{"id":630,"date":"2018-10-18T17:18:26","date_gmt":"2018-10-18T17:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-americanlit2\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=630"},"modified":"2018-10-18T17:23:01","modified_gmt":"2018-10-18T17:23:01","slug":"w-b-yeats-on-bailes-strand","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/chapter\/w-b-yeats-on-bailes-strand\/","title":{"raw":"W.B. Yeats, On Baile's Strand","rendered":"W.B. Yeats, On Baile&#8217;s Strand"},"content":{"raw":"<em>The King's Threshold; and On Baile's Strand <\/em>by W. B. Yeats\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/ebooks\/41102\">https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/ebooks\/41102<\/a>\r\n\r\n<em>ON BAILE\u2019S STRAND<\/em>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Cuchullain, the King of Muirthemne.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Concobar, the High King of Ullad.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Daire, a King.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Fintain, a blind man.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Barach, a fool.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>A Young Man.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Young Kings and Old Kings.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nScene: A great hall by the sea close to Dundalgan. There are two great chairs on either side of the hall, each raised a little from the ground, and on the back of the one chair is carved and painted a woman with a fish\u2019s tail, and on the back of the other a hound. There are smaller chairs and benches raised in tiers round the walls. There is a great ale vat at one side near a small door, and a large door at the back through which one can see the sea. Barach, a tall thin man with long ragged hair, dressed in skins, comes in at the side door. He is leading Fintain, a fat blind man, who is somewhat older.\r\n\r\nBarach. I will shut the door, for this wind out of the sea gets into my bones, and if I leave but an inch for the wind there is one like a flake of sea-frost that might come into the house.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. What is his name, fool?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. It\u2019s a woman from among the Riders of the Sidhe. It\u2019s Boann herself from the river. She has left the Dagda\u2019s bed, and gone through the salt of the sea and up here to the strand of Baile, and all for love of me. Let her keep her husband\u2019s bed, for she\u2019ll have none of me. Nobody knows how lecherous these goddesses are. I see her in every kind of shape but oftener than not she\u2019s in the wind and cries \u201cgive a kiss and put your arms about me.\u201d But no, she\u2019ll have no more of me. Yesterday when I put out my lips to kiss her, there was nothing there but the wind. She\u2019s bad, Fintain. O, she\u2019s bad. I had better shut the big door too.\r\n\r\n[He is going towards the big door but turns hearing Fintain\u2019s voice.\r\n\r\nFintain. [Who has been feeling about with his stick.] What\u2019s this and this?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. They are chairs.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. And this?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. Why, that\u2019s a bench.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. And this?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. A big chair.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. [Feeling the back of the chair.] There is a sea-woman carved upon it.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. And there is another big chair on the other side of the hall.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. Lead me to it. [He mutters while the fool is leading him.] That is what the High King Concobar has on his shield. The High King will be coming. They have brought out his chair. [He begins feeling the back of the other chair.] And there is a dog\u2019s head on this. They have brought out our master\u2019s chair. Now I know what the horse-boys were talking about. We must not stay here. The Kings are going to meet here. Now that Concobar and our master, that is his chief man, have put down all the enemies of Ullad, they are going to build up Emain again. They are going to talk over their plans for building it. Were you ever in Concobar\u2019s town before it was burnt? O, he is a great King, for though Emain was burnt down, every war had made him richer. He has gold and silver dishes, and chessboards and candlesticks made of precious stones. Fool, have they taken the top from the ale vat?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. They have.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. Then bring me a horn of ale quickly, for the Kings will be here in a minute. Now I can listen. Tell me what you saw this morning?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. About the young man and the fighting?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. Yes.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. And after that we can go and eat the fowl, for I am hungry.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. Time enough, time enough. You\u2019re in as great a hurry as when you brought me to Aine\u2019s Seat, where the mad dogs gather when the moon\u2019s at the full. Go on with your story.\r\n\r\nBarach. I was creeping under a ditch, with the fowl in my leather bag, keeping to the shore where the farmer could not see me, when I came upon a ship drawn up upon the sands, a great red ship with a woman\u2019s head upon it.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. A ship out of Aoife\u2019s country. They have all a woman\u2019s head on the bow.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. There was a young man with a pale face and red hair standing beside it. Some of our people came up whose turn it was to guard the shore. I heard them ask the young man his name. He said he was under bonds not to tell it. Then words came between them, and they fought, and the young man killed half of them, and the others ran away.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. It matters nothing to us, but he has come at last.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. Who has come?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. I know who that young man is. There is not another like him in the world. I saw him when I had my eyesight.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. You saw him?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. I used to be in Aoife\u2019s country when I had my eyesight.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. That was before you went on shipboard and were blinded for putting a curse on the wind?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. Queen Aoife had a son that was red haired and pale faced like herself, and everyone said that he would kill Cuchullain some day, but I would not have that spoken of.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. Nobody could do that. Who was his father?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. Nobody but Aoife knew that, not even he himself.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. Not even he himself! Was Aoife a goddess and lecherous?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. I overheard her telling that she never had but one lover, and that he was the only man who overcame her in battle. There were some who thought him one of the Riders of the Sidhe, because the child was great of limb and strong beyond others. The child was begotten over the mountains; but come nearer and I will tell you something.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. You have thought something?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. When I hear the young girls talking about the colour of Cuchullain\u2019s eyes, and how they have seven colours, I have thought about it. That young man has Aoife\u2019s face and hair, but he has Cuchullain\u2019s eyes.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. How can he have Cuchullain\u2019s eyes?\r\n\r\nFintain. He is Cuchullain\u2019s son.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. And his mother has sent him hither to fight his father.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. It is all quite plain. Cuchullain went into Aoife\u2019s country when he was a young man that he might learn skill in arms, and there he became Aoife\u2019s lover.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. And now she hates him because he went away, and has sent the son to kill the father. I knew she was a goddess.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. And she never told him who his father was, that he might do it. I have thought it all out, fool. I know a great many things because I listen when nobody is noticing and I keep my wits awake. What ails you now?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. I have remembered that I am hungry.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. Well, forget it again, and I will tell you about Aoife\u2019s country. It is full of wonders. There are a great many Queens there who can change themselves into wolves and into swine and into white hares, and when they are in their own shapes they are stronger than almost any man; and there are young men there who have cat\u2019s eyes and if a bird chirrup or a mouse squeak they cannot keep them shut, even though it is bedtime and they sleepy; and listen, for this is a great wonder, a very great wonder: there is a long narrow bridge, and when anybody goes to cross it, that the Queens do not like, it flies up as this bench would if you were to sit on the end of it. Everybody who goes there to learn skill in arms has to cross it. It was in that country too that Cuchullain got his spear made out of dragon bones. There were two dragons fighting in the foam of the sea, and their grandam was the moon, and nine Queens came along the shore.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. I won\u2019t listen to your story.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. It is a very wonderful story. Wait till you hear what the nine Queens did. Their right hands were all made of silver.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. No, I will have my dinner first. You have eaten the fowl I left in front of the fire. The last time you sent me to steal something you made me forget all about it till you had eaten it up.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. No, there is plenty for us both.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. Come with me where it is.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. [Who is being led towards the door at the back by Barach.] O, it is all right, it is in a safe place.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. It is a fine fowl. It was the biggest in the yard.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. It had a good smell, but I hope that the wild dogs have not smelt it. [Voices are heard outside the door at the side.] Here is our master. Let us stay and talk with him. Perhaps Cuchullain will give you a new cap with a feather. He told me that he would give you a new cap with a feather, a feather with an eye that looks at you, a peacock\u2019s feather.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. No, no.\r\n\r\n[He begins pulling Fintain towards the door.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. If you do not get it now, you may never get it, for the young man may kill him.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBarach. No, no, I am hungry. What a head you have, blind man! Who but you would have remembered that the hen-wife slept for a little at noon every day!\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFintain. [Who is being led along very slowly and unwillingly.] Yes, I have a good head. The fowl should be done just right, but one never knows when a wild dog may come out of the woods.\r\n\r\n[They go out through the big door at the back. As they go out Cuchullain and certain Young Kings come in at the side door. Cuchullain, though still young, is a good deal older than the others. They are all very gaily dressed, and have their hair fastened with balls of gold. The young men crowd about Cuchullain with wondering attention.\r\n\r\nFirst Young King.\r\n\r\nYou have hurled that stone beyond our utmost mark\r\n\r\nTime after time, but yet you are not weary.\r\n\r\nSecond Young King.\r\n\r\nHe has slept on the bare ground of Fuad\u2019s Hill\r\n\r\nThis week past, waiting for the bulls and the deer.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. Well, why should I be weary?\r\n\r\nFirst Young King.\r\n\r\nIt is certain\r\n\r\nHis father was the god who wheels the sun,\r\n\r\nAnd not King Sualtam.\r\n\r\nThird Young King.\r\n\r\n[To a Young King who is beside him.] He came in the dawn,\r\n\r\nAnd folded Dectara in a sudden fire.\r\n\r\nFourth Young King.\r\n\r\nAnd yet the mother\u2019s half might well grow weary,\r\n\r\nAnd it new come from labours over sea.\r\n\r\nThird Young King.\r\n\r\nHe has been on islands walled about with silver,\r\n\r\nAnd fought with giants.\r\n\r\n[They gather about the ale vat and begin to drink.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. Who was it that went out? Third Young King.\r\n\r\nAs we came in?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. Yes.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThird Young King. Barach and blind Fintain.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. They always flock together; the blind man\r\n\r\nHas need of the fool\u2019s eyesight and strong body,\r\n\r\nWhile the poor fool has need of the other\u2019s wit,\r\n\r\nAnd night and day is up to his ears in mischief\r\n\r\nThat the blind man imagines. There\u2019s no hen-yard\r\n\r\nBut clucks and cackles when he passes by\r\n\r\nAs if he\u2019d been a fox. If I\u2019d that ball\r\n\r\nThat\u2019s in your hair and the big stone again,\r\n\r\nI\u2019d keep them tossing, though the one is heavy\r\n\r\nAnd the other light in the hand. A trick I learnt\r\n\r\nWhen I was learning arms in Aoife\u2019s country.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFirst Young King. What kind of woman was that Aoife?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. Comely.\r\n\r\nFirst Young King.\r\n\r\nBut I have heard that she was never married,\r\n\r\nAnd yet that\u2019s natural, for I have never known\r\n\r\nA fighting woman, but made her favours cheap,\r\n\r\nOr mocked at love till she grew sandy dry.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. What manner of woman do you like the best?\r\n\r\nA gentle or a fierce?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFirst Young King. A gentle, surely.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. I think that a fierce woman\u2019s better, a woman\r\n\r\nThat breaks away when you have thought her won,\r\n\r\nFor I\u2019d be fed and hungry at one time.\r\n\r\nI think that all deep passion is but a kiss\r\n\r\nIn the mid battle, and a difficult peace\r\n\r\n\u2019Twixt oil and water, candles and dark night,\r\n\r\nHill-side and hollow, the hot-footed sun,\r\n\r\nAnd the cold sliding slippery-footed moon,\r\n\r\nA brief forgiveness between opposites\r\n\r\nThat have been hatreds for three times the age\r\n\r\nOf this long \u2019stablished ground. Here\u2019s Concobar;\r\n\r\nSo I\u2019ll be done, but keep beside me still,\r\n\r\nFor while he talks of hammered bronze and asks\r\n\r\nWhat wood is best for building, we can talk\r\n\r\nOf a fierce woman.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[Concobar, a man much older than Cuchullain, has come in through the great door at the back. He has many Kings about him. One of these Kings, Daire, a stout old man, is somewhat drunk.\r\n\r\nConcobar. [To one of those about him.] Has the ship gone yet?\r\n\r\nWe have need of more bronze workers, and that ship\r\n\r\nI sent to Africa for gold is late.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. I knew their talk.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nConcobar. [Seeing Cuchullain.] You are before us, King.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. So much the better, for I welcome you\r\n\r\nInto my Muirthemne.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nConcobar. But who are these?\r\n\r\nThe odour from their garments when they stir\r\n\r\nIs like a wind out of an apple garden.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. My swordsmen and harp players and fine dancers,\r\n\r\nMy bosom friends.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nConcobar. I should have thought, Cuchullain,\r\n\r\nMy graver company would better match\r\n\r\nYour greatness and your years; but I waste breath\r\n\r\nIn harping on that tale.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. You do, great King.\r\n\r\nBecause their youth is the kind wandering wave\r\n\r\nThat carries me about the world; and if it sank,\r\n\r\nMy sword would lose its lightness.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nConcobar. Yet, Cuchullain,\r\n\r\nEmain should be the foremost town of the world.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. It is the foremost town.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nConcobar. No, no, it\u2019s not.\r\n\r\nNothing but men can make towns great, and he,\r\n\r\nThe one over-topping man that\u2019s in the world,\r\n\r\nKeeps far away.\r\n\r\nDaire.\r\n\r\nHe will not hear you, King,\r\n\r\nAnd we old men had best keep company\r\n\r\nWith one another. I\u2019ll fill the horn for you.\r\n\r\nConcobar. I will not drink, old fool. You have drunk a horn\r\n\r\nAt every door we came to.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nDaire. You\u2019d better drink,\r\n\r\nFor old men light upon their youth again\r\n\r\nIn the brown ale. When I have drunk enough,\r\n\r\nI am like Cuchullain as one pea another,\r\n\r\nAnd live like a bird\u2019s flight from tree to tree.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nConcobar. We\u2019ll to our chairs for we have much to talk of,\r\n\r\nAnd we have Ullad and Muirthemne, and here\r\n\r\nIs Conall Muirthemne in the nick of time.\r\n\r\n[He goes to the back of stage to welcome a company of Kings who come in through the great door. The other Kings gradually get into their places. Cuchullain sits in his great chair with certain of the young men standing around him. Others of the young men, however, remain with Daire at the ale vat. Daire holds out the horn of ale to one or two of the older Kings as they pass him going to their places. They pass him by, most of them silently refusing.\r\n\r\nDaire. Will you not drink?\r\n\r\nAn Old King.\r\n\r\nNot till the council\u2019s over.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nA Young King. But I\u2019ll drink, Daire.\r\n\r\nAnother Young King.\r\n\r\nFill me a horn too, Daire.\r\n\r\nAnother Young King.\r\n\r\nIf I\u2019d drunk half that you have drunk to-day,\r\n\r\nI\u2019d be upon all fours.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nDaire. That would be natural\r\n\r\nWhen Mother Earth had given you this good milk\r\n\r\nFrom her great breasts.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. [To one of the Young Kings beside him.]\r\n\r\nOne is content awhile\r\n\r\nWith a soft warm woman who folds up our lives\r\n\r\nIn silky network. Then, one knows not why,\r\n\r\nBut one\u2019s away after a flinty heart.\r\n\r\nThe Young King.\r\n\r\nHow long can the net keep us?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. All our lives\r\n\r\nIf there are children, and a dozen moons\r\n\r\nIf there are none, because a growing child\r\n\r\nHas so much need of watching it can make\r\n\r\nA passion that\u2019s as changeable as the sea\r\n\r\nChange till it holds the wide earth to its heart.\r\n\r\nAt least I have heard a father say it, but I\r\n\r\nBeing childless do not know it. Come nearer yet;\r\n\r\nThough he is ringing that old silver rod\r\n\r\nWe\u2019ll have our own talk out. They cannot hear us.\r\n\r\n[Concobar who is now seated in his great chair, opposite Cuchullain, beats upon the pillar of the house that is nearest to him with a rod of silver, till the Kings have become silent. Cuchullain alone continues to talk in a low voice to those about him, but not so loud as to disturb the silence. Concobar rises and speaks standing.\r\n\r\nConcobar. I have called you hither, Kings of Ullad, and Kings\r\n\r\nOf Muirthemne and Connall Muirthemne,\r\n\r\nAnd tributary Kings, for now there is peace\u2014\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s time to build up Emain that was burned\r\n\r\nAt the outsetting of these wars; for we,\r\n\r\nBeing the foremost men, should have high chairs\r\n\r\nAnd be much stared at and wondered at, and speak\r\n\r\nOut of more laughing overflowing hearts\r\n\r\nThan common men. It is the art of kings\r\n\r\nTo make what\u2019s noble nobler in men\u2019s eyes\r\n\r\nBy wide uplifted roofs, where beaten gold,\r\n\r\nThat\u2019s ruddy with desire, marries pale silver\r\n\r\nAmong the shadowing beams; and many a time\r\n\r\nI would have called you hither to this work,\r\n\r\nBut always, when I\u2019d all but summoned you,\r\n\r\nSome war or some rebellion would break out.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nDaire. Where\u2019s Maine Morgor and old Usnach\u2019s children,\r\n\r\nAnd that high-headed even-walking Queen,\r\n\r\nAnd many near as great that got their death\r\n\r\nBecause you hated peace? I can remember\r\n\r\nThe people crying out when Deirdre passed\r\n\r\nAnd Maine Morgor had a cold gray eye.\r\n\r\nWell, well, I\u2019ll throw this heel-tap on the ground,\r\n\r\nFor it may be they are thirsty.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nA King. Be silent, fool.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAnother King. Be silent, Daire.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nConcobar. Let him speak his mind.\r\n\r\nI have no need to be afraid of ghosts,\r\n\r\nFor I have made but necessary wars.\r\n\r\nI warred to strengthen Emain, or because\r\n\r\nWhen wars are out they marry and beget\r\n\r\nAnd have their generations like mankind\r\n\r\nAnd there\u2019s no help for it; but I\u2019m well content\r\n\r\nThat they have ended and left the town so great,\r\n\r\nThat its mere name shall be in times to come\r\n\r\nLike a great ale vat where the men of the world\r\n\r\nShall drink no common ale but the hard will,\r\n\r\nThe unquenchable hope, the friendliness of the sword.\r\n\r\n[He takes thin boards on which plans have been carved by those about him.\r\n\r\nGive me the building plans, and have you written\r\n\r\nThat we\u2014Cuchullain is looking in his shield;\r\n\r\nIt may be the pale riders of the wind\r\n\r\nThrow pictures on it, or that Mananan,\r\n\r\nHis father\u2019s friend and sometime fosterer,\r\n\r\nForeknower of all things, has cast a vision,\r\n\r\nOut of the cold dark of the rich sea,\r\n\r\nForetelling Emain\u2019s greatness.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. No, great King,\r\n\r\nI looked on this out of mere idleness,\r\n\r\nImagining a far-off country and one\r\n\r\nThat held it with a sword, although a woman.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nConcobar. A woman needs but laugh, or a friend sigh,\r\n\r\nAnd you\u2019re afar off sounding through the world,\r\n\r\nWhile I plan Emain\u2019s greatness.\r\n\r\n[The sound of a trumpet without.\r\n\r\nOpen the doors!\r\n\r\nI hear a herald\u2019s trumpet, and await,\r\n\r\nIt may be, the heavy fleeces of the sea\r\n\r\nAnd golden and silver apples or ancient crowns\r\n\r\nLong hidden in the well at the World\u2019s End,\r\n\r\nOr glittering garments of the salmon, tributes\r\n\r\nFrom the Great Plain, or the high people of Sorcha,\r\n\r\nOr the walled garden in the east of the world.\r\n\r\n[The great door at the back is flung open; a Young Man, who is fully armed and carries a shield with a woman\u2019s head painted on it, stands upon the threshold. Behind him are trumpeters. He walks into the centre of the hall, the trumpeting ceases.\r\n\r\nWhat is your message?\r\n\r\nYoung Man.\r\n\r\nI am of Aoife\u2019s army.\r\n\r\nFirst King.\r\n\r\nQueen Aoife and her army have fallen upon us.\r\n\r\nSecond King.\r\n\r\nOut swords! Out swords!\r\n\r\nThird King.\r\n\r\nThey are about the house.\r\n\r\nFourth King.\r\n\r\nRush out! Rush out! Before they have fired the thatch.\r\n\r\nYoung Man.\r\n\r\nAoife is far away. I am alone.\r\n\r\nI have come alone in the midst of you\r\n\r\nTo weigh this sword against Cuchullain\u2019s sword.\r\n\r\n[There is a murmur amongst the Kings.\r\n\r\nConcobar. And are you noble? for if of common seed\r\n\r\nYou cannot weigh your sword against his sword\r\n\r\nBut in mixed battle.\r\n\r\nYoung Man.\r\n\r\nI am under bonds\r\n\r\nTo tell my name to no man, but it\u2019s noble.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nConcobar. But I would know your name and not your bonds.\r\n\r\nYou cannot speak in the Assembly House\r\n\r\nIf you are not noble.\r\n\r\nA King.\r\n\r\nAnswer the High King.\r\n\r\nYoung Man.\r\n\r\n[Drawing his sword.] I will give no other proof than the hawk gives\r\n\r\nThat it\u2019s no sparrow.\r\n\r\n[He is silent a moment, then speaks to all.\r\n\r\nYet look upon me, Kings;\r\n\r\nI too am of that ancient seed and carry\r\n\r\nThe signs about this body and in these bones.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. To have shown the hawk\u2019s gray feather is enough,\r\n\r\nAnd you speak highly too.\r\n\r\n[Cuchullain comes down from his great chair. He remains standing on the steps of the chair. The Young Kings gather about him and begin to arm him.\r\n\r\nGive me that helmet!\r\n\r\nI\u2019d thought they had grown weary sending champions.\r\n\r\nThat leathern coat will do. The High King there\r\n\r\nBeing old in wisdom can think of times to come,\r\n\r\nBut the hawk\u2019s sleepy till its well-beloved\r\n\r\nCries out amid the acorns, or it has seen\r\n\r\nIts enemy like a speck upon the sun.\r\n\r\nWhat\u2019s Emain to the hawk when that clear eye\r\n\r\nIs burning nearer up in the high air?\r\n\r\nThat buckle should be tighter. Give me your shield.\r\n\r\nThere is good level ground at Baile\u2019s Yew-tree,\r\n\r\nSome dozen yards from here, and it\u2019s but truth\r\n\r\nThat I am sad to-day and this fight welcome.\r\n\r\n[He looks hard at the Young Man, and then steps down on the floor of the Assembly House. He grasps the Young Man by the shoulder.\r\n\r\nHither into the light.\r\n\r\n[Turning to one of the Young Kings.\r\n\r\nThe very tint\r\n\r\nOf her that I was speaking of but now:\r\n\r\nNot a pin\u2019s difference.\r\n\r\n[To the Young Man.\r\n\r\nYou are from the North,\r\n\r\nWhere there are many that have that tint of hair,\r\n\r\nRed-brown, the light red-brown. Come nearer, boy!\r\n\r\nFor I would have another look at you.\r\n\r\nThere\u2019s more likeness, a pale, a stone pale cheek.\r\n\r\nWhat brought you, boy? Have you no fear of death?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nYoung Man. Whether I live or die is in the Gods\u2019 hands.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. That is all words, all words, a young man\u2019s talk;\r\n\r\nI am their plough, their harrow, their very strength,\r\n\r\nFor he that\u2019s in the sun begot this body\r\n\r\nUpon a mortal woman, and I have heard tell\r\n\r\nIt seemed as if he had outrun the moon,\r\n\r\nThat he must always follow through waste heaven,\r\n\r\nHe loved so happily. He\u2019ll be but slow\r\n\r\nTo break a tree that was so sweetly planted.\r\n\r\nLet\u2019s see that arm; I\u2019ll see it if I like.\r\n\r\nThat arm had a good father and a good mother,\r\n\r\nBut it is not like this.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nYoung Man. You are mocking me.\r\n\r\nYou think I am not worthy to be fought,\r\n\r\nBut I\u2019ll not wrangle but with this talkative knife.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. Put up your sword, I am not mocking you.\r\n\r\nI\u2019d have you for my friend, but if it\u2019s not\r\n\r\nBecause you have a hot heart and a cold eye\r\n\r\nI cannot tell the reason. You\u2019ve got her fierceness,\r\n\r\nAnd nobody is as fierce as those pale women.\r\n\r\n[To the Young Kings.\r\n\r\nWe\u2019ll keep him here in Muirthemne awhile.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nA Young King. You are the leader of our pack and therefore\r\n\r\nMay cry what you will.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. You\u2019ll stop with us\r\n\r\nAnd we will hunt the deer and the wild bulls,\r\n\r\nAnd, when we have grown weary, light our fires\r\n\r\nIn sandy places where the wool-white foam\r\n\r\nIs murmuring and breaking, and it may be\r\n\r\nThat long-haired women will come out of the dunes\r\n\r\nTo dance in the yellow fire-light. You hang your head,\r\n\r\nYoung man, as if it was not a good life;\r\n\r\nAnd yet what\u2019s better than to hurl the spear,\r\n\r\nAnd hear the long-remembering harp, and dance?\r\n\r\nFriendship grows quicker in the murmuring dark;\r\n\r\nBut I can see there\u2019s no more need for words\r\n\r\nAnd that you\u2019ll be my friend now.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFirst Old King. Concobar,\r\n\r\nForbid their friendship, for it will get twisted\r\n\r\nTo a reproach against us.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nConcobar. Until now\r\n\r\nI\u2019d never need to cry Cuchullain on\r\n\r\nAnd would not now.\r\n\r\nFirst Old King.\r\n\r\nThey\u2019ll say his manhood\u2019s quenched.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. I\u2019ll give you gifts, but I\u2019ll have something too,\r\n\r\nAn arm-ring or the like, and if you will\r\n\r\nWe\u2019ll fight it out when you are older, boy.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAn Old King. Aoife will make some story out of this.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. Well, well, what matter, I\u2019ll have that arm-ring, boy.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nYoung Man. There is no man I\u2019d sooner have my friend\r\n\r\nThan you whose name has gone about the world\r\n\r\nAs if it had been the wind, but Aoife\u2019d say\r\n\r\nI had turned coward.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. I\u2019ll give you gifts\r\n\r\nThat Aoife\u2019ll know and all her people know\r\n\r\nTo have been my gifts. Mananan, son of the sea,\r\n\r\nGave me this heavy embroidered cloak. Nine Queens\r\n\r\nOf the Land-under-Wave had woven it\r\n\r\nOut of the fleeces of the sea. O! tell her\r\n\r\nI was afraid, or tell her what you will.\r\n\r\nNo! tell her that I heard a raven croak\r\n\r\nOn the north side of the house and was afraid.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAn Old King. Some witch of the air has troubled Cuchullain\u2019s mind.\r\n\r\nCuchullain.\r\n\r\nNo witchcraft, his head is like a woman\u2019s head\r\n\r\nI had a fancy for.\r\n\r\nSecond Old King.\r\n\r\nA witch of the air\r\n\r\nCan make a leaf confound us with memories.\r\n\r\nThey have gone to school to learn the trick of it.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. But there\u2019s no trick in this. That arm-ring, boy.\r\n\r\nThird Old King. He shall not go unfought, I\u2019ll fight with him.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFourth Old King. No! I will fight with him.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFirst Old King. I claim the fight,\r\n\r\nFor when we sent an army to her land\u2014\u2014\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSecond Old King. I claim the fight, for one of Aoife\u2019s galleys\r\n\r\nStole my great cauldron and a herd of pigs.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThird Old King. No, no, I claim it, for at Lammas\u2019 time\u2014\u2014\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. Back! Back! Put up your swords! Put up your swords!\r\n\r\nThere\u2019s none alive that shall accept a challenge\r\n\r\nI have refused. Laegaire, put up your sword.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nYoung Man. No, let them come, let any three together.\r\n\r\nIf they\u2019ve a mind to, I\u2019ll try it out with four.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. That\u2019s spoken as I\u2019d spoken it at your age,\r\n\r\nBut you are in my house. Whatever man\r\n\r\nWould fight with you shall fight it out with me.\r\n\r\nThey\u2019re dumb. They\u2019re dumb. How many of you would meet\r\n\r\n[Drawing his sword.\r\n\r\nThis mutterer, this old whistler, this sandpiper,\r\n\r\nThis edge that\u2019s grayer than the tide, this mouse\r\n\r\nThat\u2019s gnawing at the timbers of the world,\r\n\r\nThis, this\u2014Boy, I would meet them all in arms\r\n\r\nIf I\u2019d a son like you. He would avenge me\r\n\r\nWhen I have withstood for the last time the men\r\n\r\nWhose fathers, brothers, sons, and friends I have killed\r\n\r\nUpholding Ullad; when the four provinces\r\n\r\nHave gathered with the ravens over them.\r\n\r\nBut I\u2019d need no avenger. You and I\r\n\r\nWould scatter them like water from a dish.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nYoung Man. We\u2019ll stand by one another from this out.\r\n\r\nHere is the ring.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. No, turn and turn about,\r\n\r\nBut my turn is first, because I am the older.\r\n\r\nCliodna embroidered these bird wings, but Fand\r\n\r\nMade all these little golden eyes with the hairs\r\n\r\nThat she had stolen out of Aengus\u2019 beard,\r\n\r\nAnd therefore none that has this cloak about him\r\n\r\nIs crossed in love. The heavy inlaid brooch\r\n\r\nThat Buan hammered has a merit too.\r\n\r\n[He begins spreading the cloak out on a bench, showing it to the Young Man. Suddenly Concobar beats with his silver rod on a pillar beside his chair. All turn towards him.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nConcobar. [In a loud voice.] No more of that, I will not have this friendship.\r\n\r\nCuchullain is my man and I forbid it;\r\n\r\nHe shall not go unfought for I myself\u2014\u2014\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nCuchullain. [Seizing Concobar.] You shall not stir, High King, I\u2019ll hold you there.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nConcobar. Witchcraft has maddened you.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThe Kings. [Shouting.] Yes, witchcraft, witchcraft.\r\n\r\nA King. You saw another\u2019s head upon his shoulders\r\n\r\nAll of a sudden, a woman\u2019s head, Cuchullain.\r\n\r\nThen raised your hand against the King of Ullad.\r\n\r\nCuchullain. [Letting Concobar go, and looking wildly about him.]\r\n\r\nYes, yes, all of a sudden, all of a sudden.\r\n\r\nDaire. Why, there\u2019s no witchcraft in it, I myself\r\n\r\nHave made a hundred of these sudden friendships\r\n\r\nAnd fought it out next day. But that was folly,\r\n\r\nFor now that I am old I know it is best\r\n\r\nTo live in comfort.\r\n\r\nA King. Pull the fool away!\r\n\r\nDaire: I\u2019ll throw a heel-tap to the one that dies.\r\n\r\nConcobar. Some witch is floating in the air above us.\r\n\r\nCuchullain. Yes, witchcraft, witchcraft and the power of witchcraft.\r\n\r\n[To the Young Man.\r\n\r\nWhy did you do it? was it Calatin\u2019s daughters?\r\n\r\nOut, out, I say, for now it\u2019s sword on sword.\r\n\r\nYoung Man.\r\n\r\nBut, but, I did not.\r\n\r\nCuchullain. Out, I say, out, out!\r\n\r\nSword upon sword.\r\n\r\n[He goes towards the door at back, followed by Young Man. He turns on the threshold and cries out, looking at the Young Man.\r\n\r\nThat hair my hands were drowned in!\r\n\r\n[He goes out, followed by Young Man. The other Kings begin to follow them out.\r\n\r\nA King. I saw him fight with Ferdiad.\r\n\r\nSecond King. We\u2019ll be too late,\r\n\r\nThey\u2019re such a long time getting through the door.\r\n\r\nThird King. Run quicker, quicker.\r\n\r\nDaire. I was at the Smith\u2019s\r\n\r\nWhen he that was the boy Setanta then\u2014\u2014\r\n\r\n[Sound, of fighting outside.\r\n\r\nThird King. He will have killed him.\r\n\r\nThey have begun the fight!\r\n\r\n[They all go out, leaving the house silent and empty. There is a pause during which one hears the clashing of the swords. Barach and Fintain come in from side door. Barach is dragging Fintain.\r\n\r\nBarach. You have eaten it, you have eaten it, you have left me nothing but the bones.\r\n\r\nFintain. O, that I should have to endure such a plague. O, I ache all over. O, I am pulled in pieces. This is the way you pay me for all the good I have done you!\r\n\r\nBarach. You have eaten it, you have told me lies about a wild dog. Nobody has seen a wild dog about the place this twelve month. Lie there till the Kings come. O, I will tell Concobar and\r\n\r\nCuchullain and all the Kings about you!\r\n\r\nFintain. What would have happened to you but for me, and you without your wits? If I did not take care of you what would you do for food and warmth?\r\n\r\nBarach. You take care of me? You stay safe and send me into every kind of danger. You sent me down the cliff for gull\u2019s eggs while you warmed your blind eyes in the sun. And then you ate all that were good for food. You left me the eggs that were neither egg nor bird. [The blind man tries to rise. Barach makes him lie down again.] Keep quiet now till I shut the door. There is some noise outside. There are swords crossing; a high vexing noise so that I can\u2019t be listening to myself. [He goes to the big door at the back and shuts it.] Why can\u2019t they be quiet, why can\u2019t they be quiet! Ah, you would get away, would you? [He follows the blind man who has been crawling along the wall and makes him lie down close to the King\u2019s chair.] Lie there, lie there. No, you won\u2019t get away. Lie there till the Kings come, I\u2019ll tell them all about you. I shall tell it all. How you sit warming yourself, when you have made me light a fire of sticks, while I sit blowing it with my mouth. Do you not always make me take the windy side of the bush when it blows and the rainy side when it rains?\r\n\r\nFintain. O good fool, listen to me. Think of the care I have taken of you. I have brought you to many a warm hearth, where there was a good welcome for you, but you would not stay there, you were always wandering about.\r\n\r\nBarach. The last time you brought me in, it was not I who wandered away, but you that got put out because you took the crubeen out of the pot, when you thought nobody was looking. Keep quiet now, keep quiet till I shut the door. Here is Cuchullain, now you will be beaten. I am going to tell him everything.\r\n\r\nCuchullain. [Comes in and says to the fool.] Give me that horn.\r\n\r\n[The fool gives him a horn which Cuchullain fills with ale and drinks.\r\n\r\nFintain. Do not listen to him, listen to me.\r\n\r\nCuchullain. What are you wrangling over?\r\n\r\nBarach. He is fat and good for nothing. He has left me the bones and the feathers.\r\n\r\nCuchullain. What feathers?\r\n\r\nBarach. I left him turning a fowl at the fire. He ate it all. He left me nothing but the bones and feathers.\r\n\r\nFintain. Do not believe him. You do not know how vain this fool is. I gave him the feathers, because I thought he would like nothing so well.\r\n\r\n[Barach is sitting on a bench playing with a heap of feathers, which he has taken out of the breast of his coat.\r\n\r\nBarach. [Singing.] When you were an acorn on the tree top\u2014\u2014\r\n\r\nFintain. Where would he be but for me? I must be always thinking, thinking to get food for the two of us, and when we\u2019ve got it, if the moon\u2019s at the full or the tide on the turn, he\u2019ll leave the rabbit in its snare till it is full of maggots, or let the trout slip through his hands back into the water.\r\n\r\nBarach. [Singing.] When you were an acorn on the tree top,\r\n\r\nThen was I an eagle cock;\r\n\r\nNow that you are a withered old block,\r\n\r\nStill am I an eagle cock!\r\n\r\nFintain. Listen to him now! That\u2019s the sort of talk I have to put up with, day out day in.\r\n\r\n[The fool is putting the feathers into his hair. Cuchullain takes a handful of feathers out of the heap and out of the fool\u2019s hair, and begins to wipe the blood from his sword with them.\r\n\r\nBarach. He has taken my feathers to wipe his sword. It is blood that he is wiping from his sword!\r\n\r\nFintain. Whose blood? Whose blood?\r\n\r\nCuchullain. That young champion\u2019s.\r\n\r\nFintain. He that came out of Aoife\u2019s country?\r\n\r\nCuchullain. The Kings are standing round his body.\r\n\r\nFintain. Did he fight long?\r\n\r\nCuchullain. He thought to have saved himself with witchcraft.\r\n\r\nBarach. That blind man there said he would kill you. He came from Aoife\u2019s country to kill you. That blind man said they had taught him every kind of weapon that he might do it. But I always knew that you would kill him.\r\n\r\nCuchullain. [To the blind man.] You knew him, then?\r\n\r\nFintain. I saw him when I had my eyes, in Aoife\u2019s country.\r\n\r\nCuchullain. You were in Aoife\u2019s country?\r\n\r\nFintain. I knew him and his mother there.\r\n\r\nCuchullain. He was about to speak of her when he died.\r\n\r\nFintain. He was a Queen\u2019s son.\r\n\r\nCuchullain. What Queen, what Queen? [He seizes the blind man.] Was it Scathach? There were many Queens. All the rulers were Queens.\r\n\r\nFintain. No, not Scathach.\r\n\r\nCuchullain. It was Uathach, then. Speak, speak!\r\n\r\nFintain. I cannot speak, you are clutching me too tightly. [Cuchullain lets him go.] I cannot remember who it was. I am not certain. It was some Queen.\r\n\r\nBarach. He said a while ago that the young man was Aoife\u2019s son.\r\n\r\nCuchullain. She? No, no, she had no son when I was there.\r\n\r\nBarach. That blind man there said that she owned him for her son.\r\n\r\nCuchullain. I had rather he had been some other woman\u2019s son. What father had he? A soldier out of Alba? She was an amorous woman, a proud, pale amorous woman.\r\n\r\nFintain. None knew whose son he was.\r\n\r\nCuchullain. None knew? Did you know, old listener at doors?\r\n\r\nFintain. No, no, I knew nothing.\r\n\r\nBarach. He said a while ago that he heard Aoife boast that she\u2019d never but the one lover, and he the only man that had overcome her in battle.\r\n\r\n[A pause.\r\n\r\nFintain. Somebody is trembling. Why are you trembling, fool? the bench is shaking, why are you trembling? Is Cuchullain going to hurt us? It was not I who told you, Cuchullain.\r\n\r\nBarach.\r\n\r\nIt is Cuchullain who is trembling. He is shaking the bench with his knees.\r\n\r\nCuchullain.\r\n\r\nHe was my son, and I have killed my son.\r\n\r\n[A pause.\r\n\r\n\u2019Twas they that did it, the pale windy people,\r\n\r\nWhere, where, where? My sword against the thunder.\r\n\r\nBut no, for they have always been my friends;\r\n\r\nAnd though they love to blow a smoking coal\r\n\r\nTill it\u2019s all flame, the wars they blow aflame\r\n\r\nAre full of glory, and heart uplifting pride,\r\n\r\nAnd not like this; the wars they love awaken\r\n\r\nOld fingers and the sleepy strings of harps.\r\n\r\nWho did it then? Are you afraid; speak out,\r\n\r\nFor I have put you under my protection\r\n\r\nAnd will reward you well. Dubthach the Chafer.\r\n\r\nHe had an old grudge. No, for he is with Maeve.\r\n\r\nLaegaire did it. Why do you not speak?\r\n\r\nWhat is this house? [A pause.] Now I remember all.\r\n\r\nFintain.\r\n\r\nHe will kill us. O, I am afraid!\r\n\r\nCuchullain.\r\n\r\n[Who is before Concobar\u2019s chair.]\r\n\r\n\u2019Twas you who did it, you who sat up there\r\n\r\nWith that old branch of silver, like a magpie\r\n\r\nNursing a stolen spoon. Magpie, magpie,\r\n\r\nA maggot that is eating up the earth!\r\n\r\n[Begins hacking at the chair with his sword.\r\n\r\nNo, but a magpie, for he\u2019s flown away.\r\n\r\nWhere did he fly to?\r\n\r\nFintain.\r\n\r\nHe is outside the door.\r\n\r\nCuchullain.\r\n\r\nOutside the door?\r\n\r\nFintain.\r\n\r\nHe is under Baile\u2019s yew-tree.\r\n\r\nCuchullain.\r\n\r\nConcobar, Concobar, the sword into your heart.\r\n\r\n[He goes out. A pause. The fool goes to the great door at back and looks out after him.\r\n\r\nBarach.\r\n\r\nHe is going up to King Concobar; they are all under the tree. No, no, he is standing still. There is a great wave going to break and he is looking at it. Ah! now he is running down to the sea, but he is holding up his sword as if he were going into a fight. [A pause.] Well struck, well struck!\r\n\r\nFintain.\r\n\r\nWhat is he doing now?\r\n\r\nBarach.\r\n\r\nOh! he is fighting the waves.\r\n\r\nFintain.\r\n\r\nHe sees King Concobar\u2019s crown on every one of them.\r\n\r\nBarach.\r\n\r\nThere, he has struck at a big one. He has struck the crown off it, he has made the foam fly. There again another big one.\r\n\r\n[Shouting without.\r\n\r\nFintain.\r\n\r\nWhere are the Kings? What are the Kings doing?\r\n\r\nBarach.\r\n\r\nThey are shouting and running down to the shore, and the people are running out of the houses, they are all running.\r\n\r\nFintain.\r\n\r\nYou say they are running out of the houses, there will be nobody left in the houses. Listen, fool.\r\n\r\nBarach.\r\n\r\nThere, he is down! He is up again! He is going out into the deep water.\r\n\r\nFintain.\r\n\r\nCome here, fool; come here, I say.\r\n\r\nBarach.\r\n\r\n[Coming towards him but looking backward towards the door.] What is it?\r\n\r\nFintain.\r\n\r\nThere will be nobody in the houses. Come this way, come quickly; the ovens will be full; we will put our hands into the ovens.\r\n\r\n[They go out.]","rendered":"<p><em>The King&#8217;s Threshold; and On Baile&#8217;s Strand <\/em>by W. B. Yeats<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/ebooks\/41102\">https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/ebooks\/41102<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>ON BAILE\u2019S STRAND<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cuchullain, the King of Muirthemne.<\/li>\n<li>Concobar, the High King of Ullad.<\/li>\n<li>Daire, a King.<\/li>\n<li>Fintain, a blind man.<\/li>\n<li>Barach, a fool.<\/li>\n<li>A Young Man.<\/li>\n<li>Young Kings and Old Kings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Scene: A great hall by the sea close to Dundalgan. There are two great chairs on either side of the hall, each raised a little from the ground, and on the back of the one chair is carved and painted a woman with a fish\u2019s tail, and on the back of the other a hound. There are smaller chairs and benches raised in tiers round the walls. There is a great ale vat at one side near a small door, and a large door at the back through which one can see the sea. Barach, a tall thin man with long ragged hair, dressed in skins, comes in at the side door. He is leading Fintain, a fat blind man, who is somewhat older.<\/p>\n<p>Barach. I will shut the door, for this wind out of the sea gets into my bones, and if I leave but an inch for the wind there is one like a flake of sea-frost that might come into the house.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. What is his name, fool?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. It\u2019s a woman from among the Riders of the Sidhe. It\u2019s Boann herself from the river. She has left the Dagda\u2019s bed, and gone through the salt of the sea and up here to the strand of Baile, and all for love of me. Let her keep her husband\u2019s bed, for she\u2019ll have none of me. Nobody knows how lecherous these goddesses are. I see her in every kind of shape but oftener than not she\u2019s in the wind and cries \u201cgive a kiss and put your arms about me.\u201d But no, she\u2019ll have no more of me. Yesterday when I put out my lips to kiss her, there was nothing there but the wind. She\u2019s bad, Fintain. O, she\u2019s bad. I had better shut the big door too.<\/p>\n<p>[He is going towards the big door but turns hearing Fintain\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. [Who has been feeling about with his stick.] What\u2019s this and this?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. They are chairs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. And this?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. Why, that\u2019s a bench.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. And this?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. A big chair.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. [Feeling the back of the chair.] There is a sea-woman carved upon it.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. And there is another big chair on the other side of the hall.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. Lead me to it. [He mutters while the fool is leading him.] That is what the High King Concobar has on his shield. The High King will be coming. They have brought out his chair. [He begins feeling the back of the other chair.] And there is a dog\u2019s head on this. They have brought out our master\u2019s chair. Now I know what the horse-boys were talking about. We must not stay here. The Kings are going to meet here. Now that Concobar and our master, that is his chief man, have put down all the enemies of Ullad, they are going to build up Emain again. They are going to talk over their plans for building it. Were you ever in Concobar\u2019s town before it was burnt? O, he is a great King, for though Emain was burnt down, every war had made him richer. He has gold and silver dishes, and chessboards and candlesticks made of precious stones. Fool, have they taken the top from the ale vat?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. They have.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. Then bring me a horn of ale quickly, for the Kings will be here in a minute. Now I can listen. Tell me what you saw this morning?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. About the young man and the fighting?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. Yes.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. And after that we can go and eat the fowl, for I am hungry.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. Time enough, time enough. You\u2019re in as great a hurry as when you brought me to Aine\u2019s Seat, where the mad dogs gather when the moon\u2019s at the full. Go on with your story.<\/p>\n<p>Barach. I was creeping under a ditch, with the fowl in my leather bag, keeping to the shore where the farmer could not see me, when I came upon a ship drawn up upon the sands, a great red ship with a woman\u2019s head upon it.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. A ship out of Aoife\u2019s country. They have all a woman\u2019s head on the bow.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. There was a young man with a pale face and red hair standing beside it. Some of our people came up whose turn it was to guard the shore. I heard them ask the young man his name. He said he was under bonds not to tell it. Then words came between them, and they fought, and the young man killed half of them, and the others ran away.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. It matters nothing to us, but he has come at last.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. Who has come?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. I know who that young man is. There is not another like him in the world. I saw him when I had my eyesight.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. You saw him?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. I used to be in Aoife\u2019s country when I had my eyesight.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. That was before you went on shipboard and were blinded for putting a curse on the wind?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. Queen Aoife had a son that was red haired and pale faced like herself, and everyone said that he would kill Cuchullain some day, but I would not have that spoken of.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. Nobody could do that. Who was his father?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. Nobody but Aoife knew that, not even he himself.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. Not even he himself! Was Aoife a goddess and lecherous?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. I overheard her telling that she never had but one lover, and that he was the only man who overcame her in battle. There were some who thought him one of the Riders of the Sidhe, because the child was great of limb and strong beyond others. The child was begotten over the mountains; but come nearer and I will tell you something.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. You have thought something?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. When I hear the young girls talking about the colour of Cuchullain\u2019s eyes, and how they have seven colours, I have thought about it. That young man has Aoife\u2019s face and hair, but he has Cuchullain\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. How can he have Cuchullain\u2019s eyes?<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. He is Cuchullain\u2019s son.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. And his mother has sent him hither to fight his father.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. It is all quite plain. Cuchullain went into Aoife\u2019s country when he was a young man that he might learn skill in arms, and there he became Aoife\u2019s lover.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. And now she hates him because he went away, and has sent the son to kill the father. I knew she was a goddess.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. And she never told him who his father was, that he might do it. I have thought it all out, fool. I know a great many things because I listen when nobody is noticing and I keep my wits awake. What ails you now?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. I have remembered that I am hungry.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. Well, forget it again, and I will tell you about Aoife\u2019s country. It is full of wonders. There are a great many Queens there who can change themselves into wolves and into swine and into white hares, and when they are in their own shapes they are stronger than almost any man; and there are young men there who have cat\u2019s eyes and if a bird chirrup or a mouse squeak they cannot keep them shut, even though it is bedtime and they sleepy; and listen, for this is a great wonder, a very great wonder: there is a long narrow bridge, and when anybody goes to cross it, that the Queens do not like, it flies up as this bench would if you were to sit on the end of it. Everybody who goes there to learn skill in arms has to cross it. It was in that country too that Cuchullain got his spear made out of dragon bones. There were two dragons fighting in the foam of the sea, and their grandam was the moon, and nine Queens came along the shore.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. I won\u2019t listen to your story.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. It is a very wonderful story. Wait till you hear what the nine Queens did. Their right hands were all made of silver.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. No, I will have my dinner first. You have eaten the fowl I left in front of the fire. The last time you sent me to steal something you made me forget all about it till you had eaten it up.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. No, there is plenty for us both.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. Come with me where it is.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. [Who is being led towards the door at the back by Barach.] O, it is all right, it is in a safe place.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. It is a fine fowl. It was the biggest in the yard.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. It had a good smell, but I hope that the wild dogs have not smelt it. [Voices are heard outside the door at the side.] Here is our master. Let us stay and talk with him. Perhaps Cuchullain will give you a new cap with a feather. He told me that he would give you a new cap with a feather, a feather with an eye that looks at you, a peacock\u2019s feather.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. No, no.<\/p>\n<p>[He begins pulling Fintain towards the door.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. If you do not get it now, you may never get it, for the young man may kill him.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Barach. No, no, I am hungry. What a head you have, blind man! Who but you would have remembered that the hen-wife slept for a little at noon every day!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. [Who is being led along very slowly and unwillingly.] Yes, I have a good head. The fowl should be done just right, but one never knows when a wild dog may come out of the woods.<\/p>\n<p>[They go out through the big door at the back. As they go out Cuchullain and certain Young Kings come in at the side door. Cuchullain, though still young, is a good deal older than the others. They are all very gaily dressed, and have their hair fastened with balls of gold. The young men crowd about Cuchullain with wondering attention.<\/p>\n<p>First Young King.<\/p>\n<p>You have hurled that stone beyond our utmost mark<\/p>\n<p>Time after time, but yet you are not weary.<\/p>\n<p>Second Young King.<\/p>\n<p>He has slept on the bare ground of Fuad\u2019s Hill<\/p>\n<p>This week past, waiting for the bulls and the deer.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. Well, why should I be weary?<\/p>\n<p>First Young King.<\/p>\n<p>It is certain<\/p>\n<p>His father was the god who wheels the sun,<\/p>\n<p>And not King Sualtam.<\/p>\n<p>Third Young King.<\/p>\n<p>[To a Young King who is beside him.] He came in the dawn,<\/p>\n<p>And folded Dectara in a sudden fire.<\/p>\n<p>Fourth Young King.<\/p>\n<p>And yet the mother\u2019s half might well grow weary,<\/p>\n<p>And it new come from labours over sea.<\/p>\n<p>Third Young King.<\/p>\n<p>He has been on islands walled about with silver,<\/p>\n<p>And fought with giants.<\/p>\n<p>[They gather about the ale vat and begin to drink.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. Who was it that went out? Third Young King.<\/p>\n<p>As we came in?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. Yes.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Third Young King. Barach and blind Fintain.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. They always flock together; the blind man<\/p>\n<p>Has need of the fool\u2019s eyesight and strong body,<\/p>\n<p>While the poor fool has need of the other\u2019s wit,<\/p>\n<p>And night and day is up to his ears in mischief<\/p>\n<p>That the blind man imagines. There\u2019s no hen-yard<\/p>\n<p>But clucks and cackles when he passes by<\/p>\n<p>As if he\u2019d been a fox. If I\u2019d that ball<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s in your hair and the big stone again,<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d keep them tossing, though the one is heavy<\/p>\n<p>And the other light in the hand. A trick I learnt<\/p>\n<p>When I was learning arms in Aoife\u2019s country.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>First Young King. What kind of woman was that Aoife?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. Comely.<\/p>\n<p>First Young King.<\/p>\n<p>But I have heard that she was never married,<\/p>\n<p>And yet that\u2019s natural, for I have never known<\/p>\n<p>A fighting woman, but made her favours cheap,<\/p>\n<p>Or mocked at love till she grew sandy dry.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. What manner of woman do you like the best?<\/p>\n<p>A gentle or a fierce?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>First Young King. A gentle, surely.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. I think that a fierce woman\u2019s better, a woman<\/p>\n<p>That breaks away when you have thought her won,<\/p>\n<p>For I\u2019d be fed and hungry at one time.<\/p>\n<p>I think that all deep passion is but a kiss<\/p>\n<p>In the mid battle, and a difficult peace<\/p>\n<p>\u2019Twixt oil and water, candles and dark night,<\/p>\n<p>Hill-side and hollow, the hot-footed sun,<\/p>\n<p>And the cold sliding slippery-footed moon,<\/p>\n<p>A brief forgiveness between opposites<\/p>\n<p>That have been hatreds for three times the age<\/p>\n<p>Of this long \u2019stablished ground. Here\u2019s Concobar;<\/p>\n<p>So I\u2019ll be done, but keep beside me still,<\/p>\n<p>For while he talks of hammered bronze and asks<\/p>\n<p>What wood is best for building, we can talk<\/p>\n<p>Of a fierce woman.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>[Concobar, a man much older than Cuchullain, has come in through the great door at the back. He has many Kings about him. One of these Kings, Daire, a stout old man, is somewhat drunk.<\/p>\n<p>Concobar. [To one of those about him.] Has the ship gone yet?<\/p>\n<p>We have need of more bronze workers, and that ship<\/p>\n<p>I sent to Africa for gold is late.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. I knew their talk.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Concobar. [Seeing Cuchullain.] You are before us, King.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. So much the better, for I welcome you<\/p>\n<p>Into my Muirthemne.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Concobar. But who are these?<\/p>\n<p>The odour from their garments when they stir<\/p>\n<p>Is like a wind out of an apple garden.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. My swordsmen and harp players and fine dancers,<\/p>\n<p>My bosom friends.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Concobar. I should have thought, Cuchullain,<\/p>\n<p>My graver company would better match<\/p>\n<p>Your greatness and your years; but I waste breath<\/p>\n<p>In harping on that tale.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. You do, great King.<\/p>\n<p>Because their youth is the kind wandering wave<\/p>\n<p>That carries me about the world; and if it sank,<\/p>\n<p>My sword would lose its lightness.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Concobar. Yet, Cuchullain,<\/p>\n<p>Emain should be the foremost town of the world.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. It is the foremost town.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Concobar. No, no, it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing but men can make towns great, and he,<\/p>\n<p>The one over-topping man that\u2019s in the world,<\/p>\n<p>Keeps far away.<\/p>\n<p>Daire.<\/p>\n<p>He will not hear you, King,<\/p>\n<p>And we old men had best keep company<\/p>\n<p>With one another. I\u2019ll fill the horn for you.<\/p>\n<p>Concobar. I will not drink, old fool. You have drunk a horn<\/p>\n<p>At every door we came to.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Daire. You\u2019d better drink,<\/p>\n<p>For old men light upon their youth again<\/p>\n<p>In the brown ale. When I have drunk enough,<\/p>\n<p>I am like Cuchullain as one pea another,<\/p>\n<p>And live like a bird\u2019s flight from tree to tree.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Concobar. We\u2019ll to our chairs for we have much to talk of,<\/p>\n<p>And we have Ullad and Muirthemne, and here<\/p>\n<p>Is Conall Muirthemne in the nick of time.<\/p>\n<p>[He goes to the back of stage to welcome a company of Kings who come in through the great door. The other Kings gradually get into their places. Cuchullain sits in his great chair with certain of the young men standing around him. Others of the young men, however, remain with Daire at the ale vat. Daire holds out the horn of ale to one or two of the older Kings as they pass him going to their places. They pass him by, most of them silently refusing.<\/p>\n<p>Daire. Will you not drink?<\/p>\n<p>An Old King.<\/p>\n<p>Not till the council\u2019s over.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A Young King. But I\u2019ll drink, Daire.<\/p>\n<p>Another Young King.<\/p>\n<p>Fill me a horn too, Daire.<\/p>\n<p>Another Young King.<\/p>\n<p>If I\u2019d drunk half that you have drunk to-day,<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d be upon all fours.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Daire. That would be natural<\/p>\n<p>When Mother Earth had given you this good milk<\/p>\n<p>From her great breasts.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. [To one of the Young Kings beside him.]<\/p>\n<p>One is content awhile<\/p>\n<p>With a soft warm woman who folds up our lives<\/p>\n<p>In silky network. Then, one knows not why,<\/p>\n<p>But one\u2019s away after a flinty heart.<\/p>\n<p>The Young King.<\/p>\n<p>How long can the net keep us?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. All our lives<\/p>\n<p>If there are children, and a dozen moons<\/p>\n<p>If there are none, because a growing child<\/p>\n<p>Has so much need of watching it can make<\/p>\n<p>A passion that\u2019s as changeable as the sea<\/p>\n<p>Change till it holds the wide earth to its heart.<\/p>\n<p>At least I have heard a father say it, but I<\/p>\n<p>Being childless do not know it. Come nearer yet;<\/p>\n<p>Though he is ringing that old silver rod<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll have our own talk out. They cannot hear us.<\/p>\n<p>[Concobar who is now seated in his great chair, opposite Cuchullain, beats upon the pillar of the house that is nearest to him with a rod of silver, till the Kings have become silent. Cuchullain alone continues to talk in a low voice to those about him, but not so loud as to disturb the silence. Concobar rises and speaks standing.<\/p>\n<p>Concobar. I have called you hither, Kings of Ullad, and Kings<\/p>\n<p>Of Muirthemne and Connall Muirthemne,<\/p>\n<p>And tributary Kings, for now there is peace\u2014<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s time to build up Emain that was burned<\/p>\n<p>At the outsetting of these wars; for we,<\/p>\n<p>Being the foremost men, should have high chairs<\/p>\n<p>And be much stared at and wondered at, and speak<\/p>\n<p>Out of more laughing overflowing hearts<\/p>\n<p>Than common men. It is the art of kings<\/p>\n<p>To make what\u2019s noble nobler in men\u2019s eyes<\/p>\n<p>By wide uplifted roofs, where beaten gold,<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s ruddy with desire, marries pale silver<\/p>\n<p>Among the shadowing beams; and many a time<\/p>\n<p>I would have called you hither to this work,<\/p>\n<p>But always, when I\u2019d all but summoned you,<\/p>\n<p>Some war or some rebellion would break out.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Daire. Where\u2019s Maine Morgor and old Usnach\u2019s children,<\/p>\n<p>And that high-headed even-walking Queen,<\/p>\n<p>And many near as great that got their death<\/p>\n<p>Because you hated peace? I can remember<\/p>\n<p>The people crying out when Deirdre passed<\/p>\n<p>And Maine Morgor had a cold gray eye.<\/p>\n<p>Well, well, I\u2019ll throw this heel-tap on the ground,<\/p>\n<p>For it may be they are thirsty.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A King. Be silent, fool.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Another King. Be silent, Daire.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Concobar. Let him speak his mind.<\/p>\n<p>I have no need to be afraid of ghosts,<\/p>\n<p>For I have made but necessary wars.<\/p>\n<p>I warred to strengthen Emain, or because<\/p>\n<p>When wars are out they marry and beget<\/p>\n<p>And have their generations like mankind<\/p>\n<p>And there\u2019s no help for it; but I\u2019m well content<\/p>\n<p>That they have ended and left the town so great,<\/p>\n<p>That its mere name shall be in times to come<\/p>\n<p>Like a great ale vat where the men of the world<\/p>\n<p>Shall drink no common ale but the hard will,<\/p>\n<p>The unquenchable hope, the friendliness of the sword.<\/p>\n<p>[He takes thin boards on which plans have been carved by those about him.<\/p>\n<p>Give me the building plans, and have you written<\/p>\n<p>That we\u2014Cuchullain is looking in his shield;<\/p>\n<p>It may be the pale riders of the wind<\/p>\n<p>Throw pictures on it, or that Mananan,<\/p>\n<p>His father\u2019s friend and sometime fosterer,<\/p>\n<p>Foreknower of all things, has cast a vision,<\/p>\n<p>Out of the cold dark of the rich sea,<\/p>\n<p>Foretelling Emain\u2019s greatness.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. No, great King,<\/p>\n<p>I looked on this out of mere idleness,<\/p>\n<p>Imagining a far-off country and one<\/p>\n<p>That held it with a sword, although a woman.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Concobar. A woman needs but laugh, or a friend sigh,<\/p>\n<p>And you\u2019re afar off sounding through the world,<\/p>\n<p>While I plan Emain\u2019s greatness.<\/p>\n<p>[The sound of a trumpet without.<\/p>\n<p>Open the doors!<\/p>\n<p>I hear a herald\u2019s trumpet, and await,<\/p>\n<p>It may be, the heavy fleeces of the sea<\/p>\n<p>And golden and silver apples or ancient crowns<\/p>\n<p>Long hidden in the well at the World\u2019s End,<\/p>\n<p>Or glittering garments of the salmon, tributes<\/p>\n<p>From the Great Plain, or the high people of Sorcha,<\/p>\n<p>Or the walled garden in the east of the world.<\/p>\n<p>[The great door at the back is flung open; a Young Man, who is fully armed and carries a shield with a woman\u2019s head painted on it, stands upon the threshold. Behind him are trumpeters. He walks into the centre of the hall, the trumpeting ceases.<\/p>\n<p>What is your message?<\/p>\n<p>Young Man.<\/p>\n<p>I am of Aoife\u2019s army.<\/p>\n<p>First King.<\/p>\n<p>Queen Aoife and her army have fallen upon us.<\/p>\n<p>Second King.<\/p>\n<p>Out swords! Out swords!<\/p>\n<p>Third King.<\/p>\n<p>They are about the house.<\/p>\n<p>Fourth King.<\/p>\n<p>Rush out! Rush out! Before they have fired the thatch.<\/p>\n<p>Young Man.<\/p>\n<p>Aoife is far away. I am alone.<\/p>\n<p>I have come alone in the midst of you<\/p>\n<p>To weigh this sword against Cuchullain\u2019s sword.<\/p>\n<p>[There is a murmur amongst the Kings.<\/p>\n<p>Concobar. And are you noble? for if of common seed<\/p>\n<p>You cannot weigh your sword against his sword<\/p>\n<p>But in mixed battle.<\/p>\n<p>Young Man.<\/p>\n<p>I am under bonds<\/p>\n<p>To tell my name to no man, but it\u2019s noble.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Concobar. But I would know your name and not your bonds.<\/p>\n<p>You cannot speak in the Assembly House<\/p>\n<p>If you are not noble.<\/p>\n<p>A King.<\/p>\n<p>Answer the High King.<\/p>\n<p>Young Man.<\/p>\n<p>[Drawing his sword.] I will give no other proof than the hawk gives<\/p>\n<p>That it\u2019s no sparrow.<\/p>\n<p>[He is silent a moment, then speaks to all.<\/p>\n<p>Yet look upon me, Kings;<\/p>\n<p>I too am of that ancient seed and carry<\/p>\n<p>The signs about this body and in these bones.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. To have shown the hawk\u2019s gray feather is enough,<\/p>\n<p>And you speak highly too.<\/p>\n<p>[Cuchullain comes down from his great chair. He remains standing on the steps of the chair. The Young Kings gather about him and begin to arm him.<\/p>\n<p>Give me that helmet!<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d thought they had grown weary sending champions.<\/p>\n<p>That leathern coat will do. The High King there<\/p>\n<p>Being old in wisdom can think of times to come,<\/p>\n<p>But the hawk\u2019s sleepy till its well-beloved<\/p>\n<p>Cries out amid the acorns, or it has seen<\/p>\n<p>Its enemy like a speck upon the sun.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s Emain to the hawk when that clear eye<\/p>\n<p>Is burning nearer up in the high air?<\/p>\n<p>That buckle should be tighter. Give me your shield.<\/p>\n<p>There is good level ground at Baile\u2019s Yew-tree,<\/p>\n<p>Some dozen yards from here, and it\u2019s but truth<\/p>\n<p>That I am sad to-day and this fight welcome.<\/p>\n<p>[He looks hard at the Young Man, and then steps down on the floor of the Assembly House. He grasps the Young Man by the shoulder.<\/p>\n<p>Hither into the light.<\/p>\n<p>[Turning to one of the Young Kings.<\/p>\n<p>The very tint<\/p>\n<p>Of her that I was speaking of but now:<\/p>\n<p>Not a pin\u2019s difference.<\/p>\n<p>[To the Young Man.<\/p>\n<p>You are from the North,<\/p>\n<p>Where there are many that have that tint of hair,<\/p>\n<p>Red-brown, the light red-brown. Come nearer, boy!<\/p>\n<p>For I would have another look at you.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s more likeness, a pale, a stone pale cheek.<\/p>\n<p>What brought you, boy? Have you no fear of death?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Young Man. Whether I live or die is in the Gods\u2019 hands.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. That is all words, all words, a young man\u2019s talk;<\/p>\n<p>I am their plough, their harrow, their very strength,<\/p>\n<p>For he that\u2019s in the sun begot this body<\/p>\n<p>Upon a mortal woman, and I have heard tell<\/p>\n<p>It seemed as if he had outrun the moon,<\/p>\n<p>That he must always follow through waste heaven,<\/p>\n<p>He loved so happily. He\u2019ll be but slow<\/p>\n<p>To break a tree that was so sweetly planted.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s see that arm; I\u2019ll see it if I like.<\/p>\n<p>That arm had a good father and a good mother,<\/p>\n<p>But it is not like this.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Young Man. You are mocking me.<\/p>\n<p>You think I am not worthy to be fought,<\/p>\n<p>But I\u2019ll not wrangle but with this talkative knife.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. Put up your sword, I am not mocking you.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d have you for my friend, but if it\u2019s not<\/p>\n<p>Because you have a hot heart and a cold eye<\/p>\n<p>I cannot tell the reason. You\u2019ve got her fierceness,<\/p>\n<p>And nobody is as fierce as those pale women.<\/p>\n<p>[To the Young Kings.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll keep him here in Muirthemne awhile.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A Young King. You are the leader of our pack and therefore<\/p>\n<p>May cry what you will.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. You\u2019ll stop with us<\/p>\n<p>And we will hunt the deer and the wild bulls,<\/p>\n<p>And, when we have grown weary, light our fires<\/p>\n<p>In sandy places where the wool-white foam<\/p>\n<p>Is murmuring and breaking, and it may be<\/p>\n<p>That long-haired women will come out of the dunes<\/p>\n<p>To dance in the yellow fire-light. You hang your head,<\/p>\n<p>Young man, as if it was not a good life;<\/p>\n<p>And yet what\u2019s better than to hurl the spear,<\/p>\n<p>And hear the long-remembering harp, and dance?<\/p>\n<p>Friendship grows quicker in the murmuring dark;<\/p>\n<p>But I can see there\u2019s no more need for words<\/p>\n<p>And that you\u2019ll be my friend now.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>First Old King. Concobar,<\/p>\n<p>Forbid their friendship, for it will get twisted<\/p>\n<p>To a reproach against us.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Concobar. Until now<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d never need to cry Cuchullain on<\/p>\n<p>And would not now.<\/p>\n<p>First Old King.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ll say his manhood\u2019s quenched.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. I\u2019ll give you gifts, but I\u2019ll have something too,<\/p>\n<p>An arm-ring or the like, and if you will<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll fight it out when you are older, boy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>An Old King. Aoife will make some story out of this.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. Well, well, what matter, I\u2019ll have that arm-ring, boy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Young Man. There is no man I\u2019d sooner have my friend<\/p>\n<p>Than you whose name has gone about the world<\/p>\n<p>As if it had been the wind, but Aoife\u2019d say<\/p>\n<p>I had turned coward.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. I\u2019ll give you gifts<\/p>\n<p>That Aoife\u2019ll know and all her people know<\/p>\n<p>To have been my gifts. Mananan, son of the sea,<\/p>\n<p>Gave me this heavy embroidered cloak. Nine Queens<\/p>\n<p>Of the Land-under-Wave had woven it<\/p>\n<p>Out of the fleeces of the sea. O! tell her<\/p>\n<p>I was afraid, or tell her what you will.<\/p>\n<p>No! tell her that I heard a raven croak<\/p>\n<p>On the north side of the house and was afraid.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>An Old King. Some witch of the air has troubled Cuchullain\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain.<\/p>\n<p>No witchcraft, his head is like a woman\u2019s head<\/p>\n<p>I had a fancy for.<\/p>\n<p>Second Old King.<\/p>\n<p>A witch of the air<\/p>\n<p>Can make a leaf confound us with memories.<\/p>\n<p>They have gone to school to learn the trick of it.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. But there\u2019s no trick in this. That arm-ring, boy.<\/p>\n<p>Third Old King. He shall not go unfought, I\u2019ll fight with him.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fourth Old King. No! I will fight with him.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>First Old King. I claim the fight,<\/p>\n<p>For when we sent an army to her land\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Second Old King. I claim the fight, for one of Aoife\u2019s galleys<\/p>\n<p>Stole my great cauldron and a herd of pigs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Third Old King. No, no, I claim it, for at Lammas\u2019 time\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. Back! Back! Put up your swords! Put up your swords!<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s none alive that shall accept a challenge<\/p>\n<p>I have refused. Laegaire, put up your sword.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Young Man. No, let them come, let any three together.<\/p>\n<p>If they\u2019ve a mind to, I\u2019ll try it out with four.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. That\u2019s spoken as I\u2019d spoken it at your age,<\/p>\n<p>But you are in my house. Whatever man<\/p>\n<p>Would fight with you shall fight it out with me.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re dumb. They\u2019re dumb. How many of you would meet<\/p>\n<p>[Drawing his sword.<\/p>\n<p>This mutterer, this old whistler, this sandpiper,<\/p>\n<p>This edge that\u2019s grayer than the tide, this mouse<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s gnawing at the timbers of the world,<\/p>\n<p>This, this\u2014Boy, I would meet them all in arms<\/p>\n<p>If I\u2019d a son like you. He would avenge me<\/p>\n<p>When I have withstood for the last time the men<\/p>\n<p>Whose fathers, brothers, sons, and friends I have killed<\/p>\n<p>Upholding Ullad; when the four provinces<\/p>\n<p>Have gathered with the ravens over them.<\/p>\n<p>But I\u2019d need no avenger. You and I<\/p>\n<p>Would scatter them like water from a dish.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Young Man. We\u2019ll stand by one another from this out.<\/p>\n<p>Here is the ring.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. No, turn and turn about,<\/p>\n<p>But my turn is first, because I am the older.<\/p>\n<p>Cliodna embroidered these bird wings, but Fand<\/p>\n<p>Made all these little golden eyes with the hairs<\/p>\n<p>That she had stolen out of Aengus\u2019 beard,<\/p>\n<p>And therefore none that has this cloak about him<\/p>\n<p>Is crossed in love. The heavy inlaid brooch<\/p>\n<p>That Buan hammered has a merit too.<\/p>\n<p>[He begins spreading the cloak out on a bench, showing it to the Young Man. Suddenly Concobar beats with his silver rod on a pillar beside his chair. All turn towards him.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Concobar. [In a loud voice.] No more of that, I will not have this friendship.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain is my man and I forbid it;<\/p>\n<p>He shall not go unfought for I myself\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. [Seizing Concobar.] You shall not stir, High King, I\u2019ll hold you there.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Concobar. Witchcraft has maddened you.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Kings. [Shouting.] Yes, witchcraft, witchcraft.<\/p>\n<p>A King. You saw another\u2019s head upon his shoulders<\/p>\n<p>All of a sudden, a woman\u2019s head, Cuchullain.<\/p>\n<p>Then raised your hand against the King of Ullad.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. [Letting Concobar go, and looking wildly about him.]<\/p>\n<p>Yes, yes, all of a sudden, all of a sudden.<\/p>\n<p>Daire. Why, there\u2019s no witchcraft in it, I myself<\/p>\n<p>Have made a hundred of these sudden friendships<\/p>\n<p>And fought it out next day. But that was folly,<\/p>\n<p>For now that I am old I know it is best<\/p>\n<p>To live in comfort.<\/p>\n<p>A King. Pull the fool away!<\/p>\n<p>Daire: I\u2019ll throw a heel-tap to the one that dies.<\/p>\n<p>Concobar. Some witch is floating in the air above us.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. Yes, witchcraft, witchcraft and the power of witchcraft.<\/p>\n<p>[To the Young Man.<\/p>\n<p>Why did you do it? was it Calatin\u2019s daughters?<\/p>\n<p>Out, out, I say, for now it\u2019s sword on sword.<\/p>\n<p>Young Man.<\/p>\n<p>But, but, I did not.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. Out, I say, out, out!<\/p>\n<p>Sword upon sword.<\/p>\n<p>[He goes towards the door at back, followed by Young Man. He turns on the threshold and cries out, looking at the Young Man.<\/p>\n<p>That hair my hands were drowned in!<\/p>\n<p>[He goes out, followed by Young Man. The other Kings begin to follow them out.<\/p>\n<p>A King. I saw him fight with Ferdiad.<\/p>\n<p>Second King. We\u2019ll be too late,<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re such a long time getting through the door.<\/p>\n<p>Third King. Run quicker, quicker.<\/p>\n<p>Daire. I was at the Smith\u2019s<\/p>\n<p>When he that was the boy Setanta then\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n<p>[Sound, of fighting outside.<\/p>\n<p>Third King. He will have killed him.<\/p>\n<p>They have begun the fight!<\/p>\n<p>[They all go out, leaving the house silent and empty. There is a pause during which one hears the clashing of the swords. Barach and Fintain come in from side door. Barach is dragging Fintain.<\/p>\n<p>Barach. You have eaten it, you have eaten it, you have left me nothing but the bones.<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. O, that I should have to endure such a plague. O, I ache all over. O, I am pulled in pieces. This is the way you pay me for all the good I have done you!<\/p>\n<p>Barach. You have eaten it, you have told me lies about a wild dog. Nobody has seen a wild dog about the place this twelve month. Lie there till the Kings come. O, I will tell Concobar and<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain and all the Kings about you!<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. What would have happened to you but for me, and you without your wits? If I did not take care of you what would you do for food and warmth?<\/p>\n<p>Barach. You take care of me? You stay safe and send me into every kind of danger. You sent me down the cliff for gull\u2019s eggs while you warmed your blind eyes in the sun. And then you ate all that were good for food. You left me the eggs that were neither egg nor bird. [The blind man tries to rise. Barach makes him lie down again.] Keep quiet now till I shut the door. There is some noise outside. There are swords crossing; a high vexing noise so that I can\u2019t be listening to myself. [He goes to the big door at the back and shuts it.] Why can\u2019t they be quiet, why can\u2019t they be quiet! Ah, you would get away, would you? [He follows the blind man who has been crawling along the wall and makes him lie down close to the King\u2019s chair.] Lie there, lie there. No, you won\u2019t get away. Lie there till the Kings come, I\u2019ll tell them all about you. I shall tell it all. How you sit warming yourself, when you have made me light a fire of sticks, while I sit blowing it with my mouth. Do you not always make me take the windy side of the bush when it blows and the rainy side when it rains?<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. O good fool, listen to me. Think of the care I have taken of you. I have brought you to many a warm hearth, where there was a good welcome for you, but you would not stay there, you were always wandering about.<\/p>\n<p>Barach. The last time you brought me in, it was not I who wandered away, but you that got put out because you took the crubeen out of the pot, when you thought nobody was looking. Keep quiet now, keep quiet till I shut the door. Here is Cuchullain, now you will be beaten. I am going to tell him everything.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. [Comes in and says to the fool.] Give me that horn.<\/p>\n<p>[The fool gives him a horn which Cuchullain fills with ale and drinks.<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. Do not listen to him, listen to me.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. What are you wrangling over?<\/p>\n<p>Barach. He is fat and good for nothing. He has left me the bones and the feathers.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. What feathers?<\/p>\n<p>Barach. I left him turning a fowl at the fire. He ate it all. He left me nothing but the bones and feathers.<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. Do not believe him. You do not know how vain this fool is. I gave him the feathers, because I thought he would like nothing so well.<\/p>\n<p>[Barach is sitting on a bench playing with a heap of feathers, which he has taken out of the breast of his coat.<\/p>\n<p>Barach. [Singing.] When you were an acorn on the tree top\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. Where would he be but for me? I must be always thinking, thinking to get food for the two of us, and when we\u2019ve got it, if the moon\u2019s at the full or the tide on the turn, he\u2019ll leave the rabbit in its snare till it is full of maggots, or let the trout slip through his hands back into the water.<\/p>\n<p>Barach. [Singing.] When you were an acorn on the tree top,<\/p>\n<p>Then was I an eagle cock;<\/p>\n<p>Now that you are a withered old block,<\/p>\n<p>Still am I an eagle cock!<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. Listen to him now! That\u2019s the sort of talk I have to put up with, day out day in.<\/p>\n<p>[The fool is putting the feathers into his hair. Cuchullain takes a handful of feathers out of the heap and out of the fool\u2019s hair, and begins to wipe the blood from his sword with them.<\/p>\n<p>Barach. He has taken my feathers to wipe his sword. It is blood that he is wiping from his sword!<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. Whose blood? Whose blood?<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. That young champion\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. He that came out of Aoife\u2019s country?<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. The Kings are standing round his body.<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. Did he fight long?<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. He thought to have saved himself with witchcraft.<\/p>\n<p>Barach. That blind man there said he would kill you. He came from Aoife\u2019s country to kill you. That blind man said they had taught him every kind of weapon that he might do it. But I always knew that you would kill him.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. [To the blind man.] You knew him, then?<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. I saw him when I had my eyes, in Aoife\u2019s country.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. You were in Aoife\u2019s country?<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. I knew him and his mother there.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. He was about to speak of her when he died.<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. He was a Queen\u2019s son.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. What Queen, what Queen? [He seizes the blind man.] Was it Scathach? There were many Queens. All the rulers were Queens.<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. No, not Scathach.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. It was Uathach, then. Speak, speak!<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. I cannot speak, you are clutching me too tightly. [Cuchullain lets him go.] I cannot remember who it was. I am not certain. It was some Queen.<\/p>\n<p>Barach. He said a while ago that the young man was Aoife\u2019s son.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. She? No, no, she had no son when I was there.<\/p>\n<p>Barach. That blind man there said that she owned him for her son.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. I had rather he had been some other woman\u2019s son. What father had he? A soldier out of Alba? She was an amorous woman, a proud, pale amorous woman.<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. None knew whose son he was.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain. None knew? Did you know, old listener at doors?<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. No, no, I knew nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Barach. He said a while ago that he heard Aoife boast that she\u2019d never but the one lover, and he the only man that had overcome her in battle.<\/p>\n<p>[A pause.<\/p>\n<p>Fintain. Somebody is trembling. Why are you trembling, fool? the bench is shaking, why are you trembling? Is Cuchullain going to hurt us? It was not I who told you, Cuchullain.<\/p>\n<p>Barach.<\/p>\n<p>It is Cuchullain who is trembling. He is shaking the bench with his knees.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain.<\/p>\n<p>He was my son, and I have killed my son.<\/p>\n<p>[A pause.<\/p>\n<p>\u2019Twas they that did it, the pale windy people,<\/p>\n<p>Where, where, where? My sword against the thunder.<\/p>\n<p>But no, for they have always been my friends;<\/p>\n<p>And though they love to blow a smoking coal<\/p>\n<p>Till it\u2019s all flame, the wars they blow aflame<\/p>\n<p>Are full of glory, and heart uplifting pride,<\/p>\n<p>And not like this; the wars they love awaken<\/p>\n<p>Old fingers and the sleepy strings of harps.<\/p>\n<p>Who did it then? Are you afraid; speak out,<\/p>\n<p>For I have put you under my protection<\/p>\n<p>And will reward you well. Dubthach the Chafer.<\/p>\n<p>He had an old grudge. No, for he is with Maeve.<\/p>\n<p>Laegaire did it. Why do you not speak?<\/p>\n<p>What is this house? [A pause.] Now I remember all.<\/p>\n<p>Fintain.<\/p>\n<p>He will kill us. O, I am afraid!<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain.<\/p>\n<p>[Who is before Concobar\u2019s chair.]<\/p>\n<p>\u2019Twas you who did it, you who sat up there<\/p>\n<p>With that old branch of silver, like a magpie<\/p>\n<p>Nursing a stolen spoon. Magpie, magpie,<\/p>\n<p>A maggot that is eating up the earth!<\/p>\n<p>[Begins hacking at the chair with his sword.<\/p>\n<p>No, but a magpie, for he\u2019s flown away.<\/p>\n<p>Where did he fly to?<\/p>\n<p>Fintain.<\/p>\n<p>He is outside the door.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain.<\/p>\n<p>Outside the door?<\/p>\n<p>Fintain.<\/p>\n<p>He is under Baile\u2019s yew-tree.<\/p>\n<p>Cuchullain.<\/p>\n<p>Concobar, Concobar, the sword into your heart.<\/p>\n<p>[He goes out. A pause. The fool goes to the great door at back and looks out after him.<\/p>\n<p>Barach.<\/p>\n<p>He is going up to King Concobar; they are all under the tree. No, no, he is standing still. There is a great wave going to break and he is looking at it. Ah! now he is running down to the sea, but he is holding up his sword as if he were going into a fight. [A pause.] Well struck, well struck!<\/p>\n<p>Fintain.<\/p>\n<p>What is he doing now?<\/p>\n<p>Barach.<\/p>\n<p>Oh! he is fighting the waves.<\/p>\n<p>Fintain.<\/p>\n<p>He sees King Concobar\u2019s crown on every one of them.<\/p>\n<p>Barach.<\/p>\n<p>There, he has struck at a big one. He has struck the crown off it, he has made the foam fly. There again another big one.<\/p>\n<p>[Shouting without.<\/p>\n<p>Fintain.<\/p>\n<p>Where are the Kings? What are the Kings doing?<\/p>\n<p>Barach.<\/p>\n<p>They are shouting and running down to the shore, and the people are running out of the houses, they are all running.<\/p>\n<p>Fintain.<\/p>\n<p>You say they are running out of the houses, there will be nobody left in the houses. Listen, fool.<\/p>\n<p>Barach.<\/p>\n<p>There, he is down! He is up again! He is going out into the deep water.<\/p>\n<p>Fintain.<\/p>\n<p>Come here, fool; come here, I say.<\/p>\n<p>Barach.<\/p>\n<p>[Coming towards him but looking backward towards the door.] What is it?<\/p>\n<p>Fintain.<\/p>\n<p>There will be nobody in the houses. Come this way, come quickly; the ovens will be full; we will put our hands into the ovens.<\/p>\n<p>[They go out.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53936,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":"cc-by-nc-sa"},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[60],"class_list":["post-630","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","license-cc-by-nc-sa"],"part":622,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53936"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":633,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/630\/revisions\/633"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/622"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/630\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=630"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=630"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}