A Book of Myths, by Jean Lang - Umnet

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and carved their names on a stone. And over it he sang a lament and prayed to the God of all love and purity, a prayer for the pure and loving souls of those who had been the children of Lîr. FOOTNOTES: [11] The North Channel. [12] Erris, in Mayo. [13] A small island off Benmullet. DEIRDRÊ "Her beauty filled the old world of the Gael with a sweet, wonderful, and abiding rumour. The name of Deirdrê has been as a harp to a thousand poets. In a land of heroes and brave and beautiful women, how shall one name survive? Yet to this day and for ever, men will remember Deirdrê...." Fiona Macleod. So long ago, that it was before the birth of our Lord, so says tradition, there was born that "Morning star of loveliness, Unhappy Helen of a Western land," who is known to the Celts of Scotland as Darthool, to those of Ireland as Deirdrê. As in the story of Helen, it is not easy, or even possible in the story of Deirdrê, to disentangle the old, old facts of actual history from the web of romantic fairy tale that time has woven about them, yet so great is the power of Deirdrê, even unto this day, that it has been the fond task of those men and women to whom the Gael owes so much, to preserve, and to translate for posterity, the tragic romance of Deirdrê the Beautiful and the Sons of Usna.
In many ancient manuscripts we get the story in more or less complete form. In the Advocates' Library of Edinburgh, in the Glenmasan MS. we get the best and the fullest version, while the oldest and the shortest is to be found in the twelfth-century Book of Leinster. But those who would revel in the old tale and have Deirdrê lead them by the hand into the enchanted realm of the romance of misty, ancient days of our Western Isles must go for help to Fiona Macleod, to Alexander Carmichael, to Lady Gregory, to Dr. Douglas Hyde, to W. F. Skene, to W. B. Yeats, to J. M. Synge, and to those others who, like true descendants of the Druids, possess the power of unlocking the entrance gates of the Green Islands of the Blest. Conchubar, or Conor, ruled the kingdom of the Ultonians, now Ulster, when Deirdrê was born in Erin. All the most famous warriors of his time, heroes whose mighty deeds live on in legend, and whose title was "The Champions of the Red Branch," he gathered round him, and all through Erin and Alba rang the fame of the warlike Ultonians. There came a day when Conor and his champions, gorgeous in their gala dress of crimson tunic with brooches of inlaid gold and white-hooded shirt embroidered in red gold, went to a feast in the house of one called Felim. Felim was a bard, and because not only was his arm in war strong and swift to strike, but because, in peace, his fingers could draw the sweetest of music from his harp, he was dear to the king. As they feasted, Conor beheld a dark shadow of horror and of grief fall on the face of Cathbad, a Druid who had come in his train, and saw that his aged eyes were gazing far into the Unseen. Speedily he bade him tell him what evil thing it was that he saw, and Cathbad turned to the childless Felim and told him that to his wife there was about to be born a daughter, with eyes like stars that are mirrored by night in the water, with lips red as the rowan berries and teeth more white than pearls; with a voice more sweet than the music of fairy harps. "A maiden fair, tall, long haired, for whom champions will contend ... and mighty kings be envious of her lovely, faultless form." For her sweet sake, he said, more blood should be spilt in Erin than for generations and ages past, and many heroes and bright torches of the
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A Book of Myths, by Jean Lang The P
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and lost its beauty, there yet rema
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in any language. The writer will fe
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PYGMALION 11 PHAETON 16 ENDYMION 26
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Thus did Psyche lose her fear, and
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that was to be his heritage. Promet
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(Afterthought). For Epimethus it wa
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endure the torment of having a foul
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most perfect semblance of men and o
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had made sacred to Galatea. On the
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But at last she said to him, "Naugh
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From the courtyard of the Palace th
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wrought. That blazing chariot of th
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suburban garden. That unlettered sp
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[Illustration: SHE CHECKED HER HOUN
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deep, hidden meaning in each part o
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permission he sought, but solemnly
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night, but as that of evening when
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When the quest of the Argonauts was
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But as the first fierce storm that
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Once upon a time, so goes the tale,
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which the fame of the fair Psyche h
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arren rocks, the utter forsakenness
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deny anything to Psyche, and on the
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As a martyr walks to death, so did
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sprang from the high cliff on which
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And again the reeds murmured, "Bewa
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"Oh, foolish one," it said, "why do
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its ugly tomb in the dark soil, and
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and found, amazed, a fearless, whit
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"Aimed on the left side his well-ha
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ATALANTA Atalanta, daughter of the
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thou dost race with me, the goal is
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To Pallas Athené, goddess of craft
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them with pictures such as no skill
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shall fall--for oft by weathers tha
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dallying with Idas in the shadowy w
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of her dreams, his voice was as the
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were life to one whose beauty had w
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overshadowed by the past, and even
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"And now from their fountains In En
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daily had to face, sailed the seas
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came empty-handed, and as he stood
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But Athené said Nay, at his mother
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"but no mortal can obtain it, for o
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living as that of a flower in sprin
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wife. No marriage feast so splendid
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"Surely this stranger comes from Ol
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sons, and each son is more than the
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But the gods laughed. Like a harsh
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Zephyrus, god of the South Wind, ha
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This is the story of Midas, one of
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But when Midas, with the healthy ap
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First of all Pan took his fragile r
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hiding-place. The trees and shrubs
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For the air was full of the clamoro
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around the cave lurked the long dar
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like a ship driven on by the long o
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In the fragrance of the blossom of
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Wind and the North Wind wrestle tog
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For, from the carcase of one of the
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so fair. She had only tasted the jo
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she held most dear. "Give me back m
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LATONA AND THE RUSTICS Through the
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defiled." As she spoke, a change, s
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smiling at the remembrance of her m
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Grief had slain the body of Echo. O
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Fourteen years only have passed sin
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at length they looked like the pini
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higher, higher still, and when he s
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and give stare for stare to golden-
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voice sang snatches of song of his
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shall not hide him, nor shall his d
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whose white arms against the greenw
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fashioned for himself an instrument
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spear-wound through it. With terrib
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as she spoke, her tears and his blo
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the river), 'The only way, since go
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at length she stood on the edge of
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and so, by the hands of his river,
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Milton. Pan was dead, and the gods
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unutterable woe upon any of the son
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Near St. Goar, there rises out of t
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[7] Archilochus of Paros. [8] Fiona
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to come was possessed by Beowulf. I
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And Odin, seeing himself outwitted
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Page 175 and 176: Thus Loki, taking upon himself the
Page 177 and 178: Matthew Arnold. Gladly Hermoder mad
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Page 187 and 188: Grendel's scaly hide. Up and down t
Page 189 and 190: win, while he may, warlike fame in
Page 191 and 192: homeland and had told his kinsman t
Page 193 and 194: forth scorchingly, and its great mo
Page 195 and 196: FOOTNOTES: [9] Shakespeare (Julius
Page 197 and 198: would be allowed to retain his king
Page 199 and 200: "No one sent me," he said. "My moth
Page 201 and 202: "I had taken thee for another man,
Page 203 and 204: Leaving them behind with twenty tho
Page 205 and 206: comrades whose eyes never more woul
Page 207 and 208: humbly confessing his sins and begg
Page 209 and 210: King of Heaven! * * * * * May thy f
Page 211 and 212: Charlemagne then returned to Aix, a
Page 213 and 214: their love. To them in course of ti
Page 215 and 216: what her servants had scorned to do
Page 217 and 218: he stood, and greeted him in the gl
Page 219 and 220: the shattered victims of the destro
Page 221 and 222: Then said her brothers: "In Him we
Page 223: And Kemoc answered: "It is truth."
Page 227 and 228: "You will have a little grave apart
Page 229 and 230: questions about Naoise, she met a s
Page 231 and 232: delivered his message, and when he
Page 233 and 234: e alive. We will go with her to ano
Page 235 and 236: ut on Loch Awe and Loch Fyne, Loch
Page 237 and 238: But Deirdrê said, very quickly: "N
Page 239 and 240: the pure sand. O that I might not d
Page 241 and 242: heart of the king. For when Lavarca
Page 243 and 244: And Ainle also craved that death mi
Page 245 and 246: [18] Inistrynich. [19] Dun Sween. [
Page 247 and 248: 133, 139, 140, 141, 142, 145, 164,
Page 249 and 250: Belvidere, Apollo, 11 Ben Cruachan,
Page 251 and 252: Cerberus, 34 Ceyx, 144, 145, 146, 1
Page 253 and 254: Dædalus, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185,
Page 255 and 256: Dun Sween, 324 Durendala, 276, 284,
Page 257 and 258: Fergus, 321, 322, 323, 325, 326, 32
Page 259 and 260: Greece, 26, 71, 72, 74, 154, 192, 1
Page 261 and 262: Ibycus, 192, 194, 195, 196 Icarus,
Page 263 and 264: Lebynthos, 186 Leinster, Book of, 3
Page 265 and 266: Meleager, 69, 70, 72, 74, 75, 76, 7
Page 267 and 268: North Cape, 260 North Sea, 244 Norw
Page 269 and 270: Persephone, 80, 161, 164, 165, 167
Page 271 and 272: 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286,
Page 273 and 274: Sleipnir, 236 Socrates, 153 Somnus,
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Tyrian, 86 Uffizi Palace, 124 Ulste
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The author also used alternative sp
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ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.
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This eBook is for the use of anyone
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eceipt of the work. - You comply wi
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harmless from all liability, costs
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