Chapter III: Act II: A Mountain-Side in Argyllshire: Morning

_A Scottish mountain-side covered with heather and bracken. In the crannies of the rocks oak fern and roseroot are growing. There is a pebbly brook running down to the sea; the sides are starred with sphagnum moss. Grass of Parnassus, and butterwort. In its bed the yellow marsh saxifrage is growing, and up the hillside a silver birch hangs over it. Farther up the hill there are a rowan and an alder, and on the crest, against the sky, a Scotch pine. Low down, by a green mound, there is a yew-tree. In the distance the white breakers of the sea are seen, and they are heard regularly crashing in upon the shore. There is sunshine everywhere, and a breeze blowing the heather and chasing the shadows of clouds across the hillside._

_At the back of the wind, behind a great rock, Finn, a middle-aged man, is sitting, asleep. He is bowed down by a heavy pack containing a rainbow, whose light escapes from the corners and colours it all. Some distance off some other men are lying asleep on the heather._

_Presently the Big Young Hero’s boat is seen approaching from far out at sea. As it nears, Finn stirs from his sleep and perceives it, and, starting to his feet, watches it, with his hand shading his eyes. The Big Young Hero lands from the boat, and, pulling her well up on the beach, comes leaping over the mountain to Finn strongly and gaily. As he runs, flowers spring up under his feet. The other men sleep on undisturbed._

HERO

[_Saluting Finn._]

Darling of all men in the world!
I give you the greeting in grandeur and splendour!
I bring you glad tidings of great joy!
I publish peace!

FINN

[_Utterly bewildered._]

Loveliest of all heroes that I have ever seen,
I salute you frankly, fluently, and energetically
With the equivalent of the same words,
Though I do not know who you are.
Your feet are beautiful as a star.
I wish that I could sing like the birds,
Or blossom like the green wet earth,
For my heart is full of mirth.
But I can only glower and gaze
While my mind plays,
And sings and tumbles up and down
Inside me, like a clown
That makes me feel quite silly,
Laughing willy-nilly,
Like a man in love.
Do you come from above,
Or round about or below,
Or anywhere I know?

HERO

I come through night-watching and tempest of sea where I am, because I am losing my children, and it has been told me there is not a man in all the world who can keep them for me but you.

FINN

[_Astonished._]

Why, how can I do that when I must bear
This heavy rainbow with me everywhere,
And all the years
Have found my laughter through a mist of tears?

HERO

Since you alone were strong enough to creep
Into my mind, and fetch me out of sleep,
You have attained my stature, and I find
You are a man according to my mind.

FINN

[_Crying out, afraid._]

It was a dream, only a dream I stole!
I never did as much
As touch
Your garment’s hem.

HERO

No, but you clasped my soul.
Virtue went out of me immediately
The moment that your love was strong enough
To push aside the earth and find the stuff
That dreams are made on.
Up through the senseless clay
You sprang like some green sappy shoot,
And touched the nervous thoughtful root
That I am stayed on.

FINN

[_Dumbfounded._]

It was a dream—I never knew—

HERO

I lay upon you
As crosses and spells
And seven fairy fetters of travelling and straying,
To be with me before you shall eat food,
Or drink a draught,
Or close an eye in sleep.

[_At his words a delicate web of gossamer covered with
dewdrops, spiders’ webs, and flower seeds falls over Finn.
The Hero leaves him spellbound, and, returning gaily to
his boat, launches her and sails away. When the boat has
vanished the web falls away, and Finn turns round with a
cry which arouses the other men._]

FINN

Where is he?

CONAN

Who?

FINN

The stranger that was here anon.

CONDHLA

I never knew.

CONAN

Is he gone?

ANGUS

Which way did he go?

FINN

I do not know.

GONACHRY

What was he like?

FINN

I can’t tell.
I must find him; he has gone
Off with something I had on.

CONAN

You don’t look very well.

GONACHRY

[_Sarcastically._]

I saw him running up the ben,
As swift as a spot of sunlight when
The clouds bend with a cup
To pounce on him and cover him up
Like a wasp inside a glass.

ANGUS

Hush! I hear Mactalla pass,
He’s surely singing in his sleep.
Since it’s never very deep,
Let us rouse him up and speir
If the stranger is still here.

[_All cry aloud, against the rocks: “Mactalla! Mactalla!
Mactalla!” The echo is returned mockingly: “Mactalla!
Mactalla! Mactalla!”_]

ANGUS

Tut! He’s in a teasing mood to-day;
We’ll get nothing out of him. I say!
Answer, and I’ll promise you fair,
A big laugh to yourself off the back of Ben Y Bheithir.

MACTALLA[1]

[_Mocking from somewhere._]

I say! I say! A big laugh off the back of Ben Y Bheithir?

ANGUS

Ha! ha! You’re there, little fellow!
Yes, at the back of Ben Bheithir, where the yellow
Saxifrage grows out of the crannied rock,
I’ll give you a laugh to yourself that’ll shock
The natives, if you’ll tell us now
Which way the stranger went.

MACTALLA

Bow-wow!
I’ll have the big laugh out of you,
But I cannot tell you true
Which one way the stranger went,
For he’s left an echo pent
In everything he came across.
I’m entirely at a loss.
Can’t you catch it here and there?
I think he must be everywhere.

[_The growing things are heard talking._]

ALDER-TREE

Is that you, Grass?

GRASS

Yes, I am growing
Under his feet,
If the heather will let me pass.

HEATHER

I’ll try to, if you’ll meet
Me half-way.

SCOTCH PINE

[_Loftily._]

I say,
There’s no knowing
What she’ll be up to next.
Take my text,
And scarcely let yourself be seen,
With anyone so very green.

YEW-TREE

[_Phlegmatically._]

I am quite at a loss
To know what came across
My barrowful of withered leaves.

ROWAN

[_Gently._]

A bairnie couped it, coming home from school,
Among the sheaves.

BIRCH

[_Whispering._]

Hush! hush! Softly, softly, my daughters;
I hear the sound of mountain waters.

BURN

[_Singing._]

Bubble! Bubble! Bubble!
Hush! Let me down.
Bubble! Bubble! Bubble!
What a lot of trouble
There is in the world
Before you can get down
To bed-rock,
And stand stock
Still
As reserved, as reserved, as reserved as can be,
Not letting slip
A word over your lip.
Oh! I say! Hurry! Hurry! I must get to the sea!
Bubble! Bubble! Bubble!
Hush! Let me down
Without any more trouble,
Bubble! Bubble! Bubble! Bubble!

[_All remain listening, wrapt in wonder. Even Finn, who
since the spell has been laid upon him has been sitting in
great heaviness of mind, looks up and listens to the song
with growing delight. Suddenly Angus roars with laughter._]

MACTALLA

[_Mocking._]

Ha! Ha! Ha! Big Angus! Bow-wow!
I said I’d have the big laugh out of you the now.

ANGUS

[_Unable to stop laughing._]

Did ever anybody hear the like of that?

[_The others look at him half-angrily._]

CONAN

What’s taken the fool!

CONDHLA

Pat him on the back.

TORQUIL

Can’t you hold your tongue.

GONACHRY

Did you ever hear of anyone that could!

ANGUS

[_In desperation._]

Hold my tongue! Will that do any good?

[_He tries to do so. It makes him laugh all the more, and
one by one they all gradually join in his laughter except
Finn, till they are roaring fit to split the rocks. Above
it all Mactalla is heard mocking. At last Angus subsides,
wiping the tears from his eyes._]

CONAN

What on earth are you laughing at?

ANGUS

Nothing on earth. What are you laughing at?

CONAN

How should I know?

ANGUS

Well, how should I know what I’m laughing at?

CONAN

Because you began, you gomeril.

ANGUS

Not I.

GONACHRY

Well, then, who did?

ANGUS

Mactalla.

CONAN

What was Mactalla laughing at?

ANGUS

That’s what I’d like to know.

GONACHRY

I never heard him.

ANGUS

That’s because you’ve no sense of humour.

GONACHRY

[_Fiercely._]

I have a sense of humour.

ANGUS

Where is it, then?

GONACHRY

Up my sleeve.

[_He looks up his sleeve and gives a sarcastic grin._]

ANGUS

Well, nobody can see it there
But yourself, so you’d better take care.
If folk don’t see what you’re laughing at
They’ll end by laughing at you.

CONAN

[_Stooping to pick up a button._]

What’s that?
A button. Is it anywhere off me?

[_He looks himself all over._]

CONDHLA

What’s it like?

CONAN

Greenish-white. No, it’s not off me
As far as I can see.

ANGUS

[_Holding out his hand._]

Here, it’s mine. I burst it laughing.

[_Conan hands it over to him casually._]

CONAN

[_Lighting his pipe._]

Come on! It’s time we were at work again.

TORQUIL

Are you taking the boat out to-day?

CONAN

Ay.

[_Exit Conan, Condhla, and Torquil._]

ANGUS

[_To Finn._]

Aren’t you coming?

FINN

[_Abstractedly._]

Not to-day, not to-day.

GONACHRY

[_Laughing carelessly._]

He looks to me as if he had gone daft.

[_He slouches off after the others with his hands in his
pockets._]

ANGUS

It’s very queer the way he never laughed.

[_He goes up to Finn and gives him a hearty slap on the
back._]

Come, man! What ails you?

FINN

[_Throwing him off with sudden irritation._]

Get away, you gomeril!

ANGUS

[_Aside._]

He’s fey!

[_He makes a sign to keep off the evil eye, and retreats
hurriedly after the others, casting suspicious glances
backwards at Finn._]

FINN

[_Seeing himself alone, with a sigh of relief hoists his
rainbow resolutely and tightens his belt._]

I will prick on my way
Far into the country of my God,
And if it be true, as they say,
That He is calm and unhurried,
Some day I shall break through a gap in the hedge
And come upon Him seated by the road-edge.
Then shall I say to Him these three things, baring my brow:
“Wherefore art Thou, whence didst Thou come, and whither goest Thou?
Answer, I pray, for I ask of Thee
As one traveller of another.”

[_Enter the Carpenter, unperceived by Finn._]

CARPENTER

Good day!

FINN

[_Starting violently._]

Good day!

CARPENTER

It’s a fine day.

FINN

[_Gloomily._]

It’s fine as long as this breeze lasts, but I’m thinking
it’ll not be long before there’s a shower coming over
from Badenoch.

CARPENTER

Ay! It’s soft; but it’ll not be much with the sun
where it is.

FINN

The sun may be as high as it likes, it’ll not make
much difference to the shadow on my mind.

CARPENTER

What sort of a shadow is on your mind?

FINN

A shadow like the one across the breast
Of Kinlochleven when the sun goes west,
And the Bidean, that great serious Ben,
Stoops to consider men.

CARPENTER

That’s a long shadow.

FINN

It’s a shadow of crosses and spells and seven fairy fetters of travelling and straying, to be with the one that considers me before I shall eat food, or drink a draught, or close an eye in sleep.

CARPENTER

It’s a long shadow, but maybe I can help you to the one that considers you if you’ll consider me.

FINN

What are you good at to help me?

CARPENTER

I am a good carpenter.

FINN

How good are you at carpentry?

CARPENTER

With three strokes of this axe I can make a large capacious complete ship of the alder-stock over yonder.

FINN

[_Eagerly._]

You are good enough then, carpenter, for I am wanting a ship
To go on this trip.
Can you prove me your skill?

CARPENTER

Ay, with a will.

[_The Carpenter goes to the alder-stock, strikes it with
his axe thrice, and, as he says, the ship is ready in the
sea waiting for them._]

FINN

[_Delighted._]

It is a very beautiful wide ship; what can it do?

CARPENTER

It can take you to the one that considers you,
If rightly handled, and, as far’s I see,
Brings such a one again to you and me.

FINN

[_Eagerly._]

Will you lend her to me?

CARPENTER

[_Pawkily._]

Ay, if you are willing to engage
My brother too for a trifling wage.
I’ll not can manage her alone.

FINN

[_Impatiently._]

Come on! Come on! Call me your brother;
He’ll do as well as any other.

[_The Carpenter whistles shrilly on his fingers, and the
Tracker enters._]

CARPENTER

You’re wanted for the boat the now;
He needs you at the bow.

TRACKER

[_To Finn._]

What is your will?

FINN

What are you good at?

TRACKER

I am a good tracker.

FINN

How good are you at tracking?

TRACKER

I can track the wild duck over the crests of the nine waves within nine days.

FINN

Then you are good enough to track
The one that considers me, and bring him back.

TRACKER

That will I blindfold;
But I need another to hold
The tiller, in case we’re called to the sheets together.
Call me that man there, coming across the heather.

[_The Gripper is seen approaching over the hillside._]

GRIPPER

Good day!

FINN

Good day! What are you good at?

GRIPPER

I am a good gripper.

FINN

How good are you?

GRIPPER

The hold I once get I will not let go until my two arms come from my shoulder, or until my hold comes with me.

FINN

Then you are good enough to hold until
The one that considers me comes with your hold?

GRIPPER

That will I, sitting still;
But as my hand’s apt to grow cold,
I’ll need that lassie there to keep my mind
Off thinking of it.

[_The Climber has suddenly swung herself down by a golden
rope at Finn’s side._]

FINN

[_Astonished._]

Why, how did you find
Your way down here?

[_He takes off his cap politely._]

CLIMBER

I climbed down.

FINN

[_Aside._]

I don’t see any stair.
I wonder if she’s quite all there!

CLIMBER

[_Answering his thought._]

No, just at present I am mostly here.

FINN

[_Aside._]

Her answer isn’t very clear.

[_Aloud._]

And what are you good at?

CLIMBER

I am a good climber.

FINN

I see that.
How good are you at climbing?

CLIMBER

I could climb on a filament of silk to the stars if you were to tie it there.

FINN

[_Looking at her dreamily._]

Will you be good enough then, please, to stare
Into each star and tell me if He’s there.

[_He collects himself, and adds hastily._]

The one that considers me, I mean.

CLIMBER

I’ll be your go-between
With pleasure, but I’m young to come alone;
Call me that woman there as a chaperon.

[_The Thief and the Listener have entered hand in hand.
Finn beckons to the Thief, taking off his cap again
politely._]

FINN

What are you good at, dame?

THIEF

I am a good thief.

FINN

How good are you at thieving?

THIEF

I can steal the egg from the heron while her two eyes are looking at me.

FINN

Then if you’ll come with me and steal
The one that considers me, I’ll feel
Greatly obliged to you, there is no doubt.

THIEF

I’ll take you by a pretty roundabout
If you are also able to employ
My boy.

FINN

What is he good at?

LISTENER

I am a good listener.

FINN

How good are you at listening?

LISTENER

I can hear what the people are saying at the extremity of the uttermost world.

FINN

You are good enough, then. Maybe you can hear
Whether the one that considers me is near?

LISTENER

[_Putting his hand to his ear._]

You’re very hot!

[_Finn, who has been standing beside the Climber, moves
forward hastily._]

No, now you’re colder!
I’ll find Him ere I am much older,
Only some people are so narrow,
I’ll need that man with the bow and arrow

[_Enter Marksman._]

To bear me out ere they’ll agree
That seeing’s believing what I see.

FINN

[_To Marksman._]

What are you good at?

MARKSMAN

I am a good marksman.

FINN

How good are you?

MARKSMAN

I could hit an egg as far off in the sky as bowstring could send or bow could carry.

FINN

If you can hit the place where He
Is hidden who considers me,
We need no longer tarry.
For I am drawn by an insatiable desire,
I am consumed in an impetuous fire,
And I am denied all rest
Until my quest
Is ended. Would that I could find
A lodge for my soul, where I might leave behind
All longing for ever, slumbering complete
At His feet.
Would I could rest in that bright place where I
In spirit lie.
Its light has cast a shadow on the brow
Of this fair “Now.”
Why did He make that garden-place so fair?
My soul, a bird, is there,
With limed wings fast to that apple-bough.

MARKSMAN

[_Putting his hand kindly on his shoulder._]

Come, then, and let’s be gone.
Your fellows will come after you anon.

[_They launch the ship, and the Gripper takes the helm.
The Tracker, who is at the bow, is seen telling him now
to go this way and now to go that way, and the ship obeys
his hand beautifully. The waves begin to rise as the ship
gets farther from sight, but the Tracker still finds a
smooth path through the waters. The Listener leans over
the side, and sings a song as the boat slips out to sea.
It is a wild and beautiful song, haunting, sweet, and
long-drawn-out._]

LISTENER’S SONG

I made a little song, and it was true,
Though nobody heeded it in the press of things;
I left it alone a thousand years, and it grew,
And I heard it again one day in the mouth of kings.

All as I went I joyed me a mighty joy.
They laughed at me; they said: “You’re still very young”;
But I knew better than that when I was a boy,
And when I was old I found the song I’d sung.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The Highland “Echo.”