MEHAUL NOLAN'S BOYO.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLI, Issue 2210, 29 August 1910, Page 2

MEHAUL NOLAN'S BOYO.

AN AMUSING STORY «F IRISH LIFB. BY OAHIR HEALY. Mehaul Nolan (said the story-teller) was that kind of a man that nobody could satisfy. As the folks put it, he never saw water but he wanted a drink. Enough, although it was as good as a feast, would never satisfy Mehaul. He was the most covetousminded craythur I ever heard of. Alwaya he was wishing for something he hadn't got or couldn't get. Now, Mehaul's woman was of a sensible turn of mind. She had no love for Mehaul's " carry-ons." She believed in working hard early and late, and, to give her her due, she practised what ehe preached. Only for her, there's little doubt that things would have gone a-shaughrin with poor Mehaul. One day someone began telling him about a leprauchaun. It was the enticingest story you ever heard—for a simple-minded man like Mehaul. It was about a neighbour that had caught a leprauchaun—long ago, when the red Boyo was sleeping—and who couldn't let him go until he promised to give him any three wishes he asked. For that's what is in the power of these people. They know where all the crocks of gold are hidden, and, legs, nobody had more need nor a greater longing for gold than that same Mehaul Nolan. From that day he was always on the look-out for a leprauchaun. He stayed out of nights till it was near daylight, wandering about old scrugs and " soncy " places. Herself gave him many a tongue-thrashing, but he bore with them all like a saint, and didn't give her a syllable back. He was sure and sartin that he would come across a leprauchaun soon.

And luck favoured him. It's only one man in a generation, they say, that can lay his hands upon one of them. Mehaul was the favoured one.

. Now, I cannot be telling you what took place between Mehaul and the red Boyo, for I wasn't there. I have his own way of it. Only that Mehaul didn't let a drop of drink cross his lips for months before, I would be thinking that maybe he had dreamed about it some night when he was "storm-headed " behind a sod ditch.

The leprauchaun (as Mehaul himself gave out the story) was lying at full stretch behind a sloe- bush. It was a clear, moonlight." night, and he had no trouble at all in making out what the wee red thing was. So he stepped up to him on tippy-toe, and caught him by the neck. " I have you now," sez he, "and what's more I mean to keep ye." Fegs, the wee Boyo was in a quandary. It goes mortial hard with them to be found sleeping like that. He did not know rightly what to do, so, sez he, slyly : " You might unloose your fingers slightly and give me a chance."

Mehaul was far too cute for him in that. He had learned all about the pranks and tricks of his class, and the way he had of getting out of the clutches of people. " I'll not loosen a finger," sez Nolan, " till you grant me three wishes." " Wishes," sez the lad. " Would a crock o' goold not do ye ? " " Finely, finely ! " sez Mehaul. " Only these crocks o' goold have a strange way of disappearing sometimes. No, I think I should prefer the three wishes." "Then I'll have to turn my cap inside out first." " Do you see any green in my eye?" sez Mehaul. For this is the way these gentry have of making themselves invisible. Oh, fegs, Mehaul was up to all their tricks ! He had heard too much about them to let them get the better of him in that way.

So at long, and at last, the wee Boyo said that he would agree to give him the three wishes, whatsoever they might be. Mehaul said ho would like—if it might be arranged iu that way—that his wife would have one of the wishes. He thought that maybe she could th;ink of something better than him, and anyhow he would be quite satisfied with two wishes. The Boyo said that could be arranged all right. " But," sez he, like that, laughing, "if any of you make a mistake, there can be no going back on it." Mehaul had no objections to that. He loosed his grip on the Boyo ; be had the word of a leprauchaun, and everybody knows that a leprauchaun, being a fairy and a gentleman would not go back on his word. He came home to his wife, and next morning told her all that had happened. He said he had caught a leprauchaun, and that they were to have three wishes and—all the grandeur of the world. He was terrihily excited and jumped about as Was reasonable enough to expect aftfcr what he had gone through ; but she thought he was going " off his head." And sez she, very fervently, " I wish " The roar that Mehaul let out when he heard the word cross her lips would nearly waken a townland. " Be silent ! " he yelled. "If you wish for anything foolish it will be granted. You cannot change your mind. That's the way the wee Boyo fixed it." *' I wish " But again tJie roar he let out of him stopped thee word upon her lips. " You're me*d —clean mad," sez she, "and this is some wild notion that has come into your head. I wish— I wish you weren't such a fool." It was out at last. One wish gone, and seemingly for nothing. As she spoke, who appeared to them both, smiling and laughing, only the Boyo! He vanished the next instant. " You're the worst woman a man ever had ! " sez Mehaul. " And he began to fling off his bad temper like fun. " You might have asked for a castle, or a quarter Sand, or to be a great lady with carriages and sarvinta *nd coachman :. but—but." MB

ka almost orylng, " I wish you were in—Timbuctoo.'' It was out, this wish, before he oould think what ha had spoken. You see he was so mad at her stupidity in throwing away a good wish on a thing like that, that he hardly knew what he said. And now he had followed her example and thrown away another of the wishes.

As he spoke he looked about him cautiously. At the door, smiling and smirking, stood the red Boyo. Mehaul could not see his wife anywhere. It was as if she had sunk through the floor the minute he spoke. " Well,,'" aez the Boyo, " two wishes gone now." Mehaul eeized the tongs and flung them at him with all his might. " You'll be gone, too," sez he "very soon." Of course, the tongs missed the lad, who, making a bow to Mehaul, scampered away. Now, my poor Mehaul was in terrible grief. His woman had disappeared ; he went out in search for her. He ran about the house and peered into every nook and angle. He called her name, but no answer came back. He considered ;he recollected what his wish had been. He had sent her to—Timbuctoo ! He went to the neighbours' houses asking for her. None of them had heard hilt or hare of her. How could they ? "When did you see her last ?" sez they, open-mouthed at the news, for it was passing strange that she should go away like that. "Half an hour ago."

" Have you any idey," sez they, one after another, looking at him suspiciously, for it was well known that now and again she gave him a touch of her sharp tongue—" have you any idey where she is ? " Troth, it was soon seen that they suspected him of having a hand in her disappearance. " De'il a bit, then," sez he, "unless " " Unless what ? " se.i they again, looking twice as suspicious. "Unless what, man ? " " Unless," sez he, " she's away to —Timbuctoo."

! Fegs, they opened their eyes very I wide after that, and one whispered to [the other that his mind was " touchj ed ;" and after a while they hegan to talk in whispers that maybe he had killed her in a fit of temper when she began nagging at him, and that he had gone crazy. Mehaul himself was indeed like a man demented. He was in such a state that he could not be quite sartin whether he had made the bargain ii with the red Boyo or dreamt it all. j His head was very confused. He told [ the neighbours about the leprauchann j and the three wishes. But, sure—the j neighbours being very wise entirely—- ! paid no heed to his talk. It was just a sign of his madness, they said, i They sent for the police and the j police began examining and crossi examining him about the red Boyo, I and where they had seen him and i everything else, until he did not | know what be was saying. Sez the i sargent—a big, burly fellow : ! " You may as well put this cock- ! and-bull story on one side and tell ; the truth. It's your only chance. I Did yon kill ber, or did you not? " j "I did," sez Mehaul, thinking only >of having sent her to —Timbuctoo. j" I did, I did, fareir ! " sez he, sad-

" Where's the body ? " sez the sargent, making a sign to the other constable to get the handcuffs ready. " In—in—in Timbuctoo." Of course, no sargent that knew his business would listen to a yarn like that. It was too "thin." The sargent, indeed, was only hoping that Mehaul would not turn out to be mad for nothing would please him so much as putting the rope about the other's neck for the cold-blooded deed. " You'll be hung," sez he, after a pause, "at the very laist. That's the law. All the judges and juries in

Ireland couldn't save you now." At that, poor, simple-minded Mehaul broke down entirely. " I wish, sargent, she was here now ; I'd never go against her in anything again." With that—just as the last word passed his lips—who should step across the threshold but —herself !

The sargent threw up his hands as if it was a ghost. Mehaul glared at her for a second, then he ran and caught her in his arms, just to make sure that it was she and not her spirit. " Oh, Mehaul, Mehaul," sez she, " what tempted you to send me on a journey like that. So long ! so long, and snow and ice all the year round, and wild beasts and wild men. It was terrible, Mehaul ! " The sargent recovered himself! at that. " What was terrible, ma'am ? " jsez he. J " Why Timbuctoo," sez she. The sargent stared from one to the other. Then he caught hold of the woman by the arm and shook her. " Were you dreaming," sez he, "or —or have the two of you gone mad?" "It was a fearsome spot," sez she, addressing Mahaul, and ignoring the policeman. The sergeant had had enough of the nonsense. " Come on," sez he to the constable ; " come away out of this. It's no place for sensible people." When 'the sergeant was out of the door she turned to Mehaul. " I must have been asleep in the old fairy forth by the river. I had a mortial quare dream. It was all about three wishes and going away to—Timbuctoo." Mehaul said nothing. Had he been asleep in the house, he asked himself, and dreamt it all ? Had the wee red Boyo been playing a trick on the two of them as they slept ? He could hardly credit it. * * * • Anyhow, even if the red Boyo did have an hour's jollification at their expense he made up for it in other ways. He was as good as his word in the long run. Everything that Mehaul oat his hand to from that ,

day out prospered. Ha was a fool no longer. So (between you and me and the stone wall, to let the matter go no further) Mehaul had no reason for regretting that night he fell in with the red Boyo.—"Budget."