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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Laughter of Peterkin, by Fiona Macleod
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: The Laughter of Peterkin
-       A retelling of old tales of the Celtic Wonderworld
-
-Author: Fiona Macleod
-
-Illustrator: Sunderland Rollinson
-
-Release Date: October 23, 2015 [EBook #50292]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAUGHTER OF PETERKIN ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Shirley McAleer, Shaun Pinder and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-file was produced from images generously made available
-by The Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-THE LAUGHTER OF PETERKIN
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: The king saw a fountain of exceeding beauty.
-
-  _Frontis._]
-]
-
-
-
-
-THE LAUGHTER OF PETERKIN.
-
-  “A RETELLING OF OLD TALES OF
-  THE CELTIC WONDERWORLD.” by
-
-  ⋅ FIONA MACLEOD ⋅
-
-  [Illustration]
-
-  ⋅DRAWINGS⋯BY⋯SUNDERLAND⋯ROLLINSON⋅§⋅
-
-  ⋅LONDON⋅
-  ⋅ARCHIBALD⋅CONSTABLE⋅&⋅CO⋅
-  ⋅1897⋅
-
-
-
-
-      TO
-        ISLA,
-          EILIDH,
-            FIONA,
-              AND
-                IVOR
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
-                                                  PAGE
-  _PROLOGUE._ THE LAUGHTER OF PETERKIN               9
-
-  THE FOUR WHITE SWANS                              33
-
-  THE FATE OF THE SONS OF TURENN                   117
-
-  DARTHOOL AND THE SONS OF USNA                    177
-
-  _NOTES_                                          281
-
-
-
-
-ILLUSTRATIONS
-
-BY SUNDERLAND ROLLINSON
-
-
-  THE KING SAW A FOUNTAIN OF EXCEEDING
-    BEAUTY                                  _Frontispiece_
-
-  AS SHE TOUCHED FIONULA, LIR’S FAIR YOUNG
-    DAUGHTER BECAME A BEAUTIFUL SNOW-WHITE
-    SWAN                            _To face page_      33
-
-  TURENN INTERCEDING FOR HIS SONS         "            117
-
-  A GREAT RAVEN, GLOSSY BLACK, AND BURNISHED
-    IN THE SUN RAYS                 _To face page_     177
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-The Laughter of Peterkin
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-The Laughter of Peterkin
-
-
-At the rising of the moon, Peterkin awoke, and laughed. He was in his
-little white bed near the open window, so that when a moonbeam wavered
-from amid the branches of the great poplar, falling suddenly upon his
-tangled curls and yellowing them with a ripple of pale gold, it was as
-though a living thing stole in out of the June night.
-
-He had not awaked at first. The moonbeam seemed caught in a tangle:
-then it glanced along a crescent tress on the pillow: sprang back like
-a startled bird: flickered hither and thither above the little sleeping
-face: and at last played idly on the closed eyelids with their long
-dark eyelashes. It was then that Peterkin awoke.
-
-When he opened his eyes he sat up, and so the moonbeam fell into the
-two white cups of his tiny hands. He held it, but like a yellow eel it
-wriggled away, and danced mockingly upon the counterpane.
-
-With a sleepy smile he turned and looked out of the window. How dark
-it was out there! That white moth which wavered to and fro made the
-twilight like a shadowy wall. Then upon this wall Peterkin saw a
-great fantastic shape. It grew and grew, and spread out huge arms and
-innumerable little hands: and in its shadow-face it had seven shining
-eyes. Peterkin stared, awe-struck. Then there was a dance of moonshine,
-a cascade of trickling, rippling yellow, and he saw that the shape
-in the night was the familiar poplar, and that its arms were the
-big boughs and branches where the spotted mavis and the black merle
-sang each morning, and that the innumerable little hands were the
-ever-tremulous, ever-dancing, round little leaves, and that the seven
-glittering eyes were only seven stars that had caught among the topmost
-twigs.
-
-
-II
-
-Peterkin was very sleepy, but before his head sank back to the pillow
-he saw something which caused him to hold his breath, and made his
-eyes grow so round and large that they were like the little pools one
-sees on the hill-side.
-
-Every here and there he saw tiny yellow and green lives slipping and
-sliding along and in and out of the branches of the poplar. Sometimes
-they were all pale yellow, like gold; sometimes of a shimmering green;
-sometimes so dusky that only by their shining eyes were they visible.
-At first he could not clearly distinguish these unfamiliar denizens of
-the great poplar. The vast green pyramid seemed innumerously alive.
-Then gradually he saw that each delicate shape was like a human being:
-little men and women, but smaller than the smallest children, smaller
-even than dolls. They were all laughing and chasing each other to and
-fro. Some slid swiftly down an outspread branch, and then dropped on to
-a green leafy billow or plunged into an inscrutable maze: others swung
-by the little crook at the end of each leaf, and laughed as they were
-blown this way and that by puffs of air: and a few daring ones climbed
-to the topmost sprays of the topmost boughs and held up tiny white
-hands like daisies. These wished to clasp the moonshine. As well might
-a fish try to catch the moon-dazzle on the water! No wonder Peterkin
-laughed.
-
-Ever and again a delicate sweet singing came from the moonshine-folk.
-Peterkin listened, but could hear no words he knew. Perhaps there were
-no words at all, or mayhap he himself knew too few. But the singing was
-strangely familiar. Sometimes when mother sang, surely he had heard it:
-as far back, farther back, than memory could take him, he had heard
-some echo of it. Cradle-sweet it was, that dim snatch of a fugitive
-strain. And, too, had he not heard something of it in the wind, when
-that went whispering through the grass and in and out of the wild-rose
-thicket, or when it lifted and waved a great wing and fanned the trees
-into vast swaying flames of green? Yes, even in the fire he had heard
-it. When the orange and red flames flickered among the coals, or caught
-the sap in the pine-logs and grew into yellow and blue with hearts of
-purple, he had heard a faint far-off music.
-
-Peterkin gave a little gasp when a sudden wave of shadow, trailed
-across the poplar by a long slow-travelling cloud, swept from bough
-to bough. It was as though all the singing, laughing, dancing folk had
-been drowned.
-
-He stared through the darkness, but there was nothing to be seen.
-He shivered. It was lonely out there. Again he heard a sound as of
-a remote singing. As before, he could not hear what the words were.
-But, once more, it was not all unfamiliar. It was sadder than anything
-that dimly he remembered, save the long mournful crooning of a Gaelic
-cradle-song, sadder than any flame-whisper in a waning fire, or than
-any cadence of the wind in the grass, or among the thickets of wild
-rose.
-
-
-III
-
-Next night Peterkin lay awake a long time, hoping to see the
-moonshine-folk again. He had spoken of them, but was told that there
-were no little people in the poplar. At first this was the more strange
-to him, for had he not seen them? Then, after he had scrupulously
-examined the branches from beneath as well as at a distance, he
-comforted himself with the thought that, while there might be no
-little people actually living in the poplar, they came into the tree
-on the flood of the moonshine.
-
-But that night there was no moon-flood. A south wind had arisen at
-sundown, and had shepherded from beyond the hills a medley of strayed
-clouds: these, intricately interwoven, now spread from horizon to
-horizon, obliterating the stars and obscuring even the radiance of the
-new-risen moon.
-
-If there were no moonlight, and therefore no little yellow and
-green lives with bright shining eyes, there was a strange exquisite
-whispering that grew into music sweeter than any which Peterkin had
-ever heard.
-
-He rose and crept stealthily from his bed to the door. It was ajar, and
-he looked, half-fearfully, half-wonderingly, into the open passage.
-How long and dark it was, and haunted by unfamiliar shadows: but,
-clasping the skirts of his nightgown close to him, he ran swiftly to
-the balustrade at the far end.
-
-There the stair lamp shed a comfortable glow. Peterkin looked warily
-down the stairs, into the hall, along the closed or opened rooms. There
-was no one stirring. The front door too was open, for the night was
-warm, or perhaps some one had strayed without.
-
-The child stood awhile, hesitating. Then he slipped down the stairway
-like a swift moonbeam. For the first time he realized he was only a
-little child, when he passed the great antlered stag’s-head in the
-hall, and the high stand hung with coats and hats, the raiment of
-giants as they seemed, and mysteriously life-like.
-
-But once in the open air he lost all fear. True, a great mass of
-rhododendrons ran close to the avenue to the right, and through this
-the path meandered to the gardens behind the house: but there was
-nothing unfamiliar about their gloom, for Peterkin loved their green
-shadowy depths at noon, and their fragrant dusk when the long shadows
-on the lawn slept longer and bluer, till they sank invisibly into the
-grass.
-
-Old Donal McDonal the gardener, on his way through the shrubberies,
-rubbed his eyes: for he thought he saw a sprite. He could have sworn,
-he said to Mairgred Cameron the cook, after he entered the house, that
-he had seen a small white ghost flitting from bush to bush. Both shook
-their heads, and wondered if the White Lady were come again, that
-apparition which legend averred was to be seen by mortal eyes once in
-every generation, and always before some tragic event or death itself.
-
-But as for Peterkin he had no thought of such things. He was now in the
-garden, eager in his quest of the little people who hide among leaves
-and grass, and love the dusk and the moonlit dark.
-
-He had no fear as he ran to and fro along the grassy ways. Why should
-he be afraid of the dark? There was nothing there to frighten him, or
-any child.
-
-For a time he ran to and fro, or crept warily among the lilac bushes.
-His little white figure drifted hither and thither like a moth. Once
-he was still, when he stood, shimmering white, among the lilies of the
-valley, which clustered among their green sheaths at the far end of the
-garden. Here, a few days ago, he had buried a dead bird he had found
-under a net. It was a thrush, the gardener had told him, puzzled at
-the slow tears which welled from the eyes of the little lad. And now
-Peterkin wondered if the bird were awake.
-
-He had gone to Ian Mor, who was staying with his father and mother, and
-told him about the buried bird: and Ian had comforted him with this
-tale:--
-
-“Long ago there was a great king. He had the wisdom of wisdom, as the
-saying is. One day the plague came to his kingdom, and he lost the
-three lives which were dearest to him in all the world. These were his
-mother, his wife, and his little son.
-
-“This king was a poet and dreamer, as well as a great warrior and
-prince, and he had ever been wont to have communion with the powers and
-sweet influences which are behind the innumerable veils of the world.
-Through these he had come to know the mystery of the Spirit of Life.
-
-“With this Eternal Spirit he held communion in his deep sorrow. It was
-then that he learned how what is beautiful cannot pass, for beauty
-is like life that is mortal, but whose essence does not perish. In
-fragrance, in colour, in sweet sound, somehow and somewhere, that which
-is beautiful is transmuted when suddenly changed or slain.
-
-“So he prayed to the Spirit of Life that his dear ones might not pass
-from him utterly.
-
-“On the morrow, when he rose and went into his favourite place in the
-royal gardens, a secret hollow in a glade of ilex and pine, he saw a
-fountain of exceeding beauty. The spray rose dazzling white against
-the sombre green of the old trees, and seemed to be alive with a myriad
-rainbow-spirits, who ceaselessly flashed their wings as they darted
-hither and thither. The king was looking upon this, entranced by its
-sunny loveliness, when he noticed a white dove flying round the high
-sunlit fount, and at the hither margin of the water a cream-white
-dappled fawn, which stooped its graceful neck and drank.
-
-“The king marvelled; for not only had there never been any fountain in
-that place, but he knew that no wild fawn could wander there from the
-distant forests, and no dove had he ever seen so snowy white and with
-wings radiant as though stained by the rainbow-hues of the flying spray.
-
-“Suddenly it was as though a mist fell from his eyes. He saw and
-understood. His old mother, his wife, his little son, had not passed
-away, although they were dead. His mother had been fair and beautiful
-even in her white-hair years; and of the beauty of his wife, whom he
-loved so passing well, the poets had sung from one end of the land to
-another; while his little son had been held to be so perfect that there
-was none like him.
-
-“And now the king saw that the beauty of his mother had passed into a
-living fount of waters, whose spray cooled the air and made a sound of
-aerial music and a laughing radiance everywhere; and that the beauty
-of the woman whom he had loved so passing well was transmuted into the
-wild fawn which drank at the water’s edge; and that the beauty of his
-little son was now the white dove which beat its wings in the rainbow
-spray.
-
-“The king rejoiced therein with a great joy. Many of his people thought
-him mad, but he smiled at that saying, and with grave eyes prayed that
-that madness would come to all true and noble souls in his kingdom.
-
-“For a year and a day this joy was his. Then the fountain ceased to
-rise, and the dove to beat its pinions in the spray, and the wild fawn
-to drink at the water’s edge. The rumour went from mouth to mouth that
-this was because the plague had come again. The king was heavy with
-sorrow, for he had taken his deepest happiness in the beauty of these
-three lovely things, as, of yore, in the beauty of his aged mother,
-and in the beauty of the woman whom he loved, and in the beauty of his
-little son. So once again he remembered how he had been helped. With
-shame at his heart he upbraided himself because he had lived too much
-to the things of the moment and so had lost touch with those which
-were of the enduring life. That night he spent in unspoken prayer and
-prolonged meditation; and at dawn on the morrow he went slowly and
-sadly forth, hoping against hope that his life might be gladdened again.
-
-“The sun rose as he crossed the glade of ilex and pine. There was no
-fountain, as he well knew; but where the fountain had been he saw a
-garth of wild hyacinths, of a blue so wonderful that no Maytide sky was
-ever more delicately wrought of azure and purple. And above this were
-two little brown birds, which sang with so sweet voice and bewildered
-rapture that his heart melted within him.
-
-“Then he knew that in these new joys he had found again the beauty he
-had lost.
-
-“When, in the change of the days, the hyacinths spilt their blue wave
-into the rising green of the fern, and the birds ceased singing their
-lovely aerial songs, the king no longer grieved, for now he knew that
-what was beautiful would not perish but drift from change to change.
-
-“And so it was. For when, weary of his pain, he went forth one night
-to the lovely glade of ilex and pine, he saw the ground white with the
-little blooms we call Stars of Bethlehem, and among these a glow-worm
-lay and glowed like a lamp in a white wilderness, and from an ancient
-ilex came the voice of a nightingale.
-
-“Thus the king was comforted.
-
-“And so you too, Peterkin,” added Ian Mor, “need not sorrow too much
-for your little dead bird. It will live again mayhap in the fragrance
-of a lily or in the beauty of a rose. It will rise again, Peterkin.”
-
-This tale had sunk deeply into the child’s mind, and perhaps all the
-more so because the words, and the meaning behind the words, were
-sometimes beyond him. But he understood well the drift of what Ian Mor
-had told him.
-
-He was prepared for any miracle. If his little bird should rise through
-the brown earth and ascend singing towards the stars; or if he should
-hear a song and see no bird; or if a fount should well from where its
-body lay; or if a rare bloom should spring from the earth; or if a
-fragrance, new and sweet, should reach him--if one of these things
-should happen, or anything akin, it would be no surprise to him.
-
-But while he was still wondering, he heard voices.
-
-“Peterkin! Peterkin!”
-
-He did not answer, but laughing low to himself, crept in among the
-lilies-of-the-valley, and lay there, himself like a white bloom. The
-voices came near, nearer, and passed by. Peterkin’s heart smote him,
-for he heard the pain in the calling voices; but it was so cool and
-quiet there among the lilies, and it was so sweet to be out of sight of
-every one and lost, that he could not break the spell.
-
-What if he were to be found by the elfin-folk and led into fairyland?
-He thrilled both with fear and eager delight at the thought. Surely
-even now he heard the delicate music of the lily-bells?
-
-Peterkin did not know that he had a neighbour. Suddenly, he heard a
-faint rustle. Ah, it was one of the Shee--one of the little people!
-Mayhap it was the green Harper, of whom Ian Mor had told him, or one of
-the seven star-crowned queens, or the haughty Midir, with a peacock’s
-feather in his moon-gold hair, or Fand, who walked in fairy dew,
-or--or----
-
-And then Peterkin saw who his neighbour was. From under a stone, beset
-by lily-sheaths, a small toad crawled. Its strange bright eyes were
-fixed upon the staring child, whom, however, it did not seem to heed
-after it had once examined this strange white creature who lay among
-the lilies.
-
-Suddenly Peterkin began to laugh. The toad sat still, solemnly
-regarding him. Peterkin laughed the more. Once the toad gave a short
-jump, though this was not from fear, or even from lack of interest in
-his unfamiliar neighbour, but because a gnat had come temptingly almost
-within reach of his long, thin, serpentine tongue.
-
-“Tell me, toad,” Peterkin said at last, “why are you so funny?”
-
-Whether it was because the toad was not given to gaiety, or whether his
-disappointment about the gnat had soured him, he did not respond save
-by an unwinking stare. After a while it shot out its tongue, as though
-it were speculating as to Peterkin’s flavour as a pleasant morsel, or
-perhaps only to find if he were within reach.
-
-This was too much for Peterkin, who rolled back among the lilies,
-crushing the little white bells into a floating fragrance. But, alas,
-that betraying laughter!
-
-Peterkin was still in its throes when he heard a voice falling upon him
-as though out of the skies.
-
-“Ah, there you are, you little rascal! How you frightened us all, and
-what a hunt we have had!”
-
-Almost before he recognised the voice of Ian Mor, Peterkin was seized
-and lifted high into the air.
-
-“Don’t be angry, Ian,” the child whispered. “I came out to see the
-fairies. And then I ran on here to see if the little dead bird had come
-out of the earth again.”
-
-“And have you seen a fairy, Peterkin?”
-
-“I don’t know. I saw a toad.”
-
-“What did the toad do?”
-
-“It looked at me till I laughed. Then it put out its tongue, and I
-laughed and laughed and laughed.”
-
-“I’m thinking that toad must have been a fairy in disguise, Peterkin.
-But now come: I am going to carry you back to your bed.”
-
-And whether it was because of Peterkin’s escape into the garden, or
-what vaguely came to him there, or what Ian Mor told him as he carried
-him homeward in his arms, he did hear the horns of elf-land that night,
-and did see the gathering of the Shee in the moonshine. But it was in
-a drowsy hollow in the dim wood of sleep, wherein the birds were white
-soft-pinioned dreams, and the moon waxed and waned like the lily that
-sinks and rises in dark pools.
-
-
-IV
-
-In those first fragments of Peterkin’s experiences, all his life was
-foreshadowed. Wonder, delight, longing, laughter--the four winds of
-childhood--these blew for him through his first few years, through
-childhood and boyhood and youth. He is a man now; but though the
-laughter is rarer and the longing deeper and more constant, there still
-blow through the dark glens and wide sunlit moors of his mind the four
-winds of Laughter, Longing, Wonder, and Delight.
-
-As year after year went by, his mind became a storehouse of all that
-was most beautiful and marvellous in the Celtic wonder-world. It is
-no wonder this, since he had for story-teller Ian Mor, and Eilidh whom
-Ian loved; and knew every shepherd on the hillsides of Strachurmore,
-and every fisherman on the shores of Loch Fyne. The old ballads, the
-old romances, the strange fragments of the Ossianic tales, the lore of
-fairydom, fantastic folk-lore, craft of the woodlands, all of the outer
-and inner life grew into and became interwrought with the fibre of his
-most intimate being.
-
-I am not here telling the story of Peterkin himself. He stands, indeed,
-for many children rather than for one, for many lives and not an
-individual merely.
-
-In a sense, therefore, Peterkin is not merely a little child, a boy,
-a youth, who went through his years gladly laughing, mysteriously
-wondering, wrought to pain and joy, to suffering and delight, by all he
-saw and heard and inwardly learned; but a type of the Wonder-Child, and
-so a brother to all children, to poets, and dreamers.
-
-Of the many tales of old times which Peterkin loved, none did he dwell
-upon with so much delight as those three which are familiar throughout
-Ireland and Gaelic Scotland as “The Three Sorrows of Story-Telling.”
-In “The Children of Lir,” in “Deirdre and the Sons of Usna,” in “The
-Children of Turenn,” he found pre-eminently the haunting charm and
-sad exquisite beauty which are the colour and fragrance of the Celtic
-genius. And though in his manhood he turned with deeper emotion to
-tales such as “Dermid and Grainne,” or “The Amadan Mor,” it was of
-these early favourites that he loved to think, that he loved to
-re-read, to hear again, to re-tell.
-
-That is why, therefore, I have chosen to make this book essentially
-a re-telling of the beautiful old tales of “The Three Sorrows,” so
-familiar once to our Gaelic ancestors, and still, in however crude a
-form, the most popular of all the tales of the Gael. They are sad,
-it is true, because all the old beautiful tales are sad; but it is a
-sadness which is a fragrance about an exquisite bloom, and that bloom
-wrought of joy and keen delight. They were not sad, they who lived the
-old, joyous, heroic life; in some poignant vicissitude, some sudden
-slaying, some passing of a bright flame into a melancholy wane, we
-see a sad gleam about the end of their days, and, seeing thus the
-fortuitous coming and going of life and death, read into the old
-chronicles a melancholy which often is not there.
-
-Of course, a tale such as “The Fate of the Children of Lir”--probably
-the story known above all others among the children of Western Scotland
-and Ireland--is sad with another sadness, that of prolonged and
-unmerited suffering. But to the Gaelic mind, at least, this is redeemed
-by the sense of heroic endurance, of the deep unselfish devotion of a
-lovely womanly type such as is represented by Fionula, and perhaps,
-above all, by the music and beauty which were the sweet doom of Fionula
-and her brothers.
-
-But to me not one of them is sad, save with beauty. For through all I
-hear the sound of Peterkin’s laughter. Sometimes it was aroused by an
-episode; sometimes it leapt like a hound along the trail of vagrant
-thoughts; sometimes it came and went as an eddying wind, none knowing
-whence or whither.
-
-This laughter of Peterkin has become for me one of the sweet wonderful
-voices of nature--the four winds of Childhood: Wonder, Delight,
-Longing, and Laughter. Ah, children, children, to one and all I wish
-the golden fortune of Peterkin.
-
-
-V
-
-When Peterkin was still a child he was familiar with tales of the old
-world which now-a-days we keep from children, because they are not old
-enough to understand. That, I fear, is more because we ourselves do not
-understand, or are out of sympathy. Is a child more likely to be hurt,
-or to be nobly attuned to the chant-royal of life, by acquaintance with
-stories of vivid and beautiful human love such as that of Nathos and
-Darthool, or Dermid and Grainne? Surely, what is beautiful is not a
-thing to be feared; and though, alas! so many of us do now indeed dread
-beauty and feel toward it a strange baffled aversion, there are others
-who know it to be the profoundest and most exquisite mystery in life.
-
-To Peterkin at any rate there was never anything but what was stirring
-and heroic and full of charm and beauty in these old tales: and through
-all his days their atmosphere was in his mind, so that he made life
-fairer for himself and others.
-
-Few stories delighted him more than the wild folk-lore tales which he
-heard from the shepherds and fishermen, or than those which he was told
-on Iona. It was to that island he was taken when he was still a child,
-at a time when the shadow of death darkened his young life. But there,
-staying with Ian Mor and with Eilidh, his wife, he lived the happiest
-months of his early years, and came closer to the beauty of the past
-and to the beauty of the present than ever before or after.
-
-It was on Iona that he first heard the “Three Sorrows of
-Story-Telling,” though that of Nathos and Darthool--or of “The Sons of
-Usna,” as it is generally called--was rather overheard by him as Ian
-related it to Eilidh, than told to him direct.
-
-Throughout the first months of his stay in Iona, Peterkin was told
-something daily by Ian Mor, so that, child as he was, he became
-familiar with strange names and peoples of the past, as well as with
-all the wonders of the living world. True, there was thus in his mind
-a jumble of the past and the present, and Columba was more real to him
-than McCailin Mor himself, and Finn and Cuchulain, Ossian and Oscar and
-Dermid as vivid and actual as any fisherman of Iona.
-
-When he was old enough to follow aright, Ian Mor told him, anew and in
-his own way, the three famous tales which follow.
-
-
-
-
-  The Tale of the Four
-  White Swans
-
-
-
-
-    “The cold and cruel fate that overtook
-     The children of the great De Danann, Lir,
-     Is of the Sorrow-stories of our isle.
-     This sorrow-tale indeed is old and young;
-     Old, for so many hundred years have gone
-     Since last beneath the midnight shimmering star
-     Was heard the music of the birds of snow:
-     Young, for amid the bright-eyed tuneful Gael
-     The sorrows of the snowy-breasted four
-     Are told again to-day, and shall be told
-     Long as the children of Milesius last
-     To people Banba’s hills and pleasant vales.”
-
-       _The Three Sorrows of Story-Telling_:
-                       “The Children of Lir,”
-                           _trs. by Dr. Douglas Hyde_.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: As she touched Fionula, Lir’s fair young daughter became
-a beautiful snow-white swan.
-
-  _To face p. 33._]
-]
-
-
-
-
-  The Tale of the Four
-  White Swans
-
-
-The story that I will tell you now is one of the most famous among all
-the peoples of the Gael. It is called sometimes “The Tale of the Four
-White Swans,” sometimes “The Fate of the Children of Lir,” sometimes
-simply “Fionula,”[1] because of the beauty and tenderness of Lir’s
-daughter.
-
-The tale is of the old far-off days. It was old when Ossian was a
-youth, and Fionn heard it as a child from the lips of grey-beards.
-Often I have spoken to you, Peterkin, of the Danann folk, the
-Tuatha-De-Danann who lived in the lands of our race before the foreign
-peoples came and drove the ancient dwellers in Ireland and Scotland
-to the hills and remote places. When men allude to them now in this
-late day, they speak of the Dedannans (as they are often called) as the
-Hidden Folk, the Quiet People, the Hill Folk, and even as the Fairies.
-It is natural, therefore, that years are as dust in the chronicles of
-this lost race. They live for hundreds of years where we live for ten;
-and so it is that the foam of time is white against the brief wave of
-our life, when against the mighty and long reach of theirs it is but
-flying spray.
-
-You have heard Eilidh singing the song of the Four White Swans. It is a
-music that hundreds of tired ears have heard. It is so sweet, Peterkin,
-that old men grow young, and old women are girls again, and weary
-hearts ache no more, and dreams and hopes become real, and peace puts
-out her white healing hand.
-
-“Have you heard that singing, Ian?”
-
-“Yes, my boykin, often. And you, too, shall often hear it. It is
-in lonely places, in lonely hours, that you shall hear it. It is a
-beautiful strange sound, and so old and so wonderful that in it you
-will hear the beating of the heart of the world thousands of years
-ago. But first I will tell you the story of the Four Swans, and then
-we can speak again of the strange singing I have heard at times, and
-that you often shall hear.”
-
-The Dedannans were the most wonderful and happy people in the world
-till they became discontented with what the unknown and beautiful
-gods had given them. Then they split into sections, and some sought
-one vain thing and some another, and in the end all found weariness.
-Their wise men knew that as long as they were at one no enemy could
-prevail against them; but it has never been the way of the unquiet
-to believe in the old wisdom, and so feuds arose, and the Fairy Host
-itself--as the great array of the warriors of the Tuatha-De-Danann was
-called--ceased to be invincible, because the banners blew to the four
-winds.
-
-Not all their ancestral sojournings in the dim lands of the East, nor
-in the ages of their migration to the country of fjords which has its
-whole length in the sea, nor in Alba, that is now Scotland, nor Eiré,
-that is now Ireland, not all they had learned in their remote past
-helped them against the undoing of their own folly.
-
-It has been said that the Dedannans never fought against men till the
-Milesians, the warriors of Miled out of some land in the south--the
-land, mayhap, we know as Spain--came against them upon the banks of a
-river then as now called the Blackwater, in the heart of Meath.
-
-But before the Dedannans themselves ever saw it, the Green Isle was
-held by the Firbolgs, a terrible, heroic race, but allied to the dark
-powers. Some say they became demons, after they were defeated in many
-battles by the Tuatha-De-Danann, and at last wholly conquered. But so
-old is this ancient tired world, that long before the Dedannans and the
-Firbolg people fought for sovereignty, the Firbolg had striven with
-and overcome an earlier race--the Nemedians--which had come to Ireland
-under a mysterious king, Nemed. None knows who Nemed was, though he may
-have been a god, seeing that he overcame that most ancient people who
-were the first to set foot in the Isle of Destiny, under Partholan, a
-son of him who was called the Most High God.
-
-Whether it be true or not that the overlordship of the world was meant
-for man, certain it is that man has thought so. Therefore are all
-stories of his cosmic strife coloured by this destiny. Terrible and
-mighty were the Firbolgs, fierce and terrible and beautiful were the
-Dedannans, but now there is no rumour of either, save in the wail of
-the wind, or in the stirring of swift, stealthy feet in the moonshine.
-
-But now, Peterkin, I will tell you about the children of Lir, who was
-one of the great princes of the Dedannans.
-
-The first great battle between the Milesians and the Dedannans had been
-fought, and the ancient people, for all their secret powers of wonders
-and enchantment, had been defeated. Throughout all Erin--for Ireland at
-that time was called either Eiré (Erin), or Fola, or Banba, after three
-great queens--there was a rumour of lamentation. It was the beginning
-of the end, though few save the wisest Druids foresaw it.
-
-But the people knew that their dissensions were the cause of their
-sorrow. They clamoured for one king to be overlord, so that the whole
-Dedannan race might be united.
-
-There were five great princes who claimed to be king by right. Of these
-two were greater than the others--Bove Derg, son of Dagda, one of the
-divine race (and some say a mighty god), and Lir of Shee Finnaha.
-In the end Bove Derg was elected Ardree, or High King. Even Midir
-the Haughty acquiesced in this judgment of the people, but Lir was
-wroth and held aloof. All the princes and warriors were fierce with
-Lir because he had left the assembly in anger, paying heed to no one,
-and scornfully ignoring the majesty of the king. A hundred swords of
-proven heroes leapt before Bove Derg, for all were eager to follow Lir
-and destroy him and his, because of the insult to the king and to the
-voice and freewill of the people. But Bove Derg was a wise and generous
-prince, and forbore. This was well. For in time a great sorrow came
-upon Lir. When the rumour of this sorrow reached Bove Derg, he saw how
-he might win over Lir.
-
-“In my house,” he said, “are my three foster-children, the daughters
-of Aileel of Ara. Each is beautiful, all are wise and sweet and noble.
-Let messengers go to Lir, and tell him that my friendship is his if he
-will have it. Surely now he will submit to the will of the people. And
-he can have to wife whomsoever of the three daughters of Aileel he may
-choose, if so be that she will gladly and freely go with him.”
-
-Lir was glad at this message. He called his warriors together, and in
-fifty chariots he and they set forth. They rested not till they came
-to the palace of Bove Derg, by the Great Lake, nigh to the place now
-called Killaloe. Great were the rejoicings, and again at the alliance
-which after many days was made between the king and Lir.
-
-When Lir saw the three daughters of Aileel, he could not say who was
-the most beautiful.
-
-“Each is alike beautiful, O king,” he said; “and I cannot tell which is
-best. But surely the eldest must be the noblest of the three, and so I
-will choose her, if so be that she gladly and freely come with me as my
-wife.”
-
-And so it was. When Lir returned to his own place, he took with him
-as his wife the beautiful Aev, who was the eldest of the daughters of
-Aileel of Ara, and was foster-child of Bove Derg the king. From that
-day, too, a deep and true friendship lived between Bove Derg and Lir.
-
-In the course of time Aev bore him twin children, a son and a daughter.
-The daughter was named Fionula, because of her lovely whiteness, and
-the son was named Aed, for that his eyes, and the mind behind his
-eyes, were bright and wonderful as a flame of fire.
-
-And at the end of the second year Aev again bore twin children. Both
-were sons, and they were named Fiachra and Conn. But in giving them
-life she lost her own.
-
-Lir was in bitter distress because of her death, and for the reason
-that his four little children were now motherless. He was comforted by
-Bove Derg, who not only gave him friendship and kingly aid and counsel,
-but said that he should not be left alone to mourn, and that his little
-ones should not go motherless.
-
-Thus it was that Aeifa, the second of the daughters of Aileel of Ara
-and foster-child of Bove Derg the king, came to Shee Finnaha and
-espoused Lir.
-
-For some years all went well. Aeifa nursed the children, and tended
-them. They were so fair and beautiful that the poets sang of them
-far and wide. Even Bove Derg loved them as though they were his own.
-As for Lir, so great was his love, that he could not bear to be long
-apart from them. His sleeping-room was separated from them only by a
-deerskin, and this often he pulled aside at dawn, so that he might see
-his dear ones, and perchance go to them to talk lightly and happily, or
-to caress them with loving laughter and joy.
-
-Lir was never sad save when the four children went south to the Great
-Lake to stay awhile with Bove Derg, who in his turn was filled with
-melancholy when the time came for them to go home again. Nor was Lir
-ever so proud as when, at the Feast of Age, whenever that festival came
-to be held at Shee Finnaha, the king and the nobles and the warriors
-delighted in the beauty and marvellous sweet charm of Fionula and Aed
-and Fiachra and Conn. Thus it was that the saying grew: “Fair as the
-four children of Lir.”
-
-But there was a deep shadow behind all this joy. This shadow came out
-of the heart of Aeifa. In love there is sometimes a poisonous mist. It
-is what we call Jealousy. At first Aeifa truly loved her step-children.
-But as the years lapsed, and when Fionula was passing from girlhood
-into maidenhood, the wife of Lir was filled with anger against the four
-children. She was bitter at heart because their father loved them with
-so great a tenderness, and that even the king himself cared for them
-above all else, and because all the Dedannans had joy of them.
-
-The time came when this dull smouldering fire, which she might have
-overcome had she loved nobly and not ignobly, burst into flame. This
-flame withered her heart, and rose thence till it obscured her mind.
-
-She had something of the old druidical wisdom, but she feared the
-counter-spells of others wiser than herself. Nevertheless she set
-herself to learn one or other of the ancient incantations against which
-even the gods are powerless to avert evil from men and women.
-
-While she was brooding thus--and for weeks and even months she lay in
-the house of Lir as one stricken with some terrible ill--her rage grew
-till she could no longer endure the sight of her husband or of her
-step-children.
-
-One day she arose and ordered the horses to be yoked to her chariot,
-and bade a small chosen company to be ready to go with her and the
-four children to the Great Lake: for, she said, she wished to see
-Bove Derg, her foster-father, and to take the children to gladden
-his heart. Lir was sad, and sadder still when he saw the tears in
-Fionula’s eyes. In vain he asked her why this drifting dew was there
-instead of the sun-bright laughing glancings he joyed so much to see.
-She would not answer: for all she could have said was that in a dream
-she had fore-knowledge of the evil desire of Aeifa to kill her and
-her brothers. Perhaps, she thought, it was but a dream. She loved
-honour, too, and would not put her father against his wife because of a
-visionary thing that came to her in the night.
-
-It was when they were in a deep gorge of the hills that Aeifa was
-overcome by her hatred. Turning to her attendants, she offered them
-wealth and whatsoever they desired if only they would slay the four
-children of Lir then and there, inasmuch as these had come between her
-and her husband, and had therein and in all else made her life a burden
-to her.
-
-The attendants listened with horror. Not one there would lift a hand
-against Lir’s children. What was wealth, or any fruit of desire,
-compared with so foul a treachery, so terrible a crime! The oldest
-among them even warned Lir’s wife that the very thought of such evil
-would surely work a dreadful punishment against her.
-
-At this, Aeifa laughed wildly. Then, seizing a sword, she strove to
-wield it herself against the defenceless children. The three boys
-stood, wondering. In the blue eyes of Fionula there was something the
-wife of Lir dreaded more than the wrath of husband or king. Dashing
-the sword to the ground, she cried to the chariot-driver to make haste
-onward.
-
-No word was spoken among them till they reached the hither end of the
-Lake of Darvra.[2] There Aeifa called a halt, and the horses were
-unyoked for rest. It was a fair and warm day, so when she bade the
-children undress and go into the water, they did so gladly.
-
-While their white sunlit bodies were splashing in the lake, she took
-from beneath the rim of the chariot, where she had secreted it, a
-druidical fairy wand. This had been given her by a Dedannan druid, and
-was a dreadful thing to possess, for its power was of the black magic,
-against which nothing might prevail. Going to the side of the clear
-water, she struck lightly with the wand the shoulder of each of the
-four children; and, as she touched Fionula, Lir’s fair young daughter
-became a beautiful snow-white swan, and as she touched Aed and Fiachra
-and Conn, Lir’s three young sons were changed like unto Fionula.
-
-A cry of lamentation arose from the witnesses of this deed, though none
-guessed that the ill was so dreadful and beyond the reach of druidic
-skill, nor did the children know at first what evil had befallen them,
-but swam to and fro laughing in their hearts, and rejoicing in their
-white feathers and in their swift joy in the water. But when Fionula
-heard the lamentation, and looked upon the evil face of Aeifa her
-stepmother, she knew that the hour of doom had come.
-
-Then Aeifa stretched out her arms, and chanted these words:
-
-    “Lost far and wide on Darvra’s gloomy water,
-       With other lonely birds tost far and wide.
-     For nevermore shall Lir behold his daughter,
-       And never shall his sons lie by his side.”
-
-Then while all on the shore stood in deep grief, Fionula swam close,
-and looked up into the white face of Aeifa, which was whiter then than
-the whitest breast-feathers of these poor bewildered swans.
-
-“This is an evil deed thou hast done, O Aeifa,” she said. “Out of a
-bitter heart thou hast wrought this cruel wrong upon us who love thee,
-and have never done or wished thee ill. Nevertheless it is not our
-ill that shall endure for ever, but thine own evil. There shall be an
-avenging terrible for thee, whensoever it come.”
-
-It was then that Fionula for the first time sang as a swan, and even
-then the marvellous sweet singing brought both gladness and tears into
-the hearts of those who heard.
-
-    “In the years long ago, long ago now, long ago,
-     We were loved by her who dooms us to this evil cruel woe:
-           Who with magic wand and words
-           Hath changed us into birds--
-     Snow-white swans to drift and drift for evermore
-     Homeless, weary, tempest-baffled hence from shore to shore.”
-
-A silence followed this melancholy singing. Then at last Fionula spoke
-again.
-
-“Tell us, O Aeifa, how long this doom is to be upon us, so that we may
-know when death shall come to take away our suffering?”
-
-Then because in that day it was not honourable to refuse the truth when
-asked, Aeifa did as Fionula prayed of her.
-
-“Better would it be for thee and thy brothers to know nothing and to
-hope much. But since thou hast asked this thing I will tell it:
-
-“Three hundred years shall ye, Fionula, and Aed and Fiachra and Conn,
-who are now four white swans, abide here on this great lonely, desolate
-lake of Darvra. For three hundred years thereafter shall ye inhabit the
-wild sea of Moyle, which lies between the Stairway of the Giants, and
-the bleak shores of the great headland of Alba.[3] And for yet another
-three hundred years ye shall drift to and fro among the storm-swept
-seas off the rocky isles to the west of Erin.
-
-“Furthermore, ye shall be idle sport for the storms until Lairgnen, a
-great prince of the north, has union with Decca, in the south: until
-the Taillkenn,[4] the new prophet, shall come to Erin and preach a new
-faith that shall chase away the old gods: and until ye shall be filled
-with fear and wonder at a strange sound, that shall be the ringing of
-the first Christian bell. All this I tell ye because of the prophetic
-sight I have, and that has come to me through the druidic wand
-wherewith I have changed ye into four wild white swans. And this too, I
-say unto ye, Fionula and Aed and Fiachra and Conn, that neither by your
-own power nor by your prayers, nor by mine, nor by the power of Lir and
-Bove Derg, nor by that of all kings and princes and druids whatsoever;
-no, nor by any god, nor by any power in heaven or earth, can ye be
-freed from this spell I have put upon ye, until the times and events I
-have spoken of shall be fulfilled.”
-
-When Aeifa had ceased speaking, there was no sound to be heard, save
-the lap-lapping of the lake-water upon the shore. Of the company of
-those with her none spake a word, each dreading the evil that was sure
-to come. At last a faint sobbing came from amid the sedges, where the
-young brothers nestled by the side of Fionula, who had already begun to
-mother these dear ones whom she loved.
-
-When she heard these sobs, Aeifa’s heart smote her. Even if she would,
-she could not now undo the age-long spell she had set upon the children
-of Lir. But one thing was left to her that she might do with the fairy
-wand, which could be moved once again if stirred by the breath of her
-will.
-
-“Hearken, O children of Lir,” she cried, “for I have yet one thing
-to say: and that out of the sorrow in my heart because of the doom I
-have put upon ye. Although ye are turned into wild swans, ye shall not
-become as the desert birds, and have no speech but the savage screams
-and cries of the wilderness. Ye shall keep for ever your own sweet
-Gaelic speech, and so be able to talk each with the other, and with
-any of the human kind whom ye may meet. And more than this, ye shall
-be able to sing the most sweet, plaintive songs, and the most wild,
-haunting music that ever man has heard; so that all whose ears list
-shall be lulled into deep sleep, or into a peace sweeter than slumber
-itself. Nor shall the law of the soulless brutes be upon you, but ye
-shall be Fionula and Aed and Fiachra and Conn, the children of Lir.”
-
-Having said these words, Aeifa raised her arms and chanted this song:
-
-    “Speed hence, speed hence, O lone white swans,
-       Across the wind-sprent foam;
-     The wave shall be your father now,
-     And the wind alone shall kiss your brow,
-       And the waste be your home.
-
-     Speed hence, speed hence, O lone white swans,
-       Your age-long quest to make;
-     Three hundred years on Moyle’s wild breast,
-     Three hundred years on the wilder west,
-       Three hundred on this lake.
-
-     Speed hence, speed hence, O lone white swans,
-       And Lir shall call in vain;
-     For all his aching heart and tears,
-     For all the weariness of his years,
-       Ye shall not come again.
-
-     Speed hence, speed hence, O lone white swans,
-       Till the ringing of Christ’s bell;
-     Then at the last ye shall have rest,
-     And Death shall take ye to his breast
-       At the ringing of Christ’s bell.”
-
-Having sung this farewell song, Aeifa ordered the horses to be yoked
-again to her chariot.
-
-This done, she drove away westward, nor was there a single heart in
-those who accompanied her but was filled with sorrow and foreboding.
-
-When the lake was no longer visible, and the gloom of the mountains
-came down upon the pass which led towards the westlands where Bove Derg
-dwelled, a faint wild aerial singing was heard, delicate as tinkling
-cowbells on far hill-pastures.
-
-Before Aeifa drew near to the great dun of Bove Derg, she put each of
-her company under a solemn bond of silence as to what she had meant to
-do and not done, and as to what later she had done; and because of the
-lealty of the bond to a woman, and also because of the fear of each
-towards the druidical fairy wand that she still carried, the oath was
-taken by one and all.
-
-Therefore it was easy for Aeifa to mislead Bove Derg as to the reason
-why she had not brought the children of Lir with her. Nevertheless he
-doubted greatly that his foster-daughter deceived him, for he could not
-think that Lir his friend would so mistrust him as to refuse to let
-Fionula and her brothers accompany their stepmother.
-
-So, secretly, he sent a swift messenger across the hills and straths to
-the dun of Lir.
-
-Lir was at once wroth and filled with fear when he heard that Aeifa
-had reached the dun of Bove Derg without the children. Some treachery
-surely had been done, he cried.
-
-Then, calling together a company, he set forth with all speed. Towards
-sundown, the cavalcade came upon the wide desolate shores of the great
-lake of Darvra.
-
-“What is that sound?” cried Lir.
-
-“It is the wind in the reeds, O Lir,” answered a spearman by his side.
-
-“The wind in the reeds is a sweet sound to hear, Coran, but never have
-I heard any wind that could make so sweet a music.”
-
-“It is the little gentle lapping of the wavelets by the west wind, O
-Lir.”
-
-“It is no gentle lapping of the wavelets by the west wind, Coran, nor
-yet is it the wind in the reeds; but that is the voice of Fionula
-singing.”
-
-And as the sound grew clearer, all heard it, and soon the words were
-audible:
-
-    “Behold the Danann host is on the shore,
-     Seeking for those now lost for evermore;
-     But let us haste towards that proud array
-     And tell the tidings of this fatal day.”
-
-And while the song was still in the ears of all there, Lir gave a great
-cry and pointed to where above the midmost of the lake four wild swans
-were winging swiftly towards the eastern shore.
-
-When he heard from Fionula--and he knew her voice, which was sweeter
-than any other he had ever heard--of all that had happened, and of
-the strange and dreadful doom that was put upon her and her brothers,
-he fell sobbing to the ground. From all his company the keening of a
-bitter lamentation arose.
-
-Alas, as he knew well, not even the great length of years which the
-Dedannan folk lived--and a score of years is to them what one year
-is to us--would enable him to see his dear ones again. Three hundred
-years on Darvra, these he might mayhap live to see; but not the three
-hundred years on the bleak and wild region of the Moyle, nor the three
-hundred on the wild tempestuous western seas, nor the far-off day when
-a prophet called Taillken would come to Erin with a new faith, and in
-the glens and across the plains would be heard the strange chiming of
-Christ’s bell.
-
-Yet was he comforted when he heard that his children were to keep their
-Gaelic speech, and to be human in all things save only in their outward
-shape. And glad he was that they were to be able to chant music so
-wild and sweet that all who should hear it would be filled with joy
-and peace. For music is the most beautiful and wonderful thing in the
-world, and is the oldest, as it will be the latest speech.
-
-“Remain with us this night, here by the lake,” said Fionula, “and we
-shall sing to you our fairy music.”
-
-So all abode there, and so sweet was the song of the children of Lir,
-that he himself and all his company fell into a deep, restful slumber.
-All night long they sang their sweet sad song, and were glad because of
-the quiet dark figures by the lake-side lying drowned in shadow. Slowly
-the moon sank behind the hills. Then the stars glistened whitelier and
-smaller, and a soft rosy flush came over the mountain crest in the
-east. Then Lir awoke, and Fionula and Aed and Fiachra and Conn ceased
-their singing, and spread out their white pinions to the light of a
-new day, and ruffled their snowy breasts against the frothing that the
-dawn-wind made upon the lake.
-
-Lir took a harp from one of his followers, and sang a song of farewell
-to his children. At that singing all awoke, and the heart of each man
-was heavy because of the doom that had fallen upon the children of Lir.
-
-He sang of the fateful hour when he had taken Aeifa to wife, and of the
-cruel hardness of her heart, that thus out of jealous rage she could
-work so great and unmerited evil. And what rest could there be for him,
-he chanted, since whenever he lay down in the dark he would see his
-loved ones pictured plain before him: Fionula, his pride and joy; Aed,
-so agile and adventurous; the laughing Fiachra; and little Conn, with
-his curls of gold.
-
-Then with a heavy heart indeed Lir went on his way. Before he and his
-company entered the great pass at the western end of Lough Darvra, he
-looked back longingly. In the blue space of heaven he saw four white
-cloudlets drifting idly in a slow circling flight.
-
-“O Fionula,” he cried, “O Aed, O Fiachra, O Conn, farewell, my little
-ones! Well do I know that you have risen thus in high flight so that my
-eyes may have this last glimpse of you. Nevertheless I will come again
-soon.”
-
-It was a weary journey thence to the dun of Bove Derg, but all
-weariness was forgotten in wrath against Aeifa.
-
-No sooner had Lir spoken to the king, no sooner had the king looked at
-the face of Aeifa as she heard the accusation, than Bove Derg knew that
-the truth had been told, and that Aeifa was guilty of this cruel wrong.
-Turning to his foster-daughter, he exclaimed, in the hearing of all:
-
-“This ill deed that thou hast wrought, Aeifa, will be worse for thee
-than all thou hast put upon the children of Lir. For in the end they
-shall know joy and peace, while as long as the world lasts thou shalt
-know what it is to be lonely and accursed and abhorred.” Then for a
-brief time Bove Derg brooded. There was naught in all the world so
-dreaded in the dim ancient days as the demons of the air, and no doom
-could be more dreadful than to be transformed into one of those dark
-and lonely and desperate spirits that make night and desolate places so
-full of terror. At last the king rose. Taking his druidical magic wand,
-he struck Aeifa with it, and therewith turned her into a demon of the
-air. A great cry went up from the whole assemblage as they saw Aeifa
-spread out gaunt shadowy wings, and struggle as in a sudden anguish of
-new birth. The next moment she gave a terrible scream, and flew upward
-like a swirling eagle, and disappeared among the dark lowering clouds
-which hung over the land that day.
-
-Thus was it that Aeifa became a demon o the air. Even now her screaming
-voice may be heard among the wild hills of her own land, on dark windy
-nights, when tempests break, or in disastrous hours.
-
-But out of a wrong done the gods may work good. So was it with the
-Dedannans.
-
-For not only Lir, and all his people, but Bove Derg and a great part of
-the nation assembled by the shores of Lake Darvra, and there pitched
-their tents, which afterwards grew into a vast rath, wherein the king
-builded a mighty dun.
-
-For Lir and Bove Derg had vowed that henceforth they would live their
-years by the shores of Darvra, where they might converse with their
-dear ones, and where they might listen to the sweet oblivious songs
-which Fionula and her brothers sang to the easing of the heart, and the
-silence of all pain and weariness.
-
-But so great was the rumour of this marvel that all Erin heard of it.
-The Milesians in the south agreed to a long truce of three hundred
-years; and came and dwelt in amity with the Dedannans, for they too
-loved the sweet and wonderful music of the white swans that were the
-children of Lir.
-
-“Three hundred years yet may we live,” said Bove Derg to Lir, “and as
-I am a king, I swear never to leave the lough of Darvra while the four
-swans that are thy sons and daughter inhabit it. The heavy years shall
-pass for us, listening to their beautiful sweet singing; and therein we
-shall know peace and joy.”
-
-“So be it,” said Lir, and he spoke the truth, for in that day the
-Dedannans lived to a great age; some say to three hundred, some to
-five, some to seven hundred years.
-
-The years went by, one after the other, and by tens and by scores, and
-still Lir and Bove Derg and the Dedannans and Milesians dwelled by the
-shores of Lake Darvra. For never in the world’s history has there been
-chronicle of so sweet a singing as that of the four children of Lir.
-All day the swans discoursed lovingly with their father and Bove Derg,
-and their kith and kin, and all who sought them; and each night they
-sang their slow, sweet, fairy music--a music so wonderful and passing
-sweet, that all who listed to it forgot weariness and pain and bitter
-memories and the burden of years, and fell into a deep restful slumber,
-whence they awoke each morrow as though they had drunken overnight of
-the Fountain of Youth.
-
-The hair of Lir and Bove Derg was long and white, and almost had the
-Dedannans and the Milesians forgotten their ancient enmity, when a day
-of the days came whereon Fionula called aside her three brothers.
-
-“Dear brothers,” she said, as she looked sadly at the three beautiful
-white swans, and at the four drifting shadow-swans in the depths of
-the lake, “dear brothers, do you know that the time has come when we
-must put away our happiness as a dream that has been dreamed? For now
-the three hundred years of our sojourn here are at an end, and at dawn
-to-morrow we must arise and wing our sad flight across the dear lands
-of Erin, till we come to the wild and stormy waters of the sea-stream
-of the Moyle.”
-
-Aed and Fiachra and Conn made so loud and bitter lamentation at this
-that all heard, and soon the whole host that was encamped there filled
-the region with long keening cries of grief, and a sorrowful mourning
-strain as of the melancholy wind among the hills.
-
-But once more all were soothed that night into deep slumber and happy
-peace, because of the slow, sweet, fairy music of the chanting swans.
-
-At dawn, the four swans arose, and with their white pinions circled
-high above the lake, glittering as they soared into the sunflood as it
-swept across the summits of the eastern hills.
-
-“Farewell! farewell! farewell!” they chanted, and at that sad sound all
-the Dedannan host and all the Milesians, headed by Lir and Bove Derg,
-kneeled along the lake pastures and amid the reeds and sedges.
-
-Then Fionula, as she and her brothers slowly descended in wide-sweeping
-curves, sang this song:
-
-    “Farewell! Farewell! Farewell!
-     Far hence we lost ones go:
-       Hearken our knell,
-       Hearken our woe!
-
-     Farewell! Farewell! Farewell!
-     With breaking hearts we flee:
-       For none can tell
-       Our wild home on the sea.
-
-     For ages on the Moyle,
-     In loneliness and pain,
-       Our feet shall tread no soil,
-       Wild wave, wild wind, wild rain.
-
-     For ages in the west,
-     Fierce storms and fiercer cold
-       Shall be alone our rest,
-       While ye grow old.
-
-     Let not our memories pass,
-     O ye who stay behind--
-       Who are as the grass
-       And we the wind.
-
-     Farewell! Farewell! Farewell!
-     Far hence we lost ones go:
-       Hearken our knell,
-       Hearken our woe!”
-
-As Fionula ceased this song, she and her brothers swept so close to
-the water’s edge that their white wings made a little dazzle of spray.
-Then with swift pinions they rose again, and soared in great spirals
-of flight, till they gleamed against the morning blue like four white
-banners adrift before a skiey wind.
-
-Then for a brief while they suspended on outspread wings, and looked
-longingly down upon the dear ones and all their kith and kin, who on
-their part could scarce see the four white swans for the mist of tears
-that was before all faces.
-
-Suddenly they swung hither and thither, like foam tossed by a tidal
-wind, and then flew straight to the northward. Soon they were but white
-specks; then the blue closed in upon them, as the wastes of the sea
-close at last behind the hulls of drifting ships.
-
-Before the torch of a stormy sun sank that night amid the tossed green
-billows of the Moyle, there where the sea flows to and fro betwixt Erin
-and Alba, the children of Lir drooped their weary wings. Their home
-now was the running wave. In darkness and loneliness and sorrow, they
-floated close to each other, waiting for the dawn to steal into that
-first night of bitter exile.
-
-From that day they were severed from those who loved them. Of a truth,
-there was keening and lamentation and sorrow by the shores of the
-lough of Darvra. At the last, as the snow melts, the great host of the
-Dedannans and Milesians passed away: to the westward, some; others, to
-the south.
-
-As for Bove Derg and Lir, their white hairs and the grey ashes of
-their lives were the mournful refrain of many a song on the lips of
-wandering bards.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-There were tears in the eyes of Peterkin when Ian Mor ceased speaking.
-His heart was sore because of Fionula and Aed and Fiachra and Conn.
-
-Nevertheless, he too would be glad to be a swan for a time, if only so
-as to be able to soar into the blue spaces of the sky, and to spread
-white wings over the dancing waters, and to move through them swifter
-than any boat. With what joy he had once climbed on to the fan of an
-old windmill, and slowly revolved through the hot August air, which
-winnowed around him a coolness like the flowing of wind over the summit
-of a hill.
-
-A bright shining came into his eyes, then laughter bubbled to his lips.
-
-Eilidh looked at him, half in mock reproof, half rejoicingly.
-
-“Peterkin, why do you laugh?”
-
-“Oh, for sure, dear, it’s not laughing I am at the poor swans, but
-at the face of Old Nanny, my nurse, when she came out of the cottage
-in the glen and saw me lying flat and holding on to the fan of the
-windmill, with my hair all blown back, and both my legs hanging in the
-air.”
-
-“Some day you will kill yourself, Peterkin,” said Eilidh gravely.
-
-“Then I’ll be a swan! and I’ll fly round and round Iona, and whenever
-you or Ian want to go to the mainland, I’ll take you on my back.”
-
-Suddenly Peterkin sprang to his feet, and jumped to and fro, clapping
-his hands.
-
-“Ah, how I would love it!” he exclaimed.
-
-“Love what, dearie?”
-
-“Love to see Ian fall off my back and go plump in among the herrings in
-the Sound! _What_ a splash he would make!”
-
-“And poor Ian---- Why, he might be drowned, Peterkin!”
-
-“Oh, no; I would swoop down the way a gannet does when it sees a fish,
-and would scoop him up with my bill.”
-
-The picture was too much for Peterkin. The thought of grabbing the
-dripping half-drowned Ian in his bill, and of soaring away with him to
-the white dry sands, was better than any dream of the fairies he had
-ever had, even than that when he rode a fairy horse in the guise of a
-white mouse, with grasshoppers for hounds, and a great bumble-bee as
-a wild boar for the occasion. He threw himself on the floor in front
-of the hearth, and rolled over and over, contorting his small body
-into alarming convulsions, clapping his hands, and laughing, laughing,
-laughing.
-
-Eilidh, too, let the laughter take her, and then Ian found it sweet;
-and soon the little room was full of joyous laughter upon laughter, and
-of the leaping flame-light from the blazing log on the peats, and of
-the dancing of the shadow-men in the corners and up and down the walls.
-
-“The swans! The swans!” cried Peterkin suddenly, as he grabbed wildly
-at some shadowy shapes which slid along the floor. But these swans
-proved as tantalising as the wind-shadows on the grass which so often
-he chased, and suddenly in a flash they disappeared altogether. They
-seemed to spring right into Ian Mor; at any rate it was in his arms
-that Peterkin found himself.
-
-“Where are the shadows? Where are the shadows, Ian?” he cried: “I
-believe you are hiding them inside yourself! Where are they? Where are
-they?”
-
-“Why, you boykin, where could they be?”
-
-“They are in your heart, Ian! I know they are! I see them! I see them!”
-
-Ian glanced at Eilidh. Then, putting his arm round Peterkin, he laid
-his lips against his downy cheek and whispered:
-
-“Yes, my little lad, you’ve guessed right.”
-
-“Then why don’t you chase them out, Ian?”
-
-Again Ian Mor glanced at Eilidh.
-
-“They live there, lennavan-mo. They jumped out because of your
-laughter, but they are back now.”
-
-“Then I’ll be laughing often, Ian dear, and some day I’ll catch them
-and drive them out into the sunshine, and then they’ll melt--ay, ay,
-they’ll melt for sure, Ian, and what will you be after doing then?”
-
-“Well, like Fionula and the wild swans, Peterkin, I’ll rise up and soar
-away on the great flood of the sun across the sea till I come to Hy
-Brásil, the Isle of Youth far away in the West.”
-
-“Yes, I know,” Peterkin said gravely: “Hy Brásil: Eilidh told me that
-is where she and you are going to live. Will you take me there too?”
-
-“Yes, you will come there too, mochree, some day.”
-
-“But with you -- when you and Eilidh go?”
-
-“Perhaps we’ll not be going there together, Peterkin. But we won’t be
-forgetting our dear little Peterkin. We’ll be on the shore looking out
-for you when you come.”
-
-“Why are your eyes wet, Ian, and Eilidh’s too?”
-
-“Why, you unfeeling little wretch, it’s because we have left the poor
-swans, Fionula, and Aed, and Fiachra, and Conn, alone on the rough seas
-of the Moyle all this while.”
-
-“Tell me, tell me now about the children of Lir. Did they see any one
-up there? Were they ever happy?”
-
-“Eilidh knows the rest of the story as well as I do, Peterkin, so go
-and sit in her lap while she tells it to you and to me.”
-
-With that, Ian Mor rose and put another log on the red peats. A shower
-of sparks shot up into the dark hollow of the chimney. Peterkin laughed.
-
-“Hush!” whispered Eilidh, with smiling eyes: and then in her sweet,
-low voice resumed the tale of the Children of Lir, from where Ian had
-stopped.
-
-It was at the edge of winter when Fionula and her brothers reached the
-wild bleak seas of the Moyle.
-
-At first there was no too bitter cold or too fierce tempestuousness
-to make their evil lot still more hard to bear; but sad indeed were
-their hearts as day after day they saw nothing but the same grey skies,
-the same grey wastes and dark sullen waves, the same bleak, rocky
-coasts inhabited only by the cormorant and the sea-mew. Never to see a
-familiar face, never to hear a familiar voice: to dwell from morning
-dusk till evening dark in loneliness and sorrow--that, indeed, was a
-hard fate upon the four children of Lir. From hunger and cold, too,
-they suffered much. No longer could they be cheered as they were on
-Lough Darvra, and often and often they lamented that their doom could
-not have permitted them to remain as swans indeed, but as swans on that
-now dear and home-sweet inland sea of Darvra.
-
-Day after day passed, but while their misery and want did not grow less
-they were not yet tortured by wintry storms and bitter frosts.
-
-But one forlorn afternoon a terrible congregation of clouds, black and
-heavy and flanked with livid gleams, appeared above the horizon and
-slowly invaded the whole west, and then all the sky northward and all
-southward.
-
-Fionula saw that a great tempest was nigh, so she called Aed, and
-Fiachra, and Conn, to come to her side.
-
-“Dear brothers,” she exclaimed, “the storm that will soon be upon us
-will be worse than any we have yet known. Hardly can we hope not to
-be driven far apart. Let us agree, therefore, to meet somewhere, if
-so be that we are not utterly destroyed. For though Aeifa, our cruel
-stepmother, doomed us to these long ages of suffering, it may well be
-that even her potent spell is not strong enough against death: and
-death may come to us through famine, or cold, or in the drowning wave.”
-
-At first the brothers could answer nothing. Then Aed spoke. “Thou
-art wise, dear Fionula. Let us, then, fix upon the rocky isle of
-Carrick-na-ron, as that place is well known to each of us, and can be
-descried from a great way off.”
-
-Thus it was that Carrick-na-ron was made their place of meeting, if so
-be that in the blind fury and confusion of the tempest they should be
-driven the one from the other.
-
-This was well: for that night, with the darkening of the night into a
-hollow of starless blackness, a terrible tempest swept over the seas,
-and lashed them into foam and into vast heaving, rolling, swaying
-billows. Amid the noise of the waves, and behind the screaming of the
-wind, the four weary rain-drenched bewildered swans could hear the
-crashing of the thunder and see the wild fitful blue glare of savage
-lightnings.
-
-Before midnight they were whirled this way and that by the fierce paws
-of the gale. Soon they were separated, and with despairing cries,
-each swept solitary through the night. In the heart of each of the
-children of Lir there was little hope of any morrow. All nearly died of
-weariness and despair. Nevertheless dawn broke at last, and with the
-first coming of light the tempest passed away.
-
-When the sun rose the waters were almost smooth again. A sparkling came
-into the crest of every wave. The sea blued.
-
-Fionula was the first to descry the rocky isle of Carrick-na-ron, and
-gladly she swam towards it, for she was now too weary to fly. Eagerly
-she hoped to find her brothers there, safe-havened. Alas, there was not
-a sign of any, not even when she flew to the summit of the highest
-rock and looked far and wide across the wilderness of waters.
-
-Great sorrow was hers, for sure, when she beheld nothing but wave upon
-wave, wave upon wave, till on the far horizon the long low line of sea
-climbed into the sky.
-
-A song of mourning broke from Fionula, so sad and sweet and despairing
-that the gannets and sea-mews and dark fierce cormorants wheeled around
-Carrick-na-ron, wondering at the marvel of this wild swan, with the
-strange remote voice of the human kind. It was a song of farewell.
-
-When Fionula ceased her lament she looked once more across the wastes
-of the sea. Suddenly she uttered a glad cry, for she descried Conn
-swimming slowly towards the rocky isle, slowly, and with drooping head,
-for he was drenched with the salt brine, and so weary that he could
-scarce move.
-
-Hardly had she welcomed him with joy, and helped him to reach a flat
-ledge of rock whereon the sunlight poured with healing warmth, than she
-saw Fiachra desperately striving to make his way towards them, but so
-far spent that it seemed as though death would overtake him before he
-reached the foam-edged rocks. Fionula sprang into the running wave,
-and soon was beside Fiachra, aiding him to her utmost. With difficulty
-she helped him to the ledge where Conn crouched in the sun, but so weak
-was he that when he was spoken to he could utter no word in reply.
-Fionula looked with pity upon her two young brothers. It was hard for
-her to see their unmothered pain and weariness. So she spread out
-her broad white pinions, and gave the warmth of her body to the two
-drenched and shivering swans.
-
-“Ah!” she exclaimed, as she crouched on the ledge, with Fiachra
-nestling by her right side and Conn by her left; “ah! if only Aed were
-here too, all might yet be well. And even if it be death, sweeter
-far that we might all perish together.” It was as though her loving
-prayer were answered, for before long she descried Aed swimming swiftly
-through the sunny foam-splashed seas. He, at least, she saw with joy,
-had not suffered as his younger brothers had done, for he came on with
-head erect and his white plumage all unruffled and dazzlingly ashine.
-
-Nevertheless, Aed, too, was glad to rest in the sunshine, so Fionula
-placed him under her breast.
-
-Noon found them thus: Fionula with sad eyes staring out across the
-wastes of windy seas; under the warm feathers of her breast, Aed; and
-close nestled to the warm down of her sides, Fiachra and Conn. She
-heard their low breathing as they slept, and that they might sleep the
-deeper and longer she sang her low, sweet, fairy music:
-
-    Sleep, sleep, brothers dear, sleep and dream,
-      Nothing so sweet lies hid in all your years.
-            Life is a storm-swept gleam
-            In a rain of tears:
-    Why wake to a bitter hour, to sigh, to weep?
-      How better far to sleep----
-            To sleep and dream.
-
-    To sleep and dream, ah, that is well indeed:
-      Better than sighs, better than tears;
-    Ye can have nothing better for your meed
-            In all the years.
-    Why wake to a bitter hour, to sigh, to weep?
-            How better far to sleep----
-    To sleep and dream, ah, that is well indeed!
-
-This and other songs Fionula chanted low throughout the day, till at
-last she too was overcome by her weariness; and she slept.
-
-At the rising of the moon, all awoke. Full glad were Aed and Fiachra
-and Conn that their tribulation was over; only Fionula knew that the
-doom which Aeifa had put upon them held worse things, and many, in
-store for them.
-
-For some days thereafter there was peace. Then a snow-whisper came, and
-the inland hills and the peaked summits of the isles were white. The
-cold grew deeper day by day; at each dawn the frost bit with a keener
-grip. The bitter hardships of the children of Lir were now more almost
-than they could bear. Nevertheless, they had a yet more dreadful trial
-to endure: for at mid-winter there came a tempest of whirling snow and
-icy wind so fierce and terrible, that for a day and a night the waves
-were strewn with the dead bodies of sea-mews and terns. Nothing the
-four swans had ever suffered was like unto what they suffered at this
-time.
-
-But when Fionula had again found and sheltered her dear ones, and
-mothered them with her great love, she knew that whatever their
-sufferings they would now surely endure until the end. Had they been
-subject to the mortal law, they could not have survived that dreadful
-day, and still more awful night.
-
-And so another year passed. The worst sorrow of the children of Lir was
-their great loneliness, a thing more bitter than hunger or thirst or
-any privation. They longed for their kind as the first white flowers of
-the year long for the sun. When mid-winter came again a terrible frost
-arose. All the north isles were like black bosses in a gleaming shield,
-for sheets of ice covered the seas, and each island was gripped as in
-an iron vice. Day by day the cold grew more terrible. On the morrow of
-the ninth day the four children of Lir thought that the end of their
-misery was at hand. The whole sea was one solid floor of ice; the isle
-of Carrick-na-ron, where they were, was like a black iceberg; into ice
-lapsed each faint failing breath that they drew with ever greater pain.
-
-Each morning they had waked to find their feet frozen to the rock,
-and even the edges of their wings; and a bitter thing it was to tear
-themselves free, and to leave clinging to the rock the soft feathers of
-their breasts and the outer quills of their wings and the skin of their
-feet.
-
-How fain each was of death! How gladly they would have passed away
-from the world of the living, though in exile, and longing with aching
-hearts to see once more their own dear land and the faces of those whom
-they loved! But their doom was on them, and they could not leave the
-sea of Moyle, nor could they win death.
-
-The brave heart of Fionula knew this. She knew too what cruel pain it
-would give her and her brothers to swim through the salt seas with
-their bleeding wounds, for the brine would enter them and cause agony.
-Nevertheless, she led them forth towards the coast of the mainland.
-There they found a fjord and a haven amid the pine-clad shores, and
-before long their wounds were healed, and the feathers on their wings
-and breasts grew again.
-
-But of what avail to tell the tale of all their years? Fionula saw that
-while they must ever return each night to the sea of Moyle till the
-three hundred years were over and done, they might fly as far and wide
-as they could between dawn and dusk. Mighty and strong were they now
-upon the wing, and fit to endure the slashing of rains, the buffetings
-of wild winds, the whirling briny sleet of the seas, and the cold of
-the high forlorn spaces of the lonely sky.
-
-Far and wide therefore they roamed, sometimes along the foam-swept
-headlands of Alba, sometimes by the stormy coasts of Erin, sometimes
-for leagues and leagues out into the vast dim wilderness, wherein, so
-men said, Hy Brásil lay--Hy Brásil, the Isle of Rest, the Isle of Joy,
-the Isle of Youth Eternal.
-
-One day, far in the oblivion of these selfsame years, they chanced to
-be flying past the mouth of the Bann, on the north coast of Erin: and
-Aed gave a cry of joy, and bade Fionula and his brothers look inland,
-for there, coming out of the south-west, was a stately cavalcade, the
-horsemen mounted on white steeds, beautifully apparelled, and with
-weapons gleaming in the sun.
-
-How joyous it was to see their own kind again! All gave a cry of
-rapture, their hearts aching the while that they could not set foot
-upon the land, as that was forbidden to them, though they might
-adventure to the shore.
-
-Long and earnestly Fionula looked, but she could not tell who the
-strangers were.
-
-“Keen are your eyes, Aed,” she said; “can you discern who the men of
-yonder cavalcade are?”
-
-“I know them not as men: but it seems to me that they are a troop of
-our own Dedannan folk, or perchance they may be of the Milesians.”
-
-But while they were still wondering and discussing, the cavalcade drew
-nearer, and the men of it saw the four swans, and, recognising them as
-the children of Lir, made signs to Fionula and her brothers to alight
-on the shore.
-
-With joy the Dedannans, for so they were, hailed the poor exiles, for
-whom indeed they had long been seeking along the north coasts of Erin.
-As for the children of Lir they could scarce speak, so great was their
-happiness to hear their dear familiar speech once more and to see the
-faces of their own people.
-
-Again and again they were embraced by the two chiefs of the Fairy
-Host, as the Dedannan warriors were called--Aed the keen-witted,
-and Fergus the chess-player, the two sons of Bove Derg, king of the
-Tuatha-De-Danann.
-
-With joy the children of Lir learned that their father was still alive,
-and was even then celebrating at his house at Shee Finnaha, along with
-Bove Derg and the chiefs of the Dedannans, the Feast of Age. As for Aed
-and Fergus and all their following, they wept when they heard the tale
-of the misery of these lost years, when Fionula and Aed and Fiachra
-and Conn were the sport of the winds.
-
-While eagerly and lovingly they were conversing, none noticed that the
-sun was sinking upon the low wavering line of the ultimate wave. But
-when at last Fionula saw this, she uttered a sad cry of warning to her
-brothers, and all four rose on their white wings and made ready to fly
-back to the bleak and desolate sea of Moyle. And sad, sadder than ever,
-was the heart of Fionula, for she knew that they could not be there
-till nightfall, and that the penalty of this would be that they should
-not again see the face of their kind, either on the shores of Erin or
-Alba, until the end of the three hundred years on the wastes of the
-Moyle.
-
-As they circled in the air, she sang this song, the last of the
-swan-songs heard of any of the Dedannans who were in that company:
-
-    Happy our father Lir afar,
-    With mead, and songs of love and war:
-    The salt brine, and the white foam,
-    With these his children have their home.
-
-    In the sweet days of long ago
-    Soft-clad we wandered to and fro:
-    But now cold winds of dawn and night
-    Pierce deep our feathers thin and light.
-
-    The hazel mead in cups of gold
-    We feasted from in days of old:
-    The sea-weed now our food, our wine
-    The salt, keen, bitter, barren brine.
-
-    On soft warm couches once we pressed
-    While harpers lulled us to our rest:
-    Our beds are now where the sea raves,
-    Our lullaby the clash of waves.
-
-    Alas! the fair sweet days are gone
-    When love was ours from dawn to dawn:
-    Our sole companion now is pain,
-    Through frost and snow, through storm and rain.
-
-    Beneath my wings my brothers lie
-    When fierce the ice-winds hurtle by:
-    On either side and ’neath my breast
-    Lir’s sons have known no other rest.
-
-    Ah, kisses we shall no more know,
-    Ah, love so dear exchanged for woe,
-    All that is sweet for us is o’er,
-    Homeless for aye from shore to shore.
-
-A great lamentation went up from the cavalcade of the Fairy Host
-when Fionula ended this song, and she and her brothers flew swiftly
-northward athwart the waves, red and wild because of the stormy setting
-of the sun.
-
-Sad was the tale the Dedannans had to relate when they returned to Shee
-Finnaha.
-
-Nevertheless, Bove Derg, the aged king, and white-haired Lir himself,
-took comfort in this, that Fionula and her brothers were still alive.
-Moreover, they knew that in the end the spell of Aeifa would be broken
-and that the exiles would be freed from their sufferings.
-
-But often, often, they thought with tears, as the slow revolving
-seasons lapsed one into the other, of the children of Lir upon the
-desolate far seas of the Moyle.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Here Eilidh’s voice lapsed into silence. Then, looking no longer at
-Peterkin, but staring into the red heart of the peats, she sang a
-Gaelic song, called the Sorrow of the Grey Hairs of Lir.
-
-Peterkin never loved Eilidh so well as when she sang; but he was
-sorrowful to-night when he saw that the song brought tears into her
-eyes.
-
-“Eilidh,” he whispered.
-
-“Yes, Peterkin, dear.”
-
-“Wouldn’t you be liking to kiss Ian?”
-
-Eilidh laughed low, a faint flush coming and going upon her face.
-
-“For why, boykin?”
-
-“Oh, I know that whenever you have tears in your eyes Ian can chase
-them away. I have seen him kiss you when you are tired.”
-
-At this Ian Mor rose and lifted Peterkin in his arms.
-
-“Eilidh is thinking of something sad, Peterkin; that is all. See, she
-is smiling now, and laughing too by the same token.” The boy tossed his
-curls, and with a roguish smile added:
-
-“Ah, that is just because I said she wanted to kiss you.”
-
-“You’re much too wise, Peterkin. But there, down with you! Now run to
-the door, and tell me if it is still raining.”
-
-Peterkin never could go straight anywhere, for his progress was ever
-like that of a kid or lambkin, a series of jumps and little sudden
-runs. No sooner was he gone, than Ian turned to Eilidh, and took her in
-his arms.
-
-“Sweetheart,” he whispered, “that little burst o’ sunshine is right. A
-kiss from your lips is the best thing to chase away the tears. But why
-are you sad, mochree?”
-
-“I was thinking of the sorrow of old Lir; and how little it matters
-whether one live fifty years or five hundred, as these old Dedannans
-did. Then suddenly the thought flashed across me that some day soon we
-should lose Peterkin: he too will become a wild swan, and it will be we
-who shall hear the far-off singing of his laughing childhood.”
-
-“Perhaps he will take his childhood with him into manhood, dear. Let
-him look often into your beautiful eyes, Eilidh, and the little one
-will learn much without knowing that he is learning. And then, too,
-to be near you: why, that is to be a child always deep down, and to
-have sunshine in the heart and mind--for have you forgotten your name,
-‘Sunshine’?”
-
-As he spoke, Ian Mor leaned and kissed her. Puzzled at the sudden
-radiant smile on her face, he looked round. There was Peterkin, sitting
-squatted on the hearth, with an impish smile in his blue eyes. He had
-crawled behind the hanging curtain at the door, and unseen and unheard
-gained the fireside.
-
-With a joyous laugh he sprang to his feet.
-
-“Ah, Ian, you and your rain! Is it not hearing you are? It’s on the
-window as if the brownies were throwing little wee stones. It was not
-the rain you were wanting, but only a kiss from Eilidh! Now, Eilidh,
-tell me true?”
-
-“Tell you true, Blumpits. Why----”
-
-But here Peterkin, overcome by some sudden memory suggested by the pet
-name which Eilidh sometimes gave him, went dancing round the room,
-laughing and chuckling by turns, and once and again clapping his hands
-in elfin glee.
-
-“Eilidh, Eilidh,” he cried, “do tell me again that story of Blumpits
-and the Bunnywig.”
-
-Ian looked puzzled.
-
-“What’s a bunnywig, Blumpits?”
-
-“A bunnywig--you’re not for knowing what a bunnywig is--and you, Ian
-Mor, too! A bunnywig is a _kunak_.”[5]
-
-“And what did Blumpits do?”
-
-“He got on the bunnywig, in the green fern, and rode on it into
-fairyland, and no one saw him go but a squirrel. But no, Eilidh, I am
-not wanting to hear about that now; and don’t be looking at my bed
-there, for I haven’t got the sleep upon me yet. Tell me the rest of
-the tale about Fionula and Aed and Fiachra and Conn.”
-
-“I wonder, now, if that’s because you really want to hear, or if it’s
-because you don’t want to be sent to bed?”
-
-Peterkin had kicked aside his shoes, and taken off his socks, and was
-warming his feet at the fire. His body was bent nearly double, as he
-looked round, clutching the while his big toe in the hollow of his tiny
-fist.
-
-“O Eilidh,” he said reproachfully, but with a light of such mischief in
-his eyes that Eilidh laughed. Then stooping, she took him on her lap,
-and after a few seconds, when all three looked idly and dreamily into
-the red fanwave in the heart of the peats, her lips moved again to the
-sorrowful sweet tale of the Children of Lir.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Year after year passed for the four swans that were the children of
-Lir. On that bleak and lonely sea of the Moyle they saw none of their
-own kind from year’s end to year’s end: only the sea-mew and the
-cormorant, the gannet and the tern, the slow droves of the pollack, the
-travelling schools of mackerel and herring, the swift seals migrating
-from isle to isle. With each Spring they saw the great solanders and
-wild swans flying northward towards the polar seas: thence, at the
-first days of winter, they saw them again flying southward, athirst for
-the thin blue wine of unfrozen seas.
-
-There was no change save the changefulness of the seasons; the
-grey-black wave of winter lapsed into the grey-blue wave of spring, and
-out of the dark-blue wave of summer grew the grey-green wave of autumn.
-
-Cold and hunger and weariness: these only did not vary.
-
-But at last the long weary exile on the Sea of Moyle came to an end.
-One day Fionula told her brothers that on the morrow they would have to
-fly far westward, for the three hundred years on the sea-stream of the
-Moyle were over, and now they had to begin their long and mayhap still
-more bitter, bleak, and mournful exile on the wild western ocean beyond
-Erin.
-
-“We must fly straight to the bleak headland of Irros Domnann,” she
-said, “and then must remain on the wild and desolate seas off the isle
-of Glora, the island that is farthest away from the mainland of our
-beloved Erin.”
-
-Thither, accordingly, the four swans flew on the morrow. It was with
-joy that they left the sea of the Moyle, where they had known so much
-privation and misery; but little cause had they for joy, for not less
-bleak were the skies, not less desolate the coasts, not less wild the
-storm-lashed, rain-swept seas, off the lifeless, barren isle of Glora.
-The great waves of the shoreless western ocean beat upon it for ever,
-and their thunder often filled the darkness for countless leagues with
-a sound most dreadful to hear.
-
-But after many years it chanced that a young man, named Ebric, the son
-of a Dedannan lord, came to farm a tract of land lying along the shore
-of Irros Domnann. This youth, who was a poet, and loved all beautiful
-things, soon cared more for the sweet, wonderful singing of the four
-swans, which often he heard, and to see their white bodies glistening
-in the sun, than to till his land.
-
-One day Fionula and her brothers descried him. Flying to the shore,
-they called, and great was his wonder to hear the dear familiar Gaelic
-speech in the mouths of wild swans.
-
-From that time he walked daily down to the extreme rocks on the shore,
-that he might converse with the children of Lir, and hear all they had
-to tell of their sad story; though he, on his part, could relate little
-to them of what had happened, or was happening further inland in Erin,
-though they heard from him with sorrow that the Milesians were now
-mightier than the Dedannans, and that the Fairy Host was no longer able
-to withstand the might of these enemies who long since had come out of
-the south.
-
-“For,” he said, “it is the way of what is beautiful and wonderful; that
-the wonder passes and the beauty fades.”
-
-That night he heard Fionula singing, and knew that the burden of her
-song was no other than the saying he had uttered:
-
-    Dim face of Beauty haunting all the world,
-    Fair face of Beauty all too fair to see,
-    Where the lost stars adown the heavens are hurled,
-            There, there alone for thee
-            May white peace be.
-
-    For here where all the dreams of men are whirled
-    Like sere torn leaves of autumn to and fro,
-    There is no place for thee in all the world,
-            Who driftest as a star,
-            Beyond, afar.
-
-    Beauty, sad face of Beauty, Mystery, Wonder,
-    What are these dreams to foolish babbling men --
-    Who cry with little noises ’neath the thunder
-            Of ages ground to sand,
-            To a little sand.
-
-Ebric moved homeward through the moonlight wondering much at that song
-of Fionula. But because he was a poet, he understood.
-
-From him the people of the hills, and the valleys round about Irros
-Domnann, heard the story of the speaking swans; and soon the wonder of
-it, and the whole sorrowful tale of the Children of Lir became as well
-known in that region as, long, long ago, to the Dedannans and Milesians
-on the shores of Lough Darvra, when they encamped by its shores because
-of the slow, sweet, fairy music of the four swans.
-
-Then once again it chanced that the four children of Lir unwittingly
-transgressed their doom, and so had to leave the shores where they
-could converse with the people who loved them. But Ebric, to whom they
-had told everything, was a poet, and wrought of their story a tale so
-sweet and marvellous that it has lasted all these ages, and is heard to
-this day on the lips of peasants in the west of Erin.
-
-From that time onward the sufferings of Fionula and her brothers were
-no less than they had been on the sea of the Moyle. Yet even the
-worst they had there known was surpassed midway in the heart of a
-terrible winter, a winter when cattle died in covered sheds, and men
-and women in their houses, and the wild creatures of the forest under
-their branches, and the storm-inured seabirds in the hollows of their
-ocean-fronting cliffs.
-
-On that day the whole surface of the sea from Irros Domnann to Achill
-was frozen into one solid mass of ice. Across this a polar wind drove
-sheets of hail and sleet. By nightfall, Aed and Fiachra and Conn were
-so far spent that they despaired of any morrow; and at the last Fionula
-herself, who had striven to comfort them, was herself in so pitiful a
-misery that she could only lament with them that death was so long in
-coming.
-
-But in the full horror of midnight, while they clung nigh-frozen to
-the rock of Glora, Fionula had a vision. It was of that God, that new
-faith, that great wonder and beauty which was even then coming towards
-Erin, though St. Patrick had not yet set foot upon its shores.
-
-“Brothers,” she cried, “take heart. I have had a vision. Of a truth
-our ancient gods are but the children of a greater than they. Aed, dear
-Aed and Fiachra and Conn, believe now in this great and loving God, the
-most splendid God of the living truth: for it is He who has made all
-things, the pleasant, fruitful land and the wild barren sea; and it has
-been revealed to me that if we put our trust in Him, He will comfort us
-and send us help.”
-
-“That we now do, O Fionula!” cried Aed and Fiachra and Conn.
-
-Thereupon they fell into a deep slumber. When they awoke the sun was
-shining; the fierce wind no longer blew; the waves danced joyously,
-tossing little sheets of spray from one to another. The bitter cold was
-gone, and they rejoiced exceedingly.
-
-“It is Spring!” Aed cried, with joy.
-
-“It is the answer of God,” said Fionula gravely.
-
-From that hour they had peace. Thenceforth they suffered no more from
-cold or hunger. When the savage frosts of winter, or the wild rains of
-autumn, came over the western sea, the four swans alighted on Innis
-Glora, and sang their wild, sweet, beautiful music, and then fell
-asleep, nestling side by side, till they awoke to warmth and joy.
-
-So was it till the end of the three hundred years. Three hundred years
-on the lough of Darvra; three hundred on the sea-stream of the Moyle;
-three hundred on the sea of Glora, to the west of Erin. All these ages
-had they endured, and now their exile was at an end.
-
-“On the morrow, dear brothers,” Fionula sang rejoicingly, “on the
-morrow we shall wing our way inland; for our hearts ache to see again
-our own country and our kindred, and the faces of Lir our father, and
-Bove Derg the king, and all whom we love. Great shall be the joy at
-Shee Finnaha when they behold us once more; but not more joyous shall
-their delight be than it will be for us to see the smoke rising from
-the fires of our people, and to see the greatness and beauty of Shee
-Finnaha.”
-
-They could not sleep that night for eagerness. At dawn they rose on
-white wings, circling through the wide blue spaces of the air. When the
-yellow stream of the sun poured westward out of the mountain-ridges of
-Achill, they chanted a farewell song, and then stretched their wide
-pinions and flew homeward with beating hearts.
-
-Sweet it was to see below them the green grass instead of the cold,
-running wave; and the hollows of the meadows, how much dearer were they
-than the troughs of the drowning billows!
-
-When they came to the great hill above Shee Finnaha, their wings were
-seized with so great a trembling that scarcely could they reach into
-view of Lir’s high shining house.
-
-Descending, therefore, they alit on a rock and rested awhile. A deep
-sadness oppressed Fionula. There was so great a silence on every rock,
-on every tree. Moreover, she had seen a stag stand staring inland with
-idle eyes, and had seen the hill-fox and the wolf prowling in the glen
-where as a child she had often played.
-
-“What is the fear that is in your eyes, Fionula?” asked one of her
-brothers with sudden dread.
-
-“Alas! Aed, if Lir and the Dedannans were still here, would a stag
-stand staring inland, where Shee Finnaha is, with heedless eyes and no
-hoof lifted, and nostrils idly sniffing the unfrequented wind?”
-
-“Of a surety no, Fionula.”
-
-“Yet that have I seen, Aed. And if in Shee Finnaha still dwelled our
-Dedannan folk, would the hill-fox and the wolf prowl in the Glen of the
-White Water, there where we were wont to play and bathe, we and all the
-little children?”
-
-“Of a surety no, Fionula.”
-
-“Yet that have I seen, O Aed and Fiachra and Conn. Come! we are rested
-now. Let us hasten homeward to Shee Finnaha, that we have longed for
-all these years, and to our father Lir, who awaiteth us.”
-
-Onward they flew.
-
-But just as they soared over the shoulder of Knoc-na-Shee, Fionula
-uttered a piercing cry.
-
-There indeed was the valley where Lir long, long ago had made his home.
-But now there was not a single wreath of smoke rising to the sky, not a
-single cow lowed in the pastures, neither man nor woman nor child moved
-to and fro. Nay, there were not even any houses. All had gone. Amid the
-desolate place rose the gaunt, dishevelled ruins of Lir’s great dun;
-its halls empty and roofless, or tenanted only by the rank grass and
-tall companies of nettles.
-
-“Alas!” cried Aed, “for the omen of the stag staring idly on Shee
-Finnaha, and for that of the hill-fox and the wolf prowling in the Glen
-of the White Water.”
-
-But Fionula could speak no word, for her heart was breaking.
-
-For long they crouched silent amid the desolation of that ruined place.
-Thrice three hundred years had passed since they had played in front of
-the house of Lir: beneath yonder ruined wooden arch they had set forth
-with Aeifa on that ill-fated journey.
-
-The dusk came. Still the four children of Lir crouched silent amid the
-ruined desolation which was all that remained of lordly Shee Finnaha.
-
-The wolf prowled near, but turned away the flame of his yellow eyes,
-for he feared those who crouched there and had the voices of the human
-kind. The bats and owls alone paid no heed.
-
-When the stars glistened in the sky, and the moon rose, and on the
-night wind there was not the lowing of a cow or the barking of a
-dog, or any sound whatsoever, save from the rustling forest and the
-murmuring stream, Fionula and Aed and Fiachra and Conn fell into a
-bitter sobbing and a long, mournful keen, that rose into the hills
-with plaintive echoes.
-
-When the day broke, each told the other that they could no longer stay
-in Shee Finnaha. That desolation was now to them more bitter than
-the wilderness of the bleak seas of the Moyle. While they were still
-speaking thus sorrowfully, Conn descried an old man--so old and worn
-that his hair hung about his wrinkled face like thistledown, so white
-and bleached was it. He carried a small harp, but in his eyes was the
-look of one who saw only far into the mind and never from the mind
-outward.
-
-“Who art thou, O stranger?” Conn asked.
-
-The man looked at the swan that spoke to him in human speech, and in
-the sweet, familiar tongue of the Gael.
-
-“I have heard strange things,” he muttered, “and in my madness have
-come to learn of the beasts. Have not the hawks and eagles of Shee
-Finnaha told me bitter tidings, and has not the hill-fox barked to me
-of the graves of dead hopes, and has not the she-wolf whined to me in
-the dusk of the sorrows that flit through the woods--the old ancient
-sorrows of the wise and the beautiful and the brave that are now no
-more? Why then should not a wild swan speak? Have I forgotten that,
-ages ago, the children of Lir were changed into swans, and that they
-spoke with the human tongue, and sang songs so passing sweet that life
-and death became as the selfsame dream? Ah! that dream of dreams:
-fragrant it was as the breath of Moy Mell, the honey-sweet plain of
-Heaven; restful as the sound of the waves beating on the shores of
-Tir-fa-Tonn, where the dead dwell in youth and joy; strange and wild as
-the noise of invisible wings over the blessed isle that is Hy Brásil in
-the west.”
-
-Conn spake again:
-
-“Art thou a Dedannan, old man?”
-
-“A Dedannan I am, O Swan, that speakest with the tongue of man; yea, a
-Dedannan I am, if a sere and fallen leaf can be called a child of the
-green tree. Say, rather, a Dedannan I was.”
-
-“Dost thou know aught of Bove Derg, the King of the Dedannans, or of
-Lir, the lord of Shee Finnaha?”
-
-The stranger sighed, and by the veiling of his eyes Conn knew that the
-old harper was with the past.
-
-“Ay,” he muttered at last, “but who can note the passage of the years
-when one is old and broken and sick unto death? A hundred years have
-trodden the red leaves again, or it may be thrice a hundred, since I
-chanted the death-song of Bove Derg, the King of the Dedannans; since
-I looked on the white face of Lir, as he lay grey and ashy among the
-ashy-grey thistles.”
-
-Conn uttered a cry of sorrow, and a bitter keen of lament came from his
-two brothers and from Fionula.
-
-“Then these also speak,” muttered the old harper: “almost can I
-persuade myself that I look on the wild swans that are the four
-children of Lir--Fionula and Aed and Fiachra and Conn. Ages ago I
-thought they had lapsed in death. All are gone now, save only Aeifa,
-who is a demon of the air, and wails among the hills and in desolate
-places.”
-
-All this time Fionula had been looking earnestly at the old man. Now
-she spoke.
-
-“Tell me, art thou not Irbir the Harper?”
-
-“It is Irbir the Harper I am, the chief harper of Bove Derg, that
-was King of the Dedannans before the Fairy Host faded away from the
-meadows and pastures of Erin. And if indeed ye be the children of Lir,
-know I am that Irbir who sang the birth-song at the birthing of ye,
-Fionula and Aed, and at the birthing of ye, Fiachra and Conn.”
-
-Thereupon the old harper embraced the four swans, tears running down
-his face the while.
-
-While he was yet embracing them, his wildered mind began to wander, and
-he talked idly of vain things.
-
-Nevertheless, they learned from him that more than a hundred years
-back, and maybe thrice a hundred, the Tuatha-De-Danann had fought a
-last great battle with the Milesians and had been utterly defeated.
-They were now a dispersed and hidden people, some deathless, others
-living to the thousand and one years of the old-world folk, and some
-with a new and terrible mortality upon them. As for Bove Derg and all
-the Fairy Host, the wild thistle waved over their nameless graves. Lir
-lay beneath the grass outside his great dun of Shee Finnaha. His last
-words had been: “I hear the beating of wings. O wild swans, I hear the
-beating of thy wings.”
-
-Thereafter Irbir the Harper moved aimlessly away, and with him passed
-the shadow of the greatness that was gone.
-
-The children of Lir now spoke wearily among themselves of what they
-should do. At the last they decided to go back to the Isle of Glora,
-and there await the fulfilment of their doom.
-
-One more night they spent at Shee Finnaha, mourning over the grey
-sorrow of Lir, and over the desolation of that noble place, and over
-the ruin of the Dedannan folk. So wild and mournful was their singing
-that night that the beasts of the forest congregated round the ruined
-dun, and from the crags of the hills thronged the cliff-hawks and the
-eagles. In the heart of the woods Irbir, the old harper, died, dreaming
-that he was in Tir-nan-Og, the Land of Youth, and was listening again
-to the voices of Love.
-
-On the morrow the children of Lir flew sorrowfully away from Shee
-Finnaha and returned to Innis Glora. They alit at a small lake in the
-heart of that isle, and there began once more to sing their slow,
-sweet, fairy music.
-
-So wonderful was their singing, with all its added pain and the mystery
-of years, that the birds of all the regions round were wont to collect
-daily, and gather in flocks round about the singing swans. Thus it was
-that the little lake came to be called the Lake of the Bird Flocks.
-
-At sunrise these innumerable birds would disperse far and wide; some
-seaward, some inland, some northward to Achill, some as far south as
-the three rocks known as Donn’s Sea-Rest, some to Inniskea--to this
-day called the Isle of the Lonely Crane, for there dwells, and has
-dwelled since the beginning of the world, and shall dwell till the day
-of flame, a solitary brooding crane. But at night every bird returned
-to Innis Glora, to hear the slow, sweet, fairy music of the children of
-Lir.
-
-In this way the years went past.
-
-On a day of the days Fionula called her brothers to listen to her,
-because of a dream that she had dreamed.
-
-“The Taillkenn[6] has come at last,” she said. “I saw a strange light
-in the East at midnight. A star rose out of it, and travelled through
-the gulfs of the sky, and rested over Erin, and sank slowly over this
-our dear land. Then I heard a smoke of voices rising to the stars, and
-thence, too, came a chiming sweeter than any chants we have sung in all
-these thrice three hundred years.”
-
-On the eve of that day a man came forth from the mainland in a coracle.
-He came to Innis Glora, and alighted there, and kneeled in a strange
-fashion, and supplicated some god.
-
-It was St. Kemoc.
-
-After nightfall the wild swans were silent, for all were heavy with the
-strangeness of this man, who was not like unto any Dedannan or even a
-Milesian, and who prayed on his knees, and supplicated a god set beyond
-the stars.
-
-In the grey dawn they awoke, trembling. Trembling still, they started
-and ran bewilderedly to and fro, for strange and dreadful to them was
-the sound that they heard. It was but a little sound, and faint and
-afar; but it was the chiming of a bell, and in all the thrice three
-hundred years and more they had lived they had heard nought like it.
-The bell was the matin-bell of St. Kemoc, but they knew it not, nor
-what it meant. Aed and Fiachra and Conn ran wildly and far, but at
-last when the bell ceased, they returned to Fionula.
-
-“Do you know what this sound is, this faint, fearful sound that has
-terrified us, dear brothers?”
-
-“No, we have heard the faint, fearful voice, but know not what it is.
-Is it the voice of the strange man who has come among us, and is he a
-god?”
-
-“No,” answered Fionula, with grave joy, “but it is the voice of the
-Christians’ bell. Soon we shall be free of our spell; soon we shall
-have peace. It is the bell we have dreamed of for so many years.”
-
-All were glad at that. Kemoc had again begun to ring his matin-bell,
-and the four swans crouched low, listening to its strange music. When
-it ceased, Fionula spoke:
-
-“Let us now sing our music.”
-
-Therewith they sang their slow, sweet, fairy music.
-
-Kemoc rose in his place, amazed with great wonder. At first he thought
-it was the voices of the angels singing in Paradise. Then suddenly it
-was revealed to him that it was the slow, sweet, fairy music of the
-children of Lir, whereat he rejoiced exceedingly, for he had fared
-westward in the hope to find and save Fionula and Aed and Fiachra and
-Conn, of whom he had heard soon after he came to Erin with tidings of
-Christ and the Christian faith.
-
-So when his prayers were done, and sunrise put a shine of gold upon the
-sea, Kemoc rose and went to the lake, and hailed the four white swans.
-And when they answered and told him who they were, he gave thanks to
-God.
-
-“Come now to land,” he added, “and sojourn with me, for it is in this
-place that ye are destined to be freed from your enchantment.”
-
-Filled with a great joy on hearing the words of the Christian saint,
-they came ashore, and went with him to where he had builded his cell
-against the forefront of a cave.
-
-Three days later a skilled craftsman for whom he had sent came to Innis
-Glora, and wrought two slender shining chains of silver. These St.
-Kemoc put upon Fionula and Aed and upon Fiachra and Conn, to show that
-they were now bondagers to Christ, for all that they were still swans
-and under the doom of the spell of Aeifa.
-
-Thereafter the time passed with joy and peace. Kemoc taught them the
-holy faith, and came to love them with his whole heart. As for the
-children of Lir they were glad with so great a gladness that they
-remembered no more their long misery, and even loved better to hear
-the hymns and litanies of St. Kemoc than the lifesweet war-chants and
-love-songs they had heard in their childhood from Irbir and other bards
-and minstrels.
-
-But at that time[7] there was a queen in Erin who above all other
-things desired the glory of having these marvellous singing swans as
-her own. In the olden days men and women were wont to hold the decrees
-of the gods and of fate in reverence; and more thought was taken of
-the inner meanings of dreams, marvels, and the strange vicissitudes
-of life. Has not a wise poet declared that the smaller the soul the
-greater the tyranny? This queen was Decca, daughter of Finghin, king of
-Munster, and wife of Lairgnen, the king of Connaught.
-
-It was of these two that Aeifa, long, long ago, had spoken
-prophetically, but none remembered this save only Fionula, in whose
-mind dreams and memories floated as water-blooms on a mountain
-lake--the blooms that float and sink and rise as though a breath
-sustained or swayed them, the breath out of still, pellucid depths.
-
-At last the desire of Decca overmastered her. She begged Lairgnen to
-fare westward to Kemoc, and obtain the swans from the saint and bring
-them to her. But this the king feared to do, nor held it a kingly act.
-Then Decca gave way to her anger, and left the great house of the king
-and vowed that she would not sleep there another night till Lairgnen
-brought her the singing swans.
-
-So the woman fled southward into Munster, her father’s realm.
-
-Lairgnen the Connaught king loved his wife to weakness. He was the
-slave of her dark eyes and her smiling lips and her selfish heart and
-her poor will: so he came to evil then, and later. For according as a
-man’s love is, and as he loves to strength, so shall his life be abased
-or uplifted.
-
-So Lairgnen sent messengers after Decca, and sought her in the south.
-Thus was the prophecy fulfilled.
-
-The woman returned, but put a bond upon the king. He was weak, and she
-made a sport of him as women do who are loved to weakness and not to
-strength: as with men also, when women love them ignobly, and not as
-high mate with high mate.
-
-Thus it came about that Lairgnen gave the word to St. Kemoc that
-he desired the four swans to be sent to him at his royal house in
-Connaught. Kemoc, however, refused. He served the King of kings, not
-the king of Connaught.
-
-Full of wrath, Lairgnen set out for the western coast, and at last
-reached Innis Glora. When he asked Kemoc if he had indeed refused to
-give up the swans at his command, and was told that this was so, he
-swore the old pagan oath by the sun and the moon and the wind, and
-vowed that he would not leave that place without them.
-
-“Doom must be fulfilled, O king,” said Kemoc, “but woe unto that man by
-whom the evil of a day of the days is wrought.”
-
-Lairgnen laughed, and followed the saint into the little chapel where
-the four swans stood before the altar, singing a sweet wonderful song
-that was a hymn of peace and joy. Seizing the silver chain of Fionula
-and Aed in one hand, and that of Fiachra and Conn in the other, he
-forced them to follow him.
-
-“Do not do this thing, Lairgnen, son of Colman,” said St. Kemoc.
-
-“And for why not?” asked the king, smiling grimly, as he neared the
-door of the wattle-church. “Am I not the king, and can I not do as I
-will in mine own lands?”
-
-“There is another King. If thou doest a wrong against Him, thou shalt
-have neither the desire of thine heart nor yet go free of the penalty
-of lifelong sorrow and a bitter end.”
-
-For a moment Lairgnen quailed. The angry voice of a cleric was a
-perilous omen in those days. Then he strode forward, dragging after him
-the four swans.
-
-Suddenly a wild, strange cry resounded over the church. All stood
-silent, appalled. To Fionula only was it revealed that it was neither
-the screaming of the wind, nor the thin shrewd wail of the sea, nor the
-savage cry of a sea-mew--but that it was the voice of Aeifa, that lost
-forlorn demon of the air for whom there might be no rest now till the
-day of the flame of which St. Kemoc spoke.
-
-“Come!” said Lairgnen, with a great effort.
-
-But when he strove with the chains, lo! a strange thing happened.
-These fell apart, and at the same moment the great wings of the swans
-contracted, and the white feathers that were the beauty of their bodies
-shrivelled. A mist of blown feathers was about them: and when Lairgnen
-and Kemoc looked through this as it settled upon the ground like dust,
-they beheld a wonderful and a terrible thing.
-
-For as the feathers fell away from the children of Lir, Fionula and
-her brothers once more regained their human shape. But now they were
-no longer fair and sweet and young, as they were when Aeifa put her
-enchantment upon them. They stood there, worn with intolerable age.
-Grey and ashy were their bodies, and long and sere and white their
-thin, blanched hair: and they were tremulous as reeds, and their wan
-hands were as the shaking wan leaves of the poplar when autumn is dead.
-
-The children of Lir looked one upon the other with dim, forlorn eyes.
-It was a bitter thing to live so many ages only to find that their own
-kith and kin were as dust, and that their habitation was a wilderness,
-and that their very race had passed away: to see each other in human
-form again, but Fionula an aged ancient woman, grey as old hanging moss
-and wrinkled as the wave-rippled sand, and tall Aed and swift Fiachra
-and laughing Conn as three feeble old men, wavering as their own
-shadows.
-
-When Lairgnen saw this he was overcome with dread. He uttered a strange
-cry, and, averting his face, fled from the little chapel, nor looked
-back once upon Innis Glora; and feared the following flight of his own
-shadow till once more he reached his great house in Connaught, over
-which he heard a demon of the air wailing and laughing, and knew that
-it was Aeifa, and that the terror of this banshee would be with him and
-his for ever.
-
-As he fled, he heard the bitter execrations of St. Kemoc, but these he
-heeded less than the thin, inarticulate murmur of the voices of the
-children of Lir, like the hum of gnats in a well.
-
-Nevertheless Kemoc himself was able to hear the whisper of Fionula. So
-one may hear the faint rustle of leaves in the heart of a forest where
-there is no wind.
-
-“Be swift, holy one, and give us baptism, here before the altar. We
-have but a brief while wherein to draw breath. Great is thy sorrow at
-this parting, but not more great than is ours. Nevertheless the end
-is always in the beginning, and we are but the dry thistledown of the
-young sprays of green. For thee, too, O Kemoc, the vial of silence
-shall be broken, but not until thy hair is like the foam of the sea,
-and thine eyes dim as the light beneath a wave.”
-
-Thereupon St. Kemoc led them slowly towards the altar, and bade
-farewell to each, for he saw that the shadow of death had covered them
-from the soles of the feet to the chin of the head, and was rising to
-the eyes.
-
-Once more Fionula spoke.
-
-“Farewell, dear brothers,” she said. “We are so old that we have
-forgotten age. Very weary should we be were it not for sweet death. We
-go far hence, and it may well be that we visit Hy Brásil before we see
-the shining of the gates of Paradise. There we shall greet our father
-Lir, and he shall come with us. And if he come not, we shall abide with
-him, for love is stronger than death.”
-
-“Even so,” whispered Aed and Fiachra and Conn.
-
-“And to thee, Kemoc, thou holy one,” she murmured, “I have this thing
-for the saying. We are of our people, and would fain be in the darkness
-as our ancient forgotten dead before us. It is not fitting that we lie
-in the earth who are of the old race, and have the blood of kings, and
-have lived in no dishonour, and die as we have lived.”
-
-“Speak, Fionula.”
-
-“When we fail utterly and perish, as we shall do within this hour that
-is upon us, O Kemoc, remember that as in life I so often sheltered my
-brothers against my breast and sides when we were swans, we must not be
-apart in death. Therefore bury us on this spot and in one grave.[8] And
-in that grave let Conn stand near me at my right side, and Fiachra at
-my left, and let Aed my twin-brother be before my face.”
-
-With that she sighed. So sighs a wan, drifting leaf wind-slidden over
-sere grass.
-
-Then Kemoc baptized Fionula and Aed and Fiachra and Conn: and when he
-had given them eternity and the company of saints, they died. They did
-not fall, but wavered as dry reeds, and were suddenly at one with
-their own shadows, and were no more.
-
-When the saint rose from his knees, he put the tears from his face and
-stared into the deeps of heaven. Then he had the joy of a glad vision.
-Overhead he beheld four children with light silver-shining wings, their
-faces radiant: yet knew not whether they were little ones or were
-youthful with new life, for the glory dazzled him. A moment, as the
-foam-bells on a falling wave, they were there: then they vanished, and
-passed westward, and were in Hy Brásil with Lir and their own people
-even while Kemoc bent lamenting over the frail ancient bodies that had
-been the children of Lir.
-
-So in that place a grave was digged, and Fionula was placed standing
-therein: and by her right side, Conn; and by her left, Fiachra; and
-before her face, Aed. Over this grave Kemoc raised a mound, and put a
-great stone upon it. Then he made a lament over the dead.
-
-When all the people were gone, there remained only Kemoc, and a young
-poet and cleric named Ebric the son of Ebric, the son of Ebric of Irros
-Domnann. And when St. Kemoc went to his cell, and knew the dark hour,
-because of his sorrow, Ebric stood by the great stone at the mound and
-graved in Ogham the names of Fionula and Aed and Fiachra and Conn.
-
-The salt grasses wave out of the dust, the dust of the powder of that
-stone which Ebric graved with cunning hand: but out of the hearts
-of men who shall take the sorrowful tale of the Children of Lir, or
-against it shall prevail what frost of age, what breath of time?
-
-The stone perisheth, but the winged word on the breath of the lips
-endureth for ever.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-  The Fate of
-  the Sons of Turenn
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: Turenn interceding for his sons.
-
-  _To face p. 117._]
-]
-
-
-
-
-  The Fate of
-  the Sons of Turenn
-
-
-I will tell you now the old heroic saga of the Fate of the Sons
-of Turenn: how they paid the great eric laid upon them by Lu the
-Long-Handed, called the Ildanna because of his great wisdom in all
-magic craft and Dedannan lore; and how at the last their dauntless
-bravery was as sand before the wind, as mist before the sun, as dew
-upon the grass.
-
-It is one of the most ancient of tales. Brian, Ur, and Urba, the sons
-of Turenn, did their great wrong upon Kian, the father of Lu of the
-Long Hand, and paid their unheard-of and heroic eric, when Bove Derg,
-the last king of the Dedannans, was still a youth--and that was long
-before the Children of Lir were changed into four white swans.
-
-No Milesian had been seen in Erin in those days. Nevertheless the
-power of the Dedannans was already broken, though they were still
-foremost in green Banba, as the bards loved to call Erin, after a great
-queen who had reigned there, when the Fairy Host was supreme: for the
-fierce Fomorian pirates of the north had descended upon them again and
-again like a devastating plague, and at last their High King, the King
-of Lochlin, Balor of the Evil Eye, had subdued them into bondage.
-
-Year by year, and that for the fourth part of a year, Balor sent
-his emissaries to collect tribute. The men were of the greatest
-and fiercest of the black Fomorians, so called because they were
-black-haired and black-bearded, with fells as coarse and thick as
-those of wild boars. These men were dreaded by the Dedannans, for they
-appeared to be beyond all reach of magic spells, and to have more
-terrible arms and an invincible power in warfare.
-
-At that time Nuadh of the Silver Hand was High King of Erin. He was
-the most prudent of all the Dedannan kings, but there were many of
-the wisest druids and bards even in his own day who lamented that he
-was over-prudent, and that it would be wiser to risk all in order
-to regain honour and freedom than to lose all for the sake of an
-inglorious peace. Nevertheless, so great was the love of life among the
-people at large, and so keen was their desire to be left at peace by
-the Fomorians, that Nuadh of the Silver Hand put aside his kinglihood,
-and agreed to pay both tribute and homage.
-
-The yearly tax laid by Balor of the Evil Eye upon Nuadh of the Silver
-Hand and all the Dedannan folk, was this: a tax separately upon
-querns, kneading-troughs, and baking-flags, the three things which
-every Dedannan had to use. Besides this, there was a tax of one gold
-ounce for every man and woman of the Tuatha-De-Danann. Every year the
-people had to assemble at the Hill of Tara, where the High King had
-his palace, and there submit their tribute with many obeisances to the
-dark, scowling emissaries of Balor of the Evil Eye.
-
-In one year of the years this happened as before. But after Nuadh of
-the Silver Hand and all his nobles and druids and all the Dedannans had
-made humble obeisance before the Fomorians, and while the tribute was
-being put together, a strange sight was descried.
-
-Coming from the east was a company of lordly men, splendidly arrayed in
-white with gleaming helmets and shields, and riding tall white horses.
-These were headed by a youthful champion of so great a stature and so
-warlike a mien, that all men knew he could be none other than Lu the
-Long-Handed, son of Kian the Noble. All the northlands and eastlands of
-Erin were aware of the rumour of his great valour and worth, and there
-was at that day no champion so feared between the two seas.
-
-Lu, son of Kian, was also of the Dedannans, but he was of the older
-and rarer branch, and he and his claimed that the Fairy Host, of
-which they formed the chief ornament, rose or fell by their support.
-Among the splendid company were the sons of Manannan, son of Lir, the
-lord of the sea, and other chieftains and brave knights. Yet, as they
-approached, it was Lu of the Long Hand who held all eyes. Upon his head
-was a golden helmet, wherefrom gleamed two great shining stones--the
-eyes of strange gods they seemed to the people. His body was covered
-with shining armour that was no other than the famous coat of armour of
-Manannan, through which no weapon might pierce; and by his side hung
-the terrible sword, the “Answerer,” which had but one answer for every
-one against whom it was raised--death. The horse, too, that Lu rode was
-the far-famed stallion of Manannan, so swift that the March wind could
-not overtake him, nor could water, air, or land offer any obstacles to
-his progress.
-
-A great shout welcomed these champions of the Fairy Host as they
-drew near, but this shout came from the assemblage outside of Tara;
-and neither the king nor his lords rose at their approach. The
-Fomorians scowled and stood apart, and then scornfully resumed their
-tax-gathering.
-
-When they had finished their task the Fomorians rose and together
-approached the place where the king sat high among his people.
-
-As they drew near, Nuadh of the Silver Hand and all his lords rose and
-made humble obeisance.
-
-At this, Lu the Ildanna frowned, and when Lu of the Long Hand frowned
-his company knew that evil was like to come.
-
-“Tell me, O King,” he said haughtily: “why do you make obeisance to
-these rude, ungainly folk, and did none to us when we approached, to us
-who are of the old Dedannan race?”
-
-Thereupon Nuadh of the Silver Hand spake the bitterness of truth, and
-how it was that in order to save the land from devastation, and his
-people from rapine and outrage, he submitted to the Fomorian yoke. And
-for the same reason he had not ventured to pay homage to Lu and the
-Fairy Host, for the Fomorians would have taken this as an insult to
-Balor of the Evil Eye, and some great evil would have ensued.
-
-Lu smiled scornfully.
-
-“And at the worst, O Nuadh of the Silver Hand, there is a disastrous
-end and death. What then? Is not death the sure end of all men, and is
-not disaster the lot of many a hero as well as of many a slave?”
-
-“That is so, Ildanna.”
-
-“Then why evade that shadow, and all because of fear of these dark
-pirates out of the north. Is not honour better than safety, and is not
-shame a worse death than to be slain?”
-
-“Even so, Ildanna. Nevertheless, I wish to avoid vain bloodshed. There
-can be but one end. Why should I ruin my people?”
-
-“Ruin is not a sure thing, O King: but if it were, better ruin than
-dishonour.”
-
-“Dost thou speak as a lord of high birth, or as one of the common
-people?”
-
-“I speak as the son of Kian the Noble.”
-
-“Even so; but for each noble in my kingdom there are a thousand
-Dedannans of no rank. I am their king. I speak for them.”
-
-For a time thereafter Lu sat brooding. His silence was worse than his
-scornful words. Nuadh the King saw what was in his mind, and dreaded
-that he would go forth in his wrath. Thrice he half rose as though to
-lay hands upon Lu to restrain him, and thrice he sat back uncertain
-what to do.
-
-Then suddenly Lu rose, and in the eyes of all men drew slowly from its
-sheath his great white sword. At sight of the “Answerer,” there was
-a shiver among the Dedannans, so great was the terrible fame of this
-sword, but still more because the drawing of it there and then by Lu of
-the Long Hand meant that the flame was in his blood.
-
-“Beware!” cried the king.
-
-But Lu laughed a grim laugh. Then, lifting the “Answerer” on high,
-and knitting his brows into a heavy frown, he sprang in among the
-Fomorians.
-
-It was like the leap of lightning among wild cattle, that. Hither
-and thither the “Answerer” flashed, and at each blow a Fomorian head
-whirled to the ground; yea, as a sharp prow will divide the wave-crest
-from the wave, so the great sword severed the head from the shoulders
-of each Fomorian, shoring through helmet or thick fell of hair as
-through water.
-
-It was not till a whirlwind of swords flashed and circled around Lu
-that those about him woke from their stupor. Then with a loud shout the
-sons of Manannan and others of the Fairy Host leaped forward and joined
-in the fray.
-
-The Fomorians fought with fury, being wrought to madness by the thought
-that they were as chaff before these newcomers, in the face of the
-whole Dedannan nation--for so great was their scorn of the people they
-held in bondage that death at their hands seemed doubly accursed.
-
-But before Lu of the Long Hand and his Fairy Host there was no
-withstaying. By tens and scores the Fomorians fell, as swaying grain
-before the reaper. Everywhere, flashing like a meteor, the white gleam
-of the Answerer rose and fell, the pulse of death.
-
-At last only nine of the Fomorian pirates survived, and these clustered
-upon a low rising, and fought desperately to the end. Suddenly the
-tides of battle ceased, and this was because of the voice of Lu Ildanna.
-
-He looked scornfully at the remnant of the proud Fomorians. These were
-now sullenly at bay, foreseeing death only, and not unwillingly now
-that the despised Dedannans had brought them to so sore a pass.
-
-“Let these dogs go!” exclaimed Lu.
-
-At the bitter words, the emissaries of King Balor of Lochlin gripped
-their swords anew, and ground their teeth in impotent rage. More they
-could not do, for even in their brief breathing space they saw that
-they were beset by a hedge of spears.
-
-“Let these dogs go!” Lu said again. Then, addressing them, he added:
-
-“Look ye, ye carrion wolves, we spare your lives only that ye may fare
-back to your dens in the north, and tell that unkingly king, Balor of
-the Evil Eye, that which we have done unto your company. And say this
-also, that if he come hither, we shall do unto him and his, that which
-we have done unto these dead men who were once your fellows.” With that
-the nine Fomorians departed, scowling fiercely and below their breath
-muttering imprecations and menaces.
-
-That night the beacons of joy flared out across valley and plain, from
-the hill of Tara, and great were the rejoicings throughout the land.
-Only Nuadh of the Silver Hand dreamed uneasily for that and many other
-nights; knowing well that Balor of the Evil Eye would not let pass
-the slight which had been put upon him. And after all, it was but a
-handful of the Fomorian host which had been slain on the Plains of
-Tara. Nevertheless, the king hoped that he might be spared the wrath of
-Balor, for none of the Dedannans whom he ruled had taken part in the
-fray, but only those who were of the company of Lu of the Long Hand.
-
-Bitter, indeed, was the wrath of Balor, when he heard what had been
-done to his Fomorian emissaries.
-
-“The Dedannans shall soon be but a memory,” he exclaimed; “their kings
-and nobles shall utterly perish, and of all their race none shall
-survive save those who shall be slaves for ever to my people. Their
-very land, that green Eri they are so fain of, shall be no more than an
-unregarded province of Lochlin.”
-
-Thereafter, Balor sent word throughout all Lochlin, from the Cape of
-the Midnight Sun to the Narrow Seas,[9] and bade all the peoples who
-owned him king to assemble speedily for war; and in every haven he bade
-the sea-galleys to be got ready.
-
-This took many weeks, and thereafter was the slow waiting for the
-coming of spring. But at last all was ready, and then Bras, the son
-of Balor, led forth the mightiest host which had ever sailed from the
-shores of Lochlin.
-
-This vast concourse of galleys sailed northward before favouring winds,
-and then westward along the storm-swept coasts of Alba, and at last
-southward again by the Hebrid Isles. Thence, with fresh provisions and
-replenished water-barrels, they sailed towards and round the northern
-headlands of Eri, and like a great flock of sea-vultures settled upon
-the coasts of Connaught.
-
-With laughter and fierce disdain the Fomorians spread far and wide,
-and at once began to despoil the country, and lay waste the tilled
-lands. In the ears of all rang the arrogant parting words of Balor of
-the Evil Eye: “And when at the last ye have cut off for me the head of
-that man Lu, called the Ildanna, then put a mighty cable around this
-troublesome Isle of Erin, and tow it back with your ships, and lay it
-alongside the north coasts of our Lochlin.”
-
-But meanwhile all the realms of the Tuatha-De-Danann were smitten with
-fear. None dared await the dreaded Fomorians, and everywhere were
-flying hordes of men and women and children, chariots, horses, and
-cattle.
-
-The king of Connaught in that day was Bove Derg, son of the Dagda,
-he who afterwards became the last Dedannan king. Straightway he sent
-word to Lu Ildanna, begging him to raise a host and succour the men of
-Connaught, as otherwise not a man would be left to stay the advance of
-the Fomorians.
-
-Lu of the Long Hand was sorrowful that by his action he had brought
-this curse upon the lands of Erin, yet he knew that it was better than
-the old shame. By the Sun and Moon and Wind he swore that he would do
-all he could to raise a host, and himself give battle to Bras and his
-Fomorians.
-
-With all speed he hasted to Dunree, and was glad indeed when he saw the
-Hill of Tara rise from the plain. For of a surety he held that Nuadh
-of the Silver Hand would join with the princes of Erin and fight the
-invader.
-
-That surety was in vain. Nuadh refused to go into battle.
-
-“When Bras leads his Fomorians towards the Hill of Tara,” he said,
-“that will be time for me to raise the banner against him.”
-
-“Listen, Nuadh of the Silver Hand, art thou not High King?” exclaimed
-Lu.
-
-“Even so, Ildanna.”
-
-“And is not thy first duty to lead the princes of Erin against the
-invader? If we are all as one, we can laugh at Balor of the Evil Eye
-and all the host he sends against us. If we are divided we shall surely
-fall.”
-
-But for all the pleadings of Lu Ildanna, Nuadh refused to take the
-field. He had one answer to all pleas.
-
-“Bras and his Fomorian host do no more than lay waste the lands of
-Connaught. Let then the king of Connaught see to his own. I have sent
-friendly messages to Balor, and in order to keep the peace have offered
-alliance and even to pay tribute again. But till war is declared
-against me I will do nothing.”
-
-Furious against Nuadh of the Silver Hand, Lu Ildanna rode away.
-
-“Dust upon thy home,” he muttered, “were it not for the ruin upon all
-Erin. Nevertheless, I have but one thing to do.”
-
-Lu had not ridden far, when his heart rejoiced because of three strong
-warriors he saw approaching.
-
-These were his father, Kian, and the two brothers of his father, Ald
-and Art. In that day the seven fairest champions in the northlands of
-Erin were Lu himself, Kian and his two brothers, and Brian, Ur, and
-Urba, the sons of Turenn. Each of these was a host in himself, both
-because of his own valour and for the great influence that each had
-upon the clansmen of the north.
-
-In a brief while Lu told all, and begged the aid of these three chiefs
-for Bove Derg, and not for Bove Derg only, but for the honour and
-safety of Erin.
-
-Kian and Ald and Art were wroth with the high king.
-
-“The first duty of a king is kinglihood,” said Kian.
-
-“And without deathless courage a king is dead,” said Ald.
-
-“And without sleepless eyes a king is a sluggard,” said Art.
-
-“A king should be to all men what each man would fain be to himself,”
-said Lu. “My father Kian says well: the first duty of a king is
-kinglihood. But since Nuadh of the Silver Hand is fain to rest at ease
-in his dun, under the safe shadow of Tara, so let him rest. We are men,
-and must act.”
-
-Therewith all took counsel, and while Lu rode westward, to raise
-all whom he could to succour the men of Connaught, Ald and Art rode
-southward.
-
-“I shall go north,” said Kian.
-
-“Why so?” asked Lu, knowing that it would be best for his father to go
-eastward.
-
-“The wind bloweth that way,” answered Kian lightly. But truly enough
-none knew that in that answer and in that riding northward, was the
-beginning of the long and dreadful tragedy of which, for generations
-thereafter, the bards sang as The Fate of the Sons of Turenn.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-At this point Peterkin rose from where he kneeled beside Eilidh, and
-went over to Ian Mor and took his hand and looked long at him.
-
-“These words I have heard you say again and again, Ian--_Ma tha sin an
-Dan_, if it be Destiny--what do they mean?”
-
-“I cannot tell you, Peterkin; for to me they mean everything.”
-
-“But must Kian come to sorrow because he followed the way of the wind?”
-
-“I cannot tell you, Peterkin. But of this you may be sure, that no
-man needs to do this or that thing because of the way of the wind or
-anything else. Only, behind all doings of men there is a wind that
-blows. That is the wind of Destiny. That is what I meant when I said
-that Kian, choosing lightly to go the way of the wind, and by his own
-choice, yet went the way of Fate.”
-
-“And is Fate a man?”
-
-“No.”
-
-“Have you ever seen it?”
-
-“No.”
-
-“Has any one ever seen it?”
-
-“No.”
-
-Peterkin laughed below his breath.
-
-“Ivor Maclean the boatman, told me that ‘an Dan’ was only a shadow
-before and behind, and that none need trouble about a shadow.”
-
-“And what do _you_ think, Peterkin?”
-
-“I think that ‘an Dan’ is only a shadow before and behind; and I laugh
-to see my shadow, but I do not fear it. It is only a shadow.”
-
-“Peterkin is right, Ian,” said Eilidh, in a low voice. “And do you
-remember what was said long ago about wisdom coming out of the mouths
-of little children?”
-
-“Yes,” Ian answered slowly and gravely, “Peterkin is right.”
-
-But Peterkin only laughed merrily, as suddenly he sprang up.
-
-“See,” he exclaimed, “my shadow has leapt from beside me, till now it
-is fading along the wall. When I laughed it leapt away.”
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Well, resumed Ian Mor, Kian was not many miles forth upon the great
-pastures to the north of Tara, when he saw three lordly men riding
-towards him.
-
-They were still a great way off, but Kian the Noble was noted far
-and wide for his keen sight, and he knew who the mailed and shining
-ones were. They were Dedannans, but they were of a clan at bitter feud
-with his own; and his heart quailed as he saw that in that lonely
-place he would have to meet face to face with Brian, Ur, and Urba, the
-sons of Turenn. Far better would it have been for him to ride forward
-fearlessly, and call upon the sons of Turenn to put all enmity aside
-in the face of the bitter danger to Erin because of Bras and his
-Fomorians. But a man born under a dark star must soon or late ride into
-the shadow of that star.
-
-So when Kian had realized that the foes of him and his house were fast
-approaching, he cast about for some way to delude the sons of Turenn.
-Already they had seen the stranger, though they had not recognised him.
-
-In common with all the lords of the Dedannans, Kian carried with him
-a magic wand. With this he could at any time transform himself into
-some living creature. And so it happened that, while he was still
-pondering, he caught sight of a vast herd of swine feeding upon the
-thistle-pastures to the left; and no sooner had he done so than he took
-his wand and changed himself into a boar. His horse, too, he changed;
-and then both, grazing often, joined the great herd, and were soon at
-one with it.
-
-Kian laughed to himself at how he had outwitted the sons of Turenn,
-but oversoon did he laugh. After all he was sorrowful; for it was not
-seemly for a man to change himself into a pig, lest death or some
-disaster came upon him in that guise: for, according as a man’s doom
-came to him, so would he have to bear it.
-
-Meanwhile the three sons of Turenn rode across the plain. Fair to see
-were they, these three comely lords: Brian, the eldest and strongest;
-Ur, the tallest and fairest; and Urba the swift. They had seen Kian
-riding slowly towards them, but had not thought more than that he was
-an emissary from Dunree, where Nuadh of the Silver Hand was. When,
-however, they missed him suddenly, Brian frowned and drew rein.
-
-“Tell me, my brothers,” he exclaimed, “where is he whom a brief while
-ago we saw riding toward us?”
-
-“He is no longer to be seen,” Urba answered. “Yet there is no
-hiding-place that we wot of. If he were lying on the grass, we should
-descry him and his horse from where we now are.”
-
-“They are not on the grass,” said Ur; “for I could see a slim greyhound
-were it lying there.”
-
-Brian pondered awhile. Then he spoke again.
-
-“As ye know well, war is all about us now, and it befits us to be wary.
-It is clear that the man we saw was no friend to us, or why has he
-hidden himself? But I think I know his secret: with a magic wand he has
-turned himself into a pig, and is now among that great herd of swine
-that we see yonder.”
-
-“Then he has escaped us, Brian?”
-
-“Not so, Ur. I too have my magic wand with me; with it I shall now turn
-my two brothers into swift hounds. Ye shall then speed in among these
-swine and see if ye can root out this man, who is surely an enemy.”
-
-And with that Brian took his wand, and changed his brothers into
-hounds; and they raced away with the speed of the wind, while he rode
-swiftly towards a belt of forest which skirted the plain to the rear of
-the herd.
-
-When the baying of the hounds was heard, a panic seized upon the
-swine. Like a great swaying mass of seaweed in the trough of the waves,
-the herd swung to and fro; ever becoming more and more densely packed,
-and squealing and grunting in terror and bewilderment as the two gaunt
-hounds sprang against their heaving masses or dashed to and fro in
-their midst.
-
-At the east they were so driven in upon themselves, that they became
-as one solid mass, close-wedged. Among these dense hundreds it seemed
-impossible for Ur and Urba to find the enchanted man; but while they
-were still running to and fro in their eager quest, Brian saw a pig
-leap from the rear of the herd and run swiftly towards the belt of
-forest.
-
-Brian put his horse upon the wind, as the saying is; and it was a race
-then between the mounted man and the enchanted boar: but just as the
-first undergrowth was nigh Brian came up with the fleeing animal, and
-drove his hunting-spear in betwixt its shoulders.
-
-With a terrible scream the flying boar rolled over; then, with a wild
-human crying and speech, begged for pity.
-
-“Oh, son of Turenn,” it cried, “have pity upon me! Sure it is an evil
-deed to slay me thus, well knowing who I am!”
-
-“I know that thy voice is the voice of a man,” answered Brian, “but I
-know not who thou art. I am Brian, eldest of the sons of Turenn. Tell
-me thy name.”
-
-“He who implores thy mercy, O Brian of the Oak Shaft, is Kian, the
-father of thy comrade in years and arms, Lu of the Long Hand.”
-
-By this time Ur and Urba were beside the victor and the victim, and now
-resumed their human shape. When they heard the pleadings of Kian they
-interceded for him, notwithstanding the deadly feud between the clans
-of Turenn and Kian. But Brian would not listen to their counsel, not
-even when Ur pleaded that great evil might come out of the slaying of
-Kian, nor when Urba urged that this was not the day and the hour for
-such a deed, when Erin needed every man to fight against the Fomorians.
-And, of a truth, that has ever been the sad way of the Gael, who will
-think of the private wrong first, than of the general weal, and so will
-fall as a single tree will fall where a forest would be steadfast.
-
-When Kian saw that his fate was come upon him, and heard Brian swear by
-a sacred oath that he would not spare him though he returned thrice to
-life, or seven times changed his form, he made one last supplication.
-
-“At the least, as ye are honourable men, save me this dishonour. Let
-me not die as a pig, but as a man. I have dropped my magic wand;
-therefore, O Brian, I pray of thee to take thine, and with it restore
-me to mine own form.”
-
-“That shall be done,” said the chief, adding scornfully, “for sure it
-is an easier thing for me to kill a man than a pig.”
-
-But no sooner was Kian a man again than he laughed mockingly.
-
-“Why do you laugh thus?” asked Ur.
-
-“I laugh because I have outwitted ye at the last, ye sons of Turenn.
-What is death to me who have a dust of grey hairs over my once black
-locks, or is death indeed a thing at any time to fear overmuch? Ill as
-it would befit me to die as a pig, still more ill would it be because
-of that which follows death.”
-
-“Speak,” said Ur, though in his heart both he and his brothers knew
-what Kian was about to say.
-
-“I have outwitted ye, as I have said; for if as a pig I had been slain
-by Brian of the Oak Shaft, then ye would have had no other eric to pay
-for me than the eric of a pig, but now ye shall have to pay the eric
-of a man, and upon that the eric of a father of grown sons, and upon
-that the fatherhood eric of each son, and upon that the eric of a great
-lord, and upon that the eric of the broken honour of my son Lu of the
-Long Hand. And I tell ye this, that never has there been, nor ever will
-be, so great an eric as that which ye shall have to pay for this deed
-of thine, so that in the years to come men shall speak of the eric of
-the sons of Turenn as the most difficult and the worst that was ever
-paid in Erin.”
-
-“That may be,” said Brian sullenly, “but we shall slay thee here, in
-this waste place, and none shall know when death came to thee, or where
-thou liest, and for all that thy son Lu is Lu the Ildanna, he shall
-seek in vain to know where the worms make merry upon thee.”
-
-“In the shadow of death I see clearly, and I see that death will not
-put his silence upon me till Lu has learned the evil deed that has been
-done.”
-
-“Spare him,” urged Urba, “for of a surety he is already sore wounded,
-and he did no more than seek to escape us. It would be well, Brian, not
-to have this man’s blood upon us.”
-
-“Spare him,” pleaded Ur, “for innocent blood is an ill thing to spill.
-This man did not come upon us with lifted spear or sword, but, seeing
-that we were three and he one only, sought to escape. It is not a
-knightly deed to take the life of a stricken man, and of one who asks
-for mercy.”
-
-“We will slay him,” said Brian sullenly.
-
-“Remember this,” pleaded Ur, “that if we slay him, Urba and I must pay
-the penalty along with thee, and that it is a hard thing upon us who
-would fain spare this man.”
-
-Brian laughed.
-
-“If ye and Urba fear the eric, ye may go hence at once. I will do my
-own slaying. But ye forget that the sons of Turenn are under _geas_ to
-have no quarrel that is not the quarrel of each, and to fight no fight
-wherein each doth not front it in the same hour and place.”
-
-“We do not forget,” answered Ur and Urba; and each added: “Do as thou
-wilt, Brian, our elder brother.”
-
-So Brian turned to where Kian lay upon the stony thistle-strewn grass.
-
-“Hast thou aught more to say?”
-
-“This only, that no eric ever paid shall be counted as near unto that
-which ye shall have to pay, and that the weapons wherewith ye slay me
-shall cry out to Lu my son, and tell him what ye three have done unto
-me.”
-
-Again Brian laughed.
-
-“Thou who fled before us as a pig shalt die as a trapped beast. We
-shall not give thee the honour of death by the clean sword or the deft
-spear.”
-
-With that he stooped and raised on high a huge angular slab of stone,
-grey below, and mossed and lichened above, and, swaying with the
-weight, hurled it down upon the head of Kian. Then Ur and Urba lifted
-other great stones, and did likewise, because of their bond. And this
-was how death came to Kian the Noble.
-
-When the old chief lay still and white at last, the three sons of
-Turenn made haste to hide his body from sight; so they dug a great hole
-in the sandy grass, and buried the slain man.
-
-There was a strange trembling in the earth that day, a trembling felt
-throughout Erin from sea to sea, and men marvelled and feared.
-
-But none so much marvelled as Brian and Ur and Urba, for when they had
-buried the bruised body of Kian they saw with horror that the shaking
-earth threw it back again. Nevertheless, once more they buried it, and
-deeper, and put heavy stones upon the trodden sods. Then, to their
-still greater horror and amaze, the earth again trembled and again
-threw back the murdered dead.
-
-At that Ur and Urba wished to ride away at once from the accursed
-place, but Brian would not.
-
-“Fate is made by men, as well as that Fate rules men,” he said. “I
-shall not rest content till the earth holds at last the body of Kian,
-son of Kian the White.”
-
-Yet it was not until the seventh time that the earth trembled no more,
-and held within it, beneath a cairn of boulders, the slain body of Kian
-the Noble.
-
-Thereafter the three sons of Turenn rode swiftly away, and that night
-were among the host which had been assembled by Lu of the Long Hand.
-
-On the morrow, on the vast plains of Moytura, the great and terrible
-Battle of the Kites was fought. It was so called because after a day
-of dreadful slaughter the kites and hawks assembled in multitudes, and
-were satiated with the feast of the dead. In that battle the fiercest
-strife was on the part of four heroes: Lu the Ildanna, and the three
-sons of Turenn. For hours the swaying and whirling of spears, the rush
-of javelins, the flashing of swords, the trampling of horses and crash
-of war-chariots, made the plain of Moytura a place of savage din and
-fury. For long it seemed as though the great might and numbers of the
-Fomorians would give the day to Bras, son of Balor of the Evil Eye; but
-so great was the prowess of the Dedannan host, that the Fomorians were
-mowed down as ripe grain.
-
-In the wane of the afternoon, Bras and Lu met at last. The tides of
-war ceased, for all men wished to see the battle-meeting of these two
-champions.
-
-But already Bras had seen that the day had gone against the glory of
-Lochlin, and he knew that an hour hence his great army would be utterly
-routed, and that all who did not straightway escape to the shores of
-Connaught and gain the Fomorian galleys would be tracked and cut down
-like flying wolves.
-
-So he lowered his great spear, and threw his shield upon the ground,
-and thereafter asked Lu to stay the tides of battle, and agreed that
-the day should be accounted as a final victory to the men of Erin.
-And the son of the king of Lochlin further agreed, that if Lu and the
-leaders of the Dedannans would do this, he would give a solemn bond
-to withdraw all the Fomorians from Erin, to cancel for ever the bond
-put upon the Tuatha-De-Danann by Balor of the Evil Eye, and never to
-return again in enmity, neither he nor any Fomorian of the north nor
-southlander of lower Lochlin.
-
-And thus it was that the great battle of Moytura, the Battle of the
-Kites, came to an end. A year thereafter the grass was not yet green,
-and the plain was covered with the white bones of the innumerous dead.
-
-When all was over, and Bras and his defeated army were hasting towards
-the distant Connaught shores, Lu threw from him his blood-stained
-armour and the weapons he was almost too weary to bear. All day he
-had fought, as only the mightiest heroes fight, and many strong and
-valorous men had marvelled at his dauntless courage and at the prowess
-that failed not for one moment.
-
-Glad was Lu of the Long Hand to see Ald and Art, but when he asked how
-his father had fared in the battle, and heard that he had not been
-there, and had been seen of no man that day, he knew that Kian the
-Noble was no longer alive.
-
-“For,” he said, “if my father were alive he would have been with me
-this day, or, if peradventure that were not possible, would have sent
-me a sign. Howsoever this may be, something within me tells that my
-father is no longer among the living. And now, ye who hear me, listen,
-for by the Sun and the Moon and the Wind I swear that I shall not slake
-this bitter thirst of mine, nor rest this over-weary head, until I have
-found how and where and when an evil fate came upon my father, whom I
-loved as I have loved and love none other.”
-
-That night Lu Ildanna, with a hundred chosen men, rode swiftly to Tara,
-but there found no word of Kian.
-
-On the morrow he set forth at dawn, alone; for in a dream it had come
-to him that his father lay moaning beneath the thistle-strewn grass
-on the stony plain of Moy Murhenna. And there, in truth, Lu came upon
-the end of his quest; for as he rode slowly and sadly across the plain,
-whereon he could not discern a living being save a vast herd of swine,
-he heard, as one may hear in a shell, a plaintive sighing.
-
-“What is that sighing?” he cried. “Is it the death-sigh of thee, Kian
-my father?”
-
-There was no answer save the strange sighing, that was not of the
-wind or any moving thing, but seemed now to come from above, now from
-around, now from beneath. But at the third asking, a voice answered,
-thin and feeble:
-
-“It is the death-sighing of me, Kian thy father, O Lu my son.”
-
-“And who put death upon thee, thou who liest there in the darkness of
-the shadow of death?”
-
-“The three sons of Turenn slew me here in this waste place. And because
-that they slew me in no fair strife, and because that they finished
-their slaying by crushing me with great stones till there was not left
-of me one bone alive, I cry to thee, O Lu my son, whom men now call Lu
-the Ildanna, because of thy craft and wisdom, to see that a greater
-eric be exacted for me than has ever yet been exacted in Erin for any
-slain man. And in the end see that thou sparest not, for otherwise
-there shall be a greater bloodshed still; and ill it befits us, who are
-noble, that we should bring a tide of blood over Erin, for no worthier
-cause than the wiping out of that which lies between the clan of Kian
-and the clan of Turenn.”
-
-“As thou sayest, O Kian my father, so shall it be, and even unto the
-end. And this I swear by the Sun and by the Moon and by the Wind.”
-
-Nevertheless, Lu showed no grief till he saw his father’s bruised body
-before him, and then he bewailed bitterly that he had not been nigh
-when the sons of Turenn drove Kian the Noble to his fate; and bitterly
-he lamented that one of the noble Dedannan race should be slain by
-Dedannans; and bitterly he swore that an eric should be exacted such as
-never before had been heard of in Erin, and that in the end, even were
-it fulfilled, he should not spare, because of what Kian had foreseen.
-
-At noon Lu returned from Tara, whither he had gone after he had viewed
-the speechless dead body of his father, with ten chosen men whom he had
-bound to silence.
-
-So once more Kian the Noble was placed in his grave, but now standing,
-as befits a hero. And above the grave they raised a cairn, and midway
-in this cairn was a great slab of smooth stone, whereon Lu Ildanna
-graved in Ogam the name and ancestry and great fame of Kian, son of
-Kian, son of Kian the Thunder-Smith.
-
-But when that night Lu entered Tara again, the whole of the king’s
-town was lit with torches, and resounded with joyous shouts and cries
-because of the great victory of the Dedannans over the Fomorians; nor
-was any name so often named as that of Lu Lamfada, Lu the Long-Handed.
-
-When Lu entered the palace of the king, he was received with a mighty
-shout of welcome, and Nuadh of the Silver Hand himself came to greet
-him, with fair loving words of praise and gratitude. Right glad was the
-king to see Lu come to him thus, for he had feared that the Ildanna
-bore him a bitter grudge because of his having refused his aid to drive
-forth Bras and his Fomorians. Therefore it was that he paid honour
-to Lu Ildanna above all other men, and led him to a seat at his right
-hand, placing him above the whole assemblage of princes and great lords.
-
-But Lu neither smiled nor made any sign of pleasure. His eyes wandered
-round the concourse of the Dedannan chivalry. Suddenly his gaze became
-intent and fixed, for upon three golden-studded seats of honour he
-beheld the three sons of Turenn.
-
-The high king of Erin was about to speak to his chiefs on the great
-matter of rejoicing and counsel which had brought them all together,
-when Lu arose. All stared in amaze, for only some unforeseen emergency
-could justify a noble speaking before the high king had said what he
-had to say.
-
-“O King of Erin,” said Lu slowly, and in a low voice, yet so clear and
-cold and vibrant that it was heard of every man in that vast concourse:
-“O King of Erin, order the chain of silence to be brought hither, and
-let its soft, delicate music be shaken from it, for I have that to say
-that must be heard of all men, and not in their ears only but in their
-hearts and in their minds.”
-
-Therewith the Chain of Silence was brought, and was shaken slowly and
-delicately by the young druid whose charge it was. The sweet low sound
-rose into the air like fragrance, and passed through all the halls in
-Tara, and filled the ears of every man, and the mind of each, and the
-soul of each. There was not a sound in all that place, not a whisper,
-not a sigh.
-
-In that great silence Lu moved forward till he stood beside the king
-and faced the whole assemblage.
-
-“Chiefs and warriors of the Tuatha-De-Danann, I have that to ask ye to
-which I need an answer this day. Tell me this: What would ye do unto
-one who wittingly, and not in battle but shamefully, slew your father,
-and he innocent, even such a man, say, as Kian the Noble?”
-
-There was no whisper of answer. All sat there amazed, marvelling at the
-strange question. But at last Nuadh the King spoke.
-
-“What meaning lives in thy words, Ildanna? For we know that thy father
-Kian is not slain, for he was not in the Great Battle.”
-
-“Nevertheless he is slain, and here in this royal place my eyes behold
-them who slew him.”
-
-When Lu of the Long Hand had spoken these words, every man looked from
-neighbour to neighbour in amaze. But all waited for the king to speak.
-
-“What sayest thou, Nuadh of the Silver Hand, Ardree of Erin?”
-
-“I have this to say, that if a man wittingly, and without the just
-cause of war, slew my father, and he innocent, I would not be content
-with exacting death, but would rather lop him limb from limb daily till
-he died.”
-
-“And what say ye, chiefs and nobles of the Dedannan race?”
-
-“We say as the Ardree says,” cried one and all, save the three who sat
-on golden-knobbed seats near the high king, though these too bowed
-their heads in acquiescence.
-
-“And what say ye, ye sons of Turenn?”
-
-At this all turned and looked upon Brian and Ur and Urba, who sat pale
-and stern. Brian answered for himself and his brothers.
-
-“We say as the high king says.”
-
-“Nuadh of the Silver Hand, Ardree of Erin, and all ye chieftains and
-chiefs and nobles of the Dedannan race, I call ye to witness that this
-man who has spoken slew my father, and that he and his brothers are
-jointly guilty of that foul deed.”
-
-For more than the furthest singing of an arrow, there was silence.
-Neither the king nor any man spoke, but all looked to the sons of
-Turenn to say Yea or Nay. But Brian and Ur and Urba sat in a frozen
-stillness, and moved neither their hands nor their lips, and stared
-only with unwavering eyes upon the white accusing face of the son of
-the murdered Kian.
-
-Then Lu spoke again.
-
-“Behold the men who slew my father. And now, O king, I say not whether
-there were good cause for this slaying: all men know that there was a
-feud between the clans of Kian and Turenn. Nor do I wish to bring evil
-into this house and town of thine. Because one man is dead, there is no
-need that others must die who have nought to do with his death. I have
-come in peace: I would go in peace. But this only I say: I go not hence
-till I have won from the sons of Turenn the vow of my eric.”
-
-“That is right and wise,” answered the king, “and for myself I would
-be well content if, being guilty, I could evade death by paying any
-eric whatsoever.”
-
-At this Brian rose.
-
-“Lu, son of Kian, has spoken inadvisedly, O king. He has accused us of
-a crime, he knowing nothing of when or how that deed was done, and in
-what circumstances, and how made inevitable. Nor, again, have we ever
-admitted that we are guilty of this deed of murder.”
-
-“It is enough. Kian, father of Lu Ildanna, came to his death through ye
-three sons of Turenn. Whatsoever eric Lu may exact, that eric ye shall
-have to pay. Otherwise the lives that ye hold so dear, being your own,
-will no longer have the shelter of this royal place; and as no man’s
-hand can be raised to aid thee, ye shall be at the mercy of Lu of the
-Long Hand, and of whomsoever he may bring against thee.”
-
-For a brief while Brian talked low with his brothers; then he turned
-and addressed Nuadh the king and Lu Lamfada.
-
-“We are for peace, not strife. We say not we are guilty, but we will
-pay the eric that Lu, son of Kian, may demand, save only that it be
-not against the life of Turenn our father.”
-
-“That is well said,” exclaimed Nuadh of the Silver Hand.
-
-“I accept the troth,” said Lu, “and now call upon all here to witness
-that the sons of Turenn have made a solemn pledge.”
-
-There were few there who did not wonder what the eric would be, for all
-knew that Lu was a stern man, and would not rest till he had done his
-utmost to make the sons of Turenn expiate their deed.
-
-Great was their amazement, therefore, when Lu gave forth the eric that
-he demanded.
-
-“The eric I demand is this,” he said: “that ye bring me three apples, a
-certain skin, a spear, two horses and a chariot, seven swine, a hound,
-and a roasting spit. And further, that ye shout three shouts upon a
-hill. Yet, if ye will,” Lu added scornfully, “I shall remit a portion
-of this eric if ye find it too heavy for ye.”
-
-“It is neither heavy nor great,” answered Brian, “if there be no hidden
-evil behind. For by the Sun and Wind I swear that I would not count
-too heavy an eric, three hundreds of thousands of apples, or thrice a
-hundred skins, or many score horses and chariots, spears and hounds, or
-a shouting a hundred times upon a hundred hills.”
-
-“Nevertheless, I do not account it small,” answered Lu gravely. “But
-give me now security that ye shall fulfil this eric to the uttermost.”
-
-“We give ourselves as security.”
-
-“Not so,” exclaimed Lu scornfully. “I will not have the security of
-thyselves.”
-
-“Then I call upon Bove Derg, son of the Dagda, and upon Nuadh of the
-Silver Hand, Ardree of Erin, and upon the score I shall name of the
-foremost chiefs of the Dedannan race, to be our pledge and warranty.”
-
-And after Brian had named the score, all they, and Nuadh the king, and
-Bove Derg, the son of the Dagda, gave the pledge, so that thenceforth
-the sons of Turenn were under solemn _geas_ to fulfil the eric, or die
-in the effort to fulfil that eric, or otherwise bring dishonour upon
-all these noble and great lords, each of whom moreover would be bound
-to seek the lives of Brian and Ur and Urba.
-
-“And now tell us if that is all, O Lu Ildanna, for much I misdoubt me
-if thou hast no evil thought for us behind thy fair-seeming words.”
-
-Thereat all leaned forward and listened eagerly, for each man knew that
-Lu was not vainly called the Ildanna, for there was no one in all Erin
-who had so much knowledge, or whose craft was so greatly to be feared.
-When he had uttered the eric that he demanded, all were at first
-amazed. Then some had thought that he was under _geas_ never to exact
-a great eric, but always the smallest that he might make; but most
-were troubled, for behind these slight exactions they knew that he had
-arrowy intentions.
-
-“Yes, ye sons of Turenn,” Lu Lamfada began slowly, “I shall tell ye now
-what my eric is. I do not think ye shall find it over easy.”
-
-Brian and Ur and Urba rose, but all the host otherwise remained seated.
-The three sons of Turenn leaned upon their spears, and tall and goodly
-warriors they seemed, and worthy of their great fame as three of the
-seven chief champions of Erin.
-
-“First, then, there is this. The skin I demand of ye is one that
-belongs to the king of Greece in the far eastern lands. It is the
-skin of healing. No man need die of wounds who has that skin; and cold
-water, too, it will make into wine. I do not think ye will come easily
-by that skin.
-
-“Second, there is this. The spear I demand of ye is the spear called
-Aradvar, the dreadful spear of Pisarr, Prince of Persia, whose point is
-for ever kept cooling in a cauldron of water, so terrible is its fiery
-thirst, and that thirst for blood. I do not think ye will find the
-spear of Pisarr easy to obtain.
-
-“Third, there is this. The chariot and two horses that I demand of ye
-belong to Dobar, the king of Sicily. They heed neither the rough ways
-of the land nor the rough ways of the sea, but travel equally and at
-the will of him who drives. I do not think ye will find it easy to
-obtain that chariot and its two horses.
-
-“Further, there is this. Far to the south there is a great lord, Asol
-of the Golden Pillars. It is he who owns the seven swine I ask of ye.
-Ye may slay the seven and yet all will remain. They know not death,
-though ye may slay them and feed upon them. There is no death upon
-them. I do not think ye will find it easy to obtain these swine.
-
-“Fifth, there is this. In a further land still, that is called Irrua,
-there is a great and terrible hound named Falinnish. So fierce is he
-that whatever beast comes within sight of him falls in helpless fear. I
-do not think ye will find that hound very easy to obtain, or bring with
-ye from far-off Irrua.
-
-“Sixth, there is this. In the remote seas is an isle called Fiancarya.
-It is there that the sea-women dwell. In caverns beneath the waves they
-roast their food. It is their roasting spit I ask of ye. I do not think
-ye will find it easy to obtain that thing.
-
-“Seventh, there is this. The three apples I ask of ye are of gold,
-and are in an ancient garden in Isberna. That ancient close is well
-guarded, O Sons of Turenn, so that ye may not find it easy even to see
-the wind-waved summits of the trees. I do not think ye will bring back
-these apples.[10]
-
-“And lastly, there is this. In the remotest north of remote Lochlin
-there is a hill called Mekween. It is so called from a man of that
-name who lives there. He is a great and powerful man, and none others
-equal him save only his two sons. So terrible are they that no man dare
-venture into that wild place where they live, save in amity. It was
-with them that my father learned his great craft with the sword; and so
-great will their wrath be that ye have slain him, that even were I to
-forgive ye, they would not. Moreover, Mekween and his sons are under
-_geas_ not to allow a shout to be shouted upon that hill. I do not
-think ye will find it easy to pass the sons of Mekween, nor to shout
-three shouts upon that hill.”
-
-With that, Lu the Ildanna bowed before the king, and sat upon his
-golden chair again.
-
-All men looked with sorrow upon the sons of Turenn. Any of the seven
-_geasan_ of this eric that Lu put upon them was more than enough
-for any hero: how then would they survive till the last, or, having
-survived, how would they bring back with them these things, and how
-escape the wrath of Mekween and his sons?
-
-Nevertheless, the sons of Turenn were now under bond, and they had no
-choice but to do what they could to fulfil their eric.
-
-With sad hearts they left the great beauty and wonder of Tara, and with
-sadder hearts still reached their own land. Here with sorrow they bade
-farewell to Turenn their father and to dark-eyed Enya their sister,
-whom they loved so passing well, and to all their kindred and folk.
-Thereafter they set forth on their long and ever more and more perilous
-quest.
-
-It would have been easy for the sons of Turenn to have passed over into
-Alba, and sought service with the king of that country; or to have gone
-among the Kymri in the inland highlands beyond the isle where Manannan
-had his home: or southward to Lyonesse or into Armorica. But honour
-is a better thing than ease, and it would ill have befit heroes such
-as Brian and Ur and Urba to have evaded their solemn troth. A bitter
-wrong they had done, because of the hereditary feud betwixt the clans
-of Turenn and Kian: but now there was one thing only to do, and that
-to fulfil the eric put upon them by Lu, son of Kian. Moreover, Nuadh
-the Ardree and Bove Derg, son of the Dagda, and a score of the noblest
-lords in Erin were their warranty that they would do this thing.
-
-So, one day of the days, they set forth from Erin: and sad indeed were
-they when across the foam they took their last look at Dun Turenn and
-at the dear familiar hill of Ben Edar.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-For that night Peterkin heard no more of the story of the Fate of the
-Sons of Turenn; but all the next evening, and the next again, he sat
-entranced by the strange moving tale of how Brian and Ur and Urba one
-by one fulfilled the hard and perilous conditions of their eric, and
-this until the sixth was done.
-
-But here, now, this tale cannot be told in full. To tell it aright
-would need a volume not less than this is.
-
-It must suffice that after innumerable hardships, after fierce cold
-and fiercer heat, after hunger and thirst and daily perils by land
-or sea, and strange and frightful encounters, and hazardous fights
-with monsters and wild men and kings and princes, the sons of Turenn
-found themselves sailing towards the remote north of Lochlin, having
-accomplished the six seeming impossible conditions.
-
-That nigh-impossible task, indeed, had been made possible by the magic
-boat of Manannan, called the Sweeper of the Waves, which they had won
-from Lu by unlooked-for wile. For before they had left Tara they had
-played a game of chess with Lu Ildanna, well knowing that Lu was under
-_geas_ never to refuse to play at chess when asked by any Dedannan, or
-to pay the hazard that was decided upon, whatsoever it might be. There
-was no player in all Erin to surpass Ur, though few knew this, for he
-was little given to talk, and still less of his own doings.
-
-First Urba had offered to play with Lu, and the hazard of that play
-was to be the life of Lu Ildanna. “I will play that hazard,” he said,
-“if thou wilt pay the like penalty if thou dost lose.” But when
-Urba refused, he could play no more, because he had declined the
-counter-hazard.
-
-Then Brian had offered to play, and the hazard of that play was to be
-Daurya, the beautiful daughter of a great lord, whom Lu loved. “I will
-play that hazard,” he said, “if, in return, thou wilt pledge me Enya of
-the Dark Eyes, thy sister.” But when Brian refused this hazard, he too
-could play no more with Lu until Lu asked him.
-
-Then Ur played, and the hazard of that play was the “Sweeper of the
-Waves,” Manannan’s magic boat. “I will play that hazard,” Lu said, “if
-in return thou wilt sail in it, and affront Manannan to his face.” To
-that Ur agreed, and they played, and Ur won.
-
-This magic boat would sail swiftly and safely in any sea whether calm
-or tempest-wrought, and at a word would make for any coast or haven;
-more like a great bird it was, or some creature of the air and sea.
-
-“White shall be thy foamy track,” cried Lu as they sailed away; “but
-red everywhere shall be the wake behind ye.”
-
-And so it was. For death and the bitterness of the sword were ever in
-their way and in their wake. Nevertheless, they unceasingly rejoiced in
-their possession of the Sweeper of the Waves, and when their eric-quest
-took them into far eastern lands beyond the reach of great rivers, they
-hid their precious vessel, or bade it lie till it heard their summoning
-voice.
-
-And so at the last it happened that the sons of Turenn won the three
-golden apples out of the guarded close in Isberna; and by craft and
-daring carried away from Sicily the famous chariot and two steeds
-which had no peer in all the world; and from Asol of the Golden
-Pillars, who gave them in ransom for his life, they took the seven
-deathless swine; and from its cauldron in the heart of a hostile city
-they snatched the terrible spear of Pisarr; and the far-famed skin of
-healing they brought away from the palace of Toosh, king of Greece,
-whose head they left idly rolling upon his marble floor; and in far
-Irrua they put captivity upon the terrible hound Falinnish; and in the
-wild seas of Fiancarya they dared the sea-women in their caverns under
-the waves, and took from them the roasting spit that Lu had demanded.
-
-All this they did, and much else in the doing of these wonders. And now
-nothing remained but to shout three shouts upon the hill of Mekween;
-and to this end they sailed blithely and swiftly towards the far north
-of Lochlin.
-
-But meanwhile, in far-away Erin, Lu Ildanna became aware, by his
-subtle magic and knowledge, that the sons of Turenn had one by one
-accomplished all but the last of the bitter tasks of the eric he
-had set upon them. He had not deemed this fulfilment possible, but
-while greatly he marvelled that courage and endurance could so bring
-impossible things to pass, he dreaded lest the sons of Turenn should
-prevail in the last task also. For if they came back to Erin with
-all that great eric fulfilled, then would there be a blood-shedding
-terrible indeed.
-
-Moreover, Lu Ildanna, who saw far ahead of the things of the moment,
-was even now preparing for that second great battle upon the Plain of
-Moytura which he knew would come again; and a battle mightier and more
-desperate than the last, or than ever was seen in Erin before. Great
-warrior as he was, and lordly as was the war-host of the Dedannans, he
-feared this final battle unless he had at least half of the eric he had
-set upon the sons of Turenn--and, above all, the Spear of Pisarr, the
-Skin of Healing, and the War-chariot of the Sicilian king. Therefore he
-longed for the return of his foes, the sons of Turenn; yet feared that
-they should come back having accomplished all.
-
-So on a day of the days he made a deep and potent spell, and sent this
-spell forth to work its noiseless and invisible way across land and sea
-and under the flaming sun and the white glister of the stars, till it
-should find the Sweeper of the Waves.
-
-So forth that subtle spell went, and when it reached at last the
-Sweeper of the Waves it crawled stealthily into the great boat, and
-wound itself about the weary bodies of Brian and Ur and Urba, and moved
-into their brains, filled as they were with dreams of Erin and of home.
-
-The spell was the spell of oblivion, but they knew it not.
-
-And so it chanced that they could no longer understand why it was they
-sailed northward, nor had they any memory of the last obligation of the
-eric, and thought neither of Mekween and his sons, nor of the doom put
-upon them by Lu, nor of the vanity of all their long quest and brave
-endurance if they returned with the eric unfulfilled in the least part.
-
-It was with joy that they set their prow for green Erin; and with joy
-that they saw again its green grassy hills above its white shores; and
-with joy that they recognised Ben Edar and Dun Turenn; and with joy
-that they kissed once more Turenn their father and Enya of the Dark
-Eyes, their sister, and knew themselves back at last from all their
-weary wandering and endless peril and strife.
-
-Great was the marvelling at what they brought back, and the oldest
-druids admitted that never in the history of Erin had so great a wonder
-been done.
-
-Alas! theirs was but a brief joy.
-
-Lu Ildanna said nothing till he had put away all the treasures of that
-eric. Then he said gravely:
-
-“All is accomplished save one thing. Have ye shouted three shouts upon
-the hill of Mekween?”
-
-And as he spoke he broke the spell, so that suddenly Brian and Ur and
-Urba remembered, and with shame and grief had to say that this last
-thing they had not done.
-
-In vain did Turenn supplicate for his sons, in vain even was the
-pleading of the king. Lu had but one answer. “All else is as nought if
-they have not done this thing--to shout three shouts upon the hill of
-Mekween.”
-
-So once more the sore-tried heroes set forth, but with dim
-presentiments of woe; for now they had neither the Skin of Healing nor
-the Sweeper of the Waves, for these had been taken away by Lu, and he
-would not give them again.
-
-Nevertheless, they reached their goal. A great and terrible fight
-was theirs with Mekween and his sons Conn and Corc and Ae--the most
-terrible fight, the old bards say, which was ever fought between six
-men--for at the beginning the sons of Turenn slew Mekween.
-
-At dusk on that disastrous day six gashed and mutilated men lay in the
-swoon of death. Out of that swoon, three men never waked, and these
-were Conn and Corc and Ae: and two had not strength to move even when
-they waked, and these were Ur and Urba; and Brian alone staggered to
-his feet, and stared through a mist of blood.
-
-When at last the eldest of the sons of Turenn looked upon his brothers,
-and saw their glassy eyes staring idly at the sunrise, he feared that
-they too were dead. Then he saw that the pulse of life still flickered.
-Weak as he was, he took first Ur upon his shoulders, and bore him up
-the rocky slope to the ridge of the hill of Mekween; and then returned
-and bore Urba thither also.
-
-Then it was that three thin, faint shouts went forth upon the hill,
-so thin and faint that the browsing stags on the uplands did not lift
-their heads.
-
-Thus was it that the Great Eric was fulfilled.
-
-But, alas! the piteous tale of their return. None could tell aright
-that woe-stricken, death-weary voyage of three dying men, upborne by
-one hope only--that they might free their name and clan from the eric
-put upon them, and lay their accusing deaths at the feet of Lu Ildanna.
-
-Yet hardly might they do even this. For as they drew nigh the coasts of
-Erin once more, Ur and Urba spoke to Brian and supplicated him to raise
-their heads, so that, before they died, they might see again the green
-hills of their beloved Banba, and high Ben Edar, and their home Dun
-Turenn.
-
-But to this Brian made answer:
-
-“Dear brothers, too great is my weakness, for I am now even as ye are.
-Lo! through my gaping wounds one of these birds that skim above us
-might fly, and be not snared within me.”
-
-After that, they spake no word till the galley grided against the sands
-of Erin.
-
-Soon all in Dun Turenn and in all the lands of Edar knew that Brian,
-Ur, and Urba were come again; but sorrowful were they indeed to see,
-instead of the three proud heroes, only three wasted men like unto
-shadows. Neither Ur nor Urba could speak, but Brian’s voice could rise
-to a thin whisper.
-
-With halting breath he bade his father hasten to Tara, and tell Lu
-Lamfada that now all the eric was paid at last; and then beseech him,
-by his honour and fair name, and for the glory of the old Dedannan
-faith, and by the invocation of the Sun and Moon and Wind, to lend to
-the three perishing sons of Turenn, the Skin of Healing, so that their
-lives might not flicker out as the flame of spent torches.
-
-But, alas! Lu would not yield to that prayer, not even when the grey
-hairs of Turenn were at his feet. Then once more Brian besought his
-father; and now it was that he bade his father put him upon a litter,
-and bear him gently, because of his open wounds, and lay him at the
-feet of Lu.
-
-And when he was there, Brian said this thing:
-
-“Behold, O Lu Ildanna, son of Kian, we have fulfilled the heaviest eric
-ever exacted of any man since the world was made. And now we ask this
-one thing alone: one hour only of the Healing Skin that we ourselves
-brought unto thee. Yet not for myself I ask this, if thou desirest my
-life, since it was I who slew thy father, but for my brothers Ur and
-Urba. And if not for them--though they are guiltless of this ill, and
-are with me in this dire plight because they would not forsake me,
-but made my fortune their fortune--then for the sake of the old hero
-Turenn, who was comrade in arms with thy father Kian when both were
-youths. And by the Sun, and by the Moon, and by the Wind, and by thine
-honour, I cry to thee to be merciful, and to do this thing.”
-
-But Lu smiled a bitter, evil smile. Half that smile was from the cruel
-revengefulness in his breast, and half because he feared that if Brian
-and Ur and Urba lived, there would be an end of the Dedannan race, for
-the fierce internecine wars which would be in Erin.
-
-“I would not give thee the Skin, Brian, though all thy race, nay, not
-though every man and woman in the eastlands were to perish with thee.
-Go hence, and in the shadow of death remember the eric unto death of
-Lu the Long-Handed.”
-
-So Brian went forth upon his litter, with the death-sweat already upon
-him.
-
-That night a long and bitter lamentation went up from Dun Turenn, and
-the Beacons of Death flared upon Ben Edar. For, at the setting of the
-sun, Brian and Ur and Urba breathed out their souls into the light, and
-these moved swift to Flathinnis, the holy island where are gathered all
-the souls of heroes.
-
-Yet on their way to join the innumerous deathless dead, they halted
-once, for they heard a thin voice crying upon the wind. It was the
-voice of Turenn their father.
-
-In one great grave before the mighty dun, the four were buried, erect,
-and sword in hand. And on a slab midway in the vast cairn of stones
-that was erected thereon, was writ in branching Ogam the names and
-glory of Turenn and his three sons. For three days the people wept.
-Then, as the wont was, Enya of the Dark Eyes decreed the funeral games.
-
-And so these heroes died, and with them went the third part of the
-perishing glory of the Tuatha-De-Danann.
-
-For in the end, that which is to be, is. There is no gainsaying the
-slow, sure word of Fate. And, too, there is this thing to be said. The
-wind in the grass outlasts the branching Ogam graven in granite, and
-the granite cenotaph itself, and the powdered dust of that granite.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-  Darthool and the
-  Sons of Usna
-
-
-
-
-            “the story this
-    Of her, the morning star of loveliness,
-    Unhappy Helen of a western land.”
-
-          _“Deirdrê.” Trs. by Dr. Douglas Hyde._
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: A great raven, glossy black, and burnished in the sun
-rays.
-
-  _To face p. 177._]
-]
-
-
-
-
-  Darthool and the
-  Sons of Usna
-
-
-The story I will tell you now, Peterkin, is more beautiful, though not
-so old.
-
-In all the regions of the Gael throughout Scotland, and in every isle,
-from Arran and Islay in the south, to Iona in the west, and Tiree in
-mid-sea, and the Outer Hebrides, there is no story of the old far-off
-days so well known as that of Darthool.
-
-She it is who in Ireland is called Deirthrê or Deirdrê; and in Ireland
-to this day there is not a cowherd who has not heard of Deirdrê.
-
-Her beauty filled the old world of the Gael with a sweet, wonderful,
-and abiding rumour. The name of Deirdrê has been as a lamp to a
-thousand poets. In a land of heroes and brave and beautiful women,
-how shall one name survive? Yet to this day and for ever, men will
-remember Deirdrê, the torch of men’s thoughts, and Grainne whom Diarmid
-loved and died for, and Maev who ruled mightily, and Fand whose white
-feet trod faery dew, and many another. For beauty is the most excellent
-sweet thing in all the world, and though of it a few perish, and a
-myriad die from knowing nothing of it, beneath it the nations of men
-move forward as their one imperishable star. Therefore he who adds
-to the beauty of the world is of the sons of God. He who destroys or
-debases beauty is of the darkness, and shall have darkness for his
-reward.
-
-The day will come, Peterkin, when you will find a rare and haunting
-music in these names. They will bring you a lost music, a lost world,
-and imperishable beauty. You will dwell with them, till you love
-Deirdrê as did the sons of Usna, and would die for her, or live to
-see her starry eyes; till you look longingly upon the Grainne of your
-dreams, and cry as Diarmid did, when he asked her, as death menaced
-them, if even yet she would go back, and she answered that she would
-not: “Then go forward, O Grainne!”
-
-Many poets and shennachies have related this tale. I have heard it
-given now this way, and now that; sometimes with new names and scenes,
-sometimes with other beginnings and endings; but at heart it is ever
-the same. Nor does it matter whether the father of Deirdrê be Felim,
-the warrior bard of the Ultonians, or Malcolm the Harper, or any other,
-or whether the fair and sweet beauty of the world be called Deirdrê or
-Darthool. But as here in our own land she is called Darthool, that I
-will call her.
-
-I will tell the story as it is told in the old chronicles, and to
-this day, and if I add aught to it, that shall only be what I myself
-heard when I was young, and had from the lips of an old woman, Barabal
-Mac-Aodh, who was my nurse. She came out of Tiree or Coll, I forget
-which.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Well, in the ancient dim days when Emania was the capital of the
-Ultonians, the fair and wonderful capital of the kingdom of Ulster,
-and before Maev, the queen of the south, had buried the chivalry of
-the north in dust and blood, there came into the realm of Concobar the
-Ultonian king, whom some call Conor and some Connachar, three of the
-noblest and fairest of the youths of the world. These are they who
-then bore, and in all the years since have borne, the name of the Sons
-of Usna, who was himself, some say, a feudal king, in Alba.[11]
-
-It is because of these three heroes that this story I am relating is
-often called the story of the Sons of Usna. But first, I have that to
-tell you which precedes the time when Nathos,[12] and Ailne, and Ardan,
-stood in the house of Concobar the high king.
-
-This Concobar was a great prince. He was known as Concobar MacNessa,
-for though he was the son of Fatna the Wise, son of Ross the Red, son
-of Rory, Nessa his mother was a famous queen, and had indeed by her
-beauty and her wiles brought Concobar to the overlordship of Uladh[13]
-when he was yet a youth.
-
-In many of the tales of the old far-off days, you will hear the rumour
-of the splendour and wonder of the city of Emania. In Concobar’s
-time it was called Emain Macha, for it had been built by a great and
-beautiful queen--Macha Mongruay, Macha of the Ruddy Hair. A thousand
-times have poets chanted of Emain Macha, and in the ancient days the
-bards loved to sing also of Macha herself. Here is an old far-off lay:
-
-    “O ’tis a good house, and a palace fair, the dun of Macha,
-    And happy with a great household is Macha there;
-    Druids she had, and bards, minstrels, harpers, knights,
-    Hosts of servants she had, and wonders beautiful and rare,
-    But nought so wonderful and sweet as her face, queenly fair,
-                O Macha of the Ruddy Hair!
-
-    The colour of her great dun is the shining whiteness of lime,
-    And within it are floors strewn with green rushes and couches white,
-    Soft wondrous silks and blue gold-claspt mantles and furs
-    Are there, and jewelled golden cups for revelry by night:
-    Thy grianan of gold and glass is filled with sunshine-light,
-                O Macha, queen by day, queen by night!
-
-    Beyond the green portals, and the brown and red thatch of wings
-    Striped orderly, the wings of innumerous stricken birds,
-    A wide shining floor reaches from wall to wall, wondrously carven
-    Out of a sheet of silver, whereon are graven swords
-    Intricately ablaze; mistress of many hoards
-                Art thou, Macha of few words!
-
-    Fair indeed is thy couch, but fairer still is thy throne,
-    A chair it is, all of a blaze of wonderful yellow gold:
-    There thou sittest, and watchest the women going to and fro,
-    Each in garments fair and with long locks twisted fold in fold:
-    With the joy that is in thy house men would not grow old,
-                O Macha, proud, austere, cold.
-
-    Of a surety there is much joy to be had of thee and thine,
-    There in the song-sweet sunlit bowers in that place:
-    Wounded men might sink in sleep and be well content
-    So to sleep, and to dream perchance, and know no other grace
-    Than to wake and look betimes on thy proud queenly face,
-                O Macha of the Proud Face!
-
-    And if there be any here who wish to know more of this wonder,
-    Go, you will find all as I have shown, as I have said:
-    From beneath its portico thatched with wings of birds blue and
-        yellow
-    Reaches a green lawn, where a fount is fed
-    From crystal and gems: of crystal and gold each bed
-                In the house of Macha of the Ruddy Head.
-
-    In that great house where Macha the queen has her pleasaunce
-    There is everything in the whole world that a man might desire.
-    God is my witness that if I say little it is for this,
-    That I am grown faint with wonder, and can no more admire,
-    But say this only, that I live and die in the fire
-                Of thine eyes, O Macha, my desire,
-                With thine eyes of fire!”[14]
-
-It was in this wonderful forefront of Ulster that Concobar reigned.
-The fame of Emain Macha was throughout Gaeldom; and there was no man
-or woman who, as the days went by, did not hear of the greatness of
-Concobar.
-
-On a day of the days, the king went with his chief lords on a visit to
-the dun of Felim, a warrior and harper whom he loved. There was to be
-great feasting, and all men were glad. Felim himself rejoiced, though
-he would fain have had the king come to him a few days later, for his
-wife was heavy with child, and looked for her hour that very day or the
-next.
-
-In the midmost of the feast, Concobar saw that Cathba, an aged Druid
-who had accompanied him, was staring into the other world that is about
-us.
-
-“Speak, Cathba,” he said. “There is no man in all Erin who has wisdom
-like unto thine. What is it that thou seest, with the inner sight that
-I perceive well is now upon thee?”
-
-“Old as I am with the heavy burden of years and sorrow, O Concobar,
-did I not beg that I might come with thee to this festival at the dun
-of Felim? And that was not because I wearied to hear strange harping
-and singing, good and fine and better than our own as this harping is
-here, in the house of Felim; for I am old and weary, and care more to
-listen to the wind in the grass, or to the sighing upon the hill, than
-to any music of war or love.”
-
-“Then what was it that was in thy mind, Cathba?”
-
-“This, O king. I saw a shadow arise whenever I thought of our Ultonian
-realm, and I felt within me the burden of a new prophecy. Nevertheless,
-I was moved by naught till I entered the dun of Felim, and now I know.”
-
-“Speak,” said the king; while all there listened with awe as well as
-eagerness, for Cathba was the wisest of the Druids, and knew many
-mysteries, and what he had foretold had ever come to pass. Slowly, the
-white-haired Druid looked around the faces of all seated there. Then he
-looked at the king. Then he looked at Felim.
-
-“To thee, O Felim, shall be born this night a sting, a sword, a
-battering-ram, and a flame.”
-
-Felim the Harper stared with intent gaze, but said nothing. Of what
-avail to say aught against the decrees of the gods?
-
-“This night shall that which I have said be born unto thee, O Felim.
-The sting will sting to madness him who is king of the Ultonians; the
-sword will sever from Uladh the chief of her glories, the proud Red
-Branch for which Concobar and all his chivalry shall perish; the ram
-shall batter down the proud splendour of Emain Macha; the flame shall
-pass from dun to dun, from forest to forest, from hill to hill, from
-the isles of Ara on the west to the shores of the sea-stream of the
-Moyle on the north, and to those of the sea of Manannan in the east.”
-
-Still Felim answered nothing. Then the king spoke:
-
-“Thy words come in dust, like wind-whirled autumn leaves. We have not
-thy further sight, Cathba, and understand thee not.”
-
-Then once more Cathba spake out of the dream that was upon him:
-
-“Two stars I see shining in a web of dusk; and, in the shadow of that
-dusk, a low tower of ivory and white pearls I see, and a strange
-crimson fruit; and through all and over all I hear the low, sweet
-vibration of the strings of a harp, a harp such as the Dedannan folk
-play upon in the moonshine in lonely places, but sweeter still, sweeter
-and more wonderful.”
-
-“Is this thy second vision one and the same with thy first, O Cathba?”
-asked the king.
-
-“Even so. For the shining stars are her eyes, and the web of dusk is
-the flower-fragrant maze of her hair, that low tower of ivory is her
-fair, white, wonderful neck, and her white teeth are these pearls, and
-that strange crimson fruit is no other than her smiling mouth--a little
-smiling mouth with life and death upon it because of its laughter and
-grave stillness. As for that harp-playing, it is her voice I hear--a
-voice more soft and sweet and tender than the love-music of Angus Ogue
-himself. O shining eyes, O strange crimson fruit that is a little
-smiling mouth, O sweet voice that is more excellent to hear than the
-wild music of the Hidden People of the hills--it is of ye, of ye that I
-speak, and of thee, O tender, delicate fawn, in all thy loveliness.”
-
-None spake, but all stared at the Druid. For dream was upon them at
-these words, and each man imagined his desire, and was wrought by it,
-and was rapt in strange longing.
-
-It was Concobar who broke the silence.
-
-“Of whomsoever thou speakest, Cathba, she is surely of the divine folk.
-That exceeding loveliness is for the joy or the sorrow of the world.”
-
-Only Felim the Harper was troubled, for now he knew well that the
-ancient Druid spoke of the unborn child with whom even then his wife
-was in travail. But no sooner had Concobar ceased than Cathba rose,
-with his great dark eyes aflame beneath his white eye-brows. His voice
-was loud and terrible.
-
-“Behold, I see this thing; behold the vision of Cathba the Druid, who
-is old and nigh unto death. And what is before mine eyes is a sea, a
-sea of flowing crimson, a sea of blood. Foaming it rises, and wells
-forth, and overflows, and drowns great straths and valleys, and laves
-the flanks of high hills, and from the summits of mountains pours down
-upon the lands of the Gael in a thundering flood, blood-red to the
-blood-red sea.”
-
-But now the spell of silence was broken. All leaped to their feet, and
-many put their hands upon their swords. There was not one who did not
-fear the prophesying of Cathba the wise Druid. That deluge of blood,
-was it not a terror, a great ruin to avert?
-
-“If this child that the wife of Felim the Harper is to bear this
-night be a blood-bringer so terrible,” they cried, “let us slay her
-at birth. For surely it is better to kill a child than to destroy a
-nation.”
-
-So spake they out of their ignorance that they thought wisdom. For they
-did not know that there is no thought, no power, no spell, no craft,
-wherewith to turn aside the feet of Destiny. What has to be, will be,
-and no man living can say or do aught that is of avail against the
-inevitable tides of Fate.
-
-For the first time since Cathba had prophesied, Felim uttered word.
-
-“Listen, my kinsmen and fellow-knights of the Red Branch. A sore pity
-is it for my wife Elva to bear a daughter that shall be a sting to
-sting the king to madness, and a sword to sever the Red Branch from
-Uladh, our fair heritage, and a ram to break down the walls of Emania,
-and a flame to consume the land from shore to shore. And as for that
-sea of blood, let it not be upon my head. For I, the father of the
-child of Elva, that Cathba says is to be a woman-child and of a beauty
-wonderful to see, say unto ye: That which ye would fain do, do. If it
-seems good unto ye, O Concobar, and ye of the Red Branch, let this
-child perish, so that the doom foretold by Cathba may be averted.”
-
-At that all were glad save Concobar. Two men was he, this king: a man
-who recked little of aught save his desire, and a man who had wisdom.
-Out of his wisdom he knew that Felim and the Red Branch lords spoke
-madness, for if it was ordained that the child of Elva should bring
-doom, that doom would surely come. Out of his longing he loved the
-beauty of which Cathba had spoken, and desired it against the years to
-come, and for the solace of his years when he had loved much and at the
-last was fain only of that which was the crown of life. So he spoke to
-those before him, and prevailed with them. Not vainly was he called
-Concobar of the Honeymouth.
-
-“I will speak first to thee, Felim, son of Dall, my bard. It is not
-good to put death upon the fruit of one’s loins. Thine own child should
-not see death through thee. But even were it so, it is not meet for me
-or for any one to bring the shame and pain of death to the house of a
-friend. Therefore, do not speak of putting silence and darkness upon
-the child of Elva.”
-
-Having spoken thus, the king turned to the lords of the Red Branch. As
-the wont was, at the royal festivals there were five and three score
-over three hundred of the Red Branch there and then.[15]
-
-“And to ye, Ultonians, I say this thing also. Do not bring blood into
-the hospitable home of Felim; that would be a stain upon him, upon
-ye yourselves, and upon me the king. But this is my counsel. Let the
-child live. There is no good in idle blood, and if ye stain yourselves
-with it, there shall be greater loss and sorrow to follow. Ye are all
-grown men, and not boys who do not know our laws. Ye know the Law of
-the Eric. Well, I will free ye of all doom, for upon my head be it.
-To myself I will take this fair child, and upon me, and not upon the
-Ultonians, nor upon the Red Branch, nor upon any other whomsoever save
-Concobar MacNessa, the high king, be the penalty, if penalty there be.”
-
-At that a son of a king arose.
-
-“That is well, O Concobar. But what of Cathba’s prophecy? We do not
-wish to see the sting that shall sting thee to madness, and if the
-child live shall we not see that sting?”
-
-“Of that I have thought, that I have foreseen, Congal, son of Rossa of
-the Lakes. For I shall send the child into a lonely place, and there
-in a solitary rath shall she dwell and grow in years, and no man shall
-look upon her save I myself, and that only in the fulness of time. She
-shall be solitary and apart as the Crane of Innisbea, that has dwelt
-upon its isle since the world was made, and is seen of none.”
-
-“Tell us once more, Concobar MacNessa; dost thou take this child, and
-the doom of this child unto thee, and to thee alone?”
-
-“I have sworn. She shall grow in years, and be wife to me when the time
-is come. And if sorrow come with her, that sorrow shall be my sorrow.
-Not upon Uladh be it, but upon me. I have spoken.”
-
-“And as for thee, Felim?”
-
-“It would be better to slay the child than to drown the land in blood.”
-
-“And as for thee, Cathba?”
-
-“There is but one law: that which has to come, cometh.” But while they
-were thus debating, the loud chanting voices of women were heard,
-and soon a messenger came, crying loudly that a child had been born
-to Elva, wife of Felim, and that it was a woman-child, and exceeding
-comely, and strong, and white as milk.
-
-Once more Cathba the Druid spoke.
-
-“She shall be called Darthool,[16] this woman whose beauty shall be a
-flame, and whose eyes shall be as stars.”
-
-And so it was. The child was spared, and that night Elva slept in
-peace, and for many nights.
-
-When the days of the feasting were over, Concobar left the dun of
-Felim, and returned with all his company to Emania. With him he took
-the little child Darthool, and Elva came with him for a month and a day.
-
-The month and the day soon passed, and then Elva went back to her own
-place. It was the will of the high king and of Felim, her husband;
-nevertheless, she sorrowed to part with her little child, who, even as
-a breast-babe, had eyes of so great a beauty that it was a joy to look
-into them.
-
-Before the year was over--for, according to what Cathba the wise Druid
-said, the child must either be slain or hidden away before the first
-year of her life were past--Concobar sent Darthool with the nursing
-woman to whom he entrusted her, to a small _lios_, or fort, deep in the
-heart of the royal forest. A ban was upon that forest that none might
-hunt or even stray there without the king’s will; and now that ban was
-made absolute, and it was known that death would be the portion of any
-man who went under these branches. None was to enter that woodland save
-Concobar, or whosoever might be of his chosen company, or whom the king
-might thither lead.
-
-Concobar himself saw that food and milk was sent in plenty to the lios,
-and once in every seven days he went thither himself. As year after
-year passed the secret of the hiding-place of Darthool went out of
-men’s minds, and none knew of the lios save the king, and the sister
-of the nursing woman, who was his own foster-child and under _geas_ or
-bond to him. This woman was named Lavarcam (_Leabharcham_), and was
-fair to see, and whom Concobar held to be discreet and trustworthy
-beyond any other of his own people. She was of the royal household,
-and of the women trained as chroniclers and relaters.[17]
-
-The little starry-eyed babe grew to a child, and from a child to a fawn
-of a girl, fair to see, and from a young girl to a maid, of a beauty so
-great that Concobar knew when she came to full womanhood she would be
-indeed as Cathba the Druid had prophesied.
-
-Darthool saw no one but her nurse, and the tutor whom the king had sent
-to teach her all that could be taught, and not only in learning, but in
-courtesy and nobility; and Lavarcam, who alone went to and fro. From
-the time that Darthool passed out of her first girlhood the king saw
-little of her, but twice in each year--at the Festival of the Sun in
-the time of the greening, and at the Festival of end Summer at the fall
-of the leaf; and this because of a warning that had been given him by
-Cathba the ancient Druid.
-
-How can the beauty of so fair and sweet a woman be revealed? Her
-loveliness was even as Cathba had foretold. It was a surpassing
-loveliness, and the three women who saw her often marvelled at it,
-and wondered no more that Darthool should be kept apart, for of a
-surety she would be a torch to put flame into the hearts of men, and
-to set great duns and raths and towered capitals and warring nations
-ablaze. The poets have sung of her, and no man has sung but out of
-his deep desire. Her great sad eyes, so full of dream, were blue as
-are the hill-tarns at noon, and often dusky as they when passing
-clouds put purple into their depths; and like a golden web her hair
-was, sprayed out with shining light, wonderful, glorious; and her
-rowan-red lips were indeed that strange crimson fruit which Cathba
-had foreseen--rowan-red against the cream-white softness of her skin.
-Cream-white her body was, and her neck like a tower of ivory; slim and
-graceful was she as a fawn, and fleet of foot as the wild roes on the
-hills, and when she moved in the sunlight or the shadow she was so
-beautiful that tears came at times to the eyes of the women in that
-lonely place. Yet even more wonderful was her voice--low and sweet and
-with music in it, like the whisper of the wind among the reeds, or the
-ripple of green leaves, or the murmuring of a brook.
-
-But now and from this time forth Concobar did not see her. For a year
-and a day after she attained womanhood, Cathba had warned the king it
-would mean death to him if he saw her. Nevertheless, he often heard of
-Darthool from Lavarcam, who in her going to and fro had ever one thing
-to say--that never had there been any woman so beautiful.
-
-The rumour of this great loveliness spread from lip to lip. Yet no man
-ventured to seek out the hidden place where Darthool dwelled, for to
-all it was known that Concobar kept her there against the time when he
-would make her his queen, and all feared the long arm and the heavy
-hand of Concobar Mac Nessa. None might even question the king.
-
-It was in this year that the shadows of the feet of Fate came into that
-place.
-
-One day when Lavarcam told the king that Darthool grew fairer and
-fairer, so that even the wild creatures of the forest rejoiced in her,
-he all but yielded to his desire. Nevertheless, fearing the prophetic
-voice, he refrained, but cried: “When the snow time has passed, and the
-first greening is over, and the wild rose runs like a flame throughout
-the land, then will I go to Darthool.”
-
-But before the greening was lost in the tides of summer, and before
-the wild rose had begun to run like a windy flame throughout the land,
-Concobar had learned that Destiny waits on no man.
-
-One dawn the first snows came over the hills of the north and fell upon
-the forest. At the rising of the sun they ceased, but every branch was
-a white plume, and every glade was smooth and white as was the breast
-of Darthool herself. There was no wind in the deep blue sky, but the
-air was sharp and sweet because of the frost. For joy Darthool clapped
-her hands, as she stood upon the wall of the lios.
-
-Then, glancing downward, she beheld the woman who was her attendant
-standing beside a calf that had been slain for the provisioning of
-those within the fort. The red blood streamed over the snow, and was as
-the crimson cloak of an Ultonian chief there, till the red grew mottled
-as it sank through the frozen whiteness.
-
-Darthool’s eyes ever saddened at the sight of blood, but after a brief
-while she knew that there was no harm in that shedding, and that no
-omen of further bloodspilling lay therein. While she was still looking
-thereon, a great raven, glossy black and burnished in the sun rays,
-came gliding swift across the snow, and alit by the slain calf, and
-drank of the warm bright blood.
-
-Of a sudden Darthool laughed low. It was a sweet shy laugh, and
-Lavarcam, who had come to her side, asked her why there was such
-sweet low laughter upon her. Mayhap she knew; mayhap she guessed that
-Darthool dreamed dreams of love, because her womanhood was now come,
-and because of the old heroic tales she took so great a pleasure in,
-and because of the vision that every woman has in her heart.
-
-“I was thinking, Lavarcam,” she said.
-
-“And what was that thought, Darthool?”
-
-“It was this: that if there be anywhere a youth whose skin is white as
-that whiteness there, and whose locks are as dark and glossy as the
-plumage of that raven, and in whose cheek is a crimson as red as that
-blood that is upon the snow, then of a surety him could I love, and
-that gladly.”
-
-For a moment Lavarcam said nought; then the power of Destiny moved her.
-
-“There is one man who is more beautiful than all others I have ever
-seen. He is young, and his hair is dark and glossy as that raven’s
-wing, and in his cheek the ruddy flame is as that crimson blood, and
-his skin is as white as any sunlit whiteness, or as thine own breast,
-Darthool.”
-
-“And what will be the name of that man, Lavarcam, and whence is he and
-where, and what is his decree?”
-
-“He is called Nathos, and is the son of Usna, who is a great lord in
-Alba. But he is now in Emania, among the company of the king; and with
-him are his brothers, both fair to see, and princes among men because
-of their beauty and valour, yet neither so surpassing all men as
-Nathos. They are called Ailne and Ardan.”[18]
-
-That was a fatal saying of Lavarcam, for it sank into the mind of
-Darthool as moonlight into dark water.
-
-Day by day thereafter she thought of nothing but of meeting this proud
-son of beauty; night by night she dreamed of Nathos and of his love.
-
-At the last, Lavarcam was filled with fear, for she saw that her words
-had awakened the flaming lion that lies hid in the heart. And truly it
-was not long till Darthool spoke to her of her longing and deep desire,
-and how that without Nathos she did not care to live.
-
-For a time Lavarcam smiled; but when she saw that the king’s beautiful
-ward was ever growing more and more wrought, her heart smote her.
-
-One day, as she was returning from Emain Macha, she met a swineherd,
-clad roughly in the fell of a deer, and with him were two men, rude,
-dishevelled hillmen, bondagers to the Ultonians.
-
-These, notwithstanding the law of Concobar, she took with her into the
-forest, and bade them await at a well that was there, until they heard
-the cry of a jay and the bark of a hill-fox, when they were to move
-slowly on their way, but to speak to no one whom they might meet, and
-above all to be silent after they left the shadow of the wood.
-
-Having done this, she entered the lios, and asked Darthool to come
-forth with her into the woods.
-
-When they drew near to the well, Lavarcam moved aside to look for some
-rare herb, as she said. Soon the cry of the jay and the bark of the
-hill-fox were in the air.
-
-“That is a strange thing,” Darthool said to her, when she was by her
-side again; “for that cry of the jay was the cry it gives in April, at
-the nesting time, and the bark of that hill-fox was the bark it gives
-in the season of the rut, many months agone.”
-
-“Hush,” said Lavarcam, “and look.”
-
-They stood still, as they saw the swineherd and the two hillmen rise
-from near the well, and move slowly across the glade.
-
-“Who are these, Lavarcam?” asked Darthool, with wonder in her eyes.
-
-“These are men, daughter of Felim.”
-
-“They are younger than those I have seen from the outskirts of the
-forest, but they are wild in dress and mien, and are not of high
-degree, and my eyes have no pleasure in looking upon them.”
-
-“Nevertheless,” answered Lavarcam, “these are the three sons of
-Usna--Nathos and Ailne and Ardan.”
-
-For a brief while Darthool looked upon them. Then she spoke.
-
-“The truth flew past thy lips, Lavarcam. Yonder man whom ye name Nathos
-has neither raven hair nor white skin, nor the comely red in his face;
-and the two others are like the slaves I saw that day I beheld the
-foster-brothers of Concobar driving back from battle, in a chariot
-dragged by wild rough men in bondage. I remember the day, for it was
-then that thou bade me know that death was the portion of any man who
-sought me. That, too, I fear was no true word. Howsoever, as to these
-men, they may go. And yet---- wait.”
-
-And with that Darthool moved swiftly forward, and, coming upon the
-three men by a by-path through the fern, confronted them.
-
-They stood amazed at her exceeding great beauty. Nothing like it was in
-the whole world; so, little wonder that these boors stood as though the
-face of death was bare to them; for beauty is strange and terrible to
-most men, and they are prone to stand in dread of it.
-
-None spake. Darthool looked at each, a slow smile of mocking in her
-lips, a blue flame of scorn in her eyes.
-
-“Are ye the sons of Usna?”
-
-They made no answer, but stared unwaveringly upon her, as do the dull
-cattle in the fields.
-
-“What brave courtesy!” she cried, mocking with her sweet voice, “how
-swift in courtesy! Tell me, Nathos, son of Usna, is it the wont of thy
-people in Alba to stand by agape when a woman speaks? Who is Usna, or
-what? If he is a king, is he overlord of swineherds? If it is a place,
-is it the rough bogs of the hills where sword-clad men do not go, but
-only a poor folk clad rudely in skins?”
-
-Still they answered nothing.
-
-“Were ye whipt into silence when ye were young, ye that stand there
-wordless as dogs? If indeed ye be the sons of Usna, then truly Concobar
-MacNessa must be in sore want of men at Emain Macha!”
-
-At that the swineherd could no longer hold to his bond.
-
-“By thy great exceeding beauty I know that thou art no other than
-Darthool, whom the king hides in this place. But do not mock us, who
-would rather worship thee. We are no nobles, but a swineherd, and two
-hillmen who are bondagers to Cairbre of the Three Duns.”
-
-At that Darthool laughed gently.
-
-“That I knew full well, swineherd, for all that I dwell here apart and
-see none of my kind, save Maev my nurse and Aeifa my tutor and Lavarcam
-the friend of the king. Those I have seen otherwise have been beheld a
-great way off, from where I laid hid in the woods. But now, wilt thou
-do one thing for me?”
-
-“I will give thee my life.”
-
-Darthool smiled into the man’s eyes, and what was only the swineherd
-died, and a strong heroic soul arose in him.
-
-“I would fain see Nathos, the eldest of the sons of Usna.”
-
-“That is against the law of Concobar: and long is the arm and heavy the
-hand of Concobar MacNessa the high king. But what is death to me, since
-thou willest me to do this thing for thee, Darthool of the beautiful
-eyes? Nay, I swear this thing: that rather would I die by torture, and
-please thee, than live out my life and refuse thee of what thou art
-fain. For thy beauty is upon me like the light of the moon at the full
-on the dark moorland. I am thine.”
-
-Darthool looked at the man. Suddenly she stooped and kissed him on the
-wind-furrowed brow. Great fortune was his, and he was well repaid for
-his death by blunt spear-shafts, when Concobar knew all. For what is
-death, when a man has reached beyond the limit of his desire?
-
-“Then go this night to Nathos, and tell him that I, Darthool, dream of
-him by day and by night, and that if he is in anywise fain of me, let
-him come to me to-morrow, an hour before the setting of the sun, at
-this well.”
-
-With that she turned and walked slowly back to where Lavarcam awaited
-her. As they moved homeward through the wood, Lavarcam saw that the
-dream in the eyes of Darthool had deepened. It was in vain then, or
-later, that she sought to know what the fair, beautiful girl had said
-to the swineherd. She feared, however, that Darthool no longer trusted
-her because of the lie that she had told, and that mayhap the girl had
-plotted somewhat with the swineherd.
-
-All the morrow Lavarcam watched Darthool closely, but she seemed rapt
-in vision, and cared neither to chase the fawns, nor to fish, nor even
-to wander idly through the woods. No speech would she have with any
-one, and said only that she wished to lie under the boughs of the
-great oak in front of the lios, and sleep.
-
-“How can that be, when there is snow upon the ground?” Lavarcam asked.
-
-“Is there snow upon the ground?” answered Darthool dreamily. “Then I
-will lie upon my deerskins, and Aeifa can play to me and sing me songs
-till dusk.”
-
-Hearing that, Lavarcam was glad, for now she could leave the lios with
-a mind at rest.
-
-So, in the wane of the day, she passed through the forest and came out
-upon the great plain in front of Emain Macha, and went to seek the king
-to take counsel with him.
-
-Nevertheless, Lavarcam was sore wrought by Darthool, and would fain
-have given her her heart’s desire. Piteous indeed had her plaints been.
-With tears and reproaches and sweet beseechings nigh intolerable,
-Darthool had begged her to bring Nathos to her, if for once only, so
-that she might at least see him, and know what her heart’s desire was
-like. Moreover, was it not a bitter thing for her to be kept there in
-that lonely place, and neither to see nor converse with her own kind,
-and to be kept away from all the joys of youth, and to pass from spring
-to summer, and from summer to autumn, and from autumn to winter, yea
-and from year to year, and be exiled there, to hear no young voices, no
-young laughter? When she pleaded thus, Lavarcam was sorrowful indeed,
-for she had the heart of a woman, and knew the beauty and the wonder
-and the mystery of love.
-
-Thinking of these things, her heart smote her as she fared towards
-Emain Macha, and at the last she decided to say no word to the king as
-to what she feared Darthool may have told the swineherd. Furthermore,
-she muttered, what was death to her who had known all that life had to
-give her? At the worst, Concobar could put death upon her. Had she not
-lived and known love, and now was weary?
-
-When she drew nigh to Emain Macha she saw three ravens and three
-hoodie-crows and three kites arise from some carrion hidden in the long
-grass that waved there.
-
-When she came upon it, she saw that it was the body of the swineherd,
-loose with the gaping wounds of blunt spear-shafts. In thus-wise she
-knew that Concobar had in some way heard of what the man had done.
-
-Yet she had no fear from that. The swineherd was still now. Neither
-king nor raven, neither man nor hoodie-crow, neither spear-shaft nor
-kite could now hurt him. It was better to be alive than to be dead, but
-it was well to be dead.
-
-So Lavarcam turned, and went over to the camp in Emain Macha where
-the sons of Usna were. There she saw Nathos, and told him privily
-that Darthool longed to see him, and that the forest was open to the
-stealthy flight of the owl as well as to the soaring hawk.
-
-Nathos was indeed fair to see, and looking upon him Lavarcam knew in
-her heart that Darthool would love him, and he her. He listened, and
-she saw his eyes deepen, and a flush come and go upon his face. For
-sure there was a beating swift of his pulse in that hour.
-
-Nevertheless, he could not come straightway, for Concobar knew that
-the swineherd had spoken to him of Darthool, and it was for this, and
-having seen and spoken with the girl, that the king had put the man to
-death--though for that, added Nathos, little did the swineherd care,
-for he died laughing and mocking, and, when he lay still, there was a
-smile upon his face.
-
-“And that was because Darthool had looked into his eyes, Nathos, son of
-Usna.”
-
-“Truly, he died well. I know a prince among men who also would die
-gladly if Darthool would look into his eyes with love.”
-
-“Then come soon and hunt the deer in the solitudes to the north of
-the forest: and there, amid the woods, or in some glen, or on the
-hill-slopes, surely thou shalt meet with Darthool--and yet none know of
-it.”
-
-So Lavarcam and Nathos made a bond between them, and parted.
-
-Thereafter days passed. On the morrow of the seventh day Darthool was
-wandering among the glades and thickets of the uplands far away from
-the lios, rejoicing in her new freedom and hoping that one day her eyes
-might look upon Nathos. She was dreaming her dream, when she started at
-a strange sound, the like of which she had never heard.
-
-That far-off baying of hounds she knew, for oftentimes of old Concobar
-had ridden to the forest with his deerhounds: but that strange, wild,
-blazoning sound---- Was it the voice of the flying creature the hounds
-pursued?
-
-Then the thought came to her that it was the hunting horn she had often
-heard of in the songs and war-ballads which Lavarcam and Aeifa were
-wont to sing to her.
-
-But after that blast the horn no more tore the silence of the deep
-woods, and the hounds were still: for Nathos had left the chase of
-the deer and was now moving listless through the green glooms of the
-forest. Night and day since Lavarcam and the swineherd had told him
-of Darthool he had dreamed of the beautiful daughter of Felim the
-Harper. Remembering the last chant of Cathba the Druid, he recalled how
-Darthool had been named the Beauty of the World, and because he was
-himself a poet and a dreamer the vision had become part of his life,
-so that neither by night nor by day was there any hour wherein he did
-not see in his mind the tall, white-robed figure of Darthool, and the
-beauty of her eyes, and her face as the sweet wild face of a dream.
-
-And so dreaming he stood at the edge of a glade, his swift eyes
-watching a fawn dispart a thicket that was close by. Yet it was no fawn
-as he thought: but rather was it as though a sudden flood of sunshine
-burst forth in that place. For a woman came from the thicket more
-beautiful than any dream he had ever dreamed. She was clad in a saffron
-robe over white that was like the shining of the sun on foam of the
-sea, and this was claspt with great bands of yellow gold, and over her
-shoulders was the golden rippling flood of her hair, the sprays of
-which lightened into delicate fire, and made a mist before him, in the
-which he could see her eyes like two blue pools wherein purple shadows
-dreamed.
-
-So exceeding great was her beauty that Nathos did not think of her as
-Darthool or as any mortal woman, but rather as a daughter of the elder
-gods, or of that bright divine race of the Tuatha-De-Danann, whose
-beauty surpassed that of human beings as the beauty of the primrose
-bank that of the brown sod. He looked upon her amazed, and in a silent
-worship. If she were indeed of the Dedannan folk, she might disappear
-at any moment as a shadow goes, that now is here asleep upon the grass
-and in the twinkling of an eye is among the things of oblivion.
-
-At last speech rose to his lips.
-
-“O fair and wonderful one, whom I see well art of the old sacred race
-of the Tuatha-De-Danann, may I have word with thee? It may well be
-that thou art no other than the wife of Midir himself, she who lives
-in a fair shining grianan in the hollow of a hill, and lives upon the
-beauty and fragrance of flowers.” Darthool looked at him, and her heart
-beat. He was in truth fair to see: fairer even than him whom she had
-imaged in her dreams, or him of whom Lavarcam had spoken.
-
-“Speak. What wouldst thou?”
-
-“I am faring idly through this lonely land, and I know not where I am.
-Yonder, in the valley behind the oak-glade, is a high-walled rath. Is
-it a place of the Shee, and so forbidden? or who dwells there, and
-shall a spear or welcome greet me if I enter?”
-
-“Indeed, thou mayst enter there, and a welcome awaits thee, O Nathos,
-son of Usna.”
-
-“Thou knowest my name, O fair one; then, indeed, thou art of the old
-wondrous race, who know swifter than our thought, and whose sight is
-further and deeper than our sight.”
-
-“I am no queen, Nathos, nor am I of the Tuatha-De-Danann, but am a
-woman as other women are. If I am beautiful in thine eyes, of that I
-am right glad, for thou art fairer to me than any man I have seen or
-dreamed of, and my pulse leaps when thine eyes look into mine. I am
-Darthool, the daughter of Felim the Harper; yet am I no better than a
-slave, for here am I bound to stay, and see no one save Lavarcam and
-my two women, and here I shall die for loneliness and longing.”
-
-Nathos heard her sweet low voice with delight, and it was with joy at
-his heart he knew she was no strange Dedannan but a woman of his own
-race, and that she was Darthool. Love rose suddenly within him like a
-flame: a red flame was it that was in his heart, and a white flame in
-his mind, and out of these two flames is wrought the love of love and
-the passion of passion and the dream of dreams.
-
-“Art thou, indeed, Darthool?” he whispered; “art thou that Darthool
-of whom I have dreamed? Strange is the strangeness of this meeting, O
-white daughter of Felim. For so great is thy beauty that I was fain to
-believe I saw before me one of the queens of the Tuatha-De-Danann. But
-is this thing true, that against thine own will Concobar the high king
-keeps thee here like a trapped bird among these woods?”
-
-“True it is, and more: for it is not even by Concobar’s will that I
-roam the woodlands. He was fain that I should never leave the rath save
-with Lavarcam, and that I should spend most of my days within the stone
-walls of the dreary lios where he has doomed me to dwell.”
-
-“Darthool, my heart is filled with a rising tide. That tide is love.
-Thou hast not seen the sea: but there, when the tide flows, there is
-nothing, there is no one, in all the world, which can say it nay. So
-is my love for thee, that now rises; and, once thine, will be thine
-evermore. Yet I would not put this upon thee; and if thy words and
-looks come out of thy frank, sweet courtesy and open maidenly heart,
-and mean no more than that thou carest for me as a brother, it is thy
-brother I will be, Darthool, to serve thee and succour thee and love
-thee evermore, and in that way only.”
-
-For a brief while she looked at him. Then the noon-blue of her eyes
-deepened, and a flush drifted through her face and waned into the
-deeper red of her parted lips.
-
-“Nathos,” she said in a low voice, which trembled as a reed in the
-wind, “I, too, love. It is thee I love. If it be wrong for me, a
-maiden, to speak thus, forgive me, for I have grown wilding here, and
-am more akin to the fawns of the forest than to women kind of mine
-own age or estate. But I love thee, Nathos: as of old, in the far-off
-Dedannan days, Dectura the queen loved the Green Harper, and went
-forth with him and was seen no more of her own people.”
-
-“If thou indeed wilt have it so, Darthool, be thou my Dectura, and let
-me be thy Green Harper. For beyond the reach of life or death is the
-greatness of the love I feel for thee, even now in this first hour of
-our meeting.”
-
-“Thy words are in my heart, Nathos; and because that this is so, I
-now put _geas_ upon thee. Let thy sword be as my sword, and be thou
-to me as brother and friend and the holder of my leal love; and to
-this end, lo! I throw this yellow thistle against thy cheek, to raise
-a mark of shame there if thou dost not fulfil the bond, and there to
-be seen of all men as a sign and witness of thy disgrace; yea, even
-thus I put _geas_ upon thee, to succour me in my ill fate, to take me
-unto thyself, to give thyself unto me, and to let us go forth together
-heedless of Fate.”
-
-Nathos looked at her with proud eyes.
-
-“Of a surety, Darthool, there is no hero of the Red Branch who hath a
-courage greater than thine, even though it may be that thou speakest
-the more freely from knowing little of what may befall.”
-
-“What can befall save death, and dost thou fear death, son of Usna?”
-
-Nathos smiled out of grave eyes.
-
-“If I feared death, Darthool, I would not now be speaking with thee
-here. It is swift silence upon any who in this forbidden land speaks
-with the daughter of Felim the Harper. Concobar MacNessa has the ears
-of a hare and the eyes of a hawk and the swoop of an eagle. Dost thou
-remember the swineherd to whom thou gavest word privily? Well, that
-night he lay in the grass tended only by the raven and the wolf, for he
-was done to death with blunt spear-shafts.”
-
-“For that I have deep grief,” said Darthool, with tears drifting like a
-rainy mist athwart the blue of her eyes.
-
-“Nevertheless, he died with a smile, Darthool. Thou hadst looked into
-his eyes and kissed him. Even so, and for less now, would I too die.”
-
-“That thou shalt not do, Nathos;” and even as she spoke Darthool moved
-forward and put her honeysweet lips against the mouth of Nathos, and
-made his blood leap, and a flame come into his eyes, and a trembling
-come into his limbs.
-
-Then, as though with that kiss she had become as a wild rose, she stood
-swaying lightly, her fair face delicately aflame. Nathos put his arms
-about her, and kissed her on the brow and on the lips.
-
-“That kiss on the brow is for service,” he said, “because from this
-hour thou art my queen; and that kiss on the lips is for love, for from
-this hour I shall love no woman save thee thyself, but shall be thine
-and thine only in life or death.”
-
-Nevertheless, though Nathos accepted the _geas_ put upon him by
-Darthool, he was troubled at the thought of the anger of Concobar
-the high king. It would be a swift and bitter death for him, and for
-Darthool too it might be death or worse.
-
-The thought in his mind swam into his eyes, and Darthool saw it. She
-shrank from him, and stood hesitating and as though about to flee at
-his first word of doubt. When he looked at her again his last fear went.
-
-“Fair wonderful one, thou art as a fawn there in the fern where thou
-standest; Darthool, do not doubt the truth of my words. I am thine to
-love and to serve, and am under _geas_ to thee. But my thought was
-this: if we two go hence and are waylaid, it will be death, and if we
-go hence and are not waylaid forthwith, it will still be death; for
-long is the arm, and heavy the hand, and tireless the quest of Concobar
-MacNessa. And this, too: that if we cross the Moyle and go to Alba, it
-may still be death; yea, though for a year or for a brood of years we
-elude the undying wrath and vengeance of the king.”
-
-“He will forget when once the bird is flown. Neither the bird nor the
-wind leaves any track, so let our flight be as that of the bird and our
-way be as that of the wind.”
-
-“The king forgetteth not. If so be that we might escape him many years,
-he will yet have his will of us in the end; and this though thou
-wert old, Darthool, and wert no longer his desire, and though I were
-outlawed and broken and no more in his sight than a wolf of the hills,
-good to slay if come upon, but not worthy of chase.”
-
-“Concobar is not a king in Alba?”
-
-“No.”
-
-“Then let us go to thine own land. He can do no more than send
-emissaries after us, and with these thou canst deal swiftly, Nathos.”
-
-At that, Nathos lightly laughed.
-
-“Truly, I am seeing Concobar as a man sees his own shadow in the water.
-He is a great king in Uladh, but he is no more in Alba than any hero
-of the Red Branch. Come, Darthool; across the Moyle are the pine-green
-shores of Alba. It is a fair, beautiful land. The sea-lochs reach far
-among pine-clad hills, and green pastures are on the slopes of the
-great mountains and around the shadowy, inland waters. The forests
-are full of deer and wild birds, the rivers and lochs of fish, the
-pastures of cattle and sheep and swift brown mares. Thou shalt have
-milk to drink, and the red flesh of the salmon, and the brown flesh
-of the deer, and the white flesh of the badger. Thou shalt lack for
-nothing, who art my queen; and thou shalt have love till the sun grows
-a lordlier fire and the stars leap in their slow dance from dusk to
-dawn.”
-
-“I will come,” Darthool whispered, with glad eyes.
-
-“Only thou must not delay. Thy coming must be now. Thou must not even
-enter the rath again. Otherwise it is never the waters of the Moyle
-that we shall see, but only the red flame in the eyes of Concobar.”
-
-Even while Nathos spoke his eyes grew hard, and his hands slipped to
-the javelin he had by his side. While Darthool watched him in amaze,
-he swung the iron-pointed shaft at a place where a bent bracken hung
-listless in the air.
-
-“Is it a wolf?” cried Darthool, in sudden affright.
-
-“It is worse than a wolf,” answered Nathos; “for if thou wilt go to
-that place thou wilt see either a slain man, or the form of a man, in
-the grass beneath the bracken.”
-
-Swiftly Darthool ran to the spot wherein the javelin had swung singing.
-There was no one there, but, where the javelin still quivered slightly,
-she saw the still warm shape of a crouching man, and discerned, by the
-bending of the bracken, what course he must have twisted away.
-
-Nathos followed and stood beside her. As he stooped to pluck the
-javelin from the ground, he descried a wooden-hilted knife.
-
-“It is as I thought,” he said gravely. “Concobar has set a spy upon me.
-No Ultonian carries a knife such as this. It belongs to the hillmen of
-the north-west, of whom a few years agone we made slaves. Mayhap one
-of these men who were with the swineherd has been told to follow me
-secretly wheresoever I go.”
-
-Darthool turned and looked at Nathos with eyes filled with a new fear,
-because of her love of him.
-
-He took her hand in his.
-
-“There is yet time, Darthool. Wilt thou go back to the rath, and stay
-there till Concobar wills thee to be his wife?”
-
-“I cannot go back.”
-
-“Then come, O Darthool.”
-
-And with that the twain turned and moved swiftly northward through the
-forest, by the way Nathos had already passed.
-
-“By dawn we may reach the dun where my two brothers now are, and for
-that day and that night we may rest in safety,” whispered Nathos, as
-Darthool turned and looked for the last time upon the place where she
-had lived all these years.
-
-“But thereafter, O love that I have won, the wind must be in our hair
-and the dead leaves be upon the soles of our feet, for there can be
-no resting for us till we are away from this land: no, and not for us
-only, but also for Ailne and Ardan. Concobar will not rest content
-with bitter wrath, and, if he cannot track the stag, will slay the
-fawns.”
-
-Soon thereafter they drew near the place where Nathos had left his
-hounds and his huntsmen. Bidding Darthool hide among the bracken and
-undergrowth, he went forward alone and told the men to go back to the
-dun of the sons of Usna, but not till the third day, and by circuitous
-ways. Thus he hoped that he might the longer elude Concobar, whose
-emissaries would follow the track of his hounds.
-
-Thereafter Nathos and Darthool fared swiftly hand in hand through the
-sombre ways of the forest. While it was still light they emerged upon
-a great moor, which they crossed, and then ascended the gorges of the
-hills. There the night fell, as though a wind-drifted darkness suddenly
-suspended and then swiftly enshrouded everything. They dreaded to rest,
-and yet so deep was the darkness that they could fare no farther.
-
-But while they were still whispering the one to the other, Darthool
-descried a soft, silver shining, like a dewy gossamer. It was the
-little group of seven stars that we call the Pleiades.
-
-“See,” she whispered, “An Grioglachan! When they shine, others will
-soon be seen.” And so it was.
-
-All through the night the fugitives hastened onward by the light of the
-stars, ever keeping close to each other, for the mountain solitudes
-were full of dreadful noises, and in the black tarns among the peaty
-moss they could hear the moaning of the kelpie, or on the shores of the
-hill-lochs the shrill neighing of the water-horses, terrible creatures
-of the darkness.
-
-For the last hour of the dark they rested a brief while, lying close
-hid among the bracken, in a sheltered place on a rocky mountain slope.
-Darthool heeded little now the weariness and fears of that perilous
-faring by night, for she was with Nathos; and Nathos now was glad,
-and no longer cared whether death was sure or not. He fell asleep
-there under the morning stars, among the winter-brown bracken, with
-Darthool’s head upon his breast; and his last thought was, that if the
-swineherd had died smiling because Darthool’s eyes had looked into his,
-how well might he too die content if his hour came suddenly upon him.
-
-The dawn wavered among the hills, but still they slept.
-
-A wolf tracking a wounded doe howled, and the howling wailed from
-corrie to corrie. Darthool stirred, but slept again. An eagle screamed
-as it rose and wheeled against the broadening light, but its wild voice
-was drowned in silence. Then came the first sun-rays rippling, dancing,
-leaping, from amid the crested heights and peaks to the eastward, and
-Nathos awoke.
-
-For some moments he lay breathless with wonder. Darthool, in all
-her radiant beauty, was by his side, her golden hair ablaze in the
-sunlight, and her fair face like a flower amid the bracken. It was too
-great a wonder. Then he knew that Concobar’s hounds might any hour now
-be upon them, and so he put his dream away from him, and stooped and
-kissed Darthool upon the lips. With a cry she woke, and put her arms
-about him. Hard it was for him to add to her weariness; but she rose
-at once, and seemed, indeed, in his eyes, as fresh as any fawn of the
-hill-side. She went to a little tarn close by and drank of the cool,
-sweet water.
-
-As she drank Nathos looked at her, and again wondered if she were not
-one of the divine race of old, the mysterious Tuatha-De-Danann, whom,
-ages before, the Milesians had driven to the hills and remote places.
-So fair was she that his heart ached. Then a swift pulse of joy leaped
-within him, and he was glad with a great gladness.
-
-Thereafter they sped swiftly onward, and now Nathos exulted, for he
-recognised the peaks and the trend of the valleys. Within an hour from
-the rising of the sun he saw the grey walls of the dun of the sons of
-Usna.
-
-His long cry--that of the heron thrice repeated--brought Ailne and
-Ardan forth. Darthool looked at them wondering, for they, too, were
-taller and nobler than other men, and only less beautiful in her eyes
-than Nathos himself.
-
-But if she wondered, much more did they marvel at what they saw. Never
-had they beheld any woman so beautiful, and their first thought was
-that of Nathos, that Darthool was of the fair divine race who were now
-so seldom seen of men.
-
-But when Nathos had told them all, and that she who was now his bride
-was no other than that Darthool whom Concobar the high king had set
-aside to become his queen, they were filled with sorrow. Well they knew
-that Concobar MacNessa would not lightly relinquish the fair maid whom
-he had so long secreted in the forest-lios, and that blood would flow
-because of this thing.
-
-“Moreover,” said Ailne, “hast thou forgotten the prophecy? There is
-the saying of Cathba the Druid, of which we have all heard: that from
-the daughter of Felim the Harper would come sorrow to the king, and
-severance of the Red Branch from the lost kingdom of Uladh, and rivers
-of blood.”
-
-“That may be, Ailne, my brother,” Nathos answered; “but I ask none to
-go with me into this doom, if that doom indeed must be, though mayhap
-the dark hour of it is passed. For Darthool and I shall now fare
-forward, with some of our following, and with horses and food, and
-haply we may reach the coast and find our great galley in the Creek
-of the Willows, where we secreted it, and so gain the shores of Alba
-before Concobar can overtake us.”
-
-But while Ailne pondered, Ardan spoke.
-
-“That shall not be, Nathos. Listen! By the Sun and the Wind I swear
-that where thou goest I will go, and that I will never desert thee nor
-Darthool, who is now our sister. If the doom must come, let it come.
-What is death, that it should put a paleness into the face of love? Are
-we not close-kin, children of one mother, and is not Darthool thy wife
-now and our sister, and are we not henceforth as one? Speak, Ailne, is
-it not so?”
-
-“It is so. Ardan has spoken for me. But I say nothing, for I feel upon
-us the shadow of that doom of which, as we have heard, Cathba the Druid
-spoke.”
-
-But here Darthool moved forward.
-
-“Listen, Nathos, and ye, Ailne and Ardan, my brothers: it is not for me
-to bring sorrow upon the king and upon the Red Branch and upon Uladh,
-and still less upon ye, my brothers, and upon thee, Nathos. Therefore,
-let me now go back to the lios, and tell Lavarcam, who will tell the
-king, that I have no will to stray, and that I will abide in that place
-till I die, or till Concobar dare put his face against Fate and take me
-thence.”
-
-At that Nathos smiled only. There was no word to say; in his eyes was
-all his answer to Darthool.
-
-But Ardan answered for himself and Ailne:
-
-“Though the stars fall, beautiful daughter of Felim, who art now
-Darthool, our sister, we shall not leave thee, nor suffer thee to go
-from us save by thine own free will, and that in no fear for what may
-befall us. Nathos and Ailne and Ardan are the three sons of Usna, upon
-whom long ago _geas_ was set, that each would abide by each until
-death.”
-
-Thereupon all kissed each other, and took the deep vow of fealty. The
-sons of Usna knew well that it would be a madness to withstand Concobar
-in their dun, strong as it was; for in time he would take the place,
-as dogs hunt out the badger from its lair, and at the best would still
-starve them into surrender or death.
-
-So with all speed they summoned those of their following who were under
-the sword-bond, and put together food and raiment, and then mounted and
-rode swiftly away.
-
-As they passed the highest ridge to the eastward that night they looked
-back. A red light flared in a valley far to the west. It was their
-dun, a torch amid the darkness. A single column of flame rose above
-it, and wavered to and fro. And by that sign they knew that the long
-arm and the heavy hand of Concobar MacNessa had already reached out
-towards them. Three times fifty men went with them, and so swift was
-their flight and so sure their way that before long they came to the
-coast-lands. There, in the Creek of the Willows, the long black galley
-was found; and swiftly all embarked.
-
-It was with glad eyes that Darthool and the sons of Usna saw the
-dancing waves of the sea, and felt its free breath break upon them.
-From three great tiers, fifty score men to each, the vassals thrust
-out their long oars, and with their blades threshed the waters into a
-yeast of foam. In the dazzle of the sea Darthool rejoiced, and made the
-hearts of all there to swell because of an exceeding sweet song she
-sang.
-
-Nathos and Ailne and Ardan sat beside her, and could scarce take from
-her face their dreaming eyes.
-
-Towards noon the wind shifted, and slid out of the north towards the
-west. Then the great sail was hoisted, and bellied out to the steady
-breeze, and the oars were shipped. The black galley now flew along
-the waters like a cormorant. Darthool laughed with joy at this new
-beautiful world of the sea, and never tired of trailing her hands in
-the swift lapsing wave, or in the send of the following billow.
-
-In the afternoon they came close to the shores of Alba, and made
-northward, past many isles and through narrow straits and fjords. In
-one and all Darthool took pleasure, and was glad indeed that the land
-of Nathos was so beautiful.
-
-At sundown they reached the eastern shores of the great island of Mull,
-and there the wind failed them, so the galley was put into a bay that
-is now the bay of Aros.
-
-There the sons of Usna debated long as to what course to follow. Nathos
-and Ailne thought it best to move inland, and to gain the protection of
-the high king of Alba; but Darthool feared this because of a dream she
-had thrice dreamed, wherein she saw a strange king and a strange folk
-laughing over the slain body of Nathos, while she stood by crowned but
-a captive. As for Ardan, he said only that the sons of Usna should go
-to where their father’s dun had been, before the last king of Alba had
-destroyed it.
-
-That night a galley came to them from the long island of Lismore. In
-it were a score of men, commanded by a lord of Appin, named Fergus of
-the Three Duns. With him was a stranger, clad in a rich robe of fur, so
-claspt across the throat with gold that the hood he wore fell about and
-covered his face. While Fergus spake with the sons of Usna, and told
-them how they had been seen by men of his in a swift war-galley, off
-the south coast of Mull, and urged them also to go inland to meet the
-king, the stranger looked steadfastly upon Darthool.
-
-When at last he had to speak to the brothers he addressed them
-courteously, but in a Gaelic strange to their ears. He bade them come
-with him to his high-walled dun, a brief way inland: to come alone, as
-his guests, and to bring Darthool with them.
-
-“It is not well to go to a man’s dun, and not be knowing that man’s
-name,” said Nathos courteously.
-
-The stranger hesitated, and looked at Fergus.
-
-“They call me Angus Mudartach,” he said. But at that Darthool asked him
-to let her look upon his face.
-
-“For it is not meet,” she added, “that we should go to a man’s dun and
-not have seen his face.”
-
-Angus of Moidart drew back his hood.
-
-Darthool’s lips grew pale. Then she smiled.
-
-“Let us rest here for to-night, Angus Mudartach,” she said, “and, if
-thou wilt come again on the morrow after to-morrow, thou canst take us
-with thee to thy great dun. But meanwhile we have travelled far and
-swiftly, and would fain rest: and, as thou seest, the skies are clear,
-and we want for nothing.”
-
-Once more Angus pleaded to the sons of Usna.
-
-“Ye are brave men, and can laugh at weariness or danger. But if the
-island be swept by a great storm to-night, or if the followers of
-Concobar, king of the northlands of Erin, come upon ye, or if other
-misadventure befall, shall ye wantonly expose this fair young princess?
-Nay, rather, let her come with me, and she shall not only be safe in my
-great rath of Dunchraig, but there my wife and her maidens shall make
-much of her, and give her white robes and golden torques and garments
-of delicate furs. This maid whom ye call Darthool is too young to be
-thrown thus idly before the feet of the evil powers who are for ever
-clamouring for death.”
-
-But, at a sign from Darthool, Nathos refused; saying, with gracious
-words and courteous mien, that it would rejoice them all to visit Angus
-Mudartach later, but not then.
-
-So Angus of Moidart turned, frowning, and went back to his galley with
-Fergus of the Three Duns. And as he went he asked mutteringly how many
-men the sons of Usna had with them. When he learned that there were
-thrice fifty, and that Fergus had but a score and ten men with him, he
-said no more.
-
-When the strangers had gone, Nathos turned to Darthool and asked why
-she had not shown more graciousness to one who was surely a great lord
-among the Alban Gaels, and why she would not go with him.
-
-“Because, Nathos, that man who called himself Angus Mudartach is no
-other than the King of Alba. He it is whom I saw in my dreams, laughing
-over your slain body, and beside whom I stood crowned and yet a
-captive. And by that token I warn ye of this thing: that the Alban king
-desireth me, and would fain slay ye all, or deliver ye into the hands
-of Concobar MacNessa.”
-
-Nathos stood brooding, but Ardan stepped forward.
-
-“Darthool is right. And wise she was, too, to bid this Angus of Moidart
-come on the morrow after to-morrow. Nevertheless, I know well by
-hearsay of his vassal, Fergus of the Three Duns, and that the man is
-called Fergus the Wily. He will not wait, but at dawn will be about us,
-with thrice fifty and thrice fifty again.”
-
-“Ardan has spoken well,” added Nathos. “There is but one thing to be
-done. Weary we are, but we must go hence at once.”
-
-And so it was. The dusk was heavy upon sea and land that night, and a
-sea-mist came up and obscured the skies, so that not a star was visible.
-
-Soundlessly they launched the great galley again, and once more set
-sail. The night-wind was from the south-east, whereat they rejoiced,
-for thus there was no need of the oars, and so no betraying thresh
-would be heard.
-
-When they were well north of Lismore they put out the long oars and
-swung the galley northwards. It was with relief that the sons of Usna
-passed the Appin lands, and before dawn rowed into a great sea-loch.
-
-There, however, they learned that the King of Alba, he who had called
-himself Angus Mudartach, was in the westlands only for a brief while,
-and would have to haste to Dunedin straightway, as runners had come
-with tidings of a great rising. He had no rath of Dunchraig, and no dun
-there; and so in truth the sons of Usna knew that the king had lied to
-them, and that Darthool was right. As for Fergus of the Three Duns, he
-was no longer a great lord, but had been despoiled, and at the most
-could summon two score and ten men.
-
-So the sons of Usna greatly rejoiced, for now they could go to their
-own land in safety, which lay beyond the region held by Fergus of the
-Duns.
-
-For seven days they stayed by the shores of that sea-loch, under the
-shadow of mighty mountains. Ardan, with a scanty following, went
-through the hill-passes, and returned saying that the King of Alba had
-gone to his own country and that all the great lords of the region had
-departed with him, including Fergus.
-
-So on the eighth day the galley sailed a short way southward once more,
-and entered into the Bay of Selma. There, on a rocky eminence, were
-the walls of their great dun, which Usna their father had built among
-the ruins of the chief stronghold of the Cruithne, the ancient people
-of Alba.[19]
-
-It was with joy that the sons of Usna saw once more the house of their
-childhood, and with still greater joy that they found the people of the
-neighbouring glens and straths still loyal to them. Their father Usna
-had ever been at war with the King of Alba, and after many battles (the
-bards sang of the beauty of Usna’s wife as the torch that lit those
-wars) he had conquered all this region. But at his death, by treachery
-the king had overcome the stronghold and destroyed it.
-
-But now again the sons of Usna had their home in their own eyrie. They
-knew not how long they might abide there in peace, for either the King
-of Alba, or Fergus of the Duns as his leader of men, would come again
-when once peace in the eastlands was secured.
-
-There Nathos wished to dwell alone with Darthool and a few followers,
-but Ailne and Ardan once more refused to leave him then or ever. But
-glad were the thrice fifty vassals to return to their own land, and
-without regret the sons of Usna saw them set sail for Erin. They were
-men who cared little for aught save strife, and when not wielding sword
-or spear were haughty and bitter with all other men save those of the
-Red Branch, and so were only a danger and a weariness in that place.
-
-Throughout that winter they lived there in peace, hunting and fishing.
-So great was the love of each for Darthool that every day was full of
-peace and content wherein they saw her. Nathos moved in a dream, and
-knew the extreme of joy. At night, before the fire, Darthool sang to
-them old-world airs of a sweet plaintive music, so sweet and plaintive
-that men said she must be no other than Fionula, she of the children of
-Lir who were turned into wild swans, and lived a thousand years in the
-old, old days.
-
-But when spring came again--a spring so fair and sweet that it was as
-though May had come hand in hand with February--a rumour reached them
-that the King of Alba, though he could not penetrate the highlands of
-the west, intended, with the help of Fergus of the Duns and other
-chieftains, to proceed once more against the Dun of Usna. Moreover, he
-had sworn to raze it to the ground, and to slay Nathos, and to take
-Darthool to be his wife.
-
-Nathos laughed at this, for he knew well that the King of Alba would
-never take him alive, nor yet Darthool. But after long colloquy with
-Ailne and Ardan, all decided to set forth and pass northward to the
-land whence their mother had come, a land of endless mountains and
-narrow lochs, beautiful beyond any other, grander than any Darthool had
-seen, and remote beyond the reach of any Alban king.
-
-So thither they set forth, and took with them in their great galley
-two score and ten men of their own clan. After long sailing up narrow
-lochs, the sons of Usna reached the mountain land whence their mother
-had come. Her father was dead, but the great dun he had built upon the
-summit of one of the hills overlooking the Black Loch had been left
-unharmed, and was tenanted only by wandering shepherds. Here Nathos and
-Darthool made their home, and in that beautiful land and in the glory
-of spring, knew the full joy and richness of life.[20]
-
-For a brief while all the people of the mountain lands round about
-gave in their adherence to Nathos, so that he became as a king in that
-region. So great was the fear in which the three sons of Usna were
-held, and so strong were they in their mountain home, that none dared
-to approach them with the flaming brand.
-
-Thus three years passed, and in all the wide reaches of the world
-there was no man so happy as Nathos and no woman so happy as Darthool;
-and after these there were none so happy as Ailne and Ardan, who were
-well content to live so that they might be near the beautiful wife of
-Nathos, their sister, Darthool, fairest of all women in the world.
-
-The King of Alba, whom they had feared, was now dead, and the king who
-reigned in his place was well disposed towards the sons of Usna and
-sought their alliance. So this was done, and the name and fame of the
-three brothers spread throughout the land; while from the wild west to
-the populous east the poets sang of the beauty of Darthool.
-
-In the summer months they abode at the high fort of Darthool, for so
-they named it, on the heights above the Black Loch, or Loch Ness as
-we now call it; and from the first frosts till the cuckoo’s song had
-ceased they lived at Dunuisneachan, their father’s ancient stronghold
-by the shores of Loch Etive. Thence often they wandered far afoot, or
-sailed southward and eastward among the sea-lochs and narrow kyles.
-They hunted in Glenorchy and fished under the mountain-shadows on Loch
-Awe; or followed the deer through the woods of Glenlaidhe. When it was
-pleasant to be upon the waters, they sailed down the long fjord of Loch
-Fyne, and rested awhile at the Haven of the Foray, and watched the
-coming and going of the rainbows on the rocky headlands which guard
-that place; then they would cross to the Cowal, and enter the narrow
-Kyles of Bute, where on the little isle we call the Burnt Island they
-built a vitrified fort. Thence they followed past the Hills of Ruel
-to Glendaruay (Glendaruel), and so to the head of Loch Striven and
-up Glenmassan, and thence down by the sweet inland waters of Loch
-Eck, and waterward again by the bay we now call the Holy Loch. Thence
-up the long, narrow fjord of Loch Long they sailed, till among the
-mountains they crossed the short pass to Loch Lomond, and perhaps met
-the soldiery of the King of Alba at the inland lakes, or came upon the
-great fort of Dumbarton on the Clyde; or they may have crossed the
-hill to the Gareloch, and so returned westward once more by the blue
-frith of Clyde, past the precipitous isle of Arran, and so up Loch Fyne
-again; or seaward by the Mull of Cantire, and thence northward past the
-isles to their own place, and could once more watch the salmon leaping
-through the Falls of Lora or chase the deer on the hills of Etive.
-
-But during all this time Concobar, the high king of the Ultonians,
-nursed his bitter thoughts. He had heard of the great fame and
-happiness of the sons of Usna, and more than ever he yearned after
-Darthool, his wrath at his loss being the greater because that all the
-old prophecies about the beautiful daughter of Felim were unfulfilled.
-
-One day the high king made a great festival in Emain Macha, and never
-in Erin was seen one more royal and magnificent. The princes and
-nobles from all the regions in the sway of Concobar were there, and all
-the musicians, singers, and poets in Uladh.
-
-In the midst of the festival Concobar asked those present at his board
-if now, in the height of the glory of the Red Branch, they wanted for
-anything; but they answered as with one voice that they were content.
-
-“And that is what I am not,” he answered.
-
-“And wherefore, O king and lord?”
-
-“Because that the three greatest of ye are absent from us. I speak
-of the three Torches of the Valour of the Gael: Nathos and Ailne and
-Ardan, the sons of Usna, the son of Congal Claringnech. For now I the
-king say this: that it is not fitting these three heroes, the pride of
-our chivalry, should be in exile, and this only because of a woman. By
-the Sun and Wind, there is no woman alive who is worthy to be the cause
-of this. Far better were it that the sons of Usna were once more in
-our midst. Even now they hold half the lands of Alba under the shadow
-of their sword. Truly they are heroes, and if dark days come upon us,
-as the soothsayers foretell, then indeed we shall be in sore need of
-them.”
-
-All there were rejoiced at that. There was not one who had not lamented
-the fierce anger of Concobar, and who was not fain to have the sons
-of Usna again among the chivalry of the Red Branch. Only fear had not
-allowed them to speak, for the high king had slain a man who had said
-that Nathos was too great a lord to be exiled.
-
-“And since ye are so glad at this thing,” Concobar added, “and would
-fain have these heroes among us, to be the chief pride, glory and
-defence of Uladh against all other kingdoms and provinces of Erin, I
-say to ye: Go and bring hence again from Alba the three sons of Usna.”
-
-“That is well,” their spokesman answered; “but who is to prevail with
-Nathos and his brothers? We are willing to go, but we cannot bring
-Nathos against his will. Moreover, is he not under _geas_ not to put
-foot again in Erin?”
-
-“Not so. I know that Nathos is under _geas_ not to return to Erin
-unless it be in the company of Fergus, the son of Lossa the Red, or
-Conall Cernach, or Cuchulain. And look you, each of these is now here,
-so that I shall well know who most loves me.”
-
-So, when the feast was over, Concobar first drew Conall Cernach aside.
-
-“Tell me, O warrior lord,” he said, “what wouldst thou say or do if I
-should send thee for the sons of Usna, and that at my secret command
-they should be slain privily--a thing, nevertheless, Conall, which I do
-not purpose to do.”
-
-“That could not be done, O king and lord, without a bitter and wrongful
-bloodshedding, for I could not do otherwise than put death upon each
-and all of the Ultonians who might be with me on that day.”
-
-“That may be so, Conall Cernach. So now, go.”
-
-Thereafter the king sent for Cuchulain. The young champion came to him
-fearlessly, for the whole heart of the warrior prince was noble and
-courageous.
-
-Concobar asked him the same question as he had asked Conall Cernach.
-
-“What would I do, O lord and king?” answered Cuchulain with proud
-disdain. “This thing I would do, and my troth to it: that if thou
-through me brought about the death of the sons of Usna, thou mightst
-flee eastward to Innia Iarrtharaigh[21] itself, and yet not be safe
-from perishing by my hand because of thy deed.”
-
-Concobar smiled grimly.
-
-“I knew well, Cuchulain, that ye bore me no love,” he said; and bade
-the hero begone.
-
-Thereafter the king sent for Fergus, the son of Rossa, and to him he
-put the same question as to Conall Cernach and to Cuchulain.
-
-“This much I say,” said Fergus, “that never would I raise hand or
-weapon against thee: nevertheless, there is not one Ultonian who might
-fare forth on that errand who would not get the shortness of life and
-sorrow of death from me.”
-
-“It is thou, Fergus, son of Rossa, who dost truly love thy king. It is
-to thee I entrust this thing, who shalt be greater in Erin than any son
-of Usna. Go forth on the morrow, and remember thy name of old--Fergus
-Honeymouth. Of a surety Nathos, with Darthool, and Ailne and Ardan,
-shall come from Alba with thee. When thou art again in Erin, go at
-once to the house of Borrach, the son of Cainte; and when thou art
-there stay, because of one of thy _geasa_ never to refuse a feast, and
-beforehand I shall warn Borrach of this thing. Then send forward at
-once, and without covenant, and without protection, to Emain Macha, the
-three sons of Usna.”
-
-So on the morrow Fergus went forth, taking none with him save his two
-sons, Illann the Fair, and Buine of the Red Locks, and a man Cullen to
-steer the sea-barge wherewith he would set sail.
-
-It was a fair voyage, and soon the black barge of Fergus sailed past
-the isles and headlands of Alba, and came to Loch Etive and the Bay of
-Selma, where the great fort of Dun Usneachain lay black against the
-ivy-clad heights beyond.
-
-This was in the first heats of summer, and Nathos and Darthool, with
-Ailne and Ardan, had left the fort and were among the rocky declivities
-of the woodland near the sea. There they had three hunting booths: one
-for Nathos and Darthool, one for Ailne and Ardan, and one wherein to
-have their eating and drinking. In front of one of these booths Nathos
-and Darthool sat, on that day of the days, playing on the _Cemrcaem_
-(the chessboard), the very chessboard which had belonged to Concobar,
-but which the king had left in the dun of Ailne and Ardan when hunting
-near by, on the day before that on which they fled with Nathos. It
-was all of ivory, and the chessmen were of wrought gold and in the
-likeness of strange kings and priests and fantastic animals wrought in
-immemorial years in the Orient.
-
-And while they were playing a great shout was heard, coming upon them
-from a branch-hid hollow of the sea.
-
-“That is the voice of a man of Erin,” said Nathos, holding in the air a
-golden knight.
-
-“Not so,” answered Darthool; “it is the voice of a Gael of Alba.” Yet
-well she knew that Nathos had guessed aright, and that even now were
-the footsteps of fate drawing close. For none can prevail against
-destiny.
-
-Once more a loud cry was heard, and a voice called upon Nathos and the
-sons of Usna.
-
-“Of a surety, that is the voice of a man of Erin,” said Nathos eagerly,
-for his heart was fain to see an Ultonian again, and to hear of the Red
-Branch and of the fate of Uladh, and as to whether Concobar reigned
-still.
-
-“Indeed, it is not so,” answered Darthool, and turning the great glory
-and beauty of her eyes upon Nathos she bade him play on. Then a third
-cry, nearer and clearer, was heard; and now all knew that it was the
-voice of a man of Erin.
-
-“And if there be no cloud upon me,” said Nathos, “that is the voice of
-no other than Fergus, the son of Rossa the Red, whom I knew well of
-old, and for whom my heart is fain. Ardan, do ye go down at once to the
-haven, and bid Fergus welcome, and all who may be with him. It is a
-good day this for us, when once more we may hear the voices of the Red
-Branch.”
-
-While Ardan went to the haven, Darthool told Nathos she had known from
-the first that the newcomer was a man out of Erin, and moreover, that
-he came from Concobar, and that his coming boded no good.
-
-“And how will you be knowing the one and the other, Darthool?”
-
-“From a dream that I had: to wit, that three birds flew hither from
-Emain Macha, and brought with them three sips of rare honey, and then
-that they left us with that honey but took away instead three sips of
-our blood.”
-
-“Tell me, my queen, what is the reading you put upon that dream?”
-
-“That Fergus comes to us with the honey-words of peace, but that behind
-them lies the shedding of blood, and that blood ours.”
-
-Meanwhile Ardan welcomed Fergus, and brought him and his companions
-to where Nathos sat playing with Darthool upon the ivory and gold
-chessboard of Concobar the king. As the fair-smiling Ultonian drew
-near, he smiled a grimmer smile behind his beard, to see Nathos there
-with the two chiefest treasures of the king’s heart--the woman he
-wished to make his queen, and the chessboard that had come to him from
-some great king’s palace in the dim remote Indies of which the poets
-sang.
-
-Great was the rejoicing, and Nathos and his brothers and Darthool
-embraced Fergus and his sons, and eagerly questioned them for tidings.
-
-“The best tidings I have,” Fergus answered, “is that I have come to ye
-with messages of loving peace from Concobar, whose heart is smitten
-by your long absence, and who would fain see in Erin again the three
-noblest lords in his or any other realm. Moreover, he has sent me to
-you with covenants and guarantees of loving good faith. He has pledged
-his kingly word, and I, too, have pledged mine, and ye know well, ye
-sons of Usna, that Fergus MacRossa Rua is not a man of light word.
-So come back to Erin with me, Nathos and Ailne and Ardan, and I pray
-of thee, come thou too, Darthool, wife of Nathos. Great shall be the
-welcome given to ye all, and sure it is a good thing to end a feud, and
-to put an unwaking sleep upon the sword and the spear.”
-
-“That is a good word,” said Nathos, who was well pleased; but a sob was
-in the heart of Darthool, and her lips quivered as she spoke.
-
-“Surely,” she said, “Concobar MacNessa forgets. The sons of Usna are no
-tributaries. Nathos is overlord now of a country greater in extent than
-all the province of Uladh over which Concobar is king. It ill befits a
-king of an isle to go as a forgiven guest to the lord of a rock.”
-
-“That is true,” said Fergus quickly, “Darthool has justice for what
-she says. But there is truth in what I say also, and it is a truth
-which the sons of Usna know, and will act by, that a man longs to see
-the land which is his own land or the land of his adoption. And were
-not Nathos and Ailne and Ardan among us as children and as boys and as
-youths, and are they not heroes of the Red Branch? Surely, it is a good
-thing for a man to see his own land each day, and to rejoice therein?”
-
-“We have two lands,” interrupted Ardan, “we who are of both Alba and
-Erin. Nevertheless, it would ill befit us not to look upon ourselves
-of the Red Branch first and foremost. So if Nathos is ready to go with
-thee, so also are Ailne and I myself.”
-
-“I am ready,” said Nathos, though he kept his eyes away from those of
-Darthool.
-
-“And ye know that my guaranty is sure?” added Fergus.
-
-“It is sure,” said Nathos.
-
-That night all were full of joyous pleasure, save only Darthool, who
-in her heart knew that the shadowy feet of Fate were all about them,
-and that she at least and perhaps none other there would ever again see
-Alba.
-
-On the morrow all set sail. As they left the beautiful shores, than
-which for sure there are none more beautiful in all the realms of the
-Gael, Darthool took her harp and sat back among the deerskins in the
-stern of the galley and sang:
-
-    “_Ionmhuin tir, an tir ud shoir--
-     Alba go na h’-iongantaibh;
-     Nocha ttiocfainn aiste ale,
-     Muna ttagainn le Naoise_,”
-
-and for eight other verses in the old ancient Gaelic that has lived in
-her lament till this day:[22]
-
-  Dear is this land to me, dear is this land:
-  O Alba of the lochs!
-  Sure I would not be sailing sad from thy foam-white sand
-  Were I not sailing with Nathos for the Irish strand.
-  Dear is the Forest Fort and high Dunfin,
-  And Dun Sween, and Innis Drayno--
-  Often with Nathos have I striven to win
-  To the wooded heights of these--and now we go
-  Far hence, and to me it is a parting of woe.
-
-  O woods of Coona, I can hear the singing
-  Of the west wind among the branches green
-  And the leaping and laughing of cool waters springing,
-  And my heart aches for all that has been,
-  For all that has been, my Home, all that has been!
-
-  Fain would I be once more in the woods of Glen Cain,
-  Fain would I sleep on the fern in that place:
-  Of the fish, venison, and white badger’s flesh I am fain
-  That plentifully we had there, or wherever our trail
-  Carried us, yea, I am fain of that place.
-
-  Glenmassan! O Glenmassan!
-  High the sorrel there, and the sweet fragrant grasses:
-  It would be well if I were listening now to where
-  In Glenmassan the sun shines and the cool west wind passes,
-  Glenmassan of the grasses!
-
-  Loch Etive, O fair Loch Etive, that was my first home,
-  I think of thee now when on the grey-green sea--
-  And beneath the mist in my eyes and the flying foam
-  I look back wearily,
-  I look back wearily to thee!
-
-  Glen Orchy, O Glen Orchy, fair sweet glen,
-  Was ever I more happy than in thy shade?
-  Was not Nathos there the happiest of men?
-  O may thy beauty never fade,
-  Most fair and sweet and beautiful glade.
-
-  Glen of the Roes, Glen of the Roes,
-  In thee I have dreamed to the full my happy dream:
-  O that where the shallow bickering Ruel flows,
-  I might hear again, o’er its flashing gleam,
-  The cuckoos calling by the murmuring stream.
-
-  Ah, well I remember the Isle of the Thorn
-  In dark and beautiful Loch Awe afar:
-  Ah, from these I am now like a flower uptorn,
-  Who shall soon be more lost than a falling star,
-  And am now as a blown flame in the front of war!
-
-Nathos was sad when he heard this lament from the mouth of Darthool,
-and Ailne and Ardan looked at each other and whispered that it was
-the beginning of the end. Nevertheless, they did not fear to confront
-the days to come, for whatsoever the decrees of Fate may be a brave
-man does not draw back, but goes forward upon the way set before him.
-But Nathos was in a dream, and so heeded little, content too to chide
-Darthool because that she laid so much stress on vain imaginings.
-
-The voyage was a swift and good one, and even Darthool’s heart beat the
-quicker when once more she stood on the soil of Erin, her own land. In
-three days thereafter they came within sight of the Dun of Borrach, and
-Fergus MacRossa was glad, for soon he would be able to see Concobar the
-king, and tell him how great was his success.
-
-It is a strange thing that a man such as Fergus Honeymouth could be so
-blind. Yet had he ever believed in the kinglihood of Concobar, and it
-was not till he reached the house of the son of Cainte that he knew in
-truth how the high king meant to play him false, and mayhap to deal
-treacherously with the sons of Usna. For after Borrach had greeted them
-all with affection and heartsome pleasure, he told them that word had
-come from Concobar that they were to press forward without delay, so
-great was the king’s longing to see them again, and so deep was his
-love for three of the noblest of the knights of the Red Branch. “But
-upon thee, Fergus MacRossa, I have a feast made ready, a festival of
-weeks, and thou knowest it is _geas_ upon thee not to refuse any feast
-made for thee: and so as thou wouldst avoid putting shame upon me and
-deep disgrace upon thyself, thou must abide here with me.”
-
-At that, Fergus flushed a deep red,[23] and was filled with anger. Yet
-could he not refuse, for his _geas_ was sacred: and no man of that age
-dared break that bond.
-
-So he turned to those with him, and asked what was now to be done.
-
-“Let this be done,” said Darthool: “either forsake the sons of Usna, or
-keep to thy feast-bond.”
-
-“My feast-bond I must keep, Darthool, yet will I not forsake the sons
-of Usna. My guaranty is known for sure: but over and above that I will
-send with them, and with thee, my two sons, Illann the Fair and Buine
-the Fiery, as further warranty.”
-
-But at these words Nathos turned away with a scornful smile.
-
-“It is not at thee or thy feast-bond I smile, O Fergus,” he said, “but
-at thy protection, good though thy sons be. For, by the Sun and Wind,
-I have never yet had need of any man to protect me, and go now, as
-ever before, confident in my own valour and might: and this I say not
-boastingly, but openly, so that Concobar and all Uladh may know it.”
-
-Thereafter Darthool and the sons of Usna left the house of Borrach,
-and fared southward, with Illann the Fair and Buine in their company.
-As for Fergus, he cursed his bond, but nevertheless assured himself,
-for, as he said over and over, if the whole five provinces of Erin
-were assembled on one spot, they would not be able to break the solemn
-pledge of his guaranty.
-
-But on the way Darthool urged advice upon Nathos and his brothers.
-
-“Let us go,” she said, “to the isle of Cullen, between Erin and Alba,
-and there await the day when Fergus will fulfil his bond. In that way
-he shall still keep the obligation of his _geas_, and yet we shall
-escape the evil that I know well awaiteth us.”
-
-“That we cannot do,” answered the sons of Usna, “for we are in honour
-bound now to the king. Moreover, we have the guaranty of Fergus
-MacRossa.”
-
-“It was an ill day when we came here trusting to that word,” Darthool
-replied: but said no more then.
-
-At dusk they reached the White Cairn on Sliav-Fuad, and it was not till
-after they had left the watch-tower behind them that Nathos saw that
-Darthool was no longer of their company. So he retraced his way, and
-came upon her sleeping a deep sleep, though she awoke suddenly as he
-drew near.
-
-“Is sleep so heavy upon thee, fair queen?” he asked, when he saw her
-startled eyes and pale face.
-
-“I was weary, Nathos. Yet it is not weariness that has done this, but a
-dream. I dreamed a terrifying and dreadful thing. I saw thee and Ailne
-and Ardan and Illann the Fair, but on not one of these was the head
-remaining, but only on Buine the Fiery.”
-
-“And what will be the meaning of that, Darthool?”
-
-“That Buine will leave ye ere death comes, and that a bloody death will
-be upon each. Nathos, I pray of thee that thou wilt go straightway to
-Dun Delgan, where the great and noble lord Cuchulain is, and abide with
-him for a while. There we shall be safe. Listen, I pray thee: I see
-thine own shadow creeping up thee, and a dark cloud overhead, and a
-cloud of clotted blood it is by the same token.”
-
-“Fair woman, there is some guile upon thy delicate thin lips. Why
-shouldst thou see evil everywhere? Be assured that neither I nor Ailne
-nor Ardan will turn aside from our quest of Concobar the king.”
-
-Darthool sighed, and remembered some old wisdom she had heard from
-Lavarcam: that if misfortune will not come to a man swiftly, he will
-seek it and take it by the great boar-fangs and compel it to come
-against him.
-
-But on the morrow, as they came within sight of Emain Macha, once more
-she gave counsel.
-
-“Ye know well, Nathos and Ailne and Ardan, that in Emain Macha are
-three fair great houses of the king: that in one he himself is, with
-the nobles of Uladh who are his own following, and that in another are
-the wayfarers of the Red Branch, and that in a third are the women. Now
-I warn ye of this thing: that if Concobar welcome us into his own house
-and among the nobles of Uladh, all will be well: but that if he send
-us to the house of the Red Branch, that will mean a disastrous end to
-thee and to me.”
-
-They said nothing to that, and when they came late into Emain Macha
-they knocked at the gates of Concobar’s house.
-
-The messengers told the king that the sons of Usna, and Darthool, and
-the two sons of Fergus MacRossa, were without: whereupon he asked of
-those about him in what state of provision and comfort was the house
-of the Red Branch, and on hearing that there was abundance of food
-and drink and comfort, he bade the messengers return and conduct the
-newcomers to that place.
-
-When that message was given, Darthool again gave counsel: but Illann
-the Fair was wroth thereat, and the others yielded. As for Nathos, he
-said only:
-
-“Great is thy love, Darthool, queen of women: but great also is thy
-fearfulness.”
-
-At that Darthool smiled gravely, but said no more. Only in her heart
-she remembered what Lavarcam, in bitter irony, had told her once, that
-when a man foresaw evil and fore-fended it he was wise and strong in
-his courage, but that if a woman did the same she was timorous and
-whim-borne.
-
-In the house of the Red Branch the strangers were rendered all honour.
-Generous and pleasant foods and bitter cheering drinks were supplied to
-them, so that the whole company was joyful and merry, save the sons of
-Usna, and Darthool, who were weary with their journeying.[24]
-
-Thus after they had eaten and drunken, Nathos and Darthool lay down
-upon high couches of white and dappled fawn-skins, and played upon the
-gold and ivory chessboard.
-
-It was at this time that a secret messenger came from Concobar to tell
-him if Darthool were as beautiful as when she fled from Erin. This
-messenger was no other than Lavarcam. The woman embraced Darthool
-tenderly, and kissed the hands and brow of Nathos. Then, looking upon
-them through her tears, she said:
-
-“Of a surety it is not well for ye twain to be playing thus upon the
-second dearest thing in all the world to Concobar, Darthool being the
-dearest, and ye having taken both from him, Nathos, and now ye twain
-being in his house and in his power. And this I tell you now, that I am
-sent hither by Concobar to see if Darthool has her form and beauty as
-it was of old. Thy beauty then was a flame before his eyes, Darthool,
-and now it will be as a torch at his heart.”
-
-Suddenly Darthool thrust the chessboard from her.
-
-“I have the sight upon me,” she said in a strange voice with a sob in
-it.
-
-“And what is that sight, my queen?” asked Nathos.
-
-“I see three torches quenched this night. And these three torches
-are the three Torches of Valour among the Gael, and their names are
-the names of the sons of Usna. And more bitter still is this sorrow,
-because that the Red Branch shall ultimately perish through it, and
-Uladh itself be overthrown, and blood fall this way and that as the
-whirled rains of winter.”
-
-Then taking the small harp by her side, she struck the strings and sang:
-
-
-    A bitter, bitter deed shall be done in Emain to-night,
-    And for ages men will speak of the fratricidal fight;
-      And because of the evil done, and the troth unsaid,
-    Emain of dust and ashes shall cover Emain the White.
-
-    Of a surety a bitter thing it is thus to be led
-    Into the Red Branch house, there to be rested and fed,
-      And then to be feasted with blood and drunken with flame,
-    And left on the threshold of peace silent and cold and dead.
-
-    The three best, fairest, and noblest of any name,
-    Are they all to be slain because of a woman’s fame?
-      Alas! it were better far there were dust upon my head,
-    And that I, and I only, bore the heavy crown of shame.
-
-
-At that Nathos was silent awhile. He knew now that Darthool was right.
-He looked at his brothers: Ailne frowned against the floor, Ardan
-stared at the door, with a proud and perilous smile. He looked at
-Illann the Fair and at Buine the Fiery: Buine drank heavily from a horn
-of ale, with sidelong eyes, Illann muttered between his set teeth.
-
-“This only I will say, Darthool,” Nathos uttered at last, “that it were
-better to die for thee, because of thy deathless beauty, than to live
-for aught else. As for what else may betide, what has to be will be.”
-
-“I will go now,” said Lavarcam, “for Concobar awaits me. But, sons of
-Usna and sons of Fergus, see ye that the doors and windows be closed,
-and if Concobar come against ye treacherously may ye win victory, and
-that with life to ye all.”
-
-With that Lavarcam left. Swiftly she sought Concobar, and told the
-king that it was for joy she knew now that the three heroes, the sons
-of Usna, had come back to Erin to dwell in fellowship with the Ardree
-and the Red Branch, but that it was for sorrow she had to tell that
-Darthool the Beautiful was no longer fair and comely in form and face,
-but had lost her exceeding loveliness, and was now no more than any
-other woman.
-
-At first Concobar laughed at that; then as his jealousy waned he
-thought with sorrow of the loss of so great beauty; and then again his
-spirit was perturbed. So he sent yet another messenger on the same
-errand.
-
-This was a man named Treandhorn. Before Concobar sent him to the house
-of the Red Branch he said:
-
-“Treandhorn, who was it that slew thy father and thy brother?”
-
-“Thou knowest, O King, that it was Nathos, son of Usna, who slew them.”
-
-Concobar smiled. “Now,” he said, “go and do my behest.”
-
-When Treandhorn reached the house, he found all the doors and windows
-closed and barred. Then fear seized him, for he knew that the sons of
-Usna were on guard, and would have wrath upon them.
-
-Nevertheless, still more did he fear to go back to Concobar with nought
-to tell him.
-
-So the man, descrying a narrow window at one side, climbed to it
-from an unyoked chariot that was near, and looked in. He saw Nathos
-and Darthool talking each to each in low voices, where they lay upon
-the white and dappled fawn-skins, with the gold and ivory chessboard
-between them. He smiled grimly, when he saw how great and noble and
-kingly Nathos seemed, and how more wonderful and beautiful than ever
-were the wonder and beauty of the eyes and face and form of Darthool.
-
-It was the last time he smiled. At that moment Nathos glanced upward.
-Swift as thought he lifted a spiked and barbed chessman and hurled it
-at the man’s eye. Treandhorn fell backward, but rose at once and fled,
-with his right eye torn and blind for evermore.
-
-When he came to the king and told his tale, and how Nathos was like
-a king indeed, and Darthool more beautiful by far than she had been
-of old, Concobar sprang to his feet. A red light came into his eyes,
-and he threw back his head and laughed; and at that laughing every
-man there knew that his madness was come upon him, and that the
-blood-thirst was already sweating upon many swords.
-
-“Ultonians,” he cried, “will ye do the will of your king?”
-
-“That will we!” they answered with a great shout.
-
-“Then come ye, and all your followers and vassals, and surround the
-house of the Red Branch, and set it in a forest of red flames, and if
-any run from out thereof put them to the sword.” As all ran swiftly
-from the king’s fort, a high terrible voice was heard. It was that of
-the dying Cathba the ancient Druid, and what he cried thrice was: “The
-Red Branch perisheth! Uladh passeth! Uladh passeth!”
-
-But none heard him or paid heed, save only Lavarcam, who in that bitter
-crying knew well that the end was come.
-
-In a brief while thrice three hundred men surrounded the fort of the
-Red Branch, and set red flames about it; and thrice three hundred more
-made haste to join them.
-
-There was a mighty onset at the first led by Buine the Fiery, who slew
-many, and quenched the fires, and threw the Ultonians into confusion.
-
-“Who is the hero who has done this?” cried Concobar.
-
-“It is I, Buine Borbruay, the son of Fergus MacRossa.”
-
-“I will give thee great bribes, Buine, if thou wilt forsake these
-robbers of my wife that was to be.”
-
-“What are thy bribes?”
-
-“I will give thee a cantred of land at thine own choice, and I will
-make thee my chosen comrade, and thou shalt be as next to the king.”
-
-Then Buine the Faithless laughed and said: “Better the honours of a
-king than the thanks of dead men,” and with that, for all the pledged
-guaranty of Fergus and the troth of his own word, he went over unto
-Concobar.
-
-But when Illann the Fair heard of this he was wroth. He saw the bitter
-smile on the lips of Darthool, and he swore that he would not desert
-those upon whom lay the protection of his father’s guaranty.
-
-Meanwhile Ardan lay, dreaming with a proud smile against the fire; and,
-upon the deerskins near the couch of Darthool, Ailne and Nathos played
-at chess, for little did they care to heed the treacherous valour of
-the Ultonians. They knew, too, that their hour was come; and being
-kingly, gave no thought to that little thing.
-
-But Illann called the troops together and fared forth, and made so
-deadly an onslaught that he slew three hundred of Concobar’s men. Then
-he quenched the fires, and went back to the fort and to where Ailne and
-Ardan were playing together.
-
-“Is that rain that is making a noise without?” said Ailne to Nathos.
-
-“No; it is a humming of gnats,” answered Nathos. “Let us play on.”
-
-“My fate is heavy upon me, Nathos and Ailne,” said Illann the Fair. “I
-have done well by thee, but I feel the heavy hand of fate is against
-me, and who can withstand fate?”
-
-“No one,” Nathos answered later, when he had thought upon his play. At
-that Illann the Fair drank a drink,[25] and went out again. The fires
-had been quenched, and there was a deep darkness. So he bade each man
-take a torch, and then all set furiously again upon the Ultonians.
-
-It was then that Concobar bethought him of his son Fiacha the Fair, who
-was born on the same night as Illann the Fair. There was life to the
-life, or death to the death, in that.
-
-So he called Fiacha, and bade him strive with Illann, and gave him the
-three famous weapons of the royalty of Uladh--the moaning Orchaoin, and
-the terrible Corrthach, and the Notched-Bow.
-
-But for all his enchanted weapons Fiacha did not prevail, and after a
-great and wonderful fight, which was girt about by a strange sighing,
-the sighing being the breath of the pulses of the watching host, Illann
-drove him to the ground where he crouched behind the shelter of his
-shield. Easily then he might have slain him but for this:--
-
-The moaning Orchaoin made so great and terrible a voice that it was
-heard afar off. The Three Ceaseless Waves of Erin heard it, and roared
-responsive, so that all the coasts shook with their thunder: the Wave
-of Toth (_Tuaithe_), the Wave of Clidna (_Cliodhna_), and the Wave of
-Rudhraya (_Rudhraighe_). There was a great dun on these coasts, named
-Dun Tobairce, and there Conall Cernach the son of Amergin lived: and
-when he heard the roaring of the Three Waves of Erin, he knew that
-Concobar was in dire distress.
-
-And that moaning of Orchaoin brought Conall Cernach on his magic steed
-that could fly through the night. He had with him his great sword “Blue
-Blade,” and when he came to the place of the strife he moved swiftly
-up behind Illann the Fair, and plunged “Blue Blade” into the back, and
-through the heart, and out at the breast of the hero.
-
-But when Conall Cernach heard from Illann’s own lips what he had done,
-he was filled with wrath and grief.
-
-“Thy faithless summons shall avail nought,” he cried into the torchlit
-darkness where Concobar was; and with that he took his sword, and
-severed from its body the head of Fiacha the son of Concobar, and
-tossed it towards the king. Then, turning his back upon the host, he
-departed as he had come.
-
-With the death of Illann the Fair, the Ultonians once more took heart.
-They surrounded the Red Branch fort, and again set red flames leaping
-against it.
-
-Then Ardan came forth: laughing lightly, and with a proud joy.
-
-The Ultonians saw then what it was to perish as mown grass. And when he
-had slain five times fifty, his arms grew weary.
-
-“How many did Illann the Fair slay in that onslaught of his?” he asked.
-
-“Thrice five score,” he was told.
-
-So Ardan slew two score and ten more, and then another score, for it
-did not befit so great a hero to slay less than an Ultonian champion,
-noble as Illann the Fair was.
-
-When he was tired, he went into the fort, and told Ailne that there was
-still fresh carrion enough for a wild-hawk to glut its thirst with.
-
-So Ailne rose from the chessboard and drank a drink, and went out, and
-did among the Ultonians even as Ardan had done, although he slew a
-score more, for he was older than Ardan, and so it did not befit him to
-put the stiffness and the silence upon fewer men.
-
-Two-thirds of the night were now gone, yet Concobar did not withstay
-his wrath. For now the whole host of the Ultonians was gathered
-together, and he thought to have victory at the last.
-
-But at their great shouting and the higher leaping of the flames Nathos
-rose. He kissed Darthool, then he drank a drink, and went out against
-the Ultonians.
-
-In that hour thrice three hundred men grew cold and stiff.
-
-Then he slew five score more.
-
-“Go to Concobar,” he said to a man, “and tell him that he has lost a
-thousand men over and above the hundreds slain by Illann the Fair and
-Ailne and Ardan. And now let him come to me himself.”
-
-But when Concobar heard that, he sent a messenger to Lavarcam to ask if
-Cathba the Druid were yet dead; and when he heard that he was not, he
-bade that the old man should be brought to him on a litter.
-
-When Cathba was brought, he asked if the king meant death to the sons.
-
-“I swear I mean no death,” said Concobar; “but only honourably to
-subdue them and to obtain Darthool. And so I pray of thee to put an
-enchantment upon them, otherwise they will slay every Ultonian in the
-land.”
-
-So Cathba raised himself, and put an enchantment between the sons of
-Usna and the host of the Ultonians. That enchantment was a hedge of
-spears, taller than the tallest spear-reach, and more thickset than
-thorns on a bramble-bush.
-
-But Nathos and Ailne and Ardan put their shields about Darthool, and
-came forth from the blazing house, and cleft a way through the hedge of
-spears, and, laughing loud, garnered a red harvest among the swaying
-corn of the Ultonian host.
-
-Then there was a strange roaring heard, and a vast and terrible flood
-came pouring from the hills. The Ultonians fled to the high ground, but
-Darthool and the sons of Usna were cut off by the rushing waters.
-
-Soon the flood rose to their waists, but then it ceased rising.
-
-“The wind will soon blow,” whispered Darthool, “and then the flood will
-rise, and we shall be drowned.”
-
-Nathos answered nothing, but raised her in his arms, and kissed her
-thrice upon the lips. Then he put her upon his left shoulder, where she
-sat with her white arms round his neck.
-
-There was a smile in the blue eyes of Nathos.
-
-The flood now subsided, but the sons of Usna could not move, for their
-feet were in a morass. On a dry spit of land close to them a man
-walked. This man was Maine of the Red Hand, a man of Lochlin,[26] in
-the train of Concobar.
-
-Concobar had bidden some hero go forth and slay the sons of Usna. But
-none would stir. A deep shame burned in all. But Maine’s father and two
-brothers had been slain by Nathos, and he said he would do likewise
-unto the sons of Usna.
-
-When he drew near, Ardan spoke.
-
-“Slay me first,” he said, “for I am the youngest of the sons of Usna:
-and it may be that with my death the tides of fortune may flow again.”
-
-“That cannot be,” said Nathos. “Here is the sword which Manannan,
-the son of Lir, gave me, and that cannot leave any remains of blow
-or stroke. Let this man Maine take it, and strike at us at one and
-the same time, so that not one of us may have the shame and sorrow of
-seeing the other beheaded.”
-
-And so it was. But while the man reached for the sword, Darthool sprang
-from the shoulder of Nathos, and strove to kill Maine of the Red Hand.
-With a blow he reeled her aside, and then whirled the great sword of
-Manannan on high.
-
-There was a flash in the air, and then the heads of the three fairest
-and noblest heroes of Alba fell. There was a long and terrible silence,
-till suddenly the whole host of Uladh broke into lamentation. Only
-Concobar stood leaning on his sword, and stared at the stillness that
-was now fallen upon the House of Usna.
-
-But already afar off Darthool had descried the champion Cuchulain, and
-she fled towards him.
-
-“Thou shalt be safe with me, beautiful one,” he said. “Tell me what
-thou wantest me to do.”
-
-“I do not wish to live, but I wish to live yet a brief hour, and not to
-be taken in shameful life before the eyes of Concobar.” So the twain
-returned to where the dead lay. Darthool fell upon her knees, and
-spread out the glory of her hair, and put her lips to the blood-wet
-lips of Nathos.
-
-Then she rose, and looking upon the silent Ultonians, chanted this
-chant:
-
-    Is it honour that ye love, brave and chivalrous Ultonians?
-    Or is the word of a base king better than noble truth?
-    Of a surety ye must be glad, who have basely slain honour
-    In slaying the three noblest and best of your brotherhood.
-
-    Ardan the Proud, where now lies his yellow hair?
-    Ailne the Comely, where now stare his sightless eyes?
-    Nathos, the king of men, where now is his might, his glory?
-    Where are the sons of Usna whom ye swore to honour?
-
-    Let now my beauty that set all this warring aflame,
-    Let now my beauty be quenched as a torch that is spent--
-    For here shall I quench it, here, where my loved one lies,
-    A torch shall it be for him still through the darkness of death.
-
-And with that Darthool stooped, and lifted the head of Nathos, and
-cleaned it of blood and foam, and the sweats of death, and kissed the
-eyes and the lips, and put her love upon the dear face, and her sorrow
-upon it, and her grief upon it, and put it to her white breast, and to
-her lips again, and gave it again her grief and her love.
-
-Then at the bidding of Cuchulain three graves were digged. In each
-grave a son of Usna was placed, and as each stood there his head was
-placed upon his shoulders.
-
-But the grave of Nathos was made wider. Darthool stood therein and
-held his hands in hers, and put her lips often to his lips, and often
-whispered to him.
-
-One other death there was in that hour, and in that place.
-
-Cathba the Druid died there: and again he cried: “The Red Branch
-perisheth! Uladh passeth! Uladh passeth!”
-
-And so it was. On the morrow Emain Macha fell before a great host, and
-was thenceforth a place of ruin and wind-eddied dust. The Red Branch
-became as scattered leaves, and were no more. And Uladh was given over
-to blood and rapine, and Concobar died in a madness of grief, and
-throughout Erin for many years the tides of death rose and fell.
-
-But the sons of Usna slept, and the world dreams still of the beauty of
-Darthool.
-
-
-
-
-Notes
-
-
-I
-
-IN my renderings of the three famous ancient Gaelic tales, collectively
-known as “The Three Sorrows of Story-Telling” (_Tri Thruaighe na
-Scéalaigheachta_), I have followed Professor Eugene O’Curry (_In
-Atlantis_, _Manners and Customs_, and _MS. Materials_); Dr. Douglas
-Hyde (_The Three Sorrows of Story-Telling_, translated into English
-verse); Dr. Joyce (_Old Celtic Romances_); Dr. Cameron (_Reliquiæ
-Celticæ_); Alexander Carmichael (_Trs. Gael. Socy. of Inverness_); Dr.
-Angus Smith (_Loch Etive and the Sons of Uisnach_).
-
-These tales have often been retold in prose and verse; and particular
-intention should be made of the metrical versions of Dr. Douglas Hyde,
-Dr. Robert Joyce (_Deirdre_), and, I believe, of Dr. John Todhunter.
-
-In “The Children of Lir” I have closely followed the version of the
-original, as translated by Dr. P. W. Joyce (_Old Celtic Romances_),
-and in “The Sons of Usna” the literal prose rendering by Dr. Cameron
-and the metrical translation of Dr. Douglas Hyde. These two stories
-are told more completely than that of “The Sons of Turenn,” which in
-the original extends to great length, as there the narrative of the
-world-wide quest of the Sons of Turenn is given with great detail.
-
-Naturally in these retold ancient tales I have often followed the
-Scoto-Gaelic variants, both because of familiarity and by preference,
-and this particularly in the tale of “Darthool and the Sons of Usna.”
-
-Much the most ancient of the “Three Sorrows” is the tale of the Sons
-of Turenn. Professor O’Curry’s version in _Atlantis_ is the basis
-of all other modern renderings. The period of this tale belongs to
-mythological times. “The Children of Lir” may be taken as a connecting
-link between the mythological and prehistoric and Christian periods.
-The tale of “Deirdre,” or “Darthool,” is by far the best known in
-Gaelic Scotland, and is still the favourite ancient tale throughout all
-Gaeldom.
-
-The reader who wishes further information should consult in particular
-Professor Eugene O’Curry; Dr. Cameron, in _Reliquiæ Celticæ_; Dr.
-Joyce, in _Old Celtic Romances_; and Dr. Douglas Hyde, in his
-delightful and deservedly popular little volume.
-
-
-II
-
-The quatrains and other metrical pieces interpolated here, and those
-in the text of the first and third of these tales, are generally free
-renderings of the originals. Occasionally they are almost literal.
-But, both in the matter of selection and rejection, I have taken
-certain slight advisable liberties with the original versions. It
-may be as well to add, although already explained in the footnote at
-page 122, that the “Song to Macha” is here adapted from another poem
-known as “Crede’s Lament” (_vide Silva Godelica_, Professor Sullivan’s
-translation, etc.).
-
-
-III
-
-“Darthool and the Sons of Usna.” Readers familiar only with the Irish
-versions of this beautiful old tale should also consult the important
-variants given by Dr. Cameron and Mr. Alexander Carmichael. Dr. Angus
-Smith also gives a good digest, and readers interested in the Scottish
-wayfarings of Darthool and Nathos will find the details given there
-more or less specifically.
-
-
-IV
-
-In the story of “The Sons of Turenn” it is possible that some injustice
-has been done to the character of Lugh, the foremost personage in it,
-best known in all the Gaelic chronicles as Lu-Lamfada--Lugh of the Long
-Hand. In this version he is represented uniformly as sternly cruel; but
-it must be borne in mind that his inveterate hostility to the Sons of
-Turenn was not due to insatiable revenge alone, but to his belief (as
-prophesied by his father) that any clemency in the fulfilment of the
-great eric demanded would result in terrible disaster to Erin itself.
-Throughout this ancient tale, indeed, we recognise Lu-Lamfada as an
-impersonation of Destiny or Nemesis. It may at the same time be added
-that in the story of “Darthool” Fergus is shown more obviously culpable
-than the old chronicles indicate, where he appears rather as a too
-innocent and trustful tool of King Concobar.
-
-
-V
-
-A few notes as to the less familiar of the Gaelic names introduced in
-the foregoing pages may aptly be given here, and the more conveniently
-in alphabetical order.
-
-AÉ. Pronounced as rhyming to day: equivalent to Hugh.
-
-AILNE. The older forms are _Ailna_ and _Ainlé_. The latter (pronounced
-Anlă) is probably the right name. It is said to signify beauty.
-
-ALBA. The Gaelic for Scotland. The genitive of this word is Alban,
-whence the familiar English word for Scotland, Albyn.
-
-BANBA. This was one of the three ancient names of Ireland--Banba, Fola,
-and Eiré--the names of three famous queens of antiquity. It is from the
-last that Ireland derives its best known Gaelic name.
-
-BOVE DERG (_Bodbh Dearg_). This semi-mythical king was one of the old
-Dedannan race, and stands, as it were, midway between the elder gods
-and the historic heroes. His name in Ireland is commonly pronounced
-Bove-d’Yarrag; and in Scotland as Bove Derg.
-
-CONOR (_Connachar_). The oldest form of this famous Gaelic name, so
-common in Ireland, is Concubair, or Concobar. Dr. Hyde says that
-Concubair is properly pronounced Cunnhoor, but doubtless Concobar is
-closer to the ancient usage.
-
-CUCHULAIN. The oldest form of the name of this great Gaelic hero
-is Cuchulaind. The name is pronounced Coo-hoolin, whether spelled
-according to any of the Irish-Gaelic variants or as to the Scottish
-Cuthullin--but sometimes, as in Skye, Coolin. It is not the real name
-of the hero in question. The word signifies the hound of Culainn, and
-innumerable references to Cuchulain are found throughout early Irish
-literature simply as The Hound. He was a native prince of Ulster,
-and lord of the district of Muirthemne, lying between and including
-the present towns of Dundalk and Drogheda, now called the County of
-Louth, where his chief residence was named Dun Delga (Dundalk). This
-celebrated hero, the champion of the knights of the great order of
-Gaelic chivalry, known as the Red Branch, was the son of Soalte, or
-Sualtam, and of Decteré, sister of the celebrated Irish king, Concobar
-mac Nessa (a contemporary of Christ). His name was Setanta, but he
-was commonly known as Cu-Culainn, the Hound of Culaan, who was his
-instructor and war-smith to King Concobar. The most famous of the
-Knights of the Red Branch at this time were the heroes known as Fergus
-mac Róigh, Conall Cearnach, Fergus mac Leité, Curoi mac Dairé, and
-Cuchulain mac Soalte.
-
-DAGDA, or THE DAGDA. This is a purely mythical personage, and is one of
-the ancient Gaelic divinities, among whom he occupies a place somewhat
-akin to that of Jupiter in the Latin Pantheon.
-
-DEDANNAN. Pronounced Day-Donnan. This is the colloquial form of the
-Tuatha-De-Danann; that is, the elder semi-divine inhabitants of
-Ireland, mostly mythical, and in some cases euhemerised. They became
-the Hidden People, or People of the Hills, of ancient Gaelic legend,
-and later the Fairies of popular tradition, though now the drift
-of poetic thought is towards a restoration of the Tuatha-De-Danann
-to their old spiritual significance and empery. The term signifies
-the Divine Progeny of Ana, a mysterious and perhaps supreme ancient
-goddess. The Dedannans were also called The Deena-Shee (Daoine-Sidhe),
-or Fairy Folk; the Aes-She, or People of the Hills; the Marcra-Shee, or
-Fairy Cavalcade; and the Sloo-She (Sluagh-Sidhe), or Fairy Host.
-
-DUN. This word is properly pronounced Doon, though in Gaelic Scotland
-generally Dun. It signifies a fortress or great fortified dwelling or
-encampment, and should not be confused with Rath, which is more what
-we would call the homestead, hamlet, village, or township, according
-to circumstances; or, with Lis, or Lios, a smaller fort probably
-corresponding to what we call a keep.
-
-EILIDH. The name Eilidh is pronounced Eily (_Isle-ih_), and is said to
-be the Gaelic equivalent of Helen.
-
-EMANIA. This is simply the Latinized form of _Emhain_, or _Emain_, the
-capital of North Ireland in the ancient days. The name is variously
-pronounced as Emain, Avvin, and Yew-an or Yow-an.
-
-ERIC. Originally eiric, pronounced ay-ric. Signifies literally a fine
-or blood-money, and is perhaps best rendered in English by the word
-ransom.
-
-FELIM. This name is more familiar as Phelim. The modern Gaelic is
-Phelimy, and the older, Pedlimid.
-
-GEASA. Pronounced Gassa. It is the plural of _geis_ (often written
-_geas_), and signifies oath-bound injunctions or undertakings. In the
-old days for a man to be under _geasa_ meant that he was solemnly bound
-to do such and such a thing, or, as it might be, to refrain; and the
-bond once taken could not be broken without loss of honour.
-
-ILDANNA. The old Irish word is best represented by Il-danach, that is,
-the Master of Craft, or Master of the Many Arts, and is a name which is
-specifically given to Lugh Lamfada, Lugh the Long-Handed.
-
-ILLANN. This frequent name of Illann, or Illan, is identical with
-Ullin, so familiar in Scotland through the famous poem of “Lord Ullin’s
-Daughter.”
-
-LIR. Pronounced sometimes Lirr, but generally Lear.
-
-LOCHLANN. A general name for the whole of Scandinavia, including, of
-course, Denmark, and not, as sometimes stated, of Norway only.
-
-LUGH. This name is pronounced Lu, or Loo, and I have so given it in the
-text.
-
-MANANNAN. Pronounced Mon-on-awn. He is the Neptune of Gaelic mythology,
-but holds a more mysterious and more potent position in the Gaelic
-Pantheon than his classical congener.
-
-MAEV. The name of this most famous queen of antiquity is variously
-spelt. The original is Meadb, or Medbh, and is properly pronounced Mave
-(rhyming with wave).
-
-MURHEMNE. The original of this is Magh Muirteimne, pronounced
-Moy-mwir-hev-na. It is the plain from the Boyne to near Carlingford.
-
-MOYLE. This is the commonest pronunciation of the old Gaelic Maol,
-though the word is best known in Scotland as Mull (from the Mull of
-Cantyre). It is applied to the sea between Cantyre and Ulster.
-
-MEKWEEN. The original of this difficult name is Miodcaoin. I do not
-know what it means.
-
-NATHOS. Originally Naisi; later Naoise; and commonly pronounced Neeshă.
-
-NUADH. Pronounced Noo-ă.
-
-OGAM, or OGHAM. The ancient Cryptic method of writing, like the
-Northern Runes, chiefly graven on funeral stones or monuments. The word
-is sometimes pronounced _Oo-am_, or _oom_, but Ogam is probably right
-according to ancient usage.
-
-SHEE FINNAHA. The old Gaelic is Fhionncaid, and is properly pronounced
-Sheeh-Innăchee.
-
-TAILKENN, or TAILCINN. This name for St. Patrick signifies Adze-Head
-(probably from his monkish tonsure).
-
-TURENN. The old form is Tuireann, and is pronounced Tirran or Toorenn.
-
-ULAD, or ULADH. The old name of Ulster, of which Ultonia is the
-Latinized form. Ulad is properly pronounced Ulla.
-
-UR. This name is pronounced _oo-ar_ (Gaelic, Uar). The name in its old
-form is Iuchar, as that of his brother is Iucharba, which I have given
-as Urba. It is probable, however, that Ur is the modern equivalent of
-Iucharba, and Yukar, or Yooch-ar (which I have given as Urba), of the
-third of the Sons of Turenn. There is great confusion and diversity in
-these old names.
-
-
-Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London.
-
-
-
-
-By FIONA MACLEOD
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-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1] In Gaelic, the name of Lir’s daughter is _Fionnghuala_, and is
-variously given in English as Fionula, Fionnuola, Finoola, and Finola.
-
-[2] Now Loch Derravaragh, in West Meath.
-
-[3] That is, between the north-east of Ireland (the Giant’s Causeway)
-and the south-west of the Scottish Highlands (the Mull of Cantire).
-
-[4] The Tailcen: a name given by the early Irish to St. Patrick.
-
-[5] Coineag, Gaelic for “rabbit.” The common English equivalent, Bunny,
-is a Gaelic derivative, from _Bun_, a stump or tail.
-
-[6] St. Patrick. (Druidic name.)
-
-[7] With the advent of St. Kemoc, the story comes within historical
-times. Lairgnen and Finghin were kings of Connaught and Munster, who
-flourished in the seventh century A.D.
-
-[8] It was the wont among the early Celtic peoples to bury their dead
-erect, particularly in the case of kings, and great warriors, and sons
-and daughters of kings.
-
-[9] _i.e._, from the north of Norway to the coasts of Denmark.
-
-[10] Probably Isberna is Hispania (Spain), and the apples the golden
-apples of the Hesperides.
-
-[11] _Alba._ That is, Gaelic Scotland, and in particular Argyll.
-
-[12] _Naois_ in the old Irish Gaelic.
-
-[13] Ulster.
-
-[14] This song, adapted to Macha, is founded upon a portion of the poem
-by Coel O’Neamhain, in honour of a beautiful queen named Crede, as
-translated by Professor Sullivan and others.
-
-[15] Given as in the Gaelic: _ciugear agus tri fichead agus tri chead_.
-Large numbers are in Gaelic invariably built up thus (instead of, for
-example, as here, four hundred and sixty). In an old Irish-Gaelic
-version the particular number here is given as “five and three score
-above six hundred and one thousand” (_i.e._, 1,760).
-
-[16] In old Irish Gaelic, _Derdriu_, then _Deirdrê_, sometimes
-_Darethra_. In Scotland, _Dearduil_ (pronounced Dart’weel, Darth-uil,
-or “Darthool,” whence Macpherson’s “Darthula,” who rather loosely says
-the name is _Dart’huile_, a woman of beautiful eyes). The oldest name
-is said to signify alarm.
-
-[17] The Gaelic original is _Beanchaointeach (Banchainte) Conchubhar
-fein_, etc., and means literally Concobar’s Conversation-woman, which
-perhaps might be rendered as “gossip.”
-
-[18] I have adopted here, as more euphonious, the name given to the
-eldest of the sons of Usna (Uisneach) by Macpherson in “Darthula.” The
-old spelling is _Naoise_. _Ainnle_ (Ailne, Ailthos) means “beautiful,”
-and _Ardan_, “pride.”
-
-[19] The Cruithne, or Picts, had their chief stronghold at Beregonium,
-overlooking the Bay of Selma, not far from the mouth of Loch Etive,
-below the Falls of Lora, in West Argyll.
-
-[20] To this day, the Highlander of Western Argyll and of
-Inverness-shire is familiar with the Fort of the Sons of Usna, above
-one of the lochs which constitute what is now known as the Caledonian
-Canal.
-
-[21] Western India.
-
-[22] This is a free paraphrase of the original as given by Dr. Cameron
-in the _Reliquiæ Celticæ_. The original consists of nine short
-quatrains. In the second, the names mentioned are Dun Fiodha, Dun
-Fionn, Innis Droighin, and Dun Suibhne. In the following quatrains the
-old and modern names are practically identical. The modern Glendaruel
-was formerly Glendaruay (Gleann da Ruadh), the Glen of the Two Roes, or
-Glennaruay (Gleann na Ruadh), the Glen of the Roes. Innis Droighin is
-again alluded to in the last verse. It is now called Innis Draighneach,
-meaning the Island of Thorns, and is situate in Loch Awe.
-
-[23] Literally “O d’chuala Feargus sin, do rinneadh rothnuall corcra
-dhe O bhonn go bathas.” (When Fergus heard this, he became a crimson
-mass from the foot-sole to the face.)
-
-[24] This sentence is literal after the old Gaelic as translated by Dr.
-Cameron. Apropos of the mention of the chessboard in the next sentence
-(as once before), it may be added that the ancient Celtic kings and
-lords had a passion for chess.
-
-[25] _Agus d’ibh deoch, agus tainigh amach aris_, etc., “and he drank a
-drink,” etc.
-
-[26] Scandinavia.
-
-
-
-
-TRANSCRIBER NOTES:
-
-There are a number of blank pages in the original text of this book.
-To conserve space, especially for handheld devices, blank pages have
-been left out of this ebook.
-
-This book contains Scoto-Gaelic variants. To retain the intended flavor
-of the book, spelling and punctuation in dialect text have not been
-altered.
-
-Spelling of non-dialect wording in the text was made consistent when
-a predominant preference was found in this book; if no predominant
-preference was found, or if there is only one occurrence of the word,
-spelling was not changed, unless noted below.
-
-Single, oddly spelled words that could not be confirmed as
-typographical errors were left unchanged. On page 159, “slao” was
-considered to be a typographical error and changed to “slay”, which
-fits the context.
-
-Original punctuation has been retained.
-
-Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved
-with the following exception: Page 247 -- chess-board was changed to
-chessboard. All seven other occurrences of the word chessboard that
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