CHAPTER VI
THE SMITH'S SUPPER PARTY
"Bearing on shoulders immense Atlantean the weight, Well nigh not to be borne, Of the too vast orb of her fate."
MATTHEW ARNOLD.
One day, in the forenoon, a man came to Emain Macha. He was grim andswarthy, with great hands and arms. He made no reverence to Concobar orto any of the Ultonians, but standing stark before them, spake thus, notfluently:--"My master, Culain, high smith of all Ulster, bids thee tosupper this night, O Concobar; and he wills thee to know that becausehe has not wide territories, and flocks, and herds, and tribute-payingpeoples, only the implements of his industry, his anvils and hammers andtongs, and the slender profits of his labour, he feareth to feast allthe Red Branch, who are by report mighty to eat and to drink; he wouldnot for all Ireland bring famine upon his own industrious youths, hisjourneymen and his apprentices. Come therefore with a choice selectionof thy knights, choosing those who are not great eaters, and drinkers,and you shall all have a fair welcome, a goodly supper, and aproportionate quantity of drink." That speech was a cause of great mirthto the Ultonians; nevertheless they restrained their laughter, so thatthe grim ambassador, who seemed withal to be a very angry man, sawnothing but grave countenances. Concobar answered him courteously,saying that he accepted the invitation, and that he would be mindful ofthe smith's wishes. When the man departed the Red Branch gave a looserein to their mirth, each man charging the other with being in especialthe person whose presence would be a cause of sorrow to the smith.
Culain was a mighty craftsman in those days. It was he who used to makeweapons, armour, and chariots for the Ultonians, and there was never inIreland a better smith than he. In his huge and smoky dun the ringing ofhammers and the husky roar of the bellows seldom ceased; even at nightthe red glare of his furnaces painted far and wide the barren moorwhere he dwelt. Herdsmen and shepherds who, in quest of estrays, foundthemselves unawares in this neighbourhood, fled away praying to theirgods, and, as they ran, murmured incantations.
In the afternoon Concobar, having made as good a selection as he couldof his chief men, set forth to go. As they passed through the lawn hesaw Setanta playing with his comrades. He stopped for a while to look,and then called the lad, who came at once and stood erect and silentbefore the King. He was now full ten years of age, straight andwell-made and with sinews as hard as tempered steel. When he saw thecompany looking at him, he blushed, and his blushing became him well.
"Culain the smith," said Concobar, "hath invited us to a feast. If it ispleasing to thee, come too."
"It is pleasing indeed," replied the boy, for he ardently desired to seethe famous artificer, his people, his furnaces, and his engines. "Butlet me first, I pray thee, see this our game brought to an end, for theboys await my return. After that I will follow quickly, nor can I losemy way upon the moor, for the road hence to the smith's dun is welltrodden and scored with wheels, and the sky too at night is red abovethe city."
Concobar gave him permission, and Setanta hastened back to hisplaymates, who hailed him gladly in his returning, for they feared thatthe King might have taken him away from them.
The King and his great men went away eastward after that and theyconversed eagerly by the way, talking sometimes of a certain recentgreat rebellion of the non-Irian kings of Ulla, [Footnote: The Ultonianswere descended from Ir, son of Milesius.] and of each other's prowessand the prowess of the insurgents, and sometimes of the smith and hisstrange and unusual invitation.
"Say no word and do no thing," said Concobar, "at which even a veryangry and suspicious man might take offence, for as to our host and hisartificers, their ways are not like ours, or their thoughts like ourthoughts, and they are a great and formidable people."
The Red Branch did not relish that speech, for they thought thatunder the measureless canopy of the sky there were no people great orformidable but themselves.
The Coming of Cuculain Page 8