The still weather had come, and all the isles lay in beauty. Far
south, beyond vision, ranged the coasts of Eiré: westward, leagues of
quiet ocean dreamed into unsailed wastes whose waves at last laved the
shores of Tirna'n Òg, the Land of Eternal Youth: northward, the
spell-bound waters sparkled in the sunlight, broken here and there by
purple shadows, that were the isles of Staffa and Ulva, Lunga and the
isles of the columns, misty Coll, and Tiree that is the land beneath
the wave; with, pale blue in the heat-haze, the mountains of Rùm
called Haleval, Haskeval, and Oreval, and the sheer Scuir-na-Gillian
and the peaks of the Cuchullins in remote Skye.
All the sweet loveliness of a late spring remained, to give a
freshness to the glory of summer. The birds had song to them still.
It was while the dew was yet wet on the grass that Bride came out of
her father's house, and went up the steep slope of Dun-I. The crying
of the ewes and lambs at the pastures came plaintively against the
dawn. The lowing of the kye arose from the sandy hollows by the shore,
or from the meadows on the lower slopes. Through the whole island went
a rapid trickling sound, most sweet to hear: the myriad voices of
twittering birds, from the dotterel in the sea-weed to the larks
climbing the blue spirals of heaven.
This was the morning of her birth, and she was clad in white. About
her waist was a girdle of the sacred rowan, the feathery green leaves
of it flickering dusky shadows upon her robe as she moved. The light
upon her yellow hair was as when morning wakes, laughing low with joy
amid the tall corn. As she went she sang, soft as the crooning of a
dove. If any had been there to hear he would have been abashed, for
the words were not in Erse, and the eyes of the beautiful girl were as
those of one in a vision.
When, at last, a brief while before sunrise, she reached the summit of
the Scuir, that is so small a hill and yet seems so big in Iona where
it is the sole peak, she found three young Druids there, ready to tend
the sacred fire the moment the sun-rays should kindle it. Each was
clad in a white robe, with fillets of oak-leaves; and each had a
golden armlet. They made a quiet obeisance as she approached. One
stepped forward, with a flush in his face because of her beauty, that
was as a sea-wave for grace, and a flower for purity, and sunlight for
joy, and moonlight for peace, and the wind for fragrance.
"Thou mayst draw near if thou wilt, Bride, daughter of Dùvach," he
said, with something of reverence as well as of grave courtesy in his
voice: "for the holy Cathal hath said that the Breath of the Source of
All is upon thee. It is not lawful for women to be here at this
moment, but thou hast the law shining upon thy face and in thine
eyes. Hast thou come to pray?"
But at that moment a low cry came from one of his companions. He
turned, and rejoined his fellows. Then all three sank upon their
knees, and with outstretched arms hailed the rising of God.
As the sun rose, a solemn chant swelled from their lips, ascending as
incense through the silent air. The glory of the new day came
soundlessly. Peace was in the blue heaven, on the blue-green sea, on
the green land. There was no wind, even where the currents of the deep
moved in shadowy purple. The sea itself was silent, making no more
than a sighing slumber-breath round the white sands of the isle, or a
hushed whisper where the tide lifted the long weed that clung to the
rocks.
In what strange, mysterious way, Bride did not see; but as the three
Druids held their hands before the sacred fire there was a faint
crackling, then three thin spirals of blue smoke rose, and soon dusky
red and wan yellow tongues of flame moved to and fro. The sacrifice of
God was made. Out of the immeasurable heaven He had come, in His
golden chariot. Now, in the wonder and mystery of His love, He was
reborn upon the world, reborn a little fugitive flame upon a low hill
in a remote isle. Great must be His love that He could die thus daily
in a thousand places: so great His love that He could give up His own
body to daily death, and suffer the holy flame that was in the embers
he illumined to be lighted and revered and then scattered to the four
quarters of the world.
Bride could bear no longer the mystery of this great love. It moved
her to an ecstasy. What tenderness of divine love that could thus
redeem the world daily: what long-suffering for all the evil and
cruelty done hourly upon the weeping earth, what patience with the
bitterness of the blind fates! The beauty of the worship of Be'al was
upon her as a golden glory. Her heart leaped to a song that could not
be sung. The inexhaustible love and pity in her soul chanted a hymn
that was heard of no Druid or mortal anywhere, but was known of the
white spirits of Life.
Bowing her head, so that the glad tears fell warm as thunder-rain
upon her hands, she rose and moved away.
Not far from the summit of Dun-I is a hidden pool, to this day called
the Fountain of Youth. Hitherward she went, as was her wont when upon
the hill at the break of day, at noon, or at sundown. Close by the
huge boulder, which hides it from above, she heard a pitiful bleating,
and soon the healing of her eyes was upon a lamb which had become
fixed in a crevice in the rock. On a crag above it stood a falcon,
with savage cries, lusting for warm blood. With swift step Bride drew
near. There was no hurt to the lambkin as she lifted it in her arms.
Soft and warm was it there, as a young babe against the bosom that
mothers it. Then with quiet eyes she looked at the falcon, who hooded
his cruel gaze.
"There is no wrong in thee, Seobhag," she said gently; "but the law of
blood shall not prevail for ever. Let there be peace this morn."
And when she had spoken this word, the wild hawk of the hills flew
down upon her shoulder, nor did the heart of the lambkin beat the
quicker, while with drowsy eyes it nestled as against its dam. When
she stood by the pool she laid the little woolly creature among the
fern. Already the bleating of it was sweet against the forlorn heart
of a ewe. The falcon rose, circled above her head, and with swift
flight sped through the blue air. For a time Bride watched its
travelling shadow: when it was itself no more than a speck in the
golden haze, she turned, and stooped above the Fountain of Youth.
Beyond it stood then, though for ages past there has been no sign of
either, two quicken-trees. Now they were gold-green in the morning
light, and the brown-green berries that had not yet reddened were
still small. Fair to see was the flickering of the long finger-shadows
upon the granite rocks and boulders.
Often had Bride dreamed through their foliage; but now she stared in
amaze. She had put her lips to the water, and had started back because
she had seen, beyond her own image, that of a woman so beautiful that
her soul was troubled within her, and had cried its inaudible cry,
worshipping. When, trembling, she had glanced again, there was none
beside herself. Yet what had happened? For, as she stared at the
quicken-trees, she saw that their boughs had interlaced, and that they
now became a green arch. What was stranger still was that the
rowan-clusters hung in blood-red masses, although the late heats were
yet a long way off.
Bride rose, her body quivering because of the cool sweet draught of
the Fountain of Youth, so that almost she imagined the water was for
her that day what it could be once in each year to every person who
came to it, a breath of new life and the strength and joy of youth.
With slow steps she advanced towards the arch of the quickens. Her
heart beat as she saw that the branches at the summit had formed
themselves into the shape of a wreath or crown, and that the scarlet
berries dropped therefrom a steady rain of red drops as of blood. A
sigh of joy breathed from her lips when, deep among the red and green,
she saw the white merle of which the ancient poets sang, and heard the
exceeding wonder of its rapture, which was now the pain of joy and now
the joy of pain.
The song of the mystic bird grew wilder and more sweet as she drew
near. For a brief while she hesitated. Then, as a white dove drifted
slow before her under and through the quicken-boughs, a dove white as
snow but radiant with sunfire, she moved forward to follow, with a
dream-smile upon her face and her eyes full of the sheen of wonder and
mystery, as shadowy waters flooded with moonshine.
And this was the passing of Bride, who was not seen again of Dùvach or
her foster-brothers for the space of a year and a day. Only Cathal,
the aged Arch-Druid, who died seven days thence, had a vision of her,
and wept for joy.