Page:Beside the Fire - Douglas Hyde.djvu/219

 he showed them the cellar, he went out, and he put a lock on the door behind him.

Then Donal said to the poor man: "Put the things to eat on the table, and I'll go for the ale." Then he got a light, and a cruiskeen (jug), and went down into the cellar. The first barrel he came to he stooped down to draw out of it, when a voice said: "Stop, that barrel is mine." Donal looked up, and he saw a little man without a head, with his two legs spread straddle-wise on a barrel.

"If it is yours," says Donal, "I'll go to another." He went to another; but when he stooped down to draw, Trunk-without-head said: "That barrel is mine." "They're not all yours," says Donal, "I'll go to another one." He went to another one; but when he began drawing out of it, Trunk-without-head said: "That's mine." "I don't care," said Donal, "I'll fill my cruiskeen." He did that, and came up to the poor man; but he did not tell him that he saw Trunk-without-head. Then they began eating and drinking till the jug was empty. Then said Donal: "It's your turn to go down and fill the jug." The poor man got the candle and the cruiskeen, and went down into the cellar. He began drawing out of a barrel, when he heard a voice saying: "That barrel is mine." He looked up, and when he saw Trunk-without-head, he let cruiskeen and candle fall, and off and away with him to Donal. "Oh! it's little but I'm dead," says the poor man; "I saw a man without a head, and his two legs spread out on the barrel, and he said it was his." "He would not do you any harm," said Donal, "he was there when I went down; get up and bring me the jug and the candle." "Oh, I wouldn't go down again if I were to get Ireland without a division," says the poor man. Donal went down, and he brought up the jug filled. "Did you see Trunk-without-head?" says the poor man.