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

back, a wide sword

on his crooked left thigh, two spears on his shoulder, a torn loose

cloak over his limbs, that were as black as a quenched coal. A sulky

horse he had with him that had no good appearance, bony and thin as to

body, and weak in the legs, and he leading it with a rough iron halter;

and it was a great wonder the head was not pulled from the horse's body,

or the arms pulled out of his owner, with the sudden stands and stops

and the jerks it made. And the big man was striking blows on the horse

with an iron cudgel to try and knock some going out of him, and the

sound of the blows was like the breaking of strong waves.

 

And when Finnbane saw all that, he thought to himself it would not be

right to let the like of that stranger go up unknown to Finn and the

Fianna, and he ran back in haste to where they were and told them all he

had seen.

 

And when he had told his story, they saw the big man coming towards

them; but as short as he was from them he was long in coming, from the

badness of his walk and his going.

 

And when he came into Finn's presence he saluted him, and bowed his head

and bent his knee, making signs of humility.

 

Finn raised his hand over his head then, and asked news of him, and if

he was of the noble or of the mean blood of the great world. He answered

that he had no knowledge who he came from, but only that he was a man of

the Fomor, travelling in search of wages to the kings of the earth, "and

I heard," he said, "that Finn never refused wages to any man." "I never

did indeed," said Finn, "and I will not refuse you. But why is it," he

said, "you are without a boy to mind your horse?" "I have a good reason

for that," said the big man; "there is nothing in the world is worse to

me than a boy to be with me; for it is a hundred men's share of food,"

he said, "that serves me for one day, and it is little enough I think

it, and I would begrudge a boy to be sharing it with me." "What is the

name you have?" said Finn. "The name I have is the Gilla Decair, the

Hard Servant," said he. "Why did you get that name?" said Finn. "There

is a good reason for that," said the big man, "for there is nothing in

the world is harder to me than to do anything at all for my master, or

whatever person I am with. And tell me this, Conan, son of Morna," he

said, "who gets the best wages, a horseman or a man afoot?" "A horseman

gets twice as much," said Conan. "Then I call you to witness, Conan," he

said, "that I am a horseman, and that it was as a horseman I came to the

Fianna. And give me your guarantee now, Finn, son of Cumhal, and the

guarantee of the Fianna, and I will turn out my horse with your horses."

"Let him out then," said Finn.

 

The big man pulled off the iron halter then from his horse, and it made

off as hard as it could go, till it came where the horses of the Fianna

were; and it began to tear and to kick and to bite at them, killing and

maiming. "Take your horse out of that, big man," said Conan; "and by the

earth and the sky," he said, "only it was on the guarantee of Finn and

the Fianna you took the halter off him, I would let out his brains

through the windows of his head; and many as is the bad prize Finn has

found in Ireland," he said, "he never got one as bad as yourself." "And

I swear by earth and sky as well as yourself," said the big man, "I will

never bring him out of that; for I have no serving-boy to do it for me,

and it is not work for me to be leading my horse by the hand."

 

Conan, son of Morna, rose up then and took the halter and put it on the

horse, and led it back to where Finn was, and held it with his hand.

"You would never have done a horse-boy's service, Conan," said Finn, "to

any one of the Fianna, however far he might be beyond this Fomor. And if

you will do what I advise," he said, "you will get up on the horse now,

and search out with him all the hills and hollows and flowery plains of

Ireland, till his heart is broken in his body in payment for the way he

destroyed the horses of the Fianna."

 

Conan made a leap then on to the horse, and struck his heels hard into

him, but with all that the horse would not stir. "I know what ails him,"

said Finn, "he will not stir till he has the same weight of horsemen on

him as the weight of the big man."

 

On that thirteen men of the Fianna went up behind Conan, and the horse

lay down with them and rose up again. "I think that you are mocking at

my horse and at myself," said the big man; "and it is a pity for me to

be spending the rest of the year with you, after all the humbugging I

saw in you to-day, Finn. And I know well," he said, "that all I heard

about you was nothing but lies, and there was no cause for the great

name you have through the world. And I will quit you now, Finn," he

said.

 

With that he went from them, slow and weak, dragging himself along till

he had put a little hill between himself and the Fianna. And as soon as

he was on the other side of it, he tucked up his cloak to his waist, and

away with him, as if with the quickness of a swallow or a deer, and the

rush of his going was like a blast of loud wind going over plains and

mountains in spring-time.

 

When the horse saw his master going from him, he could not bear with it,

but great as his load was he set out at full gallop following after him.

And when Finn and the Fianna saw the thirteen men behind Conan, son of

Morna, on the horse, and he starting off, they shouted with mocking

laughter.

 

And when Conan found that he was not able to come down off the horse, he

screeched and shouted to them not to let him be brought away with the

big man they knew nothing of, and he began abusing and reproaching them.

"A cloud of death over water on you, Finn," he said, "and that some son

of a slave or a robber of the bad blood, one that is a worse son of a

father and mother even than yourself, may take all that might protect

your life, and your head along with that, unless you follow us to

whatever place or island the big man will carry us to, and unless you

bring us back to Ireland again."

 

Finn and the Fianna rose up then, and they followed the Gilla Decair

over every bald hill, and through every valley and every river, on to

pleasant Slieve Luachra, into the borders of Corca Duibhne; and the big

man, that was up on the horse then along with Conan and the rest, faced

towards the deep sea. And Liagan Luath of Luachar took hold of the

horse's tail with his two hands, thinking to drag him back by the hair

of it; but the horse gave a great tug, and away with him over the sea,

and Liagan along with him, holding on to his tail.

 

It was a heavy care to Finn, those fourteen men of his people to be

brought away from him, and he himself under bonds to bring them back.

"What can we do now?" Oisin asked him. "What should we do, but to follow

our people to whatever place or island the big man has brought them,

and, whatever way we do it, to bring them back to Ireland again." "What

can we do, having neither a ship or any kind of boat?" said Oisin. "We

have this," said Finn, "the Tuatha de Danaan left as a gift to the

children of the Gael, that whoever might have to leave Ireland for a

while, had but to go to Beinn Edair, and however many would go along

with him, they would find a ship that would hold them all." Finn looked

towards the sea then, and he saw two strong armed men coming towards

him. The first one had on his back a shield ribbed and of many colours,

having shapes of strange, wonderful beasts engraved on it, and a heavy

sword at his side, and two thick spears on his shoulders; a cloak of

lasting crimson about him, with a gold brooch on the breast; a band of

white bronze on his head, gold under each of his feet; and the other was

dressed in the same way. They made no delay till they came to where Finn

was, and they bowed their heads and bent their knees before him, and

Finn raised his hand over their heads, and bade them to give an account

of themselves. "We are sons of the King of the Eastern World," they

said, "and we are come to Ireland asking to be taken into the service of

Finn; for we heard there was not a man in all Ireland," they said,

"would be better than yourself to judge of the skill we have." "What is

your name, and what skill is that?" said Finn. "My name is Feradach,

the Very Brave," he said; "and I have a carpenter's axe and a sling, and

if there were so many as thirty hundred of the men of Ireland along with

me in one spot, with three blows of the axe on the sling-stick I could

get a ship that would hold them all. And I would ask no more help of

them," he said, "than to bow down their heads while I was striking those

three blows." "That is a good art," said Finn. "And tell me now," he

said, "what can the other man do?" "I can do this," he said, "I can

follow the track of the teal over nine ridges and nine furrows until I

come on her in her bed; and it is the same to me to do it on sea as on

land," he said. "That is a good art," said Finn; "and it would be a good

help to us if you would come following a track with us now." "What is

gone from you?" said one of the men. Finn told them then the whole story

of the Hard Servant.

 

Then Feradach, the Very Brave, struck three blows on his sling-stick

with the axe that he had, and the whole of the Fianna bowed their heads,

and on the moment the whole of the bay and of the harbour was filled

with ships and with fast boats. "What will we do with that many ships?"

said Finn. "We will do away with all you make no use of," he said.

 

Caoilte rose up then and let out three great shouts, and all the Fianna

of Ireland, in whatever places they were, heard them, and they thought

Finn and his people to be in some kind of danger from men from beyond

the sea.

 

They came then in small companies as they chanced to be, till they came

to the stepping-stones of the Cat's Head in the western part of Corca

Duibhne. And they asked news of Finn, what had happened that he called

them away from their hunting, and Finn told them all that had happened.

Then Finn and Oisin went into council together, and it is what they

agreed; that as but fifteen of his people were brought away from Finn,

he himself with fifteen others would go on their track; Oisin to be left

at the head of the Fianna to guard Ireland.

 

And they said farewell to one another, and a grand ship was made ready

for Finn and his people, and there was food put in it for using and gold

for giving away. The young men and the heroes took to their seats then,

and took hold of the oars, and they set out over the restless hills and

the dark valleys of the great sea.

 

And the sea rose up