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

the

joyless clerks and of the bells, you would not be attending on schools

or giving heed to God."

 

PATRICK. "I would not part from the Son of God for all that have lived

east or west; O Oisin, O shaking poet, there will harm come on you in

satisfaction for the priests."

 

OISIN. "It was a delight to Finn the cry of his hounds on the mountains,

the wild dogs leaving their harbours, the pride of his armies, those

were his delights."

 

PATRICK. "There was many a thing Finn took delight in, and there is not

much heed given to it after him; Finn and his hounds are not living now,

and you yourself will not always be living, Oisin."

 

OISIN. "There is a greater story of Finn than of us, or of any that have

lived in our time; all that are gone and all that are living, Finn was

better to give out gold than themselves."

 

PATRICK. "All the gold you and Finn used to be giving out, it is little

it does for you now; he is in Hell in bonds because he did treachery and

oppression."

 

OISIN. "It is little I believe of your truth, man from Rome with the

white books, Finn the open-handed head of the Fianna to be in the hands

of devils or demons."

 

PATRICK. "Finn is in bonds in Hell, the pleasant man that gave out

gold; in satisfaction for his disrespect to God, he is under grief in

the house of pain."

 

OISIN. "If the sons of Morna were within it, or the strong men of the

sons of Baiscne, they would take Finn out of it, or they would have the

house for themselves."

 

PATRICK. "If the five provinces of Ireland were within it, or the strong

seven battalions of the Fianna, they would not be able to bring Finn out

of it, however great their strength might be."

 

OISIN. "If Faolan and Goll were living, and brown-haired Diarmuid and

brave Osgar, Finn of the Fianna could not be held in any house that was

made by God or devils."

 

PATRICK. "If Faolan and Goll were living, and all the Fianna that ever

were, they could not bring out Finn from the house where he is in pain."

 

OISIN. "What did Finn do against God but to be attending on schools and

on armies? Giving gold through a great part of his time, and for another

while trying his hounds."

 

PATRICK. "In payment for thinking of his hounds and for serving the

schools of the poets, and because he gave no heed to God, Finn of the

Fianna is held down."

 

OISIN. "You say, Patrick of the Psalms, that the Fianna could not take

out Finn, or the five provinces of Ireland along with them.

 

"I have a little story about Finn. We were but fifteen men when we took

the King of Britain of the feasts by the strength of our spears and our

own strength.

 

"We took Magnus the great, the son of the King of Lochlann of the

speckled ships; we came back no way sorry or tired, we put our rent on

far places.

 

"O Patrick, the story is pitiful, the King of the Fianna to be under

locks; a heart without envy, without hatred, a heart hard in earning

victory.

 

"It is an injustice, God to be unwilling to give food and riches; Finn

never refused strong or poor, although cold Hell is now his

dwelling-place.

 

"It is what Finn had a mind for, to be listening to the sound of Druim

Dearg; to sleep at the stream of Ess Ruadh, to be hunting the deer of

Gallimh of the bays.

 

"The cries of the blackbird of Leiter Laoi, the wave of Rudraighe

beating the strand, the bellowing of the ox of Magh Maoin, the lowing of

the calf of Gleann da Mhail.

 

"The noise of the hunt on Slieve Crot, the sound of the fawns round

Slieve Cua, the scream of the sea-gulls there beyond on Iorrus, the

screech of the crows over the battle.

 

"The waves vexing the breasts of the boats, the howling of the hounds at

Druim Lis; the voice of Bran on Cnoc-an-Air, the outcry of the streams

about Slieve Mis.

 

"The call of Osgar going to the hunt; the voice of the hounds on the

road of the Fianna, to be listening to them and to the poets, that was

always his desire.

 

"A desire of the desires of Osgar was to listen to the striking of

shields; to be hacking at bones in a battle, it is what he had a mind

for always.

 

"We went westward one time to hunt at Formaid of the Fianna, to see the

first running of our hounds.

 

"It was Finn was holding Bran, and it is with myself Sceolan was;

Diarmuid of the Women had Fearan, and Osgar had lucky Adhnuall.

 

"Conan the Bald had Searc; Caoilte, son of Ronan, had Daol; Lugaidh's

Son and Goll were holding Fuaim and Fothran.

 

"That was the first day we loosed out a share of our hounds to a

hunting; and Och! Patrick, of all that were in it, there is not one left

living but myself.

 

"O Patrick, it is a pity the way I am now, a spent old man without

sway, without quickness, without strength, going to Mass at the altar.

 

"Without the great deer of Slieve Luchra; without the hares of Slieve

Cuilinn; without going into fights with Finn; without listening to the

poets.

 

"Without battles, without taking of spoils; without playing at nimble

feats; without going courting or hunting, two trades that were my

delight."

 

PATRICK. "Leave off, old man, leave your foolishness; let what you have

done be enough for you from this out. Think on the pains that are before

you; the Fianna are gone, and you yourself will be going."

 

OISIN. "If I go, may yourself not be left after me, Patrick of the

hindering heart; if Conan, the least of the Fianna, were living, your

buzzing would not be left long to you."

 

"Or if this was the day I gave ten hundred cows to the headless woman

that came to the Valley of the Two Oxen; the birds of the air brought

away the ring I gave her, I never knew where she went herself from me."

 

PATRICK. "That is little to trouble you, Oisin; it was but for a while

she was with you; it is better for you to be as you are than to be among

them again."

 

OISIN. "O Son of Calphurn of the friendly talk, it is a pity for him

that gives respect to clerks and bells; I and Caoilte my friend, we were

not poor when we were together.

 

"The music that put Finn to his sleep was the cackling of the ducks from

the lake of the Three Narrows; the scolding talk of the blackbird of

Doire an Cairn, the bellowing of the ox from the Valley of the Berries.

 

"The whistle of the eagle from the Valley of Victories, or from the

rough branches of the ridge by the stream; the grouse of the heather of

Cruachan; the call of the otter of Druim-re-Coir.

 

"The song of the blackbird of Doire an Cairn indeed I never heard

sweeter music, if I could be under its nest.

 

"My grief that I ever took baptism; it is little credit I got by it,

being without food, without drink, doing fasting and praying."

 

PATRICK. "In my opinion it did not harm you, old man; you will get nine

score cakes of bread, wine and meat to put a taste on it; it is bad talk

you are giving."

 

OISIN. "This mouth that is talking with you, may it never confess to a

priest, if I would not sooner have the leavings of Finn's house than a

share of your own meals."

 

PATRICK. "He got but what he gathered from the banks, or whatever he

could kill on the rough hills; he got hell at the last because of his

unbelief."

 

OISIN. "That was not the way with us at all, but our fill of wine and of

meat; justice and a right beginning at the feasts, sweet drinks and

every one drinking them.

 

"It is fretting after Diarmuid and Goll I am, and after Fergus of the

True Lips, the time you will not let me be speaking of them, O new

Patrick from Rome."

 

PATRICK. "We would give you leave to be speaking of them, but first you

should give heed to God. Since you are now at the end of your days,

leave your foolishness, weak old man."

 

OISIN. "O Patrick, tell me as a secret, since it is you have the best

knowledge, will my dog or my hound be let in with me to the court of the

King of Grace?"

 

PATRICK. "Old man in your foolishness that I cannot put any bounds to,

your dog or your hound will not be let in with you to the court of the

King of Power."

 

OISIN. "If I had acquaintance with God, and my hound to be at hand, I

would make whoever gave food to myself give a share to my hound as well.

 

"One strong champion that was with the Fianna of Ireland would be better

than the Lord of Piety, and than you yourself, Patrick."

 

PATRICK. "O Oisin of the sharp blades, it is mad words you are saying.

God is better for one day than the whole of the Fianna of Ireland."

 

OISIN. "Though I am now without sway and my life is spent to the end, do

not put abuse, Patrick, on the great men of the sons of Baiscne.

 

"If I had Conan with me, the man that used to be running down the

Fianna, it is he would break your head within among your clerks and your

priests."

 

PATRICK. "It is a silly thing, old man, to be talking always of the

Fianna; remember your end is come, and take the Son of God to help you."

 

OISIN. "I used to sleep out on the mountain under the grey dew; I was

never used to go to bed without food, while there was a deer on the hill

beyond."

 

PATRICK. "You are astray at the end of your life between the straight

way and the crooked. Keep out from the crooked path of pains, and the

angels of God will come beneath your head."

 

OISIN. "If myself and open-handed Fergus and Diarmuid were together now

on this spot, we would go in every path we ever went in, and ask no

leave of the priests."

 

PATRICK. "Leave off, Oisin; do not be speaking against the priests that

are telling the word of God in every place. Unless you leave off your

daring talk, it is great pain you will have in the end."

 

OISIN. "When myself and the leader of the Fianna were looking for a boar

in a valley, it was worse to me not to see it than all your clerks to be

without their heads."

 

PATRICK. "It is pitiful seeing you without sense; that is worse to you

than your blindness; if you were to get sight within you, it is great

your desire would be for Heaven."

 

OISIN. "It is little good it would be to me to be sitting in that city,

without Caoilte, without Osgar, without my father being with me.

 

"The leap of the buck would be better to me, or the sight of badgers

between two valleys, than all your mouth is promising me, and all the

delights I could get in Heaven."

 

PATRICK. "Your thoughts are foolish, they will come to nothing; your

pleasure and your mirth are gone. Unless you will take my advice

to-night, you will not get leave on this side or that."

 

OISIN. "If myself and the Fianna were on the top of a hill to-day

drawing our spear-heads, we would have our choice of being here or there

in spite of books and priests and bells."

 

PATRICK. "You were like the smoke of a wisp, or like a stream in a

valley, or like a whirling wind on the top of a hill, every tribe of you

that ever lived."

 

OISIN. "If I was in company with the people of strong arms, the way I

was at Bearna da Coill, I would sooner be looking at them than at this

troop of the crooked croziers.

 

"If I had Scolb Sceine with me, or Osgar, that was smart in battles, I

would not be without meat to-night at the sound of the bell of the seven

tolls."

 

PATRICK. "Oisin, since your wits are gone from you be glad at what I

say; it is certain to me you will leave the Fianna and that you will

receive the God of the stars."

 

OISIN. "There is wonder on me at your hasty talk, priest that has

travelled in every part, to say that I would part from the Fianna, a

generous people, never niggardly."

 

PATRICK. "If you saw the people