AVALON AND A BLACKBIRD 193 



There is another remarkable poem conceived in the 

 spirit of that time of wild passions and the shedding of 

 blood, in which the first early note of the blackbird 

 with its message to the " faithful " is introduced in a 

 wonderfully impressive way. This tells how Fothad 

 Canann carried off the wife of Alill with her consent, 

 and was hotly pursued by Alill, and how they met and 

 fought until both were slain. Now Fothad had ar- 

 ranged with the woman to meet her in the evening 

 after the fight, and true to his word he kept the tryst. 

 As he comes to her she flies to meet him, to clasp him 

 with her arms and pour out all her passion on his breast. 

 But he will not have it, he waves her back imperiously 

 and will not allow her to utter a word. He must do all 

 the talking himself, for he is overflowing with great 

 matters, great news, and the time for telling them is 

 short. He tells her how they fought, how well they 

 were matched, what a glorious battle it was ! One 

 can see it — the deadly meeting of those two long-haired 

 men, their blue-grey eyes glinting with rage and the 

 joy of battle ; the shouts of defiance and insult ; the 

 furious onset and the swift movements of their lithe 

 and powerful frames, as of tigers ; the ringing blows 

 on shield and steel, and the end when they are down, 

 their shields shattered and weapons broken, their 

 bodies hacked and pierced, their spilt blood spreading 

 and mingling in one pool ! 



To such a fighter, slain in such a fight, what else 

 was there in the world to talk about ! She, and her 

 passion and everlasting grief for her slain lover — it 

 13 



ft 



