Standish O'Grady; selected essays and passages

136 STANDISH o'gRADY
and the left, in front of the host, exulting in their swiftness
and might, or gallop forward and await the running
ranks of the spearmen.
" And now, O Queen, thou knowest what is that
confused roar like the roaring of the sea, for it is the
noise of the movement of the host, the screech of innu-
merable wheels revolving on their brazen axles, and the
sound of the tread of the warriors and the trampling of
the hoofs of horses, the converse of the host as they
march, and the war songs of the tribes, expressing their
war- like glee as they march, singing, with open mouths,
sonorous songs. And as for those more distinct sounds,
it is the shouting of mighty captains, and the roar of the
bellowing of gigantic kings, far-strident amid the din,
when they shout among their nations, and divide the
ordered ranks and the squadrons of the chariot-fighting
chivalry, and the clash of spears upon hollow-ringing
shields, when some mighty clan responds to its captain,
or gives vent to its own warlike glee."
" And as for that red hand, like lurid flame seen afar
through the smoke of a burning dim, it is the Red Hand
of Emain Macha, the warlike symbol of the North. It
has been woven by immortal hands in a banner white as
snow ; and now for the first time has that banner been
brought forth to war, nor shall it ever be seen in battle
again any more to the end of time, and around it then are
portents, the shrieking of bauvs and battle furies ; the
wives of Ned are there, and the spirits that delight in
carnage, and dreadful faces and the flashing of light-
nings. And worthy, indeed, of divine presences are