Blanid

CONTENTS. PAGE THE FLOWER FEAST IN MANA 13 THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN 5 1 THE TAKING OF MANA 105 THE TEARS OF BLANID 143 THE HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA .... 164 THE MEETING OF THE LOVERS 203 THE SLAYING OF CUROI AND THE REVENGE OF HIS MINSTREL 933451 226 ARGUMENT. quotOLANID THE BLOSSOM-BRIGHT, daughter of the King of the Isle of Man, is sought in marriage by the princes .of Western Europe. She refuses them all. At length she falls in love with Cuhullin, the son of her father s most powerful enemy. The princes form a league to win her, and gathering their fleets, sail to Dun Dalgan, where they elect Cuhullin leader of the expedition. They besiege and sack the stronghold of Mana. At the dis tribution of the spoils, Blanid, by a stratagem, is won and taken away by Curoi, prince of South Munster. Cuhullin pursues Curoi, and overtakes him at the foot of the Mountains of Blama, where they fight for the possession of Blanid. Cuhullin is vanquished, and Curoi bears Blanid away in triumph to the south. After some time the lovers meet again, and with the help of Blanid s 8 ARGUMENT. foster-mother make a plot for the slaying of Curoi, which is done on the night of the Feast of Samhain, and Blanid is borne away to Eman by Cuhullin. Curoi s minstrel follows them, and at the hunting feast of Rincan-Beara dashes down his harp, seizes Blanid, and throws himself with her over the verge of the great rock into the sea beneath, where they are lost for ever. THOU, to come, thoughyetperchance unborn, My country s Poet, prince ofbards, sublime Mongst those -who in the Future s gleaming morn Will makegreat music, in thy manhoodampgtprime And day offame remember me, and climb My Hill ofRest, and take thymusingway Unto the place oftombs, and with sweet rhyme Stand thou beside my headstone lone and gray, And strike thysounding harp and sing no little lay For lam of the race of those longsyne The makers of heroic minstrelsy, Though oft inyouth, caught in his silken twine, Isang ofLove, to lay and melody Made by the ancient bards ofhigh degree, Or rustic singers of the lowly cot, Andmany a thornypath I ve clearedfor thee, Andsowed some seeds in many a hidden spot That bloom a little now where flowers ofsong were not I