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The Collected Works in Verse and Prose of William Butler Yeats. Volume 3 of 8. The Countess Cathleen. The Land of Heart's Desire. The Unicorn from the Stars
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He saw the one brown ear; the breviary dropped;
He ran; I ran, I ran into the quarry;
He fell a score of yards.
FIRST MERCHANT
Now that he is dead
We shall be too much thronged with souls to-morrow.
Did his soul escape you?
SECOND MERCHANT
I thrust it in the bag.
But the hand that blessed the poor and raised the Host
Tore through the leather with sharp piety.
FIRST MERCHANT
Well, well, to labour – here is the treasury door.
[They go out by the left-hand door, and enter again in a little while, carrying full bags upon their shoulders.
FIRST MERCHANT
Brave thought, brave thought – a shining thought of mine!
She now no more may bribe the poor – no more
Cheat our great master of his merchandise,
While our heels dangle at the house in the woods,
And grass grows on the threshold, and snails crawl
Along the window-pane and the mud floor.
Brother, where wander all these dwarfish folk,
Hostile to men, the people of the tides?
SECOND MERCHANT
[Going to the door.]
They are gone. They have already wandered away,
Unwilling labourers.
FIRST MERCHANT
I will call them hither.
[He opens the window.
Come hither, hither, hither, water-folk:
Come, all you elemental populace;
Leave lonely the long-hoarding surges: leave
The cymbals of the waves to clash alone,
And, shaking the sea-tangles from your hair,
Gather about us. [After a pause.
I can hear a sound
As from waves beating upon distant strands;
And the sea-creatures, like a surf of light,
Pour eddying through the pathways of the oaks;
And as they come, the sentient grass and leaves
Bow towards them, and the tall, drouth-jaded oaks
Fondle the murmur of their flying feet.
SECOND MERCHANT
The green things love unknotted hearts and minds;
And neither one with angels or with us,
Nor risen in arms with evil nor with good,
In laughter roves the litter of the waves.
[A crowd of faces fill up the darkness outside the window. A figure separates from the others and speaks.
THE SPIRIT
We come unwillingly, for she whose gold
We must now carry to the house in the woods
Is dear to all our race. On the green plain,
Beside the sea, a hundred shepherds live
To mind her sheep; and when the nightfall comes
They leave a hundred pans of white ewes’ milk
Outside their doors, to feed us when the dawn
Has driven us out of Finbar’s ancient house,
And broken the long dance under the hill.
FIRST MERCHANT
[Making a sign upon the air.]
Obey! I make a sign upon your hearts.
THE SPIRIT
The sign of evil burns upon our hearts,
And we obey.
[They crowd through the window, and take out of the bags a small bag each. They are dressed in green robes and have ruddy hair. They are a little less than the size of men and women.
FIRST MERCHANT
And now begone – begone! [They go.
I bid them go, for, being garrulous
And flighty creatures, they had soon begun
To deafen us with their sea-gossip. Now
We must go bring more money. Brother, brother,
He ran; I ran, I ran into the quarry;
He fell a score of yards.
FIRST MERCHANT
Now that he is dead
We shall be too much thronged with souls to-morrow.
Did his soul escape you?
SECOND MERCHANT
I thrust it in the bag.
But the hand that blessed the poor and raised the Host
Tore through the leather with sharp piety.
FIRST MERCHANT
Well, well, to labour – here is the treasury door.
[They go out by the left-hand door, and enter again in a little while, carrying full bags upon their shoulders.
FIRST MERCHANT
Brave thought, brave thought – a shining thought of mine!
She now no more may bribe the poor – no more
Cheat our great master of his merchandise,
While our heels dangle at the house in the woods,
And grass grows on the threshold, and snails crawl
Along the window-pane and the mud floor.
Brother, where wander all these dwarfish folk,
Hostile to men, the people of the tides?
SECOND MERCHANT
[Going to the door.]
They are gone. They have already wandered away,
Unwilling labourers.
FIRST MERCHANT
I will call them hither.
[He opens the window.
Come hither, hither, hither, water-folk:
Come, all you elemental populace;
Leave lonely the long-hoarding surges: leave
The cymbals of the waves to clash alone,
And, shaking the sea-tangles from your hair,
Gather about us. [After a pause.
I can hear a sound
As from waves beating upon distant strands;
And the sea-creatures, like a surf of light,
Pour eddying through the pathways of the oaks;
And as they come, the sentient grass and leaves
Bow towards them, and the tall, drouth-jaded oaks
Fondle the murmur of their flying feet.
SECOND MERCHANT
The green things love unknotted hearts and minds;
And neither one with angels or with us,
Nor risen in arms with evil nor with good,
In laughter roves the litter of the waves.
[A crowd of faces fill up the darkness outside the window. A figure separates from the others and speaks.
THE SPIRIT
We come unwillingly, for she whose gold
We must now carry to the house in the woods
Is dear to all our race. On the green plain,
Beside the sea, a hundred shepherds live
To mind her sheep; and when the nightfall comes
They leave a hundred pans of white ewes’ milk
Outside their doors, to feed us when the dawn
Has driven us out of Finbar’s ancient house,
And broken the long dance under the hill.
FIRST MERCHANT
[Making a sign upon the air.]
Obey! I make a sign upon your hearts.
THE SPIRIT
The sign of evil burns upon our hearts,
And we obey.
[They crowd through the window, and take out of the bags a small bag each. They are dressed in green robes and have ruddy hair. They are a little less than the size of men and women.
FIRST MERCHANT
And now begone – begone! [They go.
I bid them go, for, being garrulous
And flighty creatures, they had soon begun
To deafen us with their sea-gossip. Now
We must go bring more money. Brother, brother,
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