The Lilac Fairy Book | Page 6

this, that the first trade you hear named
after you come out from church shall be my trade for the rest of my
life.'
These words gave a little comfort to the poor woman, and her heart was
lighter than before as she bade him farewell.

When the Shifty Lad thought that the hour had nearly come for the
sermon to be over, he hid himself in some bushes in a little path that led
straight to his mother's house, and, as she passed along, thinking of all
the good things she had heard, a voice shouted close to her ear
'Robbery! Robbery! Robbery!' The suddenness of it made her jump.
The naughty boy had managed to change his voice, so that she did not
know it for his, and he had concealed himself so well that, though she
peered about all round her, she could see no one. As soon as she had
turned the corner the Shifty Lad came out, and by running very fast
through the wood he contrived to reach home before his mother, who
found him stretched out comfortably before the fire.
'Well, have you got any news to tell me?' asked he.
'No, nothing; for I left the church at once, and did not stop to speak to
anyone.'
'Oh, then no one has mentioned a trade to you?' he said in tones of
disappointment.
'Ye--es,' she replied slowly. 'At least, as I walked down the path a voice
cried out "Robbery! Robbery! Robbery!" but that was all.'
'And quite enough too,' answered the boy. 'What did I tell you? That is
going to be my trade.'
'Then your end will be hanging at the bridge of Dublin,' said she. But
there was no sleep for her that night, for she lay in the dark thinking
about her son.
'If he is to be a thief at all, he had better be a good one. And who is
there that can teach him?' the mother asked herself. But an idea came to
her, and she arose early, before the sun was up, and set off for the home
of the Black Rogue, or Gallows Bird, who was such a wonderful thief
that, though all had been robbed by him, no one could catch him.
'Good-morning to you,' said the woman as she reached the place where
the Black Gallows Bird lived when he was not away on his business.

'My son has a fancy to learn your trade. Will you be kind enough to
teach him?'
'If he is clever, I don't mind trying,' answered the Black Gallows Bird;
'and, of course, if ANY one can turn him into a first-rate thief, it is I.
But if he is stupid, it is of no use at all; I can't bear stupid people.'
'No, he isn't stupid,' said the woman with a sigh. 'So to-night, after dark,
I will send him to you.'
The Shifty Lad jumped for joy when his mother told him where she had
been.
'I will become the best thief in all Erin!' he cried, and paid no heed
when his mother shook her head and murmured something about 'the
bridge of Dublin.'
Every evening after dark the Shifty Lad went to the home of the Black
Gallows Bird, and many were the new tricks he learned. By- and-by he
was allowed to go out with the Bird and watch him at work, and at last
there came a day when his master though that he had grown clever
enough to help in a big robbery.
'There is a rich farmer up there on the hill, who has just sold all his fat
cattle for much money and has bought some lean ones which will cost
him little. Now it happens that, while he has received the money for the
fat cattle, he has not yet paid the price of the thin ones, which he has in
the cowhouse. To-morrow he will go to the market with the money in
his hand, so to-night we must get at the chest. When all is quiet we will
hide in the loft.'
There was no moon, and it was the night of Hallowe'en, and everyone
was burning nuts and catching apples in a tub of water with their hands
tied, and playing all sorts of other games, till the Shifty Lad grew quite
tired of waiting for them to get to bed. The Black Gallows Bird, who
was more accustomed to the business, tucked himself up on the hay and
went to sleep, telling the boy to wake him when the merry-makers had
departed. But the Shifty Lad, who could keep still no longer, crept

down to the cowshed and loosened the heads of the cattle which were
tied, and they began to kick each other