Well , the lady with the green hair kept on coaxing Maurice with soft speeches , till at last she over persuaded him to promise to marry her , and be king over the fishes , great and small . Maurice was well fitted to be their king , if they wanted one that could make them dance ; and he surely would drink , barring the salt water , with any fish of them all . When Maurice 's mother saw him with that unnatural thing in the form of a green-haired lady as his guide , and he and she dancing down together so lovingly to the water 's edge , through the thick of the fishes , she called out after him to stop and come back . ` Oh , then , ' says she , ` as if I was not widow enough before , there he is going away from me to be married to that scaly woman . And who knows but 't is grandmother I may be to a hake or a cod -- Lord help and pity me , but 't is a mighty unnatural thing ! And my be 't is boiling and eating my own grandchild I 'll be , with a bit of salt butter , and I not knowing it ! Oh , Maurice , Maurice , if there 's any love or nature left in you , come back to your own ould mother , who reared you like a decent Christian ! ' Then the poor woman began to cry and sob so finely that it would do anyone good to hear her . Maurice was not long getting to the rim of the water . There he kept playing and dancing on as if nothing was the matter , and a great thundering wave coming in towards him ready to swallow him up alive ; but as he could not see it , he did not fear it . His mother it was who saw it plainly through the big tears that were rolling down her cheeks ; and though she saw it , and her heart was aching as much as ever mother 's heart ached for a son , she kept dancing , dancing all the time for the bare life of her . Certain it was she could not help it , for Maurice never stopped playing that wonderful tune of his . He only turned his ear to the sound of his mother 's voice , fearing it might put him out in his steps , and all the answer he made back was , ` Whisht with you mother -- sure I 'm going to be king over the fishes down in the sea , and for a token of luck , and a sign that I 'm alive and well , I 'll send you in , every twelvemonth on this day , a piece of burned wood to Trafraska . ' Maurice had not the power to say a word more , for the strange lady with the green hair , seeing the wave just upon them , covered him up with herself in a thing like a cloak with a big hood to it , and the wave curling over twice as high as their heads , burst upon the strand , with a rush and a roar that might be heard as far as Cape Clear . That day twelvemonth the piece of burned wood came ashore in Trafraska . It was a queer thing for Maurice to think of sending all the way from the bottom of the sea . A gown or a pair of shoes would have been something like a present for his poor mother ; but he had said it , and he kept his word . The bit of burned wood regularly came ashore on the appointed day for as good , ay , and better than a hundred years . The day is now forgotten , and may be that is the reason why people say how Maurice Connor has stopped sending the luck-token to his mother . Poor woman , she did not live to get as much as one of them ; for what through the loss of Maurice , and the fear of eating her own grandchildren , she died in three weeks after the dance .
Some say it was the fatigue that killed her , but whichever it was , Mrs. XXXXX was decently buried with her own people .
Christian Clear Connor Maurice Trafraska day hake left twelvemonth weeks