W. B. Yeats

“ If you are not noble.
A KING.
Answer the High King.
YOUNG MAN.
(Drawing his sword.)
I will give no other proof than the hawk gives
That it’s no sparrow.
(He is silent a moment then speaks to all.)
Yet look upon me, Kings;
I too am of that ancient seed and carry
The signs about this body and in these bones.
CUCHULLAIN.
To have shown the hawk’s grey feather is enough
And you speak highly too.
(Cuchullain comes down from his great chair. He remains standing on the steps of the chair. The young Kings gather about him and begin to arm him.) ”

“ FINTAIN.
He sees King Concobar’s crown on every one of them.
BARACH.
There, he has struck at a big one. He has struck the crown off it, he has made the foam fly. There again another big one. (Shouting without.)
FINTAIN.
Where are the Kings? What are the Kings doing?
BARACH.
They are shouting and running down to the shore, and the people are running out of the houses, they are all running.
FINTAIN.
You say they are running out of the houses, there will be nobody left in the houses. Listen, fool. ”

“ CUCHULLAIN.
No, turn and turn about
But my turn is first, because I am the older.
Cliodna embroidered these bird wings, but Fand
Made all these little golden eyes with the hairs
That she had stolen out of Aengus’ beard,
And therefore none that has this cloak about him
Is crossed in love. The heavy inlaid brooch
That Buan hammered has a merit too.
(He begins spreading the cloak out on a bench, showing it to the Young Man. Suddenly Concobar beats with his silver rod on a pillar beside his chair. All turn towards him.)
CONCOBAR.
(In a loud voice.) ”

“ There are a great many Queens there who can change themselves into wolves and into swine and into white hares, and when they are in their own shapes they are stronger than almost any man; and there are young men there who have cat’s eyes and if a bird chirrup or a mouse squeak they cannot keep them shut even though it is bedtime and they sleepy; and listen, for this is a great wonder, a very great wonder, there is a long narrow bridge, and when anybody goes to cross it, that the Queens do not like, it flies up as this bench would if you were to sit on the end of it. ”

“ There is a great ale vat at one side near a small door, & a large door at the back through which one can see the sea. Barach, a tall thin man with long ragged hair, dressed in skins, comes in at the side door. He is leading Fintain, a fat blind man, who is somewhat older.
35
BARACH.
I will shut the door, for this wind out of the sea gets into my bones, and if I leave but an inch for the wind there is one like a flake of sea-frost that might come into the house.
FINTAIN.
What is his name, fool?
BARACH.
It’s a woman from among the Riders of the Sidhe. It’s Boann herself from the river. ”

“ BARACH.
It is a fine fowl. It was the biggest in the yard.
FINTAIN.
It had a good smell, but I hope that the wild dogs have not smelt it. (Voices are heard outside the door at the side.) Here is our master. Let us stay and talk with him. Perhaps Cuchullain will give you a new cap with a feather. He told me that he would give you a new cap with a feather, a feather with an eye that looks at you, a peacock’s feather.
BARACH.
No, no. (He begins pulling Fintain towards the door.)
FINTAIN.
If you do not get it now, you may never get it, for the young man may kill him. ”

“ Lie there till the Kings come. O, I will tell Concobar and Cuchullain and all the Kings about you!
FINTAIN.
What would have happened to you but for me, and you without your wits. If I did not take 75 care of you what would you do for food and warmth!
BARACH.
You take care of me? You stay safe and send me into every kind of danger. You sent me down the cliff for gull’s eggs while you warmed your blind eyes in the sun. And then you ate all that were good for food. You left me the eggs that were neither egg nor bird. (The blind man tries to rise. Barach makes him lie down again.) ”

“ Being childless do not know it. Come nearer yet;
Though he is ringing that old silver rod
We’ll have our own talk out. They cannot hear us.
56
(Concobar who is now seated in his great chair, opposite Cuchullain, beats upon the pillar of the house that is nearest to him with a rod of silver, till the Kings have become silent. Cuchullain alone continues to talk in a low voice to those about him, but not so loud as to disturb the silence. Concobar rises and speaks standing.) ”

“ FINTAIN.
Listen to him now! That’s the sort of talk I have to put up with day out day in. (The fool is 79 putting the feathers into his hair. Cuchullain takes a handful of feathers out of the heap and out of the fool’s hair and begins to wipe the blood from his sword with them.)
BARACH.
He has taken my feathers to wipe his sword. It is blood that he is wiping from his sword! ”

“ What wood is best for building, we can talk
Of a fierce woman.
(Concobar, a man much older than Cuchullain, has come in through the great door at the back. He has many Kings about him. One of these Kings, Daire, a stout old man, is somewhat drunk.) ”

“ CUCHULLAIN.
Out, I say, out, out!
Sword upon sword.
(He goes towards the door at back, followed by Young Man. He turns on 73 the threshold and cries out, looking at the Young Man.)
That hair my hands were drowned in!
(He goes out, followed by Young Man. The other Kings begin to follow them out.)
A KING.
I saw him fight with Ferdiad.
SECOND KING.
We’ll be too late
They’re such a long time getting through the door.
THIRD KING.
Run quicker, quicker.
DAIRE.
I was at the Smith’s
When he that was the boy Setanta then—
(Sound of fighting outside.) ”

“ FINTAIN.
(Who is being led along very slowly and unwillingly.)
Yes, I have a good head. The fowl should be done just right, but one never knows when a wild dog may come out of the woods.
(They go out through the big door at the back. As they go out Cuchullain & certain young Kings come in at the side door. Cuchullain though still young is a good deal older than the others. They are all very gaily dressed, and have their hair fastened with balls of gold. The young men crowd about Cuchullain with wondering attention.) ”

“ He goes to the back of stage to welcome a company of Kings who come in through the great door. The other Kings gradually get into their places. Cuchullain sits in his great chair with certain of the young men standing around him. Others of the young men, however, remain with Daire at the ale vat. Daire holds out the horn 54 of ale to one or two of the older Kings as they pass him going to their places. ”

“ Everybody who goes there to learn skill 44 in arms has to cross it. It was in that country too that Cuchullain got his spear made out of dragon bones. There were two dragons fighting in the foam of the sea, & their grandam was the moon, and six Queens came along the shore. ”

“ And fought with giants.
(They gather about the ale vat and begin to drink.)
48
CUCHULLAIN.
Who was it that went out?
THIRD YOUNG KING.
As we came in?
CUCHULLAIN.
Yes.
THIRD YOUNG KING.
Barach and blind Fintain.
CUCHULLAIN.
They always flock together ”

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