The Green Helmet and Other Poems

Laegaire

[To Cuchulain]

No use, they won’t hear a word.ConallThey’ll keep it up till the dawn.AnotherIt is Laegaire that is the best,For he fought with cats in Connaught while Conall took his restAnd drained his ale pot.AnotherLaegaire – what does a man of his sortCare for the like of us! He did it for his own sport.AnotherIt was all mere luck at the best.AnotherBut Conall, I say —AnotherLet me speak.LaegYou’d be dumb if the cock of the yard would but open his beak.AnotherBefore your cock was born, my master was in the fight.LaegGo home and praise your grand-dad. They took to the horns for spite,For I said that no cock of your sort had been born since the fight began.AnotherConall has got it, the best man has got it, and I am his man.CuchulainWho was it started this quarrel?A Stable BoyIt was Laeg.AnotherIt was Laeg done it all.LaegA high, wide, foxy man came where we sat in the hall,Getting our supper ready, with a great voice like the wind,And cried that there was a helmet, or something of the kind,That was for the foremost man upon the ridge of the earth.So I cried your name through the hall,

[The others cry out and blow horns, partly drowning the rest of his speech]

but they denied its worth,Preferring Laegaire or Conall, and they cried to drown my voice;But I have so strong a throat that I drowned all their noiseTill they took to the hunting horns and blew them into my face,And as neither side would give in – we would settle it in this place.Let the Helmet be taken from Conall.A Stable BoyNo, Conall is the best man here.AnotherGive it to Laegaire that made the murderous cats pay dear.CuchulainIt has been given to none: that our rivalry might cease,We have turned that murderous cat into a cup of peace.I drank the first; and then Conall; give it to Laegaire now,

[Conall gives Helmet to Laegaire]

That it may purr in his hand and all of our servants knowThat since the ale went in, its claws went out of sight.A ServantThat’s well – I will stop my shouting.AnotherCuchulain is in the right;I am tired of this big horn that has made me hoarse as a rook.LaegCuchulain, you drank the first.AnotherBy drinking the first he tookThe whole of the honours himself.LaegCuchulain, you drank the first.AnotherIf Laegaire drink from it now he claims to be last and worst.AnotherCuchulain and Conall have drunk.AnotherHe is lost if he taste a drop.Laegaire

[Laying Helmet on table]

Did you claim to be better than us by drinking first from the cup?Cuchulain

[His words are partly drowned by the murmurs of the crowd though he speaks very loud]

That juggler from the sea, that old red herring it isWho has set us all by the ears – he brought the Helmet for this,And because we would not quarrel he ran elsewhere to shoutThat Conall and Laegaire wronged me, till all had fallen out.

[The murmur grows less so that his words are heard]

Who knows where he is now or who he is spurring to fight?So get you gone, and whatever may cry aloud in the night,Or show itself in the air, be silent until morn.A ServantCuchulain is in the right – I am tired of this big horn.CuchulainGo!

[The Servants turn toward the door but stop on hearing the voices of Women outside]

Laegaire’s Wife

[Without]

Mine is the better to look at.Conall’s Wife

[Without]

But mine is better born.Emer

[Without]

My man is the pithier man.CuchulainOld hurricane, well done!You’ve set our wives to the game that they may egg us on;We are to kill each other that you may sport with us.Ah, now, they’ve begun to wrestle as to who’ll be first at the house.

[The Women come to the door struggling]

EmerNo, I have the right of place for I married the better man.Conall’s Wife

[Pulling Emer back]

My nails in your neck and shoulder.Laegaire’s WifeAnd go before me if you can.My husband fought in the West.Conall’s Wife

[Kneeling in the door so as to keep the others out who pull at her]

But what did he fight with thereBut sidelong and spitting and helpless shadows of the dim air?And what did he carry away but straw and broken delf?Laegaire’s WifeYour own man made up that tale trembling alone by himself,Drowning his terror.Emer

[Forcing herself in front]

I am Emer, it is I go first through the door.No one shall walk before me, or praise any man beforeMy man has been praised.Cuchulain

[Spreading his arms across the door so as to close it]

Come, put an end to their quarrelling:One is as fair as the other, and each one the wife of a king.Break down the painted boards between the sill and the floorThat they come in together, each one at her own door.

[Laegaire and Conall begin to break out the bottoms of the windows, then their wives go to the windows, each to the window where her husband is. Emer stands at the door and sings while the boards are being broken out]

EmerNothing that he has done,His mind that is fire,His body that is sun,Have set my head higherThan all the world’s wives.Himself on the windIs the gift that he gives,Therefore womenkind,When their eyes have met mine,Grow cold and grow hot,Troubled as with wineBy a secret thought,Preyed upon, fed uponBy jealousy and desire.I am moon to that sun,I am steel to that fire,

[The windows are now broken down to floor. Cuchulain takes his spear from the door, and the three Women come in at the same moment]

EmerCuchulain, put off this sloth and awake:I will sing till I’ve stiffened your lip against every knave that would takeA share of your honour.Laegaire’s WifeYou lie, for your man would take from my man.Conall’s Wife

[To Laegaire’s Wife]

You say that, you double-face, and your own husband began.Cuchulain

[Taking up Helmet from table]

Town land may rail at town land till all have gone to wrack,The very straws may wrangle till they’ve thrown down the stack;The very door-posts bicker till they’ve pulled in the door,The very ale-jars jostle till the ale is on the floor,But this shall help no further.

[He throws Helmet into the sea]

Laegaire’s WifeIt was not for your head,And so you would let none wear it, but fling it away instead.Conall’s WifeBut you shall answer for it, for you’ve robbed my man by this.ConallYou have robbed us both, Cuchulain.LaegaireThe greatest wrong there isOn the wide ridge of the world has been done to us two this day.Emer

[Drawing her dagger]

Who is for Cuchulain?CuchulainSilence!EmerWho is for Cuchulain, I say?

[She sings the same words as before, flourishing her dagger about. While she is singing, Conall’s Wife and Laegaire’s Wife draw their daggers and run at her, but Cuchulain forces them back. Laegaire and Conall draw their swords to strike Cuchulain]

Laegaire’s Wife

[Crying out so as to be heard through Emer’s singing]

Deafen her singing with horns!Conall’s WifeCry aloud! blow horns! make a noise!Laegaire’s WifeBlow horns, clap hands, or shout, so that you smother her voice!

[The Horse Boys and Scullions blow their horns or fight among themselves. There is a deafening noise and a confused fight. Suddenly three black hands come through the windows and put out the torches. It is now pitch dark, but for a faint light outside the house which merely shows that there are moving forms, but not who or what they are, and in the darkness one can hear low terrified voices]

A VoiceCoal-black, and headed like cats, they came up over the strand.Another VoiceAnd I saw one stretch to a torch and cover it with his hand.Another VoiceAnother sooty fellow has plucked the moon from the air.

[A light gradually comes into the house from the sea, on which the moon begins to show once more. There is no light within the house, and the great beams of the walls are dark and full of shadows, and the persons of the play dark too against the light. The Red Man is seen standing in the midst of the house. The black cat-headed Men crouch and stand about the door. One carries the Helmet, one the great sword]

Red ManI demand the debt that’s owing. Let some man kneel down thereThat I may cut his head off, or all shall go to wrack.CuchulainHe played and paid with his head and it’s right that we pay him back,And give him more than he gave, for he comes in here as a guest:So I will give him my head.

[Emer begins to keen]

Little wife, little wife, be at rest.Alive I have been far off in all lands under sun,And been no faithful man; but when my story is doneMy fame shall spring up and laugh, and set you high above all.Emer

[Putting her arms about him]

It is you, not your fame, that I love.Cuchulain

[Tries to put her from him]

You are young, you are wise, you can callSome kinder and comelier man that will sit at home in the house.EmerLive and be faithless still.Cuchulain

[Throwing her from him]

Would you stay the great barnacle-gooseWhen its eyes are turned to the sea and its beak to the salt of the air?Emer

[Lifting her dagger to stab herself]

I, too, on the grey wing’s path.Cuchulain

[Seizing dagger]

Do you dare, do you dare, do you dare?Bear children and sweep the house.

[Forcing his way through the Servants who gather round]

Wail, but keep from the road.

[He kneels before Red Man. There is a pause]

Quick to your work, old Radish, you will fade when the cocks have crowed.

[A black cat-headed Man holds out the Helmet. The Red Man takes it]

Red ManI have not come for your hurt, I’m the Rector of this land,And with my spitting cat-heads, my frenzied moon-bred band,Age after age I sift it, and choose for its championshipThe man who hits my fancy.

[He places the Helmet on Cuchulain’s head]

And I choose the laughing lipThat shall not turn from laughing whatever rise or fall,The heart that grows no bitterer although betrayed by all;The hand that loves to scatter; the life like a gambler’s throw;And these things I make prosper, till a day come that I know,When heart and mind shall darken that the weak may end the strong,And the long remembering harpers have matter for their song.