Standish O'Grady; selected essays and passages

IRISH BARDIC HISTORY I35
monarch of Emain. For, as for that white fairy mist
with which, Uke a fleece of purest wool, thou hast seen the
land enwrapt, it is the breath of the valiant, and the
steam of the breathing of the mighty men of UUa, and of
their gigantic steeds inhaling the sun and wind into their
lungs, and expelling it again in steam, and the steam of
the sweat of heroes, and from the wet, foamed sides of
horses as they run, and owing to their distress in running,
above them in the still air, it hangs suspended, and they
are concealed in its folds. And this is that white fairy
mist which thou hast seen.
" And the tufted isles which thou likenedst to the isles
that rise from the face of some still gleaming lake
these are the peaks of the northern hills and the tops of the
mountain ranges of the north, standing above the suspended
steam of their host. Such are those tufted isles, and such
the white sea that encircles their base.
" And the lights like quick-glancing stars, the moving
fires and flashes of sharp flame—they are the shining of
innumerable helmets with their gem-like decorations, the
burnished rims of chariots, and the extremities of the
poles glittering between the breasts of steeds, and the
burning points of spears, and the faces of the moving
shields, and the eyes of their innumerable warriors bright
with the light of valour, these are those starry twinklings,
flashes, and rapid flames. And those swart spots moving
in curved ways are the clods cast from the swift hoofs of
their galloping steeds, which escape the dash-board of the
chariot, and are flung aloft behind the warrior and the
charioteer, as their youthful chivalry career, to the right
—