Кельтские сумерки. Уровень 1 / The Celtic Twilight

“Don’t you have a soul to save, you mocker of heaven?” cried Moran, completely overwhelmed by this latest insult. “Are you trying to rob the poor and deceive the world? Oh, has such wickedness ever been seen before?”

“I’ll leave it up to you, my friends,” said the pretender, “to give money to the real blind man that you all know so well and save me from that trickster[130 - trickster – обманщик].” He collected some money while doing so. Meanwhile, Moran started reciting his poem “Mary of Egypt,” but the angry crowd grabbed his stick and were about to hit him when they were once again confused by his striking resemblance[131 - striking resemblance – поразительное сходство] to himself. The pretender then called on them “grab that villain and I’ll show you who the imposter is!” They brought him over to Moran, but instead of fighting him, he gave Moran a few shillings and turned to the crowd, explaining that he was just an actor who had won a bet. He left in a great excitement to enjoy the meal he had earned.

In April 1846, the priest received news that Michael Moran was dying. He found him at 15 Patrick Street, lying on bed in a room filled with street singers who had come to cheer him in his final moments. The funeral took place the following day. Some of his admirers and friends joined the hearse with the coffin, as it was a wet and unpleasant day. Not long into the journey, one of them exclaimed, “It’s terribly cold, isn’t it?” “Indeed,” replied another, “we’ll all be as stiff as the corpse[132 - as stiff as the corpse – такой же окоченевший, как труп] when we reach the cemetery.” “Curse him,” said a third, “I wish he had lasted another month when the weather would have been better.”

REGINA, REGINA PIGMEORUM, VENI[133 - Regina, Regina Pigmeorum, veni – Приди, королева, королева пигмеев (лат.)]

One night, a man in his middle age, a young girl who has the ability to see strange lights in the fields among the cows, and me, were walking on a beach in the far west. We were talking about the Forgetful People, who are sometimes called the fairies people, and we came across a cave among black rocks where they always gather. I asked the young girl if she could see anything. She stood still for a few minutes, and I noticed that she entered a kind of trance. Then I called out the names of the great fairies, and after a moment, she said she could hear music coming from inside the rocks. She also heard people talking and applauding someone unseen[134 - unseen – невидимый]. Now my friend came closer and suddenly said that we were going to be interrupted because he heard children laughing somewhere beyond the rocks. However, we were completely alone. The spirits of the place had started to affect him as well. In a moment, the girl confirmed what he said. She then saw a bright light coming out of the cave. She saw a group of small people, wearing different colored clothes, mostly red, dancing to a tune she didn’t recognize.

Then I told her to call the queen of the little people to come and talk to us. However, no one responded to her. So, I repeated the words myself, and suddenly a very beautiful tall woman came out of the cave. By that time, I had also entered a kind of trance. Then I told the girl to ask the queen to gather her followers so that we could see them. I had to repeat the command myself. The creatures then came out of the cave and lined up in four groups, if I remember correctly. One of the groups held branches in their hands, while others wore necklaces made of snake scales[135 - snake scales – змеиная чешуя] I can’t remember their clothes because I was completely captivated[136 - completely captivated – полностью очарован] by the beautiful woman. I asked her to tell the seer[137 - seer – провидец, провидица] if these caves were the most important fairies places in the area. No, this was not the greatest fairies place, there was a bigger one a little further ahead. Then I asked if it was true that they took away mortals and replaced their souls. “We change the bodies,” was her answer. I asked if any of them were ever born as humans. “Yes.” “Do I know anyone were among your people before birth?” “You do.” “Who are they?” “You are not allowed to know.” I asked her other questions about her nature and her purpose in the universe, but it seemed to confuse her. Finally, she seemed to lose patience and wrote a message for me on the visionary sands, not the sandy ground we were standing on: “Be careful and don’t try to know too much about us.” Realizing that I had offended[138 - to offend – обижать, оскорблять, задевать] her, I thanked her and let her return to her cave. After a while, the young girl woke up from her trance, felt the cold wind of the world again, and began to shiver.

I will tell you these things as accurately as I can, without any theories to confuse the story. Theories are not very good, and most of mine have disappeared a long time ago. I love better than any theory the sound of the Ivory Gate opening, and I believe that only those who have crossed the rose-covered threshold can catch a glimpse of the distant shine of the Horn Gate[139 - Gates of Horn and Ivory – Врата из рога и слоновой кости, литературный образ, используемый для отличия истинных снов от ложных. Фраза возникла в греческом языке, в котором слово «рог» похоже на слово «исполнять», а слово «слоновая кость» похоже на слово «обманывать».]. It might be good for all of us to raise the same cry as Lilly the astrologer did in Windsor Forest, “Regina, Regina Pigmeorum, Veni,” and remember with it that God visits His children in dreams. Beautiful tall queen, come closer, and let me see the shadowy beauty of your hair once more.

“AND FAIR, FIERCE WOMEN”

One day, a woman I know, had met a beautiful woman. The woman was standing by the window, looking towards Knocknarea, where Queen Maive is buried. She saw, as she told me, “the most stunning[140 - stunning – поразительный] woman traveling from the mountain straight towards her.” The woman had a sword by her side and a raised dagger in her hand. She was dressed in white, with bare arms and feet. The old woman covered her eyes with her hands, and when she uncovered them, the beautiful woman was gone. The neighbors thought it was Queen Maive, who often reveals herself to the locals. The other day, a friend of mine questioned an old woman in a Galway workhouse about Queen Maive and was told that “Queen Maive was beautiful and defeated all her enemies with a stick, as the hazel stick[141 - hazel stick – ореховая палочка] is blessed and the best weapon one can have. You could travel the world with it.” However, the old woman said that Queen Maive became “very disagreeable in the end – oh, very disagreeable. It’s best not to talk about it. It’s best to keep it between the book and the listener.”

Once, I met a young man in the Burren Hills who knew an old poet. The poet used to write his poems in Irish and had met someone named Maive when he was young. She said she was a queen “among them” and asked the poet if he wanted money or pleasure. He chose pleasure, and she loved him for a while before leaving him. From then on, he was always very sad. The young man had heard the poet sing a poem many times, but he could only remember that it was “very sad” and that the poet called Maive the “most beautiful of all beauties.”

    1902.

ENCHANTED WOODS

I

Last summer, after I finished my work for the day, I would often go for walks in some woods. There, I would frequently meet an old man from the countryside and talk to him about his work and the woods. Sometimes, a friend would go with me, and the old man would share his thoughts more openly with them than with me. He had spent his whole life cutting down trees from the paths. He had also thought a lot about the natural and supernatural creatures in the woods. He said he heard the hedgehog grunting like a man. He strongly believed that the hedgehog steals apples by rolling around under an apple tree until apples stick to its quills[142 - quills – иглы]. He was also convinced that the cats in the woods have their own language. He said, “Cats were once serpents, and they were turned into cats during a big change in the world. That’s why they are difficult to kill and why it’s dangerous to mess with them. If you bother a cat, it might scratch or bite you in a way that would put poison into you, just like a serpent.” He spoke with great interest about all the wild creatures in the woods.

At least once, he has seen a strange sight in the woods. He said, “One time, when I was cutting timber over in Inchy, around eight o’clock in the morning, I saw a girl picking nuts. Her brown hair hung down over her shoulders, and she had a fresh and pleasant face. She was tall and didn’t wear anything on her head, and her dress was simple. When she sensed my presence, she quickly was gone. I followed her and searched for her, but I never saw her again from that day to this, never again.”

Others too have seen spirits in the Enchanted Woods. A worker told us about what his friend saw in a part of the woods called Shanwalla. He said, “One evening, I said goodbye to Lawrence Mangan in the yard, and he went through the path in Shanwalla. Two hours later, he was back in the yard and asked me to light a candle in the stable. He told me that when he entered Shanwalla, a little creature about as tall as his knee but with a head as big as a man’s body appeared and guided him off the path and around. Finally, it led him to the lime-kiln[143 - lime-kiln – печь для обжига извести], and then it disappeared.”

A woman told me about something she and others saw in the river. She said, “I came over the stile[144 - stile – ограда] from the chapel, and others were with me. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind[145 - gust of wind – порыв ветра] came, and two trees bent and broke, falling into the river. Those who were with me saw many figures, but I only saw one sitting by the bank where the trees fell. The figure was dressed in dark clothes, and it had no head.”

A man told me that when he was a boy, he and another boy went to catch a horse in a field. This field is located near the lake, just a little away from the woods. He said to his companion, “I bet a button that if I throw a pebble at that bush, it will stay on it.” He meant that the bush was so dense[146 - dense – плотный] that the pebble wouldn’t be able to go through it. So, he picked up a pebble, and as soon as it hit the bush, the most beautiful music came out from it. They ran away, and when they had gone about two hundred yards, they looked back and saw a woman dressed in white walking in circles around the bush. “First, it appeared as a woman, and then as a man, and it kept going around the bush.”

    1902

MIRACULOUS CREATURES

In the Enchanted Woods, there are small animals like martens, badgers, and foxes. But there are also bigger and stronger creatures that can’t be caught with traps[147 - traps – ловушки]. They are magical creatures that bring both hope and fear. Some can fly, while others move through the thickets[148 - thickets – заросли] near the Gates of Death. Someone I know says that his father was once in the woods of Inchy, where the children from Gort[149 - Gort – Горт, посёлок в Ирландии, находится в графстве Голуэй] used to steal fishing rods[150 - fishing rods – удочки]. He was sitting by a wall with his dog when he heard something running from Owbawn Weir. He couldn’t see anything, but the sound of its feet on the ground was like the sound of the feet of a deer. The dog got scared and scratched at the wall, but the man could only hear the sound of hooves. Another time, the man’s father told him that he was in a boat on the lake with a few men from Gort. One of them had a spear[151 - spear – копье] for catching eels, and when he put it into the water, it hit something. The man fainted, and they had to carry him out of the boat to land. When he woke up, he said that what he struck was definitely not a fish! A friend of mine thought that these scary creatures, which are often found in lakes, were placed there long ago by clever enchanters[152 - enchanters – чародеи] to guard the gates of wisdom. He believes that if we sent our spirits into the water, we would become one with the strange and powerful energies, and maybe even conquer[153 - to conquer – завоевывать, покорять] the world.

    1902.

ARISTOTLE OF THE BOOKS

The friend who can make the wood-cutter talk more easily than anyone else recently visited his old wife. She lives in a cottage near the edge of the woods and loves to share old stories, just like her husband. This time, she started talking about Goban and his wisdom. But then she said, “Aristotle of the Books was also very wise and had a lot of experience, but didn’t the bees outsmart him in the end? He wanted to know how they packed the honeycomb[154 - honeycomb – соты], so he spent almost two weeks watching them, but he couldn’t see how they did it. Then he made a hive[155 - hive – улей] with a glass cover and placed it over the bees. But when he went to look through the glass, the bees had covered it with wax, making it as black as a pot, and he was as blind as before. He said he had never been so fooled before. They had him that time surely!”

    1902.

THE SWINE OF THE GODS

A few years ago, my friend told me about something that happened to him when he was a young man and was training with some rebels from Connaught. There were only a few of them, and they drove up a hill until they reached a quiet spot. They left the car and went further up the hill with their rifles, where they practiced for a while. As they were coming back, they noticed a very thin pig with long legs following them. Someone jokingly said it was a fairies pig, and they all began to run as part of the joke. Surprisingly, the pig started running too, and somehow, this playful chase turned into real fear. When they got to the car, they made the horse gallop as fast as possible, but the pig continued to follow them. At one point, one of them raised his rifle to shoot at the pig, but when he looked through the barrel, he couldn’t see anything. Eventually, they turned a corner and arrived at a village. They told the villagers what had happened, and the villagers grabbed pitchforks[156 - pitchforks – вилы], spades, and other tools to drive the pig away. However, when they reached the corner, they couldn’t find anything.

    1902.

KIDNAPPERS

Near the town of Sligo, on the southern side of Ben Bulben, there is a small white square on the limestone. No one has ever touched it. It is the entrance to the land of fairies. During the middle of the night, the magical beings come from the door and walk on the land, invisible to all except for a few fairies-doctors who may look out from their homes to see what the fairies are up to. If there is a newborn baby or a newlywed[157 - newlywed – молодожен, новобрачный] nearby, the fairies-doctors pay extra attention because sometimes the fairies take them into their mountains, and they become part of the land of the fairies.

In the early 19th century, a mysterious apothecary[158 - apothecary – аптекарь] named Dr. Opendon appeared at the western corner of Market Street in Sligo. At the time, a woman named Mrs. Ormsby’s husband fell mysteriously ill, and the doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him. Desperate, Mrs. Ormsby turned to Dr. Opendon. When she entered his shop, she saw a black cat sitting by the fire. Dr. Opendon, dressed in black like the cat, came in, and his wife followed him, also dressed in black. Mrs. Ormsby gave the doctor a guinea[159 - guinea – гинея, английская, затем британская золотая монета.] and he gave her a small bottle. Wonderfully, her husband recovered. Dr. Opendon continued to cure many people, but one day, a rich patient died. The doctor, his wife, and the black cat all disappeared overnight. A year later, Mr. Ormsby fell ill again. Mrs. Ormsby thought that the fairies wanted to take her handsome husband, so she visited the fairies-doctor at Cairnsfoot. After hearing her story, the fairies-doctor went behind the back door and started murmuring spells. This time, her husband recovered as well. However, he fell ill again, and Mrs. Ormsby went back to the fairies-doctor at Cairnsfoot. This time, the doctor told her there was no hope, and her husband died. From then on, Mrs. Ormsby believed that she knew where her husband was, and it wasn’t in heaven, hell, or purgatory. She believed that a wooden log was left in place of her husband, but it was enchanted to look like his dead body.