She is Princess Vorgell, daughter of Urmen, the King of the Land of the Goldfinch. The mare is the Princess Ysbal, her sister. I am the Princess Kikil, sister to them both. I have a rowan wand here and it will give back human form to my sisters. It was Urmen, our father, who changed us so, because a Druid told him that one day he would lose us to the sons of Ellan Vannin.”

  She struck the bird and it changed into the most beautiful woman that Gil had ever seen. Then she struck the mare and she turned into an equally beautiful woman. “Now,” said the woman at the gate of the palace and she turned now into a third beautiful princess. She smiled at Gil.

  “Thank you for our release, son of the king of Ellan Vannin. Now we shall go to Ellan Vannin with you. And if your father gives his approval, we will dwell with you and your brothers in your kingdom.”

  So they went to the foot of the opening and called up. The old man was still there with his rope, for hardly a moment had passed in the Land Beneath the Earth, which is called the Land of the Goldfinch. Gil’s two brothers were there and, when they heard that Gil had been successful in his quest and had come back with beautiful princesses to grace their island, they quickly decided on a terrible plan. They turned and struck the old man dead and took his rope. Then they let it down into the hole.

  So first Princess Kikil went up, and it was the eldest brother, Bris, whose eyes fell on her and who claimed her for his bride. Then the Princess Ysbal went up and it was the second brother, Cane, who claimed her.

  The Princess Vorgell, who had been the goldfinch, went to the opening and peered up at the dangling rope, and she felt uneasy. She whispered to Gil that he must help her place a heavy stone on the end of the rope. The two brothers started to haul the rope up thinking that either their brother or the princess was at the other end. But now they cut the rope when it was no more than halfway up and the stone fell to the bottom and smashed. The brothers believed they had killed the princess or their younger brother or, at least, stranded them both in the Otherworld. They then set off on their chariot, with their brides, back towards Ellan Vannin.

  Before they arrived at their father’s court, Bris said: “Our father sent us to bring back the goldfinch and we have come back with wives. It could be that he will refuse to give us the kingdom.”

  Ysbal said, “I have the magic rowan wand and can change shape.”

  So she turned herself into the goldfinch in a moment.

  Bris took charge of the magic rowan wand.

  So they continued on to Ellan Vannin and came to their father’s court.

  The first question the old king, Ascon, asked was: “Where is my youngest son?”

  Bris shrugged.

  “A large rock fell on him and crushed him on the road. But, see here, we have found the bird you coveted and that is compensation enough.”

  He put forward the cage with Ysbal inside, in the guise of a goldfinch.

  “That is not the goldfinch,” declared King Ascon fiercely.

  Now Cane had secreted the magic rowan wand from his brother and struck Kikil and turned her into a goldfinch in a cage.

  “You are discerning, my father,” he cried, coming forward. “It is not Bris who has the bird but myself. Here is the real goldfinch. I deserve the kingdom, for bringing it to you.”

  He brought forward Kikil in the cage, in the guise of a goldfinch.

  Old King Ascon peered at it and shook his head.

  “That is not the goldfinch. Shame on you both, for trying to deceive me in this. Leave me now to mourn for my youngest son. Neither of you shall have my crown.”

  Now what had happened to Gil and Vorgell after the rock had fallen?

  Gil was quite upset, for now he saw how duplicitous his brothers were.

  Vorgell smiled sadly at his dismay. “Wait here for me, Gil,” she instructed. “I see you have a tender heart and are not used to such a betrayal.”

  Then she turned herself back into the goldfinch and flew up through the hole. There she turned herself into a powerful woman and let down the old man’s rope to Gil. He was quickly hauled up and, when he saw the old man he bent over him and tried to help, grieving that his own brothers had been the cause of the old one’s death.

  Because he did so, the old man blinked and sat up.

  “You have brought me back to life because your heart is good and pure, Gil, son of the King of Ellan Vannin. There is no other cure that would have made me whole again.”

  The old man conjured a chariot and told Gil and Vorgell to be on their way back to Ellan Vannin.

  Now when they landed on the shores of Ellan Vannin, Vorgell turned herself back into the goldfinch and she flew to the window of the palace of King Ascon and set up a song for him. The mourning king heard her cry and went to the window and stared with joy mingled with sadness.

  “Now if I only had my youngest son home, my joy would be complete,�
�� he sighed.

  Then the goldfinch hopped into the room and changed into the beautiful Princess Vorgell.

  “Look to the horizon, King Ascon. Yonder comes your youngest son, Gil, home from the Land of the Goldfinch. He has braved many dangers to save me from my enchantment.”

  Ascon saw his youngest son coming and gave a great shout of joy.

  Bris and Cane heard it and were in dread and fear.

  Great was the reunion that day at the court of the King of Ellan Vannin.

  When the old king heard the true story, he fell into a rage and ordered his sons, Bris and Cane to be banished. But Ysbal and Kikil, who were now turned back into human shape, asked forgiveness. It was Gil himself who added his voice to their pleas.

  “Very well, you shall be banished for seven years only,” agreed King Ascon. “And you will acknowledge your brother, Gil, as the King of Ellan Vannin after me.”

  So Bris and Cane married Ysbal and Kikil and went off to live in a land beyond the seas for seven years. And Gil and Vorgell married. And at the end of the seven years, they all reunited and acknowledged that when old King Ascon died, Gil and Vorgell would become king and queen of Ellan Vannin . . . but that would not be for many years yet for, each afternoon, Vorgell was able to change into the goldfinch and sit and sing to the old king; and thus he was a happy and contented man; and if you are happy and contented, you live a long, long life.

  13 Gilaspick Qualtrough

  There is a saying up at Booilushag, which is the little village beyond Port Mooar, though Port Mooar is hardly “the great port” that its name implies. It is scarcely more than a cover of rocks in which ships enter at their peril, though Manx sailors are used to it. Oh, yes: the saying? The saying is, in the Manx language:Cha bee breagerey creidit ga dy n’insh ch yn irriney. That means, a liar is not to be believed even if he tells the truth.

  Now there was a sailor of Booilushag and his name was Gilaspick Qualtrough. He was a merry sort of fellow, a lover of women, whiskey and fun. Every time he set off in his boat from Port Mooar, north round Gob ny Port Mooar or south around Gob ny Garvain, he was sure to return with wondrous tales, although, I confess, his nets were always full of fish. Off up to Ramsey he would go and the Ramsey fishermen would be amazed and even jealous at the size of his catch. Gilaspick Qualtrough knew the fishing grounds and he knew how the fish would be running; there never was a more intelligent fellow for knowing when to put out to sea, in order to return with its harvest.