The Wisdom Of The King
The Wisdom Of The King
men of law, doubts that he had reasoned
less beautiful than the bright cloth woven
birds; or of Len, the goldsmith, from
the salley bushes which hid the waters
you make me sin against the sccrecy
of the Plain of Towers, who had but a
dingy feathers into your beautiful hair, and
unlike the women of his land; but Dana,
back the bolt, and a grey-clad woman, of
gathered about the cradle, and were as
might bid him obey the law, and call Eocha
away, his own continual solitude; and he
blood. Yet all were resolved that he
When the crones were gone, the nurse
verse, live according to your kind, and call
its light, for it and the hail and the rain
to find what they had loved less lovable
poor. I~vcrythillg had becn well, but
different ways, but all into vague regret.
lived in a hut of mud and wicker, within
but had lost them because of a sin com-
great wood, and this was their song:
when they heard him praise it and their
never sat at the board, or listened to the
lands his words seemed far off, and what
tinctions between things long held the
him become the master himself before
whose cauldron is never empty; or of Lir,
and begin their labour anew; how the
to wear the feathers of the grey hawk
another the feathers of the grey hawk,
looked at them.
he had taught them how little a hair
hearts, and made all kindly joys and traffic
chief warriors went with her to the hut and
their voices were now tender and caressing,
to wander into the country round about.
firelight that the feathers of the grey hawk
Are true till Time gutter away.
mist, fall upon the lips of the child; and
she half consented, and yet half refused,
child had already seen that those about
long, for no one had seen so wise a
When the child was seven years old
He then came down among them, and
came to him in dreams, and with dis-
child was put to nurse, with a woman who
matters weighed and considered. The
he would learn the truth when he began
of cattle, or about the pcnalty of blood;
all that the bird of prey upon the throne
may sleep easy o nights; and then the
mixed into his blood. And she Scratched
the dun of t九-九-藏-书-网he High-King, and cried out
Long have man and woman-kind
but, alas, when they returned to their own
upon the floor, passed out, and none dared
to follow him, for his eyes gleamed like
passed out into the darkness. Then the
When the song had died out, the crone
who had served no cause, but wrought in
of the great wood. In terror she drew
subtle to help thcm to live out their hasty
for the welfare of man, but wisdom the
whose children wail upon the waters; or
sit upon the throne; and as a grey hawk
now that I have plucked away the feathers
and they sent men with nets and slings,
and prayed for pardon, and he stooped
Woods had died in child-birth, and her
and then another and another and another,
in the Island of Woods; and still she was
woman, not less old than the other, and
common mind, to reign in his stead.
in a low thin voice: Sisters, I knew him
with strange and subtle thoughts which
forms. They stood a long time in
in the dun of the High-King a mile away;
her arm with the sharp point of a spindle,
courtesy, for none knew that these matters
which she had made the nurse bring to
he hoped, for he could not believe that a
great horror. He called her to him when
that the gods might grant him wisdom
third grey woman, and after her a fourth,
and stood by the first. In a little, came a
~ There was a tall young man in the
the countries round about to gather a suf-
the shape of Fair-brows, who dwells, as a
the poets and the men of law were called
own consuming solitude.
about the household of the gods and the
should reign, for they had suffered much
of gaiety to know what a dreadful being
of Angus, whose kisses were changed into
in their hair. While they listened to him
word: Sisters, I knew him because his
henceforth with the dark and dreadful god-
equal to his beauty. There came a knock
them, doubtful words of his poets and his
frankly as though she were a fablc of the
and the night was now late. Who is
the child slept, and the fire danced, for the
little king who lived a great way off; and
People from under the Sea; and how the
his silver skin; and then another spoke:
low, musical voice he loved九*九*藏*书*网 answered:
died fighting against the People of the Bag;
new law commanding every one upon pain
the silver cords. And after that they Bang
of law about him, stood upon the dais
and the king and his poets and men of law,
it was not possible to think of one in whose
Out of sight is out of mind:
was a wild thing of the air which had
perfect silence and stillness, for they were
in wrestling and in the training of horses;
came to her courage again, and hurried to
when he saw her he loved, for shc was
ently afterwards, but their new life was
cords; and then another took up the
voice. They came from among the salley
mear of a territory, or about the straying
gods have made, and no man shall live by
the name of the Child, but looked to see
~)ana: and still she half refused, and still
now like the wind blowing in the
the bolts for trembling, and another grey
yielding and withholding. He laid down
from foolish kings and their own disorders,
dreams that filled his mind like the
great Moods arc alonc immortal, and the;
watch over his ncst in the darkness of the
for she longed to marry some warrior who
of those whom the dropping of the sand
the king remembered many things that
the wall, unable to take her eyes from the
strode into the hall of assembly, and
woman, for she saw by the gleaming of the
rising and setting in those desolate
beautiful~ with a strange and pale beauty
one was too ignorant and the other too full
kind and mirthful Children of Dana drove
not, had bent over the child that night;
My hair is not beautiful like yours; and
~ for I am a crone of the grey hawk, and I
out the huge and gloomy and misshapen
of death to mingle by a subtlety of art the
that was but as the heart of others, and
the border of the wood. One night the
the spectacle of his days; and no one had
together by the chief poet, and all these
thus, and thus; for it casts no shadow of
and one day when the king walked in
shown them greater purposes; and numbers
too full of gaiety to know how great the
answered, ` Open! for I am a crone of the
and the forest, he heard his voice among
the laws of Eri ? Men of verse, why did
mirrors.
towar九-九-藏-书-网ds the dun without a word. He
bushes and threw themselves at his feet
drew out of the hair of first one and then
and, having scattered them over the rushes
of law, why did you make me sin against
stood there. Open ! cried another voice,
salmon, in the floods; or of the Dagda,
him her love, for he was only subtle in his
words that became like a fire in their
frontiers~ who compelled all that came,
grey hawk had begun to grow in the childs
boyhood into manhood, and from being
dew; or of some other of the children of
days, but for an ancient law of Eri that
none who had any blemish of body could
over you, for I set out to find my kindred.
them had long served a good cause, but
long held different. Multitudes came from
were upon her head instead of hair. But
were hidden from him, by thoughts and
his pink eyelids or the firc ceascd to dance,
marching and counter-marching of armies.
for as yet the bow was not invented, into
grey hawk, and I come from the darkness
his words seemed to make all darkness
tinually, it needed but a little while and
hate them for making you weave these
mitted by their forefathers, they knew that
told him that they too had had feathers
common heart.
hair of the woman and then turned away
Far less could any know that his heart
advice; but this was held to be from
the cradle. The nurse shrank back against
and the thunder follow a way that is deadly
of the young, when they had heard him
arms. Day by day the king gave her
they could remember too strange and
over the beauty of the child, and praying
After much consideration they decreed a
for the one was too ignorant, and the other
terror and darkness upon my heart. Then
heart sang like a bird that had forgotten
between man and man as nothing, and went
ficiency of feathers. They decreed also
he had forgotten without understanding
I will put my hands through it, thus, and
men; and all women, who, indeed, talked
child, and tales of his endless questions
Taken away our wheaten food,
from their admiration of the wisdom that
her, and let a drop of blood, grey as the
common things of life; disputes about the
fluttered like a bird under a net o
99lib.netf silver
Eocha of the Plain of Towers to reign
again, though her fingers could scarce hold
divides the false and true; others again,
ever between a smile and a frown; between
that any who told the truth to the child
Sisters, I knew him because his heart
woven with curious figures, seemed to her
among those who came to look at him
his wisdom at her feet, and told how the
any other fear but that his great wisdom
and moreover they desired to watch out
creators of mortal things; and how every
and to listen to him was the daughter of a
when he had expounded the meaning of
hair, and though his nurse cut them con-
knocking? she cried, and a thin voice
of it without ceasing. The feathers of the
making of the world went hither and
the cradle with long wrinkled fingers; and
hair its feathers grew as other than marred
they were more numerous than ever. This
together, those who wcrc nearest rocking
Heavy of will and light of mood,
has never troubled, but at last one muttered
the assembly was over and told her of
of the foss. ~ My blossom, it said, I
and his hunts men, and his cook, and his
to mortal things. Men of law and men of
grew in him a horror as at one of unhuman
their will less ready for toil, for he had
Two years passed over, and the king
dun who had yellow hair, and was skilled
for miracles were a little thing in those
from childhood into boyhood and from
days. A number indeed did live differ-
their purpose found their bones softer and
a great age, and of a height more than
gifts; cups with ears of gold and find-
and the poets and the men of law ruled in
other lands to sec him and to ask his
counsel~ but there were guards set at the
upon all these things, remembered certain
woman sat rocking the cradle, and pondering
bards; and he asked her humbly to give
noisy as magpies, and the child sat up and
at the door, and she got up, not a little
of wisdom, for law was made by man
Mood is a being that wcars, to mortal eyes,
desses, who sit all night about the pools
THE High-Queen of the Island of
who had first spoken, said, ~ Nothing now
believed that he found his eternal abode
beings were that had bent over a cradle.
great wood. The nurse opened the door
hawk feathers she was troubled with a
saw him again or heard his voice. Some
light and filled their hearts like music;
same and with the resemblance of things
the orchard, which was between the foss
in the forest watching the constellations
Shee, whether for good or evil she knew
thoughts and dreams, shuddering at its
beauty so much like wisdom could hide a
When any asked him concerning the
should be flung from a cliff into the sea.
when she considered the mystery of the
thither among the wicl;er houses of the
and blasted; nor could the people separate
and all the while the child had not opened
labour, they returned to their own lands
less excellent than the old: some among
her beauty, and praised her simply and
had not been a matter of great moment,
called the lovers to him in a trembling
wondering, for the nearest neighbours were
songs of the poets in the light of the fire,
human, came in and stood by the head of
heroes when they die return to the world
and spoke in a loud, clear voice: Men
among the demons, and some that he dwelt
wandered lost amid throngs of overcoming
until the hut was full of their immense
him had hair only, and, though they had
the great mother, had decreed her a heart
feathers of the grey hawk into his hair;
And red hearts we turn to grey,
and their arm lighter in the battle, for
dreams. Overwhelmed with his greatness,
in the midst of the assembly hall that the
Hail and rain and thunder alone,
down and plucked the feathers out of the
peace the welfare of their own households,
Taken away our Altar stone;
far away by the redness of his heart under
for a miracle that began to trouble all
with like feathers instead of hair, came in
curious about all things he became busy
could carry her over a mountain in his
whose furnace break rainbows and fiery
The years passed, and the child grew
others passed out in silence one by one;
he would turn to those nearest him for
lands; cloth from over sea, which, though
the eyes of the birds of prey; and no man
having gathered his poets and his men
remains but that a drop of our blood be
rinny wrought by the craftsmen of distant