Standish O'Grady; selected essays and passages

130 STANDISH O GRADY
benediction to my uncle, the great King of the
Uhonians, and to all the Red Branch ; and go to Emer
and tell her not to weep for tne, but to let her grief be of
short duration, and that I will remember her while life
endures."
Then to Cuculain it seemed that Lseg, frowning, said :
" Surely, O Cu, thy peerless and noble wife, beautiful
Emer, thou wouldst never forget,"
After that Cuculain dreamed that Laeg went off to
Emain Macha, and that he heard the sound of the hoofs
afar, going northwards, and a terrible loneliness and
desolation came over his mind, and again he saw the
faces of that wandering clan, and they laughed around him
and taunted him, and said :
" Thus shalt thoii perish, O Hound, and thus shall all
like thee be forsaken and deserted, and they shall perish
in loneliness and sorrow. An early death and desolation
shall be their lot, for we are powerful over men and over
gods, and the kingdom that is seen, and the kingdom
that is unseen belong to us, and they ringed him round,
—
and chanted obscene songs, and triumphed.
Nevertheless they terrified him not, for a deep spring
of stern valour was opened in his soul and the might of
his unfathomable spirit sustained him.
Then was Cuculain aware that the Clan Cailitin had
retired, as though in fear, and there stood beside him a
child, having a strange aspect, and he took Cuculain by
the hand, and said :
—
" Regard not these children of evil, O my brother,
their dominion is but for a time."
—