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diff --git a/5793.txt b/5793.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9089a58 --- /dev/null +++ b/5793.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1723 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories of Red Hanrahan, by W. B. Yeats + +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 + + +Title: Stories of Red Hanrahan + +Author: W. B. Yeats + + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5793] +This file was first posted on September 1, 2002 +Last Updated: July 3, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF RED HANRAHAN *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + +STORIES OF RED HANRAHAN + +By W.B. Yeats + + + +CONTENTS. + +STORIES OF RED HANRAHAN: + + RED HANRAHAN + THE TWISTING OF THE ROPE + HANRAHAN AND CATHLEEN THE DAUGHTER OF HOOLIHAN + RED HANRAHAN'S CURSE + HANRAHAN'S VISION + THE DEATH OF HANRAHAN + + +I owe thanks to Lady Gregory, who helped me to rewrite The Stories of +Red Hanrahan in the beautiful country speech of Kiltartan, and nearer +to the tradition of the people among whom he, or some likeness of him, +drifted and is remembered. + + + + +RED HANRAHAN. + +Hanrahan, the hedge schoolmaster, a tall, strong, red-haired young man, +came into the barn where some of the men of the village were sitting on +Samhain Eve. It had been a dwelling-house, and when the man that owned +it had built a better one, he had put the two rooms together, and kept +it for a place to store one thing or another. There was a fire on the +old hearth, and there were dip candles stuck in bottles, and there was a +black quart bottle upon some boards that had been put across two barrels +to make a table. Most of the men were sitting beside the fire, and one +of them was singing a long wandering song, about a Munster man and a +Connaught man that were quarrelling about their two provinces. + +Hanrahan went to the man of the house and said, 'I got your message'; +but when he had said that, he stopped, for an old mountainy man that +had a shirt and trousers of unbleached flannel, and that was sitting +by himself near the door, was looking at him, and moving an old pack of +cards about in his hands and muttering. 'Don't mind him,' said the man +of the house; 'he is only some stranger came in awhile ago, and we bade +him welcome, it being Samhain night, but I think he is not in his right +wits. Listen to him now and you will hear what he is saying.' + +They listened then, and they could hear the old man muttering to himself +as he turned the cards, 'Spades and Diamonds, Courage and Power; Clubs +and Hearts, Knowledge and Pleasure.' + +'That is the kind of talk he has been going on with for the last hour,' +said the man of the house, and Hanrahan turned his eyes from the old man +as if he did not like to be looking at him. + +'I got your message,' Hanrahan said then; '"he is in the barn with his +three first cousins from Kilchriest," the messenger said, "and there are +some of the neighbours with them."' + +'It is my cousin over there is wanting to see you,' said the man of the +house, and he called over a young frieze-coated man, who was listening +to the song, and said, 'This is Red Hanrahan you have the message for.' + +'It is a kind message, indeed,' said the young man, 'for it comes from +your sweetheart, Mary Lavelle.' + +'How would you get a message from her, and what do you know of her?' + +'I don't know her, indeed, but I was in Loughrea yesterday, and a +neighbour of hers that had some dealings with me was saying that she +bade him send you word, if he met any one from this side in the market, +that her mother has died from her, and if you have a mind yet to join +with herself, she is willing to keep her word to you.' + +'I will go to her indeed,' said Hanrahan. + +'And she bade you make no delay, for if she has not a man in the house +before the month is out, it is likely the little bit of land will be +given to another.' + +When Hanrahan heard that, he rose up from the bench he had sat down on. +'I will make no delay indeed,' he said, 'there is a full moon, and if +I get as far as Gilchreist to-night, I will reach to her before the +setting of the sun to-morrow.' + +When the others heard that, they began to laugh at him for being in such +haste to go to his sweetheart, and one asked him if he would leave his +school in the old lime-kiln, where he was giving the children such good +learning. But he said the children would be glad enough in the morning +to find the place empty, and no one to keep them at their task; and as +for his school he could set it up again in any place, having as he had +his little inkpot hanging from his neck by a chain, and his big Virgil +and his primer in the skirt of his coat. + +Some of them asked him to drink a glass before he went, and a young man +caught hold of his coat, and said he must not leave them without singing +the song he had made in praise of Venus and of Mary Lavelle. He drank a +glass of whiskey, but he said he would not stop but would set out on his +journey. + +'There's time enough, Red Hanrahan,' said the man of the house. 'It +will be time enough for you to give up sport when you are after your +marriage, and it might be a long time before we will see you again.' + +'I will not stop,' said Hanrahan; 'my mind would be on the roads all the +time, bringing me to the woman that sent for me, and she lonesome and +watching till I come.' + +Some of the others came about him, pressing him that had been such a +pleasant comrade, so full of songs and every kind of trick and fun, not +to leave them till the night would be over, but he refused them all, and +shook them off, and went to the door. But as he put his foot over the +threshold, the strange old man stood up and put his hand that was thin +and withered like a bird's claw on Hanrahan's hand, and said: 'It is not +Hanrahan, the learned man and the great songmaker, that should go out +from a gathering like this, on a Samhain night. And stop here, now,' +he said, 'and play a hand with me; and here is an old pack of cards has +done its work many a night before this, and old as it is, there has been +much of the riches of the world lost and won over it.' + +One of the young men said, 'It isn't much of the riches of the world +has stopped with yourself, old man,' and he looked at the old man's bare +feet, and they all laughed. But Hanrahan did not laugh, but he sat down +very quietly, without a word. Then one of them said, 'So you will +stop with us after all, Hanrahan'; and the old man said: 'He will stop +indeed, did you not hear me asking him?' + +They all looked at the old man then as if wondering where he came from. +'It is far I am come,' he said, 'through France I have come, and through +Spain, and by Lough Greine of the hidden mouth, and none has refused me +anything.' And then he was silent and nobody liked to question him, and +they began to play. There were six men at the boards playing, and +the others were looking on behind. They played two or three games for +nothing, and then the old man took a fourpenny bit, worn very thin and +smooth, out from his pocket, and he called to the rest to put something +on the game. Then they all put down something on the boards, and +little as it was it looked much, from the way it was shoved from one to +another, first one man winning it and then his neighbour. And some-times +the luck would go against a man and he would have nothing left, and then +one or another would lend him something, and he would pay it again out +of his winnings, for neither good nor bad luck stopped long with anyone. + +And once Hanrahan said as a man would say in a dream, 'It is time for +me to be going the road'; but just then a good card came to him, and +he played it out, and all the money began to come to him. And once he +thought of Mary Lavelle, and he sighed; and that time his luck went from +him, and he forgot her again. + +But at last the luck went to the old man and it stayed with him, and +all they had flowed into him, and he began to laugh little laughs to +himself, and to sing over and over to himself, 'Spades and Diamonds, +Courage and Power,' and so on, as if it was a verse of a song. + +And after a while anyone looking at the men, and seeing the way their +bodies were rocking to and fro, and the way they kept their eyes on the +old man's hands, would think they had drink taken, or that the whole +store they had in the world was put on the cards; but that was not so, +for the quart bottle had not been disturbed since the game began, and +was nearly full yet, and all that was on the game was a few sixpenny +bits and shillings, and maybe a handful of coppers. + +'You are good men to win and good men to lose,' said the old man, 'you +have play in your hearts.' He began then to shuffle the cards and to mix +them, very quick and fast, till at last they could not see them to be +cards at all, but you would think him to be making rings of fire in the +air, as little lads would make them with whirling a lighted stick; and +after that it seemed to them that all the room was dark, and they could +see nothing but his hands and the cards. + +And all in a minute a hare made a leap out from between his hands, and +whether it was one of the cards that took that shape, or whether it was +made out of nothing in the palms of his hands, nobody knew, but there +it was running on the floor of the barn, as quick as any hare that ever +lived. + +Some looked at the hare, but more kept their eyes on the old man, and +while they were looking at him a hound made a leap out between his +hands, the same way as the hare did, and after that another hound and +another, till there was a whole pack of them following the hare round +and round the barn. + +The players were all standing up now, with their backs to the boards, +shrinking from the hounds, and nearly deafened with the noise of their +yelping, but as quick as the hounds were they could not overtake the +hare, but it went round, till at the last it seemed as if a blast of +wind burst open the barn door, and the hare doubled and made a leap over +the boards where the men had been playing, and went out of the door and +away through the night, and the hounds over the boards and through the +door after it. + +Then the old man called out, 'Follow the hounds, follow the hounds, and +it is a great hunt you will see to-night,' and he went out after them. +But used as the men were to go hunting after hares, and ready as they +were for any sport, they were in dread to go out into the night, and +it was only Hanrahan that rose up and that said, 'I will follow, I will +follow on.' + +'You had best stop here, Hanrahan,' the young man that was nearest him +said, 'for you might be going into some great danger.' But Hanrahan +said, 'I will see fair play, I will see fair play,' and he went +stumbling out of the door like a man in a dream, and the door shut after +him as he went. + +He thought he saw the old man in front of him, but it was only his own +shadow that the full moon cast on the road before him, but he could hear +the hounds crying after the hare over the wide green fields of Granagh, +and he followed them very fast for there was nothing to stop him; and +after a while he came to smaller fields that had little walls of loose +stones around them, and he threw the stones down as he crossed them, and +did not wait to put them up again; and he passed by the place where the +river goes under ground at Ballylee, and he could hear the hounds going +before him up towards the head of the river. Soon he found it harder to +run, for it was uphill he was going, and clouds came over the moon, and +it was hard for him to see his way, and once he left the path to take a +short cut, but his foot slipped into a boghole and he had to come back +to it. And how long he was going he did not know, or what way he went, +but at last he was up on the bare mountain, with nothing but the rough +heather about him, and he could neither hear the hounds nor any other +thing. But their cry began to come to him again, at first far off and +then very near, and when it came quite close to him, it went up all of +a sudden into the air, and there was the sound of hunting over his head; +then it went away northward till he could hear nothing more at all. +'That's not fair,' he said, 'that's not fair.' And he could walk no +longer, but sat down on the heather where he was, in the heart of Slieve +Echtge, for all the strength had gone from him, with the dint of the +long journey he had made. + +And after a while he took notice that there was a door close to him, and +a light coming from it, and he wondered that being so close to him he +had not seen it before. And he rose up, and tired as he was he went in +at the door, of and although it was night time outside, it was daylight +he found within. And presently he met with an old man that had been +gathering summer thyme and yellow flag-flowers, and it seemed as if all +the sweet smells of the summer were with them. And the old man said: 'It +is a long time you have been coming to us, Hanrahan the learned man and +the great songmaker.' + +And with that he brought him into a very big shining house, and every +grand thing Hanrahan had ever heard of, and every colour he had ever +seen, were in it. There was a high place at the end of the house, and +on it there was sitting in a high chair a woman, the most beautiful the +world ever saw, having a long pale face and flowers about it, but she +had the tired look of one that had been long waiting. And there was +sitting on the step below her chair four grey old women, and the one of +them was holding a great cauldron in her lap; and another a great stone +on her knees, and heavy as it was it seemed light to her; and another of +them had a very long spear that was made of pointed wood; and the last +of them had a sword that was without a scabbard. Red Hanrahan stood +looking at them for a long Hanrahan-time, but none of them spoke any +word to him or looked at him at all. And he had it in his mind to ask +who that woman in the chair was, that was like a queen, and what she +was waiting for; but ready as he was with his tongue and afraid of no +person, he was in dread now to speak to so beautiful a woman, and in so +grand a place. And then he thought to ask what were the four things the +four grey old women were holding like great treasures, but he could not +think of the right words to bring out. + +Then the first of the old women rose up, holding the cauldron between +her two hands, and she said 'Pleasure,' and Hanrahan said no word. Then +the second old woman rose up with the stone in her hands, and she said +'Power'; and the third old woman rose up with the spear in her hand, +and she said 'Courage'; and the last of the old women rose up having the +sword in her hands, and she said 'Knowledge.' And everyone, after she +had spoken, waited as if for Hanrahan to question her, but he said +nothing at all. And then the four old women went out of the door, +bringing their tour treasures with them, and as they went out one of +them said, 'He has no wish for us'; and another said, 'He is weak, he +is weak'; and another said, 'He is afraid'; and the last said, 'His +wits are gone from him.' And then they all said 'Echtge, daughter of the +Silver Hand, must stay in her sleep. It is a pity, it is a great pity.' + +And then the woman that was like a queen gave a very sad sigh, and it +seemed to Hanrahan as if the sigh had the sound in it of hidden streams; +and if the place he was in had been ten times grander and more shining +than it was, he could not have hindered sleep from coming on him; and he +staggered like a drunken man and lay down there and then. + +When Hanrahan awoke, the sun was shining on his face, but there was +white frost on the grass around him, and there was ice on the edge of +the stream he was lying by, and that goes running on through Daire-caol +and Druim-da-rod. He knew by the shape of the hills and by the shining +of Lough Greine in the distance that he was upon one of the hills of +Slieve Echtge, but he was not sure how he came there; for all that had +happened in the barn had gone from him, and all of his journey but the +soreness of his feet and the stiffness in his bones. + +It was a year after that, there were men of the village of Cappaghtagle +sitting by the fire in a house on the roadside, and Red Hanrahan that +was now very thin and worn and his hair very long and wild, came to the +half-door and asked leave to come in and rest himself; and they bid him +welcome because it was Samhain night. He sat down with them, and they +gave him a glass of whiskey out of a quart bottle; and they saw the +little inkpot hanging about his neck, and knew he was a scholar, and +asked for stories about the Greeks. + +He took the Virgil out of the big pocket of his coat, but the cover was +very black and swollen with the wet, and the page when he opened it was +very yellow, but that was no great matter, for he looked at it like a +man that had never learned to read. Some young man that was there began +to laugh at him then, and to ask why did he carry so heavy a book with +him when he was not able to read it. + +It vexed Hanrahan to hear that, and he put the Virgil back in his pocket +and asked if they had a pack of cards among them, for cards were better +than books. When they brought out the cards he took them and began to +shuffle them, and while he was shuffling them something seemed to come +into his mind, and he put his hand to his face like one that is trying +to remember, and he said: 'Was I ever here before, or where was I on +a night like this?' and then of a sudden he stood up and let the cards +fall to the floor, and he said, 'Who was it brought me a message from +Mary Lavelle?' + +'We never saw you before now, and we never heard of Mary Lavelle,' said +the man of the house. 'And who is she,' he said, 'and what is it you are +talking about?' + +'It was this night a year ago, I was in a barn, and there were men +playing cards, and there was money on the table, they were pushing it +from one to another here and there--and I got a message, and I was going +out of the door to look for my sweetheart that wanted me, Mary Lavelle.' +And then Hanrahan called out very loud: 'Where have I been since then? +Where was I for the whole year?' + +'It is hard to say where you might have been in that time,' said the +oldest of the men, 'or what part of the world you may have travelled; +and it is like enough you have the dust of many roads on your feet; for +there are many go wandering and forgetting like that,' he said, 'when +once they have been given the touch.' + +'That is true,' said another of the men. 'I knew a woman went wandering +like that through the length of seven years; she came back after, and +she told her friends she had often been glad enough to eat the food that +was put in the pig's trough. And it is best for you to go to the priest +now,' he said, 'and let him take off you whatever may have been put upon +you.' + +'It is to my sweetheart I will go, to Mary Lavelle,' said Hanrahan; 'it +is too long I have delayed, how do I know what might have happened her +in the length of a year?' + +He was going out of the door then, but they all told him it was best for +him to stop the night, and to get strength for the journey; and indeed +he wanted that, for he was very weak, and when they gave him food he eat +it like a man that had never seen food before, and one of them said, 'He +is eating as if he had trodden on the hungry grass.' It was in the white +light of the morning he set out, and the time seemed long to him till he +could get to Mary Lavelle's house. But when he came to it, he found the +door broken, and the thatch dropping from the roof, and no living person +to be seen. And when he asked the neighbours what had happened her, +all they could say was that she had been put out of the house, and had +married some labouring man, and they had gone looking for work to London +or Liverpool or some big place. And whether she found a worse place or +a better he never knew, but anyway he never met with her or with news of +her again. + + + + +THE TWISTING OF THE ROPE. + + +Hanrahan was walking the roads one time near Kinvara at the fall of day, +and he heard the sound of a fiddle from a house a little way off the +roadside. He turned up the path to it, for he never had the habit of +passing by any place where there was music or dancing or good company, +without going in. The man of the house was standing at the door, and +when Hanrahan came near he knew him and he said: 'A welcome before you, +Hanrahan, you have been lost to us this long time.' But the woman of the +house came to the door and she said to her husband: 'I would be as well +pleased for Hanrahan not to come in to-night, for he has no good +name now among the priests, or with women that mind themselves, and I +wouldn't wonder from his walk if he has a drop of drink taken.' But the +man said, 'I will never turn away Hanrahan of the poets from my door,' +and with that he bade him enter. + +There were a good many neighbours gathered in the house, and some of +them remembered Hanrahan; but some of the little lads that were in the +corners had only heard of him, and they stood up to have a view of him, +and one of them said: 'Is not that Hanrahan that had the school, and +that was brought away by Them?' But his mother put her hand over his +mouth and bade him be quiet, and not be saying things like that. 'For +Hanrahan is apt to grow wicked,' she said, 'if he hears talk of that +story, or if anyone goes questioning him.' One or another called out +then, asking him for a song, but the man of the house said it was no +time to ask him for a song, before he had rested himself; and he gave +him whiskey in a glass, and Hanrahan thanked him and wished him good +health and drank it off. + +The fiddler was tuning his fiddle for another dance, and the man of the +house said to the young men, they would all know what dancing was like +when they saw Hanrahan dance, for the like of it had never been seen +since he was there before. Hanrahan said he would not dance, he had +better use for his feet now, travelling as he was through the five +provinces of Ireland. Just as he said that, there came in at the +half-door Oona, the daughter of the house, having a few bits of bog deal +from Connemara in her arms for the fire. She threw them on the hearth +and the flame rose up, and showed her to be very comely and smiling, +and two or three of the young men rose up and asked for a dance. But +Hanrahan crossed the floor and brushed the others away, and said it was +with him she must dance, after the long road he had travelled before he +came to her. And it is likely he said some soft word in her ear, for she +said nothing against it, and stood out with him, and there were little +blushes in her cheeks. Then other couples stood up, but when the dance +was going to begin, Hanrahan chanced to look down, and he took notice of +his boots that were worn and broken, and the ragged grey socks showing +through them; and he said angrily it was a bad floor, and the music no +great things, and he sat down in the dark place beside the hearth. But +if he did, the girl sat down there with him. + +The dancing went on, and when that dance was over another was called +for, and no one took much notice of Oona and Red Hanrahan for a while, +in the corner where they were. But the mother grew to be uneasy, and she +called to Oona to come and help her to set the table in the inner room. +But Oona that had never refused her before, said she would come soon, +but not yet, for she was listening to whatever he was saying in her ear. +The mother grew yet more uneasy then, and she would come nearer them, +and let on to be stirring the fire or sweeping the hearth, and she would +listen for a minute to hear what the poet was saying to her child. And +one time she heard him telling about white-handed Deirdre, and how she +brought the sons of Usnach to their death; and how the blush in her +cheeks was not so red as the blood of kings' sons that was shed for her, +and her sorrows had never gone out of mind; and he said it was maybe the +memory of her that made the cry of the plover on the bog as sorrowful +in the ear of the poets as the keening of young men for a comrade. And +there would never have been that memory of her, he said, if it was not +for the poets that had put her beauty in their songs. And the next time +she did not well understand what he was saying, but as far as she could +hear, it had the sound of poetry though it was not rhymed, and this is +what she heard him say: 'The sun and the moon are the man and the girl, +they are my life and your life, they are travelling and ever travelling +through the skies as if under the one hood. It was God made them for +one another. He made your life and my life before the beginning of the +world, he made them that they might go through the world, up and down, +like the two best dancers that go on with the dance up and down the long +floor of the barn, fresh and laughing, when all the rest are tired out +and leaning against the wall.' + +The old woman went then to where her husband was playing cards, but +he would take no notice of her, and then she went to a woman of the +neighbours and said: 'Is there no way we can get them from one another?' +and without waiting for an answer she said to some young men that were +talking together: 'What good are you when you cannot make the best girl +in the house come out and dance with you? And go now the whole of you,' +she said, 'and see can you bring her away from the poet's talk.' But +Oona would not listen to any of them, but only moved her hand as if to +send them away. Then they called to Hanrahan and said he had best dance +with the girl himself, or let her dance with one of them. When Hanrahan +heard what they were saying he said: 'That is so, I will dance with her; +there is no man in the house must dance with her but myself.' + +He stood up with her then, and led her out by the hand, and some of the +young men were vexed, and some began mocking at his ragged coat and his +broken boots. But he took no notice, and Oona took no notice, but they +looked at one another as if all the world belonged to themselves alone. +But another couple that had been sitting together like lovers stood out +on the floor at the same time, holding one another's hands and moving +their feet to keep time with the music. But Hanrahan turned his back on +them as if angry, and in place of dancing he began to sing, and as he +sang he held her hand, and his voice grew louder, and the mocking of the +young men stopped, and the fiddle stopped, and there was nothing heard +but his voice that had in it the sound of the wind. And what he sang +was a song he had heard or had made one time in his wanderings on Slieve +Echtge, and the words of it as they can be put into English were like +this: + + O Death's old bony finger + Will never find us there + In the high hollow townland + Where love's to give and to spare; + Where boughs have fruit and blossom + At all times of the year; + Where rivers are running over + With red beer and brown beer. + An old man plays the bagpipes + In a gold and silver wood; + Queens, their eyes blue like the ice, + Are dancing in a crowd. + +And while he was singing it Oona moved nearer to him, and the colour had +gone from her cheek, and her eyes were not blue now, but grey with the +tears that were in them, and anyone that saw her would have thought she +was ready to follow him there and then from the west to the east of the +world. + +But one of the young men called out: 'Where is that country he is +singing about? Mind yourself, Oona, it is a long way off, you might be +a long time on the road before you would reach to it.' And another said: +'It is not to the Country of the Young you will be going if you go with +him, but to Mayo of the bogs.' Oona looked at him then as if she would +question him, but he raised her hand in his hand, and called out between +singing and shouting: 'It is very near us that country is, it is on +every side; it may be on the bare hill behind it is, or it may be in the +heart of the wood.' And he said out very loud and clear: 'In the heart +of the wood; oh, death will never find us in the heart of the wood. And +will you come with me there, Oona?' he said. + +But while he was saying this the two old women had gone outside the +door, and Oona's mother was crying, and she said: 'He has put an +enchantment on Oona. Can we not get the men to put him out of the +house?' + +'That is a thing you cannot do, said the other woman,' for he is a poet +of the Gael, and you know well if you would put a poet of the Gael out +of the house, he would put a curse on you that would wither the corn in +the fields and dry up the milk of the cows, if it had to hang in the air +seven years.' + +'God help us,' said the mother, 'and why did I ever let him into the +house at all, and the wild name he has!' + +'It would have been no harm at all to have kept him outside, but there +would great harm come upon you if you put him out by force. But listen +to the plan I have to get him out of the house by his own doing, without +anyone putting him from it at all.' + +It was not long after that the two women came in again, each of them +having a bundle of hay in her apron. Hanrahan was not singing now, but +he was talking to Oona very fast and soft, and he was saying: 'The house +is narrow but the world is wide, and there is no true lover that need be +afraid of night or morning or sun or stars or shadows of evening, or any +earthly thing.' 'Hanrahan,' said the mother then, striking him on +the shoulder, 'will you give me a hand here for a minute?' 'Do that, +Hanrahan,' said the woman of the neighbours, 'and help us to make this +hay into a rope, for you are ready with your hands, and a blast of wind +has loosened the thatch on the haystack.' + +'I will do that for you,' said he, and he took the little stick in his +hands, and the mother began giving out the hay, and he twisting it, but +he was hurrying to have done with it, and to be free again. The women +went on talking and giving out the hay, and encouraging him, and saying +what a good twister of a rope he was, better than their own neighbours +or than anyone they had ever seen. And Hanrahan saw that Oona was +watching him, and he began to twist very quick and with his head high, +and to boast of the readiness of his hands, and the learning he had in +his head, and the strength in his arms. And as he was boasting, he went +backward, twisting the rope always till he came to the door that was +open behind him, and without thinking he passed the threshold and was +out on the road. And no sooner was he there than the mother made a +sudden rush, and threw out the rope after him, and she shut the door and +the half-door and put a bolt upon them. + +She was well pleased when she had done that, and laughed out loud, and +the neighbours laughed and praised her. But they heard him beating at +the door, and saying words of cursing outside it, and the mother had but +time to stop Oona that had her hand upon the bolt to open it. She made a +sign to the fiddler then, and he began a reel, and one of the young men +asked no leave but caught hold of Oona and brought her into the thick of +the dance. And when it was over and the fiddle had stopped, there was no +sound at all of anything outside, but the road was as quiet as before. + +As to Hanrahan, when he knew he was shut out and that there was neither +shelter nor drink nor a girl's ear for him that night, the anger and the +courage went out of him, and he went on to where the waves were beating +on the strand. + +He sat down on a big stone, and he began swinging his right arm and +singing slowly to himself, the way he did always to hearten himself when +every other thing failed him. And whether it was that time or another +time he made the song that is called to this day 'The Twisting of the +Rope,' and that begins, 'What was the dead cat that put me in this +place,' is not known. + +But after he had been singing awhile, mist and shadows seemed to gather +about him, sometimes coming out of the sea, and sometimes moving upon +it. It seemed to him that one of the shadows was the queen-woman he had +seen in her sleep at Slieve Echtge; not in her sleep now, but mocking, +and calling out to them that were behind her: 'He was weak, he was weak, +he had no courage.' And he felt the strands of the rope in his hand yet, +and went on twisting it, but it seemed to him as he twisted, that it had +all the sorrows of the world in it. And then it seemed to him as if the +rope had changed in his dream into a great water-worm that came out +of the sea, and that twisted itself about him, and held him closer and +closer, and grew from big to bigger till the whole of the earth and +skies were wound up in it, and the stars themselves were but the shining +of the ridges of its skin. And then he got free of it, and went on, +shaking and unsteady, along the edge of the strand, and the grey shapes +were flying here and there around him. And this is what they were +saying, 'It is a pity for him that refuses the call of the daughters of +the Sidhe, for he will find no comfort in the love of the women of the +earth to the end of life and time, and the cold of the grave is in his +heart for ever. It is death he has chosen; let him die, let him die, let +him die.' + + + + +HANRAHAN AND CATHLEEN THE DAUGHTER OF HOOLIHAN. + + +It was travelling northward Hanrahan was one time, giving a hand to a +farmer now and again in the hurried time of the year, and telling his +stories and making his share of songs at wakes and at weddings. + +He chanced one day to overtake on the road to Collooney one Margaret +Rooney, a woman he used to know in Munster when he was a young man. She +had no good name at that time, and it was the priest routed her out +of the place at last. He knew her by her walk and by the colour of her +eyes, and by a way she had of putting back the hair off her face with +her left hand. She had been wandering about, she said, selling herrings +and the like, and now she was going back to Sligo, to the place in the +Burrough where she was living with another woman, Mary Gillis, who had +much the same story as herself. She would be well pleased, she said, if +he would come and stop in the house with them, and be singing his +songs to the bacachs and blind men and fiddlers of the Burrough. She +remembered him well, she said, and had a wish for him; and as to Mary +Gillis, she had some of his songs off by heart, so he need not be afraid +of not getting good treatment, and all the bacachs and poor men that +heard him would give him a share of their own earnings for his stories +and his songs while he was with them, and would carry his name into all +the parishes of Ireland. + +He was glad enough to go with her, and to find a woman to be listening +to the story of his troubles and to be comforting him. It was at the +moment of the fall of day when every man may pass as handsome and every +woman as comely. She put her arm about him when he told her of the +misfortune of the Twisting of the Rope, and in the half light she looked +as well as another. + +They kept in talk all the way to the Burrough, and as for Mary Gillis, +when she saw him and heard who he was, she went near crying to think of +having a man with so great a name in the house. + +Hanrahan was well pleased to settle down with them for a while, for he +was tired with wandering; and since the day he found the little cabin +fallen in, and Mary Lavelle gone from it, and the thatch scattered, he +had never asked to have any place of his own; and he had never stopped +long enough in any place to see the green leaves come where he had seen +the old leaves wither, or to see the wheat harvested where he had seen +it sown. It was a good change to him to have shelter from the wet, and a +fire in the evening time, and his share of food put on the table without +the asking. + +He made a good many of his songs while he was living there, so well +cared for and so quiet, The most of them were love songs, but some were +songs of repentance, and some were songs about Ireland and her griefs, +under one name or another. + +Every evening the bacachs and beggars and blind men and fiddlers would +gather into the house and listen to his songs and his poems, and his +stories about the old time of the Fianna, and they kept them in their +memories that were never spoiled with books; and so they brought his +name to every wake and wedding and pattern in the whole of Connaught. He +was never so well off or made so much of as he was at that time. + +One evening of December he was singing a little song that he said he had +heard from the green plover of the mountain, about the fair-haired boys +that had left Limerick, and that were wandering and going astray in +all parts of the world. There were a good many people in the room that +night, and two or three little lads that had crept in, and sat on the +floor near the fire, and were too busy with the roasting of a potato +in the ashes or some such thing to take much notice of him; but they +remembered long afterwards when his name had gone up, the sound of his +voice, and what way he had moved his hand, and the look of him as he sat +on the edge of the bed, with his shadow falling on the whitewashed wall +behind him, and as he moved going up as high as the thatch. And they +knew then that they had looked upon a king of the poets of the Gael, and +a maker of the dreams of men. + +Of a sudden his singing stopped, and his eyes grew misty as if he was +looking at some far thing. + +Mary Gillis was pouring whiskey into a mug that stood on a table beside +him, and she left off pouring and said, 'Is it of leaving us you are +thinking?' + +Margaret Rooney heard what she said, and did not know why she said it, +and she took the words too much in earnest and came over to him, and +there was dread in her heart that she was going to lose so wonderful a +poet and so good a comrade, and a man that was thought so much of, and +that brought so many to her house. + +'You would not go away from us, my heart?' she said, catching him by the +hand. + +'It is not of that I am thinking,' he said, 'but of Ireland and the +weight of grief that is on her.' And he leaned his head against his +hand, and began to sing these words, and the sound of his voice was like +the wind in a lonely place. + + The old brown thorn trees break in two high over Cummen Strand + Under a bitter black wind that blows from the left hand; + Our courage breaks like an old tree in a black wind and dies, + But we have hidden in our hearts the flame out of the eyes + Of Cathleen the daughter of Hoolihan. + + The winds was bundled up the clouds high over Knocknarea + And thrown the thunder on the stones for all that Maeve can say; + Angers that are like noisy clouds have set our hearts abeat, + But we have all bent low and low and kissed the quiet feet + Of Cathleen the daughter of Hoolihan. + + The yellow pool has overflowed high upon Clooth-na-Bare, + For the wet winds are blowing out of the clinging air; + Like heavy flooded waters our bodies and our blood, + But purer than a tall candle before the Holy Rood + Is Cathleen the daughter of Hoolihan. + +While he was singing, his voice began to break, and tears came rolling +down his cheeks, and Margaret Rooney put down her face into her hands +and began to cry along with him. Then a blind beggar by the fire shook +his rags with a sob, and after that there was no one of them all but +cried tears down. + + + + +RED HANRAHAN'S CURSE. + + +One fine May morning a long time after Hanrahan had left Margaret +Rooney's house, he was walking the road near Collooney, and the sound +of the birds singing in the bushes that were white with blossom set him +singing as he went. It was to his own little place he was going, that +was no more than a cabin, but that pleased him well. For he was tired of +so many years of wandering from shelter to shelter at all times of the +year, and although he was seldom refused a welcome and a share of what +was in the house, it seemed to him sometimes that his mind was getting +stiff like his joints, and it was not so easy to him as it used to be to +make fun and sport through the night, and to set all the boys laughing +with his pleasant talk, and to coax the women with his songs. And a +while ago, he had turned into a cabin that some poor man had left to +go harvesting and had never come to again. And when he had mended the +thatch and made a bed in the corner with a few sacks and bushes, and +had swept out the floor, he was well content to have a little place for +himself, where he could go in and out as he liked, and put his head in +his hands through the length of an evening if the fret was on him, and +loneliness after the old times. One by one the neighbours began to send +their children in to get some learning from him, and with what they +brought, a few eggs or an oaten cake or a couple of sods of turf, he +made out a way of living. And if he went for a wild day and night now +and again to the Burrough, no one would say a word, knowing him to be a +poet, with wandering in his heart. + +It was from the Burrough he was coming that May morning, light-hearted +enough, and singing some new song that had come to him. But it was not +long till a hare ran across his path, and made away into the fields, +through the loose stones of the wall. And he knew it was no good sign a +hare to have crossed his path, and he remembered the hare that had led +him away to Slieve Echtge the time Mary Lavelle was waiting for him, and +how he had never known content for any length of time since then. 'And +it is likely enough they are putting some bad thing before me now,' he +said. + +And after he said that he heard the sound of crying in the field beside +him, and he looked over the wall. And there he saw a young girl sitting +under a bush of white hawthorn, and crying as if her heart would break. +Her face was hidden in her hands, but her soft hair and her white +neck and the young look of her, put him in mind of Bridget Purcell and +Margaret Gillane and Maeve Connelan and Oona Curry and Celia Driscoll, +and the rest of the girls he had made songs for and had coaxed the heart +from with his flattering tongue. + +She looked up, and he saw her to be a girl of the neighbours, a farmer's +daughter. 'What is on you, Nora?' he said. 'Nothing you could take from +me, Red Hanrahan.' 'If there is any sorrow on you it is I myself should +be well able to serve you,' he said then, 'for it is I know the history +of the Greeks, and I know well what sorrow is and parting, and the +hardship of the world. And if I am not able to save you from trouble,' +he said, 'there is many a one I have saved from it with the power that +is in my songs, as it was in the songs of the poets that were before me +from the beginning of the world. And it is with the rest of the poets I +myself will be sitting and talking in some far place beyond the world, +to the end of life and time,' he said. The girl stopped her crying, +and she said, 'Owen Hanrahan, I often heard you have had sorrow and +persecution, and that you know all the troubles of the world since the +time you refused your love to the queen-woman in Slieve Echtge; and that +she never left you in quiet since. But when it is people of this earth +that have harmed you, it is yourself knows well the way to put harm +on them again. And will you do now what I ask you, Owen Hanrahan?' she +said. 'I will do that indeed,' said he. + +'It is my father and my mother and my brothers,' she said, 'that are +marrying me to old Paddy Doe, because he has a farm of a hundred acres +under the mountain. And it is what you can do, Hanrahan,' she said, 'put +him into a rhyme the same way you put old Peter Kilmartin in one the +time you were young, that sorrow may be over him rising up and lying +down, that will put him thinking of Collooney churchyard and not of +marriage. And let you make no delay about it, for it is for to-morrow +they have the marriage settled, and I would sooner see the sun rise on +the day of my death than on that day.' + +'I will put him into a song that will bring shame and sorrow over him; +but tell me how many years has he, for I would put them in the song?' + +'O, he has years upon years. He is as old as you yourself, Red +Hanrahan.' 'As old as myself,' said Hanrahan, and his voice was as if +broken; 'as old as myself; there are twenty years and more between us! +It is a bad day indeed for Owen Hanrahan when a young girl with the +blossom of May in her cheeks thinks him to be an old man. And my grief!' +he said, 'you have put a thorn in my heart.' + +He turned from her then and went down the road till he came to a stone, +and he sat down on it, for it seemed as if all the weight of the years +had come on him in the minute. And he remembered it was not many days +ago that a woman in some house had said: 'It is not Red Hanrahan you are +now but yellow Hanrahan, for your hair is turned to the colour of a wisp +of tow.' And another woman he had asked for a drink had not given him +new milk but sour; and sometimes the girls would be whispering and +laughing with young ignorant men while he himself was in the middle of +giving out his poems or his talk. And he thought of the stiffness of his +joints when he first rose of a morning, and the pain of his knees after +making a journey, and it seemed to him as if he was come to be a very +old man, with cold in the shoulders and speckled shins and his wind +breaking and he himself withering away. And with those thoughts there +came on him a great anger against old age and all it brought with it. +And just then he looked up and saw a great spotted eagle sailing slowly +towards Ballygawley, and he cried out: 'You, too, eagle of Ballygawley, +are old, and your wings are full of gaps, and I will put you and your +ancient comrades, the Pike of Dargan Lake and the Yew of the Steep Place +of the Strangers into my rhyme, that there may be a curse on you for +ever.' + +There was a bush beside him to the left, flowering like the rest, and +a little gust of wind blew the white blossoms over his coat. 'May +blossoms,' he said, gathering them up in the hollow of his hand, 'you +never know age because you die away in your beauty, and I will put you +into my rhyme and give you my blessing.' + +He rose up then and plucked a little branch from the bush, and carried +it in his hand. But it is old and broken he looked going home that day +with the stoop in his shoulders and the darkness in his face. + +When he got to his cabin there was no one there, and he went and lay +down on the bed for a while as he was used to do when he wanted to make +a poem or a praise or a curse. And it was not long he was in making it +this time, for the power of the curse-making bards was upon him. And +when he had made it he searched his mind how he could send it out over +the whole countryside. + +Some of the scholars began coming in then, to see if there would be +any school that day, and Hanrahan rose up and sat on the bench by the +hearth, and they all stood around him. + +They thought he would bring out the Virgil or the Mass book or the +primer, but instead of that he held up the little branch of hawthorn he +had in his hand yet. 'Children,' he said, 'this is a new lesson I have +for you to-day. + +'You yourselves and the beautiful people of the world are like this +blossom, and old age is the wind that comes and blows the blossom away. +And I have made a curse upon old age and upon the old men, and listen +now while I give it out to you.' And this is what he said-- + + The poet, Owen Hanrahan, under a bush of may + Calls down a curse on his own head because it withers grey; + Then on the speckled eagle cock of Ballygawley Hill, + Because it is the oldest thing that knows of cark and ill; + And on the yew that has been green from the times out of mind + By the Steep Place of the Strangers and the Gap of the Wind; + And on the great grey pike that broods in Castle Dargan Lake + Having in his long body a many a hook and ache; + Then curses he old Paddy Bruen of the Well of Bride + Because no hair is on his head and drowsiness inside. + Then Paddy's neighbour, Peter Hart, and Michael Gill, his friend, + Because their wandering histories are never at an end. + And then old Shemus Cullinan, shepherd of the Green Lands + Because he holds two crutches between his crooked hands; + Then calls a curse from the dark North upon old Paddy Doe, + Who plans to lay his withering head upon a breast of snow, + Who plans to wreck a singing voice and break a merry heart, + He bids a curse hang over him till breath and body part; + But he calls down a blessing on the blossom of the may, + Because it comes in beauty, and in beauty blows away. + +He said it over to the children verse by verse till all of them could +say a part of it, and some that were the quickest could say the whole of +it. + +'That will do for to-day,' he said then. 'And what you have to do now is +to go out and sing that song for a while, to the tune of the Green Bunch +of Rushes, to everyone you meet, and to the old men themselves.' + +'I will do that,' said one of the little lads; 'I know old Paddy Doe +well. Last Saint John's Eve we dropped a mouse down his chimney, but +this is better than a mouse.' + +'I will go into the town of Sligo and sing it in the street,' said +another of the boys. 'Do that,' said Hanrahan, 'and go into the Burrough +and tell it to Margaret Rooney and Mary Gillis, and bid them sing to it, +and to make the beggars and the bacachs sing it wherever they go.' The +children ran out then, full of pride and of mischief, calling out the +song as they ran, and Hanrahan knew there was no danger it would not be +heard. + +He was sitting outside the door the next morning, looking at his +scholars as they came by in twos and threes. They were nearly all come, +and he was considering the place of the sun in the heavens to know +whether it was time to begin, when he heard a sound that was like the +buzzing of a swarm of bees in the air, or the rushing of a hidden river +in time of flood. Then he saw a crowd coming up to the cabin from the +road, and he took notice that all the crowd was made up of old men, and +that the leaders of it were Paddy Bruen, Michael Gill and Paddy Doe, +and there was not one in the crowd but had in his hand an ash stick or +a blackthorn. As soon as they caught sight of him, the sticks began to +wave hither and thither like branches in a storm, and the old feet to +run. + +He waited no longer, but made off up the hill behind the cabin till he +was out of their sight. + +After a while he came back round the hill, where he was hidden by the +furze growing along a ditch. And when he came in sight of his cabin he +saw that all the old men had gathered around it, and one of them was +just at that time thrusting a rake with a wisp of lighted straw on it +into the thatch. + +'My grief,' he said, 'I have set Old Age and Time and Weariness and +Sickness against me, and I must go wandering again. And, O Blessed Queen +of Heaven,' he said, 'protect me from the Eagle of Ballygawley, the +Yew Tree of the Steep Place of the Strangers, the Pike of Castle Dargan +Lake, and from the lighted wisps of their kindred, the Old Men!' + + + + +HANRAHAN'S VISION. + +It was in the month of June Hanrahan was on the road near Sligo, but +he did not go into the town, but turned towards Beinn Bulben; for there +were thoughts of the old times coming upon him, and he had no mind to +meet with common men. And as he walked he was singing to himself a song +that had come to him one time in his dreams: + + O Death's old bony finger + Will never find us there + In the high hollow townland + Where love's to give and to spare; + Where boughs have fruit and blossom + At all times of the year; + Where rivers are running over + With red beer and brown beer. + An old man plays the bagpipes + In a gold and silver wood; + Queens, their eyes blue like the ice, + Are dancing in a crowd. + + The little fox he murmured, + 'O what of the world's bane?' + The sun was laughing sweetly, + The moon plucked at my rein; + But the little red fox murmured, + 'O do not pluck at his rein, + He is riding to the townland + That is the world's bane.' + + When their hearts are so high + That they would come to blows, + They unhook their heavy swords + From golden and silver boughs: + But all that are killed in battle + Awaken to life again: + It is lucky that their story + Is not known among men. + For O, the strong farmers + That would let the spade lie, + Their hearts would be like a cup + That somebody had drunk dry. + + Michael will unhook his trumpet + From a bough overhead, + And blow a little noise + When the supper has been spread. + Gabriel will come from the water + With a fish tail, and talk + Of wonders that have happened + On wet roads where men walk, + And lift up an old horn + Of hammered silver, and drink + Till he has fallen asleep + Upon the starry brink. + +Hanrahan had begun to climb the mountain then, and he gave over singing, +for it was a long climb for him, and every now and again he had to sit +down and to rest for a while. And one time he was resting he took notice +of a wild briar bush, with blossoms on it, that was growing beside a +rath, and it brought to mind the wild roses he used to bring to Mary +Lavelle, and to no woman after her. And he tore off a little branch of +the bush, that had buds on it and open blossoms, and he went on with his +song: + + The little fox he murmured, + 'O what of the world's bane?' + The sun was laughing sweetly, + The moon plucked at my rein; + But the little red fox murmured, + 'O do not pluck at his rein, + He is riding to the townland + That is the world's bane.' + +And he went on climbing the hill, and left the rath, and there came to +his mind some of the old poems that told of lovers, good and bad, and +of some that were awakened from the sleep of the grave itself by the +strength of one another's love, and brought away to a life in some +shadowy place, where they are waiting for the judgment and banished from +the face of God. + +And at last, at the fall of day, he came to the Steep Gap of the +Strangers, and there he laid himself down along a ridge of rock, and +looked into the valley, that was full of grey mist spreading from +mountain to mountain. + +And it seemed to him as he looked that the mist changed to shapes of +shadowy men and women, and his heart began to beat with the fear and +the joy of the sight. And his hands, that were always restless, began to +pluck off the leaves of the roses on the little branch, and he watched +them as they went floating down into the valley in a little fluttering +troop. + +Suddenly he heard a faint music, a music that had more laughter in it +and more crying than all the music of this world. And his heart rose +when he heard that, and he began to laugh out loud, for he knew that +music was made by some who had a beauty and a greatness beyond the +people of this world. And it seemed to him that the little soft rose +leaves as they went fluttering down into the valley began to change +their shape till they looked like a troop of men and women far off in +the mist, with the colour of the roses on them. And then that colour +changed to many colours, and what he saw was a long line of tall +beautiful young men, and of queen-women, that were not going from +him but coming towards him and past him, and their faces were full of +tenderness for all their proud looks, and were very pale and worn, as +if they were seeking and ever seeking for high sorrowful things. And +shadowy arms were stretched out of the mist as if to take hold of them, +but could not touch them, for the quiet that was about them could not +be broken. And before them and beyond them, but at a distance as if in +reverence, there were other shapes, sinking and rising and coming and +going, and Hanrahan knew them by their whirling flight to be the Sidhe, +the ancient defeated gods; and the shadowy arms did not rise to take +hold of them, for they were of those that can neither sin nor obey. +And they all lessened then in the distance, and they seemed to be going +towards the white door that is in the side of the mountain. + +The mist spread out before him now like a deserted sea washing the +mountains with long grey waves, but while he was looking at it, it began +to fill again with a flowing broken witless life that was a part of +itself, and arms and pale heads covered with tossing hair appeared in +the greyness. It rose higher and higher till it was level with the +edge of the steep rock, and then the shapes grew to be solid, and a new +procession half lost in mist passed very slowly with uneven steps, +and in the midst of each shadow there was something shining in the +starlight. They came nearer and nearer, and Hanrahan saw that they also +were lovers, and that they had heart-shaped mirrors instead of hearts, +and they were looking and ever looking on their own faces in one +another's mirrors. They passed on, sinking downward as they passed, and +other shapes rose in their place, and these did not keep side by side, +but followed after one another, holding out wild beckoning arms, and he +saw that those who were followed were women, and as to their heads they +were beyond all beauty, but as to their bodies they were but shadows +without life, and their long hair was moving and trembling about them, +as if it lived with some terrible life of its own. And then the mist +rose of a sudden and hid them, and then a light gust of wind blew them +away towards the north-east, and covered Hanrahan at the same time with +a white wing of cloud. + +He stood up trembling and was going to turn away from the valley, when +he saw two dark and half-hidden forms standing as if in the air just +beyond the rock, and one of them that had the sorrowful eyes of a beggar +said to him in a woman's voice, 'Speak to me, for no one in this world +or any other world has spoken to me for seven hundred years.' + +'Tell me who are those that have passed by,' said Hanrahan. + +'Those that passed first,' the woman said, 'are the lovers that had the +greatest name in the old times, Blanad and Deirdre and Grania and their +dear comrades, and a great many that are not so well known but are as +well loved. And because it was not only the blossom of youth they were +looking for in one another, but the beauty that is as lasting as the +night and the stars, the night and the stars hold them for ever from the +warring and the perishing, in spite of the wars and the bitterness their +love brought into the world. And those that came next,' she said, 'and +that still breathe the sweet air and have the mirrors in their hearts, +are not put in songs by the poets, because they sought only to triumph +one over the other, and so to prove their strength and beauty, and +out of this they made a kind of love. And as to the women with +shadow-bodies, they desired neither to triumph nor to love but only to +be loved, and there is no blood in their hearts or in their bodies until +it flows through them from a kiss, and their life is but for a moment. +All these are unhappy, but I am the unhappiest of all, for I am +Dervadilla, and this is Dermot, and it was our sin brought the Norman +into Ireland. And the curses of all the generations are upon us, and +none are punished as we are punished. It was but the blossom of the man +and of the woman we loved in one another, the dying beauty of the +dust and not the everlasting beauty. When we died there was no lasting +unbreakable quiet about us, and the bitterness of the battles we brought +into Ireland turned to our own punishment. We go wandering together for +ever, but Dermot that was my lover sees me always as a body that has +been a long time in the ground, and I know that is the way he sees me. +Ask me more, ask me more, for all the years have left their wisdom in my +heart, and no one has listened to me for seven hundred years.' + +A great terror had fallen upon Hanrahan, and lifting his arms above +his head he screamed out loud three times, and the cattle in the valley +lifted their heads and lowed, and the birds in the wood at the edge +of the mountain awaked out of their sleep and fluttered through the +trembling leaves. But a little below the edge of the rock, the troop of +rose leaves still fluttered in the air, for the gateway of Eternity had +opened and shut again in one beat of the heart. + + + + +THE DEATH OF HANRAHAN. + + +Hanrahan, that was never long in one place, was back again among the +villages that are at the foot of Slieve Echtge, Illeton and Scalp and +Ballylee, stopping sometimes in one house and sometimes in another, and +finding a welcome in every place for the sake of the old times and of +his poetry and his learning. There was some silver and some copper money +in the little leather bag under his coat, but it was seldom he needed to +take anything from it, for it was little he used, and there was not one +of the people that would have taken payment from him. His hand had grown +heavy on the blackthorn he leaned on, and his cheeks were hollow and +worn, but so far as food went, potatoes and milk and a bit of oaten +cake, he had what he wanted of it; and it is not on the edge of so wild +and boggy a place as Echtge a mug of spirits would be wanting, with the +taste of the turf smoke on it. He would wander about the big wood at +Kinadife, or he would sit through many hours of the day among the +rushes about Lake Belshragh, listening to the streams from the hills, or +watching the shadows in the brown bog pools; sitting so quiet as not to +startle the deer that came down from the heather to the grass and the +tilled fields at the fall of night. As the days went by it seemed as if +he was beginning to belong to some world out of sight and misty, that +has for its mearing the colours that are beyond all other colours and +the silences that are beyond all silences of this world. And sometimes +he would hear coming and going in the wood music that when it stopped +went from his memory like a dream; and once in the stillness of midday +he heard a sound like the clashing of many swords, that went on for long +time without any break. And at the fall of night and at moonrise the +lake would grow to be like a gateway of silver and shining stones, and +there would come from its silence the faint sound of keening and of +frightened laughter broken by the wind, and many pale beckoning hands. + +He was sitting looking into the water one evening in harvest time, +thinking of all the secrets that were shut into the lakes and the +mountains, when he heard a cry coming from the south, very faint at +first, but getting louder and clearer as the shadow of the rushes grew +longer, till he could hear the words, 'I am beautiful, I am beautiful; +the birds in the air, the moths under the leaves, the flies over the +water look at me, for they never saw any one so beautiful as myself. I +am young; I am young: look upon me, mountains; look upon me, perishing +woods, for my body will shine like the white waters when you have been +hurried away. You and the whole race of men, and the race of the beasts +and the race of the fish and the winged race are dropping like a candle +that is nearly burned out, but I laugh out because I am in my youth.' +The voice would break off from time to time, as if tired, and then it +would begin again, calling out always the same words, 'I am beautiful, +I am beautiful.' Presently the bushes at the edge of the little lake +trembled for a moment, and a very old woman forced her way among them, +and passed by Hanrahan, walking with very slow steps. Her face was of +the colour of earth, and more wrinkled than the face of any old hag that +was ever seen, and her grey hair was hanging in wisps, and the rags +she was wearing did not hide her dark skin that was roughened by all +weathers. She passed by him with her eyes wide open, and her head high, +and her arms hanging straight beside her, and she went into the shadow +of the hills towards the west. + +A sort of dread came over Hanrahan when he saw her, for he knew her to +be one Winny Byrne, that went begging from place to place crying always +the same cry, and he had often heard that she had once such wisdom that +all the women of the neighbours used to go looking for advice from her, +and that she had a voice so beautiful that men and women would come from +every part to hear her sing at a wake or a wedding; and that the Others, +the great Sidhe, had stolen her wits one Samhain night many years ago, +when she had fallen asleep on the edge of a rath, and had seen in her +dreams the servants of Echtge of the hills. + +And as she vanished away up the hillside, it seemed as if her cry, 'I +am beautiful, I am beautiful,' was coming from among the stars in the +heavens. + +There was a cold wind creeping among the rushes, and Hanrahan began to +shiver, and he rose up to go to some house where there would be a fire +on the hearth. But instead of turning down the hill as he was used, he +went on up the hill, along the little track that was maybe a road and +maybe the dry bed of a stream. It was the same way Winny had gone, and +it led to the little cabin where she stopped when she stopped in any +place at all. He walked very slowly up the hill as if he had a great +load on his back, and at last he saw a light a little to the left, and +he thought it likely it was from Winny's house it was shining, and he +turned from the path to go to it. But clouds had come over the sky, and +he could not well see his way, and after he had gone a few steps his +foot slipped and he fell into a bog drain, and though he dragged himself +out of it, holding on to the roots of the heather, the fall had given +him a great shake, and he felt better fit to lie down than to go +travelling. But he had always great courage, and he made his way on, +step by step, till at last he came to Winny's cabin, that had no window, +but the light was shining from the door. He thought to go into it and +to rest for a while, but when he came to the door he did not see Winny +inside it, but what he saw was four old grey-haired women playing cards, +but Winny herself was not among them. Hanrahan sat down on a heap of +turf beside the door, for he was tired out and out, and had no wish for +talking or for card-playing, and his bones and his joints aching the +way they were. He could hear the four women talking as they played, and +calling out their hands. And it seemed to him that they were saying, +like the strange man in the barn long ago: 'Spades and Diamonds, Courage +and Power. Clubs and Hearts, Knowledge and Pleasure.' And he went on +saying those words over and over to himself; and whether or not he was +in his dreams, the pain that was in his shoulder never left him. And +after a while the four women in the cabin began to quarrel, and each one +to say the other had not played fair, and their voices grew from loud to +louder, and their screams and their curses, till at last the whole +air was filled with the noise of them around and above the house, and +Hanrahan, hearing it between sleep and waking, said: 'That is the sound +of the fighting between the friends and the ill-wishers of a man that is +near his death. And I wonder,' he said, 'who is the man in this lonely +place that is near his death.' + +It seemed as if he had been asleep a long time, and he opened his eyes, +and the face he saw over him was the old wrinkled face of Winny of the +Cross Road. She was looking hard at him, as if to make sure he was not +dead, and she wiped away the blood that had grown dry on his face with a +wet cloth, and after a while she partly helped him and partly lifted him +into the cabin, and laid him down on what served her for a bed. She gave +him a couple of potatoes from a pot on the fire, and, what served him +better, a mug of spring water. He slept a little now and again, and +sometimes he heard her singing to herself as she moved about the house, +and so the night wore away. When the sky began to brighten with the dawn +he felt for the bag; where his little store of money was, and held it +out to her, and she took out a bit of copper and a bit of silver money, +but she let it drop again as if it was nothing to her, maybe because +it was not money she was used to beg for, but food and rags; or maybe +because the rising of the dawn was filling her with pride and a new +belief in her own great beauty. She went out and cut a few armfuls of +heather, and brought it in and heaped it over Hanrahan, saying something +about the cold of the morning, and while she did that he took notice of +the wrinkles in her face, and the greyness of her hair, and the broken +teeth that were black and full of gaps. And when he was well covered +with the heather she went out of the door and away down the side of the +mountain, and he could hear her cry, 'I am beautiful, I am beautiful,' +getting less and less as she went, till at last it died away altogether. + +Hanrahan lay there through the length of the day, in his pains and his +weakness, and when the shadows of the evening were falling he heard +her voice again coming up the hillside, and she came in and boiled the +potatoes and shared them with him the same way as before. And one day +after another passed like that, and the weight of his flesh was heavy +about him. But little by little as he grew weaker he knew there were +some greater than himself in the room with him, and that the house began +to be filled with them; and it seemed to him they had all power in their +hands, and that they might with one touch of the hand break down the +wall the hardness of pain had built about him, and take him into their +own world. And sometimes he could hear voices, very faint and joyful, +crying from the rafters or out of the flame on the hearth, and other +times the whole house was filled with music that went through it like a +wind. And after a while his weakness left no place for pain, and there +grew up about him a great silence like the silence in the heart of a +lake, and there came through it like the flame of a rushlight the faint +joyful voices ever and always. + +One morning he heard music somewhere outside the door, and as the day +passed it grew louder and louder until it drowned the faint joyful +voices, and even Winny's cry upon the hillside at the fall of evening. +About midnight and in a moment, the walls seemed to melt away and to +leave his bed floating on a pale misty light that shone on every side +as far as the eye could see; and after the first blinding of his eyes he +saw that it was full of great shadowy figures rushing here and there. + +At the same time the music came very clearly to him, and he knew that it +was but the continual clashing of swords. + +'I am after my death,' he said, 'and in the very heart of the music of +Heaven. O Cheruhim and Seraphim, receive my soul!' + +At his cry the light where it was nearest to him filled with sparks +of yet brighter light, and he saw that these were the points of swords +turned towards his heart; and then a sudden flame, bright and burning +like God's love or God's hate, swept over the light and went out and he +was in darkness. At first he could see nothing, for all was as dark as +if there was black bog earth about him, but all of a sudden the fire +blazed up as if a wisp of straw had been thrown upon it. And as he +looked at it, the light was shining on the big pot that was hanging from +a hook, and on the flat stone where Winny used to bake a cake now and +again, and on the long rusty knife she used to be cutting the roots of +the heather with, and on the long blackthorn stick he had brought into +the house himself. And when he saw those four things, some memory came +into Hanrahan's mind, and strength came back to him, and he rose sitting +up in the bed, and he said very loud and clear: 'The Cauldron, the +Stone, the Sword, the Spear. What are they? Who do they belong to? And I +have asked the question this time,' he said. + +And then he fell back again, weak, and the breath going from him. + +Winny Byrne, that had been tending the fire, came over then, having her +eyes fixed on the bed; and the faint laughing voices began crying out +again, and a pale light, grey like a wave, came creeping over the room, +and he did not know from what secret world it came. He saw Winny's +withered face and her withered arms that were grey like crumbled earth, +and weak as he was he shrank back farther towards the wall. And then +there came out of the mud-stiffened rags arms as white and as shadowy as +the foam on a river, and they were put about his body, and a voice that +he could hear well but that seemed to come from a long way off said to +him in a whisper: 'You will go looking for me no more upon the breasts +of women.' + +'Who are you?' he said then. + +'I am one of the lasting people, of the lasting unwearied Voices, that +make my dwelling in the broken and the dying, and those that have lost +their wits; and I came looking for you, and you are mine until the whole +world is burned out like a candle that is spent. And look up now,' she +said, 'for the wisps that are for our wedding are lighted.' + +He saw then that the house was crowded with pale shadowy hands, and +that every hand was holding what was sometimes like a wisp lighted for a +marriage, and sometimes like a tall white candle for the dead. + +When the sun rose on the morning of the morrow Winny of the Cross +Roads rose up from where she was sitting beside the body, and began her +begging from townland to townland, singing the same song as she walked, +'I am beautiful, I am beautiful. The birds in the air, the moths under +the leaves, the flies over the water look at me. Look at me, perishing +woods, for my body will be shining like the lake water after you have +been hurried away. You and the old race of men, and the race of the +beasts, and the race of the fish, and the winged race, are wearing away +like a candle that has been burned out. But I laugh out loud, because I +am in my youth.' + +She did not come back that night or any night to the cabin, and it was +not till the end of two days that the turf cutters going to the bog +found the body of Red Owen Hanrahan, and gathered men to wake him and +women to keen him, and gave him a burying worthy of so great a poet. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories of Red Hanrahan, by W. B. 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