Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE LEGEND OF FERGUS LEIDESON, by ANONYMOUS First Line: "one day king fergus, leide luthmar's son" Last Line: "he smile: he cast his trophy to the bank, / cried, 'I survivor, ulstermen!' and sank" Subject(s): "legends, Irish; | ||||||||
One day King Fergus, Leide Luthmar's son, Drove by Loch Rury; and, his journey done, Slept in his chariot, wearied. While he slept, A troop of fairies o'er his cushion crept. And, first, his sharp, dread sword they filched away; Then bore himself, feet forward, to the bay. He, with the chill touch, woke; and, at a snatch, It fortuned him in either hand to catch A full grown sprite; while, 'twixt his breast and arm, He pinned a youngling. They, in dire alarm. Writhed hard and squealed. He held the tighter. Then "Quarter!" and "Ransom!" cried the little men. "No quarter," he: "nor go ye hence alive, Unless ye gift me with the art to dive Long as I will--to walk at large, and breathe The seas, the lochs, the river floods beneath." "We will." He loosed them. Herbs of virtue they Placed in his ear-holes; or, as others say, A hood of fairy texture o'er his head, Much like a cleric's cochal, drew, and said, "Wear this, and walk the deeps; but well beware Thou enter nowise in Loch Rury there." Clad in his cowl, through many deeps he went, And saw their wonders; but was not content Unless Loch Rury also to his eyes Revealed its inner under-mysteries. Thither he came, and plunged therein; and there The Muirdris met him. Have you seen a pair Of blacksmith's bellows open out and close Alternate 'neath the hand of him that blows? So swelled it, and so shrunk. The hideous sight Hung all his visage sideways with affright. He fled. He gained the bank. "How seems my cheer, O Mwena?" "Ill!" replied the charioteer. "But rest thee. Sleep thy wildness will compose." He slept. Swift Mwena to Emania goes: "Whom now for king, since Fergus' face awry By law demeans him of the sovereignty?" "Hush!" and his sages and physicians wise In earnest council sit, and this advise: "He knows not of his plight. To keep him so As he suspect not that he ought to know,-- For so the mind be straight, and just awards Wait on the judgment, right-read law regards No mere distortion of the outward frame As blemish barring from the kingly name-- And, knew he all the baleful fact you tell, An inward wrench might warp the mind as well,-- Behooves it therefore all of idle tongue, Jesters, and women, and the witless young, Be from his presence kept. And when at morn He takes his bath, behooves his bondmaid, Dorn, Muddy the water, lest perchance, he trace Lost kingship's token on his imaged face." Three years they kept him so: till on a day, Dorn with his face-bath ewer had made delay: And fretted Fergus, petulant and rash, A blow bestowed her of his horse-whip lash. Forth burst the woman's anger. "Thou a king! Thou sit in council! Thou adjudge a thing In court of law! Thou, who no kingship can, Since all may see thou art a blemished man! Thou wry-mouth!" Fergus thereon slew the maid: And, to Loch Rury's brink in haste conveyed, Went in at Fertais. For a day and night Beneath the waves he rested out of sight. But all the Ultonians on the bank who stood Saw the loch boil and redden with the blood. When next at sunrise skies grew also red, He rose--and in his hand the Muirdris' head-- Gone was the blemish. On his goodly face Each trait symmetric had resumed its place: And they who saw him marked in all his mien A king's composure, ample and serene. He smiled: he cast his trophy to the bank, Cried; "I survivor, Ulstermen!" and sank. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SITTING BULL IN SERBIA by WILLIAM JAY SMITH TO THE EXCELLENT ORINDA by PHILO PHILIPPA EPIGRAM OCCASIONED BY CIBBER'S VERSES IN PRAISE OF NASH: 1 by ALEXANDER POPE THE GIFT OF THE GODS by JOHN GODFREY SAXE TO CHRISTOPHER NORTH by ALFRED TENNYSON BEAU NASH by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER BEAU NASH AND THE ROMAN, OR THE TWO ERAS by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER TIS A LITTLE JOURNEY by ANONYMOUS |
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