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diff --git a/old/rdhnr10.txt b/old/rdhnr10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3099345 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/rdhnr10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1747 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories of Red Hanrahan, by W. B. Yeats +#3 in our series by W. B. Yeats + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Stories of Red Hanrahan + +Author: W. B. Yeats + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5793] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on September 1, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE 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. Yeats + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF RED HANRAHAN *** + +This file should be named rdhnr10.txt or rdhnr10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, rdhnr11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, rdhnr10a.txt + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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