The Coming of Cuculain Part 7

CHAPTER XII

THE SACRED CHARIOT

"He dwelt a while among the neat-herds Of King Admetus, veiling his G.o.dhood."

Greek Mythology.

"At Tailteen I raced my steeds against a woman, Though great with child she came first to the goal, Alas, I knew not the auburn-haired Macha, Thence came affliction upon the Ultonians."

CONCOBAR MAC NESSA.

Concobar Mac Nessa on a solemn day called Cuculain forth from the ranks of the boys where they stood in the rear of the a.s.sembly and said--

"O Setanta, there is a duty which falls to me by virtue of my kingly office, and therein I need an a.s.sistant. For it is my province to keep bright and in good running order the chariot of Macha wherein she used to go forth to war from Emain, and to clean out the corn-troughs of her two steeds and put there fresh barley perpetually, and fresh hay in their mangers. Illan the Fair [Footnote: He was one of the sons of Fergus Mac Roy slain in the great civil war.] was my last helper in this office, till the recent great rebellion. That ministry is thine now, if it is pleasing to thee to accept it."

The boy said that it was pleasing, and the King gave him the key of the chamber in which were the vessels and implements used in discharging that sacred function.

Afterwards, on the same day, the King said to him, "Wash thyself now in pure water and put on new clean raiment and come again to me."

The boy washed himself and put on new clean raiment. The King himself did the same.

Concobar said: "Go now to the chamber of which I have given thee the key and fill with oil the silver oil-can and take a towel of the towels of fawn-skin which are there and return." He did so; and Concobar and his nephew, armed youths following, went to the house of the chariot.

Ere Concobar turned the wards of the lock he heard voices within in the chariot-house. There, one said to another, "This is he. Our long watch and ward are near the end." And the other said, "It is well. Too long have we been here waiting."

"Hast thou heard anything, my nephew?" said Concobar.

"I have heard nothing," said the lad.

Concobar opened the great folding-doors. There was a sound there like glad voices mingled with a roar of revolving wheels, and then silence.

Setanta drew back in dismay, and even Concobar stood still. "I have not observed such portents before in the chariot-house," he said. The King and his nephew entered the hollow chamber. The chariot was motionless but very bright. One would have said that the bronze burned. It was of great size and beauty. By its side were two horse-stalls with racks and mangers, the bars of the rack were of gold bronze which was called findruiney, and the mangers of yellow bra.s.s. The floor was paved with cut marble, the walls lined with smooth boards of ash. There were no windows, but there were nine lamps in the room. "It will be thy duty to feed those lamps," said Concobar.

Concobar took the fawn-skin towel from the boy and polished the chariot, and the wheels, tyres, and boxes, and the wheel-spokes. He oiled the wheels too, and mightily lifting the great chariot seized the spokes with his right hand and made the wheels spin.

"Go now to the chamber of which I have given thee the keys," he said, "and bring the buckets, and clear out the mangers to the last grain, and empty the stale barley into the place of the burning, and afterwards take fresh barley from the bin which is in the chamber and fill the mangers. Empty the racks also and bring fresh hay. Thou wilt find it stored there too; clean straw also and litter the horse-stalls."

The boy did that. In the meantime Concobar polished the pole, and the yoke, and the chains. From the wall he took the head-gear of the horses and the long shining reins of interwoven bra.s.s and did the same very carefully till there was not a speck of rust or discolouration to be seen.

"Where are the horses, my Uncle Concobar?" said the boy.

"That I cannot rightly tell," said Concobar, "but verily they are somewhere."

"What are those horses?" said the boy. "How are they called? What their attributes, and why do I fill their racks and mangers?"

"They are the Liath Macha and Black Shanglan," said Concobar. "They have not been seen in Erin for three hundred years, not since Macha dwelt visibly in Emain as the bride of Kimbaoth, son of Fiontann. In this chariot she went forth to war, charioteering her warlike groom. But they are to come again for the promised one and bear him to battle and to conflict in this chariot, and the time is not known but the King of Emain is under gesa [Footnote: Terrible druidic obligations.] to keep the chariot bright and the racks and mangers furnished with fresh hay, and barley two years old. He is to wait, and watch, and stand prepared under gesa most terrible."

"Maybe Kimbaoth will return to us again," said the boy.

"Nay, it hath not been so prophesied," answered the King. "He was great, and stern, and formidable. But our promised one is gentle exceedingly.

He will not know his own greatness, and his nearest comrades will not know it, and there will be more of love in his heart than war." So saying Concobar looked steadfastly upon the boy.

"Conall Carnach is as famous for love as for war," said Setanta. "He is peerless in beauty, and his strength and courage are equal to his comeliness, and his chivalry and battle-splendour to his strength."

"Nay, lad, it is not Conall Carnach, though the women of Ulla sicken and droop for the love of him. Verily, it is not Conall Carnach."

Setanta examined curiously the great war-car.

"Was Kimbaoth a.s.sisting his wife," he asked, "when she took captive the sons of Dithorba?"

"Nay," said the King, "she went forth alone and crossed the Shannon with one step into the land of the Fir-bolgs, and there, one by one, she bound those builder-giants the sons of Dithorba, and bore them hither in her might, and truly those five brethren were no small load for the back of one woman."

"Has anyone seen her in our time?" asked the lad.

"I have," said Concobar. "I saw her at the great fair of Tailteen. There she p.r.o.nounced a curse upon me and upon the Red Branch. [Footnote: At Tailteen a man boasted that his wife could outrun Concobar's victorious chariot-steeds. Concobar compelled the woman to run against his horses.

She won the race, but died at the goal leaving her curse upon the Red Branch.] The curse hath not yet fallen, but it will fall in my time, and the promised one will come in my time and he will redeem us from its power. Great tribulation will be his. Question me no more, dear Setanta, I have said more than enough."

They went forth from the sacred chamber and Concobar locked the doors.

As they crossed the vacant s.p.a.ce going to the palace, Concobar said--

"Why art thou sad, dear Setanta?"

"I am not sad," answered the boy.

"Truly there is no sadness in thy face, or thy lips, in thy voice or thy behaviour, but it is deep down in thine eyes," said the King. "I see it there always."

Setanta laughed lightly. "I know it not," he said.

Concobar went his way after that, musing, and Setanta, having replaced the sacred vessels in their chamber and having locked the door, strode away into the boys' hall. There was a great fire in the midst, and the boys sat round it, for it was cold. Cuculain broke their circle, pushing the boys asunder, and sat down. They tried to drag him away, but he laughed and kept his place like a rock. Then they called him "a Fomorian, and no man," and perforce made their circle wider.

CHAPTER XIII

THE WEIRD HORSES

"On the brink of the night and the morning My coursers are wont to respire, But the earth has just whispered a warning, That their flight must be swifter than fire, They shall breathe the hot air of desire."

Sh.e.l.lEY.

One night when the stars shone brightly, Setanta, as he pa.s.sed by Cathvah's astrological tower, heard him declare to his students that whoever should be knighted by Concobar on a certain day would be famous to the world's end. He was in his coming out of the forest then with a bundle of young ash trees under his arm. He thought to put them to season and therewith make slings, for truly he surpa.s.sed all others in the use of the sling. Setanta went his way after that and came into the speckled house. It was the armoury of the Red Branch and shone with all manner of war-furniture. A fire burned here always, absorbing the damp of the air lest the metal should take rust. Setanta flung his trees into the rafters over the fire very deftly, so that they caught and remained there. He said they would season best in that place.

As he turned to go a man stood before him in the vast and hollow chamber.