Part 4

_Cuchullain._ No, turn and turn about, But my turn is first, because I am the older. Cliodna embroidered these bird wings, but Fand Made all these little golden eyes with the hairs That she had stolen out of Aengus’ beard, And therefore none that has this cloak about him Is crossed in love. The heavy inlaid brooch That Buan hammered has a merit too.

[_He begins spreading the cloak out on a bench, showing it to the YOUNG MAN. Suddenly CONCOBAR beats with his silver rod on a pillar beside his chair. All turn towards him._

_Concobar._ [_In a loud voice._] No more of that, I will not have this friendship. Cuchullain is my man and I forbid it; He shall not go unfought for I myself----

_Cuchullain._ [_Seizing CONCOBAR._] You shall not stir, High King, I’ll hold you there.

_Concobar._ Witchcraft has maddened you.

_The Kings._ [_Shouting._] Yes, witchcraft, witchcraft.

_A King._ You saw another’s head upon his shoulders All of a sudden, a woman’s head, Cuchullain. Then raised your hand against the King of Ullad.

_Cuchullain._ [_Letting CONCOBAR go, and looking wildly about him._] Yes, yes, all of a sudden, all of a sudden.

_Daire._ Why, there’s no witchcraft in it, I myself Have made a hundred of these sudden friendships And fought it out next day. But that was folly, For now that I am old I know it is best To live in comfort.

_A King._ Pull the fool away!

_Daire._ I’ll throw a heel-tap to the one that dies.

_Concobar._ Some witch is floating in the air above us.

_Cuchullain._ Yes, witchcraft, witchcraft and the power of witchcraft.

[_To the YOUNG MAN._

Why did you do it? was it Calatin’s daughters? Out, out, I say, for now it’s sword on sword.

_Young Man._ But, but, I did not.

_Cuchullain._ Out, I say, out, out! Sword upon sword.

[_He goes towards the door at back, followed by YOUNG MAN. He turns on the threshold and cries out, looking at the YOUNG MAN._

That hair my hands were drowned in!

[_He goes out, followed by YOUNG MAN. The other KINGS begin to follow them out._

_A King._ I saw him fight with Ferdiad.

_Second King._ We’ll be too late, They’re such a long time getting through the door.

_Third King._ Run quicker, quicker.

_Daire._ I was at the Smith’s When he that was the boy Setanta then----

[_Sound, of fighting outside._

_Third King._ He will have killed him. They have begun the fight!

[_They all go out, leaving the house silent and empty. There is a pause during which one hears the clashing of the swords. BARACH and FINTAIN come in from side door. BARACH is dragging FINTAIN._

_Barach._ You have eaten it, you have eaten it, you have left me nothing but the bones.

_Fintain._ O, that I should have to endure such a plague. O, I ache all over. O, I am pulled in pieces. This is the way you pay me for all the good I have done you!

_Barach._ You have eaten it, you have told me lies about a wild dog. Nobody has seen a wild dog about the place this twelve month. Lie there till the Kings come. O, I will tell Concobar and Cuchullain and all the Kings about you!

_Fintain._ What would have happened to you but for me, and you without your wits? If I did not take care of you what would you do for food and warmth?

_Barach._ You take care of me? You stay safe and send me into every kind of danger. You sent me down the cliff for gull’s eggs while you warmed your blind eyes in the sun. And then you ate all that were good for food. You left me the eggs that were neither egg nor bird. [_The blind man tries to rise. BARACH makes him lie down again._] Keep quiet now till I shut the door. There is some noise outside. There are swords crossing; a high vexing noise so that I can’t be listening to myself. [_He goes to the big door at the back and shuts it._] Why can’t they be quiet, why can’t they be quiet! Ah, you would get away, would you? [_He follows the blind man who has been crawling along the wall and makes him lie down close to the KING’S chair._] Lie there, lie there. No, you won’t get away. Lie there till the Kings come, I’ll tell them all about you. I shall tell it all. How you sit warming yourself, when you have made me light a fire of sticks, while I sit blowing it with my mouth. Do you not always make me take the windy side of the bush when it blows and the rainy side when it rains?

_Fintain._ O good fool, listen to me. Think of the care I have taken of you. I have brought you to many a warm hearth, where there was a good welcome for you, but you would not stay there, you were always wandering about.

_Barach._ The last time you brought me in, it was not I who wandered away, but you that got put out because you took the crubeen out of the pot, when you thought nobody was looking. Keep quiet now, keep quiet till I shut the door. Here is Cuchullain, now you will be beaten. I am going to tell him everything.

_Cuchullain._ [_Comes in and says to the fool._] Give me that horn.

[_The fool gives him a horn which CUCHULLAIN fills with ale and drinks._

_Fintain._ Do not listen to him, listen to me.

_Cuchullain._ What are you wrangling over?

_Barach._ He is fat and good for nothing. He has left me the bones and the feathers.

_Cuchullain._ What feathers?

_Barach._ I left him turning a fowl at the fire. He ate it all. He left me nothing but the bones and feathers.

_Fintain._ Do not believe him. You do not know how vain this fool is. I gave him the feathers, because I thought he would like nothing so well.

[_BARACH is sitting on a bench playing with a heap of feathers, which he has taken out of the breast of his coat._

_Barach._ [_Singing._] When you were an acorn on the tree top----

_Fintain._ Where would he be but for me? I must be always thinking, thinking to get food for the two of us, and when we’ve got it, if the moon’s at the full or the tide on the turn, he’ll leave the rabbit in its snare till it is full of maggots, or let the trout slip through his hands back into the water.

_Barach._ [_Singing._] When you were an acorn on the tree top, Then was I an eagle cock; Now that you are a withered old block, Still am I an eagle cock!

_Fintain._ Listen to him now! That’s the sort of talk I have to put up with, day out day in.

[_The fool is putting the feathers into his hair. CUCHULLAIN takes a handful of feathers out of the heap and out of the fool’s hair, and begins to wipe the blood from his sword with them._

_Barach._ He has taken my feathers to wipe his sword. It is blood that he is wiping from his sword!

_Fintain._ Whose blood? Whose blood?

_Cuchullain._ That young champion’s.

_Fintain._ He that came out of Aoife’s country?

_Cuchullain._ The Kings are standing round his body.

_Fintain._ Did he fight long?

_Cuchullain._ He thought to have saved himself with witchcraft.

_Barach._ That blind man there said he would kill you. He came from Aoife’s country to kill you. That blind man said they had taught him every kind of weapon that he might do it. But I always knew that you would kill him.

_Cuchullain._ [_To the blind man._] You knew him, then?

_Fintain._ I saw him when I had my eyes, in Aoife’s country.

_Cuchullain._ You were in Aoife’s country?

_Fintain._ I knew him and his mother there.

_Cuchullain._ He was about to speak of her when he died.

_Fintain._ He was a Queen’s son.

_Cuchullain._ What Queen, what Queen? [_He seizes the blind man._] Was it Scathach? There were many Queens. All the rulers were Queens.

_Fintain._ No, not Scathach.

_Cuchullain._ It was Uathach, then. Speak, speak!

_Fintain._ I cannot speak, you are clutching me too tightly. [_CUCHULLAIN lets him go._] I cannot remember who it was. I am not certain. It was some Queen.

_Barach._ He said a while ago that the young man was Aoife’s son.

_Cuchullain._ She? No, no, she had no son when I was there.

_Barach._ That blind man there said that she owned him for her son.

_Cuchullain._ I had rather he had been some other woman’s son. What father had he? A soldier out of Alba? She was an amorous woman, a proud, pale amorous woman.

_Fintain._ None knew whose son he was.

_Cuchullain._ None knew? Did you know, old listener at doors?

_Fintain._ No, no, I knew nothing.

_Barach._ He said a while ago that he heard Aoife boast that she’d never but the one lover, and he the only man that had overcome her in battle.

[_A pause._

_Fintain._ Somebody is trembling. Why are you trembling, fool? the bench is shaking, why are you trembling? Is Cuchullain going to hurt us? It was not I who told you, Cuchullain.

_Barach._ It is Cuchullain who is trembling. He is shaking the bench with his knees.

_Cuchullain._ He was my son, and I have killed my son.

[_A pause._

’Twas they that did it, the pale windy people, Where, where, where? My sword against the thunder. But no, for they have always been my friends; And though they love to blow a smoking coal Till it’s all flame, the wars they blow aflame Are full of glory, and heart uplifting pride, And not like this; the wars they love awaken Old fingers and the sleepy strings of harps. Who did it then? Are you afraid; speak out, For I have put you under my protection And will reward you well. Dubthach the Chafer. He had an old grudge. No, for he is with Maeve. Laegaire did it. Why do you not speak? What is this house? [_A pause._] Now I remember all.

_Fintain._ He will kill us. O, I am afraid!

_Cuchullain._ [_Who is before CONCOBAR’S chair._] ’Twas you who did it, you who sat up there With that old branch of silver, like a magpie Nursing a stolen spoon. Magpie, magpie, A maggot that is eating up the earth!

[_Begins hacking at the chair with his sword._

No, but a magpie, for he’s flown away. Where did he fly to?

_Fintain._ He is outside the door.

_Cuchullain._ Outside the door?

_Fintain._ He is under Baile’s yew-tree.

_Cuchullain._ Concobar, Concobar, the sword into your heart.

[_He goes out. A pause. The fool goes to the great door at back and looks out after him._

_Barach._ He is going up to King Concobar; they are all under the tree. No, no, he is standing still. There is a great wave going to break and he is looking at it. Ah! now he is running down to the sea, but he is holding up his sword as if he were going into a fight. [_A pause._] Well struck, well struck!

_Fintain._ What is he doing now?

_Barach._ Oh! he is fighting the waves.

_Fintain._ He sees King Concobar’s crown on every one of them.

_Barach._ There, he has struck at a big one. He has struck the crown off it, he has made the foam fly. There again another big one.

[_Shouting without._

_Fintain._ Where are the Kings? What are the Kings doing?

_Barach._ They are shouting and running down to the shore, and the people are running out of the houses, they are all running.

_Fintain._ You say they are running out of the houses, there will be nobody left in the houses. Listen, fool.

_Barach._ There, he is down! He is up again! He is going out into the deep water.

_Fintain._ Come here, fool; come here, I say.

_Barach._ [_Coming towards him but looking backward towards the door._] What is it?

_Fintain._ There will be nobody in the houses. Come this way, come quickly; the ovens will be full; we will put our hands into the ovens.

[_They go out._

CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.

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Transcriber's Note:

Punctuation has been standardised. Spelling and hyphenation have been preserved as printed.