English literature -- Scottish authors; Scottish literature
"Yes, Ian mac Iain-Bàn, I will be telling you this thing before I
change. You are for knowing, sure, that long ago Uilleam, brother of him
who was father to the lad up at the castle yonder, had a son? Yes, you
know that, you say, and also that he was called Donnacha Bàn? No,
mo-caraid, that is not a true thing that you have heard, that Donnacha
Bàn went under the waves years ago. He was the seventh son, an' was born
under the full moon; 'tis Himself will be knowing whether that was for
or against him. Of these seven none lived beyond childhood except the
two youngest, Kenneth an' Donnacha. Kenneth was always frail as a
February flower, but he lived to be a man. He an' his brother never
spoke, for a feud was between them, not only because that each was
unlike the other, an' the younger hated the older because through him he
was the penniless one, but most because both loved the same woman. I am
not for telling you the whole story now, for the breath in my body will
soon blow out in the draught that is coming upon me; but this I will say
to you: darker and darker grew the gloom between these brothers. When
Giorsal Macdonald gave her love to Kenneth, Donnacha disappeared for a
time. Then, one day, he came back to Borosay, an' smiled quietly with
his cold eyes when they wondered at his coming again. Now, too, it was
noticed that he no longer had an ill-will upon his brother, but spoke
smoothly with him an' loved to be in his company. But to this day no one
knows for sure what happened. For there was a gloaming when Donnacha Bàn
came back alone in his sailing-boat. He an' Kenneth had sailed forth, he
said, to shoot seals in the sea-arcades to the west of Rona, but in
these dark and lonely passages they had missed each other. At last he
had heard Kenneth's voice calling for help, but when he had got to the
place it was too late, for his brother had been seized with the cramps,
an' had sunk deep into the fathomless water. There is no getting a body
again that sinks in these sea-galleries. The crabs know that.
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account