The Coming of Cuculain Read online

  CHAPTER V

  THE NEW BOY

  "I to surrender, to fling away this! So owned by God and Man! sowitnessed to! I had rather be rolled into my grave and buried withinfamy."--Battle-chaunt of a hero of the Saxons.

  Once, struck sideways out of the press, the ball bounded into a clearspace not far from Setanta. "Thou of the Javelins," cried the captainof the distressed party, "the ball is with thee." He roared mightily atSetanta. On a sudden Setanta, filled with all the glow and ardour of themimic battle, cast his javelins to the ground, slipped the strap of hisshield over his head, flung the shield beside his javelins on the grassand pursued the bounding ball. He out-ran the rest and took possessionof the ball. Now to the right he urged it, now to the left. He played itdeftly before every opponent who sought to check his career, and swiftlyand cunningly carried it past each of these, and finally with a clearloud stroke sent it straight as a sling-bolt through the middle of thenorth goal. The boys of his adopted party shouted, and they praised hisplaying and that final victorious stroke. Setanta went back after thatand stood by himself near the south goal. His face was flushed and hiseyes sparkled, and he himself trembled with joy, yet was he not in theleast exhausted or out of breath.

  The captain of the northern company came down with his boys and all theboys who were chief in authority, and they surrounded Setanta and said,"Thou art here a stranger and on sufferance. We know thee not, but thouart a good hurler and not otherwise, as we think, unmeet to bear uscompany. Receive now our protection, and we will divide the sides againwith a new division and continue the game, for thou art very swift andtruly expert in the use of thy hurle."

  The boys regulated all things according to the laws and customs of theirelders. And everywhere it was the custom that the weak should acceptthe protection of the strong and submit themselves to their command.So slaves received masters, so runaways and fugitives got to themselveslords, and sheltered themselves under their protection and paid dues.Setanta's brow fell, and he answered, "Put not upon me, I pray you,these hard terms. I would be your friend and comrade, I cannot be yoursubject being what I am."

  And they said, "Who art thou?"

  And he answered, "I am the son of Dectera of Dun Dalgan, and nephew ofthe king."

  Then the boy who was captain of the whole school, and the biggest andstrongest, stood over him, and said--

  "Thou, the king's nephew! the son of Sualtam and Dectera of Dun Dalgan!and comest hither without chariots and horsemen and a prince's retinueand guard. Nay, thou art a churl and a liar to boot, and hie thee hencenow with wings at thy heels or verily with sore blows I shall beat theeoff the lawn."

  Thereat the blood forsook thy face, O Setanta, O peerless one, and thoustoodest like a still figure carved out of white marble, with the pallorof death in thy immortal face. But that other, indignant to see himstand as one both deaf and dumb, and mistaking his pallor for fear,raised his hurle and struck with all his might at the boy. Setantasprang back avoiding the blow, and ere the other could recover himself,struck him back-handed over the right ear, whose knees were suddenlyrelaxed and the useless weapon shaken from his hands. Then some stoodaside, but the rest ran upon Setanta to beat him off the lawn and struckat him all together, as well as they could, for their numbers impededthem, and fiercely the stranger defended himself, and many a shrewdstroke he delivered upon his enemies, for the slumbering war-spirit now,for the first time, had awaked in his gentle heart. Many times he wasoverborne and flung to the ground, but again he arose overthrowingothers, never quitting hold of his hurle, and, whenever he got a freespace, grasping that weapon like a war-mace in both hands, he struckdown his foes. The skirts of his mantle were torn, only a rag remainedround his shoulders, fastened by the brooch; he was covered with blood,his own and his enemies', and his eyes were like burning fire. ThenConall Carna being enraged ran towards the boys, meaning to rebuketheir cowardice and with his strong hands hurl them asunder and save thestranger boy. There was not a knight in all Ireland those days who lovedbattle-fairness better than Conall Carna. Truly he was the pure-burningtorch of the chivalry of the Ultonians in his time. But as he ran onewithheld him and a voice crying "Forbear" rang in his ears. Yet he sawno man. He stood still, being astonished, and became aware thatthis tumult was divinely guided, for as in a trance he saw and heardmarvellous things. For the war-steeds of the Ultonians neighed loudlyin their stables, and from the Tec Brac, the Speckled House of the RedBranch, rose a clangour of brass, the roar of the shield called Ocean,and the booming of the Gate-of-Battle, and the singing of swords longsilent, and the brazen thunder of the revolution of wheels; and he sawstrange forms and faces in the air, and the steady sun dancing in theheavens, and a man standing beside the stranger whose face was likethe sun. The son of Amargin saw and heard all, for he was a seer and aprophet no less than a warrior. But meantime his battle-fury descendedupon Setanta, his countenance was distraught and his strength wasmultiplied tenfold, and the steam of his war-madness rose above him. Hestaggered to no blow, but every boy whom he struck fell, and he chargedthis way and that, and wherever he went they opened before him. Thenseeing how they closed in behind him and on each side, he beat hisway back to the grassy rampart in which was the goal, and, facing hisenemies, bade them come against him again in their troops, many againstone. "You have offered me your protection," he said, "and I would notendure it, but now I swear to you by all my gods that you and I donot part this day till you have accepted my protection, or till I liewithout life on this lawn a trophy of your prowess and a monument of thechivalry and hospitality of the Red Branch." Then a boy stood out fromthe rest. He was freckled, and with red hair, and his voice was loud andfierce.

  "Thou shalt have a comrade in thy battle henceforward," he said,"O brave stranger. On the banks of the Nemnich, [Footnote: Now theNanny-Water, a beautiful stream running from Tara to the sea.] where itsprings beneath my father's dun on the Hill of Gabra, nigh Tara, I met aprophetess; Acaill is her name, the wisest of all women; and I askedher who would be my life-friend. And she answered, 'I see him standingagainst a green wall at Emain Macha, at bay, with the blood and soil ofbattle upon him, and alone he gives challenge to a multitude. He is thylife-friend, O Laeg,' she said, 'and no man ever had a friend like himor will till the end of time.'"

  So saying he ran to Setanta, and kneeling down he took him by his righthand, and said, "I am thy man from this day forward." And after that hearose and kissed him, and standing by his side cried, "O Cumascra MendMacha, O stammering son of Concobar, if ever I was a shield to theeagainst thy mockers, come hither; and thou too come O Art Storm-Ear, andthou Art of the Shadow, and thou O Fionn of the Songs, and you O Ide andSheeling, who were nursed at the same breast and knee with myself." Sohe summoned to him his friends, and they came to him, and there came tohim, uninvited, the three sons of Fergus and others whose hearts werestirred with shame or ruth. Yet, indeed, they were few compared withthe multitude of his enemies. Then for the first time the boy's soul wasconfused, and he cried aloud, and bowed his head between his hands, andthe hot tears gushed forth like rain from his eyes, mingled with blood.Soon, hearing the loud mockery and derisive laughter of his enemies, hehardened his heart and went out against them with these his friends, anddrove them over the whole course of the playing-ground, and, hard bythe north goal, he brake the battle upon them and they fled. Of thefugitives some ran round the King and the Champion where they sat,but Setanta running straight sprang lightly over the chess table. ThenConcobar, reaching forth his left hand, caught him by the wrist andbrought him to a stand, panting and with dilated eyes.

  "Why art thou so enraged?" said the King, "and why dost thou so maltreatmy boys?"

  It was a long time before the boy answered, so furiously burned thebattle-fire within him, so that the King repeated his question more thanonce. At last he made answer--

  "Because they have not treated me with the respect due a stranger."

  "Who art thou thyself?" said the King.

  "I am Setanta, son
of Sualtam and of Dectera thy own sister, and it isnot before my uncle's palace that I should be dishonoured."

  Concobar smiled, for he was well pleased with the appearance andbehaviour of the boy, but Fergus caught him up in his great arms andkissed him, and he said--

  "Dost thou know me, O Setanta?"

  "I think thou art Fergus Mac Roy," he answered.

  "Wilt thou have me for thy tutor?" said Fergus.

  "Right gladly," answered Setanta. "For in that hope too I left DunDalgan, coming hither secretly without the knowledge of my parents."

  This was the first martial exploit of Setanta, who is also calledCuculain, and the reward of this his first battle was that the boys athis uncle's school elected him to be for their captain, and one and allthey put themselves under his protection. And a gentle captain made hewhen the war-spirit went out of him, and a good play-fellow and comradewas Setanta amongst his new friends.

  That night Setanta and Laeg slept in the same bed of healing after thephysicians had dressed their wounds; and they related many things toeach other, and oft times they kissed one another with great affection,till sweet sleep made heavy their eyelids.

  So, impelled by the unseen, Setanta came to Emain Macha without theknowledge of his parents, but in fulfilment of the law, for at a certainage all the boys of the Ultonians should come thither to associate therewith their equals and superiors, and be instructed by appointed tutorsin the heroic arts of war and the beautiful arts of peace. Concobar MacNessa was not only King of Ulster and captain of the Red Branch, but wasalso the head and chief of a great school. In this school the boys didnot injure their eyesight and impair their health by poring over books;nor were compelled to learn what they could not understand; nor wereinstructed by persons whom they did not wish to resemble. Theywere taught to hurl spears at a mark; to train war-horses and guidewar-chariots; to lay on with the sword and defend themselves with swordand shield; to cast the hand-stone of the warrior--a great art in thosedays; to run, to leap, and to swim; to rear tents of turf and branchesswiftly, and to roof them with sedge and rushes; to speak appropriatelywith equals and superiors and inferiors, and to exhibit the beautifulpractices of hospitality according to the rank of guests, whether kings,captains, warriors, bards or professional men, or unknown wayfarers; andto play at chess and draughts, which were the chief social pastimesof the age; and to drink and be merry in hall, but always withoutintoxication; and to respect their plighted word and be ever loyal totheir captains; to reverence women, remembering always those who borethem and suckled when they were themselves helpless and of no account;to be kind to the feeble and unwarlike; and, in short, all that itbecame brave men to feel and to think and to do in war and in peace.Also there were those who taught them the history of their ancestors,the great names of the Clanna Rury, and to distinguish between those whohad done well and those who had not done so well, and the few who haddone ill. And these their several instructors appointed by ConcobarMac Nessa and the council of his wise men were famous captains of theUltonians, and approved bards and historians. And over all the high kingof Ulster, Concobar Mac Nessa, was chief and president, not in nameonly but in fact, being well aware of all the instructors and all theinstructed, and who was doing well and exhibiting heroic traits, and whowas doing ill, tending downwards to the vast and slavish multitude whoseoffice was to labour and to serve and in no respect to bear rule,which is for ever the office of the multitude in whose souls no god haskindled the divine fire by which the lamp of the sun, and the candlesof the stars, and the glory and prosperity of nations are sustained andfed. Such, and so supervised, was the Royal School of Emain Macha in thedays when Concobar Mac Nessa was King, and when Fergus Mac Roy Champion,and when the son of Sualtam, not yet known by his rightful name, was apupil of the same and under tutors and governors like the rest, thoughhis fond mother would have evaded the law, for she loved him dearly,and feared for him the rude companionship and the stern discipline, theearly rising and the strong labours of the great school.