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

strong and

as well as ever they were. And there are some say Finn, son of Cumhal,

has been on the earth now and again since the old times, in the shape of

one of the heroes of Ireland.

 

And as to the great things he and his men did when they were together,

it is well they have been kept in mind through the poets of Ireland and

of Alban. And one night there were two men minding sheep in a valley,

and they were saying the poems of the Fianna while they were there. And

they saw two very tall shapes on the two hills on each side of the

valley, and one of the tall shapes said to the other: "Do you hear that

man down below? I was the second doorpost of battle at Gabhra, and that

man knows all about it better than myself."

 

BOOK ELEVEN: OISIN AND PATRICK. CHAPTER I. (OISIN'S STORY)

As to Oisin, it was a long time after he was brought away by Niamh that

he came back again to Ireland. Some say it was hundreds of years he was

in the Country of the Young, and some say it was thousands of years he

was in it; but whatever time it was, it seemed short to him.

 

And whatever happened him through the time he was away, it is a withered

old man he was found after coming back to Ireland, and his white horse

going away from him, and he lying on the ground.

 

And it was S. Patrick had power at that time, and it was to him Oisin

was brought; and he kept him in his house, and used to be teaching him

and questioning him. And Oisin was no way pleased with the way Ireland

was then, but he used to be talking of the old times, and fretting after

the Fianna.

 

And Patrick bade him to tell what happened him the time he left Finn and

the Fianna and went away with Niamh. And it is the story Oisin

told:--"The time I went away with golden-haired Niamh, we turned our

backs to the land, and our faces westward, and the sea was going away

before us, and filling up in waves after us. And we saw wonderful things

on our journey," he said, "cities and courts and duns and lime-white

houses, and shining sunny-houses and palaces. And one time we saw beside

us a hornless deer running hard, and an eager white red-eared hound

following after it. And another time we saw a young girl on a horse and

having a golden apple in her right hand, and she going over the tops of

the waves; and there was following after her a young man riding a white

horse, and having a crimson cloak and a gold-hilted sword in his right

hand."

 

"Follow on with your story, pleasant Oisin," said Patrick, "for you did

not tell us yet what was the country you went to."

 

"The Country of the Young, the Country of Victory, it was," said Oisin.

"And O Patrick," he said, "there is no lie in that name; and if there

are grandeurs in your Heaven the same as there are there, I would give

my friendship to God.

 

"We turned our backs then to the dun," he said, "and the horse under us

was quicker than the spring wind on the backs of the mountains. And it

was not long till the sky darkened, and the wind rose in every part, and

the sea was as if on fire, and there was nothing to be seen of the sun.

 

"But after we were looking at the clouds and the stars for a while the

wind went down, and the storm, and the sun brightened. And we saw before

us a very delightful country under full blossom, and smooth plains in

it, and a king's dun that was very grand, and that had every colour in

it, and sunny-houses beside it, and palaces of shining stones, made by

skilled men. And we saw coming out to meet us three fifties of armed

men, very lively and handsome. And I asked Niamh was this the Country of

the Young, and she said it was. 'And indeed, Oisin,' she said, 'I told

you no lie about it, and you will see all I promised you before you for

ever.'

 

"And there came out after that a hundred beautiful young girls, having

cloaks of silk worked with gold, and they gave me a welcome to their own

country. And after that there came a great shining army, and with it a

strong beautiful king, having a shirt of yellow silk and a golden cloak

over it, and a very bright crown on his head. And there was following

after him a young queen, and fifty young girls along with her.

 

"And when all were come to the one spot, the king took me by the hand,

and he said out before them all: 'A hundred thousand welcomes before

you, Oisin, son of Finn. And as to this country you are come to,' he

said, 'I will tell you news of it without a lie. It is long and lasting

your life will be in it, and you yourself will be young for ever. And

there is no delight the heart ever thought of,' he said, 'but it is

here against your coming. And you can believe my words, Oisin,' he said,

'for I myself am the King of the Country of the Young, and this is its

comely queen, and it was golden-headed Niamh our daughter that went over

the sea looking for you to be her husband for ever.' I gave thanks to

him then, and I stooped myself down before the queen, and we went

forward to the royal house, and all the high nobles came out to meet us,

both men and women, and there was a great feast made there through the

length of ten days and ten nights.

 

"And that is the way I married Niamh of the Golden Hair, and that is the

way I went to the Country of the Young, although it is sorrowful to me

to be telling it now, O Patrick from Rome," said Oisin.

 

"Follow on with your story, Oisin of the destroying arms," said Patrick,

"and tell me what way did you leave the Country of the Young, for it is

long to me till I hear that; and tell us now had you any children by

Niamh, and was it long you were in that place."

 

"Two beautiful children I had by Niamh," said Oisin, "two young sons and

a comely daughter. And Niamh gave the two sons the name of Finn and of

Osgar, and the name I gave to the daughter was The Flower.

 

"And I did not feel the time passing, and it was a long time I stopped

there," he said, "till the desire came on me to see Finn and my comrades

again. And I asked leave of the king and of Niamh to go back to Ireland.

'You will get leave from me,' said Niamh; 'but for all that,' she said,

'it is bad news you are giving me, for I am in dread you will never come

back here again through the length of your days.' But I bade her have no

fear, since the white horse would bring me safe back again from Ireland.

'Bear this in mind, Oisin,' she said then, 'if you once get off the

horse while you are away, or if you once put your foot to ground, you

will never come back here again. And O Oisin,' she said, 'I tell it to

you now for the third time, if you once get down from the horse, you

will be an old man, blind and withered, without liveliness, without

mirth, without running, without leaping. And it is a grief to me,

Oisin,' she said, 'you ever to go back to green Ireland; and it is not

now as it used to be, and you will not see Finn and his people, for

there is not now in the whole of Ireland but a Father of Orders and

armies of saints; and here is my kiss for you, pleasant Oisin,' she

said, 'for you will never come back any more to the Country of the

Young.'

 

"And that is my story, Patrick, and I have told you no lie in it," said

Oisin. "And O Patrick," he said, "if I was the same the day I came here

as I was that day, I would have made an end of all your clerks, and

there would not be a head left on a neck after me."

 

"Go on with your story," said Patrick, "and you will get the same good

treatment from me you got from Finn, for the sound of your voice is

pleasing to me."

 

So Oisin went on with his story, and it is what he said: "I have nothing

to tell of my journey till I came back into green Ireland, and I looked

about me then on all sides, but there were no tidings to be got of Finn.

And it was not long till I saw a great troop of riders, men and women,

coming towards me from the west. And when they came near they wished me

good health; and there was wonder on them all when they looked at me,

seeing me so unlike themselves, and so big and so tall.

 

"I asked them then did they hear if Finn was still living, or any other

one of the Fianna, or what had happened them. 'We often heard of Finn

that lived long ago,' said they, 'and that there never was his equal for

strength or bravery or a great name; and there is many a book written

down,' they said, 'by the sweet poets of the Gael, about his doings and

the doings of the Fianna, and it would be hard for us to tell you all

of them. And we heard Finn had a son,' they said, 'that was beautiful

and shining, and that there came a young girl looking for him, and he

went away with her to the Country of the Young.'

 

"And when I knew by their talk that Finn was not living or any of the

Fianna, it is downhearted I was, and tired, and very sorrowful after

them. And I made no delay, but I turned my face and went on to Almhuin

of Leinster. And there was great wonder on me when I came there to see

no sign at all of Finn's great dun, and his great hall, and nothing in

the place where it was but weeds and nettles."

 

And there was grief on Oisin then, and he said: "Och, Patrick! Och,

ochone, my grief! It is a bad journey that was to me; and to be without

tidings of Finn or the Fianna has left me under pain through my

lifetime."

 

"Leave off fretting, Oisin," said Patrick, "and shed your tears to the

God of grace. Finn and the Fianna are slack enough now, and they will

get no help for ever." "It is a great pity that would be," said Oisin,

"Finn to be in pain for ever; and who was it gained the victory over

him, when his own hand had made an end of so many a hard fighter?"

 

"It is God gained the victory over Finn," said Patrick, "and not the

strong hand of an enemy; and as to the Fianna, they are condemned to

hell along with him, and tormented for ever."

 

"O Patrick," said Oisin, "show me the place where Finn and his people

are, and there is not a hell or a heaven there but I will put it down.

And if Osgar, my own son, is there," he said, "the hero that was bravest

in heavy battles, there is not in hell or in the Heaven of God a troop

so great that he could not destroy it."

 

"Let us leave off