Throughout the whole history of Ireland - long, stormy and amazing - there was, I think, no woman equal in intelligence to the wife of Gob-an-Shor, except, perhaps, one, whose name was Saw, the wife of O Donnell himself.
Yes, she was an extraordinary woman.
I’ll tell you about Gob’s wife later, just so I don’t forget.
O Donnell himself, Prince of Donegal, was also very smart in his own way. One day during Easter week, he received an eminent Spanish guest at his court, and suddenly there weren’t enough apples. He immediately sent a servant to the nearest abbey, but the stingy brethren replied that, alas, there was nothing left of the old supplies, and until the new harvest ripened, they would have no apples.
Then O Donnell ordered a bunch of candles to be sent to the monks as a gift. And the messenger who carried them returned with a basket of the most wonderful apples.
O Donnell immediately composed a witty couplet in Gaelic and sent him off with an expression of his gratitude to the abbey: they say, he was shocked by the discovery that candles help apples ripen ahead of time.
Yes, we just started talking about his wife Sav, even smarter than him. The story of how he found her, the daughter of a poor man of the poor, and was captivated by her wisdom, is already excellent in itself, and perhaps I will tell it to you when my soul is happier. And now I want to tell you how Sav outwitted her beloved husband.
When he was first captivated by her clear mind and thought to surprise this barefoot girl with the news that he was going to marry her and make her the mistress of his heart and his home, he himself had to be surprised, since she flatly refused him. As soon as he calmed down, he asked her the reason for such recklessness. And Sav answered:
- Blinded by love, you now do not notice either my situation or my poverty. But the day will come when, if I dare to anger the great O Donnell, he will forget that I am no worse than him, if not better, and will plunge me back into the same poverty from which he raised me.
O Donnell's vows that this would never happen did not shake her. He begged and begged and pursued her day after day, from Monday to Sunday, and again day after day, until finally Sav - like Sally Dunlavy when she agreed to marry big and clumsy Manny Mac Grach in order to get rid of him - agreed to become his wife.
But she demanded an oath from O Donnell that if the day came - and it probably would come - when O Donnell regretted the stupidity he had committed, reproached her and ordered her to go back, she would be allowed to take from his castle everything that she herself chose and could carry on her back in three times.
Happy O Donnell laughed loudly, agreeing to this wonderful condition of hers.
They got married and were happy. They already had a son growing up, in whom they both doted. And for three whole years, O Donnell restrained his violent temper and did not offend the one he dearly loved, although he was often tempted to do so when she succeeded, and very skillfully, in thwarting the treacherous plans of this autocrat.
But one day she went too far, and this allowed the royal courtiers to laugh at the former greatness of the king.
The king was having a reception. His wife sat next to him and watched with concern the fear he inspired in everyone, even as he granted the requests of one petitioner after another. Suddenly some barefoot monk boldly stepped straight towards the king. Perhaps he should have behaved more modestly, but he was clearly offended.
- Who are you? What is your request? – O Donnel swung his whip to put the slave in his place.
But this man was not timid; on the contrary, he answered even more boldly and defiantly:
- I am God's messenger, O Donnel! The Lord sent me to demand that you correct all the evil that you have done.
The Queen restrained the blow that O Donnell was ready to bring down on the head of this madman. She stopped her husband with her hand and very calmly answered the heated monk:
“We have heard a lot of good things about your master.” Tell him not to be afraid of anything and to come here himself. Let him humbly lay his offense at our feet, and then he will know how kind and merciful the great O Donnell is.
On that day, riots broke out at court.
Enraged, O Donnell immediately appeared in his wife’s chambers and said:
- Oh, you whore! But that’s what I, a fool, need! What good could I expect by marrying a beggar, the daughter of a beggar! Out of my castle and out of my sight! Forever!
“Wonderful,” Sav answered calmly. “But I will take with me the greatest valuables I want.”
- Take whatever you want! - he shouted. “Anyway, I got rid of you cheaply!”
And yet he watched with pain as she collected all the rarest and most valuable decorations that made his castle the envy of everyone. But in his pride he did not say a word. He and his entire court watched in complete silence as she carried her burden across the drawbridge and, laying it down on the other side, returned back.
– What will follow this? - he asked bravely, standing next to his son, who was amazed at all this, and holding his hand.
Turning her back to him, Sav said:
“Put our son on my shoulders!”
For a moment O Donnell was dumbfounded. But he immediately remembered the famous fearlessness of all the O Donnells and, without blinking an eye, tore off a piece of his heart - his son, placing him on the shoulders of this cruel one.
She carried her son across the bridge and lowered him onto a bag of diamonds, gold and other valuables, and she returned again.
- Well, what now?
O Donnel was as solid as a rock, and his question was as solid as granite: “Well, what now?”
“And now,” answered this extraordinary woman, “the most valuable thing.” Now you sit on my back, my heaviest burden!
In the old days they said:
Our Colm acted very wisely when, back in the sixth century, having founded his famous school and settlement of monks and scholars in Iona, he forbade taking a cow with him. “Where you lead the cow,” said this wise man, “the woman will follow her. And where a woman comes, trouble will follow.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru