第46章 BECUMA OF THE WHITE SKIN(2)

The trouble of the king becomes the trouble of the subject,for how shall we live if judgement is withheld,or if faulty decisions are promulgated?Therefore,with the sorrow of the king,all Ireland was in grief,and it was the wish of every person that he should marry again.

Such an idea,however,did not occur to him,for he could not conceive how any woman should fill the place his queen had vacated.He grew more and more despondent,and less and less fitted to cope with affairs of state,and one day he instructed his son Art to take the rule during his absence,and he set out for Ben Edair.

For a great wish had come upon him to walk beside the sea;to listen to the roll and boom of long,grey breakers;to gaze on an unfruitful,desolate wilderness of waters;and to forget in those sights all that he could forget,and if he could not forget then to remember all that he should remember.

He was thus gazing and brooding when one day he observed a coracle drawing to the shore.A young girl stepped from it and walked to him among black boulders and patches of yellow sand.

CHAPTER III

Being a king he had authority to ask questions.Conn asked her,therefore,all the questions that he could think of,for it is not every day that a lady drives from the sea,and she wearing a golden-fringed cloak of green silk through which a red satin smock peeped at the openings.She replied to his questions,but she did not tell him all the truth;for,indeed,she could not afford to.

She knew who he was,for she retained some of the powers proper to the worlds she had left,and as he looked on her soft yellow hair and on her thin red lips,Conn recognised,as all men do,that one who is lovely must also be good,and so he did not frame any inquiry on that count;for everything is forgotten in the presence of a pretty woman,and a magician can be bewitched also.

She told Conn that the fame of his son Art had reached even the Many-Coloured Land,and that she had fallen in love with the boy.

This did not seem unreasonable to one who had himself ventured much in Faery,and who had known so many of the people of that world leave their own land for the love of a mortal.

"What is your name,my sweet lady?"said the king.

"I am called Delvcaem (Fair Shape)and I am the daughter of Morgan,"she replied.

"I have heard much of Morgan,"said the king."He is a very great magician."During this conversation Conn had been regarding her with the minute freedom which is right only in a king.At what precise instant he forgot his dead consort we do not know,but it is certain that at this moment his mind was no longer burdened with that dear and lovely memory.His voice was melancholy when he spoke again.

"You love my son!"

"Who could avoid loving him?"she murmured.

"When a woman speaks to a man about the love she feels for another man she is not liked.And,"he continued,"when she speaks to a man who has no wife of his own about her love for another man then she is disliked.""I would not be disliked by you,"Becuma murmured.

"Nevertheless,"said he regally,"I will not come between a woman and her choice.""I did not know you lacked a wife,"said Becuma,but indeed she did.

"You know it now,"the king replied sternly.

"What shall I do?"she inquired,"am I to wed you or your son?""You must choose,"Conn answered.

"If you allow me to choose it means that you do not want me very badly,"said she with a smile.

"Then I will not allow you to choose,"cried the king,"and it is with myself you shall marry."He took her hand in his and kissed it.

"Lovely is this pale thin hand.Lovely is the slender foot that Isee in a small bronze shoe,"said the king.

After a suitable time she continued:

"I should not like your son to be at Tara when I am there,or for a year afterwards,for I do not wish to meet him until I have forgotten him and have come to know you well.""I do not wish to banish my son,"the king protested.

"It would not really be a banishment,"she said."A prince's duty could be set him,and in such an absence he would improve his knowledge both of Ireland and of men.Further,"she continued with downcast eyes,"when you remember the reason that brought me here you will see that his presence would be an embarrassment to us both,and my presence would be unpleasant to him if he remembers his mother.""Nevertheless,"said Conn stubbornly,"I do not wish to banish my son;it is awkward and unnecessary.""For a year only,"she pleaded.

"It is yet,"he continued thoughtfully,"a reasonable reason that you give and I will do what you ask,but by my hand and word Idon't like doing it."

They set out then briskly and joyfully on the homeward journey,and in due time they reached Tara of the Kings.

CHAPTER IV

It is part of the education of a prince to be a good chess player,and to continually exercise his mind in view of the judgements that he will be called upon to give and the knotty,tortuous,and perplexing matters which will obscure the issues which he must judge.Art,the son of Conn,was sitting at chess with Cromdes,his father's magician.

"Be very careful about the move you are going to make,"said Cromdes.

"CAN I be careful?"Art inquired."Is the move that you are thinking of in my power?""It is not,"the other admitted.

"Then I need not be more careful than usual,"Art replied,and he made his move.

"It is a move of banishment,"said Cromdes.

"As I will not banish myself,I suppose my father will do it,but I do not know why he should.""Your father will not banish you."

"Who then?""Your mother."

"My mother is dead."

"You have a new one,"said the magician.

"Here is news,"said Art."I think I shall not love my new mother.""You will yet love her better than she loves you,"said Cromdes,meaning thereby that they would hate each other.

While they spoke the king and Becuma entered the palace.

"I had better go to greet my father,"said the young man.

"You had better wait until he sends for you,"his companion advised,and they returned to their game.

In due time a messenger came from the king directing Art to leave Tara instantly,and to leave Ireland for one full year.