Читать книгу Кельтские сумерки. Уровень 1 / The Celtic Twilight - Уильям Батлер Йейтс - Страница 13

One day, an old woman from Mayo[90] told me that something very bad had come down the road and entered the house across from hers. She didn’t say what it was, but I understood. Another time, she shared a story about two of her friends who have met the devil. One of them was standing by the roadside when the person on horseback[91] asked her to join him for a ride. When she said “no”, he disappeared. The other friend was waiting for her boyfriend on the road late at night when something rolled towards her. It looked like a newspaper, but suddenly it flew up into her face. It was the Irish Times[92]! Then it turned into a young man who invited her to go for a walk. She said “no”, and he was gone.

I also know of an old man living on the slopes of Ben Bulben who found the devil ringing a bell under his bed. So, he went and stole the chapel bell[93] and rang it, driving the devil away. Probably, like the other stories, this wasn’t actually the devil but a woodland spirit with cloven feet[94].