Well, when he thought that side was done he turns it agin, and lo and behold you, the divil a taste more done that side was nor the other. “Bad luck to me,” says the sojer, “but that bates the world,” says he; “but I`ll thry you agin, my darlint,” says he, “as cunnin` as you think yourself”; and so with that he turns it over and over, but not a sign of the fire was on the purty throut.
“Well,” says the desperate villain— (for sure, sir, only he was a desperate villain entirely, he might know he was doing a wrong thing, seein` that all his endeavors was no good) —“Well,” says he, “my jolly little throut, maybe you`re fried enough, though you don`t seem over well dress`d; but you may be better than you look, like a singed cat and a tit-bit afther all,” says he; and with that he ups with his knife and fork to taste a piece o` the throut; but, my jew`l, the minit he puts his knife into the fish, there was a murtherin` screech, that you`d think the life id lave if you hurd it, and away jumps the throut out av the ffyin`-pan into the middle o` the flure; and an the spot where it fell, up riz a lovely lady—the beautifullest crathur that eyes ever seen, dressed in white, and a band o` goold in her hair, and a sthrame o` blood runnin` down her arm.
“Look where you cut me, you villain,” says she, and she held out her arm to him —and, my dear, he thought the sight id lave his eyes.
“Couldn`t you lave me cool and comfortable in the river where you snared me, and not disturb me in my duty?” says she.
Stammered out something
Well, he thrimbled like a dog in a wet sack, and at last he stammered out somethin`, and begged for his life, and ax`d her ladyship`s pardin, and said he didn`t know she was on duty, or he was too good a sojer not to know betther nor to meddle wid her.
“I was on duty, then,” says the lady; “I was watching` for my true love that is corning` by wather to me,” says she, “an` if he comes while I`m away, an` that I miss iv him, I`ll turn you into a pinkeen, and I`ll hunt you up and down for evermore, while grass grows or wither runs.”
Well, the sojer thought the life id lave him, at the thoughts iv his being` turned into a pin keen, and begged for mercy; and with that says the lady:
“Renounce your evil courses,” says she, “you villain, or you`ll repent it too late; be a good man for the future, and go to your duty regular, and now,” says she, “take me back and put me into the river again, where you found me.”
“Oh, my lady,” says the sojer, “how could I have the heart to drown a beautiful lady like you?”
But before he could say another word, the lady was vanished, and there he saw the little throut an the ground. Well, he put it in a clean plate, and away he runs for the bare life, for fear her lover would come while she was away; and he run, and he run, even till he came to the cave agin, and threw the throut into the river. The minit he did, the wather was as red as blood for a little while, by rayson av the cut, I suppose, until the sthrame washed the stain away; and to this day there`s a little red mark an the throut`s side, where it was cut.
Well, sir, from that day out the sojer was an altered man, and reformed his ways, and went to his duty reg`lar, and fasted three times a week—though it was never fish he tuk an fastin` days, for afther the fright he got, fish id never rest an his stomach—savin` your presence.
But anyhow, he was an altered man, as I said before, and in coorse o` time he left the army, and turned hermit at last; and they say he used to pray evermore for the soul of the White Throut.
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