英文单词“shortly”是什么意思_百度作业帮
英文单词“shortly”是什么意思
英文单词“shortly”是什么意思
shortly[5FC:tli]adv.立刻,不久,简略地,简言之,即刻shortly[5FC:tlI]adv.很快地；马上"Shortly afterwards,the police stopped the car and both men were arrested.""过了没有多久,警察截住了那辆汽车,两个贼都被抓获了."不远地；近在咫尺地唐突地；无礼地He answered me shortly.他很唐突地答覆我.shortlyAHD:[sh&rt“l&]D.J.:[6.%8rtli8]K.K.:[6.%rtli]adv.I soon.立刻在很短一段时间内；马立I concisely.简单地；扼要地I curtly.唐突地、简慢地以一种唐突的方式；简慢地shortly[5FC:tli]adv.立刻,马上,不久; 简短answer shortly简短地回答shortly after ...之后立即shortly before ...之前不久to put it shortly简言之appear shortly不久即将出版
adv.立刻, 不久, 简略地, 简言之, 即刻
副词 ad. 1.立刻,马上,不久She's going to New York shortly. 她不久将去纽约。 2.简短地,扼要地3.唐突地,不耐烦地,简慢地"You ought to be in bed," Mother said shortly. 妈不耐烦地说道:"你该上床去了"。新概念二35课的摘要写作答案（163页的6个问题）第35课全文：Stop thief！Roy Trenton used to drive a taxi.A short while ago,however,he became a bus driver and he has not regretted it.He is finding his new work far more exciting.When he was driving along Catfor_百度作业帮
新概念二35课的摘要写作答案（163页的6个问题）第35课全文：Stop thief！Roy Trenton used to drive a taxi.A short while ago,however,he became a bus driver and he has not regretted it.He is finding his new work far more exciting.When he was driving along Catfor
第35课全文：Stop thief！Roy Trenton used to drive a taxi.A short while ago,however,he became a bus driver and he has not regretted it.He is finding his new work far more exciting.When he was driving along Catford Street recently,he saw two thieves rush out of a shop and run towards a waiting car.One of them was carrying a bag full of money.Roy acted quickly and drove the bus straight at the thieves.The one with the money got such a fright that he dropped the bag.As the thieves were trying to get away in their car,Roy drove his bus into the back of it.While the battered car was moving away,Roy stopped his bus and telephoned the police.The thieves' car was badly damaged and easy to recognize.Shortly afterwards,the police stopped the car and both men were arrested.
这可是我现做出来的,1.Yes ,he is 2.In Catford Street3.They were running out of a shop and Roy drove his bus straight at the thives,so the one with the money dropped the bag,and they got into a car.4.Then Roy drove his bus into the back of it,and he damaged their car.5.After this,he telephoned the police6.Both men were arrested later.
Roy is finding his new job as a bus driver exciting. He saw two thieves in Catford Street recently. They were running out of a shop and Roy drove his bus straight at the thieves, so they dropped the s...
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The Man Who Became Rich
and other folktales of Aarne-Thompson-Uther type 1645
dreamers who seek treasure abroad
but find it at home
selected and edited by
(The 1001 Nights).
(England).
(England).
(England).
(England).
(Scotland).
(Isle of Man).
(Ireland).
(Ireland).
(Germany).
(Austria).
(Austria).
(Denmark).
Return to D. L. Ashliman's , a library of folktales,
folklore, fairy tales, and mythology.
1001 Nights
There lived once in Baghdad a very wealthy man, who lost all his substance and became so poor, that he could only earn his living by excessive labor. One night, he lay down to sleep, dejected and sick at heart, and saw in a dream one who said to him, "Thy fortune is at C go thither and seek it."
So he set out for C but, when he arrived there, night overtook him and he lay down to sleep in a mosque. Presently, as fate would have it, a company of thieves entered the mosque and made their way thence int but the people of the house, being aroused by the noise, whereupon the chief of the police came to their aid with his officers. T but the police entered the mosque and finding the man from Baghdad asleep there, laid hold of him and beat him with palm-rods, till he was well-nigh dead.
Then they cast him into prison, where he abode three days, after which the chief of the police sent for him and said to him, "Whence art thou?"
"From Baghdad," answered he.
"And what brought thee to Cairo?" asked the magistrate.
Quoth the Baghdadi, "I saw in a dream one who said to me, 'Thy fortune is at C go thither to it.' But when I came hither, the fortune that he promised me proved to be the beating I had of thee.
The chief of the police laughed, till he showed his jaw teeth, and said, "O man of little wit, thrice have I seen in a dream one who said to me, 'There is in Baghdad
a house of such a fashion and situate so-and-so, in the garden whereof is a fountain and thereunder a great sum of money buried. Go thither and take it.' Yet I but thou, of thy little wit, hast journeyed from place to place, on the faith of a dream, which was but an illusion of sleep."
Then he gave him money, saying, "This is to help thee back to thy native land."
Now the house he had described was the man's own house in B so the latter returned thither, and digging underneath the fountain in his garden, discove and [thus] God gave him abundant fortune.
Source: , translated by John Payne, vol. 4 (London: Printed for subscribers only, 1884), . Translation revised by D. L. Ashliman.
Since its first translation into a European language between 1704 and
1717, The Thousand and One Nights, also known as The Arabian
Nights, has been recognized as a universal classic of fantasy
narrative. It is, of course, a much older work and one with a complicated
genealogy. Based on Indian, Persian, and Arab folklore, this work dates
back at least 1000 years as a unified collection, with many of its
individual stories undoubtedly being even older.
One of the collection's forebears is a book of Persian tales, likely
of Indian origin, titled A Thousand Legends. These stories were
translated into Arabic about 850, and at least one reference from about
the year 950 calls them The Thousand and One Nights.
Arabic stories, primarily from Baghdad and Cairo were added to the
ever evolving collection, which by the early 1500's had assumed its
more-or-less final form.
Return to the .
An anecdote is told of a man of Baghdad who was in great distress, and who, after calling on God for aid, dreamt that a great treasure lay hid in a certain spot in Egypt. He accordingly journeyed to Egypt, and there fell into the hands of the patrol, who arrested him, and beat him severely on suspicion of being a thief.
Calling to mind the proverb that "falsehood is a mischief but truth a remedy," he determined to confess the true reason of his coming to Egypt, and accordingly told them all the particulars of his dream.
On hearing them they believed him, and one of them said, "You must be a fool to journey all this distance merely on the faith of a dream. I myself have many times dreamt of a treasure lying hid in a certain spot in Baghdad, but was never foolish enough to go there."
Now the spot in Baghdad named by this person was none other than the house of the poor man of Baghdad, and he straightway returned home, and there found the treasure.
Source: Jalalu-d'-Din Muhammad i Rumi,
(London: Tr&bner and Company, 1887),
Wikipedia article about
Wikipedia article about the , written between about 1258 and 1273.
Return to the .
There was of old time in the city of Cairo a man called Numan, and he had a son. One day when this boy's time to learn to read was fully come he took him to a school and gave to a teacher. This Numan was exceeding poor, so that he followed the calling of a water seller, and in this way he supported his wife and child.
When the teacher had made the boy read through the Koran, he told the boy to fetch him his present. So the boy came and told his father.
His father said, "O son, the Koran is the Word of God Most High, we have
there is our camel with which I follow my trade of water seller, take it at least and give it to thy teacher."
The boy took the camel and brought it to his teacher. But that day his father could gain no money, and that night his wife and his son and himself remained hungry.
Now his wife was a great scold, and when she saw this thing she said, "Out on thee, husband, art thou mad? Where are thy senses gone? Thou hadst a camel, and by means of it we made shift to live, and now thou hast taken and g would that that boy had not been born, or that thou hadst
what is he and what his reading?'
And she made so much noise and clamor that it cannot be described. Numan saw this thing, and he bowed down his head, and from the greatness of his distress he fell asleep.
In his dream a radiant elder, white-bearded and clad in white raiment, came and said, "O Numan, thy portion is in D go, take it."
Just then Numan awoke and he saw no one, and he arose and said, "Is the vision divine or is it satanic?"
While saying this, he again fell asleep, and again he saw it. Brief, the elder appeared three times to him that night in his dream and said, "Indeed is thy provision in D delay not, go to Damascus and take it."
When it was morning Numan spake to hi his wife said, "Thou gavest away our camel and didst leave us hungry, and now thou canst not abide our complaints an I fear thou wilt leave thy child and me here and go off."
Numan said, "My life, I will not run off."
Quoth the woman, "I will not bide, I where thou goest I too will go with thee."
Numan sware that he would not run off, and the woman was persuaded and let him go.
So N and one day he entered Damascus, and he went in through the gate of the Amawi Mosque. That day someone had baked bread in an oven and was ta when he saw Numan opposite him and knew him to be a stranger, he gave him a loaf. Numan took it and ate it, and lay down through fatigue and fell asleep.
That elder again came to him in his vision and said, "0 Numan, thou hast re delay not, go back to thy house."
Numan awoke and was amazed and said, "Then our bearing this much trouble and weariness was for a loaf."
And he returned. One day he entered his house, and the woman looked and saw there was and Numan told her.
When the woman learned that Numan had brought nothing, she turned and said, "Out on thee, husband, thou art become mad, thou had thy senses been in thy head, thou hadst not given away our camel, the source of our support, and left us thus friendless an not a day but thou doest some mad thing."
And she complained much. And Numan's heart was broken by the weariness of the road and the complaining of the woman, and he fell asleep.
Again in his vision that elder came and said, "O Numan, delay not, arise, dig close by thee, thy provision is there, take it."
But Numan heeded not. Three times the elder appeared to him in his dream and said, "Thy provision is
arise, take it."
So Numan, unable to resist, arose and took a pick-axe and shovel and began to dig where his head had lain.
The woman made mock of Numan and said, "Out on thee, the half of the treasure revealed to thee is mine."
Numan replied, "S but I am weary, come thou and dig a bit that I may take breath a little."
The woman said, "Th when thou art weary I will help."
Numan went on: and when he had dug as deep as half the height of a man, a marble slab appeared. The woman saw the marble and, saying in herself, "This is not empty," she asked the pick-axe from Numan.
Numan said, "Have patience a little longer."
The woman said, "Thou art weary."
Numan replied, "Now am I rested."
Quoth the woman, "I am sorry for thee, thou dost not know kindness."
While thus talking they saw that one side of that marble was pierced and that there was a hole. Thereupon grew Numan eager, and he pulled the marble from its place, and below it was a well and a ladder. He caught hold of the ladder and went down and saw a royal vase filled full with red gold, and he called out to the woman, "Come here."
Thereupon the woman descended likewise and saw the vase of gold, and she threw her arms round Numan's neck and said, "O my noble little husband! Blessed be God, for thy luck and thy fortune."
Numan took up some of these sequins, and the woman said, "What wilt thou do?"
Numan replied, "I shall take these to our king and tell him that there is a vase full of them, and that an elder came to me in my dream and told me, and I shall say, 'T and, if thou wilt, bestow on me a few of them that I and my wife may eat and drink, and in our comfort may bless and praise thee.'"
Quoth the woman, "My life, husband, speak not to our king now, so that all of them may remain ours and we shall have ease of heart."
Numan listened not, but took them and laid them before the king.
The king said, "What is this?"
Numan answered, "O king, I found them in thy ground." And he told of the elder's coming in his dream and of there being a vase full of them, and said, "O king, send a slave of thine, and I shall accept the king's alms, whatever it may be."
The king said to a scribe, "Come, read this, let us see from whose time it has remained."
When the scribe took the sequin into his hand he saw that there was written on the one side of it, "This is an alms from before God to Numan." Then the scribe turned over the other side and saw that it was thus written on that side, "By reason of his respect toward the Koran."
When the scribe had read the inscriptions to the king, the king said, "What is thy name?"
He replied, "My name is Numan."
The king caused all these sequins to be read, and the writing on the whole of them was the same.
The king said, "Go ye and bring some from the bottom of the vase."
And they went and brought some from the bottom of the vase, and they read them, and they all bore the inscription of the first. And the king wondered and said, "Go, poor man, God Most High has given it thee, on my part too b come, take these sequins also."
So Numan took them and went to his house, and he took out the sequins t and he enjoyed delight in the world until he died, and in the hereafter he attained a lofty station. And all this felicity was for his respect to the glorious Koran.
Source: Sheykh-Zada, "The Twenty-Sixth Vezir's Story," , translated by E. J. W. Gibb (London: George Redway, 1886), .
In Gibbs's translation the hero's name is given as Nu'mān.
Return to the .
In one of the towers overlooking the Sea of Marmora and skirting the
ancient city of Stamboul, there lived an old junkman, who earned a
precarious livelihood in gathering cinders and useless pieces of iron, and
selling them to smiths.
Often did he moralize on the sad Kismet that had reduced him to the task
of daily laboring for his bread to make a shoe, perhaps for an ass. Surely
he, a true Muslim, might at least be permitted to ride the ass. His
eternal longing often found satisfaction in passing his hours of sleep in
dreams of wealth and luxury. But with the dawning of the day came reality
and increased longing.
Often did he call on the spirit of sleep to reverse matters,
with the rising of the sun began the gathering of the cinders and iron.
One night he dreamt that he begged this nocturnal visitor to change his
night to day, and the spirit said to him, "Go to Egypt, and it shall be
This encouraging phrase haunted him by day and inspired him by night. So
persecuted was he with the thought that when his wife said to him, from
the door, "Have you brought home any bread?" he would reply, "No, I have
I " thinking she had asked him, " Have you
gone to Egypt?"
At last, when friends and neighbors began to pity poor Ahmet, for that was
his name, as a man on whom the hand of Allah was heavily laid, removing
his intelligence, he one morning left his house, saying, "I go! I go! to
the land of wealth!" And he left his wife wringing her hands in despair,
while the neighbors tried to comfort her. Poor Ahmet went straight on
board a boat which he had been told was bound for Iskender (Alexandria),
and assured the captain that he was summoned thither, and that he was
bound to take him. Half-witted and mad persons being more holy than
others, Ahmet was conveyed to Iskender.
Arriving in Iskender, Hadji Ahmet roamed far and wide, proceeding as far
as Cairo, in search of the luxuries he had enjoyed at Constantinople when
in the land of Morpheus, which he had been promised to enjoy in the
sunshine, if he came to Egypt. Alas! for Hadji A the only bread he
had to eat was that which was given him by sympathizing humanity. Time
sped on, sympathy was growing tired of expending itself on Hadji Ahmet,
and his crusts of bread were few and far between.
Wearied of life and suffering, he decided to ask Allah to let him die, and
wandering out to the pyramids he solicited the stones to have pity and
fall on him. It happened that a Turk heard this prayer, and said to him,
"Why so miserable, father? Has your soul been so strangled that you prefer
its being dashed out of your body, to its remaining the prescribed time in
"Yes, my son," said Hadji Ahmet. "Far away in Stamboul, with the help of
God, I managed as a junkman to fee but here am I, in
Egypt, a stranger, alone and starving, with possibly my wife already dead
of starvation, and all this through a dream."
"Alas! Alas! my father! that you at your age should be tempted to wander
so far from home and friends, because of a dream. Why, were I to obey my
dreams, I would at this present moment be in Stamboul, digging for a
treasure that lies buried under a tree. I can even now, although I have
never been there, describe where it is. In my mind's eye I see a wall, a
great wall, that must have been built many years ago, and supporting or
seeming to support this wall are towers with many corners, towers that are
round, towers that are square, and others that have smaller towers within
them. In one of these towers, a square one, there live an old man and
woman, and close by the tower is a large tree, and every night when I
dream of the place, the old man tells me to dig and disclose the treasure.
But, father, I am not such a fool as to go to Stamboul and seek to verify
this. It is an oft-repeated dream and nothing more. See what you have been
reduced to by coming so far."
"Yes," said Hadji Ahmet, "it is a dream and nothing more, but you have
interpreted it. Allah be praised, yo I will return to
my home." And Hadji Ahmet and the young stranger parted, the one grateful
that it had pleased Allah to give him the power to revive and encourage a
drooping spirit, and the other grateful to Allah that when he had
despaired of life a stranger should come and give him the interpretation
of his dream. He certainly had wandered far and long to learn that the
treasure was in his own garden.
Hadji Ahmet in due course, much to the astonishment of both wife and
neighbors, again appeared upon the scene not a much changed man. In fact,
he was the cinder and iron gatherer of old.
To all questions as to where he was and what he had been doing, he would
answer, "A dream sent me away, and a dream brought me back."
And the neighbors would say, "Truly he must be blessed."
One night Hadji Ahmet went to the tree, provided with spade and pick, that
he had secured from an obliging neighbor. After digging a short time a
heavy case was brought to view, in which he found gold, silver, and
precious jewels of great value. Hadji Ahmet replaced the case and earth
and returned to bed, much lamenting that it had pleased God to furnish
women, more especially his wife, with a long tongue, long hair, and very
short wits. "Alas!" he thought, "If I tell my wife, I may be hung as a
robber, for it is against the laws of nature for a woman to keep a
Yet, becoming more generous when thinking of the years of toil and
hardship she had shared with him, he decided to try and see if, by chance,
his wife was not an exception to other women. Who knows, she might keep
the secret. To test her, at no risk to himself and the treasure, he
conceived a plan.
Crawling from his bed, he sallied forth and bought, found, or stole an
egg. This egg on the following morning he showed to his wife, and said to
her, "Alas! I fear I am not as other men, for evidently in the night I
and, wife mine, if the neighbors hear of this, your
husband, the long-suffering Hadji Ahmet, will be bastinadoed, bowstrung,
and burned to death. Ah, truly, my soul is strangled."
And without another word Hadji Ahmet, with a sack on his shoulder, went
forth to gather the cast-off shoes of horse, ox, or ass, wondering if his
wife would prove an exception in this, as she had in many other ways, to
other women.
In the evening he returned, heavily laden with his finds, and as he neared
home he heard rumors, ominous rumors, that a certain Hadji Ahmet, who had
been considered a holy man, had done something that was unknown in the
history of man, even in the history of hens: that he had laid a dozen
Needless to add that Hadji Ahmet did not tell his wife of the treasure,
but daily went forth with his sack to gather iron and cinders, and
invariably found, when separating his finds of the day, in company with
his wife, at first one, and then more gold and silver pieces, and now and
then a precious stone.
Source: Cyrus Adler and Allan Ramsay,
(New York: The Macmillan
Company, 1898), .
The episode describing the junkman's wife embellishment of his
"secret" is classified as a type 1381D folktale.
Return to the .
Constant tradition says that there lived in former times in Soffham
(Swaffham), alias Sopham, in Norfolk, a certain peddler, who dreamed that
if he went to London Bridge, and stood there, he should hear very joyful
news, which he at first slighted, but afterwards, his dream being doubled
and trebled upon him, he resolved to try the issue of it, and accordingly
went to London, and stood on the bridge there two or three days, looking
about him, but heard nothing that might yield him any comfort.
At last it happened that a shopkeeper there, hard by, having noted his
fruitless standing, seeing that he neither sold any wares nor asked any
alms, went to him and most earnestly begged to know what he wanted there,
or w to which the peddler honestly answered that he
had dreamed that if he came to London and stood there upon the bridge he
s at which the shopkeeper laughed heartily, asking
him if he was such a fool as to take a journey on such a silly errand,
adding, "I'll tell you, country fellow, last night I dreamed that I was at
Sopham, in Norfolk, a place utterly unknown to me where I thought that
behind a peddler's house in a certain orchard, and under a great oak tree,
if I dug I should find a vast treasure! Now think you," says he, "that I
am such a fool to take such a long journey upon me upon the instigation of
a silly dream? No, no. I'm wiser. Therefore, good fellow, learn wit from
me, and get you home, and mind your business."
The peddler observing his words, what he had said he dreamed, and
knowing they concerned him, glad of such joyful news, went speedily home,
and dug and found a prodigious great treasure, with which he grew
and Soffham (Church) being for the most part fallen down,
he set on workmen and rectified it most sumptuously,
and to this day there is his statue therein, but in stone, with his pack
at his back and
and his memory is also preserved by
the same form or picture in most of the old glass windows, taverns, and
alehouses of that town unto this day.
Source: Edwin Sidney Hartland,
(London: Walter Scott Publishing Company, ca. 1890), .
Hartland's source:
(Durham: Andrews
and Company, 1870), .
De la Pryme lived from 1671 to 1704.
Another version of this legend: Joseph Jacobs, "The Pedlar of Swaffham,"
(London: David Nutt, 1894), .
Return to the .
Swaffham Church, noted for its architectural beauties, has furnished material for a legend worth recording. According to tradition, the entire expense of erecting this noble edifice was defrayed by a tinker or pedlar residing in the parish named John Chapman, who, if the voice of the legend is to be believed, was marvelously provided for by Divine Providence.
It is said that this tinker dreamed that if he went to London Bridge he would, to use the phraseology of a certain class of advertisements, "hear of something greatly to his advantage."
Nothing daunted by the difficulties of so long a journey five hundred years ago, when, not to utter a hint of railroads, even stage coaches had not been invented, the tinker heeded the voice of his good spirit, and went to London. After standing about the bridge for several hours -- some versions of the legend mention the traditional three days -- a man accosted him, and invited him to unfold the nature of his errand.
With candor quite equal to his faith, John Chapman replied that he came there on the "vain errand of a dream."
Now it appears that the stranger was a dreamer also, but, unlike the tinker, he was neither superstitious nor imprudent. "Alas! good friend," said he, "if I had heeded dreams, I might have proved myself as very a fool as thou art, for 'tis not long since I dreamt that at a place called Swaffham in Norfolk dwelt John Chapman, a pedlar, who hath a tree at the back of his house, under which is buried a pot of money."
John Chapman, of course, on hearing this hastened home, dug under his tree, and very soon found the treasure. But not all of it. The box that he found had a Latin inscription on the lid, which of course John Chapman could not decipher. But though unlettered, he was not without craftiness and a certain kind of wisdom, so in the hope that some unsuspicious wayfarer might read the inscriptiou in his hearing, he placed it in his window.
It was not long before he heard some youths turn the Latin sentence into an English couplet:
Under me doth lie
Another much richer than I.
Again he went to work, digging deeper than before, and found a much richer treasure, than the former.
With a heart overflowing with gratitude for his good fortune, the tinker shortly afterwards, when the inhabitants of Swaffham wished to re-edify their church, astonished the whole town by offering to defray the expense of a large portion of the works.
On the ends of the oaken bench nearest the pulpit, there is the carved effigy of John Chapman on one side and that of his dog on the other, and this is sufficient to establish the truth of the legend in the minds of the credulous of the district.
Source: John Glyde,
(London: Jarrold and Sons, 1872), .
Return to the .
A cobbler in Somersetshire dreamt that a person told him that if he would go to London Bridge he would meet with something to his advantage. He dreamt the same the next night, and again the night after. He then determined to go to London Bridge, and walked thither accordingly.
When arrived there, he walked about the whole of the first day withou the next day was passed in a similar manner. He resumed his place the third day, and walked about till evening, when, giving it up as hopeless, he determined to leave London, and return home.
At this moment a stranger came up and said to him, "I have seen you for the last three days walking up
may I ask if you are waiting for anyone?"
The answer was, "No."
"Then, what is your object in staying here?"
The cobbler then frankly told his reason for being there, and the dream that had visited him three successive nights.
The stranger then advised him to go home again to his work, and no more pay any attention to dreams. "I myself," he said "had about six months ago a dream. I dreamt three nights together that, if I would go into Somersetshire, in an orchard, under an apple tree, I shoul but I paid no attention to my dream, and have remained quietly at my business."
It immediately occurred to the cobbler that the stranger described his own orchard and his own apple tree. He immediately returned home, dug under the apple tree, and found a pot of gold.
After this increase of fortune, he was enabled to send his son to school, where the boy learnt Latin. When he came home for the holidays, he one day examined the pot which had contained the gold, on which was some writing. He said, "Father, I can show you what I have learnt at school is of some use."
He then translated the Latin inscription on the pot thus: "Look under, and you will find better."
They did look under, and a larger quantity of gold was found.
Source: George Laurence Gomme,
(London: Elliot Stock, 1885), .
Gomme's source: The Saturday Review, December 28, 1878.
Return to the .
Many years ago there resided in the village of Upsall a man who dreamed
three nights successively that if he went to London Bridge he would hear
of something greatly to his advantage. He went, traveling the whole
distance from Upsall to London on foot. Arrived there, he took his station
on the bridge, where he waited till his patience was nearly exhausted, and
the idea that he had acted a very foolish part began to arise in his mind.
At length he was accosted by a Quaker, who kindly inquired what he was
waiting there so long for. After some hesitation, he told his dreams. The
Quaker laughed at his simplicity, and told him that he had had that
night a very curious dream himself, which was, that if he went and dug
under a certain bush in Upsall Castle in Yorkshire, he would find a pot of
but he did not know where Upsall was, and inquired of the countryman
if he knew, who, seeing some advantage in secrecy, pleaded ignorance of
and then, thinking his business in London was completed,
returned immediately home, dug beneath the bush, and there he found a pot
filled with gold, and on the cover an inscription in a language he did not
understand.
The pot and cover were, however, preserved at the village inn, where
one day a bearded stranger like a Jew made his appearance, saw the pot,
and read the inscription, the plain English of which was:
Look lower, where this stood
Is another twice as good.
The man of Upsall, hearing this, resumed his spade, returned to the
bush, dug deeper, and found another pot filled with gold far more valuable
than the first. Encouraged by this, he dug deeper still, and found another
yet more valuable.
This story has been related of other places, but Upsall appears to have
as good a claim to this yielding of hidden treasure as the best of them.
Here we have the constant tradition of the inhabitants, and the identical
bush still remains beneath which the treasure was found -- an elder near
the northwest corner of the ruins.
Source: Eliza Gutch,
(London: Published for the Folk-Lore Society by David Nutt, 1901), .
Gutch's source: William Grainge, "Crocks of Gold,"
(London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Company,
Return to the .
In Ayrshire, the following rhyme is prevalent, and is probably very
Donald Din
Built his house without a pin,
alluding to Dundonald Castle, the ancient seat of King Robert II, and
now the last remaining property in Ayrshire of the noble family who take
their title from it. According to tradition, it was built by a hero named
Donald Din, or Din Donald, and constructed entirely of stone, without the
use of wood, a supposition countenanced by the appearance of the building,
which consists of three distinct stories, arched over with strong
stonework, the roof of one forming the floor of another.
Donald, the builder, was originally a poor man, but had the faculty of
dreaming lucking dreams. Upon one occasion he dreamed, thrice in one
night, that if he were to go to London Bridge, he would become a wealthy
man. He went accordingly, saw a man looking over the parapet of the
bridge, whom he accosted courteously, and, after a little conversation,
entrusted with the secret of the occasion of his coming to London Bridge.
The stranger told him that he had made a very foolish errand, for he
himself had once had a similar vision, which direct him to go to a certain
spot in Ayrshire, in Scotland, where he would find a vast treasure, and,
for his part, he had never once thought of obeying the injunction.
From his description of the spot, the sly Scotsman at once perceived
that the treasure in question must be concealed in no other place than his
own humble kail-yard [cabbage patch] at home, to which he
immediately repaired, in full expectation of finding it. Nor was he
for, after destroying many good and promising cabbages, and
completely cracking credit with his wife, who esteemed him mad, he found a
large potful of gold coin, with the proceeds of which he built a stout
castle for himself, and became the founder of a flourishing family.
Source: Robert Chambers, , new edition (London and Edinburgh: W. and R. Chambers, 1870), .
Note by Chambers:
Dundonald Castle, the scene of King Robert's early attachment and nuptials
with the fair Elizabeth (Mure), is situated in Kyle-Stewart, of which,
from the remotest period, it appears to have been the chief messuage,
about six miles southwest of Rowallan, and approaching within about a mile
of the Firth of Clyude. Its situation, on the summit of a beautiful round
hill, in the close vicinity of Dundonald Church, is singularly noble and
baronial. Although evidently of considerable antiquity, yet certainly
another of still greatly more remote origin to the present castle of
Dundonald once occupied the same site. To the more remote building may
allude the following rude rhyme, if it be not altogether a piece of rustic
wit of recent times:
There stands a castle in the west,
They ca' it Donald D
There's no nail in a' its proof,
Nor yet a wooden pin.
--History of the House of Rowallan, p. 50.
King Robert died at Dundonald Castle anno 1390. Dr. Johnson and Mr.
Boswell visited the ruins on their return from the H and the
former laughed outright at the idea of a Scottish monarch being
accommodated, with his court, in so narrow a mansion.
Return to the .
Isle of Man
There was a man once in the Isle of Man who met one of the Little Fellows,
and the Little Fellow told him that if he would go to London Bridge and
dig, he would find a fortune. So he went, and when he got there he began
to dig, and another man came to him and said, "What are you doing?"
"One of Themselves told me to come to London Bridge and I would get a
fortune," says he.
And the other man said, "I dreamed that I was back in the lil' islan' an'
I was at a house with a thorn tree at the chimley of it, and if I would
dig there I would find a fortune. But I wouldn' go, for it was only
foolishness."
Then he told him so plainly about the house that the first man knew it was
his own, so he went back to the Island. When he got home he dug under the
little thorn tree by the chimney and he found an iron box. He opened the
box, and it was full of gold, and there was a letter in it, but he could
not read the letter because it was in a foreign language. So he put it in
the smithy window and challenged any scholar who went by to read it. None
of them could, but at last one big boy said it was Latin and it meant,
"Dig again and you'll find another."
So the man dug again under the thorn tree, and what did he find but
another iron box full of gold! And from that day till the day of his
death, that man used to open the front door before going to bed, and call
out, "My blessing with the Little Fellows!"
Source: Sophia Morrison, <a target="_blank" href= "http://www.archive.org/stream/manxfairytales00morr#page/n7/mode/2up"Manx Fairy Tales (London: David Nutt, 1911), .
Themselves and Little Fellows are circumlocutions for
fairies, who do not like to be referred to directly.
Return to the .
Timothy Jarvis was a decent, honest, quiet, hard-working man, as every body knows that knows Balledehob.
Now Balledehob is a small place, about forty miles west of Cork. It is situated on the summit of a hill, and yet it for on all sides there are lofty mountains that rise one above another in barren grandeur, and seem to look down with scorn upon the little busy village, which they surround with their idle and unproductive magnificence. Man and beast have alike deserted them to the dominion of the eagle, who soars majestically over them. On the highest of those mountains there is a small, and as is commonly believed, unfathomable lake, the only inhabitant of which is a huge serpent, who has been sometimes seen to stretch its enormous head above the waters, and frequently is heard to utter a noise which shakes the very rocks to their foundation.
But, as I was saying, everybody knew Tim Jarvis to be a decent, honest, quiet, hard-working man, who was thriving enough to be able to give his daughter Nelly a f and Tim himself would have been snug enough besides, but that he loved the drop sometimes. However, he was seldom backward on rent day.
His ground was never distrained but twice, and both times through a sm and his landlord had never but once to say to him, "Tim Jarvis, you're all behind, Tim, like the cow's tail."
Now it so happened that, being heavy in himself, through the drink, Tim took to sleeping, and the sleep set Tim dreaming, and he dreamed all night, and night after night, about crocks full of gold and o so much so, that Norah Jarvis his wife could get no good of him by day, and have little comfort with him by night. The grey dawn of the morning would see Tim digging away in a bog-hole, maybe, or rooting under some old stone walls like a pig. At last he dreamt that he found a mighty great crock of gold and silver, and where, do you think? Every step of the way upon London Bridge, itself! Twice Tim dreamt it, and three times Tim d and at last he made up his mind to transport himself, and go over to London, in Pat Mahoney' and so he did!
Well, he got there, and found the bridge without much difficulty. Every day he walked up and down looking for the crock of gold, but never the find did he find it. One day, however, as he was looking over the bridge into the water, a man, or something like a man, with great black whiskers, like a Hessian, and a black cloak that reached down to the ground, taps him on the shoulder, and says he, "Tim Jarvis, do you see me?"
"Surely I do, sir," said T wondering that anybody should know him in the strange place.
"Tim," says he, "what is it brings you here in foreign parts, so far away from your own cabin by the mine of grey copper at Balledehob?"
"Please your honor," says Tim, "I'm come to seek my fortune."
"You're a fool for your pains, Tim, if that's all," remarked the strange "this is a big place to seek one's fortune in, to be sure, but it's not so easy to find it."
Now, Tim, after debating a long time with himself, and considering, in the first place, that it might be the stranger who was to find the c and in the next, that the stranger might direct him where to find it, came to the resolution of telling him all.
"There's many a one like me comes here seeking their fortunes," said Tim.
"True,'' said the stranger.
"But," continued Tim, looking up, "the body and bones of the cause for myself leaving the woman, and Nelly, and the boys, and traveling so far, is to look for a crock of gold that I'm told is lying somewhere hereabouts."
"And who told you that, Tim?"
"Why, then, sir, that's what I can't only I dreamt it."
"Ho, ho! is that all, Tim?" said the stranger, "I and I dreamed that I found a crock of gold, in the fort field, on Jerry Driscoll's ground at B and by the same token, the pit where it lay was close to a large furze bush, all full of yellow blossom."
Tim knew Jerry Driscoll' and, moreover, he knew the fort field as well as he knew h he was certain, too, of the very furze bush at the north end of it. So, swearing a bitter big oath, says he, "By all the crosses in a yard of check, I always thought there was money in that same field!"
The moment he rapped out the oath the stranger disappeared, and Tim Jarvis, wondering at all that had happened to him, made the best of his way back to Ireland. Norah, as may well be supposed, had no very warm welcome for her runaway husband -- the dreaming blackguard, as she called him -- and so soon as she set eyes upon him, all the blood of her body in one minute was into her k but Tim, after his long journey, looked so cheerful and so happy-like, that she could not find it in her heart to give him the first blow!
He managed to pacify his wife by two or three broad hints about a new cloak and a pair of shoes, that, to speak honestly, were much wanting to he and decent clothes for Nelly to go to the patron with her sweetheart, and brogues for the boys, and some corduroy for himself.
"It wasn't for nothing," says Tim, "I went to foreig and you'll see what'll come out of it -- mind my words."
A few days afterwards Tim sold his cabin and his garden, and bought the fort field of Jerry Driscoll, that had nothing in it, but was full of thistles, and old stones, a and all the neighbors -- as well they might -- thought he was cracked!
The first night that Tim could summon courage to begin his work, he walked off to the field with his spa and away he dug all night by the side of the furze bush, till he came to a big stone. He struck his spade against it, and he
but as the morning had begun to dawn, and the neighbors would be going out to their work, Tim, not wishing to have the thing talked about, went home to the little hovel, where Norah and the children were huddled together u for he had sold everything he had in the world to purchase Driscoll's field, that was said to be "the back-bone of the world, picked by the devil."
It is impossible to describe the epithets and reproaches bestowed by the poor woman on her unlucky husband for bringing her into such a way. Epithets and reproaches which Tim had but one mode of answering, as thus: "Norah, did you see e'er a cow you'd like?" -- or, "Norah, dear, hasn't Poll Deasy a featherbed to sell?" -- or, "Norah, honey, wouldn't you like your silver buckles as big as Mrs. Doyle's?"
As soon as night came Tim stood beside the furze bush spade in hand. The moment he jumped down into the pit he heard a strange rumbling noise under him, and so, putting his ear against the great stone, he listened, and overheard a discourse that made the hair on his head stand up like bulrushes, and every limb tremble.
"How shall we bother Tim?" said one voice.
"Take him to the mountain, to be sure, and make him a toothful 'tis long since he has had a good meal," said another voice.
Tim shook like a potato blossom in a storm.
"No," "plunge him in the bog, neck and heels."
Tim was a dead man, barring the breath.
"Stop!" but Tim heard no more, for Tim was dead entirely. In about an hour, however, the life came back into him, and he crept home to Norah.
When the next night arrived the hopes of the crock of gold got the better of his fears, and takings care to arm himself with a bottle of potheen, away he went to the field. Jumping into the pit, he took a little sup from the bottle to keep his heart up -- he then took a big one -- and then, with desperate wrench, he wrenched up the stone. All at once, up rushed a blast of wind, wild and fierce, and down fell Tim -- down, down, and down he went -- until he thumped upon what seemed to be, for all the world, like a floor of sharp pins, which made him bellow out in earnest. Then he heard a whisk and a hurra, and instantly voices beyond number cried out:
Welcome, Tim Jarvis, dear!
Welcome, down here!"
Though Tim's teeth chattered like magpies with the fright, he continued to make answer: "I'm he-he-har-ti-ly ob-ob-liged to-to you all, gen-gentlemen, fo-for your civility to-to a poor stranger like myself."
But though he had heard all the voices about him, he could see nothing, the place was so dark and so lonesome in itself for want of the light. Then something pulled Tim by the hair of his head, and dragged him, he did not know how far, but he knew he was going faster than the wind, for he heard it behind him, trying to keep up with him, and it could not.
On, on, on, he went, till all at once, and suddenly, he was stopped, and somebody came up to him, and said, "Well, Tim Jarvis, and how do you like your ride?"
"Mighty well! I thank your honor," said T "and 'twas a good beast I rode, surely!"
There was a great laugh at Tim' and then there was a whispering, and a great cugger mugger, and at last a pretty little bit of a voice said, "Shut your eyes, and you'll see, Tim."
"By my word, then," said Tim, "that is the but I'm not the man to gainsay you, so I'll do as you bid me, any how."
Presently he felt a small warm hand rubbed over his eyes with an ointment, and in the next minute he saw himself in the middle of thousands of little men and women, not half so high as his brogue, that were pelting one another with golden guineas and lily-white thirteens, as if they were so much dirt.
The finest dressed and the biggest of them all went up to Tim, and says he, "Tim Jarvis, because you are a decent, honest, quiet, civil, well-spoken man," says he, "and know how to behave yourself in strange company, we've altered our minds about you, and will find a neighbor of yours that will do just as well to give to the old serpent."
"Oh, then, long life to you, sir!" said Tim, "and there's no doubt of that."
"But what will you say, Tim," inquired the little fellow, "if we fill your pockets with these yellow boys? What will you say, Tim, and what will you do with them?"
"Your honor's honor, and your honor's glory," answered Tim, "I'll not be able to say my prayers for one month with thanking you -- and indeed I've enough to do with them. I'd make a grand lady, you see, at once of Norah -- she has been a good wife to me. We'll have a nice bi and, maybe, I'd have a glass,
or sometimes, if 'twas with a friend, or acquaintance, or gossip, you know, thr and I' and
I'd have a fresh egg every morning, myself, and I'd snap my fingers at the 'squire, and beat his hounds, if they'd come coursi and I' and Norah, your honor, should have a new cloak, and the boys should have shoes and stockings as well as Biddy Leary's brats -- that's my sister what was -- and Nelly should marry Bill Long of A and, your honor, I'd have some corduroy for myself to make breeches, and a cow, and a beautiful coat with shining buttons, and a horse to ride, or maybe two. I'd have every thing," said Tim, "in life, good or bad, that is to be got for love or money -- hurra-whoop! -- and that's what I'd do."
"Take care, Tim," said the little fellow, "your money would not go faster than it came, with your hurra-whoop."
But Tim heeded not this speech: heaps of gold were around him, and he filled and filled away as hard as he could, his coat and his waistcoat and
and he thought himself very clever, moreover, because he stuffed some of the guineas into his brogues. When the little people perceived this, they cried out, "Go home, Tim Jarvis, go home, and think yourself a lucky man."
"I hope, gentlemen," said he, "we won't p but maybe ye'll ask me to see you again, and to give you a fair and square account of what I've done with your money."
To this there was no answer, only another shout, "Go home, Tim J
but shut your eyes, or ye'll never see the light of day again."
Tim shut his eyes, knowing now that was th and away he was whisked as before -- away, away he went 'till he again stopped all of a sudden.
He rubbed his eyes with his two thumbs -- and where was he? -- Where, but in the very pit in the field that was Jer Driscoll's, and his wife Norah above with a big stick ready to beat "her dreaming blackguard." Tim roared out to the woman to leave the life in him, and put his hands in his pockets
but he pulled out nothing only a handful of small stones mixed with yellow furze blossoms. The bush was under him, and the great flag-stone that he had wrenched up, as he thought, was lying, as if it was never stirred, by his side: the whiskey bottle was drai and the pit was just as his spade had made it.
Tim Jarvis, vexed, disappointed, and almost heart-broken, fo and, strange to say, from that night he left off drinking, and dreaming, and delving in bog-holes, and rooting in old caves. He took again to his hard working habits, and was soon able to buy back his little cabin and former potato garden, and to get all the enjoyment he anticipated from the fairy gold.
Give Tim one or, at most, two glasses of whiskey punch (and neither friend, acquaintance, or gossip can make him take more), and he. will relate the story to you much better than you have it here. Indeed it is worth going to Balledehob to hear him tell it.
He always pledges himself to the truth of every word with his and when he comes to speak of the loss of his guineas, he never fails to console himself by adding: "If they stayed with me I wouldn't have luck with them, and father O'Shea told me 'twas as well for me they were changed, for if they hadn't, they'd have burned holes in my pocket, and got out that way."
I shall never forget his solemn countenance, and the deep tones of his warning voice, when he concluded his tale, by telling me, that the next day after his ride with the fairies, Mick Dowling was missing, and he believed him to be given to the serpent in his place, as he had never been heard of since. "The blessing of the saints be between all good men and harm," was the concluding sentence of Tim Jarvis's narrative, as he flung the remaining drops from his glass upon the green sward.
Source: Thomas Crofton Croker, , part 2 (London: John Murray, 1828),
Link to additional legends of fairy abduction: .
Return to the .
I heard of a man from Mayo went to Limerick, and walked two or three times
across the bridge there. And a cobbler that was sitting on the bridge took
notice of him, and knew by the look of him and by the clothes he wore that
he was from Mayo, and asked him what was he looking for. And he said he
had a dream that under the bridge of Limerick he'd find treasure.
"Well," says the cobbler, "I had a dream myself about finding treasure,
but in another sort of a place than this." And he described the place
where he dreamed it was, and where was that, but in the Mayo man's own
So he went home again, and sure enough, there he found a pot of gold with
no end of riches in it. But I never heard that the cobbler found anything
under the bridge at Limerick.
Source: Lady Isabelle Augusta Gregory, , 2nd series (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1920), .
Lady Gregory's source: John Phelan.
Lady Gregory does not give this piece a title.
Return to the .
Some time ago a man dreamed that he should go to the bridge at
Regensburg where he would become rich. He went there, and after spending
some fourteen days there a wealthy merchant, who wondered why was spending
so much time on the bridge, approached him and asked him what he was doing
The latter answered, "I dreamed that I was to go to the bridge at
Regensburg, where I would become rich."
"What?" said the merchant, "You came here because of a dream? Dreams
are fantasies and lies. Why I myself dreamed that there is a large pot of
gold buried beneath that large tree over there." And he pointed to the
tree. "But I paid no attention, for dreams are fantasies."
Then the visitor went and dug beneath the tree, where he found a great
treasure that made him rich, and thus his dream was confirmed.
Agricola adds: "I have often heard this from my dear father."
This legend is also told about other cities, for example about L&beck (or Kempen), where a baker's servant dreams that he will find a treasure on the bridge. Upon going there and walking back and forth, a beggar speaks to him, telling how he has dreamed that a treasure lies beneath a linden tree in the churchyard at M&ln (or at Dordrecht beneath a bush) but that he is not about to go there.
The baker's servant answers, "Yes, dreams are often nothing but foolishness. I will give my bridge-treasure to you."
With that he departed and dug up the treasure from beneath the linden tree.
Source: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, "Traum vom Schatz auf der Br&cke," , vol. 1 (Berlin: In der Nicolaischen Buchhandlung, 1816), . In later editions this legend is numbered 212.
Translated by D. L. Ashliman. & .
Link to the text by Agricola:
Source: Johannes Agricola,
Return to the .
On the Tyrolean border near Wopnitz there lived a peasant from Krain whose name was Japnig. His domestic situation had fallen to the point that he feared his few remaining goods would be confiscated by the authorities.
One night he dreamed he should go to Stall in the M&ll Valley, and, according to the dream, he would find a treasure on his way there.
Japnig found this dream very striking, so he set forth immediately.
Underway he met an old invalid on a bridge, who, as is customary asked him how far he was going.
"To Stall," answered the peasant, then added, "And you?"
"I don't know" answered the invalid, "I have neither home nor money."
This all-too-frequent topic of conversation gave the two common ground, and they complained to one another about their hard times.
Finally the peasant told the old soldier about his dream.
The latter laughed into his face and said, "Anyone can dream about treasure.
I myself have dreamed three times that there was a treasure in the hearth of someone named Japnig, or was it Havenot -- have you ever heard such a horrible name?
What good is this to me?
Do I even know if such a fellow exists?
Dreams are foam."
Japnig was right startled to hear his name.
He became still as a mouse, then said farewell to the soldier.
He did not go to Stall, but after a small detour returned immediately to his home in Wopnitz, where he forthwith began to tear apart his hearth.
His wife thought that he had gone mad, but mortared into the hearth he found a pot filled with thalers, which solved all of Japnig's difficulties.
According to another legend, Japnig walked all the way to the bridge at Prague where he met the old soldier.
That would have been a great distance, but this frequently told legend always features a bridge, with the favorites being at Innsbruck, Regensburg, or Prague.
Source: Johann Nepumuk Ritter von Alpenburg, "Getr&mter Schatz,"
(Vienna: Wilhelm Braum&ller, 1861), .
Translated by D. L. Ashliman. & 2009.
Return to the .
It was not going well for the peasant of G. in Rinn, and his shoes pinched
him on all sides. Once he dreamed that he should go to the bridge at Zirl
where he would discover something important. After having the same dream
the following night he shared this information with his wife and declared
that he wanted to go to Zirl.
But his old woman would not allow this, saying, "Why do you want to waste
an entire day and wear out your shoes for nothing? You will not have as
much as a green twig to show for yourself!"
So he remained unhappily at home, but behold, the next night he had
exactly the same dream again. He arose very early and hurried to Zirl. At
sunrise he was already standing by the bridge there. After walking back
and forth for a quarter hour, he was approached by a goat herder who
wished him a good morning, then drove his herd onward. He did not see
anyone for a long time after that. Noon finally arrived, and hunger was
tormenting him. He took a piece of Turkish bread [a confection made from
peanuts] from his pocket and let it suffice, for he was not going to leave
the bridge for any price. But however long he waited, no one came to him.
He was losing his patience, and he was irritated by the thought of how his
wife would laugh at him and ridicule him for his gullibility. But he
nevertheless held out, until finally the sun was about to set, and the
goat herder returned with his herd. He was more that a little surprised to
see that the man from Rinn was still there, and he asked him why he had
been waiting there so long.
"You see," said the peasant, "I dreamed that if I were to go to the Zirl
bridge that I would discover something important."
"Indeed!" answered the goat herder, laughing. "And I dreamed that if I
were to go to G. in Rinn that I would find a pot of gold beneath the
The man from Rinn had now heard enough. He ran home to see if the herder's
words were true. Arriving home late in the evening, he secretly dismantled
his hearth at once, and he did indeed find a pot completely filled with
gold. Thus he became the richest peasant far and wide. (Zillertal)
Source: Ignaz D. Zingerle,
(Innsbruck: Verlag der Wagner'schen Universit&ts-Buchhandlung, 1891), .
Translated by D. L. Ashliman. & 2008.
Return to the .
Many years ago there lived at Errits&, near Fredericia, a very poor man, who one day said,
"If I had a large sum of money, I would build a church for the parish."
The following night he dreamed that if he went to the south bridge at Veile, he would make his fortune. He followed the intimation, and strolled backwards and forwards on the bridge, until it grew late, but without seeing any sign of his good fortune. When just on the point of returning, he was accosted by an officer, who asked him why he had spent the whole day so on the bridge.
He told him his dream, on hearing which the officer related to him in return, that he also, on the preceding night, had dreamed, that in a barn at Errits&, belonging to a man whose name he mentioned, a treasure lay buried. But the name he mentioned was the man's own, who prudently kept his own counsel, hastened home, and found the treasure in his barn. The man was faithful to his word and built the church.
Source: Benjamin Thorpe, , vol. 2 (London: Edward Lumley, 1851), .
Two closely related Danish-language legends, both recorded by J. M. Thiele in his , vol. 1
(Copenhagen: Universitetsboghandler C. A. Reitzels Forlag, 1843):
"Kirken i Errits&," .
"Skatten i Tanslet," .
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fairy tales, and mythology.
Revised March 19, 2013.