woman met a man with ears spread out,
And they moved up and down like wings of bats.
MAIRE.
Shemus stays late.
TEIG.
By Carrick-orus churchyard,
A herdsman met a man who had no mouth,
Nor ears, nor eyes: his face a wall of flesh;
He saw him plainly by the moon.
MAIRE.
[Going over to the little shrine.]
White Mary,
Bring Shemus home out of the wicked woods;
Save Shemus from the wolves; Shemus is daring;
And save him from the demons of the woods,
Who have crept out and wander on the roads,
Deluding dim-eyed souls now newly dead,
And those alive who have gone crazed with famine.
Save him, White Mary Virgin.
TEIG.
And but now
I thought I heard far-off tympans and harps.
[Knocking at the door.
MAIRE.
Shemus has come.
TEIG.
May he bring better food
Than the lean crow he brought us yesterday.
[MAIRE opens the door, and SHEMUS comes in with a dead wolf on his shoulder.
MAIRE.
Shemus, you are late home: you have been lounging
And chattering with some one: you know well
How the dreams trouble me, and how I pray,
Yet you lie sweating on the hill from morn,
Or linger at the crossways with all comers,
Telling or gathering up calamity.
SHEMUS.
You would rail my head off. Here is a good dinner.
[He throws the wolf on the table.
A wolf is better than a carrion crow.
I searched all day: the mice and rats and hedgehogs
Seemed to be dead, and I could hardly hear
A wing moving in all the famished woods,
Though the dead leaves and clauber of four forests
Cling to my footsole. I turned home but now,
And saw, sniffing the floor in a bare cow-house,
This young wolf here: the crossbow brought him down.
MAIRE.
Praise be the saints![After a pause.
Why did the house dog bay?
SHEMUS.
He heard me coming and smelt food—what else?
TEIG.
We will not starve awhile.
SHEMUS.
What food is within?
TEIG.
There is a bag half full of meal, a pan
Half full of milk.
SHEMUS.
And we have one old hen.
TEIG.
The bogwood were less hard.
MAIRE.
Before you came
She made a great noise in the hencoop, Shemus.
What fluttered in the window?
TEIG.
Two horned owls
Have blinked and fluttered on the window sill
From when the dog began to bay.
SHEMUS.
Hush, hush.
[He fits an arrow to the crossbow, and goes towards the door. A sudden burst of music without.
They are off again: ladies or gentlemen
Travel in the woods with tympan and with harp.
Teig, put the wolf upon the biggest hook
And shut the door.
[TEIG goes into the cupboard with the wolf: returns and fastens the door behind him.
Sit on the creepy stool
And call up a whey face and a crying voice,
And let your head be bowed upon your knees.
[He opens the door of the cabin.
Come in, your honours: a full score of evenings
This threshold worn away by many a foot
Has been passed only by the snails and birds
And by our own poor hunger-shaken feet.
[The COUNTESS CATHLEEN, ALEEL, who carries a small square harp, OONA, and a little group of fantastically dressed musicians come in.
CATHLEEN.
Are you so hungry?
TEIG.
[From beside the fire.]
Lady, I fell but now,
And lay upon the threshold like a log.
I have not tasted a crust for these four days.
[The COUNTESS CATHLEEN empties her
