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Máire Uí Mhaicín | profile | all galleries >> 2007-2009 >> 2009 Galleries >> Tell me a story | tree view | thumbnails | slideshow |
When the stranger arrived, we were all hidden behind the curtains looking at the rain which had been falling for two days in a row.
“Uhm, the key, where have I put the key of this door...”
The stranger seemed to extract something from the leaves:
“Hello, there! Would you be so adorably and exquisitely kind to prepare an herb tea for me? I’m soaked wet and my suitcase is horribly heavy. Of course it’s because of the stones and the books I have inside... books and stones are very similar, did you know it?
"Fáilte romhat, a dhuine uasail!" she said, in a welcoming salutation. The stranger, who was fortunately a polyglot recognised that she was speaking Irish, and replied thankfully: "Go raibh maith agat!"
"Forget about your herbal tea, my fine man! You look exhausted after your travels.
Now, make yourself comfortable, let me hang up your coat, and enjoy this fine glass of liquid pale gold".
The redhaired woman smiled to herself as she listened to the stranger reading from his book.
She could see that the rest of the household were entranced by his story, but little did they know that the redhaired woman knew how it was going to end, or at least she thought she did.
The following day, when we woke up we didn’t find any breakfast.
The redhaired woman stopped, and pleaded with the traveller not to choose that particular spot by the lake for their picnic.
Her husband was bereft and distracted with grief, and had to ask the woman's sister to take care of the children.
One day she brought the four children down to the lake on a sunny day.
“Take it easy, my dear child –
The stranger took a pair of gloves out of his pocket
He shook his head and spoke to Siobhán Ciara the swan:
They had not noticed that, in the meanwhile, someone was approaching them from the other side of the forest....
"Greetings to you all," said the greeneyed lady.
"How extraordinary it is to find you all here. What a lovely spot you have found for your picnic! May I join you? I declare I am quite hungry after the journey I made to get here. I have flown across two seas and many mountains and lakes to arrive in this place."
The stranger welcomed her to partake of his breakfast picnic and introduced himself to her.
"My name is Fearfeasa Mac Feasa," he said. "I,too, have travelled far and wide to be here, and on my journey I have encountered many strange people and things. I now long for a period of peace and quiet, and I am very grateful to my new friend here, this beautiful redhaired lady, for the welcome and the hospitality she has shown me. Now that I have introduced myself, I think it a suitable time for us all to introduce ourselves".
The greeneyed woman replied:
"Very well,kind sir. I am now known as Eva, though many years ago I was better known as Éabha."
On hearing this the swans became increasingly agitated, and the redhaired woman looked very uncomfortable.
Fearfeasa, noticing her discomfiture, thought that he may have insulted her by not inviting her to introduce herself before the greeneyed woman did so. Now he said to her:
"Forgive me, my dear companion! Of course I should've asked you who you are long before this, but I sensed a certain secretiveness, a strangeness, a sense of difference in you. Would you now be so kind as to tell us who you are, and from now on we can become on first name terms with one another."
Eva nodded her head in assent, while the swans were still flapping and fussing on the shoreline.
The redhaired woman seemed to be struck dumb. She continued to stare at Eva, she looked fearfully at the agitated swans and she took a deep breath and said to Fearfeasa Mac Feasa:
"Very well, good traveller. You may live to regret asking me to reveal my true identity. My name is...
Cough, cough, gasp, gasp, cough – My name is... – gasp, cough, cough – is...
Annabel Mary sobbed, but seemed to be relieved.
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