My Lady Judge by Cora Harrison Read Free Book Online Page A

opinion,’ commanded Mara.
    Malachy held up a scroll and read the account of his medical examination of the boy in a monotonous voice. Mara did not listen very carefully this time. The report contained very little and did not mention that strange joke about the little man in the boy’s head. She had already made up her mind what to do.
    ‘Gráinne,’ she said gently. ‘The court feels that your son has certain problems. There have been times when he has frightened others on the Burren. Do you feel confident that you are able to keep your son from harming anyone?’
    Gráinne lowered her eyes for a moment and then looked straight at Mara. ‘Yes, Brehon,’ she said defiantly.
    ‘And yet, in the past, he has exploded with rage and your taoiseach is worried about him and about you.’
    ‘It’s the other lads, Brehon,’ explained Gráinne, ‘they will tease him and call him names. He likes to be on his own. He likes walking around and collecting bits of rocks. He has them all on shelves at home.’
    ‘That sounds very interesting,’ said Mara. ‘You must show me your collection sometime, Feirdin.’ She looked directly at him, but he avoided eye contact with her. There was definitely something
wrong with him, but was it enough to condemn him to the harsh stewardship of his cousin who might well keep him tied up? This would not only frustrate him more, it would be likely to drive him into full madness. She paused for a moment, whispered to the king, and then rose to her feet.
    ‘The court finds that Feirdin MacNamara is to be classified as fer lethcuinn, a half-sane man. This means that he has the protection of the court and the community. Anyone who incites him to commit a crime must himself pay the penalty, anyone who mocks him will be fined five séts, two and a half ounces of silver, or three milch cows. This is the law of the king.’
    The crowd moved and sighed once more. Mara could hear the soft murmur of conversation swell as neighbour turned to neighbour. Heads nodded. It had been a popular judgement. The crowd approved. She only hoped that they, and she, were right. I’ll go and see him tomorrow myself, she thought. I’ll check on him at least once a week.
    ‘Next case,’ called Colman.

FOUR
    CASE NOTES AND JUDGEMENT TEXTS FROM MARA, BREHON OF THE BURREN, 15 MAY 1509

    Judgement day: last day of April 1509. On the eve of Bealtaine I judged the case between Declan O’Lochlainn and Rory the bard. Declan O’Lochlainn declared that his daughter Nessa, aged twelve, had been raped by the aforementioned Rory at the festival of Samhain of the previous year …

     
     
    W HAT’S THIS ABOUT?’ ASKED the king, leaning over and speaking in Mara’s ear as Colman announced the case and called the witnesses.
    ‘Well, the child, Nessa, looked pregnant in January, but she kept denying it,’ whispered back Mara. ‘I sent Malachy, the physician, at the request of the parents, but Nessa became hysterical and he, rightly, in my opinion, refused to force her, so he was unable to examine her. However, it was obvious that she was pregnant. The baby was stillborn last week and Nessa’s father, Declan, sent for Colman to take down the statement. Apparently,
Nessa named Rory, the young bard, as the father of her baby and accused him of raping her.’
    Mara got to her feet; Nessa, her parents and Rory were all standing in front of the dolmen with Colman and Malachy on either side.
    ‘The accusation has been made,’ she said, her clear voice carrying to the back of the crowd. ‘How say you, Rory the bard? Are you guilty or not guilty?’
    ‘Not guilty,’ said Rory firmly. Mara looked at him with interest. Rape of a girl of Nessa’s age was a very serious crime and carried a heavy fine of an éraic, or body fine, similar to that given for murder, and also a fine equivalent to the honour price of the victim’s father. Nessa’s father was an ócaire, a small farmer, so his honour price was only three séts, or one