No More Learning

CUCHULAIN.

You'd have me take it? Are you of one mind?

THE KINGS.

All, all, all, all!

A YOUNG KING.

Do what the High King bids you.

CONCHUBAR.

There is not one but dreads this turbulence
Now that they're settled men.

CUCHULAIN.

Are you so changed,
Or have I grown more dangerous of late?
But that's not it. I understand it all.
It's you that have changed. You've wives and children now,
And for that reason cannot follow one
That lives like a bird's flight from tree to tree. --
It's time the years put water in my blood
And drowned the wildness of it, for all's changed,
But that unchanged. --I'll take what oath you will:
The moon, the sun, the water, light, or air,
I do not care how binding.

CONCHUBAR.

On this fire
That has been lighted from your hearth and mine;
The older men shall be my witnesses,
The younger, yours. The holders of the fire
Shall purify the thresholds of the house
With waving fire, and shut the outer door,
According to the custom; and sing rhyme
That has come down from the old law-makers
To blow the witches out. Considering
That the wild will of man could be oath-bound,
But that a woman's could not, they bid us sing
Against the will of woman at its wildest
In the shape-changers that run upon the wind.

[_CONCHUBAR has gone on to his throne. _]

THE WOMEN.

[_They sing in a very low voice after the first few
words so that the others all but drown their words. _

May this fire have driven out
The shape-changers that can put
Ruin on a great king's house
Until all be ruinous.
Names whereby a man has known
The threshold and the hearthstone,
Gather on the wind and drive
The women, none can kiss and thrive,
For they are but whirling wind,
Out of memory and mind.
They would make a prince decay
With light images of clay,
Planted in the running wave;
Or, for many shapes they have,
They would change them into hounds,
Until he had died of his wounds,
Though the change were but a whim;
Or they'd hurl a spell at him,
That he follow with desire
Bodies that can never tire,
Or grow kind, for they anoint
All their bodies, joint by joint,
With a miracle-working juice
That is made out of the grease
Of the ungoverned unicorn.
But the man is thrice forlorn,
Emptied, ruined, wracked, and lost,
That they follow, for at most
They will give him kiss for kiss;
While they murmur, 'After this
Hatred may be sweet to the taste. '
Those wild hands that have embraced
All his body can but shove
At the burning wheel of love,
Till the side of hate comes up.
Therefore in this ancient cup
May the sword-blades drink their fill
Of the homebrew there, until
They will have for masters none
But the threshold and hearthstone.

CUCHULAIN.

[_Speaking, while they are singing. _]

I'll take and keep this oath, and from this day
I shall be what you please, my chicks, my nestlings.
Yet I had thought you were of those that praised
Whatever life could make the pulse run quickly,
Even though it were brief, and that you held
That a free gift was better than a forced. --
But that's all over. --I will keep it, too.
I never gave a gift and took it again.
If the wild horse should break the chariot-pole,
It would be punished. Should that be in the oath?

[_Two of the WOMEN, still singing, crouch in front of
him holding the bowl over their heads. He spreads his
hands over the flame. _

I swear to be obedient in all things
To Conchubar, and to uphold his children.

CONCHUBAR.

We are one being, as these flames are one:
I give my wisdom, and I take your strength.
Now thrust the swords into the flame, and pray
That they may serve the threshold and the hearthstone
With faithful service.

[_The KINGS kneel in a semicircle before the two WOMEN
and CUCHULAIN, who thrusts his sword into the flame.
They all put the points of their swords into the flame.
The third WOMAN is at the back near the big door. _

CUCHULAIN.

O pure, glittering ones
That should be more than wife or friend or mistress,
Give us the enduring will, the unquenchable hope,
The friendliness of the sword! --

[_The song grows louder, and the last words ring out
clearly. There is a loud knocking at the door, and a
cry of_ 'Open! open! '

CONCHUBAR.

Some king that has been loitering on the way.
Open the door, for I would have all know
That the oath's finished and Cuchulain bound,
And that the swords are drinking up the flame.

[_The door is opened by the third WOMAN, and a YOUNG
MAN with a drawn sword enters. _

YOUNG MAN.

I am of Aoife's army.

[_The KINGS rush towards him. CUCHULAIN throws himself
between. _

CUCHULAIN.

Put up your swords.
He is but one. Aoife is far away.

YOUNG MAN.

I have come alone into the midst of you
To weigh this sword against Cuchulain's sword.

CONCHUBAR.

And are you noble? for if of common seed,
You cannot weigh your sword against his sword
But in mixed battle.

YOUNG MAN.

I am under bonds
To tell my name to no man; but it's noble.

CONCHUBAR.

But I would know your name and not your bonds.
You cannot speak in the Assembly House,
If you are not noble.

FIRST OLD KING.

Answer the High King!

YOUNG MAN.

I will give no other proof than the hawk gives--
That it's no sparrow!

[_He is silent for 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.

CUCHULAIN.

To have shown the hawk's grey feather is enough,
And you speak highly, too. Give me that helmet.
I'd thought they had grown weary sending champions.
That sword and belt will do. This fighting's welcome.
The High King there has promised me his wisdom;
But the hawk's sleepy till its well-beloved
Cries out amid the acorns, or it has seen
Its enemy like a speck upon the sun.
What's wisdom to the hawk, when that clear eye
Is burning nearer up in the high air?

[_Looks hard at YOUNG MAN; then comes down steps and
grasps YOUNG MAN by shoulder. _

Hither into the light.

[_To_ CONCHUBAR. ]

The very tint
Of her that I was speaking of but now.
Not a pin's difference.

[_To_ YOUNG MAN. ]

You are from the North
Where there are many that have that tint of hair--
Red-brown, the light red-brown. Come nearer, boy,
For I would have another look at you.
There's more likeness--a pale, a stone-pale cheek.
What brought you, boy? Have you no fear of death?

YOUNG MAN.

Whether I live or die is in the gods' hands.

CUCHULAIN.

That is all words, all words; a young man's talk.
I am their plough, their harrow, their very strength;
For he that's in the sun begot this body
Upon a mortal woman, and I have heard tell
It seemed as if he had outrun the moon;
That he must follow always through waste heaven,
He loved so happily. He'll be but slow
To break a tree that was so sweetly planted.
Let's see that arm. I'll see it if I choose.
That arm had a good father and a good mother,
But it is not like this.

YOUNG MAN.

You are mocking me;
You think I am not worthy to be fought.
But I'll not wrangle but with this talkative knife.

CUCHULAIN.

Put up your sword; I am not mocking you.
I'd have you for my friend, but if it's not
Because you have a hot heart and a cold eye,
I cannot tell the reason.
[_To CONCHUBAR. _] He has got her fierceness,
And nobody is as fierce as those pale women.
But I will keep him with me, Conchubar,
That he may set my memory upon her
When the day's fading. --You will stop with us,
And we will hunt the deer and the wild bulls;
And, when we have grown weary, light our fires
Between the wood and water, or on some mountain
Where the shape-changers of the morning come.
The High King there would make a mock of me
Because I did not take a wife among them.
Why do you hang your head? It's a good life:
The head grows prouder in the light of the dawn,
And friendship thickens in the murmuring dark
Where the spare hazels meet the wool-white foam.
But I can see there's no more need for words
And that you'll be my friend from this day out.

CONCHUBAR.

He has come hither not in his own name
But in Queen Aoife's, and has challenged us
In challenging the foremost man of us all.

CUCHULAIN.

Well, well, what matter?

CONCHUBAR.

You think it does not matter;
And that a fancy lighter than the air,
A whim of the moment has more matter in it.
For having none that shall reign after you,
You cannot think as I do, who would leave
A throne too high for insult.

CUCHULAIN.

Let your children
Re-mortar their inheritance, as we have,
And put more muscle on. --I'll give you gifts,
But I'd have something too--that arm-ring, boy.
We'll have this quarrel out when you are older.

YOUNG MAN.

There is no man I'd sooner have my friend
Than you, whose name has gone about the world
As if it had been the wind; but Aoife'd say
I had turned coward.

CUCHULAIN.

I will give you gifts
That Aoife'll know, and all her people know,
To have come from me. [_Showing cloak. _
My father gave me this.
He came to try me, rising up at dawn
Out of the cold dark of the rich sea.
He challenged me to battle, but before
My sword had touched his sword, told me his name,
Gave me this cloak, and vanished. It was woven
By women of the Country-under-Wave
Out of the fleeces of the sea. O! tell her
I was afraid, or tell her what you will.
No; tell her that I heard a raven croak
On the north side of the house, and was afraid.

CONCHUBAR.

Some witch of the air has troubled Cuchulain's mind.

CUCHULAIN.

No witchcraft. His head is like a woman's head
I had a fancy for.

CONCHUBAR.

A witch of the air
Can make a leaf confound us with memories.
They run upon the wind and hurl the spells
That make us nothing, out of the invisible wind.
They have gone to school to learn the trick of it.

CUCHULAIN.

No, no--there's nothing out of common here;
The winds are innocent. --That arm-ring, boy.

A KING.

If I've your leave I'll take this challenge up.

ANOTHER KING.

No, give it me, High King, for this wild Aoife
Has carried off my slaves.

ANOTHER KING.

No, give it me,
For she has harried me in house and herd.

ANOTHER KING.

I claim this fight.

OTHER KINGS [_together_].

And I! And I! And I!

CUCHULAIN.

Back! back! Put up your swords! Put up your swords!
There's none alive that shall accept a challenge
I have refused. Laegaire, put up your sword!

YOUNG MAN.

No, let them come. If they've a mind for it,
I'll try it out with any two together.

CUCHULAIN.

That's spoken as I'd have spoken it at your age.
But you are in my house. Whatever man
Would fight with you shall fight it out with me.
They're dumb, they're dumb. How many of you would meet
[_Draws sword. _
This mutterer, this old whistler, this sandpiper,
This edge that's greyer than the tide, this mouse
That's gnawing at the timbers of the world,
This, this---- Boy, I would meet them all in arms
If I'd a son like you. He would avenge me
When I have withstood for the last time the men
Whose fathers, brothers, sons, and friends I have killed
Upholding Conchubar, when the four provinces
Have gathered with the ravens over them.
But I'd need no avenger. You and I
Would scatter them like water from a dish.

YOUNG MAN.

We'll stand by one another from this out.
Here is the ring.

CUCHULAIN.

No, turn and turn about.
But my turn's first because I am the older.

[_Spreading out cloak. _

Nine queens out of the Country-under-Wave
Have woven it with the fleeces of the sea
And they were long embroidering at it. --Boy,
If I had fought my father, he'd have killed me.
As certainly as if I had a son
And fought with him, I should be deadly to him;
For the old fiery fountains are far off
And every day there is less heat o' the blood.

CONCHUBAR.

[_In a loud voice. _]

No more of this. I will not have this friendship.
Cuchulain is my man, and I forbid it.
He shall not go unfought, for I myself--

CUCHULAIN.

I will not have it.

CONCHUBAR.

You lay commands on me?

CUCHULAIN.

[_Seizing CONCHUBAR. _]

You shall not stir, High King. I'll hold you there.

CONCHUBAR.

Witchcraft has maddened you.

THE KINGS [_shouting_].

Yes, witchcraft! witchcraft!

FIRST OLD KING.

Some witch has worked upon your mind, Cuchulain.
The head of that young man seemed like a woman's
You'd had a fancy for. Then of a sudden
You laid your hands on the High King himself!

CUCHULAIN.

And laid my hands on the High King himself?

CONCHUBAR.

Some witch is floating in the air above us.

CUCHULAIN.

Yes, witchcraft, witchcraft! Witches of the air! [_To YOUNG MAN. _
Why did you? Who was it set you to this work?
Out, out! I say, for now it's sword on sword!

YOUNG MAN.

But . . . but I did not.

CUCHULAIN.

Out, I say, out, out!

[_YOUNG MAN goes out followed by CUCHULAIN. The KINGS
follow them out with confused cries, and words one can
hardly hear because of the noise. Some cry, '_Quicker,
quicker! _' '_Why are you so long at the door? _' '_We'll
be too late! _' '_Have they begun to fight? _' and so on;
and one, it may be, '_I saw him fight with Ferdia! _'
Their voices drown each other. The three women are left
alone. _

FIRST WOMAN.

I have seen, I have seen!

SECOND WOMAN.

What do you cry aloud?

FIRST WOMAN.

The ever-living have shown me what's to come.

THIRD WOMAN.

How? Where?

FIRST WOMAN.

In the ashes of the bowl.

SECOND WOMAN.

While you were holding it between your hands?

THIRD WOMAN.

Speak quickly!

FIRST WOMAN.

I have seen Cuchulain's roof-tree
Leap into fire, and the walls split and blacken.

SECOND WOMAN.

Cuchulain has gone out to die.

THIRD WOMAN.

O! O!

SECOND WOMAN.

Who could have thought that one so great as he
Should meet his end at this unnoted sword!

FIRST WOMAN.

Life drifts between a fool and a blind man
To the end, and nobody can know his end.

SECOND WOMAN.

Come, look upon the quenching of this greatness.

[_The other two go to the door, but they stop for a
moment upon the threshold and wail. _

FIRST WOMAN.

No crying out, for there'll be need of cries
And knocking at the breast when it's all finished.

[_The WOMEN go out. There is a sound of clashing swords
from time to time during what follows. _

[_Enter the FOOL dragging the BLIND MAN. _

FOOL.

You have eaten it, you have eaten it! You have left me nothing but the
bones.

[_He throws BLIND MAN down by big chair. _

BLIND MAN.

O, that I should have to endure such a plague! O, I ache all over! O,
I am pulled to pieces! This is the way you pay me all the good I have
done you!

FOOL.

You have eaten it! You have told me lies. I might have known you had
eaten it when I saw your slow, sleepy walk. Lie there till the kings
come. O, I will tell Conchubar and Cuchulain and all the kings about
you!

BLIND MAN.

What would have happened to you but for me, and you without your wits?
If I did not take care of you, what would you do for food and warmth?

FOOL.

You take care of me! You stay safe, and send me into every kind of
danger. You sent me down the cliff for gulls' 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. [_BLIND MAN
tries to rise; FOOL makes him lie down again. _] Keep quiet now, till
I shut the door. There is some noise outside--a high vexing noise,
so that I can't be listening to myself. [_Shuts the big door. _] Why
can't they be quiet! why can't they be quiet! [_BLIND MAN tries to get
away. _] Ah! you would get away, would you! [_Follows BLIND MAN and
brings him back. _] Lie there! lie there! No, you won't get away! Lie
there till the kings come. I'll tell them all about you. I will tell it
all. How you sit warming yourself, when you have made me light a fire
of sticks, while I sit blowing it with my mouth. Do you not always make
me take the windy side of the bush when it blows, and the rainy side
when it rains?

BLIND MAN.

Oh, good Fool! listen to me. Think of the care I have taken of you. I
have brought you to many a warm hearth, where there was a good welcome
for you, but you would not stay there; you were always wandering about.

FOOL.

The last time you brought me in it was not I who wandered away, but
you that got put out because you took the crubeen out of the pot when
nobody was looking. Keep quiet, now!

CUCHULAIN [_rushing in_].

Witchcraft! There is no witchcraft on the earth, or among the witches
of the air, that these hands cannot break.

FOOL.

Listen to me, Cuchulain. I left him turning the fowl at the fire. He
ate it all, though I had stolen it. He left me nothing but the feathers.

CUCHULAIN.

Fill me a horn of ale!

BLIND MAN.

I gave him what he likes best. You do not know how vain this fool is.
He likes nothing so well as a feather.

FOOL.

He left me nothing but the bones and feathers. Nothing but the
feathers, though I had stolen it.

CUCHULAIN.

Give me that horn! Quarrels here, too! [_Drinks. _] What is there
between you two that is worth a quarrel? Out with it!

BLIND MAN.

Where would he be but for me? I must be always thinking--thinking to get
food for the two of us, and when we've got it, if the moon is at the
full or the tide on the turn, he'll leave the rabbit in the snare till
it is full of maggots, or let the trout slip back through his hands
into the stream.

[_The FOOL has begun singing while the BLIND MAN is
speaking. _

FOOL [_singing_].

When you were an acorn on the tree-top,
Then was I an eagle cock;
Now that you are a withered old block,
Still am I an eagle cock.

BLIND MAN.

Listen to him, now. That's the sort of talk I have to put up with day
out, day in.

[_The FOOL is putting the feathers into his hair.
CUCHULAIN takes a handful of feathers out of a heap the
FOOL has on the bench beside him, and out of the FOOL'S
hair, and begins to wipe the blood from his sword with
them. _

FOOL.

He has taken my feathers to wipe his sword. It is blood that he is
wiping from his sword.

CUCHULAIN.

[_Goes up to door at back and throws away feathers. _]

They are standing about his body. They will not awaken him, for all his
witchcraft.

BLIND MAN.

It is that young champion that he has killed. He that came out of
Aoife's country.

CUCHULAIN.

He thought to have saved himself with witchcraft.

FOOL.

That blind man there said he would kill you. He came from Aoife's
country to kill you. That blind man said they had taught him every kind
of weapon that he might do it. But I always knew that you would kill
him.

CUCHULAIN [_to the BLIND MAN_].

You knew him, then?

BLIND MAN.

I saw him, when I had my eyes, in Aoife's country.

CUCHULAIN.

You were in Aoife's country?

BLIND MAN.

I knew him and his mother there.

CUCHULAIN.

He was about to speak of her when he died.

BLIND MAN.

He was a queen's son.

CUCHULAIN.

What queen? what queen? [_Seizes BLIND MAN, who is now sitting upon the
bench.