The Round Towers of Ireland; or, The History of the Tuath-De-DanaansO'Brien, Henry
Religion
The Round Towers of Ireland; or, The History of the Tuath-De-Danaans
O'Brien, Henry
Ireland -- Antiquities; Round towers -- Ireland
“This celebrated individual had a son, who was grown up to man’s estate;
and anxious that this only child should possess, in marriage, a young
woman of sound sense and ready wit, he cared little for the factitious
distinctions of birth or fortune, if he found her rich in the gifts of
heaven. Having killed a sheep, he sent the young man to sell the skin at
the next market town, with this singular injunction, that he should bring
home _the skin and its price_ at his return. The lad was always accustomed
to bow to his father’s superior wisdom, and on this occasion did not stop
to question the good sense of his commands, but bent his way to town. In
these primitive times it was not unusual to see persons of the highest
rank engaged in menial employments, so the townsfolk were less surprised
to see the young Goban expose a sheep-skin for sale, than at the absurdity
of the term, ‘_the skin and the price of it_.’ He could find no chapman,
or rather chapwoman (to coin a term), for it was women engaged in domestic
business that usually purchased such skins for the wool. A young woman at
last accosted him, and upon hearing the terms of sale, after pondering a
moment agreed to the bargain. She took him to her house, and having
stripped off all the wool, returned him the bare skin, and the price for
which the young man stipulated. Upon reaching home, he returned _the skin
and its value_ to his father, who learning that a young woman became the
purchaser, entertained so high an opinion of her talents, that in a few
days she became the wife of his son, and sole mistress of Rath Goban.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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