Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

144 Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race[173]The MorriganThe scene now shifts to the Hostel, where the king's party hasarrived and is preparing for the night. A solitary woman comesto the door and seeks admission. “As long as a weaver's beamwere each of her two shins, and they were as dark as the back of astag-beetle. A greyish, woolly mantle she wore. Her hair reachedto her knee. Her mouth was twisted to one side of her head.” Itwas the Morrigan, the Danaan goddess of Death and Destruction.She leant against the doorpost of the house and looked evilly onthe king and his company. “Well, O woman,” said Conary, “ifthou art a witch, what seest thou for us?” “Truly I see for thee,”she answered, “that neither fell nor flesh of thine shall escapefrom the place into which thou hast come, save what birds willbear away in their claws.” She asks admission. Conary declaresthat his geis forbids him to receive a solitary man or woman aftersunset. “If in sooth,” she says, “it has befallen the king not tohave room in his house for the meal and bed of a solitary woman,they will be gotten apart from him from some one possessinggenerosity.” “Let her in, then,” says Conary, “though it is a geisof mine.”Conary and his RetinueA lengthy and brilliant passage now follows describing howIngcel goes to spy out the state of affairs in the Hostel. Peepingthrough the chariot-wheels, he takes note of all he sees, anddescribes to the sons of Desa the appearance and equipment ofeach prince and mighty man in Conary's retinue, while Ferroganand his brother declare who he is and what destruction he willwork in the coming fight. There is Cormac, son of Conor,King of Ulster, the fair and good; there are three huge, blackand black-robed warriors of the Picts; there is Conary's steward,with bristling hair, who settles every dispute—a needle wouldbe heard falling when he raises his voice to speak, and he bearsa staff of office the size of a mill-shaft; there is the warrior macCecht, who lies supine with his knees drawn up—they resemble