Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Section fourteen of Deirdre by James Stevens. This LibriVox recording
is in the public domain. Read by Michel Frye Vettridge, Louisiana,
Book two, chapters seven and eight, Chapter seven. As the
(00:21):
travelers proceeded, they were morose and thoughtful, and even Ardonn's
high spirits flagged. But as they looked on a native
sky and on the fields and hedgerows of an Irish countryside,
something of their disquietude was eased, and the lightening of
the heart became apparent in each of them. Dear girl,
(00:42):
said Nietzsche, and he placed an arm about her shoulders.
We are in Ireland, he said. At the word, every
misery fled from Ardonn's breast, so that he began to
look truculently on his brother Anlah, and even to give
him an occasional shoulder. As they marched, Deirdre leaned to
(01:02):
her husband. I have had other visions, she said. She
moved her hand languidly towards Fergus's two sons, who strode
a few paces in advance. These are our sureties, she mocked.
They represent their father. Nisha affirmed, they represent nothing but themselves.
(01:23):
She answered, and if their father leaves us for a feast,
they will leave us for any other prank. It was
his gussa, said Nisha patiently, whatever it was, we are
utterly alone. We have no backing of any kind, and
we will arrive in Emain Macha at the absolute mercy
of Kannahur. She seized her husband's arm. You also are
(01:47):
under gosa not to return unless in the company of Fergus.
He may be delayed for a week. Let us camp
here and wait until he comes up with us, dear child,
said Nisha, How can we insult these good youths. But
Deirdre was in a terrible agitation. I dread appearing in
the presence of Kanahor if Fergus is not by us,
(02:10):
his guarantee is with us, said Nishe, indicating the two
young men. There. It is four legs of it, marching stoutly.
At least, she pleaded, let us go to Cookoulan's fortress
in Dundalgan and wait there until he or Fergus can
come with us. If you will do that, I shall
(02:30):
complain no more. Fergus, he replied, has bound himself before
the king that he would send us on without an
hour's delay, and he bound himself to stay with us.
But he has broken his word. We must keep his
word for him with the king, said Nisha. Another person's
(02:52):
honor is another person's business. That compact is broken by him,
and your gossip is not kept by keeping his Let
us turn to dundale Gan and take Coculan's protection. Nisha
indicated the two who were marching in front. I shall
ask their advice, and if they agree to it, we
(03:13):
will go to dundale Gan. He called the two and
put the question to them, but they were scandalized. You
have no confidence in us, said Boigna, and none in
our father's words, said Iolene. This woe has come on
us because of your father's word, and he has left
us in danger for a feast. She raged. The whole
(03:35):
world said Boigna knows Fergus mac Roy and the worth
of his protection. You know it, he said to Nisha,
although your queen does not. You are right, said Nisha.
We may go on without misgiving my dove, and they
went on on their journey. The next day they reached
(03:55):
Slieve fued Deirdre strayed behind, and in the movement and
conversation her absence was not noticed for a long time.
Nisha retraced his path from the white cairn of the
watching and came on her, sleeping in a grassy hollow.
When he awakened her, she stared and clutched him and
(04:16):
cried wildly and bitterly. What is it? He asked in alarm.
I have had a vision. She sobbed. I have had
a dreadful vision. What did you see? I saw Irelen
with no head on him, and I saw Bornia with
his head safe on his shoulders. Nisha took her in
(04:36):
his arms. Be glad, he laughed, that one of our
friends will escape the doom you have planned for us all.
But she stared at him in destruction. No friend of
ours will escape, she moaned. But Bonia kept his head on.
In your dream, the man who had no head had
been fighting for us, and the man who had a
(04:58):
head was fighting against us, she whispered. Nisha was shocked.
How you have changed by one treasure, he said, mournfully.
She threw her arms about him. Do not speak unkindly
to me, she begged. That lovely mouth spoke always lovely things,
and now it speaks nothing but evil. She closed his
(05:20):
lips with her hand. No, no, she said, do not
say more. I say only that you love me. You
do love me, my husband, little tender wife, he smiled.
After all the dangers we have gone through, you are
frightened at last, Yes, she breathed. I am terribly frightened.
(05:41):
I die a fear for us all when I remember Connahor.
He looks so at me. Nisha, he come with me
to Scotland. We will be safe there. We will be
happy again. We will hunt in the woods of Kahn
and Glinderua. I shall never complain again in this life.
If you will come with me to Scotland. Let us
(06:04):
go away, you and I and our darlings. Aun Lan
Ardon he is so young to be killed. Our brother Ardon,
he is but twenty one years old, and he is
gay and loving and fearless. We will be together again.
We four alone and happy. Listen. We will hunt and
(06:26):
feast and defend ourselves and fear nothing. You shall win
a kingdom there in sweet Alba of the heathery uplands.
But let us fly from Gannahor. You do not know him.
Only I and Leversham know that terrible king. He is thoughtful,
he is bitter, and unforgiving, and his memories are rooted deep,
(06:51):
like the roots of a deep tree. But Nisha put
her hands away. If you must speak badly of others,
he said, coldly, speak to me of foreigners, and not
of my own people. Alas my husband, alas, and alas
for all of us, She rose wearily. Do not be
(07:14):
angry with me. Let that last unhappiness be spared me.
I am your wife, Nisha. I would prefer that evil
should happen to all the world, rather than one small
misfortune should come to you. I am not deardre any more.
I am misery. But he kissed and petted her, putting
(07:37):
back her hair from her brow and framing her face
in his hands. We are here now, he said, and
no matter what awaits us, we must go to meet it.
You would not wish me to run away, dear dream.
We ran away before, and we have greater reason to
run away now than we had then. The spider is
(07:59):
waiting for us in a web. You forget, and you
will keep on forgetting it that we are under the
protection of Fergus, and through him we are under the
protection of all Ireland. But she looked at him, almost angrily, Fergus,
She scoffed. He is a traitor, that Fergus. He is
(08:20):
being used by the king to betray us. Nicia bit
his lip, and his eyes became hard and somber. Let
us go on, he said, we should reach our de
selach Ere the evening Chapter eight, they stood on the
slope of a hill in a rounded and rolling country,
(08:42):
looking down on Emain Macha. The evening was advanced, and
the late sunlight, all a glimmer of gold, was shining
tenderly on the city, so that the mighty ten acre
palace of Kanahur shone back again, as though it were
also a sun. The great bronze doors, polished like mirrors,
(09:03):
were blazing in red lakes aflame. The glass windows of
the women's sunny rooms were like blinding pools of gold,
and the roof, painted in broad reaches of red and
green and orange, glowed and sparkled in the mellow evening.
It is good to look on that again, said Nisha
in a low voice. I had almost forgotten it, said Anla.
(09:28):
But Ardan squatted in the grass and stared and stared
with his soul in his eyes. You have not seen
the city for seven years, said Boigna. Nisha drew Deardre
to him. Are you not contented now? My heart? Our
wanderings are ended, he continued tenderly. We are outlaws no more,
(09:50):
and that long vagabondage is done with. You will sleep
at last in a bed, he smiled. Oh, my dear,
she breathed. We are home again, he said, and his
heart filled suddenly, so that he could not tell if
it were really joy that stayed his tongue and blinded
his eyes, or if the grief of seven long years
(10:12):
had risen within him like a wintry tide. But Deirdre
was not happy. She saw Auntlas contained joy and the
ecstasy in Ardon's eyes. Alas, my darlings, she said, You
still think, said Nisha, that the king of such a
(10:32):
land can act towards us like a traitor. I shall
give you a sign, she replied, mournfully and gently. If
Cunnohar lodges us this night in his own house, we
are safe. He has sent for us of his own
royal will, said Anla, and he will lodge us as
is proper in the royal branch. Poor trusting gentlemen, said Deirdre.
(10:57):
Gunnahor could not live again in the house where you
three had lodged. He will send us to the Red Branch.
And if he does, said Nisha. I Ardon cried, am
going to put a new edge on my sword if
he does. There is a good edge on it already,
he explained, But I am going to put edges all
over it. If we are sent to the Red Branch,
(11:20):
said Annah, I shall let you give my blade a
rub two. I call on Island and Bogonna for protection.
Ardon cried indignantly. That man makes me work for him
like a horse, he complained. Nisha turned to the two
sons of Fergus. If we are sent to the Red Branch,
what will you do? We will go there with you,
(11:43):
said Bogna. The king's house is always filled with guests,
Ireland said. He cannot know just when we should arrive,
and he may have no place for us at a
moment's notice. There is nothing Honohor does not know, said
dear Burak. Will have sent a runner to tell of
our arrival, and his own spies will have told the
(12:06):
king in what place we camped each night, and at
what hour we marched again in the morning. He knows
now that we are here, and if he sends us
to the red branch, we are lost. I am as
full of curiosity as an old woman, A Nisha laughed.
Let us go on and find out everything that is
going to happen. In a short time, they were among
(12:30):
the streets and booths around Emain Macha, but the twilight
had descended and the passer spy did not recognize the
six travelers. Yonder is the speckled branch the armory, said Anlah.
The boy troop will be going to bed shortly. You
remember those nights, Nisha, and all the chattering and the
(12:50):
climbing out of the windows by a cord, said Ardan,
and is scrambling back again while the comrades above through
all the world at the guards who were trying to
stick spears in us as we shin it up. There
is the red branch, said Nishe. Is it truly full
of dead men's heads, Deirdred chattered through frozen lips. There
(13:14):
is generally a head or two, he answered carelessly. Connocht men,
mostly very hairy, beardy, toothy kinds of heads, said Ardon.
I remember them, and they used to get hairrier and
beardier and toothier every second day. At last, he explained
to Deirdre, there wouldn't be any head at all, no
(13:36):
face at all, only a mat of hair as long
as a woman's, and it in knots, and a shiny
grin among the knots. You are all wrong, said on
the A dead man's hair grows lank and long like
a drink of water. Poof said, Ardon, you remember everything,
You are the great man of the world. The wind
(13:59):
nots and twists them and wobbles them all in and
out like a door. Mat yonder is Conahor's house. The
royal branch said, Nisha, we will give a good thundering
knock at the door and make them jump, said on
La gleefully, I'll give it a kick, said Ardan. Nisha
did give a thundering knock. The door opened, and a
(14:22):
guard appeared, who asks admission. At this hour, he demanded
the sons of Ishnach. The guard stared, come in, nobles
and sit for a moment while I seek instructions. Let
a message be sent to the king, said Boigne, that
the protection of Fergus mac Roy and those he protects
(14:42):
have arrived. As he ordered, the chamberlain came scl son
of Varnain, the household has retired, he said, But the
King sends his regrets and courtesies, and has instructed that
his noble guests are to be lodged in the Red
Branch for this night. A guard will escort you there.
(15:03):
He motioned to the captain of the guard, who ranged
his men. Don't forget about the edges you promised to
do for me, said Ardant to his brother. No wriggling,
young lazy bones, Anola retorted, you shall do your work
and be respectful to your betters. Also, is not that
man a tyrant? Said Ardant. He turned to the captain
(15:25):
of the guard. Hold me away from him, good sir,
he implored. I am at your orders, gentlemen, said the
smiling captain. End of Section fourteen.
Section fourteen of Deirdre by James Stevens. This LibriVox recording
is in the public domain. Read by Michel Frye Vettridge, Louisiana,
Book two, chapters seven and eight, Chapter seven. As the
(00:21):
travelers proceeded, they were morose and thoughtful, and even Ardonn's
high spirits flagged. But as they looked on a native
sky and on the fields and hedgerows of an Irish countryside,
something of their disquietude was eased, and the lightening of
the heart became apparent in each of them. Dear girl,
(00:42):
said Nietzsche, and he placed an arm about her shoulders.
We are in Ireland, he said. At the word, every
misery fled from Ardonn's breast, so that he began to
look truculently on his brother Anlah, and even to give
him an occasional shoulder. As they marched, Deirdre leaned to
(01:02):
her husband. I have had other visions, she said. She
moved her hand languidly towards Fergus's two sons, who strode
a few paces in advance. These are our sureties, she mocked.
They represent their father. Nisha affirmed, they represent nothing but themselves.
(01:23):
She answered, and if their father leaves us for a feast,
they will leave us for any other prank. It was
his gussa, said Nisha patiently, whatever it was, we are
utterly alone. We have no backing of any kind, and
we will arrive in Emain Macha at the absolute mercy
of Kannahur. She seized her husband's arm. You also are
(01:47):
under gosa not to return unless in the company of Fergus.
He may be delayed for a week. Let us camp
here and wait until he comes up with us, dear child,
said Nisha, How can we insult these good youths. But
Deirdre was in a terrible agitation. I dread appearing in
the presence of Kanahor if Fergus is not by us,
(02:10):
his guarantee is with us, said Nishe, indicating the two
young men. There. It is four legs of it, marching stoutly.
At least, she pleaded, let us go to Cookoulan's fortress
in Dundalgan and wait there until he or Fergus can
come with us. If you will do that, I shall
(02:30):
complain no more. Fergus, he replied, has bound himself before
the king that he would send us on without an
hour's delay, and he bound himself to stay with us.
But he has broken his word. We must keep his
word for him with the king, said Nisha. Another person's
(02:52):
honor is another person's business. That compact is broken by him,
and your gossip is not kept by keeping his Let
us turn to dundale Gan and take Coculan's protection. Nisha
indicated the two who were marching in front. I shall
ask their advice, and if they agree to it, we
(03:13):
will go to dundale Gan. He called the two and
put the question to them, but they were scandalized. You
have no confidence in us, said Boigna, and none in
our father's words, said Iolene. This woe has come on
us because of your father's word, and he has left
us in danger for a feast. She raged. The whole
(03:35):
world said Boigna knows Fergus mac Roy and the worth
of his protection. You know it, he said to Nisha,
although your queen does not. You are right, said Nisha.
We may go on without misgiving my dove, and they
went on on their journey. The next day they reached
(03:55):
Slieve fued Deirdre strayed behind, and in the movement and
conversation her absence was not noticed for a long time.
Nisha retraced his path from the white cairn of the
watching and came on her, sleeping in a grassy hollow.
When he awakened her, she stared and clutched him and
(04:16):
cried wildly and bitterly. What is it? He asked in alarm.
I have had a vision. She sobbed. I have had
a dreadful vision. What did you see? I saw Irelen
with no head on him, and I saw Bornia with
his head safe on his shoulders. Nisha took her in
(04:36):
his arms. Be glad, he laughed, that one of our
friends will escape the doom you have planned for us all.
But she stared at him in destruction. No friend of
ours will escape, she moaned. But Bonia kept his head on.
In your dream, the man who had no head had
been fighting for us, and the man who had a
(04:58):
head was fighting against us, she whispered. Nisha was shocked.
How you have changed by one treasure, he said, mournfully.
She threw her arms about him. Do not speak unkindly
to me, she begged. That lovely mouth spoke always lovely things,
and now it speaks nothing but evil. She closed his
(05:20):
lips with her hand. No, no, she said, do not
say more. I say only that you love me. You
do love me, my husband, little tender wife, he smiled.
After all the dangers we have gone through, you are
frightened at last, Yes, she breathed. I am terribly frightened.
(05:41):
I die a fear for us all when I remember Connahor.
He looks so at me. Nisha, he come with me
to Scotland. We will be safe there. We will be
happy again. We will hunt in the woods of Kahn
and Glinderua. I shall never complain again in this life.
If you will come with me to Scotland. Let us
(06:04):
go away, you and I and our darlings. Aun Lan
Ardon he is so young to be killed. Our brother Ardon,
he is but twenty one years old, and he is
gay and loving and fearless. We will be together again.
We four alone and happy. Listen. We will hunt and
(06:26):
feast and defend ourselves and fear nothing. You shall win
a kingdom there in sweet Alba of the heathery uplands.
But let us fly from Gannahor. You do not know him.
Only I and Leversham know that terrible king. He is thoughtful,
he is bitter, and unforgiving, and his memories are rooted deep,
(06:51):
like the roots of a deep tree. But Nisha put
her hands away. If you must speak badly of others,
he said, coldly, speak to me of foreigners, and not
of my own people. Alas my husband, alas, and alas
for all of us, She rose wearily. Do not be
(07:14):
angry with me. Let that last unhappiness be spared me.
I am your wife, Nisha. I would prefer that evil
should happen to all the world, rather than one small
misfortune should come to you. I am not deardre any more.
I am misery. But he kissed and petted her, putting
(07:37):
back her hair from her brow and framing her face
in his hands. We are here now, he said, and
no matter what awaits us, we must go to meet it.
You would not wish me to run away, dear dream.
We ran away before, and we have greater reason to
run away now than we had then. The spider is
(07:59):
waiting for us in a web. You forget, and you
will keep on forgetting it that we are under the
protection of Fergus, and through him we are under the
protection of all Ireland. But she looked at him, almost angrily, Fergus,
She scoffed. He is a traitor, that Fergus. He is
(08:20):
being used by the king to betray us. Nicia bit
his lip, and his eyes became hard and somber. Let
us go on, he said, we should reach our de
selach Ere the evening Chapter eight, they stood on the
slope of a hill in a rounded and rolling country,
(08:42):
looking down on Emain Macha. The evening was advanced, and
the late sunlight, all a glimmer of gold, was shining
tenderly on the city, so that the mighty ten acre
palace of Kanahur shone back again, as though it were
also a sun. The great bronze doors, polished like mirrors,
(09:03):
were blazing in red lakes aflame. The glass windows of
the women's sunny rooms were like blinding pools of gold,
and the roof, painted in broad reaches of red and
green and orange, glowed and sparkled in the mellow evening.
It is good to look on that again, said Nisha
in a low voice. I had almost forgotten it, said Anla.
(09:28):
But Ardan squatted in the grass and stared and stared
with his soul in his eyes. You have not seen
the city for seven years, said Boigna. Nisha drew Deardre
to him. Are you not contented now? My heart? Our
wanderings are ended, he continued tenderly. We are outlaws no more,
(09:50):
and that long vagabondage is done with. You will sleep
at last in a bed, he smiled. Oh, my dear,
she breathed. We are home again, he said, and his
heart filled suddenly, so that he could not tell if
it were really joy that stayed his tongue and blinded
his eyes, or if the grief of seven long years
(10:12):
had risen within him like a wintry tide. But Deirdre
was not happy. She saw Auntlas contained joy and the
ecstasy in Ardon's eyes. Alas, my darlings, she said, You
still think, said Nisha, that the king of such a
(10:32):
land can act towards us like a traitor. I shall
give you a sign, she replied, mournfully and gently. If
Cunnohar lodges us this night in his own house, we
are safe. He has sent for us of his own
royal will, said Anla, and he will lodge us as
is proper in the royal branch. Poor trusting gentlemen, said Deirdre.
(10:57):
Gunnahor could not live again in the house where you
three had lodged. He will send us to the Red Branch.
And if he does, said Nisha. I Ardon cried, am
going to put a new edge on my sword if
he does. There is a good edge on it already,
he explained, But I am going to put edges all
over it. If we are sent to the Red Branch,
(11:20):
said Annah, I shall let you give my blade a
rub two. I call on Island and Bogonna for protection.
Ardon cried indignantly. That man makes me work for him
like a horse, he complained. Nisha turned to the two
sons of Fergus. If we are sent to the Red Branch,
what will you do? We will go there with you,
(11:43):
said Bogna. The king's house is always filled with guests,
Ireland said. He cannot know just when we should arrive,
and he may have no place for us at a
moment's notice. There is nothing Honohor does not know, said
dear Burak. Will have sent a runner to tell of
our arrival, and his own spies will have told the
(12:06):
king in what place we camped each night, and at
what hour we marched again in the morning. He knows
now that we are here, and if he sends us
to the red branch, we are lost. I am as
full of curiosity as an old woman, A Nisha laughed.
Let us go on and find out everything that is
going to happen. In a short time, they were among
(12:30):
the streets and booths around Emain Macha, but the twilight
had descended and the passer spy did not recognize the
six travelers. Yonder is the speckled branch the armory, said Anlah.
The boy troop will be going to bed shortly. You
remember those nights, Nisha, and all the chattering and the
(12:50):
climbing out of the windows by a cord, said Ardan,
and is scrambling back again while the comrades above through
all the world at the guards who were trying to
stick spears in us as we shin it up. There
is the red branch, said Nishe. Is it truly full
of dead men's heads, Deirdred chattered through frozen lips. There
(13:14):
is generally a head or two, he answered carelessly. Connocht men,
mostly very hairy, beardy, toothy kinds of heads, said Ardon.
I remember them, and they used to get hairrier and
beardier and toothier every second day. At last, he explained
to Deirdre, there wouldn't be any head at all, no
(13:36):
face at all, only a mat of hair as long
as a woman's, and it in knots, and a shiny
grin among the knots. You are all wrong, said on
the A dead man's hair grows lank and long like
a drink of water. Poof said, Ardon, you remember everything,
You are the great man of the world. The wind
(13:59):
nots and twists them and wobbles them all in and
out like a door. Mat yonder is Conahor's house. The
royal branch said, Nisha, we will give a good thundering
knock at the door and make them jump, said on
La gleefully, I'll give it a kick, said Ardan. Nisha
did give a thundering knock. The door opened, and a
(14:22):
guard appeared, who asks admission. At this hour, he demanded
the sons of Ishnach. The guard stared, come in, nobles
and sit for a moment while I seek instructions. Let
a message be sent to the king, said Boigne, that
the protection of Fergus mac Roy and those he protects
(14:42):
have arrived. As he ordered, the chamberlain came scl son
of Varnain, the household has retired, he said, But the
King sends his regrets and courtesies, and has instructed that
his noble guests are to be lodged in the Red
Branch for this night. A guard will escort you there.
(15:03):
He motioned to the captain of the guard, who ranged
his men. Don't forget about the edges you promised to
do for me, said Ardant to his brother. No wriggling,
young lazy bones, Anola retorted, you shall do your work
and be respectful to your betters. Also, is not that
man a tyrant? Said Ardant. He turned to the captain
(15:25):
of the guard. Hold me away from him, good sir,
he implored. I am at your orders, gentlemen, said the
smiling captain. End of Section fourteen.
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