I have
accomplished
all.
Yeats
Into the secret wilderness of their love.
SECOND MUSICIAN.
A high, grey cairn. What more is to be said?
FIRST MUSICIAN.
Eagles have gone into their cloudy bed.
[_Shouting outside. FERGUS enters. Many men with
scythes and sickles and torches gather about the doors.
The house is lit with the glare of their torches. _
FERGUS.
Where's Naisi, son of Usna, and his queen?
I and a thousand reaping-hooks and scythes
Demand him of you.
CONCHUBAR.
You have come too late.
I have accomplished all. Deirdre is mine;
She is my queen, and no man now can rob me.
I had to climb the topmost bough and pull
This apple among the winds. Open the curtain,
That Fergus learn my triumph from her lips.
[_The curtain is drawn back. The MUSICIANS begin to
keen with low voices. _
No, no; I'll not believe it. She is not dead--
She cannot have escaped a second time!
FERGUS.
King, she is dead; but lay no hand upon her.
What's this but empty cage and tangled wire,
Now the bird's gone? but I'll not have you touch it.
CONCHUBAR.
You are all traitors, all against me--all.
And she has deceived me for a second time.
And every common man may keep his wife,
But not the King.
