The Coming of Cuculain Page 14

  CHAPTER XII

  THE SACRED CHARIOT

  "He dwelt a while among the neat-herds Of King Admetus, veiling his godhood."

  Greek Mythology.

  "At Tailteen I raced my steeds against a woman, Though great with child she came first to the goal, Alas, I knew not the auburn-haired Macha, Thence came affliction upon the Ultonians."

  CONCOBAR MAC NESSA.

  Concobar Mac Nessa on a solemn day called Cuculain forth from the ranksof the boys where they stood in the rear of the assembly and said--

  "O Setanta, there is a duty which falls to me by virtue of my kinglyoffice, and therein I need an assistant. For it is my province to keepbright and in good running order the chariot of Macha wherein she usedto go forth to war from Emain, and to clean out the corn-troughs ofher two steeds and put there fresh barley perpetually, and fresh hayin their mangers. Illan the Fair [Footnote: He was one of the sons ofFergus Mac Roy slain in the great civil war.] was my last helper in thisoffice, till the recent great rebellion. That ministry is thine now, ifit is pleasing to thee to accept it."

  The boy said that it was pleasing, and the King gave him the key of thechamber in which were the vessels and implements used in dischargingthat sacred function.

  Afterwards, on the same day, the King said to him, "Wash thyself now inpure water and put on new clean raiment and come again to me."

  The boy washed himself and put on new clean raiment. The King himselfdid the same.

  Concobar said: "Go now to the chamber of which I have given thee the keyand fill with oil the silver oil-can and take a towel of the towels offawn-skin which are there and return." He did so; and Concobar and hisnephew, armed youths following, went to the house of the chariot.

  Ere Concobar turned the wards of the lock he heard voices within in thechariot-house. There, one said to another, "This is he. Our long watchand ward are near the end." And the other said, "It is well. Too longhave we been here waiting."

  "Hast thou heard anything, my nephew?" said Concobar.

  "I have heard nothing," said the lad.

  Concobar opened the great folding-doors. There was a sound there likeglad voices mingled with a roar of revolving wheels, and then silence.Setanta drew back in dismay, and even Concobar stood still. "I have notobserved such portents before in the chariot-house," he said. The Kingand his nephew entered the hollow chamber. The chariot was motionlessbut very bright. One would have said that the bronze burned. It was ofgreat size and beauty. By its side were two horse-stalls with racksand mangers, the bars of the rack were of gold bronze which was calledfindruiney, and the mangers of yellow brass. The floor was paved withcut marble, the walls lined with smooth boards of ash. There were nowindows, but there were nine lamps in the room. "It will be thy duty tofeed those lamps," said Concobar.

  Concobar took the fawn-skin towel from the boy and polished the chariot,and the wheels, tyres, and boxes, and the wheel-spokes. He oiled thewheels too, and mightily lifting the great chariot seized the spokeswith his right hand and made the wheels spin.

  "Go now to the chamber of which I have given thee the keys," he said,"and bring the buckets, and clear out the mangers to the last grain,and empty the stale barley into the place of the burning, and afterwardstake fresh barley from the bin which is in the chamber and fill themangers. Empty the racks also and bring fresh hay. Thou wilt find itstored there too; clean straw also and litter the horse-stalls."

  The boy did that. In the meantime Concobar polished the pole, and theyoke, and the chains. From the wall he took the head-gear of the horsesand the long shining reins of interwoven brass and did the same verycarefully till there was not a speck of rust or discolouration to beseen.

  "Where are the horses, my Uncle Concobar?" said the boy.

  "That I cannot rightly tell," said Concobar, "but verily they aresomewhere."

  "What are those horses?" said the boy. "How are they called? What theirattributes, and why do I fill their racks and mangers?"

  "They are the Liath Macha and Black Shanglan," said Concobar. "They havenot been seen in Erin for three hundred years, not since Macha dweltvisibly in Emain as the bride of Kimbaoth, son of Fiontann. In thischariot she went forth to war, charioteering her warlike groom. But theyare to come again for the promised one and bear him to battle and toconflict in this chariot, and the time is not known but the King ofEmain is under gesa [Footnote: Terrible druidic obligations.] to keepthe chariot bright and the racks and mangers furnished with fresh hay,and barley two years old. He is to wait, and watch, and stand preparedunder gesa most terrible."

  "Maybe Kimbaoth will return to us again," said the boy.

  "Nay, it hath not been so prophesied," answered the King. "He was great,and stern, and formidable. But our promised one is gentle exceedingly.He will not know his own greatness, and his nearest comrades will notknow it, and there will be more of love in his heart than war." Sosaying Concobar looked steadfastly upon the boy.

  "Conall Carnach is as famous for love as for war," said Setanta. "Heis peerless in beauty, and his strength and courage are equal to hiscomeliness, and his chivalry and battle-splendour to his strength."

  "Nay, lad, it is not Conall Carnach, though the women of Ulla sicken anddroop for the love of him. Verily, it is not Conall Carnach."

  Setanta examined curiously the great war-car.

  "Was Kimbaoth assisting his wife," he asked, "when she took captive thesons of Dithorba?"

  "Nay," said the King, "she went forth alone and crossed the Shannonwith one step into the land of the Fir-bolgs, and there, one by one, shebound those builder-giants the sons of Dithorba, and bore them hither inher might, and truly those five brethren were no small load for the backof one woman."

  "Has anyone seen her in our time?" asked the lad.

  "I have," said Concobar. "I saw her at the great fair of Tailteen. Thereshe pronounced a curse upon me and upon the Red Branch. [Footnote: AtTailteen a man boasted that his wife could outrun Concobar's victoriouschariot-steeds. Concobar compelled the woman to run against his horses.She won the race, but died at the goal leaving her curse upon the RedBranch.] The curse hath not yet fallen, but it will fall in my time,and the promised one will come in my time and he will redeem us from itspower. Great tribulation will be his. Question me no more, dear Setanta,I have said more than enough."

  They went forth from the sacred chamber and Concobar locked the doors.

  As they crossed the vacant space going to the palace, Concobar said--

  "Why art thou sad, dear Setanta?"

  "I am not sad," answered the boy.

  "Truly there is no sadness in thy face, or thy lips, in thy voice or thybehaviour, but it is deep down in thine eyes," said the King. "I see itthere always."

  Setanta laughed lightly. "I know it not," he said.

  Concobar went his way after that, musing, and Setanta, having replacedthe sacred vessels in their chamber and having locked the door, strodeaway into the boys' hall. There was a great fire in the midst, and theboys sat round it, for it was cold. Cuculain broke their circle, pushingthe boys asunder, and sat down. They tried to drag him away, buthe laughed and kept his place like a rock. Then they called him "aFomorian, and no man," and perforce made their circle wider.