men of law, doubts that he had reasoned
from their admiration of the wisdom that
who had first spoken, said, ~ Nothing now
died fighting against the People of the Bag;
bushes and threw themselves at his feet
dun who had yellow hair, and was skilled
poor. I~vcrythillg had becn well, but
forms. They stood a long time in
that any who told the truth to the child
at the door, and she got up, not a little
When the song had died out, the crone
having gathered his poets and his men
may sleep easy o nights; and then the
mist, fall upon the lips of the child; and
upon the floor, passed out, and none dared
of the great wood. In terror she drew
from foolish kings and their own disorders,
were hidden from him, by thoughts and
less excellent than the old: some among
cords; and then another took up the
curious about all things he became busy
mear of a territory, or about the straying
The Wisdom Of The King
the countries round about to gather a suf-
until the hut was full of their immense
woman, for she saw by the gleaming of the
which she had made the nurse bring to
that was but as the heart of others, and
again, though her fingers could scarce hold
none who had any blemish of body could
one was too ignorant and the other too full
word: Sisters, I knew him because his
counsel~ but there were guards set at the
common mind, to reign in his stead.
their will less ready for toil, for he had
heart sang like a bird that had forgotten
to wear the feathers of the grey hawk
the orchard, which was between the foss
him her love, for he was only subtle in his
Far less could any know that his heart
tinually, it needed but a little while and
him become the master himself before
the cradle with long wrinkled fingers; and
the bolts for trembling, and another grey
dreams. Overwhelmed with his greatness,
yielding and withholding. He laid down
his words seemed to make all darkness
when they heard him praise it and their
When the crones were gone, the nurse
back the bolt, and a grey-clad woman, of
the eyes of the birds of prey; and no man
same and with the resemblance of things
others passed out in silence one by one;
equal to his beauty. There came a knock
and the thunder follow a way that is deadly
in their hair. While they listened to him
divides the false and true; others again,
subtle to help thcm to live out their hasty
away, his own continual solitude; and he
down and plucked the feathers out of the
he had forgotten without understanding
them had long served a good cause, but
her, and let a drop of blood, grey as the
THE High-Queen of the Island of
to wander into the country round about.
he hoped, for he could not believe that a
frankly as though she were a fablc of the
and they sent men with nets and slings,
marching and counter-marching of armies.
when he saw her he loved, for shc was
chief warriors went with her to the hut and
the border of the wood. One night the
the name of the Child, but looked to see
the shape of Fair-brows, who dwells, as a
the wall, unable to take her eyes from the
lands his words seemed far off, and what
Woods had died in child-birth, and her
beauty so much like wisdom could hide a
hehad taught them how little a hair
rising and setting in those desolate
After much consideration they decreed a
and moreover they desired to watch out
of wisdom, for law was made by man
rinny wrought by the craftsmen of distant
ficiency of feathers. They decreed also
you make me sin against the sccrecy
and the night was now late. Who is
called the lovers to him in a trembling
the child slept, and the fire danced, for the
days, but for an ancient law of Eri that
over the beauty of the child, and praying
peace the welfare of their own households,
little king who lived a great way off; and
in a low thin voice: Sisters, I knew him
of the foss. ~ My blossom, it said, I
grew in him a horror as at one of unhuman
and the forest, he heard his voice among
for the one was too ignorant,and the other
the silver cords. And after that they Bang
and their arm lighter in the battle, for
when he had expounded the meaning of
in wrestling and in the training of horses;
thus, and thus; for it casts no shadow of
hawk feathers she was troubled with a
unlike the women of his land; but Dana,
other lands to sec him and to ask his
~ for I am a crone of the grey hawk, and I
henceforth with the dark and dreadful god-
feathers of the grey hawk into his hair;
terror and darkness upon my heart. Then
ently afterwards, but their new life was
great Moods arc alonc immortal, and the;
Out of sight is out of mind:
together, those who wcrc nearest rocking
desses, who sit all night about the pools
his pink eyelids or the firc ceascd to dance,
light and filled their hearts like music;
Shee, whether for good or evil she knew
and one day when the king walked in
now like the wind blowing in the
lands; cloth from over sea, which, though
and stood by the first. In a little, came a
When any asked him concerning the
looked at them.
passed out into the darkness. Then the
I will put my hands through it, thus, and
courtesy, for none knew that these matters
men; and all women, who, indeed, talked
The years passed, and the child grew
answered, ` Open! for I am a crone of the
of law about him, stood upon the dais
thither among the wicl;er houses of the
frontiers~ who compelled all that came,
woven with curious figures, seemed to her
far away by the redness of his heart under
different ways, but all into vague regret.
but had lost them because of a sin com-
salmon, in the floods; or of the Dagda,
beautiful~ with a strange and pale beauty
He then came down among them, and
he would turn to those nearest him for
for miracles were a little thing in those
could carry her over a mountain in his
saw him again or heard his voice. Some
should reign,for they had suffered much
told him that they too had had feathers
matters weighed and considered. The
their voices were now tender and caressing,
long, for no one had seen so wise a
~)ana: and still she half refused, and still
of the young, when they had heard him
beings were that had bent over a cradle.
gathered about the cradle, and were as
Heavy of will and light of mood,
might bid him obey the law, and call Eocha
and his hunts men, and his cook, and his
they could remember too strange and
to follow him, for his eyes gleamed like
noisy as magpies, and the child sat up and
birds; or of Len, the goldsmith, from
had not been a matter of great moment,
the king remembered many things that
for she longed to marry some warrior who
the cradle. The nurse shrank back against
and then another and another and another,
for as yet the bow was not invented, into
she half consented, and yet half refused,
their purpose found their bones softer and
labour, they returned to their own lands
not, had bent over the child that night;
upon all these things, remembered certain
wandered lost amid throngs of overcoming
great horror. He called her to him when
blood. Yet all were resolved that he
believed that he found his eternal abode
woman, not less old than the other, and
and, having scattered them over the rushes
her arm with the sharp point of a spindle,
and to listen to him was the daughter of a
drew out of the hair of first one and then
and prayed for pardon, and he stooped
great wood, and this was their song:
child had already seen that those about
it was not possible to think of one in whose
hate them for making you weave these
wondering, for the nearest neighbours were
together by the chief poet, and all these
too full of gaiety to know how great the
out the huge and gloomy and misshapen
heroes when they die return to the world
its light, for it and the hail and the rain
new law commanding every one upon pain
dreams that filled his mind like the
of death to mingle by a subtlety of art the
should be flung from a cliff into the sea.
words that became like a fire in their
perfect silence and stillness, for they were
own consuming solitude.
for a miracle that began to trouble all
hearts, and made all kindly joys and traffic
watch over his ncst in the darkness of the
~ There was a tall young man in the
of it without ceasing. The feathers of the
for the welfare of man, but wisdom the
advice; but this was held to be from
less beautiful than the bright cloth woven
between man and man as nothing, and went
Sisters, I knew him because his heart
was a wild thing of the air which had
Taken away our Altar stone;
My hair is not beautiful like yours; and
Hail and rain and thunder alone,
the laws of Eri ? Men of verse, why did
woman sat rocking the cradle, and pondering
has never troubled, but at last one muttered
were upon her head instead of hair. But
and all the while the child had not opened
the salley bushes which hid the waters
and blasted; nor could the people separate
lived in a hut of mud and wicker, within
and spoke in a loud, clear voice: Men
another the feathers of the grey hawk,
arms. Day by day the king gave her
and the poets and the men of law ruled in
child, and tales of his endless questions
when she considered the mystery of the
grey hawk had begun to grow in the childs
who had served no cause, but wrought in
People from under the Sea; and how the
gods have made, and no man shall live by
dingy feathers into your beautiful hair, and
whose children wail upon the waters; or
of those whom the dropping of the sand
mirrors.
making of the world went hither and
with strange and subtle thoughts which
of law, why did you make me sin against
whose cauldron is never empty; or of Lir,
Are true till Time gutter away.
And red hearts we turn to grey,
Two years passed over, and the king
of Angus, whose kisses were changed into
low, musical voice he loved answered:
all that the bird of prey upon the throne
creators of mortal things; and how every
human, came in and stood by the head of
in the forest watching the constellations
and the king and his poets and men of law,
Long have man and woman-kind
voice. They came from among the salley
gifts; cups with ears of gold and find-
great wood. The nurse opened the door
among the demons, and some that he dwelt
grey hawk, and I come from the darkness
shown them greater purposes; and numbers
in the midst of the assembly hall that the
his silver skin; and then another spoke:
kind and mirthful Children of Dana drove
firelight that the feathers of the grey hawk
in the dun of the High-King a mile away;
knocking? she cried, and a thin voice
mixed into his blood. And she Scratched
among those who came to look at him
the dun of the High-King, and cried out
now that I have plucked away the feathers
thoughts and dreams, shuddering at its
to mortal things. Men of law and men of
the assembly was over and told her of
in the Island of Woods; and still she was
dew; or of some other of the children of
any other fear but that his great wisdom
and begin their labour anew; how the
about the household of the gods and the
to find what they had loved less lovable
When the child was seven years old
boyhood into manhood, and from being
him had hair only, and, though they had
he would learn the truth when he began
tinctions between things long held the
but, alas, when they returned to their own
days. A number indeed did live differ-
the spectacle of his days; and no one had
towards the dun without a word. He
that the gods might grant him wisdom
they were more numerous than ever. This
third grey woman, and after her a fourth,
Taken away our wheaten food,
common heart.
child was put to nurse, with a woman who
ever between a smile and a frown; between
whose furnace break rainbows and fiery
never sat at the board, or listened to the
remains but that a drop of our blood be
bards; and he asked her humbly to give
hair its feathers grew as other than marred
stood there. Open ! cried another voice,
Eocha of the Plain of Towers to reign
came to her courage again, and hurried to
sit upon the throne; and as a grey hawk
long held different. Multitudes came from
from childhood into boyhood and from
hair of the woman and then turned away
her beauty, and praised her simply and
mitted by their forefathers, they knew that
came to him in dreams, and with dis-
common things of life; disputes about the
of the Plain of Towers, who had but a
fluttered like a bird under a net of silver
a great age, and of a height more than
Mood is a being that wcars, to mortal eyes,
verse, live according to your kind, and call
of gaiety to know what a dreadful being
with like feathers instead of hair, came in
the poets and the men of law were called
his wisdom at her feet, and told how the
of cattle, or about the pcnalty of blood;
hair, and though his nurse cut them con-
them, doubtful words of his poets and his
strode into the hall of assembly, and
over you, for I set out to find my kindred.
songs of the poets in the light of the fire,
the great mother, had decreed her a heart
