The King of Ireland's Son
by
Padraic Colum
Part 4 out of 4
What else the Pooka does no one really knows. He is a timid fellow as the
Little Red Hen said, and he hopes that the sight of his big black horse and
the sound of its trampling and panting as he rides by will frighten people out
of his way, for he has a great fear of being seen.
The next day the Little Red Hen stayed in the courtyard until Crom Duv left
with his herd. Flann followed her. She went here and there between the house
and the wall at the back, now picking a grain of sand and now an ant or spider
or fly. And as she went about the Little Red Hen murmured a song to herself:--
When sleep would settle on me
Like the wild bird down on the nest,
The wind comes out of the West:
It tears at the door, maybe,
And frightens away my rest--
When sleep would come upon me
Like the wild bird down on the nest.
The cock is aloft with his crest:
The barn-owl comes from her quest
She fixes an eye upon me
And frightens away my rest
When sleep would settle on me
Like the wild bird down on its nest.
Flann watched all the Little Red Hen did. He saw her put her head on one side
and look down for a while at a certain herb that grew near the ground. Flann
plucked that herb and brought it to Morag.
The cattle had come home, but Crom Duv was not with them. Morag milked the
cows and brought all the milk within, leaving no milk for the cats to drink
outside. Six came into the kitchen to get their supper there. One after
another they sprang up on the table, one more proud and overbearing than the
other. Each cat ate without condescending to make a single mew. "Cat of my
heart," said Morag to the first, when he had finished drinking his milk. "Cat
of my heart! How noble you would look with this red around your neck." She
held out a little satchel in which a bit of the herb was sewn. The first cat
gave a look that said, "Well, you may put it on me." Morag put the red satchel
around his neck and he jumped off the table.
It was so with all the other cats. They finished lapping their milk and Morag
showed them the red ribbon satchel. They let her put it round each of ' their
necks and then they sprang off the table, and marched off more scornful and
overbearing than before.
Six of the fierce yellow cats climbed into the branches of the Fairy Rowan
Tree; six stayed in the kitchen; six went into Crom Duv's chamber, and six
went to march round the house, three taking each side. No sound came from the
cats that were within or without. Morag drew a ball of cotton across the
floor, and the cats that were in the kitchen gave no sign of seeing it. "The
sight has left their eyes," said Morag. "Then," said Flann, "I will climb the
Fairy Rowan Tree and bring down two berries." "Be sure you bring down two, my
dear, my dear," said Morag.
They went out to the courtyard and Flann began to climb the Fairy Rowan Tree
with all suppleness, strength and cunning. The cats that were below felt him
going up the tree and the cats that were above humped themselves up. Flann
passed the first branch on which a cat was crouched. He went above where the
rowan berries were, and bending down he picked two of them and put them into
his mouth.
He came down quickly with the cats tearing at him. Others had come out of the
house and were mewing and spitting in the courtyard. Only one had fastened
itself on Flann's jerkin, and this one would not let go. "Come into the wood,
come into the wood," said Morag. "Now we must stand between the house and the
mound, and wait till the Pooka rides by." Flann put the two berries into her
hand, they jumped across the chain, and ran from the house of the Giant Crom
Duv.
VII
They went into the wood, Flann and Morag, and the Little Red Hen was under
Morag's arm. They thought they would hide behind trees until they heard the
coming of the Pooka and his horse. But they were not far in the wood when they
heard Crom Duv coming towards his house. He came towards them with the iron
spike in his hand. Flann and Morag ran. Then from tree to tree Crom Duv chased
them, shouting and snorting and smashing down branches with the iron spike in
his hand. Morag and Flann came to a stream, and as they ran along its bank
they heard the trampling and panting of a horse coming towards them. Up it
came, a great black horse with a sweeping mane. "Halt, Pooka," said Flann in a
commanding voice. The black horse halted and the Pooka that was its rider
slipped down to its tail.
Flann held the snorting horse and Morag got on its back. Then Flann sprang up
between Morag and the horse's head. Crom Duv was just beside them. "Away,
Pooka, away," said Flann, and the horse started through the wood like the wind
of March.
And then Crom Duv blew on the horn that was across his breast and the Bull of
the Mound bellowed in answer. As they went by the mound the Bull charged down
and its horns tossed the tail of the Pooka's horse. The Bull turned and swept
after them with his head down and hot breath coming out of his nostrils. And
when they were in the hollow he was on the height, and when they were on the
height he was in the hollow. And a hollow or a height behind his Bull came
Crom Duv himself.
Then the breath of the Bull became hot upon Morag and Flann and the Pooka.
"Oh, what shall we do now?" said Morag to the Pooka who was hanging on to the
horse's tail, his little face all twisted up with fear.
"Put your hand into my horse's ear and fling behind what you will find there,"
said the Pooka, his teeth chattering. Flann put his hand into the horse's
right ear and found a twig of ash. He flung it behind them. Instantly a
tangled wood sprang up. They heard the Bull driving through the tangle of the
wood and they heard Crom Duv shouting as he smashed his way through the brakes
and branches. But the Bull and the man got through the wood and again they
began to gain on the Pooka's horse. Again the breath of the Bull became hot
upon them. "Oh, Pooka, what shall we do now?" said Morag.
"Put your hand into my horse's ear and fling behind what you will find there,"
said the Pooka, his teeth chattering with fear as he held on to his horse's
tail. Flann put his hand into the horse's left ear and he found a bubble of
water. He flung it behind them. Instantly it spread out as a lake and as they
rode on, the lake waters spread behind them.
Morag and Flann never knew whether the Giant and the Bull went into that lake,
or if they did, whether they ever came out of it. They crossed the river that
marked the bounds of Crom Duv's domain and they were safe. Flann pulled up the
horse and jumped on to the ground. Morag sprang down with the Little Red Hen.
Then the Pooka swung forward and whispered into his horse's ear. Instantly it
struck fire out of its hooves and sprang down the side of a hill. From that
day to this Morag nor Flann ever saw sight of the Pooka and his big, black,
snorting and foaming horse.
"Dost thou know where we are, my Little Red Hen?" said Morag when the sun was
in the sky again.
"There are things I know and things I don't know," said the Little Red Hen,
"but I know we are near the place we started from."
"Which way do we go to come to that place, my Little Red Hen?" said Morag.
"The way of the sun," said the Little Red Hen. So Morag and Flann went the way
of the sun and the Little Red Hen hopped beside them. Morag had in a weasel-
skin purse around her neck the two rowan berries that Flann had given her.
They went towards the house of the Spae-Woman. And as they went Morag told
Flann of the life she had there when she and her foster-sisters were growing
up, and Flann told Morag of the things he did when he was in the house of the
Spae-Woman after she and her foster-sisters had left it.
They climbed the heather-covered knowe on which was the Spae-Woman's house and
the Little Red Hen went flitting and fluttering towards the gate. The Spae-
Woman's old goat was standing in the yard, and its horns went down and its
beard touched its knees and it looked at the Little Red Hen. Then the Little
Red Hen flew up on its back. "We're here again, here again," said the Little
Red Hen.
And then the Spae-Woman came to the door and saw who the comers were. She
covered them with kisses and watered them with tears, and dried them with
cloths silken and with the hair of her head.
VIII
Flann told the Spae-Woman all his adventures. And when he had told her all he
said--"What Queen is my mother, O my fosterer? "Your mother," said the Spae-
Woman, "is Caintigern, the Queen of the King of Ireland."
"And is my mother then not Sheen whose story has been told me?" "Her name was
changed to Caintigern when her husband who was called the Hunter-King made
himself King over Ireland and began to rule as King Connal."
"Then who is my comrade who is called the King of Ireland's Son?"
"He too is King Connal's son, born of a queen who died at his birth and who
was wife to King Connal before he went on his wanderings and met Sheen your
mother."
And as the Spae-Woman said this someone came and stood at the doorway. A girl
she was and wherever the sun was it shone on her, and wherever the breeze was
it rippled over her. White as the snow upon a lake frozen over was the girl,
and as beautiful as flowers and as alive as birds were her eyes, while her
cheeks had the red of fox-gloves and her hair was the blending of five bright
soft colors. She looked at Flann happily and her eyes had the kind look that
was always in Morag's eyes. And she came and 'knelt down, putting her hands on
his knees. "I am Morag, Flann," she said.
"Morag indeed," said he, "but how have you become so fair?"
"I have eaten the berry from the Fairy Rowan Tree," said she, "and now I am as
fair as I should be."
All day they were together and Flann was happy that his friend was so
beautiful and that so beautiful a being was his friend. And he told her of his
adventures in the Town of the Red Castle and of the Princess Flame-of-Wine and
his love for her. "And if you love her still I will never see you again," said
Morag.
"But," said Flann, "I could not love her after the way she mocked at me."
"When did she mock at you?"
"When I took her a message that the Spae-Woman told me to give her."
"And what was that message?"
"'Ask her,' said the Spae-Woman, 'for seven drops of her heart's blood--she
can give them and live--so that the spell may be taken from the seven wild
geese and the mother who longs for you may be at peace again.' This was the
message the Spae-Woman told me to give Flame-of-Wine. And though I had given
her wonderful gifts she laughed at me when I took it to her. And by the way
she laughed I knew she was hard of heart."
"Yet seven drops of heart's blood are hard to give," said Morag sadly.
"But the maiden who loves can give them," said the Spae-Woman who was behind.
"It is true, foster-mother," said Morag.
That evening Morag said, "To-morrow I must pre-pare for my journey to the
Queen of Senlabor. You, Flann, may not come with me. The Spae-Woman has sent a
message to your mother, and you must be here to meet her when she comes. A
happy meeting to her and you, 0 Flann of my heart. And I shall leave you a
token to give to her. So to-morrow I go to the Queen of Senlabor with the
Rowan Berry and I shall bring my Little Red Hen for company, and shall stay
only until my sisters are wed to Dermott and Downal, your brothers."
The next day when he came into the house he saw Morag dressed for her journey
but seated at the fire. She was pale and ill-looking. "Do not go to-day,
Morag," said he. "I shall go to-day," said Morag. She put her hand into the
bosom of her dress and took out a newly-woven handkerchief folded. "This is a
token for your mother," she said. "I have woven it for her. Give her this gift
from me when you have welcomed her."
"That I will do, Morag, my heart," said Flann.
The Spae-Woman came in and kissed Morag good-by and said the charm for a
journey over her.
May my Silver-
Shielded Magian
Shed all lights
Across your path.
Then Morag put the Little Red Hen under her arm and started out. "I shall find
you," said she to Flann, "at the Castle of the King of Ireland, for it is
there I shall go when I part from my foster-sisters and the Queen of Senlabor.
Kiss me now. But if you kiss anyone until Story of the Fairy Rowan Tree 29l
you kiss me again you will forget me. Remember that."
"I will remember," said Flann, and he kissed Morag and said, "When you come to
the King of Ireland's Castle we will be married."
"You gave me the Rowan Berry," said Morag, "and the Rowan Berry gave me all
the beauty that should be mine. But what good will my beauty be to me if you
forget me?"
"But, Morag," said he, "how could I forget you?"
She said nothing but went down the side of the knowe and Flann watched and
watched until his eyes had no power to see any more.
The Spae-Woman
I
There are many things to tell you still, my kind foster-child, but little time
have I to tell you them, for the barnacle-geese are flying over the house, and
when they have all flown by I shall have no more to say. And I have to tell
you yet how the King of Ireland's Son won home with Fedelma, the Enchanter's
daughter, and how it came to pass that the Seven Wild Geese that were
Caintigern's brothers were disenchanted and became men again. But above all I
have to tell you the end of that story that was begun in the house of the
Giant Crom Duv--the story of Flann and Morag.
The barnacle-geese are flying over the house as I said. And so they were
crossing and flying on the night the King of Ireland's Son and Fedelma whom he
had brought from the Land of Mist stayed in the house of the Little Sage of
the Mountain. On that night the Little Sage told them from what bird had come
the wing that thatched his house. That was a wonderful story. And he told them
too about the next place they should go to--the Spae-woman's house. There, he
said he would find people that they knew--Flann, the King's Son's comrade, and
Caintigern, the wife of the King of Ireland, and Fedelma's sister, Gilveen.
In the morning the Little Sage of the Mountain took them down the hillside to
the place where Fedelma and the King's Son would get a horse to ride to the
Spae-Woman's house. The Little Sage told them from what people the Spae-Woman
came and why she lived amongst the poor and foolish without name or splendor
or riches. And that, too, was a wonderful story.
Now as the three went along the river-side they saw a girl on the other side
of the river and she was walking from the place towards which they were going.
The girl sang to herself as she went along, and the King's Son and Fedelma and
the Little Sage of the Mountain heard what she sang,--
A berry, a berry, a red rowan berry,
A red rowan berry brought mc beauty and love.
But drops of my heart's blood, drops of my heart's blood,
Seven drops of my heart's blood I have given away.
Seven wild geese were men, seven wild geese were men,
Seven drops of my heart's blood are there for your spell.
A kiss for my love, a kiss for my love,
May his kiss go to none till he meet me again.
If to one go his kiss, if to one go his kiss,
He may meet, he may meet, and not know me again.
The girl on the other bank of the river passed on, and the King's Son and
Fedelma with the Little Sage of the Mountain came to the meadow where the
horse was. A heavy, slow-moving horse he seemed. But when they mounted him
they found he had the three qualities of Finn's steeds--a quick rush against a
hill, the gait of a fox, easy and proud, on the level ground, and the jump of
a deer over harriers. They left health and good luck with the Little Sage of
the Mountain, and on the horse he gave them they rode on to the Spae-Woman's
house.
II
When Fedelma and the King of Ireland's Son came to the Spae-Woman's house, who
was the first person they saw there but Gilveen, Fedelma's sister! She came to
where they reined their horse and smiled in the faces of her sister and the
King of Ireland's Son. And she it was who gave them their first welcome. "And
you will be asking how I came here," said Gilveen, "and I will tell you
without wasting candle-light. Myself and sister Aefa went to the court of the
King of Ireland after you, my sister, had gone from us with the lucky man of
your choice. And as for Aefa, she has been lucky too in finding a match and
she is now married to Maravaun the King's Councillor. I have been with
Caintigern the Queen. And now the Queen is in the house of the Spae-Woman with
the youth Flann and she is longing to give the clasp of welcome to both of
you. And if you sit beside me on this grassy ditch I will tell you the whole
story from the first to the last syllable."
They sat together, and Gilveen told Fedelma and the King's Son the story. The
Spae-Woman had sent a message to Caintigern the Queen to tell her she had
tidings of her first-born son. Thereupon Caintigern went to the Spae-Woman's
house and Gilveen, her attendant, went with her. She found there Flann who had
been known as Gilly of the Goatskin, and knew him for the son who had been
stolen from her when he was born. Flann gave his mother a token which had been
given him by a young woman. The token was a handkerchief and it held seven
drops of heart's blood. The Spae-Woman told the Queen that these seven drops
would disenchant her brothers who had been changed from their own forms into
the forms of seven wild geese.
And while Gilveen was telling them all this Flann came to see whose horse was
there, and great was his joy to find his comrade the King of Ireland's Son.
They knew now that they were the sons of the one father, and they embraced
each other as brothers. And Flann took the hand of Fedelma and he told her
and the King's Son of his love for Morag. But when he was speaking of Morag,
Gilveen went away.
Then Flann took them into the Spae-Woman's house, and the Queen who was seated
at the fire rose up and gave them the clasp of welcome. The face she turned to
the King's Son was kindly and she called him by his child's name. She said too
that she was well pleased that he and Flann her son were good comrades, and
she prayed they would be good comrades always.
Fedelma and the King of Ireland's Son rested themselves for a day. Then the
Spae-Woman said that the Queen would strive on the next night--it was the
night of the full moon--to bring back her seven brothers to their own forms.
The Spae-Woman said too that the Queen and herself should be left alone in the
house and that the King of Ireland's Son with Flann and Fedelma and Gilveen
should go towards the King of Ireland's Castle with MacStairn the woodman, and
wait for the Queen at a place a day's journey away.
So the King of Ireland's Son and Flann, Fedelma and Gilveen bade good-by to
the Queen, to the Spae-Woman and to the Spae-Woman's house, and started their
journey towards the King's Castle with MacStairn the Woodman who walked beside
their horses, a big axe in his hands.
At night MacStairn built two bothies for them--one covered with green boughs
for Fedelma and Gilveen and one covered with cut sods for Flann and the King
of Ireland's Son. Flann lay near the opening of this bothie. And at night,
when the only stir in the forest was that of the leaves whispering to the
Secret People, Gilveen arose from where she lay and came to the other bothie
and whispered Flann's name. He awakened, and thinking that Morag had come back
to him (he had been dreaming of her), he put out his arms, drew Gilveen to him
and kissed her. Then Gilveen ran back to her own bothie. And Flann did not
know whether he had awakened or whether he had remained in a dream.
But when he arose the next morning no thought of Morag was in his mind. And
when the King's Son rode with Fedelma he rode with Gilveen. Afterwards Gilveen
gave him a drink that enchanted him, so that he thought of her night and day.
Neither Fedelma nor the King's Son knew what had come over Flann. They
mentioned the name he had spoken of so often--Morag's name but it seemed as if
it had no meaning for him. At noon they halted to bide until the Queen came
with or without her seven brothers. Flann and Gilveen were always together.
And always Gilveen was smiling.
III
When Caintigern had come, when she knew her son Flann, and when it was known
to her and to the Spae-Woman that the token Morag had given him held the seven
drops of heart's blood that would bring back to their own forms the seven wild
geese that were Caintigern's brothers--when all this was known the Spae-Woman
sent her most secret messenger to the marshes to give word to the seven wild
geese that they were to fly to her house on the night when the moon was full.
Her messenger was the corncrake. She traveled night and day, running swiftly
through the meadows. She hid on the edge of the marshes and craked out her
message to the seven wild geese. At last they heard what she said. On the day
before the night of the full moon they flew, the seven together, towards the
Spae-Woman's house.
No one was in the house but Caintigern the Queen. The door was left open to
the light of the moon. The seven wild geese flew down and stayed outside the
door, moving their heads and wings in the full moonlight.
Then Caintigern arose and took bread that the Spae-Woman had made. She
moistened it in her mouth, and into each bit of moistened bread she put a
piece of the handkerchief that had a drop of blood. She held out her hand,
giving each the moistened bread. The first that ate it fell forward on the
floor of the Spae-Woman's house, his head down on the ground. His sister saw
him then as a kneeling man with this arms held behind him as if they were
bound. And when she looked outside she saw the others like kneeling men with
their heads bent and their arms held behind them. Then Caintigern said, giving
the Spae-Woman her secret name, "O Grania Oi, let it be that my brothers be
changed back to men!" When she said this she saw the Spae-Woman coming across
the court-yard. The Spae-Woman waved her hands over the bent figures. They
lifted themselves up as men--as naked, gray men.
The Spae-Woman gave each a garment and the seven men came into the house. They
would stand and not sit, and for long they had no speech. Their sister knelt
before each and wet his hand with her tears. She thought she should see them
as youths or as young men, and they were gray now and past the prime of their
lives.
They stayed at the house and speech came back to them. Then they longed to go
back to their father's, but Caintigern could not bear that they should go from
her sight. At last four of her brothers went and three stayed with her. They
would go to her husband's Castle and the others would go too after they had
been at their father's. Then one day Caintigern said farewell. The thanks that
was due to the Spae-Woman, she said she would give by her treatment of the
maid who had given the token to her son Flann. And she prayed that Morag would
soon come to the King's Castle.
She went with her three brothers to the place where Flann and the King of
Ireland's Son, Fedelma and Gilveen waited for them. A smith groomed and decked
horses for all of them and they rode towards the King of Ireland's Castle,
MacStairn, the Woodman, going before to announce their coming.
The King of Ireland waited at the stone where the riders to his Castle
dismount, and his steward, his Councillor and his Druid were beside him. He
lifted his wife off her horse and she brought him to Flann. And when the King
looked into Flann's eyes he knew he was his son and the son of Sheen, now
known as Caintigern. He gave Flann a father's clasp of welcome. And the queen
brought him to her own three brothers who had been estranged from human
companionship from before he knew her. And she brought him to the youth who
was always known as the King of Ireland's Son, and him his father welcomed
from the path of danger.
And then the King's Son took Fedelma to his father and told him she was his
love and his wife to be. And the King welcomed Fedelma to the Castle. Then
said Gilveen, "There is a secret between this young man, Flann, and myself."
"What is the secret?" said the Queen, laying her hands suddenly upon Gilveen's
shoulders.
"That I am his wife to be," said Gilveen.
The Queen went to her son and said, "Dost thou not remember Morag, Flann, who
gave the token that thou gavest me?"
And Flann said, "Morag! I think the Spae-Woman spoke of her name in a story."
"I am Flann's wife to be," said Gilveen, smiling in his face.
"Yes, my wife to be," said Flann. Then the King welcomed Gilveen too, and they
all went into the Castle. He told his wife he had messages from the King of
Senlabor about his other sons Dermott and Downal, saying that they were making
good names for themselves, and that everything they did was becoming to sons
of Kings. In the hall Fedelma saw Aefa her other sister. Aefa was so proud of
herself since she married Maravaun the King's Councillor that she would hardly
speak to anyone. She gave her sisters the tips of her fingers and she bowed
very slightingly to the two youths. The King questioned his druid as to when
it would be well to have marriages made in his Castle and the druid said it
would be well not to make them until the next appearance of the full moon.
IV
As for Morag she went by track and path, by boher and bohereen, through fords
in rivers and over stepping-stones across them, until at last she came to the
country of Senlabor and to the Castle of the King.
No one of high degree was in the Castle, for all had gone to watch the young
horses being broken in the meadow by the river; the King and Queen had gone,
and the King's foster-daughters; and of the maids in the Castle, Baun and
Deelish had gone too. The King's Councillor also had gone from the Castle.
Morag went and stayed in the kitchen, and the maids who were there did not
know her, either because they were new and had not heard her spoken of at all,
or because she had changed to such beauty through eating the berry of the
Fairy Rowan Tree that no one could know her now for Morag who had cleaned
dishes in that kitchen before.
It was Breas the King's Steward who came to her and asked her who she was. She
told him. Then Breas looked sharply at her and saw she was indeed Morag who
had been in the King's kitchen. Then he said loudly, "Before you left you
broke the dish that the King looked on as his especial treasure, and for this,
you will be left in the Stone House. I who have power in this matter order
that it be so." Then he said in her ear, "But kisses and sweet words would
make me willing to save you."
Morag, in a voice raised, called him by that evil name that he was known by to
the servants and their gossips. But the servants, hearing that name said in
the hearing of Breas, pretended to be scandalized. They went to Morag and
struck her with the besoms they had for sweeping the floor.
Just then her foster-sisters, Baun and Deelish, came into the kitchen. Seeing
her there they knew her. They spoke to her quietly, but with anger, saying
they had not wanted her to go on the journey she had taken, but, as she had
gone it was a pity she had come back, for now she had behaved in an iii-
mannered way, and they who were her foster-sisters would be thought to be as
ill-mannered; they told her too that before she came back they were well-liked
by all, and that Breas had even ordered a shady place to be given them at the
horse-breaking sports, and they had been able to see the two youths who had
broken the horses, Dermott and Downal.
"It was for a benefit to you that I came back," said Morag. "I shall ask one
of you to do a thing for me. You, Baun, sing for the foster-daughters of the
King. Before they sleep to-night ask them to tell the Queen that Morag has
returned, and has a thing to give her."
"I shall try to remember that, Morag," said Baun. Morag was taken to the Stone
House by strong-armed bondswomen, and Baun and Deelish sat in corners and
cried and did not go near her.
That night the King's foster-daughters kept awake for long, and after Baun had
sung to them they asked her to tell them what had happened in the Castle. Then
Baun remembered the tumult in the kitchen that had come from the name given to
Breas. She told the King's foster-daughters that Morag had come back. "She was
reared in the same house with us," said Baun, "but she is not of the same
parents." And then she said; "If your Fair Finenesses can remember, tell the
Queen that Morag has come back."
The next day when they were walking with the Queen one of the King's foster-
daughters said, "Did you know of a maid named Morag? I have heard that she has
been away and has come back."
"How did she fare?" said the Queen.
"We have not heard that," said the maiden who spoke.
The Queen went to where Baun and Deelish were and from them she heard that
Morag had been put into the Stone House on the charge that she had broken the
King's dish when she had been in the Castle before. Now the Queen knew that
the dish had been safe after Morag had left. She went to the King's Steward
and accused him of having broken it and Breas admitted that it was so.
Thereupon he lost his rank and became the meanest and the most despised
servant in the Castle.
The Queen went to the Stone House and took Morag out. She asked her how she
had fared and thereupon Morag put the Rowan Berry in the Queen's hand. She
hastened to her own chamber and ate it, and her youth and beauty came back to
her, and the King who had grown solitary, loved the Queen again.
Then Morag came to great honor in the Castle and the Queen asked her to name
the greatest favor she could think of. And the favor that Morag named was
marriages for her foster-sisters with the two youths they loved, Downal and
Dermott from the court of the King of Ireland.
The Queen, when she heard this, brought fine clothes out of her chests and
gave them to Baun and Deelish. When they had dressed in these clothes the
Queen made them known to the two youths. Downal and Dermott fell in love with
Morag's foster-sisters, and the King named a day for the pairs to marry.
Morag waited to see the marriages, and the King and Queen made it a grand
affair. There were seven hundred guests at the short table, eight hundred at
the long table, nine hundred at the round table, and a thousand in the great
hall. I was there, and I heard the whole story. But I got no present save
shoes of paper and stockings of butter-milk and these a herdsman stole from me
as I crossed the mountains.
But Morag got better presents, for the Queen gave her three gifts--a scissors
that cut cloth of itself, a ball of thread that went into the needle of
itself, and a needle that sewed of itself.
V
Morag, with the three gifts that the Queen of Senlabor gave her, came again to
the Spae-Woman's house. Her Little Red Hen was in the courtyard, and she
fluttered up to meet her. But there was no sign of any other life about the
place. Then, below at the washing-stream she found the Spae-Woman rinsing
clothes. She was standing on the middle-stones, clapping her hands as if in
great trouble. "Oh, Morag, my daughter Morag," cried the Spae-Woman, "there
are signs on the clothes--there are signs on the clothes!"
After a while she ceased crying and clapping her hands and came up from the
stream. She showed Morag that in all the shifts and dimities she washed for
her, a hole came just above where her heart would be. Morag grew pale when she
saw that, hut she stood steadily and she did not wail. "Should I go to the
King's Castle, fosterer?" said she. "No," said the Spae-Woman, "but to the
woodman's hut that is near the King's Castle. And take your Little Red Hen
with you, my daughter," said she, "and do not forget the three presents that
the Queen of Senlabor gave you." Then the Spae-Woman stood up and said the
blessing of the journey over Morag:--
May the Olden
One, whom Fairy
Women nurtured
Through seven ages,
Bring you seven
Waves of fortune.
Morag gave her the clasp of farewell then, and went on her way with the Little
Red Hen under her arm and the three presents that the Queen of Senlabor gave
her in her pouch.
Morag was going and ever going from the blink of day to the mouth of dark and
that for three crossings of the sun, and at last she came within sight of the
Castle of the King of Ireland. She asked a dog-boy for the hut of MacStairn
the Woodman and the hut was shown to her. She went to it and saw the wife of
MacStairn. She told her she was a girl traveling alone and she asked for
shelter. "I can give you shelter," said MacStairn's wife, "and I can get you
earnings too, for there is much sewing-work to be done at this time." Morag
asked her what reason there was for that, and the woodman's wife told her
there were two couples in the Castle to be married soon. "One is the youth
whom we have always called the King of Ireland's Son. He is to be married to a
maiden called Fedelma. The other is a youth who is the King's son too, hut who
has been away for a long time. Flann is his name. And he is to be married to a
damsel called Gilveen."
When she heard that, it was as if a knife had been put into and turned in her
heart. She let the Little Red Hen drop from her arm. "I would sew the garments
that the damsel Gilveen is to wear," said she, and she sat down on the stone
outside the woodman's hut. MacStairn's wife then sent to the Castle to say
that there was one in her hut who could sew all the garments that Gilveen
would send her.
The next day, with a servant walking behind, Gilveen came to the woodman's hut
with a basket of cloths and patterns. The basket was left down and Gilveen
began to tell MacStairn's wife how she wanted them cut, stitched and
embroidered. Morag took up the crimson doth and let her scissors--the scissors
that the Queen of Senlabor gave her--run through it. It cut out the pattern
exactly. "What a wonderful scissors," said Gilveen. She stooped down to where
Morag was sitting on the stone outside of the woodman's house and took up the
scissors in her hand. She examined it. "I cannot give it back to you," said
she. "Give it to me, and I will let you have any favor you ask." "Since you
want me to ask you for a favor," said Morag, "I ask that you let me sit at the
supper-table to-night alone with the youth you are to marry." "That will do me
no harm," said Gilveen. She went away, taking the scissors and smiling to
herself.
That night Morag went into the Castle and came to the supper-table where Flann
was seated alone. But Gilveen had put a sleeping-draught into Flann's cup and
he neither saw nor knew Morag when she sat at the table. "Do you remember,
Flann," said she, "how we used to sit at the supper-board in the house of Crom
Duv?" But Flann did not hear her, nor see her, and then Morag had to go away.
VI
The next day Gilveen came to where Morag sat on the stone outside the
woodman's hut to watch her stitch the garment she had cut out. The thread went
into the needle of itself. "What a wonderful ball of thread," said Gilveen,
taking it up. "I cannot give it back to you. Ask me for a favor in place of
it." "Since you would have me ask a favor," said Morag, "I ask that you let me
sit at the supper-table alone with the youth you are going to marry." "That
will do me no harm," said Gilveen. She took the ball of thread and went away
smiling.
That night Morag went into the Castle and came to the supper-table where Flann
was seated alone. But Gilveen again had put a sleeping-draught into his cup,
and Flann did not see or know Morag. "Do you not remember, Flann," said she,
"the story of Morag that I told you across the supper-board in the House of
Crom Duv?" But Flann gave no sign of knowing her, and then Morag had to go
away.
The next day Gilveen came to watch Morag make the red embroideries upon the
white garment. When she put the needle into the cloth it worked out the
pattern of itself. "This is the most wonderful thing of all," said Gilveen.
She stooped down and took the needle in her hand. "I cannot give this back to
you," she said, "and you will have to ask for a favor that will recompense
you."
"If I must ask for a favor," said Morag, "the only favor I would ask is that
you let me sit at the supper-table to-night alone with the youth you are to
marry." "That will do me no harm," said Gilveen, and she took the needle and
went away smiling. Morag went to the Castle again that night, but this time
she took the Little Red Hen with her. She scattered grains on the table and
the Little Red Hen picked them up. "Little Hen, Little Red Hen," said Morag,
"he slept too when I gave the seven drops of my heart's blood for his mother's
sake." The Little Red Hen flew into Flann's face. "Seven drops of heart's
blood, seven drops of heart's blood," said the Little Red Hen, and Flann heard
the words.
He opened his eyes and saw the Little Red Hen on the table and knew that she
belonged to one that he had known. Morag, at the other side of the table,
looked strange and shadowy to him. But he threw crumbs on the table and fed
the Little Red Hen, and as he watched her picking up the crumbs the memory of
Morag came back to him. Then he saw her. He knew her for his sweetheart and
his promised wife and he went to her and asked her how it came that she had
not been in his mind for so long. "I will tell you how you came to forget me,"
said she, "it was because of the kiss you gave Gilveen, and the enchantment
she was able to put on you because of that kiss."
There was sorrow on Morag's face when she said that, but the sorrow went as
the thin clouds go from before the face of the high-hung moon, and Flann saw
her as his kind comrade of Crom Duv's and as his beautiful friend of the Spae-
Woman's house. They kissed each other then, and every enchantment went but the
lasting enchantment of love, and they sat with hands joined until the log in
the fire beside them had burnt itself down into a brand and the brand had
burnt itself into ashes, and all the time that passed was, as they thought,
only while the watching-gilly outside walked from one side of the Castle Gate
to the other.
Gilveen had come into the room and she saw Flann and Morag give each other a
true-lover's kiss. She went away. But the next day she came to the King's
Steward, Art, who at one time wanted to marry her, and whom she had refused
because Aefa, her sister, had married one of a higher degree--she came to Art
and she told him that she would not marry Flann because she had found out that
he had a low-born sweetheart. "And I am ready to marry you, Art," she said.
And Art was well pleased, and he and Gilveen left the Castle to be married.
Then the day came when Fedelma and the King of Ireland's Son, and Morag and
Flann were married. They were plighted to each other in the Circle of Stones
by the Druids who invoked upon them the powers of the Sun, the Moon, the
Earth, and the Air. They were married at the height of the day and they
feasted at night when the wax candles were lighted round the tables. They had
Greek honey and Lochlinn beer; ducks from Achill, apples from Emain and
venison from the Hunting Hill; they had trout and grouse and plovers' eggs and
a boar's head for every King in the company. And these were the Kings who sat
down to table with the King of Eirinn: the King of Sorcha, the King of
Hispania, the King of Lochlinn and the King of the Green Island who had
Sunbeam for his daughter. And they had there the best heroes of Lochlinn, the
best story-tellers of Alba, the best bards of Eirinn. They laid sorrow and
they raised music, and the harpers played until the great champion Split-the-
Shields told a tale of the realm of Greece and how he slew the three lions
that guarded the daughter of the King. They feasted for six days and the last
day was better than the first, and the laugh they laughed when Witless, the
Saxon fool, told how Split-the-Shield's story should have ended, shook the
young jackdaws out of every chimney in the Castle and brought them down
fluttering on the floors.
The King of Ireland lived long, but he died while his sons were in their
strong manhood, and after he passed away the Island of Destiny came under the
equal rule of the two. And one had rule over the courts and cities, the
harbors and the military encampments. And the other had rule over the waste
places and the villages and the roads where masterless men walked. And the
deeds of one are in the histories the shanachies have written in the language
of the learned, and the deeds of the other are in the stories the people tell
to you and to me.
When I crossed the Ford
They were turning the Mountain Pass;
When I stood on the Stepping-stones
They were travelling the Road of Glass.
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