Gods and Fighting Men, Lady I. A Gregory [best e books to read TXT] 📗

his people went along with them.

 

They came then to the great wonderful house that was ready for the

company of the kings; it is a pleasant house that was, and any one would

like to be in it. Walls of white bronze it had, set with crystal and

with carbuncles, that were shining through the night as well as through

the day.

 

Tadg looked out from the house then, and he saw to one side of him a

great sheltering apple-tree, and blossoms and ripe fruit on it. "What is

that apple tree beyond?" said Tadg. "It is the fruit of that tree is

food for the host in this house," said the woman. "And it was an apple

of that apple-tree brought Connla here to me; a good tree it is, with

its white-blossomed branches, and its golden apples that would satisfy

the whole house."

 

And then Connla and the young girl left them, and they saw coming

towards them a troop of beautiful women. And there was one among them

was most beautiful of all, and when she was come to them she said: "A

welcome to you, Tadg." "I thank you for that welcome," said Tadg; "and

tell me," he said, "who are you yourself?" "I am Cliodna of the Fair

Hair," she said, "daughter of Gebann, son of Treon, of the Tuatha de

Danaan, a sweetheart of Ciabhan of the Curling Hair; and it is from me

Cliodna's wave on the coast of Munster got its name; and I am a long

time now in this island, and it is the apples of that tree you saw that

we use for food." And Tadg was well pleased to be listening to her talk,

but after a while he said: "It is best for us to go on now to look for

our people." "We will be well pleased if you stop longer with us," said

the woman.

 

And while she was saying those words they saw three beautiful birds

coming to them, one of them blue and his head crimson, and one was

crimson and his head green, and the third was speckled and his head the

colour of gold, and they lit on the great apple-tree, and every bird of

them ate an apple, and they sang sweet music then, that would put sick

men into their sleep.

 

"Those birds will go with you," Cliodna said then; "they will give you

guidance on your way, and they will make music for you, and there will

be neither sorrow or sadness on you, by land or by sea, till you come to

Ireland. And bring away this beautiful green cup with you," she said,

"for there is power in it, and if you do but pour water into it, it will

be turned to wine on the moment. And do not let it out of your hand,"

she said, "but keep it with you; for at whatever time it will escape

from you, your death will not be far away. And it is where you will meet

your death, in the green valley at the side of the Boinn; and it is a

wandering wild deer will give you a wound, and after that, it is

strangers will put an end to you. And I myself will bury your body, and

there will be a hill over it, and the name it will get is Croidhe Essu."

 

They went out of the shining house then, and Cliodna of the Fair Hair

went with them to the place they had left their ship, and she bade their

comrades a kindly welcome; and she asked them how long had they been in

that country. "It seems to us," they said, "we are not in it but one day

only." "You are in it through the whole length of a year," said she,

"and through all that time you used neither food nor drink. But however

long you would stop here," she said, "cold or hunger would never come on

you." "It would be a good thing to live this way always," said Tadg's

people when they heard that. But he himself said: "It is best for us to

go on and to look for our people. And we must leave this country,

although it is displeasing to us to leave it."

 

Then Cliodna and Tadg bade farewell to one another, and she gave her

blessing to him and to his people. And they set out then over the ridges

of the sea; and they were downhearted after leaving that country until

the birds began to sing for them, and then their courage rose up, and

they were glad and light-hearted.

 

And when they looked back they could not see the island they had come

from, because of a Druid mist that came on it and hid it from them.

 

Then by the leading of the birds they came to the country of Fresen, and

they were in a deep sleep through the whole voyage. And then they

attacked the foreigners and got the better of them, and Tadg killed

Cathmann, the king, after a hard fight; and Liban his wife made no

delay, and came to meet her husband and her sweetheart, and it is glad

she was to see him.

 

And after they had rested a while they faced the sea again, and Tadg and

his wife Liban, and his two brothers, and a great many other treasures

along with them, and they came home to Ireland safely at the last.

 

CHAPTER XV. (LAEGAIRE IN THE HAPPY PLAIN)

And another that went to visit Magh Mell, the Happy Plain, was Laegaire,

son of the King of Connacht, Crimthan Cass.

 

He was out one day with the king, his father, near Loch na-n Ean, the

Lake of Birds, and the men of Connacht with them, and they saw a man

coming to them through the mist. Long golden-yellow hair he had, and it

streaming after him, and at his belt a gold-hilted sword, and in his

hand two five-barbed darts, a gold-rimmed shield on his back, a

five-folded crimson cloak about his shoulders.

 

"Give a welcome to the man that is coming towards you," said Laegaire,

that had the best name of all the men of Connacht, to his people. And to

the stranger he said: "A welcome to the champion we do not know."

 

"I am thankful to you all," said he.

 

"What is it you are come for, and where are you going?" said Laegaire

then.

 

"I am come to look for the help of fighting men," said the stranger.

"And my name," he said, "is Fiachna, son of Betach, of the men of the

Sidhe; and it is what ails me, my wife was taken from my pillow and

brought away by Eochaid, son of Sal. And we fought together, and I

killed him, and now she is gone to a brother's son of his, Goll, son of

Dalbh, king of a people of Magh Mell. Seven battles I gave him, but they

all went against me; and on this very day there is another to be fought,

and I am come to ask help. And to every one that deserves it, I will

give a good reward of gold and of silver for that help."

 

And it is what he said:

 

"The most beautiful of plains is the Plain of the Two Mists; it is not

far from this; it is a host of the men of the Sidhe full of courage are

stirring up pools of blood upon it.

 

"We have drawn red blood from the bodies of high nobles; many women are

keening them with cries and with tears.

 

"The men of the host in good order go out ahead of their beautiful king;

they march among blue spears, white troops of fighters with curled hair.

 

"They scatter the troops of their enemies, they destroy every country

they make an attack on; they are beautiful in battle, a host with high

looks, rushing, avenging.

 

"It is no wonder they to have such strength: every one of them is the

son of a king and a queen; manes of hair they have of the colour of

gold.

 

"Their bodies smooth and comely; their eyes blue and far-seeing; their

teeth bright like crystal, within their thin red lips.

 

"White shields they have in their hands, with patterns on them of white

silver; blue shining swords, red horns set with gold.

 

"They are good at killing men in battle; good at song-making, good at

chess-playing.

 

"The most beautiful of plains is the Plain of the Two Mists; the men of

the Sidhe are stirring up pools of blood on it; it is not far from this

place."

 

"It would be a shameful thing not to give our help to this man," said

Laegaire.

 

Fiachna, son of Betach, went down into the lake then, for it was out of

it he had come, and Laegaire went down into it after him, and fifty

fighting men along with him.

 

They saw a strong place before them then, and a company of armed men,

and Goll, son of Dalbh, at the head of them.

 

"That is well," said Laegaire, "I and my fifty men will go out against

this troop." "I will answer you," said Goll, son of Dalbh.

 

The two fifties attacked one another then, and Goll fell, but Laegaire

and his fifty escaped with their lives and made a great slaughter of

their enemies, that not one of them made his escape.

 

"Where is the woman now?" said Laegaire. "She is within the dun of Magh

Mell, and a troop of armed men keeping guard about it," said Fiachna.

"Let you stop here, and I and my fifty will go there," said Laegaire.

 

So he and his men went on to the dun, and Laegaire called out to the men

that were about it: "Your king has got his death, your chief men have

fallen, let the woman come out, and I will give you your own lives." The

men agreed to that, and they brought the woman out. And when she came

out she made this complaint:

 

"It is a sorrowful day that swords are reddened for the sake of the dear

dead body of Goll, son of Dalbh. It was he that loved me, it was himself

I loved, it is little Laegaire Liban cares for that.

 

"Weapons were hacked and were split by Goll; it is to Fiachna, son of

Betach, I must go; it is Goll son of Dalbh, I loved."

 

And that complaint got the name of "The Lament of the Daughter of

Eochaid the Dumb."

 

Laegaire went back with her then till he put her hand in Fiachna's hand.

And that night Fiachna's daughter, Deorgreine, a Tear of the Sun, was

given to Laegaire as his wife, and fifty other women were given to his

fifty fighting men, and they stopped with them there to the end of a

year.

 

And at the end of that time, Laegaire said: "Let us go and ask news of

our own country." "If you have a mind to go," said Fiachna, "bring

horses with you; but whatever happens," he said, "do not get off from

them."

 

So they set out then; and when they got back to Ireland, they found a

great gathering of the whole of the men of Connacht that were keening

them.

 

And when the men of Connacht saw them coming they rose up to meet them,

and to bid them welcome. But Laegaire called out: "Do not come to us,

for it is to bid you farewell we are here." "Do not go from us again,"

said Crimthan, his father, "and I will give you the sway over the three

Connachts, their silver and their gold, their horses and their bridles,

and their beautiful women, if you will not go from us."

 

And it is what Laegaire said: "In the place we are gone to, the armies

move from kingdom to kingdom, they listen to the sweet-sounding music of

the Sidhe, they drink from shining cups, we talk with those we love, it

is beer that falls instead of