The Collected Works in Verse and Prose of William Butler Yeats, Vol. 5 (of 8): The Celtic Twilight and Stories of Red HanrahanYeats, W. B. (William Butler)
General
The Collected Works in Verse and Prose of William Butler Yeats, Vol. 5 (of 8): The Celtic Twilight and Stories of Red Hanrahan
Yeats, W. B. (William Butler)
English literature -- Irish authors
ONE day a friend of mine was making a sketch of my Knight of the Sheep.
The old man’s daughter was sitting by, and, when the conversation
drifted to love and love-making, she said, ‘Oh, father, tell him
about your love affair.’ The old man took his pipe out of his mouth,
and said, ‘Nobody ever marries the woman he loves,’ and then, with
a chuckle, ‘there were fifteen of them I liked better than the
woman I married,’ and he repeated many women’s names. He went on to
tell how when he was a lad he had worked for his grandfather, his
mother’s father, and was called (my friend has forgotten why) by his
grandfather’s name, which we will say was Doran. He had a great friend,
whom I shall call John Byrne; and one day he and his friend went to
Queenstown to await an emigrant ship, that was to take John Byrne
to America. When they were walking along the quay, they saw a girl
sitting on a seat, crying miserably, and two men standing up in front
of her quarrelling with one another. Doran said, ‘I think I know what
is wrong. _That_ man will be her brother, and _that_ man will be her
lover, and the brother is sending her to America to get her away from
the lover. How she is crying! but I think I could console her myself.’
Presently the lover and brother went away, and Doran began to walk up
and down before her, saying, ‘Mild weather, Miss,’ or the like. She
answered him in a little while, and the three began to talk together.
The emigrant ship did not arrive for some days; and the three drove
about on outside cars very innocently and happily, seeing everything
that was to be seen. When at last the ship came, and Doran had to break
it to her that he was not going to America, she cried more after him
than after the first lover. Doran whispered to Byrne as he went aboard
ship, ‘Now, Byrne, I don’t grudge her to you, but don’t marry young.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account