Page:Plays in Prose and Verse (1922).djvu/142

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126
ON BAILE'S STRAND

there is the young man [he points to the other foot] that is coming to kill him, and Cuchulain doesn’t know. But where’s Conchubar? [Takes bag from side.] That’s Conchubar with all his riches—Cuchulain, young man, Conchubar.—And where’s Aoife? [Throws up cap.] There is Aoife, high up on the mountains in high hungry Scotland. Maybe it is not true after all. Maybe it was your own making up. It’s many a time you cheated me before with your lies. Come to the cooking-pot, my stomach is pinched and rusty. Would you have it to be creaking like a gate?

blind man. I tell you it’s true. And more than that is true. If you listen to what I say, you’ll forget your stomach.

fool. I won't.

blind man. Listen. I know who the young man’s father is, but I won’t say. I would be afraid to say. Ah, Fool, you would forget everything if you could know who the young man’s father is.

fool. Who is it? Tell me now quick, or I'll shake you. Come, out with it, or I’ll shake you.

[A murmur of voices in the distance.

blind man. Wait, wait. There’s some- body coming. . . . It is Cuchulain is coming. He’s coming back with the High King. Go and ask Cuchulain. He'll tell you. It’s