Hero
[Saluting Finn.]
Darling of all men in the world!
I give you the greeting in grandeur and splendour!
I bring you glad tidings of great joy!
I publish peace!
Finn
[Utterly bewildered.]
Loveliest of all heroes that I have ever seen,
I salute you frankly, fluently, and energetically
With the equivalent of the same words,
Though I do not know who you are.
Your feet are beautiful as a star.
I wish that I could sing like the birds,
Or blossom like the green wet earth,
For my heart is full of mirth.
But I can only glower and gaze
While my mind plays,
And sings and tumbles up and down
Inside me, like a clown
That makes me feel quite silly,
Laughing willy-nilly,
Like a man in love.
Do you come from above,
Or round about or below,
Or anywhere I know?
Hero
I come through night-watching and tempest of sea
where I am, because I am losing my children, and it
has been told me there is not a man in all the world
who can keep them for me but you.
Finn
[Astonished.]
Why, how can I do that when I must bear
This heavy rainbow with me everywhere,
And all the years
Have found my laughter through a mist of tears?
Hero
Since you alone were strong enough to creep
Into my mind, and fetch me out of sleep,
You have attained my stature, and I find
You are a man according to my mind.
Finn
[Crying out, afraid.]
It was a dream, only a dream I stole!
I never did as much
As touch
Your garment’s hem.
Hero
No, but you clasped my soul.
Virtue went out of me immediately
The moment that your love was strong enough
To push aside the earth and find the stuff
That dreams are made on.
Up through the senseless clay
You sprang like some green sappy shoot,
And touched the nervous thoughtful root
That I am stayed on.
Finn
[Dumbfounded.]
It was a dream—I never knew—
Hero
I lay upon you
As crosses and spells
And seven fairy fetters of travelling and straying,
To be with me before you shall eat food,
Or drink a draught,
Or close an eye in sleep.
[At his words a delicate web of gossamer covered with
dewdrops, spiders’ webs, and flower seeds falls over
Finn. The Hero leaves him spellbound, and, returning
gaily to his boat, launches her and sails away. When
the boat has vanished the web falls away, and Finn
turns round with a cry which arouses the other men.]
Finn
Conan
Finn
The stranger that was here anon.
Condhla
Conan
Angus
Finn
Gonachry
Finn
I can’t tell.
I must find him; he has gone
Off with something I had on.
Conan
You don’t look very well.
Gonachry
[Sarcastically.]
I saw him running up the ben,
As swift as a spot of sunlight when
The clouds bend with a cup
To pounce on him and cover him up
Like a wasp inside a glass.
Angus
Hush! I hear Mactalla pass,
He’s surely singing in his sleep.
Since it’s never very deep,
Let us rouse him up and speir
If the stranger is still here.
[All cry aloud, against the rocks: “Mactalla! Mactalla!
Mactalla!” The echo is returned mockingly:
“Mactalla! Mactalla! Mactalla!”]
Angus
Tut! He’s in a teasing mood to-day;
We’ll get nothing out of him. I say!
Answer, and I’ll promise you fair,
A big laugh to yourself off the back of Ben Y Bheithir.
Mactalla[1]
[Mocking from somewhere.]
I say! I say! A big laugh off the back of Ben Y Bheithir?
Angus
Ha! ha! You’re there, little fellow!
Yes, at the back of Ben Bheithir, where the yellow
Saxifrage grows out of the crannied rock,
I’ll give you a laugh to yourself that’ll shock
The natives, if you’ll tell us now
Which way the stranger went.
Mactalla
Bow-wow!
I’ll have the big laugh out of you,
But I cannot tell you true
Which one way the stranger went,
For he’s left an echo pent
In everything he came across.
I’m entirely at a loss.
Can’t you catch it here and there?
I think he must be everywhere.
[The growing things are heard talking.]
Alder-tree
Grass
Yes, I am growing
Under his feet,
If the heather will let me pass.
Heather
I’ll try to, if you’ll meet
Me half-way.
Scotch Pine
[Loftily.]
I say,
There’s no knowing
What she’ll be up to next.
Take my text,
And scarcely let yourself be seen,
With anyone so very green.
Yew-tree
[Phlegmatically.]
I am quite at a loss
To know what came across
My barrowful of withered leaves.
Rowan
[Gently.]
A bairnie couped it, coming home from school,
Among the sheaves.
Birch
[Whispering.]
Hush! hush! Softly, softly, my daughters;
I hear the sound of mountain waters.
Burn
[Singing.]
Bubble! Bubble! Bubble!
Hush! Let me down.
Bubble! Bubble! Bubble!
What a lot of trouble
There is in the world
Before you can get down
To bed-rock,
And stand stock
Still
As reserved, as reserved, as reserved as can be,
Not letting slip
A word over your lip.
Oh! I say! Hurry! Hurry! I must get to the sea!
Bubble! Bubble! Bubble!
Hush! Let me down
Without any more trouble,
Bubble! Bubble! Bubble! Bubble!
[All remain listening, wrapt in wonder. Even Finn,
who since the spell has been laid upon him has been
sitting in great heaviness of mind, looks up and listens
to the song with growing delight. Suddenly Angus
roars with laughter.]
Mactalla
[Mocking.]
Ha! Ha! Ha! Big Angus! Bow-wow!
I said I’d have the big laugh out of you the now.
Angus
[Unable to stop laughing.]
Did ever anybody hear the like of that?
[The others look at him half-angrily.]
Conan
Condhla
Torquil
Can’t you hold your tongue.
Gonachry
Did you ever hear of anyone that could!
Angus
[In desperation.]
Hold my tongue! Will that do any good?
[He tries to do so. It makes him laugh all the more,
and one by one they all gradually join in his laughter
except Finn, till they are roaring fit to split the rocks.
Above it all Mactalla is heard mocking. At last Angus
subsides, wiping the tears from his eyes.]
Conan
What on earth are you laughing at?
Angus
Nothing on earth. What are you laughing at?
Conan
Angus
Well, how should I know what I’m laughing at?
Conan
Because you began, you gomeril.
Angus
Gonachry
Angus
Conan
What was Mactalla laughing at?
Angus
That’s what I’d like to know.
Gonachry
Angus
That’s because you’ve no sense of humour.
Gonachry
[Fiercely.]
I have a sense of humour.
Angus
Gonachry
[He looks up his sleeve and gives a sarcastic grin.]
Angus
Well, nobody can see it there
But yourself, so you’d better take care.
If folk don’t see what you’re laughing at
They’ll end by laughing at you.
Conan
[Stooping to pick up a button.]
What’s that?
A button. Is it anywhere off me?
[He looks himself all over.]
Condhla
Conan
Greenish-white. No, it’s not off me
As far as I can see.
Angus
[Holding out his hand.]
Here, it’s mine. I burst it laughing.
[Conan hands it over to him casually.]
Conan
[Lighting his pipe.]
Come on! It’s time we were at work again.
Torquil
Are you taking the boat out to-day?
Conan
[Exit Conan, Condhla, and Torquil.]
Angus
[To Finn.]
Finn
[Abstractedly.]
Gonachry
[Laughing carelessly.]
He looks to me as if he had gone daft.
[He slouches off after the others with his hands in his
pockets.]
Angus
It’s very queer the way he never laughed.
[He goes up to Finn and gives him a hearty slap on
the back.]
Come, man! What ails you?
Finn
[Throwing him off with sudden irritation.]
Angus
[Aside.]
[He makes a sign to keep off the evil eye, and retreats
hurriedly after the others, casting suspicious
glances backwards at Finn.]
Finn
[Seeing himself alone, with a sigh of relief hoists his
rainbow resolutely and tightens his belt.]
I will prick on my way
Far into the country of my God,
And if it be true, as they say,
That He is calm and unhurried,
Some day I shall break through a gap in the hedge
And come upon Him seated by the road-edge.
Then shall I say to Him these three things, baring my brow:
“Wherefore art Thou, whence didst Thou come, and whither goest Thou?
Answer, I pray, for I ask of Thee
As one traveller of another.”
[Enter the Carpenter, unperceived by Finn.]
Carpenter
Finn
[Starting violently.]
Carpenter
Finn
[Gloomily.]
It’s fine as long as this breeze lasts, but I’m thinking
it’ll not be long before there’s a shower coming over
from Badenoch.
Carpenter
Ay! It’s soft; but it’ll not be much with the sun
where it is.
Finn
The sun may be as high as it likes, it’ll not make
much difference to the shadow on my mind.
Carpenter
What sort of a shadow is on your mind?
Finn
A shadow like the one across the breast
Of Kinlochleven when the sun goes west,
And the Bidean, that great serious Ben,
Stoops to consider men.
Carpenter
Finn
It’s a shadow of crosses and spells and seven fairy
fetters of travelling and straying, to be with the one
that considers me before I shall eat food, or drink a
draught, or close an eye in sleep.
Carpenter
It’s a long shadow, but maybe I can help you to the
one that considers you if you’ll consider me.
Finn
What are you good at to help me?
Carpenter
Finn
How good are you at carpentry?
Carpenter
With three strokes of this axe I can make a large
capacious complete ship of the alder-stock over yonder.
Finn
[Eagerly.]
You are good enough then, carpenter, for I am wanting a ship
To go on this trip.
Can you prove me your skill?
Carpenter
[The Carpenter goes to the alder-stock, strikes it with
his axe thrice, and, as he says, the ship is ready in
the sea waiting for them.]
Finn
[Delighted.]
It is a very beautiful wide ship; what can it do?
Carpenter
It can take you to the one that considers you,
If rightly handled, and, as far’s I see,
Brings such a one again to you and me.
Finn
[Eagerly.]
Carpenter
[Pawkily.]
Ay, if you are willing to engage
My brother too for a trifling wage.
I’ll not can manage her alone.
Finn
[Impatiently.]
Come on! Come on! Call me your brother;
He’ll do as well as any other.
[The Carpenter whistles shrilly on his fingers, and
the Tracker enters.]
Carpenter
You’re wanted for the boat the now;
He needs you at the bow.
Tracker
[To Finn.]
Finn
Tracker
Finn
How good are you at tracking?
Tracker
I can track the wild duck over the crests of the nine
waves within nine days.
Finn
Then you are good enough to track
The one that considers me, and bring him back.
Tracker
That will I blindfold;
But I need another to hold
The tiller, in case we’re called to the sheets together.
Call me that man there, coming across the heather.
[The Gripper is seen approaching over the hillside.]
Gripper
Finn
Good day! What are you good at?
Gripper
Finn
Gripper
The hold I once get I will not let go until my two
arms come from my shoulder, or until my hold comes
with me.
Finn
Then you are good enough to hold until
The one that considers me comes with your hold?
Gripper
That will I, sitting still;
But as my hand’s apt to grow cold,
I’ll need that lassie there to keep my mind
Off thinking of it.
[The Climber has suddenly swung herself down by a
golden rope at Finn’s side.]
Finn
[Astonished.]
Why, how did you find
Your way down here?
[He takes off his cap politely.]
Climber
Finn
[Aside.]
I don’t see any stair.
I wonder if she’s quite all there!
Climber
[Answering his thought.]
No, just at present I am mostly here.
Finn
[Aside.]
Her answer isn’t very clear.
[Aloud.]
And what are you good at?
Climber
Finn
I see that.
How good are you at climbing?
Climber
I could climb on a filament of silk to the stars if you
were to tie it there.
Finn
[Looking at her dreamily.]
Will you be good enough then, please, to stare
Into each star and tell me if He’s there.
[He collects himself, and adds hastily.]
The one that considers me, I mean.
Climber
I’ll be your go-between
With pleasure, but I’m young to come alone;
Call me that woman there as a chaperon.
[The Thief and the Listener have entered hand in
hand. Finn beckons to the Thief, taking off his cap
again politely.]
Finn
What are you good at, dame?
Thief
Finn
How good are you at thieving?
Thief
I can steal the egg from the heron while her two
eyes are looking at me.
Finn
Then if you’ll come with me and steal
The one that considers me, I’ll feel
Greatly obliged to you, there is no doubt.
Thief
I’ll take you by a pretty roundabout
If you are also able to employ
My boy.
Finn
Listener
Finn
How good are you at listening?
Listener
I can hear what the people are saying at the extremity
of the uttermost world.
Finn
You are good enough, then. Maybe you can hear
Whether the one that considers me is near?
Listener
[Putting his hand to his ear.]
[Finn, who has been standing beside the Climber,
moves forward hastily.]
No, now you’re colder!
I’ll find Him ere I am much older,
Only some people are so narrow,
I’ll need that man with the bow and arrow
[Enter Marksman.]
To bear me out ere they’ll agree
That seeing’s believing what I see.
Finn
[To Marksman.]
Marksman
Finn
Marksman
I could hit an egg as far off in the sky as bowstring
could send or bow could carry.
Finn
If you can hit the place where He
Is hidden who considers me,
We need no longer tarry.
For I am drawn by an insatiable desire,
I am consumed in an impetuous fire,
And I am denied all rest
Until my quest
Is ended. Would that I could find
A lodge for my soul, where I might leave behind
All longing for ever, slumbering complete
At His feet.
Would I could rest in that bright place where I
In spirit lie.
Its light has cast a shadow on the brow
Of this fair “Now.”
Why did He make that garden-place so fair?
My soul, a bird, is there,
With limed wings fast to that apple-bough.
Marksman
[Putting his hand kindly on his shoulder.]
Come, then, and let’s be gone.
Your fellows will come after you anon.
[They launch the ship, and the Gripper takes the
helm. The Tracker, who is at the bow, is seen telling
him now to go this way and now to go that way, and
the ship obeys his hand beautifully. The waves begin
to rise as the ship gets farther from sight, but the
Tracker still finds a smooth path through the waters.
The Listener leans over the side, and sings a song as the
boat slips out to sea. It is a wild and beautiful song,
haunting, sweet, and long-drawn-out.]
Listener’s Song
I made a little song, and it was true,
Though nobody heeded it in the press of things;
I left it alone a thousand years, and it grew,
And I heard it again one day in the mouth of kings.
All as I went I joyed me a mighty joy.
They laughed at me; they said: “You’re still very young”;
But I knew better than that when I was a boy,
And when I was old I found the song I’d sung.
