The Coming of Cuculain Read online

  CHAPTER X

  DEIRDRE

  "Beautiful the beginning of love, A man and a woman and the birds of Angus above them."

  GAELIC BARD.

  The birth of the child Deirdre, daughter of the chief poet of Ulla, wasattended with a great portent, for the child shrieked from the mother'swomb. Cathvah and the Druids were consulted concerning that omen. Theyaddressed themselves to their art of divination, and having consultedtheir oracles and gods and familiar spirits, they gave a clear counselto the Ultonians.

  "This child," they said, "will become a woman, in beauty surpassing allthe women who have ever been born or will be born. Her union with a manwill be a cause of great sorrow to the Ultonians. Let her, therefore,be exposed after birth; or, if you would not slay the Arch-Poet's onlychild, let her be sternly immured; let her be reared to womanhood inutter and complete and inviolable solitude, and live and die in hervirginity."

  The Ultonians determined that the child should live and be immured.These things took place in the reign of Factna the Righteous, father ofConcobar. When the child was born she was called Deirdre. The Ultoniansappointed for her a nurse and tutoress named Levarcam. They built forher and for the nurse a strong dun in a remote forest and set a wardthere, and they made a solemn law enjoining perpetual virginity on thechild of ill omen, and the Druids shed a zone of terror round the dun.

  Concobar Mac Nessa in the wide circuit of his thoughts consulted alwaysfor the inviolability of that law, and the stern maintenance of thewatching and warding.

  Unseen and unobserved, forgotten by all save the wise elders of theUltonians and by Concobar their King, whose thoughts ranged on all sidesdevising good for the Red Branch, the child Deirdre grew to be a maiden.Though her beauty was extraordinary, yet her mind was as beautiful asher form, so that the Lady Levarcam loved her exceedingly.

  One day when the first flush of early womanhood came upon the maiden,she said to her tutoress as they sat together and conversed--

  "Are all men like those our guards who defend us against savage beastsand the merciless Fomorians, dear Levarcam?"

  "Those our guards are true and brave men," said Levarcam.

  "Surely they are," said the girl, "and we lack no courtesy and dueattention at their hands, but dear foster-mother, my question is notanswered. Maybe it is not to be answered and that I am curious overmuch.Are all men grim, grave, and austere, wearing rugged countenances scoredwith ancient wounds, and bearing each man upon his shoulders the weightof some fearful responsibility? Are all men like that, dear Levarcam?"

  "Nay, indeed," said the other, "there are youths too, gracious, and gay,and beautiful, as well as grave men such as these."

  They sat together in their sunny grianan, [Footnote: A derivativefrom Grian, the sun. The grianan was an upper chamber, more elegantlyfurnished than the hall, usually with large windows and thereforewell lit and reserved for the use of women.] embroidering while theyconversed. It was early morning and the air was full of the noises andodours of sweet spring-time.

  "I know that now," said the maiden, "which I only guessed before, forwaking or sleeping I have dreamed of a youth who was as unlike thesemen as the rose-tree with its roses is unlike the rugged oak-tree or thewrinkled pine that has wrestled with a thousand storms. I would wish tohave him for a playfellow and pleasant acquaintance. Of maidens, too,such as myself I have dreamed, yet they do not appear to me to be soalluring or so amiable as that youth."

  "Describe him more particularly," said Levarcam. "Tell me his tokens oneby one that I may know."

  "He is tall and strong but very graceful in all his motions; and ofspeech and behaviour both gay and gracious. He is white and ruddy,whiter than snow and ruddier than the rose or the fox-glove, where theheroic blood burns bright in his comely cheeks. His eyes are blue-blackunder fine and even brows and his hair is a wonder, so dense is it, solustrous and so curling, blacker than the crow's wing, more shining thanthe bright armour of the chaffer. His body is broad above and narrowbelow, strong to withstand and agile to pursue. His limbs long andbeautifully proportioned; his hands and feet likewise, and his stepelastic Smiles seldom leave his eyes and lips, and his mouth is afountain of sweet speech. O that I were acquainted with him and he withme? I think we should be happy in each other's company. I think I couldlove him as well as I do thee, dear foster-mother."

  As she spoke, Deirdre blushed, and first she stooped down over herwork and then put before her face and eyes her two beautiful hands,rose-white, with long delicate nails pink-flushed and transparent; andtears, clearer than dewdrops, gushed between her ringers and fell inbright showers upon the embroidery. Then she arose and flung her softwhite arms around Levarcam and wept on her bosom.

  "There is one youth only amongst the Red Branch," said Levarcam, "whoanswers to that description, namely Naysi, the son of Usna, who isthe battle-prop of the Ultonians and the clear-shining torch of theirvalour, and what god or druid or power hath set that vision before thymind, I cannot tell."

  "Would that I could see him with eyes and have speech with him,"answered the girl. "If but once he smiled upon me and I heard the sweetwords flow from his mouth which is beyond price, then gladly would Idie!"

  "Thou shall both see him and have speech with him, O best, sweetest,dearest, and loveliest of all maidens. Truly I will bring him to theeand thee to him, for there is with me power beyond the wont of women."

  Now Levarcam was a mighty Druidess amongst the Ultonians. So the lady inwhom they trusted forgot the ancient prophecies and the stern commandsof the Red Branch and of their King, owing to the great love which shebore to the maiden and the great compassion which grew upon her day byday, as she observed the life of the solitary girl and thought of thecruel law to which all her youth and beauty and wealth of sweet lovebeyond all the jewels of the world were thus barbarously sacrificed bythe Ultonians in obedience to soothsayers and Druids.

  Naysi, son of Usna, once in a hunting became separated from hiscompanions. He wandered far in that forest, seeking some one who shoulddirect him upon his way. Oftentimes he raised his voice, but there wasno answer. Such were his beauty, his grace, and his stature, that heseemed more like a god than a man, and such another as Angus Ogue, sonof Dagda, [Footnote: Angus Ogue was the god of youth and beauty, son ofthe Dagda who seems to have been the genius of earth and its fertilityor perhaps the Zeus of our Gaelic mythology.] whose fairy palace ison the margin of the Boyne. His head and his feet were bare. His shorthunting-cloak was dark-red with flowery devices along the edge. On hisbreast he wore a brooch of gold bronze; carbuncles and precious stoneswere set in the bronze, and it was carved all over with many spiraldevices. His shirt below the mantle was coloured like the tassels of thewillow trees. His hair was fastened behind with a clasp and an apple ofred gold, and that apple lay below the blades of his ample shoulders.In one hand he bore a broken leash of red bronze, and in the other twohunting spears with blades of flashing findruiney and the hafts werelong, slender, and shining. By his thigh hung a short sword in a sheathof red yew and beside it the polished and nigh transparent horn of theUrus, suspended in a baldrick of knitted thread of bronze. The grassstood erect from the pressure of his light feet. His manly face had notyet known the razor; only the first soft down of budding manhood wasseen there. His countenance was pure and joyous with bright beamingeyes, and his complexion red and white and of a brilliancy beyond words.In his heart was no guile, only indomitable valour and truth andloyalty and sweet affection. He had never known woman save in the way ofcourtesy. The very trees and rocks and stones seemed to watch him as hepassed.

  Then suddenly and unawares an ice-cold air struck chill into his inmostbeing, the bright earth was obscured and the sun grew dark in theheavens and menacing voices were heard and horrid forms of evil,monstrous, not to be described, came against him, and they bade himreturn as he had come or they would tear him limb from limb in thatforest. Yet the son of Usna was by no means dismayed, only he flushedwith wrath and scorn
and he drew his sword and went on against thephantoms. In truth Naysi was at that moment passing through the zone ofterror which the Ultonian Druids had shed around the dun where Deirdrewas immured. The phantoms gave way before him and Naysi passed beyondthe zone. "Surely," he said, "there is some chief jewel of the jewels ofthe world preserved in this place."

  He came to an opening in the forest. Beyond it there was a great spacewhich was cleared and girt all round by trees. There was a dun inits midst. Scarlet and white were the walls of that dun. There wasa watch-tower on one side of the dun and a man there sitting in thewatchman's seat; a grianan on the other with windows of glass. The roofof the dun was covered all over with feathers of birds of various hues,and shone with a hundred colours. The doorway was the narrowest whichNaysi had ever seen. The door pillars were of red yew curiously carved,having feet of bronze and capitals of carved silver, and the lintelabove was a straight bar of pure silver. A knotted band or thickeningran round the walls of the dun like a variegated zone, for the coloursof it were many and each different from the colours on the walls. Inthe world there was no such prison as there was no such captive as thatprison held. Armed men of huge stature and terrible aspect went roundthe dun. Their habiliments were black, their weapons without ornament,the pins of their mantles were of iron. With each company went a slingerhaving his sling bent, an iron bolt in the sling, and his thumb in thestring-loop, men who never missed their mark and never struck aught,whether man or beast, that they did not slay. Great hounds such as werenot known amongst the Ultonians went with those men. They were greyabove and tawny beneath, as large as wild oxen after the growth ofone year. They were quick of sight and scent, fiercer than dragons andswifter than eagles; they were not quick of sight and scent to-day. TheLady Levarcam had great power. In and around that dun were three hundredmen of war, foreigners, picked men of the great fighting tribes ofBanba. Such was the decree of the Ultonians and their wise King,so greatly did they fear concerning those prophecies and omens andconcerning the child who in Emain Macha shrieked out of her mother'swomb. Naysi regarded the dun with wonder and amazement, and withamazement the astonishing rigour of the watch and ward which were keptthere, and the more he looked the more he wondered. It seemed to thehunter that he had chanced upon one of the abodes of the enchanted racesof Erin, namely the Tuatha De Dana or the Fomorians, whom the sons ofMilesius by their might had driven into the mountains and unfrequentedplaces and who, now immortal and invisible, and possessing great druidicpower, were worshipped as gods by the Gael. He knew he was in greatperil, but his stout heart did not fail; he was resolved to see thisadventure to an end.

  As he was about to step out into the open two women came from the doorof the grianan. One of them was old; she leaned upon her companion andin her right hand held a long white wand squared save in the middlewhere it was rounded for the hand grip, very long, unornamented, andunshod at either extremity. Naysi paid slight attention to her, though,as she was the first to come forth, he observed these things. The otherwas young, tall, slender, and lissom, her raiment costly and splendidlike a high queen's on some solemn day, and like a queen's her behaviourand her pacing over the flowery lawn. Never had that hunter seen such aform, so proudly modest and virginal, such sweetness, grace, and majestyof bearing. Presently, having passed a company of the guards, she flungback the white, half-transparent veil that concealed her face. Then thesudden radiance was like the coming unlocked for out of a white cloud ofthat very bright star which shines on the edge of night and morning. Allthings were transfigured in her light. Before her the grass grew greenerand more glittering and rare flowers started in her way. A silver basketof most delicate craftsmanship, the work of some cunning cerd, was onher right arm. It shone clear and sparkling against her mantle whichwas exceedingly lustrous, many times folded, darkly crimson, and ofsubstance unknown. She towered above her aged companion, straight asa pillar of red yew in a king's house. So, unwitting, jocund, andinnocent, fresh and pure as the morning, she paced over the greenlawn, going in the direction of that youth, even Naysi, son of Usna theUltonian. Naysi's loudly beating heart fell silent when he saw how shecame straight towards him; he retreated into the forest, so amazing andso confounding was the radiance of that beauty. A company of those grimwarders, silent and watchful, followed close upon the women. As theywent they slipped the muzzles from the mouths of their dogs and leadthem forward leashed. The countenances of the men shewed displeasure.From the tower the watchman cried aloud words in an unknown tongue,hoarse, barbaric accents charged with energy and strong meaning. Hisvoice rang terribly in the hollows of the forest. There was a counterchallenge in the forest repeated many times, the voices of men mingledwith the baying of hounds. There was a ring of sentinels and dogs farout in the forest. The son of Usna had gone through the ring. For twiceseven years and one that astonishing watch and ward had been maintainedday and night without relaxation or abatement. When they came to theedge of the forest Levarcam addressed the commander of that company.She said, "The Lady Deirdre would be alone with me in the forest for alittle space to gather flowers and listen to the music of the birdsand the stream, relieved, if but for one moment, of this watching andwarding."

  The man answered not a word. He was of the Gamanrdians, dwellers by theSue, which feeds the great Western River; [Footnote: The Shannon.] hispeople were of the Clan Dega in the south, and of the children of Orc[Footnote: In scriptural language "of the seed of the giants," huge,simple-hearted and simple-minded men, who could obey orders and ask noquestions.] from the Isles of Ore in the frozen seas. [Footnote: TheOrkney Islands.] The blood of the Fomoroh was in those men. The womenwent on, and that grim company followed, keeping close behind. When theygained the first cover of the trees Levarcam turned round and stretchedover them her wand. They stood motionless, both men and dogs. Then thewomen went forward, and alone.

  "Fill thy basket now with forest flowers, O sweetest, and dearest, andfairest of all foster-children, and listen to the songs of the birdsand the music of the rill. Cull thy flowers, darling girl, and cull theflower of thy youth, the flower that grows but once for all like thee,the flower whose glory puts high heaven to shame, and whose odour makesmad the most wise."

  "Where shall I gather that flower, O gentlest and most amiable offoster-mothers? Is it in the glade or the thicket, or on the margent ofthe rill?

  "It is not to be found by seeking, O fairest of all maidens. Gather itwhen thou meetest with it in the way. Wear it in thy heart, be the endwhat it may. Verily thou wilt not mistake any other flower for thatflower."

  "I know not thy meaning, O wise and many-counselled woman, but there isfear upon me, and trembling, and my knees quake at thy strange words.Now, if the whole world were swallowed up I should not be surprised.Surely the end of the world is very nigh."

  "It is the end of the world and the beginning of the world; and the endof life and the beginning of life; and death and life in one, and deathand life will soon be the same to thee, O Deirdre!"

  "There is amazement upon me, and terror, O my foster-mother, on accountof thy words, and on account of the gathering of this flower. Let usreturn to the dun. Terrible to me are the hollow-sounding ways of theunknown forest."

  "Fear not the unknown forest, O Deirdre. Leave the known and thefamiliar now that thy time has come. Go on. Accomplish thy destiny. Itis vain to strive against fate and the pre-ordained designs of the highgods of Erin. Truly I have failed in my trust. I see great wrath inEmain Macha. I see the Red Branch tossed in storms, and a mighty rivingand rending and scattering abroad, and dismal conflagrations, and theblood of heroes falling like rain, and I hear the croaking of Byves.[Footnote: Badb, pronounced Byve, was primarily the scald-crow orcarrion-crow, secondarily a Battle-Fury.] Truly I have proved a brittleprop to the Ultonians, but some power beyond my own drives me on."

  "What wild words are these, O wisest of women, and what this rending andscattering abroad, and showers of blood and croaking of Byves because Icull a flower in the forest?"

 
; "Nay, it is nothing. Have peace and joy while thou canst, sweet Deirdre.Thus I lay my wand upon thy bosom and enjoin peace!"

  "Thou art weary, dear foster-mother. Rest thee here now a little space,while I go and gather forest flowers. They are sweeter than thosethat grow in my garden. O, right glad am I to be alone in the forest,relieved from the observation of those grim-visaged sentinels, to straysolitary in the dim mysterious forest, and to think my own thoughtsthere, and dream my dreams, and recall that vision which I have seen. ONaysi, son of Usna, sweeter than harps is the mere sound of thy name, OUltonian!"

  Deirdre after that went forward alone into the forest.

  Naysi, when he had started back into the forest stood still for a longtime in his retreat. It was the hollow of a tall rock beside a fallingstream of water, all flowing snow or transparent crystal. Holly treesand quicken trees grew from its crest, and long twines of ivy fell downbefore like green torrents. Behind them he concealed himself, when heheard the cries and the challengings and the baying of the hounds. Thenhe saw the maiden come along the forest glade by the margent of thestream, her basket filled and over-flowing with flowers. The sentientstream sang loud and gay to greet her approaching, with fluent liquidfingers striking more joyously the chords of his stony lyre. Lightbeyond the sun was shed through the glen before her. Birds, thebrightest of plumage and sweetest of note of all the birds of Banba,[Footnote: One of Ireland's ancient names.] filled the air with theirsongs, flying behind her and before her, and on her right hand and onher left. Through his lattice of trailing ivy the son of Usna saw her.Her countenance was purer and clearer than morning-dew upon the rose orthe lily, and the rose and lily, nay, the whiteness of the snow of onenight and the redness of the reddest rose, were there. Her eyes wereblue-black under eyebrows black and fine, but her clustering hair wasbright gold, more shining than the gold which boils over the edge of therefiner's crucible. Her forehead was free from all harshness, broad andintelligent, her beautiful smiling lips of the colour of the berries ofthe mountain ash, her teeth a shower of lustrous pearls. Her face andform, her limbs, hands and feet, were such that no defect, blemish ordisproportion could be observed, though one might watch and observelong, seeking to discover them. In that daughter of the High Poet andHistorian of the Hound-race of the North, [Footnote: The hound was thetype of valour. Though Cuculain was pre-eminently the Hound, the Gaelicequivalents of this word will be discovered in most of the famousnames of the cycle.] child of valour and true wisdom, the body did notpredominate over the spirit, or the spirit over the body, for as herform was of matchless, incomparable, and inexpressible beauty, so hermind was not a whit less well proportioned and refined. Jocund andhappy, breathing innocence and love, she came up the dell. The birdsof Angus [Footnote: Angus Ogue's kisses became invisible birds whosesinging inspired love.] unseen flew above her and shed upon herunearthly graces and charms from the waving of their immortal wings.A silver brooch lay on her breast, the pin of fine bronze ran straightfrom one shoulder to the other. On her head was a lustrous tyre or leafydiadem shading her countenance, gold above and silver below. Her shortkirtle was white below the rose-red mantle, and fringed with gold threadabove her perfect and lightly stepping feet. Shoes she wore shining withbrightest wire of findruiney. As she came up the dell, rejoicing in herfreedom and the sweetness of that sylvan place and the solitude,she contemplated the bright stream, and sang clear and sweet anunpremeditated song.

  Naysi stepped forth from his place, putting aside the ivy with hishands, and came down the dell to meet her in her coming. She did notscream or tremble or show any signs of confusion, though she had neverbefore seen any of the youths of the Gael. She only stood still andstraight, and with wide eyes of wonder watched him as he drew nigh, forshe thought at first that it was the genius of that glen and torrenttaking form in reply to her druidic lay. Then when she recognisedthe comrade and playfellow of her vision, she smiled a friendly andaffectionate greeting. On the other hand, Naysi came trembling andblushing. He bowed himself to the earth before her, and kissed the grassbefore her feet.

  They remained together a long time in the glen and told each otherall they knew and thought and felt, save one feeling untellable, happybeyond all power of language to express. When Deirdre rose to go, Naysiasked for some token and symbol of remembrance.

  As they went she gathered a rose and gave it to Naysi.

  "There is a great meaning in this token amongst the youths and maidensof the Gael," said he.

  "I know that," answered Deirdre. Deirdre returned to Levarcam.

  "Thou hast gathered the flower," said Levarcam.

  "I have," she replied, "and death and life are one to me now, dearfoster-mother."

  Naysi went away through the forest and there is nothing relatedconcerning him till he reached Dun Usna. It was night when he enteredthe hall. His brothers were sitting at the central fire. Anli wasscouring a shield; Ardane was singing the while he polished a spear andheld it out against the light to see its straightness and its lustre.They were in no way alarmed about their brother.

  "I have seen Deirdre, the daughter of Felim," he said.

  "Then thou art lost!" they answered; the weapons fell from their handsupon the floor.

  "I am," he replied.

  "What is thy purpose?" they said.

  "To storm the guarded dun, even if I go against it alone, To bear awayDeirdre and pass into the land of the Albanagh." [Footnote: The Albanaghwere the people who inhabited the north and west of Scotland, in factthe Highlanders. In ancient times they and the Irish were regarded asone people.]

  "Thou shalt not go alone," they said. "We have shared in thy glory andthy power, we will share all things with thee."

  They put their right hand into his on that promise. One hundred andfifty nobles of the nobles of that territory did the same, for withNaysi as their captain they did not fear to go upon any enterprise. Theyknew that expatriation awaited them, but they had rather be with Naysiand his brothers in a strange land than to live without them in Ireland.So the Clan Usna with their mighty men stormed the dun and bore offDeirdre and went away eastward to the Muirnicht. And they crossed theMoyle [Footnote: The sea between Ireland and Scotland. "Silent, O Moyle,be the roar of thy waters,"] in ships into the country of the Albanagh,and settled on the delightful shores of Loch Etive and made swordland ofthe surrounding territory. Great, famous, and long remembered were thedeeds of the children of Usna in that land.