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Small crown 8vo. cloth, price 5<i>s.</i> + </li> + <li><b>The Infant Bridal</b>, and other Poems. A New and enlarged Edition. Fcp. 8vo. + cloth, price 7<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> (<i>A selection from the Author’s Poems.</i>) + </li> + <li><b>The Legends of St. Patrick</b>, and other Poems. Small crown 8vo. cloth, price + 5<i>s.</i> + </li> + <li><b>St. Thomas of Canterbury</b>: a Dramatic Poem. Large fcp. 8vo. cloth, price + 5<i>s.</i> + </li> + <li><b>Legends of the Saxon Saints.</b> Small crown 8vo. cloth, price 6<i>s.</i> + </li> + <li><b>Antar and Zara</b>: an Eastern Romance. <span class='sc'>Inisfail</span>, and + other Poems Meditative and Lyrical. Fcp. 8vo. price 6<i>s.</i> + </li> + <li><b>The Fall of Rora, the Search after Proserpine</b>, and other Poems Meditative and + Lyrical. Fcp. 8vo. price 6<i>s.</i> + </li> + </ul> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> +<div class='nf-center c004'> + <div><span class='small'><span class='sc'>Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co.</span>, 1 Paternoster Square.</span></div> + </div> +</div> + + <ul class='ul_1'> + <li><b>May Carols.</b> Third Edition, enlarged. + </li> + </ul> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> +<div class='nf-center c004'> + <div><span class='small'><span class='sc'>Burns & Oates.</span></span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> +<div class='nf-center c004'> + <div><span class='sc'>By the late</span> SIR AUBREY DE VERE, <span class='sc'>Bart.</span></div> + </div> +</div> + + <ul class='ul_1'> + <li><b>Mary Tudor</b>: an Historical Drama. + </li> + <li><b>Julian the Apostate, and the Duke of Mercia.</b> + </li> + <li><b>A Song of Faith</b>, Devout Exercises and Sonnets. + </li> + </ul> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> +<div class='nf-center c004'> + <div><span class='small'><span class='sc'>B. M. Pickering.</span></span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> +<div> + <h1 class='c005'>THE FORAY<br> <br>OF<br> <br>QUEEN MEAVE<br> <br>AND OTHER<br> <br><i>LEGENDS OF IRELAND’S HEROIC AGE</i></h1> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div>BY</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='xlarge'><span class='sc'>Aubrey de Vere</span></span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> +<div class='nf-center c000'> + <div>LONDON</div> + <div><span class='small'>KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, & CO., 1 PATERNOSTER SQUARE</span></div> + <div><span class='small'>1882</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> +<div class='nf-center c000'> + <div>(<i>The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved</i>)</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_v'>v</span> + <h2 id='preface' class='c006'>PREFACE.</h2> +</div> +<div class='c003 figcenter id001'> +<img src='images/decoration.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +</div> +<p class='c007'>The ‘Foray of Queen Meave,’ the longest of the following +poems, is founded on and in substance represents the far-famed +‘Tain bo Cuailgné,’ a tale regarded by many Irish +scholars as the great Irish epic of ancient times, by others +as a part only of some larger epic of which numerous +portions remain, but which unhappily found no Pisistratus +to combine them into a whole. The lamented Professor +Eugene O’Curry has expressed his opinion that ‘in the +time of Senchan and St. Columba’ (that is in the sixth +century) ‘it was generally believed that Fergus was the +original writer of the tale.’<a id='r1'></a><a href='#f1' class='c008'><sup>[1]</sup></a> ‘On this supposition it +must have existed in a rudimental form a little before +the Christian Era. It was lost for several centuries, but +recovered in the sixth, when, according to the legend +recorded by Professor O’Curry, St. Kiaran wrote down +the tale “in a book which he had made from the hide of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_vi'>vi</span>his pet cow—a book called the Leabhar na h-Uidré.”’<a id='r2'></a><a href='#f2' class='c008'><sup>[2]</sup></a> +Elsewhere that great authority states that a large portion +of this work is preserved in a copy ‘written at the same +Clonmacnoise by <a id='tn-maelmire'></a>a famous scribe named Maelmire, who +was killed there in 1106.’<a id='r3'></a><a href='#f3' class='c008'><sup>[3]</sup></a> That copy of St. Kiaran’s +version is still extant in the Royal Irish Academy, as +well as a copy of a later version included in the ‘Book +of Leinster,’ a collection compiled about 1150. Translations +of both these versions have been made by Professor +O’Looney, and to both I have had access through +his kindness. These two versions differ much from each +other, the earlier being the simpler and stronger, while +the later is the richer in detail. To the sixth century +belong not a few Irish works of unquestioned authenticity, +such as the elegy written by Dallan Forgaill on +the death of St. Columba, <span class='fss'>A.D.</span> 592, found also in the +Leabhar na h-Uidré. To an earlier period, the fifth +century, belongs the tract entitled the ‘Battle of Magh +Tuireadh,’ or Moytura. Several poems are confidently +referred to Dubthach, chief Bard of King Laeghaire, +St. Patrick’s earliest convert at the Royal Court; and +to the same century belongs the Senchas Mor, or Compilation +of Laws. The ‘Tripartite Life of St. Patrick’ +<span class='pageno' id='Page_vii'>vii</span>is attributed by Colgan and others to the sixth century, +because it mentions as still living many persons known +to have died before the close of that age. Books are +recorded as having been in the hands of the Druids +before St. Patrick’s time, or soon after, such as the +‘Cuilmenn,’ the ‘Sailtair of Tara,’ attributed to the third +century, the ‘Book of St. Mochta,’ one of St. Patrick’s +early disciples, the ‘Book of Cuana,’ &c. There is +consequently nothing to surprise us in the circumstance +that the ‘Tain bo Cuailgné’ belongs to a period so early. +The following poem, written of course in the character +of an old Irish bard, is not a translation except as regards +some passages which occur chiefly in Fragment III. It +is not in the form of translation that an ancient Irish +tale of any considerable length admits of being rendered +in poetry. What is needed is to select from the original +such portions as are at once the most essential to the +story, and the most characteristic, reproducing them in a +condensed form, and taking care that the necessary +additions bring out the idea, and contain nothing that is +not in the spirit, of the original.</p> + +<p class='c009'>An attempt to introduce to modern readers a work +so ancient, and connected with allusions so unfamiliar, +seems to call for some remarks on the character of that +work, and on the age which produced it. The ‘Tain bo +<span class='pageno' id='Page_viii'>viii</span>Cuailgné’ is especially valued, not only for its poetic +merits, but for the light which it throws upon early Irish +customs, such as the use of the war-chariot, abandoned, +apparently, as early as the second century. It marks +strikingly the mutual relations of Ireland’s different kingdoms, +classes, and races. It is the amplest voice from +Ireland’s ‘Heroic Age,’ thus belonging to the first, as +the so-called ‘Ossianic’ poems belong to the second +cycle of ancient Irish song. The latter cycle derives +its name from the circumstance that, though little of it +can be traced back to Ossian, it records the warriors of +the Fianna Eireann who were his contemporaries, and +flourished in the second century. Yet even they, scarcely +excepting Diarmid, Oscar, and Fionn himself, though +the terror of Ireland’s provincial kings till their power, +rendered too exacting by long success, was extinguished +by a single fatal reverse, were never counted equal to the +mighty ones of her earlier time.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The Heroic Age had reached its highest greatness +shortly before the Christian Era. It was then that +Fergus Mac Roy reigned over Uladh, now Ulster; but +he renounced his throne, incensed at seeing his wily +stepson preferred to him, and was exiled because he +had revenged the murder of Usnach’s sons. Among +the ancient Irish heroes he was the popular favourite, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_ix'>ix</span>princely in all his ways, magnanimous, truthful, just, and +not the less majestic because a man of mirth. His +supplanter, Conor Conchobar, was his opposite in all +things, a man more sagacious, but perfidious and implacable. +At that time lived also Conal Carnach, and his +foster-son Cuchullain immeasurably the greatest of all +Ireland’s legendary warriors. His character is one so consistent +and so original that it suffices by itself to stamp the +age which conceived it as high among the most poetic +of the world. Cuchullain has been called the Achilles +of early Erin; yet with the swiftness, the fierce impulse, +and indomitable might that belonged to the Greek, +he blends in perfect harmony qualities that remind us +more of Hector. Like him, he is the defender of the +city, more inspired by patriotic zeal than even by his +love of glory: like him, he is generous, modest, forbearing +to the weak. It is to the strong only among his +country’s foes that he is unpitying; and even in his +dealings with them there is no ferocity. They have to +die, and he slays them. He is reverent to both his +parents—fiercely as they were at variance with each other—to +age, to woman; and about him, even in his sterner +moods, there plays often the joyous spirit of the child. +His devotion to Ferdīa is tenderer than that of Achilles +to Patroclus; but on him there has fallen a sterner duty. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_x'>x</span>He has not to avenge that friend, but to encounter +and lay him low when the invader of Uladh. The one +blemish in Cuchullain’s life, his desertion of Aifné, his +boyhood’s love in Scatha’s Island, for a rival whose chief +attraction was perhaps that she could only be won by +force of arms, is an episode not included within the +scope of the Tain. His lifelong aspiration was fulfilled. +A few years after the repulse of Meave, while the other +warriors of Ulster were engaged on an invasion of Alba +(Scotland), Cuchullain alone remained behind for the +protection of his country. Suddenly the forces of all +the other kingdoms fell again upon the northern land, +stirred up by ancient hatred, and led on by a remnant of +Cailitin’s ‘Magic Clan.’ Cuchullain again held them at +bay till the return of the Ulster army: but it returned +only in time to avenge his death, still in the prime of +youth, and to complete his work.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It has been remarked that in the characters of +Homer—so absolutely true are they to nature—the +qualities which bear the same name are yet essentially +different qualities; as, for example, courage as illustrated +in Achilles and Ajax, in Diomed and in Hector. This +mark of truthfulness strikes us at once in the Tain. +The kingly valour of Fergus, thoughtful and serene, has +nothing in common with the animal fearlessness of Lok +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xi'>xi</span>Mac Favesh, or the blind patriotic fury of Ketherne, and +but little with that of Ferdīa. In Cuchullain, courage is +an inspiration descending from above upon a being +essentially emotional, and though always brave, yet +sensitive and capable of awe. We smile at the boundless +admiration lavished on strength by all early races; +nor shall we understand it aright while we suppose that +it was, indeed, directed to mere physical qualities. This +was not so. Body and soul were not then thus carefully +discriminated; the heroic deed was attributed, not to +the hand alone, but to the warrior himself, his heart +and his brain; and not to the man only, but to some +divine aid, his because deserved by him. Cuchullain +is the chief example of heroism thus conceived. He is +slender as a maid; but in the crisis of battle, when his +spirit kindles, his stature becomes gigantic. This +close connection between the material and the spiritual +explains the rapidity with which the wounds of these +legendary heroes heal. Should there ever come a time +when the spiritual is the chief object of man’s reverence, +the present adulation of mere intellect will be looked on +as we regard the enthusiasm bestowed on martial might +in days gone by.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The imaginative literature of early races wears a +rough exterior; but as we are told of a ‘latent heat,’ so +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xii'>xii</span>there exists a latent thoughtfulness; and it is often +found unexpectedly in the depths of a tale which on its +surface reveals no disposition to deal with hard problems. +The reader of the Tain will be reminded of this truth +in proportion as he understands the relative position +of the Irish kingdoms at the time it describes. Connaught +was the most barbaric as well as the poorest +of them all; while Ulster had even then reached that +superiority in strength and wealth, and in civilisation +both civil and military, which for so many centuries she +retained. Her king was the subtlest and most powerful +of the Irish kings; and her celebrated ‘Red Branch +Knights’ were the most gallant order of Irish chivalry. +The more astonishing, consequently, was the utter prostration, +a defeat without a battle, into which she so +suddenly fell. Without any apparent cause her strength +changed to weakness, and her wisdom to folly. It +was the rebuke of her pride. At the critical moment of +her fortunes her great ones began to babble and talk +nonsense. All that their country had been they forgot; +and the near future they looked on through what the +Tain calls ‘a mist of imbecility,’ and attributes to witchcraft. +Equally striking is the change which takes place +when the spell is reversed. The inferior nation can +neither use nor retain the advantages accidentally and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xiii'>xiii</span>dishonestly gained, and defeat succeeds to triumph. I +know of nothing else in poetry which resembles this. +Possibly it might be easier to find a parallel in history.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The Tain, a work which, while abounding in passion, +distinctly includes an element of humour and irony, +suffers nothing from a revulsion so strange. It ends +with a great event, a battle and an overthrow; and if +that catastrophe is but a ‘conclusion inconclusive,’ and no +results remain behind, in this very circumstance lies a +special significance of the work. To this issue the whole +leads up, and the reader is not taken by surprise. +Throughout the tale he finds the same strange mixture +of ardent affections with causeless hatreds; of quick +sympathies with injustice and ferocity; of high daring +with a blundering the consequence not of incapacity, but +of tortuous acuteness. Everywhere he finds the contrast +between the emotional in excess and an all but complete +absence of discipline, whether moral or mental. Such +characteristics may last for centuries, but the end is ever +the same—exertions that amaze, and abortive results. +The only cause for surprise is that a moral so grave should +have been unconsciously bequeathed by an ancient work, +written to amuse, not instruct. The explanation is that +a poem true to the time and to the characters it commemorates, +teaches by necessity what they teach.</p> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xiv'>xiv</span>The relation in which St. Kiaran stood to the Tain +illustrates that of the Christian priesthood to the imaginative +traditions of Ireland. The living bards and the +clergy could not but be rivals, but it was often a friendly +rivalship; and as regards the bards of past centuries, there +was no room for jealousy. By degrees the clergy took +an interest in the ancient tales, and became attached +to what they befriended. Amid many extravagances they +detected doubtless a significance which escapes the half-closed +eye of a cynic shrewdness. Occasionally they +added to old legends an interpolation which might +have surprised those who had first sung them. Thus +we read that Cuchullain, when going forth to his last +battle, heard a choir of angels singing above that hill on +which the cathedral of Armagh was destined one day +to stand; that he was pleased by the anthem, and that +his pleasure in it was accepted as a homage of good-will. +Elsewhere he is represented as fleeting in his war-car, +after death, above his beloved Emania. He sings,—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>I played on breaths</div> + <div class='line in4'>Above the horses’ steam:</div> + <div class='line'>There used to be broken before me</div> + <div class='line in4'>Great battles on every side:</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c010'>yet he ends with a warning to the race of man, and +announces the day of judgment.</p> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xv'>xv</span>The teachers of those days doubtless believed that +religion could afford to be indulgent towards minstrels +who had been true to such lesser lights as they possessed. +Paganism in those days was too little insidious to be +dangerous. There is a paganism in literature much +more formidable than theirs; but it had not then +manifested itself. It belongs to that corrupted civilisation +which uses against Christianity those intellectual and +imaginative gifts, as well as that social and scientific +progress, which it owes to Christianity alone. It belongs +also to that merely conventional civilisation which has +scanty dealings either with nature or with the supernatural. +Nature, even in periods branded as ‘barbaric,’ +has qualities that indicate a sympathy with the divine; +for it has ardent affections, a simple refinement, singleness +of aim, a marvellous self-sacrifice, and those unblunted +sensibilities, both of love and reverence, without which +the loftiest revealed truths cease to have a meaning. +The heroic at its highest stretches forth its hands to the +spiritual; and its very deficiencies are a confession that +it needs to be supplemented by a something higher than +itself. We must not confound the ‘savage’ state which +has fallen beneath the dominion of blind sense, with the +‘barbaric’ which has not yet ascended into the clearer +day, but which in its twilight has a gleam of coming +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xvi'>xvi</span>morn. If Ireland, once converted to the faith, filled the +world with her missions, there must have existed in her +previously a thoughtfulness as well as a fearlessness each +of which found its way at last into the nobler fields of +enterprise. It is not unlikely that the apostle from +Clonmacnoise and Iona often cheered his way over the +Northumbrian moors or through the Teuton forest with +a ballad about Cuchullain as well as with a Latin hymn +of Sedulius.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The mode in which the pagan legend sometimes put +on a Christian interpretation is especially illustrated in +the ‘Children of Lir.’ Even in its later form that tale is +said to be anterior to the year 1000; but as an +oral tradition it probably existed, like the social and +political conditions it records, centuries before the +Christian Era. A narrative, at first but the record of +some dreadful crime in a heathen household, changed +by degrees into a mystic hymn on the sanctity of childhood, +its capacity for the heavenly hope, its obedience, +endurance, and fidelity, its power through entire simplicity +to find, in the strangest affliction, purification only and a +whiter innocence. Under the trials of nine centuries +those sufferers alone retain a perpetual childhood; their +father’s house, and the still lake before it, stand ever +before their imagination; and the burden of the years +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xvii'>xvii</span>but falls on them for a moment, to be flung aside for +ever. Their ‘songs in the night season,’ the swan-song +of a long dying, wafted over unstable waters for the solace +of the strong ones dwelling on the land, imply that the +martial bards of old knew in part the higher and serener +function of poetry. It is significant that while the +sentenced belong to the earlier Tuatha de Dannan race, +the witch, while imprecating upon them the curse, +addresses them thus:—‘Ye of the white faces, of the +stammering <em>Gael</em>.’ Apparently some bard of a later day +resolved that these children of an unblessed stock should +be a prophetic anticipation of the Gael whose boast was +his faith. There was to be again a Ruth out of Moab, +one not gleaning amid the fields of promise, but scattering +their earliest seed; a Gentile with a faith not found in +Israel, yet an Israelite indeed. A prose translation of +this tale, among the earliest at once and the most signally +modified of the Irish legends, was made by my early +friend, Gerald Griffin,<a id='r4'></a><a href='#f4' class='c008'><sup>[4]</sup></a> a man who, when certain to attain +the first place among Irish popular writers, passed it by +for a humble one among the ‘Christian Brothers.’</p> + +<p class='c009'>The ‘Children of Lir’ is perhaps the chief memorial +of that Tuatha de Dannan race, which had held sway for +two centuries before the invasion of the Gael, and yet were +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xviii'>xviii</span>themselves regarded as intruders by the Firbolgs. Lir +and Bove, Tuathan kings, were separated by seven +centuries from ‘Conn of the Hundred Fights.’ The +great names of Tyr-Owen and Tyr-Conel had not risen; +and 1,800 years had to pass before the foundations were +laid of those abbeys and castles now in ruins. Yet then, +too, there were monuments. The Tuathan might have +pointed out to his Gaelic conqueror a cairn which still +remains on the coast of Sligo, that of Eochy, King of the +Firbolgs. On the banks of the Boyne he might have +made boast of a huge sepulchral mound still shown to +the traveller, the tomb of Lewy, in whose veins the blood +of the Tuatha was blended with that of the earlier +Fomorian pirates. We know not whether the Dun-Aengus +had yet lifted its ponderous masses on Aran +Island; but two centuries were to go by before Queen +Macha traced the foundations of Emania, and five before +Queen Meave built the palace of Cruachan. It is remarkable +that while numerous Firbolg monuments, and +in some places the race itself, survive, the mediæval +genealogies include no descent from the Tuatha de +Dannan. They are described as an unwarlike race that +worked in mines, and practised magical arts—arts +through which, when dispossessed by a stronger foe, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xix'>xix</span>they had ‘retired into invisibility,’ living an immortal life +among hills and under lakes.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The ‘Children of Lir,’ and the ‘Sons of Usnach’<a id='r5'></a><a href='#f5' class='c008'><sup>[5]</sup></a> are +two of those tales which in Ireland were always known +as ‘the Three Sorrows of Song.’ Critics who regard +the ‘Tain bo Cuailgné’ but as a single fragment of a +great Irish epic, include the second among the remaining +fragments. To me it seems that each work is structurally +complete in itself; but that, in spirit, the two are strikingly +unlike, the ‘Tain’ being essentially epic, while the +‘Sons of Usnach’ is a tragedy cast in a narrative form. +The idea of fate enters into it as strongly as into any +Greek play, its heroine, the ‘Babe of Destiny,’ being, +of all those who have a part in the tale, the one least +subdued by that destiny which she strives in vain to +avert. Those who charge the Irish race with a fatalism +supposed to be a mark of its Eastern origin, may point +to this tale as a proof that the characteristic is at least an +ancient one.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It is natural to compare the Irish legends with those +of other races. An eminent Irish scholar asserts that +the ‘Tain bo Cuailgné is to Irish history what the +Argonautic expedition, and the Seven against Thebes, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xx'>xx</span>are to the Grecian.’ Landor’s ‘Hellenics’ represent +many of the least known Greek legends, and his +‘Gebir’ might be taken for a recovered Greek ‘lesser +epic;’ but with such poems the Irish legends can boast +little affinity. The best of the Roman have perished, +except those which Livy preserved by appropriating, +and which, notwithstanding their large element of +fiction, constitute perhaps the most true, because the +most characteristic portion of the earlier Roman history. +Between the Irish and such Scandinavian legends as the +celebrated ‘Story of the Volsungs and Niblings’ there is +one striking resemblance. In each case the earliest +existing prose version obviously represents a metrical +work earlier still, large fragments of which survive, +cropping up in it like sea rocks that indicate the hills +submerged. In the ‘Tain’ many passages, besides +those which can be called poetical, thus hold their own, +apparently but because the trouble of altering them was +thus evaded. That Scandinavian tale has a keen-edged, +concentrated might about it, together with, at least in +Mr. Morris’s translation, a corresponding force and an +exquisite beauty of style; and in these respects I think +it superior to the ‘Tain:’ but the latter will probably be +deemed by impartial readers to have the advantage in +imagination, varied conception of character, and pathos. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxi'>xxi</span>As regards comparative antiquity the ‘Tain’ must have +preceded the Northern work by at least six centuries. +The latter includes a chapter, the fourteenth, entitled +‘The Welding together of the Shards of the Sword +Grana,’ taken, as might seem, from ‘The Knighting of +Cuchullain,’ so close is the resemblance—as close as that +between the Spanish story of the ‘Monk and the Bird,’ +known to the English reader through Archbishop Trench’s +charming poem, and the Irish tale regarded as its +original. The best characteristics of Irish legends, a +certain swiftness and daring, a wildness of invention, a +power that in its fiercest moods is often subtly combined +with grace, and a tenderness as often alternated +with humour, are found chiefly in the earlier. The +highest inspiration of the Bards seems to have passed +away not long after Ireland became Christian. ‘Great +Pan was dead,’—slain by the shaft of a mightier light. +The further back we go the higher is the imagination, +the energy, and even the art; the legends of the Heroic +Age surpassing the mediæval in refinement as much as in +force, and the mediæval escaping the extravagancies and +vulgarities sometimes found in those of later days. In +ancient Ireland history and poetry had but a single Muse, +and the bard who professed to be ‘a maker’ would have +found no listener. Through all its changes the traditional +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxii'>xxii</span>legend claimed a foundation of truth, and pointed ever +to some unmeasured antiquity. In that early springtide +the hard and rugged March buds of Song were scarcely +distinguishable from the rough rind of fact out of which +they had pushed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The present work concludes a series of poems +intended to illustrate Irish history at its chief periods. +The ‘Legends of St. Patrick’ deal with Ireland’s ‘saintly +time,’ and ‘Inisfail’ with those six centuries between +the Norman invasion and the repeal of the penal laws in +the latter half of the eighteenth century—a period calamitously +misrepresented by partisan historians; one in +which the wild passions and wilder political theories +which, since the first French Revolution, have in so +many countries directed high aspirations to mean or fatal +ends, had no existence; a period of which ‘all the +struggles were characterised by the spirit of liberty, nor +less by that of loyalty, whether directed to Gaelic princes, +to Norman chiefs who had become Irish, to Charles, or +James.’<a id='r6'></a><a href='#f6' class='c008'><sup>[6]</sup></a> Another period remained, that of Ireland’s +‘Heroic Age.’ This volume is a contribution to its illustration. +I trust that the poets of a later day will illustrate +it more worthily, and do for Irish history what the lofty +and stainless poetry of Scott did for that of his country. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxiii'>xxiii</span>The theme is large; and the quarry, so rich in materials, +is as yet scarcely opened. Notwithstanding the destruction +of numberless Irish books which certainly existed as +late as 1631, and the yet larger number known to have +been extant in the eleventh century, besides the vast +collections which perished during the Danish invasions, +we are informed that the Irish books still preserved +in Trinity College, Dublin, and the Royal Irish Academy +would alone fill 30,000 quarto pages. These volumes +exist, almost all of them, in MS. only; while a few, +which, without State aid or any public encouragement, +have been translated, remain unprinted—a circumstance +not honourable either to Ireland’s patriotism, or to that +love of learning once her boast. A mere fragment of the +remaining surplus from the Irish Church property would +restore to light all the best specimens of ancient Irish +genius for the benefit not of Ireland’s sons only, but of +learning in all lands; and she has still scholars competent +to the task. Those who cannot study the +originals may wish to know where they may find +some valuable translations. Several have appeared in +the ‘Atlantis,’ a periodical established in connection +with the Catholic University of Ireland when Cardinal +Newman was its rector, in the publications of the +‘Ossianic Society,’ of the ‘Irish Archæological and Celtic +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxiv'>xxiv</span>Society,’ and of the ‘Kilkenny Archæological Society.’ +The English reader is more likely to be already acquainted +with Dr. O’Donovan’s great translation of the ‘Annals of +the Four Masters;’ with the works of Dr. Petrie, of Dr. +Todd, and Dr. Reeves; with the ‘Tripartite Life of St. +Patrick,’ translated, as well as many ancient tales, by +Mr. W. M. Hessessy; with Dr. Joyce’s ‘Old Celtic +Romances;’ and with Mr. Standish O’Grady’s brilliant +bardic ‘History of Ireland.’ How entirely early Irish +legends are susceptible of a high poetic rendering in our +own day can be doubted by no one who has read the +poems founded on them which we owe to the genius of +Sir Samuel Ferguson.<a id='r7'></a><a href='#f7' class='c008'><sup>[7]</sup></a></p> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> +<div> + <h2 id='contents' class='c006'>CONTENTS.</h2> +</div> +<table class='table0' id='toc'> +<colgroup> +<col class='colwidth84'> +<col class='colwidth15'> +</colgroup> + <tr> + <td class='c011'> </td> + <td class='c012'><span class='xsmall'>PAGE</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'><span class='sc'><a href='#the-sons-of-usnach'>The Sons of Usnach</a></span></td> + <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr><td> </td><td> </td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'><span class='sc'><a href='#the-children-of-lir'>The Children of Lir</a></span></td> + <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_71'>71</a></td> + </tr> + <tr><td> </td><td> </td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'><span class='sc'><a href='#the-foray-of-queen-meave'>The Foray of Queen Meave</a></span>:</td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'><span class="in2"><a href='#the-foray-of-queen-meave-prologue'>Prologue</a></span></td> + <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_117'>117</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'><span class="in2">1. <a href='#the-foray-of-queen-meave-1'>The Cause of the Great War</a></span></td> + <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_119'>119</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'><span class="in2">2. <a href='#the-foray-of-queen-meave-2'>The Deeds of Cuchullain</a></span></td> + <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_143'>143</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'><span class="in2">3. <a href='#the-foray-of-queen-meave-3'>The Combat at the Ford</a></span></td> + <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_160'>160</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'><span class="in2">4. <a href='#the-foray-of-queen-meave-4'>The Invasion of Uladh</a></span></td> + <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_183'>183</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'><span class="in2">5. <a href='#the-foray-of-queen-meave-5'>Queen Meave’s Retreat</a></span></td> + <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_201'>201</a></td> + </tr> + <tr><td> </td><td> </td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'><a href='#notes'>NOTES</a></td> + <td class='c012'><a href='#notes'>231</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> +<div> + <h2 id='the-sons-of-usnach' class='c006'>THE SONS OF USNACH</h2> +</div> +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c000'> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c000'> + <div><span class='small'>TO THE MEMORY</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='xsmall'>OF</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>EUGENE O’CURRY,</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='xsmall'>FIRST PROFESSOR OF IRISH HISTORY IN THE</span></div> + <div><span class='xsmall'>CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND,</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>THIS POEM</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>IS DEDICATED.</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c000'> + <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span><span class='large'><i>THE SONS OF USNACH.</i></span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<h3 class='c005'>CANTO THE FIRST.</h3> + +<div class='lg-container-b c003'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>In Felim’s house they kept the royal feast,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And all the echoing hall with tumult rang,</div> + <div class='line'>Tumult that still from morn to eve increased;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And now the tale they told, and now they sang.</div> + <div class='line'>Chief minstrel he to Conor, Uladh’s<a id='r8'></a><a href='#f8' class='c008'><sup>[8]</sup></a> lord,</div> + <div class='line'>Who graced that day, as oft, his favourite’s board.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Sudden to Felim’s seat a woman rushed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>An ancient nurse with wrinkled face and worn</div> + <div class='line'>Clamouring, her hands upheld and forehead flushed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Felim, rejoice! for lo, thy babe is born!</div> + <div class='line'>And proud be thou, for <a id='tn-parentsmiled'></a>goodlier is this child</div> + <div class='line'>Than e’er till now on proudest parent smiled!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span>These tidings heard, yet higher swelled the acclaim;</div> + <div class='line in2'>The Red Branch Knights oft pledged that infant’s health,</div> + <div class='line'>And prayed that all high gifts of wealth and fame,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Great lordship, and great valour, and great wealth</div> + <div class='line'>Might grace its life, and in the far-off days</div> + <div class='line'>Compass its head with everlasting praise.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But when an hour had passed, and somewhat more,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The feasters heard far off a dulcet strain,</div> + <div class='line'>And soon to them there entered damsels four;</div> + <div class='line in2'>With measured step advanced they twain by twain,</div> + <div class='line'>Bearing a cradle. On a low-raised throne</div> + <div class='line'>They reared it, bowered in silk, and blossom-strewn.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Therein a little maiden-wonder lay</div> + <div class='line in2'>Unlike all babes besides in mien and hue,</div> + <div class='line'>Bright as a lily-bud at break of day</div> + <div class='line in2'>That flashes through the night’s unlifted dew:</div> + <div class='line'>Beaming her eyes; like planets glad and fair:</div> + <div class='line'>And o’er her forehead curved a fringe of hair.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The tender fairy hand, whose substance fine</div> + <div class='line in2'>Glimmered as of compacted moonbeams made</div> + <div class='line'>With such a stealthy smoothness did it shine,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Above the coverlet unquiet strayed;</div> + <div class='line'>And some one said, ‘It knows the things to be,</div> + <div class='line'>And seeks its wand of destined empery!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>From bannered stalls the Red Branch Knights drew nigh</div> + <div class='line in2'>Circling that cradle. ’Neath the raftered roof</div> + <div class='line'>A far-sunk window opened to the sky,</div> + <div class='line in2'>While purple twilight wove with warp and woof</div> + <div class='line'>O’er deepening heavens its dewy mantle dark,</div> + <div class='line'>And dusking woods, that hour unseen; when, hark</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Outside that casement rang a piercing wail;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then, past it slow, a dread and shrouded Form</div> + <div class='line'>On demon wings was seen of all to sail:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Shriek after shriek out-swelled into a storm:</div> + <div class='line'>And o’er that flower new-born of infancy</div> + <div class='line'>All heard the Banshee’s death-denouncing cry.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then, from his seat in that high hall remote</div> + <div class='line in2'>Whereon all day in silence he had sate</div> + <div class='line'>Advanced, unguided, to that Infant’s cot</div> + <div class='line in2'>Cathbad, the Druid old, and man of Fate,</div> + <div class='line'>And o’er that infant held his arms out-spread,</div> + <div class='line'>And raised to heaven his grey and sightless head</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>At last he spake, ‘This day a woe to man,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And yet the crown of woman’s kind, is born:</div> + <div class='line'>This day is sent a blessing and a ban;</div> + <div class='line in2'>She shall be black as night, and white as morn;</div> + <div class='line'>And lo, upon her cheek I see such red</div> + <div class='line'>As stains great warriors on the war-field dead.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>‘A death to mighty hosts that face shall be:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Through her a king shall pass to banishment:</div> + <div class='line'>Through her shall perish Usnach’s peerless Three;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Through her from sacred Eman’s<a id='r9'></a><a href='#f9' class='c008'><sup>[9]</sup></a> roofs fire-rent</div> + <div class='line'>Even now I see the reddening smoke-cloud leap:</div> + <div class='line'>Deirdré her name. Through her shall widows weep.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>King Conor heard, and in his angry mood</div> + <div class='line in2'>Had risen to speak her doom; ‘That child shall die!’</div> + <div class='line'>Save that the Uladh nobles where they stood</div> + <div class='line in2'>The king forestalling, hurled abroad their cry;</div> + <div class='line'>‘She must not live!’ Of all those knights but two</div> + <div class='line'>Will’d not that deed—the bravest Erin knew.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>For at that hour upon the cradle’s right</div> + <div class='line in2'>Stood Conal Carnach; at its left, though young,</div> + <div class='line'>Swifter in chase, and stronger yet in fight,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Cuchullain. Neither swelled that shout of wrong.</div> + <div class='line'>Once more it rose: but Conor ne’er was known</div> + <div class='line'>To walk in any counsel save his own.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>He spake: ‘She shall not die: this babe I take,</div> + <div class='line in2'>My ward, until her destinies be known:</div> + <div class='line'>An isle tower-girt is mine in yonder lake:</div> + <div class='line in2'>There shall she live; and there shall live alone:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>By none that fatal beauty shall be seen:</div> + <div class='line'>Full-grown the maid perchance may be my queen.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Wondering they heard, but no man made reply,</div> + <div class='line in2'>For Conor’s will was lord to all and each,</div> + <div class='line'>A man of counsel deep, and purpose high,</div> + <div class='line in2'>In action sudden, sparing of his speech:</div> + <div class='line'>Early he won the people to his will:</div> + <div class='line'>Ere long they feared him: but they loved him still.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>While yet a child, the stepson of that king</div> + <div class='line in2'>Who reigned in Uladh, Fergus son of Roy,</div> + <div class='line'>Conor had shared his home. That prince would bring</div> + <div class='line in2'>Oft to his judgment court Queen Nessa’s boy</div> + <div class='line'>Whose forward wit unravelled every suit,</div> + <div class='line'>Delighting in the wrangling clan’s dispute.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Fergus was loftier-minded: ever more</div> + <div class='line in2'>He loathed the sordid plea, the varnished wrong,</div> + <div class='line'>And inly scorned the Ollamb’s learnèd lore:</div> + <div class='line in2'>More dear to him the chase, the feast, the song:</div> + <div class='line'>Wearied one day, he cried with laughing face,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Conor! speak thou the judgment in my place!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The boy made answer none; but instant bowed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And judgment gave so full, so just, so clear,</div> + <div class='line'>A shout rang upward from the astonished crowd,</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Worthy of kingship thou!’ His crowned compeer,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>Fergus arose; incensed he made reply;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Throne him your king, if worthier he than I!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Conor since then had ruled the Ulidian race,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And ever waxed in subtlety and power,</div> + <div class='line'>Though better loved was Fergus’ honest face,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And princely port, forth issuing from his tower</div> + <div class='line'>At times with horse and hound to chase the boar,</div> + <div class='line'>Crowning at times the topmost ridge of war.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Conor was loved and feared: one clan alone</div> + <div class='line in2'>Nor feared, nor loved him, Usnach’s: and the king</div> + <div class='line'>In Usnach’s house a rival to his throne</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or noting, or belike imagining,</div> + <div class='line'>Still watched that house to crush it, had he dared;</div> + <div class='line'>But Uladh loved it, and her monarch spared.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Meantime to that green island in the lake</div> + <div class='line in2'>The years came softly: softly went they by</div> + <div class='line'>As like as snowy flake to snowy flake,</div> + <div class='line in2'>As like as smile to smile, as sigh to sigh;</div> + <div class='line'>And as some flower that feeds on beams and dew</div> + <div class='line'>Its inmate rose in beauty ever new,</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Deirdré. With her abode an ancient dame,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The tale-recounter of the royal court</div> + <div class='line'>In years departed; Levarcam her name:</div> + <div class='line in2'>None other to that island made resort</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>Save now and then treading the downward rocks</div> + <div class='line'>Some shepherd with the firstling of his flocks.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Beauteous as heaven that gladsome captive was;</div> + <div class='line in2'>With every month more fair, more gladsome grew;</div> + <div class='line'>Her pastime, counting jewels in the grass,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Emerald and amethyst, and sapphire blue,</div> + <div class='line'>Or chasing—never part had she in sloth—</div> + <div class='line'>From bloom to bloom the evening-gilded moth.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Impassioned friendships hers with every kind:</div> + <div class='line in2'>To her the Robin came; to her the Hare;</div> + <div class='line'>And still with insight flashed from heart to mind,</div> + <div class='line in2'>She guessed their lives in tree or bosky lair,</div> + <div class='line'>Sharing their vernal joys, and, when the snows</div> + <div class='line'>Besieged their haunts, condoling with their woes.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Inquisitive the creature was, and brave:</div> + <div class='line in2'>From rock to rock alone she roamed; untaught</div> + <div class='line'>She knew to climb the tree and swim the wave;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Soaring and swift, for knowledge still she sought,</div> + <div class='line'>Nor sought in vain, far wiser than she wist;</div> + <div class='line'>Infantine minstrel, and mythologist.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>For when she heard the wintry tempests raving,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Fables she told of immemorial feuds,</div> + <div class='line'>And warring Gods that still, for vengeance craving,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Devastated some rival’s peaceful woods;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>And when the morning shone, serene and mild,</div> + <div class='line'>She laughed and said, ‘These Gods are reconciled!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Betwixt that island and the forest green</div> + <div class='line in2'>A causeway stretched. Scorning King Conor’s law,</div> + <div class='line'>O’er it in summer maidens tripped unseen,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And told her tales of all they heard and saw,</div> + <div class='line'>And flowers in May, and fruits in summer brought her,</div> + <div class='line'>Or with her danced beside the moonlit water.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Two men alone she saw; at times the king:</div> + <div class='line in2'>His grizzled beard and searching eye she fled,</div> + <div class='line'>And wept to think that in some far-off spring</div> + <div class='line in2'>She must be his. That thought alone with dread</div> + <div class='line'>Touched her keen instinct. In that face august</div> + <div class='line'>Something unblest she saw, and ill to trust.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Yet oft he came, watching that flower of beauty</div> + <div class='line in2'>That still from crude, reluctant bud emerged;</div> + <div class='line'>And citing still past vow, and future duty</div> + <div class='line in2'>Impledged thereby; and still with presents urged;</div> + <div class='line'>And ever reaped for such more scoffs than gain—</div> + <div class='line'>Officious is his zeal whose hope is vain!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The other visitor she better loved,</div> + <div class='line in2'>A Druid, silver-headed: to her isle</div> + <div class='line'>Daily he came, a teacher well-approved;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And much he taught her, with his grave calm smile</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>Advancing still into his pupil’s heart:</div> + <div class='line'>To elicit thence, he knew, was to impart.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>He taught her all a monarch’s bride had need</div> + <div class='line in2'>In those old days to learn. Devout and grave,</div> + <div class='line'>He taught her all the Ogham signs to read,<a id='r10'></a><a href='#f10' class='c008'><sup>[10]</sup></a></div> + <div class='line in2'>Inscribed on mossy stone or mystic stave;</div> + <div class='line'>And how to trace green Erin’s Kings, each one</div> + <div class='line'>To Heber or Heremon, Ir, or Donn.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>One morn as on their glories he descanted,</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Where are they now?’ his wondering listener said;</div> + <div class='line'>Then silent stood, like shape to stone enchanted:</div> + <div class='line in2'>But when he answered sadly, ‘They are dead,’</div> + <div class='line'>She bounded t’ward the on-wavering butterfly,</div> + <div class='line'>And cried, ‘At least he lives; and so do I!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Once too she caught that Druid by the sleeve,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And spake; ‘Great Master, this I ask of thee!</div> + <div class='line'>Who was it made the sun, the morn and eve,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The stars, the flying clouds, the boundless sea?’</div> + <div class='line'>Her great wide eyes, clasped hands, and lips compressed,</div> + <div class='line'>Better than words enforced the unending quest.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The Druid answered, dubious, still refining</div> + <div class='line in2'>With stress and strain of profluent words that left</div> + <div class='line'>The problem’s jet-black surface smooth and shining</div> + <div class='line in2'>But ne’er the mystery’s heart of marble cleft,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>And ended; ‘God is God:—but ah, the woe!</div> + <div class='line'>That which God is, not even the Druids know!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Then God must be a God who hides Himself</div> + <div class='line in2'>In sport, or else for cause we know not of!</div> + <div class='line'>And doubtless,’ thus ran on the careless elf,</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Who hides in sport will show His face in love;</div> + <div class='line'>Much seeking will not find Him. He will come</div> + <div class='line'>Then when He wills; and take His children home.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘For I remember once in yonder wood</div> + <div class='line in2'>My nurse, to mock me, hid her in an oak,</div> + <div class='line'>Whilst idly I a dragon-fly pursued:</div> + <div class='line in2'>I missed her soon: I wept: then forth she broke!</div> + <div class='line'>Thus likewise God, hearing His creatures moan,</div> + <div class='line'>Will flash on them, and cry, “Mine own, mine own!”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘That day the wise will serve Him; but the fool</div> + <div class='line in2'>Will sport with Ogham stave, or dragon-fly</div> + <div class='line'>That lights his spark—lo there—on dusky pool!</div> + <div class='line in2'>Of those that sport at once, and serve am I!</div> + <div class='line'>Therefore, come quickly, God! And thou, good stave,</div> + <div class='line'>Fly hence!’ And forth she flung it on the wave!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But when she found within the Master’s face,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Not wrath—for that she looked—but awe-struck woe,</div> + <div class='line'>A change there passed, too swift for eye to trace,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Athwart her rain-dark eyes, and front of snow;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>And straight the child, by love’s remorse possessed,</div> + <div class='line'>Kissed with her whole bright face that Druid’s breast.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The years passed by; and, onward as they sped,</div> + <div class='line in2'>That child from beauty still to beauty grew;</div> + <div class='line'>In her, full many a fair one came and fled</div> + <div class='line in2'>Like sunny gleams that each the last pursue;</div> + <div class='line'>And yet that glad succession brought no change;</div> + <div class='line'>Each child in turn was wilful, sweet, and strange.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Older, beyond her island bounds she strayed</div> + <div class='line in2'>Despite the king; for, ever since her birth,</div> + <div class='line'>Of nought that tender heart had been afraid:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Banshee, or ghost, she heard of, now with mirth,</div> + <div class='line'>And now with awe, but never with affright;</div> + <div class='line'>And gladly would have faced them if she might.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Not so old Levarcam! a spasm of dread</div> + <div class='line in2'>Oft blanched her cheek remembering Conor’s word,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Keep safe the child, or forfeit is thy head!’</div> + <div class='line in2'>In Deirdré’s absence, if a leaf but stirred</div> + <div class='line'>She shook; and endless tales, and legends told</div> + <div class='line'>To keep her young lamb safe within the fold.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>She told how first, from regions of the morn</div> + <div class='line in2'>With black-sailed ships stemming the ocean tide</div> + <div class='line'>To Erin’s forest, yet of men forlorn,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Came Partholan, the Grecian Parricide:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>And how the ill race had perished. Deirdré cried</div> + <div class='line'>With reddening cheek; ‘Glad am I that they died!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then, with a brightening in her old, pale face,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Her nurse resumed: ‘But we—the Gael—but we,</div> + <div class='line'>The offspring are we of a lordlier race,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The heirs of some diviner destiny!</div> + <div class='line'>King Miledh was our sire! From far Espán</div> + <div class='line'>His dauntless sons led forth the Gaedil clan.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Of Scota next she told, the widowed Queen;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And how that sad one left her lonely throne</div> + <div class='line'>Girt by eight sons; and how, with eye serene,</div> + <div class='line in2'>She marked above the wine-black ocean prone</div> + <div class='line'>The monsters rise; nor feared to watch the wave</div> + <div class='line'>Heaven-high, anon descending to its grave.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Time on her brow had graved no characters;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Sorrow no splendour stol’n from that wide eye</div> + <div class='line'>That ever, as the legend old avers,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Reposed on some far seat of sovereignty</div> + <div class='line'>By others hoped;—to her alone revealed</div> + <div class='line'>Beyond sea-cloud, and ocean’s heaving field.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>She saw the waves engulf the drowning decks;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Yet nought could scare that eye, or blanch that cheek:</div> + <div class='line'>Four sons she saw upon their mastless wrecks</div> + <div class='line in2'>High driven on Erin’s rocks and headlands bleak</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>From Inver Scena to the house of Donn:</div> + <div class='line'>She said; ‘The price is paid; the Isle is won!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>She saw the victory’s prelude and no more;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Half-way ’twixt ocean marge and mountain crest</div> + <div class='line'>Where sleep the Great Ones of the days of yore</div> + <div class='line in2'>Early she made her venerable rest,</div> + <div class='line'>And holds, well-pleased, an ever-spreading fame,</div> + <div class='line'>Sealing a mighty people with her name.<a id='r11'></a><a href='#f11' class='c008'><sup>[11]</sup></a></div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Not all the themes were war: the fabler told</div> + <div class='line in2'>Of Feale, the dusk-eyed beauty of the South,</div> + <div class='line'>By Lewy won mid olive forests old:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Such minstrelsies went freshening from his mouth</div> + <div class='line'>That in his hand her own the princess placed,</div> + <div class='line'>Nor feared, his wife, to dare the wan sea-waste.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>She told how, later, by that northern tide</div> + <div class='line in2'>A blush of causeless shame her cheek had stained;</div> + <div class='line'>And how, heart-grieved at fancied wrong, she died,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Where wrong was none; and how her husband plained</div> + <div class='line'>Year after year, while she, at Scota’s feet,</div> + <div class='line'>Rested revered where earth and ocean meet.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>Next told she how for Tara’s King they found</div> + <div class='line in2'>No consort worthy of the royal bed</div> + <div class='line'>From east to west through Erin’s utmost bound;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And how, dream-warned, the youth had northward sped:</div> + <div class='line'>And how, from fountain-bower by Fairy Brugh,</div> + <div class='line'>A white maid looked on him with eyes of blue.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And how that beauteous phantom, Eadane,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Had laid a hand like light upon his hair;</div> + <div class='line'>And next, lest he should die of yearnings vain,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Assumed a woman’s form, though woven of air;</div> + <div class='line'>And borne him pretty babes within their bower;</div> + <div class='line'>Yet ofttimes bade him ’ware the destined hour.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And how at Tara, while the nobles sate</div> + <div class='line in2'>Gracing his feast, that queen sent forth a cry:</div> + <div class='line'>And how the Fairy-King through guards and gate</div> + <div class='line in2'>Passed swiftly, mailed in dew-like jewelry,</div> + <div class='line'>And like a whirlwind bore in sight of all,</div> + <div class='line'>The Fairy Princess to her father’s hall!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>While thus the tales ran on, the years ran by,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Tales, some of sadness, some of mirth and jest,</div> + <div class='line'>Till now the child to maiden prime was nigh:</div> + <div class='line in2'>The tales of war and wonder pleased her best:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>The love-tales well began, no doubt: yet all</div> + <div class='line'>Ended, she thought, in something slight and small.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And still whate’er she heard of good and pure</div> + <div class='line in2'>Within the virgin’s memory held its place</div> + <div class='line'>Like names on tree-stems graved that aye endure:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Of questionable things survived no trace:</div> + <div class='line'>They passed, like letters written in a rill</div> + <div class='line'>That upward laughs to heaven, re-virgined still.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>One day it chanced that, while the March wind’s breath</div> + <div class='line in2'>Was softening round the daffodil’s first bud,</div> + <div class='line'>Their shepherd old had saved a lamb from death,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And slain the wolf, and in their gateway stood;</div> + <div class='line'>And, as the wounded creature bled, below</div> + <div class='line'>A crimson blood-pool stained the last night’s snow.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Sudden there swooped to earth a raven black,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And feasted on that blood. As in a dream</div> + <div class='line'>The maiden watched it long: at last she spake,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Whilst o’er her grave face ran a laughing gleam,</div> + <div class='line'>‘These be Love’s colours, black and red, and white;—</div> + <div class='line'>Yet love we know, is nought, when judged aright!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘These be Love’s colours, white and black, and red:—</div> + <div class='line in2'>Some little foolish maid, to love inclined,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>Might say: “Though all should love me none shall wed</div> + <div class='line in2'>Until in one dear face those three I find;</div> + <div class='line'>Not raven locks alone, or front of snow,</div> + <div class='line'>But on the heroic cheek the battle’s glow!”’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Beside the girl stood Levarcam; she smiled,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And spake; ‘Good sooth, your shaft hath hit its mark;</div> + <div class='line'>Yea doubtless, you were born a prophet’s child!</div> + <div class='line in2'>For Naisi’s front is white, his tresses dark;</div> + <div class='line'>And still of him men say; “On Naisi’s cheek</div> + <div class='line'>Not roses, but red dawns of battles break!”’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then to the flash from Deirdré’s peerless eyes</div> + <div class='line in2'>Her nurse made answer; ‘Naisi! who is he?</div> + <div class='line'>Warrior there treads not under Erin’s skies</div> + <div class='line in2'>But knows the man! the swiftest of those Three!</div> + <div class='line'>No hounds they need! alone they chase, each morn,</div> + <div class='line'>The stag, and downward drag him head and horn!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><a id='tn-uladhsfeasts'></a>‘Ever at Uladh’s feasts the clansmen say</div> + <div class='line in2'>“Set ye the sons of Usnach side by side,</div> + <div class='line'>A rock behind them, or some cromlech grey,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then blow a trump o’er Erin, far and wide;</div> + <div class='line'>And range her hosts against them, face to face,</div> + <div class='line'>Those Three shall hew them down, and homeward chase!”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span><a id='tn-singingbest'></a>‘Their singing is the best all Uladh boasts;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Of all her sons most courteous they and kind;</div> + <div class='line'>To heaven devoutest of her countless hosts:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Softly along his path they lead the blind;</div> + <div class='line'>Submission made, no more remember ill;</div> + <div class='line'>Nor ever kissed a maid against her will.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘To these the clans send embassies from far</div> + <div class='line in2'>Laden with gifts, and suing, “Grant us aid!</div> + <div class='line'>Rule us in battle’s hour, and head our war!”</div> + <div class='line in2'>But women say, “How well their mother prayed</div> + <div class='line'>For sons both mild and valiant!” Lo, a ray</div> + <div class='line'>Of her sweet countenance lives in theirs this day!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Here Levarcam a moment stopped for breath;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then Deirdré rose and sought the neighbouring strand:</div> + <div class='line'>Ice-bound it was, and cold that hour as death:</div> + <div class='line in2'>To her ’twas warm as mead by May breeze fanned:</div> + <div class='line'>She paced along its pebbly beach for hours;</div> + <div class='line'>And to her feet its shingles felt like flowers.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Returned, more lofty looked she than at morn;</div> + <div class='line in2'>With more of inward gladness, yet less gay;</div> + <div class='line'>More confident, though lost her girlish scorn</div> + <div class='line in2'>In some half womanhood’s benigner ray:</div> + <div class='line'>Smiling, she met her nurse’s smile, and then</div> + <div class='line'>‘Naisi,’ she said, ‘will love me! Who cares when?’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>The maiden paused; she mused; again she spake,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Fixing on Levarcam those marvellous eyes;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Three be Love’s colours—white, and red, and black:</div> + <div class='line in2'>White, for the sake of Love’s white sanctities;</div> + <div class='line'>And red, for Love must war on many a foe;</div> + <div class='line'>And black, since Love, though crowned, must end in woe.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Again she mused:—‘Yes, Love must war! Who fears?</div> + <div class='line in2'>Though Love must fight, he fights in love, not hate!</div> + <div class='line'>Some glorious conflict rages through the years;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Great Love must take therein his part, elate.</div> + <div class='line'>And woe comes last. On raven pinions borne</div> + <div class='line'>Night comes not less:—but after night comes morn!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>From that time Naisi’s name she named no more;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Nothing she seemed to lack; nothing to crave:</div> + <div class='line'>Her heart through spiritual realms was strong to soar,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Self-lifted as from windless seas the wave;</div> + <div class='line'>A spirit of strength from earthly bonds escaped</div> + <div class='line'>She trod; her body’s self but spirit draped;</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A Spirit of strength and swiftness onward borne</div> + <div class='line in2'>Through luminous realms, all resonant and free,</div> + <div class='line'>Happier because unwinged, like endless morn</div> + <div class='line in2'>With silver feet circling the spherèd sea:</div> + <div class='line'>And still her lonely thought with song was blent;</div> + <div class='line'>And bird-like still she warbled as she went.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>For music then, like warfare, not from art</div> + <div class='line in2'>Grew up laborious:—born of frank good-will,</div> + <div class='line'>’Twas Joy’s loud clarion in the generous heart;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Through pains more perfect grew the harper’s skill;</div> + <div class='line'>Yet still from purest soul, and noblest breast</div> + <div class='line'>The minstrelsy perforce became the best.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Deirdré besides, on Naisi’s music musing—</div> + <div class='line in2'>That strain far-famed she once had heard in dream—</div> + <div class='line'>Through some strange craft of Nature’s sweet infusing</div> + <div class='line in2'>Unconscious copied it. A lily’s gleam</div> + <div class='line'>Shines thus, reflected in the lake below,</div> + <div class='line'>More softly, green for green, and snow for snow.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Once too she marked two mated eagles flying</div> + <div class='line in2'>Far from their cliff, her little lake above,</div> + <div class='line'>Sunward in strength, and clapped her hands loud crying,</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘On, wedded Spirits, on! for this is Love!</div> + <div class='line'>No woodland murmurs yours, and thraldom none!</div> + <div class='line'>Sail on till buried in the ascending sun!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>That vision shaped her life. Through wild and wood</div> + <div class='line in2'>Long hours that morn had Naisi chased the stag:</div> + <div class='line'>It took the wave and vanished. Silent stood</div> + <div class='line in2'>At noon the hunter on a jutting crag:</div> + <div class='line'>His eye upon a tower-crowned island fell;</div> + <div class='line'>Thereon it fastened, bound as by a spell.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>‘There lies,’ he mused, ‘that wondrous-countenanced child,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Like some poor bird a captive from its birth,</div> + <div class='line'>In that lone island year by year exiled:</div> + <div class='line in2'>How little she suspects her grace and worth!</div> + <div class='line'>Our household foe ere long will clutch that hand—</div> + <div class='line'>Is yon a causeway leading to the land?’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>An hour had fled, and lo! that bridge he paced;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Ere long, no child, but, sparkling like a flower,</div> + <div class='line'>The imprisoned maid, nor startled nor shame-faced,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Passed by the youth, advancing from her bower</div> + <div class='line'>With breeze-like step, yet down-dropp’d lids of snow:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Ah foot,’ he cried, ‘more light than foot of doe!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>An instant back she flashed her magic eyes</div> + <div class='line in2'>And from her laughing lip the answer leaped,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Where stags are none, the doe must monarchise!’</div> + <div class='line in2'>Some ballad old it was, but never steeped</div> + <div class='line'>Till then with such strange sweetness to his ear:</div> + <div class='line'>Was it reproof or challenge, vague yet dear?</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Naisi rejoined; ‘A monarch rules this land;</div> + <div class='line in2'>For you he destines Erin’s proudest throne!</div> + <div class='line'>Ah, but for that how many a warrior’s brand’—</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘His realm,’ she said, ‘is his: my heart mine own:</div> + <div class='line'>A maiden I have lived: maiden would die:’</div> + <div class='line'>The warrior fixed on hers his strong grey eye.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>That eye, though young and sweet with such clear light,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Had marshalled many a death-strewn battle-field;</div> + <div class='line'>Had watched the meeting tides of many a fight;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Taught many a proud, inviolate fort to yield.</div> + <div class='line'>With gaze as frank and clear thus answered she,</div> + <div class='line'>‘I know you well! the eldest of those Three!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Where are your brothers? She whom nurse I call</div> + <div class='line in2'>Has told me all the Three are kind and brave:</div> + <div class='line'>Fain would I sister be to each and all:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Fain too my life from love tyrannic save!’</div> + <div class='line'>‘Their sister you shall be,’ the youth replied;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Mine if you will; but none the less my bride!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>He spake; then, for the maiden’s safety fearing,</div> + <div class='line in2'>With passion changed continued; ‘Spurn my suit!</div> + <div class='line'>The king will slay thee!’ She, the warrior nearing,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Held forth both hands, and gazed upon him mute;</div> + <div class='line'>And last, in love’s high truth—and truth is best—</div> + <div class='line'>Made answer; ‘Thine!’ He snatched her to his breast.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Thence lifting soon a countenance glad yet tearful,</div> + <div class='line in2'>She spake; ‘Your knighthood stands consummate now!</div> + <div class='line'>Since a true maid, of Conor’s wrath not fearful,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Has heard, and with her own has crowned your vow.</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>Forth, on your task decreed! Fly hence, and prove</div> + <div class='line'>Ten years in battle-fields what might hath Love!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘In ten years bring me back your trophied spoils</div> + <div class='line in2'>From every land and clime; for mine they are!</div> + <div class='line'>I that inspired, can well requite your toils:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Ever till then, my spirit like a star,</div> + <div class='line'>Shall o’er you hang! Farewell! yet, ere you go,</div> + <div class='line'>Sing! for how great your songs long since I know.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>So, hand in hand, upon that causeway standing,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Those youthful lovers measure after measure</div> + <div class='line'>Poured forth, their bosoms more and more expanding</div> + <div class='line in2'>At once with music’s zeal, and love’s pure pleasure;</div> + <div class='line'>For Deirdré still her voice with Naisi’s twined,</div> + <div class='line'>All-perfect harmony though undesigned.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And though till then no war-song she had sung</div> + <div class='line in2'>That hour her song grew warlike as his own!</div> + <div class='line'>And, o’er her heaven-like beauty as he hung,</div> + <div class='line in2'>His war-songs tender grew, and sweet of tone:</div> + <div class='line'>And still they sang, till now through woods loud ringing</div> + <div class='line'>The men of Erin, east and west, came winging,</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And found those lovers in that lonely haunt,</div> + <div class='line in2'>That sunset round them glowing and above;</div> + <div class='line'>And saw the forests flash, the blue waves pant;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And heard that mingled praise of war and love:—</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>Then ceased that pair, and softly smiled, and said,</div> + <div class='line'>‘What makes us glad is this; we two are wed!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But when, to many a questioner replying,</div> + <div class='line in2'>They found that they had only met that noon,</div> + <div class='line'>The lovers laughed a sweet-voiced laughter, crying,</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘We thought we had been wedded many a moon!</div> + <div class='line'>Great love, it seems, lives long in little time;</div> + <div class='line'>Yet shall great love be ever in his prime!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Perchance of us some future bard shall say,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Their bright, swift life went o’er them like a breath</div> + <div class='line'>Of stormy southwind in the merry May;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And brief their unfeared, undivided death:</div> + <div class='line'>For unto those who love, and love aright,</div> + <div class='line'>Life is Love’s day; and Death his long, sweet night.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But straight the men of Erin cried aloud,</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘The king, the king!’ and Naisi’s brothers twain,</div> + <div class='line'>Ainli and Ardan, though to help him vowed</div> + <div class='line in2'>At need, not less to break that troth were fain:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Beware,’ they cried; ‘since Cathbad long ago</div> + <div class='line'>Foretold that Babe was born for Uladh’s woe!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Yet, when within those lovers’ eyes they saw</div> + <div class='line in2'>Wild mirth alone, and blank astonishment,</div> + <div class='line'>They deemed the thing divine; and, though with awe,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Their spirits on the high adventure bent,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>And council took, and with one mind decreed</div> + <div class='line'>That self-same night o’er Uladh’s bound to speed.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>This therefore was the order of their going:</div> + <div class='line in2'>A hundred warriors marching in the van;</div> + <div class='line'>A hundred maidens next with veils loose flowing;</div> + <div class='line in2'>A hundred clansmen next of Usnach’s clan,</div> + <div class='line'>And each a greyhound leading in a cord;</div> + <div class='line'>Swiftly with these they trod the moonlit sward.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>So well were Usnach’s sons both loved and feared</div> + <div class='line in2'>King Conor could but rail against the wrong:</div> + <div class='line'>All round the isle they marched with banner reared,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And trumpet blown, and many a tale and song,</div> + <div class='line'>Welcomed in court and camp both near and far,</div> + <div class='line'>From Esro’s<a id='r12'></a><a href='#f12' class='c008'><sup>[12]</sup></a> Falls to sea-beat Binedar.<a id='r13'></a><a href='#f13' class='c008'><sup>[13]</sup></a></div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Nathless through Conor’s craft such toils were woven</div> + <div class='line in2'>’Twixt them and Erin’s Kings, to spare that wrong</div> + <div class='line'>Felt at low hearths when royal pacts are cloven,</div> + <div class='line in2'>They built by northern Moyle a fleet ere long,</div> + <div class='line'>And spread their sails from Kermnah Dûn, and o’er</div> + <div class='line'>The grey-green billows sailed to Alba’s shore.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span> + <h3 class='c005'>CANTO THE SECOND.</h3> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c003'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>O noble Alba, Scotia later named,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then when the race of Scota and her Lord</div> + <div class='line'>O’er all thy holy isles and highlands famed</div> + <div class='line in2'>Had raised the Gaelic harp, the Gaelic sword,</div> + <div class='line'>And Kenneth, Pictish rule extinguished, reared</div> + <div class='line'>That throne of kings for centuries revered!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Great land of Alba! in that hour supreme</div> + <div class='line in2'>Conqueror, not conquered, wert thou! Thy great heart,</div> + <div class='line'>Flinging from off it, like a nightmare dream,</div> + <div class='line in2'>A sway ignobler, chose the better part,</div> + <div class='line'>Throning the lofty spirit in lofty place:</div> + <div class='line'>It brought thee bliss and bale, but nothing base!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>When, centuries earlier, stood on Alba’s coast</div> + <div class='line in2'>Usnach’s brave sons, her king received them well:</div> + <div class='line'>Treaty they made: they joined to his their host,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And taught him soon the insurgent tribes to quell,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>Yet still they loved him not: ‘His soul is mean,’</div> + <div class='line'>They said; ‘by him shall Deirdré ne’er be seen.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Yet near his court they dwelt; and once it chanced</div> + <div class='line in2'>A palace churl while o’er the forest boughs</div> + <div class='line'>New leaved, the earliest beam of morning glanced,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Made way, with missives sent, to Naisi’s house,</div> + <div class='line'>And on by dusky doors, though timorous, crept,</div> + <div class='line'>And found at last that room where Naisi slept.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Before its stony threshold slumbering lay</div> + <div class='line in2'>Ainli and Ardan, clasping, each, a sword,</div> + <div class='line'>For ever wont were these by night and day</div> + <div class='line in2'>Their brother and their sister thus to ward:</div> + <div class='line'>The intruder o’er them stepp’d and entrance made</div> + <div class='line'>To where in sleep that princely pair were laid.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Between them stretched from pillow on to pillow</div> + <div class='line in2'>The massive trail of Deirdré’s luminous hair,</div> + <div class='line'>Like gold-touched tendrils of a budded willow</div> + <div class='line in2'>Breeze-blown against the dawn. Already there</div> + <div class='line'>The greedy, youngling sunrise made his feast,</div> + <div class='line'>Though still in cloud half muffled was the east.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Longer that churl had stood save that in sleep</div> + <div class='line in2'>Growled the great wolf-hound couched beside the bed:</div> + <div class='line'>The traitor turned; and, skilled to crawl and creep,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Reached the half open gates, and homeward fled,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>And found the king new-risen, and nodding spake,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Rejoice, great monarch, for thy kingdom’s sake!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Till now thou hast not found a woman meet</div> + <div class='line in2'>In all thy land the royal throne to share;</div> + <div class='line'>Behold, the loveliest lady and most sweet</div> + <div class='line in2'>Of all the earth is near, and thou not ’ware!</div> + <div class='line'>Compared with her the rest are sheep and kine—</div> + <div class='line'>Bid Naisi die! his consort crown as thine!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then told the man his tale from first to last</div> + <div class='line in2'>With added circumstance. The Pict replied</div> + <div class='line'>Well pleased, albeit at Naisi’s name aghast,</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘To slay that chief were hard; to snare his bride</div> + <div class='line'>Were sweet. In secret traffic with her! Say,</div> + <div class='line'>She must be first my love; my queen one day!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Forth sped the accursed one on his mission foul,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And came on Deirdré singing all alone,</div> + <div class='line'>And took his stand, ill visaged as a Ghoul,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And named the terms, base love and future throne:</div> + <div class='line'>And she with darkening eyes no word replied</div> + <div class='line'>Save this alone; ‘Till I return, abide!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Swiftly she walked: she came where stood the Three;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then from her white lips rushed her wrong like flame;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Dishonoured wife!’ she cried, ‘with me, with me,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Though not the treason, lives for aye the shame!</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>Ah, surely never wife such scorn has known</div> + <div class='line'>Unless the fault was first in part her own!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But Naisi smiled, forth issuing with his brand,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And said but this; ‘Abide till I return;’</div> + <div class='line'>And soon, that head ill-omened in his hand,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Came back with countenance bright, at once and stern:</div> + <div class='line'>Then Deirdré spake, ‘My hand had borne that freight</div> + <div class='line'>If thine had spared it! At the bad king’s gate</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><a id='tn-layfirst'></a>‘Lay first that head, and march we hence this night!’</div> + <div class='line in2'>The Brothers answered; ‘No! nor yet three days!’</div> + <div class='line'>Three days in pride they paced a neighbouring height:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Three days the Pict, thus challenged, stood at gaze,</div> + <div class='line'>And ofttimes grimly turned from lord to lord:</div> + <div class='line'>They answered nought; nor any raised his sword.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But when the fourth dawn o’er the forest soaring</div> + <div class='line in2'>Sent through the heavens divergent beams of splendour,</div> + <div class='line'>Upon the earth glory and gladness pouring,</div> + <div class='line in2'>That host arose; nor took they farewell tender:</div> + <div class='line'>Three stones the clansman, each, above his head</div> + <div class='line'>Flung backward far in scorn: then forth they sped.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>And, lest the sun should dazzle Deirdré’s eyes,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Westward that morn their pilgrimage began:</div> + <div class='line'>First, under standards bright with myriad dyes,</div> + <div class='line in2'>A hundred Usnach warriors led the van:</div> + <div class='line'>Maids next: then clansmen, holding, each, a hound</div> + <div class='line'>That strained against the leash with bark and bound.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Ere long their march was through the misty highlands:</div> + <div class='line in2'>They tracked Glenorchy’s immemorial woods;</div> + <div class='line'>Loch Lomond’s bosky mountain-skirts and islands;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Birch-braided Katrine’s sylvan solitudes;</div> + <div class='line'>And where on shores of Fyne, now low now higher,</div> + <div class='line'>With punctual tide the salt sea floods respire.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Meantime the natives of those lonely regions</div> + <div class='line in2'>Came fiercely forth from many a distant shore</div> + <div class='line'>Though worsted oft, in ever thickening legions,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Till now the foray swelled into the war;</div> + <div class='line'>And still there flocked from Uladh’s coast in swarms</div> + <div class='line'>Her noblest youth, their great one’s mates in arms.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>For still, beside the spring her pitcher watching,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The maid would sing of Naisi’s strength and fleetness,</div> + <div class='line'>Ofttimes in turn on breeze of evening catching</div> + <div class='line in2'>Some shepherd’s song of Deirdré’s truth and sweetness:</div> + <div class='line'>And still they ended, each; ‘Ill deed, King Conor,</div> + <div class='line'>That banished such! Alas, the land’s dishonour!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>With varying fortune long time raged the feud:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Clan Usnach triumphed now: anon the foe:</div> + <div class='line'>And oft, a swordless warrior mild of mood,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Amid those Three was Deirdré seen: and lo!</div> + <div class='line'>Still, as the radiance bickers round the gem,</div> + <div class='line'>So flashed the battle’s flame round her and them.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Thus lived they prosperous mid that storm of war,</div> + <div class='line in2'>In victory glad, not downcast in defeat:</div> + <div class='line'>Three winter months when fortune pressed them sore</div> + <div class='line in2'>Within a western isle they made retreat,</div> + <div class='line'>The nearest of those rock-bound Hebrides</div> + <div class='line'>Set mid the crystal splendour of the seas.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>With Spring-tide back returned they. Victory’s sun</div> + <div class='line in2'>Full-orbed that April on their banners played:</div> + <div class='line'>A third part of the realm their valour won:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Last, with the Picts alliance firm they made,</div> + <div class='line'>And making kept. All things thenceforth went well;</div> + <div class='line'>And gladsome were their sports on field and fell.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>It was that season when the spirit of joy</div> + <div class='line in2'>Runs million-footed forth through earth and air;</div> + <div class='line'>When the hale shepherd grows once more the boy;</div> + <div class='line in2'>The girl-like youth is prompt to do and dare;</div> + <div class='line'>When womanhood looks softer than its wont;</div> + <div class='line'>The star shines whiter on the infant’s front.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>It was that season when the maiden’s heart,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Though guarded, faster beats against its bound;</div> + <div class='line'>When Love’s long hidden fount, by happier art</div> + <div class='line in2'>Divined, is nearer to the surface found:</div> + <div class='line'>When to the faded cheek returns its bloom;</div> + <div class='line'>And tears less bitter stain the flower-decked tomb.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>It was that season when on fields late dreary</div> + <div class='line in2'>Thickest at dawn the awakened daisy throngeth;</div> + <div class='line'>When in the dim sweet gloaming, never weary,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Latest her song the darkling thrush prolongeth;</div> + <div class='line'>And pillow-spurning children fret for morn,</div> + <div class='line'>Fresh flowers, new leaves, and ecstacies re-born.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Ah then to Naisi, and to Deirdré then</div> + <div class='line in2'>Like fire the gladness of the spring-tide came:</div> + <div class='line'>That causeway old they seemed to tread again,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Sang the same song! Love’s wild, yet vestal flame</div> + <div class='line'>Caught them once more as on that first of May;</div> + <div class='line'>And three glad wedded years became a day.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then, dawn by dawn, ere yet the low-tongued wind</div> + <div class='line in2'>From unreluctant buds their sweets was wooing,</div> + <div class='line'>While earliest shafts through ragged fissures blind</div> + <div class='line in2'>Of cloud forth flashed, the flying night pursuing,</div> + <div class='line'>Those brothers and that sister clomb the crag</div> + <div class='line'>And blew the horn, and roused the antlered stag.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>O joy his course through woodland gulfs to follow,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Deirdré and they, to Etive’s salt sea lake!</div> + <div class='line'>To hear from shadowy cliff and cavern hollow</div> + <div class='line in2'>Through glistening air the clarion’s echo break,</div> + <div class='line'>And mark, o’er wide green plain, and purple mere,</div> + <div class='line'>The mountain-wall its glooming bastion rear</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>More high when seen through mist: to watch it quivering;</div> + <div class='line in2'>From rock to cloud to track the eagle’s flight;</div> + <div class='line'>And then, close by, on spray shining and shivering,</div> + <div class='line in2'>To mark the tender-footed bird alight,</div> + <div class='line'>Or flower down-bending ’neath the silenced bee,</div> + <div class='line'>Or gleam from rill remote on-winding noiselessly!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And O, to hear in woods the loud hounds baying,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or plunge of floods adown some hoarse ravine!</div> + <div class='line'>Or watch, from far, the waves o’er sea-ledge swaying;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Thence refluent dragged in trails of grassy green;</div> + <div class='line'>Or, farther yet, that surge forever hoary</div> + <div class='line'>Seething round lone tormented promontory!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Three tents they planted where the forest’s skirt</div> + <div class='line in2'>Sheltered the lowland from the increasing heat;</div> + <div class='line'>In one, with hand assiduous and expert,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Deirdré prepared that food by toil made sweet;</div> + <div class='line'>In one they held their banquet; and in one</div> + <div class='line'>Sang their glad songs till half the night was done.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>And many a night on Etive’s flowery margin</div> + <div class='line in2'>She moved, while moonbeams glazed the purple wave,</div> + <div class='line'>Happiest of wives; light-footed as a virgin;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or at the entrance of some ivied cave</div> + <div class='line'>Sang note prolonged that ended oft in laughter—</div> + <div class='line'>Sweet were the days, pledging some sweet hereafter!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>One night, when Naisi to his rest had passed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Deirdré, long lingering at the bridal door,</div> + <div class='line'>Her eyes on Ainli and on Ardan cast,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Great eyes with tears unused all misted o’er,</div> + <div class='line'>And took their hands, and spake, in low, soft tone,</div> + <div class='line'>‘To you my Naisi’s weal is as your own!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘But you, like Naisi, must have, each, your bride,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Unhumbled maids not willing to be wed,</div> + <div class='line'>To walk in glorying gladness at your side:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Find such, and I round each a silver thread</div> + <div class='line'>Will twine; and bring the creatures to you bound:</div> + <div class='line'>Discrowned the proud must be; and Love be crowned!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The heroic song hath sorrows, but not sighs;</div> + <div class='line in2'>The heroic legend tender is, yet hard;</div> + <div class='line'>With grief alike, and joy, can sympathise,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Yet keeps the heroic heart from weakness barred.</div> + <div class='line'>Love’s ‘stormy southwind’ three glad years had blown:</div> + <div class='line'>Then Fate, that rules the nations, claimed her own.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>Thus it befell; once more at Conor’s call</div> + <div class='line in2'>The Red-Branch Knights partook their monarch’s feast,</div> + <div class='line'>Ranged ’neath their standards round Emania’s hall;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And when at last the hunger rage had ceased,</div> + <div class='line'>And many an echo of loud songs had died,</div> + <div class='line'>King Conor rose, thus speaking in his pride;</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘What say ye, Lords? Deem ye that kinglier cheer,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or palace more majestic under sun,</div> + <div class='line'>Gladdens mankind than those that greet us here?’</div> + <div class='line in2'>They answered, ‘Feast or house like thine is none!’</div> + <div class='line'>Through the great hall the acclaim unmeasured brake:</div> + <div class='line'>It sank; and once again King Conor spake;</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘How say ye, Lords, for leave ye have to speak;</div> + <div class='line in2'>That which ye think, reveal: all doubts repel;</div> + <div class='line'>Find ye in Uladh aught decayed or weak,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Amiss, or lacking? Or are all things well?’</div> + <div class='line'>And they made answer; ‘All things right we find,</div> + <div class='line'>Nor aught deficient. King, we speak our mind!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Yet once again, King Conor rose and said,</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘My mind is other-minded, Lords, than yours;</div> + <div class='line'>For I, though ne’er by random counsel swayed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Far less by murmurs low of kernes and boors,</div> + <div class='line'>Find this amiss—that Usnach’s sons this day</div> + <div class='line'>For one bad woman’s sake are far away;</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>‘A loss to Uladh, and to me the most,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Lacking our bravest.’ Then the vast acclaim</div> + <div class='line'>Burst louder thrice from that exulting host;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And thus they cried; ‘We feared the royal blame,</div> + <div class='line'>And therefore hid our counsel; but that morn</div> + <div class='line'>Those Three return, old Uladh stands re-born.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Again the plot-deviser rose and spake:</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Men of great stomachs, Lords, we count those Three:</div> + <div class='line'>“Exiles,” they sware, “we go: but ne’er come back</div> + <div class='line in2'>Till sureties strong are ours, and guarantee</div> + <div class='line'>By Conor sent, firm pledge of endless troth:”</div> + <div class='line'>Thus Naisi sware: and sacred is an oath.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Likewise thus vowed he, ne’er to tread again</div> + <div class='line in2'>Green Erin’s soil, his glory and his joy,</div> + <div class='line'>Till Conal Carnach fetched him o’er the main,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or else Cuchullain, or the son of Roy,</div> + <div class='line'>Fergus, my dearest. I these three will test,</div> + <div class='line'>And learn by proof which loves King Conor best.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then Conor unto Conal signed; and these</div> + <div class='line in2'>Stood speaking in a casement far apart:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Conal, if I should send thee o’er the seas,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And lo! on Uladh’s soil, through Naisi’s heart</div> + <div class='line'>The Fates sent darkness, what would happen then?’</div> + <div class='line'>And Conal answered; ‘Deaths of many men!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>‘King! if he fell, of Uladh’s sons one half</div> + <div class='line in2'>For Naisi’s sake should lie ere three days dead,</div> + <div class='line'>And for my surety broken.’ With a laugh</div> + <div class='line in2'>King Conor fillip’d Conal’s cheek, and said,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Fool! that canst never understand a jest!</div> + <div class='line'>Go hence! It is not thou that lov’st me best!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Next, to Cuchullain Conor signed; then spake;</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Cuchullain! if I sent thee o’er the sea,</div> + <div class='line'>With Usnach’s exiled sons a pact to make,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And then, despite thy surety given, those Three</div> + <div class='line'>Vanished, late-landed; what would happen then?’</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain answered; ‘Deaths of many men!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘For, not alone who wrought that deed accursed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Slaying those Three, should perish by this hand,</div> + <div class='line'>But they the impious deed who counselled, first;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And, next the man who issued that command!’</div> + <div class='line'>Then Conor frowned:—‘What night-mare loads thy breast?</div> + <div class='line'>Hence, for thou know’st me not; nor lov’st me best!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>To Fergus last the royal plotter signed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And made, yet softlier tuned, the self-same quest;</div> + <div class='line'>But he the questioner’s meaning nought divined,</div> + <div class='line in2'>A Prince whose heart, uncovered as his crest,</div> + <div class='line'>Contemned disguise; suspecting treachery none</div> + <div class='line'>Thus answered Fergus, Roy’s once sceptred son:</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>‘King, thou, and I, and Usnach’s sons must die—</div> + <div class='line in2'>What matters when, if spotless our good name?</div> + <div class='line'>The hand that strikes in daylight I defy;</div> + <div class='line in2'>If traitor’s knife attempts them, for that shame</div> + <div class='line'>All Uladh’s race shall perish, save alone</div> + <div class='line'>The stained, yet guiltless king on Uladh’s throne!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then Conor caught his hand: ‘Thou, sole of all</div> + <div class='line in2'>Lov’st me! The rest but fear:—they never loved!</div> + <div class='line'>Cautious are they: thou swift at honour’s call!</div> + <div class='line in2'>Now therefore be thy love and fealty proved:</div> + <div class='line'>To Alba speed: bring home that exiled Three,</div> + <div class='line'>Thyself their surety, pledge, and guarantee.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘But with them plight this covenant beside,</div> + <div class='line in2'>That instant when they tread my kingdom’s strand</div> + <div class='line'>To me they speed; with no man else abide;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Favour or feast accept at no man’s hand:</div> + <div class='line'>My bread must be the first those exiles break;</div> + <div class='line'>All griefs thenceforth forgotten for its sake.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘I charge thee too from Alba’s coast returned</div> + <div class='line in2'>To land at Barach’s castle in the north;—</div> + <div class='line'>There shall thy monarch’s further will be learned:’</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then Fergus pledged his word, and issued forth:</div> + <div class='line'>But Conor beckoned Barach from the feast;</div> + <div class='line'>Then long time stood a-gazing north and east.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>Low-toned he spake; ‘Barach! a keep thou hast</div> + <div class='line in2'>There where the grey cliffs break the northern brine:</div> + <div class='line'>When Fergus comes from Alba, hold him fast:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Heap high thy banquet; make that proud one thine!</div> + <div class='line'>If from thy board he turns he stands forsworn,</div> + <div class='line'>By Geisa bound<a id='r14'></a><a href='#f14' class='c008'><sup>[14]</sup></a> no good man’s feast to scorn.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘But thou, the sons of Usnach send to me:</div> + <div class='line in2'>What cause I have to trust that race thou knowest:</div> + <div class='line'>Be sure thy feast hold out two days or three:</div> + <div class='line in2'>My love thenceforth thou hast where’er thou goest.’</div> + <div class='line'>The courtier smiled, and bowed, ‘I hear, and heed:’</div> + <div class='line'>And Conor thus; ‘True friend is friend at need!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Next morning Fergus o’er the waters sped</div> + <div class='line in2'>At earliest dawn; with him his sons alone,</div> + <div class='line'>Illan the Fair; Buini the Ruthless Red,</div> + <div class='line in2'>His shield-bearer, the third. By swift winds blown</div> + <div class='line'>They rushed above the waves a day and night;</div> + <div class='line'>At dawn Loch Etive’s mountains loomed in sight.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Ere noon he landed on the Alban coast:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Wild from the woods a stag there issued bounding;</div> + <div class='line'>The prince his mission grave forgat, and tossed</div> + <div class='line in2'>Through the green-caverned forest loud-resounding,</div> + <div class='line'>As he was ever wont, his hunting cry;</div> + <div class='line'>And lo! the tents where Naisi dwelt were nigh.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>Deirdré and he were playing chess together:<a id='r15'></a><a href='#f15' class='c008'><sup>[15]</sup></a></div> + <div class='line in2'>Their bent heads well nigh met above the board;</div> + <div class='line'>While sunny gleams of that unclouded weather</div> + <div class='line in2'>Glancing through boughs the chequered ivory scored.</div> + <div class='line'>Her brow was bright with thought; her hand, raised high,</div> + <div class='line'>Above its destined prize hung hoveringly.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The cry of Fergus reached them. Naisi spake;</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Erin! A son of Erin breathed that shout!’</div> + <div class='line'>Deirdré replied; ‘Not so! On Etive’s lake</div> + <div class='line in2'>Some fisher boasts a spoil, or chieftain’s scout</div> + <div class='line'>Welcomes his fellows far away. Play on!’</div> + <div class='line'>She laughed; but from her cheek the rose was gone.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Once more abroad the cry of Fergus pealed;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And Naisi cried: ‘Our Erin nursed that voice!’</div> + <div class='line'>Then Deirdré: ‘Nay, but from some rock-girt field</div> + <div class='line in2'>Loud-voiced the shepherd bids his mates rejoice:</div> + <div class='line'>Some boar is slain, or wolf that vexed the land;</div> + <div class='line'>Play on!’ And on her heart she pressed her hand.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But when a third time rang that shout, now nearer,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The three brave brothers recognised the sound,</div> + <div class='line'>And, listening, larger grew their eyes, and clearer,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And from their seats they leaped, and gazed around,</div> + <div class='line'>And smote their palms, and clamoured, ‘O the joy!</div> + <div class='line'>Fergus is come! Our Fergus! Fergus Roy!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>Then Naisi sent the twain abroad to meet him;</div> + <div class='line in2'>But Deirdré said, ‘I knew that earliest cry!</div> + <div class='line'>Woe to the man, and them this hour who greet him!</div> + <div class='line in2'>This day the bolt is launched from yonder sky:</div> + <div class='line'>This day the Destiny foretold beginneth:</div> + <div class='line'>Woe to the Three! Worst woe to him who sinneth!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘All night I saw three birds from Erin’s peaks</div> + <div class='line in2'>To Alba strain through tempest and eclipse:</div> + <div class='line'>Three honey-drops they wafted on their beaks:—</div> + <div class='line in2'>O Love! they dropped that sweetness on thy lips;</div> + <div class='line'>Ere long each death-black beak, and crownèd head</div> + <div class='line'>With life-blood from thy heart, O Love, was red!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>She rose: on visions dread she seemed to stare!</div> + <div class='line in2'>She stood: she pressed her hands upon her eyes:</div> + <div class='line'>From the wan brows the horror-stricken hair</div> + <div class='line in2'>Bickering like meteors rose, or seemed to rise;</div> + <div class='line'>She towered aloft a prophetess; till, near,</div> + <div class='line'>The step well known of Fergus smote their ear.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>She whispered low: ‘Trample the honeyed lure!</div> + <div class='line in2'>Make not with Conor! He would have thy blood!’</div> + <div class='line'>A moment more, and, entering from the moor,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Fergus, that royal presence, by them stood:</div> + <div class='line'>The cloud fell from her! Basking like blue sky</div> + <div class='line'>She met her husband’s guest full lovingly.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>There stood they, Fergus loftiest by the head,</div> + <div class='line in2'>His sons beside him, stalwart men, and tall,</div> + <div class='line'>Illan the Fair, Buini the Ruthless Red:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Reverent and sweet she kissed them, each and all,</div> + <div class='line'>She and the Brothers: next they made demand</div> + <div class='line'>Of news the latest from their native land.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Swift came the answer; ‘Friends, the news is this;</div> + <div class='line in2'>The king repents him of the ignoble deed</div> + <div class='line'>That cost his realm her bravest; zealous is</div> + <div class='line in2'>To quench that deed, and cancel; hath decreed</div> + <div class='line'>That you and yours, henceforth and evermore</div> + <div class='line'>Shall live secure on Erin’s sacred shore:</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Likewise of this, a kingdom’s oath and pledge,</div> + <div class='line in2'>I stand myself, surety and guarantee:</div> + <div class='line'>Conor in turn, to dull past injury’s edge</div> + <div class='line in2'>Demands, implores a single vow from thee,</div> + <div class='line'>That till beside his board thou breakest bread</div> + <div class='line'>No meaner house than his shall roof thy head.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then Naisi and the brethren rose in joy;</div> + <div class='line in2'>But Deirdré came before them speaking thus,</div> + <div class='line'>‘King—for, except the race and stock of Roy,</div> + <div class='line in2'>O’er Uladh kings may reign, but not o’er us—</div> + <div class='line'>The eagle lives not save in large domain:</div> + <div class='line'>My husband won this land, and here must reign!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>‘King Conor caught and caged me, yet a child;</div> + <div class='line in2'>King Conor into exile drave these Three;</div> + <div class='line'>The growing greatness of that race exiled</div> + <div class='line in2'>This day he fears; and calls them back: but we</div> + <div class='line'>Desire a healthier breeze than makes resort</div> + <div class='line'>Within the perfumed precinct of a court.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Lady, you doubt the safety of your Lord!—</div> + <div class='line in2'>“Must reign!” I reign no more; not less my name</div> + <div class='line'>Would move in might before him like a sword</div> + <div class='line in2'>Though all the hosts of Erin ’gainst him came!’</div> + <div class='line'>A red spot stood on Fergus’ crownless brow;</div> + <div class='line'>The Three looked up; and spake: ‘We go, and now!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then Deirdré inly said; ‘We go to die:’</div> + <div class='line in2'>Death-pale she stood, yet spake no further word;</div> + <div class='line'>Their promise pledged, albeit unwittingly,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The worst that might befall them she preferred</div> + <div class='line'>To treason’s semblance and a vow forsworn:</div> + <div class='line'>She spread the feast; westward they sailed ere morn.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And ever as the wine-dark seas they clave</div> + <div class='line in2'>The sons of Usnach stood upon the prow</div> + <div class='line'>And spread their arms to Erin o’er the wave;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And each to each exclaimed; ‘To guide the plough</div> + <div class='line'>Or break the clod, still breathing Erin’s air,</div> + <div class='line'>Were better than to rule and reign elsewhere!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>But Deirdré stood upon the vessel’s stern,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Alone, with eyes on Alba’s headlands bent,</div> + <div class='line'>Dreaming the hills she could no more discern,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And as they faded thus she made lament,</div> + <div class='line'>‘O Land, our home no more, to me and mine</div> + <div class='line'>Gentle thou wert; therefore my heart is thine!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘O beauteous Land, oft on thy heathery bed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Wearied with chase, upon my sleepless heart</div> + <div class='line'>My Naisi laid at noon his sleeping head;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And therefore thine I am; and dear thou art.</div> + <div class='line'>I came to thee with Naisi hand in hand,</div> + <div class='line'>But now no more I see thee, beauteous Land!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘O Coona! mid thy maiden buds the thrush</div> + <div class='line in2'>Sang well in spring! In thee the autumnal berry</div> + <div class='line'>Sent forth its flash from reddening brake and bush</div> + <div class='line in2'>Like scoff from hard old lip of beldam merry!</div> + <div class='line'>We laughed to mark it, while far off we heard</div> + <div class='line'>Ainli with Ardan sing as bird with bird.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Glenorchy, O Glenorchy! sweet in thee</div> + <div class='line in2'>To hear the cuckoo’s note, that glad new-comer;</div> + <div class='line'>And sweet o’er Masan’s sands to watch the sea</div> + <div class='line in2'>Sleep on unwakened half the long, blue summer!</div> + <div class='line'>Thou gav’st us, O thou Erin of the East!</div> + <div class='line'>The song, the chase, the battle, and the feast!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>‘Loch Etive, O Loch Etive! near thy shore,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Lulled by thy waters pure, and airs heart-healing,</div> + <div class='line'>Latest we lived, who live there now no more;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Earliest in thee we raised our little shieling:—</div> + <div class='line'>Good things the sons of Usnach gat from thee,</div> + <div class='line'>And I, the ill-omened sister of the Three!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Thus in her song honouring the land she loved</div> + <div class='line in2'>Sad Deirdré stood while back the waters hoar</div> + <div class='line'>Streamed from the ship; and singing never moved:</div> + <div class='line in2'>From her chilled lip the wind its music bore,</div> + <div class='line'>Till plainly Erin’s cliffs at last shone forth,</div> + <div class='line'>And Barach’s castle facing to the North.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then Barach, as that fated bark drew near,</div> + <div class='line in2'>With courteous seeming but a purpose fell</div> + <div class='line'>Sailed forth to meet it, making goodly cheer</div> + <div class='line in2'>With bannered boat and tossing coracle</div> + <div class='line'>So densely clustered that the billow green</div> + <div class='line'>Betwixt them scarcely showed its sparkling sheen.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Ere long the exiles leaped on Erin’s strand:</div> + <div class='line in2'>The courtier followed fast: with loud-voiced glee</div> + <div class='line'>He bade them welcome to their native land,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And kissed the hands of each full reverently,</div> + <div class='line'>Deirdré’s the last; and said; ‘Your home is here!</div> + <div class='line'>Abide a week, and after that a year!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>But when the Brothers told him of their oath</div> + <div class='line in2'>In no man’s house to eat, or rest their head,</div> + <div class='line'>Howe’er to slight a friendly welcome loth,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Until with Conor they had broken bread,</div> + <div class='line'>He turned to Fergus;—‘Oath thou too hast sworn</div> + <div class='line'>Long since, to pass no friendly feast in scorn.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Behold, for thee this day my board is decked;</div> + <div class='line in2'>My dish is garnished; and my fatlings slain:</div> + <div class='line'>Likewise to greet thee many a chief elect</div> + <div class='line in2'>Hath sped this day from distant vale and plain:</div> + <div class='line'>If vain their zeal, and all that loyal haste</div> + <div class='line'>To greet my guest, I stand henceforth disgraced.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Him Fergus heard, and stood in anguish mute,</div> + <div class='line in2'>His giant bulk bowed by his spirit’s pain</div> + <div class='line'>That ever downward worked from scalp to foot:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Like stag whom serpent folds begin to strain</div> + <div class='line'>He stood—that strives in vain that coil to break—</div> + <div class='line'>And flame was on his face while thus he spake;</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Ill done, ill done, O Barach, is thy deed!</div> + <div class='line in2'>Ill-timed, ill-omened, and unblest thy feast’—</div> + <div class='line'>Then Barach; ‘Let those Three to Conor speed;</div> + <div class='line in2'>The king is greatest here, and I the least:</div> + <div class='line'>But thou—thine oath that later pledge foreran:</div> + <div class='line'>If broke, it lays thine honour under ban.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>Still Fergus mused;—‘’Tis true: that oath I made;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Made ere an upstart’s craft had filched my crown:</div> + <div class='line'>To break it were my greatness to degrade,</div> + <div class='line in2'>To blot a princely birth, a life’s renown:</div> + <div class='line'>Uladh would cry; “He shames the blood of Roy</div> + <div class='line'>To ’scape the frown of Nessa’s ill-crowned boy!”’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Doubt bred new doubt:—away the False One strode;</div> + <div class='line in2'>But Fergus still mused on, and never stirred,</div> + <div class='line'>His royal head depressed and neck embowed;</div> + <div class='line in2'>At last he turned to Naisi with this word,</div> + <div class='line'>‘What must I do?’ But ere her lord replied,</div> + <div class='line'>Deirdré spake first, with queenly port and pride:</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘The choice is thine, not his; and this that choice;</div> + <div class='line in2'>For a feast’s sake to cast from thee thy charge,</div> + <div class='line'>Subject and servile to a courtier’s voice;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or spurn that feast, and walk, a soul at large.’</div> + <div class='line'>And Fergus said; ‘My sons with thine and thee</div> + <div class='line'>Might ride. I bind on them my guarantee.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Low-toned he spake; but Naisi heard, and thus</div> + <div class='line in2'>Made answer, reddening like a rising moon,</div> + <div class='line'>‘We scorn their aid! Our swords suffice for us!</div> + <div class='line in2'>All help beside we count a worthless boon!’</div> + <div class='line'>Then Fergus frowned: At once from doubt released</div> + <div class='line'>With them he sent his sons, and joined the feast.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span> + <h3 class='c005'>CANTO THE THIRD.</h3> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c003'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>So forth the Brothers rode, while high o’erhead</div> + <div class='line in2'>Through that primeval forest’s woven screen</div> + <div class='line'>Now in long lanes the sky its radiance shed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And now in purple stars of splendour keen;</div> + <div class='line'>Nor far behind them marched the Usnach clan,</div> + <div class='line'>Loud singing and on trampling like one man.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But Deirdré slowly lifting eyes divine,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Dewed with dark tears, upon the Brothers, spake;</div> + <div class='line'>‘True counsel, lo! I give you, brothers mine;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And yet that counsel true ye will not take;</div> + <div class='line'>There shine the rocks of Rathlin! On its shore</div> + <div class='line'>Abide till this disastrous feast is o’er!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then spake to Illan, Fergus’ kindlier son,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The Ruthless Red; ‘Small faith in us they place!’</div> + <div class='line'>Whom Naisi hearing, made reply, ‘Ride on:’</div> + <div class='line in2'>And Deirdré raised to heaven her heaven-sweet face,</div> + <div class='line'>And made this song; for, as in girlhood, all</div> + <div class='line'>Her musings, dark or bright, grew musical.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>‘O would my Love were safe in some far isle,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And I were like some shadow passed away;</div> + <div class='line'>Yea, though some other liegeful wife, the while,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Partook his board at eve, his chase by day:</div> + <div class='line'>For I am that doomed Babe of long ago;</div> + <div class='line'>And I on those fair Three have brought this woe!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘One time by far Loch Etive—’twas in jest—</div> + <div class='line in2'>My Naisi kissed a sweet-eyed Alban maid:</div> + <div class='line'>I sought my death! my bark from crest to crest</div> + <div class='line in2'>I dashed, too deeply wounded to upbraid!</div> + <div class='line'>The Brothers saw, and followed fast—and I—</div> + <div class='line'>Ah, that for me those peerless Three should die!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Meanwhile all day in light discourse or deep</div> + <div class='line in2'>The sons of Usnach and of Fergus rode,</div> + <div class='line'>And came at eve to Fuad’s mountain-steep;</div> + <div class='line in2'>But Deirdré, bent for once by sorrow’s load</div> + <div class='line'>Though strong, behind them dropped, and on a bank</div> + <div class='line'>Moon-lit sat down; and slumber on her sank.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>There Naisi found her ’neath a yew-tree old,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Shivering; and she his steps approaching knew</div> + <div class='line'>Though sleeping still; and through the moonlight cold</div> + <div class='line in2'>T’wards him stretched forth her hand so kind and true;</div> + <div class='line'>And, ‘What, O what is this,’ he said, ‘My Queen?’</div> + <div class='line'>Wak’ning she answered, anguished yet serene:</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>‘A dream it was that kept me from thy side:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Wakeful all day that dream I saw, and see:</div> + <div class='line'>I saw great Fergus’ sons beside us ride,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Brothers in blood; disjoined in destiny:</div> + <div class='line'>Illan a bleeding bulk without a head,</div> + <div class='line'>I saw: yet true he proved when traitors fled.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Buini I saw, the Ruthless Red; full strong</div> + <div class='line in2'>He towered, and stately as a summer tree:</div> + <div class='line'>But, when that strife dishonest did us wrong,</div> + <div class='line in2'>No help he proved, O Love, to thine and thee!</div> + <div class='line'>So one was faithful, yet of greatness shorn:</div> + <div class='line'>And one was greatness perjured and forsworn.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Now ride we on!’ they rode for many an hour,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Till, through an oak-glade in that glimmering wood,</div> + <div class='line'>They saw Emania, veiled in cloud and shower:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Above the edge of that black cloud there stood</div> + <div class='line'>A moon nigh setting in a sanguine shroud;</div> + <div class='line'>And many thunders heard they, far, not loud.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Upon that sanguine shroud as on a sign</div> + <div class='line in2'>Deirdré gazed long; then turned her eyes, and spake;</div> + <div class='line'>‘True counsel, lo! I give you, brothers mine,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And yet that counsel true ye will not take;</div> + <div class='line'>No further t’wards Emania ride this hour;</div> + <div class='line'>Seek we, not far it stands, Cuchullain’s tower!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>‘Or house with Conal Carnach, leal and true:</div> + <div class='line in2'>He to the court ere noon with us will ride—</div> + <div class='line'>Naisi! when on that causeway I and you</div> + <div class='line in2'>That evening sang, what prayer hadst thou denied?’</div> + <div class='line'>Yet, though she chid him, nearer him she crept:</div> + <div class='line'>The one sole time that in his arms she wept!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Buini drew near! At once the Three replied,</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Because we never feared and cannot fear</div> + <div class='line'>To Eman on we will whate’er betide!’</div> + <div class='line in2'>Unseen by him she wiped away her tear;</div> + <div class='line'>While from the black boughs fell a poison-dew;</div> + <div class='line'>And Fate her net more closely round them drew.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Thenceforth was Deirdré changed. To Eman’s gate</div> + <div class='line in2'>They rode, and thrice beneath it blew their horn:</div> + <div class='line'>Indifferent, yea, as one with either fate</div> + <div class='line in2'>Alike content, she spake in careless scorn;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Omens the Druids find in bird and beast:</div> + <div class='line'>A Druid I; a laughing one at least!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘I doubted Conor’s faith: if mine the fault</div> + <div class='line in2'>Harbouring distrust, King Conor thus will speak:</div> + <div class='line'>“Abide with me three months: partake my salt;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Drink of my cup; my bread securely break!”</div> + <div class='line'>If under alien roof he bids us lie</div> + <div class='line'>Then know his pit is dug; and we shall die.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>She spake! around her lip a smile there curled;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Her kindling eye was fixed as eye of one</div> + <div class='line'>Who sees, beyond the limits of the world,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Beyond the thresholds of our moon and sun,</div> + <div class='line'>Beyond the abysmal night, a gleam of day,</div> + <div class='line'>And can abide the issue come what may.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>As thus they stood the gates were opened wide;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Anon forth stepped a herald with this word,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Great Sirs, the King, himself by sickness tried,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Within the Red-Branch House hath decked your board</div> + <div class='line'>With Uladh’s best, from mead and river brought:’</div> + <div class='line'>They on each other gazed, yet answered nought.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘He bids you there with blessing.’ At that speech</div> + <div class='line in2'>Silent they sought that House. In stately throng</div> + <div class='line'>The knights received them: yet on brows of each</div> + <div class='line in2'>Devoid of guile, a dubious sadness clung:</div> + <div class='line'>Not less the seats were set; the tables spread:</div> + <div class='line'>Nor ceased that revel till the day was sped.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Not all partook it. Silent and apart</div> + <div class='line in2'>In a huge window caverned from the wall</div> + <div class='line'>By some high builder’s long-forgotten art,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Sat Deirdré, and the Brothers three. No thrall</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>To royal craft the warriors now. What meant</div> + <div class='line'>The king, they knew, and waited the event.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Scorning to make complaint, they scorned not less</div> + <div class='line in2'>To share a traitor’s feast, and ate of nought,</div> + <div class='line'>Waving each dish away in haughtiness,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Save little loaves that with them they had brought.</div> + <div class='line'>Their chess-board next they ranged with pawn and queen;</div> + <div class='line'>And Deirdré laughed or frowned the moves between.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Meantime with Levarcam King Conor spake;</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Forth, since I spared thy life when Deirdré fled,</div> + <div class='line'>And tidings bring me whether, for love’s sake,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Yet lives her beauty on that False One’s head:</div> + <div class='line'>The girl hath known rough skies and scanty board:’</div> + <div class='line'>Then Levarcam went forth, with wiles well stored.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Drawing a thousand thoughts into one noose</div> + <div class='line in2'>Of woman-craft she sped, in silks arrayed;</div> + <div class='line'>And came with speed, such speed as age may use,</div> + <div class='line in2'>To where at chess the sentenced princes played</div> + <div class='line'>In that high window; next one finger raised</div> + <div class='line'>High as her brow; then round her peering gazed.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Naisi she loved from childhood; loved scarce less</div> + <div class='line in2'>His brothers; felt for Deirdré love and spleen:—</div> + <div class='line'>‘Through grace of yours, all-bashful Forwardness,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Save for my craft this trunk had headless been!</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>I wiled the sword from Conor’s hand! Well, well!</div> + <div class='line'>My Wanton’s face retains its childish spell!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘I come to you at peril of my life—</div> + <div class='line in2'>Hush, hush! place hand on lip! They must not hear!</div> + <div class='line'>With rumours dark Emania’s streets are rife:</div> + <div class='line in2'>The king has vowed your death:—draws any near?</div> + <div class='line'>Then when the Babe was born, the seer foretold—</div> + <div class='line'>What? Must men die because a maid was bold?’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>In tears awhile the faded fine one stood;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And next, mechanic-wise oracular,</div> + <div class='line'>Kept nodding of her head. Then changed her mood</div> + <div class='line in2'>To fires of youth. ‘Close gate, and casement bar!</div> + <div class='line'>Fight well, ye sons of Fergus! If your sire</div> + <div class='line'>Makes speed, he’ll trample down this flame in mire!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Last, like that bird which fan-like spreads her plumes</div> + <div class='line in2'>For pride, to Conor’s palace she returned,</div> + <div class='line'>And found him seated in presageful glooms;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And cried as though some reptile shape she spurned,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Woe, woe; for Deirdré’s brightness is gone by;—</div> + <div class='line'>Brown moth is she that once was butterfly!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>King Conor heard, ill-pleased, and yet well-pleased,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And stood, before him dangling still this thought</div> + <div class='line'>At least then Naisi of his love is eased;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And that proud minx has lost my realm for nought:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>Perhaps ’twere best to let old rancours pass:</div> + <div class='line'>Kingdoms live on; but beauty fades like grass.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Thus mused the king: but while he sat at meat</div> + <div class='line in2'>And, later, when the wine had fired his blood,</div> + <div class='line'>The thought of Deirdré’s face, tender and sweet,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Too bright to fade, star-like before him stood:</div> + <div class='line'>And loud he cried: ‘Sits any brave man here</div> + <div class='line'>Who dreads not death, and holds King Conor dear?</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Forth to the Red-Branch Mansion let him speed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And there with Deirdré secret converse hold,</div> + <div class='line'>And learn if yet upon her lives indeed</div> + <div class='line in2'>The glory of that beauty hers of old.’</div> + <div class='line'>Then Trendorn went, a sordid churl, ill-starred,</div> + <div class='line'>And found that mansion’s gateways closed and barred:</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Yet clomb he darkling, to that casement high;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And Deirdré turned her face:—in awe and fear</div> + <div class='line'>Of that great splendour o’er it shed, the spy</div> + <div class='line in2'>Slid from his place, and, racing like a deer,</div> + <div class='line'>To Conor cried; ‘As shines in heaven the sun,</div> + <div class='line'>So she on earth: and like her there is none!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>That instant Conor saw the maid again!</div> + <div class='line in2'>That instant rage of love his heart possessed</div> + <div class='line'>Venomed by past repulse, and jealous pain:</div> + <div class='line in2'>And thus he cried, hoarse-voiced with stifling breast,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>‘Storm ye the Red-Branch House! Die, he that will!</div> + <div class='line'>Mine was that maid: and mine I deem her still.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>In silence sat the chiefs, mindful at once</div> + <div class='line in2'>Of duty sworn to Uladh’s king, their Lord,</div> + <div class='line'>And of his counter-pledge to Usnach’s sons;</div> + <div class='line in2'>But all the Bonachts ranged adown the board</div> + <div class='line'>Rushed forth to boast their zeal, and clutch their prey,</div> + <div class='line'>Aliens base-born that fought not save for pay.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>To these were joined the vile ones of the street;</div> + <div class='line in2'>For in their breasts Conor this seed had sown,</div> + <div class='line'>Imposture sordid, and obscene conceit,</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Traitors, in Alba late to princes grown,</div> + <div class='line'>Would make their Pictish tyrant Uladh’s king!’</div> + <div class='line'>They girt the Red-Branch House, thus clamouring.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Long time in silence stood, and sore amazed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Those brave but simple knights o’er Erin feared:</div> + <div class='line'>For Usnach’s sons as kings they prized and praised;</div> + <div class='line in2'>But like a God King Conor they revered:</div> + <div class='line'>At last they spake, and after that changed not,</div> + <div class='line'>‘We in this war will bear nor part, nor lot.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And when the stony storm blackened the heaven,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And gate rolled in, and casement burst and brake,</div> + <div class='line'>And all that House was as a ship rock-riven,</div> + <div class='line in2'>In midnight storm, they sat, and never spake;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>For two contrarient thoughts their minds had cleft—</div> + <div class='line'>Astonied men of manhood’s might bereft.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Naisi, meantime, and Deirdré, fixed, attent,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Their eyes in stillness on the ivory board,</div> + <div class='line'>And silent o’er their game the brothers bent;</div> + <div class='line in2'>But Fergus’ sons stood up with hand on sword,</div> + <div class='line'>Forth from the casement gazing; and the red</div> + <div class='line'>Burned on their brows: then Deirdré, careless, said,</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Long time, methinks, at feast doth Fergus tarry—</div> + <div class='line in2'>Good speed for that crowned hawk which hangs on high</div> + <div class='line'>With beak turned downward t’ward his skiey quarry!’</div> + <div class='line in2'>Buini broke in; ‘My sire is false; not I!’</div> + <div class='line'>And gat him down; and shouted Fergus’ name:</div> + <div class='line'>And straight a host around him flocking came.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But Conor sent for Buini, and at door</div> + <div class='line in2'>Whispered him low; ‘I yield thee Fo-äd-Fell!’</div> + <div class='line'>Yet Buini spurned the bribe, and said; ‘What more?’</div> + <div class='line in2'>And Conor thus; ‘Henceforth mine oracle</div> + <div class='line'>At council board be thou, and only thou!’</div> + <div class='line'>Then Buini pledged with Conor hand and vow.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Thenceforth around the Red-Branch Mansion higher</div> + <div class='line in2'>The madness of the people surged, and roar</div> + <div class='line'>As though of tempest when great woods catch fire,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or winter waves raking some northern shore;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>And on the portals seven they dashed; and lo!</div> + <div class='line'>Their mighty hinges groaned ’neath blow on blow.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Meantime the Red-Branch Knights, like men in sleep</div> + <div class='line in2'>Trod the vast courts; or like some shepherd boor</div> + <div class='line'>Who feels his way on cliffs that crest the deep</div> + <div class='line in2'>When mist invests the mountain and the moor;</div> + <div class='line'>Or stood and gazed from far on Deirdré’s brow—</div> + <div class='line'>Strong knights of old; men ineffectual now.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then Deirdré, as the battle raged below,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Spake lightly thus, while on she pushed a pawn,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Buini has gone like Fergus—let him go!’</div> + <div class='line in2'>But Illan, grieved at heart, with sword half drawn,</div> + <div class='line'>Replied, ‘While lives this sword, whoe’er may fly,</div> + <div class='line'>Faithful and true to Usnach’s Sons am I!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And gat him down, and drew a host, and drave</div> + <div class='line in2'>Southward that seething mass a mile and more,</div> + <div class='line'>As when the wind before it drives the wave;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And shouted, ‘traitors’ still; and slew six score.</div> + <div class='line'>Then—sped from heaven—above the heads of all</div> + <div class='line'>Ran Fear; and reached King Conor’s council-hall.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>There, girt by chiefs sat Conor on his throne</div> + <div class='line in2'>With cloudy brows, and pale lips ridged in scorn,</div> + <div class='line'>Who thus addressed Fiacre, his first-born son;</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Son, thou and he the self-same hour were born,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>Illan—the man that from this head even now</div> + <div class='line'>Sweeps Uladh’s crown! Go forth and meet him, thou!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘And, since the arms he weareth of his sire,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Fergus, once king, wear thou mine arms this day,</div> + <div class='line'>“Ocean,” my shield, that sea-like roars in ire</div> + <div class='line in2'>Echoed on Erin’s farthest coasts, men say;</div> + <div class='line'>And “Victory’s wing,” and “Flying Fate,” my spears</div> + <div class='line'>And “Death,” my sword, annealed in widows’ tears.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then strode Fiacre to battle, iron-mailed:</div> + <div class='line in2'>But straight the king to Conal Carnach sent,</div> + <div class='line'>‘My kingdom reels by rebel hosts assailed:</div> + <div class='line in2'>My son goes forth to meet them. Sickness-bent</div> + <div class='line'>I wait the close. My bravest knight, my best!</div> + <div class='line'>Strike for thy king! What care I for the rest?’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Next to Cuchullain sent he: but that knight</div> + <div class='line in2'>Frowned on the herald in his perilous mood,</div> + <div class='line'>And said; ‘What part have I in civil fight?’</div> + <div class='line in2'>Soon, face to face Fiacre and Illan stood:</div> + <div class='line'>At last the royal youth, ’neath Illan’s sword</div> + <div class='line'>Sank to one knee: at once in fury roared—</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Thus much and more the legends old avouch—</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Ocean,’ King Conor’s shield; for wroth was he</div> + <div class='line'>A prince’s head beneath his shade should crouch,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And wroth Emania’s coming doom to see:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>Three times the shield sent forth that sea-like roar;</div> + <div class='line'>And thrice the three chief waves on Erin’s shore</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Responded, from the blue deeps landward rolling;</div> + <div class='line in2'>The wave of Toth on Erin’s northern coast;</div> + <div class='line'>Green Clidna’s wave like funeral bells far tolling;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And Rory’s wave, the loudest. Through the host</div> + <div class='line'>Rushed Conal Carnach at the third wave’s cry,</div> + <div class='line'>And, shouting thus, ‘King Conor’s son will die!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>In dashed while Illan o’er Fiacre was bending—</div> + <div class='line in2'>Illan his friend—and drave through Illan’s side,</div> + <div class='line'>Knowing him not, the sword, his heart-strings rending:</div> + <div class='line in2'>But Illan rose, and spake before he died:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Thy deeds were great, O friend! This last—this one—</div> + <div class='line'>Was not like Conal! I am Fergus’ son!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘I die to guard his name and Conor’s pledge.’</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then Conal cried in storm of rage and woe,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Since Conor lied to me this faulchion’s edge</div> + <div class='line in2'>Shall pay the debt he owes, and that I owe,</div> + <div class='line'>A death to honour and to vengeance due;’</div> + <div class='line'>And down he dragged Fiacre, and, trampling, slew.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>That hour the royal host pierced through by grief,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Clamoured, yet quailed at glance of Conal’s eye;</div> + <div class='line'>While shouted Illan’s band, ‘Be thou our chief!</div> + <div class='line in2'>Illan is dead.’ Vouchsafing no reply</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>Silent from both he turned; and, like a God</div> + <div class='line'>Spurning some death-doomed city, homeward strode.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But when the tidings came, ‘Fiacre is dead,’</div> + <div class='line in2'>King Conor dropped in swoon; and if that hour</div> + <div class='line'>Illan had lived, and not the Ruthless Red,</div> + <div class='line in2'>All Eman’s chiefs had joined to his their power;</div> + <div class='line'>For Illan, like his sire, had Eman’s love:—</div> + <div class='line'>Thus Fate round Usnach’s Sons her net enwove.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Around the Red-Branch House that Bonacht host</div> + <div class='line in2'>Gathered once more: but on the left the might</div> + <div class='line'>Of Ardan backward hurled them and their boast;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And Ainli’s strength rebuked them on the right:</div> + <div class='line'>Till came to Conor’s heart a wingèd thought;</div> + <div class='line'>And ‘Fire!’ he cried; and branch and beam were brought,</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Circling the walls: up rushed the red flames roaring;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And one by one, the seven great gates fell down;</div> + <div class='line'>Then rushed from court to court, still onward pouring,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Native with alien, man-at-arms with clown:</div> + <div class='line'>Yet still the assailed fought on from stair to stair,</div> + <div class='line'>Long time in rage, and later in despair.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Meanwhile along the loftier cloister floors</div> + <div class='line in2'>As though with fettered feet moved knight with knight,</div> + <div class='line'>Or, idiot-like, stood peering by the doors,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Divided purpose making null their might;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>Or stood in groups, and watched where, undismayed,</div> + <div class='line'>That haughty pair at chess in silence played.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But Naisi, glancing up, on Deirdré’s hair</div> + <div class='line in2'>Saw the fierce reflex from a roof far off,</div> + <div class='line'>And on her marble cheek the fiery glare,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And heard from her fine lip the careless scoff,</div> + <div class='line'>‘At Conor’s fireside welcome sits the guest!’—</div> + <div class='line'>He rose, and sudden clasped her to his breast;</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then held her from him, on her countenance bright</div> + <div class='line in2'>Gazing. In neither face that hour was fear:</div> + <div class='line'>She saw in his a sadness infinite:</div> + <div class='line in2'>He saw, in hers, content, and princely cheer.</div> + <div class='line'>At last she spake; ‘Self-questioning thoughts repel,</div> + <div class='line'>Nor grieve at trust misplaced; for all is well!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘O Love, not thus upon that causeway old</div> + <div class='line in2'>We stood that day, chaunting our nuptials high!</div> + <div class='line'>Yet nothing is that was not then foretold—</div> + <div class='line in2'>Hast thou not happy been? More happy I,</div> + <div class='line'>That hour thy love; for three glad years thy bride;</div> + <div class='line'>That ran, and slept, and wakened at thy side!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘The good must still the auspice be of good;</div> + <div class='line in2'>They never loved who dream that Love can die!</div> + <div class='line'>In lordlier strength, in happier sanctitude</div> + <div class='line in2'>Be sure he waits us in some realm more high.</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>All thanks, thou Power Unknown!’ She spake and kissed</div> + <div class='line'>With all her young bright face her husband’s breast.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then rushed to them the Brothers shouting, ‘Forth!’</div> + <div class='line in2'>And forth they sped through courts foot deep in blood,</div> + <div class='line'>And reached the gate that issued to the north</div> + <div class='line in2'>Where fierceliest raged the fight: and Deirdré trod</div> + <div class='line'>Midmost between the twain, and Naisi first;</div> + <div class='line'>And on the battle lion-like they burst.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And still the Three above their sister raised</div> + <div class='line in2'>Their mighty shields that, like three glittering spheres</div> + <div class='line'>Glared through the gloom, and friend and foeman dazed;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And fierce as living creatures worked their spears</div> + <div class='line'>Dealing the death around, till all the plain</div> + <div class='line'>Lay like a death-vault, strewn by warriors slain.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And, foot by foot, the hostile hosts fell back;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And, more and more, true friends, till then dismayed,</div> + <div class='line'>Fought by their side, or followed in their track:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Due northward t’ward the sea their march they made;</div> + <div class='line'>And, marching, eyed full oft that fortress fired—</div> + <div class='line'>Therein full many a Red-Branch Knight expired.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>Then, as a poplar near a river whitens</div> + <div class='line in2'>By gusts o’er-blown, and as some snowy vale</div> + <div class='line'>Grows grimly dark when sudden o’er it brightens</div> + <div class='line in2'>The mountain’s moonlit flank, thus dark, thus pale,</div> + <div class='line'>Grew Conor with far eyes their course pursuing;</div> + <div class='line'>‘They ’scape,’ he cried, ‘and that is my undoing!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Cathbad! give ear!’—for by him stood that hour</div> + <div class='line in2'>The blind old Druid with the silver hair—</div> + <div class='line'>‘To Alba make they; thence ere long with power</div> + <div class='line in2'>Return in vengeance! Think you they will spare?</div> + <div class='line'>And Conal and Cuchullain by their side</div> + <div class='line'>Will march; and Fergus! Would that I had died!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Help, Cathbad! last of friends! If e’er from thee</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or child or stripling, help or love I gat;</div> + <div class='line'>My craft has futile proved: my legions flee;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Yet magic power, we know, can level flat</div> + <div class='line'>All power of man in one brief moment’s space:</div> + <div class='line'>Slay me, or spare my kingdom this disgrace!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>To whom replied the old man tremulously,</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Would God that ne’er had come that night of old</div> + <div class='line'>When shriek on shriek confused the revelry,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And I that new-born Infant’s fate foretold;</div> + <div class='line'>For ne’er in ninety years deceived was I</div> + <div class='line'>Or by man’s art, or wiles of Destiny!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>‘Not less, great king, this deed I dare not do,</div> + <div class='line in2'>For Justice keeps an axe, and keen its edge,</div> + <div class='line'>In worlds unseen; and they their sin shall rue</div> + <div class='line in2'>Who spill the righteous blood, or break the pledge.</div> + <div class='line'>Here Wrong holds court; but Justice reigneth there:—</div> + <div class='line'>King! In those unseen regions I have share!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Him Conor answered: ‘Cathbad! oath I make</div> + <div class='line in2'>By all those regions sacred and unseen,</div> + <div class='line'>By all the Powers that in them sleep or wake,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The Gods that are, or shall be, or have been,</div> + <div class='line'>This hand on Usnach’s sons shall work no wrong;</div> + <div class='line'>Captive, not dead, I wish them—nor for long.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>He spake, and softly to the Druid stept</div> + <div class='line in2'>And pressed that Druid’s hand to lips and eyes;</div> + <div class='line'>Then o’er the old man’s heart compassion crept,</div> + <div class='line in2'>With flatter’d pride, which oft to good and wise</div> + <div class='line'>Makes way, thus veiled, in weak, unwary hour;</div> + <div class='line'>And o’er the North he waved his wand of power.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Three times with muttered spell he waved that wand,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Filling the air with visions of dismay:</div> + <div class='line'>That hour through Conor’s host, and far beyond,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Usnach’s brave clan had carved its desperate way;</div> + <div class='line'>Yet, galled and broken, hung upon their rear</div> + <div class='line'>That Bonacht swarm. It raged, but came not near.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>On Usnach’s clan the Druid’s spells took hold,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Feigning what was not: and the wide green plain</div> + <div class='line'>Seemed to their eyes a great flood slowly rolled</div> + <div class='line in2'>From phantom hills. Through it they pushed with pain:</div> + <div class='line'>And on their eyes a phantom mist was driven:</div> + <div class='line'>And o’er them leaned, low-hung, a phantom heaven.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But, forward as they toiled, that flood ere long</div> + <div class='line in2'>Deepened, so seemed it, to a billowy sea;</div> + <div class='line'>And they, with arms in swimmer’s act forth flung,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Clave that imagined deep. Alone the Three</div> + <div class='line'>And Deirdré, spite of spells, illusion-proof,</div> + <div class='line'>Saw still green field, and heaven’s unclouded roof.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Ah God! How oft in agony that hour</div> + <div class='line in2'>Caught they this man and that, and cried, ‘Arise!</div> + <div class='line'>But now triumphant, will ye crouch and cower</div> + <div class='line in2'>In death the coward’s jest, the traitor’s prize?’</div> + <div class='line'>’Twas vain! Those dreamers still swam on till brand</div> + <div class='line'>And shield down dropt from every helpless hand.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The Bonachts stood in marvel; then dashed on,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Their terror past; and Conor sent decree,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Except the woman, see ye spare not one!</div> + <div class='line in2'>Smite first the sons of Usnach, smite the Three!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>And lo! like sheep that old and far-famed clan</div> + <div class='line'>Lay on the war-field, slaughtered to a man.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Alone, girt round by hostile rank on rank,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Usnach’s great sons, unvanquished, still fought on;</div> + <div class='line'>And ever when their arms exhausted sank,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And for a moment strength was all but gone,</div> + <div class='line'>Deirdré, amidst them, like a prophet poured</div> + <div class='line'>Her war-songs forth, and still their strength restored.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>’Twas vain! At noon the direful battle ceased:</div> + <div class='line in2'>That glorious Three who late the world o’er-strode</div> + <div class='line'>Lay facing to the South, and West, and East;</div> + <div class='line in2'>A frozen spectre Deirdré o’er them stood:</div> + <div class='line'>The Bonachts gat their hire:—kneeling drew near</div> + <div class='line'>Uladh’s sad sons, with many a moan and tear.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Remembering days gone by, the victors there</div> + <div class='line in2'>Wept for the dead: and when the king sent word</div> + <div class='line'>To leave those Three unburied, stark and bare</div> + <div class='line in2'>For beasts to rend, his mandate they abhorred,</div> + <div class='line'>And dug the grave where those brave Brothers died;</div> + <div class='line'>And, reverent, therein laid them, side by side.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Upon the right of that dim burial pit</div> + <div class='line in2'>Was Conal Carnach standing; on its left</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain; each with brows in sorrow knit,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Each with a heart by one sharp memory cleft:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>For true to Usnach’s sons in word and deed</div> + <div class='line'>These twain had lived; yet failed them at their need.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But Deirdré at the grave-head stood alone,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The surging crowd held back by holy dread;</div> + <div class='line'>Her face was white as monumental stone;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Her hands, her garb, from throat to foot were red</div> + <div class='line'>With blood—their blood. Standing on life’s dark verge</div> + <div class='line'>She scorned to die till she had sung their dirge.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Dead are the eagles three of Culan’s peaks;</div> + <div class='line in2'>The lions three of Uladh’s forest glades;</div> + <div class='line'>The wonders three of Alba’s lakes and creeks;</div> + <div class='line in2'>The loved ones three of Etive’s fair young maids:</div> + <div class='line'>The crownless sons of Erin’s Throne are sped:</div> + <div class='line'>The glories of the Red Branch Order dead.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Is there who dreams that, now my Naisi’s breath</div> + <div class='line in2'>Is stilled, his wife will tarry from his side?</div> + <div class='line'>Thou man that mak’st far down yon cave of death,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Be sure thou dig it deep, and dig it wide!</div> + <div class='line'>There lie the Brothers Three! ’Tis just, ’tis meet</div> + <div class='line'>Their Sister take her place before their feet.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Ofttimes for me they piled their shields and spears</div> + <div class='line in2'>In Alba’s woods, roofing my winter bed:</div> + <div class='line'>Thou man that build’st, this day, far down their biers,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Be sure the spear and shield are nigh the head!</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>They had great joy in these of old: below</div> + <div class='line'>Lack them they shall not, though they meet no foe.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Ofttimes I heard in Etive’s hunting grounds</div> + <div class='line in2'>Their deep-toned voices rolling like the sea—</div> + <div class='line'>My Naisi led me from our native bounds:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Ainli and Ardan followed. Woe is me!</div> + <div class='line'>That hour when I was born I should have died:</div> + <div class='line'>The ill-omened Infant was the ill-omened Bride!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Thus Deirdré sang, and silent stood a space;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then spake once more: ‘I come, my Love, my Lord!’</div> + <div class='line'>And forward fell into that loved embrace,</div> + <div class='line in2'>In happy death to him she loved restored:</div> + <div class='line'>When Conal and Cuchullain raised her head:</div> + <div class='line'>There lay she smiling, dead among the dead.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The men of Erin reared the funeral stone,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And piled the cairn, in Ogham characters</div> + <div class='line'>Cyphering the sorrows of the Four thereon:</div> + <div class='line in2'>And, age by age, that legend grey avers,</div> + <div class='line'>Sad voices issuing from that grave foretold</div> + <div class='line'>The fates of lovers young and kingdoms old.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But Cathbad laid a curse upon the king,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Likewise his race: and Eman, and the land,</div> + <div class='line'>Because they hated not that evil thing,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And hindered not, with dreadful rites he banned;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>And lastly, ‘Woe to me not less,’ he cried,</div> + <div class='line'>Three times; and gat him to his place; and died.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>With speed came up at earliest gleam of morn</div> + <div class='line in2'>Fergus to Eman. Dreadful his array;</div> + <div class='line'>For many a chief, though Conor’s liegeman sworn,</div> + <div class='line in2'>In wrath had joined the old king on his way:</div> + <div class='line'>And Fergus cursed the Ruthless Red, and said,</div> + <div class='line'><a id='tn-strikehimdead'></a>‘A woman’s hand one day shall strike him dead!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The battle ceased not till that day was done:</div> + <div class='line in2'>With his own hand, at noontide, Fergus slew</div> + <div class='line'>Maini, King Conor’s last surviving son:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Old Eman’s walls and towers to earth he threw;</div> + <div class='line'>And burned the city. Half the men therein</div> + <div class='line'>Perished, and many an infant, for its sin.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span> + <h2 id='the-children-of-lir' class='c006'>THE CHILDREN OF LIR</h2> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div><i>AN ANCIENT IRISH ROMANCE</i></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div>‘Deus dedit carmina in nocte’—<span class='sc'>Job</span>, cap. xxxv. v. 10</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c000'> + <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span><span class='small'>TO THE MEMORY OF</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>DENIS FLORENCE MAC-CARTHY,</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='small'>TO WHOM ENGLISH AND IRISH READERS OWE,</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='small'>BESIDE MANY A GAELIC LEGEND,</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='small'>THE BEST WORKS OF CALDERON,</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='small'>THIS POEM</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='small'>IS DEDICATED.</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c000'> + <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span><span class='large'><i>THE CHILDREN OF LIR.</i></span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<h3 class='c005'>CANTO THE FIRST.</h3> + +<div class='lg-container-b c003'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Ere yet great Miledh’s sons to Erin came,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Lords of the Gael, Milesian styled more late,</div> + <div class='line'>An earlier tribe, Tuatha was their name,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Likewise Dedannan, ruled the Isle of Fate,</div> + <div class='line'>A tribe that knew nor clan, nor priest, nor bard,</div> + <div class='line'>Wild as the waves, and as the sea-cliffs hard.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Some say that race of old from Greece exiled</div> + <div class='line in2'>Long time had sojourned in the frozen North</div> + <div class='line'>Roaming Norwegian wood and Danish wild:</div> + <div class='line in2'>To Erin thence more late they issued forth,</div> + <div class='line'>And thither brought two gifts both loved and feared,</div> + <div class='line'>The ‘Lia Fail,’ and Ogham lore revered.<a id='r16'></a><a href='#f16' class='c008'><sup>[16]</sup></a></div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Fiercer they were, not manlier, than the Gael,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Large-handed, swift of foot, dark-haired, dark-eyed,</div> + <div class='line'>With sudden gleams athwart their faces pale,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Transits of fancies swift, or angry pride:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>Strange lore they boasted, imped by insight keen;</div> + <div class='line'>Blackened at times by gusts of causeless spleen.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>These, when the white fleet of the Gael drew nigh</div> + <div class='line in2'>Green Erin’s shore, their heritage decreed,</div> + <div class='line'>O’er-meshed, through rites unholy, earth and sky</div> + <div class='line in2'>With sudden gloom. The invaders took no heed,</div> + <div class='line'>But dashed through dark their galleys on the strand;</div> + <div class='line'>Then clapped their hands, and laughing leaped to land.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Around them flocked Tuatha’s race in guile,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Unarmed, with mocking voice and furtive mien,</div> + <div class='line'>And scoffed: ‘Not thus your fathers fought erewhile!</div> + <div class='line in2'>Say, call ye warriors knaves that creep unseen,</div> + <div class='line'>While true men sleep, up inlet dim, and fiord,</div> + <div class='line'>Filching the land they proved not with their sword?’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then to the Gael their bard, Amergin, spake:</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Sail forth, my sons, nine waves across the deep,</div> + <div class='line'>And when this island-race are armed, come back;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Take then their realm by force; and, taking, keep!’</div> + <div class='line'>The Gael sailed forth, nine waves; then turned, and gazed—</div> + <div class='line'>Night wrapt the isle, and storm by magic raised!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Round Erin’s shores like leaves their ships were blown:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Strewn on her reefs lay bard and warrior drowned:</div> + <div class='line'>Not less the Gael upreared ere long that throne</div> + <div class='line in2'>Two thousand years through all the West renowned.</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>O’er Taillten’s field God held the scales of Fate:</div> + <div class='line'>That last dread battle closed the dire debate.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>There fell those three Tuatha queens who gave</div> + <div class='line in2'>The land their names—they fell by death discrowned:<a id='r17'></a><a href='#f17' class='c008'><sup>[17]</sup></a></div> + <div class='line'>There many a Gaelic chieftain found his grave:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Thenceforth the races twain adjusted bound</div> + <div class='line'>And right, at times by league, at times by war;</div> + <div class='line'>Nor any reigned as yet from shore to shore.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Still here and there Tuatha princes ruled</div> + <div class='line in2'>Now in green vale, and now on pale blue coast,</div> + <div class='line'>A warrior one, and one in magic schooled;</div> + <div class='line in2'>The graver made Druidic lore their boast,</div> + <div class='line'>And knew the secret might of star and leaf:</div> + <div class='line'>Grey-haired King Bove stood up of these the chief.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Southward by broad Lough Derg his palace stood:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Northward, beside Emania’s lonely mere,</div> + <div class='line'>In Finnahá, embowered mid lawn and wood,</div> + <div class='line in2'>King Lir abode, a warrior, not a seer;</div> + <div class='line'>Well loved was he, plain man with great, true heart,</div> + <div class='line'>Who loathed, despite his race, the sorcerer’s art.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Five centuries lived he ere that better light</div> + <div class='line in2'>Gladdened the earth from Bethlehem: ne’ertheless</div> + <div class='line'>He judged his land with justice and with might,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Tempering the same at times with gentleness;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>And gave the poor their due; and made proclaim,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Let no man smite the old; the virgin shame.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>His prime was spent in wars: in middle life</div> + <div class='line in2'>He bade a youthful princess share his throne:</div> + <div class='line'>Nor e’er had monarch yet a truer wife</div> + <div class='line in2'>With tenderer palm or voice of sweeter tone:</div> + <div class='line'>The one sole lady of that race was she</div> + <div class='line'>Sun-haired, with large eyes azure as the sea.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>She moved amid the crafty as a child;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Amid the lawless, chaste as unsunned maid;</div> + <div class='line'>Amid the unsparing, as a turtle mild;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Wondering at wrong; too gentle to upbraid:</div> + <div class='line'>Yet many a fell resolve, as she rode by,</div> + <div class='line'>Died at its birth—the ill-thinker knew not why!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Sadness before her fled: in years long past</div> + <div class='line in2'>As on a cliff the warriors sang their songs</div> + <div class='line'>A harper maid, with eyes that stared aghast,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Had chaunted, ‘Not to us this isle belongs!</div> + <div class='line'>The Fates reserve it for a race more true,</div> + <div class='line'>Ye children of Dedannan’s stock, than you!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And since she scorned her music to abate,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Nor ceased to freeze their triumph with her dirge,</div> + <div class='line'>The princes and the people rose in hate</div> + <div class='line in2'>And hurled her harp and her into the surge:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>Yet still, halfway ’twixt midnight and the morn,</div> + <div class='line'>That dirge swelled up, by tempest onward borne!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Remembering oft this spectre of his youth</div> + <div class='line in2'>King Lir would sit, a frown upon his brow:</div> + <div class='line'>Then came the queen with words of peace and truth;</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Mourn they that sinned! A child that hour wert thou!</div> + <div class='line'>Thou rul’st this land to-day: in years to be</div> + <div class='line'>Who best deserves shall wield her sovereignty.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then would the monarch doff his sullen mood</div> + <div class='line in2'>With kingly joy, and, bright as May-day’s morn,</div> + <div class='line'>Ride forth amid his hounds through wild and wood,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Thrilling far glens with echoes of his horn;</div> + <div class='line'>Or meet the land’s invaders face to face</div> + <div class='line'>Well pleased, and homeward hew them with disgrace.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Thus happy lived the pair, and happier far</div> + <div class='line in2'>When four fair children graced the royal house,</div> + <div class='line'>Fairer than flowers, more bright than moon or star</div> + <div class='line in2'>Shining through vista long of forest boughs.</div> + <div class='line'>Finola was the eldest, eight years old:</div> + <div class='line'>The yearling, Conn, best loved of all that fold.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>These beauteous creatures with their mother shared</div> + <div class='line in2'>Alike her blissful nature and sweet looks,</div> + <div class='line'>Like her swan-soft, swan-white, blue-eyed, bright-haired,</div> + <div class='line in2'>With voices musical as birds or brooks:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>Beings they seemed reserved for some great fate,</div> + <div class='line'>Mysterious, high, elect, and separate.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>At times they gambolled in the sunny sheen;</div> + <div class='line in2'>At times, Fiacre and Aodh at her side,</div> + <div class='line'><a id='tn-finola'></a>Finola paced the high-arched alleys green,</div> + <div class='line in2'>At once their youthful playmate and their guide:</div> + <div class='line'>A mother-hearted child she walked, and pressed</div> + <div class='line'>That infant, daily heavier, to her breast.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Great power of Love that, wide as heaven, dost brood</div> + <div class='line in2'>O’er all the earth, and doest all things well!</div> + <div class='line'>Light of the wise, and safeguard of the good!</div> + <div class='line in2'>Nowhere, methinks, thou better lov’st to dwell</div> + <div class='line'>Than in the hearts of innocents that still,</div> + <div class='line'>By dangerous love untempted, work Love’s will!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Thou shalt be with them when the sleet-wind blows</div> + <div class='line in2'>Not less than in the violet-braided bower:</div> + <div class='line'>Through thee the desert sands shall bud the rose,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The wild wave anthems sing! In grief’s worst hour</div> + <div class='line'>A germ of thine shall breed that quenchless Faith</div> + <div class='line'>Amaranth of life, and asphodel of death.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Ah lot of man! Ah world whose life is change!</div> + <div class='line in2'>Ah sheer descent from topmost height of good</div> + <div class='line'>To deepest gulf of anguish sudden and strange!</div> + <div class='line in2'>A nation round their monarch’s gateway stood:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>All day there stood they, whispering in great dread:</div> + <div class='line'>The herald came at last—‘The Queen is dead!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>In silence still they stood an hour and more,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Till through the West had sunk the great red sun,</div> + <div class='line'>And from the castle wall and turrets hoar</div> + <div class='line in2'>The latest crimson utterly had gone:</div> + <div class='line'>At last the truth had reached them! then on high</div> + <div class='line'>An orphaned People hurled its funeral cry.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>They hurled it forth again and yet again,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The dreadful wont of that barbaric time;</div> + <div class='line'>Cry after cry that reached the far off main,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And, echoing, seemed from cloud to cloud to climb;</div> + <div class='line'>Then lifted hands like creatures broken-hearted,</div> + <div class='line'>Or sentenced men; and homeward, mute, departed.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Fast-speeding Time, albeit the wounded wing</div> + <div class='line in2'>He may not bind, brings us at least the crutch;—</div> + <div class='line'>Winter was over, and the on-flying Spring</div> + <div class='line in2'>Grazed the sad monarch’s brow with heavenly touch,</div> + <div class='line'>And raised the head, now whitening, from the ground,</div> + <div class='line'>And stanched, not healed, the heart’s eternal wound.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>King Bove, chief sovereign of the dark-haired race,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Sent to him saying, ‘Quit thee like a man!</div> + <div class='line'>The Gaels, our scourge, and Erin’s sore disgrace,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Advance, each day, their armies, clan on clan;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>Against them march thy host with mine, and take</div> + <div class='line'>To wife my daughter, for thy children’s sake.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Lir sadly mused; but answered: ‘Let it be!’</div> + <div class='line in2'>And drave with fifty chariots in array</div> + <div class='line'>To where the land’s chief river like a sea,</div> + <div class='line in2'>There named Lough Derg, spreads out in gulf and bay</div> + <div class='line'>And many a woody mountain sees its face</div> + <div class='line'>Imaged in that clear flood with softened grace.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>There with King Bove the widowed man abode</div> + <div class='line in2'>Two days amid great feastings. On the third</div> + <div class='line'>The king led forth his daughter—o’er her glowed</div> + <div class='line in2'>A dim veil jewel-tissued—with this word:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Behold thy wife! The world proclaims her fair:</div> + <div class='line'>I know her strong to love, and strong to dare.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And Lir made answer: ‘Fair she is as when</div> + <div class='line in2'>A mist-veiled yew, red-berried, stands in state:</div> + <div class='line'>Can love, you say! Love she my babes! and then</div> + <div class='line in2'>With her my love shall bide; <a id='tn-notmyhate'></a>if not—my hate.’</div> + <div class='line'>And she, a crimson on her dusky brow,</div> + <div class='line'>Replied, ‘If so it be, then be it so!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>King Lir, a fortnight more in revels spent,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Made journey to his castle in the North</div> + <div class='line'>With her, his youthful consort, well content.</div> + <div class='line in2'>Arrived, in rapture of their loving mirth</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>Forth rushed into his arms his children four</div> + <div class='line'>Bright as those wavelets on their blue lake’s shore;—</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>On whom the new queen cast a glance oblique</div> + <div class='line in2'>One moment’s space; then, flinging wide her arms,</div> + <div class='line'>With instinct changed, and impulse lightning-like,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Clasped them in turn and wondered at their charms,</div> + <div class='line'>And cried, ‘If e’er a stepmother could love</div> + <div class='line'>I of that tribe renowned will tenderest prove.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And so by her great loving of those four</div> + <div class='line in2'>Still from her husband won she praises sweet</div> + <div class='line'>And plaudits from his people more and more;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Her own she called them: nor was this deceit:</div> + <div class='line'>She loved them with a fitful love—a will</div> + <div class='line'>To make them or to mar, for good or ill.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>She wooed them still with shows, with flowers, with fruit;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Daily for them new sports she sought and found:</div> + <div class='line'>Yet, if their father praised them, she was mute,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And, when he placed them on his knee, she frowned,</div> + <div class='line'>Murmuring, ‘How blue their eyes! their cheek how pale!</div> + <div class='line'><a id='tn-ofthegael'></a>Their voices too are voices of the Gael!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>Meantime, as month by month in grace they grew,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Their father loved them better than before;</div> + <div class='line'>And so, one eve, their slender cots he drew</div> + <div class='line in2'>Each from its place remote, and lightly bore,</div> + <div class='line'>And laid them ranged before his royal bed;</div> + <div class='line'>And o’er the four a veil gold-woven spread;</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Their mother’s bridal-veil: and still as dawn</div> + <div class='line in2'>Was in its glittering tissue caged and caught</div> + <div class='line'>He left his couch, and, that light veil withdrawn,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Before his children stood in silent thought;</div> + <div class='line'>And, if they slept, he kissed them in their sleep,</div> + <div class='line'>Then watched them with clasped hands in musings deep.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And, if they slept not, from their balmy nest</div> + <div class='line in2'>With under-sliding arms he raised them high,</div> + <div class='line'>And clasped them each, successive, to his breast,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or on them flashed the first light from the sky:</div> + <div class='line'>Then laid him by his mute, sleep-feigning bride,</div> + <div class='line'>And slept once more: and oft in sleep he sighed.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Which things abhorring, she her face averse</div> + <div class='line in2'>Turned all day steadfast from the astonished throng:</div> + <div class='line'>And next, as one that broods upon a curse,</div> + <div class='line in2'>She sat in her sick-chamber three weeks long,</div> + <div class='line'>And never raised her eyes, nor made complaint,</div> + <div class='line'>Dark as a fiend and silent as a saint.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>Lastly to Lir she spake: ‘Daily I sink</div> + <div class='line in2'>Downward to death. I wither in my prime:</div> + <div class='line'>Home to my father I would speed, and drink</div> + <div class='line in2'>Once more the breezes of my native clime.</div> + <div class='line'>All night in sleep along Lough Derg I strayed,</div> + <div class='line'>And wings of strength about my shoulders played.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘These four—thy children—with me I will take</div> + <div class='line in2'>To please my father’s eye; he loves them well:</div> + <div class='line'>Thou too, whene’er thy leisure serves, shalt make</div> + <div class='line in2'>Thither thy journey.’ All the powers of Hell</div> + <div class='line'>Thrilled at that speech in penal vaults below:</div> + <div class='line'>But Lir, no fraud suspecting, answered, ‘Go!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Therefore next morn when earliest sunrise smote</div> + <div class='line in2'>Green mead to golden near the full-fed stream,</div> + <div class='line'>They caught four steeds that grazed thereby remote,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And yoked abreast beside the chariot beam;</div> + <div class='line'>And when the sun was sinking toward the West</div> + <div class='line'>By Darvra’s lake drew rein, and made their rest.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then the bad queen, descending, round her cast</div> + <div class='line in2'>A baleful look of mingled hate and woe,</div> + <div class='line'>And with those babes into a thicket passed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And drew a dagger from her breast; and lo!</div> + <div class='line'>She struck them not, but only wailed and wailed—</div> + <div class='line'>In her so strongly womanhood prevailed.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>The mood was changed. She smiled that smile which none</div> + <div class='line in2'>How wise soe’er, beholding, could resist,</div> + <div class='line'>And drew those children to her, one by one;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then wailed once more, and last their foreheads kissed,</div> + <div class='line'>And cried with finger pointing to the lake,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Hence! and in that clear bath your pastime take!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>She spoke, and from their silken garb forth-sliding,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Ere long those babes were sporting in the bay:</div> + <div class='line'>And, as it chanced, the eddy past them gliding</div> + <div class='line in2'>Wafted a swan’s plume: ’twas less white than they:</div> + <div class='line'>Frowning, the queen beheld them, and on high</div> + <div class='line'>Waved thrice her Druid wand athwart the sky:</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then, standing on the marge wan-cheeked, wide-eyed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>As near they drew, awe-struck and wondering,</div> + <div class='line'>Therewith she smote their golden heads, and cried,</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Fly hence, ye pale-faced children of the king!</div> + <div class='line'>Cleave the blue mere, or on through ether sail;</div> + <div class='line'>No more his loved ones, but a dolorous tale!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Straightway to snow-white swans those children turned:</div> + <div class='line in2'>And, sideway as they swerved the creatures four</div> + <div class='line'>Fixed on her looks with human grief that yearned;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then slowly drifted backward from the shore;</div> + <div class='line'>While loud with voice unchanged, Finola cried,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Bad deed is thine, false queen and bitter bride!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>‘Bad deed afflicting babes that harmed thee not;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Bad deed, and to thyself an evil dower:</div> + <div class='line'>Disastrous more than ours shall be thy lot!</div> + <div class='line in2'>Thou too shalt feel the weight of Druid power:</div> + <div class='line'>From age to age thy penance ne’er shall cease:</div> + <div class='line'>Our doom, though long it lasts, shall end in peace.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then rang a wild shriek from that dreadful shape:</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Long, long, aye long shall last those years of woe!</div> + <div class='line'>Here on this lake from misty cape to cape</div> + <div class='line in2'>Three centuries ye shall wander to and fro;</div> + <div class='line'>Three centuries more shall stem with heavier toil</div> + <div class='line'>Far Alba’s waves, the black sea-strait<a id='r18'></a><a href='#f18' class='c008'><sup>[18]</sup></a> of Moyle.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Lastly three centuries where the Eagle-Crest<a id='r19'></a><a href='#f19' class='c008'><sup>[19]</sup></a></div> + <div class='line in2'>O’er-looks the western deep, and Inisglaire,</div> + <div class='line'>Upon the mountain waves that know not rest</div> + <div class='line in2'>Shall be your rolling palace, foul or fair,</div> + <div class='line'>Till comes the Tailkenn,<a id='r20'></a><a href='#f20' class='c008'><sup>[20]</sup></a> sent to sound the knell</div> + <div class='line'>Of darkness, and ye hear his Christian bell.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Lo, as a band of lilies, white and tall</div> + <div class='line in2'>Beneath a breeze of morning bend their head</div> + <div class='line'>High held in virgin state majestical,</div> + <div class='line in2'>So meekly cowered those swans in holy dread</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>Hearing that promised Tailkenn’s blissful name:</div> + <div class='line'>For they long since had heard in dream the same.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then fell a dew of meekness on the proud</div> + <div class='line in2'>Noting their humble heart; and drooped her front;</div> + <div class='line'>And sorrow closed around her like a cloud;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And thus with other voice than was her wont</div> + <div class='line'>To those soft victims of her wrath she cried:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Woe, woe! Yet Fate must rule, whate’er betide!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘The deed is done; yet thus much I concede:</div> + <div class='line in2'>In you the human heart shall never fail,</div> + <div class='line'>Changed though ye be, and masked in feathery weed:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Your voice shall sweet remain as voice of Gael;</div> + <div class='line'>And all who hear your songs shall sink in trance</div> + <div class='line'>And, sleeping, dream some great deliverance.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>She spake, and smote her hands; and at her word</div> + <div class='line in2'>Once more the attendants caught the royal steeds</div> + <div class='line'>Grazing in peace beside the hornèd herd</div> + <div class='line in2'>Amid the meadow flowers, and yellow weeds:</div> + <div class='line'>And fiercely through the night that dark one drave,</div> + <div class='line'>And reached Lough Derg what time above its wave</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The sun was rising; and at set of sun</div> + <div class='line in2'>Entered once more her father’s palace gate:</div> + <div class='line'>Seated thereby, his nobles, every one,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Arose and welcomed her with loving state:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>She answered naught, but sternly past them strode</div> + <div class='line'>And found her girlhood’s bower, and there abode.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But when of Lir King Bove had made demand,</div> + <div class='line in2'>She answered thus: ‘Enough! My Lord is naught;</div> + <div class='line'>Nor will he trust his children to thy hand,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Lest thou should’st slay them.’ Long in silent thought</div> + <div class='line'>The old man stood, then murmured in low tone,</div> + <div class='line'>‘I loved those children better than mine own!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>That night in dream King Lir had anguish sore,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And southward, ere the dawn, rode far away</div> + <div class='line'>With many a chief to see his babes once more</div> + <div class='line in2'>Beside Lough Derg; and lo, at close of day</div> + <div class='line'>Nighing to Darvra’s lake, the westering sun</div> + <div class='line'>In splendour on the advancing horsemen shone.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Straightway from that broad water’s central stream</div> + <div class='line in2'>Was heard a clang of pinions and swift feet—</div> + <div class='line'>Unchanged at heart those babes had caught that gleam;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Instant from far had rushed, their sire to greet</div> + <div class='line'>Spangling the flood with silver spray; and ere</div> + <div class='line'>That sire had reached the margin they were there.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then, each and all, clamorous they made lament</div> + <div class='line in2'>Recounting all their wrong, and all the woe;</div> + <div class='line'>And Lir, their tale complete, his garment rent,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Till then transfixed like marble shape; and lo!</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>Three times, heart-grieved, that concourse raised their cry</div> + <div class='line'>Piercing the centre of the low-hung sky.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But Lir knelt down upon the shining sand,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And cried, ‘Though great the might of Druid charms,</div> + <div class='line'>Return and feel once more your native land,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And find once more and fill your father’s arms!’</div> + <div class='line'>And they made answer: ‘Till the Tailkenn come</div> + <div class='line'>We tread not land! The waters are our home.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But when Finola saw her father’s grief</div> + <div class='line in2'>She added thus: ‘Albeit our days are sad,</div> + <div class='line'>The twilight brings our pain in part relief:</div> + <div class='line in2'>And songs are ours by night that make us glad:</div> + <div class='line'>Yea, each that hears our music, though he grieve,</div> + <div class='line'>Rejoices more. Abide, for it is eve.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>So Lir, and his, couched on the wave-lipped sod</div> + <div class='line in2'>All night; and ever as those songs up swelled</div> + <div class='line'>A mist of sleep upon them fell from God,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And healing Spirits converse with them held.</div> + <div class='line'>And Lir was glad all night: but with the morn</div> + <div class='line'>Anguish returned; and thus he cried, forlorn:</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Farewell! The morn is come; and I depart:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Farewell! Not wholly evil are things ill!</div> + <div class='line'>Farewell, Finola! Yea, but in my heart</div> + <div class='line in2'>With thee I bide: there liv’st thou changeless still:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>O Aodh! O Fiacre! the night is gone:—</div> + <div class='line'>Farewell to both! <a id='tn-mylittleconn'></a>Farewell, my little Conn!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Southward the childless father rode once more,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And saw at last beyond the forests tall</div> + <div class='line'>The great lake and the palace on its shore;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And, entering, onward passed from hall to hall</div> + <div class='line'>To where King Bove majestic sat and crowned,</div> + <div class='line'>High on a terrace, with his magnates round;</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A stately terrace clustered round with towers,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And jubilant with music’s merry din,</div> + <div class='line'>Beaten by resonant waves, and bright with flowers:</div> + <div class='line in2'>There—but apart—she stood that wrought the sin,</div> + <div class='line'>Like one that broods on one black thought alone</div> + <div class='line'>Seen o’er a world of happy hopes o’erthrown.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The throng made way: onward the wronged one strode</div> + <div class='line in2'>To Bove, sole-throned, and lifting in his hand</div> + <div class='line'>For royal sceptre that Druidic rod</div> + <div class='line in2'>Which gave him o’er the Spirit-world command;</div> + <div class='line'>Then, pointing to that traitress, false as fair,</div> + <div class='line'>That wronged one spake: ‘There stands the murderess!—there!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Straight on the King Druidic insight fell;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And mirrored in his mind as cloud in lake</div> + <div class='line'>His daughter’s crime, distinct and visible,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Before him stood. He turned to her and spake:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span><a id='tn-makestthoureply'></a>‘Thou hear’st the charge: how makest thou reply?’</div> + <div class='line'>And she: ‘The deed is mine! I wrought it! I!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then spake King Bove with countenance like night:</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Of all dread shapes that traverse earth or sea,</div> + <div class='line'>Or pierce the soil, or urge through heaven their flight,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Say, which abhorrest thou most?’ And answered she:</div> + <div class='line'>‘The shape of Spirits Accursed that ride the storm:’</div> + <div class='line'>And he: ‘Be thine henceforth that demon form!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>He spake, and lifted high his Druid Wand:—</div> + <div class='line in2'>T’ward him perforce she drew: she bowed her head:</div> + <div class='line'>Down on that head he dropp’d it; and beyond</div> + <div class='line in2'>The glooming lake, with bat-like wings outspread</div> + <div class='line'>O’er earth’s black verge the shrieking Fury passed;</div> + <div class='line'>Thenceforth to circle earth while earth shall last.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>As when, on autumn eve from hill or cape</div> + <div class='line in2'>That slants into gray wastes of western sea,</div> + <div class='line'>The sun long set, some shepherd stares agape</div> + <div class='line in2'>At cloud that seems through endless space to flee</div> + <div class='line'>On raven pinions down the moaning wind,</div> + <div class='line'>Thus on that Fury stared they, well-nigh blind.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then spake the king with hoary head that shook,</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘I loved thy babes: now therefore let us go</div> + <div class='line'>Northward, and on their blameless beauty look,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Though changed, and hear their songs: for this I know</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>By Druid art, they sing the whole night long,</div> + <div class='line'>And heaven and earth are solaced by their song.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Northward ere dawn they rode with a great host;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And loosed their steeds by Darvra’s mirror clear</div> + <div class='line'>What time purpureal evening like a ghost</div> + <div class='line in2'>Stepped from the blue glen on the glimmering mere:</div> + <div class='line'>And camped where stood the ruminating herds</div> + <div class='line'>With heads forth leaning t’ward those human birds.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And, ever o’er the wave those swans would come</div> + <div class='line in2'>To hear man’s voice, and tell their tale to each,</div> + <div class='line'>Swift as the wind, and whiter than the foam;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Yet never mounted they the bowery beach,</div> + <div class='line'>And still swerved backward from the beckoning hand,</div> + <div class='line'>Revering thus their stepmother’s command.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And ever, when the sacred night descended,</div> + <div class='line in2'>While with those ripples on the sandy bars</div> + <div class='line'>The sighing woods and winds low murmurs blended,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Their music fell upon them from the stars,</div> + <div class='line'>And they gave utterance to that gift divine</div> + <div class='line'>In silver song or anthem crystalline.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Who heard that strain no more his woes lamented:</div> + <div class='line in2'>The exiled chief forgat his place of pride:</div> + <div class='line'>The prince ill-crowned his ruthless deed repented:</div> + <div class='line in2'>The childless mother and the widowed bride</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>Amid their locks tear-wet and loosely straying</div> + <div class='line'>Felt once again remembered touches playing.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The words of that high music no one knew;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Yet all men felt there lived a meaning there</div> + <div class='line'>Immortal, marvellous, searching, strengthening, true,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The pledge of some great future, strange and fair,</div> + <div class='line'>When sin shall lose her might, and cleansing woe</div> + <div class='line'>Shall on the Just some starry crown bestow.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Lulled by that strain the prophet king let drop</div> + <div class='line in2'>In death his Druid-Staff by Darvra’s side;</div> + <div class='line'>And there in later years with happy hope</div> + <div class='line in2'>King Lir, that mystic requiem listening, died:</div> + <div class='line'>And there those blissful sufferers bore their wrong</div> + <div class='line'>All day in weeping, and all night in song.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Not once ’tis whispered in that ancient story</div> + <div class='line in2'>They raised their voice God’s justice to arraign:</div> + <div class='line'>All patient suffering is expiatory:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Their doom was linked with hope of Erin’s gain;</div> + <div class='line'>And, like the Holy Elders famed of old,</div> + <div class='line'>Those babes on that high promise kept their hold.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And they saw great towers built, and saw them fall;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And saw the little seedling tempest-sown;</div> + <div class='line'>And generations under torch and pall</div> + <div class='line in2'>Borne forth to narrow graves ere long grass-grown;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>And all these things to them were as a dream,</div> + <div class='line'>Or shade that sleeps on some fast hurrying stream.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>More numerous daily flocked to that still shore</div> + <div class='line in2'>Peace-loving spirits: yea, the Gaelic clans</div> + <div class='line'>And tribes Dedannan, foemen there no more,</div> + <div class='line in2'>From the same fountains brimmed their flowing cans,</div> + <div class='line'>And washed their kirtles in the same pure rills,</div> + <div class='line'>And brought their corn-sheaves to the self-same mills.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Thus, though elsewhere the sons of Erin strove</div> + <div class='line in2'>From Aileach’s coast, and Uladh’s marble cliffs,</div> + <div class='line'>To where by banks of Lee, and Beara’s cove,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The fishers spread their nets and launched their skiffs,</div> + <div class='line'>Round Darvra’s shores remained inviolate peace;</div> + <div class='line'>There too the flocks and fields had best increase.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>In that long strife the Gael the victory won:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Tuatha’s race, Dedannan, disappeared;</div> + <div class='line'>Yet still the conqueror whispered, sire to son,</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Their progeny survives, half scorned, half feared,</div> + <div class='line'>The Fairy Host; and mansions bright they hold</div> + <div class='line'>On moonlight hills, and under waters cold.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘To snare the Gael, perpetual spells they weave:</div> + <div class='line in2'>O’er the wet waste they bid the meteor glide:</div> + <div class='line'>They raise illusive cliffs at morn and eve</div> + <div class='line in2'>On wintry coasts: sea-mantled rocks they hide:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>And shipwrecked sailors eye them o’er the waves,</div> + <div class='line'>Dark shapes pygmean couchant in sea-caves.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Some say that, mid the mountains’ sunless walls,</div> + <div class='line in2'>They throng beneath their stony firmament,</div> + <div class='line'>An iron-handed race. At intervals</div> + <div class='line in2'>Through chasm stream-cloven, and through rocky rent,</div> + <div class='line'>The shepherd hears their multitudinous hum</div> + <div class='line'>As of far hosts approaching swift yet dumb.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘In those dread vaults, Magian and Alchemist,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Supreme in every craft of brain and hand,</div> + <div class='line'>The mountains’ mineral veins they beat and twist;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And on red anvils forge them spear and brand</div> + <div class='line'>For some predestined battle. Yea, men say</div> + <div class='line'>The island shall be theirs that last great day!’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span> + <h3 class='c005'>CANTO THE SECOND.</h3> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c003'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>What time, forth sliding from the Eternal Gates,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The centuries three on earth had lived and died,</div> + <div class='line'>Thus spake Finola to her snowy mates,</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘No more in this soft haven may we bide:</div> + <div class='line'>The second Woe succeeds; that heavier toil</div> + <div class='line'>On Alba’s waves, the black sea-strait of Moyle.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then wept to her in turn the younger three;</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Alas the sharp rocks and the salt sea-foam!</div> + <div class='line'>Thou therefore make the lay, ere yet we flee</div> + <div class='line in2'>From this our exile’s cradle, sweet as home!’</div> + <div class='line'>And thus Finola sang, while, far and near,</div> + <div class='line'>The men of Erin wept that strain to hear:</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Farewell, Lough Darvra, with thine isles of bloom!</div> + <div class='line in2'>Farewell, familiar tribes that grace her shore!</div> + <div class='line'>The penance deepens on us, and the doom:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Farewell! The voice of man we list no more</div> + <div class='line'>Till he, the Tailkenn, comes to sound the knell</div> + <div class='line'>Of darkness, and rings out his gladsome bell.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>Thus singing, mid their dirge the sentenced soared</div> + <div class='line in2'>Heaven-high; then hanging mute on plumes outspread,</div> + <div class='line'>With downcast eye long time that lake explored;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And lastly with a great cry northward sped:</div> + <div class='line'>Then was it Erin’s sons, listening that cry,</div> + <div class='line'>Decreed: ‘The man who slays a swan shall die.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Three days against the northern blast on-flying</div> + <div class='line in2'>To Fate obedient and the Will Divine,</div> + <div class='line'>They reached, what time the crimson eve was lying</div> + <div class='line in2'>On Alba’s isles, and ocean’s utmost line,</div> + <div class='line'>That huge sea-strait whose racing eddies boil</div> + <div class='line'>’Twixt Erin and the cloud-girt headland Moyle.<a id='r21'></a><a href='#f21' class='c008'><sup>[21]</sup></a></div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>There anguish fell on them: they heard the booming</div> + <div class='line in2'>Of league-long breakers white, and gazed on waves</div> + <div class='line'>Wreck-strewn, themselves entombed, and all-entombing,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Rolling to labyrinths dim of red-roofed caves;</div> + <div class='line'>And streaming waters broad, as with one will</div> + <div class='line'>In cataracts from gray shelves descending still.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>There, day by day, the sun more early set;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And through the hollows of the high-ridged sea</div> + <div class='line'>Which foamed around their rocky cabinet</div> + <div class='line in2'>The whirlwinds beat them more remorselessly:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>And winter followed soon: and ofttimes storms</div> + <div class='line'>Shrouded for weeks the mountains’ frowning forms.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>In time all ocean omens they had learned;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And once, as o’er the darkening deep they roved,</div> + <div class='line'>Finola, who the advancing woe discerned,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Addressed them: ‘Little brothers, well beloved,</div> + <div class='line'>Though many a storm hath tried us, yet the worst</div> + <div class='line'>Comes up this night: now therefore, ere it burst</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Devise we swiftly if, through God’s high Will,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Billow or blast divides us each from each,</div> + <div class='line'>Some refuge-house wherein, when winds are still,</div> + <div class='line in2'>To meet once more—low rock or sandy beach:’</div> + <div class='line'>And answer thus they made: ‘One spot alone</div> + <div class='line'>This night can yield us refuge, Carickrone.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>They spake, and sudden thunder shook the world,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And blackness wrapped the seas, and lightnings rent;</div> + <div class='line'>And each from each abroad those swans were hurled</div> + <div class='line in2'>By solid water-scud. Outworn and spent</div> + <div class='line'>At last, that direful tempest over-blown,</div> + <div class='line'>Finola scaled their trysting-rock—alone.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But when she found no gentle brother near,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And heard the great storm roaring far away,</div> + <div class='line'>Anguish of anguish pierced her heart, and fear,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And thus she made her moan and sang her lay:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>‘Death-cold they lie along the far sea-tide:</div> + <div class='line'>Would that as cold I drifted at their side!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Thus as she sang, behold, the sun uprose,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And smote a swan that on a wave’s smooth crest</div> + <div class='line'>Exhausted lay, like one by pitiless foes</div> + <div class='line in2'>Trampled, and looking but to death for rest:</div> + <div class='line'>He also clomb that rock, though weak and worn,</div> + <div class='line'>With bleeding feet and pinions tempest-torn.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Aodh was he! He couched him by her side;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Straight, her right wing, Finola o’er him spread:</div> + <div class='line'>Ere long beneath the rock Fiacre she spied,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Wounded yet more; yet soon he hid his head</div> + <div class='line'>’Neath her left wing, her nestling’s wonted place,</div> + <div class='line'>And slept content in that beloved embrace.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But still Finola mused with many a tear,</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Alas for us, of little Conn bereft!’</div> + <div class='line'>Then Conn came floating by, full blithe of cheer,</div> + <div class='line in2'>For he, secure within a craggy cleft,</div> + <div class='line'>Had slept all night; and now once more his nest</div> + <div class='line'>He made beneath his snowy sister’s breast.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And as they slept she sang: ‘Among the flowers</div> + <div class='line in2'>Of old we played where princes quaffed their wine;</div> + <div class='line'>But now for flowery fields sea-floods are ours;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And now our wine-cup is the bitter brine:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>Yet, brothers, fear no ill; for God will send</div> + <div class='line'>At last his Tailkenn, and our woes find end.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And God, Who of least things has tenderest thought,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Looked down on them benignly from on high,</div> + <div class='line'>And bade that bitter brine to enter not</div> + <div class='line in2'>Their scars, unhealed as yet, lest they should die;</div> + <div class='line'>And nearer sent their choicest food full oft,</div> + <div class='line'>And clothed their wings with plumage fine and soft.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And ever as the spring advanced, the sea</div> + <div class='line in2'>Put on a kindlier aspect. Cliffs deep-scarred</div> + <div class='line'>To milder airs gave welcome festively</div> + <div class='line in2'>Upon their iron breasts and foreheads hard,</div> + <div class='line'>And, while about their feet the ripples played,</div> + <div class='line'>Cast o’er the glaring deep a friendlier shade.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And when at last the full midsummer panted</div> + <div class='line in2'>Upon the austere main, and high-peaked isles,</div> + <div class='line'>And hills that, like some elfin land enchanted,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Now charmed, now mocked the eye with phantom smiles,</div> + <div class='line'>More far round Alba’s shores the swans made way</div> + <div class='line'>To Islay’s beach, and cloud-loved Colonsay.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The growths beside their native lake oft noted</div> + <div class='line in2'>In that sublimer clime no more they missed;</div> + <div class='line'>Jewels, not flowers they found where’er they floated,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Emerald and sapphire, opal, amethyst,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>Far-kenned through watery depths or magic air,</div> + <div class='line'>Or trails of broken rainbows, here and there.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Round Erin’s northern coasts they drifted on</div> + <div class='line in2'>From Rathlin isle to Fanad’s beetling crest,</div> + <div class='line'>And where, in frowning sunset steeped, forth shone</div> + <div class='line in2'>The ‘Bloody Foreland,’ gazing t’ward the west;</div> + <div class='line'>Yet still with duteous hearts to Moyle returned—</div> + <div class='line'>To love their place of penance they had learned.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>One time it chanced that, onward as they drifted</div> + <div class='line in2'>Where Banna’s current joins that stormy sea,</div> + <div class='line'>A princely company with banners lifted</div> + <div class='line in2'>Rode past on snow-white steeds and sang for glee:</div> + <div class='line'>At once they knew those horsemen, form and face,</div> + <div class='line'>Their native stock—Tuatha’s ancient race!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>T’ward them they sped: their sorrows they recounted:</div> + <div class='line in2'>The warriors could not aid them, and rode by:</div> + <div class='line'>Then higher than of old their anguish mounted;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And farther rang through heaven their piteous cry;</div> + <div class='line'>And when it ceased, this lay Finola sang</div> + <div class='line'>While all the echoing rocks and caverns rang:</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Whilome in purple clad we sat elate:</div> + <div class='line in2'>The warriors watched us at their nut-brown mead:</div> + <div class='line'>But now we roam the waters desolate,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or breast the languid beds of waving weed:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>Our food was then fine bread; our drink was wine:</div> + <div class='line'>This day on sea-plants sour we peak and pine.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Whilome our four small cots of pearl and gold</div> + <div class='line in2'>Lay, side by side, before our father’s bed,</div> + <div class='line'>And silken foldings kept us from the cold:</div> + <div class='line in2'>But now on restless waves our couch is spread;</div> + <div class='line'>And now our bed-clothes are the white sea-foam:</div> + <div class='line'>And now by night the sea-rock is our home.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Not less from them such sorrows swiftly passed</div> + <div class='line in2'>Since evermore one thought their bosoms filled—</div> + <div class='line'>That father’s home. That haunt, in memory glassed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Childhood perpetual o’er their lives distilled:</div> + <div class='line'>And, coast what shore they might, green vale and plain</div> + <div class='line'>Bred whiter flocks, men said, more golden grain.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The years ran on: the centuries three went by:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Finola sang: ‘The second Woe is ended!’</div> + <div class='line'>Obedient then, once more they soared on high;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Next morn on Erin’s western coast descended,</div> + <div class='line'>While sunrise flashed from misty isles far seen,</div> + <div class='line'>Now gold, now flecked with streaks of luminous green.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And there for many a winter they abode,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Harbouring in precincts of the setting sun;</div> + <div class='line'>And mourned by day, yet sang at night their ode</div> + <div class='line in2'>As though in praise of some great victory won:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>Some conqueror more than man; some heavenly crown</div> + <div class='line'>Slowly o’er all creation settling down.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>There once—what time a great sun in decline</div> + <div class='line in2'>Had changed to gold the green back of a wave</div> + <div class='line'>That showered a pasture fair with diamond brine,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then sank, anon uprising from its grave</div> + <div class='line'>Went shouldering onward, higher and more high,</div> + <div class='line'>And hid far lands, and half eclipsed the sky—</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>There once a shepherd, Aibhric, high of race,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Marked them far off, and marking them so loved</div> + <div class='line'>That to the ocean’s verge he rushed apace</div> + <div class='line in2'>With hands outspread. Shoreward the creatures moved;</div> + <div class='line'>And when he heard them speak with human tongue</div> + <div class='line'>That love he felt grew tenderer and more strong.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Day after day they told that youth their tale:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Wide-eyed he stood, and inly drank their words;</div> + <div class='line'>And later, harping still in wood and vale,</div> + <div class='line in2'>He fitted oft their sorrow to his chords;</div> + <div class='line'>And thus to him in part men owe the lore<a id='r22'></a><a href='#f22' class='c008'><sup>[22]</sup></a></div> + <div class='line'>Of all those patient sufferers bare of yore.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>For bard he was; and still the bard-like nature</div> + <div class='line in2'>Hath reverence, as for virtue, so for woe,</div> + <div class='line'>And ever finds in trials of the creature</div> + <div class='line in2'>The great Creator’s purpose here below</div> + <div class='line'>To lift by lowering, and through anguish strange</div> + <div class='line'>To fit for thrones exempt from chance or change.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>There first the Four had met that sympathy</div> + <div class='line in2'>Yearned for so long: and yet, that treasure found,</div> + <div class='line'>So much the more ere long calamity</div> + <div class='line in2'>Tasked them, thus strengthened; tasked and closed them round,</div> + <div class='line'>And higher yet fierce winds and watery shocks</div> + <div class='line'>Dashed them thenceforth upon the pitiless rocks.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>At last from heaven’s dark vault a night there fell</div> + <div class='line in2'>The direst they had known. The high-heaped seas</div> + <div class='line'>Vanquished by frost, beneath her iron spell</div> + <div class='line in2'>Abased their haughty crests by slow degrees:</div> + <div class='line'>The swans were frozen upon that ice-plain frore;</div> + <div class='line'>Yet still Finola sang, as oft before,</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Beneath my right wing, Aodh, make thy rest!</div> + <div class='line in2'>Beneath my left, Fiacre! My little Conn,</div> + <div class='line'>Find thou a warmer shelter ’neath my breast,</div> + <div class='line in2'>As thou art wont: thou art my little son!</div> + <div class='line'>Thou God that all things mad’st, and lovest all,</div> + <div class='line'>Subdue things great! Protect the weak, the small!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>But evermore the younger three made moan;</div> + <div class='line in2'>And still their moans more loud and louder grew;</div> + <div class='line'>And still Finola o’er that sea of stone</div> + <div class='line in2'>For their sake fragments of wild wailings threw;</div> + <div class='line'>And ever as she sang, the on-driving snow</div> + <div class='line'>Choked the sweet strain; yet still she warbled low.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then, louder when she heard those others grieve,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And found that song might now no more avail,</div> + <div class='line'>She said: ‘Believe, O brothers young, believe</div> + <div class='line in2'>In that great God, whose help can never fail!</div> + <div class='line'>Have faith in God, since God can ne’er deceive!’</div> + <div class='line'>And lo, those weepers answered: ‘We believe!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>So thus those babes, in God’s predestined hour,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Through help of Him, the Lord of Life and Death,</div> + <div class='line'>Inly fulfilled with light and prophet power,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Believed; and perfect made their Act of Faith;</div> + <div class='line'>And thenceforth all things, both in shade and shine,</div> + <div class='line'>To them came softly and with touch benign.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>First, from the southern stars there came a breeze</div> + <div class='line in2'>On-wafting happy mist of moonlit rain;</div> + <div class='line'>And when the sun ascended o’er the seas</div> + <div class='line in2'>The ice was vanquished; and the watery plain</div> + <div class='line'>And every cloud with rapture thrilled and stirred:</div> + <div class='line'>And lo, at noon the cuckoo’s voice was heard!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>And since with that rough ice their feet were sore</div> + <div class='line in2'>God for their sake a breeze from Eden sent</div> + <div class='line'>That gently raised them from the ocean’s floor</div> + <div class='line in2'>And in its bosom, as an ambient tent,</div> + <div class='line'>Held them, suspense: and with a dew of balm</div> + <div class='line'>God, while they slept, made air and ocean calm.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Likewise a beam auroral forth he sped</div> + <div class='line in2'>That flushed that tent aerial like a rose</div> + <div class='line'>Each morn, and roseate odours o’er it shed</div> + <div class='line in2'>The long day through. And still, at evening’s close,</div> + <div class='line'>They dreamed of those rich bowers and alleys green</div> + <div class='line'>Wherein with Lir their childish sports had been.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And thrice they dreamed that in the morning gray</div> + <div class='line in2'>They gathered there red roses drenched with dew:</div> + <div class='line'>But lo! a serpent ’neath the roses lay:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then came the Tailkenn, and that serpent slew;</div> + <div class='line'>And round the Tailkenn’s tonsured head was light</div> + <div class='line'>That made that morning more than noonday bright.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Thus wrapt, thus kindled, in sublimer mood</div> + <div class='line in2'>Heaven-high they soared, and flung abroad their strain</div> + <div class='line'>O’er-sailing huge Croagh-Patrick swathed in wood,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or Acaill,<a id='r23'></a><a href='#f23' class='c008'><sup>[23]</sup></a> warder of the western main,</div> + <div class='line'>Or Arran Isle, that time heroic haunt,</div> + <div class='line'>Since Enda’s day Religion’s saintlier vaunt.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>And many a time they floated farther south</div> + <div class='line in2'>Where milder airs endear sea-margins bleak,</div> + <div class='line'>To that dim Head far seen o’er Shenan’s mouth,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or Smerwick’s ill-famed cliff and winding creek,</div> + <div class='line'>Or where on Brandon sleeps Milesius’ son</div> + <div class='line'>With all his shipwrecked warriors round him—Donn.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The centuries passed: her loud, exultant lay</div> + <div class='line in2'>Finola sang, their time of penance done,</div> + <div class='line'>And ended: ‘Lo, to us it seems a day;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Not less the dread nine hundred years are run!</div> + <div class='line'>Now, brothers, homeward be our flight!’ And they</div> + <div class='line'>Chanted triumphant: ‘Home, to Finnahá!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Up from the sea they rose in widening gyre,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And hung suspended mid the ethereal blue,</div> + <div class='line'>And saw, far-flashing in the sunset’s fire,</div> + <div class='line in2'>A wood-girt lake whose splendour well they knew;</div> + <div class='line'>And flew all night; and reached at dawn its shore—</div> + <div class='line'>Ah, then rang out that wail ne’er heard before!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>There where the towers of Lir of old had stood</div> + <div class='line in2'>Lay now the stony heap and rain-washed rath;</div> + <div class='line'>And through the ruin-mantling alder-wood</div> + <div class='line in2'>The forest beast had stamped in mire his path;</div> + <div class='line'>And desolate were their mother’s happy bowers,</div> + <div class='line'>So fair of old with fountains and with flowers!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>More closely drew the orphans, each to each:—</div> + <div class='line in2'>’Twas then Finola raised her dirge on high,</div> + <div class='line'>As nearer yet they drifted to the beach</div> + <div class='line in2'>In hope one fragment of past days to spy;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Upon our father’s house hath fallen a change;</div> + <div class='line'>And as a dead man’s face this place is strange!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘No more the hound and horse; no more the horn!</div> + <div class='line in2'>No more the warriors winding down the glen!</div> + <div class='line'>Behold, the place of pleasaunce is forlorn,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And emptied of fair women and brave men;</div> + <div class='line'>The wine-cup now is dry; the music fled:</div> + <div class='line'>Now know we that our father, Lir, is dead!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>She sang, and ceased, though long the feathered throat</div> + <div class='line in2'>Panted with passion of the unuttered song:</div> + <div class='line'>At last she spake with voice that seemed remote</div> + <div class='line in2'>Like echoed voice of one the tombs among:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Depart we hence! Better the exile’s pain!’</div> + <div class='line'>And they: ‘Return we to rough waves again!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Yet still along that silver mere they lingered</div> + <div class='line in2'>Oaring their weeping way by lawn and cape,</div> + <div class='line'>Till evening, purple-stoled and dewy-fingered,</div> + <div class='line in2'>O’er heaven’s sweet face had woven its veil of crape;</div> + <div class='line'>And tenderer came from darkening wood and wild</div> + <div class='line'>The voice far off of woman or of child.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>And when, far travelling through the fields of ether,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The stars successive filled their thrones of light,</div> + <div class='line'>Still to that heaven the glimmering lake beneath her</div> + <div class='line in2'>Gave meet response, with music answering light;</div> + <div class='line'>For still, wherever sailed that mystic four,</div> + <div class='line'>With minstrelsy divine that lake ran o’er.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>But when the rising sun made visible</div> + <div class='line in2'>The night-mist hovering long o’er banks of reed</div> + <div class='line'>They cast their broad wings on a gathering swell</div> + <div class='line in2'>Of wind that, late from eastern sea-caves freed,</div> + <div class='line'>Waved all the island’s oakwoods t’ward the West;</div> + <div class='line'>And seaward swooped at eve, and there found rest.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And since they knew their penance now was over,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Penance that tasks true hearts to purify,</div> + <div class='line'>Happier were they than e’er was mortal lover,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Happy as Spirits cleansed that, near the sky,</div> + <div class='line'>Feel, mid that shadowy realm expiatory,</div> + <div class='line'>Warm on their lids the unseen yet nearing glory.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Thenceforth they roamed no more, at Inisglaire</div> + <div class='line in2'>Their change awaiting. In its blissful prime</div> + <div class='line'>That island was, men say, as Eden fair,</div> + <div class='line in2'>The swan-soft nurseling of a changeful clime,</div> + <div class='line'>With amaranth-lighted glades, and tremulous sheen</div> + <div class='line'>Of trees full-flowered on earth no longer seen.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>Not then the waves with that still site contended;</div> + <div class='line in2'>On its warm sandhills pansies always bloomed;</div> + <div class='line'>And ever with the inspiring sea-wind blended</div> + <div class='line in2'>The breath of gardens violet-perfumed;</div> + <div class='line'>And daisies whitened lawn and dell, and spread</div> + <div class='line'>At sunset o’er green hills their under-red,</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Faint as that blush which lights some matron’s cheek</div> + <div class='line in2'>Tenderly pleased by gentle praise deserved—</div> + <div class='line'>That island’s winding coast from creek to creek</div> + <div class='line in2'>Like curves of shells with dream-like beauty swerved:</div> + <div class='line'>And midmost spread a lake; from mortal eyes</div> + <div class='line'>Vanished this day like man’s lost paradise.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Around that lake with oldest oakwoods shaded</div> + <div class='line in2'>Were all things that to eye are witching most,</div> + <div class='line'>Green slopes, dew drenched, and gray rocks ivy-braided;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Yet speechless was the region as a ghost:</div> + <div class='line'>No whisper shook those woods; no tendril stirred;</div> + <div class='line'>Nor e’er beside the cave was ripple heard.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A home for Spirits, not home for man, it seemed;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or Limbo meet for body-waiting Souls—</div> + <div class='line'>Of such in Pagan times the poets dreamed—</div> + <div class='line in2'>That stillness which invests the unmoving poles</div> + <div class='line'>Above it brooded. In its circuit wide</div> + <div class='line'>A second Darvra lived—but glorified.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>Upon its breast perpetual light there lay,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Undazzling beam, and uncreated light;</div> + <div class='line'>For lake and wood the sunshine drank all day,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And breathed it softly forth to cheer the night,</div> + <div class='line'>A silver twilight, pure from cloud or taint,</div> + <div class='line'>Like aureole round the forehead of a saint.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>There dwelt those Swans; there louder anthems chanted;</div> + <div class='line in2'>There first they sang by day—rapt song and hymn,</div> + <div class='line'>Till all those birds the western coasts that haunted</div> + <div class='line in2'>Came flying far o’er ocean’s purple rim,</div> + <div class='line'>Scorning thenceforth wild cliff and beds of foam;</div> + <div class='line'>And made, then first, that sacred isle their home.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>So passed three years. When dawned the third May morn</div> + <div class='line in2'>The Four, while slowly rose the kindling mist</div> + <div class='line'>Showing the first white on the earliest thorn,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Heard music o’er the waters. List, O list!</div> + <div class='line'>’Twas sweet as theirs—more sweet—yet terrible</div> + <div class='line'>At first; and sudden trembling on them fell.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A second time it sounded. Terror died,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And rapture came instead, and mystic mirth</div> + <div class='line'>They knew not whence: and thus Finola cried:</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Brothers! the Tailkenn treads our Erin’s earth!’</div> + <div class='line'>And as the lifted mist gave view more large</div> + <div class='line'>They saw a blue bay with a fair green marge.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>On that green marge there rose an Altar-stone:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Before it, robed in white, with tonsured head,</div> + <div class='line'>Stood up the kingly Tailkenn all alone:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Not far behind, in reverence, not in dread,</div> + <div class='line'>With low bent brows a princely senate knelt,</div> + <div class='line'>Girding that altar as with golden belt.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Marvelling, as on they sailed that Rite they saw:</div> + <div class='line in2'>But, when a third time pealed that Tailkenn’s bell,</div> + <div class='line'>They too their halleluias, though with awe,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Blended with his. The Ill Spirits heard their knell,</div> + <div class='line'>And shrieking fled to penal dungeons drear;</div> + <div class='line'>And straight, since now those blissful Four drew near,</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Saint Patrick stretched above the wave his hand</div> + <div class='line in2'>And thus he spake—and wind and wave were stilled—</div> + <div class='line'>‘Children of Lir, re-tread your native land,</div> + <div class='line in2'>For now your long sea-penance is fulfilled!’</div> + <div class='line'>Then lo! Finola raised the funeral cry:</div> + <div class='line'>‘We tread our native land that we may die!’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And thus she made the lay, and thus she sang:</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Baptize us, priest, while living yet we be!’</div> + <div class='line'>And louder soon her dirge-like anthem rang:</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Lo, thus the Children’s burial I decree:</div> + <div class='line'>Make fair our grave where land and ocean meet;</div> + <div class='line'>And t’ward thy holy Altar place our feet.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>‘Upon my left, Fiacre; upon my right</div> + <div class='line in2'>Let Aodh sleep; for such their place of rest,</div> + <div class='line'>Secured to each by usage and by right:</div> + <div class='line in2'>And lay my little Conn upon my breast:</div> + <div class='line'>Then on a low sand pillow raise my head,</div> + <div class='line'>That I may see his face though I be dead.’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>She spake; and on the sands they stept—the Four—</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then lo, from heaven there came a miracle:</div> + <div class='line'>Soon as they left the wave, and trod the shore</div> + <div class='line in2'>The weight of bygone centuries on them fell:</div> + <div class='line'>To human forms they changed, yet human none;—</div> + <div class='line'>Dread, shapeless weights of wrinkles and of bone.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A moment prone the wildered creatures lay;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then slowly up that breadth of tawny sand,</div> + <div class='line'>Like wounded beast that can but crawl, made way</div> + <div class='line in2'>With knee convulsed, and closed and clutching hand,</div> + <div class='line'>Nine-centuried forms, still breathing mortal breath,</div> + <div class='line'>Though shrouded in the cerements pale of death.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>That concourse on them gazed with many a tear;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Yet no man uttered speech or motion made,</div> + <div class='line'>Till now the Four had reached that altar-bier,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Their ghastly pilgrimage’s goal, and laid</div> + <div class='line'>Before its base their bodies, one by one,</div> + <div class='line'>And faces glistening in the rising sun.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>There lying, loud they raised the self-same cry,</div> + <div class='line in2'>As Patrick o’er them signed the conquering Sign,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Baptize us, holy Tailkenn, for we die!’</div> + <div class='line in2'>The saint baptized them in the Name Divine,</div> + <div class='line'>And, swift as thought, their happy spirits at last</div> + <div class='line'>To God’s high feast and singing angels passed.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Now hear the latest wonder. While, low-bowed,</div> + <div class='line in2'>That concourse gazed upon the reverend dead</div> + <div class='line'>Behold, like changeful shapes in evening cloud,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Vanished those time-worn bodies; and, instead,</div> + <div class='line'>Inwoven lay four children, white and young</div> + <div class='line'>With silver-lidded eyes and lashes long.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Finola lay, once more an eight years’ child:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Upon her right hand Aodh took his rest,</div> + <div class='line'>Upon her left Fiacre;—in death he smiled:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Her little Conn was cradled on her breast:</div> + <div class='line'>And all their saintly raiment shone as bright</div> + <div class='line'>As sea-foam sparkling on a moonlit night;</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Or as their snowy night-clothes shone of old</div> + <div class='line in2'>When now the night was past, and Lir, their sire,</div> + <div class='line'>Upraised them from the warm cot’s silken fold,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And bade them watch the sun’s ascending fire,</div> + <div class='line'>And watched himself its beam, now here now there,</div> + <div class='line'>Flashed from white foot, blue eyes, or golden hair.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>The men who saw that deathbed did not weep,</div> + <div class='line in2'>But gazed till sunset upon each fair face;</div> + <div class='line'>And then with funeral psalm, and anthems deep,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Interred them at that sacred altar’s base,</div> + <div class='line'>And graved their names in Ogham characters</div> + <div class='line'>On one white tomb; and, close beneath them, Lir’s.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Those Babes were Erin’s Holy Innocents,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And first-fruits of the land to Christ their Lord,</div> + <div class='line'>Though born within the unbelievers’ tents:</div> + <div class='line in2'>Figured in them the Gael his God adored,</div> + <div class='line'>That later-coming, holier Gael, who won</div> + <div class='line'><a id='tn-youngerson'></a>Through Faith the birthright, though the younger son.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span> + <h2 id='the-foray-of-queen-meave' class='c006'><span class='large'>THE</span><br> <br>FORAY OF QUEEN MEAVE</h2> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div><span class='small'>OR</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>‘THE TAIN BO CUAILGNÉ’</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div><i>FIVE FRAGMENTS OF AN ANCIENT IRISH EPIC</i></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c000'> + <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span><span class='small'>TO</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>SIR SAMUEL FERGUSON</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='small'>THIS POEM IS DEDICATED,</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='small'>IN TOKEN OF GRATITUDE</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='small'>FOR ‘CONGAL,’ AND FOR MANY POEMS BESIDE,</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='small'>THAT ILLUSTRATE ARIGHT</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='small'>THE LEGENDS OF ANCIENT IRELAND.</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span> + <h3 id='the-foray-of-queen-meave-prologue' class='c005'>PROLOGUE.</h3> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c003'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Senchan, the king of bards, when centuries six</div> + <div class='line'>Had flowered and faded since the Birth Divine,</div> + <div class='line'>Summoned in synod all the island bards,</div> + <div class='line'>Demanding; ‘Is there who can yet recite</div> + <div class='line'>That first of Erin’s songs, “The Tain”?’ Not one</div> + <div class='line'>Could sing it, save in fragments. Then arose</div> + <div class='line'>Marbhan, and spake; ‘Send prayer to Erin’s Saints</div> + <div class='line'>That, bowed o’er Fergus’ grave, they lift their hands</div> + <div class='line'>For Erin at her need.’ Five Saints obeyed</div> + <div class='line'>And o’er that venerable spot three days</div> + <div class='line'>Fasting made prayer while knelt the bards around.</div> + <div class='line'>Then on the third day as the sun uprose</div> + <div class='line'>Behold! a purple mist engirt that grave;</div> + <div class='line'>And from it, fair as rainbow backed by cloud,</div> + <div class='line'>Shone out a kingly Phantom robed in green,</div> + <div class='line'>With red-brown locks, close clustered, drenched in dew,</div> + <div class='line'>And golden crown, and golden-hilted sword;—</div> + <div class='line'>His hand was on it. They who saw that Shape</div> + <div class='line'>Well knew him, Fergus Roy, the Exile-King.</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>Gracious as in the old days, that king rehearsed</div> + <div class='line'>The Tale so long desired, though many an age,</div> + <div class='line'>And that grey empire of departed Souls,</div> + <div class='line'>Had quelled at last the strong ones of that strain,</div> + <div class='line'>Record half jest, half earnest. Marbhan spoke</div> + <div class='line'>Once more; ‘Lest Erin lose again this Tale</div> + <div class='line'>Through fraud of demons or all-wasting time,</div> + <div class='line'>Amid yon Saints elect some scribe, their best,</div> + <div class='line'>And pray that scribe to write it.’ Straight, with help</div> + <div class='line'>It may be, of the bards, Saint Kiaran wrote</div> + <div class='line'>The Heroic Song on parchment fine, the skin</div> + <div class='line'>Of one he loved, his ‘little heifer grey’</div> + <div class='line'>That gave the book its name. Six centuries passed;</div> + <div class='line'>Then in Saint Kiaran’s House at Clonmacnoise</div> + <div class='line'>That book was found, and on it; ‘Reader, here</div> + <div class='line'>Are histories old with later fables blent,</div> + <div class='line'>Fancies full fair with idle Pagan vaunts:</div> + <div class='line'>Now therefore, since old things have in them worth</div> + <div class='line'>And teach by what they hold and what they lack</div> + <div class='line'>Whoso shall read this book, and know to choose</div> + <div class='line'>’Twixt Good and Ill, my blessing on him rest!’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span> + <h3 id='the-foray-of-queen-meave-1' class='c005'>FRAGMENT I.</h3> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div><i>THE CAUSE OF THE GREAT WAR.</i></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div><span class='sc'>Argument.</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='small'>Meave, Queen of Connacht,<a id='r24'></a><a href='#f24' class='c008'><sup>[24]</sup></a> and Ailill her husband, waking one +morning fall into a disputation, each claiming to be the worthier of +the two, and the wealthier. Their lords decide that the king and +queen are great and happy alike in all things save one only, namely, +that Ailill possesses the far-famed white Bull, Fionbannah. Meave +hearing that Conor Conchobar, King of Uladh,<a id='r25'></a><a href='#f25' class='c008'><sup>[25]</sup></a> boasts a black +Bull mightier yet, is fain to purchase it, but cannot prevail so far. +She therefore declares war against Uladh. There meets her Faythleen +the Witch, who prophesies calamity, but promises that in aid +of Meave she will breathe over the realm of Uladh a spirit of imbecility. +This she does; yet Cuchullain, unaided, afflicts the whole +army of Meave by exploits which to him are but sports. Fergus, +the exiled King of Uladh, narrates to Meave the high deeds of +Cuchullain wrought in his childhood.</span></p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c003'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>In Cruachan, old Connacht’s palace pile,</div> + <div class='line'>Dwelt Meave, the queen, haughtiest of woman’s kind,</div> + <div class='line'>A warrioress untamed that made her will</div> + <div class='line'>The measure of the world. The all-conquering years</div> + <div class='line'>Conquered not her: the strength of endless prime</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>Lived in her royal tread and breast and eye</div> + <div class='line'>A life immortal. Queenly was her brow;</div> + <div class='line'>Fulgent her eye; her countenance beauteous, save</div> + <div class='line'>When wrath o’er-flamed its beauty. With her dwelt</div> + <div class='line'>Ailill her husband, trivial man and quaint,</div> + <div class='line'>And early old. He had not chosen her:</div> + <div class='line'>She chose a consort who should rule her not,</div> + <div class='line'>And tossed him to her throne. In youth her lord</div> + <div class='line'>Was Conor Conchobar, great Uladh’s King:</div> + <div class='line'>She had not found him docile to her will,</div> + <div class='line'>And to her sire returned. The August morn</div> + <div class='line'>Had trailed already on the stony floor</div> + <div class='line'>Its fiery beam when, laughing, Ailill woke:</div> + <div class='line'>He woke, awakened by a sound that shook</div> + <div class='line'>The forest dews to earth, Fionbannah’s roar,</div> + <div class='line'>That snow-white Bull, the wonder of the age,</div> + <div class='line'>Who, born amid the lowlands of the queen,</div> + <div class='line'>Yet, grown to strength, o’er-leaped her bound and roamed</div> + <div class='line'>Thenceforth the leaner pastures of the king,</div> + <div class='line'>For this cause, that his spirit scorned to live</div> + <div class='line'>In female vassalage.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">In female vassalage.</span> That tale recalling</div> + <div class='line'>King Ailill laughed: his laughter roused the queen:</div> + <div class='line'>She woke in wrath: to assuage her Ailill spake;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Happy and blest that dame whose lord is sage!</div> + <div class='line'>Thy fortunes, wife of mine, began that day</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>I called thee spouse!’ To him the queen, ‘My sire</div> + <div class='line'>Was Erin’s Ard-Righ!<a id='r26'></a><a href='#f26' class='c008'><sup>[26]</sup></a> Daughters six had he:</div> + <div class='line'>I, Meave, of these was fairest and most famed!</div> + <div class='line'>This Cruachan was mine before we met;</div> + <div class='line'>And all the Island’s princes sued my hand.</div> + <div class='line'>I spurned their offers! three things I required—</div> + <div class='line'>A warrior proved, since great at arms am I;</div> + <div class='line'>A liberal hand, since lavish I of gifts;</div> + <div class='line'>A man not jealous, since, in love as war,</div> + <div class='line'>There where I willed I ever cast mine eyes.</div> + <div class='line'>These merits three were yours: I beckoned to you:</div> + <div class='line'>Dowered you with ingots thicker than your wrist;</div> + <div class='line'>Made you a king, or kingling. What of that?</div> + <div class='line'>I might have chosen a better! Yea, I count</div> + <div class='line'>My greatness more than yours!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">My greatness more than yours!’</span> With treble shrill</div> + <div class='line'>Ailill replied; ‘What words are these, my queen?</div> + <div class='line'>My father was a king; my brothers kings!</div> + <div class='line'>My hoards are higher heaped than yours; my meads</div> + <div class='line'>More deep, more rich!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">More deep, more rich!’</span> Then loudly stormed the queen:—</div> + <div class='line'>In rushed her lords, and stood, a senate grave,</div> + <div class='line'>Circling the couch: and while, each answering each,</div> + <div class='line'>Ailill and Meave set forth in order due</div> + <div class='line'>The treasures either boasted, kine, or sheep,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>Rich cornfield, jewel’d robe, or gem-wrought car,</div> + <div class='line'>Careful they weighed the lists in equal scale</div> + <div class='line'>And ’twixt them found in value difference none.</div> + <div class='line'>Doubtful they stood. Anon rolled forth once more</div> + <div class='line'>Fionbannah’s roar; and, leaping from his bed</div> + <div class='line'>King Ailill shouted; ‘Mine, not thine, that Bull!</div> + <div class='line'>Through him my treasure passes thine, my queen!</div> + <div class='line'>My worth exceeds thy worth!’ At once forth stepped</div> + <div class='line'>Mac Roth, old Connacht’s herald, with this word:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Great queen, the King of Uladh boasts a Bull</div> + <div class='line'>Lordlier than ours, a broader bulk, and black,</div> + <div class='line'>Black as the raven’s wing! In Daré’s charge</div> + <div class='line'>That marvel bides, the Donn Cuailgné named</div> + <div class='line'>Because his lowings shake Cuailgné’s shore,</div> + <div class='line'>The southern bound of Uladh. Privilege</div> + <div class='line'>He hath that neither witch nor demon tempt</div> + <div class='line'>That precinct where he harbours.’ Meave exclaimed,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Fly hence, Mac Roth! Take with thee golden store,</div> + <div class='line'>Rich garments, chariots gemmed: bid Daré choose;</div> + <div class='line'>But bring me back that Bull!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">But bring me back that Bull!’</span> Three days had passed:</div> + <div class='line'>Then by the tower of Daré stood Mac Roth</div> + <div class='line'>And blew his horn; and Daré’s sons with speed</div> + <div class='line'>Flung the gate wide. The herald entered in</div> + <div class='line'>And spake his message. Proudly Daré mused,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Great Meave my friendship sues;’ and made a feast,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>And, when the wine had warmed him spake; ‘Mac Roth!</div> + <div class='line'>Cuailgné’s Donn is Conor’s Bull, not mine:</div> + <div class='line'>Yet, though the king should hurl me outcast forth,</div> + <div class='line'>To Meave that Bull shall go and bide a year.</div> + <div class='line'>Tell her the Donn is manlike in his mind,</div> + <div class='line'>And not like Bulls. Long summer eves he stands,</div> + <div class='line'>Or paces stately up the mead and down</div> + <div class='line'>Eyeing the racing youths, or glad at heart</div> + <div class='line'>Listening the music.’ Thus he pledged his faith.</div> + <div class='line'>But Daré’s sons at midnight, each to each,</div> + <div class='line'>Whispered; ‘the king will chase us from the realm!</div> + <div class='line'>He hates Queen Meave, and well he loves the Donn;’</div> + <div class='line'>And stood next morn beside their sire, and spake,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Mac Roth is gone a hunting: ere he went</div> + <div class='line'>He sware that you had yielded him the Donn</div> + <div class='line'>Fearing his sword.’ Then Daré’s heart was changed,</div> + <div class='line'>And loud by all his swearing Gods he sware</div> + <div class='line'>‘Cuailgné’s Donn shall ne’er consort with Meave,</div> + <div class='line'>Nor with her kine:’ and on his gate he set</div> + <div class='line'>The castle’s Fool waiting Mac Roth’s return,</div> + <div class='line'>And charged him with this greeting; ‘Back to Meave!</div> + <div class='line'>Thy queen she is, not Uladh’s! Bid her know</div> + <div class='line'>Our Donn and we revere Fionbannah’s choice,</div> + <div class='line'>Her Bull, that leaped her gate and swam her flood,</div> + <div class='line'>Spurning the female rule!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span><span class="dropped-line">Spurning the female rule!’</span> Then turned Mac Roth</div> + <div class='line'>His car; and sideway shook one hand irate;</div> + <div class='line'>And lashed the steeds, and reached great Cruachan,</div> + <div class='line'>And, instant upon all who heard his tale</div> + <div class='line'>Like lightning fell the battle rage. The queen,</div> + <div class='line'>Sent forth her heralds, east, and west, and south,</div> + <div class='line'>Summoning her great allies. Erin, that day</div> + <div class='line'>Save Uladh only, stood conjoined with Meave,</div> + <div class='line'>Great kings, and warriors named from chiefs of old</div> + <div class='line'>Sons of Milesius; for King Conor’s craft</div> + <div class='line'>And that proud onset of the Red-Branch Knights</div> + <div class='line'>Year after year had galled their hearts. ’Twas come!</div> + <div class='line'>The day of vengeance! In their might they rose</div> + <div class='line'>From Eyrus’ vales to utmost Cahirnane,</div> + <div class='line'>From Oileen Arda on to Borda Lu,</div> + <div class='line'>And where the loud wave breaks on Beara’s isle;</div> + <div class='line'>And by the hallowed banks of Darvra’s lake</div> + <div class='line'>Where, changed to swans, the Children Four of Lir,</div> + <div class='line'>Dowerless on earth, their home the homeless waves,</div> + <div class='line'>Darkling yet gladdening gloomier hearts with light,</div> + <div class='line'>And sad yet solaced through one conquering hope,</div> + <div class='line'>By song had vanquished sorrow. From the West,</div> + <div class='line'>Came Inachall, and Adarc. Eiderkool</div> + <div class='line'>Marched, ever shrilling songs and shaking spears:</div> + <div class='line'>And, mightier far, with never slumbering hearts</div> + <div class='line'>And eyes that stared through long desire of home</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>Uladh’s three thousand exiles, driven far forth</div> + <div class='line'>When Conor Conchobar, trampling his pledge,</div> + <div class='line'>Slaughtered the sons of Usnach. At their head</div> + <div class='line'>Rode Fergus, Uladh’s King ere traitor yet</div> + <div class='line'>Had filched its royal crown; and by his side,</div> + <div class='line'>Faithful in exile, Cormac Conlinglas,</div> + <div class='line'>King Conor’s bravest son. That host the queen</div> + <div class='line'>To Ai led, where Ai’s four great plains</div> + <div class='line'>Shine in the rising and the setting sun,</div> + <div class='line'>Gold-green, with all their flag-flowers, meres, and streams:</div> + <div class='line'>There planted she her camp; thence ever rang</div> + <div class='line'>Neighing of horse, and tempest song of bard,</div> + <div class='line'>And graver voice of prophet and of seer</div> + <div class='line'>Who ceased not, day or night, for fifteen days</div> + <div class='line'>From warnings to the people, ‘Be ye one;’—</div> + <div class='line'>Yet one the people were not.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Yet one the people were not.</span> Meave the while,</div> + <div class='line'>Resting upon those great and growing hosts</div> + <div class='line'>Her widening eyes, rejoiced within, and clutched</div> + <div class='line'>The sceptre-staff with closer grasp, and heaved</div> + <div class='line'>Higher her solid, broad, imperial breast,</div> + <div class='line'>Amorous of battle nigh at hand. Yet oft,</div> + <div class='line'>Listening those bickerings in her camp she frowned:</div> + <div class='line'>For still the chieftains strove; and one, a king</div> + <div class='line'>Briarind, had tongue so sharp, where’er he moved</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>A guard was round him set lest spleen of his</div> + <div class='line'>Should set the monarchs ravening each on each.</div> + <div class='line'>‘The hand of Fergus,’ mused she, ‘that alone</div> + <div class='line'>Might solder yonder mass. Men note in him</div> + <div class='line'>His front, his voice, his stature, and his step,</div> + <div class='line'>The one time King of Uladh. Held he rule—</div> + <div class='line'>He shall not for my will endures it not!</div> + <div class='line'>He props my war because, long years our guest,</div> + <div class='line'>His honour needs not less; with us he marches</div> + <div class='line'>Athirst for vengeance and his native land,</div> + <div class='line'>Yet scoffs our cause, and sent, spurning surprise,</div> + <div class='line'>To Uladh challenge loud.’ Again she mused,</div> + <div class='line'>‘A man love-worthy if he loved again!—</div> + <div class='line'>At best ’twould be to him a moment’s sport!</div> + <div class='line'>The battle and the stag-hunt, these alone,</div> + <div class='line'>He counts a prince’s pastimes!’ Sudden from heaven</div> + <div class='line'>Eclipse there fell on Ai’s spacious plains,</div> + <div class='line'>And shadow black; these noting, Meave revolved</div> + <div class='line'>That dread Red Branch in act and counsel one;</div> + <div class='line'>And, brooding thus, with inner eye she saw</div> + <div class='line'>No longer men but skeletons of men</div> + <div class='line'>Innumerable in intertangled mass</div> + <div class='line'>Burthening the fields far spread. Aloud she cried,</div> + <div class='line'>‘On to Moytura where the prophet dwells;’</div> + <div class='line'>And straight her charioteer the horses smote</div> + <div class='line'>And tamed them with the reins: and lo! what time</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>The noontide sun with keenest splendour blazed,</div> + <div class='line'>Right opposite upon the chariot’s beam</div> + <div class='line'>There sat a wondrous woman phantom-faced</div> + <div class='line'>Singing and weaving. Shapely was that head</div> + <div class='line'>Bent o’er her web, while back the sun-like hair</div> + <div class='line'>Streamed on the wind. One hand upreared a sword:</div> + <div class='line'>Seven chains fell from it. Sea-blue were her eyes,</div> + <div class='line'>And berry-red her scornful lip; her cheek</div> + <div class='line'>White as the snow-drift of a single night;</div> + <div class='line'>Her voice like harp-strings when the harper’s hand</div> + <div class='line'>Half drowns their pathos. Close as bark to tree</div> + <div class='line'>The azure robe clung to that virgin form</div> + <div class='line'>Sinewy and long, and reached the shining feet.</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then spake the queen; ‘What see’st thou in that web?’</div> + <div class='line'>And she, ‘I see a kingdom’s destinies;</div> + <div class='line'>And they are like a countenance dashed with blood:</div> + <div class='line'>Faythleen am I, the Witch.’ To her the queen;</div> + <div class='line'>‘I bid thee say what see’st thou in my host,</div> + <div class='line'>Faythleen, the Witch!’ And Faythleen answered slow,</div> + <div class='line'>‘The hue of blood: sunset on sunset charged.’</div> + <div class='line'>Then fixed that Wild One on the North her eyes,</div> + <div class='line'>And Meave made answer; ‘In those eyes I see</div> + <div class='line'>The fates they see; great Uladh’s realm full-armed,</div> + <div class='line'>And all that Red Branch Order as one man.’</div> + <div class='line'>Faythleen replied; ‘One man alone I see;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>One man, yet mightier than a realm in arms!</div> + <div class='line'>That Watch-Hound watching still by Uladh’s gate</div> + <div class='line'>Is mightier thrice than Uladh: on his brow</div> + <div class='line'>Spring-tide sits throned; yet ruin loads his hand.</div> + <div class='line'>If e’er Cuchullain rides in Uladh’s van</div> + <div class='line'>Flee to thy hills and isles!’ Meave bit her lip:</div> + <div class='line'>But wildly sang the Witch; ‘Faythleen am I,</div> + <div class='line'>Thy People’s patron mid the Powers unseen:</div> + <div class='line'>Beware that youth invisible for speed,</div> + <div class='line'>Who hears that whisper none beside can hear,</div> + <div class='line'>Sees what none other sees; before whose eye</div> + <div class='line'>The wild beast cowers, subdued! Beware that youth</div> + <div class='line'>Slender as maid, whose stature in the fight</div> + <div class='line'>Rises gigantic. Gamesome he and mild;</div> + <div class='line'>To woman reverent and the hoary hair;</div> + <div class='line'>Nor alms he stints nor incense to the Gods;</div> + <div class='line'>But when from heaven the anger on him breaks</div> + <div class='line'>Pity he knows for none. No pact with him!</div> + <div class='line'>Return with speed and march to-morrow morn:</div> + <div class='line'>The clan of Cailitin shall yield thee aid,</div> + <div class='line'>That magic clan which fights with poisoned darts.</div> + <div class='line'>To Uladh I, above her realm to spread</div> + <div class='line'>Mantle of darkness, and a mind that errs,</div> + <div class='line'>And powerlessness, and shame.’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">And powerlessness, and shame.’</span> Due north she sped,</div> + <div class='line'>Far fleeting, wind-upborne! ’twixt hill and cloud,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>To Uladh’s cliffs, and thence with prone descent</div> + <div class='line'>Sank to the myriad-murmuring sea wine-dark,</div> + <div class='line'>And whispered to the Genii of the deep,</div> + <div class='line'>Her sisters:—then from ocean’s breast there rose</div> + <div class='line'>A mist, no larger than a dead man’s shroud,</div> + <div class='line'>That, slowly widening, spread o’er Uladh’s realm</div> + <div class='line'>Mantle of darkness, and an erring mind,</div> + <div class='line'>And powerlessness, and shame.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">And powerlessness, and shame.</span> The queen returned,</div> + <div class='line'>And reached her host what time the sunset glare</div> + <div class='line'>With omnipresent splendour girt it round,</div> + <div class='line'>Concourse immortalised. Thereon she gazed</div> + <div class='line'>High standing in her chariot, spear in hand:</div> + <div class='line'>Her too that army saw, and raised the shout.</div> + <div class='line'>But Fergus, as she passed him spake: ‘not yet</div> + <div class='line'>Know’st thou my Uladh, nor the Red Branch Knights;</div> + <div class='line'>And one man is there mightier thrice than they.’</div> + <div class='line in2'>Meantime within Murthemné’s land its lord</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain, musing like a listening hound,</div> + <div class='line'>For many a rumour filled that time the air,</div> + <div class='line'>Sat in remote Dûn Dalgan<a id='r27'></a><a href='#f27' class='c008'><sup>[27]</sup></a> all alone,</div> + <div class='line'>Chief city of his realm. On Uladh’s verge</div> + <div class='line'>Southward that lesser realm dependent lay</div> + <div class='line'>Girt by a racing river. Silent long</div> + <div class='line'>He watched: at last he heard a sound like wind</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>In woods remote; and earthward bowed his head;</div> + <div class='line'>And said; ‘that sound is distant thirty leagues,</div> + <div class='line'>And huge that host;’ then bade prepare his car,</div> + <div class='line'>And southward sped, counsel to hold as wont</div> + <div class='line'>With Faythleen nigh to Tara.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">With Faythleen nigh to Tara.</span> Eve grew dim</div> + <div class='line'>When lo! a chariot from the woods emerged</div> + <div class='line'>In swift pursuit: an old man urged the steeds,</div> + <div class='line'>A grey old man that chattered evermore</div> + <div class='line'>With blinking eyes that ceased not from amaze.</div> + <div class='line'>That sight displeased Cuchullain: ne’ertheless</div> + <div class='line'>He stayed his course; and Saltain soon drew nigh,</div> + <div class='line'>Clamouring, ‘O son—and when was son like thee—</div> + <div class='line'>Forsake not thou thy father! In old time,</div> + <div class='line'>Then when some God had laid on me his hand,</div> + <div class='line'>Dectara, my wife, immured me in my house,</div> + <div class='line'>Year after year, and weighed the lessening dole:</div> + <div class='line'>But thou, to manhood grown, though even to her</div> + <div class='line'>Reverent, didst pluck her from that place usurped,</div> + <div class='line'>Lifting thy poor old father.’ At that word</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain left his car, and kissed his sire,</div> + <div class='line'>And soothed his wandering wits with meat and wine;</div> + <div class='line'>And spake dissembling; ‘lo, these mantles warm!</div> + <div class='line'>Prescient, for thee I stored them! Night is near;</div> + <div class='line'>Lie down and rest.’ Thus speaking, with both hands</div> + <div class='line'>Deftly he spread them wide; and Saltain slept:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>Then, tethering first the horses of his sire,</div> + <div class='line'>Lastly his own, upon the chill, wet grass</div> + <div class='line'>He likewise lay, and slept not.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">He likewise lay, and slept not.</span> On, at dawn</div> + <div class='line'>They drave; but Faythleen, witch perverse of will,</div> + <div class='line'>That oft through spleenful change her purpose slew,</div> + <div class='line'>Had broken tryst; and northward they returned.</div> + <div class='line'>That day Cuchullain clomb a rock tree-girt</div> + <div class='line'>And kenned beyond the forest’s roof a host</div> + <div class='line'>Innumerable, the standards of Queen Meave,</div> + <div class='line'>And Fergus, and the great confederate kings.</div> + <div class='line'>The warrior eyed them long with bitter smile;</div> + <div class='line'>Few words he spake: ‘At fifty thousand men</div> + <div class='line'>I count them.’ To his father then he turned:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Haste to Emania! Bid the Red Branch Knights</div> + <div class='line'>Attend me in Murthemné. I till then</div> + <div class='line'>Hang on the invaders’ flank, a fiery scourge.’</div> + <div class='line in2'>Saltain made answer: ‘Be it! northward I:</div> + <div class='line'>But Dectara, thy mother, and my wife,</div> + <div class='line'>Till thou art by my side I will not see;</div> + <div class='line'>For dreadful are her eyes as death or fate;</div> + <div class='line'>And many deem her mad.’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">And many deem her mad.’</span> He spake, and drave</div> + <div class='line'>Northward; nor ceased from chatterings all day long,</div> + <div class='line'>Since, like a Poplar, vocal was the man</div> + <div class='line'>Not less than visible. Meantime his son</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>Took counsel in his heart, and made resolve</div> + <div class='line'>To skirt, in homeward course, that eastern sea,</div> + <div class='line'>The woods primeval ’twixt him and the foe,</div> + <div class='line'>Still sallying night and day through alley and glade</div> + <div class='line'>And taming thus their pride.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">And taming thus their pride.</span> Three days went by:</div> + <div class='line'>Then stood Cuchullain where great wood-ways met;</div> + <div class='line'>And lo! betwixt four yews a warrior’s grave,</div> + <div class='line'>The pillar-stone above it! O’er that stone</div> + <div class='line'>In mirthful mood he twined an osier wreath,</div> + <div class='line'>Cyphering thereon his name in Ogham signs:</div> + <div class='line'>For thus he said; ‘On no man unawares</div> + <div class='line'>Fall I, but warned.’ The hostile host approached,</div> + <div class='line'>And, halting stood in wonder at that wreath;</div> + <div class='line'>Yet none could spell the Ogham. Last drew nigh</div> + <div class='line'>Fergus, and read it: on him fell that hour</div> + <div class='line'>Memories full dear, and loud he sang and long;</div> + <div class='line'>He sang a warrior’s praise: yet named him not;</div> + <div class='line'>He sang; ‘From name of man to name of beast</div> + <div class='line'>A warrior changed: then mightiest grew of men!’</div> + <div class='line'>And, as he sang, the cheek of Meave grew red.</div> + <div class='line in2'>Next morn Neara’s sons outsped the rest</div> + <div class='line'>Car-borne with brandished spears; and, ere the dew</div> + <div class='line'>Was lifted, came to where Cuchullain sat</div> + <div class='line'>Beneath an oak, sporting with black-birds twain</div> + <div class='line'>That followed him for aye. Toward the youths</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>He waved his hand; ‘Away, for ye are young!’</div> + <div class='line'>In answer forth they flung their spears: he caught them,</div> + <div class='line'>And snapt them on his knee; next, swift as fire,</div> + <div class='line'>Sprang on the twain, and slew them with his sword,</div> + <div class='line'>One blow:—anon he loosed their horses’ bits,</div> + <div class='line'>And they, with madness winged, rejoined the host,</div> + <div class='line'>Bearing those headless bulks. Forth looked the queen;</div> + <div class='line'>Beheld; and, trembling, cried; ‘It might have been</div> + <div class='line'>Orloff, my son!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Orloff, my son!’</span> That eve, at banquet ranged</div> + <div class='line'>The warriors questioned Fergus; ‘Who is best</div> + <div class='line'>Among the Uladh chiefs?’ Ere answer came</div> + <div class='line'>King Conor’s son self-exiled, Conlinglas,</div> + <div class='line'>Upleaping cried, ‘Cuchullain is his name!</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain! From his childhood man was he!</div> + <div class='line'>On Eman Macha<a id='r28'></a><a href='#f28' class='c008'><sup>[28]</sup></a> ever was his thought,</div> + <div class='line'>Its walls, its bulwarks, and its Red Branch Knights,</div> + <div class='line'>The wonder of the world.’ Then told the prince</div> + <div class='line'>How, when his mother mocked his zeal, that child</div> + <div class='line'>Fared forth alone, with wooden sword and shield,</div> + <div class='line'>And fife, and silver ball; and how he hurled</div> + <div class='line'>His little spears before him as he ran,</div> + <div class='line'>And caught them ere they fell; and how, arrived,</div> + <div class='line'>He spurned great Eman’s gates, and scaled its wall,</div> + <div class='line'>And lighted in the pleasaunce of the king,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>His mother’s brother, Conor Conchobar;</div> + <div class='line'>And how the noble youths of all that land</div> + <div class='line'>There trained in warlike arts, had on him dashed</div> + <div class='line'>With insult and with blows: and how the child</div> + <div class='line'>This way and that had hurled them, while the king</div> + <div class='line'>Who sat that hour with Fergus, playing chess,</div> + <div class='line'>Gazed from his turret wondering.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Gazed from his turret wondering.</span> Next he told</div> + <div class='line'>How to that child, Setanta first, there fell</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain’s nobler name. ‘To Eman near</div> + <div class='line'>There dwelt an armourer, Cullain was his name,</div> + <div class='line'>That earliest rose, and latest with his forge</div> + <div class='line'>Reddened the night: mail-clad in might of his</div> + <div class='line'>The Red Branch Knights forth rode; the bard, the chief</div> + <div class='line'>Claimed him for friend. One day, when Conor’s self</div> + <div class='line'>Partook his feast, the armourer held discourse;</div> + <div class='line'>“The Gods have made my house a house of fame:</div> + <div class='line'>The craftsmen grin and grudge because I prosper:</div> + <div class='line'>The forest bandits hunger for my goods,</div> + <div class='line'>Yea, and would eat mine anvil if they might—</div> + <div class='line'>Trow ye what saves me, Sirs? A Hound is mine,</div> + <div class='line'>Each eve I loose him, lion-like, and fell;</div> + <div class='line'>The blood of many a rogue is on his mouth:</div> + <div class='line'>The bravest, if they hear him bay far off,</div> + <div class='line'>Flee like a deer!” Setanta’s shout rang loud</div> + <div class='line'>That moment at the gate, and, with it blent,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>The baying of that hound! “The boy is dead,”</div> + <div class='line'>King Conor cried in horror. Forth they rushed—</div> + <div class='line'>There stood he, bright and calm, his rigid hands</div> + <div class='line'>Clasping the dead hound’s throat! They wept for joy:</div> + <div class='line'>The armourer wept for grief. “My friend is dead!</div> + <div class='line'>My friend that kept my house and me at peace:</div> + <div class='line'>My friend that loved his lord!” Setanta heard</div> + <div class='line'>Then first that cry forth issuing from the heart</div> + <div class='line'>Of him whose labour wins his children’s bread;</div> + <div class='line'>That cry he honours yet. Red-cheeked he spake;</div> + <div class='line'>“Cullain! unwittingly I did thee wrong!</div> + <div class='line'>I make amends. I, child of kings, henceforth</div> + <div class='line'>Abide, thy watch-hound, warder of thy house.”</div> + <div class='line'>Thenceforth the ‘Hound of Cullain’<a id='r29'></a><a href='#f29' class='c008'><sup>[29]</sup></a> was his name,</div> + <div class='line'>And Cullain’s house well warded.’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">And Cullain’s house well warded.’</span> Stern of brow</div> + <div class='line'>The queen arose: ‘Enough of fables, lords!</div> + <div class='line'>Drink to the victory! Ere yon moon is dead</div> + <div class='line'>We knock at gates of Eman.’ High she held</div> + <div class='line'>The crimson goblet. Instant, felt ere heard,</div> + <div class='line'>Vibration strange troubled the moonlit air;</div> + <div class='line'>A long-drawn hiss o’er-ran it: then a cry,</div> + <div class='line'>Death-cry of warrior wounded to the death.</div> + <div class='line'>They rose: they gazed around: upon a rock</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain stood. The warrior said in heart,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>‘I will not slay her; yet her pride shall die!’</div> + <div class='line'>Again that hiss: instant the golden crown</div> + <div class='line'>Fell from her head! In anger round she glared:—</div> + <div class='line'>Once more that hiss long-drawn, and in her hand</div> + <div class='line'>The goblet, shivered, stood! She cast it down;</div> + <div class='line'>She cried; ‘Since first I sat, a queen new-crowned,</div> + <div class='line'>Never such ignominy, or spleen of scorn</div> + <div class='line'>Hath mocked my greatness!’ Fiercely rushed the chiefs</div> + <div class='line'>Against the aggressor. Through the high-roofed woods</div> + <div class='line'>They saw him distant like a falling star</div> + <div class='line'>Kindling the air with speed. Ere long, close by</div> + <div class='line'>He stood with sling high holden. At its sound</div> + <div class='line'>Ever some great one died!</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Ever some great one died!</span> The morrow morn</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain reached a lawn: tall autumn grass</div> + <div class='line'>Whitened within it; but the Beech trees round</div> + <div class='line'>Were russet brown, the thorn-brakes berry-flushed:</div> + <div class='line'>Passing, he raised his spear, and launched it forth</div> + <div class='line'>Earthward: there stood it buried in the soil</div> + <div class='line'>Halfway, and quivering. Loud Cuchullain laughed,</div> + <div class='line'>And cried, ‘It quivers like the tail of swine</div> + <div class='line'>Gladdened by acorn feast!’ then drew he rein</div> + <div class='line'>And with one sword-stroke felled a youngling Birch</div> + <div class='line'>And bound it to that spear, and on its bark</div> + <div class='line'>Silvery and smooth, graved with his lance’s point</div> + <div class='line'>In Ogham characters the words, ‘Beware!</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>Unless thou know’st what hand this Ogham traced</div> + <div class='line'>Twine yonder berries mid thy young bride’s locks,</div> + <div class='line'>But spare to tempt that hand!’ An hour passed by</div> + <div class='line'>And Meave had reached the spot. Chief following chief</div> + <div class='line'>Drew near in turn; yet none could drag from earth</div> + <div class='line'>That spear deep-buried. Fergus laughed; ‘Let be</div> + <div class='line'>Connacians! Task is here for Uladh’s hand!’</div> + <div class='line'>Then, standing in his car, he clutched the spear</div> + <div class='line'>And tugged it thrice. The third time ’neath his feet</div> + <div class='line'>Down crashed the strong-built chariot to the ground.</div> + <div class='line'>He laughed! The queen in anger cried, ‘March on!’</div> + <div class='line'>The host advanced, disordered. Foremost drave</div> + <div class='line'>Orloff, Meave’s son. That morning he had wed</div> + <div class='line'>A maid, the loveliest in his mother’s court,</div> + <div class='line'>And yearned to prove his valour in her eyes.</div> + <div class='line'>Sudden he came to where Cuchullain stood</div> + <div class='line'>Pasturing his steeds with grass and flower forth held</div> + <div class='line'>In wooing, dallying hand. Cuchullain said</div> + <div class='line'>‘The queen’s son this! I will not harm the youth,’</div> + <div class='line'>And waved him to depart. That stripling turned</div> + <div class='line'>Yet, turning, hurled his javelin. As it flew</div> + <div class='line'>The swift one caught it; poised it; hurled it home:</div> + <div class='line'>It pierced that youth from back to breast; he fell</div> + <div class='line'>Dead on the chariot’s floor. The steeds rushed on</div> + <div class='line'>Wind-swift; and reached the camp. There sat the queen</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>Throned in her car, listening the host’s applause:</div> + <div class='line'>In swoon she fell, and lay as lie the dead.</div> + <div class='line in2'>Next morn again the invaders marched, nor knew</div> + <div class='line'>What foe was he who, mocking, thinned their ranks,</div> + <div class='line'>Trampled their pride; who, lacking spear and car,</div> + <div class='line'>Viewless by day, by night a fleeting fire,</div> + <div class='line'>Dragged down their mightiest, in the death cry shrill</div> + <div class='line'>Drowning the revel. Fergus knew the man,</div> + <div class='line'>Fergus alone; nor yet divulged his name,</div> + <div class='line'>Oft muttering, ‘These be men who fight for Bulls—</div> + <div class='line'>I war to shake a Perjurer from his throne,</div> + <div class='line'>And count no brave man foe.’ Again at feast</div> + <div class='line'>Ailill made question of the Red Branch Knights:</div> + <div class='line'><a id='tn-fergusreplied'></a>Fergus replied; ‘Cuchullain is their best:</div> + <div class='line'>I taught him arms! Hear of his Knighting Day!</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Northward of Eman lies a pleasaunce green:</div> + <div class='line'>The Arch-Druid, Cathbad, gazer on the stars,</div> + <div class='line'>While there the youths contended, beckoned one</div> + <div class='line'>And whispered, “Happy shall that stripling prove</div> + <div class='line'>Knighted this day! Glorious his life, though brief!”</div> + <div class='line'>That hour Cuchullain stood beyond the wall</div> + <div class='line'>South of the city, yet that whisper heard!</div> + <div class='line'>He heard, and cried; “Enough one day of life</div> + <div class='line'>If great my deeds, and helpful!” Swift of foot</div> + <div class='line'>He sped to Conor. “I demand, great king,</div> + <div class='line'>Knighthood this day, and knighthood at thy hand.”</div> + <div class='line'>But Conor laughed; “Not fifteen years are thine!</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>Withhold thyself yet three.” That self-same hour</div> + <div class='line'>Old Cathbad entered, and his Druid clan,</div> + <div class='line'>And spake; “King Conor! by my bed last night</div> + <div class='line'>Great Macha stood, the worship of our race,</div> + <div class='line'>Our strength in realms unseen. ‘Arise,’ she said;</div> + <div class='line'>‘To Conor speed: to him report my will:</div> + <div class='line'>That youth knighted this day is mine Elect!</div> + <div class='line'>I, Macha, send him forth!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">I, Macha, send him forth!’</span> ‘“She spake and passed:</div> + <div class='line'>Trembled the place like cliffs o’er ocean caves:</div> + <div class='line'>Like thunder underground I heard her wheels</div> + <div class='line'>In echoes slowly dying.”</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">In echoes slowly dying.</span> ‘Fixed and firm</div> + <div class='line'>King Conor stood. Sternly he made reply:</div> + <div class='line'>“Queen Macha had her day and ruled: far down</div> + <div class='line'>Doubtless this hour she rules, or rules aloft:</div> + <div class='line'>I rule in Eman and this Uladh realm:</div> + <div class='line'>I will not knight a stripling!” Prophet-like</div> + <div class='line'>Up-towered old Cathbad, and his clan black-stoled.</div> + <div class='line'>This way and that they rolled prophetic bolts</div> + <div class='line'>Three hours; and brake with warnings from the stars</div> + <div class='line'>And mandates from the synod of the Gods,</div> + <div class='line'>The king’s resolve. At last he cried, “So be it!</div> + <div class='line'>Since Gods, like men, grow witless, be it so!</div> + <div class='line'>The worse for Eman, and great Macha’s land—</div> + <div class='line'>Stand forth, my sister’s son!” He spake and bound</div> + <div class='line'>The Geisa, and the edicts, and the vows</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>Of that dread Red Branch Order on the boy,</div> + <div class='line'>And gave him sword and lance.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">And gave him sword and lance.</span> ‘An eye star-keen</div> + <div class='line'>That boy upon them fixed, and, each on each,</div> + <div class='line'>Smote them. They snapt in twain. Laughing, he cried,</div> + <div class='line'>“Good art thou, Uncle mine; but these are base:</div> + <div class='line'>I need a warrior’s weapons!” Conor signed;</div> + <div class='line'>Then brought his knaves ten swords, and lances ten:</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain eyed them each and snapt them all,</div> + <div class='line'>The concourse marvelling. “Varlets,” cried the king,</div> + <div class='line'>“Bring forth my arms of battle!” These in turn</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain proved: they brake not. Up they dragged</div> + <div class='line'>A battle-car. Cuchullain leaped therein:</div> + <div class='line'>With feet far set he spurned its brazen floor</div> + <div class='line'>That roared and sank in fragments. Chariots twelve</div> + <div class='line'>Successive thus he vanquished. “Uncle mine,</div> + <div class='line'>Good art thou,” cried the youth; “but these are base!”</div> + <div class='line'>King Conor signed, “My car of battle!” Leagh</div> + <div class='line'>The charioteer forth brought it with the steeds:</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain proved that war-car and it stood.</div> + <div class='line'>Careless he spake: “So, well! The car will serve!</div> + <div class='line'>Abide ye my return.”</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Abide ye my return.’</span> ‘He shook the reins:</div> + <div class='line'>He called the horses by their names well-known:</div> + <div class='line'>He dashed through Eman’s gateway as a storm:</div> + <div class='line'>Far off a darksome wood and darksome tower</div> + <div class='line'>Frowned over Mallok’s wave: therein abode</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>Three bandit chieftains, foes to man: well pleased</div> + <div class='line'>Those bandits eyed the on-rushing car, and youth,</div> + <div class='line'>Exulting in their prey: arrived, with gibes</div> + <div class='line'>He summoned them to judgment: forth they thronged,</div> + <div class='line'>They and their clan: he slew them with his sling,</div> + <div class='line'>The three; and severed with his sword their heads,</div> + <div class='line'>And fixed them on the chariot’s front. His mood</div> + <div class='line'>Changed into mirthful: fleeter than the wind</div> + <div class='line'>Six stags went by him, stateliest of the herd;</div> + <div class='line'>Afoot he chased them, caught them, bound them fast</div> + <div class='line'>Behind the chariot rail. Birds saw he next</div> + <div class='line'>White as a foam-wreath of their native sea,</div> + <div class='line'>Spotting the glebe new turned. A net lay near:</div> + <div class='line'>He caged them; next he tied them to his car</div> + <div class='line'>Wide-winged, and wailing loud. To Eman’s towers</div> + <div class='line'>Returned he then with laughter: at its gate</div> + <div class='line'>The king, the chiefs, grey Druids, maids red-cloaked,</div> + <div class='line'>Agape to see him—on his chariot’s front</div> + <div class='line'>The grim heads of those bandits; in its rear</div> + <div class='line'>Those stags wide-horned; and, high o’erhead the birds!’</div> + <div class='line in2'>The laughter ceasing, spake King Conor’s son;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Recount the wonder of those fairy steeds</div> + <div class='line'>That drag Cuchullain’s war-car!’ Fergus then,</div> + <div class='line'>Despite Queen Meave, who plaited still her robe</div> + <div class='line'>With angry hectic hand, the tale began.</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Cuchullain paced the herbage thin that clothes</div> + <div class='line'>Slieve Fuad’s summit. On that airy height</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>A wan lake glittered, whitening in the blast,</div> + <div class='line'>Pale plains around it. From beneath that lake</div> + <div class='line'>Emerged a horse foam-white! Cuchullain saw,</div> + <div class='line'>And straightway round that creature’s neck high-held</div> + <div class='line'>Locked the lithe arms no struggles could unwind.</div> + <div class='line'>That courser baffled clothed his strength with speed:</div> + <div class='line'>From cliff to cliff he sped; cleared at a bound</div> + <div class='line'>Inlet, and rocky rift; nor stayed his course,</div> + <div class='line'>Men say, till he had circled Erin’s Isle.</div> + <div class='line'>Panting then lay he, on his conqueror’s knee</div> + <div class='line'>Resting his head; thenceforth that conqueror’s friend,</div> + <div class='line'>His “Liath Macha.” Gentle-souled is she</div> + <div class='line'>“Sangland,” the wild one’s comrade. As the night</div> + <div class='line'>Sank on those huge red-berried woods of Yew</div> + <div class='line'>Loch Darvra’s girdle, from beneath the wave</div> + <div class='line'>She issued, darker still. Softly she paced,</div> + <div class='line'>As though with woman’s foot, the grassy marge</div> + <div class='line'>In violets diapered, and laid her head</div> + <div class='line'>Upon Cuchullain’s shoulder. In his wars</div> + <div class='line'>Emulous those mated marvels drag his car:</div> + <div class='line'>In peace he yokes them never.’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">In peace he yokes them never.’</span> Fergus rose:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Night wanes,’ he said, ‘and tasks await my hand:’</div> + <div class='line'>Passing the throne he whispered thus the queen,</div> + <div class='line'>‘The Hound of Uladh is your visitant</div> + <div class='line'>Both day and night.’ The cheek of Meave grew pale.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span> + <h3 id='the-foray-of-queen-meave-2' class='c005'>FRAGMENT II.</h3> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div><i>THE DEEDS OF CUCHULLAIN.</i></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div><span class='sc'>Argument.</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='small'>Fergus is sent to Cuchullain with gifts, and requires him to forsake +King Conor. This he will not do, yet consents to forbear Meave’s +host till she has reached the border of Uladh, the queen engaging +that the warfare shall then be restricted to a combat between himself +and a single champion sent against him day by day. Each day +Meave’s champion is slain. Cailitin, lord of the Magic Clan, +counsels Meave to send against Cuchullain his best-loved friend +Ferdīa; yet she sends, instead, Lok Mac Favesh. When he too +falls, Cailitin and his twenty-seven sons, all magicians, fling themselves +upon Cuchullain to slay him. Cuchullain slays them. The +Mor Reega, the War-Goddess of the Gael, prophesies to him that +there yet awaits him the greatest of his trials. After ninety days of +combat Cuchullain’s father brings him tidings that all Uladh lies +bound under a spell of imbecility.</span></p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c003'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Thus ever day by day, and night by night,</div> + <div class='line'>Through strength of him that mid the royal host</div> + <div class='line'>Passed, and re-passed like thought, the bravest fell;</div> + <div class='line'>For ne’er against the inglorious or the small</div> + <div class='line'>That warrior raised his hand. Then Ailill spake;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Let Fergus seek that champion in the woods,</div> + <div class='line'>Gift-laden, and withdraw him from his king:’</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>But Fergus answered; ‘Sue and be refused!</div> + <div class='line'>That great one loves his country. Heard ye never</div> + <div class='line'>How when King Conor’s sin, that forfeit pledge</div> + <div class='line'>Plighted with Usnach’s sons, had left the Accursed</div> + <div class='line'>Crownless, and Eman’s bulwarks in the dust,</div> + <div class='line'>Her elders on Cuchullain worked, what time</div> + <div class='line'>He came my work of vengeance to complete?</div> + <div class='line'>They said, “Cuchullain loves his land o’er all!</div> + <div class='line'>The man besides, though terrible to foes,</div> + <div class='line'>Is tender to the weak. Through Eman’s streets</div> + <div class='line'>Send ye proclaim, ‘Will any holy Maid</div> + <div class='line'>To save the city take her station sole</div> + <div class='line'>On yonder bridge, at parting of the ways,</div> + <div class='line'>That city’s Emblem-Victim, robed in black</div> + <div class='line'>Down from her girdle to the naked feet;</div> + <div class='line'>Above that girdle this alone—the chains</div> + <div class='line'>Of Eman’s gate, circling that virgin throat</div> + <div class='line'>And down at each side streaming? It may be</div> + <div class='line'>That dread one will relent, pitying in her</div> + <div class='line'>Great Uladh’s self despoiled of robe and crown,</div> + <div class='line'>Her raiment bonds and shame.’ Of Eman’s maids</div> + <div class='line'>But one, the best and purest gave consent:</div> + <div class='line'>Alone she stood at parting of the ways:</div> + <div class='line'>While near and nearer yet that war-car drew</div> + <div class='line'>Wide-eyed she stood, death-pale: it stopp’d: she spake;</div> + <div class='line in2'>Eman, thy Mother, stands a widow now:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>And many a famished babe that wrought no ill</div> + <div class='line'>Lies mid her ruins wailing.” To the left</div> + <div class='line'>The warrior turned his steeds. The land was saved.’</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then spake the kings confederate; ‘Hard albeit</div> + <div class='line'>That task, to draw Cuchullain from his charge,</div> + <div class='line'>Seek him, and proffer terms!’ Fergus next morn</div> + <div class='line'>Made way through those sea-skirting woods, and cried</div> + <div class='line'>Three times, ‘Setanta;’ and Cuchullain heard</div> + <div class='line'>And knew that voice, and, beaming, issued forth,</div> + <div class='line'>And clasped his ancient master round the neck,</div> + <div class='line'>And led him to his sylvan cell. Therein</div> + <div class='line'>Long time they held discourse of ancient days</div> + <div class='line'>Heaven-fair through mist of years. The youthful host</div> + <div class='line'>Set forth their rural feast, whate’er the woods</div> + <div class='line'>And they that in them dwelt, swine-herds, and hinds,</div> + <div class='line'>Yielded, their best: nor lacked it minstrel strain,</div> + <div class='line'><a id='tn-boughs'></a>Bird-song by autumn chilled, that brake through boughs</div> + <div class='line'>Lit by unwarming sunshine. Banquet o’er,</div> + <div class='line'>Fergus his errand shewed, and named the gifts</div> + <div class='line'>By Ailill sent, and Meave. Cuchullain rose</div> + <div class='line'>And curtly answered; ‘Never will I break</div> + <div class='line'>My vow; nor wrong the land; nor sell my king:’</div> + <div class='line'>Fergus too royal was to hear surprised,</div> + <div class='line'>Or grieved, his friend’s resolve, nor touched again</div> + <div class='line'>Upon that pact unworthy. Happier themes</div> + <div class='line'>Succeeded, mirthful some. Of these the last</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>Made sport of Ailill. Fergus spake; ‘One night</div> + <div class='line'>To Meave’s pavilion swift of foot I sped;</div> + <div class='line'>War-tidings wait not. Ailill from afar</div> + <div class='line'>Furtively followed, stung by jealous spleen.</div> + <div class='line'>The queen had passed into the inner tent;</div> + <div class='line'>I sought her there. In the outer Ailill marked</div> + <div class='line'>My sword, that morning thither sent, a loan,</div> + <div class='line'>For Meave had vowed with braided gems, her boast,</div> + <div class='line'>To out-brave its hilt. His wrath was changed to joy!</div> + <div class='line'>He snatched it up; he cried; “Hail, forfeit mine!</div> + <div class='line'>Hail Eric just!”<a id='r30'></a><a href='#f30' class='c008'><sup>[30]</sup></a> and laughed his childish laugh.</div> + <div class='line'>Since then he neither frowns on me nor smiles:</div> + <div class='line'>He will not let me rule his foolish kings;</div> + <div class='line'>Yet, deeming still my sword a charm ’gainst fate</div> + <div class='line'>Wears it. An apter one for him I keep:</div> + <div class='line'>One day ’twill raise a laugh!’ In graver mood</div> + <div class='line'>At parting Fergus spake; ‘For thee unmeet</div> + <div class='line'>That pact of Meave, though not for her: but thou</div> + <div class='line'>Conceal not, know’st thou meeter terms, and fit?’</div> + <div class='line'>To whom Cuchullain; ‘Fergus, terms there be,</div> + <div class='line'>Other, and fitter. I divulge them not:</div> + <div class='line'>Divine them he that seeks them!’ On the morn</div> + <div class='line'>Fergus these things narrated to the chiefs</div> + <div class='line'>In synod met. Then rose a recreant churl,</div> + <div class='line'>And thus gave counsel; ‘Lure Cuchullain here</div> + <div class='line'>On pretext fair; and slay him at the feast!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>Against that recreant Fergus hurled his spear,</div> + <div class='line'>And slew him, and continued, ‘Hundreds six,</div> + <div class='line'>Our best, have perished, and our march is slow:</div> + <div class='line'>Now, warriors, hear my counsel, and my terms.</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain scorns your gifts—of such no more!</div> + <div class='line'>’Twixt southern Erin and my Uladh’s realm,</div> + <div class='line'>Runs Neeth: across that river lies a ford;</div> + <div class='line'>Speak to Cuchullain; “By that ford stand thou,</div> + <div class='line'>Guarding thy land. Against thee, day by day,</div> + <div class='line'>Be ours to send one champion—one alone:—</div> + <div class='line'>While lasts that strife forbear the host beside!”’</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then roared the kings a long and loud applause,</div> + <div class='line'>Since wise appeared that counsel: faith they pledged,</div> + <div class='line'>And sureties in the hearing of the Gods:</div> + <div class='line'>Likewise Cuchullain, when his friend returned,</div> + <div class='line'>Made answer; ‘Well you guessed! a month or more</div> + <div class='line'>My strength will hold: meantime our Uladh arms.’</div> + <div class='line'>To seal that pact he sought the hostile camp,</div> + <div class='line'>And shared the banquet. Wondering, all men gazed,</div> + <div class='line'>And maidens, lifted on the warriors’ shields,</div> + <div class='line'>Gladdened, so bright that youthful face. At morn</div> + <div class='line'>Meave, when the chief departed, kissed his cheek:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Pity,’ she said, ‘that such a one should die!’</div> + <div class='line'>The one sole time that Meave compassion felt.</div> + <div class='line in2'>That eve Cuchullain drank the wave of Neeth,</div> + <div class='line'>And wading reached Murthemné’s soil, his charge</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>And knelt, and kissed it. As the sun declined</div> + <div class='line'>He clomb a rocky height, and northward gazed,</div> + <div class='line'>And cried; ‘Ye Red Branch warriors, haste! I keep</div> + <div class='line'>The ford; but who shall guard it when I die?’</div> + <div class='line in2'>Next morning by that stream the fight began,</div> + <div class='line'>Two champions face to face: and, every morn,</div> + <div class='line'>Rang out, renewed, that combat; every eve</div> + <div class='line'>Again went up from that confederate host</div> + <div class='line'>The shout of rage. Daily their bravest died,</div> + <div class='line'>Thirty in thirty days. Feerbraoth fell;</div> + <div class='line'>And Natherandal, though the Druid horde</div> + <div class='line'>Above his javelins, carved at set of moon</div> + <div class='line'>From the ever-sacred holly stem, had breathed</div> + <div class='line'>Vain consecration, and with futile salve</div> + <div class='line'>Anointed them: confuted soon they sailed</div> + <div class='line'>In ignominy adown that seaward tide</div> + <div class='line'>With him that hurled them. Eterconnel next,</div> + <div class='line'>Dalot, and Cuir. Yet he who laid them low</div> + <div class='line'>Was beardless at the lip:—While thus they strove</div> + <div class='line'>A second month went by.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">A second month went by.</span> Such things beholding</div> + <div class='line'>The queen was moved; and in her grew one day</div> + <div class='line'>Craving for Cruachan. But on her ear</div> + <div class='line'>Rolled forth that hour the lowings of that Bull</div> + <div class='line'>Cuailgné’s Donn: for he from Daré’s house</div> + <div class='line'>Had heard, though far, the clamours of the host,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>And answered rage with rage. Then Meave resolved,</div> + <div class='line'>Though all my host should perish to a man</div> + <div class='line'>This foot shall tread no more my native plains</div> + <div class='line'>Save with that Bull in charge!</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Save with that Bull in charge!</span> To her by night</div> + <div class='line'>Came Cailitin, who ever walked by night</div> + <div class='line'>Shunning mankind, and Fergus most of all,</div> + <div class='line'>Cailitin, father of the Magic Clan,</div> + <div class='line'>And thus addressed her; ‘Place in me thy trust!</div> + <div class='line'>I hate Cuchullain, for he hates my spells</div> + <div class='line'>Resting his hope on virtue. In thy camp</div> + <div class='line'>Ferdīa bides, a Firbolg feared of all.</div> + <div class='line'>Win him to meet Cuchullain. They in youth</div> + <div class='line'>Were friends: to slay that friend will lay a hand</div> + <div class='line'>Icy as death upon Cuchullain’s heart.</div> + <div class='line'>Ferdīa dies—thus much mine art foreshews—</div> + <div class='line'>Then I, since magic spells have puissance most</div> + <div class='line'>Upon a soul depressed and body sick,</div> + <div class='line'>Fall on him with my seven and twenty sons,</div> + <div class='line'>Magicians all. One are we: thence with one</div> + <div class='line'>May fight, thy pledge unflawed. A drop of blood</div> + <div class='line'>Shed by our swords, though small as beetle’s eye,</div> + <div class='line'>Costs him his life.’ Fiercely the queen replied,</div> + <div class='line'>‘A Firbolg! Never!’ Cailitin resumed,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Then send for Lok Mac Favesh!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">‘Then send for Lok Mac Favesh!’</span> With the morn</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>Mac Favesh sought her tent. Direful his mien;</div> + <div class='line'>Massive his stride; his body brawny and huge;</div> + <div class='line'>For, though of Gaelic race, the stock of Ir,</div> + <div class='line'>With him was mingled giant blood of old,</div> + <div class='line'>Wild blood of Nemedh’s brood that hurled sea rocks</div> + <div class='line'>’Gainst the Fomorian. Oft the advancing tide</div> + <div class='line'>Drowned both, in battle knit. Before the queen</div> + <div class='line'>Boastful the sea-king laid his club, and spake:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Queen, though to combat with a beardless boy</div> + <div class='line'>Affronts my name, my lineage, and my strength,</div> + <div class='line'>His petulance shall vex thine eye no more!</div> + <div class='line'>Uladh is thine to-morrow!’ At the dawn</div> + <div class='line'>By hundreds girt, the great ones of his clan,</div> + <div class='line'>Down drave he to the ford, and onward strode</div> + <div class='line'>Trampling the last year’s branches strewn hard by</div> + <div class='line'>That snapp’d beneath him. Hides of oxen seven</div> + <div class='line'>Sustained the brazen bosses of his shield;</div> + <div class='line'>And forth he stretched a hand that might have grasped</div> + <div class='line'>A tiger’s throat and choked him. O’er his helm</div> + <div class='line'>Hovered an imaged demon raven-black.</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain met him; hours endured the strife,</div> + <div class='line'>That mountained strength triumphant now, anon</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain’s might divine. Then first that might</div> + <div class='line'>Was fully tasked. Upon the bank that day</div> + <div class='line'>Stood up a Portent seen by none save him,</div> + <div class='line'>A Shape not human. Terribly it fixed</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>On him alone its never-wandering eye;</div> + <div class='line'>The dread Mor Reega,<a id='r31'></a><a href='#f31' class='c008'><sup>[31]</sup></a> she that from the skies</div> + <div class='line'>O’er-rules the battle-fields, and sways at will</div> + <div class='line'>This way or that the sable tides of death.</div> + <div class='line'>He gazed; and, though incapable of fear,</div> + <div class='line'>Awe, such as heroes feel, possessed his heart:</div> + <div class='line'>Its beatings shook his brain: his corporal mould</div> + <div class='line'>Throbbed as a branch against some river swift;</div> + <div class='line'>And backward turned his hair like berried trails</div> + <div class='line'>Of thorn athwart the hedge. Three several times</div> + <div class='line'>He saw her, yet fought on. With beckoning hand</div> + <div class='line'>At last that Portent summoned from the main</div> + <div class='line'>A huge sea-snake: round him it twined its knots:</div> + <div class='line'>Then on Cuchullain fell the rage from heaven:</div> + <div class='line'>A sword-blow, and that vast sea-worm lay dead!</div> + <div class='line'>A sword uplifted, and Mac Favesh fell</div> + <div class='line'>Prone on the shuddering flood. In death he cried,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Lay me with forehead turned to Uladh’s realm;—</div> + <div class='line'>They shall not say that fugitive I died.’</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain wrought his will: then, bleeding fast,</div> + <div class='line'>Stood upright, leaning on his spear aslant;</div> + <div class='line'>A warrior battle-wearied.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">A warrior battle-wearied.</span> From the bank</div> + <div class='line'>Meantime, the dark magician, Cailitin,</div> + <div class='line'>He and his sons, with wide and greedy eyes,</div> + <div class='line'>That still, like one man’s eyes, together moved,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>Had watched that fight, counting each drop that fell</div> + <div class='line'>Down from Cuchullain’s wounds. When faint he stood</div> + <div class='line'>At once their cry rang out like one man’s cry;</div> + <div class='line'>Like one their seven and twenty javelins flew:</div> + <div class='line'>As swift, Cuchullain caught them on his shield:</div> + <div class='line'>An instant more, and all that horde accursed</div> + <div class='line'>Was dealing with him. From the trampled ford</div> + <div class='line'>Went up a mist of spray that veiled that strife,</div> + <div class='line'>Though pierced by demon cries, and flash beside</div> + <div class='line'>Of demon swords. O’er it at last up-towered</div> + <div class='line'>On-borne, such power to blend have Spirits impure,</div> + <div class='line'>A single Form—as when o’er seas storm-laid</div> + <div class='line'>The watery column reels, and draws from heaven</div> + <div class='line'>The cloud, and drowns the ship—a single Form,</div> + <div class='line'>And Head, and Hand, clutching Cuchullain’s crest:</div> + <div class='line'>Not wholly sank he. O’er that mist of spray</div> + <div class='line'>Glittered his sword. There fell a silence strange:</div> + <div class='line'>Slowly that mist dispersed; and on the sands</div> + <div class='line'>That false Enchanter lay with all his sons</div> + <div class='line'>Black, bleeding bulks of death.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Black, bleeding bulks of death.</span> Amid them stood</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain; near him, seen by him alone,</div> + <div class='line'>That dread Mor Reega, now benign. She spake:</div> + <div class='line'>‘I hated thee, since less in me thy trust</div> + <div class='line'>Than in great Virtue’s aid. I hate no more.</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>Be strong! a trial waits thee heavier yet—</div> + <div class='line'>No man is friend of mine till trial-proved.’</div> + <div class='line in2'>Yet sad at heart that eve Cuchullain clomb</div> + <div class='line'>His wonted rock, and faint with loss of blood,</div> + <div class='line'>And mused; <a id='tn-lessenday'></a>‘My strength must lessen day by day;’</div> + <div class='line'>And northward gazed, thus murmuring; ‘All too late</div> + <div class='line'>To save the land those Red Branch Knights will come</div> + <div class='line'>When I am dead—</div> + <div class='line'>My war-car, and my war-steeds are far off</div> + <div class='line'>And I am here alone.’ Through grief that night</div> + <div class='line'>He slept not; for the Magic Clan had power,</div> + <div class='line'>Though dead, to lean above him as a cloud</div> + <div class='line'>Darkening his spirit. Happy days gone by</div> + <div class='line'>They changed to grief and shame.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">They changed to grief and shame.</span> While thus he sat</div> + <div class='line'>He saw, not distant, on the forest floor,</div> + <div class='line'>In moonbeams clad, though moon was near him none,</div> + <div class='line'>A pure and princely presence. Lithe his form</div> + <div class='line'>In youthful prime: chain armour round him clung</div> + <div class='line'>Bright as if woven of diamonds. Glad his eye;</div> + <div class='line'>Dulcet his voice as strain from Elfin glen</div> + <div class='line'>Far heard o’er waters. Thus that warrior spake:</div> + <div class='line'>‘My child, an ancestor of thine I come,</div> + <div class='line'>Great Ethland’s son, in virtuous battle slain.</div> + <div class='line'>Among the Sidils<a id='r32'></a><a href='#f32' class='c008'><sup>[32]</sup></a> now, and fairy haunts</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>Moon-lit, and under depths of lucent lakes,</div> + <div class='line'>Gladness I have who in my day had woe,</div> + <div class='line'>And youth perpetual though I died in age.</div> + <div class='line'>Repose thou need’st: for sixty days thine eyes</div> + <div class='line'>Have closed reluctant. Sleep a three days’ sleep</div> + <div class='line'>Whilst I thy semblance bearing meet thy foes.’</div> + <div class='line'>Thus spake the youth, then sang Lethean song,</div> + <div class='line'>And, straight, Cuchullain slept. Three days gone by,</div> + <div class='line'>Again that vision came. ‘Arise,’ he said:</div> + <div class='line'>The warrior rose; and lo! his wounds were healed:</div> + <div class='line'>Down to the river sped he.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Down to the river sped he.</span> Waiting there</div> + <div class='line'>Stood up Iarion, champion of the queen,</div> + <div class='line'>There stood, nor thence returned. Eochar next</div> + <div class='line'>Perished, then Tubar, Chylair, Alp, and Ord,</div> + <div class='line'>In all full ninety warriors. Ninety days</div> + <div class='line'>Had fled successive since that strife began,</div> + <div class='line'>When, on the evening of the ninetieth day,</div> + <div class='line'>His strength entire, and victory eagle-winged</div> + <div class='line'>Fanning his ardent cheek, Cuchullain scaled</div> + <div class='line'>Once more that specular rock. Within his heart</div> + <div class='line'>Spirit illusive that, with purpose veiled,</div> + <div class='line'>Oft tries the loftiest most, this presage sang</div> + <div class='line'>‘Southward, not distant, thou shalt see them march</div> + <div class='line'>At last, that Red Branch Order, in their van</div> + <div class='line'>Thy Conal Carnach!’ Other spectacle</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>Met him, a chariot small with horses small,</div> + <div class='line'>And, <a id='tn-oertheaxle'></a>o’er the axle bent, a small old man</div> + <div class='line'>Urging them feebly on. It was his sire!</div> + <div class='line'>T’wards him Cuchullain rushed: the old man wept,</div> + <div class='line'>For gladness wept, and afterwards for woe,</div> + <div class='line'>Kissing the wounds unnumbered of his son:</div> + <div class='line'>Reverent, Cuchullain led him to his cell;</div> + <div class='line'>Reverent, he placed before him wine and meat;</div> + <div class='line'>Nor questioned yet. The old man satisfied,</div> + <div class='line'>Garrulity returned, though less than once,</div> + <div class='line'>Now quelled by patriot passion. Thus he spake:—</div> + <div class='line'>‘Setanta! son of mine! I bring ill news:</div> + <div class='line'>Uladh is mad; the Red Branch House is mad:</div> + <div class='line'>We two are mad; and all the world are mad,</div> + <div class='line'>Mad as thy mother! Through the realm I sped:</div> + <div class='line'>A mist hung o’er it heavy, and on her sons</div> + <div class='line'>Imbecile spirit, and a heartless mind,</div> + <div class='line'>And base soul-sickness. Evermore I cried,</div> + <div class='line'>“Arise! the stranger’s foot is on your soil:</div> + <div class='line'>They come to stall their horses in your halls;</div> + <div class='line'>To slay your sons; enslave your spotless maids;</div> + <div class='line'>Alone my son withstands them!” Shrewd of eye</div> + <div class='line'>Men answered; “Merchant; see thy wares be sound!</div> + <div class='line'>No lack-wits we!” Old seers I saw that decked</div> + <div class='line'>Time-honoured foreheads with a jester’s crown:</div> + <div class='line'>I saw an ollamb trample under foot</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>His sacred Oghams: next I saw him grave</div> + <div class='line'>His own blear image on the tide-washed sands,</div> + <div class='line'>Boasting, “The unnumbered ages here shall stoop</div> + <div class='line'>Honouring true Wisdom’s image.” Shepherds set</div> + <div class='line'>The wolf to guard their fold. The wittol bade</div> + <div class='line'>The losel lead his wife to feast and dance:</div> + <div class='line'>Young warriors looked on maids with woman’s eyes.</div> + <div class='line'>I drave to Daré’s Dûn: his loud-voiced sons</div> + <div class='line'>Adored the Donn Cuailgné as their sire,</div> + <div class='line'>And called their sire a calf. To Iliach’s tower</div> + <div class='line'>I sped: he answered; “What! the foe! they come!</div> + <div class='line'>Climb we yon apple trees, and garner store!</div> + <div class='line'>Wayfarers need much victual!” Onward next</div> + <div class='line'>To Sencha’s castle:—On the roof he knelt,</div> + <div class='line'>Self-styled the kingdom’s chief astrologer,</div> + <div class='line'>Waiting the unrisen stars. To Olchar’s Dûn</div> + <div class='line'>I journeyed: wrapp’d in rags the strong man lay,</div> + <div class='line'>Thin from long fast; with eyelids well nigh closed:</div> + <div class='line'>Not less beneath them lay a gleaming streak:</div> + <div class='line'>“Awake me not,” he said: “a dormouse I!</div> + <div class='line'>Till peace returns I simulate to sleep.”</div> + <div class='line'>I sought the brothers Nemeth: one his eyes</div> + <div class='line'>Bent on the smoke-wreath from his chimney’s top,</div> + <div class='line'>One on the foam-streak wavering down the stream;</div> + <div class='line'>While each a finger raised, and said “Tread light!</div> + <div class='line'>Our earth is grass o’er glass!” I sought the mart:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>Men babbled; “Bid the Druids find the king!”</div> + <div class='line'>I sought the Druids’ College: in a hall</div> + <div class='line'>Reed-strewn to smother sound they held debate</div> + <div class='line'>On Firbolg and Dedannan contracts pledged</div> + <div class='line'>Ere landed first the Gael. The Red Branch House</div> + <div class='line'>Was changed to hospital; and knights full-armed</div> + <div class='line'>Nodded o’er lepers’ beds. I sought the king:</div> + <div class='line'>From hall deserted on to hall I roamed:</div> + <div class='line'>I found him in his armoury walled around</div> + <div class='line'>With mail of warriors dead. There stood, or lay,</div> + <div class='line'>The chiefs by Uladh worshipp’d. Nearest, crouched</div> + <div class='line'>Great Conal Carnach patting of his sword</div> + <div class='line'>Like nurse that lulls an infant. On his throne</div> + <div class='line'>Sat Conchobar in miniver and gold:</div> + <div class='line'>His eyes were on his grandsire’s shield that breathed</div> + <div class='line'>At times a sigh athwart the steel-lit gloom:</div> + <div class='line'>Around his lips an idiot’s smile was curled:</div> + <div class='line'>“What will be will be,” spake the king at last:</div> + <div class='line'>“All things go well.”’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">“All things go well.”’</span> Thus Saltain told his tale:</div> + <div class='line'>One thing he told not—how, a moment’s space,</div> + <div class='line'>The passion of an old man’s scorn had wrought</div> + <div class='line'>Deliverance strange for that astonished throng,</div> + <div class='line'>High miracle of nature. He, the man</div> + <div class='line'>Despised since youth, the laughter of the crowd,</div> + <div class='line'>Himself restored to youth by change like death,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>Had rolled his voice abroad, a mighty voice;</div> + <div class='line'>They heard it: from their trance they burst: they stood</div> + <div class='line'>Radiant once more with mind! They stood till died</div> + <div class='line'>The noble anger’s latest echo. Then</div> + <div class='line'>That mist storm-riven put forth once more its hand,</div> + <div class='line'>And downward dragged its prey.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">And downward dragged its prey.</span> Upon his feet</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain sprang, his father’s tale complete:</div> + <div class='line'>That rage divine which gave him strength divine</div> + <div class='line'>Had fallen on him from heaven. He raised his hands,</div> + <div class='line'>And roared against the synod of the Gods</div> + <div class='line'>That suffer shames below. Beyond the stream</div> + <div class='line'>That host confederate heard and armed in haste,</div> + <div class='line'>And slept that night in armour. Far away</div> + <div class='line'>Compassion touched the strong hearts of the Gods,</div> + <div class='line'>The strongest most—Mor Reega’s. Ere that cry</div> + <div class='line'>Had left its last vibration on the air</div> + <div class='line'>High up the Battle-Goddess, adamant-mailed,</div> + <div class='line'>Was drifting over Uladh. Eman’s towers</div> + <div class='line'>Flashed back her helmet’s beam. With lifted spear</div> + <div class='line'>She smote the brazen centre of her shield</div> + <div class='line'>Three times; and thunder, triple-bolted, rolled</div> + <div class='line'>Three times from sea to sea. The spell was snapp’d:</div> + <div class='line'>Humanity returned to man! The first</div> + <div class='line'>Who woke was Leagh, Cuchullain’s charioteer:</div> + <div class='line'>Forth from the opprobrious mist he passed like ship</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>That cleaves the limit of some low marsh-fog</div> + <div class='line'>And sweeps into main ocean. Forth he rushed—</div> + <div class='line'>Forth to Cuchullain’s chariot-house, and dragged</div> + <div class='line'>Abroad that war-car feared of man and yoked</div> + <div class='line'>White Liath Macha, and his comrade black,</div> + <div class='line'>And dashed adown the vacant, echoing streets,</div> + <div class='line'>And passed the gateway towers: the warders slept:</div> + <div class='line'>Beyond them, propp’d against the city wall,</div> + <div class='line'>A cripple crunched his mouldering crust. Still on</div> + <div class='line'>He rushed, the reins forth shaking and the scourge,</div> + <div class='line'>Clamouring and crying; ‘Haste, Cuchullain’s steeds!</div> + <div class='line'>On Liath Macha! Sable Sangland on!</div> + <div class='line'>Your master needs you! Aye! ye know it now!</div> + <div class='line'>The blood-red nostril smells the fight far off!</div> + <div class='line'>On to Murthemné, and Cuailgné’s hills,</div> + <div class='line'>And Neeth’s remembered ford!’ Unseen he drave;</div> + <div class='line'>So slowly, clinging still to brake and rock,</div> + <div class='line'>And oft re-settling, vanished from the land</div> + <div class='line'>The insane mist. That hurricane of wheels</div> + <div class='line'>Not less was heard by men who nothing saw:</div> + <div class='line'>On stony plain, in hamlet, and in vale:—</div> + <div class='line'>They muttered as in sleep; ‘Deliverance comes.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span> + <h3 id='the-foray-of-queen-meave-3' class='c005'>FRAGMENT III.</h3> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div><i>THE COMBAT AT THE FORD.</i></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div><span class='sc'>Argument.</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='small'>Queen Meave sends her herald to Ferdīa the Firbolg, requiring +him to engage with Cuchullain in single combat. Ferdīa refuses +to fight against his ancient friend; yet, later he attends a royal +banquet given in his honour; and there, being drawn aside through +the witcheries of the Princess Finobar, he consents to the fight. The +charioteer of Ferdīa sees Cuchullain advancing in his war-car to the +Ford, and, rapt by a prophetic spirit, sings his triumph. For two +days the ancient friends contend against each other with reluctance +and remorse: but on the third day the battle-rage bursts fully forth: +and on the fourth, Cuchullain, himself pierced through with wounds +innumerable, slays Ferdīa by the Gae-Bulg. He lays his friend +upon the bank, at its northern side, and, standing beside him, sings +his dirge.</span></p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c003'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Meantime the queen, ere dawned that ninetieth morn,</div> + <div class='line'>Mused, ill at ease; ‘Daily my people die,</div> + <div class='line'>And many a stormy brow on me is bent:—</div> + <div class='line'>What if they turn on me like starving hounds</div> + <div class='line'>That rend their huntsman?’ In her ear once more</div> + <div class='line'>Sounded the word of Cailitin; ‘The man</div> + <div class='line'>To fight Cuchullain is the man he loves:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>His death were death to both.’ Then came the kings</div> + <div class='line'>Confederate, saying; ‘Send Ferdīa forth!</div> + <div class='line'>Ferdīa is the mightiest of our host:</div> + <div class='line'>Ferdīa is Cuchullain’s chief of friends:</div> + <div class='line'>Westward of Alba in the Isle of Skye</div> + <div class='line'>Scatha, that rock-browed northern warrioress,</div> + <div class='line'>In amplest lore of battles trained them both:</div> + <div class='line'>Except the Gae-Bulg, every feat of arms</div> + <div class='line'>Is known to each alike.’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Is known to each alike.’</span> The queen gave way:</div> + <div class='line'>She sent her herald to the man she scorned</div> + <div class='line'>With offers huge, tract vaster than his own</div> + <div class='line'>Not barren like his mountains billow-beat,</div> + <div class='line'>But laughing in the lap of Ai’s plains;</div> + <div class='line'>A war-car deftly carved and ribbed with brass;</div> + <div class='line'>And, for his clansmen, raiment of all dyes,</div> + <div class='line'>Twelve suits. A stalwart man, yet fair as strong</div> + <div class='line'>The Firbolg towered, dark-eyed, dark-haired, pale-faced,</div> + <div class='line'>Unlike the Gael. Melodious was his voice</div> + <div class='line'>But deeper than a lion’s. Ceaseless thought</div> + <div class='line'>On immemorial wrongs—he brooded still</div> + <div class='line'>O’er glories of Moytura, and Tailltenn,</div> + <div class='line'>Their great assemblies, and their solemn games,</div> + <div class='line'>And kingly graves—had cast upon his brow</div> + <div class='line'>Perpetual shade; and ever, on the march,</div> + <div class='line'>If high on crags there stood some Gaelic tomb</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>Wind-worn a thousand years, he passed it by</div> + <div class='line'>With face averse, muttering, ‘New men! New men!</div> + <div class='line'>We note not such!’ The herald’s task discharged,</div> + <div class='line'>He answered thus, not turning; ‘Tell your queen</div> + <div class='line'>That I, a Firbolg, serve, but not for hire,</div> + <div class='line'>A cause not mine. Cuchullain is my friend:</div> + <div class='line'>Better I died than he!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Better I died than he!’</span> O’er-awed though wroth</div> + <div class='line'>The queen despatched in statelier embassage</div> + <div class='line'>Three warriors, and three ollambs, and three bards:</div> + <div class='line'>With reverence they addressed him. ‘Chief and Prince!</div> + <div class='line'>True prince, though scion of a house deject,</div> + <div class='line'>The queen, who judges all men by their deeds,</div> + <div class='line'>This day hath in thine honour made a feast</div> + <div class='line'>And sues to it thy presence. Kings alone</div> + <div class='line'>Partake that banquet; Ailill first, and she</div> + <div class='line'>Of princesses the fairest, Finobar!’</div> + <div class='line'>Scornful the Firbolg answered; ‘Finobar!</div> + <div class='line'>She whose bright face hath frosted with death’s white</div> + <div class='line'>Full four score faces of war-breathing men</div> + <div class='line'>Sent to that Ford successive! Let it be!</div> + <div class='line'>Tell them I join their feast: tell them beside</div> + <div class='line'>Their bribe shall prove base gold!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Their bribe shall prove base gold!’</span> In mantle blue</div> + <div class='line'>Clasped by a silver torque, and silver belt</div> + <div class='line'>Enringed with silver rings innumerable</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>That evening from his tent Ferdīa strode</div> + <div class='line'>With large attendance. Ailill and the queen</div> + <div class='line'>Received him on their threshold. At the board</div> + <div class='line'>Princes alone had place. High up, o’er each</div> + <div class='line'>Glittered upon the wall his blazoned shield.</div> + <div class='line'>King Ailill placed Ferdīa on his right;</div> + <div class='line'>Beyond him sat the Princess. In her ear</div> + <div class='line'>Her mother whispered as she neared that seat:</div> + <div class='line'>She answered with her eyes.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">She answered with her eyes.</span> Well stricken harp</div> + <div class='line'>Gladdened that festive throng; and many a tale,</div> + <div class='line'>The rage of hunger lessening by degrees,</div> + <div class='line'>Ailill recounted of the heroic past,</div> + <div class='line'>When, youthful yet, he ranged ’mid friends and foes</div> + <div class='line'>Such men as breathed no longer. Servitors</div> + <div class='line'>Brimmed oft the goblets; and Ferdīa’s brow,</div> + <div class='line'>As song to song succeeded, tale to tale,</div> + <div class='line'>Remitted its first sternness. Finobar</div> + <div class='line'>Unconsciously had dropp’d her jewell’d hand</div> + <div class='line'>Not far from his: her large and dusky eyes,</div> + <div class='line'>Shyly at first from his withdrawn, at last</div> + <div class='line'>Full frankly met them: on her lips the smile</div> + <div class='line'>Increased, though waveringly, then waned, not died,</div> + <div class='line'>And in it sadness mingled as she spake:</div> + <div class='line'>‘But late yon harper told us of a dream—</div> + <div class='line'>My earliest of remembered dreams was sad;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>I saw some princess of your earlier stock</div> + <div class='line'>Whose lover late had perished, slain in fight</div> + <div class='line'>By ours, methought them recent. At her feet—</div> + <div class='line'>Why there I scarcely know—I made lament:</div> + <div class='line'>“All thou hast lost for thy sake I renounce:</div> + <div class='line'>For me, like thee, no bridal rites forever!</div> + <div class='line'>Dead on thy marriage garland lies mine own;</div> + <div class='line'>For lo! the stain accursed is on our sword:</div> + <div class='line'>Thy race came first: <a id='tn-shouldbetheirs'></a>this Island should be theirs!”’</div> + <div class='line'>Ferdīa listened; and the icy pride</div> + <div class='line'>Thawed in his bosom. With a sudden change</div> + <div class='line'>The jubilant music into martial soared,</div> + <div class='line'>Wild battle-chaunt. Upon the warrior’s hand</div> + <div class='line'>Still nigh to hers, there lay a scar. With eye</div> + <div class='line'>Reverently dewed the princess gazed thereon:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Aye, of your war-deeds I have heard so long,</div> + <div class='line'>It seems as though since childhood—Whence that wound?</div> + <div class='line'>What battle left it there? What sister bound it?</div> + <div class='line'>I would that sister were my sister too,</div> + <div class='line'>Partaker of my heart, my hope, my life:</div> + <div class='line'>I have no youthful friend!’ She paused:—again</div> + <div class='line'>But now with paler cheek, and hurried, spake:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Beware my mother! She would send you forth</div> + <div class='line'>Her knight to meet Cuchullain! Shun that man!</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain spares not: four score warriors dead</div> + <div class='line'>Avouch it. Chief of Gaels is he! Ah me!</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>The last great battle ’twixt the old race and new</div> + <div class='line'>Would find the same sad ending as the first.’</div> + <div class='line'>The Firbolg frowned: she faltered, ‘Am I false,</div> + <div class='line'>False to my race’—and tears were in her voice—</div> + <div class='line'>‘False to my race, who cannot wish such ending?’</div> + <div class='line'>She paused; again she questioned of his wars:</div> + <div class='line'>He told her of his sire’s. Like one who thinks</div> + <div class='line'>Not speaks, she murmured low; ‘A soothsayer</div> + <div class='line'>Thus warned my mother—I was then a child—</div> + <div class='line'>“Bring not that maid to war-fields! She shall die</div> + <div class='line'>Grieving for some dead warrior.”’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Grieving for some dead warrior.”’</span> Changed once more</div> + <div class='line'>The martial songs to amorous and of mirth,</div> + <div class='line'>And once again the torches’ golden flame</div> + <div class='line'>Laughed on the cup new-brimmed. Again she spake,</div> + <div class='line'>That lovesome one, ‘I love not songs of love!</div> + <div class='line'>Better the war-song! Best, methinks, of all</div> + <div class='line'>That lullaby half war and sorrow half</div> + <div class='line'>Breathed by some bride while o’er her wounded lord</div> + <div class='line'>Softly descends the sleep:—so softly sank</div> + <div class='line'>Cold dews of evening on this flower still wet.’</div> + <div class='line'>She took it from her breast, and held it near:</div> + <div class='line'>He smelt it; kissed it; kept it. With a smile</div> + <div class='line'>She added; ‘For your sister? Have you one?</div> + <div class='line'>If so, ’tis likely she resembles me:</div> + <div class='line'>They chide me oft; “No Gaelic face is thine,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>Dark-eyed, dark-browed, a rebel since its birth!”’</div> + <div class='line'>She ceased; again she spake: ‘Even now, methinks,</div> + <div class='line'>That lullaby I spake of I can hear!</div> + <div class='line'>Is it for thee, my friend, or Cuchullain?’</div> + <div class='line'>That hand, of flower amerced, drew nearer yet</div> + <div class='line'>To his. That smile had passed. Tearful she turned</div> + <div class='line'>On him those luminaries of love and death,</div> + <div class='line'>Her eyes, like stars in midnight waters glassed;</div> + <div class='line'>Turned them, but spake no longer. Through his brain</div> + <div class='line'>Shivered their shrouded lustre; through his blood:</div> + <div class='line'>The sanguine currents from the warrior’s heart</div> + <div class='line'>Long sad, to female sympathies unused,</div> + <div class='line'>Drank up at once that splendour, and the tears</div> + <div class='line'>That splendour’s strange eclipse.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">That splendour’s strange eclipse.</span> And yet, that hour,</div> + <div class='line'>Seen in some lonelier region of his soul</div> + <div class='line'>Another presence, O how different, stood!</div> + <div class='line'>Again, that hour, he saw those guileless eyes,</div> + <div class='line'>Blue as the seas they gazed on; saw once more</div> + <div class='line'>That hair like winter sunshine, brow snow-white,</div> + <div class='line'>That unvoluptuous form and virginal,</div> + <div class='line'>That love-unwakened breast with love for all,</div> + <div class='line'>Those hands that knew not what their touch conferred,</div> + <div class='line'>Those blithesome, wave-washed, scarce divided feet:—</div> + <div class='line'>The huge cliff smiled upon her; seemed to say,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Ah little nursling mine! Ah tender child</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>Of winds and rocks untender!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Of winds and rocks untender!’</span> Had he loved?</div> + <div class='line'>Sadness is celibate and eremite:</div> + <div class='line'>His converse long had been with injuries past,</div> + <div class='line'>In Scatha’s isle with frowning crags and clouds—</div> + <div class='line'>Aye, but with one beside, a friend, his nearest,</div> + <div class='line'>Who loved that maid, and sued her grace. Ferdīa</div> + <div class='line'>Had never spoken love; nor thought, ‘I love:’</div> + <div class='line'>And yet, that hour, was false.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">And yet, that hour, was false.</span> A hundred harps</div> + <div class='line'>Rang out together, and the feast was o’er:</div> + <div class='line'>Murmured the rose-red lips; but what they said</div> + <div class='line'>He heard not. Mournfully at last withdrew</div> + <div class='line'>Those eyes, like eyes fated thenceforth to bear</div> + <div class='line'>One image on till death. She joined her mother.</div> + <div class='line in2'>The queen, as he departed, took his hand:</div> + <div class='line'>Alone they stood: she spake: ‘That noble scorn</div> + <div class='line'>Which spurned a bribe, approves a Firbolg’s worth:</div> + <div class='line'>’Twas Ailill sent that herald. ’Twas not I.</div> + <div class='line'>I know you now, and proffer royal terms</div> + <div class='line'>Confirmed by guarantee of all our kings:</div> + <div class='line'>Accept this combat; and the princess wed!</div> + <div class='line'>Ferdīa! I have made that offer thrice</div> + <div class='line'>To three dead warriors with the king’s consent,</div> + <div class='line'>Never till now with hers!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Never till now with hers!’</span> He pledged his word:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>The battle day was fixed; the morrow morn:</div> + <div class='line'>She took that glittering torque whose splendours clasped</div> + <div class='line'>Her mantle red; with it his mantle bound:</div> + <div class='line'>Then with attendance to his tent he passed.</div> + <div class='line in2'>Meantime, that night within his forest lair</div> + <div class='line'>In dreams Cuchullain lay, and saw in dreams,</div> + <div class='line'>Not recent fights, but ocean and that isle</div> + <div class='line'>Where with Ferdīa he had dwelt in youth,</div> + <div class='line'>With Scatha—and another. And in dream</div> + <div class='line'>He mused; ‘The dearest of my friends survives:</div> + <div class='line'>These wars will pass; Ferdīa then and I</div> + <div class='line'>Thenceforth are one for aye!’ That self-same hour</div> + <div class='line'>Sadly from troubled sleep the Firbolg woke,</div> + <div class='line'>Murmuring, as one in trance, ‘Against my friend!</div> + <div class='line'>Against my only friend!’ With gloomy brows</div> + <div class='line'>His clansmen watched him arming. One sole man</div> + <div class='line'>They feared; that man Cuchullain. Morn the while</div> + <div class='line'>Was dawning, though nor glowing cheek she raised</div> + <div class='line'>Nor ardent eyes, with silver wand not gold</div> + <div class='line'>Striking the unkindling portals of the East;</div> + <div class='line'>And, ere the sun had risen, Ferdīa bathed</div> + <div class='line'>Three times his forehead in the frosty stream;</div> + <div class='line'>And bade attend his charioteer; and drave</div> + <div class='line'>Begirt by stateliest equipage of war</div> + <div class='line'>Down to the river’s brim. In regal pomp</div> + <div class='line'>The host confederate followed, keen to watch</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>With Meave, and Ailill, and with Finobar,</div> + <div class='line'>All passions of a fight unmatched till then;</div> + <div class='line'>While clustered here and there, on rock or mound,</div> + <div class='line'>Minstrel and food-purveyor groom and leech</div> + <div class='line'>With healing herbs, and charms.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">With healing herbs, and charms.</span> The sun arose</div> + <div class='line'>And smote the forest roof dew-saturate</div> + <div class='line'>As onward dashed through woodlands to the Ford</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain’s war-car. Nearer soon it rolled</div> + <div class='line'>Crushing the rocks. Above those wondrous steeds</div> + <div class='line'>That Great One glittered through the mist of morn,</div> + <div class='line'>Splendour gloom-veiled. Ferdīa’s charioteer</div> + <div class='line'>Half heard, half saw him. Spirit-rapt, yet awed,</div> + <div class='line'>Perforce thus sang he standing near the marge.</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘I hear the on-rushing of the car! I see</div> + <div class='line'>There throned that warrior not of mortal mould</div> + <div class='line'>Swathed in the morning. Dreadful are his wheels;</div> + <div class='line'>Dreadful as breaker arched, when on its crest</div> + <div class='line'>Stands Fear, and Fate upon the rock-strewn shore:</div> + <div class='line'>But not sea-rocks they crush, those brazen wheels,</div> + <div class='line'>But realms, and peoples, and the necks of men.</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘I see the war-car! Terrible it comes,</div> + <div class='line'>Four-peaked; and o’er those peaks a shadowy pall</div> + <div class='line'>Pavilioning dim crypt and caves of death:</div> + <div class='line'>I see it by the gleam of spears high held,</div> + <div class='line'>The glare of circling Spirits. Lo! the same</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>I saw far northward drifting, months gone by,</div> + <div class='line'>Ere yet that madness quelled the northern land.’</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then cried Ferdīa, stationed where huge trees</div> + <div class='line'>Shut out unwelcome vision: ‘For a bribe</div> + <div class='line'>Thou seest these portents, singing of my death!’</div> + <div class='line in2'>Once more, in agony prophetic, he—</div> + <div class='line'>‘The man within that car is Uladh’s Hound!</div> + <div class='line'>What hound? No stag-hound of the storm-swept hills:</div> + <div class='line'>No watch-hound watching by a merchant’s store:</div> + <div class='line'>The hound he is that tracks the steps of doom;</div> + <div class='line'>The hound of realms o’er-run, and hosts that fly;</div> + <div class='line'>The hound that laps the blood!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">The hound that laps the blood!’</span> Again he sang;</div> + <div class='line'>‘The Hound of Uladh is a hound with wings;</div> + <div class='line'>A hound man-headed! Yea, and o’er that head</div> + <div class='line'>Victory and empire, like two eagles paired</div> + <div class='line'>Sail onward, tempest-pinioned. Endless morn</div> + <div class='line'>Before him fleeting over seas and lands,</div> + <div class='line'>With shaft retorted lights his chariot-beam.</div> + <div class='line'>That chariot stays not, turns not: on it comes,</div> + <div class='line'>Like torrent shooting from a tall cliff’s brow,</div> + <div class='line'>Level long time; then downward borne!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Level long time; then downward borne!’</span> ‘A bribe!’</div> + <div class='line'>Once more Ferdīa cried; ‘A bribe! a lie!</div> + <div class='line'>Traitor! for Ailill’s gold and gold of Meave,</div> + <div class='line'>Thou sing’st thy master’s death-song!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span><span class="dropped-line">Thou sing’st thy master’s death-song!’</span> By the stream</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain stood: not yet he knew his foe;</div> + <div class='line'>That foe who slowly to the Ford advanced</div> + <div class='line'>Full panoplied, and in his hand a spear.</div> + <div class='line'>Long gazed they each on each. Cuchullain spake:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Welcome howe’er thou com’st, Ferdīa! Once</div> + <div class='line'>In Scatha’s isle far otherwise thou camest</div> + <div class='line'>Morn after morn with tidings fresh of war</div> + <div class='line'>Plaything and pastime of our brother swords.</div> + <div class='line'>This day thou com’st invader of my land</div> + <div class='line'>Murthemné, bulwark broad of Uladh’s realm;</div> + <div class='line'>Thou com’st to burn my cities, spoil my flocks—</div> + <div class='line'>A change there is, Ferdīa!’ Stern of brow</div> + <div class='line'>The Firbolg answered; ‘Friends we were; not peers:</div> + <div class='line'>The younger thou. ’Twas thine to yoke my steeds;</div> + <div class='line'>Arm me for fight. A stripling hopes this day</div> + <div class='line'>With brandished spear to make a mountain flee!</div> + <div class='line'>Son of the Gael! long centuries since, thy race</div> + <div class='line'>Trampled my race:—their vengeance hour is near;</div> + <div class='line'>I bid thee to depart!’ To him his friend;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Ferdīa, in the old days on Scatha’s Isle</div> + <div class='line'>Thou wert my tribe, my household-stock, my race!</div> + <div class='line'>Questioned I then on battle-plain, or when</div> + <div class='line'>On frosty nights we couched beneath one rug,</div> + <div class='line'>Ancestral claims, traditions of the clan?</div> + <div class='line'>A change there is, Ferdīa!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span><span class="dropped-line">A change there is, Ferdīa!’</span> Thus with words</div> + <div class='line'>Or mild, or stern in hope to save not slay,</div> + <div class='line'>Those friends contended. Sternest was the man</div> + <div class='line'>Whose conscience most aggrieved him.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Whose conscience most aggrieved him.</span> ‘To this Ford</div> + <div class='line'>Thou cam’st the first, old comrade! choice of arms</div> + <div class='line'>Is therefore thine by right.’ Cuchullain spake:</div> + <div class='line'>Ferdīa chose the javelin. Arrow-swift,</div> + <div class='line'>While still the charioteers brought back the shaft,</div> + <div class='line'>The missiles flew. Keen-eyed as ocean bird</div> + <div class='line'>That, high in sunshine poised, glimpses his prey</div> + <div class='line'>Beneath the wave, and downward swooping slays him,</div> + <div class='line'>Each watched the other’s movements, if an arm</div> + <div class='line'>Lifted too high, or buckler dropp’d too low</div> + <div class='line'>Left bare a rivet. Long that fight endured:</div> + <div class='line'>Three times exhausted sank their hands: three times</div> + <div class='line'>They sat on rocks for respite, each the other</div> + <div class='line'>Eyeing askance, not silent; ‘Lo the man</div> + <div class='line'>Who shields an ox-like or a swine-like race</div> + <div class='line'>That strikes no blow itself!’ or thus; ‘Ah pledge</div> + <div class='line'>Of amity eterne in old time sworn!</div> + <div class='line'>Ferdīa, vow thy vow henceforth to maids!</div> + <div class='line'>The man-race nothing heeds thee!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">The man-race nothing heeds thee!’</span> Evening fell</div> + <div class='line'>And stayed perforce that combat. Slowly drew</div> + <div class='line'>The warriors near; and as they noted, each,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>The other bleeding, in its strength returned</div> + <div class='line'>The friendship unextinct: round either’s neck</div> + <div class='line'>That other wound his arms and kissed him thrice:</div> + <div class='line'>That night their coursers in the self-same field</div> + <div class='line'>Grazed, side by side: that night their charioteers</div> + <div class='line'>With rushes gathered from the self-same stream</div> + <div class='line'>Made smooth their masters’ beds, then sat themselves</div> + <div class='line'>By the same fire. Of every healing herb</div> + <div class='line'>That lulled his wounds Cuchullain sent the half</div> + <div class='line'>To staunch Ferdīa’s; while to him in turn</div> + <div class='line'>Ferdīa sent whate’er of meats or drinks</div> + <div class='line'>Held strengthening power or cordial, to allay</div> + <div class='line'>Distempered nerve or nimble spirit infuse,</div> + <div class='line'>In equal portions shared.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">In equal portions shared.</span> The second morn</div> + <div class='line'>They met at sunrise:—‘Thine the choice of arms;’</div> + <div class='line'>The Firbolg spake; the Gael made answer; ‘Spears!’</div> + <div class='line'>Then leaped the champions on their battle-cars</div> + <div class='line'>And launched them into battle. Dire their shock</div> + <div class='line'>In fiery orbits wheeling now; anon</div> + <div class='line'>Wheel locked in wheel. Profounder wounds by far</div> + <div class='line'>That day than on the first the warriors gored,</div> + <div class='line'>Since closer was the fight. With laughing lip</div> + <div class='line'>Not less that eve Cuchullain sang the stave</div> + <div class='line'>That chides in war ‘Fomorian obstinacy:’</div> + <div class='line'>Again at eve drew near they, slower now</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>For pain, and interwove fraternal arms:</div> + <div class='line'>Again their coursers in the self-same field</div> + <div class='line'>Grazed side by side, and from the self-same stream</div> + <div class='line'>Again their charioteers the rushes culled:</div> + <div class='line'>Again they shared alike both meats and drinks,</div> + <div class='line'>Again those herbs allaying, o’er their wounds</div> + <div class='line'>With incantations laid.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">With incantations laid.</span> Forlorn and sad</div> + <div class='line'>Peered the third morning o’er the vaporous woods,</div> + <div class='line'>The wan grey river with its floating weed,</div> + <div class='line'>And bubble unillumined. From the marge</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain sadly marked the advancing foe:—</div> + <div class='line'>‘Alas, my brother! beamless is thine eye;</div> + <div class='line'>The radiance lives no longer on thy hair;</div> + <div class='line'>And slow thy step.’ The doomed one answered calm,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Cuchullain, slow of foot, but strong of hand</div> + <div class='line'>Fate drags his victim to the spot decreed:</div> + <div class='line'>The choice to-day is mine: I choose the sword.’</div> + <div class='line in2'>So spake the Firbolg; and they closed in fight:</div> + <div class='line'>And straightway from his heart to arm and hand</div> + <div class='line'>Rushed up the strength of all that buried race</div> + <div class='line'>By him so loved! Once more it swelled his breast:</div> + <div class='line'>In majesty re-clothed each massive limb,</div> + <div class='line'>And flashed in darksome light of hair and eye</div> + <div class='line'>Resplendent as of old. Surpassing deeds</div> + <div class='line'>They wrought, while circled meteor-like their swords,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>Or fell like heaven’s own bolt on shield or helm.</div> + <div class='line'>Long hours they strove till morning’s purer gleams</div> + <div class='line'>Vanished in noon. Sharper that day their speech;</div> + <div class='line'>For, in the intenser present, years gone by</div> + <div class='line'>Hung but like pallid, thin, horizon clouds</div> + <div class='line'>O’er memory’s loneliest limit. Evening sank</div> + <div class='line'>Upon the dripping groves and shuddering flood</div> + <div class='line'>With rainy wailings. Not as heretofore</div> + <div class='line'>Their parting. Haughtily their mail they tossed</div> + <div class='line'>Each to his followers. In the self-same field</div> + <div class='line'>That night their coursers grazed not; neither sat</div> + <div class='line'>Their charioteers beside the self-same fire:</div> + <div class='line'>Nor sent they, each to other, healing herbs.</div> + <div class='line in2'>Ere morn the Firbolg drank the strength of dreams</div> + <div class='line'>Picturing his race’s wrong; and trumpet blasts</div> + <div class='line'>Went o’er him blown from fields of ancient wars:</div> + <div class='line'>And thus he mused, half-wakened; ‘Not for Meave;</div> + <div class='line'>Not for the popular suffrage; not for her</div> + <div class='line'>That maid who fain had held me from the snare,</div> + <div class='line'>Fight I that fight whose end shall crown this day:</div> + <div class='line'>O race beloved, this day your vengeance dawns</div> + <div class='line'>Red in the East! The mightiest of the Gaels</div> + <div class='line'>Goes down before me! What if both should die?</div> + <div class='line'>So best! Thus too the Firbolg is avenged!’</div> + <div class='line'>Thus mused he. Stately from his couch he rose,</div> + <div class='line'>And armed himself, sedate. Upon his breast</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>He laid, in iron sheathed, a huge, flat stone,</div> + <div class='line'>For thus he said, ‘Though many a feat of arms</div> + <div class='line'>Is mine, from Scatha learned, or else self-taught,</div> + <div class='line'>The Gae-Bulg is Cuchullain’s!’ On his head</div> + <div class='line'>He fixed his helm, and on his arm his shield</div> + <div class='line'>Sable as night, with fifty bosses bound,</div> + <div class='line'>All brass; the midmost like a noontide sun.</div> + <div class='line in2'>Cuchullain eyed him as he neared the Ford,</div> + <div class='line'>And spake to Leagh; ‘This day, if slack of hand</div> + <div class='line'>Thou notest me, or wearied, hurl, as wont,</div> + <div class='line'>Sharp storm of arrowy railing from thy lips</div> + <div class='line'>That so the battle-anger from on high</div> + <div class='line'>May flame on me.’ The choice of arms was his:</div> + <div class='line'>He chose ‘the Ford-Feat.’ On the Firbolg’s brow</div> + <div class='line'>A shadow fell:—‘All weapons there,’ he mused,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Have place alike: if on him falls the rage</div> + <div class='line'>He will not spare the Gae-Bulg!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">He will not spare the Gae-Bulg!’</span> Well they knew,</div> + <div class='line'>Both warriors, that the fortunes of that day</div> + <div class='line'>Must end the conflict; that for one, or both,</div> + <div class='line'>The sun that hour ascending shone his last:</div> + <div class='line'>Therefore all strength of onset till that hour</div> + <div class='line'>By either loosed or hoarded, craft of fight</div> + <div class='line'>Reined in one moment but to spring the next</div> + <div class='line'>Forward in might more terrible, compared</div> + <div class='line'>With that last battle was a trivial thing;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>Whilst every weapon, javelin, spear, or sword,</div> + <div class='line'>Lawful alike that day, scattered abroad</div> + <div class='line'>Huge flakes of dinted mail; from every wound</div> + <div class='line'>Bounded the life-blood of a heart athirst</div> + <div class='line'>For victory or for death. The vernal day</div> + <div class='line'>Panted with summer ardours, while aloft</div> + <div class='line'>Noontide, a fire-tressed Fury, waved her torch,</div> + <div class='line'>Kindling the lit grove and its youngling green</div> + <div class='line'>From the azure-blazing zenith. As the heat</div> + <div class='line'>So waxed the warriors’ frenzy. Hours went by:</div> + <div class='line'>That day they sought not rest on rock or mound,</div> + <div class='line'>Held no discourse. Slowly the sun declined;</div> + <div class='line'>And as wayfarers oft when twilight falls</div> + <div class='line'>Advance with strength renewed, so they, refreshed,</div> + <div class='line'>Surpassed their deeds at morning. With a bound</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain, from the bank high springing, lit</div> + <div class='line'>Full on the broad boss of Ferdīa’s shield,</div> + <div class='line'>His dagger-point down turned. With spasm of arm</div> + <div class='line'>Instant the Firbolg from its sable rim</div> + <div class='line'>Cast him astonished. Upward from the Ford</div> + <div class='line'>Again Cuchullain reached that shield: again</div> + <div class='line'>With spasm of knee Ferdīa flung him far,</div> + <div class='line'>While Leagh in scorn reviled him: ‘As the flood</div> + <div class='line'>Shoots on the tempest’s blast its puny foam;</div> + <div class='line'>The oak-tree casts its dead leaf on the wave;</div> + <div class='line'>The mill-wheel showers its spray; the shameless woman</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>Hurls on the mere that babe which was her shame,</div> + <div class='line'>So hurls he forth that fairy-child bewitched</div> + <div class='line'>Whom men misdeemed for warrior!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Whom men misdeemed for warrior!’</span> Then from heaven</div> + <div class='line'>Came down upon Cuchullain, like the night,</div> + <div class='line'>The madness-rage. The Foes confronted met:</div> + <div class='line'>Shivered their spears from point to haft: their swords</div> + <div class='line'>Flashed lightnings round them. Fate-compelled, their feet</div> + <div class='line'>Drew near, then reached that stream which backward fled</div> + <div class='line'>Leaving its channel dry. While raged that fight</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain’s stature rose, huge bulk, immense,</div> + <div class='line'>Ascending still: as high Ferdīa towered</div> + <div class='line'>Like Fomor old, or Nemed from the sea,</div> + <div class='line'>Those shields, their covering late from foot to helm,</div> + <div class='line'>Shrinking, so seemed it, till above them beamed</div> + <div class='line'>Shoulders and heads. So close that fight, their crests</div> + <div class='line'>That waved defiance, mingled in mid air;</div> + <div class='line'>While all along the circles of their shields,</div> + <div class='line'>And all adown their swords, viewless for speed</div> + <div class='line'>Ran, mad with rage, the demons of dark moors</div> + <div class='line'>And war-sprites of the valleys, Bocanachs</div> + <div class='line'>And Banacahs, whose scream, so keen its edge,</div> + <div class='line'>Might shear the centuried forest as the scythe</div> + <div class='line'>Shears meadow grass. To these in dread response</div> + <div class='line'>Thundered far off from sea-caves billow-beat</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>And halls rock-vaulted ’neath the eternal hills,</div> + <div class='line'>That race Tuatha, giant once, long since</div> + <div class='line'>To pigmy changed, that forge from molten ores</div> + <div class='line'>For aye their clanging weapons, shield or spear,</div> + <div class='line'>On stony anvils, waiting still their day</div> + <div class='line'>Of vengeance on the Gael. That tumult scared</div> + <div class='line'>The horses of the host of Meave that brake</div> + <div class='line'>From war-car or the tethering rope, and spread</div> + <div class='line'>Ruin around. Camp-followers first, then chiefs</div> + <div class='line'>Innumerable were dragged along, or lay</div> + <div class='line'>’Neath broken axle, dead. The end was nigh:</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain’s shield splintered upon his arm</div> + <div class='line'>Served him no more; and through his fenceless side</div> + <div class='line'>Ferdīa drave the sword. Then first the Gael</div> + <div class='line'>Hurled forth this taunt; ‘The Firbolg, bribed by Meave,</div> + <div class='line'>Has sold his ancient friend!’ Ferdīa spake,</div> + <div class='line'>‘No Firbolg he, the man in Scatha’s Isle,</div> + <div class='line'>That won a maid, then left her!’ Backward stepp’d</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain paces three: he reached the bank;</div> + <div class='line'>He uttered low; ‘The Gae-Bulg!’ Instant, Leagh</div> + <div class='line'>Within his hand had lodged it. Bending low,</div> + <div class='line'>Low as that stream, the war-game’s crowning feat,</div> + <div class='line'>He launched it on Ferdīa’s breast. The shield,</div> + <div class='line'>The iron plate beneath, the stone within it,</div> + <div class='line'>Like shallow ice-films ’neath a courser’s hoof</div> + <div class='line'>Burst. All was o’er. To earth the warrior sank:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>Dying, he spake: ‘Not thine this deed, O friend—</div> + <div class='line'>’Twas Meave who winged that bolt into my heart!’</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then ran Cuchullain to that great one dead,</div> + <div class='line'>And raised him in his arms, and laid him down</div> + <div class='line'>Beside the Ford, but on its northern bank,</div> + <div class='line'>Not in that realm by Ailill swayed and Meave:</div> + <div class='line'>Long time he looked the dead man in the face;</div> + <div class='line'>Then by him fell in swoon. ‘Cuchullain, rise!</div> + <div class='line'>The men of Erin be upon thee! Rise!’</div> + <div class='line'>Thus Leagh. He answered, waking; ‘Let them come!</div> + <div class='line'>To me what profit if I live or die?</div> + <div class='line'>The man I loved is dead!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">The man I loved is dead!’</span> But by the dead</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain stood; and thus he made lament:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Ferdīa! On their head the curse descend</div> + <div class='line'>Who sent thee to thy death! We meet no more;</div> + <div class='line'>Never while sun, and moon, and earth endure.</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Ferdīa! Far away in Scatha’s isle</div> + <div class='line'>A great troth bound us and a vow eterne</div> + <div class='line'>Never to raise war-weapons, each on each:—</div> + <div class='line'>’Twas Finobar that snared thee! She shall die.</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Ferdīa! dearer to my heart wert thou</div> + <div class='line'>Than all beside if all were joined in one:</div> + <div class='line'>Dear was thy clouded face, and darksome eye;</div> + <div class='line'>Thy deep, sad voice; thy words so wise and few;</div> + <div class='line'>Dear was thy silence: dear thy slow, grave ways,</div> + <div class='line'>Not boastful like the Gael’s.’</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span><span class="dropped-line">Not boastful like the Gael’s.’</span> Silent he stood</div> + <div class='line'>While Leagh in reverence from the dead man’s breast</div> + <div class='line'>Loosened his mail. There shone the torque of Meave:<a id='r33'></a><a href='#f33' class='c008'><sup>[33]</sup></a></div> + <div class='line'>There where the queen had fixed it yet it lay.</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain clutched it. ‘Ha! that torque I spurned!</div> + <div class='line'>Dark gem ill-lifted from the seas of Death!</div> + <div class='line'>Swart planet bickering from the heavens of Fate!</div> + <div class='line'>With what a baleful beam thou look’st on me!</div> + <div class='line'>’Twas thou, ’twas thou, not I, that slew’st this man’—</div> + <div class='line'>He dashed it on the rock, and with his heel</div> + <div class='line'>Smote it to fragments.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Smote it to fragments.</span> Then, as one from trance</div> + <div class='line'>Waking, once more he spake: ‘Oh me—oh me,</div> + <div class='line'>That I should see that face so great and pale!</div> + <div class='line'>To-day face-whitening death is on that face;</div> + <div class='line'>And in my hand my sword:—’tis crimson yet.</div> + <div class='line'>That day when he and I triumphed in fight</div> + <div class='line'>By Formait’s lake o’er Scatha’s pirate foes</div> + <div class='line'>The woman fetched a beaker forth of wine,</div> + <div class='line'>And made us drink it both; and made us vow</div> + <div class='line'>Friendship eterne. O friend, my hand this day</div> + <div class='line'>Tendered a bloody beaker to thy lip.’</div> + <div class='line in2'>Again he sang; ‘Queen Meave to Uladh’s bound</div> + <div class='line'>Came down; and dark the deed that grew thereof;</div> + <div class='line'>Came down with all the hosting of her kings;</div> + <div class='line'>And dark the deed that grew thereof. We two</div> + <div class='line'>Abode with Scatha in her northern isle,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>Her pupils twinned. The sea-girt warrioress</div> + <div class='line'>That honoured few men honoured us alike:</div> + <div class='line'>We ate together of the self-same dish:</div> + <div class='line'>We couched together ’neath the self-same shield:</div> + <div class='line'>Now living man I stand, and he lies dead!’</div> + <div class='line in2'>He raised again his head: once more he sang:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Each battle was a game, a jest, a sport</div> + <div class='line'>Till came, fore-doomed, Ferdīa to the Ford.</div> + <div class='line'>I loved the warrior though I pierced his heart.</div> + <div class='line'>Each battle was a game, a jest, a sport</div> + <div class='line'>Till stood, self-doomed, Ferdīa by the Ford.</div> + <div class='line'>Huge lion of the forestry of war;</div> + <div class='line'>Fair, central pillar of the House of Fame;</div> + <div class='line'>But yesterday he towered above the world:</div> + <div class='line'>This day he lies along the earth, a shade.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span> + <h3 id='the-foray-of-queen-meave-4' class='c005'>FRAGMENT IV.</h3> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div><i>THE INVASION OF ULADH.</i></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div><span class='sc'>Argument.</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='small'>Cuchullain lies long in the forest nigh to death from his wounds, +and yet more through grief for Ferdīa. The queen crosses the +Ford into Uladh, and captures the Donn Cuailgné. The confederate +kings fall out among themselves; Meave summons a war +council; whereupon there bursts forth a second contention between +them and the Exile-Band. She makes the circuit of all Uladh; yet +enacts nothing memorable. Lastly she marches against Eman, its +metropolis, but slowly, being encumbered by her spoil. Uladh +rouses itself daily out of its trance of imbecility. The death of +Ketherne. Finobar is fain to draw Rochad to the cause of her +mother, but fails. Her fate. The queen, falling into despondency, +re-crosses the frontier.</span></p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c003'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Silence amid the wide, confederate camp:</div> + <div class='line'>No clang of sword or shield; no warrior’s tread</div> + <div class='line'>Striding to Meave with battle-gage down flung</div> + <div class='line'>For him who kept the Ford. But when six days</div> + <div class='line'>Were past, and none had seen that threatening helm,</div> + <div class='line'>There went abroad a rumour, ‘he is dead:’</div> + <div class='line'>Then sped to her six champions claiming fight:</div> + <div class='line'>Whom from her presence spurning, Meave advanced</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span>With all her host o’er Uladh’s frontier line</div> + <div class='line'>By Daré’s castle and the ill-omened gate</div> + <div class='line'>Whereon high-seated Daré’s Fool had hurled</div> + <div class='line'>Against her scorn and gibe. As Meave drew near</div> + <div class='line'>Forth rolled the bellowing of Cuailgné’s Donn,</div> + <div class='line'>Cause of that war. King Daré’s sons had fled;</div> + <div class='line'>But in the gate-way stood their old, grey sire,</div> + <div class='line'>Alone, and slew the first that entrance made:</div> + <div class='line'>The rest dashed in upon him, and he died.</div> + <div class='line in2'>Six days, and in Cuchullain’s cell no change—</div> + <div class='line'>The bud grew large; the earlier violet died;</div> + <div class='line'>He neither spake nor moved. His wounds were deep:</div> + <div class='line'>Deeper his grief; and stronger thence their power</div> + <div class='line'>Though dead, that clan accursed of Cailitin,</div> + <div class='line'>With ghostly spells darkening the warrior’s heart:</div> + <div class='line'>As lie the dead, he lay.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">As lie the dead, he lay.</span> One eve, what time</div> + <div class='line'>The setting sun levell’d through holly brakes</div> + <div class='line'>Unnumbered dagger-points of jewel’d light</div> + <div class='line'>And ’neath the oak-stem burned a golden spot,</div> + <div class='line'>Leagh, standing near his couch, reproached him thus;</div> + <div class='line'>‘In time of old the greatness of thy spirit</div> + <div class='line'>Had ever strength to salve thy corporal griefs:</div> + <div class='line'>But now through coward heart thou makest no fight,</div> + <div class='line'>Dying as old men die.’ Cuchullain heard;</div> + <div class='line'>But answered nought.</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span><span class="dropped-line">But answered nought.</span> Next day, while near them buzzed</div> + <div class='line'>At noon the gilded insect swarm, he spake;</div> + <div class='line'>‘While lived Ferdīa wounds to thee were jest;</div> + <div class='line'>Thy grief it is that drags thee to the pit;</div> + <div class='line'>Grief; and for what? Of treasons worse is none</div> + <div class='line'>Than sorrow when thy country’s foe is dead!</div> + <div class='line'>Not man is he, the man who dies of grief.’</div> + <div class='line'>He spake: Cuchullain fixed a vacant eye</div> + <div class='line'>On that sad, wrathful face.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">On that sad, wrathful face.</span> Then hastened Leagh</div> + <div class='line'>To where those giant coursers, side by side,</div> + <div class='line'>Stood tethered mid green grass and meadow-sweet</div> + <div class='line'>Within a lawn; and led them to a stream,</div> + <div class='line'>And bade them drink; and later led them home;</div> + <div class='line'>And placed their corn before them, and they ate:</div> + <div class='line'>Next spake he; ‘Horses ye; and yet ye know</div> + <div class='line'>To eat at need, while men self-sentenced starve!’</div> + <div class='line'>Thus of that man whom most he loved on earth</div> + <div class='line'>He made complaint. Liath, the lake’s white son,</div> + <div class='line'>Tossed high his head in anger. By his side</div> + <div class='line'>Sangland, his dusky comrade, sadly ate,</div> + <div class='line'>Moistening with tears her barley.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Moistening with tears her barley.</span> Late that eve</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain beckoned Leagh; ‘To Conor speed:</div> + <div class='line'>Speak thus; “Put on thine arms and save thy land</div> + <div class='line'>Since now the Hound that kept thy gate is dead:—</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>Make no delay!”’ At midnight Leagh went forth</div> + <div class='line'>Though loth to leave his master to the care</div> + <div class='line'>Of cowherd rude, or swineherd. Tenderer aid</div> + <div class='line'>Ere long consoled him. Beauteous as the dawn</div> + <div class='line'>Next morn two shepherd boys seeking a lamb</div> + <div class='line'>Came on the sick man in his forest nook;</div> + <div class='line'>Long time they gazed on him compassionate;</div> + <div class='line'>With voice benign and tendance angel-like</div> + <div class='line'>Onward into his confidence they crept;</div> + <div class='line'>His lips with milk, the purest, they refreshed;</div> + <div class='line'>They placed the dewy wood flowers in his hand;</div> + <div class='line'>They sang him ballads old, not battle-songs,</div> + <div class='line'>Too loud such songs they deemed, but Fairy lore,</div> + <div class='line'>Or tale of lovers fleeing tyrant’s rage:</div> + <div class='line'>Among the last unwittingly they sang</div> + <div class='line'>‘Cuchullain’s Wooing;’ how the youth had found</div> + <div class='line'>Eimer, the loveliest lady of the land</div> + <div class='line'>Within her bowery pleasaunce, girt with maids</div> + <div class='line'>Harping, or broidering fair in scarf deep-dyed</div> + <div class='line'>Blossom or insect: how he sued; and how</div> + <div class='line'>She answered; ‘Woo my sister: woo not me!’</div> + <div class='line'>How, glorying in her loveliness, her sire</div> + <div class='line'>Had sworn no chief should ever call her wife</div> + <div class='line'>Who won her not by valour; how that youth</div> + <div class='line'>Had scaled his rock and slain his guards and forth</div> + <div class='line'>Led her by hand, a downward-looking bride,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>Majestic, unconsenting, undismayed,</div> + <div class='line'>But likewise unreluctant. As they sang</div> + <div class='line'>Above that suffering face there passed a smile;</div> + <div class='line'>And where that smile had lain there crept a tear;</div> + <div class='line'>And in few minutes more asleep he sank</div> + <div class='line'>Who had not slept nine days.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Who had not slept nine days.</span> Swiftly meanwhile</div> + <div class='line'>On marched the host confederate: bootless speed;</div> + <div class='line'>Since ever one day’s progress by the next</div> + <div class='line'>Was cancelled; tortuous mind made tortuous course</div> + <div class='line'>Now bent awry to capture spoil, anon</div> + <div class='line'>To avenge some private wrong. Fergus the while</div> + <div class='line'>Inly with fury raged; for still his thought</div> + <div class='line'>Was ‘Eman—Vengeance.’ Meave, to calm his wrath,</div> + <div class='line'>Albeit debate she scorned, a council called</div> + <div class='line'>And made demand, ‘To Eman speed we, Kings,</div> + <div class='line'>With central wound striking at Uladh’s heart,</div> + <div class='line'>Or wind, as now, at random through the realm,</div> + <div class='line'>With havoc huge, and plunder?’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">With havoc huge, and plunder?’</span> Rose a chief</div> + <div class='line'>Aulnau, the son of Magach, one whose pride</div> + <div class='line'>Was not in war-deeds but in crafty brain,</div> + <div class='line'>And thus made answer. ‘March to Eman! Queen!</div> + <div class='line'>Not difficult the emprise; but whose the gain?</div> + <div class='line'>Eman to burn, what were it but to sow</div> + <div class='line'>The sanguine seed of endless wars to come?</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span>The Uladh chiefs live scattered. Eman’s fall</div> + <div class='line'>Touches not them. Their strength ere long revived</div> + <div class='line'>Southward in search of vengeance they will rush:</div> + <div class='line'>Slay them yet weakling! Slay them ere they wake!</div> + <div class='line'>Slay them in mountain hold and forest lair</div> + <div class='line'>In vale and glen: slay each apart, half-armed;</div> + <div class='line'>Easy the task!’ Arose the Exiled King:</div> + <div class='line'>‘“Easy the task!”’ he cried; ‘that Daré learned!</div> + <div class='line'>Unarmed—alone—I saw the old man fall!</div> + <div class='line'>“Easy the task!”’ Then brake upon him Alp</div> + <div class='line'>That ruled in far Iorras, speaking thus;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Fergus, we love our queen; but love not thee!</div> + <div class='line'>Hostile to ours thy race: King Conor’s fall</div> + <div class='line'>Thou seek’st; not Uladh’s. Hear me, Queen of Men!</div> + <div class='line'>The siege of Eman means a three months’ siege:</div> + <div class='line'>Be wary lest, ere yet that time is past</div> + <div class='line'>King Conor with his exiles makes a pact,</div> + <div class='line'>And they who now but rate thee drink thy blood:</div> + <div class='line'>Be wary likewise lest in half that time</div> + <div class='line'>Thy host melt from thee like a wreath of snow!</div> + <div class='line'>The Gael is restless; lives on chance and change;</div> + <div class='line'>The clan grows home-sick: victory in its grasp,</div> + <div class='line'>Pines for the babe unkissed, or field unreaped:</div> + <div class='line'>My counsel then is Aulnau’s. Like a flood</div> + <div class='line'>Wind devious through the land and strip it bare:</div> + <div class='line'>Till then let Eman be.’</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span><span class="dropped-line">Till then let Eman be.’</span> Debate ere long,</div> + <div class='line'>For chiefs there were who loved the nobler war,</div> + <div class='line'>Passed on to raging storm. Old friendships died;</div> + <div class='line'>And from the dust of ages injuries old</div> + <div class='line'>Leaped up like warriors armed. In Fergus wrath</div> + <div class='line'>Gave way to scorn: with haughty port he spake,</div> + <div class='line'>A man majestical yet mirthful too.</div> + <div class='line in2'>‘Great Lords and Kings—since Kings ye claim to be—</div> + <div class='line'>King-vassals, world-renowned for mutual hate,</div> + <div class='line'>Alone of men I censure not your strifes,</div> + <div class='line'>Knowing their cause. The very air you breathe,</div> + <div class='line'>The founts whereof you drink, the soil you tread,</div> + <div class='line'>Are all impregnate with a sacred rage;</div> + <div class='line'>And false alike to usage, country, blood,</div> + <div class='line'>Were he among you who, for three hours’ space,</div> + <div class='line'>Discerned ’twixt friend and foeman. Lords and Kings,</div> + <div class='line'>Attend a legend from your annals old,</div> + <div class='line'>A laughing picture of man’s life this day.</div> + <div class='line'>In Erin’s earlier age there reigned two kings:</div> + <div class='line'>Each had a swineherd who, through magic power,</div> + <div class='line'>Assumed what form he would of shapes that live</div> + <div class='line'>In heaven, or earth, or sea. Friendship eterne</div> + <div class='line'>They pledged; then strove ten years, with hosts allied</div> + <div class='line'>So huge that none remained to till the land.</div> + <div class='line'>At last the vanquished westward creaked, a crane:</div> + <div class='line'>A crane, the victor chased him. Twenty years</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>High up they fought; to each side Erin’s birds</div> + <div class='line'>Flocking in clans, the factions of the heavens.</div> + <div class='line'>Those twenty years run out, the vanquished crane</div> + <div class='line'>Dropp’d on a stream and straight to salmon changed;</div> + <div class='line'>Instant his foe, to salmon turned not less,</div> + <div class='line'>From stream to sea pursued him. Far and wide</div> + <div class='line'>All scaly shapes that buffet Erin’s waves</div> + <div class='line'>From sprat and minnow up to shark and whale</div> + <div class='line'>Beat up in finny squadrons. Forty years</div> + <div class='line'>With deepening rage they fought, till round the isle</div> + <div class='line'>Main ocean boiled, and from her ships black-ribbed</div> + <div class='line'>Melted the tar, and mist was over all.</div> + <div class='line'>Next changed those salmons twain to dragon-flies:</div> + <div class='line'>But while they sat in hate on neighbouring pools</div> + <div class='line'>A dun cow and a red cow drank them up</div> + <div class='line'>Unwittingly. From them two bull-calves sprang</div> + <div class='line'>That, grown, with battle thunders dinned the realm</div> + <div class='line'>For eighty years! How say ye, Lords? From these</div> + <div class='line'>Come not <a id='tn-fionbannah'></a>the Bulls that shake this day our land,</div> + <div class='line'>Fionbannah, and the Donn? For them we fight,</div> + <div class='line'>And in their honour hold, on peaceful days,</div> + <div class='line'>Like them our roaring synods!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Like them our roaring synods!’</span> Fiercely and long</div> + <div class='line'>The unwise council strove; and Meave, who feared</div> + <div class='line'>Far more the petulance of her lesser kings</div> + <div class='line'>Than that great exile’s loftier wrath, resumed</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>Next morn her march erratic. On she passed,</div> + <div class='line'>The Dal Araidhé forests on her right,</div> + <div class='line'>Northward to Moira’s plain and Clannaboy;</div> + <div class='line'>And through the Glynns of Ardes glimpsed remote</div> + <div class='line'>Alba’s blue hills. Dalríad fastnesses</div> + <div class='line'>She burned with fire, and seized full many a herd</div> + <div class='line'>On banks of Bann; then westward turned, and kenned</div> + <div class='line'>The grass-green glitter soon of far Lough Foyle,</div> + <div class='line'>And where the winding river-sea divides</div> + <div class='line'>Fanad from Inishowen’s cliffs forlorn.</div> + <div class='line'>Aileach she passed, more late the seat of kings;</div> + <div class='line'>And, southward next, that lake<a id='r34'></a><a href='#f34' class='c008'><sup>[34]</sup></a> whose lonely isle</div> + <div class='line'>Descends, through caves, to Spirit-worlds unknown.</div> + <div class='line'>Thus Meave a circle traced round Uladh’s realm,</div> + <div class='line'>And heard the murmur of its three great seas,</div> + <div class='line'>Yet nothing wrought of perdurable fame.</div> + <div class='line'>Conor, meantime, round Eman ranged his hosts</div> + <div class='line'>There flocking night and day. ‘I march not hence’</div> + <div class='line'>He said, ‘till Uladh’s wound is wholly healed;—</div> + <div class='line'>Fergus I deem the sage of battle-fields,</div> + <div class='line'>Though fool in all beside.’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Though fool in all beside.’</span> But sloth and fear</div> + <div class='line'>In manly hearts at worst rare visitants,</div> + <div class='line'>Leave them betimes, like vermin caught by chance</div> + <div class='line'>That quit ere long the clean. O’er Uladh’s breadth</div> + <div class='line'>Daily some chief, or fragment of a clan</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span>Long chilled by rumour of Cuchullain slain,</div> + <div class='line'>Despite King Conor’s hest assailed the queen</div> + <div class='line'>Marching, though late, on Eman. First of these</div> + <div class='line'>Was Ketherne. Hewing oaks on Fuad’s crest</div> + <div class='line'>He marked her host, and rushed, a naked man</div> + <div class='line'>From waist to head, his axe within his hand,</div> + <div class='line'>In fury on it. Late that eve his kernes</div> + <div class='line'>Forth from the battle tore him bleeding fast</div> + <div class='line'>From fifty wounds. That night physicians five</div> + <div class='line'>Were bending o’er his bed: the eldest spake;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Ketherne, thou son of Fintan, thou must die!’</div> + <div class='line'>Then Ketherne raised himself and with one blow</div> + <div class='line'>Smote him upon his forehead that he died.</div> + <div class='line'>In turn the second,—‘Ketherne, thou must die:’</div> + <div class='line'>And Ketherne slew him. Feebler-toned the third</div> + <div class='line'>Whispered, ‘The man must die;’ and died himself;</div> + <div class='line'>Likewise the fourth. Old Ithal was the fifth,</div> + <div class='line'>A son of Alba. He with stealthy foot</div> + <div class='line'>Stepping o’er corpses of his brethren slain,</div> + <div class='line'>Made keen-eyed inquest of the wounds; then spake:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Of these the least is dangerous: fatal none:</div> + <div class='line'>Two cures for such there be, diverse in kind;</div> + <div class='line'>Ketherne, thou son of Fintan, make thy choice!</div> + <div class='line'>The first is slow but certain: where thou liest</div> + <div class='line'>Full three months thou must lie; then rise restored:</div> + <div class='line'>The second is immediate: strength divine</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>It pours like light into a warrior’s veins;</div> + <div class='line'>Then dies its virtue, and the warrior dies!’</div> + <div class='line'>Ketherne laughed loud: ‘My choice is quickly made—</div> + <div class='line'>Three months bed-ridden, or one vengeance day</div> + <div class='line'>Joyous and glorious! Leech! I rather choose</div> + <div class='line'>With mine own hand to avenge eretime my death</div> + <div class='line'>Than trust that task to others!’ At his word</div> + <div class='line'>Ithal prepared a wonder-working bath</div> + <div class='line'>Strewn with strange herbs, and bathed therein the man,</div> + <div class='line'>Then bade him drink of some elixir bright</div> + <div class='line'>Drawn from the sun. As one refreshed by sleep</div> + <div class='line'>He rose: he clomb his war-car; sought the foe;</div> + <div class='line'>Threescore he slew, their best. At last the strength</div> + <div class='line'>Ceased from his arm; and opened once again</div> + <div class='line'>His wounds late closed; and back he sank, and died.</div> + <div class='line in2'>Such hindrances, and every day had such,</div> + <div class='line'>Likewise huge herds and cumber of her spoil</div> + <div class='line'>Slackened the march of Meave. Full many a chief</div> + <div class='line'>Perished in bootless fight; full many an eye</div> + <div class='line'>Turned on her, malcontent. But trial worse</div> + <div class='line'>Had found her through her daughter, Finobar.</div> + <div class='line'>Without an hour’s misgiving or remorse</div> + <div class='line'>In beauty’s pride not less than patriot zeal—</div> + <div class='line'>Wilier she was than Meave, and haughtier far—</div> + <div class='line'>Champion on champion she had sent to doom</div> + <div class='line'>Beside that fatal Ford. Ferdīa most</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>Had tasked the sorceress, for in him alone</div> + <div class='line'>Vanity kept no place. She watched the fight</div> + <div class='line'>No pallor on her fruit-like cheek, no cloud</div> + <div class='line'>Dimming her star-like eyes. Without a sigh</div> + <div class='line'>She saw the Firbolg, last of all his race,</div> + <div class='line'>Fall on the soil once theirs. Even then she knew not</div> + <div class='line'>The inevitable shaft had pierced whate’er</div> + <div class='line'>Of woman heart was hers. The strong man’s death</div> + <div class='line'>Lifted that veil his victory ne’er had raised:</div> + <div class='line'>Standing mid others she beheld him dead:</div> + <div class='line'>Thenceforth that deep-toned voice, that mournful front,</div> + <div class='line'>Those stern yet stately ways, so great and plain,</div> + <div class='line'>Haunted her memory. Oft with sudden spasm</div> + <div class='line'>She strove to shake that viper from her breast</div> + <div class='line'>Which sucked its life-blood. ‘I, the Princess, love!</div> + <div class='line'>And love a Firbolg!’ She had never loved:</div> + <div class='line'>Self-love, sole regent of the unloving heart,</div> + <div class='line'>Had barred it ’gainst all other tenderer loves:</div> + <div class='line'>In vain the island chiefs had wooed and sued:</div> + <div class='line'>She spurned them each and all.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">She spurned them each and all.</span> Of these the last</div> + <div class='line'>Was Rochad, and the proudest, in the North</div> + <div class='line'>A vassal prince of Conor’s, oft his foe:</div> + <div class='line'>The passion she had kindled she had scorned:</div> + <div class='line'>Rochad had vowed revenge.</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span><span class="dropped-line">Rochad had vowed revenge.</span> In wonder Meave</div> + <div class='line'>Noted the weary lids, the vanishing bloom,</div> + <div class='line'>The abrupt accost, though haught yet unassured;</div> + <div class='line'>The movements to mechanic changed, the mind</div> + <div class='line'>Still strong, yet widowed of its flexile strength;</div> + <div class='line'>These things she saw; their cause she ne’er divined:</div> + <div class='line'>Love for the living Meave could understand:</div> + <div class='line'>For her the dead was dead. To Finobar</div> + <div class='line'>The one thing yet remaining was her pride:</div> + <div class='line'>Questioned, her answer ever was the same,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Onward, to Eman!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">‘Onward, to Eman!’</span> Nearer it each day</div> + <div class='line'>They drew. One evening through the sunset mist</div> + <div class='line'>A camp, high-seated on a bosky hill,</div> + <div class='line'>Shone out, fire-fringed: aloof it stood as one</div> + <div class='line'>That halts ’twixt war and peace. Ere long they learned</div> + <div class='line'>Rochad that site had chos’n, with Uladh’s King</div> + <div class='line'>Friendly but half, thence slow to prop his cause.</div> + <div class='line'>Then spake the queen; ‘The hand of yonder chief</div> + <div class='line'>Sustains our battle’s balance. If his host,</div> + <div class='line'>Now dubious, joins the bands that vex our flank</div> + <div class='line'>No choice remains but this, a homeward course</div> + <div class='line'>Or, if a march to Eman, then the loss</div> + <div class='line'>Of half our hard-earned spoil and hate thenceforth</div> + <div class='line'>Of all our vassal kings.’ Forth flashed the eyes</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span>Of Finobar—it was their latest flash—</div> + <div class='line'>She answered thus; ‘The sequel leave to me!</div> + <div class='line'>He loved me, Rochad, once: ere sets yon moon</div> + <div class='line'>I bring you tamed the lion of yon hills,</div> + <div class='line'>Aye, in a silken leash!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Aye, in a silken leash!’</span> Rochad far off</div> + <div class='line'>Beheld her coming; marked it with a smile;</div> + <div class='line'>Welcomed her gaily; led her to the feast;</div> + <div class='line'>Thence to his tent wherein was none beside.</div> + <div class='line'>There put she forth whatever subtlest art</div> + <div class='line'>In seeming-simple innocence disguised</div> + <div class='line'>Imagines of persuasive, whatsoe’er</div> + <div class='line'>Delicatest craft of female witcheries</div> + <div class='line'>Potent for man’s destruction can devise,</div> + <div class='line'>To bend that warrior’s will. The winter beam</div> + <div class='line'>Thaws not the polar ice: o’er Rochad’s soul</div> + <div class='line'>So passed the syren’s pleadings. Pleased not less</div> + <div class='line'>To stand implored, he dallied with her suit</div> + <div class='line'>Destined, and this he knew, to end in shame.</div> + <div class='line'>She, self-deceived, inly made vow; ‘This tent</div> + <div class='line'>I leave not, save victorious.’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">I leave not, save victorious.’</span> Hours went by:</div> + <div class='line'>She noted not their flight. Once more with skill</div> + <div class='line'>Plastic as wind in woods, a measured strength</div> + <div class='line'>Varying as minstrel’s hand that grazes now</div> + <div class='line'>Now sweeps the tenderer or the deeper strings,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span>To all the passions of the heart of man</div> + <div class='line'>Glory, Ambition, Love, Revenge, she tuned</div> + <div class='line'>The modulations of her passionate strain;</div> + <div class='line'>While half the richness theirs aforetime throbbed</div> + <div class='line'>Again in those sad accents, half their light—</div> + <div class='line'>For oft from out the present shines a past</div> + <div class='line'>Long dead—returned to eyes that, seen of none,</div> + <div class='line'>Had wept away their splendours. Calm he sat,</div> + <div class='line'>Sternly quiescent. Sudden on her broke</div> + <div class='line'>The fatal truth. She saw her power was gone;</div> + <div class='line'>And all that posthumous life late hers sank back</div> + <div class='line'>In embers lost and ashes. On the West</div> + <div class='line'>Rested her gaze. A cloud of raven black,</div> + <div class='line'>Its veil for half that night, had drifted by,</div> + <div class='line'>And o’er that distant gleam, her mother’s camp,</div> + <div class='line'>Slowly the moon descended. Finobar</div> + <div class='line'>That hour recalled her boast; ‘Ere sets yon moon</div> + <div class='line'>I bring you tamed the lion of yon hills,</div> + <div class='line'>Aye, in a silken leash!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Aye, in a silken leash!’</span> The Orient soon</div> + <div class='line'>Whitened with early dawn. Forlorn it lay</div> + <div class='line'>On hill and heath and plain and distant mere,</div> + <div class='line'>Forlorner on the haggard face—for oft</div> + <div class='line'>A face, still fair, in anguish antedates</div> + <div class='line'>Its future—of that woman as she knelt,</div> + <div class='line'>She knelt at last, low on that threshold low.</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>Then came the hour of Rochad’s great revenge:</div> + <div class='line'>Then first he answered plainly; ‘Finobar!</div> + <div class='line'>One day I knew you not: I know you now:</div> + <div class='line'>Your spells are null when once their trick is learned:</div> + <div class='line'>Likewise your face has lost its earlier charm.</div> + <div class='line'>Back to your mother! Say, ere sets yon sun</div> + <div class='line'>I join the king my master, from his gate</div> + <div class='line'>Repel with scorn the invader.’ Forth he passed</div> + <div class='line'>Without farewell. A clarion broke ere long</div> + <div class='line'>Her trance: adown the slope she saw his host</div> + <div class='line'>Winding t’ward Eman.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Winding t’ward Eman.</span> From a burning couch</div> + <div class='line'>She rose next eve; and, strong with fever’s strength,</div> + <div class='line'>Paced swiftly by that sunset-crimsoned stream</div> + <div class='line'>Which cut the camp in twain. Anon she marked</div> + <div class='line'>In all who met her, change inexplicable,</div> + <div class='line'>Strange eyes, strange faces, strange embarrassed ways:</div> + <div class='line'>Sadly compassionate that change in some:</div> + <div class='line'>In others questioning glance and meaning smile</div> + <div class='line'>Hinted at things that through her flaming heart</div> + <div class='line'>Passed like a sword of ice. Whisperings not less</div> + <div class='line'>There were, but these she heard not; ‘What! All night!</div> + <div class='line'>From eve to morn with Rochad in his tent!—</div> + <div class='line'>The men she fed on hopes she sent to death</div> + <div class='line'>Beside the Ford. Well! pride must have its fall!</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>Rochad is joined with Conor!’ Slanders worse</div> + <div class='line'>Some chiefs whom most her haughtiness had galled</div> + <div class='line'>Ventured, vain-glorious. Late one eve the truth</div> + <div class='line'>Sprang like a tigress on her. In his tent</div> + <div class='line'>She heard her father with her mother speak;</div> + <div class='line'>‘She yet may wear the crown: her maiden fame</div> + <div class='line'>Is lost forever!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Is lost forever!’</span> Three hours ere her death</div> + <div class='line'>Thus to her mother spake that sentenced one;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Noise it among the host that grief for those</div> + <div class='line'>Her countrymen—the Gael—who, near the Ford—</div> + <div class='line'>Ere yet that Firbolg shared the common fate,</div> + <div class='line'>Fell by Cuchullain, snapped her thread of life.</div> + <div class='line'>Bear on your march my body:—raise the cairn</div> + <div class='line'>On the first hill that kens Emania’s towers.’</div> + <div class='line in2'>So spake she; and the queen obeyed her hest:</div> + <div class='line'>She flung that rumour forth; and all who heard,</div> + <div class='line'>Heart-stricken now, believed it. But on Meave</div> + <div class='line'>A piercing sadness fell; and by her bed</div> + <div class='line'>Orloff her buried son stood up, and spake;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Home to thy native realm, and Cruachan!</div> + <div class='line'>Not less a battle waits thee great and dread</div> + <div class='line'>’Twixt Gairig and Ilgairig.’ One day’s march</div> + <div class='line'>Eastward still marched she; then upon a hill,</div> + <div class='line'>The first whose summit looked on Eman’s towers,</div> + <div class='line'>Interred the all-beauteous one with Pagan dirge,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>And o’er her piled the cairn. Southward, next morn</div> + <div class='line'>She turned, and crossed the Ford. Fulfilled was thus</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain’s word, breathed o’er Ferdīa dead,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Finobar snared thee. Finobar shall die.’</div> + <div class='line in2'>But many a century later Uladh’s sons</div> + <div class='line'>Rose up and said; ‘Great scorn it is and wrong</div> + <div class='line'>Yon stranger’s grave should gaze on Eman’s towers:’</div> + <div class='line'>Then bore they forth those relics once so fair</div> + <div class='line'>With funeral rites revered and Pagan dirge,</div> + <div class='line'>And laid them by the loud-resounding sea,</div> + <div class='line'>And o’er them raised a cairn: and, age on age,</div> + <div class='line'>As sighed the sea-wind past it shepherds said</div> + <div class='line'>‘It whispers soft that sad word, Finobar!’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span> + <h3 id='the-foray-of-queen-meave-5' class='c005'>FRAGMENT V.</h3> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div><i>QUEEN MEAVE’S RETREAT.</i></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div><span class='sc'>Argument.</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='small'>Queen Meave, having reached the sacred plain of Uta, sacrilegiously +encamps thereon. A Druid denounces the late war as +unrighteous, while Fergus contemns it as ineffectual; and immediately +afterwards the Mor Reega manifests herself to the host. +Next evening, while division of the spoil is being made, Meave is +ware of the advance of King Conor; and Ailill transfers the supreme +command to Fergus, who prepares for the attack. The battle is +gloriously won by Fergus. That night Meave is warned by signs and +omens; and Cuchullain, weak from his wounds, arrives in the +Ulidian camp. From midnight to near sunset the next day he lies +in a trance, during which fair spirits minister to him again his +lost strength; and there is shown to him a vision of some mystic +greatness reserved for Erin, yet of an order which he cannot understand. +When the second battle is well nigh lost Cuchullain wakes; +and Meave is driven in utter overthrow across the Shannon.</span></p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c003'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>At last the war had whirled its giddy round;</div> + <div class='line'>And Meave, well nigh returned, the Shenan<a id='r35'></a><a href='#f35' class='c008'><sup>[35]</sup></a> near</div> + <div class='line'>Beside Ath-Luain<a id='r36'></a><a href='#f36' class='c008'><sup>[36]</sup></a> streaming in its might,</div> + <div class='line'>Decreed to make division of her spoil</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>Ere yet she crossed it. In the West the sun</div> + <div class='line'>Was sinking; in the East the moon uprose;</div> + <div class='line'>While camped her host on Uta’s sacred plain</div> + <div class='line'>Betwixt the double glories. Far away</div> + <div class='line'>Immeasurably glittered the pastures green</div> + <div class='line'>Illumed with million flowers. Nor spade, nor plough</div> + <div class='line'>Till then that virgin region had profaned;</div> + <div class='line'>Nor sound, save Shenan’s murmur, stirred therein.</div> + <div class='line'>There stood the Tomb Heroic. Beams and showers</div> + <div class='line'>Alone might pierce that soil sabbatical;</div> + <div class='line'>Such reverence held the spot. Now all was changed;</div> + <div class='line'>Ill choice; if chance, ill-omened. Neighing steeds</div> + <div class='line'>Dinned the still air; while here at times was heard</div> + <div class='line'>Whistling of him that fixed his tent, and there</div> + <div class='line'>Wood-cleaving axe or feaster’s laugh mistimed.</div> + <div class='line'>Higher and higher rose the moon full-orbed,</div> + <div class='line'>Mirrored in pool and stream. At intervals</div> + <div class='line'>Half lost in bard-song near or shout remote,</div> + <div class='line'>The slender wailing of some captive maid</div> + <div class='line'>Rang out and died.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Rang out and died.</span> The royal tent was set</div> + <div class='line'>High on a grassy platform. Meave that night</div> + <div class='line'>The first time since the death of Finobar</div> + <div class='line'>Was cheerful of aspéct; and, banquet o’er,</div> + <div class='line'>Rising her warriors she addressed with vaunt</div> + <div class='line'>Beseeming not a queen. ‘A year,’ she said,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>‘<a id='tn-warwemarched'></a>Is past since northward to the war we marched:’</div> + <div class='line'>Then forth she loosed the sheets and spread the sails</div> + <div class='line'>And bounded on the waves of proud discourse</div> + <div class='line'>Recounting all her triumphs; first, her wrong;</div> + <div class='line'>Lastly, the cause of war, Cuailgné’s Donn</div> + <div class='line'>Chief captive mid her captives! Here her voice</div> + <div class='line'>Rang loudest, and her eyes their fiercest beamed.</div> + <div class='line'>Rapturous response succeeded; one alone,</div> + <div class='line'>A Druid old, dissentient. Thus he spake,</div> + <div class='line'>Not rising, to that throng of courtiers crowned:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Ill doctrine have ye praised this evening, kings,</div> + <div class='line'>Unwise, to Erin’s realms unprofitable,</div> + <div class='line'>Extolling war not based on righteous cause</div> + <div class='line'>Nor righteous ends ensuing. Kings and queen,</div> + <div class='line'>The end of war is retribution just</div> + <div class='line'>For deeds unjust; ill cure for greater ill:</div> + <div class='line'>Wars there must be; and woman-mouthed were he</div> + <div class='line'>Who railed against them:—aye, but demon-mouthed</div> + <div class='line'>The man that boasts of war-dishonouring wars</div> + <div class='line'>Opprobrious, spiteful, predatory, base.</div> + <div class='line'>Sirs, how began this feud? It rose from jest!</div> + <div class='line'>And what its close? A sacred site profaned,</div> + <div class='line'>Inviolate till this day!’ The warriors frowned;</div> + <div class='line'>Yet all men feared the Druid beard and rod:</div> + <div class='line'>They stood in silence.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">They stood in silence.</span> Fergus rose, and spake:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>‘Sirs, I have heard a war this day extolled,</div> + <div class='line'>A war this day denounced. On battle-field</div> + <div class='line'>Men say that I was born; on battle-fields</div> + <div class='line'>Have lived from youth to age. What thing war is</div> + <div class='line'>I ought to know. Yet, sirs, these wearied eyes</div> + <div class='line'>Rolled many a day around from East to West</div> + <div class='line'>Still seeking war, and found it not: they saw</div> + <div class='line'>Six hundred men successive by the hand</div> + <div class='line'>Of one man slain, Cuchullain; saw the torch</div> + <div class='line'>Hurl the red smoke-cloud o’er a thousand homes:</div> + <div class='line'>They saw a war-dance circle Uladh’s coasts;</div> + <div class='line'>They saw the ravished flock, and ravished herd,</div> + <div class='line'>The captive throng lance-goaded on its way,</div> + <div class='line'>Swine-herd and shepherd, hoary head, and maid</div> + <div class='line'>Beaming and basking in the healthful glow</div> + <div class='line'>Of youthful beauty. Sirs, they saw more late,</div> + <div class='line'>But saw from distance, Eman’s walls high-towered:</div> + <div class='line'>This, this they saw not; warriors, warrior-ruled,</div> + <div class='line'>Marching against them! Mountebanks of war</div> + <div class='line'>They saw; not warriors!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">They saw; not warriors!’</span> Plainly Fergus spake:</div> + <div class='line'>Not otherwise than plainly could he speak,</div> + <div class='line'>A man to Truth predestined; since his birth</div> + <div class='line'>By courage sealed to Truth. The legend saith</div> + <div class='line'>That down before him on his natal morn</div> + <div class='line'>All Erin’s fays and sprites from river or rill</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span>Their tributes laid. But, mightier far than they,</div> + <div class='line'>A wingèd goddess ran from sea to sea,</div> + <div class='line'>The island’s breadth, to hail him! As she sped,</div> + <div class='line'>The path before her, prone till then and low,</div> + <div class='line'>Rising ran out a craggy ridge sublime,</div> + <div class='line'>The same that for a hundred miles this day</div> + <div class='line'>Divides the realm. That highway lofty and straight</div> + <div class='line'>Foreshowed that ne’er in tortuous ways or base</div> + <div class='line'>Should walk that infant.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Should walk that infant.</span> Raging, from their seats</div> + <div class='line'>The kings and chieftains leaped. A hundred swords</div> + <div class='line'>Flashed from their sheaths, and from a hundred mouths</div> + <div class='line'>One sentence issued—‘Death!’ By twos and threes</div> + <div class='line'>A score of stragglers from the exiles’ band</div> + <div class='line'>Closed up behind him. Cormac Conlinglas</div> + <div class='line'>Beside him stood, sword drawn.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Beside him stood, sword drawn.</span> Again he spake;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Queen, till that day of shame was battle none,</div> + <div class='line'>Nor on that day; nor since! But on that day</div> + <div class='line'>Beside your daughter’s cairn—more royal far</div> + <div class='line'>Though fortunate less was she—we two conversed:</div> + <div class='line'>I said; “Without one blow you think to pass</div> + <div class='line'>Eman, that cast me forth! Without one blow</div> + <div class='line'>To cross your Shenan, reach your Cruachan,</div> + <div class='line'>There make your terms secure, the spoil retained,</div> + <div class='line'>The exiles sent to judgment! Note you, Queen,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>Those horsemen three a mile on yonder road?</div> + <div class='line'>My heralds they! The hour your flight begins</div> + <div class='line'>They speed to Eman.”</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">They speed to Eman.”</span> ‘You retreated. They</div> + <div class='line'>Rode on to Conor. To that chief of foes</div> + <div class='line'>I wrote; “Advance! The queen retreats: make speed!</div> + <div class='line'>She shall not ’scape the battle. Know besides</div> + <div class='line'>That battle of earth’s battles till this hour</div> + <div class='line'>Shall prove the bloodiest. In it, sword to sword</div> + <div class='line'>We two shall meet; one die.”’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">We two shall meet; one die.”’</span> In measureless scorn</div> + <div class='line'>Then turned he to the kings, continuing thus;</div> + <div class='line'>‘What mean those clamours and those swords half drawn</div> + <div class='line'>Which draw ye dare not? Petty, titular kings!</div> + <div class='line'>The shadow of that royalty once mine</div> + <div class='line'>Dwarfs you to pygmies by comparison!</div> + <div class='line'>I heard a cry of “Treason!” Let them lift</div> + <div class='line'>Their hands who raised it! Kinglings mutinous,</div> + <div class='line'>Princes seditious, ye the traitors are!</div> + <div class='line'>And on the nod of him whom ye traduce,</div> + <div class='line'>Your pageant crowns sit trembling. Ere three days</div> + <div class='line'>Uladh is on you! I shall stand that hour</div> + <div class='line'>Your King Elect; not Ailill’s choice, but yours;</div> + <div class='line'>The Battle-King; for well ye know that I,</div> + <div class='line'>None else, have skill to range the battle-field,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span>And roll the thunders forth of genuine war.</div> + <div class='line'>Till that hour, silence, kings!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Till that hour, silence, kings!’</span> Silence they kept,</div> + <div class='line'>Long silence. Then far off, as though from depths</div> + <div class='line'>By thought untraversable of cloudless skies,</div> + <div class='line'>Such sound was heard as reaches ships at sea</div> + <div class='line'>When, launched on airy voyage though still remote,</div> + <div class='line'>Nation of ocean-crossing birds begins</div> + <div class='line'>To obscure the serene heaven. That sound drew near:</div> + <div class='line'>From every tent the revellers rushed. Then lo!</div> + <div class='line'>That portent seen alone in fateful times,</div> + <div class='line'>The dread Mor Reega! Terrible as Fate</div> + <div class='line'>The goddess of the battles high o’er head</div> + <div class='line'>Sailed on full-panoplied, in hue as when</div> + <div class='line'>On Alpine snows, their sunset glories gone,</div> + <div class='line'>Night’s winding-sheet descends. Upon her casque</div> + <div class='line'>And spear beyond it pointing glared the moon,</div> + <div class='line'>And on a face like hers that froze of old</div> + <div class='line'>The gazers into stone. As on she sailed</div> + <div class='line'>On that huge army coldness fell of death:</div> + <div class='line'>Yea, some there died. Next morning, from that spot</div> + <div class='line'>Northward to Eman lay a branded track:</div> + <div class='line'>Straight as a lance still stretched it, league on league;</div> + <div class='line'>A bar of winter black through harvest fields,</div> + <div class='line'>A bridge of ice spanning the rippling waves;</div> + <div class='line'>A pledge that men had dreamed not.</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span><span class="dropped-line">A pledge that men had dreamed not.</span> In those days</div> + <div class='line'>Foreboding soon, like sorrow, passed away:</div> + <div class='line'>Ailill next morning counselled; ‘Ere the night</div> + <div class='line'>Cross we the Shenan. If the Red Branch comes</div> + <div class='line'>Fight we on Ai’s plain!’ But Meave replied</div> + <div class='line'>‘Not so; I fly not! One day here we rest:</div> + <div class='line'>Our kings await their spoil.’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Our kings await their spoil.’</span> From morn to eve</div> + <div class='line'>That spoil’s partition lasted; first, huge herds;</div> + <div class='line'>Flocks snowy-white through water-weeds and grass</div> + <div class='line'>Followed, hound-driven. War-horses few were there,</div> + <div class='line'>But many from the plough: with these, in crowds</div> + <div class='line'>Poor hinds, and swine-herds, maidens skilled in works</div> + <div class='line'>That knew to spin the flax or mix the dye</div> + <div class='line'>Or card the wool. Next followed wild-eyed boys</div> + <div class='line'>Bound each to each. No tear they shed, but scowled</div> + <div class='line'>Defiance on their lords and war-songs sang</div> + <div class='line'>Of Uladh and her vengeance. King and chief</div> + <div class='line'>Scanned each his prize with careless-seeming eye;</div> + <div class='line'>Yet oft their followers strove, while onward paced</div> + <div class='line'>The royal arbiters with wands high held,</div> + <div class='line'>Ruling the wrangling crew.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Ruling the wrangling crew.</span> Upon a mound</div> + <div class='line'>Meantime the royal throne was set, a throng</div> + <div class='line'>Of warriors round it. Many a mirthful chance</div> + <div class='line'>Provoked their laughter: loudest laughed the queen;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>But when she spake she waited not reply.</div> + <div class='line'>Without a bound to east and west and south</div> + <div class='line'>The prospect spread. Her eye was on the north:—</div> + <div class='line'>Not distant stood two hills: she asked their names:</div> + <div class='line'>Her great eyes darkened when the answer came</div> + <div class='line'>Of Gairig and Ilgairig.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Of Gairig and Ilgairig.</span> ’Twixt these twain,</div> + <div class='line'>Shone out, distincter as the sun declined,</div> + <div class='line'>Long northern ranges. Fergus marked her eye</div> + <div class='line'>That moved not from them, smiled, and made demand,</div> + <div class='line'>‘What find’st thou in our mountain ridges, Queen,</div> + <div class='line'>That merits gaze so fixed?’ Then she; ‘I note</div> + <div class='line'>Girdling their slopes a mist feathery and soft,</div> + <div class='line'>As though of snow-flakes wov’n: above it peaks</div> + <div class='line'>Shoot up, like isles cloud-hid. Within that mist</div> + <div class='line'>I see strange lights that cross like shooting stars;</div> + <div class='line'>Cross and re-cross, quick-bickering.’ With a smile</div> + <div class='line'>That deepened, Fergus questioned once again:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Make large thine eyes and tell me what thou seest!’</div> + <div class='line'>Then Meave; ‘Through all that mist is movement strange,</div> + <div class='line'>The agitation of some wondrous life,</div> + <div class='line'>And t’wards us on it rolleth.’ Fergus next;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Thine eyes see well! If others saw like thee</div> + <div class='line'>Their tongues would clang less loudly. Hear’st thou nought?’</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span>The queen made answer; ‘Many a sea I hear</div> + <div class='line'>That breaks on many a shore.’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">That breaks on many a shore.’</span> Then Fergus cried</div> + <div class='line'>‘Thou seest my Uladh coming, and the way</div> + <div class='line'>And fashion of the advent of her war!</div> + <div class='line'>For know, great Queen, even now the Red Branch Knights</div> + <div class='line'>Car-borne descend yon slopes! That mist thou saw’st</div> + <div class='line'>What is it but the tempest of their march,</div> + <div class='line'>The dust flung upwards and the sweat exhaled</div> + <div class='line'>And visible breath of warrior and of horse</div> + <div class='line'>That breathes the northwind and the sunny glare?</div> + <div class='line'>What else the snow-flakes which thou saw’st but foam</div> + <div class='line'>Dashed from the horses’ bits? Thy bickering stars,</div> + <div class='line'>What else but flaming cars and fiery helms</div> + <div class='line'>This way and that way passing? What thy peaks</div> + <div class='line'>Crowning that mist, but Uladh’s hills remote</div> + <div class='line'>That send her children to avenge her wrong?</div> + <div class='line'>And what that thunder sound of many seas</div> + <div class='line'>But music of their coming? Well for thee</div> + <div class='line'>If o’er them sail not, veiled from mortal eyes,</div> + <div class='line'>That dread Mor Reega!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">That dread Mor Reega!’</span> Reddened as he spake</div> + <div class='line'>Meave’s cheek late pale; yet careless she replied;</div> + <div class='line'>‘I see her not, therefore believe her not,</div> + <div class='line'>And breathe securely since that gleam far off</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>Is human, not demoniac or divine;</div> + <div class='line'>For never feared I yet the arm of man:</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain dead, I hold at nought the rest.’</div> + <div class='line'>Thus Meave: but all the kings and chiefs arose</div> + <div class='line'>Clamouring to her and Ailill; ‘Lo, ’tis come!</div> + <div class='line'>All Uladh, and a battle such as ne’er</div> + <div class='line'>Shook the foundations of this kingly isle!</div> + <div class='line'>Now therefore bid him rule thy host, the man</div> + <div class='line'>That knows to rule!’ ’Twixt passions twain at war</div> + <div class='line'>Meave silent stood. Ailill to Fergus turned</div> + <div class='line'>And spake; ‘Be thou henceforth our Battle-King:’</div> + <div class='line'>Thus spake he; then, releasing from his belt</div> + <div class='line'>The sword usurped of Fergus, added thus;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Receive once more thy sword! in mirth erewhile</div> + <div class='line'>I made it mine: the virtue in that blade</div> + <div class='line'>Hath kept me till this hour.’ Fergus replied;</div> + <div class='line'>‘I take mine own: but one month past, this sword</div> + <div class='line'>Had cut the cancer out of Uladh’s breast,</div> + <div class='line'>And made thy throne a praise on earth for aye!</div> + <div class='line'>I take mine own, on thee a sword bestowing</div> + <div class='line'>That best becomes thee. Waiting long this hour</div> + <div class='line'>For thee I kept it.’ Proudly Ailill clasped</div> + <div class='line'>Its glittering hilt: Fergus drew back the sheath;</div> + <div class='line'>And lo, a wooden sword, for babes a toy!</div> + <div class='line'>The concourse laughed; the loudest Meave: though wroth</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span>Ailill a little whiffling laugh essayed</div> + <div class='line'>With sidelong face.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">With sidelong face.</span> Then Fergus in the soil</div> + <div class='line'>Planting his sword upright before it knelt,</div> + <div class='line'>And spake; ‘O thou my sovereignty, my sword,</div> + <div class='line'>In many a battle, yet in none unjust,</div> + <div class='line'>So many a year my glory and my mate!</div> + <div class='line'>Mine art thou, mine once more! In all this host</div> + <div class='line'>Who shall henceforth reproach me?’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Who shall henceforth reproach me?’</span> To his task</div> + <div class='line'>The strong one sped, and change was over all:</div> + <div class='line'>Again the voice of discipline was heard:</div> + <div class='line'>None drank in booths; none rushed abroad; with sloth</div> + <div class='line'>Fierceness had vanished. Followers of the camp</div> + <div class='line'>Alone were left in charge of flocks and herds:</div> + <div class='line'>The clansmen to their duties were restored,</div> + <div class='line'>The clans in order ranged. He delved a trench</div> + <div class='line'>Barring from Uta’s plain the advancing foe,</div> + <div class='line'>And bridges o’er it flung, that so his host</div> + <div class='line'>Permission given, and not till then, might strike</div> + <div class='line'>Forth pouring torrent-like at Uladh’s heart:</div> + <div class='line'>Pits too he dug bristling with stakes sod-hid.</div> + <div class='line'>He gave command like one that, born to power,</div> + <div class='line'>With courteous might scarce conscious puts it forth:</div> + <div class='line'>He spake the word: all heard him: all obeyed</div> + <div class='line'>Magnanimous to feel when majesty</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>Authentic stood before them. Duty done</div> + <div class='line'>Engendered strenuous joy, and strength, and hope:</div> + <div class='line'>Thus through the mass the spirit of one man</div> + <div class='line'>Triumphed, and ruling, raised it: on each face</div> + <div class='line'>His corporal semblance lived—light hearted might,</div> + <div class='line'>Deliberate resolve.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Deliberate resolve.</span> The moonlight hours</div> + <div class='line'>Shone brightly on their labours. Six had sped</div> + <div class='line'>Ere Fergus sought the royal tent where sat</div> + <div class='line'>Revellers right ill at ease. As in he passed,</div> + <div class='line'>The concourse, Meave herself and Ailill, rose,</div> + <div class='line'>And did him regal honours. Of his toils</div> + <div class='line'>Nought spake he; but their hearts who saw him swelled</div> + <div class='line'>And many marvelled why they late were sad:</div> + <div class='line'>Again the laugh; again the tale; the song—</div> + <div class='line'>Then came a change. A gradual sound was heard,</div> + <div class='line'>Yet what and whence they knew not. It increased;</div> + <div class='line'>It swelled ere long, voluminous; grating next;</div> + <div class='line'>Then dreadful like the splitting of a world</div> + <div class='line'>Whose strong foundations crumble. Forth they passed</div> + <div class='line'>Through hurrying clouds the moon rushed madly on,</div> + <div class='line'>Now dim, now fiercely glaring. From the north</div> + <div class='line'>In terror sped the forest beasts and dashed</div> + <div class='line'>Wild through the camp while panic fell on all.</div> + <div class='line'>The sole man unastonished, Fergus spake:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Sirs, late ye learn our warfare! As the spring,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span>When the first spray catches the amorous red,</div> + <div class='line'>Her song-bird sends, herald and harbinger,</div> + <div class='line'>So Uladh sends before her onward steps</div> + <div class='line'>Her shrill-voiced vanguard: men of might are they,</div> + <div class='line'>Hewers of war-ways for her battle cars</div> + <div class='line'>Advancing through the forests. First ye heard</div> + <div class='line'>Their axes only; last, the falling trees:—</div> + <div class='line'>What, Sirs, ye look like men ill-pleased! Well, well!</div> + <div class='line'>Not all delight in music. Sirs, good-night!</div> + <div class='line'>When breaks the dawn be stirring.’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">When breaks the dawn be stirring.’</span> In the camp</div> + <div class='line'>Few slept that night. Vanished the moon in cloud:</div> + <div class='line'>Then shone the watch-fires on the northern hills</div> + <div class='line'>Like stars.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Like stars.</span> Next morn the Uladh host down swarmed</div> + <div class='line'>Betwixt those neighbouring hills and round their base</div> + <div class='line'>Far spread as flood that, widening on its way,</div> + <div class='line'>Changes the heights to islands. Countless wrongs</div> + <div class='line'>And shame at all that long inglorious trance,</div> + <div class='line'>Roused wrath to madness; from them far they flung</div> + <div class='line'>Encumbering arms, and, bare from scalp to waist,</div> + <div class='line'>Worked on with brandished battle-axe. Three hours</div> + <div class='line'>That trench withstood them. Kelkar ruled their left,</div> + <div class='line'>Their right great Conal Carnach, while the king</div> + <div class='line'>Marshalled their centre. There the strongest bridge,</div> + <div class='line'>Tower-guarded, longest held their host at bay;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>Longer had held it, save that from his place</div> + <div class='line'>Fergus, the hour foreseen arrived, gave word</div> + <div class='line'>‘Fling wide the gates!’ In rushed they; but to meet</div> + <div class='line'>A foe unwasted yet. The Red Branch Knights</div> + <div class='line'>Surpassed their old renown. In fresher strength</div> + <div class='line'>The host confederate met them. Meave herself</div> + <div class='line'>With downward mace three champions slew that day,</div> + <div class='line'>Him last, that felon son of faithful sire,</div> + <div class='line'>Buini, the Ruthless Red, who, breaking pledge,</div> + <div class='line'>Betrayed the sons of Usnach for a bribe:</div> + <div class='line'>His father’s prophecy the Accursed fulfilled</div> + <div class='line'>Slain by a woman’s hand. Fergus, at last</div> + <div class='line'>Forth launched upon his native element,</div> + <div class='line'>Raced o’er the battle billows like a bark</div> + <div class='line'>When tempests stretch its canvass. Chief on chief</div> + <div class='line'>Went down before that sword that still, men sware,</div> + <div class='line'>With sweep that widened like a rainbow’s arch</div> + <div class='line'>Ran from his hand and harvests reaped of death.</div> + <div class='line'>O’er-spent, not scared, that Northern host gave way</div> + <div class='line'>Sudden from east to west. It broke and fled.</div> + <div class='line in2'>Alone unvanquished Conor Conchobar</div> + <div class='line'>Maintained his place. He rallied twice and thrice</div> + <div class='line'>The fugitives; thrice turned them on the foe;</div> + <div class='line'>Then stabbed them flying. Last upon the bridge</div> + <div class='line'>He stood and sole. There met him face to face</div> + <div class='line'>The sole of foes his equal. Dreadful gaze</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span>Long fixed they, each on other; Fergus spake:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Is this indeed that king who filched that realm</div> + <div class='line'>Not his, then shamed it by a bloodier fraud;</div> + <div class='line'>Who brake his pledge; who murdered Usnach’s sons;</div> + <div class='line'>Who drave from Uladh, Uladh’s rightful king;—</div> + <div class='line'>And comes he at my hand to meet his doom?</div> + <div class='line'>Just Gods, I thank you!’ With a haughtier mien,</div> + <div class='line'>Yet kingly less, King Conchobar replied:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Thou know’st me; and ’tis well! That king am I</div> + <div class='line'>Who, less than thou by lineage, but in mind</div> + <div class='line'>Loftier, attained that crown thou could’st not keep;</div> + <div class='line'>That king, who, breaking through a jesting pact</div> + <div class='line'>As eagles through a mist, by doom deserved</div> + <div class='line'>Requited rebels proved. That king am I</div> + <div class='line'>Who, when with traitors thou true pact hadst made,</div> + <div class='line'>Forth hurled thee naked to the wild wolf’s lair:</div> + <div class='line'>That was the worst I wished thee: worse by far</div> + <div class='line'>If aught of kingly once was thine thou found’st—</div> + <div class='line'>Beneath a hostile roof the beggar’s dole</div> + <div class='line'>Gorged on a golden platter, and the hand</div> + <div class='line'>Protectress, of a woman!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Protectress, of a woman!’</span> Long that fight</div> + <div class='line'>Watched by two hosts in speechless stupor held,</div> + <div class='line'>Direful and long! Equal in might those twain,</div> + <div class='line'>Equal in craft of war. The kinglier soul</div> + <div class='line'>Conferred alone the victory. Fergus raised</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>The unvanquishable sword so late restored:</div> + <div class='line'>It fell in thunder: with it fell the king,</div> + <div class='line'>Fell to his knees, a bleeding mass, and blind:</div> + <div class='line'>Again that sword was raised: a moment more</div> + <div class='line'>Had ended all: then leaped to Fergus’ feet,</div> + <div class='line'>His knees enclasping, Cormac Conlinglas</div> + <div class='line'>King Conor’s son. He spake these words alone:</div> + <div class='line'>‘My father!—Spare him!’ Fergus ne’er had scorned</div> + <div class='line'>A look like his that hour. He turned: he spake:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Take hence that reptile:—holy is this plain!</div> + <div class='line'>A true king here was buried!’ Conor’s kernes</div> + <div class='line'>Lifted him to his war-car. Slowly it moved;</div> + <div class='line'>For Death was in the wheels thereof; and Death</div> + <div class='line'>Stood at its door.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Stood at its door.</span> That night in Uladh’s camp</div> + <div class='line'>Was silence strange and dread. By dying men</div> + <div class='line'>Sat men sore wounded. Scornful of their foe</div> + <div class='line'>And burning for revenge, the North had spurned</div> + <div class='line'>Science of war, their boast, and left, death-strewn,</div> + <div class='line'>Full half their host. Between their tents and Meave’s</div> + <div class='line'>All that long night the buriers of the dead</div> + <div class='line'>Groped their sad way with red, earth-grazing torch,</div> + <div class='line'>Turning the white face up in search of friend,</div> + <div class='line'>Brother, or son. But in the tent of Meave</div> + <div class='line'>Triumph ruled all: a hundred spake at once</div> + <div class='line'>Each man his deeds recounting. Far apart</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span>Sat Fergus; on his brow alone was shade:</div> + <div class='line'>The deed was needful; but his country’s blood</div> + <div class='line'>Gladdened not him. Of those that marked him, some</div> + <div class='line'>Had reverence for his sadness: lesser souls</div> + <div class='line'>That long had hated, loathed the man that hour.</div> + <div class='line'>Sudden the din surceased. Far other sound</div> + <div class='line'>Quelled it: from Uladh’s sorrowing camp it swelled,</div> + <div class='line'>A jubilant cry soaring from earth to heaven!</div> + <div class='line'>Then flashed the eyes of Fergus, and he cried;</div> + <div class='line'>‘Cuchullain lives! That sound is Uladh’s shout</div> + <div class='line'>What time the host he enters!’ With a brow</div> + <div class='line'>Gloomy as night the queen replied; ‘’Tis false!</div> + <div class='line'>We know that in the forest, months gone by</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain perished!’ Silent long they stood;</div> + <div class='line'>Listening. At last rang out far different note</div> + <div class='line'>As piteous as the first was full of joy,</div> + <div class='line'>A funeral <i>keen</i> world-wide. Then cried the queen,</div> + <div class='line'>‘Cuchullain lived! Cuchullain lives no more!</div> + <div class='line'>Wounded and weak he came to aid his own:</div> + <div class='line'>Too great such effort for a wasted frame:</div> + <div class='line'>That was Cuchullain’s death-dirge!’ Fierce she stood:</div> + <div class='line'>Glorying she spake, and with attendance passed</div> + <div class='line'>Forth from the hall of banquet to her tent:</div> + <div class='line'>But as she passed she heard at either side</div> + <div class='line'>She and her ladies with her, trembling heard</div> + <div class='line'>The rushing of a panic-stricken host</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>Invisible, though now the dawn was grey,</div> + <div class='line'>A host t’ward Shenan flying! High o’er head</div> + <div class='line'>A dulcet strain, unutterably sad,</div> + <div class='line'>When ceased that phantom rush of fugitive feet,</div> + <div class='line'>Drifted far northward. Then the queen was ware</div> + <div class='line'>These were her country’s gods that left her host.</div> + <div class='line'>The legend adds that in her tent that hour</div> + <div class='line'>Faythleen, the witch, she saw, who sat and wove</div> + <div class='line'>A mystic web and sang a mystic song,</div> + <div class='line'>Seen but by her:—and, later, o’er her bed</div> + <div class='line'>Men say that Orloff bent, her buried son,</div> + <div class='line'>And spake; ‘This day the battle shall be fought</div> + <div class='line'>Of Gairig and Ilgairig.’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Of Gairig and Ilgairig.’</span> He meanwhile,</div> + <div class='line'>The lord of all the battles, where was he,</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain? Many a weary day and week</div> + <div class='line'>Within his loved Murthemné’s woods he lay,</div> + <div class='line'>Sore-wounded man nigh death. Those shepherd youths</div> + <div class='line'>Tended him still, or sang beside his bed;</div> + <div class='line'>And ofttimes o’er his face the tears of Leagh</div> + <div class='line'>In passionate gust descended. But the might</div> + <div class='line'>Unholy of the clan of Cailitin</div> + <div class='line'>That nightly hung above him like a cloud</div> + <div class='line'>Began to wither when that mist accursed</div> + <div class='line'>Drifted from Uladh’s borders. On the breast</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span>Pellucid, likewise, of Murthemné’s streams</div> + <div class='line'>Benignant spirits scattered flowers and herbs</div> + <div class='line'>With healing virtue dowered. He, morn and eve</div> + <div class='line'>In those clear currents laid, renewed his youth;</div> + <div class='line'>And, pure as infant’s, came again that flesh</div> + <div class='line'>Where festered late his wounds. At last, revived,</div> + <div class='line'>He passed, car-borne to Eman, north. The fields</div> + <div class='line'>Devastated, and wail from foodless glens</div> + <div class='line'>Filled him as on he sped with wrathful strength:</div> + <div class='line'>Next, tidings came of Conor’s southward march:</div> + <div class='line'>Exultingly he followed. On that night</div> + <div class='line'>Of overthrow he reached the royal camp:</div> + <div class='line'>Far off they kenned his car, and raised that shout</div> + <div class='line'>Heard never save for him. When near he drew</div> + <div class='line'>Way-worn, and wearied, and around him gazed,</div> + <div class='line'>And saw that sight, and thought, ‘too late; too late!’</div> + <div class='line'>His cheek upon the shoulder sank of Leagh,</div> + <div class='line'>And all men deemed him dead. Then rose that wail</div> + <div class='line'>To Meave auspicious sound.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">To Meave auspicious sound.</span> There are who deem</div> + <div class='line'>Cuchullain’s tent that night was near the Well</div> + <div class='line'>Where, purer far, more late the royal maids</div> + <div class='line'>Fedelm and Ethna met that saint who gave</div> + <div class='line'>To God the isle of Fate. Blessing then too</div> + <div class='line'>That Well diffused, they say; for from its brink</div> + <div class='line'>A runnel o’er the pebbles ran with sound</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>So sweetly tuned that on the warrior sank</div> + <div class='line'>Deep seal of peace divine. The war-shouts near</div> + <div class='line'>To him thus harboured seemed but ocean’s sighs</div> + <div class='line'>Round islands ever calm. Then came, on winds</div> + <div class='line'>Fresher than earth’s, divinities more high</div> + <div class='line'>He thought than those that late from elfin meres</div> + <div class='line'>Amid Murthemné’s woods had dewed his face;</div> + <div class='line'>And loftier songs were sung; and balmier flowers</div> + <div class='line'>In holier fountains bathed were softlier pressed</div> + <div class='line'>On breast and brow; while shone before his eyes</div> + <div class='line'>Visions more fair than lordliest battle-field,</div> + <div class='line'>Though what they meant he knew not nor divined—</div> + <div class='line'>High-towerèd temples cruciform that rose</div> + <div class='line'>Far-seen o’er wood and street; and from their gates</div> + <div class='line'>Vestal procession issuing white, that wound</div> + <div class='line'>Through precincts low where only dwelt the poor,</div> + <div class='line'>The halt, the lame, the blind; and song he heard</div> + <div class='line'>With spiritual pathos changing sense to soul,</div> + <div class='line'>‘The end of all is peace.’ In silence slid</div> + <div class='line'>The constellations down the western sky;</div> + <div class='line'>And endless seemed that night.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">And endless seemed that night.</span> At break of day</div> + <div class='line'>Came Conal Carnach and the Red Branch Knights</div> + <div class='line'>To see the sick man’s face. Thereon the morn</div> + <div class='line'>Laughed, dewy-bright: and lo! where long had lain</div> + <div class='line'>Pallor of death, now burned a healthful red:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>Not less they dared not touch him; since with him</div> + <div class='line'><i>Geisa</i> it was if any broke his rest.</div> + <div class='line'>They left him, and the battle-storm began.</div> + <div class='line'>Warned by defeat Uladh had raised ere morn,</div> + <div class='line'>Fronting her camp, three bulwarks: at the first</div> + <div class='line'>And distant most, three hours the conflict raged.</div> + <div class='line'>It fell at last. When rose the conquerors’ shout</div> + <div class='line'>Leagh to Cuchullain crept, and touched him not,</div> + <div class='line'>Yet knelt and whispered, ‘Heard you not that sound?’</div> + <div class='line'>And thus Cuchullain answered still in trance;</div> + <div class='line'>‘I heard the runnels in Murthemné’s woods</div> + <div class='line'>Snow-swoll’n in spring.’ Then Leagh stood up and mused</div> + <div class='line'>‘The hue of health is on his face, and yet</div> + <div class='line'>Because he will not wake the land is shamed.’</div> + <div class='line'>Next round the second bulwark raged the war</div> + <div class='line'>Hour after hour: heroic deeds were done:</div> + <div class='line'>Heroic deaths were died: at last it fell:</div> + <div class='line'>Again and nearer rose the conquerors’ shout:</div> + <div class='line'>Again with bolder foot and forehead flushed</div> + <div class='line'>Leagh to Cuchullain moved and touched him not</div> + <div class='line'>But, bending, murmured, ‘Heard you not that sound?’</div> + <div class='line'>And he, without awaking, answered thus;</div> + <div class='line'>‘I heard the birds in Eimer’s pleasaunce sing</div> + <div class='line'>To greet our marriage morn.’ Then Leagh went forth</div> + <div class='line'>Groaning, and smote his hands, and wept aloud</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span>‘Because he will not wake the host must die!’</div> + <div class='line'>Around the loftiest bulwark and the last</div> + <div class='line'>Once more for hours the battle raged: it fell!</div> + <div class='line'>And louder thrice that shout went up. The gaze</div> + <div class='line'>Of Leagh was on him fixed: he heard it not:</div> + <div class='line'>Slowly it died; and as it died the wail</div> + <div class='line'>Came feebly forth from Uladh’s host. A change</div> + <div class='line'>Flashed o’er Cuchullain’s face: like fire it shone:</div> + <div class='line'>Into his tent he sprang midway! Then lo!</div> + <div class='line'>A marvel! for the wounded man that slept</div> + <div class='line'>All day with bandages enswathed, up-towered</div> + <div class='line'>Full-armed for fight a champion spear in hand,</div> + <div class='line'>Work of some god! Swift from his tent he strode:—</div> + <div class='line'>Without the hand of man there stood his car</div> + <div class='line'>And those immortal steeds pawing the air</div> + <div class='line'>With wonted battle-cry! A moment more</div> + <div class='line'>And forward to Ilgairig’s slope they dashed:</div> + <div class='line'>‘Let but the armies see him,’ inly mused</div> + <div class='line'>Leagh, ‘and the work is done!’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Leagh, ‘and the work is done!’</span> Onward they sped;</div> + <div class='line'>But not unnoted by that demon brood</div> + <div class='line'>That hate the works of justice. From below</div> + <div class='line'>Writhing in torment of their rage they heaved</div> + <div class='line'>The grassy surface upward into waves</div> + <div class='line'>Now swelling, now descending. Strong albeit</div> + <div class='line'>The immortal steeds staggered. Cuchullain cried,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span>‘What! children of the tempest-wakened lakes</div> + <div class='line'>Saw ye till now no billows? Yours they are!</div> + <div class='line'>Exult ye in your native element,</div> + <div class='line'>And waft your lord to vengeance!’ They obeyed:</div> + <div class='line'>They reached Ilgairig’s summit.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">They reached Ilgairig’s summit.</span> On he sped</div> + <div class='line'>Mantled with sunset. Terrible he shone!</div> + <div class='line'>Both armies saw him—knew him! Onward yet;</div> + <div class='line'>While from his golden arms and golden car</div> + <div class='line'>Lightnings went forth incessant. In his van</div> + <div class='line'>Victory and Fear their pinions spread. He reached</div> + <div class='line'>Ilgairig’s southern verge: he reined his steeds:</div> + <div class='line'>High in his car he stood; with level hand</div> + <div class='line'>Screening his eyes he scanned that battle-field,</div> + <div class='line'>His future course decreeing.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">His future course decreeing.</span> On and on</div> + <div class='line'>Adown that slope he flashed and o’er that plain</div> + <div class='line'>Like zigzag sunshaft o’er the autumnal world;</div> + <div class='line'>And ever where he came the host of Meave</div> + <div class='line'>Gave way before him. On and ever on!</div> + <div class='line'>And now the nearest of those bulwarks three</div> + <div class='line'>He reached, and o’er its ruins swept, back driving</div> + <div class='line'>The conquerors late now conquered. On and on!</div> + <div class='line'>And ever through that foe thick-packed he clave</div> + <div class='line'>A lane of doom and death. Ere long was reached</div> + <div class='line'>The second rampart. There it was he slew</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span>The great ones of Clan Libna, and the clans</div> + <div class='line'>Guairé and Murdoc. Fiery faces thronged</div> + <div class='line'>The air around him, and the voice of Gods</div> + <div class='line'>Made smooth his way triumphant.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Made smooth his way triumphant.</span> On and on—</div> + <div class='line'>Nor ceased he ever hurling left and right</div> + <div class='line'>Destruction from his sling; nor slackened sleet</div> + <div class='line'>Of javelins winged with fate. That brazen urn</div> + <div class='line'>With death-stones heaped exhausted not its store,</div> + <div class='line'>Replenished ever as by hand unseen</div> + <div class='line'>Work of some God! That brazen cirque, not less</div> + <div class='line'>Where stood his javelins ranged was never void;</div> + <div class='line'>Work of some God! The on-rolling wheels devoured</div> + <div class='line'>Those serried ranks; the war-steeds trampled down:</div> + <div class='line'>Reached was that rampart furthest of the three;</div> + <div class='line'>There in her war-car sat the queen; in front</div> + <div class='line'>The Maineys seven were ranged: his sword forth flashed:</div> + <div class='line'>Four perished of the seven. Then faced the queen</div> + <div class='line'>Westward, and fled amazed.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Westward, and fled amazed.</span> He marked her flight:</div> + <div class='line'>Eastward he turned. As on he carved his course</div> + <div class='line'>Not now a lane alone of doom and death</div> + <div class='line'>But ever widening valleys ruin-strewn</div> + <div class='line'>Bore witness of his transit, for behind</div> + <div class='line'>Closed ever up Cuchullain’s household clans</div> + <div class='line'>Murthemné’s, and Cuailgné’s. Perished there</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span>The Ossorians, and the Olnemacian chiefs,</div> + <div class='line'>And many a champion famed from Slaney’s bank</div> + <div class='line'>To Lee and Laune, from Caiseal’s crested rock<a id='r37'></a><a href='#f37' class='c008'><sup>[37]</sup></a></div> + <div class='line'>To Beara’s strand. Who died not, fled and left</div> + <div class='line'>Yet ampler ’twixt the bristling flanks of war</div> + <div class='line'>That vacant space; and as the dolphin oft</div> + <div class='line'>Raptured by gladness of clear summer seas</div> + <div class='line'>While flames the noon on purple billows, swims</div> + <div class='line'>All round and round some ship full-sailed, so he</div> + <div class='line'>Circled on foot at times that car wind-swift</div> + <div class='line'>Mocking its slowness; then with airy bound</div> + <div class='line'>Once more within it beamed. His boyhood’s mirth</div> + <div class='line'>Returned upon him. On the chariot’s floor</div> + <div class='line'>He marked those brazen balls, the sport that time</div> + <div class='line'>Of men way-faring, snatched them up, tossed high</div> + <div class='line'>While yet careering round the blood-stained field,</div> + <div class='line'>Then caught them as they fell:—a glittering ring</div> + <div class='line'>They girt that glittering head. Not less his eye</div> + <div class='line'>Watchful pursued the flying foe; his hand</div> + <div class='line'>Brought down to earth the fleetest.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Brought down to earth the fleetest.</span> From the crests</div> + <div class='line'>Of those twinned hills down rushed the total strength</div> + <div class='line'>At last of Uladh. Universal flight</div> + <div class='line'>Shook the vast field. The bravest men and best</div> + <div class='line'>Caught by its current on were dragged like trees</div> + <div class='line'>The sport of winter flood. Chieftain and king</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>Sought, each, his home. Meave, with a remnant small</div> + <div class='line'>Reached Shenan’s bridgeless tide; and there had fallen</div> + <div class='line'>Stretching to towered Ath-Luain helpless hands,</div> + <div class='line'>Save that Cuchullain, ’mid the narrower way</div> + <div class='line'>Standing with arms extended, terrible,</div> + <div class='line'>Abashed that host pursuing; ‘Stand ye back!</div> + <div class='line'><a id='tn-shallnotdie'></a>One day I shared her feast: she shall not die!’</div> + <div class='line'>He spake, and set by Shenan’s wave his shield.</div> + <div class='line'>Next morn the Ulidians where that shield had stood</div> + <div class='line'>In silence stern planted three pillar-stones,</div> + <div class='line'>White daughters of the tempest-beaten hills,</div> + <div class='line'>In Ogham graved, ‘Vanquished by Uladh’s sons</div> + <div class='line'>Here fled the invader, Meave.’</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Here fled the invader, Meave.’</span> Fergus alone</div> + <div class='line'>The Exile-King, and they, the Exile Band,</div> + <div class='line'>Fled not that day. Though few and bleeding fast</div> + <div class='line'>Fearless upon a cloudy crag they stood,</div> + <div class='line'>Phalanx prepared to die, prepared not less</div> + <div class='line'>Dearly to sell their lives, while past them streamed</div> + <div class='line'>That panic-stricken throng. The host pursuing</div> + <div class='line'>Looked up, yet swerved not from their course. Once more</div> + <div class='line'>Returning from the vengeance they looked up;</div> + <div class='line'>Then passed in silence by.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Then passed in silence by.</span> That eve, men say,</div> + <div class='line'>While slowly paced Cuchullain t’ward the camp,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>Lamenting strains of Goddesses were heard,</div> + <div class='line'>For whatsoe’er was female loved the man,</div> + <div class='line'>If earthly female, with a human love,</div> + <div class='line'>If heavenly, with a love compassionate,</div> + <div class='line'>Lamenting strains that, ere his youth had passed,</div> + <div class='line'>That starry head must lie by Fate’s decree</div> + <div class='line'>Amid the dust of death. Cuchullain turned;</div> + <div class='line'>Softly he answered; ‘Goddesses benign!</div> + <div class='line'>Why weep ye? I was Uladh’s Mastiff-Hound:</div> + <div class='line'>The mastiff lives not long. What better lot</div> + <div class='line'>For him than this;—the bandits chased, to die</div> + <div class='line'>Beside his master’s gate?’</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Beside his master’s gate?’</span> So ends the <cite>Tain</cite>:</div> + <div class='line'>Not less, in mirth or spleen, that legend old</div> + <div class='line'>Primeval battle-chaunt of Erin’s race,</div> + <div class='line'>Adds yet a second close.</div> + <div class='line'><span class="dropped-line">Adds yet a second close.</span> Cuchullain led</div> + <div class='line'>That host Ulidian home; while Meave made oath</div> + <div class='line'>Northward to send, and range round Eman’s walls</div> + <div class='line'>Her spoil, the war’s sole triumph, countless flocks,</div> + <div class='line'>The herds milk-yielding of the large-eyed kine,</div> + <div class='line'>The horses, and the asses, and the goats,</div> + <div class='line'><a id='tn-preciousdyes'></a>The household stuffs, rich vests, and precious dyes,</div> + <div class='line'>The hinds laborious, and the men age-bent,</div> + <div class='line'>And maidens skilled in work; but, first, and chief</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span>That sable Bull, the cause of all the war.</div> + <div class='line'>Fulfilled were all these pledges save the last;</div> + <div class='line'>For Meave upon that fatal day, while hung</div> + <div class='line'>Doubtful the battle-scales, had given command</div> + <div class='line'>To lead the Donn to Cruachan. Ill-pleased</div> + <div class='line'>He on his keepers turning slew a score,</div> + <div class='line'>Yet peaceful paced at last betwixt their ranks,</div> + <div class='line'>At each side fifty spears. Next day, far south,</div> + <div class='line'>Forth rolled the roar of Ailill’s Bull snow-white,</div> + <div class='line'>Fionbannah. Bursting through his guard, the Donn</div> + <div class='line'>Rushed t’ward the sound. Upon the midway plain</div> + <div class='line'>The rivals met. All day that battle raged</div> + <div class='line'>While wood to wood thunder on thunder hurled,</div> + <div class='line'>And all the bulls of Erin sent reply.</div> + <div class='line'>Shepherds, through wood-skirts peering, saw the end,</div> + <div class='line'>The Donn, at sunset, rushing t’ward the north,</div> + <div class='line'>And, on his conqueror’s back—their horns entwined—</div> + <div class='line'>Fionbannah dead! All night that conqueror rushed</div> + <div class='line'>O’er hill and plain and prone morass. When dawn</div> + <div class='line'>Looked coldly forth through mist along the meads</div> + <div class='line'>Far off he kenned a rock: that rock he deemed</div> + <div class='line'>A second bull: collecting all his might</div> + <div class='line'>Thereon he hurled his giant bulk, and died.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in2'>Northward thus marched from Cruachan the kings;</div> + <div class='line'>Then back. The Foray of Queen Meave thus far.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> +<div> + <h2 id='notes' class='c006'>NOTES.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div><a href='#preface'>PREFACE</a></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f1'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. <cite>Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History</cite>, p. 41.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f2'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. <cite>Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History</cite>, p. 30.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f3'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r3'>3</a>. <cite>Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish</cite>, vol. iii. p. 403.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f4'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r4'>4</a>. Author of <cite>The Collegians</cite>.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f5'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r5'>5</a>. More correctly written Uisnach. See <cite>Loch Etive and the Sons +of Uisnach</cite>, Macmillan & Co.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f6'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r6'>6</a>. Advertisement to ‘Inisfail,’ p. 52.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f7'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r7'>7</a>. 1. Lays of the Western Gael. 2. Congal. 3. Poems. By +Sir Samuel Ferguson. Bell and Sons.</p> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div><a href='#the-sons-of-usnach'>THE SONS OF USNACH</a></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f8'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r8'>8</a>. Ulster.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f9'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r9'>9</a>. Eman, also called Emania, stood nearly on the present site of +Armagh.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f10'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r10'>10</a>. Page 9. <i>He taught her all the Ogham Signs to read.</i> +The Ogham characters are a species of alphabet, or as some call +them cypher, cut upon stones, or wooden staves. They are found +in many parts of Ireland; and much has been written on them by +the most learned Irish antiquarians of recent times, especially by +Bishop Graves.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f11'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r11'>11</a>. The Irish, originally ‘Scoti,’ were so called from Scota.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f12'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r12'>12</a>. Ballyshannon.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f13'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r13'>13</a>. Howth.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f14'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r14'>14</a>. Page 38. <i>By Geisa bound.</i> +These <i>Gesa</i>, or <i>Geisa</i>, often as trivial in character as they were +rigidly enforced, have a large place in the legends of the Irish pre-Christian +times. Sometimes they applied to particular individuals +alone: thus, in the case of Cuchullain, it was a <i>Gesa</i> that no one +should wake him out of his sleep. Sometimes they were self-imposed: +thus Fergus Mac Roy and Cuchullain also, had bound +themselves in youth never to refuse an invitation to the feast of a +good man, however humble. The most remarkable illustrations of +the <i>Gesa</i> will be found in ‘Conary,’ the noble poem of my friend, +Sir Samuel Ferguson, who speaks of them as ‘certain sacred injunctions, +the violation of which was attended with temporal punishment. +The agents in inflicting such retribution appear in the form +of Fairies.’ (Poems by Sir Samuel Ferguson, p. 61. McGee, +Dublin; George Bell, London.)</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f15'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r15'>15</a>. Page 39. <i>Deirdré and he were playing chess together</i>: +Chess was a favourite game with the Irish, and is frequently +alluded to in the earliest tales.</p> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div><a href='#the-children-of-lir'>THE CHILDREN OF LIR</a></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f16'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r16'>16</a>. Page 73. <i>The ‘Lia Fail,’ and Ogham lore revered.</i> +The ‘Lia Fail,’ or ‘Stone of Destiny,’ was the stone on which +the Irish ‘Chief Kings,’ or Ard-Righs, were crowned at Tara. It +was subsequently used for the same purpose during many centuries +in Scotland, to which it had been brought by the Dalriad Irish recorded +by Bede, at the coronation of her Kings of Irish race. +It was removed by Edward the First from Scone to Westminster +Abbey, where it still supports the chair of Edward the Confessor. +(See ‘Hist. of Scotland’ by Sir Walter Scott, vol. i. p. 34.)</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f17'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r17'>17</a>. Bamba, Fodhla, and Eire.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f18'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r18'>18</a>. The current running between Cantire, in Scotland, and the +northern coast of Ireland.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f19'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r19'>19</a>. Achill Island, on the coast of Connaught.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f20'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r20'>20</a>. The ‘Tonsured One,’ <i>i.e.</i> St. Patrick.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f21'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r21'>21</a>. ‘The term <i>Mael</i>, Mull (or Moyle, as Moore calls it), does not +properly apply to the current itself, but to the <i>Mael</i>, or bald headland +by which it runs.’—<cite>Professor Eugene O’Curry.</cite></p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f22'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r22'>22</a>. ‘They met a young man of good family whose name was +Aibhric, and his attention was often attracted to the birds, and their +singing was sweet to him, so that he came to love them greatly, and +that they loved him; and it was this young man that afterwards +arranged in order and narrated all their adventures.’—<cite>The Fate of +the Children of Lir</cite>, prose version by Professor O’Curry.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f23'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r23'>23</a>. Page 105. <i>Or Acaill</i>; +Now Achill Head.</p> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div><a href='#the-foray-of-queen-meave'>THE FORAY OF QUEEN MEAVE</a></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f24'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r24'>24</a>. Now Connaught.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f25'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r25'>25</a>. Now Ulster.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f26'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r26'>26</a>. Chief King.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f27'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r27'>27</a>. Now Dundalk.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f28'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r28'>28</a>. Armagh.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f29'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r29'>29</a>. <i>Cu</i> in Irish means hound.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f30'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r30'>30</a>. Page 146. <i>Hail Eric just.</i> +The fine exacted for various offences by the Brehon law.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f31'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r31'>31</a>. Page 151. <i>The dread Mor Reega.</i> +The War Goddess of the ancient Irish. An account of this +divinity will be found in the admirable essay contributed to the +‘Revue Celtique’ (May 1870), by W. M. Hennessy, Esq.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f32'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r32'>32</a>. Page 153. <i>Among the Sidils.</i> +The Fairy Hills.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f33'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r33'>33</a>. Page 181. <i>There shone the torque of Meave.</i> +‘Take off his armour that I may see the Brooch for the sake of +which he undertook the combat. Leagh came, and stripped +Ferdīa.… Cuchullain saw the brooch; and he began to lament +and moan for him.’ (MS. translation, by Professor O’Looney.)</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f34'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r34'>34</a>. Page 191. <i>And, southward next, that lake.</i> +Lough Derg in Donegal, a place of pilgrimage still frequented. +To this island properly belongs the legend illustrated by Calderon +in his ‘Purgatory of St. Patrick,’ so admirably presented to the +English reader by my lamented friend, the late Denis Florence +MacCarthy.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f35'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r35'>35</a>. The Shannon.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f36'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r36'>36</a>. Page 201. <i>Beside Ath-Luain.</i> +Now Athlone.</p> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f37'> +<p class='c009'><a href='#r37'>37</a>. Page 226. <i>From Caiseal’s crested rock.</i> +Now Cashel.</p> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c000'> + <div><span class='xsmall'>LONDON: PRINTED BY</span></div> + <div><span class='xsmall'>SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE</span></div> + <div><span class='xsmall'>AND PARLIAMENT STREET</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> +<div> + +<p class='c013'></p> + +</div> +<div class='transcribers-notes'> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='xlarge'>Transcriber’s Notes</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c014'>New original cover art included with this ebook is granted to the public domain.</p> + +<p class='c015'>The original printed book included both footnotes and endnotes. In this edition, all notes have been converted to sequentially numbered endnotes.</p> + +<p class='c015'>De Vere consistently spells the Irish title “ollamh” as “ollamb”; this and other non-standard spellings of Irish words have not been corrected.</p> + +<p class='c015'>There are some errors and inconsistencies in the rendering of single and double quotation marks in nested dialogue, especially in the long narration by Fergus starting on <a href='#tn-fergusreplied'>page 138</a>. These have been silently corrected.</p> + +<p class='c015'>The following changes and corrections have been made:</p> + <ul class='ul_2'> + <li><a href='#tn-maelmire'>p. vi</a>: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “a famous + scribe named Maelmire, who was killed there in 1106.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-parentsmiled'>p. 1</a>: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “goodlier is + this child / Than e’er till now on proudest parent smiled!” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-uladhsfeasts'>p. 16</a>: Added opening single quotation mark before phrase “Ever at + Uladh’s feasts the clansmen say,” change internal opening single quotation mark in this + stanza to double quotation mark, and add closing double quotation mark to end of stanza. + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-singingbest'>p. 17</a>: Added opening single quotation mark before phrase “Their + singing is the best all Uladh boasts” and at the start of the following stanza. + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-layfirst'>p. 28</a>: Added opening single quotation mark before phrase “Lay first + that head, and march we hence this night!” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-strikehimdead'>p. 69</a>: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “A woman’s + hand one day shall strike him dead!” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-finola'>p. 78</a>: Replaced “Finōla” with “Finola” in phrase “Finola paced the + high-arched alleys green.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-notmyhate'>p. 80</a>: Added period and closing single quotation mark after phrase “if + not—my hate.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-ofthegael'>p. 81</a>: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “Their voices + too are voices of the Gael!” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-mylittleconn'>p. 89</a>: Added exclamation mark and closing single quotation mark + after phrase “Farewell, my little Conn!” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-makestthoureply'>p. 90</a>: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “Thou + hear’st the charge: how makest thou reply?” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-youngerson'>p. 114</a>: Added period after phrase “Through Faith the birthright, + though the younger son.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-boughs'>p. 145</a>: Changed “bou” to “boughs” in phrase “Bird-song by autumn chilled, + that brake through boughs.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-lessenday'>p. 153</a>: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “My strength + must lessen day by day.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-oertheaxle'>p. 155</a>: Changed “o er” to “o’er” in phrase “o’er the axle bent.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-shouldbetheirs'>p. 164</a>: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “this + Island should be theirs!” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-fionbannah'>p. 190</a>: Changed “Fionbannagh” to “Fionbannah” in phrase “the Bulls + that shake this day our land, / Fionbannah, and the Donn.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-warwemarched'>p. 203</a>: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “Is past + since northward to the war we marched.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-shallnotdie'>p. 227</a>: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “One day I + shared her feast: she shall not die!” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-preciousdyes'>p. 228</a>: Added comma after phrase “The household stuffs, rich vests, + and precious dyes.” + </li> + </ul> + +</div> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78491 ***</div> +</body> +<!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57i (with regex) on 2026-04-19 13:50:06 GMT --> +</html> diff --git a/78491-h/images/cover.jpg b/78491-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9a56c05 --- /dev/null +++ b/78491-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/78491-h/images/decoration.jpg b/78491-h/images/decoration.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e299d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/78491-h/images/decoration.jpg |
