A Royal Swan

IT WAS a cold November night in the village of Gurtnaloe, a village rarely heard of over ten miles away, though spoken of by the few that live there, as it always has been, by the name of the Pride of Munster. Well, some of the pick of its citizens were sitting there in the barroom of Brady’s Hotel, when there came in a stranger out of the wind and the cold a little while after sunset.

“God save all here,” he said.

“God save you,” they answered. “Sure, it’s a terrible night,” said the stranger.

“It is that,”said one or two of the Boys of Gurtnaloe.

“It’s a night for a drink of porter,” said the stranger.

“ It is surely,” said one of the Boys, a man named Floodihy.

“Only I haven’t the price of it,” said the stranger, sitting down wearily.

“Ah, don’t let that be troubling you,” said Floodihy. “ You only have to ask Patrick Geraghty. He’ll be in in a few moments. And he has all the money he wants in the world.”

“Is that so?" said the stranger. “Aye,” said they all. “If is, sure.” “Did he get it from cattle?” the stranger asked.

“Ah, he did not,” said Floodihy. “It’s just that he’s one of those lads that only have to reach out a hand, if he wants money , and pick it up the way you or I might pick blackberries off a bush.”

“Is that so?” said the stranger. “Sure, it is,” said Floodihy. “And he always looks in about this hour. He’ll give you the price of a drink. You have only to ask him.”

And even as he spoke, the door opened. And a tall thin figure that was Patrick Geraghty appeared in it and said, “Good evening, all.ˮ

“Good evening to you, Pat,”they all said. And Floodihy added, “There’s a man here looking for a drink. And it’s a bitter night outside. Won’t you give him one for the love of God ? ˮ

“Sure, I will, ˮ said Geraghty. “ What will he have?”

“A bottle of porter, if it’s the same to you,”said the stranger. “For it’s a cold night.”

“It is surely,” said Pat. “Sure, I’ll order it for you, and go out and get the money for it, for I have none on me. Sure, we’ll have a bottle all round, for it’s a cold night as he said.”

“Ah, Pat,”said they all. “You’re the great lad.”

Well, out went Patrick Geraghty, and Brady brought in the drinks, for an order for drinks from Pat was honored in Gurtnaloe as a Bank of England note is honored in London. And the men sat over their porter in that room in Brady’s Hotel for some hours before he came back, and main a tale was told there. And though they wondered what kept him so late, no fear for his money troubled the head of Brady. And sure enough, somewhere between nine and ten, Patrick Geraghty walked in out of the night with the money to pay for ten bottles of porter.

“How did you get it, Pat ? ˮ asked one of the Boys of Gurtnaloe.

“Ah, easy enough.”said Pat,

“Won’t you tell us how?” said Floodihy.

“Ah, sure, it just dropped into my hand,” said Pat.

“Won’t you tell us how?” asked Floodihy.

“Ah, sure, it just dropped into my hand,” said Pat. “There was an Englishman had gone out on Gool bog, and they’d told him there were wild swans on it. Likely it was Mick Murragher told him. And I found out where he would be sitting for them. And I went round to the far side of the bog, and came to him through the deep part of it, by that causeway there is, that he wouldn’t know of. And I found him while there was still a glow in the west, and I came up to him and said, ‘Is it swans you are looking for ?ʼ

“And he says, “Why? Are they preserved ?'

“And I says, ‘They are not. It’s only that I am your swan.'

“And he says ‘What?’ rather puzzled.

“And I says, ‘Sure, I’m the only swan that ever comes here. Sure, I was enchanted. Only, tonight the enchantment wore off, the time being up, which was a thousand years. And I am a man again.'

“And he looks very astonished. And I says, ‘What is surprising you ? And where are you from : Did you never hear tell of the prince that was enchanted and turned into a swan ? ‘

“And he said that he came from England, and that he never had.

“‘Sure, you must be very ignorant,ʼ

I said, ‘if you will excuse my saying so.’

“‘But who are you?’ he asked.

“‘Sure, I’m a prince of the Kingdom of Ireland,’I said. ’Did you never hear of Tara ? ʼ̌

“Good for you,” said the Boys of Gurtnaloe.

“He said he’d heard of Tara, but didn’t know things like that happened there.

“‘Sure, they do,’says I.

‘“Do they really?’ he says.

“‘Frequently,’ says I. ‘Did you never have time to read?’

‘“I’ve read a great deal,’ he says.

“‘Then you never read the right stuff’ says I.

“I took a quick look at him then, and something told me that he was learning. So I had nothing to do but let it sink in. And I said little more. An I he asked me how the enchantment happened. And I asked, ’Did you never hear of a witch ?' And luckily he had. And I says to him, ‘She did it out of malice.’

“And he wanted to ask more. But I said to him that we princes were not accustomed to being questioned. And then he said it would be no use my going back to Tara, because he believed there was no palace there now.

“And I said it wasn’t that that was troubling me, but that the currency would be all different from what it was when my father reigned at Tara, and before that witch got the better of me; and that even if it wasn’t, I had no money at all in my pockets, and was likely to starve, and the witch would triumph over me in the end. That was all that was troubling me, I said.

“And he said he might lend me a little.

“And I says to him, ‘Look now. I will be honest with you. I no longer have a band in the exchequer of this kingdom, or whatever it may be now. and I wouldn’t be able to repay you; so that you could only make me a present out of the grandeur of your heart, and to show to all Ireland the wealth and magnificence of the land from which you have come, but you couldn’t make me a loan, for I would not deceive you by accepting it.'

“And he says to me, ‘Would a pound be any good to you?’

“And I says to him, ‘It would not. I wouldn’t tell you a lie. And it’s better to tell you straight, that it’s not what a prince of the Kingdom of Ireland could ever accept.’

“‘I’m afraid I’ve very little on me,’ he says.

“And I says, ‘I wouldn’t like to make your poverty hard to bear. And I wouldn’t say that double that sum might not be accepted. Aye, I might take two pounds. But one pound would be an insult to Ireland’s royal house, and to all the kings that ever reigned at Tara.

“And he brought out two pound notes. And here they are.

“ You’re a groat lad, Pat, said the Boys of Gurtnaloe.

“Ah, it was nothing,”said Pat.

“And thank God,” said the stranger, “that the wealth of the world is not all shut up in miserly hearts, but that some still comes to great and generous men.ˮ

“All, thank you,”said Patrick Geraghty.