At the foot of the gloomy Galtee Mountains there once lived a poor little man with a gigantic hump on his back that weighed so heavily upon him, he looked like a gnarled tree limb bent over with some odd burden. He was a gentle soul, though, and always wore a sprig of lusmore, of foxglove, in his cap. On account of this, some called him "Lusmore." Others, repelled by his grotesque shape, called him cruel names unbefitting his sweet nature. In truth, they were jealous of him because he could plait straw rushes into fine hats and baskets that fetched higher prices than their own. They liked to make up stories about him, saying that he knew the magic powers of herbs and used them in witchcraft.
Be that as it may, it happened that Lusmore was returning one evening from the pretty town of Cahir. Due to the weight of his great hump, he found walking difficult, so it was not until dark that he reached the old prehistoric mound of Knockgrafton. Weary as he was, and discouraged by the distance he still had to travel, he sat down by the mound to rest and gazed mournfully at the moon.
Presently he heard a beautiful but unearthly song rising from the mound. The voices pleased him, and he might have been content to listen to them forever if it were not for the fact that they repeated themselves over and over. Lusmore soon tired of hearing the same verse sung again and again:
"Monday, Tuesdays, oh, such pretty days!
Mondays, Tuesdays, oh, such pretty days!"
Over and over they sang this verse with not a change
and so when at last ehere came a pause, Lusmore, who had
listened carefully to the tune and could sing quite well
himself, added in perfect pitch and rhythm:
"And I also love Wednesdays!"
Then he continued singing along with the voices in the mound, again adding his part at the pause.
Well, the fairies, for it was they whom he had heard, were delighted with Lusmore's addition to their song. His skill at singing was not overlooked either. They decided to bring the mortal among them and did so with the speed of a whirlwind.
Lushmore had never seen such a glorious sight as he twirled down into the fairies' mound and landed as softly as a piece of straw on the floor oftheir great hall. The fairies paid him the greatest honor, placing him above all the musicians and waiting upon him as if he were king of the land.
Before long, Lusmore saw a great discussion among the
fairies, and he became quite frightened; for one can never be
certain what tricks the fairies my play. Then one fairy stepped
forward and said to him:
Lusmore! Lusmore!
Doubt not, nor deplore,
For that hump which you bore
On your back is no more;
Look down on the floor,
And view it, Lusmore!"
As soon as these words were spoken, Lusmore's hump tumbled to the
floor of the mound and he stood up tall with a strange feeling of
lightness he had never known before. Cautiously he lifted his
head, half expecting he would topple backwards as before, but instead
he could finally see above and all around him. He was so thrilled
to be rid of his hump that he could have jumped over the moon like
the old cow in the riddle. Everything seemed so beautiful that he
grew dizzy with delight. At last he sat, his eyelids shut, and
Lusmore fell into a deep sleep.
When he awoke, he was sitting in the same spot he had been in the night before, but now the cows and sheep were grazing about him and the sun was up. Lusmore said his prayers before carefully feeling his back, testing to see if he had just been dreaming. But no, the hump was truly gone, and more than that, the fairies had clad him in a full new suit of clothes, so that Lusmore was now a well-shaped dapper fellow!
As you might guess, he skipped and danced all the way home. Not a soul he met knew him without his hump, and he had the most difficult time persuading them that he was, indeed, the same man, at least on the inside.
The story of Lusmore's hump began to spread, of course, from town to town, until one day a woman and her son visited Lusmore. The son was a humpback just as Lusmore had been, but he did not have Lusmore's sweet and gentle nature. No, he was spiteful and mean; nevertheless, when he asked how, exactly, Lusmore got the fairies to remove his hump, Lusmore told him what he wanted to know.
Jack Madden, For that was the humpback's name, went to the mound at
Knockgrafton at nightfall and waited there. Soon enough he heard the
fairies sing their verse, along with Lusmore's addition:
Mondays, Tuesdays, oh, such pretty days!
And I also love Wednesdays!"
Now, Jack Madden did not listen carefully to the tune as Lusmore had,
nor did he wait for the fairies to pause. He was in such a hurry to be rid
of his hump that he rudely interrupted the song with not an ounce of
grace or rhythm. He sang, if it could be called singing:
"And then come Thursday and Friday too!"
He added an extra day to the song, reasoning that if one worked, two
would be even better; and if Lusmore were given one new suit of clothes,
he should be given two. Well, no sooner were Jack's works out than he was
whisked into the mound whith the force of a tornado. A host of angry
fairies whirled around him screeching, "Who ruined our song? Who
ruined our song?" One fairy stepped out of the crowd and said:
Jack Madden! Jack Madden!
Your words came so bad in
The tune we felt glad in;
This castle you're had in,
That your life we may sadden;
Here's two humps for Jack Madden!"
Then twenty of the strongest fairies brought out Lusmore's hump,
and put it down upon poor Jack's back, where it was fixed for good. They
then kicked him out of their hall, and in the morning Jack Madden's
mother found him, barely able to move. Home they went, silent and with
downcast hearts.
Jack died soon after, leaving a heavy curse to anyone who would dare to
go singing with the fairies! As for Lusmore, he married and had many
children who loved to listen to his songs--especially the tune he helped
the fairies sing.
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