Seven wild geese were men, seven wild geese were men,
Seven drops of my heart’s blood are there for your spell.
A kiss for my love, a kiss for my love,
May his kiss go to none till he meet me again.
If to one go his kiss, if to one go his kiss,
He may meet, he may meet, and not know me again.
The girl on the other bank of the river passed on, and the King’s Son
and Fedelma with the Little Sage of the Mountain came to the meadow
where the horse was. A heavy, slow-moving horse he seemed. But when they
mounted him they found he had the three qualities of Finn’s steeds--a
quick rush against a hill, the gait of a fox, easy and proud, on the
level ground, and the jump of a deer over harriers. They left health and
good luck with the Little Sage of the Mountain, and on the horse he gave
them they rode on to the Spae-Woman’s house.
II
When Fedelma and the King of Ireland’s Son came to the Spae-Woman’s
house, who was the first person they saw there but Gilveen, Fedelma’s
sister! She came to where they reined their horse and smiled in the
faces of her sister and the King of Ireland’s Son. And she it was who
gave them their first welcome. “And you will be asking how I came here,”
said Gilveen, “and I will tell you without wasting candle-light. Myself
and sister Aefa went to the court of the King of Ireland after you, my
sister, had gone from us with the lucky man of your choice. And as for
Aefa, she has been lucky too in finding a match and she is now married
to Maravaun the King’s Councillor. I have been with Caintigern the
Queen. And now the Queen is in the house of the Spae-Woman with the
youth Flann and she is longing to give the clasp of welcome to both of
you. And if you sit beside me on this grassy ditch I will tell you the
whole story from the first to the last syllable.”
They sat together, and Gilveen told Fedelma and the King’s Son the
story. The Spae-Woman had sent a message to Caintigern the Queen to tell
her she had tidings of her first-born son. Thereupon Caintigern went to
the Spae-Woman’s house and Gilveen, her attendant, went with her. She
found there Flann who had been known as Gilly of the Goatskin, and knew
him for the son who had been stolen from her when he was born. Flann
gave his mother a token which had been given him by a young woman. The
token was a handkerchief and it held seven drops of heart’s blood. The
Spae-Woman told the Queen that these seven drops would disenchant her
brothers who had been changed from their own forms into the forms of
seven wild geese.
And while Gilveen was telling them all this Flann came to see whose
horse was there, and great was his joy to find his comrade the King of
Ireland’s Son. They knew now that they were the sons of the one father,
and they embraced each other as brothers. And Flann took the hand of
Fedelma and he told her and the King’s Son of his love for Morag. But
when he was speaking of Morag, Gilveen went away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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