Thou art come to the Land of Youth,
where sorrow and weariness and death shall never touch thee. This thou
hast won by thy faithfulness and valour and by the songs that thou
hast made for the men of Erinn, whereof the fame is come to us, for we
have here indeed all things that are delightful and joyous, but poesy
alone we had not. But now we have the chief poet of the race of men to
live with us, immortal among immortals, and the fair and cloudless
life that we lead here shall be praised in verses as fair; even as
thou, Oisin, did'st praise and adorn the short and toilsome and
chequered life that men live in the world thou hast left forever. And
Niam my daughter shall be thy bride, and thou shalt be in all things
even as myself in the Land of Youth."
Then the heart of Oisin was filled with glory and joy, and he turned
to Niam and saw her eyes burn with love as she gazed upon him. And
they were wedded the same day, and the joy they had in each other grew
sweeter and deeper with every day that passed. All that Niam had
promised in her magic song in the wild wood when first they met,
seemed faint beside the splendour and beauty of the life in the Land
of Youth. In the great palace they trod on silken carpets and ate off
plates of gold; the marble walls and doorways were wrought with carved
work, or hung with tapestries, where forest glades, and still lakes,
and flying deer were done in colours of unfading glow.
Pages:
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230