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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:53:51 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:53:51 -0700 |
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diff --git a/30488-h/30488-h.htm b/30488-h/30488-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff81da8 --- /dev/null +++ b/30488-h/30488-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1904 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= + "text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of the Green Helmet and Other Poems, by William Butler Yeats. + </title> + + <style type="text/css"> + + body { margin-left: 12%; margin-right: 12%; text-align: justify; } + p { margin-top: .75em; margin-bottom: .75em; text-indent: -1.5em; margin-left: 1.5em; } + p.noind { margin-top: .75em; margin-bottom: .75em; text-indent: 0; } + + h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { text-align: center; } + hr { margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; width: 70%; height: 5px; background-color: #dcdcdc; } + hr.full {width: 100%;} + hr.art { margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 40%; height: 5px; background-color: #708090; + margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em } + + table.nobctr { margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } + table.reg { margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both; } + table p { margin-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -1.5em; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; } + + td.tc1 { padding-right: 0; padding-left: 0; text-align: center; } + td.tc5 { padding-right: 0; padding-left: 0; text-align: left; } + + a:link, a:visited, link {text-decoration: none} + .sc {font-variant: small-caps; font-style: normal; } + + .pagenum {position: absolute; right: 5%; text-align: right; font-size: 10pt; + background-color: #f5f5f5; color: #778899; text-indent: 0; + padding-left: 0.5em; padding-right: 0.5em; font-style: normal; } + + .figcenter {text-align: center; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em;} + + div.poemr {margin-top: .75em; margin-bottom: .75em; } + div.poemr p, div.play p {margin-left: 4em; text-indent: -4em; margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em; } + div.poemr p.s { margin-top: 1.5em; } + div.poemr p.last { margin-bottom: 3em; } + + div.play {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%} + div.play p.dir {padding-left: 3em; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + div.play p.person { font-variant: small-caps; font-style: normal; + margin-top: 3em; margin-bottom: 0.75em; text-indent: 0; margin-left: 10em; } + + .pd05 {padding-top: 0.5em;} + .pd2 {padding-top: 2em;} + .pd3 {padding-top: 3em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30488 ***</div> + +<div class="pd3"> </div> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img style="border:0; width:539px; height:800px" + src="images/img02.jpg" + alt="Cover." /> +</div> +<div class="pd3"> </div> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h4>THE GREEN HELMET AND</h4> +<h4>OTHER POEMS</h4> +<hr class="full" /> +<div class="pd2"> </div> + + + +<h2>THE GREEN HELMET AND</h2> +<h2>OTHER POEMS</h2> + +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h3>WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS</h3> +<div class="pd2"> </div> + +<h5>NEW YORK</h5> +<h4>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</h4> +<h5>LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., <span class="sc">Ltd.</span></h5> +<h5>1912</h5> + +<h6><i>All rights reserved</i></h6> +<div class="pd2"> </div> + + +<h6>Copyright, 1911, by<br /> +<span class="sc">William Butler Yeats</span></h6> + +<h6>Copyright, 1912, by<br /> +<span class="sc">The Macmillan Co.</span></h6> + +<h6><i>Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1912</i></h6> +<div class="pd2"> </div> + + +<hr class="full" /> +<h3>THE GREEN HELMET AND</h3> +<h3>OTHER POEMS</h3> +<hr class="full" /> +<div class="pd2"> </div> + +<div class="pd05"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page1"></a>1</span></p> +<h3>HIS DREAM</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>I swayed upon the gaudy stern</p> +<p>The butt end of a steering oar,</p> +<p>And everywhere that I could turn</p> +<p>Men ran upon the shore.</p> + +<p class="s">And though I would have hushed the crowd</p> +<p>There was no mother’s son but said,</p> +<p>“What is the figure in a shroud</p> +<p>Upon a gaudy bed?”</p> + +<p class="s">And fishes bubbling to the brim</p> +<p>Cried out upon that thing beneath,</p> +<p>It had such dignity of limb,</p> +<p>By the sweet name of Death.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page2"></a>2</span></p> + +<p class="s">Though I’d my finger on my lip,</p> +<p>What could I but take up the song?</p> +<p>And fish and crowd and gaudy ship</p> +<p>Cried out the whole night long,</p> + +<p class="s">Crying amid the glittering sea,</p> +<p>Naming it with ecstatic breath,</p> +<p>Because it had such dignity</p> +<p>By the sweet name of Death.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page3"></a>3</span></p> + +<h3>A WOMAN HOMER SUNG</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>If any man drew near</p> +<p>When I was young,</p> +<p>I thought, “He holds her dear,”</p> +<p>And shook with hate and fear.</p> +<p>But oh, ’twas bitter wrong</p> +<p>If he could pass her by</p> +<p>With an indifferent eye.</p> + +<p class="s">Whereon I wrote and wrought,</p> +<p>And now, being gray,</p> +<p>I dream that I have brought</p> +<p>To such a pitch my thought</p> +<p>That coming time can say,</p> +<p>“He shadowed in a glass</p> +<p>What thing her body was.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page4"></a>4</span></p> + +<p class="s">For she had fiery blood</p> +<p>When I was young,</p> +<p>And trod so sweetly proud</p> +<p>As ’twere upon a cloud,</p> +<p>A woman Homer sung,</p> +<p>That life and letters seem</p> +<p>But an heroic dream.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page5"></a>5</span></p> + +<h3>THAT THE NIGHT COME</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>She lived in storm and strife.</p> +<p>Her soul had such desire</p> +<p>For what proud death may bring</p> +<p>That it could not endure</p> +<p>The common good of life,</p> +<p>But lived as ’twere a king</p> +<p>That packed his marriage day</p> +<p>With banneret and pennon,</p> +<p>Trumpet and kettledrum,</p> +<p>And the outrageous cannon,</p> +<p>To bundle Time away</p> +<p>That the night come.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page6"></a>6</span></p> + +<h3>THE CONSOLATION</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>I had this thought awhile ago,</p> +<p>“My darling cannot understand</p> +<p>What I have done, or what would do</p> +<p>In this blind bitter land.”</p> + +<p class="s">And I grew weary of the sun</p> +<p>Until my thoughts cleared up again,</p> +<p>Remembering that the best I have done</p> +<p>Was done to make it plain;</p> + +<p class="s">That every year I have cried, “At length</p> +<p>My darling understands it all,</p> +<p>Because I have come into my strength,</p> +<p>And words obey my call.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page7"></a>7</span></p> + +<p class="s">That had she done so who can say</p> +<p>What would have shaken from the sieve?</p> +<p>I might have thrown poor words away</p> +<p>And been content to live.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page8"></a>8</span></p> + +<h3>FRIENDS</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Now must I these three praise—</p> +<p>Three women that have wrought</p> +<p>What joy is in my days;</p> +<p>One that no passing thought,</p> +<p>Nor those unpassing cares,</p> +<p>No, not in these fifteen</p> +<p>Many times troubled years,</p> +<p>Could ever come between</p> +<p>Heart and delighted heart;</p> +<p>And one because her hand</p> +<p>Had strength that could unbind</p> +<p>What none can understand,</p> +<p>What none can have and thrive,</p> +<p>Youth’s dreamy load, till she</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page9"></a>9</span></p> +<p>So changed me that I live</p> +<p>Labouring in ecstasy.</p> +<p>And what of her that took</p> +<p>All till my youth was gone</p> +<p>With scarce a pitying look?</p> +<p>How should I praise that one?</p> +<p>When day begins to break</p> +<p>I count my good and bad,</p> +<p>Being wakeful for her sake,</p> +<p>Remembering what she had,</p> +<p>What eagle look still shows,</p> +<p>While up from my heart’s root</p> +<p>So great a sweetness flows</p> +<p>I shake from head to foot.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page10"></a>10</span></p> + +<h3>NO SECOND TROY</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Why should I blame her that she filled my days</p> +<p>With misery, or that she would of late</p> +<p>Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways,</p> +<p>Or hurled the little streets upon the great,</p> +<p>Had they but courage equal to desire?</p> +<p>What could have made her peaceful with a mind</p> +<p>That nobleness made simple as a fire,</p> +<p>With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind</p> +<p>That is not natural in an age like this,</p> +<p>Being high and solitary and most stern?</p> +<p>Why, what could she have done being what she is?</p> +<p>Was there another Troy for her to burn?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page11"></a>11</span></p> + +<h3>RECONCILIATION</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Some may have blamed you that you took away</p> +<p>The verses that could move them on the day</p> +<p>When, the ears being deafened, the sight of the eyes blind</p> +<p>With lightning you went from me, and I could find</p> +<p>Nothing to make a song about but kings,</p> +<p>Helmets, and swords, and half-forgotten things</p> +<p>That were like memories of you—but now</p> +<p>We’ll out, for the world lives as long ago;</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page12"></a>12</span></p> +<p>And while we’re in our laughing, weeping fit,</p> +<p>Hurl helmets, crowns, and swords into the pit.</p> +<p>But, dear, cling close to me; since you were gone,</p> +<p>My barren thoughts have chilled me to the bone.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page13"></a>13</span></p> + +<h3>KING AND NO KING</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>“Would it were anything but merely voice!”</p> +<p>The No King cried who after that was King,</p> +<p>Because he had not heard of anything</p> +<p>That balanced with a word is more than noise;</p> +<p>Yet Old Romance being kind, let him prevail</p> +<p>Somewhere or somehow that I have forgot,</p> +<p>Though he’d but cannon—Whereas we that had thought</p> +<p>To have lit upon as clean and sweet a tale</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page14"></a>14</span></p> +<p>Have been defeated by that pledge you gave</p> +<p>In momentary anger long ago;</p> +<p>And I that have not your faith, how shall I know</p> +<p>That in the blinding light beyond the grave</p> +<p>We’ll find so good a thing as that we have lost?</p> +<p>The hourly kindness, the day’s common speech,</p> +<p>The habitual content of each with each</p> +<p>When neither soul nor body has been crossed.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page15"></a>15</span></p> + +<h3>THE COLD HEAVEN</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Suddenly I saw the cold and rook delighting Heaven</p> +<p>That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice,</p> +<p>And thereupon imagination and heart were driven</p> +<p>So wild, that every casual thought of that and this</p> +<p>Vanished, and left but memories, that should be out of season</p> +<p>With the hot blood of youth, of love crossed long ago;</p> +<p>And I took all the blame out of all sense and reason,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page16"></a>16</span></p> +<p>Until I cried and trembled and rocked to and fro,</p> +<p>Riddled with light. Ah! when the ghost begins to quicken,</p> +<p>Confusion of the death-bed over, is it sent</p> +<p>Out naked on the roads, as the books say, and stricken</p> +<p>By the injustice of the skies for punishment?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page17"></a>17</span></p> + +<h3>PEACE</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Ah, that Time could touch a form</p> +<p>That could show what Homer’s age</p> +<p>Bred to be a hero’s wage.</p> +<p>“Were not all her life but storm,</p> +<p>Would not painters paint a form</p> +<p>Of such noble lines” I said.</p> +<p>“Such a delicate high head,</p> +<p>So much sternness and such charm,</p> +<p>Till they had changed us to like strength?”</p> +<p>Ah, but peace that comes at length,</p> +<p>Came when Time had touched her form.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page18"></a>18</span></p> + +<h3>AGAINST UNWORTHY PRAISE</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>O heart, be at peace, because</p> +<p>Nor knave nor dolt can break</p> +<p>What’s not for their applause,</p> +<p>Being for a woman’s sake.</p> +<p>Enough if the work has seemed,</p> +<p>So did she your strength renew,</p> +<p>A dream that a lion had dreamed</p> +<p>Till the wilderness cried aloud,</p> +<p>A secret between you two,</p> +<p>Between the proud and the proud.</p> + +<p class="s">What, still you would have their praise!</p> +<p>But here’s a haughtier text,</p> +<p>The labyrinth of her days</p> +<p>That her own strangeness perplexed;</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page19"></a>19</span></p> +<p>And how what her dreaming gave</p> +<p>Earned slander, ingratitude,</p> +<p>From self-same dolt and knave;</p> +<p>Aye, and worse wrong than these.</p> +<p>Yet she, singing upon her road,</p> +<p>Half lion, half child, is at peace.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page20"></a>20</span></p> + +<h3>THE FASCINATION OF WHAT’S +DIFFICULT</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>The fascination of what’s difficult</p> +<p>Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent</p> +<p>Spontaneous joy and natural content</p> +<p>Out of my heart. There’s something ails our colt</p> +<p>That must, as if it had not holy blood,</p> +<p>Nor on an Olympus leaped from cloud to cloud,</p> +<p>Shiver under the lash, strain, sweat and jolt</p> +<p>As though it dragged road metal. My curse on plays</p> +<p>That have to be set up in fifty ways,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page21"></a>21</span></p> +<p>On the day’s war with every knave and dolt,</p> +<p>Theatre business, management of men.</p> +<p>I swear before the dawn comes round again</p> +<p>I’ll find the stable and pull out the bolt.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page22"></a>22</span></p> + +<h3>A DRINKING SONG</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Wine comes in at the mouth</p> +<p>And love comes in at the eye;</p> +<p>That’s all we shall know for truth</p> +<p>Before we grow old and die.</p> +<p>I lift the glass to my mouth,</p> +<p>I look at you, and I sigh.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page23"></a>23</span></p> + +<h3>THE COMING OF WISDOM WITH +TIME</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Though leaves are many, the root is one;</p> +<p>Through all the lying days of my youth</p> +<p>I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun;</p> +<p>Now I may wither into the truth.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page24"></a>24</span></p> + +<h3>ON HEARING THAT THE STUDENTS +OF OUR NEW UNIVERSITY +HAVE JOINED THE ANCIENT +ORDER OF HIBERNIANS +AND THE AGITATION AGAINST +IMMORAL LITERATURE</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Where, where but here have Pride and Truth,</p> +<p>That long to give themselves for wage,</p> +<p>To shake their wicked sides at youth</p> +<p>Restraining reckless middle-age.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page25"></a>25</span></p> + +<h3>TO A POET, WHO WOULD HAVE ME +PRAISE CERTAIN BAD POETS, +IMITATORS OF HIS AND MINE</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>You say, as I have often given tongue</p> +<p>In praise of what another’s said or sung,</p> +<p>’Twere politic to do the like by these;</p> +<p>But where’s the wild dog that has praised his fleas?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page26"></a>26</span></p> + +<h3>THE ATTACK ON THE +“PLAY BOY”</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Once, when midnight smote the air,</p> +<p>Eunuchs ran through Hell and met</p> +<p>Round about Hell’s gate, to stare</p> +<p>At great Juan riding by,</p> +<p>And like these to rail and sweat,</p> +<p>Maddened by that sinewy thigh.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page27"></a>27</span></p> + +<h3>A LYRIC FROM AN UNPUBLISHED +PLAY</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>“Put off that mask of burning gold</p> +<p>With emerald eyes.”</p> +<p>“O no, my dear, you make so bold</p> +<p>To find if hearts be wild and wise,</p> +<p>And yet not cold.”</p> + +<p class="s">“I would but find what’s there to find,</p> +<p>Love or deceit.”</p> +<p>“It was the mask engaged your mind,</p> +<p>And after set your heart to beat,</p> +<p>Not what’s behind.”</p> + +<p class="s">“But lest you are my enemy,</p> +<p>I must enquire.”</p> +<p>“O no, my dear, let all that be,</p> +<p>What matter, so there is but fire</p> +<p>In you, in me?”</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page28"></a>28</span></p> + +<h3>UPON A HOUSE SHAKEN BY +THE LAND AGITATION</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>How should the world be luckier if this house,</p> +<p>Where passion and precision have been one</p> +<p>Time out of mind, became too ruinous</p> +<p>To breed the lidless eye that loves the sun?</p> +<p>And the sweet laughing eagle thoughts that grow</p> +<p>Where wings have memory of wings, and all</p> +<p>That comes of the best knit to the best? Although</p> +<p>Mean roof-trees were the sturdier for its fall,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page29"></a>29</span></p> +<p>How should their luck run high enough to reach</p> +<p>The gifts that govern men, and after these</p> +<p>To gradual Time’s last gift, a written speech</p> +<p>Wrought of high laughter, loveliness and ease?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page30"></a>30</span></p> + +<h3>AT THE ABBEY THEATRE</h3> + +<h5><i>Imitated from Ronsard</i></h5> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Dear Craoibhin Aoibhin, look into our case.</p> +<p>When we are high and airy hundreds say</p> +<p>That if we hold that flight they’ll leave the place,</p> +<p>While those same hundreds mock another day</p> +<p>Because we have made our art of common things,</p> +<p>So bitterly, you’d dream they longed to look</p> +<p>All their lives through into some drift of wings.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page31"></a>31</span></p> +<p>You’ve dandled them and fed them from the book</p> +<p>And know them to the bone; impart to us—</p> +<p>We’ll keep the secret—a new trick to please.</p> +<p>Is there a bridle for this Proteus</p> +<p>That turns and changes like his draughty seas?</p> +<p>Or is there none, most popular of men,</p> +<p>But when they mock us that we mock again?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page32"></a>32</span></p> + +<h3>THESE ARE THE CLOUDS</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>These are the clouds about the fallen sun,</p> +<p>The majesty that shuts his burning eye;</p> +<p>The weak lay hand on what the strong has done,</p> +<p>Till that be tumbled that was lifted high</p> +<p>And discord follow upon unison,</p> +<p>And all things at one common level lie.</p> +<p>And therefore, friend, if your great race were run</p> +<p>And these things came, so much the more thereby</p> +<p>Have you made greatness your companion,</p> +<p>Although it be for children that you sigh:</p> +<p>These are the clouds about the fallen sun,</p> +<p>The majesty that shuts his burning eye.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page33"></a>33</span></p> + +<h3>AT GALWAY RACES</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Out yonder, where the race course is,</p> +<p>Delight makes all of the one mind,</p> +<p>Riders upon the swift horses,</p> +<p>The field that closes in behind:</p> +<p>We, too, had good attendance once,</p> +<p>Hearers and hearteners of the work;</p> +<p>Aye, horsemen for companions,</p> +<p>Before the merchant and the clerk</p> +<p>Breathed on the world with timid breath.</p> +<p>Sing on: sometime, and at some new moon,</p> +<p>We’ll learn that sleeping is not death,</p> +<p>Hearing the whole earth change its tune,</p> +<p>Its flesh being wild, and it again</p> +<p>Crying aloud as the race course is,</p> +<p>And we find hearteners among men</p> +<p>That ride upon horses.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page34"></a>34</span></p> + +<h3>A FRIEND’S ILLNESS</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>Sickness brought me this</p> +<p>Thought, in that scale of his:</p> +<p>Why should I be dismayed</p> +<p>Though flame had burned the whole</p> +<p>World, as it were a coal,</p> +<p>Now I have seen it weighed</p> +<p>Against a soul?</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page35"></a>35</span></p> + +<h3>ALL THINGS CAN TEMPT ME</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>All things can tempt me from this craft of verse:</p> +<p>One time it was a woman’s face, or worse—</p> +<p>The seeming needs of my fool-driven land;</p> +<p>Now nothing but comes readier to the hand</p> +<p>Than this accustomed toil. When I was young,</p> +<p>I had not given a penny for a song</p> +<p>Did not the poet sing it with such airs</p> +<p>That one believed he had a sword upstairs;</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page36"></a>36</span></p> +<p>Yet would be now, could I but have my wish,</p> +<p>Colder and dumber and deafer than a fish.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page37"></a>37</span></p> + +<h3>THE YOUNG MAN’S SONG</h3> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>I whispered, “I am too young,”</p> +<p>And then, “I am old enough,”</p> +<p>Wherefore I threw a penny</p> +<p>To find out if I might love;</p> +<p>“Go and love, go and love, young man,</p> +<p>If the lady be young and fair,”</p> +<p>Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,</p> +<p>I am looped in the loops of her hair.</p> + +<p class="s">Oh love is the crooked thing,</p> +<p>There is nobody wise enough</p> +<p>To find out all that is in it,</p> +<p>For he would be thinking of love</p> +<p>Till the stars had run away,</p> +<p>And the shadows eaten the moon;</p> +<p>Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,</p> +<p>One cannot begin it too soon.</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page38"></a>38</span></p> + + + + +<div class="pd3"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page39"></a>39</span></p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h3>THE GREEN HELMET</h3> + +<h5><i>An Heroic Farce</i></h5> +<hr class="full" /> + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page40"></a>40</span></p> + +<h3>THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY</h3> + +<table class="nobctr" width="70%" summary="Contents"> + +<tr><td class="tc5 sc" style="width: 50%;">Laegaire</td> + <td class="tc5 sc">Laegaire’s Wife</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tc5 sc">Conall</td> + <td class="tc5 sc">Conall’s Wife</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tc5 sc">Cuchulain</td> + <td class="tc5"><span class="sc">Laeg</span>, <i>Cuchulain’s chariot-driver</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tc5 sc">Emer</td> + <td class="tc5"><span class="sc">Red Man</span>, <i>A Spirit</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tc1" colspan="2">Horse Boys and Scullions, +Black Men, etc.</td></tr> +</table> + + +<div class="pd2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page41"></a>41</span></p> + +<h3>THE GREEN HELMET</h3> + +<h5><i>An Heroic Farce</i></h5> +<hr class="art" /> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Scene</span>: <i>A house made of logs. There +are two windows at the back and a door +which cuts off one of the corners of the +room. Through the door one can see low +rocks which make the ground outside +higher than it is within, and beyond the +rocks a misty moon-lit sea. Through the +windows one can see nothing but the sea. +There is a great chair at the opposite +side to the door, and in front of it a table +with cups and a flagon of ale. Here and +there are stools.</i></p> + +<p style="text-indent: 1em;"><i>At the Abbey Theatre the house is +orange red and the chairs and tables and +flagons black, with a slight purple tinge +which is not clearly distinguishable from +the black. The rocks are black with a +few green touches. The sea is green and +luminous, and all the characters except</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page42"></a>42</span> +<i>the <span class="sc">Red Man</span> and the Black Men are +dressed in various shades of green, one +or two with touches of purple which look +nearly black. The Black Men all wear +dark purple and have eared caps, and at +the end their eyes should look green from +the reflected light of the sea. The <span class="sc">Red +Man</span> is altogether in red. He is very tall, +and his height increased by horns on the +Green Helmet. The effect is intentionally +violent and startling.</i></p> + +<div class="play"> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>What is that? I had thought that I saw, though but in the wink of an eye,</p> +<p>A cat-headed man out of Connaught go pacing and spitting by;</p> +<p>But that could not be.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">You have dreamed it—there’s nothing out there.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page43"></a>43</span></p> +<p>I killed them all before daybreak—I hoked them out of their lair;</p> +<p>I cut off a hundred heads with a single stroke of my sword,</p> +<p>And then I danced on their graves and carried away their hoard.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Does anything stir on the sea?</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 6em;">Not even a fish or a gull:</p> +<p>I can see for a mile or two, now that the moon’s at the full.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A distant shout.</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Ah—there—there is someone who calls us.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page44"></a>44</span></p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">But from the landward side,</p> +<p>And we have nothing to fear that has not come up from the tide;</p> +<p>The rocks and the bushes cover whoever made that noise,</p> +<p>But the land will do us no harm.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">It was like Cuchulain’s voice.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>But that’s an impossible thing.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">An impossible thing indeed.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>For he will never come home, he has all that he could need</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page45"></a>45</span></p> +<p>In that high windy Scotland—good luck in all that he does.</p> +<p>Here neighbour wars on neighbour and why there is no man knows,</p> +<p>And if a man is lucky all wish his luck away,</p> +<p>And take his good name from him between a day and a day.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>I would he’d come for all that, and make his young wife know</p> +<p>That though she may be his wife, she has no right to go</p> +<p>Before your wife and my wife, as she would have gone last night</p> +<p>Had they not caught at her dress, and pulled her as was right;</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page46"></a>46</span></p> +<p>And she makes light of us though our wives do all that they can.</p> +<p>She spreads her tail like a peacock and praises none but her man.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>A man in a long green cloak that covers him up to the chin</p> +<p>Comes down through the rocks and hazels.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Cry out that he cannot come in.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>He must look for his dinner elsewhere, for no one alive shall stop</p> +<p>Where a shame must alight on us two before the dawn is up.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page47"></a>47</span></p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>No man on the ridge of the world must ever know that but us two.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Outside door</i>]</p> + +<p>Go away, go away, go away.</p> + +<p class="person">Young Man</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Outside door</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">I will go when the night is through</p> +<p>And I have eaten and slept and drunk to my heart’s delight.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>A law has been made that none shall sleep in this house to-night.</p> + +<p class="person">Young Man</p> + +<p>Who made that law?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page48"></a>48</span></p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>We made it, and who has so good a right?</p> +<p>Who else has to keep the house from the Shape-Changers till day?</p> + +<p class="person">Young Man</p> + +<p>Then I will unmake the law, so get you out of the way.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He pushes past <span class="sc">Conall</span> and goes +into house</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>I thought that no living man could have pushed me from the door,</p> +<p>Nor could any living man do it but for the dip in the floor;</p> +<p>And had I been rightly ready there’s no man living could do it,</p> +<p>Dip or no dip.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page49"></a>49</span></p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">Go out—if you have your wits, go out,</p> +<p>A stone’s throw further on you will find a big house where</p> +<p>Our wives will give you supper, and you’ll sleep sounder there,</p> +<p>For it’s a luckier house.</p> + +<p class="person">Young Man</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">I’ll eat and sleep where I will.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Go out or I will make you.</p> + +<p class="person">Young Man</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Forcing up <span class="sc">Laegaire’s</span> arm, passing +him and putting his shield on the wall +over the chair</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Not till I have drunk my fill.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page50"></a>50</span></p> +<p>But may some dog defend me for a cat of wonder’s up.</p> +<p>Laegaire and Conall are here, the flagon full to the top,</p> +<p>And the cups—</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p>It is Cuchulain.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p>The cups are dry as a bone.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He sits on chair and drinks</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>Go into Scotland again, or where you will, but begone</p> +<p>From this unlucky country that was made when the devil spat.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page51"></a>51</span></p> +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>If I lived here a hundred years, could a worse thing come than that</p> +<p>Laegaire and Conall should know me and bid me begone to my face?</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>We bid you begone from a house that has fallen on shame and disgrace.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>I am losing patience, Conall—I find you stuffed with pride,</p> +<p>The flagon full to the brim, the front door standing wide;</p> +<p>You’d put me off with words, but the whole thing’s plain enough,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page52"></a>52</span></p> +<p>You are waiting for some message to bring you to war or love</p> +<p>In that old secret country beyond the wool-white waves,</p> +<p>Or it may be down beneath them in foam-bewildered caves</p> +<p>Where nine forsaken sea queens fling shuttles to and fro;</p> +<p>But beyond them, or beneath them, whether you will or no,</p> +<p>I am going too.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Better tell it all out to the end;</p> +<p>He was born to luck in the cradle, his good luck may amend</p> +<p>The bad luck we were born to.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page53"></a>53</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">I’ll lay the whole thing bare.</p> +<p>You saw the luck that he had when he pushed in past me there.</p> +<p>Does anything stir on the sea?</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Not even a fish or a gull.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>You were gone but a little while. We were there and the ale-cup full.</p> +<p>We were half drunk and merry, and midnight on the stroke</p> +<p>When a wide, high man came in with a red foxy cloak,</p> +<p>With half-shut foxy eyes and a great laughing mouth,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page54"></a>54</span></p> +<p>And he said when we bid him drink, that he had so great a drouth</p> +<p>He could drink the sea.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">I thought he had come from one of you</p> +<p>Out of some Connaught rath, and would lap up milk and mew;</p> +<p>But if he so loved water I have the tale awry.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>You would not be so merry if he were standing by,</p> +<p>For when we had sung or danced as he were our next of kin</p> +<p>He promised to show us a game, the best that ever had been;</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page55"></a>55</span></p> +<p>And when we had asked what game, he answered, “Why, whip off my head!</p> +<p>Then one of you two stoop down, and I’ll whip off his,” he said.</p> +<p>“A head for a head,” he said, “that is the game that I play.”</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>How could he whip off a head when his own had been whipped away?</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>We told him it over and over, and that ale had fuddled his wit,</p> +<p>But he stood and laughed at us there, as though his sides would split,</p> +<p>Till I could stand it no longer, and whipped off his head at a blow,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page56"></a>56</span></p> +<p>Being mad that he did not answer, and more at his laughing so,</p> +<p>And there on the ground where it fell it went on laughing at me.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Till he took it up in his hands—</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">And splashed himself into the sea.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>I have imagined as good when I’ve been as deep in the cup.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>You never did.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">And believed it.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page57"></a>57</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Cuchulain, when will you stop</p> +<p>Boasting of your great deeds, and weighing yourself with us two,</p> +<p>And crying out to the world whatever we say or do,</p> +<p>That you’ve said or done a better?—Nor is it a drunkard’s tale,</p> +<p>Though we said to ourselves at first that it all came out of the ale,</p> +<p>And thinking that if we told it we should be a laughing-stock,</p> +<p>Swore we should keep it secret.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">But twelve months upon the clock.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>A twelvemonth from the first time.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page58"></a>58</span></p> +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">And the jug full up to the brim:</p> +<p>For we had been put from our drinking by the very thought of him.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>We stood as we’re standing now.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">The horns were as empty.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 8em;">When</p> +<p>He ran up out of the sea with his head on his shoulders again.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Why, this is a tale worth telling.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page59"></a>59</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>And he called for his debt and his right,</p> +<p>And said that the land was disgraced because of us two from that night</p> +<p>If we did not pay him his debt.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">What is there to be said</p> +<p>When a man with a right to get it has come to ask for your head?</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>If you had been sitting there you had been silent like us.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>He said that in twelve months more he would come again to this house</p> +<p>And ask his debt again. Twelve months are up to-day.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page60"></a>60</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>He would have followed after if we had run away.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Will he tell every mother’s son that we have broken our word?</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Whether he does or does not we’ll drive him out with the sword,</p> +<p>And take his life in the bargain if he but dare to scoff.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>How can you fight with a head that laughs when you’ve whipped it off?</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>Or a man that can pick it up and carry it out in his hand?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page61"></a>61</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>He is coming now, there’s a splash and a rumble along the strand</p> +<p>As when he came last.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Come, and put all your backs to the door.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A tall, red-headed, red-cloaked +man stands upon the threshold +against the misty green of the +sea; the ground, higher without +than within the house, makes him +seem taller even than he is. He +leans upon a great two-handed +sword</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p>It is too late to shut it, for there he stands once more</p> +<p>And laughs like the sea.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page62"></a>62</span></p> +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Old herring—You whip off heads! Why, then</p> +<p>Whip off your own, for it seems you can clap it on again.</p> +<p>Or else go down in the sea, go down in the sea, I say,</p> +<p>Find that old juggler Manannan and whip his head away;</p> +<p>Or the Red Man of the Boyne, for they are of your own sort,</p> +<p>Or if the waves have vexed you and you would find a sport</p> +<p>Of a more Irish fashion, go fight without a rest</p> +<p>A caterwauling phantom among the winds of the west.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page63"></a>63</span></p> +<p>But what are you waiting for? into the water, I say!</p> +<p>If there’s no sword can harm you, I’ve an older trick to play,</p> +<p>An old five-fingered trick to tumble you out of the place;</p> +<p>I am Sualtim’s son Cuchulain—what, do you laugh in my face?</p> + +<p class="person">Red Man</p> + +<p>So you too think me in earnest in wagering poll for poll!</p> +<p>A drinking joke and a gibe and a juggler’s feat, that is all,</p> +<p>To make the time go quickly—for I am the drinker’s friend,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page64"></a>64</span></p> +<p>The kindest of all Shape-Changers from here to the world’s end,</p> +<p>The best of all tipsy companions. And now I bring you a gift:</p> +<p>I will lay it there on the ground for the best of you all to lift,</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He lays his Helmet on the ground</i>]</p> + +<p>And wear upon his own head, and choose for yourselves the best.</p> +<p>O! Laegaire and Conall are brave, but they were afraid of my jest.</p> +<p>Well, maybe I jest too grimly when the ale is in the cup.</p> +<p>There, I’m forgiven now—</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Then in a more solemn voice as he +goes out</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Let the bravest take it up.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i><span class="sc">Conall</span> takes up Helmet and gazes +at it with delight</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page65"></a>65</span></p> +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Singing, with a swaggering stride</i>]</p> + +<p>Laegaire is best;</p> +<p>Between water and hill,</p> +<p>He fought in the west</p> +<p>With cat heads, until</p> +<p>At the break of day</p> +<p>All fell by his sword,</p> +<p>And he carried away</p> +<p>Their hidden hoard.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He seizes the Helmet</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>Give it me, for what did you find in the bag</p> +<p>But the straw and the broken delf and the bits of dirty rag</p> +<p>You’d taken for good money?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page66"></a>66</span></p> +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">No, no, but give it me.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He takes Helmet</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>The Helmet’s mine or Laegaire’s—you’re the youngest of us three.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Filling Helmet with ale</i>]</p> + +<p>I did not take it to keep it—the Red Man gave it for one,</p> +<p>But I shall give it to all—to all of us three or to none;</p> +<p>That is as you look upon it—we will pass it to and fro,</p> +<p>And time and time about, drink out of it and so</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page67"></a>67</span></p> +<p>Stroke into peace this cat that has come to take our lives.</p> +<p>Now it is purring again, and now I drink to your wives,</p> +<p>And I drink to Emer, my wife.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A great noise without and shouting</i>]</p> + +<p>Why, what in God’s name is that noise?</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>What else but the charioteers and the kitchen and stable boys</p> +<p>Shouting against each other, and the worst of all is your own,</p> +<p>That chariot-driver, Laeg, and they’ll keep it up till the dawn,</p> +<p>And there’s not a man in the house that will close his eyes to-night,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page68"></a>68</span></p> +<p>Or be able to keep them from it, or know what set them to fight.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A noise of horns without</i>]</p> + +<p>There, do you hear them now? such hatred has each for each</p> +<p>They have taken the hunting horns to drown one other’s speech</p> +<p>For fear the truth may prevail.—Here’s your good health and long life,</p> +<p>And, though she be quarrelsome, good health to Emer, your wife.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The Charioteers, Stable Boys and +Kitchen Boys come running in. +They carry great horns, ladles +and the like</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + +<p>I am Laeg, Cuchulain’s driver, and my master’s cock of the yard.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page69"></a>69</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>Conall would scatter his feathers.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Confused murmurs</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>To <span class="sc">Cuchulain</span></i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">No use, they won’t hear a word.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>They’ll keep it up till the dawn.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">It is Laegaire that is the best,</p> +<p>For he fought with cats in Connaught while Conall took his rest</p> +<p>And drained his ale pot.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">Laegaire—what does a man of his sort</p> +<p>Care for the like of us! He did it for his own sport.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page70"></a>70</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>It was all mere luck at the best.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">But Conall, I say—</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 6em;">Let me speak.</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + +<p>You’d be dumb if the cock of the yard would but open his beak.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>Before your cock was born, my master was in the fight.</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + +<p>Go home and praise your grand-dad. They took to the horns for spite,</p> +<p>For I said that no cock of your sort had been born since the fight began.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page71"></a>71</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>Conall has got it, the best man has got it, and I am his man.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Who was it started this quarrel?</p> + +<p class="person">A Stable Boy</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 6em;">It was Laeg.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">It was Laeg done it all.</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + +<p>A high, wide, foxy man came where we sat in the hall,</p> +<p>Getting our supper ready, with a great voice like the wind,</p> +<p>And cried that there was a helmet, or something of the kind,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page72"></a>72</span></p> +<p>That was for the foremost man upon the ridge of the earth.</p> +<p>So I cried your name through the hall,</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The others cry out and blow horns, +partly drowning the rest of his +speech</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">but they denied its worth,</p> +<p>Preferring Laegaire or Conall, and they cried to drown my voice;</p> +<p>But I have so strong a throat that I drowned all their noise</p> +<p>Till they took to the hunting horns and blew them into my face,</p> +<p>And as neither side would give in—we would settle it in this place.</p> +<p>Let the Helmet be taken from Conall.</p> + +<p class="person">A Stable Boy</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">No, Conall is the best man here.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page73"></a>73</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>Give it to Laegaire that made the murderous cats pay dear.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>It has been given to none: that our rivalry might cease,</p> +<p>We have turned that murderous cat into a cup of peace.</p> +<p>I drank the first; and then Conall; give it to Laegaire now,</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i><span class="sc">Conall</span> gives Helmet to <span class="sc">Laegaire</span></i>]</p> + +<p>That it may purr in his hand and all of our servants know</p> +<p>That since the ale went in, its claws went out of sight.</p> + +<p class="person">A Servant</p> + +<p>That’s well—I will stop my shouting.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page74"></a>74</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Cuchulain is in the right;</p> +<p>I am tired of this big horn that has made me hoarse as a rook.</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + +<p>Cuchulain, you drank the first.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">By drinking the first he took</p> +<p>The whole of the honours himself.</p> + +<p class="person">Laeg</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Cuchulain, you drank the first.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>If Laegaire drink from it now he claims to be last and worst.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page75"></a>75</span></p> +<p class="person">Another</p> + +<p>Cuchulain and Conall have drunk.</p> + +<p class="person">Another</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 6em;">He is lost if he taste a drop.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Laying Helmet on table</i>]</p> + +<p>Did you claim to be better than us by drinking first from the cup?</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>His words are partly drowned by +the murmurs of the crowd though +he speaks very loud</i>]</p> + +<p>That juggler from the sea, that old red herring it is</p> +<p>Who has set us all by the ears—he brought the Helmet for this,</p> +<p>And because we would not quarrel he ran elsewhere to shout</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page76"></a>76</span></p> +<p>That Conall and Laegaire wronged me, till all had fallen out.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The murmur grows less so that + his words are heard</i>]</p> + +<p>Who knows where he is now or who he is spurring to fight?</p> +<p>So get you gone, and whatever may cry aloud in the night,</p> +<p>Or show itself in the air, be silent until morn.</p> + +<p class="person">A Servant</p> + +<p>Cuchulain is in the right—I am tired of this big horn.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>Go!</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The Servants turn toward the +door but stop on hearing the +voices of Women outside</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page77"></a>77</span></p> +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Without</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Mine is the better to look at.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Without</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">But mine is better born.</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Without</i>]</p> + +<p>My man is the pithier man.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Old hurricane, well done!</p> +<p>You’ve set our wives to the game that they may egg us on;</p> +<p>We are to kill each other that you may sport with us.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page78"></a>78</span></p> +<p>Ah, now, they’ve begun to wrestle as to who’ll be first at the house.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The Women come to the door +struggling</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p>No, I have the right of place for I married the better man.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Pulling <span class="sc">Emer</span> back</i>]</p> + +<p>My nails in your neck and shoulder.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">And go before me if you can.</p> +<p>My husband fought in the West.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Kneeling in the door so as to keep +the others out who pull at her</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">But what did he fight with there</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page79"></a>79</span></p> +<p>But sidelong and spitting and helpless shadows of the dim air?</p> +<p>And what did he carry away but straw and broken delf?</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + +<p>Your own man made up that tale trembling alone by himself,</p> +<p>Drowning his terror.</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Forcing herself in front</i>]</p> + +<p>I am Emer, it is I go first through the door.</p> +<p>No one shall walk before me, or praise any man before</p> +<p>My man has been praised.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page80"></a>80</span></p> +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Spreading his arms across the door +so as to close it</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">Come, put an end to their quarrelling:</p> +<p>One is as fair as the other, and each one the wife of a king.</p> +<p>Break down the painted boards between the sill and the floor</p> +<p>That they come in together, each one at her own door.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i><span class="sc">Laegaire</span> and <span class="sc">Conall</span> begin to +break out the bottoms of the windows, +then their wives go to the +windows, each to the window +where her husband is. <span class="sc">Emer</span> +stands at the door and sings +while the boards are being broken +out</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p>Nothing that he has done,</p> +<p>His mind that is fire,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page81"></a>81</span></p> +<p>His body that is sun,</p> +<p>Have set my head higher</p> +<p>Than all the world’s wives.</p> +<p>Himself on the wind</p> +<p>Is the gift that he gives,</p> +<p>Therefore womenkind,</p> +<p>When their eyes have met mine,</p> +<p>Grow cold and grow hot,</p> +<p>Troubled as with wine</p> +<p>By a secret thought,</p> +<p>Preyed upon, fed upon</p> +<p>By jealousy and desire.</p> +<p>I am moon to that sun,</p> +<p>I am steel to that fire,</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The windows are now broken down +to floor. <span class="sc">Cuchulain</span> takes his +spear from the door, and the +three Women come in at the +same moment</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page82"></a>82</span></p> +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p>Cuchulain, put off this sloth and awake:</p> +<p>I will sing till I’ve stiffened your lip against every knave that would take</p> +<p>A share of your honour.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + +<p>You lie, for your man would take from my man.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>To <span class="sc">Laegaire’s Wife</span></i>]</p> + +<p>You say that, you double-face, and your own husband began.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Taking up Helmet from table</i>]</p> + +<p>Town land may rail at town land till all have gone to wrack,</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page83"></a>83</span></p> +<p>The very straws may wrangle till they’ve thrown down the stack;</p> +<p>The very door-posts bicker till they’ve pulled in the door,</p> +<p>The very ale-jars jostle till the ale is on the floor,</p> +<p>But this shall help no further.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He throws Helmet into the sea</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">It was not for your head,</p> +<p>And so you would let none wear it, but fling it away instead.</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + +<p>But you shall answer for it, for you’ve robbed my man by this.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page84"></a>84</span></p> +<p class="person">Conall</p> + +<p>You have robbed us both, Cuchulain.</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">The greatest wrong there is</p> +<p>On the wide ridge of the world has been done to us two this day.</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Drawing her dagger</i>]</p> + +<p>Who is for Cuchulain?</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 6em;">Silence!</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 4em;">Who is for Cuchulain, I say?</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>She sings the same words as before, +flourishing her dagger +about. While she is singing, +<span class="sc">Conall’s Wife</span> and <span class="sc">Laegaire’s</span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page85"></a>85</span> +<span class="sc">Wife</span> draw their daggers and run +at her, but <span class="sc">Cuchulain</span> forces +them back. <span class="sc">Laegaire</span> and <span class="sc">Conall</span> +draw their swords to strike <span class="sc">Cuchulain</span></i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Crying out so as to be heard +through <span class="sc">Emer’s</span> singing</i>]</p> + +<p>Deafen her singing with horns!</p> + +<p class="person">Conall’s Wife</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 2em;">Cry aloud! blow horns! make a noise!</p> + +<p class="person">Laegaire’s Wife</p> + +<p>Blow horns, clap hands, or shout, so that you smother her voice!</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>The Horse Boys and Scullions +blow their horns or fight among +themselves. There is a deafening +noise and a confused fight. Suddenly +three black hands come</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page86"></a>86</span> +<i>through the windows and put out +the torches. It is now pitch dark, +but for a faint light outside the +house which merely shows that +there are moving forms, but not +who or what they are, and in the +darkness one can hear low terrified +voices</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">A Voice</p> + +<p>Coal-black, and headed like cats, they came up over the strand.</p> + +<p class="person">Another Voice</p> + +<p>And I saw one stretch to a torch and cover it with his hand.</p> + +<p class="person">Another Voice</p> + +<p>Another sooty fellow has plucked the moon from the air.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A light gradually comes into the +house from the sea, on which the +moon begins to show once more.</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page87"></a>87</span> +<i>There is no light within the +house, and the great beams of +the walls are dark and full of +shadows, and the persons of the +play dark too against the light. +The <span class="sc">Red Man</span> is seen standing in +the midst of the house. The +black cat-headed Men crouch and +stand about the door. One carries +the Helmet, one the great +sword</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Red Man</p> + +<p>I demand the debt that’s owing. Let some man kneel down there</p> +<p>That I may cut his head off, or all shall go to wrack.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p>He played and paid with his head and it’s right that we pay him back,</p> +<p>And give him more than he gave, for he comes in here as a guest: +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page88"></a>88</span></p> +<p>So I will give him my head.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i><span class="sc">Emer</span> begins to keen</i>]</p> + + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Little wife, little wife, be at rest.</p> +<p>Alive I have been far off in all lands under sun,</p> +<p>And been no faithful man; but when my story is done</p> +<p>My fame shall spring up and laugh, and set you high above all.</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Putting her arms about him</i>]</p> + +<p>It is you, not your fame, that I love.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Tries to put her from him</i>]</p> + +<p>You are young, you are wise, you can call</p> +<p>Some kinder and comelier man that will sit at home in the house.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page89"></a>89</span></p> +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p>Live and be faithless still.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Throwing her from him</i>]</p> + +<p>Would you stay the great barnacle-goose</p> +<p>When its eyes are turned to the sea and its beak to the salt of the air?</p> + +<p class="person">Emer</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Lifting her dagger to stab herself</i>]</p> + +<p>I, too, on the grey wing’s path.</p> + +<p class="person">Cuchulain</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Seizing dagger</i>]</p> + +<p>Do you dare, do you dare, do you dare?</p> +<p>Bear children and sweep the house.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>Forcing his way through the Servants +who gather round</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page90"></a>90</span></p> + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">Wail, but keep from the road.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He kneels before <span class="sc">Red Man</span>. There +is a pause</i>]</p> + +<p>Quick to your work, old Radish, you will fade when the cocks have crowed.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>A black cat-headed Man holds out +the Helmet. The <span class="sc">Red Man</span> takes +it</i>]</p> + +<p class="person">Red Man</p> + +<p>I have not come for your hurt, I’m the Rector of this land,</p> +<p>And with my spitting cat-heads, my frenzied moon-bred band,</p> +<p>Age after age I sift it, and choose for its championship</p> +<p>The man who hits my fancy.</p> + +<p class="dir">[<i>He places the Helmet on <span class="sc">Cuchulain’s</span> +head</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page91"></a>91</span></p> + <p style="padding-left: 3em;">And I choose the laughing lip</p> +<p>That shall not turn from laughing whatever rise or fall,</p> +<p>The heart that grows no bitterer although betrayed by all;</p> +<p>The hand that loves to scatter; the life like a gambler’s throw;</p> +<p>And these things I make prosper, till a day come that I know,</p> +<p>When heart and mind shall darken that the weak may end the strong,</p> +<p>And the long remembering harpers have matter for their song.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="art" /> +<div class="pd3"> </div> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img style="border:0; width:200px; height:154px" + src="images/img01.jpg" + alt="Logo." /> +</div> +<div class="pd3"> </div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30488 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/30488-h/images/img01.jpg b/30488-h/images/img01.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b18c470 --- /dev/null +++ b/30488-h/images/img01.jpg diff --git a/30488-h/images/img02.jpg b/30488-h/images/img02.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..863f82b --- /dev/null +++ b/30488-h/images/img02.jpg |
