Mae. 10. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



181 



plete the building. The Gobawn, after some en- 

 treaty, returned with the messengers, and he and 

 his son soon built a palace such as no king had 

 hitherto possessed. Now it happened some time 

 before they set out on their journey, the Gobawn 

 thought it desirable that his son should take a 

 wife ; and as he preferred a woman who possessed 

 sound sense and ready wit, rather than the facti- 

 tious distinctions of birth or fortune, he took the 

 following method of obtaining such a daughter-in- 

 law as he wished for. Having killed a sheep, he 

 desired his son to take the skin to the next town 

 and sell it, charging him to bring hack the skin and 

 the price of it. To hear was to obey ; but the 

 young man wandered in vain through the town 

 seeking a purchaser on the strange terms he re- 

 quired. At last, weary and disheartened, he was 

 returning home towards evening, when he saw 

 some girls washing clothes at the river outside the 

 town. An Irishman never passes any persons at 

 work without the salutation of " God bless the 

 work." One of the girls, when answering his 

 good wish, observed his wearied appearance, and 

 soon drew from him the cause. After a moment's 

 thought she at once agreed to purchase the skin 

 on the proposed terms, and having brought him to 

 her house, she took it, stripped off the wool, and 

 returned the bare hide with the price stipulated, 

 when the young man returned to his father and 

 presented him with " the skin and the price of it." 

 He immediately sent him to ask the young woman 

 in marriage, and in a few days she was installed 

 mistress of Rath Gobawn. Now that her hus- 

 band and his father were setting out on a journey, 

 she gave the former two sage counsels for his 

 guidance and protection : first, she desired him, 

 when his father was tired, to " shorten the road ; " 

 secondly, " not to sleep a third night in any house 

 without having secured the favour of one of the 

 females resident in it." The elder Gobawn having 

 become weary with the length of his journey, his 

 son would gladly have " shortened the road " for 

 him, but did not know how, until his father, to 

 whom he mentioned the conjugal precept, desired 

 him to begin some legend or romance, and so by 

 the interest of the story beguile the tediousness of 

 the journey. In obedience to the second precept 

 of his wife, before they had been two days at the 

 king's palace the young man contrived to interest 

 the king's daughter in his favour ; and on his in- 

 forming his father of the fact, the cautious old 

 man desired him, as a means of discovering whether 

 her attachment was a mere caprice of passion, or 

 founded on a more firm basis, to sprinkle a few 

 drops of water in her face when the basin was 

 carried round to wash the guests' hands before 

 sitting down to dinner : if she smiled, her love was 

 sincere ; but if she frowned, then was it a mere 

 caprice of passion, and liable to be turned to hate 

 or revenge. The young man did as his father 



desired, and when he playfully sprinkled the water 

 on the lady's face she smiled gently, and the young 

 man's mind was at rest. The palace now ap- 

 proached its completion, and the king determined 

 to put the Gobawn and liis son to death, so that 

 no other prince should possess a building of 

 equal magnificence ; his daughter, however, found 

 means to communicate her father's benevolent in- 

 tentions to her lover. Whereupon the Gobawn 

 set his wits to work to circumvent the base designs 

 of his employer ; and in an interview with the 

 king he stated that the building, which was the 

 most beautiful he had ever erected, required the 

 application of one implement, which he had un- 

 fortunately left at home, and requested permission 

 to return for it. The king, however, could not 

 think of allowing him to take the journey, but 

 oifered to send for the instrument. But the Go- 

 bawn declared that it was too valuable to be en- 

 trusted to any messenger. At length, after much 

 debate, the Gobawn consented to allow the king's 

 only son to go for the instrument, which he was to 

 ask for from his daughter-in-law by the name of 

 " Cur-an-aigh-an-culm." This sentence, which 

 has since become proverbial in Ireland, excited 

 the suspicions of the mistress of Rath Gobawn, and 

 by some artfully planned inquiries she obtained 

 sufficient information to convince her that her 

 husband and father-in-law were in danger fi'om 

 the treachery of their employer. Concealing her 

 thoughts, however, she promised to give the prince 

 the object of his journey ; meantime refreshments 

 were set before him, and when the fascination of 

 her discourse had completely thrown him off his 

 guard, she caused him to be seized by her do- 

 mestics, and thrown into the dungeon of the fort. 

 The king, his father, having been duly informed 

 of the situation of his only son, was compelled to 

 forego his treacherous designs, and to dismiss the 

 Gobawn Saer and his son with rich presents, and 

 on their safe arrival at home the prince was set at 

 liberty. Francis Robert Davies. 



" PAFiE OF ICELAND AND ORKNEY. 



Iceland was discovered and colonised by the 

 Norwegians in the ninth century after Christ. The 

 Icelandic Landnamabok, as quoted by Mr. Black* 

 well in a note to Bohn's edition of Mallett's 

 Northern Antiquities, p. 189., states that — 

 " Before Iceland was settled by the Northmen, there 

 were men there called by the Northmen Papce. These 

 men were Christians, and are thought to have come from 

 the West; for there were found Irish books and bells, 

 and various other things, whence it is thought they were 

 Westmen." 



These things were found in the small island of 

 Papey, or the Isle of the Papae, on the east 

 coast of Iceland, and at a place called Papylio 

 in the interior. The Christians are said to have 



