11th July 2012, 11:05 PM
(This post was last modified: 11th July 2012, 11:07 PM by CARTOON REALITY.)
Extract from ‘The Romance of Mis and Dubh Ruis.’ Recorded in a manuscript of 1769, certainly medieval but probably earlier than that.
The story concerns a young man pursuing a woman who has gone mad and turned into a wild woman of the mountains/woods and his quest to cure her.
When he reached the mountain he sat where he thought she might pass and he spread his cloak on the ground and spread his gold and silver around its edges. He lay on the cloak and took up his harp. He opened his trews and bared himself for he thought that if he could lie with and have intercourse with her that it would be a good way to bring her to sanity again. Not long after that she came to where he was on hearing the harp music and she stood there in all her wildness listening and looking at him and waiting.
‘Are you not a person?’ She said.
‘Yes,’ he said.
‘What is this?’ she said, putting her hand on the harp.
‘A harp,’ he said.
‘Ho,’ she said, ‘I remember the harp. My father used to play one. Play it for me.’
‘I will,’ he said, ‘ but please do not harm me.’
‘I will not,’ she said.
She saw the gold and silver and said:
‘What is this?’
‘Gold and Silver,’ he said.
‘I remember,’ she said, ‘my father used to have gold.’
She glanced and him and saw his nakedness and his playful members and said:
‘What are these?’ pointing to his testicles. And he told her.
‘What is this?’ She said pointing to the other thing she saw.
‘That is my magic wand.’
‘I do not remember that,’ she said , ‘my father did not have anything like that. A magic wand,’ she said, ‘What tricks can it do?’
‘Sit near me and I will do the trick for you.’
‘I will,’ he said, ‘ And he lay with her and had intercourse.
‘Ha,’ she said, ‘That was a good trick. Do it again.’
‘I will he said, ‘but I will play the harp first.’
‘Don’t bother with the harp,’ she said,’ just do the trick.’
‘Well,’ he said,’ I would like some food first. I am hungry.’
‘I will get you a deer,’ she said.
She was not gone long from him when she returned carrying a deer under her arm. She was about to tear it apart and eat it as it was when Dubh Ruis said to her:
‘Wait until I slaughter the deer and boil the meat.;
With that he cut the deer’s throat and skinned it. Then he made a large fire of dead wood from the forest and he gathered a heap of granite stones, and put them in the fire. He made a pit, square all round in the ground, and he filled it with water. He cut up his meat and wrapped it in marsh grass, with a well-turned sugan around it, and he put it in the hole and he was supplying and continuously putting the well reddened, long-heated stones in the water, and he kept it constantly boiling until his meat was cooked . . .
He then took her to the hole in which was the cold broth with the fat of the deer melted on it, and he put her standing in it, and he took a piece of the deer’s skin and he rubbed and massaged the joints of her body and all her bones, and he took to smearing her, rubbing her, and spreading her with the grease of the deer and with the broth until he had cleansed much of her, and until he brought streams of sweat out of her like that.’
The story concerns a young man pursuing a woman who has gone mad and turned into a wild woman of the mountains/woods and his quest to cure her.
When he reached the mountain he sat where he thought she might pass and he spread his cloak on the ground and spread his gold and silver around its edges. He lay on the cloak and took up his harp. He opened his trews and bared himself for he thought that if he could lie with and have intercourse with her that it would be a good way to bring her to sanity again. Not long after that she came to where he was on hearing the harp music and she stood there in all her wildness listening and looking at him and waiting.
‘Are you not a person?’ She said.
‘Yes,’ he said.
‘What is this?’ she said, putting her hand on the harp.
‘A harp,’ he said.
‘Ho,’ she said, ‘I remember the harp. My father used to play one. Play it for me.’
‘I will,’ he said, ‘ but please do not harm me.’
‘I will not,’ she said.
She saw the gold and silver and said:
‘What is this?’
‘Gold and Silver,’ he said.
‘I remember,’ she said, ‘my father used to have gold.’
She glanced and him and saw his nakedness and his playful members and said:
‘What are these?’ pointing to his testicles. And he told her.
‘What is this?’ She said pointing to the other thing she saw.
‘That is my magic wand.’
‘I do not remember that,’ she said , ‘my father did not have anything like that. A magic wand,’ she said, ‘What tricks can it do?’
‘Sit near me and I will do the trick for you.’
‘I will,’ he said, ‘ And he lay with her and had intercourse.
‘Ha,’ she said, ‘That was a good trick. Do it again.’
‘I will he said, ‘but I will play the harp first.’
‘Don’t bother with the harp,’ she said,’ just do the trick.’
‘Well,’ he said,’ I would like some food first. I am hungry.’
‘I will get you a deer,’ she said.
She was not gone long from him when she returned carrying a deer under her arm. She was about to tear it apart and eat it as it was when Dubh Ruis said to her:
‘Wait until I slaughter the deer and boil the meat.;
With that he cut the deer’s throat and skinned it. Then he made a large fire of dead wood from the forest and he gathered a heap of granite stones, and put them in the fire. He made a pit, square all round in the ground, and he filled it with water. He cut up his meat and wrapped it in marsh grass, with a well-turned sugan around it, and he put it in the hole and he was supplying and continuously putting the well reddened, long-heated stones in the water, and he kept it constantly boiling until his meat was cooked . . .
He then took her to the hole in which was the cold broth with the fat of the deer melted on it, and he put her standing in it, and he took a piece of the deer’s skin and he rubbed and massaged the joints of her body and all her bones, and he took to smearing her, rubbing her, and spreading her with the grease of the deer and with the broth until he had cleansed much of her, and until he brought streams of sweat out of her like that.’
