Page:Celtic Stories by Edward Thomas.djvu/11

 guardians and tutors were Amargin the warrior poet who obeyed no man but Conachoor; Fergus who made the strong afraid and the suffering cease to fear; Sencha the prudent, Blai the hospitable, and King Conachoor himself. No boy in Conachoor's warrior band of boys could ever equal him when they were playing or quarrelling together. When he was a new-comer they set upon him because he was better than them all and did not know their customs; but he beat them off and became their leader. Men used to stop and look at the boys' games, and at first they looked at one another and said: 'When we were boys we used to do better than that.' But when they had seen Setanta running or striking the ball or wrestling they did not look at one another or speak for a long time. Then one would say: 'That is pretty good'; and another: 'When I was a boy there was one who was the image of that fellow—ah! but he is gone'; and a third would say: 'I too remember one like him, but I do not know what became of him'; and then a fourth would intervene: 'You are getting old and your memory is bad. There was never any one before like that. That is Setanta.'

One day the king went to feast with Culann the smith. Culann had no lands but possessed only what he earned with his own anvil, hammer and tongs, and therefore, though his banquets were fit for two or three kings, his table was small, and very few were with Conachoor that day. He passed by the green in order to say farewell to the band of boys. There he saw Setanta at one end of the green and all the rest at the other, and he was playing against them all. 'Boy,' said the king, 'come with us to Culann's feast!'

'At this moment I cannot, O king,' said Setanta.

'Why?' asked Conachoor.