This story was told by one Laurence O'Flynn from near Swinford, in the County Mayo, to my friend, the late F. O'Conor, of Athlone, from whom I got it in Irish. It is the eleventh story in the "Sgeuluidhe Gaodhalach," and is here for the first time literally translated into English.
When O'Conor was King over Ireland he was living in Rathcroghan, of Connacht. He had one son, but he, when he grew up, was wild, and the King could not control him, because he would have his own will in everything.
His hound at his foot, And his hawk on his hand, And his fine black horse to bear him--
and he went forward, singing a verse of a song to himself, until he came as far as a big bush that was growing on the brink of a glen. There was a grey old man sitting at the foot of the bush, and he said, "King's son, if you are able to play as well as you are able to sing songs, I would like to play a game with you." The King's son thought that it was a silly old man that was in it, and he alighted, threw bridle over branch, and sat down by the side of the grey old man.
The old man drew out a pack of cards and asked, "Can you play these?"
"What shall we play for?" said the grey old man.
"Anything you wish," says the King's son.
"All right; if I win you must do for me anything I shall ask of you, and if you win I must do for you anything you ask of me," says the grey old man.
They played the game, and the King's son beat the grey old man. Then he said, "What would you like me to do for you, King's son?"
"I won't ask you to do anything for me," says the King's son. "I think that you are not able to do much."
"Don't mind that," said the old man. "You must ask me to do something. I never lost a bet yet that I wasn't able to pay it."
As I said, the King's son thought that it was a silly old man that was in it, and to satisfy him he said to him, "Take the head off my stepmother and put a goat's head on her for a week."
"I'll do that for you," said the grey old man. The King's son went a-riding on his horse--
His hound at his foot, His hawk on his hand--
and he faced for another place, and never thought more about the grey old man until he came home.
He found a cry and great grief in the castle. The servants told him that an enchanter had come into the room where the Queen was, and had put a goat's head on her in place of her own head.