BLARNEY CASTLE.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 March 1925, Page 4

BLARNEY CASTLE.

KISSING THE STONE

(By S. Elliot Napier, in Sydney

‘ Herald.”

It was while we were training it from Cork to Blarney that we received confirmation of a suspicion that had been slowly developing in our minds over since we had arrived at Rosslare, It is the simple but painful truth, that the Irish people do not speak Irish! I do not mean Erse—lor all 1 know to the contrary they may discourse in that language to one another from dawn to dark. What I mean is that they do not speak Irish as the unsophisticated traveller knows it from the plays of Dion Boucicault and the tales of Lover.’ Our experience, for wliat it is worth is that Handy Andy is a myth and Micky Free a mere perversion of tlie imagination. Not n soul did we meet in our fortnight's stay in Erin who mentioned an omadhaiU or a spalpeen. while as for gossoons, they were as completely out of stock as though they had never existed. We tested the hospitality of cabin and shebeen, of inn, of mansion, and of castle, and never once—not once—did anyone saj

“ Faix,” or express a wish for the divil to fly away wid us. It was a great disappointment. Don felt it cruelly and even the colleens failed to restore his -pints when everyone referred to them as just plain girls. 01 course that reference is a misnomer, they are not really plain. What L mean to infer is that there wasn’t a mavoureen, so to speuK amtmg the lor. Don said it must be the close season for them; and no better explanation being lortbcoming we let it go at that. There was the compensation of the brogue, however. Not the brogue you put on with n knife, as you bear it on the stage, mid—sometimes —among tile car-driv-ers, who assume it. 1 am sure, for the edification of the tourist. But there was the real soft, delightful Irish brogue uf the people; the little twist of the tongue, tlie witching curious musical intonation which is the prettiest and most seductive thing in the world on the lips of a woman, and " delud-

hers ” you even on those of a mere man. One hears that everywhere; and combined with the queer inversions of the Irish speech, there is something inexpessibly effective about it. It seems to run so well with the soft grey greens and blues, the sadness and the lilt and the laughter and the tears combined, which go to make up Proland. We learnt those things, I say, upon the train that day; and our informant was an Irishman, whose eyes were grey as peat smoke, and whose tongue breathed out the very essence of the Emerald Isle. He told us many things, that grey-eyed Irishman; some

of them incredible, and some that one might learn to believe after a little practice ; and when wo came at last to Blarney Station we left him with re-

gret. WALKING TO THE CASTLE.

There is, I believe, a small branch line from Cork to Blarney direct, blit we had come hv the main Great Southern and ’Western train, which landed about a mile from the castle and the village. This, however, was a distinct

advantage, so far as we. were concerned ; for the rain had ceased and we wore simply aching for a walk along the lanes of Erin. And so we started olf for blarney Castle with llu> keenest anticipation. The effects ol the mildness of the Irish winter, as compared with that of England, were the first things wo noticed. Instead of the leafless trees being everywhere evident, here they were in the minority. Of course the deciduous species wore hare enough : hut there were so many oilier kinds that their nakedness was not so unashamed. Rhododendrons were everywhere; their large, dark, oblong leaves massed up in squares and in battalions. Firs, too. and pines, and flossy hollies helped to point the contrast; while fuchsia hedges marched in serried ranks beside us along the way. As we plodded joyously on there came towards us a somewhat tattered individual. “ Begorrah !” said Don. who, like Boh Acres, suits his expletives to his occasions, “ Here’s one of the -rakes’ of Blarney, belike.” The 'inke’ arrived. “It is goiu' lo the castle ye are?” lie asked. “We moight,” replied Don. with caution. “ Then ve’ll he aflher wantin’ a tiek-

et,” said the newcomer, “Mould on a mimiit will ye now. I’m in charge there and I’ll he giviu ye one.” 'Whereupon he produced a hag from nowhere, like a conjuror; and a couple of tickets from the hag. He handed them to us. They were for all the world like railway tickets, and they bore the imprint “ Blarney Castle.” We paid our friend the small fee he demanded, and he said: “ Go on, now. ’tis straight ahead of ye—there’ll he no one there but the bhov, maybe, hut ye’ll get in for the opening of the gate. ’Tis luck ye met me or ye wouldn’t have got yor tickets.” “ But we would have got in just the same without them, wouldn’t we?” said Don. This view of the matter seemed to surprise our friend, who confessed that there was nothing lo prevent us. “

“Then it’s you who are the lucky one.” said I, “ seeing that you’ve got paid for something we needn't have bought.”

“ ’Tis true for ye.” said this strange custodian. “ But it’s lucky 1 alwats was ivir since I missed the smallpox by bein’ run over whin 1 was going home to ut.” With this philosophical remark lie waved his hat and went his way. I have my “ tick lit ” still; nobody ever asked for it or seemed to care whether we had such a thing; and I have related the whole incident as being typical of the happy-go-lucky methods we encountered everywhere For the party with the hag was the guardian of the castle, all right. Me found that out later; and also that all visitors were supposed to have, tickets before they could enter the castle grounds. But as the gate was open when we got there, and the “ bhov ” was not in sight, the purchase of those tickets does seem to have been an unnecessary extravagance. doesn’t it? But wo don t

gnulge it. - THE CASTLE ANT) THE STONE. Blarney Castle is beautifully situa- - teil on a, wooded hill, and at its ieet a little rapid brook runs hastily along. We crossed the water by a ragged, rustic bridge, and there the great, grey . rugged keep showed up against the sky. But the keep is nearly all that there is of it: for Blarney has been a ruin ever since the days of Cromwell, and even the keep would hardly provide comfortable lodging for a tramp. It is a square, bold structure; a little more than a hundred feet high, uith machiolated battlements, which project considerably beyond the walls. In these projecting doors there are great gaps, a provision thoughtfully arranged by the builder to enable its defenders to drop stones and melted lead and such-like little attention through the holes upon the heads of unwelcome visitors beneath. The castle was built about the middle of the fifteenth century, and was held by the port et ful family of the MacCarthys for long enougn; but its history came to end when “bowld 1-ray-ton,” Cromwell’s son-in-law, .paid it the attention of a visit. The famous “ Blarney Stone,” is set in a parapet which hangs over the western side of the tower ; and to kiss it properly one has to bang out through a gap.in the parapet, head downward, twist one’s head round and upward, and salute the outer surface

the stone. Of course you can kiss T 1 e inner side of the stone, hut such al \ oscillatory adventure is ns tame I' ul ineffective as kissing one’s own jt ster, instead of some one else’s. Wo jtnrlied all these tilings from an old dv, who hurried up at sight of us, id sold us half a dozen postcards, n- p istrative ol the castle and the process __ ' kissing, with a celerity and .certain- j. ( y evidently horn of long practice. n inspecting the card showing the . roper way to perforin the rite Don ml 1 looked at one another. like the icn of Cortez, “ with a wild surmise. or the feat appeared to entail gymastic dangers with which we were ill ' repared to cope. Then ! said to the !,j lady: ‘‘Lead us to the sacrifice; tul I—l shall go first.” .Said Don: Why this sudden hurst of heroism.-'” ml I replied: “It is not heroism, it is j precaution. Volt saw that pic-tine, idti't you? it seems that the party ,-ho does tlie kissing must he hold by lie logs to prevent him from falling. Veil—l ask you? If you go first, ben<r very much too heavy lor me to mid I .shall infallibly drop you, and hereby ruin any chance for myself; vhereas if I go first, being light, you •an easily support me and then, my luty being (lone, it doesn’t really mat- . ;er so much whether you drop or not. I’his logic proving irresistible, alul the lid lady showing us the wily, •ended the dark and winding stair—tvhicli had as many uncomfortable gaps in it as the teetli of a brokenmouthed ewe—within the interim ecmomv of the keep, and presently emerged upon the roof. The view was very line, and would have been finer hut for the mists that hid the Boggerali hills away to the north-west. Tlie trees around the castle’s feet looked very dwarfed and far away; and "hatwith the loneliness of the place, and the greyncss of it, tlie job belore us loomed up as something pretty coi >e and-uncomfortable. However, lie neie in for it. Don solemnly shook h: ml.? , with me. “In case “ "'as all he said ; hut the words did not add greatly to the humour of the situation. 1 wriggled through the gap, Don grasp - j ed me by the legs, I half swung out | above tlie void, and holding to an iron hat provided for the purpose, perform-1 ed Die rife with all solemnity—-■> iI. | not little ricking of the neck. Scranth- , ling hack in triumph I performed a | war dance on the parapet, while Don j took off his coat and laid him down j in turn. Fortunately my strength | proved equal to the task ol holding him, and lie, too, squirmed and kissed in due and proper form. This done, he wriggled hack to safety at my side, and “with the gratifying feeling that j our duty had been done” wo came ( down again to earth, both literally and figuratively. The. great adventure was over! And its effect:-' Midi, as for myself, I am not prepared to speak but. the way Don was enabled to “ put the eoinetlier ” over the colleens during the remainder of <>ur stay in Ireland leads me to believe that there is a good deal more in the legend if the Blarney Stone than 1 had at lust