The sweet bell we've dreamed of for many a year;
Its tones floating by on the night breezes, tell
That the end of our long life of sorrow is near!
Listen, ye swans, to the heavenly strain;
'Tis the anchoret tolling his soft matin bell:
He has come to release us, from sorrow, from pain,
From the cold and tempestuous shores where we dwell!
Trust in the glorious Lord of the sky;
He will free us from Eva's druidical spell:
Be thankful and glad, for our freedom is nigh,
And listen with joy to the voice of the bell!
"Let us sing our music now," said Finola.
And they chanted a low, sweet, plaintive strain of fairy music, to
praise and thank the great high King of heaven and earth.
Kemoc heard the music from where he stood; and he listened with great
astonishment. And he came and spoke to the swans, and asked them were
they the children of Lir. They replied, "We are indeed the children of
Lir, who were changed long ago into swans by the spells of the
witch-lady."
"I give God thanks that I have found you," said Kemoc; "for it is on
your account I have come to this little island." Then he brought them to
his own house; and, sending for a skilful workman, he caused him to make
two bright, slender chains of silver; and he put a chain between Finola
and Aed, and the other chain he put between Ficra and Conn. And there
they lived with Kemoc in content and happiness.
Now there was in that place a certain king named Largnen, whose queen
was Decca: the very king and queen whom the witch-lady had foretold on
the day when she changed the children into swans, nine hundred years
before. And Queen Decca, hearing all about those wonderful speaking
swans, wished to have them for herself: so she sent to Kemoc for them;
but he refused to give them. Whereupon the queen waxed very wroth: and
her husband the king, when she told him about it, was wroth also: and he
set out straightway for Kemoc's house to bring the swans away by force.
The swans were at this time standing in the little church with Kemoc.
And Largnen coming up, seized the two silver chains, one in each hand,
and drew the birds towards the door; while Kemoc followed him, much
alarmed lest they should be injured.
The king had proceeded only a little way, when suddenly the white
feathery robes faded and disappeared; and the swans regained their human
shape, Finola being transformed into an extremely old woman, and the
three sons into three feeble old men, white-haired and bony and
wrinkled.
When the king saw this, he started with affright, and instantly left the
place without speaking one word.
As to the children of Lir, they turned towards Kemoc; and Finola spoke--
"Come, holy cleric, and baptise us without delay, for our death is near.
You will grieve after us, O Kemoc; but in truth you are not more
sorrowful at parting from us than we are at parting from you. Make our
grave here and bury us together; and as I often sheltered my brothers
when we were swans, so let us be placed in the grave--Conn standing
near me at my right side, Ficra at my left, and Aed before my
face."[43-1]
Come, holy priest, with book and prayer
Baptise and bless us here:
Haste, cleric, haste, for the hour has come
And death at last is near!
Dig our grave--a deep, deep grave,
Near the church we loved so well;
This little church, where first we heard
The voice of the Christian bell.
As oft in life my brothers dear
Were sooth'd by me to rest--
Ficra and Conn beneath my wings,
And Aed before my breast;
So place the two on either hand--
Close, like the love that bound me;
Place Aed as close before my face,
And twine their arms around me
Thus shall we rest for evermore,
My brothers dear and I;
Haste, cleric, haste, baptise and bless,
For death at last is nigh!
[43-1] In Ireland, in old times, the dead were often buried
standing up in the grave. It was in this way Finola and
her brothers were buried.
[Illustration: An Ogham stone. See note, next page.]
[Illustration: Bronze spear-head. A long handle was fixed in the socket
and fastened by a rivet.]
[Illustration: Bronze sword. A hilt was fixed on by rivets.]
Then the children of Lir were baptised, and they died immediately. And
when they died, Kemoc looked up; and lo, he saw a vision of four lovely
children, with light, silvery wings, and faces all radiant with joy.
They gazed on him for a moment; but even as they gazed, they vanished
upwards, and he saw them no more. And he was filled with gladness, for
he knew they had gone to heaven; but when he looked down on the four
bodies lying before him, he became sad and wept.
And Kemoc caused a wide and deep grave to be dug near the little church;
and the children of Lir were buried together, as Finola had
directed--Conn at her right hand, Ficra at her left, and Aed standing
before her face. And he raised a grave-mound over them, placing a
tombstone on it, with their names graved in Ogham;[45-1] after which he
uttered a lament for them, and their funeral rites were performed.
[45-1] Ogham, a sort of writing often used on tombstones to mark the
names of the persons buried. It consisted of lines and
points generally cut on the edges of the stone.
So far we have related the sorrowful story of the Fate of the Children
of Lir.
From "Old Celtic Romances," by P. W. JOYCE, LL.D.
IX.
HOW RELIGION AND LEARNING FLOURISHED IN IRELAND.
As soon as St. Patrick had entered on his mission in Ireland, he began
to found monasteries, which continued to spread through every part of
the country for hundreds of years after his time. Though religion was
their main object, these establishments were among the chief means of
spreading general enlightenment among the people. Almost every
monastery had a school or college attached, at the head of which was
some man who was a great scholar and teacher. The teachers were
generally monks: but many learned laymen were also employed. Some
colleges had very large numbers of students: for instance, we are told
that there were 3000 in each of the two colleges of Clonard and
Bangor[46-1]; and many others might be named, which, though not so
large, had yet several hundred students in each.
[46-1] Clonard, in Meath, on the Boyne. Bangor, in the Co. Down.
In these monasteries and their schools all was life and activity. The
monks were always busily employed; some at tillage on the farm round the
monastery--ploughing, digging, sowing, reaping--some teaching, others
writing books. The duty of a few was to attend to travellers, to wash
their feet and prepare supper and bed for them: for strangers who called
at the monastery were always received with welcome, and got lodging,
food, and attendance from the monks, all free. Others of the inmates,
again, employed themselves in cooking, or carpentry, or smithwork, or
making clothes, for the use of the community. Besides all this they had
their devotions to attend to, at certain times, both day and night,
throughout the year. As for the students, they had to mind their own
simple household concerns, and each day when these were finished they
had plenty of employment in their studies: for the professors kept them
hard at work.
There were also great numbers of schools not held in monasteries,
conducted by laymen, some for general learning, such as History, Poetry,
Grammar, Latin, Greek, Irish, the Sciences, &c.; and some for teaching
and training young men for professions, such as lawyers and doctors. And
these schools helped greatly to spread learning, though they were not so
well known outside Ireland as the monastic schools.
The Irish professors were so famed for their learning, and the colleges
were so excellent, that students came to them from every country of
Europe: but more from Great Britain than elsewhere. The Irish were very
much pleased to receive these foreign students: and they were so
generous that they supplied them with food, gave them the manuscript
books they wanted to learn from, and taught them too, all free of
charge. Ireland was in those times the most learned country in Europe,
so that it was known by the name of the Island of Saints and Scholars.
But the Irish scholars and missionaries did not confine themselves to
their own country. Great numbers of them went abroad--to Britain and
elsewhere--to teach and to preach the Gospel to the people. The
professors from Ireland were held in such estimation that they were
employed to teach in most of the schools and colleges of Great Britain
and the Continent.
We shall see that the Northern Picts of Scotland were converted by St.
Columkille and his monks from Iona (see p. 144): and a large proportion
of the people of England became Christians through the preaching of
Irish monks before the arrival of St. Augustine.[48-1]
[48-1] St. Augustine came to England in the year 596--having been
sent by Pope Gregory--and converted to Christianity those
of the English who had not been already converted.
The Irish missionaries, who went to the Continent, in their eagerness to
spread religion and knowledge, penetrated to all parts of Europe: they
even found their way to Iceland. Few people have any idea of the trials
and dangers they encountered. Most of them were persons in good
position, who might have lived in plenty and comfort at home. They knew
well, when setting out, that they were leaving country and friends
probably for ever: for of those that went, very few ever returned. Once
on the Continent, they had to make their way poor and friendless,
through people whose language they did not understand, and who were in
many places ten times more rude and dangerous in those ages than the
inhabitants of these islands: and we know, as a matter of history, that
many were killed on the way. Then these earnest men had, of course, to
learn the language of the people among whom they took up their abode:
for until they did this they had to employ an interpreter, which was a
very troublesome and slow way of preaching. But the noble-hearted
missionaries went forth to do their good work; and no labours,
hardships, or dangers could turn them from their purpose.
More than three hundred years ago the great English poet, Edmund
Spenser, lived some time in Ireland, and made himself very well
acquainted with its history. He knew what kind of a country it was in
past ages; so that in one of his poems he speaks of the time
"When Ireland florishèd in fame
Of wealth and goodnesse, far above the rest
Of all that beare the British Islands name."
[Illustration: Ancient Irish solid gold ornament, now in the National
Museum Dublin. It is double the size of the picture, and weighs 5-1/4
oz. Great numbers of gold objects, shaped like this, are in the National
Museum, some very large--one of them weighing 33 oz.: while others are
quite small, not bigger than a common coat-button. Besides being
ornaments, it is believed that they were used as money, as there were no
coins in use in very ancient times in Ireland.]
X.
THE RED BRANCH KNIGHTS.
Nearly two miles west of Armagh are the remains of the ancient palace of
Emain, or Emain Macha, often called Emania. They consist of a great
circular _rath_ or rampart of earth, with a deep trench outside it, and
a high mound within, the whole structure covering a space of about
thirteen acres. At one time the circular ring was complete, but of late
years some portions of it have been levelled or removed. The houses in
which the kings and heroes of old, with their numerous households, lived
and feasted, stood mostly within the enclosure, and were all of wood,
not a trace of which remains. This great fort is now called by the
people of the place, the "Navan Fort," or "Navan Ring."
According to Irish legendary history, Emain was founded about three
centuries before the beginning of the Christian era, by Macha of the
Golden Hair, queen of Ulster; and for more than six hundred years it was
the residence of the kings of that province. But about the year A.D.
331, it was destroyed by three princes from Tara, who invaded and
conquered that part of Ulster; after which Emain was no longer
inhabited.
Early in the first century of the Christian era flourished the Red
Branch Knights, a band of heroes in the service of Concobar (or Conor)
Mac Nessa, king of Ulster. There were several bodies of them, under
separate commanders, who lived in different parts of the province. These
leaders were the great heroes of the Red Branch, who are celebrated in
ancient Irish romance, and who are mentioned by Moore in his song, "Let
Erin remember":--
"When her kings with standard of green unfurled
Led the Red Branch Knights to danger."
Every year during the summer months, various companies of the Knights
came to Emain under their several commanders, to be drilled and trained
in military science and feats of arms. They were lodged in a large
separate building beside Emain, called Creeveroe or the Red Branch--from
which the whole force took its name: and the townland in which this
great house stood is still called Creeveroe. Each day the leaders were
feasted by King Concobar Mac Nessa in his own banquetting hall at Emain.
The greatest of all the Red Branch heroes was Cu-Culainn--"the mightiest
hero of the Scots," as he is called in one of the oldest of the Irish
books--whose residence was _Dundalgan_, a mile west of the present town
of Dundalk. This dun or fort consists of a high mound surrounded by an
earthen rampart and trench, all of immense size, even in their ruined
state; but it has lost its old name and is now called the Moat of
Castletown, while the original name Dundalgan, slightly altered, has
been transferred to Dundalk.
Another of these Red Branch Knights' residences stands beside
Downpatrick: viz., the great fort anciently called (among other names)
Dun-Keltair or Rath-Keltair, where lived the hero, Keltar of the
Battles. It consists of a huge embankment of earth, nearly circular,
with the usual deep trench outside it, covering a space of about ten
acres.
Next to Cuculainn, the most renowned of those knights were Fergus Mac
Roy, Leary the Victorious, Conall Carnagh, and the three Sons of Usna.
There were, at this same time, similar orders of knights in the other
provinces. Those of Munster were commanded by Curoi Mac Dara, who lived
in a great stone fortress high up on the side of Caherconree Mountain,
near Tralee, the remains of which may be seen to this day. He was a
mighty champion, and on one occasion vanquished Cuculainn in single
combat. The Connaught knights were in the service of Maive, the warlike
queen of that province, whose residence was the palace of Croghan, the
ruins of which still remain near the village of Rathcroghan in the north
of Roscommon.
In the Book of the Dun Cow, the Book of Leinster, and other old
manuscripts (which will be found described farther on), there are great
numbers of romantic stories about those Red Branch Knights, and about
the Knights of Munster and Connaught, of which many have been translated
and published.
The most celebrated of all these tales is what is called the _Tain_ or
"Cattle spoil" of Quelna or Cooley.[53-1] Queen Maive, having some cause
of quarrel with an Ulster chief, set out with her army for the north on
a plundering expedition, attended by all the great heroes of Connaught.
During the march northwards, the queen, as the story tells us, had nine
splendid chariots for herself and her attendant chiefs, her own in the
centre, with two abreast in front, two behind, and two on each side,
right and left; and--in the words of the old tale--"the reason for this
order was, lest the clods from the hoofs of the horses, or the
foam-flakes from their mouths, or the dust raised by that mighty host,
should strike and tarnish the golden diadem on the head of the queen."
[53-1] Quelna or Cooley, the ancient name of the hilly peninsula
lying between the bays of Carlingford and Dundalk: the
name Cooley is still retained.
The invading army entered Quelna, which was then a part of Ulster and
belonged to Cuculainn. It happened just then that the men of Ulster were
under a spell of feebleness, all but Cuculainn, who had to defend
single-handed the several fords and passes, in a series of combats
against Maive's best champions, in all of which he was victorious. But,
in spite of what he could do, Queen Maive carried off nearly all the
best cattle of Quelna, and, at their head, a great brown bull which
indeed was what she chiefly came for. At length the Ulstermen, having
been freed from the spell, attacked and routed the Connaught army. The
battles, single combats, and other incidents of this war are related in
the Tain, which consists of one main story, with about thirty minor
tales grouped round it. Another Red Branch story is the Fate of the Sons
of Usna, which has been always a favourite with Irish story-tellers, and
with the Irish people in general, and which is now given here,
translated in full.
[Illustration: A "Cromlech," an ancient Irish tomb: still to be seen in
its place in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. This is rather a small one, the
covering stone being only about 6-1/2 feet long. Some cromlechs are very
large: one at Kilternan near Dublin has a covering stone 23-1/2 feet
long, 17 feet broad, and 6-1/2 feet thick: and no one can tell how the
people of old lifted it up.]
Deirdre; or, The Fate of the Sons of Usna.[55-1]
XI.
THE FLIGHT TO ALBAN.
Concobar Mac Nessa king of Ulaid[55-2] ruled in Emain. And his chief
storyteller, Felimid, made a feast for the king and for the knights of
the Red Branch; who all came to partake of it in his house. While they
were feasting right joyously, listening to the sweet music of the harps
and the mellow voices of the bards, a messenger brought word that
Felimid's wife had given birth to a little daughter, an infant of
wondrous beauty. And when Caffa, the king's druid and seer, who was of
the company, was ware of the birth of the child, he went forth to view
the stars and the clouds, if he might thereby glean knowledge of what
was in store for that little babe.[55-3] And when he had returned to his
place, he sat deep pondering for a time: and then standing up and
obtaining silence, he said:--
"This child shall be called Deir-dre[56-1]; and fittingly is she so
named: for much of woe will befal Ulaid and Erin in general on her
account. There shall be jealousies, and strifes, and wars: evil deeds
will be done: many heroes will be exiled: many will fall."
[55-1] The translation that follows is quite new, and is now
published for the first time. On this fine story is
founded the poem of "Deirdre" by Robert Dwyer Joyce, M.D.
[55-2] Ulaid (pron. _Ulla_), Ulster.
[55-3] The druids professed to be able to foretell by observing the
stars and clouds.
[56-1] "Deirdre" is said to mean "alarm."
When the heroes heard this they were sorely troubled, and some said that
the child should be killed. But the king said:--"Not so, ye Knights of
the Red Branch, it is not meet to commit a base deed in order to escape
evils that may never come to pass. This little maid shall be reared out
of the reach of mischief, and when she is old enough she shall be my
wife: thus shall I be the better able to guard against those evils that
Caffa forecasts for us."
And the Ultonians did not dare to gainsay the word of the king.
Then king Concobar caused the child to be placed in a strong fortress on
a lonely spot nigh the palace, with no opening in front, but with door
and windows looking out at the back on a lovely garden watered by a
clear rippling stream: and house and garden were surrounded by a wall
that no man could surmount. And those who were put in charge of her
were, her tutor, and her nurse, and Concobar's poetess, whose name was
Lavarcam: and save these three, none were permitted to see her. And so
she grew up in this solitude, year by year, till she was of marriageable
age; when she excelled all the maidens of her time for beauty.
One snowy day as she and Lavarcam looked forth from the window, they saw
some blood on the snow, where her tutor had killed a calf for dinner;
and a raven alighted and began to drink of it. "I should like," said
Deirdre, "that he who is to be my husband should have these three
colours: his hair as black as the raven: his cheeks red as the blood:
his skin like the snow. And I saw such a youth in a dream last night;
but I know not where he is, or whether he is living on the ridge of the
world."
"Truly," said Lavarcam, "the young hero that answers to thy words is not
far from thee; for he is among Concobar's knights: namely, Naisi the son
of Usna."
Now Naisi and his brothers, Ainnli and Ardan, the three Sons of Usna,
were the best beloved of all the Red Branch Knights, so gracious and
gentle were they in time of peace, so skilful and swift-footed in the
chase, so strong and valiant in battle.
And when Deirdre heard Lavarcam's words, she said:--"If it be as thou
sayest, that this young knight is near us, I shall not be happy till I
see him: and I beseech thee to bring him to speak to me."
"Alas, child," replied Lavarcam, "thou knowest not the peril of what
thou askest me to do: for if thy tutor come to know of it, he will
surely tell the king; and the king's anger none can bear."
Deirdre answered not: but she remained for many days sad and silent: and
her eyes often filled with tears through memory of her dream: so that
Lavarcam was grieved: and she pondered on the thing if it could be done,
for she loved Deirdre very much and had compassion on her. At last she
contrived that these two should meet without the tutor's knowledge: and
the end of the matter was that they loved each other: and Deirdre said
she would never wed the king, but she would wed Naisi.
Knowing well the doom that awaited them when Concobar came to hear of
this, Naisi and his young wife and his two brothers, with thrice fifty
fighting men, thrice fifty women, thrice fifty attendants, and thrice
fifty hounds, fled over sea to Alban. And the king of the western part
of Alban received them kindly and took them into military service. Here
they remained for a space, gaining daily in favour: but they kept
Deirdre apart, fearing evil if the king should see her.
And so matters went on, till it chanced that the king's steward, coming
one day by Naisi's house, saw the couple as they sat on their couch: and
going directly to his master, he said:--
"O king, we have long sought in vain for a woman worthy to be thy wife,
and now at last we have found her: for the woman, Deirdre, who is with
Naisi, is worthy to be the wife of the king of the western world. And
now I give thee this counsel:--Let Naisi be killed, and then take thou
Deirdre for thy wife."
[Illustration: A burial urn. The ancient Irish sometimes buried as we do
now, placing the body in the grave, over which they often raised a cairn
or a cromlech. Sometimes they burned the body and put the ashes in an
urn, which they placed under a cromlech, or cairn, or burial mound. Urns
were always made of clay, which was baked till it was hard. They are
often found in graves, especially under cairns and cromlechs: and they
nearly always contain ashes and bits of burnt bones. Occasionally, as
has been already said (p. 43, note), persons were buried standing up,
especially kings and warriors, who were placed in the grave fully
armed.]
The king basely agreed to do so; and forthwith he laid a plot to slay
the sons of Usna; which matter coming betimes to the ears of the
brothers, they fled by night with all their people. And when they had
got to a safe distance, they took up their abode in a wild place, where
with much ado they obtained food by hunting and fishing. And the
brothers built them three hunting booths in the forest, a little
distance from that part of the seashore looking towards Erin: and the
booth in which their food was prepared, in that they did not eat; and
the one in which they ate, in that they did not sleep. And their people
in like manner built themselves booths and huts, which gave them but
scant shelter from wind and weather.
Now when it came to the ears of the Ultonians, that the sons of Usna and
their people were in discomfort and danger, they were sorely grieved:
but they kept their thoughts to themselves, for they dared not speak
their mind to the king.
XII.
CONCOBAR'S GUILEFUL MESSAGE.