The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends (80 page)

“I do?” agreed Nol dolefully. Then he asked: “Tell me, this, are you truly a princess?”

The girl smiled and inclined her head. “I am called the Princess of the Shining Star, that is the Pole Star, which guides humankind on its way home. Alas, its light is no good to guide me
back home, unless I can be free.”

“Then you shall be free?” Nol affirmed. “Have no fear. I will stick to my bargain with you.”

And the girl vanished. Nol went home, passing the solitary duck swimming on the lake.

That night he came again, bringing firewood and a bottle of cider and hoping the wizards would not come again. But as he sat by the fire, he heard a strange rushing sound in the air and he
quickly went to an old rubbish pile and hid himself under it. Down the chimney came the three wizards as evil as ever.

“I smell human blood!” cried one.

“It’s the miller again!” announced the second, coming directly to the pile of rubbish and heaving Nol out by one leg.

“Why, miller?” said the third, “we thought you dead, after last night’s game.”

“We must play a better game?” said the first.

“Indeed, we must?” said the second.

“It will not take long to finish you off, this time?” announced the third.

And they put firewood on the fire and conjured a great cauldron which was full of oil and they brought it to a bubbling boil over the fire. Then they threw the miller into it. Nol had no time to
cry out in pain, even if he had wanted to. And when the cock announced the first glimmers of dawn light, the three wizards disappeared up the chimney.

The Princess of the Shining Star appeared almost immediately and pulled the miller from the cauldron. He was cooked so thoroughly that his flesh was falling off the bone.
Yet she poured her ointment over him and he was immediately whole and healthy again.

“You have suffered much for me, Nol?” she observed sorrowfully.

“I don’t know if I can suffer more?” he confessed.

“Yet you must, if I am to be free.”

So, the third night, he took himself to the ruined castle and this time he did not even bother to hide himself but stood waiting for the three wizards before the great fireplace.

There came the rushing sound and down the chimney they came.

They pulled up in surprise when they saw him.

“Well, well, well?” said the first one. “It’s the miller and still living.”

“Brothers?” said the second, “this is the third night. If we don’t finish him tonight, then we will lose everything.”

“He must be protected by a wizard as powerful as we are?” exclaimed the third.

“Then what should we do?” demanded the first.

Nol stood silently while they stood suggesting all manner of painful deaths. Each argued with the other about the exact manner of the death and it took a long, long time for them to agree.
Finally, they built up a great fire; it was suggested that they put Nol on a great iron skewer lengthwise, so that they could turn him over the fire and baste him like a roast. However, just as
they were about to do so, the cock announced the first glimmer of dawn’s light and they had to rush off. They were terribly angry at having wasted all night in discussing what they should do
and, in their departure, each one trying to get up the chimney before the other, they knocked down the end of the castle hall.

Nol stood shivering in relief at his escape. Then the Princess of the Shining Star appeared. However, she did not need her ointment this time.

“You have suffered much for me, Nol. Now we shall find the treasure and you will have your reward.”

They went to the hearthstone and were able to push it to one side. There, just as the Princess had said, were the three great chests of gold and the three great chests of silver.

“Take it all and use it as you wish, Nol. As for me, I have to leave you . . .”

Nol began to protest, but the Princess held up her hand. “I shall leave you for a year and a day and then I will return; thereafter we shall always be together. I have to undertake a
journey home first . . .” And she pointed to the glimmering Pole-Star, which had not yet quite departed from the sky. “Will you trust me to return?”

Well, Nol had little choice in the matter. However, as he had trusted her three times with his life, it would be no hardship to trust her again. So, with a touch of her hand on his, she vanished
in a mist again.

The chests of gold and silver were real enough.

Nol consoled himself by removing the treasure to his house and thinking what he should do with it. His best friend was Rosko and he called him and let him into the secret. They decided that they
would visit far distant lands and improve their knowledge. Nol, being a generous man, gave away his mill to his chief assistant and he and Rosko set out, denying themselves nothing. Eight months
were spent in their travels and Nol finally said: “I think I must be going home. It would be bad for me if I missed the meeting with the Princess at the end of the year and a day.” So
Nol and Rosko set off home.

They were not far off when, passing along the road, they came on a little old woman who was selling apples by the roadside.

“Buy my apples, kind gentlemen?” the old woman said, holding out large red apples that were bright and tempting.

Now Rosko, Nol’s friend, was a wise young man.

“Do not buy any apples from this old woman?” he advised Nol.

“Why ever not?” demanded Nol. “Look how sumptuous they are, trickling with juice.”

He bought three apples.

Now, with part of his treasure, Nol had the ruined castle renovated and decked out in magnificence. The princess had informed him that the three wizards could never again come there, and so Nol
had made it his splendid home, fit for a
prince to live in. They reached there on the very day the princess was due to arrive.

Nol sat himself outside the castle, overlooking the lake on which he had first met the princess. Rosko sat with him. There came a gnawing in Nol’s stomach that made him feel ill. Nol put
it down to pangs of hunger and so he drew forth an apple and ate it. He began to feel sleepy this time, and soon he was fast asleep.

It was not long afterwards that the princess arrived, in the most beautiful star-coloured carriage drawn by
twenty-seven white horses with star-bursts on their foreheads.
When the princess alighted and found Nol asleep, she was distressed.

“Why does he sleep, Rosko?” she asked his friend.

“Lady, that I do not know, except that he bought three apples from an old woman on the roadside. He’s just eaten one of them and this has made him fall asleep.”

The princess gave a long indrawn breath.

“Alas! The old woman was the mother of the three evil Otherworld wizards that kept me captive and whom Nol overcame. This is her vengeance, for she means us evil in return for her three
sons’ defeat. I can’t invite him into my star carriage while he is asleep. I will return at this time tomorrow. Here is a golden pear and a kerchief. When he awakens, give him these
tokens and tell him that I shall return and hope to find him awake.”

So saying, the princess climbed back into her star-coloured carriage drawn by twenty-seven white horses and they rose into the air and disappeared.

Now Nol eventually awoke and was distressed and angry with himself when Rosko told him what had happened while he had been asleep.

“I will not sleep tomorrow?” he vowed.

He went to bed immediately, so as not to be asleep the next day.

On the following day, he went with Rosko to the spot outside the castle and sat there. Time passed and in a moment of absent-mindedness, he reached in his pocket, drew forth the second apple and
ate it. He was promptly asleep again.

The princess came in a moon-coloured carriage pulled by twenty-seven white horses, each with a star-burst on their foreheads.

When she saw Nol sleeping, she raised her hands in despair. “What? Can it be he still sleeps?”

Rosko told her what had happened.

“I shall return at this time tomorrow. But after that, I can return no more. Here is a second golden pear and a kerchief. Tell him what I have said and say that if I find him asleep
tomorrow, he will never see me again, unless he crosses three powers and three seas in search of me.”

She stepped back into her moon-coloured carriage and it rose in the air and disappeared.

When Nol awoke and Rosko told him what had passed, he was in despair. He told his friend to ensure that he did not sleep. So the next day, at the appointed time, Nol sat gazing out over the
lake. He was aware that he was feeling hungry and absently drew out the third apple and nibbled it. At once he was asleep again. Poor Rosko. There was nothing he could do to wake his friend.

Then the princess came in a sun-coloured carriage, drawn by twenty-seven white horses, each with a star-burst on their foreheads.

She raised her hands in anguish when she saw Nol. “I can return no more. Rosko, you are a good friend to him. Tell him that I cannot return. To see me again, he must come and search for me
in the Kingdom of the Shining Star. To get there, he must cross three powers and three seas. He will have to go through much heartache and pain. Here is a third golden pear and a third kerchief.
Give them to him and tell him that the three pears and three kerchiefs will be useful to him in his quest.”

“With all my heart, I will do as you ask?” cried Rosko, for he was a true friend of Nol.

Then she stepped into her sun-coloured carriage, drawn by the twenty-seven white horses, and it rose into the air and disappeared.

When Nol awoke, he was in a rage and fury with himself.

“I’ll seek her out, even should my road take me to the gates of Hell and beyond!”

“I will come with you?” declared Rosko.

Nol shook his head. “This is my task and mine alone. You will stay here and look after the castle and my treasure, or such of it as remains. In my absence, you are the lord here. If I fail
to return, you will continue to be lord and live here in comfort for the rest of your days.”

So it was that Nol set out on his quest to find the Princess of the Shining Star.

At first he rode for many miles until he lost count of them, even losing count of the days that had passed. He had come to a great, lonely forest, which seemed to have no end. He wandered
aimlessly for days and nights until he grew exhausted and, hearing the distant sound of wolves, he climbed a tree for protection. Yet from this elevation he saw a distant light and thought it must
come from a house. So he climbed down and went in the direction of the light.

The place was only a poor woodsman’s cottage. It was made of little more than branches and hay for the roof. Nol pushed open the door. An ancient man with a long white beard sat at the
table within.

“Good evening, grandfather?” greeted Nol respectfully.

The old man looked up in astonishment. “Good evening, young man. You are welcome to this place. Indeed, seeing you gives me great pleasure, for I have not laid eyes on a human being in the
eighteen hundred years that I have been here. How is it with the world outside this forest?”

Nol sat himself down and told the old man the reason for his journey.

The old man offered him cider and was sympathetic.

“I’ll do you a favour, young man.” He turned and took two pieces of cloth which, when Nol examined them carefully, were coverings for the shoes, gaiters.

“What favour is this?” he demanded.

“They are enchanted gaiters. They were useful to me when I was your age. When you put them on and take a step, you may cover seven leagues. You should be able to reach the Kingdom of the
Shining Star with these.”

And Nol spent the night with the old man and told him how things fared with the world outside the forest. The next
morning, he put on the gaiters and began to travel very
swiftly. With seven leagues gone with each step he was soon over the forest, streams, rivers and mountains. Towards sunset on that day, he had come to another forest and to another hut similar to
the first one. He was hungry and tired by the extent of his journey

He knocked at the door.

Inside was an old woman, with teeth long and yellow and she was crouching before a meagre fire in the hearth.

“Good evening, grandmother?” Nol greeted respectfully. “I was hoping I might get some food here and a place to sleep for the night.”

“You have ill come here. I hate strangers and have three strapping sons who will grind your bones if they find you here. That will be the best of your fortune, for they will undoubtedly
eat you as well. Clear off.”

“What are the names of your sons?” demanded Nol.

“They are Genver, C’hwevrer and Meurzh!”

“So you are the mother of the winds?”

“Indeed I am.”

“I entreat you, by the sacred stones, grandmother, to give me hospitality and hide me from your three sons.”

Nol had heard a noise outside and knew the three sons of the old woman were coming.

“That is my son Genver?” the old woman said relenting. “I’ll try to help you . . . I know, I’ll tell him that you are my brother’s son and that you’ve
come to pay us a visit.”

“Very well?” agreed Nol. “Does your brother’s son have a name?”

“Yes, tell them your name is Fidamdoustik.”

Almost immediately, the first of the old woman’s sons rushed down the chimney and peered about.

“Ha ah, mother. I smell a human. I’m hungry and cold and need a tasty morsel.”

“Sit down and behave, Genver. That is your cousin who sits there.”

Genver frowned. “No cousin of mine, surely?”

“It is your cousin, Fidamdoustik. Sit there while I get your supper and do not harm him, otherwise I shall have to call upon the sack.”

She pointed to an old sack hanging behind the door.

So Genver sat down sulkily, and from time to time he cast covetous glances at Nol. Then he was joined by his two brothers, C’hwevrer and Meurzh, each as ugly as he. As they swept through
the air, trees cracked, wolves howled and even stones flicked through the air. They puffed and blowed as they came down the chimney. The old woman told them all to behave and be kind to their
cousin, Fidamdoustik. Only when threatened with the sack did they settle down in the corner.