Читать книгу Кельтские сумерки. Уровень 1 / The Celtic Twilight - Уильям Батлер Йейтс - Страница 22

Near the town of Sligo, on the southern side of Ben Bulben, there is a small white square on the limestone. No one has ever touched it. It is the entrance to the land of fairies. During the middle of the night, the magical beings come from the door and walk on the land, invisible to all except for a few fairies-doctors who may look out from their homes to see what the fairies are up to. If there is a newborn baby or a newlywed[157] nearby, the fairies-doctors pay extra attention because sometimes the fairies take them into their mountains, and they become part of the land of the fairies.

In the early 19th century, a mysterious apothecary[158] named Dr. Opendon appeared at the western corner of Market Street in Sligo. At the time, a woman named Mrs. Ormsby’s husband fell mysteriously ill, and the doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him. Desperate, Mrs. Ormsby turned to Dr. Opendon. When she entered his shop, she saw a black cat sitting by the fire. Dr. Opendon, dressed in black like the cat, came in, and his wife followed him, also dressed in black. Mrs. Ormsby gave the doctor a guinea[159] and he gave her a small bottle. Wonderfully, her husband recovered. Dr. Opendon continued to cure many people, but one day, a rich patient died. The doctor, his wife, and the black cat all disappeared overnight. A year later, Mr. Ormsby fell ill again. Mrs. Ormsby thought that the fairies wanted to take her handsome husband, so she visited the fairies-doctor at Cairnsfoot. After hearing her story, the fairies-doctor went behind the back door and started murmuring spells. This time, her husband recovered as well. However, he fell ill again, and Mrs. Ormsby went back to the fairies-doctor at Cairnsfoot. This time, the doctor told her there was no hope, and her husband died. From then on, Mrs. Ormsby believed that she knew where her husband was, and it wasn’t in heaven, hell, or purgatory. She believed that a wooden log was left in place of her husband, but it was enchanted to look like his dead body.