Week 12 Reading Notes: Celtic Fairy Tales, Part A

Celtic Fairy Tales Unit (Joseph Jacobs, Un-Textbook)

The Horned Woman: The "With of one Horn" knocks on a rich lady's door one night. Moments later, the With of the two horns knocks on the door and lets herself in as well. This continued until twelve woman with up to twelve horns sat around the fire spinning thread & singing ancient rhymes, without even speaking to the mistress of the home. She is under these witches spell, so that when they tell her to make them a cake, she begins to do so right away. She goes to a nearby well for water where the "Spirit of the Well" gives her advice. She screams "The mountain of the Fenian women and the sky over it is all on fire," and the witches respond by fleeing in panic. She makes many witch-proof changes to her house so that when they return (and they do return), they are unable to enter.

Image Source. The monster and the tailor.

The Sprightly Tailor: A tailor was employed by the "great Macdonald" to make trews (Scottish trousers) by night in a church which was said to be haunted. The tailor wasn't scared and accepted the offer for a handsome pay. As he was stitching the trews that night, the ground rumbled and a great human head began to rise from the ground. It repeatedly intimidated him as it rose, saying, "Do you see this great head of mine?" and "Do you see these great arms of mine?" etc. The tailor saw, but kept sewing hastily (making for some very long threads). When he finished, he ran away as the monster chased him back to Saddell castle. The tailor made it into the gates just in time, and the five great fingers of the apparition are still left as a mark on the gate to this day.

Gold Tree and Silver Tree: There was a king with a wife named Silver-tree and a daughter named Gold-tree. Silver-tree asks a trout in a well if she is the most beautiful queen in the world, to which the trout answers her daughter is more beautiful. Furious, Silver-tree is intent on eating her daughter's heart and liver??? wtf? Anyway, she tells the king she is ill and her daughter's heart and liver is the remedy. The king sends his daughter off to be married to a prince abroad at this time and tricks his wife by giving her a goat's heart and liver. A year later, Silver-tree finds out Gold-tree is still alive and well via the trout. The crazy queen travels abroad to poison her daughter. Gold-tree's prince husband is upset, but remarries eventually. His new wife eventually finds Gold-tree laying in a locked up room with the poison dart in her finger. She takes the stab out and Gold-tree comes alive! The prince has two wives now. Silver-tree hears once again that her daughter is still alive, and comes back to poison her with a drink. She is greeted by the second wife, who wants Silver-tree to take a sip first. When she is pretending to take a sip, the second wife tips the cup into her mouth so that she actually swallows some and dies. The prince and his two wives live happily ever after.