The Coming of the Unicorn (3 page)

It was in a wee run-down farm in the country that Jack stayed with his mother. It was a good farm at one time but it went to wreck and ruin through the neglect of Jack’s father. And Jack was reared up by his mother, and he and her ran the wee bit farm between them. But they ran it mostly down to the ground and things went from bad to worse. They had an old horse and an old cow and a couple of pigs. They were forced to sell them and things got very bad.

Jack said to his mother one day, “If things dinna pick up a bit I doubt I’ll have to go and look for a job.”

“Son,” she said, “it’s no a job you’re needing; you need to do some work about the place. It wouldn’t be in this state if you’d spend more time on it. It’s a farm. If you would work harder and plough some of the ground and do some work about it you could make it pay.”

But anyway, Jack made up his mind he was going to do a little work on the farm. Looking at a field beside his house that had never been ploughed for years he told his mother, “Mother, probably the best thing I can do is get a loan of a pair of horses and a plough and plough that field, sew a puckle corn or something into it.”

So, he got up in the morning, had his wee bit o’ breakfast and he went to the neighbouring farm. He asked for a loan of a pair o’ horses and a plough. The man was amazed when Jack asked him.

He said, “What are you going to do with it?”

“Well,” Jack said, “it came to my mind that me and my mother
canna survive much longer if we dinna get something done. Our wee bit o’ place is getting run down.”

And the farmer said, “That’s a good farm. I’ll lend you a pair o’ horses and a plough if you want to plough that bit ground. Mind, Jack, there are a lot o’ stanes into it, it hasn’t been ploughed since your father ploughed it years before. In fact, it was once a moor!”

“It’ll no matter,” Jack said. “I’ll be as careful as I can with your plough.”

So, Jack got a loan o’ the plough and a pair o’ horses from the farmer. He took them over. And next morning after breakfast time he went out and he started.

He’s ploughing up and down, ploughing up and down and ploughing up and down. And the gulls were following behind him picking the worms up. And he turned some turf with his plough… He wasn’t pleased because this part of the furrow wasn’t laid down. He went back and tried to push it down with his foot. And he looked in the furrow. He sees this thing sticking up.

He says, “God bless us, what’s that?”

And he bent down, picked it up. It was three large keys on a ring. Jack says to himself, “In the name o’ God, how did that get there – three large keys?”

Every key was nearly a foot long. Jack looked at them. “God bless us,” he said, “they’re no made o’ iron; iron doesna get that colour. They’re no rusty.” But he hung them on the shaft of the plough. He ploughed away till about evening and he stopped.

He came in, loosed his horse out and had his wee bit supper. He cracked to his mother, “Oh, Mother, I’ve a funny thing,” he said, “to tell ye: when I was ploughing today that field you tellt me was never ploughed for years, I picked up the queerest thing you’ve ever seen.”

She says, “What was it, Jack?”

He says, “Mother, three big keys on to a ring!”

“No!” she said.

He said, “Aye, Mother, three big keys.”

“Jack, Jack,” she says, “you dinna ken what you’ve found!”

“Ha, Mother,” he says, “I ken what I found – I found three keys!”

“Aye,” she says, “Jack, you found three keys. But you were only a laddie when these keys were lost. You dinna ken the story behind these keys. These keys are made o’ silver. Sit down there and I’ll tell ye… these keys were the cause o’ your father’s death and the cause o’ this farm getting run down till there’s nothing hardly left. It’s no worth nothing! Many, many years ago, to be exact, fifteen years ago when you were a bit o’ a bairn here, this was a thriving farm. Your father was a good man and a good worker and we had everything we wanted.

“But the king came to visit in the country. In these times there used to be a lot of hunting. There were a lot of wild boars about here. On his rounds, when he stayed near here with the lord o’ the district, they went for a boar hunt. And across that wee field belonging to your father the king lost those three silver keys. And the king was never kent to be without these keys, wherever he went these keys hung to his belt. And they went a-missing. Everybody searched high and low. He promised the body that would find the three keys, he’d give them the greatest reward that ever they could ask for. There were hundreds and thousands that searched for them keys and they could never get them. And the king stayed here for nearly a month searching – there were thousands o’ folk searching. This place was polluted with folk hunting for them keys! It drove your father beyond endurance. Your father gave up his work, let the farm run in ruin and he spent the entire days of his life searching. Because the king said he’d make any man the richest in the country if they could get him them keys. What they meant to the king nobody knows, but his entire life depended on them. And your father searched night and day. He never did a hand’s turn, but out every day searching
for these keys. And one night in a night of fog he went a-missing. He never came home and they found his body lying drowned in a ditch. That’s what happened to your father. Now, Jack, you’ve got the king’s keys. It’s exactly fifteen years ago since these keys were lost. What are you going to do with them?”

“Well, Mother,” he said, “what can I do with them?”

“Well,” she said, “I hope they bring you better luck as they brought your father. The best thing you could do with them, Jack, is take them back to the king. Take them in, polish them, clean them up. They’ll no be hard to clean. And take them back. I suppose the king’ll be an older man now, but I think he’s still the same king, still alive. And it’s a long distance from here, mind ye, to where the king stays in the capital city. But anybody’ll tell ye the road and ye canna go wrong. I’m telling ye for your ain good: keep them hidden and dinna tell naebody ye have them but the king!”

“Well, Mother,” he said, “they’re no my property. And I’m no worried about the reward.”

“Oh, Jack,” she said, “ye’ll be highly rewarded if you can get to the king with them. But if you ever breathe a word about the keys, ye’ll never see the king alive – because you’ll be robbed and murdered and they’ll be taken from you. Forget about everything, Jack. Never mind, I’ll get the laddie from the neighbouring farm to finish that wee bit ploughing and sow a wee puckle corn to keep the wee cow going. But the best thing you can do is tomorrow morning pack up your wee bit o’ gear, take a wee bit with ye and set sail. Get them keys back to the king. I suppose you’ll get the reward. And I’m telling you, it’ll be no wee reward at that! But will you do me one favour?”

“Well, Mother,” he said, “you’re my mother… what would you want me to do?”

“That was the cause o’ your father’s ruin,” she says, “and I would like to ken what they’re for and what do they open?”

“Well, Mother, if I can find out what the keys are for and what they open, and if I’m able to get back… I’ll try my best and find out for ye!”

“Okay then,” she said, “that’s a promise!”

So, the next morning, true to his word Jack got up early, had his wee bit breakfast, made a wee parcel o’ meat to himself, whatever he had about the house, put the best bits o’ clothes he had on him and said goodbye to his mother. He set sail on the road. And he walked, he walked and walked. He asked folk this and he asked folk that, but he kept the keys hidden in the lining of his jacket. He wouldn’t show them to a soul.

But he must have been on the road for three or four weeks and his clothes began to get tattered and torn. He got kind o’ rough, he never shaved, barely took time to wash his face. His boots began to get worn down. But he finally made his way to the capital city where the king’s palace was. Now, he didn’t go straightaway forward up to the palace demanding an interview with the king. He wandered about the town two or three times asking this and asking that, finding all he could find out. But finally he found out that the king was home and his queen was home, and Jack made his way to the king’s palace. The first body he met at the palace was a guard.

And the guard stopped him, “Where do you think you’re going? Where do you think
you’re
going to?”

“Well,” Jack says, “I want to see the king.”

So the guard looked at him. “You,” he said, “want to see the king? What do you want to see the king for?”

“I’ve got a wee message for him,” Jack said. “I want to speak to him.”

He says, “You tell me and I’ll tell the king.”

“No,” says Jack, “I’m no telling you what I’ve got to tell the king.” And it rose a heated argument with them.

But just by good luck on Jack, who came walking up behind
the guard’s back but the king himself, an aged man, about sixty years of age!

“What’s going on here,” he said, “guard?”

“Your Majesty, it’s this rough looking character of a man here who wants an interview with you, the king.”

“Well,” the king looked at Jack. “He seems a fine specimen o’ a man to me, suppose he’s a bit rough. He’s probably a traveller on the road. He’s one of my subjects I suppose.” The king said, “Where do you come from, young man?”

“To tell the truth,” Jack said, “Our Majesty,” and he bowed to the king, “I came a long way from here.” Jack told him he came from such-and-such a place, “And I came to see ye. In fact, I brought a present for ye.”

“Well,” said the king, and the king smiled. “You brought a present for me? This is very good o’ you. Come with me!”

The guard wasn’t very well pleased. As Jack walked past the guard he looked daggers at Jack, you know, Jack with his rough coat!

The king walked into his chamber with Jack and he told Jack to sit down. The king sat down.

“Well, my young man,” he said, “would you care for a drink?”

“To tell you the truth,” Jack said, “Our Majesty, drink is a thing I could never afford. I’ve never had very much time for it.”

“Anyway,” he said, “you’ll have a glass of wine with me before you tell me your story.” And the king was very pleasant. So, he called for two beautiful glasses of wine and he and Jack drank the wine together. “Now,” he said, “young man, what have you got for me? What have you come to see me about?”

Jack rammed his hand down into his coat in below his oxter. From a big long pocket he pulled out the three keys. He held them in front of the king.

And the king looked. The king’s eyes came out in his head. And the king started to shake; the excitement got the better of him. For a minute he couldn’t speak.

“Young man,” he said, “do ye know what you’ve got there?”

“To tell ye the truth, Our Majesty,” he said, “to me they’re three keys.”

He said, “Where did you get these keys?”

“Well,” he said, “you, when I was only an infant, were hunting a boar across my father’s land, a wee farm.

“I remember it well,” said the king.

He said, “You came for a visit to your country to see some o’ your landowners. I believe ye lost these keys.” And he told the king his name was Jack.

“Well, Jack, you don’t know what you’ve done for me.”

Jack said, “I never did anything for you, Our Majesty; they’re your property and my mother advised me—”

“By the way, how is your mother?” the king said. “I remember a long time ago stopping by her little farm to water the horses and she was a pleasant woman.”

Jack said, “My father died searching for your keys.”

“Oh, bad luck,” said the king, “very bad.”

“He searched,” Jack said, “his entire life for to get your keys. One night in a fog and mist he was lost, he ended up drowned in a ditch.”

“Oh, I’m very sad,” says the king, “very sad to hear about that. And you, my young man, how did you come by these keys?”

Jack says, “Me and my mother had a wee bit argument about the farm getting run down. But I didn’t know anything about the keys. She never tellt me. Probably if she had have told me about the keys I would have ended up the same as my father searching for them.”

“Ha!” the king smiled, “you’ll probably be after the reward too.”

“Well,” said Jack, “it would come in handy!”

“Oh, but,” he said, “don’t worry, my young man, you’ll be highly rewarded.”

“But, Our Majesty, will ye do one thing for me? Will you tell me what these keys are for?”

“Well, Jack, I’ll tell ye. I’ll tell ye part o’ the story, but I can only tell ye the first half; I canna tell ye the second. I had a great friend here belonging to me many, many years ago that lived in the court with me. He was a wise old man. He was a court magician. And he and I used to be the greatest o’ friends. But he had to go away back to his own land, he never mentioned where. And before he left he gave me three silver keys: and these three keys open three gates to a special garden. I used to go and visit that garden whenever I felt the mood taking me. And I lost the keys! Thereafter I could never enter through the gates of that garden.”

“Well, Our Majesty,” Jack said, “I’m very happy you can go back to your garden.”

“Jack, you’ve no idea what you’ve done for me. Ye’ve made me a new man!”

“Oh,” he said, “I did?”

“I want you to be highly rewarded! You can have the whole privilege o’ the palace. You can have everything you want. But you must make me a promise that you shall not leave for twenty days – till I come back. I’m going on a visit. But I want you to have everything that you require under the sun. Don’t spare anything!” And he called for the head cook and he called for the head footman. He called for the head o’ the guards and he warned them all, and called for the queen, and tellt them, “Jack must have the run o’ the palace – see that he wants for nothing! But,” he says to Jack, “have another drink!” So, he and Jack sat and they had another drink. They cracked away about good things. He was a very pleasant man, the king.

“Now, Jack,” he says, “a footman will show ye to your room. And I want you to stay there. Make me a promise that you’ll not leave the palace or the district for twenty days till I come home!”
So, the king bade goodbye to Jack and he said, “I’ll no be seeing ye in the morning, but remember I’ll see ye as soon as I come back!”