Not long ago, in the town of Galway on the west coast of Ireland, there lived a girl named Triona (Tree-nah). Triona lived with her parents and her grandmother, and perhaps because she was an only child, Triona was spoiled. Her grandmother doted on her, but Triona was selfish, and so self-centered that she only thought of her grandmother as someone to provide her with gifts. Her grandmother knew this, but she was a loving, warm-hearted, generous woman who loved Triona dearly in spite of all the girl’s faults.
Sometimes Triona would sit next to the old woman while her grandmother told her stories, but Triona wasn’t interested in the stories or her grandmother – she just wanted the presents or sweets that her grandmother would give her when she finished her storytelling. It gave the old woman great pleasure to tell stories to Triona, but the girl was ungrateful, and bored. She hated the stories, because they always ended the same way, with a blessing in Irish: Slan leat, agus go n-eiri an bothar leat (slawn lot, augus go nerry, on boor lot) – Farewell, and may the road rise to meet you.
One autumn the grandmother became very ill, and everyone knew that the end was near. Even so, she continued to sew a Halloween costume for Triona, because nothing made her happier than to give her time and her love to her granddaughter. Now, whenever she gazed at the young girl, she smiled softly, and her eyes were moist with affection. She put her whole heart, her very life itself, into Triona’s angel costume.
When the old woman died, Triona was sorry, especially because she would not be getting any more presents or sweets from her. But that was all right, because in a few days it would be Halloween, and she would be sure to get lots of tricks or treats then.
Halloween is an old Celtic tradition, where people wear costumes and masks because they don’t want evil spirits to recognize them or follow them. Halloween is a night when the spirits of the dead return to roam the earth, but it is also a time when other, non-human spirits can cross over into our world. Of course, Triona knew that these were just stories, and she wasn’t at all superstitious. Still, she couldn’t help feeling uneasy on Halloween night as she walked the streets of Galway town with her parents and other children.
You may have heard of the law of magnetic attraction. Other ways of referring to this idea are the expressions “like attracts like,” or, “birds of a feather flock together.” Unfortunately for Triona, an animal spirit known as the Pooka had been drawn to her. The Pooka is a selfish, mean spirit that can take the shape of a goat, a horse, a donkey, a bull, or an eagle. It is feared because it likes to terrify people by kidnapping them and taking them on a nightmarish journey over land and sea. The Pooka was drawn to Triona because it sensed her selfish nature. It wasn’t at all fooled by her angel costume.
As Triona and her parents and other children walked down the street, the Pooka changed itself into an eagle, swooped down behind Triona, threw her on its back, and took off! Triona screamed with terror, and held onto the Pooka’s back as it soared into the night sky. “Help me!” she screamed. “Someone please help me!” But the Pooka just laughed with glee.
They flew over Ireland in the moonlight. They flew over the River Shannon and the vale of Tipperary, over the Rock of Cashel and the lakes of Killarney. They flew above the ancient burial grounds of Newgrange, the Giant’s Causeway, the Cliffs of Moher, and the wild lands of Connemara. They flew above the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea, and Triona was so frightened that she closed her eyes and prayed and prayed. She thought about her mother and father, and how she’d never see them again. And her grandmother – oh, how she missed her grandmother! She wished she could be beside her grandmother as the old woman told her stories.
Triona began to cry. Softly she repeated the words her grandmother had taught her – slawn lot, augus go nerry, on boor lot: Farewell, and may the road rise to meet you. It made her feel better to say those words and think of the smiling, loving face of her grandmother. As she said the blessing to herself, a tear rolled down her cheek and landed on her angel costume.
Suddenly the Pooka shrieked. Triona opened her eyes with fear, but to her astonishment she saw that they were above Galway, and a road below them seemed to be rising into the air! Triona blinked, and looked again. No – the road only appeared to be rising, because the Pooka was being forced to land. The creature was screaming with rage as it struggled with some invisible power, a power greater than its own. With a thud the Pooka landed on the road, then vanished.
Triona was stunned by the jarring landing. As she got up and looked around, she saw her home in the distance. Then she was startled to see, floating above the road, the ghost of her grandmother.
“Oh, Grandmother! Grandmother!” Triona cried. “I’ve just had a terrible journey!”
The ghost looked at Triona and smiled. “Yes, darlin’, I know.”
“Come home with me, Grandmother. I miss you.”
“I can’t, darlin’. I must go now. But I leave you with my blessing: Farewell, and may the road always rise to meet you.”
“Don’t go, Grandmother! Please don’t go! I love you!”
The ghost looked down at the little angel, and as the ghost faded away, Triona could see tears of joy in her grandmother’s eyes.
“I love you, Grandmother!”
And Triona heard the words in the wind: “Yes, darlin’, I know.”
© 2001
David Wigginton 