HANRAHAN (_shouting_). Leave that! (SHEAMUS _goes
away, and comes over to the two old women._)
SHEAMUS. Maurya Regaun, I am asking leave of you to throw that
ill-mannerly, drunken vagabond out of the house. Myself and my two
brothers will put him out if you will allow us; and when he's outside
I'll settle with him.
MAURYA. Sheamus, do not; I am afraid of him. That man has a
curse they say that would split the trees.
SHEAMUS. I don't care if he had a curse that would overthrow
the heavens; it is on me it will fall, and I defy him! If he were to
kill me on the moment, I will not allow him to put his spells on Oona.
Give me leave, Maurya.
SHEELA. Do not, Sheamus. I have a better advice than that.
SHEAMUS. What advice is that?
SHEELA. I have a way in my head to put him out. If you follow
my advice, he will go out himself as quiet as a lamb; and when you get
him out, slap the door on him, and never let him in again.
MAURYA. Luck from God on you, Sheela, and tell us what's in
your head.
SHEELA. We will do it as nice and easy as you ever saw. We will
put him to twist a hay-rope till he is outside, and then we will shut
the door on him.
SHEAMUS. It's easy to say, but not easy to do. He will say to
you, "Make a hay-rope yourself."
SHEELA. We will say then that no one ever saw a hay-rope made,
that there is no one at all in the house to make the beginning of it.
SHEAMUS. But will _he_ believe that we never saw a hay-rope?
SHEELA. He believe it, is it? He'd believe anything; he'd
believe that himself is king over Ireland when he has a glass taken, as
he has now.
SHEAMUS. But what excuse can we make for saying we want a
hay-rope?
MAURYA. Can't you think of something yourself, Sheamus?
SHEAMUS. Sure, I can say the wind is rising, and I must bind
the thatch, or it will be off the house.
SHEELA. But he'll know the wind is not rising if he does but
listen at the door. You must think of some other excuse, Sheamus.
SHEAMUS. Wait, I have a good idea now; say there is a coach
upset at the bottom of the hill, and that they are asking for a hay-rope
to mend it with. He can't see as far as that from the door, and he won't
know it's not true it is.
MAURYA. That's the story, Sheela. Now, Sheamus, go among the
people and tell them the secret. Tell them what they have to say, that
no one at all in this country ever saw a hay-rope, and put a good skin
on the lie yourself. (SHEAMUS _goes from person to person
whispering to them, and some of them begin laughing._ _The piper has
begun playing. Three or four couples rise up._)
HANRAHAN (_after looking at them for a couple of minutes_).
Whisht! Let ye sit down! Do ye call that dragging, dancing? You are
tramping the floor like so many cattle. You are as heavy as bullocks, as
awkward as asses. May my throat be choked if I would not sooner be
looking at as many lame ducks hopping on one leg through the house.
Leave the floor to Oona ni Regaun and to me.
ONE OF THE MEN GOING TO DANCE. And for what would we leave the
floor to you?
HANRAHAN. The swan of the brink of the waves, the royal
phoenix, the pearl of the white breast, the Venus amongst the women,
Oona ni Regaun, is standing up with me, and any place she rises up, the
sun and the moon bow to her, and so shall ye yet. She is too handsome,
too sky-like for any other woman to be near her. But wait a while!
Before I'll show you how the Connacht boy can dance, I will give you the
poem I made on the star of the province of Munster, on Oona ni Regaun.
Get up, O sun among women, and we will sing the song together, verse
about, and then we'll show them what right dancing is! (OONA
_rises._)