The Coming of Cuculain Page 3

  CHAPTER I

  THE RED BRANCH

  "There were giants in the earth in those days, the same were mighty men which were of yore men of renown."

  The Red Branch feasted one night in their great hall at Emain Macha.So vast was the hall that a man, such as men are now, standing inthe centre and shouting his loudest, would not be heard at thecircumference, yet the low laughter of the King sitting at one end wasclearly audible to those who sat around the Champion at the other. Thesons of Dithorba made it, giants of the elder time, labouring thereunder the brazen shoutings of Macha and the roar of her sounding thongs.Its length was a mile and nine furlongs and a cubit. With her brooch pinshe ploughed its outline upon the plain, and its breadth was not muchless. Trees such as the earth nourished then upheld the massy roofbeneath which feasted that heroic brood, the great-hearted children ofRury, huge offspring of the gods and giants of the dawn of time. Formighty exceedingly were these men. At the noise of them running tobattle all Ireland shook, and the illimitable Lir [Footnote: Lir was thesea-god, the Oceanns of the Celt; no doubt the same as the British Lear,the wild, white-headed old king, who had such singular daughters; two,monsters of cruelty, and one, exquisitely sweet, kind, and serene, viz.:Storm, Hurricane, and Calm.] trembled in his watery halls; the roar oftheir brazen chariots reverberated from the solid canopy of heaven, andtheir war-steeds drank rivers dry.

  A vast murmur rose from the assembly, for like distant thunder or thefar-off murmuring of agitated waters was the continuous hum of theirblended conversation and laughter, while, ever and anon, cleaving themany-tongued confusion, uprose friendly voices, clearer and strongerthan battle-trumpets, when one hero challenged another to drink, wishinghim victory and success, and his words rang round the hollow dome.Innumerable candles, tall as spears, illuminated the scene. The eyesof the heroes sparkled, and their faces, white and ruddy, beamed withfestal mirth and mutual affection. Their yellow hair shone. Theirbanqueting attire, white and scarlet, glowed against the outer gloom.Their round brooches and mantle-pins of gold, or silver, or goldenbronze, their drinking vessels and instruments of festivity, flashed andglittered in the light. They rejoiced in their glory and their might,and in the inviolable amity in which they were knit together, a hostof comrades, a knot of heroic valour and affection which no strength orcunning, and no power, seen or unseen, could ever relax or untie.

  At one extremity of the vast hall, upon a raised seat, sat their youngking, Concobar Mac Nessa, slender, handsome, and upright. A canopyof bronze, round as the bent sling of the Sun-god, the long-handed,far-shooting son of Ethlend, [Footnote: This was the god Lu Lam-fada,i.e., Lu, the Long-Handed. The rainbow was his sling. Remember thatthe rod sling, familiar enough now to Irish boys, was the weapon of theancient Irish, and not the sling which is made of two cords.] encircledhis head. At his right hand lay a staff of silver. Far away at the otherend of the hall, on a raised seat, sat the Champion Fergus Mac Roy,like a colossus. The stars and clouds of night were round his head andshoulders seen through the wide and high entrance of the dun, whosedoors no man had ever seen closed and barred. Aloft, suspended from thedim rafters, hung the naked forms of great men clear against the darkdome, having the cords of their slaughter around their necks and theirwhite limbs splashed with blood. Kings were they who had murmuredagainst the sovereignty of the Red Branch. Through the wide doorwayout of the night flew a huge bird, black and grey, unseen, and soaringupwards sat upon the rafters, its eyes like burning fire. It wasthe Mor-Reega, [Footnote: There were three war goddesses:--(1) Badb(pronounced Byve); (2) Macha, already referred to; (3) The Mor-Riguor Mor-Reega, who was the greatest of the three.] or Great Queen, thefar-striding terrible daughter of Iarnmas (Iron-Death). Her voice waslike the shouting of ten thousand men. Dear to her were these heroes.More she rejoiced in them feasting than in the battle-prowess of therest.

  When supper was ended their bard, in his singing robes and girt aroundthe temples with a golden fillet, stood up and sang. He sang how once aking of the Ultonians, having plunged into the sea-depths, there slew amonster which had wrought much havoc amongst fishers and seafaring men.The heroes attended to his song, leaning forward with bright eyes. Theyapplauded the song and the singer, and praised the valour of the heroicman [Footnote: This was Fergus Mac Leda, Fergus, son of Leda, one of themore ancient kings of Ulster. His contest with the sea-monster is thetheme of a heroic tale.] who had done that deed. Then the championstruck the table with his clenched hand, and addressed the assembly.Wrath and sorrow were in his voice. It resembled the brool of lionsheard afar by seafaring men upon some savage shore on a still night.

  "Famous deeds," he said, "are not wrought now amongst the Red Branch.I think we are all become women. I grow weary of these huntings in themorning and mimic exercises of war, and this training of steeds andcareering of brazen chariots stained never with aught but dust and mire,and these unearned feastings at night and vain applause of the bravedeeds of our forefathers. Come now, let us make an end of this. Let usconquer Banba [Footnote: One of Ireland's many names.] wholly in all hergreen borders, and let the realms of Lir, which sustain no foot ofman, be the limit of our sovereignty. Let us gather the tributes of allIreland, after many battles and much warlike toil. Then more sweetlyshall we drink while the bards chaunt our own prowess. Once I knew acoward who boasted endlessly about his forefathers, and at last my angerrose, and with a flat hand I slew him in the middle of his speech, andpaid no eric, for he was nothing. We have the blood of heroes in ourveins, and we sit here nightly boasting about them; about Rury, whosename we bear, being all his children; and Macha the warrioress, whobrought hither bound the sons of Dithorba and made them rear this mightydun; and Combat son of Fiontann; and my namesake Fergus,[Footnote: Thiswas the king already referred to who slew the sea-monster. The monsterhad left upon him that mark and memorial of the struggle.] whose crookedmouth was no dishonour, and the rest of our hero sires; and we consumethe rents and tributes of Ulster which they by their prowess conqueredto us, and which flow hither in abundance from every corner of theprovince. Valiant men, too, will one day come hither and slay us as Islew that boaster, and here in Emain Macha their bards will praise them.Then in the halls of the dead shall we say to our sires, 'All that yougot for us by your blood and your sweat that have we lost, and the gloryof the Red Branch is at an end.'"

  That speech was pleasing to the Red Branch, and they cried out thatFergus Mac Roy had spoken well. Then all at once, on a sudden impulse,they sang the battle-song of the Ultonians, and shouted for the warso that the building quaked and rocked, and in the hall of the weaponsthere was a clangour of falling shields, and men died that night forextreme dread, so mightily shouted the Ultonians around their king andaround Fergus. When the echoes and reverberations of that shout ceasedto sound in the vaulted roof and in the far recesses and galleries, thenthere arose somewhere upon the night a clear chorus of treble voices,singing, too, the war-chant of the Ultonians, as when rising out of theclangour of brazen instruments of music there shrills forth the clearsound of fifes. For the immature scions of the Red Branch, boys andtender youths, awakened out of slumber, heard them, and from remotedormitories responded to their sires, and they cried aloud together andshouted. The trees of Ulster shed their early leaves and buds at thatshout, and birds fell dead from the branches.

  Concobar struck the brazen canopy with his silver rod. The smitten brassrang like a bell, and the Ultonians in silence hearkened for the wordsof their clear-voiced king.

  "No ruler of men," he said, "however masterful and imperious, couldwithstand this torrent of martial ardour which rolls to-night throughthe souls of the children of Rury, still less I, newly come to this highthrone, having been but as it were yesterday your comrade and equal,till Fergus, to my grief, resigned the sovereignty, and caused me, aboy, to be made king of Ulla and captain of the Red Branch. But nowI say, ere we consider what province or territory shall first see theembattled Red Branch cross her borders, let us enquire of Cathvah theArd-Dr
uid, whether the omens be propitious, and whether through his arthe is able to reveal to us some rite to be performed or prohibition tobe observed."

  That proposal was not pleasing to Fergus, but it pleased the Red Branch,and they praised the wisdom of their king.

  Then Cathvah the Ard-Druid [Footnote: High Druid, or Chief Druid.Similarly we have Ard-Ri or High King.] spake.

  "It hath been foretold," he said, "long since, that the Ultonians shallwin glory such as never was and never will be, and that their fame shallendure till the world's end. But, first, there are prophecies to beaccomplished and predictions to be fulfilled. For ere these things maybe there shall come a child to Emain Macha, attended by clear portentsfrom the gods; through him shall arise our deathless fame. Also it hathbeen foretold that there shall be great divisions and fratricidal strifeamongst the children of Rury, a storm of war which shall strip the RedBranch nigh bare."

  Fergus was wroth at this, and spoke words of scorn concerning thediviner, and concerning all omens, prohibitions, and prophecies.Concobar, too, and all the Red Branch, rebuked the prophet. Yet he stoodagainst them like a rock warred on by winds which stand immovable, letthem rage as they will, and refused to take back his words. Then saidConcobar:

  "Many are the prophecies which came wandering down upon the mouthsof men, but they are not all to be trusted alike. Of those which havepassed thy lips, O Cathvah, we utterly reject the last, and think theless of thee for having reported it. But the former which concerns thechild of promise hath been ever held a sure prophecy, and as such passeddown through all the diviners from the time of Amargin, the son ofMilesius, who first prophesied for the Gael. And now being arch-king ofthe Ultonians, I command thee to divine for us when the coming of thechild shall be."

  Then Cathvah, the Ard-Druid, put on his divining apparel and took hisdivining instruments in his hands, and made his symbols of power uponthe air. And at first he was silent, and, being in a trance, stared outbefore him with wide eyes full of wonder and amazement, directinghis gaze to the east. In the end he cried out with a loud voice, andprophesying, sang this lay:

  "Yea, he is coming. He draweth nigh. Verily It is he whom I behold-- The predicted one--the child of many prophecies-- Chief flower of the Branch that is over all-- The mainstay of Emaiti Macha--the battle-prop of the Ultonians-- The torch of the valour and chivalry of the North-- The star that is to shine for ever upon the forehead of the Gael. It is he who slumbers upon Slieve Fuad-- The child who is like a star-- Like a star upon Slieve Fuad. There is a light around him never kindled at the hearth of Lu, The Grey of Macha keeps watch and ward for him,

  [Footnote: Madia's celebrated grey war-steed. The meaning of the allusion will be understood presently.]

  And the whole mountain is filled with the Tuatha de Danan."

  [Footnote: These were the gods of the pagan Irish. Tuatha=nations, De=gods, Danan=of Dana. So it means the god nations sprung from Dana also called Ana. She is referred to in an ancient Irish Dictionary as Mater deorurn Hibernensium.]

  Then his vision passed from the Druid, he raised up his long white handsand gave thanks to the high gods of Erin that he had lived to see thisday.

  When Cathvah had made an end of speaking there was a great silence inthe hall.