Celtic Fairy Tales (9 page)

"We will go with you," said Naois.

"We will," said his brothers.

But Deirdre did not wish to go with Ferchar Mac Ro, and she tried
every prayer to turn Naois from going with him—she said:

"I saw a vision, Naois, and do you interpret it to me," said
Deirdre—then she sang:

O Naois, son of Uisnech, hear
What was shown in a dream to me.

There came three white doves out of the South
Flying over the sea,
And drops of honey were in their mouth
From the hive of the honey-bee.

O Naois, son of Uisnech, hear,
What was shown in a dream to me.

I saw three grey hawks out of the south
Come flying over the sea,
And the red red drops they bare in their mouth
They were dearer than life to me.

Said Naois:—

It is nought but the fear of woman's heart,
And a dream of the night, Deirdre.

"The day that Connachar sent the invitation to his feast will be
unlucky for us if we don't go, O Deirdre."

"You will go there," said Ferchar Mac Ro; "and if Connachar show
kindness to you, show ye kindness to him; and if he will display
wrath towards you display ye wrath towards him, and I and my three
sons will be with you."

"We will," said Daring Drop. "We will," said Hardy Holly. "We will,"
said Fiallan the Fair.

"I have three sons, and they are three heroes, and in any harm or
danger that may befall you, they will be with you, and I myself will
be along with them." And Ferchar Mac Ro gave his vow and his word in
presence of his arms that, in any harm or danger that came in the
way of the sons of Uisnech, he and his three sons would not leave
head on live body in Erin, despite sword or helmet, spear or shield,
blade or mail, be they ever so good.

Deirdre was unwilling to leave Alba, but she went with Naois.
Deirdre wept tears in showers and she sang:

Dear is the land, the land over there,
Alba full of woods and lakes;
Bitter to my heart is leaving thee,
But I go away with Naois.

Ferchar Mac Ro did not stop till he got the sons of Uisnech away
with him, despite the suspicion of Deirdre.

The coracle was put to sea,
The sail was hoisted to it;
And the second morrow they arrived
On the white shores of Erin.

As soon as the sons of Uisnech landed in Erin, Ferchar Mac Ro sent
word to Connachar, king of Ulster, that the men whom he wanted were
come, and let him now show kindness to them. "Well," said Connachar,
"I did not expect that the sons of Uisnech would come, though I sent
for them, and I am not quite ready to receive them. But there is a
house down yonder where I keep strangers, and let them go down to it
today, and my house will be ready before them tomorrow."

But he that was up in the palace felt it long that he was not
getting word as to how matters were going on for those down in the
house of the strangers. "Go you, Gelban Grednach, son of Lochlin's
King, go you down and bring me information as to whether her former
hue and complexion are on Deirdre. If they be, I will take her out
with edge of blade and point of sword, and if not, let Naois, son of
Uisnech, have her for himself," said Connachar.

Gelban, the cheering and charming son of Lochlin's King, went down
to the place of the strangers, where the sons of Uisnech and Deirdre
were staying. He looked in through the bicker-hole on the door-leaf.
Now she that he gazed upon used to go into a crimson blaze of
blushes when any one looked at her. Naois looked at Deirdre and knew
that some one was looking at her from the back of the door-leaf. He
seized one of the dice on the table before him and fired it through
the bicker-hole, and knocked the eye out of Gelban Grednach the
Cheerful and Charming, right through the back of his head. Gelban
returned back to the palace of King Connachar.

"You were cheerful, charming, going away, but you are cheerless,
charmless, returning. What has happened to you, Gelban? But have you
seen her, and are Deirdre's hue and complexion as before?" said
Connachar.

"Well, I have seen Deirdre, and I saw her also truly, and while I
was looking at her through the bicker-hole on the door, Naois, son
of Uisnech, knocked out my eye with one of the dice in his hand. But
of a truth and verity, although he put out even my eye, it were my
desire still to remain looking at her with the other eye, were it
not for the hurry you told me to be in," said Gelban.

"That is true," said Connachar; "let three hundred bravo heroes go
down to the abode of the strangers, and let them bring hither to me
Deirdre, and kill the rest."

Connachar ordered three hundred active heroes to go down to the
abode of the strangers and to take Deirdre up with them and kill the
rest. "The pursuit is coming," said Deirdre.

"Yes, but I will myself go out and stop the pursuit," said Naois.

"It is not you, but we that will go," said Daring Drop, and Hardy
Holly, and Fiallan the Fair; "it is to us that our father entrusted
your defence from harm and danger when he himself left for home."
And the gallant youths, full noble, full manly, full handsome, with
beauteous brown locks, went forth girt with battle arms fit for
fierce fight and clothed with combat dress for fierce contest fit,
which was burnished, bright, brilliant, bladed, blazing, on which
were many pictures of beasts and birds and creeping things, lions
and lithe-limbed tigers, brown eagle and harrying hawk and adder
fierce; and the young heroes laid low three-thirds of the company.

Connachar came out in haste and cried with wrath: "Who is there on
the floor of fight, slaughtering my men?"

"We, the three sons of Ferchar Mac Ro."

"Well," said the king, "I will give a free bridge to your
grandfather, a free bridge to your father, and a free bridge each to
you three brothers, if you come over to my side tonight."

"Well, Connachar, we will not accept that offer from you nor thank
you for it. Greater by far do we prefer to go home to our father and
tell the deeds of heroism we have done, than accept anything on
these terms from you. Naois, son of Uisnech, and Allen and Arden are
as nearly related to yourself as they are to us, though you are so
keen to shed their blood, and you would shed our blood also,
Connachar." And the noble, manly, handsome youths with beauteous,
brown locks returned inside. "We are now," said they, "going home to
tell our father that you are now safe from the hands of the king."
And the youths all fresh and tall and lithe and beautiful, went home
to their father to tell that the sons of Uisnech were safe. This
happened at the parting of the day and night in the morning twilight
time, and Naois said they must go away, leave that house, and return
to Alba.

Naois and Deirdre, Allan and Arden started to return to Alba. Word
came to the king that the company he was in pursuit of were gone.
The king then sent for Duanan Gacha Druid, the best magician he had,
and he spoke to him as follows:—"Much wealth have I expended on
you, Duanan Gacha Druid, to give schooling and learning and magic
mystery to you, if these people get away from me today without care,
without consideration or regard for me, without chance of overtaking
them, and without power to stop them."

"Well, I will stop them," said the magician, "until the company you
send in pursuit return." And the magician placed a wood before them
through which no man could go, but the sons of Uisnech marched
through the wood without halt or hesitation, and Deirdre held on to
Naois's hand.

"What is the good of that? that will not do yet," said Connachar.
"They are off without bending of their feet or stopping of their
step, without heed or respect to me, and I am without power to keep
up to them or opportunity to turn them back this night."

"I will try another plan on them," said the druid; and he placed
before them a grey sea instead of a green plain. The three heroes
stripped and tied their clothes behind their heads, and Naois placed
Deirdre on the top of his shoulder.

They stretched their sides to the stream,
And sea and land were to them the same,
The rough grey ocean was the same
As meadow-land green and plain.

"Though that be good, O Duanan, it will not make the heroes return,"
said Connachar; "they are gone without regard for me, and without
honour to me, and without power on my part to pursue them or to
force them to return this night."

"We shall try another method on them, since yon one did not stop
them," said the druid. And the druid froze the grey ridged sea into
hard rocky knobs, the sharpness of sword being on the one edge and
the poison power of adders on the other. Then Arden cried that he
was getting tired, and nearly giving over. "Come you, Arden, and sit
on my right shoulder," said Naois. Arden came and sat, on Naois's
shoulder. Arden was long in this posture when he died; but though he
was dead Naois would not let him go. Allen then cried out that he
was getting faint and nigh-well giving up. When Naois heard his
prayer, he gave forth the piercing sigh of death, and asked Allen to
lay hold of him and he would bring him to land.

Allen was not long when the weakness of death came on him and his
hold failed. Naois looked around, and when he saw his two well-
beloved brothers dead, he cared not whether he lived or died, and he
gave forth the bitter sigh of death, and his heart burst.

"They are gone," said Duanan Gacha Druid to the king, "and I have
done what you desired me. The sons of Uisnech are dead and they will
trouble you no more; and you have your wife hale and whole to
yourself."

"Blessings for that upon you and may the good results accrue to me,
Duanan. I count it no loss what I spent in the schooling and
teaching of you. Now dry up the flood, and let me see if I can
behold Deirdre," said Connachar. And Duanan Gacha Druid dried up the
flood from the plain and the three sons of Uisnech were lying
together dead, without breath of life, side by side on the green
meadow plain and Deirdre bending above showering down her tears.

Then Deirdre said this lament: "Fair one, loved one, flower of
beauty; beloved upright and strong; beloved noble and modest
warrior. Fair one, blue-eyed, beloved of thy wife; lovely to me at
the trysting-place came thy clear voice through the woods of
Ireland. I cannot eat or smile henceforth. Break not to-day, my
heart: soon enough shall I lie within my grave. Strong are the waves
of sorrow, but stronger is sorrow's self, Connachar."

The people then gathered round the heroes' bodies and asked
Connachar what was to be done with the bodies. The order that he
gave was that they should dig a pit and put the three brothers in it
side by side.

Deirdre kept sitting on the brink of the grave, constantly asking
the gravediggers to dig the pit wide and free. When the bodies of
the brothers were put in the grave, Deirdre said:—

Come over hither, Naois, my love,
Let Arden close to Allen lie;
If the dead had any sense to feel,
Ye would have made a place for Deirdre.

The men did as she told them. She jumped into the grave and lay down
by Naois, and she was dead by his side.

The king ordered the body to be raised from out the grave and to be
buried on the other side of the loch. It was done as the king bade,
and the pit closed. Thereupon a fir shoot grew out of the grave of
Deirdre and a fir shoot from the grave of Naois, and the two shoots
united in a knot above the loch. The king ordered the shoots to be
cut down, and this was done twice, until, at the third time, the
wife whom the king had married caused him to stop this work of evil
and his vengeance on the remains of the dead.

There once lived a Munachar and a Manachar, a long time ago, and it
is a long time since it was, and if they were alive now they would
not be alive then. They went out together to pick raspberries, and
as many as Munachar used to pick Manachar used to eat. Munachar said
he must go look for a rod to make a gad to hang Manachar, who ate
his raspberries every one; and he came to the rod. "What news the
day?" said the rod. "It is my own news that I'm seeking. Going
looking for a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who
ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," said the rod, "until you get an axe to cut
me." He came to the axe. "What news to-day?" said the axe. "It's my
own news I'm seeking. Going looking for an axe, an axe to cut a rod,
a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my raspberries
every one."

"You will not get me," said the axe, "until you get a flag to edge
me." He came to the flag. "What news today?" says the flag. "It's my
own news I'm seeking. Going looking for a flag, flag to edge axe,
axe to cut a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who
ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," says the flag, "till you get water to wet
me." He came to the water. "What news to-day?" says the water. "It's
my own news that I'm seeking. Going looking for water, water to wet
flag, flag to edge axe, axe to cut a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad
to hang Manachar, who ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," said the water, "until you get a deer who
will swim me." He came to the deer. "What news to-day?" says the
deer. "It's my own news I'm seeking. Going looking for a deer, deer
to swim water, water to wet flag, flag to edge axe, axe to cut a
rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my
raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," said the deer, "until you get a hound who
will hunt me." He came to the hound. "What news to-day?" says the
hound. "It's my own news I'm seeking. Going looking for a hound,
hound to hunt deer, deer to swim water, water to wet flag, flag to
edge axe, axe to cut a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang
Manachar, who ate my raspberries every one."