,,the ,,collected ,,works ,,of ,,william
 ,,butler ,,yeats    ,illustration3     
,emery ,walker1 ,ph4 sc4    ,from a     
drawing by ,j4 ,b4 ,yeats               
,,the ,,secret ,,rose4 ,,rosa           
,,alchemica4      ,,the ,,tables ,,of   
,,the ,,law4 ,,the      ,,adoration ,,of
 ,,the ,,magi4 ,,john      ,,sherman    
,,and ,,dhoya 33 ,,being ,,the          
,,seventh ,,volume ,,of ,,the           
,,collected      ,,works ,,in ,,verse   
,,prose      ,,of ,,william ,,butler    
,,yeats 33 ,,imprinted      ,,at ,,the  
,,shakespeare      ,,head ,,press       
,,stratford-,,on-,,avon      ,,mcmviii  
,,contents                              
,,page      ,,the ,,secret ,,rose3      
,,dedication                            
#c        ,,to ,,the ,,secret ,,rose    
#e        ,,the ,,crucifixion ,,of ,,the
 ,,outcast                    #g        
,,out ,,of ,,the ,,rose                 
#bj        ,,the ,,wisdom ,,of ,,the    
,,king                           #ca    
,,the ,,heart ,,of ,,the ,,spring       

#db        ,,the ,,curse ,,of ,,the     
,,fires ,,and ,,of ,,the ,,shadows      
#ea        ,,the ,,old ,,men ,,of ,,the 
,,twilight                      #fa     
,,where ,,there ,,is ,,nothing1 ,,there 
,,is ,,god             #fi        ,,of  
,,costello ,,the ,,proud1 ,,of ,,oona   
,,the ,,daughter ,,of                   
,,dermott ,,and ,,of ,,the ,,bitter     
,,tongue             #gh        ,,rosa  
,,alchemica                             
#ajc        ,,the ,,tables ,,of ,,the   
,,law                             #ada  
,,the ,,adoration ,,of ,,the ,,magi     
#afe          ,,early ,,stories4        
,,john ,,sherman                        
#ahc        ,,dhoya                     
#bhc          ,,the ,,secret ,,rose     
,as for living1 our servants will do    
that for      us4--,villiers de ,l',isle
 ,adam4        ,helen1 when she looked  
in her mirror1 seeing the      withered 
wrinkles made in her face by old age1   
wept1 and wondered why she had twice    
been carried      away4--,leonardo da   

,vinci4          ,my ,dear ,a4,e4--,i   
dedicate this book to you because1      
whether you think  it well or ill       
written1 you will sympathize with the   
sorrows and the  ecstasies of its       
personages1 perhaps even more than ,i do
 myself4  ,although ,i wrote these      
stories at different times and in       
different  manners1 and without any     
definite plan1 they have but one        
subject1  the war of spiritual with     
natural order2 and how can ,i dedicate  
such  a book to anyone but to you1 the  
one poet of modern ,ireland who has     
moulded a spiritual ecstasy into verse8 
,my friends in ,ireland sometimes  ask  
me when ,i am going to write a really   
national poem or romance1  and by a     
national poem or romance ,i understand  
them to mean a poem or  romance founded 
upon some famous moment of ,irish       
history1 and built  up out of the       
thoughts and feelings which move the    
greater number of  patriotic ,irishmen4 
,i on the other hand believe that poetry

 and romance  cannot be made by the most
 conscientious study of famous moments  
and  of the thoughts and feelings of    
others1 but only by looking into that   
little1 infinite1 faltering1 eternal    
flame that we call ourselves4 ,if  a    
writer wishes to interest a certain     
people among whom he has grown  up1 or  
fancies he has a duty towards them1 he  
may choose for the  symbols of his art  
their legends1 their history1 their     
beliefs1 their  opinions1 because he has
 a right to choose among things less    
than  himself1 but he cannot choose     
among the substances of art4 ,so far1   
however1 as this book is visionary it is
 ,irish2 for ,ireland1 which is  still  
predominantly ,celtic1 has preserved    
with some less excellent  things a gift 
of vision1 which has died out among more
 hurried and  more successful nations3  
no shining candelabra have prevented us 
from  looking into the darkness1 and    
when one looks into the darkness there  
is always something there4              

,w4 ,b4 ,,yeats4      ,,to ,,the        
,,secret ,,rose       ,far off1 most    
secret1 and inviolate ,rose1            
,enfold me in my hour of hours2 where   
those      ,who sought thee at the ,holy
 ,sepulchre1      ,or in the wine-vat1  
dwell beyond the stir      ,and tumult  
of defeated dreams2 and deep      ,among
 pale eyelids heavy with the sleep      
,men have named beauty4 ,your great     
leaves enfold      ,the ancient beards1 
the helms of ruby and gold      ,of the 
crowned ,magi2 and the king whose eyes  
,saw the ,pierced ,hands and ,rood of   
,elder rise      ,in druid vapour and   
make the torches dim2      ,till vain   
frenzy awoke and he died2 and him       
,who met ,fand walking among flaming    
dew1      ,by a grey shore where the    
wind never blew1      ,and lost the     
world and ,emir for a kiss2      ,and   
him who drove the gods out of their liss
      ,and till a hundred morns had     
flowered red      ,feasted1 and wept the
 barrows of his dead2      ,and the     

proud dreaming king who flung the crown 
,and sorrow away1 and calling bard and  
clown      ,dwelt among wine-stained    
wanderers in deep woods2      ,and him  
who sold tillage and house and goods1   
,and sought through lands and islands   
numberless years      ,until he found   
with laughter and with tears      ,a    
woman of so shining loveliness          
,that men threshed corn at midnight by a
 tress1      ,a little stolen tress4 ,i 
too await      ,the hour of thy great   
wind of love and hate4      ,when shall 
the stars be blown about the sky1       
,like the sparks blown out of a smithy1 
and die8      ,surely thine hour has    
come1 thy great wind blows1      ,far   
off1 most secret1 and inviolate ,rose8  
,,the ,,crucifixion ,,of ,,the ,,outcast
    ,a ,,man1 with thin brown hair and a
 pale face1 half ran1 half walked1      
along the road that wound from the south
 to the town of ,sligo4 ,many  called   
him ,cumhal1 the son of ,cormac1 and    
many called him the ,swift1  ,wild      

,horse2 and he was a gleeman1 and he    
wore a short parti-coloured  doublet1   
and had pointed shoes1 and a bulging    
wallet4 ,also he was of  the blood of   
the ,ernaans1 and his birth-place was   
the ,field of ,gold2  but his eating and
 sleeping places were the four provinces
 of ,eri1 and  his abiding place was not
 upon the ridge of the earth4 ,his eyes 
strayed  from the ,abbey tower of the   
,white ,friars and the town battlements 
to  a row of crosses which stood out    
against the sky upon a hill a little  to
 the eastward of the town1 and he       
clenched his fist1 and shook it at  the 
crosses4 ,he knew they were not empty1  
for the birds were fluttering  about    
them2 and he thought how1 as like as    
not1 just such another  vagabond as     
himself was hanged on one of them2 and  
he muttered3 #8,if it  were hanging or  
bowstringing1 or stoning or beheading1  
it would be bad  enough4 ,but to have   
the birds pecking your eyes and the     
wolves eating  your feet6 ,i would that 

the red wind of the ,druids had withered
 in  his cradle the soldier of ,dathi1  
who brought the tree of death out of    
barbarous lands1 or that the lightning1 
when it smote ,dathi at the foot  of the
 mountain1 had smitten him also1 or that
 his grave had been dug  by the         
green-haired and green-toothed merrows  
deep at the roots of the  deep sea4'    
,while he spoke1 he shivered from head  
to foot1 and the sweat came  out upon   
his face1 and he knew not why1 for he   
had looked upon many  crosses4 ,he      
passed over two hills and under the     
battlemented gate1 and  then round by a 
left-hand way to the door of the ,abbey4
 ,it was studded  with great nails1 and 
when he knocked at it1 he roused the lay
 brother  who was the porter1 and of him
 he asked a place in the guest-house4   
,then the lay brother took a glowing    
turf on a shovel1 and led the way  to a 
big and naked outhouse strewn with very 
dirty rushes2 and lighted  a rush-candle
 fixed between two of the stones of the 

wall1 and set  the glowing turf upon the
 hearth and gave him two unlighted sods 
and  a wisp of straw1 and showed him a  
blanket hanging from a nail1 and a      
shelf with a loaf of bread and a jug of 
water1 and a tub in a far  corner4 ,then
 the lay brother left him and went back 
to his place by  the door4 ,and ,cumhal 
the son of ,cormac began to blow upon   
the glowing  turf that he might light   
the two sods and the wisp of straw2 but 
the  sods and the straw would not light1
 for they were damp4 ,so he took off    
his pointed shoes1 and drew the tub out 
of the corner with the thought  of      
washing the dust of the highway from his
 feet2 but the water was so  dirty that 
he could not see the bottom4 ,he was    
very hungry1 for he had  not eaten all  
that day2 so he did not waste much anger
 upon the tub1  but took up the black   
loaf1 and bit into it1 and then spat out
 the  bite1 for the bread was hard and  
mouldy4 ,still he did not give way to   
his anger1 for he had not drunken these 

many hours2 having a hope of  heath beer
 or wine at his day's end1 he had left  
the brooks untasted1  to make his supper
 the more delightful4 ,now he put the   
jug to his lips1  but he flung it from  
him straightway1 for the water was      
bitter and  ill-smelling4 ,then he gave 
the jug a kick1 so that it broke against
  the opposite wall1 and he took down   
the blanket to wrap it about him  for   
the night4 ,but no sooner did he touch  
it than it was alive with  skipping     
fleas4 ,at this1 beside himself with    
anger1 he rushed to the  door of the    
guest-house1 but the lay brother1 being 
well accustomed to  such outcries1 had  
locked it on the outside2 so he emptied 
the tub and  began to beat the door with
 it1 till the lay brother came to the   
door  and asked what ailed him1 and why 
he woke him out of sleep4 #8,what ails  
me6' shouted ,cumhal1 #8are not the sods
 as wet as the sands of the ,three      
,rosses8 and are not the fleas in the   
blanket as many as the waves of  the sea

 and as lively8 and is not the bread as 
hard as the heart of a  lay brother who 
has forgotten ,god8 and is not the water
 in the jug as  bitter and as           
ill-smelling as his soul8 and is not the
 foot-water the  colour that shall be   
upon him when he has been charred in the
 ,undying  ,fires8' ,the lay brother saw
 that the lock was fast1 and went back  
to  his niche1 for he was too sleepy to 
talk with comfort4 ,and ,cumhal went  on
 beating at the door1 and presently he  
heard the lay brother's foot  once more1
 and cried out at him1 #8,o cowardly and
 tyrannous race of  friars1 persecutors 
of the bard and the gleeman1 haters of  
life and  joy6 ,o race that does not    
draw the sword and tell the truth6 ,o   
race  that melts the bones of the people
 with cowardice and with deceit6'       
#8,gleeman1' said the lay brother1 #8,i 
also make rhymes2 ,i make many  while ,i
 sit in my niche by the door1 and ,i    
sorrow to hear the bards  railing upon  
the friars4 ,brother1 ,i would sleep1   

and therefore ,i make  known to you that
 it is the head of the monastery1 our   
gracious abbot1  who orders all things  
concerning the lodging of travellers4'  
#8,you may sleep1' said ,cumhal1 #8,i   
will sing a bard's curse on the  abbot4'
 ,and he set the tub upside down under  
the window1 and stood  upon it1 and     
began to sing in a very loud voice4 ,the
 singing awoke the  abbot1 so that he   
sat up in bed and blew a silver whistle 
until the lay  brother came to him4 #8,i
 cannot get a wink of sleep with that   
noise1'  said the abbot4 #8,what is     
happening8'    #8,it is a gleeman1' said
 the lay brother1 #8who complains of the
 sods1  of the bread1 of the water in   
the jug1 of the foot-water1 and of the  
blanket4 ,and now he is singing a bard's
 curse upon you1 ,o brother  abbot1 and 
upon your father and your mother1 and   
your grandfather and  your grandmother1 
and upon all your relations4'    #8,is  
he cursing in rhyme8'    #8,he is       
cursing in rhyme1 and with two          

assonances in every line of his  curse4'
    ,the abbot pulled his night-cap off 
and crumpled it in his hands1 and  the  
circular brown patch of hair in the     
middle of his bald head looked  like an 
island in the midst of a pond1 for in   
,connaught they had not  yet abandoned  
the ancient tonsure for the style then  
coming into use4  #8,if we do not       
somewhat1' he said1 #8he will teach his 
curses to the  children in the street1  
and the girls spinning at the doors1 and
 to the  robbers upon ,ben ,bulben4'    
#8,shall ,i go1 then1' said the other1  
#8and give him dry sods1 a fresh  loaf1 
clean water in a jug1 clean foot-water1 
and a new blanket1 and  make him swear  
by the blessed ,saint ,benignus1 and by 
the sun and moon1  that no bond be      
lacking1 not to tell his rhymes to the  
children in the  street1 and the girls  
spinning at the doors1 and the robbers  
upon ,ben  ,bulben8'    #8,neither our  
blessed ,patron nor the sun and moon    
would avail at all1'  said the abbot2   

#8for to-morrow or the next day the mood
 to curse  would come upon him1 or a    
pride in those rhymes would move him1   
and  he would teach his lines to the    
children1 and the girls1 and the        
robbers4 ,or else he would tell another 
of his craft how he fared in the        
guest-house1 and he in his turn would   
begin to curse1 and my name would       
wither4 ,for learn there is no          
steadfastness of purpose upon the roads1
  but only under roofs1 and between four
 walls4 ,therefore ,i bid you go  and   
awaken ,brother ,kevin1 ,brother ,dove1 
,brother ,little ,wolf1 ,brother  ,bald 
,patrick1 ,brother ,bald ,brandon1      
,brother ,james and ,brother ,peter4    
,and they shall take the man1 and bind  
him with ropes1 and dip him in  the     
river that he may cease to sing4 ,and in
 the morning1 lest this but  make him   
curse the louder1 we will crucify him4' 
#8,the crosses are all full1' said the  
lay brother4    #8,then we must make    
another cross4 ,if we do not make an end

 of him  another will1 for who can eat  
and sleep in peace while men like him   
are going about the world8 ,ill should  
we stand before blessed ,saint          
,benignus1 and sour would be his face   
when he comes to judge us at  the ,last 
,day1 were we to spare an enemy of his  
when we had him under  our thumb6       
,brother1 the bards and the gleemen are 
an evil race1 ever  cursing and ever    
stirring up the people1 and immoral and 
immoderate in  all things1 and heathen  
in their hearts1 always longing after   
the ,son  of ,lir1 and ,aengus1 and     
,bridget1 and the ,dagda1 and ,dana the 
,mother1  and all the false gods of the 
old days2 always making poems in praise 
of those kings and queens of the demons1
 ,finvaragh1 whose home is  under       
,cruachmaa1 and ,red ,aodh of           
,cnocna-,sidhe1 and ,cleena of the      
,wave1  and ,aoibhell of the ,grey      
,rock1 and him they call ,donn of the   
,vats of  the ,sea2 and railing against 
,god and ,christ and the blessed        

,saints4'  ,while he was speaking he    
crossed himself1 and when he had        
finished he  drew the nightcap over his 
ears1 to shut out the noise1 and closed 
his  eyes1 and composed himself to      
sleep4    ,the lay brother found        
,brother ,kevin1 ,brother ,dove1        
,brother ,little ,wolf1  ,brother ,bald 
,patrick1 ,brother ,bald ,brandon1      
,brother ,james and ,brother  ,peter    
sitting up in bed1 and he made them get 
up4 ,then they bound  ,cumhal1 and they 
dragged him to the river1 and they      
dipped him in it at  the place which was
 afterwards called ,buckley's ,ford4    
#8,gleeman1' said the lay brother1 as   
they led him back to the  guest-house1  
#8why do you ever use the wit which ,god
 has given you to  make blasphemous and 
immoral tales and verses8 ,for such is  
the way of  your craft4 ,i have1 indeed1
 many such tales and verses well nigh by
  rote1 and so ,i know that ,i speak    
true6 ,and why do you praise with rhyme 
those demons1 ,finvaragh1 ,red ,aodh1   

,cleena1 ,aoibhell and ,donn8 ,i1 too1  
am a man of great wit and learning1 but 
,i ever glorify our gracious  abbot1 and
 ,benignus our ,patron1 and the princes 
of the province4  ,my soul is decent and
 orderly1 but yours is like the wind    
among the  salley gardens4 ,i said what 
,i could for you1 being also a man of   
many  thoughts1 but who could help such 
a one as you8'    #8,friend1' answered  
the gleeman1 #8my soul is indeed like   
the wind1 and  it blows me to and fro1  
and up and down1 and puts many things   
into my  mind and out of my mind1 and   
therefore am ,i called the ,swift1 ,wild
  ,horse4' ,and he spoke no more that   
night1 for his teeth were chattering    
with the cold4    ,the abbot and the    
friars came to him in the morning1 and  
bade him get  ready to be crucified1 and
 led him out of the guest-house4 ,and   
while he  still stood upon the step a   
flock of great grass-barnacles passed   
high  above him with clanking cries4 ,he
 lifted his arms to them and said1 #8,o 

great grass-barnacles1 tarry a little1  
and mayhap my soul will travel  with you
 to the waste places of the shore and to
 the ungovernable sea6'  ,at the gate a 
crowd of beggars gathered about them1   
being come there  to beg from any       
traveller or pilgrim who might have     
spent the night in  the guest-house4    
,the abbot and the friars led the       
gleeman to a place  in the woods at some
 distance1 where many straight young    
trees were  growing1 and they made him  
cut one down and fashion it to the right
  length1 while the beggars stood round 
them in a ring1 talking and             
gesticulating4 ,the abbot then bade him 
cut off another and shorter  piece of   
wood1 and nail it upon the first4 ,so   
there was his cross for  him2 and they  
put it upon his shoulder1 for his       
crucifixion was to be  on the top of the
 hill where the others were4 ,a         
half-mile on the way he  asked them to  
stop and see him juggle for them2 for he
 knew1 he said1  all the tricks of      

,aengus the ,subtle-hearted4 ,the old   
friars were for  pressing on1 but the   
young friars would see him3 so he did   
many wonders  for them1 even to the     
drawing of live frogs out of his ears4  
,but after  a while they turned on him1 
and said his tricks were dull and a     
shade  unholy1 and set the cross on his 
shoulders again4 ,another half-mile  on 
the way1 and he asked them to stop and  
hear him jest for them1 for  he knew1 he
 said1 all the jests of ,conan the      
,bald1 upon whose back a  sheep's wool  
grew4 ,and the young friars1 when they  
had heard his merry  tales1 again bade  
him take up his cross1 for it ill became
 them to  listen to such follies4       
,another half-mile on the way1 he asked 
them to  stop and hear him sing the     
story of ,white-breasted ,deirdre1 and  
how  she endured many sorrows1 and how  
the sons of ,usna died to serve her4    
,and the young friars were mad to hear  
him1 but when he had ended they  grew   
angry1 and beat him for waking forgotten

 longings in their hearts4  ,so they set
 the cross upon his back1 and hurried   
him to the hill4    ,when he was come to
 the top1 they took the cross from him1 
and began to  dig a hole to stand it in1
 while the beggars gathered round1 and  
talked  among themselves4 #8,i ask a    
favour before ,i die1' says ,cumhal4    
#8,we will grant you no more delays1'   
says the abbot4    #8,i ask no more     
delays1 for ,i have drawn the sword1 and
 told the truth1  and lived my vision1  
and am content4'    #8,would you1 then1 
confess8'    #8,by sun and moon1 not ,i2
 ,i ask but to be let eat the food ,i   
carry in my  wallet4 ,i carry food in my
 wallet whenever ,i go upon a journey1  
but ,i  do not taste of it unless ,i am 
well-nigh starved4 ,i have not eaten now
  these two days4'    #8,you may eat1   
then1' says the abbot1 and he turned to 
help the friars  dig the hole4    ,the  
gleeman took a loaf and some strips of  
cold fried bacon out of his  wallet and 
laid them upon the ground4 #8,i will    

give a tithe to the  poor1' says he1 and
 he cut a tenth part from the loaf and  
the bacon4  #8,who among you is the     
poorest8' ,and thereupon was a great    
clamour1 for  the beggars began the     
history of their sorrows and their      
poverty1 and  their yellow faces swayed 
like ,gara ,lough when the floods have  
filled  it with water from the bogs4    
,he listened for a little1 and1 says he1
 #8,i am myself the poorest1  for ,i    
have travelled the bare road1 and by the
 edges of the sea2 and  the tattered    
doublet of particoloured cloth upon my  
back and the  torn pointed shoes upon my
 feet have ever irked me1 because of the
  towered city full of noble raiment    
which was in my heart4 ,and ,i have     
been the more alone upon the roads and  
by the sea because ,i heard in  my heart
 the rustling of the rose-bordered dress
 of her who is more  subtle than        
,aengus1 the ,subtle-hearted1 and more  
full of the beauty of  laughter than    
,conan the ,bald1 and more full of the  

wisdom of tears than  ,white-breasted   
,deirdre1 and more lovely than a        
bursting dawn to them  that are lost in 
the darkness4 ,therefore1 ,i award the  
tithe to myself2  but yet1 because ,i am
 done with all things1 ,i give it unto  
you4'    ,so he flung the bread and the 
strips of bacon among the beggars1  and 
they fought with many cries until the   
last scrap was eaten4 ,but  meanwhile   
the friars nailed the gleeman to his    
cross1 and set it  upright in the hole1 
and shovelled the earth in at the foot1 
and  trampled it level and hard4 ,so    
then they went away1 but the beggars    
stared on1 sitting round the cross4 ,but
 when the sun was sinking1 they  also   
got up to go1 for the air was getting   
chilly4 ,and as soon as they  had gone a
 little way1 the wolves1 who had been   
showing themselves on  the edge of a    
neighbouring coppice1 came nearer1 and  
the birds wheeled  closer and closer4   
#8,stay1 outcasts1 yet a little while1' 
the crucified  one called in a weak     

voice to the beggars1 #8and keep the    
beasts and the  birds from me4' ,but the
 beggars were angry because he had      
called them  outcasts1 so they threw    
stones and mud at him1 and went their   
way4 ,then  the wolves gathered at the  
foot of the cross1 and the birds flew   
lower  and lower4 ,and presently the    
birds lighted all at once upon his head 
and arms and shoulders1 and began to    
peck at him1 and the wolves began  to   
eat his feet4 #8,outcasts1' he moaned1  
#8have you also turned against  the     
outcast8'      ,,out ,,of ,,the ,,rose  
,,one winter evening an old knight in   
rusted chain-armour rode slowly  along  
the woody southern slope of ,ben        
,bulben1 watching the sun go down  in   
crimson clouds over the sea4 ,his horse 
was tired1 as after a long  journey1 and
 he had upon his helmet the crest of no 
neighbouring lord  or king1 but a small 
rose made of rubies that glimmered every
 moment to  a deeper crimson4 ,his white
 hair fell in thin curls upon his       

shoulders1  and its disorder added to   
the melancholy of his face1 which was   
the  face of one of those who have come 
but seldom into the world1 and  always  
for its trouble1 the dreamers who must  
do what they dream1 the  doers who must 
dream what they do4    ,after gazing a  
while towards the sun1 he let the reins 
fall upon the  neck of his horse1 and1  
stretching out both arms towards the    
west1 he  said1 #8,o ,divine ,rose of   
,intellectual ,flame1 let the gates of  
thy peace  be opened to me at last6'    
,and suddenly a loud squealing began in 
the  woods some hundreds of yards       
further up the mountain side4 ,he       
stopped  his horse to listen1 and heard 
behind him a sound of feet and of       
voices4 #8,they are beating them to make
 them go into the narrow path by  the   
gorge1' said someone1 and in another    
moment a dozen peasants armed  with     
short spears had come up with the       
knight1 and stood a little apart  from  
him1 their blue caps in their hands4    

#8,where do you go with the spears8' he 
asked2 and one who seemed the  leader   
answered3 #8,a troop of wood-thieves    
came down from the hills a  while ago   
and carried off the pigs belonging to an
 old man who lives by  ,glen ,car       
,lough1 and we turned out to go after   
them4 ,now that we know  they are four  
times more than we are1 we follow to    
find the way they  have taken2 and will 
presently tell our story to ,de         
,courcey1 and if he  will not help us1  
to ,fitzgerald2 for ,de ,courcey and    
,fitzgerald have  lately made a peace1  
and we do not know to whom we belong4'  
#8,but by that time1' said the knight1  
#8the pigs will have been eaten4'       
#8,a dozen men cannot do more1 and it   
was not reasonable that the whole       
valley should turn out and risk their   
lives for two1 or for two dozen  pigs4' 
#8,can you tell me1' said the knight1   
#8if the old man to whom the pigs       
belong is pious and true of heart8'     
#8,he is as true as another and more    

pious than any1 for he says a prayer  to
 a saint every morning before his       
breakfast4'    #8,then it were well to  
fight in his cause1' said the knight1   
#8and if you  will fight against the    
wood-thieves ,i will take the main brunt
 of the  battle1 and you know well that 
a man in armour is worth many like these
  wood-thieves1 clad in wool and        
leather4'    ,and the leader turned to  
his fellows and asked if they would take
 the  chance2 but they seemed anxious to
 get back to their cabins4    #8,are the
 wood-thieves treacherous and impious8' 
#8,they are treacherous in all their    
dealings1' said a peasant1 #8and no  man
 has known them to pray4'    #8,then1'  
said the knight1 #8,i will give five    
crowns for the head of every  wood-thief
 killed by us in the fighting'2 and he  
bid the leader show  the way1 and they  
all went on together4 ,after a time they
 came to where  a beaten track wound    
into the woods1 and1 taking this1 they  
doubled  back upon their previous       

course1 and began to ascend the wooded  
slope  of the mountains4 ,in a little   
while the path grew very straight and   
steep1 and the knight was forced to     
dismount and leave his horse tied  to a 
tree-stem4 ,they knew they were on the  
right track3 for they could  see the    
marks of pointed shoes in the soft clay 
and mingled with them  the cloven       
footprints of the pigs4 ,presently the  
path became still  more abrupt1 and they
 knew by the ending of the cloven       
footprints that  the thieves were       
carrying the pigs4 ,now and then a long 
mark in the  clay showed that a pig had 
slipped down1 and been dragged along for
 a  little way4 ,they had journeyed thus
 for about twenty minutes1 when a       
confused sound of voices told them that 
they were coming up with the  thieves4  
,and then the voices ceased1 and they   
understood that they had  been overheard
 in their turn4 ,they pressed on rapidly
 and cautiously1  and in about five     
minutes one of them caught sight of a   

leather jerkin  half hidden by a        
hazel-bush4 ,an arrow struck the        
knight's chain-armour1  but glanced off 
harmlessly1 and then a flight of arrows 
swept by them  with the buzzing sound of
 great bees4 ,they ran and climbed1 and 
climbed  and ran towards the thieves1   
who were now all visible standing up    
among the bushes with their still       
quivering bows in their hands3 for  they
 had only their spears1 and they must at
 once come hand to hand4  ,the knight   
was in the front1 and smote down first  
one and then another  of the            
wood-thieves4 ,the peasants shouted1    
and1 pressing on1 drove  the            
wood-thieves before them until they came
 out on the flat top of  the mountain1  
and there they saw the two pigs quietly 
grubbing in the  short grass1 so they   
ran about them in a circle1 and began to
 move back  again towards the narrow    
path3 the old knight coming now the last
 of  all1 and striking down thief after 
thief4 ,the peasants had got no very    

serious hurts among them1 for he had    
drawn the brunt of the battle upon      
himself1 as could well be seen from the 
bloody rents in his armour2 and  when   
they came to the entrance of the narrow 
path he bade them drive  the pigs down  
into the valley1 while he stood there to
 guard the way  behind them4 ,so in a   
moment he was alone1 and1 being weak    
with loss of  blood1 might have been    
ended there and then by the wood-thieves
 he had  beaten off1 had fear not made  
them begone out of sight in a great     
hurry4    ,an hour passed1 and they did 
not return2 and now the knight could    
stand  on guard no longer1 but had to   
lie down upon the grass4 ,a half-hour   
more went by1 and then a young lad1 with
 what appeared to be a number  of cock's
 feathers stuck round his hat1 came out 
of the path behind  him1 and began to   
move about among the dead thieves1      
cutting their  heads off4 ,then he laid 
the heads in a heap before the knight1  
and  said3 #8,o great knight1 ,i have   

been bid come and ask you for the crowns
  you promised for the heads3 five      
crowns a head4 ,they bid me tell you    
that they have prayed to ,god and ,his  
,mother to give you a long life1  but   
that they are poor peasants1 and that   
they would have the money  before you   
die4 ,they told me this over and over   
for fear ,i might forget  it1 and       
promised to beat me if ,i did4'    ,the 
knight raised himself upon his elbow1   
and opening a bag that hung  to his     
belt1 counted out the five crowns for   
each head4 ,there were  thirty heads in 
all4    #8,o great knight1' said the    
lad1 #8they have also bid me take all   
care of  you1 and light a fire1 and put 
this ointment upon your wounds4' ,and he
  gathered sticks and leaves together1  
and1 flashing his flint and steel  under
 a mass of dry leaves1 had made a very  
good blaze4 ,then1 drawing  off the coat
 of mail1 he began to anoint the wounds3
 but he did it  clumsily1 like one who  
does by rote what he had been told4 ,the

 knight  motioned him to stop1 and said3
 #8,you seem a good lad4'    #8,i would 
ask something of you for myself4'       
#8,there are still a few crowns1' said  
the knight2 #8shall ,i give them to     
you8'    #8,o no1' said the lad4 #8,they
 would be no good to me4 ,there is only 
one  thing that ,i care about doing1 and
 ,i have no need of money to do it4 ,i  
go from village to village and from hill
 to hill1 and whenever ,i come  across a
 good cock ,i steal him and take him    
into the woods1 and ,i keep  him there  
under a basket1 until ,i get another    
good cock1 and then ,i set  them to     
fight4 ,the people say ,i am an         
innocent1 and do not do me any  harm1   
and never ask me to do any work but go a
 message now and then4 ,it  is because  
,i am an innocent that they send me to  
get the crowns3 anyone  else would steal
 them2 and they dare not come back      
themselves1 for now  that you are not   
with them they are afraid of the        
wood-thieves4 ,did you  ever hear how1  

when the wood-thieves are christened1   
the wolves are  made their godfathers1  
and their right arms are not christened 
at all8'    #8,if you will not take     
these crowns1 my good lad1 ,i have      
nothing for  you1 ,i fear1 unless you   
would have that old coat of mail which  
,i shall  soon need no more4'           
#8,there was something ,i wanted3 yes1  
,i remember now1' said the lad4 #8,i    
want you to tell me why you fought like 
the champions and giants in the  stories
 and for so little a thing4 ,are you    
indeed a man like us8 ,are  you not     
rather an old wizard who lives among    
these hills1 and will not  a wind arise 
presently and crumble you into dust8'   
#8,i will tell you of myself1' replied  
the knight1 #8for now that ,i am  the   
last of the fellowship1 ,i may tell all 
and witness for ,god4 ,look  at the     
,rose of ,rubies on my helmet1 and see  
the symbol of my life and  of my hope4' 
,and then he told the lad this story1   
but with always  more frequent pauses2  

and1 while he told it1 the ,rose shone a
 deep  blood-colour in the firelight1   
and the lad stuck the cock's feathers in
  the earth in front of him1 and moved  
them about as though he made them       
actors in the play4    #8,i live in a   
land far from this1 and was one of the  
,knights of ,saint  ,john1' said the old
 man2 #8but ,i was one of those in the  
,order who  always longed for more      
arduous labours in the service of the   
,most ,high4  ,at last there came to us 
a knight of ,palestine1 to whom the     
truth of  truths had been revealed by   
,god ,himself4 ,he had seen a great     
,rose of  ,fire1 and a ,voice out of the
 ,rose had told him how men would turn  
from  the light of their own hearts1 and
 bow down before outer order and  outer 
fixity1 and that then the light would   
cease1 and none escape the  curse except
 the foolish good man who could not1 and
 the passionate  wicked man who would   
not1 think4 ,already1 the ,voice told   
him1 the  wayward light of the heart was

 shining out upon the world to keep it  
alive1 with a less clear lustre1 and    
that1 as it paled1 a strange  infection 
was touching the stars and the hills and
 the grass and the  trees with          
corruption1 and that none of those who  
had seen clearly  the truth and the     
ancient way could enter into the        
,kingdom of ,god1  which is in the      
,heart of the ,rose1 if they stayed on  
willingly in the  corrupted world2 and  
so they must prove their anger against  
the ,powers  of ,corruption by dying in 
the service of the ,rose of ,god4 ,while
 the  knight of ,palestine was telling  
us these things we seemed to see in a   
vision a crimson ,rose spreading itself 
about him1 so that he seemed to  speak  
out of its heart1 and the air was filled
 with fragrance4 ,by this  we knew that 
it was the very ,voice of ,god which    
spoke to us by the  knight1 and we      
gathered about him and bade him direct  
us in all things1  and teach us how to  
obey the ,voice4 ,so he bound us with an

 oath1 and  gave us signs and words     
whereby we might know each other even   
after  many years1 and he appointed     
places of meeting1 and he sent us out in
  troops into the world to seek good    
causes1 and die in doing battle for     
them4 ,at first we thought to die more  
readily by fasting to death in  honour  
of some saint2 but this he told us was  
evil1 for we did it for  the sake of    
death1 and thus took out of the hands of
 ,god the choice  of the time and manner
 of our death1 and by so doing made ,his
 power  the less4 ,we must choose our   
service for its excellence1 and for this
  alone1 and leave it to ,god to reward 
us at ,his own time and in ,his own     
manner4 ,and after this he compelled us 
to eat always two at a table to  watch  
each other lest we fasted unduly1 for   
some among us said that  if one fasted  
for a love of the holiness of saints and
 then died1 the  death would be         
acceptable4 ,and the years passed1 and  
one by one my  fellows died in the ,holy

 ,land1 or in warring upon the evil     
princes of  the earth1 or in clearing   
the roads of robbers2 and among them    
died the  knight of ,palestine1 and at  
last ,i was alone4 ,i fought in every   
cause  where the few contended against  
the many1 and my hair grew white1 and a 
terrible fear lest ,i had fallen under  
the displeasure of ,god came upon  me4  
,but1 hearing at last how this western  
isle was fuller of wars and  rapine than
 any other land1 ,i came hither1 and ,i 
have found the thing ,i  sought1 and1   
behold6 ,i am filled with a great joy4' 
,thereat he began to sing in ,latin1    
and1 while he sang1 his voice grew      
fainter and fainter4 ,then his eyes     
closed1 and his lips fell apart1 and    
the lad knew he was dead4 #8,he has told
 me a good tale1' he said1 #8for  there 
was fighting in it1 but ,i did not      
understand much of it1 and it  is hard  
to remember so long a story4'    ,and1  
taking the knight's sword1 he began to  
dig a grave in the soft  clay4 ,he dug  

hard1 and a faint light of dawn had     
touched his hair and  he had almost done
 his work when a cock crowed in the     
valley below4  #8,ah1' he said1 #8,i    
must have that bird'2 and he ran down   
the narrow path  to the valley4         
,,the ,,wisdom ,,of ,,the ,,king        
,,the ,high-,queen of the ,island of    
,woods had died in childbirth1 and her  
child was put to nurse with a woman who 
lived in a hut of mud and  wicker1      
within the border of the wood4 ,one     
night the woman sat rocking  the cradle1
 and pondering over the beauty of the   
child1 and praying  that the gods might 
grant him wisdom equal to his beauty4   
,there came  a knock at the door1 and   
she got up1 not a little wondering1 for 
the  nearest neighbours were in the dun 
of the ,high-,king a mile away2 and  the
 night was now late4 #8,who is          
knocking8' she cried1 and a thin voice  
answered1 #8,open6 for ,i am a crone of 
the grey hawk1 and ,i come from the     
darkness of the great wood4' ,in terror 

she drew back the bolt1 and a  grey-clad
 woman1 of a great age1 and of a height 
more than human1 came  in and stood by  
the head of the cradle4 ,the nurse      
shrank back against  the wall1 unable to
 take her eyes from the woman1 for she  
saw by the  gleaming of the firelight   
that the feathers of the grey hawk were 
upon  her head instead of hair4 ,but the
 child slept1 and the fire danced1 for  
the one was too ignorant and the other  
too full of gaiety to know what  a      
dreadful being stood there4 #8,open6'   
cried another voice1 #8for ,i am a      
crone of the grey hawk1 and ,i watch    
over his nest in the darkness of  the   
great wood4' ,the nurse opened the door 
again1 though her fingers  could scarce 
hold the bolts for trembling1 and       
another grey woman1 not  less old than  
the other1 and with like feathers       
instead of hair1 came  in and stood by  
the first4 ,in a little1 came a third   
grey woman1 and  after her a fourth1 and
 then another and another and another1  

until  the hut was full of their immense
 bodies4 ,they stood a long time in     
perfect silence and stillness1 for they 
were of those whom the dropping  of the 
sand has never troubled1 but at last one
 muttered in a low thin  voice3         
#8,sisters1 ,i knew him far away by the 
redness of his heart under  his silver  
skin'2 and then another spoke3          
#8,sisters1 ,i knew him because  his    
heart fluttered like a bird under a net 
of silver cords'2 and then  another took
 up the word3 #8,sisters1 ,i knew him   
because his heart sang  like a bird that
 is happy in a silver cage4' ,and after 
that they sang  together1 those who were
 nearest rocking the cradle with long   
wrinkled  fingers2 and their voices were
 now tender and caressing1 now like the 
wind blowing in the great wood1 and this
 was their song3        ,out of sight is
 out of mind3      ,long have man and   
woman-kind1      ,heavy of will and     
light of mood1      ,taken away our     
wheaten food1      ,taken away our      

,altar stone2      ,hail and rain and   
thunder alone1      ,and red hearts we  
turn to grey1      ,are true till ,time 
gutter away4    ,when the song had died 
out1 the crone who had first spoken1    
said3 #8,we  have nothing more to do but
 to mix a drop of our blood into his    
blood4'  ,and she scratched her arm with
 the sharp point of a spindle1 which    
she had made the nurse bring to her1 and
 let a drop of blood1 grey as  the mist1
 fall upon the lips of the child2 and   
passed out into the  darkness4 ,then the
 others passed out in silence one by    
one2 and all the  while the child had   
not opened his pink eyelids or the fire 
ceased to  dance1 for the one was too   
ignorant and the other too full of      
gaiety to  know what great beings had   
bent over the cradle4    ,when the      
crones were gone1 the nurse came to her 
courage again1 and  hurried to the dun  
of the ,high-,king1 and cried out in the
 midst of the  assembly hall that the   
,sidhe1 whether for good or evil she    

knew not1  had bent over the child that 
night2 and the king and his poets and   
men  of law1 and his huntsmen1 and his  
cooks1 and his chief warriors went  with
 her to the hut and gathered about the  
cradle1 and were as noisy as  magpies1  
and the child sat up and looked at them4
    ,two years passed over1 and the king
 died fighting against the ,fer ,bolg2  
and the poets and the men of law ruled  
in the name of the child1 but  looked to
 see him become the master himself      
before long1 for no one  had seen so    
wise a child1 and tales of his endless  
questions about  the household of the   
gods and the making of the world went   
hither and  thither among the wicker    
houses of the poor4 ,everything had been
 well  but for a miracle that began to  
trouble all men2 and all women1 who1    
indeed1 talked of it without ceasing4   
,the feathers of the grey hawk  had     
begun to grow in the child's hair1 and  
though his nurse cut them  continually1 
in but a little while they would be more

 numerous than  ever4 ,this had not been
 a matter of great moment1 for miracles 
were a  little thing in those days1 but 
for an ancient law of ,eri that none    
who had any blemish of body could sit   
upon the throne2 and as a grey  hawk was
 a wild thing of the air which had never
 sat at the board1 or  listened to the  
songs of the poets in the light of the  
fire1 it was not  possible to think of  
one in whose hair its feathers grew as  
other than  marred and blasted2 nor     
could the people separate from their    
admiration  of the wisdom that grew in  
him a horror as at one of unhuman blood4
 ,yet  all were resolved that he should 
reign1 for they had suffered much from  
foolish kings and their own disorders1  
and moreover they desired to  watch out 
the spectacle of his days2 and no one   
had any other fear but  that his great  
wisdom might bid him obey the law1 and  
call some other1  who had but a common  
mind1 to reign in his stead4    ,when   
the child was seven years old the poets 

and the men of law were  called together
 by the chief poet1 and all these       
matters weighed and  considered4 ,the   
child had already seen that those about 
him had hair  only1 and1 though they had
 told him that they too had had feathers
  but had lost them because of a sin    
committed by their forefathers1  they   
knew that he would learn the truth when 
he began to wander into  the country    
round about4 ,after much consideration  
they decreed a new  law commanding every
 one upon pain of death to mingle       
artificially  the feathers of the grey  
hawk into his hair2 and they sent men   
with  nets and slings and bows into the 
countries round about to gather a       
sufficiency of feathers4 ,they decreed  
also that any who told the truth  to the
 child should be flung from a cliff into
 the sea4    ,the years passed1 and the 
child grew from childhood into boyhood  
and  from boyhood into manhood1 and from
 being curious about all things  he     
became busy with strange and subtle     

thoughts which came to him in  dreams1  
and with distinctions between things    
long held the same and  with the        
resemblance of things long held         
different4 ,multitudes came  from other 
lands to see him and to ask his counsel1
 but there were  guards set at the      
frontiers1 who compelled all that came  
to wear the  feathers of the grey hawk  
in their hair4 ,while they listened to  
him  his words seemed to make all       
darkness light and filled their hearts  
like music2 but1 alas1 when they        
returned to their own lands his words   
seemed far off1 and what they could     
remember too strange and subtle  to help
 them to live out their hasty days4 ,a  
number indeed did live  differently     
afterwards1 but their new life was less 
excellent than the  old3 some among them
 had long served a good cause1 but when 
they heard  him praise it and their     
labour1 they returned to their own lands
 to  find what they had loved less      
lovable and their arm lighter in the    

battle1 for he had taught them how      
little a hair divides the false and     
true2 others1 again1 who had served no  
cause1 but wrought in peace the  welfare
 of their own households1 when he had   
expounded the meaning of  their purpose1
 found their bones softer and their will
 less ready for  toil1 for he had shown 
them greater purposes2 and numbers of   
the young1  when they had heard him upon
 all these things1 remembered certain   
words  that became like a fire in their 
hearts1 and made all kindly joys and    
traffic between man and man as nothing1 
and went different ways1 but  all into  
vague regret4    ,when any asked him    
concerning the common things of life2   
disputes about  the mear of a territory1
 or about the straying of cattle1 or    
about the  penalty of blood2 he would   
turn to those nearest him for advice2   
but  this was held to be from courtesy1 
for none knew that these matters  were  
hidden from him by thoughts and dreams  
that filled his mind like  the marching 

and counter-marching of armies4 ,far    
less could any know  that his heart     
wandered lost amid throngs of overcoming
 thoughts and  dreams1 shuddering at its
 own consuming solitude4    ,among those
 who came to look at him and to listen  
to him was the  daughter of a little    
king who lived a great way off2 and when
 he  saw her he loved1 for she was      
beautiful1 with a strange and pale      
beauty unlike the women of his land2 but
 ,dana1 the great mother1 had  decreed  
her a heart that was but as the heart of
 others1 and when she  considered the   
mystery of the hawk feathers she was    
troubled with a  great horror4 ,he      
called her to him when the assembly was 
over and  told her of her beauty1 and   
praised her simply and frankly as though
  she were a fable of the bards2 and he 
asked her humbly to give him  her love1 
for he was only subtle in his dreams4   
,overwhelmed with his  greatness1 she   
half consented1 and yet half refused1   
for she longed to  marry some warrior   

who could carry her over a mountain in  
his arms4 ,day  by day the king gave her
 gifts2 cups with ears of gold and      
findrinny  wrought by the craftsmen of  
distant lands2 cloth from over sea1     
which1  though woven with curious       
figures1 seemed to her less beautiful   
than  the bright cloth of her own       
country2 and still she was ever between 
a  smile and a frown2 between yielding  
and withholding4 ,he laid down his      
wisdom at her feet1 and told how the    
heroes when they die return to  the     
world and begin their labour anew2 how  
the kind and mirthful ,men  of ,dea     
drove out the huge and gloomy and       
misshapen ,people from ,under  the ,sea2
 and a multitude of things that even the
 ,sidhe have forgotten1  either because 
they happened so long ago or because    
they have not time  to think of them2   
and still she half refused1 and still he
 hoped1  because he could not believe   
that a beauty so much like wisdom could 
hide a common heart4    ,there was a    

tall young man in the dun who had yellow
 hair1 and was  skilled in wrestling and
 in the training of horses2 and one day 
when  the king walked in the orchard1   
which was between the foss and the      
forest1 he heard his voice among the    
salley bushes which hid the waters  of  
the foss4 #8,my blossom1' it said1 #8,i 
hate them for making you weave  these   
dingy feathers into your beautiful hair1
 and all that the bird  of prey upon the
 throne may sleep easy o' nights'2 and  
then the low1  musical voice he loved   
answered3 #8,my hair is not beautiful   
like yours2  and now that ,i have       
plucked the feathers out of your hair ,i
 will put  my hands through it1 thus1   
and thus1 and thus2 for it casts no     
shadow  of terror and darkness upon my  
heart4' ,then the king remembered many  
things that he had forgotten without    
understanding them1 doubtful  words of  
his poets and his men of law1 doubts    
that he had reasoned  away1 his own     
continual solitude2 and he called to the

 lovers in a  trembling voice4 ,they    
came from among the salley bushes and   
threw  themselves at his feet and prayed
 for pardon1 and he stooped down and    
plucked the feathers out of the hair of 
the woman and then turned away  towards 
the dun without a word4 ,he strode into 
the hall of assembly1  and having       
gathered his poets and his men of law   
about him1 stood upon  the das and spoke
 in a loud1 clear voice3 #8,men of law1 
why did you  make me sin against the    
laws of ,eri8 ,men of verse1 why did you
 make  me sin against the secrecy of    
wisdom1 for law was made by man for the 
welfare of man1 but wisdom the gods have
 made1 and no man shall live by  its    
light1 for it and the hail and the rain 
and the thunder follow a  way that is   
deadly to mortal things8 ,men of law and
 men of verse1 live  according to your  
kind1 and call ,eocha of the ,hasty     
,mind to reign over  you1 for ,i set out
 to find my kindred4' ,he then came down
 among them1  and drew out of the hair  

of first one and then another the       
feathers  of the grey hawk1 and1 having 
scattered them over the rushes upon the 
floor1 passed out1 and none dared to    
follow him1 for his eyes gleamed  like  
the eyes of the birds of prey2 and no   
man saw him again or heard  his voice4  
,some believed that he found his eternal
 abode among the  demons1 and some that 
he dwelt henceforth with the dark and   
dreadful  goddesses1 who sit all night  
about the pools in the forest watching  
the  constellations rising and setting  
in those desolate mirrors4      ,,the   
,,heart ,,of ,,the ,,spring    ,a ,,very
 old man1 whose face was almost as      
fleshless as the foot of a  bird1 sat   
meditating upon the rocky shore of the  
flat and hazel-covered  isle which fills
 the widest part of the ,lough ,gill4 ,a
 russet-faced boy  of seventeen years   
sat by his side1 watching the swallows  
dipping for  flies in the still water4  
,the old man was dressed in threadbare  
blue  velvet1 and the boy wore a frieze 

coat and a blue cap1 and had about  his 
neck a rosary of blue beads4 ,behind the
 two1 and half hidden by  trees1 was a  
little monastery4 ,it had been burned   
down a long while  before by            
sacrilegious men of the ,queen's party1 
but had been roofed  anew with rushes by
 the boy1 that the old man might find   
shelter in his  last days4 ,he had not  
set his spade1 however1 into the garden 
about it1  and the lilies and the roses 
of the monks had spread out until their 
confused luxuriancy met and mingled with
 the narrowing circle of the  fern4     
,beyond the lilies and the roses the    
ferns were so deep that a  child walking
 among them would be hidden from sight1 
even though he  stood upon his toes2 and
 beyond the fern rose many hazels and   
small oak  trees4    #8,master1' said   
the boy1 #8this long fasting1 and the   
labour of beckoning  after nightfall    
with your rod of quicken wood to the    
beings who dwell  in the waters and     
among the hazels and oak-trees1 is too  

much for  your strength4 ,rest from all 
this labour for a little1 for your hand 
seemed more heavy upon my shoulder and  
your feet less steady under  you to-day 
than ,i have known them4 ,men say that  
you are older than  the eagles1 and yet 
you will not seek the rest that belongs 
to age4'  ,he spoke in an eager1        
impulsive way1 as though his heart were 
in the  words and thoughts of the       
moment2 and the old man answered slowly 
and  deliberately1 as though his heart  
were in distant days and distant  deeds4
    #8,i will tell you why ,i have not  
been able to rest1' he said4 #8,it is   
right that you should know1 for you have
 served me faithfully these  five years 
and more1 and even with affection1      
taking away thereby a  little of the    
doom of loneliness which always falls   
upon the wise4 ,now1  too1 that the end 
of my labour and the triumph of my hopes
 is at hand1  it is the more needful for
 you to have this knowledge4'           
#8,master1 do not think that ,i would   

question you4 ,it is for me to keep  the
 fire alight1 and the thatch close      
against the rain1 and strong1  lest the 
wind blow it among the trees2 and it is 
for me to take the  heavy books from the
 shelves1 and to lift from its corner   
the great  painted roll with the names  
of the ,sidhe1 and to possess the while 
an  incurious and reverent heart1 for   
right well ,i know that ,god has made   
out of ,his abundance a separate wisdom 
for everything which lives1 and  to do  
these things is my wisdom4'    #8,you   
are afraid1' said the old man1 and his  
eyes shone with a momentary  anger4     
#8,sometimes at night1' said the boy1   
#8when you are reading1 with the  rod of
 quicken wood in your hand1 ,i look out 
of the door and see1 now  a great grey  
man driving swine among the hazels1 and 
now many little  people in red caps who 
come out of the lake driving little     
white cows  before them4 ,i do not fear 
these little people so much as the grey 
man2  for1 when they come near the      

house1 they milk the cows1 and they     
drink  the frothing milk1 and begin to  
dance2 and ,i know there is good in the 
heart that loves dancing2 but ,i fear   
them for all that4 ,and ,i fear the     
tall white-armed ladies who come out of 
the air1 and move slowly hither  and    
thither1 crowning themselves with the   
roses or with the lilies1  and shaking  
about their living hair1 which moves1   
for so ,i have heard  them tell each    
other1 with the motion of their         
thoughts1 now spreading  out and now    
gathering close to their heads4 ,they   
have mild1 beautiful  faces1 but1       
,aengus1 son of ,forbis1 ,i fear all    
these beings1 ,i fear the  people of the
 ,sidhe1 and ,i fear the art which draws
 them about us4'    #8,why1' said the   
old man1 #8do you fear the ancient gods 
who made the  spears of your father's   
fathers to be stout in battle1 and the  
little  people who came at night from   
the depth of the lakes and sang among   
the crickets upon their hearths8 ,and in

 our evil day they still watch  over the
 loveliness of the earth4 ,but ,i must  
tell you why ,i have fasted  and        
laboured when others would sink into the
 sleep of age1 for without  your help   
once more ,i shall have fasted and      
laboured to no good end4  ,when you have
 done for me this last thing1 you may go
 and build your  cottage and till your  
fields1 and take some girl to wife1 and 
forget  the ancient gods4 ,i have saved 
all the gold and silver pieces that were
  given to me by earls and knights and  
squires for keeping them from  the evil 
eye and from the love-weaving           
enchantments of witches1 and  by earls' 
and knights' and squires' ladies for    
keeping the people of  the ,sidhe from  
making the udders of their cattle fall  
dry1 and taking  the butter from their  
churns4 ,i have saved it all for the day
 when my  work should be at an end1 and 
now that the end is at hand you shall   
not  lack for gold and silver pieces    
enough to make strong the roof-tree of  

your cottage and to keep cellar and     
larder full4 ,i have sought through  all
 my life to find the secret of life4 ,i 
was not happy in my youth1  for ,i knew 
that it would pass2 and ,i was not happy
 in my manhood1 for  ,i knew that age   
was coming2 and so ,i gave myself1 in   
youth and manhood  and age1 to the      
search for the ,great ,secret4 ,i longed
 for a life  whose abundance would fill 
centuries1 ,i scorned the life of       
fourscore  winters4 ,i would be--nay1 ,i
 will be6--like the ,ancient ,gods of   
the  land4 ,i read in my youth1 in a    
,hebrew manuscript ,i found in a        
,spanish  monastery1 that there is a    
moment after the ,sun has entered the   
,ram  and before he has passed the      
,lion1 which trembles with the ,song of 
the  ,immortal ,powers1 and that        
whosoever finds this moment and listens 
to  the ,song shall become like the     
,immortal ,powers themselves2 ,i came   
back  to ,ireland and asked the fairy   
men1 and the cow-doctors1 if they knew  

when this moment was2 but though all had
 heard of it1 there was none  could find
 the moment upon the hour-glass4 ,so ,i 
gave myself to magic1  and spent my life
 in fasting and in labour that ,i might 
bring the ,gods  and the ,fairies to my 
side2 and now at last one of the        
,fairies has told  me that the moment is
 at hand4 ,one1 who wore a red cap and  
whose lips  were white with the froth of
 the new milk1 whispered it into my ear4
  ,to-morrow1 a little before the close 
of the first hour after dawn1 ,i  shall 
find the moment1 and then ,i will go    
away to a southern land and  build      
myself a palace of white marble amid    
orange trees1 and gather the  brave and 
the beautiful about me1 and enter into  
the eternal kingdom  of my youth4 ,but1 
that ,i may hear the whole ,song1 ,i was
 told by the  little fellow with the    
froth of the new milk on his lips1 that 
you must  bring great masses of green   
boughs and pile them about the door and 
the  window of my room2 and you must put

 fresh green rushes upon the floor1  and
 cover the table and the rushes with the
 roses and the lilies of the  monks4    
,you must do this to-night1 and in the  
morning at the end of the  first hour   
after dawn1 you must come and find me4' 
#8,will you be quite young then8' said  
the boy4    #8,i will be as young then  
as you are1 but now ,i am still old and 
tired1  and you must help me to my chair
 and to my books4'    ,when the boy had 
left ,aengus son of ,forbis in his room1
 and had lighted  the lamp which1 by    
some contrivance of the wizard's1 gave  
forth a sweet  odour as of strange      
flowers1 he went into the wood and began
 cutting  green boughs from the hazels1 
and great bundles of rushes from the    
western border of the isle1 where the   
small rocks gave place to gently        
sloping sand and clay4 ,it was nightfall
 before he had cut enough for  his      
purpose1 and well-nigh midnight before  
he had carried the last  bundle to its  
place1 and gone back for the roses and  

the lilies4 ,it was  one of those warm1 
beautiful nights when everything seems  
carved of  precious stones4 ,sleuth     
,wood away to the south looked as though
 cut out  of green beryl1 and the waters
 that mirrored them shone like pale     
opal4  ,the roses he was gathering were 
like glowing rubies1 and the lilies had 
the dull lustre of pearl4 ,everything   
had taken upon itself the look of       
something imperishable1 except a        
glow-worm1 whose faint flame burnt  on  
steadily among the shadows1 moving      
slowly hither and thither1 the  only    
thing that seemed alive1 the only thing 
that seemed perishable as  mortal hope4 
,the boy gathered a great armful of     
roses and lilies1 and  thrusting the    
glow-worm among their pearl and ruby1   
carried them into  the room1 where the  
old man sat in a half-slumber4 ,he laid 
armful after  armful upon the floor and 
above the table1 and then1 gently       
closing  the door1 threw himself upon   
his bed of rushes1 to dream of a        

peaceful  manhood with his chosen wife  
at his side1 and the laughter of        
children  in his ears4 ,at dawn he rose1
 and went down to the edge of the lake1 
taking the hour-glass with him4 ,he put 
some bread and a flask of wine  in the  
boat1 that his master might not lack    
food at the outset of his  journey1 and 
then sat down to wait until the hour    
from dawn had gone  by4 ,gradually the  
birds began to sing1 and when the last  
grains of  sand were falling1 everything
 suddenly seemed to overflow with their 
music4 ,it was the most beautiful and   
living moment of the year2 one  could   
listen to the spring's heart beating in 
it4 ,he got up and went to  find his    
master4 ,the green boughs filled the    
door1 and he had to make  a way through 
them4 ,when he entered the room the     
sunlight was falling  in flickering     
circles on floor and walls and table1   
and everything  was full of soft green  
shadows4 ,but the old man sat clasping a
 mass of  roses and lilies in his arms1 

and with his head sunk upon his breast4 
,on the table1 at his left hand1 was a  
leathern wallet full of gold  and silver
 pieces1 as for a journey1 and at his   
right hand was a long  staff4 ,the boy  
touched him and he did not move4 ,he    
lifted the hands but  they were quite   
cold1 and they fell heavily4    #8,it   
were better for him1' said the lad1 #8to
 have told his beads and  said his      
prayers like another1 and not to have   
spent his days in  seeking amongst the  
,immortal ,powers what he could have    
found in his own  deeds and days had he 
willed4 ,ah1 yes1 it were better to have
 said his  prayers and kissed his       
beads6' ,he looked at the threadbare    
blue velvet1  and he saw it was covered 
with the pollen of the flowers1 and     
while he  was looking at it a thrush1   
who had alighted among the boughs that  
were  piled against the window1 began to
 sing4      ,,the ,,curse ,,of ,,the    
,,fires ,,and ,,of ,,the ,,shadows      
,,one summer night1 when there was      

peace1 a score of ,puritan troopers     
under the pious ,sir ,frederick         
,hamilton1 broke through the door of the
  ,abbey of the ,white ,friars which    
stood over the ,gara ,lough at ,sligo4  
,as  the door fell with a crash they saw
 a little knot of friars gathered  about
 the altar1 their white habits          
glimmering in the steady light of  the  
holy candles4 ,all the monks were       
kneeling except the abbot1 who  stood   
upon the altar steps with a great brazen
 crucifix in his hand4  #8,shoot them6' 
cried ,sir ,frederick ,hamilton1 but    
none stirred1 for  all were new         
converts1 and feared the crucifix and   
the holy candles4  ,the white lights    
from the altar threw the shadows of the 
troopers up  on to roof and wall4 ,as   
the troopers moved about1 the shadows   
began  a fantastic dance among the      
corbels and the memorial tablets4 ,for a
  little while all was silent1 and then 
five troopers who were the  body-guard  
of ,sir ,frederick ,hamilton lifted     

their muskets1 and shot  down five of   
the friars4 ,the noise and the smoke    
drove away the mystery  of the pale     
altar lights1 and the other troopers    
took courage and  began to strike4 ,in a
 moment the friars lay about the altar  
steps1  their white habits stained with 
blood4 #8,set fire to the house6' cried 
,sir ,frederick ,hamilton1 and at his   
word one went out1 and came in  again   
carrying a heap of dry straw1 and piled 
it against the western  wall1 and1      
having done this1 fell back1 for the    
fear of the crucifix  and of the holy   
candles was still in his heart4 ,seeing 
this1 the five  troopers who were ,sir  
,frederick ,hamilton's body-guard darted
 forward1  and taking each a holy candle
 set the straw in a blaze4 ,the red     
tongues  of fire rushed up and flickered
 from corbel to corbel and from tablet  
to tablet1 and crept along the floor1   
setting in a blaze the seats and        
benches4 ,the dance of the shadows      
passed away1 and the dance of the  fires

 began4 ,the troopers fell back towards 
the door in the southern  wall1 and     
watched those yellow dancers springing  
hither and thither4    ,for a time the  
altar stood safe and apart in the midst 
of its white  light2 the eyes of the    
troopers turned upon it4 ,the abbot whom
 they  had thought dead had risen to his
 feet and now stood before it with  the 
crucifix lifted in both hands high above
 his head4 ,suddenly he  cried with a   
loud voice1 #8,woe unto all who smite   
those who dwell within  the ,light of   
the ,lord1 for they shall wander among  
the ungovernable  shadows1 and follow   
the ungovernable fires6' ,and having so 
cried he  fell on his face dead1 and the
 brazen crucifix rolled down the steps  
of the altar4 ,the smoke had now grown  
very thick1 so that it drove the        
troopers out into the open air4 ,before 
them were burning houses4 ,behind  them 
shone the painted windows of the ,abbey 
filled with saints and  martyrs1        
awakened1 as from a sacred trance1 into 

an angry and animated  life4 ,the eyes  
of the troopers were dazzled1 and for a 
while could  see nothing but the flaming
 faces of saints and martyrs4           
,presently1  however1 they saw a man    
covered with dust who came running      
towards  them4 #8,two messengers1' he   
cried1 #8have been sent by the defeated 
,irish  to raise against you the whole  
country about ,manor ,hamilton1 and if  
you  do not stop them you will be       
overpowered in the woods before you     
reach  home again6 ,they ride north-east
 between ,ben ,bulben and               
,cashel-na-,gael4'    ,sir ,frederick   
,hamilton called to him the five        
troopers who had first  fired upon the  
monks and said1 #8,mount quickly1 and   
ride through the  woods towards the     
mountain1 and get before these men1 and 
kill them4'    ,in a moment the troopers
 were gone1 and before many moments they
 had  splashed across the river at what 
is now called ,buckley's ,ford1 and     
plunged into the woods4 ,they followed a

 beaten track that wound along  the     
northern bank of the river4 ,the boughs 
of the birch and quicken  trees mingled 
above1 and hid the cloudy moonlight1    
leaving the pathway  in almost complete 
darkness4 ,they rode at a rapid trot1   
now chatting  together1 now watching    
some stray weasel or rabbit scuttling   
away  in the darkness4 ,gradually1 as   
the gloom and silence of the woods      
oppressed them1 they drew closer        
together1 and began to talk rapidly2    
they were old comrades and knew each    
other's lives4 ,one was married1  and   
told how glad his wife would be to see  
him return safe from this  harebrained  
expedition against the ,white ,friars1  
and to hear how  fortune had made amends
 for rashness4 ,the oldest of the five1 
whose  wife was dead1 spoke of a flagon 
of wine which awaited him upon an  upper
 shelf2 while a third1 who was the      
youngest1 had a sweetheart  watching for
 his return1 and he rode a little way   
before the others1  not talking at all4 

,suddenly the young man stopped1 and    
they saw that  his horse was trembling4 
#8,i saw something1' he said1 #8and yet 
,i do not  know but it may have been one
 of the shadows4 ,it looked like a great
  worm with a silver crown upon his     
head4' ,one of the five put his hand  up
 to his forehead as if about to cross   
himself1 but remembering that  he had   
changed his religion he put it down1 and
 said3 #8,i am certain  it was but a    
shadow1 for there are a great many about
 us1 and of very  strange kinds4' ,then 
they rode on in silence4 ,it had been   
raining in  the earlier part of the day1
 and the drops fell from the branches1  
wetting their hair and their shoulders4 
,in a little they began to talk  again4 
,they had been in many battles against  
many a rebel together1  and now told    
each other over again the story of their
 wounds1 and  so awakened in their      
hearts the strongest of all fellowships1
 the  fellowship of the sword1 and half 
forgot the terrible solitude of the     

woods4    ,suddenly the first two horses
 neighed1 and then stood still1 and     
would  go no further4 ,before them was a
 glint of water1 and they knew by the   
rushing sound that it was a river4 ,they
 dismounted1 and after much  tugging and
 coaxing brought the horses to the      
river-side4 ,in the midst  of the water 
stood a tall old woman with grey hair   
flowing over a grey  dress4 ,she stood  
up to her knees in the water1 and       
stooped from time to  time as though    
washing4 ,presently they could see that 
she was washing  something that half    
floated4 ,the moon cast a flickering    
light upon it1  and they saw that it was
 the dead body of a man1 and1 while they
 were  looking at it1 an eddy of the    
river turned the face towards them1 and 
each of the five troopers recognized at 
the same moment his own face4  ,while   
they stood dumb and motionless with     
horror1 the woman began to  speak1      
saying slowly and loudly3 #8,did you see
 my son8 ,he has a crown of  silver on  

his head1 and there are rubies in the   
crown4' ,then the oldest  of the        
troopers1 he who had been most often    
wounded1 drew his sword and  cried3 #8,i
 have fought for the truth of my ,god1  
and need not fear the  shadows of       
,satan1' and with that rushed into the  
water4 ,in a moment he  returned4 ,the  
woman had vanished1 and though he had   
thrust his sword  into air and water he 
had found nothing4    ,the five troopers
 remounted1 and set their horses at the 
ford1 but all  to no purpose4 ,they     
tried again and again1 and went plunging
 hither  and thither1 the horses foaming
 and rearing4 #8,let us1' said the old  
trooper1 #8ride back a little into the  
wood1 and strike the river  higher up4' 
,they rode in under the boughs1 the     
ground-ivy crackling  under the hoofs1  
and the branches striking against their 
steel caps4  ,after about twenty        
minutes' riding they came out again upon
 the river1  and after another ten      
minutes found a place where it was      

possible to  cross without sinking below
 the stirrups4 ,the wood upon the other 
side was very thin1 and broke the       
moonlight into long streams4 ,the  wind 
had arisen1 and had begun to drive the  
clouds rapidly across the  face of the  
moon1 so that thin streams of light     
seemed to be dancing  a grotesque dance 
among the scattered bushes and small    
fir-trees4 ,the  tops of the trees began
 also to moan1 and the sound of it was  
like the  voice of the dead in the wind2
 and the troopers remembered the belief 
that tells how the dead in purgatory are
 spitted upon the points of the  trees  
and upon the points of the rocks4 ,they 
turned a little to the  south1 in the   
hope that they might strike the beaten  
path again1 but  they could find no     
trace of it4    ,meanwhile1 the moaning 
grew louder and louder1 and the dance of
 the  white moon-fires more and more    
rapid4 ,gradually they began to be      
aware of a sound of distant music4 ,it  
was the sound of a bagpipe1  and they   

rode towards it with great joy4 ,it came
 from the bottom of  a deep1 cup-like   
hollow4 ,in the midst of the hollow was 
an old man  with a red cap and withered 
face4 ,he sat beside a fire of sticks1  
and  had a burning torch thrust into the
 earth at his feet1 and played an  old  
bagpipe furiously4 ,his red hair dripped
 over his face like the  iron rust upon 
a rock4 #8,did you see my wife8' he     
cried1 looking up a  moment2 #8she was  
washing6 she was washing6' #8,i am      
afraid of him1' said  the young trooper1
 #8,i fear he is one of the ,sidhe4'    
#8,no1' said the old  trooper1 #8he is a
 man1 for ,i can see the sun-freckles   
upon his face4  ,we will compel him to  
be our guide'2 and at that he drew his  
sword1  and the others did the same4    
,they stood in a ring round the piper1  
and  pointed their swords at him1 and   
the old trooper then told him that  they
 must kill two rebels1 who had taken the
 road between ,ben ,bulben  and the     
great mountain spur that is called      

,cashel-na-,gael1 and that he  must get 
up before one of them and be their      
guide1 for they had lost  their way4    
,the piper turned1 and pointed to a     
neighbouring tree1 and  they saw an old 
white horse ready bitted1 bridled1 and  
saddled4 ,he  slung the pipe across his 
back1 and1 taking the torch in his hand1
 got  upon the horse1 and started off   
before them1 as hard as he could go4    
,the wood grew thinner and thinner1 and 
the ground began to slope up  toward the
 mountain4 ,the moon had already set1   
and the little white  flames of the     
stars had come out everywhere4 ,the     
ground sloped more  and more until at   
last they rode far above the woods upon 
the wide  top of the mountain4 ,the     
woods lay spread out mile after mile    
below1  and away to the south shot up   
the red glare of the burning town4 ,but 
before and above them were the little   
white flames4 ,the guide drew rein      
suddenly1 and pointing upwards with the 
hand that did not hold the  torch1      

shrieked out1 #8,look2 look at the holy 
candles6' and then plunged  forward at a
 gallop1 waving the torch hither and    
thither4 #8,do you hear  the hoofs of   
the messengers8' cried the guide4       
#8,quick1 quick6 or they  will be gone  
out of your hands6' and he laughed as   
with delight of the  chase4 ,the        
troopers thought they could hear far    
off1 and as if below  them1 rattle of   
hoofs2 but now the ground began to slope
 more and more1  and the speed grew more
 headlong moment by moment4 ,they tried 
to pull  up1 but in vain1 for the horses
 seemed to have gone mad4 ,the guide    
had thrown the reins on to the neck of  
the old white horse1 and was  waving his
 arms and singing a wild ,gaelic song4  
,suddenly they saw the  thin gleam of a 
river1 at an immense distance below1 and
 knew that they  were upon the brink of 
the abyss that is now called            
,lug-na-,gael1 or in  ,english the      
,stranger's ,leap4 ,the six horses      
sprang forward1 and five  screams went  

up into the air1 a moment later five men
 and horses fell  with a dull crash upon
 the green slopes at the foot of the    
rocks4      ,,the ,,old ,,men ,,of ,,the
 ,,twilight    ,,at the place1 close to 
the ,dead ,man's ,point1 at the ,rosses1
 where  the disused pilot-house looks   
out to sea through two round windows    
like eyes1 a mud cottage stood in the   
last century4 ,it also was a            
watchhouse1 for a certain old ,michael  
,bruen1 who had been a smuggler  in his 
day1 and was still the father and       
grandfather of smugglers1  lived there1 
and when1 after nightfall1 a tall       
schooner crept over the  bay from       
,roughley1 it was his business to hang a
 horn lanthorn in the  southern window1 
that the news might travel to ,dorren's 
,island1 and  from thence1 by another   
horn lanthorn1 to the village of the    
,rosses4  ,but for this glimmering of   
messages1 he had little communion with  
mankind1 for he was very old1 and had no
 thought for anything but for  the      

making of his soul1 at the foot of the  
,spanish crucifix of carved  oak that   
hung by his chimney1 or bent double over
 the rosary of stone  beads brought to  
him in a cargo of silks and laces out of
 ,france4 ,one  night he had watched    
hour after hour1 because a gentle and   
favourable  wind was blowing1 and ,la   
,mre de ,misricorde was much overdue2   
and  he was about to lie down upon his  
heap of straw1 seeing that the dawn  was
 whitening the east1 and that the       
schooner would not dare to round        
,roughley and come to an anchor after   
daybreak2 when he saw a long line  of   
herons flying slowly from ,dorren's     
,island and towards the pools  which    
lie1 half choked with reeds1 behind what
 is called the ,second  ,rosses4 ,he had
 never before seen herons flying over   
the sea1 for they  are shore-keeping    
birds1 and partly because this had      
startled him out  of his drowsiness1 and
 more because the long delay of the     
schooner  kept his cupboard empty1 he   

took down his rusty shot-gun1 of which  
the  barrel was tied on with a piece of 
string1 and followed them towards  the  
pools4    ,when he came close enough to 
hear the sighing of the rushes in the   
outermost pool1 the morning was grey    
over the world1 so that the tall        
rushes1 the still waters1 the vague     
clouds1 the thin mist lying among  the  
sand-heaps1 seemed carved out of an     
enormous pearl4 ,in a little he  came   
upon the herons1 of whom there were a   
great number1 standing with  lifted legs
 in the shallow water2 and crouching    
down behind a bank of  rushes1 looked to
 the priming of his gun1 and bent for a 
moment over  his rosary to murmur3      
#8,patron ,patrick1 let me shoot a      
heron2 made into  a pie it will support 
me for nearly four days1 for ,i no      
longer eat as  in my youth4 ,if you keep
 me from missing ,i will say a rosary to
 you  every night until the pie is      
eaten4' ,then he lay down1 and1 resting 
his  gun upon a large stone1 turned     

towards a heron which stood upon a bank 
of smooth grass over a little stream    
that flowed into the pool2 for he       
feared to take the rheumatism by wading1
 as he would have to do if he  shot one 
of those which stood in the water4 ,but 
when he looked along  the barrel the    
heron was gone1 and1 to his wonder and  
terror1 a man of  infinitely great age  
and infirmity stood in its place4 ,he   
lowered the  gun1 and the heron stood   
there with bent head and motionless     
feathers1  as though it had slept from  
the beginning of the world4 ,he raised  
the  gun1 and no sooner did he look     
along the iron than that enemy of all   
enchantment brought the old man again   
before him1 only to vanish when  he     
lowered the gun for the second time4 ,he
 laid the gun down1 and  crossed himself
 three times1 and said a ,paternoster   
and an ,ave  ,maria1 and muttered half  
aloud3 #8,some enemy of ,god and of my  
patron  is standing upon the smooth     
place and fishing in the blessed water1'

  and then aimed very carefully and     
slowly4 ,he fired1 and when the smoke   
had gone saw an old man1 huddled upon   
the grass and a long line of  herons    
flying with clamour towards the sea4 ,he
 went round a bend of the  pool1 and    
coming to the little stream looked down 
on a figure wrapped  in faded clothes of
 black and green of an ancient pattern  
and spotted  with blood4 ,he shook his  
head at the sight of so great a         
wickedness4  ,suddenly the clothes moved
 and an arm was stretched upwards       
towards  the rosary which hung about his
 neck1 and long wasted fingers almost   
touched the cross4 ,he started back1    
crying3 #8,wizard1 ,i will let no       
wicked thing touch my blessed beads'2   
and the sense of a great danger  just   
escaped made him tremble4    #8,if you  
listen to me1' replied a voice so faint 
that it was like a  sigh1 #8you will    
know that ,i am not a wizard1 and you   
will let me kiss  the cross before ,i   
die4'    #8,i will listen to you1' he   

answered1 #8but ,i will not let you     
touch my  blessed beads1' and sitting on
 the grass a little way from the dying  
man1 he reloaded his gun and laid it    
across his knees and composed  himself  
to listen4    #8,i know not how many    
generations ago we1 who are now herons1 
were the  men of learning of the ,king  
,leaghaire2 we neither hunted1 nor went 
to  battle1 nor listened to the ,druids 
preaching1 and even love1 if it  came to
 us at all1 was but a passing fire4 ,the
 ,druids and the poets  told us1 many   
and many a time1 of a new ,druid        
,patrick2 and most among  them were     
fierce against him1 while a few thought 
his doctrine merely  the doctrine of the
 gods set out in new symbols1 and were  
for giving  him welcome2 but we yawned  
in the midst of their tale4 ,at last    
they  came crying that he was coming to 
the king's house1 and fell to their     
dispute1 but we would listen to neither 
party1 for we were busy with  a dispute 
about the merits of the ,great and of   

the ,little ,metre2 nor  were we        
disturbed when they passed our door with
 sticks of enchantment  under their     
arms1 travelling towards the forest to  
contend against his  coming1 nor when   
they returned after nightfall with torn 
robes and  despairing cries2 for the    
click of our knives writing our thoughts
 in  ,ogham filled us with peace and our
 dispute filled us with joy2 nor  even  
when in the morning crowds passed us to 
hear the strange ,druid  preaching the  
commandments of his god4 ,the crowds    
passed1 and one1 who  had laid down his 
knife to yawn and stretch himself1 heard
 a voice  speaking far off1 and knew    
that the ,druid ,patrick was preaching  
within  the king's house2 but our hearts
 were deaf1 and we carved and disputed  
and read1 and laughed a thin laughter   
together4 ,in a little we heard  many   
feet coming towards the house1 and      
presently two tall figures  stood in the
 door1 the one in white1 the other in a 
crimson robe2 like  a great lily and a  

heavy poppy2 and we knew the ,druid     
,patrick and our  ,king ,leaghaire4 ,we 
laid down the slender knives and bowed  
before the  king1 but when the black and
 green robes had ceased to rustle1 it   
was  not the loud rough voice of ,king  
,leaghaire that spoke to us1 but a      
strange voice in which there was a      
rapture as of one speaking from  behind 
a battlement of ,druid flame3 8,i       
preached the commandments of the  ,maker
 of the world10 it said2 8within the    
king's house and from the  centre of the
 earth to the windows of ,heaven there  
was a great silence1  so that the eagle 
floated with unmoving wings in the white
 air1 and  the fish with unmoving fins  
in the dim water1 while the linnets and 
the wrens and the sparrows stilled their
 ever-trembling tongues in  the heavy   
boughs1 and the clouds were like white  
marble1 and the  rivers became their    
motionless mirrors1 and the shrimps in  
the far-off  sea-pools were still1      
enduring eternity in patience1 although 

it was  hard40 ,and as he named these   
things1 it was like a king numbering his
  people4 8,but your slender knives went
 click1 click6 upon the oaken  staves1  
and1 all else being silent1 the sound   
shook the angels with  anger4 ,o1 little
 roots1 nipped by the winter1 who do not
 awake although  the summer pass above  
you with innumerable feet4 ,o1 men who  
have no  part in love1 who have no part 
in song1 who have no part in wisdom1    
but dwell with the shadows of memory    
where the feet of angels cannot  touch  
you as they pass over your heads1 where 
the hair of demons cannot  sweep about  
you as they pass under your feet1 ,i lay
 upon you a curse1  and change you to an
 example for ever and ever2 you shall   
become grey  herons and stand pondering 
in grey pools and flit over the world in
  that hour when it is most full of     
sighs1 having forgotten the flame of    
the stars and not yet found the flame of
 the sun2 and you shall preach  to the  
other herons until they also are like   

you1 and are an example  for ever and   
ever2 and your deaths shall come to you 
by chance and  unforeseen1 that no fire 
of certainty may visit your hearts40'   
,the voice of the old man of learning   
became still1 but the voteen  bent over 
his gun with his eyes upon the ground1  
trying in vain to  understand something 
of this tale2 and he had so bent1 it may
 be for a  long time1 had not a tug at  
his rosary made him start out of his    
dream4  ,the old man of learning had    
crawled along the grass1 and was now    
trying  to draw the cross down low      
enough for his lips to reach it4        
#8,you must not touch my blessed beads1'
 cried the voteen1 and struck  the long 
withered fingers with the barrel of his 
gun4 ,he need not have  trembled1 for   
the old man fell back upon the grass    
with a sigh and was  still4 ,he bent    
down and began to consider the black and
 green clothes1  for his fear had begun 
to pass away when he came to understand 
that  he had something the man of       

learning wanted and pleaded for1 and now
  that the blessed beads were safe1 his 
fear had nearly all gone2 and  surely1  
he thought1 if that big cloak1 and that 
little tight-fitting  cloak under it1   
were warm and without holes1 ,saint     
,patrick would take  the enchantment out
 of them and leave them fit for human   
use4 ,but the  black and green clothes  
fell away wherever his fingers touched  
them1  and while this was a new wonder1 
a slight wind blew over the pool and    
crumbled the old man of learning and all
 his ancient gear into a little  heap of
 dust1 and then made the little heap    
less and less until there  was nothing  
but the smooth green grass4      ,,where
 ,,there ,,is ,,nothing1 ,,there ,,is   
,,god4    ,,the little wicker houses at 
,tullagh1 where the ,brothers were      
accustomed  to pray1 or bend over many  
handicrafts1 when twilight had driven   
them  from the fields1 were empty1 for  
the hardness of the winter had brought  
the brotherhood together in the little  

wooden house under the shadow  of the   
wooden chapel2 and ,abbot ,malathgeneus1
 ,brother ,dove1 ,brother  ,bald ,fox1  
,brother ,peter1 ,brother ,patrick1     
,brother ,bittern1 ,brother             
,fair-brows1 and many too young to have 
won names in the great battle1  sat     
about the fire with ruddy faces1 one    
mending lines to lay in the  river for  
eels1 one fashioning a snare for birds1 
one mending the  broken handle of a     
spade1 one writing in a large book1 and 
one shaping  a jewelled box to hold the 
book2 and among the rushes at their feet
 lay  the scholars1 who would one day be
 ,brothers1 and whose school-house  it  
was1 and for the succour of whose tender
 years the great fire was  supposed to  
leap and flicker4 ,one of these1 a child
 of eight or nine  years1 called        
,olioll1 lay upon his back looking up   
through the hole  in the roof1 through  
which the smoke went1 and watching the  
stars  appearing and disappearing in the
 smoke with mild eyes1 like the eyes  of

 a beast of the field4 ,he turned       
presently to the ,brother who wrote  in 
the big book1 and whose duty was to     
teach the children1 and said1           
#8,brother ,dove1 to what are the stars 
fastened8' ,the ,brother1 rejoicing  to 
see so much curiosity in the stupidest  
of his scholars1 laid down  the pen and 
said1 #8,there are nine crystalline     
spheres1 and on the first  the ,moon is 
fastened1 on the second the planet      
,mercury1 on the third  the planet      
,venus1 on the fourth the ,sun1 on the  
fifth the planet ,mars1  on the sixth   
the planet ,jupiter1 on the seventh the 
planet ,saturn2  these are the wandering
 stars2 and on the eighth are fastened  
the fixed  stars2 but the ninth sphere  
is a sphere of the substance on which   
the  breath of ,god moved in the        
beginning4'    #8,what is beyond that8' 
said the child4    #8,there is nothing  
beyond that2 there is ,god4'    ,and    
then the child's eyes strayed to the    
jewelled box1 where one great  ruby was 

gleaming in the light of the fire1 and  
he said1 #8,why has  ,brother ,peter put
 a great ruby on the side of the box8'  
#8,the ruby is a symbol of the love of  
,god4'    #8,why is the ruby a symbol of
 the love of ,god8'    #8,because it is 
red1 like fire1 and fire burns up       
everything1 and where  there is nothing1
 there is ,god4'    ,the child sank into
 silence1 but presently sat up and said1
 #8,there is  somebody outside4'        
#8,no1' replied the ,brother4 #8,it is  
only the wolves2 ,i have heard them     
moving about in the snow for some time4 
,they are growing very wild1 now  that  
the winter drives them from the         
mountains4 ,they broke into a fold  last
 night and carried off many sheep1 and  
if we are not careful they  will devour 
everything4'    #8,no1 it is the        
footstep of a man1 for it is heavy2 but 
,i can hear the  footsteps of the wolves
 also4'    ,he had no sooner done       
speaking than somebody rapped three     
times1 but  with no great loudness4     

#8,i will go and open1 for he must be   
very cold4'    #8,do not open1 for it   
may be a man-wolf1 and he may devour us 
all4'    ,but the boy had already drawn 
back the heavy wooden bolt1 and all the 
faces1 most of them a little pale1      
turned towards the slowly-opening  door4
    #8,he has beads and a cross1 he     
cannot be a man-wolf1' said the child1  
as a man with the snow heavy on his     
long1 ragged beard1 and on the  matted  
hair1 that fell over his shoulders and  
nearly to his waist1 and  dropping from 
the tattered cloak that but half-covered
 his withered  brown body1 came in and  
looked from face to face with mild1     
ecstatic  eyes4 ,standing some way from 
the fire1 and with eyes that had rested 
at  last upon the ,abbot ,malathgeneus1 
he cried out1 #8,o blessed abbot1 let   
me come to the fire and warm myself and 
dry the snow from my beard and  my hair 
and my cloak2 that ,i may not die of the
 cold of the mountains  and anger the   
,lord with a wilful martyrdom4'         

#8,come to the fire1' said the abbot1   
#8and warm yourself1 and eat the  food  
the boy ,olioll will bring you4 ,it is  
sad indeed that any for whom  ,christ   
has died should be as poor as you4'     
,the man sat over the fire1 and ,olioll 
took away his now dripping cloak  and   
laid meat and bread and wine before him2
 but he would eat only of  the bread1   
and he put away the wine1 asking for    
water4 ,when his beard  and hair had    
begun to dry a little and his limbs had 
ceased to shiver  with the cold1 he     
spoke again4    #8,o blessed abbot1 have
 pity on the poor1 have pity on a beggar
 who has  trodden the bare world this   
many a year1 and give me some labour to 
do1  the hardest there is1 for ,i am the
 poorest of ,god's poor4'    ,then the  
,brothers discussed together what work  
they could put him to1  and at first to 
little purpose1 for there was no labour 
that had not  found its labourer in that
 busy community2 but at last one        
remembered  that ,brother ,bald ,fox1   

whose business it was to turn the great 
quern in  the quern-house1 for he was   
too stupid for anything else1 was       
getting  old for so heavy a labour2 and 
so the beggar was put to the quern from 
the morrow4    ,the cold passed away1   
and the spring grew to summer1 and the  
quern  was never idle1 nor was it turned
 with grudging labour1 for when any     
passed the beggar was heard singing as  
he drove the handle round4 ,the  last   
gloom1 too1 had passed from that happy  
community1 for ,olioll1 who  had always 
been stupid and unteachable1 grew       
clever1 and this was the  more          
miraculous because it had come of a     
sudden4 ,one day he had been  even      
duller than usual1 and was beaten and   
told to know his lesson  better on the  
morrow or be sent into a lower class    
among little boys  who would make a joke
 of him4 ,he had gone out in tears1 and 
when he  came the next day1 although his
 stupidity1 born of a mind that would   
listen to every wandering sound and     

brood upon every wandering light1  had  
so long been the byword of the school1  
he knew his lesson so well  that he     
passed to the head of the class1 and    
from that day was the best  of scholars4
 ,at first ,brother ,dove thought this  
was an answer to his  own prayers to the
 ,virgin1 and took it for a great proof 
of the love  she bore him2 but when many
 far more fervid prayers had failed to  
add a  single wheatsheaf to the harvest1
 he began to think that the child was   
trafficking with bards1 or druids1 or   
witches1 and resolved to follow  and    
watch4 ,he had told his thought to the  
abbot1 who bid him come to  him the     
moment he hit the truth2 and the next   
day1 which was a ,sunday1  he stood in  
the path when the abbot and the         
,brothers were coming from  vespers1    
with their white habits upon them1 and  
took the abbot by the  habit and said1  
#8,the beggar is of the greatest of     
saints and of the  workers of miracle4  
,i followed ,olioll but now1 and by his 

slow steps  and his bent head ,i saw    
that the weariness of his stupidity was 
over  him1 and when he came to the      
little wood by the quern-house ,i knew  
by  the path broken in the under-wood   
and by the foot-marks in the muddy      
places that he had gone that way many   
times4 ,i hid behind a bush where  the  
path doubled upon itself at a sloping   
place1 and understood by the  tears in  
his eyes that his stupidity was too old 
and his wisdom too new  to save him from
 terror of the rod4 ,when he was in the 
quern-house ,i  went to the window and  
looked in1 and the birds came down and  
perched  upon my head and my shoulders1 
for they are not timid in that holy     
place2 and a wolf passed by1 his right  
side shaking my habit1 his left  the    
leaves of a bush4 ,olioll opened his    
book and turned to the page  ,i had told
 him to learn1 and began to cry1 and the
 beggar sat beside  him and comforted   
him until he fell asleep4 ,when his     
sleep was of the  deepest the beggar    

knelt down and prayed aloud1 and said1  
8,o ,thou ,who  dwellest beyond the     
stars1 show forth ,thy power as at the  
beginning1  and let knowledge sent from 
,thee awaken in his mind1 wherein is    
nothing  from the world1 that the nine  
orders of angels may glorify ,thy name02
  and then a light broke out of the air 
and wrapped ,aodh1 and ,i smelt the     
breath of roses4 ,i stirred a little in 
my wonder1 and the beggar turned  and   
saw me1 and1 bending low1 said1 8,o     
,brother ,dove1 if ,i have done  wrong1 
forgive me1 and ,i will do penance4 ,it 
was my pity moved me02  but ,i was      
afraid and ,i ran away1 and did not stop
 running until ,i came  here4'    ,then 
all the ,brothers began talking         
together1 one saying it was such  and   
such a saint1 and one that it was not he
 but another2 and one that  it was none 
of these1 for they were still in their  
brotherhoods1 but  that it was such and 
such a one2 and the talk was as near to 
quarreling  as might be in that gentle  

community1 for each would claim so great
  a saint for his native province4 ,at  
last the abbot said1 #8,he is none  that
 you have named1 for at ,easter ,i had  
greeting from all1 and each  was in his 
brotherhood2 but he is ,aengus the      
,lover of ,god1 and the  first of those 
who have gone to live in the wild places
 and among  the wild beasts4 ,ten years 
ago he felt the burden of many labours  
in a brotherhood under the ,hill of     
,patrick and went into the forest  that 
he might labour only with song to the   
,lord2 but the fame of his  holiness    
brought many thousands to his cell1 so  
that a little pride  clung to a soul    
from which all else had been driven4    
,nine years ago he  dressed himself in  
rags1 and from that day none has seen   
him1 unless1  indeed1 it be true that he
 has been seen living among the wolves  
on the  mountains and eating the grass  
of the fields4 ,let us go to him and    
bow down before him2 for at last1 after 
long seeking1 he has found the  nothing 

that is ,god2 and bid him lead us in the
 pathway he has trodden4  ,they passed  
in their white habits along the beaten  
path in the wood1  the acolytes swinging
 their censers before them1 and the     
abbot1 with  his crozier studded with   
precious stones1 in the midst of the    
incense2  and came before the           
quern-house and knelt down and began to 
pray1  awaiting the moment when the     
child would wake1 and the ,saint cease  
from his watch and come to look at the  
sun going down into the unknown         
darkness1 as his way was4          ,,of 
,,costello ,,the ,,proud1 ,,of ,,oona   
,,the ,,daughter ,,of ,,dermott         
,,and ,,of ,,the ,,bitter ,,tongue4     
,,costello had come up from the fields  
and lay upon the ground before  the door
 of his square tower1 resting his head  
upon his hands and  looking at the      
sunset1 and considering the chances of  
the weather4  ,though the customs of    
,elizabeth and ,james1 now going out of 
fashion  in ,england1 had begun to      

prevail among the gentry1 he still wore 
the  great cloak of the native ,irish2  
and the sensitive outlines of his face  
and the greatness of his indolent body  
had a commingling of pride and  strength
 which belonged to a simpler age4 ,his  
eyes wandered from the  sunset to where 
the long white road lost itself over the
 south-western  horizon and to a        
horseman who toiled slowly up the hill4 
,a few more  minutes and the horseman   
was near enough for his little and      
shapeless  body1 his long ,irish cloak1 
and the dilapidated bagpipes hanging    
from  his shoulders1 and the            
rough-haired garron under him1 to be    
seen  distinctly in the grey dusk4 ,so  
soon as he had come within earshot1 he  
began crying3 #8,is it sleeping you are1
 ,tumaus ,costello1 when better men     
break their hearts on the great white   
roads8 ,get up out of that1 proud       
,tumaus1 for ,i have news6 ,get up out  
of that1 you great omadhaun6 ,shake     
yourself out of the earth1 you great    

weed of a man6'    ,costello had risen  
to his feet1 and as the piper came up to
 him seized  him by the neck of his     
jacket1 and lifting him out of his      
saddle threw  him on to the ground4     
#8,let me alone1 let me alone1' said the
 other1 but ,costello still shook  him4 
#8,i have news from ,dermott's daughter1
 ,winny4' ,the great fingers were       
loosened1 and the piper rose gasping4   
#8,why did you not tell me1' said       
,costello1 #8that you came from her8    
,you  might have railed your fill4'     
#8,i have come from her1 but ,i will not
 speak unless ,i am paid for my         
shaking4'    ,costello fumbled at the   
bag in which he carried his money1 and  
it was  some time before it would open1 
for the hand that had overcome many men 
shook with fear and hope4 #8,here is all
 the money in my bag1' he said1         
dropping a stream of ,french and        
,spanish money into the hand of the     
piper1 who bit the coins before he would
 answer4    #8,that is right1 that is a 

fair price1 but ,i will not speak till  
,i have  good protection1 for if the    
,dermotts lay their hands upon me in any
  boreen after sundown1 or in           
,cool-a-vin by day1 ,i will be left to  
rot  among the nettles of a ditch1 or   
hung on the great sycamore1 where they  
hung the horse-thieves last ,beltaine   
four years4' ,and while he spoke he     
tied the reins of his garron to a bar of
 rusty iron that was mortared  into the 
wall4    #8,i will make you my piper and
 my body-servant1' said ,costello1 #8and
 no  man dare lay hands upon the man1 or
 the goat1 or the horse1 or the dog     
that is ,tumaus ,costello's4'    #8,and 
,i will only tell my message1' said the 
other1 flinging the saddle  on the      
ground1 #8in the corner of the chimney  
with a noggin in my hand1  and a jug of 
the ,brew of the ,little ,pot beside me1
 for though ,i am  ragged and empty1 my 
forebears were well clothed and full    
until their  house was burnt and their  
cattle harried seven centuries ago by   

the  ,dillons1 whom ,i shall yet see on 
the hob of hell1 and they screeching'2  
and while he spoke the little eyes      
gleamed and the thin hands clenched4    
,costello led him into the great        
rush-strewn hall1 where were none of    
the comforts which had begun to grow    
common among the gentry1 but a  feudal  
gauntness and bareness1 and pointed to  
the bench in the great  chimney2 and    
when he had sat down1 filled up a horn  
noggin and set it  on the bench beside  
him1 and set a great black jack of      
leather beside  the noggin1 and lit a   
torch that slanted out from a ring in   
the wall1  his hands trembling the      
while2 and then turned towards him and  
said3  #8,will ,dermott's daughter come 
to me1 ,duallach1 son of ,daly8'        
#8,dermott's daughter will not come to  
you1 for her father has set women  to   
watch her1 but she bid me tell you that 
this day sennight will be  the eve of   
,st4 ,john and the night of her         
betrothal to ,namara of the  ,lake1 and 

she would have you there that1 when they
 bid her drink to him  she loves best1  
as the way is1 she may drink to you1    
,tumaus ,costello1  and let all know    
where her heart is1 and how little of   
gladness is in  her marriage2 and ,i    
myself bid you go with good men about   
you1 for ,i  saw the horse-thieves with 
my own eyes1 and they dancing the 8,blue
  ,pigeon0 in the air4' ,and then he    
held the now empty noggin towards       
,costello1 his hand closing round it    
like the claw of a bird1 and cried3     
#8,fill my noggin again1 for ,i would   
the day had come when all the water  in 
the world is to shrink into a           
periwinkle-shell1 that ,i might drink   
nothing but ,poteen4'    ,finding that  
,costello made no reply1 but sat in a   
dream1 he burst out3  #8,fill my noggin1
 ,i tell you1 for no ,costello is so    
great in the world  that he should not  
wait upon a ,daly1 even though the ,daly
 travel the  road with his pipes and the
 ,costello have a bare hill1 an empty   

house1  a horse1 a herd of goats1 and a 
handful of cows4'    #8,praise the      
,dalys if you will1' said ,costello as  
he filled the noggin1  #8for you have   
brought me a kind word from my love4'   
,for the next few days ,duallach went   
hither and thither trying to raise  a   
bodyguard1 and every man he met had some
 story of ,costello1 how he  killed the 
wrestler when but a boy by so straining 
at the belt that  went about them both  
that he broke the big wrestler's back2  
how when  somewhat older he dragged     
fierce horses through a ford in the     
,unchion  for a wager2 how when he came 
to manhood he broke the steel horseshoe 
in ,mayo2 how he drove many men before  
him through ,rushy ,meadow at           
,drum-an-air because of a malevolent    
song they had about his poverty2  and of
 many another deed of his strength and  
pride2 but he could find  none who would
 trust themselves with any so passionate
 and poor in a  quarrel with careful and
 wealthy persons like ,dermott of the   

,sheep and  ,namara of the ,lake4       
,then ,costello went out himself1 and   
after listening to many excuses  and in 
many places1 brought in a big           
half-witted fellow1 who followed  him   
like a dog1 a farm-labourer who         
worshipped him for his strength1  a fat 
farmer whose forefathers had served his 
family1 and a couple of  lads who looked
 after his goats and cows2 and          
marshalled them before  the fire in the 
empty hall4 ,they had brought with them 
their stout  cudgels1 and ,costello gave
 them an old pistol apiece1 and kept    
them  all night drinking ,spanish ale   
and shooting at a white turnip which  he
 pinned against the wall with a skewer4 
,duallach of the ,pipes sat  on the     
bench in the chimney playing #8,the     
,green ,bunch of ,rushes1' #8,the       
,unchion ,stream1' and #8,the ,princes  
of ,breffeny' on his old pipes1 and     
railing now at the appearance of the    
shooters1 now at their clumsy  shooting1
 and now at ,costello because he had no 

better servants4 ,the  labourer1 the    
half-witted fellow1 the farmer and the  
lads were all well  accustomed to       
,duallach's railing1 for it was as      
inseparable from wake  or wedding as the
 squealing of his pipes1 but they       
wondered at the  forbearance of         
,costello1 who seldom came either to    
wake or wedding1 and  if he had would   
scarce have been patient with a scolding
 piper4    ,on the next evening they set
 out for ,cool-a-vin1 ,costello riding a
  tolerable horse and carrying a sword1 
the others upon rough-haired  garrons1  
and with their stout cudgels under their
 arms4 ,as they rode  over the bogs and 
in the boreens among the hills they     
could see  fire answering fire from hill
 to hill1 from horizon to horizon1 and  
everywhere groups who danced in the red 
light on the turf1 celebrating  the     
bridal of life and fire4 ,when they came
 to ,dermott's house they  saw before   
the door an unusually large group of the
 very poor1 dancing  about a fire1 in   

the midst of which was a blazing        
cartwheel1 that  circular dance which is
 so ancient that the gods1 long dwindled
 to  be but fairies1 dance no other in  
their secret places4 ,from the door  and
 through the long loop-holes on either  
side came the pale light of  candles and
 the sound of many feet dancing a dance 
of ,elizabeth and  ,james4    ,they tied
 their horses to bushes1 for the number 
so tied already showed  that the stables
 were full1 and shoved their way through
 a crowd of  peasants who stood about   
the door1 and went into the great hall  
where  the dance was4 ,the labourer1 the
 half-witted fellow1 the farmer and the 
two lads mixed with a group of servants 
who were looking on from an  alcove1 and
 ,duallach sat with the pipers on their 
bench1 but ,costello  made his way      
through the dancers to where ,dermott of
 the ,sheep stood  with ,namara of the  
,lake pouring ,poteen out of a porcelain
 jug into horn  noggins with silver     
rims4    #8,tumaus ,costello1' said the 

old man1 #8you have done a good deed  to
 forget what has been1 and to fling away
 enmity and come to the  betrothal of my
 daughter to ,namara of the ,lake4'     
#8,i come1' answered ,costello1         
#8because when in the time of ,costello 
,de  ,angalo my forebears overcame your 
forebears and afterwards made peace1  a 
compact was made that a ,costello might 
go with his body-servants and  his piper
 to every feast given by a ,dermott for 
ever1 and a ,dermott  with his          
body-servants and his piper to every    
feast given by a ,costello  for ever4'  
#8,if you come with evil thoughts and   
armed men1' said the son of ,dermott    
flushing1 #8no matter how strong your   
hands to wrestle and to swing the       
sword1 it shall go badly with you1 for  
some of my wife's clan have  come out of
 ,mayo1 and my three brothers and their 
servants have come  down from the ,ox   
,mountains'2 and while he spoke he kept 
his hand inside  his coat as though upon
 the handle of a weapon4    #8,no1'     

answered ,costello1 #8,i but come to    
dance a farewell dance with  your       
daughter4'    ,dermott drew his hand out
 of his coat and went over to a tall    
pale girl  who was now standing but a   
little way off with her mild eyes fixed 
upon  the ground4    #8,costello has    
come to dance a farewell dance1 for he  
knows that you  will never see one      
another again4'    ,the girl lifted her 
eyes and gazed at ,costello1 and in her 
gaze was  that trust of the humble in   
the proud1 the gentle in the violent1   
which has been the tragedy of woman from
 the beginning4 ,costello led  her among
 the dancers1 and they were soon drawn  
into the rhythm of the  ,pavane1 that   
stately dance which1 with the ,saraband1
 the ,gallead1 and  the ,morrice dances1
 had driven out1 among all but the most 
,irish of  the gentry1 the quicker      
rhythms of the verse-interwoven1        
pantomimic  dances of earlier days2 and 
while they danced there came over them  
the  unutterable melancholy1 the        

weariness with the world1 the poignant  
and  bitter pity for one another1 the   
vague anger against common hopes and    
fears1 which is the exultation of love4 
,and when a dance ended and the  pipers 
laid down their pipes and lifted their  
horn noggins1 they stood  a little from 
the others waiting pensively and        
silently for the dance  to begin again  
and the fire in their hearts to leap up 
and to wrap them  anew2 and so they     
danced and danced ,pavane and ,saraband 
and ,gallead and  ,morrice through the  
night long1 and many stood still to     
watch them1  and the peasants came about
 the door and peered in1 as though they 
understood that they would gather their 
children's children about them  long    
hence1 and tell how they had seen       
,costello dance with ,dermott's         
daughter ,oona1 and become by the       
telling themselves a portion of  ancient
 romance2 but through all the dancing   
and piping ,namara of the  ,lake went   
hither and thither talking loudly and   

making foolish jokes  that all might    
seem well with him1 and old ,dermott of 
the ,sheep grew  redder and redder1 and 
looked oftener and oftener at the       
doorway to see  if the candles there    
grew yellow in the dawn4    ,at last he 
saw that the moment to end had come1    
and1 in a pause after a  dance1 cried   
out from where the horn noggins stood   
that his daughter  would now drink the  
cup of betrothal2 then ,oona came over  
to where he  was1 and the guests stood  
round in a half-circle1 ,costello close 
to  the wall to the right1 and the      
piper1 the labourer1 the farmer1 the    
half-witted man and the two farm lads   
close behind him4 ,the old man  took out
 of a niche in the wall the silver cup  
from which her mother  and her mother's 
mother had drunk the toasts of their    
betrothals1 and  poured ,poteen out of a
 porcelain jug and handed the cup to his
 daughter  with the customary words1    
#8,drink to him whom you love the best4'
    ,she held the cup to her lips for a 

moment1 and then said in a clear  soft  
voice3 #8,i drink to my true love1      
,tumaus ,costello4'    ,and then the cup
 rolled over and over on the ground1    
ringing like  a bell1 for the old man   
had struck her in the face and the cup  
had  fallen1 and there was a deep       
silence4    ,there were many of         
,namara's people among the servants now 
come out of  the alcove1 and one of     
them1 a story-teller and poet1 a last   
remnant of  the bardic order1 who had a 
chair and a platter in ,namara's        
kitchen1  drew a ,french knife out of   
his girdle and made as though he would  
strike at ,costello1 but in a moment a  
blow had hurled him to the  ground1 his 
shoulder sending the cup rolling and    
ringing again4 ,the  click of steel had 
followed quickly1 had not there come a  
muttering and  shouting from the        
peasants about the door and from those  
crowding up  behind them2 and all knew  
that these were no children of ,queen's 
,irish  or friendly ,namaras and        

,dermotts1 but of the wild ,irish about 
,lough  ,gara and ,lough ,cara1 who     
rowed their skin coracles1 and had      
masses  of hair over their eyes1 and    
left the right arms of their children   
unchristened that they might give the   
stouter blows1 and swore only by  ,st4  
,atty and sun and moon1 and worshipped  
beauty and strength more than  ,st4     
,atty or sun and moon4    ,costello's   
hand had rested upon the handle of his  
sword and his  knuckles had grown white1
 but now he drew it away1 and1 followed 
by  those who were with him1 strode     
towards the door1 the dancers giving    
way before him1 the most angrily and    
slowly1 and with glances at the         
muttering and shouting peasants1 but    
some gladly and quickly1 because  the   
glory of his fame was over him4 ,he     
passed through the fierce  and friendly 
peasant faces1 and came where his good  
horse and the  rough-haired garrons were
 tied to bushes2 and mounted and bade   
his  ungainly bodyguard mount also and  

ride into the narrow boreen4 ,when  they
 had gone a little way1 ,duallach1 who  
rode last1 turned towards  the house    
where a little group of ,dermotts and   
,namaras stood next to a  more numerous 
group of countrymen1 and cried3         
#8,dermott1 you deserve to  be as you   
are this hour1 a lantern without a      
candle1 a purse without a  penny1 a     
sheep without wool1 for your hand was   
ever niggardly to piper  and fiddler and
 story-teller and to poor travelling    
people4' ,he had  not done before the   
three old ,dermotts from the ,ox        
,mountains had run  towards their       
horses1 and old ,dermott himself had    
caught the bridle of  a garron of the   
,namaras and was calling to the others  
to follow him2  and many blows and many 
deaths had been had not the countrymen  
caught  up still glowing sticks from the
 ashes of the fires and hurled them     
among the horses with loud cries1 making
 all plunge and rear1 and some  break   
from those who held them1 the whites of 

their eyes gleaming in  the dawn4       
,for the next few weeks ,costello had no
 lack of news of ,oona1 for now  a woman
 selling eggs or fowls1 and now a man or
 a woman on pilgrimage  to the ,well of 
the ,rocks1 would tell him how his love 
had fallen ill  the day after ,st4      
,john's ,eve1 and how she was a little  
better or a  little worse1 as it might  
be2 and though he looked to his horses  
and  his cows and goats as usual1 the   
common and uncomely1 the dust upon the  
roads1 the songs of men returning from  
fairs and wakes1 men playing  cards in  
the corners of fields on ,sundays and   
,saints' ,days1 the rumours  of battles 
and changes in the great world1 the     
deliberate purposes of  those about him1
 troubled him with an inexplicable      
trouble2 and the  country people still  
remember how when night had fallen he   
would bid  ,duallach of the ,pipes tell1
 to the chirping of the crickets1 #8,the
 ,son  of ,apple1' #8,the ,beauty of the
 ,world1' #8,the ,king of ,ireland's    

,son1' or  some other of those          
traditional tales which were as much a  
piper's  business as #8,the ,green      
,bunch of ,rushes1' #8,the ,unchion     
,stream1' or #8,the  ,chiefs of         
,breffeny'2 and while the boundless and 
phantasmal world of  the legends was    
a-building1 would abandon himself to the
 dreams of his  sorrow4    ,duallach    
would often pause to tell how some clan 
of the wild ,irish had  descended from  
an incomparable ,king of the ,blue      
,belt1 or ,warrior of the  ,ozier       
,wattle1 or to tell with many curses how
 all the strangers and  most of the     
,queen's ,irish were the seed of the    
misshapen and horned  ,people from      
,under the ,sea or of the servile and   
creeping ,ferbolg2  but ,costello cared 
only for the love sorrows1 and no matter
 whither  the stories wandered1 whether 
to the ,isle of the ,red ,lough1 where  
the  blessed are1 or to the malign      
country of the ,hag of the ,east1 ,oona 
alone endured their shadowy hardships2  

for it was she and no king's  daughter  
of old who was hidden in the steel tower
 under the water  with the folds of the 
,worm of ,nine ,eyes round and about her
 prison2  and it was she who won by     
seven years of service the right to     
deliver  from hell all she could carry1 
and carried away multitudes clinging    
with worn fingers to the hem of her     
dress2 and it was she who endured       
dumbness for a year because of the      
little thorn of enchantment the  fairies
 had thrust into her tongue2 and it was 
a lock of her hair1  coiled in a little 
carved box1 which gave so great a light 
that men  threshed by it from sundown to
 sunrise1 and awoke so great a wonder   
that kings spent years in wandering or  
fell before unknown armies in  seeking  
to discover her hiding-place2 for there 
was no beauty in the  world but hers1 no
 tragedy in the world but hers3 and when
 at last  the voice of the piper1 grown 
gentle with the wisdom of old romance1  
was silent1 and his rheumatic steps had 

toiled upstairs and to bed1  and        
,costello had dipped his fingers into   
the little delf font of  holy water and 
begun to pray to ,mary of the ,seven    
,sorrows1 the blue  eyes and            
star-covered dress of the painting in   
the chapel faded from  his imagination1 
and the brown eyes and homespun dress of
 ,dermott's  daughter ,winny came in    
their stead2 for there was no tenderness
 in  the world but hers4 ,he was of     
those ascetics of passion who keep      
their hearts pure for love or for hatred
 as other men for ,god1 for  ,mary and  
for the ,saints1 and who1 when the hour 
of their visitation  arrives1 come to   
the ,divine ,essence by the bitter      
tumult1 the ,garden  of ,gethsemane1 and
 the desolate ,rood ordained for        
immortal passions in  mortal hearts4    
,one day a serving-man rode up to       
,costello1 who was helping his two lads 
to reap a meadow1 and gave him a letter1
 and rode away without a word2  and the 
letter contained these words in         

,english3 #8,tumaus ,costello1  my      
daughter is very ill4 ,the wise woman   
from ,knock-na-,sidhe has seen  her1 and
 says she will die unless you come to   
her4 ,i therefore bid you  come to her1 
whose peace you stole by                
treachery4--,,dermott1 ,,the ,,son ,,of 
,,dermott4'    ,costello threw down his 
scythe1 and sent one of the lads for    
,duallach1  who had become woven into   
his mind with ,oona1 and himself saddled
 his  great horse and ,duallach's       
garron4    ,when they came to ,dermott's
 house it was late afternoon1 and ,lough
  ,gara lay down below them1 blue1      
mirror-like1 and deserted2 and though   
they had seen1 when at a distance1 dark 
figures moving about the door1  the     
house appeared not less deserted than   
the ,lough4 ,the door stood  half open1 
and ,costello knocked upon it again and 
again1 so that a  number of lake gulls  
flew up out of the grass and circled    
screaming  over his head1 but there was 
no answer4    #8,there is no one here1' 

said ,duallach1 #8for ,dermott of the   
,sheep is  too proud to welcome         
,costello the ,proud1' and he threw the 
door open1  and they saw a ragged1      
dirty1 very old woman1 who sat upon the 
floor  leaning against the wall4        
,costello knew that it was ,bridget     
,delaney1  a deaf and dumb beggar2 and  
she1 when she saw him1 stood up and made
  a sign to him to follow1 and led him  
and his companion up a stair and  down a
 long corridor to a closed door4 ,she   
pushed the door open and  went a little 
way off and sat down as before2         
,duallach sat upon the  ground also1 but
 close to the door1 and ,costello went  
and gazed upon  ,winny sleeping upon a  
bed4 ,he sat upon a chair beside her and
 waited1  and a long time passed and    
still she slept on1 and then ,duallach  
motioned to him through the door to wake
 her1 but he hushed his  very breath1   
that she might sleep on1 for his heart  
was full of that  ungovernable pity     
which makes the fading heart of the     

lover a shadow  of the divine heart4    
,presently he turned to ,duallach and   
said3 #8,it is  not right that ,i stay  
here where there are none of her        
kindred1 for  the common people are     
always ready to blame the beautiful4'   
,and then  they went down and stood at  
the door of the house and waited1 but   
the  evening wore on and no one came4   
#8,it was a foolish man that called you 
,proud ,costello1' ,duallach cried  at  
last2 #8had he seen you waiting and     
waiting where they left none but  a     
beggar to welcome you1 it is ,humble    
,costello he would have called  you4'   
,then ,costello mounted and ,duallach   
mounted1 but when they had ridden a     
little way ,costello tightened the reins
 and made his horse stand still4  ,many 
minutes passed1 and then ,duallach      
cried3 #8,it is no wonder that  you fear
 to offend ,dermott of the ,sheep1 for  
he has many brothers and  friends1 and  
though he is old1 he is a strong man and
 ready with his  hands1 and he is of the

 ,queen's ,irish1 and the enemies of the
 ,gael are  upon his side4'    ,and     
,costello answered flushing and looking 
towards the house3 #8,i swear  by the   
,mother of ,god that ,i will never      
return there again if they do  not send 
after me before ,i pass the ford in the 
,brown ,river1' and he  rode on1 but so 
very slowly that the sun went down and  
the bats began  to fly over the bogs4   
,when he came to the river he lingered  
awhile upon  the bank among the flowers 
of the flag1 but presently rode out into
 the  middle and stopped his horse in a 
foaming shallow4 ,duallach1 however1    
crossed over and waited on a further    
bank above a deeper place4 ,after a     
good while ,duallach cried out again1   
and this time very bitterly3 #8,it  was 
a fool who begot you and a fool who bore
 you1 and they are fools of  all fools  
who say you come of an old and noble    
stock1 for you come of  whey-faced      
beggars who travelled from door to door1
 bowing to gentles  and to serving-men4'

    ,with bent head1 ,costello rode     
through the river and stood beside him1 
and would have spoken had not hoofs     
clattered on the further bank and a     
horseman splashed towards them4 ,it was 
a serving-man of ,dermott's1 and  he    
said1 speaking breathlessly like one who
 had ridden hard3 #8,tumaus  ,costello1 
,i come to bid you again to ,dermott's  
house4 ,when you had  gone1 his daughter
 ,winny awoke and called your name1 for 
you had been  in her dreams4 ,bridget   
,delaney the ,dummy saw her lips move   
and the  trouble upon her1 and came     
where we were hiding in the wood above  
the  house and took ,dermott of the     
,sheep by the coat and brought him to   
his  daughter4 ,he saw the trouble upon 
her1 and bid me ride his own horse to   
bring you the quicker4'    ,then        
,costello turned towards the piper      
,duallach ,daly1 and taking him  about  
the waist lifted him out of the saddle  
and hurled him against a  grey rock that
 rose up out of the river1 so that he   

fell lifeless into  the deep place1 and 
the waters swept over the tongue which  
,god had made  bitter1 that there might 
be a story in men's ears in after time4 
,then  plunging his spurs into the      
horse1 he rode away furiously toward the
  north-west1 along the edge of the     
river1 and did not pause until he  came 
to another and smoother ford1 and saw   
the rising moon mirrored in  the water4 
,he paused for a moment irresolute1 and 
then rode into the  ford and on over the
 ,ox ,mountains1 and down towards the   
sea2 his eyes  almost continually       
resting upon the moon which glimmered in
 the dimness  like a great white rose   
hung on the lattice of some boundless   
and  phantasmal world4 ,but now his     
horse1 long dark with sweat and         
breathing  hard1 for he kept spurring it
 to an extreme speed1 fell heavily1     
hurling him into the grass at the       
road-side4 ,he tried to make it stand   
up1 and failing in this1 went on alone  
towards the moonlight2 and came  to the 

sea and saw a schooner lying there at   
anchor4 ,now that he could  go no       
further because of the sea1 he found    
that he was very tired and  the night   
very cold1 and went into a shebeen close
 to the shore and  threw himself down   
upon a bench4 ,the room was full of     
,spanish and ,irish  sailors who had    
just smuggled a cargo of wine and ale1  
and were waiting  a favourable wind to  
set out again4 ,a ,spaniard offered him 
a drink in  bad ,gaelic4 ,he drank it   
greedily and began talking wildly and   
rapidly4    ,for some three weeks the   
wind blew inshore or with too great     
violence1  and the sailors stayed       
drinking and talking and playing cards1 
and  ,costello stayed with them1        
sleeping upon a bench in the shebeen1   
and  drinking and talking and playing   
more than any4 ,he soon lost what       
little money he had1 and then his horse1
 which some one had brought  from the   
mountain boreen1 to a ,spaniard1 who    
sold it to a farmer from  the mountains1

 and then his long cloak and his spurs  
and his boots of  soft leather4 ,at last
 a gentle wind blew towards ,spain1 and 
the crew  rowed out to their schooner1  
singing ,gaelic and ,spanish songs1 and 
lifted the anchor1 and in a little while
 the white sails had dropped  under the 
horizon4 ,then ,costello turned         
homeward1 his life gaping  before him1  
and walked all day1 coming in the early 
evening to the road  that went from near
 ,lough ,gara to the southern edge of   
,lough ,cay4 ,here  he overtook a great 
crowd of peasants and farmers1 who were 
walking  very slowly after two priests  
and a group of well-dressed persons1    
certain of whom were carrying a coffin4 
,he stopped an old man and  asked whose 
burying it was and whose people they    
were1 and the old man  answered3 #8,it  
is the burying of ,oona1 ,dermott's     
daughter1 and we are  the ,namaras and  
the ,dermotts and their following1 and  
you are ,tumaus  ,costello who murdered 
her4'    ,costello went on towards the  

head of the procession1 passing men who 
looked at him with fierce eyes1 and only
 vaguely understanding what  he had     
heard1 for now that he had lost the     
understanding that belongs  to good     
health1 it seemed impossible that a     
gentleness and a beauty  which had been 
so long the world's heart could pass    
away4 ,presently he  stopped and asked  
again whose burying it was1 and a man   
answered3 #8,we  are carrying ,dermott's
 daughter ,winny whom you murdered1 to  
be buried  in the island of the ,holy   
,trinity1' and the man stooped and      
picked up  a stone and cast it at       
,costello1 striking him on the cheek and
 making  the blood flow out over his    
face4 ,costello went on scarcely feeling
 the  blow1 and coming to those about   
the coffin1 shouldered his way into the 
midst of them1 and laying his hand upon 
the coffin1 asked in a loud  voice3     
#8,who is in this coffin8'    ,the three
 old ,dermotts from the ,ox ,mountains  
caught up stones and bid  those about   

them do the same2 and he was driven from
 the road1 covered  with wounds1 and but
 for the priests would surely have been 
killed4    ,when the procession had     
passed on1 ,costello began to follow    
again1 and  saw from a distance the     
coffin laid upon a large boat1 and those
 about  it get into other boats1 and the
 boats move slowly over the water to    
,insula ,trinitatis2 and after a time he
 saw the boats return and their         
passengers mingle with the crowd upon   
the bank1 and all disperse by  many     
roads and boreens4 ,it seemed to him    
that ,winny was somewhere on  the island
 smiling gently as of old1 and when all 
had gone he swam  in the way the boats  
had been rowed and found the new-made   
grave  beside the ruined ,abbey of the  
,holy ,trinity1 and threw himself upon  
it1 calling to ,oona to come to him4    
,above him the square ivy leaves        
trembled1 and all about him white moths 
moved over white flowers1 and  sweet    
odours drifted through the dim air4     

,he lay there all that night and through
 the day after1 from time to  time      
calling her to come to him1 but when the
 third night came he had  forgotten1    
worn out with hunger and sorrow1 that   
her body lay in the  earth beneath2 but 
only knew she was somewhere near and    
would not come  to him4    ,just before 
dawn1 the hour when the peasants hear   
his ghostly voice  crying out1 his pride
 awoke and he called loudly3 #8,winny1  
daughter of  ,dermott of the ,sheep1 if 
you do not come to me ,i will go and    
never  return to the island of the ,holy
 ,trinity1' and before his voice had    
died away a cold and whirling wind had  
swept over the island and he saw  many  
figures rushing past1 women of the      
,sidhe with crowns of silver and  dim   
floating drapery2 and then ,oona1 but no
 longer smiling gently1 for  she passed 
him swiftly and angrily1 and as she     
passed struck him upon  the face crying3
 #8,then go and never return4'    ,he   
would have followed1 and was calling out

 her name1 when the whole  glimmering   
company rose up into the air1 and1      
rushing together in the  shape of a     
great silvery rose1 faded into the ashen
 dawn4    ,costello got up from the     
grave1 understanding nothing but that he
 had  made his beloved angry and that   
she wished him to go1 and wading out    
into the lake1 began to swim4 ,he swam  
on and on1 but his limbs were too  weary
 to keep him afloat1 and her anger was  
heavy about him1 and when  he had gone a
 little way he sank without a struggle1 
like a man passing  into sleep and      
dreams4    ,the next day a poor         
fisherman found him among the reeds upon
 the lake  shore1 lying upon the white  
lake sand with his arms flung out as    
though he lay upon a rood1 and carried  
him to his own house4 ,and the  very    
poor lamented over him and sang the     
keen1 and when the time had  come1 laid 
him in the ,abbey on ,insula ,trinitatis
 with only the ruined  altar between him
 and ,dermott's daughter1 and planted   

above them two  ash-trees that in after 
days wove their branches together and   
mingled  their trembling leaves4        
,,rosa ,,alchemica          ,o blessed  
and happy he1 who knowing the mysteries 
of the gods1 sanctifies his life1 and   
purifies his      soul1 celebrating     
orgies in the mountains with holy       
purifications4--,euripides4             
,,rosa ,,alchemica      ,i    ,,it is   
now more than ten years since ,i met1   
for the last time1 ,michael  ,robartes1 
and for the first time and the last time
 his friends  and fellow students2 and  
witnessed his and their tragic end1 and 
endured those strange experiences1 which
 have changed me so that my  writings   
have grown less popular and less        
intelligible1 and driven  me almost to  
the verge of taking the habit of ,st4   
,dominic4 ,i had  just published ,rosa  
,alchemica1 a little work on the        
,alchemists1  somewhat in the manner of 
,sir ,thomas ,browne1 and had received  
many  letters from believers in the     

arcane sciences1 upbraiding what they   
called my timidity1 for they could not  
believe so evident sympathy  but the    
sympathy of the artist1 which is half   
pity1 for everything  which has moved   
men's hearts in any age4 ,i had         
discovered1 early in  my researches1    
that their doctrine was no merely       
chemical phantasy1  but a philosophy    
they applied to the world1 to the       
elements and to  man himself2 and that  
they sought to fashion gold out of      
common metals  merely as part of an     
universal transmutation of all things   
into some  divine and imperishable      
substance2 and this enabled me to make  
my  little book a fanciful reverie over 
the transmutation of life into art1  and
 a cry of measureless desire for a world
 made wholly of essences4    ,i was     
sitting dreaming of what ,i had written1
 in my house in one of  the old parts of
 ,dublin2 a house my ancestors had made 
almost famous  through their part in the
 politics of the city and their         

friendships  with the famous men of     
their generations2 and was feeling an   
unwonted  happiness at having at last   
accomplished a long-cherished design1   
and  made my rooms an expression of this
 favourite doctrine4 ,the portraits1  of
 more historical than artistic interest1
 had gone2 and tapestry1 full  of the   
blue and bronze of peacocks1 fell over  
the doors1 and shut out  all history and
 activity untouched with beauty and     
peace2 and now when  ,i looked at my    
,crevelli and pondered on the rose in   
the hand of the  ,virgin1 wherein the   
form was so delicate and precise that it
 seemed  more like a thought than a     
flower1 or at the grey dawn and         
rapturous  faces of my ,francesca1 ,i   
knew all a ,christian's ecstasy without 
his  slavery to rule and custom2 when ,i
 pondered over the antique bronze  gods 
and goddesses1 which ,i had mortgaged my
 house to buy1 ,i had all a  pagan's    
delight in various beauty and without   
his terror at sleepless  destiny and his

 labour with many sacrifices2 and ,i had
 only to go to  my bookshelf1 where     
every book was bound in leather1 stamped
 with  intricate ornament1 and of a     
carefully chosen colour3 ,shakespeare   
in the orange of the glory of the world1
 ,dante in the dull red of  his anger1  
,milton in the blue grey of his formal  
calm2 and ,i could  experience what ,i  
would of human passions without their   
bitterness and  without satiety4 ,i had 
gathered about me all gods because ,i   
believed  in none1 and experienced every
 pleasure because ,i gave myself to     
none1  but held myself apart1           
individual1 indissoluble1 a mirror of   
polished  steel3 ,i looked in the       
triumph of this imagination at the birds
 of  ,hera1 glowing in the firelight as 
though they were wrought of jewels2  and
 to my mind1 for which symbolism was a  
necessity1 they seemed the  doorkeepers 
of my world1 shutting out all that was  
not of as affluent  a beauty as their   
own2 and for a moment ,i thought as ,i  

had thought  in so many other moments1  
that it was possible to rob life of     
every  bitterness except the bitterness 
of death2 and then a thought which had  
followed this thought1 time after time1 
filled me with a passionate  sorrow4    
,all those forms3 that ,madonna with her
 brooding purity1 those  rapturous faces
 singing in the morning light1 those    
bronze divinities  with their           
passionless dignity1 those wild shapes  
rushing from despair  to despair1       
belonged to a divine world wherein ,i   
had no part2 and every  experience1     
however profound1 every perception1     
however exquisite1  would bring me the  
bitter dream of a limitless energy ,i   
could never  know1 and even in my most  
perfect moment ,i would be two selves1  
the  one watching with heavy eyes the   
other's moment of content4 ,i had       
heaped about me the gold born in the    
crucibles of others2 but the  supreme   
dream of the alchemist1 the             
transmutation of the weary heart  into a

 weariless spirit1 was as far from me   
as1 ,i doubted not1 it had  been from   
him also4 ,i turned to my last purchase1
 a set of alchemical  apparatus which1  
the dealer in the ,rue le ,peletier had 
assured me1  once belonged to ,raymond  
,lully1 and as ,i joined the alembic to 
the  athanor and laid the lavacrum maris
 at their side1 ,i understood the       
alchemical doctrine1 that all beings1   
divided from the great deep where       
spirits wander1 one and yet a multitude1
 are weary2 and sympathized1  in the    
pride of my connoisseurship1 with the   
consuming thirst for  destruction which 
made the alchemist veil under his       
symbols of lions  and dragons1 of eagles
 and ravens1 of dew and of nitre1 a     
search for an  essence which would      
dissolve all mortal things4 ,i repeated 
to myself  the ninth key of ,basilius   
,valentinus1 in which he compares the   
fire  of the last day to the fire of the
 alchemist1 and the world to the        
alchemist's furnace1 and would have us  

know that all must be dissolved  before 
the divine substance1 material gold or  
immaterial ecstasy1  awake4 ,i had      
dissolved indeed the mortal world and   
lived amid immortal  essences1 but had  
obtained no miraculous ecstasy4 ,as ,i  
thought of these  things1 ,i drew aside 
the curtains and looked out into the    
darkness1 and  it seemed to my troubled 
fancy that all those little points of   
light  filling the sky were the furnaces
 of innumerable divine alchemists1 who  
labour continually1 turning lead into   
gold1 weariness into ecstasy1  bodies   
into souls1 the darkness into ,god2 and 
at their perfect labour  my mortality   
grew heavy1 and ,i cried out1 as so many
 dreamers and men  of letters in our age
 have cried1 for the birth of that      
elaborate  spiritual beauty which could 
alone uplift souls weighted with so many
  dreams4      ,,ii    ,my reverie was  
broken by a loud knocking at the door1  
and ,i wondered  the more at this       
because ,i had no visitors1 and had bid 

my servants  do all things silently1    
lest they broke the dream of my inner   
life4  ,feeling a little curious1 ,i    
resolved to go to the door myself1 and1 
taking one of the silver candlesticks   
from the mantlepiece1 began to  descend 
the stairs4 ,the servants appeared to be
 out1 for though the  sound poured      
through every corner and crevice of the 
house there was  no stir in the lower   
rooms4 ,i remembered that because my    
needs were so  few1 my part in life so  
little1 they had begun to come and go as
 they  would1 often leaving me alone for
 hours4 ,the emptiness and silence  of a
 world from which ,i had driven         
everything but dreams suddenly          
overwhelmed me1 and ,i shuddered as ,i  
drew the bolt4 ,i found before me       
,michael ,robartes1 whom ,i had not seen
 for years1 and whose wild red  hair1   
fierce eyes1 sensitive1 tremulous lips  
and rough clothes made  him look now1   
just as they used to do fifteen years   
before1 something  between a debauchee1 

a saint1 and a peasant4 ,he had recently
 come to  ,ireland1 he said1 and wished 
to see me on a matter of importance2    
indeed1 the only matter of importance   
for him and for me4 ,his voice  brought 
up before me our student years in       
,paris1 and remembering the  magnetic   
power he had once possessed over me1 a  
little fear mingled  with much annoyance
 at this irrelevant intrusion1 as ,i led
 the way up  the wide staircase1 where  
,swift had passed joking and railing1   
and  ,curran telling stories and quoting
 ,greek1 in simpler days1 before  men's 
minds1 subtilized and complicated by the
 romantic movement in  art and          
literature1 began to tremble on the     
verge of some unimagined  revelation4 ,i
 felt that my hand shook1 and saw that  
the light of the  candle wavered and    
quivered more than it need have upon the
 ,mnads on  the old ,french panels1     
making them look like the first beings  
slowly  shaping in the formless and void
 darkness4 ,when the door had closed1   

and the peacock curtain1 glimmering like
 many-coloured flame1 fell  between us  
and the world1 ,i felt1 in a way ,i     
could not understand1  that some        
singular and unexpected thing was about 
to happen4 ,i went  over to the         
mantlepiece1 and finding that a little  
chainless bronze  censer1 set1 upon the 
outside1 with pieces of painted china by
 ,orazio  ,fontana1 which ,i had filled 
with antique amulets1 had fallen upon   
its  side and poured out its contents1  
,i began to gather the amulets into  the
 bowl1 partly to collect my thoughts and
 partly with that habitual  reverence   
which seemed to me the due of things so 
long connected with  secret hopes and   
fears4 #8,i see1' said ,michael         
,robartes1 #8that you are  still fond of
 incense1 and ,i can show you an incense
 more precious than  any you have ever  
seen1' and as he spoke he took the      
censer out of my  hand and put the      
amulets in a little heap between the    
athanor and the  alembic4 ,i sat down1  

and he sat down at the side of the fire1
 and sat  there for awhile looking into 
the fire1 and holding the censer in his 
hand4 #8,i have come to ask you         
something1' he said1 #8and the incense  
will fill the room1 and our thoughts1   
with its sweet odour while we  are      
talking4 ,i got it from an old man in   
,syria1 who said it was made  from      
flowers1 of one kind with the flowers   
that laid their heavy purple  petals    
upon the hands and upon the hair and    
upon the feet of ,christ in  the ,garden
 of ,gethsemane1 and folded ,him in     
their heavy breath1 until  ,he cried    
against the cross and his destiny4' ,he 
shook some dust into  the censer out of 
a small silk bag1 and set the censer    
upon the floor  and lit the dust which  
sent up a blue stream of smoke1 that    
spread  out over the ceiling1 and flowed
 downwards again until it was like      
,milton's banyan tree4 ,it filled me1 as
 incense often does1 with a faint       
sleepiness1 so that ,i started when he  

said1 #8,i have come to ask you  that   
question which ,i asked you in ,paris1  
and which you left ,paris  rather than  
answer4'    ,he had turned his eyes     
towards me1 and ,i saw them glitter in  
the  firelight1 and through the incense1
 as ,i replied3 #8,you mean1 will ,i    
become an initiate of your ,order of the
 ,alchemical ,rose8 ,i would not        
consent in ,paris1 when ,i was full of  
unsatisfied desire1 and now that ,i     
have at last fashioned my life according
 to my desire1 am ,i likely to          
consent8'    #8,you have changed greatly
 since then1' he answered4 #8,i have    
read your  books1 and now ,i see you    
among all these images1 and ,i          
understand  you better than you do      
yourself1 for ,i have been with many and
 many  dreamers at the same cross-ways4 
,you have shut away the world and       
gathered the gods about you1 and if you 
do not throw yourself at their  feet1   
you will be always full of lassitude1   
and of wavering purpose1  for a man must

 forget he is miserable in the bustle   
and noise of the  multitude in this     
world and in time2 or seek a mystical   
union with  the multitude who govern    
this world and time4' ,and then he      
murmured  something ,i could not hear1  
and as though to someone ,i could not   
see4    ,for a moment the room appeared 
to darken1 as it used to do when he was 
about to perform some singular          
experiment1 and in the darkness the     
peacocks upon the doors seemed to glow  
with a more intense colour4 ,i  cast off
 the illusion1 which was1 ,i believe1   
merely caused by memory1  and by the    
twilight of incense1 for ,i would not   
acknowledge that he  could overcome my  
now mature intellect2 and ,i said3      
#8,even if ,i grant  that ,i need a     
spiritual belief and some form of       
worship1 why should ,i  go to ,eleusis  
and not to ,calvary8' ,he leaned forward
 and began speaking  with a slightly    
rhythmical intonation1 and as he spoke  
,i had to  struggle again with the      

shadow1 as of some older night than the 
night  of the sun1 which began to dim   
the light of the candles and to blot out
  the little gleams upon the corner of  
picture-frames and on the bronze        
divinities1 and to turn the blue of the 
incense to a heavy purple2  while it    
left the peacocks to glimmer and glow as
 though each separate  colour were a    
living spirit4 ,i had fallen into a     
profound dream-like  reverie in which ,i
 heard him speaking as at a distance4   
#8,and yet there  is no one who communes
 with only one god1' he was saying1     
#8and the  more a man lives in          
imagination and in a refined            
understanding1 the  more gods does he   
meet with and talk with1 and the more   
does he come  under the power of        
,roland1 who sounded in the ,valley of  
,roncesvalles  the last trumpet of the  
body's will and pleasure2 and of        
,hamlet1 who  saw them perishing away1  
and sighed2 and of ,faust1 who looked   
for  them up and down the world and     

could not find them2 and under the      
power of all those countless divinities 
who have taken upon themselves          
spiritual bodies in the minds of the    
modern poets and romance writers1  and  
under the power of the old divinities1  
who since the ,renaissance  have won    
everything of their ancient worship     
except the sacrifice of  birds and      
fishes1 the fragrance of garlands and   
the smoke of incense4  ,the many think  
humanity made these divinities1 and that
 it can unmake  them again2 but we who  
have seen them pass in rattling harness1
 and  in soft robes1 and heard them     
speak with articulate voices while we   
lay in deathlike trance1 know that they 
are always making and unmaking          
humanity1 which is indeed but the       
trembling of their lips4'    ,he had    
stood up and begun to walk to and fro1  
and had become in my  waking dream a    
shuttle weaving an immense purple web   
whose folds had  begun to fill the room4
 ,the room seemed to have become        

inexplicably  silent1 as though all but 
the web and the weaving were at an end  
in  the world4 #8,they have come to us2 
they have come to us1' the voice  began 
again2 #8all that have ever been in your
 reverie1 all that you  have met with in
 books4 ,there is ,lear1 his head still 
wet with the  thunder-storm1 and he     
laughs because you thought yourself an  
existence  who are but a shadow1 and him
 a shadow who is an eternal god2 and    
there is ,beatrice1 with her lips half  
parted in a smile1 as though all  the   
stars were about to pass away in a sigh 
of love2 and there is the  mother of the
 ,god of humility who cast so great a   
spell over men that  they have tried to 
unpeople their hearts that he might     
reign alone1 but  she holds in her hand 
the rose whose every petal is a god2 and
 there1  ,o swiftly she comes6 is       
,aphrodite under a twilight falling from
 the  wings of numberless sparrows1 and 
about her feet are the grey and white   
doves4' ,in the midst of my dream ,i saw

 him hold out his left arm and  pass his
 right hand over it as though he stroked
 the wings of doves4 ,i  made a violent 
effort which seemed almost to tear me in
 two1 and said  with forced             
determination3 #8,you would sweep me    
away into an indefinite  world which    
fills me with terror2 and yet a man is a
 great man just in  so far as he can    
make his mind reflect everything with   
indifferent  precision like a mirror4'  
,i seemed to be perfectly master of     
myself1  and went on1 but more rapidly3 
#8,i command you to leave me at once1   
for your ideas and phantasies are but   
the illusions that creep like  maggots  
into civilizations when they begin to   
decline1 and into minds  when they begin
 to decay4' ,i had grown suddenly angry1
 and seizing the  alembic from the      
table1 was about to rise and strike him 
with it1  when the peacocks on the door 
behind him appeared to grow immense2 and
  then the alembic fell from my fingers 
and ,i was drowned in a tide  of green  

and blue and bronze feathers1 and as ,i 
struggled hopelessly  ,i heard a distant
 voice saying3 #8,our master ,avicenna  
has written that  all life proceeds out 
of corruption4' ,the glittering feathers
 had now  covered me completely1 and ,i 
knew that ,i had struggled for hundreds 
of  years1 and was conquered at last4 ,i
 was sinking into the depth when  the   
green and blue and bronze that seemed to
 fill the world became a  sea of flame  
and swept me away1 and as ,i was swirled
 along ,i heard  a voice over my head   
cry1 #8,the mirror is broken in two     
pieces1' and  another voice answer1     
#8,the mirror is broken in four pieces1'
 and a more  distant voice cry with an  
exultant cry1 #8,the mirror is broken   
into  numberless pieces'2 and then a    
multitude of pale hands were reaching   
towards me1 and strange gentle faces    
bending above me1 and half wailing  and 
half caressing voices uttering words    
that were forgotten the moment  they    
were spoken4 ,i was being lifted out of 

the tide of flame1 and  felt my         
memories1 my hopes1 my thoughts1 my     
will1 everything ,i held  to be myself1 
melting away2 then ,i seemed to rise    
through numberless  companies of beings 
who were1 ,i understood1 in some way    
more certain  than thought1 each wrapped
 in his eternal moment1 in the perfect  
lifting of an arm1 in a little circlet  
of rhythmical words1 in dreaming  with  
dim eyes and half-closed eyelids4 ,and  
then ,i passed beyond these  forms1     
which were so beautiful they had almost 
ceased to be1 and1  having endured      
strange moods1 melancholy1 as it seemed1
 with the weight  of many worlds1 ,i    
passed into that ,death which is ,beauty
 herself1 and  into that ,loneliness    
which all the multitudes desire without 
ceasing4  ,all things that had ever     
lived seemed to come and dwell in my    
heart1  and ,i in theirs2 and ,i had    
never again known mortality or tears1   
had ,i  not suddenly fallen from the    
certainty of vision into the uncertainty

  of dream1 and become a drop of molten 
gold falling with immense  rapidity1    
through a night elaborate with stars1   
and all about me a  melancholy exultant 
wailing4 ,i fell and fell and fell1 and 
then the  wailing was but the wailing of
 the wind in the chimney1 and ,i awoke  
to find myself leaning upon the table   
and supporting my head with my  hands4  
,i saw the alembic swaying from side to 
side in the distant  corner it had      
rolled to1 and ,michael ,robartes       
watching me and waiting4  #8,i will go  
wherever you will1' ,i said1 #8and do   
whatever you bid me1 for  ,i have been  
with eternal things4' #8,i knew1' he    
replied1 #8you must need  answer as you 
have answered1 when ,i heard the storm  
begin4 ,you must  come to a great       
distance1 for we were commanded to build
 our temple  between the pure multitude 
by the waves and the impure multitude of
  men4'      ,,iii    ,i did not speak  
as we drove through the deserted        
streets1 for my mind  was curiously     

empty of familiar thoughts and          
experiences2 it seemed  to have been    
plucked out of the definite world and   
cast naked upon  a shoreless sea4 ,there
 were moments when the vision appeared  
on the  point of returning1 and ,i would
 half-remember1 with an ecstasy of joy  
or sorrow1 crimes and heroisms1 fortunes
 and misfortunes2 or begin to           
contemplate1 with a sudden leaping of   
the heart1 hopes and terrors1  desires  
and ambitions1 alien to my orderly and  
careful life2 and then  ,i would awake  
shuddering at the thought that some     
great imponderable  being had swept     
through my mind4 ,it was indeed days    
before this feeling  passed perfectly   
away1 and even now1 when ,i have sought 
refuge in the  only definite faith1 ,i  
feel a great tolerance for those people 
with  incoherent personalities1 who     
gather in the chapels and meeting-places
  of certain obscure sects1 because ,i  
also have felt fixed habits and         
principles dissolving before a power1   

which was hysterica passio  or sheer    
madness1 if you will1 but was so        
powerful in its melancholy  exultation  
that ,i tremble lest it wake again and  
drive me from my  new-found peace4      
,when we came in the grey light to the  
great half-empty terminus1 it  seemed to
 me ,i was so changed that ,i was no    
more1 as man is1 a moment  shuddering at
 eternity1 but eternity weeping and     
laughing over a  moment2 and when we had
 started and ,michael ,robartes had     
fallen asleep1  as he soon did1 his     
sleeping face1 in which there was no    
sign of all  that had so shaken me and  
that now kept me wakeful1 was to my     
excited  mind more like a mask than a   
face4 ,the fancy possessed me that the  
man  behind it had dissolved away like  
salt in water1 and that it laughed  and 
sighed1 appealed and denounced at the   
bidding of beings greater or  less than 
man4 #8,this is not ,michael ,robartes  
at all3 ,michael ,robartes  is dead2    
dead for ten1 for twenty years perhaps1'

 ,i kept repeating to  myself4 ,i fell  
at last into a feverish sleep1 waking up
 from time to  time when we rushed past 
some little town1 its slated roofs      
shining  with wet1 or still lake        
gleaming in the cold morning light4 ,i  
had been  too preoccupied to ask where  
we were going1 or to notice what tickets
  ,michael ,robartes had taken1 but ,i  
knew now from the direction of the  sun 
that we were going westward2 and        
presently ,i knew also1 by the way  in  
which the trees had grown into the      
semblance of tattered beggars  flying   
with bent heads towards the east1 that  
we were approaching the  western coast4 
,then immediately ,i saw the sea between
 the low hills  upon the left1 its dull 
grey broken into white patches and      
lines4    ,when we left the train we had
 still1 ,i found1 some way to go1 and   
set out1 buttoning our coats about us1  
for the wind was bitter and  violent4   
,michael ,robartes was silent1 seeming  
anxious to leave me to  my thoughts2 and

 as we walked between the sea and the   
rocky side of a  great promontory1 ,i   
realized with a new perfection what a   
shock had  been given to all my habits  
of thought and of feelings1 if indeed   
some  mysterious change had not taken   
place in the substance of my mind1 for  
the grey waves1 plumed with scudding    
foam1 had grown part of a teeming1      
fantastic inner life2 and when ,michael 
,robartes pointed to a square           
ancient-looking house1 with a much      
smaller and newer building under its    
lee1 set out on the very end of a       
dilapidated and almost deserted pier1   
and said it was the ,temple of the      
,alchemical ,rose1 ,i was possessed with
  the phantasy that the sea1 which kept 
covering it with showers of white  foam1
 was claiming it as part of some        
indefinite and passionate life1  which  
had begun to war upon our orderly and   
careful days1 and was about  to plunge  
the world into a night as obscure as    
that which followed  the downfall of the

 classical world4 ,one part of my mind  
mocked this  phantastic terror1 but the 
other1 the part that still lay half     
plunged  in vision1 listened to the     
clash of unknown armies1 and shuddered  
at  unimaginable fanaticisms1 that hung 
in those grey leaping waves4    ,we had 
gone but a few paces along the pier when
 we came upon an old  man1 who was      
evidently a watchman1 for he sat in an  
overset barrel1  close to a place where 
masons had been lately working upon a   
break in  the pier1 and had in front of 
him a fire such as one sees slung under 
tinkers' carts4 ,i saw that he was also 
a voteen1 as the peasants say1  for     
there was a rosary hanging from a nail  
on the rim of the barrel1  and as ,i saw
 ,i shuddered1 and ,i did not know why  
,i shuddered4 ,we had  passed him a few 
yards when ,i heard him cry in ,gaelic1 
#8,idolaters1  idolaters1 go down to    
,hell with your witches and your devils2
 go down  to ,hell that the herrings may
 come again into the bay'2 and for some 

moments ,i could hear him half screaming
 and half muttering behind us4  #8,are  
you not afraid1' ,i said1 #8that these  
wild fishing people may do  some        
desperate thing against you8'    #8,i   
and mine1' he answered1 #8are long past 
human hurt or help1 being  incorporate  
with immortal spirits1 and when we die  
it shall be the  consummation of the    
supreme work4 ,a time will come for     
these people  also1 and they will       
sacrifice a mullet to ,artemis1 or some 
other  fish to some new divinity1 unless
 indeed their own divinities1 the       
,dagda1 with his overflowing cauldron1  
,lug1 with his spear dipped in          
poppy-juice lest it rush forth hot for  
battle1 ,aengus1 with the three  birds  
on his shoulder1 ,bodb and his red      
swineherd1 and all the heroic  children 
of ,dana1 set up once more their temples
 of grey stone4 ,their  reign has never 
ceased1 but only waned in power a       
little1 for the ,sidhe  still pass in   
every wind1 and dance and play at       

hurley1 and fight their  sudden battles 
in every hollow and on every hill2 but  
they cannot build  their temples again  
till there have been martyrdoms and     
victories1 and  perhaps even that       
long-foretold battle in the ,valley of  
the ,black ,pig4'    ,keeping close to  
the wall that went about the pier on the
 seaward side1  to escape the driving   
foam and the wind1 which threatened     
every moment  to lift us off our feet1  
we made our way in silence to the door  
of the  square building4 ,michael       
,robartes opened it with a key1 on which
 ,i  saw the rust of many salt winds1   
and led me along a bare passage and  up 
an uncarpeted stair to a little room    
surrounded with bookshelves4  ,a meal   
would be brought1 but only of fruit1 for
 ,i must submit to a  tempered fast     
before the ceremony1 he explained1 and  
with it a book on  the doctrine and     
method of the ,order1 over which ,i was 
to spend what  remained of the winter   
daylight4 ,he then left me1 promising to

 return  an hour before the ceremony4 ,i
 began searching among the bookshelves1 
and found one of the most exhaustive    
alchemical libraries ,i have ever  seen4
 ,there were the works of ,morienus1 who
 hid his immortal body  under a shirt of
 hair-cloth2 of ,avicenna1 who was a    
drunkard and yet  controlled numberless 
legions of spirits2 of ,alfarabi1 who   
put so many  spirits into his lute that 
he could make men laugh1 or weep1 or    
fall in  deadly trance as he would2 of  
,lully1 who transformed himself into the
  likeness of a red cock2 of ,flamel1   
who with his wife ,parnella achieved    
the elixir many hundreds of years ago1  
and is fabled to live still in  ,arabia 
among the ,dervishes2 and of many of    
less fame4 ,there were very  few mystics
 but alchemical mystics1 and because1 ,i
 had little doubt1 of  the devotion to  
one god of the greater number and of the
 limited sense  of beauty1 which        
,robartes would hold an inevitable      
consequence2 but ,i  did notice a       

complete set of facsimiles of the       
prophetical writings of  ,william       
,blake1 and probably because of the     
multitudes that thronged his            
illumination and were #8like the gay    
fishes on the wave when the moon  sucks 
up the dew4' ,i noted also many poets   
and prose writers of every  age1 but    
only those who were a little weary of   
life1 as indeed the  greatest have been 
everywhere1 and who cast their          
imagination to us1 as  a something they 
needed no longer now that they were     
going up in their  fiery chariots4      
,presently ,i heard a tap at the door1  
and a woman came in and laid a  little  
fruit upon the table4 ,i judged that she
 had once been handsome1  but her cheeks
 were hollowed by what ,i would have    
held1 had ,i seen her  anywhere else1 an
 excitement of the flesh and a thirst   
for pleasure1  instead of which it      
doubtless was an excitement of the      
imagination and  a thirst for beauty4 ,i
 asked her some question concerning the 

ceremony1  but getting no answer except 
a shake of the head1 saw that ,i must   
await  initiation in silence4 ,when ,i  
had eaten1 she came again1 and having   
laid a curiously wrought bronze box on  
the table1 lighted the candles1  and    
took away the plates and the remnants4  
,so soon as ,i was alone1  ,i turned to 
the box1 and found that the peacocks of 
,hera spread out  their tails over the  
sides and lid1 against a background1 on 
which were  wrought great stars1 as     
though to affirm that the heavens were a
 part  of their glory4 ,in the box was a
 book bound in vellum1 and having upon  
the vellum and in very delicate colours1
 and in gold1 the alchemical  rose with 
many spears thrusting against it1 but in
 vain1 as was shown  by the shattered   
points of those nearest to the petals4  
,the book was  written upon vellum1 and 
in beautiful clear letters1 interspersed
  with symbolical pictures and          
illuminations1 after the manner of the  
,splendor ,solis4    ,the first chapter 

described how six students1 of ,celtic  
descent1  gave themselves separately to 
the study of alchemy1 and solved1 one   
the mystery of the ,pelican1 another the
 mystery of the green ,dragon1  another 
the mystery of the ,eagle1 another that 
of ,salt and ,mercury4  ,what seemed a  
succession of accidents1 but was1 the   
book declared1  the contrivance of      
preternatural powers1 brought them      
together in the  garden of an inn in the
 ,south of ,france1 and while they      
talked together  the thought came to    
them that alchemy was the gradual       
distillation of  the contents of the    
soul1 until they were ready to put off  
the mortal  and put on the immortal4 ,an
 owl passed1 rustling among the         
vine-leaves  overhead1 and then an old  
woman came1 leaning upon a stick1 and1  
sitting close to them1 took up the      
thought where they had dropped it4      
,having expounded the whole principle of
 spiritual alchemy1 and bid  them found 
the ,order of the ,alchemical ,rose1 she

 passed from among  them1 and when they 
would have followed was nowhere to be   
seen4 ,they  formed themselves into an  
,order1 holding their goods and making  
their  researches in common1 and1 as    
they became perfect in the alchemical   
doctrine1 apparitions came and went     
among them1 and taught them more  and   
more marvellous mysteries4 ,the book    
then went on to expound so  much of     
these as the neophyte was permitted to  
know1 dealing at the  outset and at     
considerable length with the independent
 reality of our  thoughts1 which was1 it
 declared1 the doctrine from which all  
true  doctrines rose4 ,if you imagine1  
it said1 the semblance of a living      
being1 it is at once possessed by a     
wandering soul1 and goes hither  and    
hither working good or evil1 until the  
moment of its death has  come2 and gave 
many examples1 received1 it said1 from  
many gods4 ,eros  had taught them how to
 fashion forms in which a divine soul   
could  dwell1 and whisper what they     

would into sleeping minds2 and ,ate1    
forms  from which demonic beings could  
pour madness1 or unquiet dreams1 into   
sleeping blood2 and ,hermes1 that if you
 powerfully imagined a hound at  your   
bedside it would keep watch there until 
you woke1 and drive away  all but the   
mightiest demons1 but that if your      
imagination was weakly1  the hound would
 be weakly also1 and the demons prevail1
 and the hound  soon die2 and           
,aphrodite1 that if you made1 by a      
strong imagining1 a  dove crowned with  
silver and bad it flutter over your     
head1 its soft  cooing would make sweet 
dreams of immortal love gather and brood
  over mortal sleep2 and all divinities 
alike had revealed with many  warnings  
and lamentations that all minds are     
continually giving birth  to such       
beings1 and sending them forth to work  
health or disease1 joy  or madness4 ,if 
you would give forms to the evil powers1
 it went on1  you were to make them     
ugly1 thrusting out a lip1 with the     

thirsts of  life1 or breaking the       
proportions of a body with the burdens  
of life2  but the divine powers would   
only appear in beautiful shapes1 which  
are but1 as it were1 shapes trembling   
out of existence1 folding up  into a    
timeless ecstasy1 drifting with         
half-shut eyes1 into a sleepy           
stillness4 ,the bodiless souls who      
descended into these forms were what    
men call the moods2 and worked all great
 changes in the world2 for just  as the 
magician or the artist could call them  
when he would1 so they  could call out  
of the mind of the magician or the      
artist1 or if they  were demons1 out of 
the mind of the mad or the ignoble1 what
 shape  they would1 and through its     
voice and its gestures pour themselves  
out upon the world4 ,in this way all    
great events were accomplished2 a  mood1
 a divinity1 or a demon1 first          
descending like a faint sigh into  men's
 minds and then changing their thoughts 
and their actions until  hair that was  

yellow had grown black1 or hair that was
 black had grown  yellow1 and empires   
moved their border1 as though they were 
but drifts  of leaves4 ,the rest of the 
book contained symbols of form1 and     
sound1  and colour1 and their           
attribution to divinities and demons1 so
 that the  initiate might fashion a     
shape for any divinity or any demon1 and
 be as  powerful as ,avicenna among     
those who live under the roots of tears 
and  of laughter4      ,,iv    ,a couple
 of hours after sunset ,michael         
,robartes returned and told me  that ,i 
would have to learn the steps of an     
exceedingly antique dance1  because     
before my initiation could be perfected 
,i had to join three  times in a magical
 dance1 for rhythm was the wheel of     
,eternity1 on  which alone the transient
 and accidental could be broken1 and the
  spirit set free4 ,i found that the    
steps1 which were simple enough1        
resembled certain antique ,greek dances1
 and having been a good dancer  in my   

youth and the master of many curious    
,gaelic steps1 ,i soon had  them in my  
memory4 ,he then robed me and himself in
 a costume which  suggested by its shape
 both ,greece and ,egypt1 but by its    
crimson colour  a more passionate life  
than theirs2 and having put into my     
hands a  little chainless censer of     
bronze1 wrought into the likeness of a  
rose1  by some modern craftsman1 he told
 me to open a small door opposite  to   
the door by which ,i had entered4 ,i put
 my hand to the handle1  but the moment 
,i did so the fumes of the incense1     
helped perhaps by  his mysterious       
glamour1 made me fall again into a      
dream1 in which ,i  seemed to be a mask1
 lying on the counter of a little       
,eastern shop4  ,many persons1 with eyes
 so bright and still that ,i knew them  
for more  than human1 came in and tried 
me on their faces1 but at last flung  me
 into a corner with a little laughter2  
but all this passed in a  moment1 for   
when ,i awoke my hand was still upon the

 handle4 ,i opened  the door1 and found 
myself in a marvellous passage1 along   
whose sides  were many divinities       
wrought in a mosaic1 not less beautiful 
than the  mosaic in the ,baptistery at  
,ravenna1 but of a less severe beauty2  
the predominant colour of each divinity1
 which was surely a symbolic  colour1   
being repeated in the lamps that hung   
from the ceiling1 a  curiously-scented  
lamp before every divinity4 ,i passed   
on1 marvelling  exceedingly how these   
enthusiasts could have created all this 
beauty in  so remote a place1 and half  
persuaded to believe in a material      
alchemy1  by the sight of so much hidden
 wealth2 the censer filling the air1 as 
,i  passed1 with smoke of ever-changing 
colour4    ,i stopped before a door1 on 
whose bronze panels were wrought great  
waves in whose shadow were faint        
suggestions of terrible faces4 ,those   
beyond it seemed to have heard our      
steps1 for a voice cried3 #8,is the     
work of the ,incorruptible ,fire at an  

end8' and immediately ,michael          
,robartes answered3 #8,the perfect gold 
has come from the athanor4' ,the  door  
swung open1 and we were in a great      
circular room1 and among men  and women 
who were dancing slowly in crimson      
robes4 ,upon the ceiling  was an immense
 rose wrought in mosaic2 and about the  
walls1 also in  mosaic1 was a battle of 
gods and angels1 the gods glimmering    
like  rubies and sapphires1 and the     
angels of the one greyness1 because1 as 
,michael ,robartes whispered1 they had  
renounced their divinity1 and  turned   
from the unfolding of their separate    
hearts1 out of love for a  ,god of      
humility and sorrow4 ,pillars supported 
the roof and made a kind  of circular   
cloister1 each pillar being a column of 
confused shapes1  divinities1 it seemed1
 of the wind1 who rose as in a whirling 
dance  of more than human vehemence1 and
 playing upon pipes and cymbals2 and    
from among these shapes were thrust out 
hands1 and in these hands were  censers4

 ,i was bid place my censer also in a   
hand and take my place  and dance1 and  
as ,i turned from the pillars towards   
the dancers1 ,i  saw that the floor was 
of a green stone1 and that a pale       
,christ on a  pale cross was wrought in 
the midst4 ,i asked ,robartes the       
meaning of  this1 and was told that they
 desired #8,to trouble ,his unity with  
their  multitudinous feet4' ,the dance  
wound in and out1 tracing upon the floor
  the shapes of petals that copied the  
petals in the rose overhead1 and  to the
 sound of hidden instruments which were 
perhaps of an antique  pattern1 for ,i  
have never heard the like2 and every    
moment the dance  was more passionate1  
until all the winds of the world seemed 
to have  awakened under our feet4 ,after
 a little ,i had grown weary1 and stood 
under a pillar watching the coming and  
going of those flame-like  figures2     
until gradually ,i sank into a          
half-dream1 from which ,i was  awakened 
by seeing the petals of the great rose1 

which had no longer  the look of mosaic1
 falling slowly through the             
incense-heavy air1  and1 as they fell1  
shaping into the likeness of living     
beings of an  extraordinary beauty4     
,still faint and cloud-like1 they began 
to dance1  and as they danced took a    
more and more definite shape1 so that ,i
 was  able to distinguish beautiful     
,grecian faces and august ,egyptian     
faces1  and now and again to name a     
divinity by the staff in his hand or by 
a  bird fluttering over his head2 and   
soon every mortal foot danced by the    
white foot of an immortal2 and in the   
troubled eyes that looked into          
untroubled shadowy eyes1 ,i saw the     
brightness of uttermost desire as       
though they had found at length1 after  
unreckonable wandering1 the lost  love  
of their youth4 ,sometimes1 but only for
 a moment1 ,i saw a faint  solitary     
figure with a veiled face1 and carrying 
a faint torch1 flit  among the dancers1 
but like a dream within a dream1 like a 

shadow of  a shadow1 and ,i knew by an  
understanding born from a deeper        
fountain  than thought1 that it was     
,eros himself1 and that his face was    
veiled  because no man or woman from the
 beginning of the world has ever known  
what love is1 or looked into his eyes1  
for ,eros alone of divinities  is       
altogether a spirit1 and hides in       
passions not of his essence if he  would
 commune with a mortal heart4 ,so that  
if a man love nobly he knows  love      
through infinite pity1 unspeakable      
trust1 unending sympathy2 and  if       
ignobly through vehement jealousy1      
sudden hatred1 and unappeasable  desire2
 but unveiled love he never knows4      
,while ,i thought these things1  a voice
 cried to me from the crimson figures3  
#8,into the dance6 there  is none that  
can be spared out of the dance2 into the
 dance6 into the  dance6 that the gods  
may make them bodies out of the         
substance of our  hearts'2 and before ,i
 could answer1 a mysterious wave of     

passion1 that  seemed like the soul of  
the dance moving within our souls1 took 
hold of  me1 and ,i was swept1 neither  
consenting nor refusing1 into the midst4
 ,i  was dancing with an immortal august
 woman1 who had black lilies in her     
hair1 and her dreamy gesture seemed     
laden with a wisdom more profound  than 
the darkness that is between star and   
star1 and with a love like  the love    
that breathed upon the waters2 and as we
 danced on and on1  the incense drifted 
over us and round us1 covering us away  
as in the  heart of the world1 and ages 
seemed to pass1 and tempests to awake   
and  perish in the folds of our robes   
and in her heavy hair4    ,suddenly ,i  
remembered that her eyelids had never   
quivered1 and that her  lilies had not  
dropped a black petal1 or shaken from   
their places1 and  understood with a    
great horror that ,i danced with one who
 was more or  less than human1 and who  
was drinking up my soul as an ox drinks 
up a  wayside pool2 and ,i fell1 and    

darkness passed over me4      ,v    ,i  
awoke suddenly as though something had  
awakened me1 and saw that ,i  was lying 
on a roughly painted floor1 and that on 
the ceiling1 which  was at no great     
distance1 was a roughly painted rose1   
and about me on  the walls half-finished
 paintings4 ,the pillars and the censers
 had  gone2 and near me a score of      
sleepers lay wrapped in disordered      
robes1  their upturned faces looking to 
my imagination like hollow masks2 and  a
 chill dawn was shining down upon them  
from a long window ,i had not  noticed  
before2 and outside the sea roared4 ,i  
saw ,michael ,robartes  lying at a      
little distance and beside him an       
overset bowl of wrought  bronze which   
looked as though it had once held       
incense4 ,as ,i sat thus1  ,i heard a   
sudden tumult of angry men and women's  
voices mix with the  roaring of the sea2
 and leaping to my feet1 ,i went quickly
 to ,michael  ,robartes1 and tried to   
shake him out of his sleep4 ,i then     

seized him  by the shoulder and tried to
 lift him1 but he fell backwards1 and   
sighed faintly2 and the voices became   
louder and angrier2 and there  was a    
sound of heavy blows upon the door1     
which opened on to the pier4  ,suddenly 
,i heard a sound of rending wood1 and ,i
 knew it had begun to  give1 and ,i ran 
to the door of the room4 ,i pushed it   
open and came out  upon a passage whose 
bare boards clattered under my feet1 and
 found  in the passage another door     
which led into an empty kitchen2 and as 
,i  passed through the door ,i heard two
 crashes in quick succession1 and  knew 
by the sudden noise of feet and the     
shouts that the door which  opened on to
 the pier had fallen inwards4 ,i ran    
from the kitchen and  out into a small  
yard1 and from this down some steps     
which descended  the seaward and sloping
 side of the pier1 and from the steps   
clambered  along the water's edge1 with 
the angry voices ringing in my ears4    
,this  part of the pier had been but    

lately refaced with blocks of granite1  
so that it was almost clear of seaweed2 
but when ,i came to the old  part1 ,i   
found it so slippery with green weed    
that ,i had to climb up  on to the      
roadway4 ,i looked towards the ,temple  
of the ,alchemical ,rose1  where the    
fishermen and the women were still      
shouting1 but somewhat  more faintly1   
and saw that there was no one about the 
door or upon the  pier2 but as ,i       
looked1 a little crowd hurried out of   
the door and began  gathering large     
stones from where they were heaped up in
 readiness for  the next time a storm   
shattered the pier1 when they would be  
laid under  blocks of granite4 ,while ,i
 stood watching the crowd1 an old man1  
who  was1 ,i think1 the voteen1 pointed 
to me1 and screamed out something1  and 
the crowd whitened1 for all the faces   
had turned towards me4 ,i ran1  and it  
was well for me that pullers of the oar 
are poorer men with  their feet than    
with their arms and their bodies2 and   

yet while ,i ran ,i  scarcely heard the 
following feet or the angry voices1 for 
many voices  of exultation and          
lamentation1 which were forgotten as a  
dream is  forgotten the moment they were
 heard1 seemed to be ringing in the air 
over my head4    ,there are moments even
 now when ,i seem to hear those voices  
of  exultation and lamentation1 and when
 the indefinite world1 which has  but   
half lost its mastery over my heart and 
my intellect1 seems about  to claim a   
perfect mastery2 but ,i carry the rosary
 about my neck1 and  when ,i hear1 or   
seem to hear them1 ,i press it to my    
heart and say3 #8,he  whose name is     
,legion is at our doors deceiving our   
intellects with  subtlety and flattering
 our hearts with beauty1 and we have no 
trust  but in ,thee'2 and then the war  
that rages within me at other times is  
still1 and ,i am at peace4              
,,the ,,tables ,,of ,,the ,,law      ,i 
#8,,will you permit me1 ,aherne1' ,i    
said1 #8to ask you a question1 which ,i 

have wanted to ask you for years1 and   
have not asked because we have  grown   
nearly strangers8 ,why did you refuse   
the berretta1 and almost  at the last   
moment8 ,when you and ,i lived together1
 you cared neither  for wine1 women1 nor
 money1 and had thoughts for nothing but
 theology  and mysticism4' ,i had       
watched through dinner for a moment to  
put my  question1 and ventured now1     
because he had thrown off a little of   
the reserve and indifference which1 ever
 since his last return from  ,italy1 had
 taken the place of our once close      
friendship4 ,he had just  questioned me1
 too1 about certain private and almost  
sacred things1 and  my frankness had    
earned1 ,i thought1 a like frankness    
from him4    ,when ,i began to speak he 
was lifting to his lips a glass of that 
old  wine which he could choose so well 
and valued so little2 and while  ,i     
spoke1 he set it slowly and meditatively
 upon the table and held  it there1 its 
deep red light dyeing his long delicate 

fingers4 ,the  impression of his face   
and form1 as they were then1 is still   
vivid  with me1 and is inseparable from 
another and fanciful impression3  the   
impression of a man holding a flame in  
his naked hand4 ,he was to  me1 at that 
moment1 the supreme type of our race1   
which1 when it has  risen above1 or is  
sunken below1 the formalisms of         
half-education and  the rationalisms of 
conventional affirmation and denial1    
turns away1  unless my hopes for the    
world and for the ,church have made me  
blind1  from practicable desires and    
intuitions towards desires so unbounded 
that no human vessel can contain them1  
intuitions so immaterial that  their    
sudden and far-off fire leaves heavy    
darkness about hand and  foot4 ,he had  
the nature1 which is half monk1 half    
soldier of fortune1  and must needs turn
 action into dreaming1 and dreaming into
 action2  and for such there is no      
order1 no finality1 no contentment in   
this  world4 ,when he and ,i had been   

students in ,paris1 we had belonged to a
  little group which devoted itself to  
speculations about alchemy and          
mysticism4 ,more orthodox in most of his
 beliefs than ,michael ,robartes1  he   
had surpassed him in a fanciful hatred  
of all life1 and this hatred  had found 
expression in the curious paradox--half 
borrowed from some  fanatical monk1 half
 invented by himself--that the beautiful
 arts were  sent into the world to      
overthrow nations1 and finally life     
herself1 by  sowing everywhere unlimited
 desires1 like torches thrown into a    
burning  city4 ,this idea was not at the
 time1 ,i believe1 more than a paradox1 
a plume of the pride of youth2 and it   
was only after his return to  ,ireland  
that he endured the fermentation of     
belief which is coming upon  our people 
with the reawakening of their           
imaginative life4    ,presently he stood
 up1 saying3 #8,come1 and ,i will show  
you1 for you at  any rate will          
understand1' and taking candles from the

 table1 he lit  the way into the long   
paved passage that led to his private   
chapel4 ,we  passed between the         
portraits of the ,jesuits and           
priests--some of no  little fame--his   
family had given to the ,church2 and    
engravings and  photographs of pictures 
that had especially moved him2 and the  
few  paintings his small fortune1 eked  
out by an almost penurious abstinence   
from the things most men desire1 had    
enabled him to buy in his travels4  ,the
 pictures that ,i knew best1 for they   
had hung there longest1  whether        
reproductions or originals1 were of the 
,sienese ,school1 which  he had studied 
for a long time1 claiming that it alone 
of the schools  of the world pictured   
not the world but what is revealed to   
saints in  their dreams and visions4    
,the ,sienese alone among ,italians1 he 
would  say1 could not or would not      
represent the pride of life1 the        
pleasure  in swift movement or          
sustaining strength1 or voluptuous      

flesh4 ,they  were so little interested 
in these things that there often seemed 
to  be no human body at all under the   
robe of the saint1 but they could       
represent by a bowed head1 or uplifted  
face1 man's reverence before  ,eternity 
as no others could1 and they were at    
their happiest when  mankind had        
dwindled to a little group silhouetted  
upon a golden abyss1  as if they saw the
 world habitually from far off4 ,when ,i
 had praised  some school that had      
dipped deeper into life1 he would       
profess to  discover a more intense     
emotion than life knew in those dark    
outlines4  #8,put1 even ,francesca1 who 
felt the supernatural as deeply1' he    
would  say1 #8beside the work of ,siena1
 and one finds a faint impurity in his  
awe1 a touch of ghostly terror1 where   
love and humbleness had best  been all4'
 ,he had often told me of his hope that 
by filling his mind  with those holy    
pictures he would help himself to attain
 at last to  vision and ecstasy1 and of 

his disappointment at never getting more
  than dreams of a curious and broken   
beauty4 ,but of late he had added       
pictures of a different kind1 ,french   
symbolistic pictures which he had       
bought for a few pounds from            
little-known painters1 ,english and     
,french  pictures of the ,school of the 
,english ,pre-,raphaelites2 and now he  
stood  for a moment and said1 #8,i have 
changed my taste4 ,i am fascinated a    
little against my will by these faces1  
where ,i find the pallor of souls       
trembling between the excitement of the 
flesh and the excitement of the  spirit1
 and by landscapes that are created by  
heightening the obscurity  and disorder 
of nature4 ,these landscapes do not stir
 the imagination  to the energies of    
sanctity but as to orgaic dancing and   
prophetic  frenzy4' ,i saw with some    
resentment new images where the old ones
 had  often made that long gray1 dim1   
empty1 echoing passage become to my     
eyes a vestibule of ,eternity4          

,almost every detail of the chapel1     
which we entered by a narrow ,gothic    
door1 whose threshold had been worn     
smooth by the secret worshippers of  the
 penal times1 was vivid in my memory2   
for it was in this chapel that  ,i had  
first1 and when but a boy1 been moved by
 the medivalism which  is now1 ,i think1
 the governing influence in my life4    
,the only thing  that seemed new was a  
square bronze box which stood upon the  
altar  before the six unlighted candles 
and the ebony crucifix1 and was like    
those made in ancient times of more     
precious substances to hold the  sacred 
books4 ,aherne made me sit down on an   
oak bench1 and having bowed  very low   
before the crucifix1 took the bronze box
 from the altar1 and  sat down beside me
 with the box upon his knees4    #8,you 
will perhaps have forgotten1' he said1  
#8most of what you have  read about     
,joachim of ,flora1 for he is little    
more than a name to even  the well read4
 ,he was an abbot in ,cortale in the    

twelfth century1  and is best known for 
his prophecy1 in a book called          
,expositio in  ,apocalypsin1 that the   
,kingdom of the ,father was passed1 the 
,kingdom  of the ,son passing1 the      
,kingdom of the ,spirit yet to come4    
,the  ,kingdom of the ,spirit was to be 
a complete triumph of the ,spirit1 the  
spiritualis intelligentia he called it1 
over the dead letter4 ,he  had many     
followers among the more extreme        
,franciscans1 and these were  accused of
 possessing a secret book of his called 
the ,liber ,inducens  in ,evangelium    
ternum4 ,again and again groups of      
visionaries were  accused of possessing 
this terrible book1 in which the freedom
 of the  ,renaissance lay hidden1 until 
at last ,pope ,alexander ,,iv4 had it   
found  and cast into the flames4 ,i have
 here the greatest treasure the world   
contains4 ,i have a copy of that book2  
and see what great artists have  made   
the robes in which it is wrapped4 ,the  
greater portion of the book  itself is  

illuminated in the ,byzantine style1    
which so few care for  to-day1 but which
 moves me because these tall1 emaciated 
angels and  saints seem to have less    
relation to the world about us than to  
an  abstract pattern of flowing lines1  
that suggest an imagination absorbed  in
 the contemplation of ,eternity4 ,even  
if you do not care for so formal  an    
art1 you cannot help seeing that work   
where there is so much gold1  and of    
that purple colour which has gold       
dissolved in it1 was valued at  a great 
price in its day4 ,but it was only at   
the ,renaissance the labour  was spent  
upon it which has made it the priceless 
thing it is4 ,the  wooden boards of the 
cover show by the astrological          
allegories painted  upon them1 as by the
 style of painting itself1 some         
craftsman of the  school of ,francesco  
,cossi of ,ferrara1 but the gold clasps 
and hinges  are known to be the work of 
,benvenuto ,cellini1 who made likewise  
the  bronze box and covered it with gods

 and demons1 whose eyes are closed1  to 
signify an absorption in the inner      
light4    ,i took the book in my hands  
and began turning over the gilded1      
many-coloured pages1 holding it close to
 the candle to discover the  texture of 
the paper4    #8,where did you get this 
amazing book8' ,i said4 #8,if genuine1  
and ,i  cannot judge by this light1 you 
have discovered one of the most         
precious things in the world4'    #8,it 
is certainly genuine1' he replied4      
#8,when the original was  destroyed1 one
 copy alone remained1 and was in the    
hands of a  lute-player of ,florence1   
and from him it passed to his son1 and  
so  from generation to generation until 
it came to the lute-player who  was     
father to ,benvenuto ,cellini1 and from 
,benvenuto ,cellini to that  ,cardinal  
of ,ferrara who released him from       
prison1 and from him to  a natural son1 
so from generation to generation1 the   
story of its  wandering passing on with 
it1 until it came into the possession of

  the family of ,aretino1 and to ,giulio
 ,aretino1 an artist and worker in      
metals1 and student of the kabalistic   
heresies of ,pico della ,mirandola4  ,he
 spent many nights with me at ,rome1    
discussing philosophy2 and at  last ,i  
won his confidence so perfectly that he 
showed me this1 his  greatest treasure2 
and1 finding how much ,i valued it1 and 
feeling that  he himself was growing old
 and beyond the help of its teaching1 he
 sold  it to me for no great sum1       
considering its great preciousness4'    
#8,what is the doctrine8' ,i said4      
#8,some medival straw-splitting about   
the nature of the ,trinity1 which is    
only useful to-day to show how many     
things are unimportant to us1 which once
 shook the world8'    #8,i could never  
make you understand1' he said1 with a   
sigh1 #8that  nothing is unimportant in 
belief1 but even you will admit that    
this  book goes to the heart4 ,do you   
see the tables on which the commandments
  were written in ,latin8' ,i looked to 

the end of the room1 opposite to  the   
altar1 and saw that the two marble      
tablets were gone1 and that  two large  
empty tablets of ivory1 like large      
copies of the little  tablets we set    
over our desks1 had taken their place4  
#8,it has swept  the commandments of the
 ,father away1' he went on1 #8and       
displaced the  commandments of the ,son 
by the commandments of the ,holy        
,spirit4 ,the  first book is called     
,fractura ,tabularum4 ,in the first     
chapter it  mentions the names of the   
great artists who made them graven      
things  and the likeness of many things1
 and adored them and served them2 and   
the second the names of the great wits  
who took the name of the ,lord  their   
,god in vain2 and that long third       
chapter1 set with the emblems  of       
sanctified faces1 and having wings upon 
its borders1 is the praise  of breakers 
of the seventh day and wasters of the   
six days1 who yet  lived comely and     
pleasant days4 ,those two chapters tell 

of men and  women who railed upon their 
parents1 remembering that their god was 
older than the god of their parents2 and
 that which has the sword of  ,michael  
for an emblem commends the kings that   
wrought secret murder and  so won for   
their people a peace that was amore     
somnoque gravata et  vestibus           
versicoloribus1 heavy with love and     
sleep and many-coloured  raiment2 and   
that with the pale star at the closing  
has the lives of  the noble youths who  
loved the wives of others and were      
transformed  into memories1 which have  
transformed many poorer hearts into     
sweet  flames2 and that with the winged 
head is the history of the robbers who  
lived upon the sea or in the desert1    
lives which it compares to the          
twittering of the string of a bow1 nervi
 stridentis instar2 and those  two last1
 that are fire and gold1 are devoted to 
the satirists who bore  false witness   
against their neighbours and yet        
illustrated eternal  wrath1 and to those

 that have coveted more than other men  
the house of  ,god1 and all things that 
are ,his1 which no man has seen and     
handled1  except in madness and in      
dreams4    #8,the second book is called 
,lex ,secreta1 and describes the true   
inspiration of action1 the only ,eternal
 ,evangel2 and ends with a  vision1     
which he saw among the mountains of ,la 
,sila1 of his disciples  sitting throned
 in the blue deep of the air1 and       
laughing aloud1 with  a laughter that   
was like the rustling of the wings of   
,time3 ,clis in  cruleis ridentes       
sedebant discipuli mei super thronos3   
talis erat  risus1 qualis temporis      
pennati susurrus4'    #8,i know little  
of ,joachim of ,flora1' ,i said1        
#8except that ,dante set him  in        
,paradise among the great doctors4 ,if  
he held a heresy so singular1 ,i  cannot
 understand how no rumours of it came to
 the ears of ,dante2 and  ,dante made no
 peace with the enemies of the ,church4'
    #8,joachim of ,flora acknowledged   

openly the authority of the ,church1 and
  even asked that all his published     
writings1 and those to be published  by 
his desire after his death1 should be   
submitted to the censorship of  the     
,pope4 ,he considered that those whose  
work was to live and not to  reveal were
 children and that the ,pope was their  
,father2 but he taught  in secret that  
certain others1 and in always increasing
 numbers1 were  elected1 not to live1   
but to reveal that hidden substance of  
,god which  is colour and music and     
softness and a sweet odour2 and that    
these  have no father but the ,holy     
,spirit4 ,just as poets and painters and
  musicians labour at their works1      
building them with lawless and lawful   
things alike1 so long as they embody the
 beauty that is beyond the  grave1 these
 children of the ,holy ,spirit labour at
 their moments with  eyes upon the      
shining substance on which ,time has    
heaped the refuse of  creation2 for the 
world only exists to be a tale in the   

ears of coming  generations2 and terror 
and content1 birth and death1 love and  
hatred1  and the fruit of the ,tree1 are
 but instruments for that supreme art   
which is to win us from life and gather 
us into eternity like doves  into their 
dove-cots4    #8,i shall go away in a   
little while and travel into many lands1
 that ,i  may know all accidents and    
destinies1 and when ,i return1 will     
write  my secret law upon those ivory   
tablets1 just as poets and romance      
writers have written the principles of  
their art in prefaces2 and when  ,i know
 what principle of life1 discoverable at
 first by imagination  and instinct1 ,i 
am to express1 ,i will gather my pupils 
that they may  discover their law in the
 study of my law1 as poets and painters 
discover their own art of expression by 
the study of some ,master4 ,i  know     
nothing certain as yet but this--,i am  
to become completely alive1  that is1   
completely passionate1 for beauty is    
only another name for  perfect passion4 

,i shall create a world where the whole 
lives of men  shall be articulated and  
simplified as if seventy years were but 
one  moment1 or as they were the leaping
 of a fish or the opening of a  flower4'
    ,he was pacing up and down1 and ,i  
listened to the fervour of his words    
and watched the excitement of his       
gestures with not a little concern4  ,i 
had been accustomed to welcome the most 
singular speculations1 and  had always  
found them as harmless as the ,persian  
cat who half closes  her meditative eyes
 and stretches out her long claws before
 my fire4  ,but now ,i would battle in  
the interests of orthodoxy1 even of the 
commonplace3 and yet could find nothing 
better to say than3 #8,it is  not       
necessary to judge everyone by the law1 
for we have also ,christ's  commandment 
of love4'    ,he turned and said1       
looking at me with shining eyes3        
#8,jonathan ,swift  made a soul for the 
gentlemen of this city by hating his    
neighbour as  himself4'    #8,at any    

rate1 you cannot deny that to teach so  
dangerous a doctrine is  to accept a    
terrible responsibility4'    #8,leonardo
 da ,vinci1' he replied1 #8has this     
noble sentence3 8,the hope  and desire  
of returning home to one's former state 
is like the moth's  desire for the      
light2 and the man who with constant    
longing awaits  each new month and new  
year1 deeming that the things he longs  
for are  ever too late in coming1 does  
not perceive that he is longing for his 
own destruction40 ,how1 then1 can the   
pathway which will lead us into  the    
heart of ,god be other than dangerous8  
,why should you1 who are no             
materialist1 cherish the continuity and 
order of the world as those do  who have
 only the world8 ,you do not value the  
writers who will express  nothing unless
 their reason understands how it will   
make what is called  the right more     
easy2 why1 then1 will you deny a like   
freedom to the  supreme art1 the art    
which is the foundation of all arts8    

,yes1 ,i shall  send out of this chapel 
saints1 lovers1 rebels and prophets3    
souls who  will surround themselves with
 peace1 as with a nest made with grass2 
and others over whom ,i shall weep4 ,the
 dust shall fall for many years  over   
this little box2 and then ,i shall open 
it2 and the tumults1 which  are1        
perhaps1 the flames of the last day1    
shall come from under the  lid4'    ,i  
did not reason with him that night1     
because his excitement was great  and ,i
 feared to make him angry2 and when ,i  
called at his house a few  days later1  
he was gone and his house was locked up 
and empty4 ,i have  deeply regretted my 
failure both to combat his heresy and to
 test the  genuineness of his strange   
book4 ,since my conversion ,i have      
indeed done  penance for an error which 
,i was only able to measure after some  
years4      ,,ii    ,i was walking along
 one of the ,dublin quays1 on the side  
nearest the  river1 about ten years     
after our conversation1 stopping from   

time  to time to turn over the books    
upon an old bookstall1 and thinking1    
curiously enough1 of the terrible       
destiny of ,michael ,robartes1 and his  
brotherhood2 when ,i saw a tall and bent
 man walking slowly along the  other    
side of the quay4 ,i recognized1 with a 
start1 in a lifeless mask  with dim     
eyes1 the once resolute and delicate    
face of ,owen ,aherne4 ,i  crossed the  
quay quickly1 but had not gone many     
yards before he turned  away1 as though 
he had seen me1 and hurried down a side 
street2 ,i  followed1 but only to lose  
him among the intricate streets on the  
north  side of the river4 ,during the   
next few weeks ,i inquired of everybody 
who had once known him1 but he had made 
himself known to nobody2 and ,i         
knocked1 without result1 at the door of 
his old house2 and had nearly  persuaded
 myself that ,i was mistaken1 when ,i   
saw him again in a narrow  street behind
 the ,four ,courts1 and followed him to 
the door of his  house4    ,i laid my   

hand on his arm2 he turned quite without
 surprise2 and indeed  it is possible   
that to him1 whose inner life had soaked
 up the outer  life1 a parting of years 
was a parting from forenoon to          
afternoon4  ,he stood holding the door  
half open1 as though he would keep me   
from  entering2 and would perhaps have  
parted from me without further words    
had ,i not said3 #8,owen ,aherne1 you   
trusted me once1 will you not trust  me 
again1 and tell me what has come of the 
ideas we discussed in this  house ten   
years ago8--but perhaps you have already
 forgotten them4'    #8,you have a right
 to hear1' he said1 #8for since ,i have 
told you the  ideas1 ,i should tell you 
the extreme danger they contain1 or     
rather the  boundless wickedness they   
contain2 but when you have heard this we
 must  part1 and part for ever1 because 
,i am lost1 and must be hidden6'    ,i  
followed him through the paved passage1 
and saw that its corners were  choked1  
and the pictures gray1 with dust and    

cobwebs2 and that the  dust and cobwebs 
which covered the ruby and sapphire of  
the saints on  the window had made it   
very dim4 ,he pointed to where the ivory
 tablets  glimmered faintly in the      
dimness1 and ,i saw that they were      
covered with  small writing1 and went up
 to them and began to read the writing4 
,it  was in ,latin1 and was an elaborate
 casuistry1 illustrated with many       
examples1 but whether from his own life 
or from the lives of others  ,i do not  
know4 ,i had read but a few sentences   
when ,i imagined that a  faint perfume  
had begun to fill the room1 and turning 
round asked ,owen  ,aherne if he were   
lighting the incense4    #8,no1' he     
replied1 and pointed where the thurible 
lay rusty and empty on  one of the      
benches2 as he spoke the faint perfume  
seemed to vanish1 and  ,i was persuaded 
,i had imagined it4    #8,has the       
philosophy of the ,liber ,inducens in   
,evangelium ternum made  you very       
unhappy8' ,i said4    #8,at first ,i was

 full of happiness1' he replied1 #8for  
,i felt a divine  ecstasy1 an immortal  
fire in every passion1 in every hope1 in
 every  desire1 in every dream2 and ,i  
saw1 in the shadows under leaves1 in the
  hollow waters1 in the eyes of men and 
women1 its image1 as in a mirror2  and  
it was as though ,i was about to touch  
the ,heart of ,god4 ,then all  changed  
and ,i was full of misery1 and ,i said  
to myself that ,i was  caught in the    
glittering folds of an enormous serpent1
 and was falling  with him through a    
fathomless abyss1 and that henceforth   
the glittering  folds were my world2 and
 in my misery it was revealed to me that
 man  can only come to that ,heart      
through the sense of separation from it 
which we call sin1 and ,i understood    
that ,i could not sin1 because ,i  had  
discovered the law of my being1 and     
could only express or fail to  express  
my being1 and ,i understood that ,god   
has made a simple and an  arbitrary law 
that we may sin and repent6'    ,he had 

sat down on one of the wooden benches   
and now became silent1 his  bowed head  
and hanging arms and listless body      
having more of dejection  than any image
 ,i have met with in life or in any art4
 ,i went and stood  leaning against the 
altar1 and watched him1 not knowing what
 ,i should  say2 and ,i noticed his     
black closely-buttoned coat1 his short  
hair1  and shaven head1 which preserved 
a memory of his priestly ambition1  and 
understood how ,catholicism had seized  
him in the midst of the  vertigo he     
called philosophy2 and ,i noticed his   
lightless eyes and his  earth-coloured  
complexion1 and understood how she had  
failed to do more  than hold him on the 
margin3 and ,i was full of an anguish of
 pity4    #8,it may be1' he went on1    
#8that the angels whose hearts are      
shadows of  the ,divine ,heart1 and     
whose bodies are made of the ,divine    
,intellect1  may come to where their    
longing is always by a thirst for the   
divine  ecstasy1 the immortal fire1 that

 is in passion1 in hope1 in desire1 in  
dreams2 but we whose hearts perish every
 moment1 and whose bodies melt  away    
like a sigh1 must bow and obey6'    ,i  
went nearer to him and said3 #8,prayer  
and repentance will make you  like other
 men4'    #8,no1 no1' he said1 #8,i am  
not among those for whom ,christ died1  
and this  is why ,i must be hidden4 ,i  
have a leprosy that even eternity cannot
  cure4 ,i have seen the whole1 and how 
can ,i come again to believe that a     
part is the whole8 ,i have lost my soul 
because ,i have looked out of the  eyes 
of the angels4'    ,suddenly ,i saw1 or 
imagined that ,i saw1 the room darken1  
and faint  figures robed in purple1 and 
lifting faint torches with arms that    
gleamed like silver1 bending1 above     
,owen ,aherne2 and ,i saw1 or  imagined 
that ,i saw1 drops1 as of burning gum1  
fall from the torches1  and a heavy     
purple smoke1 as of incense1 come       
pouring from the flames  and sweeping   
about us4 ,owen ,aherne1 more happy than

 ,i who have been  half initiated into  
the ,order of the ,alchemical ,rose1 and
 protected  perhaps by his great piety1 
had sunk again into dejection and       
listlessness1 and saw none of these     
things2 but my knees shook under  me1   
for the purple-robed figures were less  
faint every moment1 and now  ,i could   
hear the hissing of the gum in the      
torches4 ,they did not appear  to see   
me1 for their eyes were upon ,owen      
,aherne2 now and again ,i could  hear   
them sigh as though with sorrow for his 
sorrow1 and presently ,i  heard words   
which ,i could not understand except    
that they were words of  sorrow1 and    
sweet as though immortal was talking to 
immortal4 ,then one  of them waved her  
torch1 and all the torches waved1 and   
for a moment it  was as though some     
great bird made of flames had fluttered 
its plumage1  and a voice cried as from 
far up in the air3 #8,he has charged    
even his  angels with folly1 and they   
also bow and obey2 but let your heart   

mingle with our hearts1 which are       
wrought of divine ecstasy1 and your     
body with our bodies1 which are wrought 
of divine intellect4' ,and at  that cry 
,i understood that the ,order of the    
,alchemical ,rose was not of  this      
earth1 and that it was still seeking    
over this earth for whatever  souls it  
could gather within its glittering net2 
and when all the faces  turned towards  
me1 and ,i saw the mild eyes and the    
unshaken eyelids1 ,i  was full of       
terror1 and thought they were about to  
fling their torches  upon me1 so that   
all ,i held dear1 all that bound me to  
spiritual and  social order1 would be   
burnt up1 and my soul left naked and    
shivering  among the winds that blow    
from beyond this world and from beyond  
the  stars2 and then a faint voice      
cried1 #8,why do you fly from our       
torches  that were made out of the trees
 under which ,christ wept in the ,garden
  of ,gethsemane8 ,why do you fly from  
our torches that were made out of  sweet

 wood1 after it had perished from the   
world and come to us who  made it of old
 times with our breath8'    ,it was not 
until the door of the house had closed  
behind my flight1 and  the noise of the 
street was breaking on my ears1 that ,i 
came back to  myself and to a little of 
my courage2 and ,i have never dared to  
pass  the house of ,owen ,aherne from   
that day1 even though ,i believe him to 
have been driven into some distant      
country by the spirits whose name is    
legion1 and whose throne is in the      
indefinite abyss1 and whom he obeys  and
 cannot see4          ,,the ,,adoration 
,,of ,,the ,,magi      ,i ,,was sitting 
reading late into the night a little    
after my last  meeting with ,aherne1    
when ,i heard a light knocking on my    
front door4 ,i  found upon the doorstep 
three very old men with stout sticks in 
their  hands1 who said they had been    
told ,i should be up and about1 and that
  they were to tell me important things4
 ,i brought them into my study1  and    

when the peacock curtains had closed    
behind us1 ,i set their chairs  for them
 close to the fire1 for ,i saw that the 
frost was on their  great-coats of      
frieze and upon the long beards that    
flowed almost to  their waists4 ,they   
took off their great-coats1 and leaned  
over the  fire warming their hands1 and 
,i saw that their clothes had much of   
the  country of our time1 but a little  
also1 as it seemed to me1 of the town   
life of a more courtly time4 ,when they 
had warmed themselves--and they  warmed 
themselves1 ,i thought1 less because of 
the cold of the night  than because of a
 pleasure in warmth for the sake of     
warmth--they  turned towards me1 so that
 the light of the lamp fell full upon   
their  weather-beaten faces1 and told   
the story ,i am about to tell4 ,now one 
talked and now another1 and they often  
interrupted one another1 with  a desire1
 like that of countrymen1 when they tell
 a story1 to leave  no detail untold4   
,when they had finished they made me    

take notes of  whatever conversation    
they had quoted1 so that ,i might have  
the exact  words1 and got up to go4     
,when ,i asked them where they were     
going1 and  what they were doing1 and by
 what names ,i should call them1 they   
would  tell me nothing1 except that they
 had been commanded to travel over      
,ireland continually1 and upon foot and 
at night1 that they might live  close to
 the stones and the trees and at the    
hours when the immortals  are awake4    
,i have let some years go by before     
writing out this story1 for ,i am       
always in dread of the illusions which  
come of that inquietude of the  veil of 
the ,temple1 which ,m4 ,mallarm         
considers a characteristic of our       
times2 and only write it now because ,i 
have grown to believe that there  is no 
dangerous idea which does not become    
less dangerous when written  out in     
sincere and careful ,english4    ,the   
three old men were three brothers1 who  
had lived in one of the  western islands

 from their early manhood1 and had cared
 all their lives  for nothing except for
 those classical writers and old ,gaelic
 writers  who expounded an heroic and   
simple life2 night after night in       
winter1  ,gaelic story-tellers would    
chant old poems to them over the poteen2
 and  night after night in summer1 when 
the ,gaelic story-tellers were at work  
in the fields or away at the fishing1   
they would read to one another  ,virgil 
and ,homer1 for they would not enjoy in 
solitude1 but as the  ancients enjoyed4 
,at last a man1 who told them he was    
,michael ,robartes1  came to them in a  
fishing-boat1 like ,st4 ,brandan drawn  
by some vision  and called by some      
voice2 and spoke of the coming again of 
the gods  and the ancient things2 and   
their hearts1 which had never endured   
the  body and pressure of our time1 but 
only of distant times1 found nothing    
unlikely in anything he told them1 but  
accepted all simply and were  happy4    
,years passed1 and one day1 when the    

oldest of the old men1 who  travelled in
 his youth and thought sometimes of     
other lands1 looked  out on the grey    
waters1 on which the people see the dim 
outline of the  ,islands of the         
,young--the ,happy ,islands where the   
,gaelic heroes live  the lives of       
,homer's ,phacians--a voice came out of 
the air over the  waters and told him of
 the death of ,michael ,robartes4 ,they 
were still  mourning when the next      
oldest of the old men fell asleep while 
reading  out the ,fifth ,eclogue of     
,virgil1 and a strange voice spoke      
through him1  and bid them set out for  
,paris1 where a woman lay dying1 who    
would  reveal to them the secret names  
of the gods1 which can be perfectly     
spoken only when the mind is steeped in 
certain colours and certain  sounds and 
certain odours2 but at whose perfect    
speaking the immortals  cease to be     
cries and shadows1 and walk and talk    
with one like men and  women4    ,they  
left their island1 at first much        

troubled at all they saw in the  world1 
and came to ,paris1 and there the       
youngest met a person in a  dream1 who  
told him they were to wander about at   
hazard until those who  had been guiding
 their footsteps had brought them to a  
street and a  house1 whose likeness was 
shown him in the dream4 ,they wandered  
hither  and thither for many days1 but  
one morning they came into some narrow  
and shabby streets1 on the south of the 
,seine1 where women with pale  faces and
 untidy hair looked at them out of the  
windows2 and just as  they were about to
 turn back because ,wisdom could not    
have alighted in  so foolish a          
neighbourhood1 they came to the street  
and the house of  the dream4 ,the oldest
 of the old men1 who still remembered   
some of the  modern languages he had    
known in his youth1 went up to the door 
and  knocked1 but when he had knocked1  
the next in age to him said it was  not 
a good house1 and could not be the house
 they were looking for1 and  urged him  

to ask for some one that they knew was  
not there and go away4  ,the door was   
opened by an old over-dressed woman1 who
 said1 #8,o1 you are  her three kinsmen 
from ,ireland4 ,she has been expecting  
you all day4'  ,the old men looked at   
one another and followed her upstairs1  
passing  doors from which pale and      
untidy women thrust out their heads1 and
 into  a room where a beautiful woman   
lay asleep in a bed1 with another woman 
sitting by her4    ,the old woman said3 
#8,yes1 they have come at last2 now she 
will be able  to die in peace1' and went
 out4    #8,we have been deceived by    
devils1' said one of the old men1 #8for 
the  immortals would not speak through a
 woman like this4'    #8,yes1' said     
another1 #8we have been deceived by     
devils1 and we must go  away quickly4'  
#8,yes1' said the third1 #8we have been 
deceived by devils1 but let us  kneel   
down for a little1 for we are by the    
deathbed of one that has  been          
beautiful4' ,they knelt down1 and the   

woman who sat by the bed1 and  seemed to
 be overcome with fear and awe1 lowered 
her head4 ,they watched  for a little   
the face upon the pillow and wondered at
 its look1 as of  unquenchable desire1  
and at the porcelain-like refinement of 
the vessel  in which so malevolent a    
flame had burned4    ,suddenly the      
second oldest of them crowed like a     
cock1 and until the  room seemed to     
shake with the crowing4 ,the woman in   
the bed still  slept on in her          
death-like sleep1 but the woman who sat 
by her head  crossed herself and grew   
pale1 and the youngest of the old men   
cried  out3 #8,a devil has gone into    
him1 and we must begone or it will go   
into  us also4' ,before they could rise 
from their knees1 a resonant chanting   
voice came from the lips that had crowed
 and said3 #8,i am not a devil1  but ,i 
am ,hermes the ,shepherd of the ,dead1  
and ,i run upon the errands of  the     
gods1 and you have heard my sign1 that  
has been my sign from the  old days4    

,bow down before her from whose lips the
 secret names of the  immortals1 and of 
the things near their hearts1 are about 
to come1 that  the immortals may come   
again into the world4 ,bow down1 and    
understand  that when they are about to 
overthrow the things that are to-day and
  bring the things that were yesterday1 
they have no one to help them1  but one 
whom the things that are to-day have    
cast out4 ,bow down and  very low1 for  
they have chosen for their priestess    
this woman in whose  heart all follies  
have gathered1 and in whose body all    
desires have  awaked2 this woman who has
 been driven out of ,time and has lain  
upon  the bosom of ,eternity4 ,after you
 have bowed down the old things shall   
be again1 and another ,argo shall carry 
heroes over sea1 and another  ,achilles 
beleaguer another ,troy4'    ,the voice 
ended with a sigh1 and immediately the  
old man awoke out of  sleep1 and said3  
#8,has a voice spoken through me1 as it 
did when ,i fell  asleep over my        

,virgil1 or have ,i only been asleep8'  
,the oldest of them said3 #8,a voice has
 spoken through you4 ,where has  your   
soul been while the voice was speaking  
through you8'    #8,i do not know where 
my soul has been1 but ,i dreamed ,i was 
under the  roof of a manger1 and ,i     
looked down and ,i saw an ox and an ass2
 and ,i  saw a red cock perching on the 
hay-rack2 and a woman hugging a child2  
and three old men1 in armour studded    
with rubies1 kneeling with their  heads 
bowed very low in front of the woman and
 the child4 ,while ,i was  looking the  
cock crowed and a man with wings on his 
heels swept up  through the air1 and as 
he passed me1 cried out3 8,foolish old  
men1 you  had once all the wisdom of the
 stars40 ,i do not understand my dream  
or  what it would have us do1 but you   
who have heard the voice out of the     
wisdom of my sleep know what we have to 
do4'    ,then the oldest of the old men 
told him they were to take the          
parchments they had brought with them   

out of their pockets and spread  them on
 the ground4 ,when they had spread them 
on the ground1 they took  out of their  
pockets their pens1 made of three       
feathers1 which had  fallen from the    
wing of the old eagle that is believed  
to have talked  of wisdom with ,st4     
,patrick4    #8,he meant1 ,i think1'    
said the youngest1 as he put their      
ink-bottles  by the side of the rolls of
 parchment1 #8that when people are good 
the  world likes them and takes         
possession of them1 and so eternity     
comes  through people who are not good  
or who have been forgotten4 ,perhaps    
,christianity was good and the world    
liked it1 so now it is going away  and  
the immortals are beginning to awake4'  
#8,what you say has no wisdom1' said the
 oldest1 #8because if there are  many   
immortals1 there cannot be only one     
immortal4'    ,then the woman in the bed
 sat up and looked about her with wild  
eyes2  and the oldest of the old men    
said3 #8,lady1 we have come to write    

down  the secret names1' and at his     
words a look of great joy came into her 
face4 ,presently she began to speak     
slowly1 and yet eagerly1 as though  she 
knew she had but a little while to live1
 and in the ,gaelic of their  own       
country2 and she spoke to them many     
secret powerful names1 and of  the      
colours1 and odours1 and weapons1 and   
instruments of music and  instruments of
 handicraft belonging to the owners of  
those names2 but  most about the ,sidhe 
of ,ireland and of their love for the   
,cauldron1 and  the ,whetstone1 and the 
,sword1 and the ,spear4 ,then she tossed
 feebly  for a while and moaned1 and    
when she spoke again it was in so faint 
a  murmur that the woman who sat by the 
bed leaned down to listen1 and  while   
she was listening the spirit went out of
 the body4    ,then the oldest of the   
old men said in ,french to the woman who
 was  still bending over the bed3       
#8,there must have been yet one name    
which  she had not given us1 for she    

murmured a name while the spirit was    
going out of the body1' and the woman   
said1 #8,she was but murmuring  over the
 name of a symbolist painter she was    
fond of4 ,he used to go to  something he
 called the ,black ,mass1 and it was he 
who taught her to see  visions and to   
hear voices4 ,she met him for the first 
time a few months  ago1 and we have had 
no peace from that day because of her   
talk about  visions and about voices4   
,why6 ,it was only last night that ,i   
dreamed ,i  saw a man with a red beard  
and red hair1 and dressed in red1       
standing  by my bedside4 ,he held a rose
 in one hand1 and tore it in pieces with
  the other hand1 and the petals drifted
 about the room1 and became  beautiful  
people who began to dance slowly4 ,when 
,i woke up ,i was all in  a heat with   
terror4'    ,this is all the old men    
told me1 and when ,i think of their     
speech and  of their silence1 of their  
coming and of their going1 ,i am almost 
persuaded that had ,i gone out of the   

house after they had gone out of  it1 ,i
 should have found no footsteps on the  
snow4 ,they may1 for all ,i  or any man 
can say1 have been themselves immortals3
 immortal demons1  come to put an untrue
 story into my mind for some purpose ,i 
do not  understand4 ,whatever they were1
 ,i have turned into a pathway which    
will lead me from them and from the     
,order of the ,alchemical ,rose4 ,i  no 
longer live an elaborate and haughty    
life1 but seek to lose myself  among the
 prayers and the sorrows of the         
multitude4 ,i pray best in poor         
chapels1 where the frieze coats brush by
 me as ,i kneel1 and when ,i pray       
against the demons ,i repeat a prayer   
which was made ,i know not how many     
centuries ago to help some poor ,gaelic 
man or woman who had suffered  with a   
suffering like mine4       ,seacht      
b-pidreacha f seacht      ,chuir ,muire 
faoi n-a ,mac1      ,chuir ,brighid faoi
 n-a brat1      ,chuir ,dia faoi n-a    
neart1      ,eidir sinn #8san ,sluagh   

,sidhe1      ,eidir sinn #8san ,sluagh  
,gaoith4        ,seven paters seven     
times1      ,send ,mary by her ,son1    
,send ,bridget by her mantle1      ,send
 ,god by ,his strength1      ,between us
 and the faery host1      ,between us   
and the demons of the air4              
,,john ,,sherman    ,,and    ,,dhoya3   
,,two ,,early ,,stories                 
,republished by kind permission of ,mr4 
,t4 ,fisher ,unwin4      ,having been   
persuaded somewhat against my judgment  
to include these  early stories1 ,i have
 read them for the first time these many
 years4  ,they have come to interest me 
very deeply2 for ,i am something of an  
astrologer1 and can see in them a young 
man--was ,i twenty-three8 and  we ,irish
 ripen slowly--born when the            
,water-,carrier was on the horizon1  at 
pains to overcome ,saturn in ,saturn's  
hour1 just as ,i can see in  much that  
follows his struggle with the still     
all-too-unconquered  ,moon1 and at last1
 as ,i think1 the summons of the prouder

 ,sun4 ,sligo1  where ,i had lived as a 
child and spent some months or weeks of 
every  year till long after1 is ,ballah1
 and ,pool ,dhoya is at the river mouth 
there1 and he who gave me all of        
,sherman that was not born at the       
rising of the ,water-,carrier has still 
the bronze upon his face1 and is  at    
this moment1 it may be1 in his walled   
garden1 wondering1 as he did  twenty    
years ago1 whether he will ever mend the
 broken glass of the  conservatory1     
where ,i am not too young to recollect  
the vine-trees and  grapes that did not 
ripen4                                  
,w4 ,b4 ,,yeats4        ,november #adth1
 #aijg4          ,,john ,,sherman       
,,first ,,part    ,,john ,,sherman      
,,leaves ,,ballah      ,i    ,,in the   
west of ,ireland1 on the #ith of        
,december1 in the town of ,ballah1  in  
the ,imperial ,hotel there was a single 
guest1 clerical and youthful4  ,with the
 exception of a stray commercial        
traveller1 who stopped once  for a      

night1 there had been nobody for a whole
 month but this guest1  and now he was  
thinking of going away4 ,the town1 full 
enough in summer  of trout and salmon   
fishers1 slept all winter like the      
bears4    ,on the evening of the #ith of
 ,december1 in the coffee-room of the   
,imperial ,hotel1 there was nobody but  
this guest4 ,the guest was  irritated4  
,it had rained all day1 and now that it 
was clearing up night  had almost       
fallen4 ,he had packed his portmanteau2 
his stockings1 his  clothes-brush1 his  
razor1 his dress shoes were each in     
their corner1  and now he had nothing to
 do4 ,he had tried the paper that was   
lying on  the table4 ,he did not agree  
with its politics4    ,the waiter was   
playing an accordion in a little room   
over the stairs4  ,the guest's          
irritation increased1 for the more he   
thought about it  the more he perceived 
that the accordion was badly played4    
,there was  a piano in the coffee-room2 
he sat down at it and played the tune   

correctly1 as loudly as possible4 ,the  
waiter took no notice4 ,he did not  know
 that he was being played for4 ,he was  
wholly absorbed in his own  playing1 and
 besides he was old1 obstinate1 and     
deaf4 ,the guest could  stand it no     
longer4 ,he rang for the waiter1 and    
then1 remembering that  he did not need 
anything1 went out before he came4      
,he went through ,martin's ,street and  
,peter's ,lane1 and turned down by  the 
burnt house at the corner of the        
fish-market1 picking his way  towards   
the bridge4 ,the town was dripping1 but 
the rain was almost  over4 ,the large   
drops fell seldomer and seldomer into   
the puddles4 ,it  was the hour of ducks4
 ,three or four had squeezed themselves 
under a  gate1 and were now splashing   
about in the gutter of the main street4 
,there was scarcely anyone abroad4 ,once
 or twice a countryman went by  in      
yellow gaiters covered with mud and     
looked at the guest4 ,once an  old woman
 with a basket of clothes1 recognizing  

the ,protestant curate's  locum tenens1 
made a low curtsey4    ,the clouds      
gradually drifted away1 the twilight    
deepened and the stars  came out4 ,the  
guest1 having bought some cigarettes1   
had spread his  waterproof on the       
parapet of the bridge and was now       
leaning his elbows  upon it1 looking at 
the river and feeling at last quite     
tranquil4  ,his meditations1 he         
repeated1 to himself1 were plated with  
silver by  the stars4 ,the water slid   
noiselessly1 and one or two of the      
larger  stars made little roadways of   
fire into the darkness4 ,the light from 
a  distant casement made also its       
roadway4 ,once or twice a fish leaped4  
,along the banks were the vague shadows 
of houses1 seeming like phantoms        
gathering to drink4    ,yes2 he felt now
 quite contented with the world4 ,amidst
 his enjoyment  of the shadows and the  
river--a veritable festival of          
silence--was  mixed pleasantly the      
knowledge that1 as he leant there with  

the light  of a neighbouring gas-jet    
flickering faintly on his refined form  
and  nervous face and glancing from the 
little medal of some ,anglican order    
that hung upon his watch-guard1 he must 
have seemed--if there had been  any to  
witness--a being of a different kind to 
the inhabitants--at once  rough and     
conventional--of this half-deserted     
town4 ,between these two  feelings the  
unworldly and the worldly tossed a      
leaping wave of perfect  enjoyment4 ,how
 pleasantly conscious of his own        
identity it made him  when he thought   
how he and not those whose birthright it
 was1 felt most  the beauty of these    
shadows and this river6 ,for him who had
 read much1  seen operas and plays1     
known religious experiences1 and written
 verse  to a waterfall in ,switzerland1 
and not for those who dwelt upon its    
borders for their whole lives1 did this 
river raise a tumult of images  and     
wonders4 ,what meaning it had for them  
he could not imagine4 ,some  meaning    

surely it must have6    ,as he gazed out
 into the darkness1 spinning a web of   
thoughts from  himself to the river1    
from the river to himself1 he saw1 with 
a corner  of his eye1 a spot of red     
light moving in the air at the other end
 of  the bridge4 ,he turned towards it4 
,it came closer and closer1 there       
appearing behind it the while a man and 
a cigar4 ,the man carried in one  hand a
 mass of fishing-line covered with      
hooks1 and in the other a tin  porringer
 full of bait4    #8,good evening1      
,howard4'    #8,good evening1' answered 
the guest1 taking his elbows off the    
parapet  and looking in a preoccupied   
way at the man with the hooks4 ,it was  
only  gradually he remembered that he   
was in ,ballah among the barbarians1 for
  his mind had strayed from the last    
evening flies1 making circles on  the   
water beneath1 to the devil's song      
against #8the little spirits' in        
,mefistofele4 ,looking down at the stone
 parapet he considered a moment  and    

then burst out--    #8,sherman1 how do  
you stand this place--you who have      
thoughts above mere  eating and sleeping
 and are not always grinding at the     
stubble mill8  ,here everybody lives in 
the eighteenth century--the squalid     
century4  ,well1 ,i am going to-morrow1 
you know4 ,thank ,heaven1 ,i am done    
with your  grey streets and grey minds6 
,the curate must come home1 sick or     
well4  ,i have a religious essay to     
write1 and besides ,i should die4 ,think
 of  that old fellow at the corner      
there1 our most important parishioner4  
,there are no more hairs on his head    
than thoughts in his skull4 ,to  merely 
look at him is to rob life of its       
dignity4 ,then there is nothing  in the 
shops but school-books and              
,sunday-school prizes4 ,excellent1 no   
doubt1 for anyone who has not had to    
read as many as ,i have4 ,such a  choir6
 such rain6'    #8,you need some        
occupation peculiar to the place1' said 
the other1  baiting his hooks with worms

 out of the little porringer4 #8,i catch
  eels4 ,you should set some night-lines
 too4 ,you bait them with worms in  this
 way1 and put them among the weeds at   
the edge of the river4 ,in the  morning 
you find an eel or two1 if you have good
 fortune1 turning round  and round and  
making the weeds sway4 ,i shall catch a 
great many after  this rain4'    #8,what
 a suggestion6 ,do you mean to stay     
here1' said ,howard1 #8till your  mind  
rots like our most important            
parishioner's8'    #8,no1 no6 ,to be    
quite frank with you1' replied the      
other1 #8,i have some  good looks and   
shall try to turn them to account by    
going away from  here pretty soon and   
trying to persuade some girl with money 
to fall in  love with me4 ,i shall not  
be altogether a bad match1 you see1     
because  after she has made me a little 
prosperous my uncle will die and make   
me much more so4 ,i wish to be able     
always to remain a lounger4 ,yes1 ,i    
shall marry money4 ,my mother has set   

her heart on it1 and ,i am not1  you    
see1 the kind of person who falls in    
love inconveniently4 ,for the           
present--'    #8,you are vegetating1'   
interrupted the other4    #8,no1 ,i am  
seeing the world4 ,in your big towns a  
man finds his minority  and knows       
nothing outside its border4 ,he knows   
only the people like  himself4 ,but here
 one chats with the whole world in a    
day's walk1 for  every man one meets is 
a class4 ,the knowledge ,i am picking up
 may be  useful to me when ,i enter the 
great cities and their ignorance4 ,but  
,i  have lines to set4 ,come with me4 ,i
 would ask you home1 but you and my     
mother1 you know1 do not get on well4'  
#8,i could not live with anyone ,i did  
not believe in1' said ,howard2 #8you    
are so different from me4 ,you can live 
with mere facts1 and that is  why1 ,i   
suppose1 your schemes are so mercenary4 
,before this beautiful  river1 these    
stars1 these great purple shadows1 do   
you not feel like  an insect in a       

flower8 ,as for me1 ,i also have planned
 my future4 ,not  too near or too far   
from a great city1 ,i see myself in a   
cottage  with diamond panes1 sitting by 
the fire4 ,there are books everywhere   
and etchings on the wall2 on the table  
is a manuscript essay on some  religious
 matter4 ,perhaps ,i shall marry some   
day4 ,probably not1 for ,i  shall ask so
 much4 ,certainly ,i shall not marry for
 money1 for ,i hold  that when we have  
lost the directness and sincerity of our
 nature we  have no compass4 ,if we once
 break it the world grows trackless4'   
#8,good-bye1' said ,sherman1 briskly2   
#8,i have baited the last hook4 ,your   
schemes suit you1 but a sluggish fellow 
like me1 poor devil1 who wishes  to     
lounge through the world1 would find    
them expensive4'    ,they parted2       
,sherman to set his lines and ,howard to
 his hotel in high  spirits1 for it     
seemed to him he had been eloquent4 ,the
 billiard-room1  which opened on the    
street1 was lighted up4 ,a few young men

 came round  to play sometimes4 ,he went
 in1 for among these provincial youths  
he  felt distinguished2 besides1 he was 
a really good player4 ,as he came  in   
one of the players missed and swore4    
,howard reproved him with a  look4 ,he  
joined the play for a time1 and then    
catching sight through a  distant door  
of the hotel-keeper's wife putting a    
kettle on the hob he  hurried off1 and1 
drawing a chair to the fire1 began one  
of those long  gossips about everybody's
 affairs peculiar to the cloth4    ,as  
,sherman1 having set his lines1 returned
 home1 he passed a  tobacconist's--a    
sweet-shop and tobacconist's in one--the
 only shop  in town1 except             
public-houses1 that remained open4 ,the 
tobacconist  was standing in his door1  
and1 recognizing one who dealt          
consistently  with a rival at the other 
end of the town1 muttered3 #8,there goes
 that  ,jack o' ,dreams2 been fishing   
most likely4 ,ugh6' ,sherman paused for 
a  moment as he repassed the bridge and 

looked at the water1 on which now  a    
new-risen and crescent moon was shining 
dimly4 ,how full of memories  it was to 
him6 what playmates and boyish          
adventures did it not bring to  mind6   
,to him it seemed to say1 #8,stay near  
to me1' as to ,howard it had  said1     
#8,go yonder1 to those other joys and   
other sceneries ,i have told  you of4'  
,it bade him who loved stay still and   
dream1 and gave flying  feet to him who 
imagined4      ,,ii    ,the house where 
,sherman and his mother lived was one of
 those bare  houses so common in country
 towns4 ,their dashed fronts mounting   
above  empty pavements have a kind of   
dignity in their utilitarianism4 ,they  
seem to say1 #8,fashion has not made us1
 nor ever do its caprices pass  our     
sand-cleaned doorsteps4' ,on every      
basement window is the same dingy  wire 
blind2 on every door the same brass     
knocker4 ,custom everywhere6  #8,so much
 the longer1' the blinds seem to say1   
#8have eyes glanced  through us'2 and   

the knockers to murmur1 #8,and fingers  
lifted us4'    ,no4 #ae1 ,stephens'     
,row1 was in no manner peculiar among   
its twenty  fellows4 ,the chairs in the 
drawing-room facing the street were of  
heavy  mahogany with horsehair cushions 
worn at the corners4 ,on the round      
table was somebody's commentary on the  
,new ,testament laid like the  spokes of
 a wheel on a table-cover of ,american  
oilcloth with stamped  ,japanese figures
 half worn away4 ,the room was seldom   
used1 for ,mrs4  ,sherman was solitary  
because silent4 ,in this room the       
dressmaker sat  twice a year1 and here  
the rector's wife used every month or so
 to  drink a cup of tea4 ,it was quite  
clean4 ,there was not a fly-mark on the 
mirror1 and all summer the fern in the  
grate was constantly changed4  ,behind  
this room and overlooking the garden was
 the parlour1 where  cane-bottomed      
chairs took the place of mahogany4      
,sherman had lived here  with his mother
 all his life1 and their old servant    

hardly remembered  having lived anywhere
 else2 and soon she would absolutely    
cease to  remember the world she knew   
before she saw the four walls of this   
house1 for every day she forgot         
something fresh4 ,the son was almost    
thirty1 the mother fifty1 and the       
servant near seventy4 ,every year they  
had two hundred pounds among them1 and  
once a year the son got a new  suit of  
clothes and went into the drawing-room  
to look at himself in  the mirror4      
,on the morning of the #ajth of         
,december ,mrs4 ,sherman was down before
 her  son4 ,a spare1 delicate-featured  
woman1 with somewhat thin lips tightly  
closed as with silent people1 and eyes  
at once gentle and distrustful1         
tempering the hardness of the lips4 ,she
 helped the servant to set the  table1  
and then1 for her old-fashioned ideas   
would not allow her to  rest1 began to  
knit1 often interrupting her knitting to
 go into the  kitchen or to listen at   
the foot of the stairs4 ,at last1       

hearing a  sound upstairs1 she put the  
eggs down to boil1 muttering the while1 
and began again to knit4 ,when her son  
appeared she received him with a  smile4
    #8,late again1 mother1' he said4    
#8,the young should sleep1' she         
answered1 for to her he seemed still a  
boy4    ,she had finished her breakfast 
some time before the young man1 and     
because it would have appeared very     
wrong to her to leave the table1  she   
sat on knitting behind the tea-urn3 an  
industry the benefit of  which was felt 
by many poor children--almost the only  
neighbours she  had a good word for4    
#8,mother1' said the young man1         
presently1 #8your friend the locum      
tenens is off to-day4'    #8,a good     
riddance4'    #8,why are you so hard on 
him8 ,he talked intelligently when here1
 ,i  thought1' answered her son4    #8,i
 do not like his theology1' she replied1
 #8nor his way of running  about and    
flirting with this body and that body1  
nor his way of  chattering while he     

buttons and unbuttons his gloves4'      
#8,you forget he is a man of the great  
world1 and has about him a manner  that 
must seem strange to us4'    #8,oh1 he  
might do very well1' she answered1 #8for
 one of those ,carton  girls at the     
rectory4'    #8,that eldest girl is a   
good girl1' replied her son4    #8,she  
looks down on us all1 and thinks herself
 intellectual1' she  went on4 #8,i      
remember when girls were content with   
their catechism  and their ,bibles and a
 little practice at the piano1 maybe1   
for an  accomplishment4 ,what does any  
one want more8 ,it is all pride4'       
#8,you used to like her as a child1'    
said the young man4    #8,i like all    
children4'    ,sherman having finished  
his breakfast1 took a book of travels in
 one  hand and a trowel in the other and
 went out into the garden4 ,having      
looked under the parlour window for the 
first tulip shoots1 he went  down to the
 further end and began covering some    
sea-kale for forcing4  ,he had not been 

long at work when the servant brought   
him a letter4  ,there was a stone roller
 at one side of the grass plot4 ,he sat 
down  upon it1 and taking the letter    
between his finger and thumb began      
looking at it with an air that said3    
#8,well6 ,i know what you mean4' ,he    
remained long thus without opening it1  
the book lying beside him on the        
roller4    ,the garden--the letter--the 
book6 ,you have there the three symbols 
of  his life4 ,every morning he worked  
in that garden among the sights and     
sounds of nature4 ,month by month he    
planted and hoed and dug there4 ,in  the
 middle he had set a hedge that divided 
the garden in two4 ,above  the hedge    
were flowers2 below it1 vegetables4 ,at 
the furthest end from  the house1       
lapping broken masonry full of          
wallflowers1 the river said1  month     
after month to all upon its banks1      
#8,hush6' ,he dined at two with  perfect
 regularity1 and in the afternoon went  
out to shoot or walk4  ,at twilight he  

set night-lines4 ,later on he read4 ,he 
had not many  books--a ,shakespeare1    
,mungo ,park's travels1 a few           
two-shilling novels1  ,percy's          
,reliques1 and a volume on etiquette4   
,he seldom varied his  occupations4 ,he 
had no profession4 ,the town talked of  
it4 ,they said3  #8,he lives upon his   
mother1' and were very angry4 ,they     
never let him  see this1 however1 for it
 was generally understood he would be a 
dangerous fellow to rouse2 but there was
 an uncle from whom ,sherman had        
expectations who sometimes wrote        
remonstrating4 ,mrs4 ,sherman resented  
these letters1 for she was afraid of her
 son going away to seek his             
fortune--perhaps even in ,america4 ,now 
this matter preyed somewhat on          
,sherman4 ,for three years or so he had 
been trying to make his mind up  and    
come to some decision4 ,sometimes when  
reading he would start and  press his   
lips together and knit his brows for a  
moment4    ,it will now be seen why the 

garden1 the book1 and the letter were   
the three symbols of his life1 summing  
up as they did his love of  out-of-door 
doings1 his meditations1 his anxieties4 
,his life in the  garden had granted    
serenity to his forehead1 the reading of
 his few  books had filled his eyes with
 reverie1 and the feeling that he was   
not  quite a good citizen had given a   
slight and occasional trembling to his  
lips4    ,he opened the letter4 ,its    
contents were what he had long expected4
  ,his uncle offered to take him into   
his office4 ,he laid it spread  out     
before him--a foot on each margin1 right
 and left--and looked at  it1 turning   
the matter over and over in his mind4   
,would he go8 would  he stay8 ,he did   
not like the idea much4 ,the lounger in 
him did not  enjoy the thought of       
,london4 ,gradually his mind wandered   
away into  scheming--infinite           
scheming--what would he do if he went1  
what would he  do if he did not go8     
,a beetle1 attracted by the faint       

sunlight1 had crawled out of its hole4  
,it saw the paper and crept on to it1   
the better to catch the sunlight4       
,sherman saw the beetle but his mind was
 not occupied with it4 #8,shall ,i  tell
 ,mary ,carton8' he was thinking4 ,mary 
had long been his adviser and  friend4  
,she was1 indeed1 everybody's adviser4  
,yes1 he would ask her  what to do4     
,then again he thought--no1 he would    
decide for himself4 ,the  beetle began  
to move4 #8,if it goes off the paper by 
the top ,i will ask  her--if by the     
bottom ,i will not4'    ,the beetle went
 off by the top4 ,he got up with an air 
of decision and  went into the          
tool-house and began sorting seeds and  
picking out the  light ones1 sometimes  
stopping to watch a spider2 for he knew 
he must  wait till the afternoon to see 
,mary ,carton4 ,the tool-house was a    
favourite place with him4 ,he often read
 there and watched the spiders  in the  
corners4    ,at dinner he was           
preoccupied4    #8,mother1' he said1    

#8would you much mind if we went away   
from this8'    #8,i have often told     
you1' she answered1 #8,i do not like one
 place better  than another4 ,i like    
them all equally little4'    ,after     
dinner he went again into the           
tool-house4 ,this time he did not  sort 
seeds--only watched the spiders4        
,,iii    ,towards evening he went out4  
,the pale sunshine of winter flickered  
on his path4 ,the wind blew the straws  
about4 ,he grew more and more           
melancholy4 ,a dog of his acquaintance  
was chasing rabbits in a field4  ,he had
 never been known to catch one1 and     
since his youth had never  seen one1 for
 he was almost wholly blind4 ,they were 
his form of the  eternal chimera4 ,the  
dog left the field and followed with a  
friendly  sniff4    ,they came together 
to the rectory4 ,mary ,carton was not   
in4 ,there was a  children's practice in
 the school-house4 ,they went thither4  
,a child of four or five with a swelling
 on its face was sitting  under a wall  

opposite the school door1 waiting to    
make faces at the  ,protestant children 
as they came out4 ,catching sight of the
 dog she  seemed to debate in her mind  
whether to throw a stone at it or call  
it to her4 ,she threw the stone and made
 it run4 ,in after times he  remembered 
all these things as though they were of 
importance4    ,he opened the latched   
green door and went in4 ,about twenty   
children  were singing in shrill voices1
 standing in a row at the further end4  
,at  the harmonium he recognised ,mary  
,carton1 who nodded to him and went on  
with her playing4 ,the whitewashed walls
 were covered with glazed prints  of    
animals2 at the further end was a large 
map of ,europe2 by a fire at  the near  
end was a table with the remains of tea4
 ,this tea was an idea  of ,mary's4     
,they had tea and cake first1 afterwards
 the singing4 ,the  floor was covered   
with crumbs4 ,the fire was burning      
brightly4 ,sherman  sat down beside it4 
,a child with a great deal of oil in her

 hair was  sitting on the end of a form 
at the other side4    #8,look1' she     
whispered1 #8,i have been sent away4 ,at
 any rate they are  further from the    
fire4 ,they have to be near the         
harmonium4 ,i would not  sing4 ,do you  
like hymns8 ,i don't4 ,will you have a  
cup of tea8 ,i can  make it quite well4 
,see1 ,i did not spill a drop4 ,have you
 enough milk8'  ,it was a cup full of   
milk--children's tea4 #8,look1 there is 
a mouse  carrying away a crumb4 ,hush6' 
,they sat there1 the child watching the 
mouse1 ,sherman pondering on his        
letter1 until the music ceased and the  
children came tramping down the  room4  
,the mouse having fled1 ,sherman's      
self-appointed hostess got up  with a   
sigh and went out with the others4      
,mary ,carton closed the harmonium and  
came towards ,sherman4 ,her face and    
all her movements showed a gentle       
decision of character4 ,her glance was  
serene1 her features regular1 her figure
 at the same time ample and  beautifully

 moulded2 her dress plain yet not       
without a certain air of  distinction4  
,in a different society she would have  
had many suitors4  ,but she was of a    
type that in country towns does not get 
married  at all4 ,its beauty is too     
lacking in pink and white1 its nature in
  that small assertiveness admired for  
character by the uninstructed4          
,elsewhere she would have known her own 
beauty--as it is right that all  the    
beautiful should--and have learnt how to
 display it1 to add gesture  to her calm
 and more of mirth and smiles to her    
grave cheerfulness4 ,as  it was1 her    
manner was much older than herself4     
,she sat down by ,sherman with the air  
of an old friend4 ,they had long  been  
accustomed to consult together on every 
matter4 ,they were such  good friends   
they had never fallen in love with each 
other4 ,perfect  love and perfect       
friendship are indeed incompatible2 for 
the one is a  battlefield where shadows 
war beside the combatants1 and the other

 a  placid country where ,consultation  
has her dwelling4    ,these two were    
such good friends that the most         
gossiping townspeople  had given them up
 with a sigh4 ,the doctor's wife1 a     
faded beauty and  devoted romance       
reader1 said one day1 as they passed1   
#8,they are such  cold creatures'2 the  
old maid who kept the ,berlin-wool shop 
remarked1  #8,they are not of the       
marrying sort'2 and now their comings   
and goings  were no longed noticed4     
,nothing had ever come to break in on   
their  quiet companionship and give     
obscurity as a dwelling-place for the   
needed illusions4 ,had one been weak and
 the other strong1 one plain and  the   
other handsome1 one guide and the other 
guided1 one wise and the  other foolish1
 love might have found them out in a    
moment1 for love is  based on inequality
 as friendship is on equality4          
#8,john1' said ,mary ,carton1 warming   
her hands at the fire1 #8,i have had a  
troublesome day4 ,did you come to help  

me teach the children to sing8 ,it  was 
good of you3 you were just too late4'   
#8,no1' he answered1 #8,i have come to  
be your pupil4 ,i am always your        
pupil4'    #8,yes1 and a most           
disobedient one4'    #8,well1 advise me 
this time at any rate4 ,my uncle has    
written1 offering  me a hundred pounds a
 year to begin with in his ,london      
office4 ,am ,i to  go8'    #8,you know  
quite well my answer1' she said4        
#8,indeed ,i do not4 ,why should ,i go8 
,i am contented here4 ,i am now making  
my garden ready for spring4 ,later on   
there will be trout fishing and         
saunters by the edge of the river in the
 evening when the bats are  flickering  
about4 ,in ,july there will be races4 ,i
 enjoy the bustle4 ,i  enjoy life here4 
,when anything annoys me ,i keep away   
from it1 that is  all4 ,you know ,i am  
always busy4 ,i have occupation and     
friends and am  quite contented4'       
#8,it is a great loss to many of us1 but
 you must go1 ,john1' she said4  #8,for 

you know you will be old some day1 and  
perhaps when the vitality  of youth is  
gone you will feel that your life is    
empty and find that  you are too old to 
change it2 and you will give up1        
perhaps1 trying  to be happy and        
likeable and become as the rest are4 ,i 
think ,i can  see you1' she said1 with a
 laugh1 #8a hypochondriac1 like ,gorman1
 the  retired excise officer1 or with a 
red nose like ,dr4 ,stephens1 or        
growing like ,peters1 the elderly cattle
 merchant1 who starves his  horse4'     
#8,they were bad material to begin      
with1' he answered1 #8and1 besides1 ,i  
cannot take my mother away with me at   
her age1 and ,i cannot leave her        
alone4'    #8,what annoyance it may be1'
 she answered1 #8will soon be forgotten4
 ,you  will be able to give her many    
more comforts4 ,we women--we all like to
  be dressed well and have pleasant     
rooms to sit in1 and a young man at     
your age should not be idle4 ,you must  
go away from this little backward       

place4 ,we shall miss you1 but you are  
clever and must go and work with  other 
men and have your talents admitted4'    
#8,how emulous you would have me6       
,perhaps ,i shall be well-to-do some    
day2  meanwhile ,i only wish to stay    
here with my friends4'    ,she went over
 to the window and looked out with her  
face turned from  him4 ,the evening     
light cast a long shadow behind her on  
the floor4  ,after some moments1 she    
said1 #8,i see people ploughing on the  
slope of  the hill4 ,there are people   
working on a house to the right4        
,everywhere  there are people busy1' and
 with a slight tremble in her voice she 
added1 #8and1 ,john1 nowhere are there  
any doing what they wish4 ,one has  to  
think of so many things--of duty and    
,god4'    #8,mary1 ,i didn't know you   
were so religious4'    ,coming towards  
him with a smile1 she said1 #8,no more  
did ,i1 perhaps4  ,but sometimes the    
self in one is very strong4 ,one has to 
think a great  deal and reason with it4 

,yet ,i try hard to lose myself in      
things about  me4 ,these children       
now--,i often lie awake thinking about  
them4 ,that  child who was talking to   
you is often on my mind4 ,i do not know 
what  will happen to her4 ,she makes me 
unhappy4 ,i am afraid she is not a good 
child at all4 ,i am afraid she is not   
taught well at home4 ,i try hard to  be 
gentle and patient with her4 ,i am a    
little displeased with myself  to-day1  
so ,i have lectured you4 ,there6 ,i have
 made my confession4 ,but1'  she added1 
taking one of his hands in both hers and
 reddening1 #8you  must go away4 ,you   
must not be idle4 ,you will gain        
everything4'    ,as she stood there with
 bright eyes1 the light of evening about
 her1  ,sherman for perhaps the first   
time saw how beautiful she was1 and was 
flattered by her interest4 ,for the     
first time also her presence did not    
make him at peace with the world4       
#8,will you be an obedient pupil8'      
#8,you know so much more than ,i do1' he

 answered1 #8and are so much wiser4  ,i 
will write to my uncle and agree to his 
offer4'    #8,now you must go home1' she
 said4 #8,you must not keep your mother 
waiting for her tea4 ,there6 ,i have    
raked the fire out4 ,we must not  forget
 to lock the door behind us4'    ,as    
they stood on the doorstep the wind blew
 a whirl of dead leaves  about them4    
#8,they are my old thoughts1' he said2  
#8see1 they are all withered4'    ,they 
walked together silently4 ,at the       
vicarage he left her and went  homeward4
    ,the deserted flour-store at the    
corner of two roads1 the house that  had
 been burnt hollow ten years before and 
still lifted its blackened  beams1 the  
straggling and leafless fruit-trees     
rising above garden  walls1 the church  
where he was christened--these          
foster-mothers of his  infancy seemed to
 nod and shake their heads over him4    
#8,mother1' he said1 hurriedly entering 
the room1 #8we are going to  ,london4'  
#8,as you wish4 ,i always knew you would

 be a rolling stone1' she  answered1 and
 went out to tell the servant that as   
soon as she had  finished the week's    
washing they must pack up everything1   
for they were  going to ,london4        
#8,yes1 we must pack up1' said the old  
peasant2 she did not stop peeling  the  
onion in her hand--she had not          
comprehended4 ,in the middle of the     
night she suddenly started up in bed    
with a pale face and a prayer to  the   
,virgin whose image hung over her       
head--she had now comprehended4         
,,iv    ,on ,january the #eth1 about two
 in the afternoon1 ,sherman sat on the  
deck of the steamer ,lavinia enjoying a 
period of sunshine between  two showers4
 ,the steamer ,lavinia was a            
cattle-boat4 ,it had been his  wish to  
travel by some more expensive route1 but
 his mother1 with  her old-fashioned    
ideas of duty1 would not hear of it1 and
 now1 as  he foresaw1 was extremely     
uncomfortable below1 while he1 who was a
  good sailor1 was pretty happy on deck1

 and would have been quite so  if the   
pigs would only tire of their continual 
squealing4 ,with the  exception of a    
very dirty old woman sitting by a crate 
of geese1 all  the passengers but       
himself were below4 ,this old woman made
 the journey  monthly with geese for the
 ,liverpool market4    ,sherman was     
dreaming4 ,he began to feel very        
desolate1 and commenced  a letter to    
,mary ,carton in his notebook to state  
this fact4 ,he was  a laborious and     
unpractised writer1 and found it helped 
him to make  a pencil copy4 ,sometimes  
he stopped and watched the puffin       
sleeping  on the waves4 ,each one of    
them had its head tucked in in a        
somewhat  different way4 #8,that is     
because their characters are different1'
 he  thought4    ,gradually he began to 
notice a great many corks floating by1  
one after  the other4 ,the old woman saw
 them too1 and said1 waking out of a    
half  sleep3 #8,misther ,john ,sherman1 
we will be in the ,mersey before        

evening4  ,why are ye goin' among them  
savages in ,london1 ,misther ,john8 ,why
 don't  ye stay among your own          
people--for what have we in this life   
but a  mouthful of air8'      ,,second  
,,part    ,,margaret ,,leland      ,i   
,sherman and his mother rented a small  
house on the north side of ,st4         
,peter's ,square1 ,hammersmith4 ,the    
front windows looked out on to the  old 
rank and green square1 the windows      
behind on to a little patch  of garden  
round which the houses gathered and     
pressed as though they  already longed  
to trample it out4 ,in this garden was a
 single tall pear  tree that never bore 
fruit4    ,three years passed by without
 any notable event4 ,sherman went every 
day  to his office in ,tower ,hill      
,street1 abused his work a great deal1  
and  was not unhappy perhaps4 ,he was   
probably a bad clerk1 but then nobody   
was very exacting with the nephew of the
 head of the firm4    ,the firm of      
,sherman and ,saunders1 ship-brokers1   

was a long-established1  old-fashioned  
house4 ,saunders had been dead some     
years and old ,michael  ,sherman ruled  
alone--an old bachelor full of family   
pride and pride  in his wealth4 ,he     
lived1 for all that1 in a very simple   
fashion4 ,his  mahogany furniture was a 
little solider than other people's      
perhaps4  ,he did not understand        
display4 ,display finds its excuse in   
some taste  good or bad1 and in a long  
industrious life ,michael ,sherman had  
never  found leisure to form one4 ,he   
seemed to live only from habit4 ,year by
  year he grew more silent1 gradually   
ceasing to regard anything but his      
family and his ships4 ,his family were  
represented by his nephew and his       
nephew's mother4 ,he did not feel much  
affection for them4 ,he believed  in his
 family--that was all4 ,to remind him of
 the other goal of his  thoughts hung   
round his private office pictures with  
such inscriptions  as #8,s4,s4 ,indus at
 the ,cape of ,good ,hope1' #8,the      

barque ,mary in the  ,mozambique        
,channel1' #8,the barque ,livingstone at
 ,port ,said1' and  many more4 ,every   
rope was drawn accurately with a ruler1 
and here and  there were added distant  
vessels sailing proudly by with all that
  indifference to perspective peculiar  
to the drawings of sailors4 ,on  every  
ship was the flag of the firm spread out
 to show the letters4    ,no man cared  
for old ,michael ,sherman4 ,every one   
liked ,john4 ,both were  silent1 but the
 young man had sometimes a talkative    
fit4 ,the old man  lived for his ledger1
 the young man for his dreams4    ,in   
spite of all these differences1 the     
uncle was on the whole pleased  with the
 nephew4 ,he noticed a certain stolidity
 that was of the family4  ,it sometimes 
irritated others4 ,it pleased him4 ,he  
saw a hundred  indications besides that 
made him say1 #8,he is a true ,sherman4 
,we  ,shermans begin that way and give  
up frivolity as we grow old4 ,we are    
all the same in the end4'           99  

99       99       99       99    ,mrs4  
,sherman and her son had but a small    
round of acquaintances--a few  rich     
people1 clients of the house of ,sherman
 and ,saunders for the most  part4      
,among these was a ,miss ,margaret      
,leland who lived with her mother1  the 
widow of the late ,henry ,leland1       
ship-broker1 on the eastern side  of    
,st4 ,peter's ,square4 ,their house was 
larger than the ,shermans'1 and         
noticeable among its fellows by the     
newly-painted hall-door4 ,within  on    
every side were bronzes and china vases 
and heavy curtains4 ,in all  were       
displayed the curious and vagrant taste 
of ,margaret ,leland3 the  rich ,italian
 and medival draperies of               
pre-,raphaelite taste jostling  the     
brightest and vulgarest products of more
 native and ,saxon  schools2 vases of   
the most artistic shape and colour side 
by side  with artificial flowers and    
stuffed birds4 ,this house belonged to  
the  ,lelands4 ,they had bought it in   

less prosperous days1 and having altered
  it according to their taste and the   
need of their growing welfare could  not
 decide to leave it4    ,sherman was an 
occasional caller at the ,lelands1 and  
had certainly a  liking1 though not a   
very deep one1 for ,margaret4 ,as yet he
 knew little  more about her than that  
she wore the most fascinating hats1 that
 the  late ,lord ,lytton was her        
favourite author1 and that she hated    
frogs4 ,it  is clear that she did not   
know that a ,french writer on magic says
 the  luxurious and extravagant hate    
frogs because they are cold1 solitary1  
and dreary4 ,had she done so1 she would 
have been more cautious about  revealing
 her tastes4    ,for the rest1 ,john    
,sherman was forgetting the town of     
,ballah4 ,he  corresponded indeed with  
,mary ,carton1 but his laborious        
letter-writing  made his letters fewer  
and fewer4 ,sometimes1 too1 he heard    
from ,howard1  who had a curacy at      
,glasgow and was on indifferent terms   

with his  parishioners4 ,they objected  
to his way of conducting the services4  
,his letters were full of it4 ,he would 
not give in1 he said1 whatever          
happened4 ,his conscience was involved4 
,,ii    ,one afternoon ,mrs4 ,leland    
called on ,mrs4 ,sherman4 ,she very     
often  called--this fat1 sentimental    
woman1 moving in the midst of a cloud   
of scent4 ,the day was warm1 and she    
carried her too elaborate and  heavy    
dress as a large caddis-fly drags its   
case with much labour and  patience4    
,she sat down on the sofa with obvious  
relief1 leaning so  heavily among the   
cushions that a clothes-moth fluttered  
out of an  antimacassar1 to be knocked  
down and crushed by ,mrs4 ,sherman1 who 
was  very quick in her movements4    ,as
 soon as she found her breath1 ,mrs4    
,leland began a long history of  her    
sorrows4 ,her daughter ,margaret had    
been jilted and was in despair1  had    
taken to her bed with every resolution  
to die1 and was growing  paler and      

paler4 ,the hard-hearted man1 though she
 knew he had heard1  did not relent4    
,she knew he had heard because her      
daughter had told his  sister all about 
it1 and his sister had no heart1 because
 she said it  was temper that ailed     
,margaret1 and she was a little vixen1  
and that  if she had not flirted with   
everybody the engagement would never    
have  been broken off4 ,but ,mr4 ,sims  
had no heart clearly1 as ,miss ,marriot 
and  ,mrs4 ,eliza ,taylor1 her          
daughter's friends1 said1 when they     
heard1 and  ,lock1 the butler1 said the 
same too1 and ,mary ,young1 the         
housemaid1  said so too--and she knew   
all about it1 for ,margaret used to read
 his  letters to her often when having  
her hair brushed4    #8,she must have   
been very fond of him1' said ,mrs4      
,sherman4    #8,she is so romantic1 my  
dear1' answered ,mrs4 ,leland1 with a   
sigh4 #8,i am  afraid she takes after an
 uncle on her father's side1 who wrote  
poetry  and wore a velvet jacket and ran

 away with an ,italian countess who used
  to get drunk4 ,when ,i married ,mr4   
,leland people said he was not worthy   
of me1 and that ,i was throwing myself  
away--and he in business1 too6  ,but    
,margaret is so romantic4 ,there was    
,mr4 ,walters1 a gentleman-farmer1  and 
,simpson who had a jeweller's shop--,i  
never approved of him6--and  ,mr4       
,samuelson1 and the ,hon4 ,william      
,scott4 ,she tired of them all except   
the ,hon4 ,william ,scott1 who tired of 
her because someone told him she  put   
belladonna in her eyes--and it is not   
true2 and now there is ,mr4  ,sims6'    
,she then cried a little1 and allowed   
herself to be consoled by  ,mrs4        
,sherman4    #8,you talk so             
intelligently and are so well informed1'
 she said at  parting4 #8,i have made a 
very pleasant call1' and the caddis-worm
 toiled  upon its way1 arriving in time 
at other cups of tea4      ,,iii    ,the
 day after ,mrs4 ,leland's call upon his
 mother1 ,john ,sherman1  returning home

 after his not very lengthy day in the  
office1 saw  ,margaret coming towards   
him4 ,she had a lawn-tennis racket under
 her  arm1 and was walking slowly on the
 shady side of the road4 ,she was a     
pretty girl with quite irregular        
features1 who though not really more    
than pretty1 had so much manner1 so much
 of an air1 that every one  called her a
 beauty3 a trefoil with the fragrance of
 a rose4    #8,mr4 ,sherman1' she cried1
 coming smiling to meet him1 #8,i have  
been ill1  but could not stand the house
 any longer4 ,i am going to the ,square 
to  play tennis4 ,will you come with    
me8'    #8,i am a bad player1' he said4 
#8,of course you are1' she answered2    
#8but you are the only person under a   
hundred to be found this afternoon4 ,how
 dull life is6' she continued1  with a  
sigh4 #8,you heard how ill ,i have been8
 ,what do you do all day8'    #8,i sit  
at a desk1 sometimes writing1 and       
sometimes1 when ,i get lazy1  looking up
 at the flies4 ,there are fourteen on   

the plaster of the  ceiling over my     
head4 ,they died two winters ago4 ,i    
sometimes think to  have them brushed   
off1 but they have been there so long   
now ,i hardly  like to4'    #8,ah6 you  
like them1' she said1 #8because you are 
accustomed to them4 ,in  most cases     
there is not much more to be said for   
our family affections1  ,i think4'      
#8,in a room close at hand1' he went on1
 #8there is1 you know1 ,uncle  ,michael1
 who never speaks4'    #8,precisely4    
,you have an uncle who never speaks2 ,i 
have a mother who  never is silent4 ,she
 went to see ,mrs4 ,sherman the other   
day4 ,what did  she say to her8'        
#8,nothing4'    #8,really6 ,what a dull 
thing existence is6'--this with a great 
sigh4  #8,when the ,fates are weaving   
our web of life some mischievous goblin 
always runs off with the dye-pot4       
,everything is dull and grey4 ,am ,i    
looking a little pale8 ,i have been so  
very ill4'    #8,a little bit pale1     
perhaps1' he said1 doubtfully4    ,the  

,square gate brought them to a stop4 ,it
 was locked1 but she had the  key4 ,the 
lock was stiff1 but turned easily for   
,john ,sherman4    #8,how strong you    
are1' she said4    ,it was an iridescent
 evening of spring4 ,the leaves of the  
bushes had  still their faint green4 ,as
 ,margaret darted about at the tennis1 a
 red  feather in her cap seemed to      
rejoice with its wearer4 ,everything was
 at  once gay and tranquil4 ,the whole  
world had that unreal air it assumes  at
 beautiful moments1 as though it might  
vanish at a touch like an  iridescent   
soap-bubble4    ,after a little         
,margaret said she was tired1 and1      
sitting on a  garden-seat among the     
bushes1 began telling him the plots of  
novels  lately read by her4 ,suddenly   
she cried3 #8,the novel-writers were all
  serious people like you4 ,they are so 
hard on people like me4 ,they  always   
make us come to a bad end4 ,they say we 
are always acting1  acting1 acting2 and 
what else do you serious people do8 ,you

 act before  the world4 ,i think1 do you
 know1 we act before ourselves4 ,all the
  old foolish kings and queens in       
history were like us4 ,they laughed and 
beckoned and went to the block for no   
very good purpose4 ,i daresay the       
headsmen were like you4'    #8,we would 
never cut off so pretty a head4'        
#8,oh1 yes1 you would--you would cut off
 mine to-morrow4' ,all this she  said   
vehemently1 piercing him with her bright
 eyes4 #8,you would cut off  my head    
to-morrow1' she repeated1 almost        
fiercely2 #8,i tell you you  would4'    
,her departure was always unexpected1   
her moods changed with so much          
rapidity4 #8,look6' she said1 pointing  
where the clock on ,st4 ,peter's  church
 showed above the bushes4 #8,five       
minutes to five4 ,in five minutes  my   
mother's tea-hour4 ,it is like growing  
old4 ,i go to gossip4 ,good-bye4'       
,the red feather shone for a moment     
among the bushes and was gone4      ,,iv
    ,the next day and the day after1    

,sherman was followed by those bright   
eyes4 ,when he opened a letter at his   
desk they seemed to gaze at him  from   
the open paper1 and to watch him from   
the flies upon the ceiling4  ,he was    
even a worse clerk than usual4    ,one  
evening he said to his mother1 #8,miss  
,leland has beautiful eyes4'    #8,my   
dear1 she puts belladonna in them4'     
#8,what a thing to say6'    #8,i know   
she does1 though her mother denies it4' 
#8,well1 she is certainly beautiful1' he
 answered4    #8,my dear1 if she has an 
attraction for you1 ,i don't want to    
discourage  it4 ,she is rich as girls go
 nowadays2 and one woman has one fault1 
another another3 one's untidy1 one      
fights with her servants1 one fights    
with her friends1 another has a crabbed 
tongue when she talks of them4'         
,sherman became again silent1 finding no
 fragment of romance in such a          
discourse4    ,in the next week or two  
he saw much of ,miss ,leland4 ,he met   
her almost  every evening on his return 

from the office1 walking slowly1 her    
racket  under her arm4 ,they played     
tennis much and talked more4 ,sherman   
began  to play tennis in his dreams4    
,miss ,leland told him all about        
herself1  her friends1 her inmost       
feelings2 and yet every day he knew less
 about  her4 ,it was not merely that    
saying everything she said nothing1 but 
that continually there came through her 
wild words the sound of the  mysterious 
flutes and viols of that unconscious    
nature which dwells  so much nearer to  
woman than to man4 ,how often do we not 
endow the  beautiful and candid with    
depth and mystery not their own8 ,we do 
not  know that we but hear in their     
voices those flutes and viols playing to
  us of the alluring secret of the      
world4    ,sherman had never known in   
early life what is called first love1   
and  now1 when he had passed thirty1 it 
came to him--that love more of the      
imagination than of either the senses or
 affections3 it was mainly the  eyes    

that followed him4    ,it is not to be  
denied that as this love grew serious it
 grew  mercenary4 ,now active1 now      
latent1 the notion had long been in     
,sherman's mind1 as we know1 that he    
should marry money4 ,a born  lounger1   
riches tempted him greatly4 ,when those 
eyes haunted him from  the fourteen     
flies on the ceiling1 he would say1 #8,i
 should be rich2  ,i should have a house
 in the country2 ,i should hunt and     
shoot1 and  have a garden and three     
gardeners2 ,i should leave this         
abominable  office4' ,then the eyes     
became even more beautiful4 ,it was a   
new kind of  belladonna4    ,he shrank a
 little1 however1 from choosing even    
this pleasant pathway4  ,he had planned 
many futures for himself and learnt to  
love them all4 ,it  was this that had   
made him linger on at ,ballah for so    
long1 and it was  this that now kept him
 undecided4 ,he would have to give up   
the universe  for a garden and three    
gardeners4 ,how sad it was to make      

substantial  even the best of his       
dreams4 ,how hard it was to submit to   
that  decree which compels every step we
 take in life to be a death in the      
imagination4 ,how difficult it was to be
 so enwrapped in this one new  hope as  
not to hear the lamentations that were  
going on in dim corners  of his mind4   
,one day he resolved to propose4 ,he    
examined himself in the glass in  the   
morning2 and for the first time in his  
life smiled to see how  good-looking he 
was4 ,in the evening before leaving the 
office he  peered at himself in the     
mirror over the mantlepiece in the room 
where  customers were received4 ,the sun
 was blazing through the window full on 
his face4 ,he did not look so well4     
,immediately all courage left him4      
,that evening he went out after his     
mother had gone to bed and walked  far  
along the towing-path of the ,thames4 ,a
 faint mist half covered  away the      
houses and factory chimneys on the      
further side2 beside him  a band of     

osiers swayed softly1 the deserted and  
full river lapping  their stems4 ,he    
looked on all these things with foreign 
eyes4 ,he had no  sense of possession4  
,indeed it seemed to him that everything
 in ,london  was owned by too many to be
 owned by anyone4 ,another river that he
  did seem to possess flowed through his
 memory with all its familiar           
sights--boys riding in the stream to the
 saddle-girths1 fish leaping1           
water-flies raising their small ripples1
 a swan asleep1 the wallflowers  growing
 on the red brick of the margin4 ,he    
grew very sad4 ,suddenly  a shooting    
star1 fiery and vagabond1 leaped from   
the darkness4 ,it  brought his mind     
again in a moment to ,margaret ,leland4 
,to marry her1 he  thought1 was to      
separate himself from the old life he   
loved so well4    ,crossing the river at
 ,putney1 he hurried homewards among the
  market-gardens4 ,nearing home1 the    
streets were deserted1 the shops        
closed4 ,where ,king ,street joins the  

,broadway1 entirely alone with  itself1 
in the very centre of the road a little 
black cat was leaping  after its shadow4
    #8,ah6' he thought1 #8it would be a 
good thing to be a little black cat4    
,to leap about in the moonlight and     
sleep in the sunlight1 and catch  flies1
 to have no hard tasks to do or hard    
decisions to come to1 to be  simple and 
full of animal spirits4'    ,at the     
corner of ,bridge ,road was a           
coffee-stall1 the only sign of human    
life4 ,he bought some cold meat and     
flung it to the little black cat4       
,v    ,some more days went by4 ,at last1
 one day1 arriving at the ,square       
somewhat earlier than usual1 and sitting
 down to wait for ,margaret on  the seat
 among the bushes1 he noticed the pieces
 of a torn-up letter  lying about4      
,beside him on the seat was a pencil1 as
 though someone had  been writing there 
and left it behind them4 ,the           
pencil-lead was worn  very short4 ,the  
letter had been torn up1 perhaps in a   

fit of impatience4    ,in a             
half-mechanical way he glanced over the 
scraps4 ,on one of them  he read3 #8,,my
 ,,dear ,,eliza1--,what an incurable    
gossip my mother is4 ,you  heard of my  
misfortune4 ,i nearly died----' ,here he
 had to search among  the scraps2 at    
last he found one that seemed to follow4
 #8,perhaps you  will hear news from me 
soon4 ,there is a handsome young man who
 pays me  attention1 and----' ,here     
another piece had to be found4 #8,i     
would take  him though he had a face    
like the man in the moon1 and limped    
like the  devil at the theatre4 ,perhaps
 ,i am a little in love4 ,oh6 friend of 
my heart--' ,here it broke off again4   
,he was interested1 and searched  the   
grass and the bushes for fragments4     
,some had been blown to quite  a        
distance4 ,he got together several      
sentences now4 #8,i will not spend      
another winter with my mother for       
anything4 ,all this is1 of course1 a    
secret4 ,i had to tell somebody2 secrets

 are bad for my health4 ,perhaps  it    
will all come to nothing4' ,then the    
letter went off into dress1 the  last   
novel the writer had read1 and so forth4
 ,a ,miss ,sims1 too1 was  mentioned1   
who had said some unkind thing of the   
writer4    ,sherman was greatly amused4 
,it did not seem to him wrong to        
read--we do  not mind spying on one of  
the crowd1 any more than on the         
personages of  literature4 ,it never    
occurred to him that he1 or any friend  
of his1 was  concerned in these pencil  
scribblings4    ,suddenly he saw this   
sentence3 #8,heigho6 your poor ,margaret
 is falling  in love again2 condole with
 her1 my dear4'    ,he started4 ,the    
name #8,margaret1' the mention of ,miss 
,sims1 the style  of the whole letter1  
all made plain the authorship4 ,very    
desperately  ashamed of himself1 he got 
up and tore each scrap of paper into    
still  smaller fragments and scattered  
them far apart4    ,that evening he     
proposed and was accepted4      ,,vi    

,for several days there was a new heaven
 and a new earth4 ,miss ,leland  seemed 
suddenly impressed with the seriousness 
of life4 ,she was  gentleness itself2   
and as ,sherman sat on ,sunday mornings 
in his  pocket-handkerchief of a garden 
under the one tree1 with its smoky      
stem1 watching the little circles of    
sunlight falling from the leaves  like a
 shower of new sovereigns1 he gazed at  
them with a longer and  keener joy than 
heretofore--a new heaven and a new      
earth1 surely6    ,sherman planted and  
dug and raked this pocket-handkerchief  
of a garden  most diligently1 rooting   
out the docks and dandelions and        
mouse-ear and  the patches of untimely  
grass4 ,it was the point of contact     
between his  new life and the old4 ,it  
was far too small and unfertile and     
shaded-in  to satisfy his love of       
gardener's experiments and early        
vegetables4  ,perforce this husbandry   
was too little complex for his          
affections to  gather much round plant  

and bed4 ,his garden in ,ballah used to 
touch him  like the growth of a young   
family4 ,now he was content to satisfy  
his  barbaric sense of colour2 right    
round were planted alternate hollyhock  
and sunflower1 and behind them          
scarlet-runners showed their inch-high  
cloven shoots4    ,one ,sunday it       
occurred to him to write to his friends 
on the matter  of his engagement4 ,he   
numbered them over4 ,howard1 one or two 
less  intimate1 and ,mary ,carton4 ,at  
that name he paused2 he would not write 
just yet4      ,,vii    ,one ,saturday  
there was a tennis party4 ,miss ,leland 
devoted herself all  day to a young     
,foreign ,office clerk4 ,she played     
tennis with him1 talked  with him1 drank
 lemonade with him1 had neither thoughts
 nor words for  anyone else4 ,john      
,sherman was quite happy4 ,tennis was   
always a bore1  and now he was not      
called upon to play4 ,it had not struck 
him there was  occasion for jealousy4   
,as the guests were dispersing1 his     

betrothed came to him4 ,her manner      
seemed strange4    #8,does anything ail 
you1 ,margaret8' he asked1 as they left 
the ,square4    #8,everything1' she     
answered1 looking about her with        
ostentatious  secrecy4 #8,you are a most
 annoying person4 ,you have no feeling2 
you  have no temperament2 you are quite 
the most stupid creature ,i was ever    
engaged to4'    #8,what is wrong with   
you8' he asked1 in bewilderment4        
#8,don't you see1' she replied1 with a  
broken voice1 #8,i flirted all day  with
 that young clerk8 ,you should have     
nearly killed me with jealousy4  ,you do
 not love me a bit6 ,there is no knowing
 what ,i might do6'    #8,well1 you     
know1' he said1 #8it was not right of   
you4 ,people might say1  8,look at ,john
 ,sherman2 how furious he must be60 ,to 
be sure1 ,i wouldn't  be furious a bit2 
but then they'd go about saying ,i was4 
,it would not  matter1 of course2 but   
you know it is not right of you4'       
#8,it is no use pretending you have     

feeling4 ,it is all that miserable      
little town you come from1 with its     
sleepy old shops and its sleepy  old    
society4 ,i would give up loving you    
this minute1' she added1 with  a        
caressing look1 #8if you had not that   
beautiful bronzed face4 ,i will  improve
 you4 ,to-morrow evening you must come  
to the opera4' ,suddenly  she changed   
the subject4 #8,do you see that little  
fat man coming out of  the ,square and  
staring at me8 ,i was engaged to him    
once4 ,look at the  four old ladies     
behind him1 shaking their bonnets at me4
 ,each has some  story about me1 and it 
will be all the same in a hundred       
years4'    ,after this he had hardly a  
moment's peace4 ,she kept him           
continually  going to theatres1 operas1 
parties4 ,these last were an especial   
trouble2 for it was her wont to gather  
about her an admiring circle to  listen 
to her extravagancies1 and he was no    
longer at the age when we  enjoy        
audacity for its own sake4      ,,viii  

,gradually those bright eyes of his     
imagination1 watching him from  letters 
and from among the fourteen flies on the
 ceiling1 had ceased to  be centres of  
peace4 ,they seemed like two whirlpools1
 wherein the order  and quiet of his    
life were absorbed hourly and daily4    
,he still thought sometimes of the      
country house of his dreams and of  the 
garden and the three gardeners1 but     
somehow they had lost half  their charm4
    ,he had written to ,howard and some 
others1 and commenced1 at last1 a       
letter to ,mary ,carton4 ,it lay        
unfinished on his desk2 a thin coating  
of  dust was gathering upon it4    ,mrs4
 ,leland called continually on ,mrs4    
,sherman4 ,she sentimentalized  over the
 lovers1 and even wept over them2 each  
visit supplied the  household with      
conversation for a week4    ,every      
,sunday morning--his letter-writing     
time--,sherman looked at his            
uncompleted letter4 ,gradually it became
 plain to him he could not  finish it4  

,it had never seemed to him he had more 
than friendship  for ,mary ,carton1 yet 
somehow it was not possible to tell her 
of this  love-affair4    ,the more his  
betrothed troubled him the more he      
thought about the  unfinished letter4   
,he was a man standing at the cross     
roads4    ,whenever the wind blew from  
the south he remembered his friend1 for 
that is the wind that fills the heart   
with memory4    ,one ,sunday he removed 
the dust from the face of the letter    
almost  reverently1 as though it were   
the dust from the wheels of destiny4    
,but  the letter remained unfinished4   
,,ix    ,one ,wednesday in ,june        
,sherman arrived home an hour earlier   
than  usual from his office1 as his wont
 was the first ,wednesday in every      
month1 on which day his mother was at   
home to her friends4 ,they had  not many
 callers4 ,to-day there was no one as   
yet but a badly-dressed  old lady his   
mother had picked up he knew not where4 
,she had been  looking at his photograph

 album1 and recalling names and dates   
from her own prosperous times4 ,as she  
went out ,miss ,leland came in4  ,she   
gave the old lady in passing a critical 
look that made the poor  creature very  
conscious of a threadbare mantle1 and   
went over to ,mrs4  ,sherman1 holding   
out both hands4 ,sherman1 who knew all  
his mother's  peculiarities1 noticed on 
her side a slight coldness2 perhaps she 
did  not altogether like this beautiful 
dragon-fly4    #8,i have come1' said    
,miss ,leland1 #8to tell ,john that he  
must learn to  paint4 ,music and society
 are not enough4 ,there is nothing like 
art to  give refinement4' ,then turning 
to ,john ,sherman--#8,my dear1 ,i will  
make  you quite different4 ,you are a   
dreadful barbarian1 you know4'          
#8,what ails me1 ,margaret8'    #8,just 
look at that necktie6 ,nothing shows a  
man's cultivation like  his necktie6    
,then your reading6 ,you never read     
anything but old books  nobody wants to 
talk about4 ,i will lend you three      

everyone has read  this month4 ,you     
really must acquire small talk and      
change your necktie4'    ,presently she 
noticed the photograph-book lying open  
on a chair4    #8,oh6' she cried1 #8,i  
must have another look at ,john's       
beauties4'    ,it was a habit of his to 
gather all manner of pretty faces4 ,it  
came  from incipient old bachelorhood1  
perhaps4    ,margaret criticised each   
photograph in turn with1 #8,ah6 she     
looks as if  she had some life in her6' 
or #8,i do not like your sleepy         
eyelids1' or  some such phrase4 ,the    
mere relations were passed by without a 
word4 ,one  face occurred several       
times--a quiet face4 ,as ,margaret came 
on this one  for the third time1 ,mrs4  
,sherman1 who seemed a little resentful 
about  something1 said3 #8,that is his  
friend1 ,mary ,carton4'    #8,he told me
 about her4 ,he has a book she gave him4
 ,so that is she8 ,how  interesting6 ,i 
pity these poor country people4 ,it must
 be hard to keep  from getting stupid4' 

#8,my friend is not at all stupid1' said
 ,sherman4    #8,does she speak with a  
brogue8 ,i remember you told me she was 
very  good4 ,it must be difficult to    
keep from talking platitudes when one is
  very good4'    #8,you are quite wrong 
about her4 ,you would like her very     
much1' he  replied4    #8,she is one of 
those people1 ,i suppose1 who can only  
talk about their  relatives1 or their   
families1 or about their friends'       
children3 how  this one has got the     
whooping-cough1 and this one is getting 
well of  the measles6' ,she kept swaying
 one of the leaves between her finger   
and thumb impatiently4 #8,what a strange
 way she does her hair2 and what  an    
ugly dress6'    #8,you must not talk    
that way about her--she is my great     
friend4'    #8,friend6 friend6' she     
burst out4 #8,he thinks ,i will believe 
in  friendship between a man and a      
woman6'    ,she got up1 and said1       
turning round with an air of changing   
the  subject1 #8,have you written to    

your friends about our engagement8 ,you 
had not done so when ,i asked you       
lately4'    #8,i have4'    #8,all8'     
#8,well1 not all4'    #8,your great     
friend1 ,miss ---- what do you call     
her8'    #8,miss ,carton4 ,i have not   
written to her4'    ,she tapped         
impatiently with her foot4    #8,they   
were really old companions--that is     
all1' said ,mrs4 ,sherman1  wishing to  
mend matters4 #8,they were both readers2
 that brought them  together4 ,i never  
much fancied her4 ,yet she was well     
enough as a  friend1 and helped1 maybe1 
with reading1 and the gardening1 and    
his good bringing-up1 to keep him from  
the idle young men of the               
neighbourhood4'    #8,you must make him 
write and tell her at once--you must1   
you must6'  almost sobbed out ,miss     
,leland4    #8,i promise1' he answered4 
,immediately returning to herself1 she  
cried1 #8,if ,i were in her place  ,i   
know what ,i would like to do when ,i   
got the letter4 ,i know who ,i  would   

like to kill6'--this with a laugh as she
 went over and looked at  herself in the
 mirror on the mantlepiece4      ,,third
 ,,part    ,,john ,,sherman ,,revisits  
,,ballah      ,i    ,the others had     
gone1 and ,sherman was alone in the     
drawing-room by  himself1 looking       
through the window4 ,never had ,london  
seemed to him so  like a reef whereon he
 was cast away4 ,in the ,square the     
bushes were  covered with dust2 some    
sparrows were ruffling their feathers on
 the  side-walk2 people passed1         
continually disturbing them4 ,the sky   
was full  of smoke4 ,a terrible feeling 
of solitude in the midst of a multitude 
oppressed him4 ,a portion of his life   
was ending4 ,he thought that soon  he   
would be no longer a young man1 and now1
 at the period when the  desire of      
novelty grows less1 was coming the great
 change of his life4  ,he felt he was of
 those whose granaries are in the past4 
,and now this  past would never renew   
itself4 ,he was going out into the      

distance as  though with strange sailors
 in a strange ship4    ,he longed to see
 again the town where he had spent his  
childhood3 to  see the narrow roads and 
mean little shops4 ,and perhaps it would
 be  easier to tell her who had been the
 friend of so many years of this        
engagement in his own person than by    
letter4 ,he wondered why it was so  hard
 to write so simple a thing4    ,it was 
his custom to act suddenly on his       
decisions4 ,he had not made  many in his
 life4 ,the next day he announced at the
 office that he would  be absent for    
three or four days4 ,he told his mother 
he had business in  the country4    ,his
 betrothed met him on the way to the    
terminus1 as he was walking1  bag in    
hand1 and asked where he was going4 #8,i
 am going on business to  the country1' 
he said1 and blushed4 ,he was creeping  
away like a thief4      ,,ii    ,he     
arrived in the town of ,ballah by rail1 
for he had avoided the slow             
cattle-steamer and gone by ,dublin4     

,it was the forenoon1 and he made for   
the ,imperial ,hotel to wait till  four 
in the evening1 when he would find ,mary
 ,carton in the schoolhouse1  for he had
 timed his journey so as to arrive on   
,thursday1 the day of  the children's   
practice4    ,as he went through the    
streets his heart went out to every     
familiar  place and sight3 the rows of  
tumble-down thatched cottages2 the      
slated  roofs of the shops2 the women   
selling gooseberries2 the river bridge2 
the high walls of the garden where it   
was said the gardener used to see  the  
ghost of a former owner in the shape of 
a rabbit2 the street corner  no child   
would pass at nightfall for fear of the 
headless soldier2  the deserted         
flour-store2 the wharves covered with   
grass4 ,all these  he watched with      
,celtic devotion1 that devotion carried 
to the ends of  the world by the ,celtic
 exiles1 and since old time surrounding 
their  journeyings with rumour of       
plaintive songs4    ,he sat in the      

window of the ,imperial ,hotel1 now full
 of guests4 ,he  did not notice any of  
them4 ,he sat there meditating1         
meditating4 ,grey  clouds covering the  
town with flying shadows rushed by like 
the old  and dishevelled eagles that    
,maeldune saw hurrying towards the      
waters  of life4 ,below in the street   
passed by country people1 townspeople1  
travellers1 women with baskets1 boys    
driving donkeys1 old men with  sticks2  
sometimes he recognized a face or was   
recognized himself1 and  welcomed by    
some familiar voice4    #8,you have come
 home a handsomer gentleman than your   
father1 ,misther  ,john1 and he was a   
neat figure of a man1 ,god bless him6'  
said the  waiter1 bringing him his      
lunch2 and in truth ,sherman had grown  
handsomer for these years away4 ,his    
face and gesture had more of  dignity1  
for on the centre of his nature life had
 dropped a pinch of  experience4    ,at 
four he left the hotel and waited near  
the schoolhouse till the  children came 

running out4 ,one or two of the elder   
ones he recognized  but turned away4    
,,iii    ,mary ,carton was locking the  
harmonium as he went in4 ,she came to   
meet  him with a surprised and joyful   
air4    #8,how often ,i have wished to  
see you6 ,when did you come8 ,how well  
you  remembered my habits to know where 
to find me4 ,my dear ,john1 how glad ,i 
am to see you6'    #8,you are the same  
as when ,i left1 and this room is the   
same1 too4'    #8,yes1' she answered1   
#8the same1 only ,i have had some new   
prints hung  up--prints of fruits and   
leaves and bird-nests4 ,it was only done
 last  week4 ,when people choose        
pictures and poems for children they    
choose  out such domestic ones4 ,i would
 not have any of the kind2 children are 
such undomestic animals4 ,but1 ,john1 ,i
 am so glad to see you in this  old     
schoolhouse again4 ,so little has       
changed with us here4 ,some have  died  
and some have been married1 and we are  
all a little older and the  trees a     

little taller4'    #8,i have come to    
tell you ,i am going to be married4'    
,she became in a moment perfectly white1
 and sat down as though attacked  with  
faintness4 ,her hand on the edge of the 
chair trembled4    ,sherman looked at   
her1 and went on in a bewildered1       
mechanical way3 #8,my  betrothed is a   
,miss ,leland4 ,she has a good deal of  
money4 ,you know my  mother always      
wished me to marry some one with money4 
,her father1 when  alive1 was an old    
client of ,sherman and ,saunders4 ,she  
is much admired  in society4' ,gradually
 his voice became a mere murmur4 ,he did
 not seem  to know that he was speaking4
 ,he stopped entirely4 ,he was looking  
at  ,mary ,carton4    ,everything around
 him was as it had been some three years
 before4 ,the  table was covered with   
cups and the floor with crumbs4 ,perhaps
 the  mouse pulling at a crumb under the
 table was the same mouse as on that    
other evening4 ,the only difference was 
the brooding daylight of summer  and the

 ceaseless chirruping of the sparrows in
 the ivy outside4 ,he  had a confused   
sense of having lost his way4 ,it was   
just the same  feeling he had known as a
 child1 when one dark night he had taken
 a  wrong turning1 and instead of       
arriving at his own house1 found himself
  at a landmark he knew was miles from  
home4    ,a moment earlier1 however     
difficult his life1 the issues were     
always  definite2 now suddenly had      
entered the obscurity of another's      
interest4    ,before this it had not    
occurred to him that ,mary ,carton had  
any  stronger feeling for him than warm 
friendship4    ,he began again1 speaking
 in the same mechanical way3 #8,miss    
,leland  lives with her mother near us4 
,she is very well educated and very well
  connected1 though she has lived always
 among business people4'    ,miss       
,carton1 with a great effort1 had       
recovered her composure4    #8,i        
congratulate you1' she said4 #8,i hope  
you will be always happy4 ,you  came    

here on some business for your firm1 ,i 
suppose8 ,i believe they  have some     
connection with the town still4'    #8,i
 only came here to tell you ,i was going
 to be married4'    #8,do you not think 
it would have been better to have       
written8' she said1  beginning to put   
away the children's tea-things in a     
cupboard by the  fireplace4    #8,it    
would have been better1' he answered1   
drooping his head4    ,without a word1  
locking the door behind them1 they went 
out4 ,without  a word they walked the   
grey streets4 ,now and then a woman or a
 child  curtseyed as they passed4 ,some 
wondered1 perhaps1 to see these old     
friends so silent4 ,at the rectory they 
bade each other good-bye4    #8,i hope  
you will be always happy1' she said4    
#8,i will pray for you and  your wife4  
,i am very busy with the children and   
old people1 but ,i shall  always find a 
moment to wish you well in4 ,good-bye   
now4'    ,they parted2 the gate in the  
wall closed behind her4 ,he stayed for a

  few moments looking up at the tops of 
the trees and bushes showing over  the  
wall1 and at the house a little way     
beyond4 ,he stood considering  his      
problem--her life1 his life4 ,his1 at   
any rate1 would have incident  and      
change2 hers would be the narrow        
existence of a woman who1 failing  to   
fulfil the only abiding wish she has    
ever formed1 seeks to lose  herself in  
routine--mournfulest of things on this  
old planet4    ,this had been revealed3 
he loved ,mary ,carton1 she loved him4  
,he  remembered ,margaret ,leland1 and  
murmured she did well to be jealous4    
,then all her contemptuous words about  
the town and its inhabitants came  into 
his mind4 ,once they made no impression 
on him1 but now the sense  of personal  
identity having been disturbed by this  
sudden revelation1  alien as they were  
to his way of thinking1 they began to   
press in on  him4 ,mary1 too1 would have
 agreed with them1 he thought2 and might
 it  be that at some distant time weary 

monotony in abandonment would have  so  
weighed down the spirit of ,mary ,carton
 that she would be merely one  of the   
old and sleepy whose dulness filled the 
place like a cloud8    ,he went sadly   
towards the hotel2 everything about him1
 the road1 the  sky1 the feet wherewith 
he walked seeming phantasmal and without
  meaning4    ,he told the waiter he    
would leave by the first train in the   
morning4  #8,what6 and you only just    
come home8' the man answered4 ,he       
ordered  coffee and could not drink it4 
,he went out and came in again          
immediately4 ,he went down into the     
kitchen and talked to the servants4     
,they told him of everything that had   
happened since he had gone4 ,he was  not
 interested1 and went up to his room4   
#8,i must go home and do what  people   
expect of me2 one must be careful to do 
that4'    ,through all the journey home 
his problem troubled him4 ,he saw the   
figure of ,mary ,carton perpetually     
passing through a round of monotonous   

duties4 ,he saw his own life among      
aliens going on endlessly1 wearily4     
,from ,holyhead to ,london his          
fellow-travellers were a lady and her   
three  young daughters1 the eldest about
 twelve4 ,the smooth faces shining with 
well-being became to him ominous        
symbols4 ,he hated them4 ,they were     
symbolic of the indifferent world about 
to absorb him1 and of the vague         
something that was dragging him inch by 
inch from the nook he had made  for     
himself in the chimney-corner4 ,he was  
at one of those dangerous  moments when 
the sense of personal identity is       
shaken1 when one's past  and present    
seem about to dissolve partnership4 ,he 
sought refuge in  memory1 and counted   
over every word of ,mary's he could     
remember4 ,he  forgot the present and   
the future4 #8,without love1' he said to
 himself1  #8we would be either gods or 
vegetables4'    ,the rain beat on the   
window of the carriage4 ,he began to    
listen2  thought and memory became a    

blank2 his mind was full of the sound of
  rain-drops4      ,,fourth ,,part      
,,the ,,rev4 ,,william ,,howard      ,i 
,after his return to ,london ,sherman   
for a time kept to himself1 going       
straight home from his office1 moody and
 self-absorbed1 trying not to  consider 
his problem--her life1 his life4 ,he    
often repeated to himself1  #8,i must do
 what people expect of me4 ,it does not 
rest with me now--my  choosing time is  
over4' ,he felt that whatever way he    
turned he would do  a great evil to     
himself and others4 ,to his nature all  
sudden decisions  were difficult1 and so
 he kept to the groove he had entered   
upon4 ,it  did not even occur to him to 
do otherwise4 ,he never thought of      
breaking  this engagement off and       
letting people say what they would4 ,he 
was  bound in hopelessly by a chain of  
congratulations4    ,a week passed      
slowly as a month4 ,the wheels of the   
cabs and carriages  seemed to be rolling
 through his mind4 ,he often remembered 

the quiet  river at the end of his      
garden in the town of ,ballah4 ,how the 
weeds  swayed there1 and the salmon     
leaped6 ,at the week's end came a note  
from ,miss ,leland1 complaining of his  
neglecting her so many days4 ,he  sent a
 rather formal answer1 promising to call
 soon4 ,to add to his  other troubles1 a
 cold east wind arose and made him      
shiver continually4    ,one evening he  
and his mother were sitting silent1 the 
one knitting1  the other half-asleep4   
,he had been writing letters and was now
 in a  reverie4 ,round the walls were   
one or two drawings1 done by him at     
school4 ,his mother had got them framed4
 ,his eyes were fixed on a  drawing of a
 stream and some astonishing cows4    ,a
 few days ago he had found an old       
sketchbook for children among some      
forgotten papers1 which taught how to   
draw a horse by making three  ovals for 
the basis of his body1 one lying down in
 the middle1 two  standing up at each   
end for flank and chest1 and how to draw

 a cow by  basing its body on a square4 
,he kept trying to fit squares into the 
cows4 ,he was half inclined to take them
 out of their frames and retouch  on    
this new principle4 ,then he began      
somehow to remember the child with  the 
swollen face who threw a stone at the   
dog the day he resolved to  leave home  
first4 ,then some other image came4 ,his
 problem moved before  him in a         
disjointed way4 ,he was dropping asleep4
 ,through his reverie  came the click1  
click of his mother's needles4 ,she had 
found some  ,london children to knit    
for4 ,he was at that marchland between  
waking  and dreaming where our thoughts 
begin to have a life of their own--the  
region where art is nurtured and        
inspiration born4    ,he started1       
hearing something sliding and rustling1 
and looked up to  see a piece of        
cardboard fall from one end of the      
mantelpiece1 and1  driven by a slight   
gust of air1 circle into the ashes under
 the grate4    #8,oh1' said his mother1 

#8that is the portrait of the locum     
tenens4'  ,she still spoke of the ,rev4 
,william ,howard by the name she had    
first  known him by4 #8,he is always    
being photographed4 ,they are all over  
the  house1 and ,i1 an old woman1 have  
not had one taken all my life4 ,take it 
out with the tongs4' ,her son1 after    
some poking in the ashes1 for it  had   
fallen far back1 brought out a somewhat 
dusty photograph4 #8,that1'  she        
continued1 #8is one he sent us two or   
three months ago4 ,it has been  lying in
 the letter-rack since4'    #8,he is not
 so spick-and-span-looking as usual1'   
said ,sherman1 rubbing  the ashes off   
the photograph with his sleeve4    #8,by
 the by1' his mother replied1 #8he has  
lost his parish1 ,i hear4 ,he  is very  
medival1 you know1 and he lately        
preached a sermon to prove  that        
children who die unbaptized are lost4   
,he had been reading up the  subject and
 was full of it4 ,the mothers turned    
against him1 not being  so familiar with

 ,st4 ,augustine as he was4 ,there were 
other reasons in  plenty too4 ,i wonder 
that anyone can stand that monkeyish    
fantastic  family4'    ,as the way is   
with so many country-bred people1 the   
world for her was  divided up into      
families rather than individuals4       
,while she was talking1 ,sherman1 who   
had returned to his chair1 leant  over  
the table and began to write hurriedly4 
,she was continuing her  denunciation   
when he interrupted with3 #8,mother1 ,i 
have just written  this letter to him3--
        #88,,my ,,dear ,,howard3        
#88,will you come and spend the autumn  
with us8 ,i hear      you are unoccupied
 just now4 ,i am engaged to be          
married1 as you know2 it will be a long 
engagement4      ,you will like my      
betrothed4 ,i hope you will be great    
friends4                                
#88,yours expectantly1                  
'8,,john ,,sherman40'    #8,you rather  
take me aback1' she said4    #8,i really
 like him1' he answered4 #8,you were    

always prejudiced against  the ,howards4
 ,forgive me1 but ,i really want very   
much to have him here4'    #8,well1 if  
you like him1 ,i suppose ,i have no     
objection4'    #8,i do like him4 ,he is 
very clever1' said her son1 #8and knows 
a great  deal4 ,i wonder he does not    
marry4 ,do you not think he would make a
 good  husband8--for you must admit he  
is sympathetic4'    #8,it is not        
difficult to sympathize with everyone if
 you have no true  principles and       
convictions4'    ,principles and        
convictions were her names for that     
strenuous  consistency attained without 
trouble by men and women of few ideas4  
#8,i am sure you will like him better1' 
said the other1 #8when you see  more of 
him4'    #8,is that photograph quite    
spoilt8' she answered4    #8,no2 there  
was nothing on it but ashes4'    #8,that
 is a pity1 for one less would be       
something4'    ,after this they both    
became silent1 she knitting1 he gazing  
at the cows  browsing at the edge of    

their stream1 and trying to fit squares 
into  their bodies2 but now a smile     
played about his lips4    ,mrs4 ,sherman
 looked a little troubled4 ,she would   
not object to any  visitor of her son's1
 but quite made up her mind in no manner
 to put  herself out to entertain the   
,rev4 ,william ,howard4 ,she was puzzled
 as  well4 ,she did not understand the  
suddenness of this invitation4 ,they    
usually talked over things for weeks4   
,,ii    ,next day his fellow-clerks     
noticed a decided improvement in        
,sherman's  spirits4 ,he had a lark-like
 cheerfulness and alacrity breaking out 
at  odd moments4 ,when evening came he  
called1 for the first time since his    
return1 on ,miss ,leland4 ,she scolded  
him for having answered her note  in    
such a formal way1 but was sincerely    
glad to see him return to his           
allegiance4 ,we have said he had        
sometimes1 though rarely1 a talkative   
fit4 ,he had one this evening4 ,the last
 play they had been to1 the  last party1

 the picture of the year1 all in turn he
 glanced at4 ,she  was delighted4 ,her  
training had not been in vain4 ,her     
barbarian was  learning to chatter4     
,this flattered her a deal4    #8,i was 
never engaged1' she thought1 #8to a more
 interesting creature4'    ,when he had 
risen to go1 ,sherman said3 #8,i have a 
friend coming to visit  me in a few     
days2 you will suit each other          
delightfully4 ,he is very  medival4'    
#8,do tell me about him2 ,i like        
everything medival4'    #8,oh1' he      
cried1 with a laugh1 #8his medivalism is
 not in your line4 ,he  is neither a gay
 troubadour nor a wicked knight4 ,he is 
a ,high ,church  curate4'    #8,do not  
tell me anything more about him1' she   
answered2 #8,i will try to  be civil to 
him1 but you know ,i never liked        
curates4 ,i have been an  agnostic for  
many years4 ,you1 ,i believe1 are       
orthodox4'    ,as ,sherman was on his   
way home he met a fellow-clerk1 and     
stopped him  with3 #8,are you an        

agnostic8'    #8,no4 ,why1 what is      
that8'    #8,oh1 nothing6 ,good-bye1' he
 made answer1 and hurried on his way4   
,,iii    ,the letter reached the ,rev4  
,william ,howard at the right moment1   
arriving as it did in the midst of a    
crisis in his fortunes4 ,in the  course 
of a short life he had lost many        
parishes4 ,he considered  himself a     
martyr1 but was considered by his       
enemies a clerical coxcomb4  ,he had a  
habit of getting his mind possessed with
 some strange opinion1  or what seemed  
so to his parishioners1 and of preaching
 it while the  notion lasted in the most
 startling way4 ,the sermon on          
unbaptized  children was an instance4   
,it was not so much that he thought it  
true as  that it possessed him for a    
day4 ,it was not so much the thought as 
his  own relation to it that allured    
him4 ,then1 too1 he loved what appeared 
to his parishioners to be the most      
unusual and dangerous practices4 ,he    
put candles on the altar and crosses in 

unexpected places4 ,he delighted  in the
 intricacies of ,high ,church costume1  
and was known to recommend  confession  
and prayers for the dead4    ,gradually 
the anger of his parishioners would     
increase4 ,the rector1  the washerwoman1
 the labourers1 the squire1 the doctor1 
the  school-teachers1 the shoemakers1   
the butchers1 the seamstresses1  the    
local journalist1 the master of the     
hounds1 the innkeeper1 the  veterinary  
surgeon1 the magistrate1 the children   
making mud pies1  all would be filled   
with one dread--popery4 ,then he would  
fly for  consolation to his little      
circle of the faithful1 the younger     
ladies1 who still repeated his fine     
sentiments and saw him in their         
imaginations standing perpetually before
 a wall covered with tapestry  and      
holding a crucifix in some constrained  
and ancient attitude4 ,at  last he would
 have to go1 feeling for his            
parishioners a gay and lofty  disdain1  
and for himself that reverent           

approbation one gives to the  captains  
who lead the crusade of ideas against   
those who merely sleep  and eat4 ,an    
efficient crusader he certainly was--too
 efficient1 indeed1  for his efficiency 
gave to all his thoughts a certain      
over-completeness  and isolation1 and a 
kind of hardness to his mind4 ,his      
intellect was  like a musician's        
instrument with no sounding-board4 ,he  
could think  carefully and cleverly1 and
 even with originality1 but never in    
such  a way as to make his thoughts an  
illusion to something deeper than       
themselves4 ,in this he was the reverse 
of poetical1 for poetry is  essentially 
a touch from behind a curtain4    ,this 
conformation of his mind helped to lead 
him into all manner of  needless        
contests and to the loss of this last   
parish among much  else4 ,did not the   
world exist for the sake of these hard1 
crystalline  thoughts1 with which he    
played as with so many bone spilikins1  
delighting in his own skill8 and were   

not all who disliked them  merely--the  
many8    ,in this way it came about that
 ,sherman's letter reached ,howard at   
the  right moment4 ,now1 next to a new  
parish1 he loved a new friend4 ,a visit 
to ,london meant many4 ,he had found he 
was1 on the whole1 a success at  the    
beginning of friendships4    ,he at once
 wrote an acceptance in his small and   
beautiful handwriting1  and arrived     
shortly after his letter4 ,sherman1 on  
receiving him1  glanced at his neat and 
shining boots1 the little medal at the  
watch-chain and the well-brushed hat1   
and nodded as though in answer to  an   
inner query4 ,he smiled approval at the 
slight elegant figure in its  black     
clothes1 at the satiny hair1 and at the 
face1 mobile as moving  waters4    ,for 
several days the ,shermans saw little of
 their guest4 ,he had friends           
everywhere to turn into enemies and     
acquaintances to turn into friends4     
,his days passed in visiting1 visiting1 
visiting4 ,then there were  theatres and

 churches to see1 and new clothes to be 
bought1 over which  he was as anxious as
 a woman4 ,finally he settled down4     
,he passed his mornings in the          
smoking-room4 ,he asked ,sherman's leave
  to hang on the walls one or two       
religious pictures1 without which he    
was not happy1 and to place over the    
mantelpiece1 under the pipe-rack1  an   
ebony crucifix4 ,in one corner of the   
room he laid a rug neatly  folded for   
covering his knees on chilly days1 and  
on the table a  small collection of     
favourite books--a curious and          
carefully-chosen  collection1 in which  
,cardinal ,newman and ,bourget1 ,st4    
,chrysostom and  ,flaubert lived        
together in perfect friendship4         
,early in his visit ,sherman brought him
 to the ,lelands4 ,he was a  success4   
,the three--,margaret1 ,sherman1 and    
,howard--played tennis in the  ,square4 
,howard was a good player1 and seemed to
 admire ,margaret4 ,on  the way home    
,sherman once or twice laughed to       

himself4 ,it was like the  clucking of a
 hen with a brood of chickens4 ,he told 
,howard1 too1 how  wealthy ,margaret was
 said to be4    ,after this ,howard     
always joined ,sherman and ,margaret at 
the tennis4  ,sometimes1 too1 after a   
little1 on days when the study seemed   
dull and  lonely1 and the unfinished    
essay on ,st4 ,chrysostom more than     
usually  laborious1 he would saunter    
towards the ,square before his friend's 
arrival1 to find ,margaret now alone1   
now with an acquaintance or two4  ,about
 this time also press of work1 an       
unusual thing with him1 began  to delay 
,sherman in town half-an-hour after his 
usual time4 ,in the  evenings they often
 talked of ,margaret--,sherman frankly  
and carefully1  as though in all anxiety
 to describe her as she was2 and ,howard
 with  some enthusiasm3 #8,she has a    
religious vocation1' he said once1 with 
a  slight sigh4    ,sometimes they      
played chess--a game that ,sherman had  
recently become  devoted to1 for he     

found it drew him out of himself more   
than anything  else4    ,howard now     
began to notice a curious thing4        
,sherman grew shabbier and  shabbier1   
and at the same time more and more      
cheerful4 ,this puzzled  him1 for he had
 noticed that he himself was not        
cheerful when shabby1  and did not even 
feel upright and clever when his hat was
 getting old4  ,he also noticed that    
when ,sherman was talking to him he     
seemed to be  keeping some thought to   
himself4 ,when he first came to know him
 long  ago in ,ballah he had noticed    
occasionally the same thing1 and set it 
down to a kind of suspiciousness and    
over-caution1 natural to one who  lived 
in such an out-of-the-way place4 ,it    
seemed more persistent now1  however4   
#8,he is not well-trained1' he thought2 
#8he is half a peasant4  ,he has not the
 brilliant candour of the man of the    
world4'    ,all this while the mind of  
,sherman was clucking continually over  
its  brood of thoughts4 ,ballah was     

being constantly suggested to him4 ,the 
grey corner of a cloud slanting its rain
 upon ,cheapside called to mind  by some
 remote suggestion the clouds rushing   
and falling in cloven  surf on the      
seaward steep of a mountain north of    
,ballah4 ,a certain  street-corner made 
him remember an angle of the ,ballah    
fish-market4 ,at  night a lantern1      
marking where the road was fenced off   
for mending1  made him think of a       
tinker's cart1 with its swing-can of    
burning coals1  that used to stop on    
market days at the corner of ,peter's   
,lane at  ,ballah4 ,delayed by a crush  
in the ,strand1 he heard a faint        
trickling  of water near by2 it came    
from a shop window where a little       
water-jet  balanced a wooden ball upon  
its point4 ,the sound suggested a       
cataract  with a long ,gaelic name1 that
 leaped crying into the ,gate of the    
,winds  at ,ballah4 ,wandering among    
these memories a footstep went to and   
fro  continually1 and the figure of     

,mary ,carton moved among them like a   
phantom4 ,he was set dreaming a whole   
day by walking down one ,sunday  morning
 to the border of the ,thames--a few    
hundred yards from his  house--and      
looking at the osier-covered ,chiswick  
eyot4 ,it made him  remember an old     
day-dream of his4 ,the source of the    
river that passed  his garden at home   
was a certain wood-bordered and islanded
 lake1  whither in childhood he had     
often gone blackberry-gathering4 ,at the
  further end was a little islet called 
,innisfree4 ,its rocky centre1  covered 
with many bushes1 rose some forty feet  
above the lake4 ,often  when life and   
its difficulties had seemed to him like 
the lessons of  some elder boy given to 
a younger by mistake1 it had seemed good
 to  dream of going away to that islet  
and building a wooden hut there and     
burning a few years out1 rowing to and  
fro1 fishing1 or lying on the  island   
slopes by day1 and listening at night to
 the ripple of the water  and the       

quivering of the bushes--full always of 
unknown creatures--and  going out at    
morning to see the island's edge marked 
by the feet of  birds4    ,these        
pictures became so vivid to him that the
 world about him--that  ,howard1        
,margaret1 his mother even--began to    
seem far off4 ,he hardly  seemed aware  
of anything they were thinking and      
feeling4 ,the light  that dazzled him   
flowed from the vague and refracting    
regions of hope  and memory2 the light  
that made ,howard's feet unsteady was   
ever the  too-glaring lustre of life    
itself4      ,,iv    ,on the evening of 
the #bjth of ,june1 after the blinds had
 been  pulled down and the gas lighted1 
,sherman was playing chess in the       
smoking-room1 right hand against left4  
,howard had gone out with a  message to 
the ,lelands4 ,he would often say1 #8,is
 there any message ,i  can deliver for  
you8 ,i know how lazy you are1 and will 
save you the  trouble4' ,a message was  
always found for him4 ,a pile of books  

lent for  ,sherman's improvement went   
home one by one4    #8,look here1' said 
,howard's voice in the doorway1 #8,i    
have been watching  you for some time4  
,you are cheating the red men most      
villainously4 ,you  are forcing them to 
make mistakes that the white men may    
win4 ,why1 a  few such games would ruin 
any man's moral nature4'    ,he was     
leaning against the doorway1 looking1 to
 ,sherman's not too  critical eyes1 an  
embodiment of all that was              
self-possessed and  brilliant4 ,the     
great care with which he was dressed and
 his whole  manner seemed to say3       
#8,look at me2 do ,i not combine        
perfectly the  zealot with the man of   
the world8' ,he seemed excited to-night4
 ,he had  been talking at the ,lelands1 
and talking well1 and felt that elation 
which brings us many thoughts4    #8,my 
dear ,sherman1' he went on1 #8do cease  
that game4 ,it is very bad  for you4    
,there is nobody alive who is honest    
enough to play a game  of chess fairly  

out--right hand against left4 ,we are so
 radically  dishonest that we even cheat
 ourselves4 ,we can no more play chess  
than  we can think altogether by        
ourselves with security4 ,you had much  
better  play with me4'    #8,very well1 
but you will beat me2 ,i have not much  
practice1' replied  the other4    ,they 
reset the men and began to play4        
,sherman relied most upon his  bishops  
and queen4 ,howard was fondest of the   
knights4 ,at first ,sherman  was the    
attacking party1 but in his             
characteristic desire to scheme  out his
 game many moves ahead1 kept making     
slips1 and at last had to  give up1 with
 his men nearly all gone and his king   
hopelessly cornered4  ,howard seemed to 
let nothing escape him4 ,when the game  
was finished  he leant back in his chair
 and said1 as he rolled a cigarette3    
#8,you  do not play well4' ,it gave him 
satisfaction to feel his proficiency  in
 many small arts4 #8,you do not do any  
of these things at all well1'  he went  

on1 with an insolence peculiar to him   
when excited4 #8,you  have been really  
very badly brought up and stupidly      
educated in that  intolerable ,ballah4  
,they do not understand there any1 even 
the least1  of the arts of life2 they   
only believe in information4 ,men who   
are  compelled to move in the great     
world1 and who are also cultivated1     
only value the personal                 
acquirements--self-possession1          
adaptability1  how to dress well1 how   
even to play tennis decently--you would 
be not  so bad at that1 by the by1 if   
you practised--or how to paint or write 
effectively4 ,they know that it is      
better to smoke one's cigarette with  a 
certain charm of gesture than to have by
 heart all the encyclopedias4  ,i say   
this not merely as a man of the world1  
but as a teacher of  religion4 ,a man   
when he rises from the grave will take  
with him only  the things that he is in 
himself4 ,he will leave behind the      
things that  he merely possesses1       

learning and information not less than  
money and  high estate4 ,they will stay 
behind with his house and his clothes   
and  his body4 ,a collection of facts   
will no more help him than a collection 
of stamps4 ,the learned will not get    
into heaven as readily as the           
flute-player1 or even as the man who    
smokes a cigarette gracefully4  ,now1   
you are not learned1 but you have been  
brought up almost as badly  as if you   
were4 ,in that wretched town they told  
you that education was  to know that    
,russia is bounded on the north by the  
,arctic ,sea1 and  on the west by the   
,baltic ,ocean1 and that ,vienna is     
situated on the  ,danube1 and that      
,william the ,third came to the throne  
in the year  #afhh4 ,they have never    
taught you any personal art4 ,even      
chess-playing  might have helped you at 
the day of judgment4'    #8,i am really 
not a worse chess-player than you4 ,i am
 only more  careless4'    ,there was a  
slight resentment in ,sherman's voice4  

,the other noticed it1  and said1       
changing his manner from the insolent   
air of a young beauty  to a             
self-depreciatory one1 which was wont to
 give him at times a very  genuine      
charm3 #8,it is really a great pity1 for
 you ,shermans are a deep  people1 much 
deeper than we ,howards4 ,we are like   
moths or butterflies1  or rather rapid  
rivulets1 while you and yours are deep  
pools in the  forest where the beasts go
 to drink4 ,no6 ,i have a better        
metaphor4  ,your mind and mine are two  
arrows4 ,yours has got no feathers1 and 
mine  has no metal on the point4 ,i     
don't know which is most needed for     
right  conduct4 ,i wonder where we are  
going to strike earth4 ,i suppose it    
will be all right some day when the     
world has gone by and they have         
collected all the arrows into one       
quiver4'    ,he went over to the        
mantelpiece to hunt for a match1 as his 
cigarette  had gone out4 ,sherman had   
lifted a corner of the blind and was    

gazing  over the roofs shining from a   
recent shower1 and thinking how on such 
a night as this he had sat with ,mary   
,carton by the rectory fire  listening  
to the rain without and talking of the  
future and of the  training of village  
children4    #8,have you seen ,miss     
,leland in her last new dress from      
,paris8' said  ,howard1 making one of   
his rapid transitions4 #8,it is very    
rich in  colour1 and makes her look a   
little pale1 like ,saint ,cecilia4 ,she 
is  wonderful as she stands by the      
piano1 a silver cross round her neck4   
,we have been talking about you4 ,she   
complains to me4 ,she says you are  a   
little barbarous4 ,you seem to look down
 on style1 and sometimes--you  must     
forgive me--even on manners1 and you are
 quite without small talk4  ,you must   
really try and be worthy of that        
beautiful girl1 with her  great soul and
 religious genius4 ,she told me quite   
sadly1 too1 that you  are not           
improving4'    #8,no1' said ,sherman1   

#8,i am not going forward2 ,i am at     
present trying to  go sideways like the 
crabs4'    #8,be serious1' answered the 
other4 #8,she told me these things with 
the  most sad and touching voice4 ,she  
makes me her confidant1 you know1 in    
many matters1 because of my wide        
religious experience4 ,you must really  
improve yourself4 ,you must paint or    
something4'    #8,well1 ,i will paint or
 something4'    #8,i am quite serious1  
,sherman4 ,try and be worthy of her1 a  
soul as  gentle as ,saint ,cecilia's4'  
#8,she is very wealthy1' said ,sherman4 
#8,if she were engaged to you and  not  
to me you might hope to die a bishop4'  
,howard looked at him in a mystified way
 and the conversation dropped4          
,presently ,howard got up and went to   
his room1 and ,sherman1 resetting  the  
chess-board1 began to play again1 and1  
letting longer and longer  pauses of    
reverie come between his moves1 played  
far into the morning1  cheating now in  
favour of the red men1 now in favour of 

the white4      ,v    ,the next         
afternoon ,howard found ,miss ,leland   
sitting1 reading in an  alcove in her   
drawing-room1 between a stuffed         
parroquet and a blue ,de  ,morgan jar4  
,as he was shown in he noticed1 with a  
momentary shock1 that  her features were
 quite commonplace4 ,then she saw him1  
and at once  seemed to vanish wrapped in
 an exulting flame of life4 ,she stood  
up1  flinging the book on to the seat   
with some violence4    #8,i have been   
reading the 8,imitation of ,christ10 and
 was just feeling  that ,i should have  
to become a theosophist or a socialist1 
or go and  join the ,catholic ,church1  
or do something4 ,how delightful it is  
to see  you again6 ,how is my savage    
getting on8 ,it is so good of you to try
  and help me to reform him4'    ,they  
talked on about ,sherman1 and ,howard   
did his best to console her  for his    
shortcomings4 ,time would certainly     
improve her savage4 ,several  times she 
gazed at him with those large dark eyes 

of hers1 of which the  pupils to-day    
seemed larger than usual4 ,they made him
 feel dizzy and  clutch tightly the arm 
of his chair4 ,then she began to talk   
about her  life since childhood--how    
they got to the subject he never        
knew--and  made a number of those       
confidences which are so dangerous      
because so  flattering4 ,to love--there 
is nothing else worth living for2 but   
then  men are so shallow4 ,she had never
 found a nature deep as her own4  ,she  
would not pretend that she had not often
 been in love1 but never  had any heart 
rung back to her the true note4 ,as she 
spoke her face  quivered with           
excitement4 ,the exulting flame of life 
seemed spreading  from her to the other 
things in the room4 ,to ,howard's eyes  
it seemed as  though the bright pots and
 stuffed birds and plush curtains began 
to  glow with a light not of this       
world--to glimmer like the strange and  
chaotic colours the mystic ,blake       
imagined upon the scaled serpent of     

,eden4 ,the light seemed gradually to   
dim his past and future1 and to  make   
pale his good resolves4 ,was it not in  
itself that which all men  are seeking1 
and for which all else exists8    ,he   
leant forward and took her hand1 timidly
 and doubtingly4 ,she did  not draw it  
away4 ,he leant nearer and kissed her on
 the forehead4 ,she  gave a joyful cry1 
and1 casting her arms round his neck1   
burst out1  #8,ah6 you--and ,i4 ,we were
 made for each other4 ,i hate ,sherman4 
,he is  an egotist4 ,he is a beast4 ,he 
is selfish and foolish4' ,releasing one 
of her arms she struck the seat with her
 hand1 excitedly1 and went  on1 #8,how  
angry he will be6 ,but it serves him    
right6 ,how badly he is  dressing4 ,he  
does not know anything about anything4  
,but you--you--,i  knew you were meant  
for me the moment ,i saw you4'    ,that 
evening ,howard flung himself into a    
chair in the empty  smoking-room4 ,he   
lighted a cigarette2 it went out4 ,again
 he lighted  it2 again it went out4 #8,i

 am a traitor--and that good1 stupid    
fellow1  ,sherman1 never to be jealous6'
 he thought4 #8,but then1 how could ,i  
help it8 ,and1 besides1 it cannot be a  
bad action to save her from a  man she  
is so much above in refinement and      
feeling4' ,he was getting  into         
good-humour with himself4 ,he got up and
 went over and looked  at the photograph
 of ,raphael's ,madonna1 which he had   
hung over the  mantelpiece4 #8,how like 
,margaret's are her big eyes6'      ,,vi
    ,the next day when ,sherman came    
home from his office he saw an envelope 
lying on the smoking-room table4 ,it    
contained a letter from ,howard1  saying
 that he had gone away1 and that he     
hoped ,sherman would forgive  his       
treachery1 but that he was hopelessly in
 love with ,miss ,leland1 and  that she 
returned his love4    ,sherman went     
downstairs4 ,his mother was helping the 
servant to set the  table4    #8,you    
will never guess what has happened1' he 
said4 #8,my affair with  ,margaret is   

over4'    #8,i cannot pretend to be     
sorry1 ,john1' she replied4 ,she had    
long  considered ,miss ,leland among    
accepted things1 like the chimney-pots  
on  the roof1 and submitted1 as we do1  
to any unalterable fact1 but had  never 
praised her or expressed liking in any  
way4 #8,she puts belladonna  in her     
eyes1 and is a vixen and a flirt1 and ,i
 dare say her wealth is  all talk4 ,but 
how did it happen8'    ,her son was1    
however1 too excited to listen4    ,he  
went upstairs and wrote the following   
note3        #8,,my ,,dear ,,margaret3  
#8,i congratulate you on a new conquest4
 ,there is no end      to your          
victories4 ,as for me1 ,i bow myself out
 with      many sincere wishes for your 
happiness1 and remain1                  
,your friend1                           
,,john ,,sherman4'    ,having posted    
this letter he sat down with ,howard's  
note spread  out before him1 and        
wondered whether there was anything mean
 and  small-minded in neatness--he      

himself was somewhat untidy4 ,he had    
often thought so before1 for their      
strong friendship was founded in a      
great measure on mutual contempt1 but   
now immediately added1 being in         
good-humour with the world1 #8,he is    
much cleverer than ,i am4 ,he must  have
 been very industrious at school4'    ,a
 week went by4 ,he made up his mind to  
put an end to his ,london life4  ,he    
broke to his mother his resolve to      
return to ,ballah4 ,she was  delighted1 
and at once began to pack4 ,her old home
 had long seemed to  her a kind of lost 
,eden1 wherewith she was accustomed to  
contrast the  present4 ,when1 in time1  
this present had grown into the past it 
became  an ,eden in turn4 ,she was      
always ready for a change1 if the change
 came  to her in the form of a return to
 something old4 ,others place their     
ideals in the future2 she laid hers in  
the past4    ,the only one this         
momentous resolution seemed to surprise 
was the old  and deaf servant4 ,she     

waited with ever-growing impatience4    
,she would  sit by the hour             
wool-gathering on the corner of a chair 
with a look  of bewildered delight4 ,as 
the hour of departure came near she sang
  continually in a cracked voice4       
,sherman1 a few days before leaving1 was
 returning for the last time  from his  
office when he saw1 to his surprise1    
,howard and ,miss ,leland  carrying each
 a brown-paper bundle4 ,he nodded       
good-humouredly1 meaning  to pass on4   
#8,john1' she said1 #8look at this      
brooch ,william gave me--a ladder       
leaning against the moon and a butterfly
 climbing up it4 ,is it not  sweet8 ,we 
are going to visit the poor4'    #8,and 
,i1' he said1 #8am going to catch eels4 
,i am leaving town4'    ,he made his    
excuses1 saying he had no time to wait1 
and hurried off4  ,she looked after him 
with a mournful glance1 strange in      
anybody who had  exchanged one lover for
 another more favoured4    #8,poor      
fellow1' murmured ,howard1 #8he is      

broken-hearted4'    #8,nonsense1'       
answered ,miss ,leland1 somewhat        
snappishly4      ,,fifth ,,part         
,,john ,,sherman ,,returns ,,to ,,ballah
      ,i    ,this being the homeward    
trip1 ,,ss4 ,lavinia carried no cattle1 
but many  passengers4 ,as the sea was   
smooth and the voyage near its end1 they
  lounged about the deck in groups4 ,two
 cattle-merchants were leaning  over the
 taffrail smoking4 ,in appearance they  
were something between  betting-men and 
commercial travellers4 ,for years they  
had done all  their sleeping in steamers
 and trains4 ,a short distance from them
 a  clerk from ,liverpool1 with a       
consumptive cough1 walked to and fro1 a 
little child holding his hand4 ,shortly 
he would be landed in a boat  putting   
off from the shore for the purpose4 ,he 
had come hoping that  his native air of 
,teeling ,head would restore him4 ,the  
little child  was a strange             
contrast--her cheeks ruddy with perfect 
health4 ,further  forward1 talking to   

one of the crew1 was a man with a red   
face and  slightly unsteady step4 ,in   
the companion-house was a governess1    
past  her first youth1 very much afraid 
of sea-sickness4 ,she had brought her   
luggage up and heaped it round her to be
 ready for landing4 ,sherman  sat on a  
pile of cable looking out over the sea4 
,it was just noon2  ,,ss4 ,lavinia1     
having passed by ,tory and ,rathlin1 was
 approaching the  ,donegal cliffs4 ,they
 were covered by a faint mist1 which    
made them loom  even vaster than they   
were4 ,to westward the sun shone on a   
perfectly  blue sea4 ,seagulls came out 
of the mist and plunged into the        
sunlight1  and out of the sunlight and  
plunged into the mist4 ,to the westward 
gannets were striking continually1 and a
 porpoise showed now and then1  his fin 
and back gleaming in the sun4 ,sherman  
was more perfectly happy  than he had   
been for many a day1 and more ardently  
thinking4 ,all  nature seemed full of a 
,divine fulfilment4 ,everything         

fulfilled its  law--fulfilment that is  
peace1 whether it be for good or for    
evil1 for  evil also has its peace1 the 
peace of the birds of prey4 ,sherman    
looked  from the sea to the ship and    
grew sad4 ,upon this thing1 crawling    
slowly  along the sea1 moved to and fro 
many mournful and slouching figures4    
,he looked from the ship to himself and 
his eyes filled with tears4 ,on         
himself1 on these moving figures1 hope  
and memory fed like flames4    ,again   
his eyes gladdened1 for he knew he had  
found his present4 ,he  would live in   
his love and the day as it passed4 ,he  
would live that  his law might be       
fulfilled4 ,now1 was he sure of this    
truth--the saints  on the one hand1 the 
animals on the other1 live in the moment
 as it  passes4 ,thitherward had his    
days brought him4 ,this was the one     
grain  they had ground4 ,to grind one   
grain is sufficient for a lifetime4     
,,ii    ,a few days later ,sherman was  
hurrying through the town of ,ballah4   

,it  was ,saturday1 and he passed down  
through the marketing country people1   
and the old women with baskets of cakes 
and gooseberries and long  pieces of    
sugarstick shaped like walking-sticks1  
and called by children  #8,peggie's     
leg4'    ,now1 as two months earlier1 he
 was occasionally recognized and        
greeted1  and1 as before1 went on       
without knowing1 his eyes full of       
unintelligent  sadness because the mind 
was making merry afar4 ,they had the    
look we  see in the eyes of animals and 
dreamers4 ,everything had grown simple1 
his problem had taken itself away4 ,he  
was thinking what he would say  to ,mary
 ,carton4 ,now they would be married1   
they would live in a small  house with a
 green door and new thatch1 and a row of
 beehives under  a hedge4 ,he knew where
 just such a house stood empty4 ,the day
 before  he and his mother had          
discussed1 with their host of the       
,imperial  ,hotel1 this question of     
houses4 ,they knew the peculiarities of 

every  house in the neighbourhood1      
except two or three built while they    
were  away4 ,all day ,sherman and his   
mother had gone over the merits of the  
few they were told were empty4 ,she     
wondered why her son had grown so       
unpractical4 ,once he was so easily     
pleased--the row of beehives and the    
new thatch did not for her settle the   
question4 ,she set it all down to  ,miss
 ,leland and the plays1 and the singing1
 and the belladonna1 and  remembered    
with pleasure how many miles of uneasy  
water lay between the  town of ,ballah  
and these things4    ,she did not know  
what else beside the row of beehives and
 the new  thatch her son's mind ran on  
as he walked among the marketing country
  people1 and the gooseberry sellers1   
and the merchants of #8,peggie's  leg1' 
and the boys playing marbles in odd     
corners1 and the men in  waistcoats with
 flannel sleeves driving carts1 and the 
women driving  donkeys with creels of   
turf or churns of milk4 ,just now she   

was trying  to remember whether she used
 to buy her wool for knitting at ,miss  
,peter's or from ,mrs4 ,macallough's at 
the bridge4 ,one or other sold  it a    
halfpenny a skein cheaper4 ,she never   
knew what went on inside  her son's     
mind1 she had always her own fish to    
fry4 ,blessed are the  unsympathetic4   
,they preserve their characters in an   
iron bottle while  the most of us poor  
mortals are going about the planet      
vainly searching  for any kind of a     
shell to contain us1 and evaporating the
 while4    ,sherman began to mount the  
hill to the vicarage4 ,he was happy4    
,because  he was happy he began to run4 
,soon the steepness of the hill made him
  walk4 ,he thought about his love for  
,mary ,carton4 ,seen by the light of    
this love everything that had happened  
to him was plain now4 ,he had  found his
 centre of unity4 ,his childhood had    
prepared him for this  love4 ,he had    
been solitary1 fond of favourite corners
 of fields1 fond  of going about alone1 

unhuman like the birds and the leaves1  
his heart  empty4 ,how clearly he       
remembered his first meeting with ,mary4
 ,they were  both children4 ,at a school
 treat they watched the fire-balloon    
ascend1  and followed it a little way   
over the fields together4 ,what friends 
they became1 growing up together1       
reading the same books1 thinking the    
same thoughts6    ,as he came to the    
door and pulled at the great hanging    
iron  bell-handle1 the fire-balloon     
reascended in his heart1 surrounded with
  cheers and laughter4      ,,iii    ,he
 kept the servant talking for a moment  
or two before she went for  ,miss       
,carton4 ,the old rector1 she told him1 
was getting less and less  able to do   
much work4 ,old age had come almost     
suddenly upon him4  ,he seldom moved    
from the fireside4 ,he was getting more 
and more  absent-minded4 ,once lately he
 had brought his umbrella into the      
reading-desk4 ,more and more did he     
leave all things to his children--to    

,mary ,carton and her younger sisters4  
,when the servant had gone1 ,sherman    
looked round the somewhat gloomy  room4 
,in the window hung a canary in a       
painted cage4 ,outside was a  narrow    
piece of shaded ground between the      
window and the rectory wall4  ,the      
laurel and holly bushes darkened the    
window a good deal4 ,on a  table in the 
centre of the room were evangelistic    
books with gilded  covers4 ,round the   
mirror over the mantelpiece were stuck  
various parish  announcements1 thrust   
between the glass and the gilding4 ,on a
 small  side-table was a copper         
ear-trumpet4    ,how familiar everything
 seemed to ,sherman6 ,only the room     
seemed smaller  than it did three years 
before1 and close to the table with the 
ear-trumpet1 at one side of the         
fireplace before the arm-chair1 was a   
new threadbare patch in the carpet4     
,sherman recalled how in this room he   
and ,mary ,carton had sat in winter  by 
the fire1 building castles in the air   

for each other4 ,so deeply  meditating  
was he that she came in and stood       
unnoticed beside him4    #8,john1' she  
said at last1 #8it is a great pleasure  
to see you so soon  again4 ,are you     
doing well in ,london8'    #8,i have    
left ,london4'    #8,are you married1   
then8 ,you must introduce me to your    
wife4'    #8,i shall never be married to
 ,miss ,leland4'    #8,what8'    #8,she 
has preferred another--my friend        
,william ,howard4 ,i have come here  to 
tell you something1 ,mary4' ,he went and
 stood close to her and took  her hand  
tenderly4 #8,i have always been very    
fond of you4 ,often in  ,london1 when ,i
 was trying to think of another kind of 
life1 ,i used to  see this fireside and 
you sitting beside it1 where we used to 
sit and  talk about the future4         
,mary--,mary1' he held her hand in both 
his--#8you  will be my wife8'    #8,you 
do not love me1 ,john1' she answered1   
drawing herself away4 #8,you  have come 
to me because you think it your duty4 ,i

 have had nothing but  duty all my      
life4'    #8,listen1' he said4 #8,i was 
very miserable2 ,i invited ,howard to   
stay with  us4 ,one morning ,i found a  
note on the smoking-room table to say   
that  ,margaret had accepted him1 and ,i
 have come here to ask you to marry me4 
,i never cared for anyone else4'    ,he 
found himself speaking hurriedly1 as    
though anxious to get the  words said   
and done with4 ,it now seemed to him    
that he had done ill  in this matter of 
,miss ,leland4 ,he had not before       
thought of it--his  mind had always been
 busy with other things4 ,mary ,carton  
looked at him  wonderingly4    #8,john1'
 she said at last1 #8did you ask ,mr4   
,howard to stay with you on  purpose to 
get him to fall in love with ,miss      
,leland1 or to give you an  excuse for  
breaking off your engagement1 as you    
knew he flirted with  everyone8'        
#8,margaret seems very fond of him4 ,i  
think they are made for each  other1' he
 answered4    #8,did you ask him to     

,london on purpose8'    #8,well1 ,i will
 tell you1' he faltered4 #8,i was very  
miserable4 ,i had  drifted into this    
engagement ,i don't know how4 ,margaret 
glitters and  glitters and glitters1 but
 she is not of my kind4 ,i suppose ,i   
thought1  like a fool1 ,i should marry  
someone who was rich4 ,i found out soon 
that  ,i loved nobody but you4 ,i got to
 be always thinking of you and of this  
town4 ,then ,i heard that ,howard had   
lost his curacy1 and asked him up4  ,i  
just left them alone and did not go near
 ,margaret much4 ,i knew they  were made
 for each other4 ,do not let us talk of 
them1' he continued1  eagerly4 #8,let us
 talk about the future4 ,i will take a  
farm and turn  farmer4 ,i dare say my   
uncle will not give me anything when he 
dies  because ,i have left his office4  
,he will call me a ne'er-do-weel1 and   
say ,i would squander it4 ,but you and  
,i--we will get married1 will we  not8  
,we will be very happy1' he went on1    
pleadingly4 #8,you will still  have your

 charities1 and ,i shall be busy with my
 farm4 ,we will surround  ourselves with
 a wall4 ,the world will be on the      
outside1 and on the  inside we and our  
peaceful lives4'    #8,wait1' she said2 
#8,i will give you your answer1' and    
going into the  next room returned with 
several bundles of letters4 ,she laid   
them on  the table2 some were white and 
new1 some slightly yellow with time4    
#8,john1' she said1 growing very pale1  
#8here are all the letters you ever     
wrote me from your earliest boyhood4'   
,she took one of the large candles  from
 the mantelpiece1 and1 lighting it1     
placed it on the hearth4  ,sherman      
wondered what she was going to do with  
it4 #8,i will tell you1'  she went on1  
#8what ,i had thought to carry to the   
grave unspoken4 ,i have  loved you for a
 long time4 ,when you came and told me  
you were going to  be married to another
 ,i forgave you1 for man's love is like 
the wind1  and ,i prayed that ,god might
 bless you both4' ,she leant down over  

the  candle1 her face pale and contorted
 with emotion4 #8,all these letters     
after that grew very sacred4 ,since we  
were never to be married they  grew a   
portion of my life1 separated from      
everything and everyone--a  something   
apart and holy4 ,i re-read them all1 and
 arranged them in  little bundles       
according to their dates1 and tied them 
with thread4 ,now  ,i and you--we have  
nothing to do with each other any more4'
    ,she held the bundle of letters in  
the flame4 ,he got up from his  seat4   
,she motioned him away imperiously4 ,he 
looked at the flame in a  bewildered    
way4 ,the letters fell in little burning
 fragments about  the hearth4 ,it was   
all like a terrible dream4 ,he watched  
those steady  fingers hold letter after 
letter in the candle flame1 and watched 
the  candle burning on like a passion in
 the grey daylight of universal         
existence4 ,a draught from under the    
door began blowing the ash about  the   
room4 ,the voice said--    #8,you tried 

to marry a rich girl4 ,you did not love 
her1 but knew she was  rich4 ,you tired 
of her as you tire of so many things1   
and behaved to  her most wrongly1 most  
wickedly and treacherously4 ,when you   
were jilted  you came again to me and to
 the idleness of this little town4 ,we  
had  all hoped great things of you4 ,you
 seemed good and honest4'    #8,i loved 
you all along1' he cried4 #8,if you     
would marry me we would  be very happy4 
,i loved you all along1' he             
repeated--this helplessly1  several     
times over4 ,the bird shook a shower of 
seed on his shoulder4 ,he  picked one of
 them from the collar of his coat and   
turned it over in  his fingers          
mechanically4 #8,i loved you all along4'
    #8,you have done no duty that came  
to you4 ,you have tired of everything   
you should cling to2 and now you have   
come to this little town because  here  
is idleness and irresponsibility4'      
,the last letter lay in ashes on the    
hearth4 ,she blew out the candle1  and  

replaced it among the photographs on the
 mantelpiece1 and stood  there as calm  
as a portion of the marble4    #8,john1 
our friendship is over--it has been     
burnt in the candle4'    ,he started    
forward1 his mind full of appeals       
half-stifled with despair1  on his lips 
gathered incoherent words3 #8,she will  
be happy with ,howard4  ,they were made 
for each other4 ,i slipped into it4 ,i  
always thought ,i  should marry someone 
who was rich4 ,i never loved anyone but 
you4 ,i did  not know ,i loved you at   
first4 ,i thought about you always4 ,you
 are the  root of my life4'    ,steps   
were heard outside the door at the end  
of a passage4 ,mary ,carton  went to the
 door and called4 ,the steps turned and 
came nearer4 ,with a  great effort      
,sherman controlled himself4 ,the door  
opened1 and a tall1  slight girl of     
twelve came into the room4 ,a strong    
smell of garden  mould rose from a      
basket in her hands1 ,sherman recognized
 the child who  had given him tea that  

evening in the schoolhouse three years  
before4    #8,have you finished weeding 
the carrots8' said ,mary ,carton4       
#8,yes1 ,miss4'    #8,then you are to   
weed the small bed under the pear-tree  
by the  tool-house4 ,do not go yet1     
child4 ,this is ,mr4 ,sherman4 ,sit down
 a  little4'    ,the child sat down on  
the corner of a chair with a scared look
 in her  eyes4 ,suddenly she said--     
#8,oh1 what a lot of burnt paper6'      
#8,yes2 ,i have been burning some old   
letters4'    #8,i think1' said ,john1   
#8,i will go now4' ,without a word of   
farewell he  went out1 almost groping   
his way4    ,he had lost the best of all
 the things he held dear4 ,twice he had 
gone  through the fire4 ,the first time 
worldly ambition left him2 the second1  
love4 ,an hour before the air had been  
full of singing and peace that  was     
resonant like joy4 ,now he saw standing 
before his ,eden the angel  with the    
flaming sword4 ,all the hope he had ever
 gathered about him had  taken itself   

off1 and the naked soul shivered4       
,,iv    ,the road under his feet felt   
gritty and barren4 ,he hurried away from
  the town4 ,it was late afternoon4     
,trees cast bands of shadow across the  
road4 ,he walked rapidly as if pursued4 
,about a mile to the west of  the town  
he came on a large wood bordering the   
road and surrounding  a deserted house4 
,some local rich man once lived there1  
now it was  given over to a caretaker   
who lived in two rooms in the back part4
 ,men  were at work cutting down trees  
in two or three parts of the wood4      
,many places were quite bare4 ,a mass of
 ruins--a covered well1 and the         
wreckage of castle wall--that had been  
roofed with green for centuries1  lifted
 themselves up1 bare as anatomies4 ,the 
sight intensified1 by  some strange     
sympathy1 his sorrow1 and he hurried    
away as from a thing  accursed of ,god4 
,the road led to the foot of a mountain1
 topped by a cairn supposed  in popular 
belief to be the grave of ,maeve1 ,mab  

of the fairies1 and  considered by      
antiquarians to mark the place where    
certain prisoners  were executed in     
legendary times as sacrifices to the    
moon4    ,he began to climb the         
mountain4 ,the sun was on the rim of the
 sea4 ,it  stayed there without moving1 
for as he ascended he saw an            
ever-widening  circle of water4    ,he  
threw himself down upon the cairn4 ,the 
sun sank under the sea4 ,the  ,donegal  
headlands mixed with the surrounding    
blue4 ,the stars grew out  of heaven4   
,sometimes he got up and walked to and  
fro4 ,hours passed4 ,the stars1  the    
streams down in the valley1 the wind    
moving among the boulders1  the various 
unknown creatures rustling in the       
silence--all these were  contained      
within themselves1 fulfilling their law1
 content to be alone1  content to be    
with others1 having the peace of ,god or
 the peace of the  birds of prey4 ,he   
only did not fulfil his law2 something  
that was not  he1 that was not nature1  

that was not ,god1 had made him and her 
he  loved its tools4 ,hope1 memory1     
tradition1 conformity1 had been laying  
waste their lives4 ,as he thought this  
the night seemed to crush him  with its 
purple foot4 ,hour followed hour4 ,at   
midnight he started up1  hearing a faint
 murmur of clocks striking the hour in  
the distant town4  ,his face and hands  
were wet with tears1 his clothes        
saturated with dew4    ,he turned       
homeward1 hurriedly flying from the     
terrible firmament4  ,what had this     
glimmering and silence to do with       
him--this luxurious  present8 ,he       
belonged to the past and the future4    
,with pace somewhat  slackened1 because 
of the furze1 he came down into the     
valley4 ,along  the northern horizon    
moved a perpetual dawn1 travelling      
eastward as the  night advanced4 ,once1 
as he passed a marsh near a lime-kiln1 a
 number  of small birds rose chirruping 
from where they had been clinging among 
the reeds4 ,once1 standing still for a  

moment where two roads crossed on  a    
hill-side1 he looked out over the dark  
fields4 ,a white stone rose in  the     
middle of a field1 a score of yards in  
front of him4 ,he knew the  place well2 
it was an ancient burying-ground4 ,he   
looked at the stone1  and suddenly      
filled by the terror of the darkness    
children feel1 began  again his hurried 
walk4    ,he re-entered ,ballah by the  
southern side4 ,in passing he looked at 
the  rectory4 ,to his surprise a light  
burned in the drawing-room4 ,he stood   
still4 ,the dawn was brightening towards
 the east1 but all round him  was       
darkness1 seeming the more intense to   
his eyes for their being  fresh from the
 unshaded fields4 ,in the midst of this 
darkness shone  the lighted window4 ,he 
went over to the gate and looked in4    
,the room  was empty4 ,he was about to  
turn away when he noticed a white figure
  standing close to the gate4 ,the latch
 creaked and the gate moved slowly  on  
its hinges4    #8,john1' said a         

trembling voice1 #8,i have been praying1
 and a light has  come to me4 ,i wished 
you to be ambitious--to go away and do  
something  in the world4 ,you did badly1
 and my poor pride was wounded4 ,you do 
not  know how much ,i had hoped from    
you2 but it was all pride--all pride and
  foolishness4 ,you love me4 ,i ask no  
more4 ,we need each other2 the rest  is 
with ,god4'    ,she took his hand in    
hers1 and began caressing it4 #8,we have
 been  shipwrecked4 ,our goods have been
 cast into the sea4' ,something in her  
voice told of the emotion that divides  
the love of woman from the love  of man4
 ,she looked upon him whom she loved as 
full of a helplessness  that needed     
protection1 a reverberation of the      
feeling of the mother  for the child at 
the breast4          ,,dhoya      ,i    
,,long ago1 before the earliest stone of
 the ,pyramids was laid1 before  the ,bo
 tree of ,buddha unrolled its first     
leaf1 before a ,japanese had  painted on
 a temple wall the horse that every     

evening descended and  trampled the     
rice-fields1 before the ravens of ,thor 
had eaten their  first worm together1   
there lived a man of giant stature and  
of giant  strength named ,dhoya4 ,one   
evening ,fomorian galleys had entered   
the ,bay  of the ,red ,cataract1 now the
 ,bay of ,ballah1 and there deserted    
him4  ,though he rushed into the water  
and hurled great stones after them1     
they were out of reach4 ,from earliest  
childhood the ,fomorians had held  him  
captive and compelled him to toil at the
 oar1 but when his strength  had come   
his fits of passion made him a terror to
 all on board4  ,sometimes he would tear
 the seats of the galley from under the 
rowers1  and drive the rowers up into   
the shrouds1 where they would cling     
until  the passion left him4 #8,the     
demons1' they said1 #8have made him     
their  own4' ,so they enticed him on    
shore1 he having on his head a mighty   
stone pitcher to fill with water1 and   
deserted him4    ,when the last sail had

 dropped over the rim of the world1 he  
rose from  where he had flung himself   
down on the sands and hurried through   
the  forest eastward4 ,after a time he  
reached that lake among the mountains   
where in later times ,diarmuid drove    
down four stakes and made thereon  a    
platform with four flags in the centre  
for a hearth1 and placed over  all a    
roof of wicker and skins1 and hid his   
,grania1 islanded thereon4  ,still      
eastward he went1 what is now ,bulben on
 one side1 ,cope's mountain  on the     
other1 until at last he threw himself at
 full length in a deep  cavern and      
slept4 ,henceforward he made this cavern
 his lair1 issuing  forth to hunt the   
deer or the bears or the mountain oxen4 
,slowly the  years went by1 his fits of 
fury growing more and more frequent1    
though  there was no one but his own    
shadow to rave against4 ,when his fury  
was  on him even the bats and owls1 and 
the brown frogs that crept out of  the  
grass at twilight1 would hide           

themselves--even the bats and owls  and 
the brown frogs4 ,these he had made his 
friends1 and let them crawl  and perch  
about him1 for at times he would be very
 gentle1 and they  too were sullen and  
silent--the outcasts from they knew not 
what4 ,but  most of all1 things placid  
and beautiful feared him4 ,he would     
watch for  hours1 hidden in the leaves1 
to reach his hand out slowly and        
carefully  at last1 and seize and crush 
some glittering halcyon4    ,slowly the 
years went by and human face he never   
saw1 but sometimes1  when the gentle    
mood was on him and it was twilight1 a  
presence seemed  to float invisibly by  
him and sigh softly1 and once or twice  
he awoke  from sleep with the sensation 
of a finger having rested for a moment  
on his forehead1 and would mutter a     
prayer to the moon that glimmered       
through the door of his cave before     
turning to sleep again4 #8,o moon1'  he 
would say1 #8that wanderest in the blue 
cave of the sky1 more white  than the   

beard of ,partholan1 whose years were   
five hundred1 sullen and  solitary1     
sleeping only on the floor of the sea3  
keep me from the evil  spirits of the   
islands of the lake southward beyond the
 mountains1 and  the evil spirits of the
 caves northward beyond the mountains1  
and the  evil spirits who wave their    
torches by the mouth of the river       
eastward  beyond the valley1 and the    
evil spirits of the pools westward      
beyond  the mountains1 and ,i will offer
 you a bear and a deer in full horn1 ,o 
solitary of the cave divine1 and if any 
have done you wrong ,i will  avenge     
you4'    ,gradually1 however1 he began  
to long for this mysterious touch4      
,at times he would make journeys into   
distant parts1 and once the  mountain   
bulls gathered together1 proud of their 
overwhelming numbers  and their white   
horns1 and followed him with great      
bellowing westward1  he being laden with
 their tallest1 well-nigh to his cave1  
and would  have gored him1 but1 pacing  

into a pool of the sea to his shoulders1
 he  saw them thunder away1 losing him  
in the darkness4 ,the place where he    
stood is called ,pooldhoya to this day4 
,so the years went slowly by1 and ever  
deeper and deeper came his  moodiness1  
and more often his fits of wrath4 ,once 
in his gloom he paced  the forests for  
miles1 now this way1 now that1 until1   
returning in the  twilight1 he found    
himself standing on a cliff southward of
 the lake  that was southward of the    
mountains4 ,the moon was rising4 ,the   
sound  of the swaying of reeds floated  
from beneath1 and the twittering of  the
 flocks of reed-wrens who love to cling 
on the moving stems4 ,it was  the hour  
of votaries4 ,he turned to the moon1    
then hurriedly gathered  a pile of      
leaves and branches1 and making a fire  
cast thereon wild  strawberries and the 
fruit of the quicken-tree4 ,as the smoke
 floated  upwards a bar of faint purple 
clouds drifted over the moon's face--a  
refusal of the sacrifice4 ,hurrying     

through the surrounding woods he  found 
an owl sleeping in the hollow of a tree1
 and returning cast him  on the fire4   
,still the clouds gathered4 ,again he   
searched the woods4  ,this time it was a
 badger that he cast among the flames4  
,time after  time he came and went1     
sometimes returning immediately with    
some live  thing1 at others not till the
 fire had almost burnt itself out4      
,deer1  wild swine1 birds1 all to no    
purpose4 ,higher and higher he piled the
  burning branches1 the flames and the  
smoke waved and circled like  the lash  
of a giant's whip4 ,gradually the nearer
 islands passed the  rosy colour on to  
their more distant brethren4 ,the       
reed-wrens of the  furthest reed beds   
disturbed amid their sleep must have    
wondered at the  red gleam reflected in 
each other's eyes4 ,useless his         
night-long toil2  the clouds covered the
 moon's face more and more1 until1 when 
the long  fire-lash was at its          
brightest1 they drowned her completely  

in a surge  of unbroken mist4 ,raging   
against the fire he scattered with his  
staff  the burning branches1 and        
trampled in his fury the sacrificial    
embers  beneath his feet4 ,suddenly a   
voice in the surrounding darkness called
  him softly by name4 ,he turned4 ,for  
years no articulate voice had  sounded  
in his ears4 ,it seemed to rise from the
 air just beneath the  verge of the     
precipice4 ,holding by a hazel bush he  
leaned out1 and for  a moment it seemed 
to him the form of a beautiful woman    
floated faintly  before him1 but changed
 as he watched to a little cloud of     
vapour2  and from the nearest of the    
haunted islands there came assuredly a  
whiff of music4 ,then behind him in the 
forest said the voice1 #8,dhoya1  my    
beloved4' ,he rushed in pursuit2        
something white was moving before  him4 
,he stretched out his hand2 it was only 
a mass of white campion  trembling in   
the morning breeze1 for an ashen morning
 was just touching  the mists on the    

eastern mountains4 ,beginning suddenly  
to tremble with  supernatural fear      
,dhoya turned homewards4 ,everything was
 changed2 dark  shadows seemed to come  
and go1 and elfin chatter to pass upon  
the  breeze4 ,but when he reached the   
shelter of the pine woods all was still 
as of old4 ,he slackened his speed4     
,those solemn pine-trees soothed  him   
with their vast unsociability--many and 
yet each one alone4 ,once  or twice1    
when in some glade further than usual   
from its kind arose a  pine-tree larger 
than the rest1 he paused with bowed head
 to mutter an  uncouth prayer to that   
dark outlaw4 ,as he neared his cave and 
came from  the deep shade into the      
region of mountain-ash and hazel1 the   
voices  seemed again to come and go1 and
 the shadows to circle round him1 and   
once a voice said1 he imagined1 in      
accents faint and soft as falling  dew1 
#8,dhoya1 my beloved4' ,but a few yards 
from the cave all grew  suddenly silent4
      ,,ii    ,slower and slower he     

went1 with his eyes on the ground1      
bewildered  by all that was happening4  
,a few feet from the cave he stood      
still1  counting aimlessly the round    
spots of light made by the beams        
slanting  through trees that hid with   
their greenness1 as in the centre of the
  sea1 that hollow rock4 ,as over and   
over he counted them1 he heard1  first  
with the ear only1 then with the mind   
also1 a footstep going to  and fro      
within the cave4 ,lifting his eyes he   
saw the same figure seen  on the        
cliff--the figure of a woman1 beautiful 
and young4 ,her dress was  white1 save  
for a border of feathers dyed the fatal 
red of the spirits4  ,she had arranged  
in one corner the spears1 and in the    
other the  brushwood and branches used  
for the fire1 and spread upon the ground
  the skins1 and now began pulling      
vainly at the great stone pitcher of    
the ,fomorians4    ,suddenly she saw him
 and with a burst of laughter flung her 
arms round  his neck1 crying1 #8,dhoya1 

,i have left my world far off4 ,my      
people--on  the floor of the lake they  
are dancing and singing1 and on the     
islands  of the lake2 always happy1     
always young1 always without change4 ,i 
have  left them for thee1 ,dhoya1 for   
they cannot love4 ,only the changing1   
and moody1 and angry1 and weary can     
love4 ,i am beautiful2 love me1  ,dhoya4
 ,do you hear me8 ,i left the places    
where they dance1 ,dhoya1 for  thee6'   
,for long she poured out a tide of      
words1 he answering at first  little1   
then more and more as she melted away   
the silence of so many  inarticulate    
years2 and all the while she gazed on   
him with eyes1 no  ardour could rob of  
the mild and mysterious melancholy that 
watches us  from the eyes of            
animals--sign of unhuman reveries4      
,many days passed over these            
strangely-wedded ones4 ,sometimes when  
he  asked her1 #8,do you love me8' she  
would answer1 #8,i do not know1 but  ,i 
long for your love endlessly4' ,often at

 twilight1 returning from  hunting1 he  
would find her bending over a stream    
that flowed near to  the cave1 decking  
her hair with feathers and reddening her
 lips with  the juice of a wild berry4  
,he was very happy secluded in that deep
 forest4 ,hearing the faint  murmurs of 
the western sea1 they seemed to have    
outlived change4 ,but  ,change is       
everywhere1 with the tides and the stars
 fastened to her  wheel4 ,every         
blood-drop in their lips1 every cloud in
 the sky1 every  leaf in the world      
changed a little1 while they brushed    
back their hair  and kissed4 ,all things
 change save only the fear of change4   
,and yet  for his hour ,dhoya was happy 
and as full of dreams as an old man or  
an  infant--for dreams wander nearest to
 the grave and the cradle4    ,once1 as 
he was returning home from hunting1 by  
the northern edge of  the lake1 at the  
hour when the owls cry to each other1   
#8,it is time to  be abroad1' and the   
last flutter of the wind has died away1 

leaving  under every haunted island an  
image legible to the least hazel branch1
  there suddenly stood before him a     
slight figure1 at the edge of the       
narrow sand-line1 dark against the      
glowing water4 ,dhoya drew nearer4 ,it  
was a man leaning on his spear-staff1 on
 his head a small red cap4 ,his  spear  
was slender and tipped with shining     
metal2 the spear of ,dhoya of  wood1 one
 end pointed and hardened in the fire4  
,the red-capped stranger  silently      
raised that slender spear and thrust at 
,dhoya1 who parried  with his pointed   
staff4    ,for a long while they fought4
 ,the last vestige of sunset passed away
  and the stars came out4 ,underneath   
them the feet of ,dhoya beat up the     
ground1 but the feet of the other as he 
rushed hither and thither1  matching his
 agility with the mortal's mighty       
strength1 made neither  shadow nor      
footstep on the sands4 ,dhoya was       
wounded1 and growing weary  a little1   
when the other leaped away1 and1        

crouching down by the water1  began3    
#8,you have carried away by some spell  
unknown the most beautiful  of our      
bands--you who have neither laughter nor
 singing4 ,restore her1  ,dhoya1 and go 
free4' ,dhoya answered him no word1 and 
the other rose and  again thrust at him 
with the spear4 ,they fought to and fro 
upon the  sands until the dawn touched  
with olive the distant sky1 and then his
  anger-fit1 long absent1 fell on       
,dhoya1 and he closed with his enemy and
  threw him1 and put his knee on his    
chest and his hands on his throat1  and 
would have crushed all life out of him1 
when lo6 he held beneath  his knee no   
more than a bundle of reeds4    ,nearing
 home in the early morning he heard the 
voice he loved1 singing3        ,full   
moody is my love and sad1        ,his   
moods bow low his sombre crest1      ,i 
hold him dearer than the glad1          
,and he shall slumber on my breast4     
,my love hath many an evil mood1        
,ill words for all things soft and fair1

      ,i hold him dearer than the good1 
,my fingers feel his amber hair4        
,no tender wisdom floods the eyes       
,that watch me with their suppliant     
light--      ,i hold him dearer than the
 wise1        ,and for him make me wise 
and bright4    ,and when she saw him she
 cried1 #8,an old mortal song heard     
floating from  a tent of skin1 as we    
rode1 ,i and mine1 through a            
camping-place at  night4' ,from that day
 she was always either singing wild and 
melancholy  songs or else watching him  
with that gaze of animal reverie4       
,once he asked1 #8,how old are you8'    
#8,a thousand years1 for ,i am young4'  
#8,i am so little to you1' he went on1  
#8and you are so much to me--dawn1  and 
sunset1 tranquillity1 and speech1 and   
solitude4'    #8,am ,i so much8' she    
said2 #8say it many times6' and her eyes
 seemed to  brighten and her breast     
heaved with joy4    ,often he would     
bring her the beautiful skins of        
animals1 and she would  walk to and fro 

on them1 laughing to feel their softness
 under her  feet4 ,sometimes she would  
pause and ask suddenly1 #8,will you weep
 for me  when we have parted8' and he   
would answer1 #8,i will die then'2 and  
she  would go on rubbing her feet to and
 fro in the soft skin4    ,and so ,dhoya
 grew tranquil and gentle1 and ,change  
seemed still to  have forgotten them1   
having so much on her hands4 ,the stars 
rose and  set watching them smiling     
together1 and the tides ebbed and       
flowed1  bringing mutability to all save
 them4 ,but always everything changes1  
save only the fear of ,change4          
,,iii    ,one evening as they sat in the
 inner portion of the cave1 watching    
through the opening the paling of the   
sky and the darkening of the  leaves1   
and counting the budding stars1 ,dhoya  
suddenly saw stand before  him the dark 
outline of him he fought on the lake    
sand1 and heard at  the same instant his
 companion sigh4    ,the stranger       
approached a little1 and said1 #8,dhoya1

 we have fought  heretofore1 and now ,i 
have come to play chess against thee1   
for well  thou knowest1 dear to the     
perfect warrior after war is chess4'    
#8,i know it1' answered ,dhoya4         
#8,and when we have played1 ,dhoya1 we  
will name the stake4'    #8,do not      
play1' whispered his companion at his   
side4    ,but ,dhoya1 being filled with 
his anger-fit at the sight of his enemy1
  answered1 #8,i will play1 and ,i know 
well the stake you mean1 and ,i name    
this for mine1 that ,i may again have my
 knee on your chest and my hands  on    
your throat1 and that you will not again
 change into a bundle  of wet reeds4'   
,his companion lay down on a skin and   
began to cry a  little4 ,dhoya felt sure
 of winning4 ,he had often played in his
 boyhood1  before the time of his       
anger-fits1 with his masters of the     
galley2 and  besides1 he could always   
return to his hands and his weapons once
 more4    ,now the floor of the cave was
 of smooth1 white sand1 brought from    

the seashore in his great ,fomorian     
pitcher1 to make it soft for his        
beloved to walk upon2 before it had     
been1 as it now is1 of rough clay4  ,on 
this sand the red-capped stranger marked
 out with his spear-point  a            
chess-board1 and marked with rushes1    
crossed and recrossed each  alternate   
square1 fixing each end of the rush in  
the sand1 until a  complete board was   
finished of white and green squares1 and
 then drew  from a bag large chessmen of
 mingled wood and silver4 ,two or three 
would have made an armful for a child4  
,standing each at his end they  began to
 play4 ,the game did not last long4 ,no 
matter how carefully  ,dhoya played1    
each move went against him4 ,at last1   
leaping back from  the board1 he cried1 
#8,i have lost6' ,the two spirits were  
standing  together at the entrance4     
,dhoya seized his spear1 but slowly the 
figures began to fade1 first a star and 
then the leaves showed through  their   
forms4 ,soon all had vanished away4     

,then1 understanding his loss1 he threw 
himself on the ground1 and  rolling     
hither and thither1 roared like a wild  
beast4 ,all night long he  lay on the   
ground1 and all the next day till       
nightfall4 ,he had crumbled  his staff  
unconsciously between his fingers into  
small pieces1 and now1  full of dull    
rage1 the pointed end of the staff still
 in his hand1  arose and went forth     
westward4 ,in a ravine of the northern  
mountain  he came on the tracks of wild 
horses4 ,soon one passed him fearlessly1
  knowing nothing of man4 ,he drove the 
pointed end of the staff deep in  the   
flank1 making a great wound1 sending the
 horse rushing with short  screams down 
the mountain4 ,other horses passed him  
one by one1 driven  southward by a cold 
wind laden with mist1 arisen in the     
night-time4  ,towards the end of the    
ravine stood one black and huge1 the    
leader of  the herd4 ,dhoya leaped on   
his back with a loud cry that sent a    
raven  circling from the neighbouring   

cliff1 and the horse1 after vainly      
seeking to throw him1 rushed off towards
 the north-west1 over the  heights of   
the mountains where the mists floated4  
,the moon1 clear  sometimes of the      
flying clouds1 from low down in the     
south-east1 cast  a pale and mutable    
light1 making their shadow rise before  
them on  the mists1 as though they      
pursued some colossal demon1 sombre on  
his  black charger4 ,then leaving the   
heights they rushed down that valley    
where1 in far later times1 ,diarmuid hid
 in a deep cavern his ,grania1  and     
passed the stream where ,muadhan1 their 
savage servant1 caught fish  for them on
 a hook baited with a quicken-berry4 ,on
 over the plains1  on northward1 mile   
after mile1 the wild gigantic horse     
leaping cliff  and chasm in his terrible
 race2 on until the mountains of what is
 now  ,donegal rose before them--over   
these among the clouds1 driving rain    
blowing in their faces from the sea1    
,dhoya knowing not whither he went1  or 

why he rode4 ,on--the stones loosened by
 the hoofs rumbling down into  the      
valleys--till far in the distance he saw
 the sea1 a thousand feet  below him2   
then1 fixing his eyes thereon1 and using
 the spear-point as  a goad1 he roused  
his black horse into redoubled speed1   
until horse and  rider plunged headlong 
into the ,western ,sea4    ,sometimes   
the cotters on the mountains of ,donegal
 hear on windy nights  a sudden sound of
 horses' hoofs1 and say to each other1  
#8,there goes  ,dhoya4' ,and at the same
 hour men say if any be abroad in the   
valleys  they see a huge shadow rushing 
along the mountain4                     
,printed by ,a4 ,h4 ,,bullen1 at ,the   
,shakespeare ,head ,press1              
,stratford-on-,avon4           99       
99       99       99       99           
,transcriber's ,notes3    ,repeated     
story titles were removed to avoid      
redundancy4 ,obvious  punctuation errors
 repaired4 ,varied hyphenation was      
retained4