Rhue, now an ace is yours; (Mother Mary, the night is long!) “I was a sin that he hurried aside . . .” O for the dawn and the blackbird’s song!

Banagher Rhue, now a ten of suit; (Mother Mary, what hot winds blow!) “Nine little lives hath he saved in his path . . . ” And the black cock that does not crow.

Banagher Rhue, you have played a knave; (O what strange gates on their hinges groan!) “I was a friend who had wrought him ill; When I had fallen he cast no stone . . . ”

Banagher Rhue, now a queen has won! (The black cock crows with the flash of dawn.) And she is the woman who prays for you: “Is go d-tigheadh do, mhûirnín slan!”

p. 23THE FAIR LITTLE MAIDEN

p. 23

“There is one at the door, Wolfe O’Driscoll, At the door, who is bidding you come!” “Who is he that wakes me in the darkness, Calling when all the world’s dumb?”

“Six horses has he to his carriage, Six horses blacker than the night, And their twelve red eyes in the shadows Twelve lamps he carries for his light;

“And his coach is a coffin black and mouldy, A huge black coffin open wide: He asks for your soul, Wolfe O’Driscoll, Who is calling at the door outside.”

“Who let him thro’ the gates of my gardens, Where stronger bolts have never been?” “’Twas the father of the fair little maiden You drove to her grave so green.”

“And who let him pass through the courtyard, By loosening the bar and the chain?” “Oh, who but the brother of the maiden, Who lies in the cold and the rain!”

p. 24“Then who drew the bolts at the portal, And into my house bade him go?” “She, the mother of the poor young maiden, Who lies in her youth so low.”

p. 24

“Who stands, that he dare not enter, The door of my chamber, between?” “O, the ghost of the fair little maiden, Who lies in the churchyard green.”

p. 25AT CHRISTMAS TIME

p. 25

 Prev. P 17/40 next