Pirate Queen (3 page)
Authors: Morgan Llywelyn
une, the Year of Our Lord 1567, somewhere off the south coast of Ireland
My Little Son,
Three days ago you entered my life. You are a special gift from God when I had thought myself long past having children. Your name is to be Tibbott-ne-Long, Tibbott of the Long Ships. But I shall call you Toby. Toby will be a secret name between us.
Words do not come easily to me. My life has been one of action rather than talk. When you are older you will want to know about your mother. Wild stories are told of me and you will need to have the truth. I may not be able to tell you myself. Life is uncertain. So I have decided to write letters that will speak for me some day. As the daughter of an Irish chieftain I was taught to read and write.
Your father is descended from the Normans, and like most of his people, he can neither read nor write. But you will. I shall insist upon it. And I will see that my letters are saved for you to read.
While I pen these words you are sleeping nearby. You are gently swaying in the little hammock my men
constructed
of fishing net and hung from the ceiling beams of my cabin. How peaceful you look, how untroubled. Pray God your life might always be so. But I fear that it will not. As we begin, so we continue.
We are aboard a ship of my fleet off the southwest coast of Ireland. I frequently sail these waters in a fine caravel built in Spain to my order. Trade is my business and that of the men I lead. We are oft times accused of piracy, but that is not strictly true. We simply use the sea and those who travel upon it in order to support ourselves. The day after you were born we were attacked at sea by real pirates. They were Turks who roam these waters in their corsairs looking for victims.
I refuse to be anyone’s victim.
When one of my men came below to tell me that the battle was going against us, I sprang from my bunk. I was still weak from bringing you into the world, but I seized a blunderbuss and went storming up on deck with my hair unbound and my clothes undone.
When the pirates saw me they were truly frightened. I must have looked a wild woman indeed, waving a gun around and screaming at them in fury. My men took heart from my courage, and together we defeated the enemy and captured their ship. How I laughed!
Laden with plunder taken from the plunderers, we set sail for home. We shall enter Clew Bay with the sunset.
You are to be Toby, but what shall you call me? I am known by many names – ship’s captain, she-king of the western seas, pirate. But whatever men say about me, I shall remain your loving mother.
Always,
Granuaile
