The Final Test

Listen to "The Tides of Manaunaun" by Henry Cowell before reading

After leaving Hanrahan the Red, Baile entered a thick patch of trees. Eventually, the youth became lost and was not certain whether or not he had been walking in circles or for how long. The red sky did not look as if it were going to offer him help any time soon.

Mentally exhausted, Baile sat on the cold, hard ground. He contemplated his situation for a good while when he realized that there was a persistent rustling in a nearby shrub. Before Baile saw the creature in its entirety, the boy noticed a pair of glowing, mischievous eyes glaring at him from the cover of leaves.

“Who goes there?” demanded Baile. He heard a light chuckle before the creature emerged from the bush.

“‘Tis only me,” said a small thing only a foot high. Baile assumed that this was one of the leprechauns that he had heard so much about in old tales, yet had never seen. The little fellow had a bushy dark red beard, a rugged old hat, and a fat belly.

“Well,” said Baile, “who exactly would that be, then?”

The leprechaun was clearly amused. “Listen, lad, I promised Hanrahan the Red long ago that I’d look out for him, I did. I didn’t expect he’d call on me to protect the likes o’ ye, but oh well. Let’s enjoy this journey, if we can.”

So saying, the little man gave another chuckle and scurried off faster than Baile expected. The youth found it difficult to keep up, and he wondered if Hanrahan’s protective poem was actually working or if he’d instead happened upon a tricky creature.

Baile continued trampling through the Seven Woods behind the leprechaun for some time. Feeling desperate and thinking that he was no closer to his goal of finding his love, Aillinn, he recited an old poem out loud:

Time can but make it easier to be wise

Though now it's hard, till trouble is at an end;

And so be patient, be wise and patient, friend.'

But heart, there is no comfort, not a grain.

“Oh, what folly it is, needing comfort,” he said.

The creature led the youth to a bubbling stream, and although the boy knew that he did not need the water, he still felt the human desire to drink. Gulping as much as he could, he then turned to follow the leprechaun back into the trees. Baile froze, though, when he saw two figures standing on the opposite bank.

He realized that one of the young women was Aillinn.

Baile rushed to the edge of the water, and the women did the same on their side. The water was too quick and too deep to walk through, so Baile turned to the leprechaun looking for aid. The little creature was laughing ferociously, and Baile realized that this was Master Aengus himself enjoying one of his games.

Baile knew that the Master would provide no more help, so he set off down one side of the stream in the hopes of finding a place to cross. Aillinn and the maid followed his path from the opposite bank.

The group passed the old men admiring themselves in the water on the women’s side and continued walking quickly. Eventually, Baile saw that he was approaching something on his side of the stream. He became horrified when he realized that what he was looking at was again the old men admiring themselves in the water.

The women noticed this, too. The three of them halted in their path and Baile spun around to find the leprechaun. Rather than finding the leprechaun, though, Baile found an angelic figure with the same devious eyes floating above him.

“Oh, don’t look at me so, child,” spoke the Master, “I’m afraid your stare will bore a hole straight through me.” Baile gaped at the figure, unable to form words. “Oh, bother,” continued the Master. “I only wanted a little fun, can’t you see?”

Master Aengus turned towards the women and waved his hand, fashioning a bridge out of nothing. The women scurried across, but when Aillinn reached out for Baile, she realized that she could not reach him. The lovers stood with arms extended but were unable to touch one another.

“Hold on now, my little love birds,” said the Master. “I am still testing your love for one another, as is my job, you know.”

Baile and Aillinn were equally worried but were unable to speak.

The Master grinned and declared, “I will give you lovers two choices. Option one is that you two can remain in your human forms down here, but you will never see one another again. The second option is … I can turn the two of you into beautiful swans for my lake, and you may enjoy each other’s company for the rest of eternity.”

The Master then allowed the lovers to embrace. “Let me know what you decide, then. I will give you one hour.”

Baile and Aillinn looked at each other affectionately and nodded at one another. “Wait!” cried Aillinn. “We have already made our decision. If it is truly the only way that we can be together in this world of yours, we will become the swans that you desire for your lake.”

The Master’s eyes gleamed once more. “Excellent.” He then began speaking in the most angelic voice that the group had ever heard:

What were our praise to them: they eat

Quiet's wild heart, like daily meat,

Who when night thickens are afloat

On dappled skins in a glass boat

Far out under a windless sky,

While over them birds of Aengus fly,

And over the tiller and the prow

And waving white wings to and fro

Awaken wanderings of light air

To stir their coverlet and their hair.

After these words were spoken, the maid awoke to find herself at the school of Hanrahan the Red where she was allowed to stay for the rest of time.

Our two lovers, Baile and Aillinn, will forever live as pure, white swans linked by a golden chain in the land of Master Aengus.

Author’s Note: It was time to return to Baile’s adventure through Master Aengus’ world after his encounter with Hanrahan the Red. The poetry that Baile speaks is from a poem of W.B. Yeats' called The Folly of Being Comforted from In the Seven Woods, which you can read in its entirety below. I thought another mythological creature would be appropriate, so I chose the well-known leprechaun as the embodiment of the Master while helping Baile. It is known that Baile and Aillinn were turned into white swans after their deaths, and the second section of poetry here spoken by the Master is taken from W. B. Yeats’ poem Baile and Aillinn from In the Seven Woods. It is too long to paste the entire poem here, but you can access it here: link. I wanted the Master to give the lovers one final test, even though he did help Baile because Hanrahan the Red asked him. The music video at the top is "The Tides of Manaunaun" by Henry Cowell from his “Three Irish Legends.” This video is the most famous of the three pieces and my personal favorite, as it has a melancholic or even sad feeling attached to it that I found appropriate for this story. I hope you enjoyed both Cowell’s music and the end of my Storybook.

The Folly of Being Comforted by W. B. Yeats

One that is ever kind said yesterday
'Your well beloved's hair has threads of grey
And little shadows come about her eyes;
Time can but make it easier to be wise
Though now it's hard, till trouble is at an end;
And so be patient, be wise and patient, friend.'
But heart, there is no comfort, not a grain.
Time can but make her beauty over again
Because of that great nobleness of hers;
The fire that stirs; about her, when she stirs p. 21
Burns but more clearly; O she had not these ways
When all the wild summer was in her gaze.
O heart, O heart, if she'd but turn her head,
You'd know the folly of being comforted.

To read In the Seven Woods, click here: link.

Image of Master Aengus on Wikimedia.

To listen to "The Tides of Manaunaun," click here: link.