THE LAND OF
WONDERS
[Translated from the Irish]
I.
In my father's young days an old ship-captain and his wife lived near the City of Galway. His name was Ryan, but he was never called anything but the Hairy Captain. They had two children, Maire Bán and Seán Og, and as the Captain was always voyaging round the world the care and trouble of their upbringing fell to his wife. The youngsters, however, had great fun when their father came home once a year or thereabouts. He would take Maire Bán by the hand and he would take Seán Og, or the Burla, as he was called, by the hand and he would show them the wonders of his ship. He would have a present for Maire and a present for the Burla and a present for their mother. The mother would have a present for him too. He never came home but she would have a nice oat cake ready for him. It was said that the Hairy Captain preferred these little oat cakes and goat's milk, with a drop of rum in it, to any other food that could be placed before him. At all
5
