第4章 THE STORY OF TUAN MAC CAIRILL(4)

"And at times I came back from my boundings about Eire',for the strings of my heart were drawn to Ulster;and,standing away,my wide nose took the air,while I knew with joy,with terror,that men were blown on the wind.A proud head hung to the turf then,and the tears of memory rolled from a large,bright eye.

"At times I drew near,delicately,standing among thick leaves or crouched in long grown grasses,and I stared and mourned as Ilooked on men.For Nemed and four couples had been saved from that fierce storm,and I saw them increase and multiply until four thousand couples lived and laughed and were riotous in the sun,for the people of Nemed had small minds but great activity.

They were savage fighters and hunters.

"But one time I came,drawn by that intolerable anguish of memory,and all of these people were gone:the place that knew them was silent:in the land where they had moved there was nothing of them but their bones that glinted in the sun.

"Old age came on me there.Among these bones weariness crept into my limbs.My head grew heavy,my eyes dim,my knees jerked and trembled,and there the wolves dared chase me.

"I went again to the cave that had been my home when I was an old man.

"One day I stole from the cave to snatch a mouthful of grass,for I was closely besieged by wolves.They made their rush,and Ibarely escaped from them.They sat beyond the cave staring at me.

"I knew their tongue.I knew all that they said to each other,and all that they said to me.But there was yet a thud left in my forehead,a deadly trample in my hoof.They did not dare come into the cave.

"'To-morrow,'they said,'we will tear out your throat,and gnaw on your living haunch'."

CHAPTER VII

"Then my soul rose to the height of Doom,and I intended all that might happen to me,and agreed to it.

"'To-morrow,'I said,'I will go out among ye,and I will die,'and at that the wolves howled joyfully,hungrily,impatiently.

"I slept,and I saw myself changing into a boar in dream,and Ifelt in dream the beating of a new heart within me,and in dream I stretched my powerful neck and braced my eager limbs.I awoke from my dream,and I was that which I had dreamed.

"The night wore away,the darkness lifted,the day came;and from without the cave the wolves called to me:"'Come out,O Skinny Stag.Come out and die.'

"And I,with joyful heart,thrust a black bristle through the hole of the cave,and when they saw that wriggling snout,those curving tusks,that red fierce eye,the wolves fled yelping,tumbling over each other,frantic with terror;and I behind them,a wild cat for leaping,a giant for strength,a devil for ferocity;a madness and gladness of lusty,unsparing life;a killer,a champion,a boar who could not be defied.

"I took the lordship of the boars of Ireland.

"Wherever I looked among my tribes I saw love and obedience:

whenever I appeared among the strangers they fled away.And the wolves feared me then,and the great,grim bear went bounding on heavy paws.I charged him at the head of my troop and rolled him over and over;but it is not easy to kill the bear,so deeply is his life packed under that stinking pelt.He picked himself up and ran,and was knocked down,and ran again blindly,butting into trees and stones.Not a claw did the big bear flash,not a tooth did he show,as he ran whimpering like a baby,or as he stood with my nose rammed against his mouth,snarling up into his nostrils.

"I challenged all that moved.All creatures but one.For men had again come to Ireland.Semion,the son of Stariath,with his people,from whom the men of Domnann and the Fir Bolg and the Galiuin are descended.These I did not chase,and when they chased me I fled.

"Often I would go,drawn by my memoried heart,to look at them as they moved among their fields;and I spoke to my mind in bitterness:"When the people of Partholon were gathered in counsel my voice was heard;it was sweet to all who heard it,and the words I spoke were wise.The eyes of women brightened and softened when they looked at me.They loved to hear him when he sang who now wanders in the forest with a tusky herd."

CHAPTER VIII

"OLD age again overtook me.Weariness stole into my limbs,and anguish dozed into my mind.I went to my Ulster cave and dreamed my dream,and I changed into a hawk.

"I left the ground.The sweet air was my kingdom,and my bright eye stared on a hundred miles.I soared,I swooped;I hung,motionless as a living stone,over the abyss;I lived in joy and slept in peace,and had my fill of the sweetness of life.

"During that time Beothach,the son of Iarbonel the Prophet,came to Ireland with his people,and there was a great battle between his men and the children of Semion.Long I hung over that combat,seeing every spear that hurtled,every stone that whizzed from a sling,every sword that flashed up and down,and the endless glittering of the shields.And at the end I saw that the victory was with Iarbonel.And from his people the Tuatha De'and the Ande'came,although their origin is forgotten,and learned people,because of their excellent wisdom and intelligence,say that they came from heaven.

"These are the people of Faery.All these are the gods.

"For long,long years I was a hawk.I knew every hill and stream;every field and glen of Ireland.I knew the shape of cliffs and coasts,and how all places looked under the sun or moon.And Iwas still a hawk when the sons of Mil drove the Tuatha De'Danann under the ground,and held Ireland against arms or wizardry;and this was the coming of men and the beginning of genealogies.