How would he know that with his head in the clouds? He doesn’t care for common fighting. Why would he put himself out, and nobody in it but that young man? Now, if it were a white fawn that might turn into a queen before morning— FOOL. Come to the fowl. I wish it was as big as a pig; a fowl with goose grease and pig’s crackling. BLIND MAN. No hurry, no hurry. I know whose son it is. I wouldn’t tell anybody else, but I will tell you,—a secret is better to you than your dinner. You like being told secrets. FOOL. Tell me the secret. BLIND MAN. That young man is Aoife’s son. I am sure it is Aoife’s son, it flows in upon me that it is Aoife’s son. You have often heard me talking of Aoife, the great woman-fighter Cuchulain got the mastery over in the north? FOOL. I know, I know. She is one of those cross queens that live in hungry Scotland. BLIND MAN. I am sure it is her son. I was in Aoife’s country for a long time. FOOL. That was before you were blinded for putting a curse upon the wind. BLIND MAN. There was a boy in her house that had her own red colour on him and everybody said he was to be brought up to kill Cuchulain, that she hated Cuchulain. She used to put a helmet on a pillar-stone and call it Cuchulain and set him casting at it. There is a step outside—Cuchulain’s step. [_CUCHULAIN passes by in the mist outside the big door._ FOOL. Where is Cuchulain going? BLIND MAN. He is going to meet Conchubar that has bidden him to take the oath. FOOL. Ah, an oath, Blind Man. How can I remember so many things at once? Who is going to take an oath? BLIND MAN. Cuchulain is going to take an oath to Conchubar who is High King. FOOL. What a mix-up you make of everything, Blind Man. You were telling me one story, and now you are telling me another story.... How can I get the hang of it at the end if you mix everything at the beginning? Wait till I settle it out. There now, there’s Cuchulain [_he points to one foot_], and there is the young man [_he points to the other foot_] that is coming to kill him, and Cuchulain doesn’t know. But where’s Conchubar? [_Takes bag from side._] That’s Conchubar with all his riches—Cuchulain, young man, Conchubar—And where’s Aoife? [_Throws up cap._] There is Aoife, high up on the mountains in high hungry Scotland. Maybe it is not true after all. Maybe it was your own making up. It’s many a time you cheated me before with your lies. Come to the cooking-pot, my stomach is pinched and rusty. Would you have it to be creaking like a gate? BLIND MAN. I tell you it’s true. And more than that is true. If you listen to what I say, you’ll forget your stomach. FOOL. I won’t. BLIND MAN. Listen. I know who the young man’s father is, but I won’t say. I would be afraid to say. Ah, Fool, you would forget everything if you could know who the young man’s father is. FOOL. Who is it? Tell me now quick, or I’ll shake you. Come, out with it, or I’ll shake you. [A murmur of voices in the distance.