The Bard and the Lenean Sidhe

The Bard And TheLenean Sidhe

M. K. A. Marble

     Ire hurried through the fir trees clutching a basket and holding her sash while batting away fir branches. The sun had dipped completely beneath the horizon painting shadows of deep violet and indigo all throughout the forest. If she hadn't been intimately familiar with this path, she might have feared to get lost on her way back to the village. She already knew that the mushrooms she had gathered would not be served to the bard that had wandered into the village earlier. Someone else would have prepared a meal for the young man to offer as payment for his songs and tales of valiant heroes.

     Ire entered the village and hurried into her family's round-house. She swiftly hung the mushrooms from the rafters and hurried to the chieftain's round-house. The villagers surrounded the bard, who was currently singing and strumming his lute. Ire quickly located her older brother, Conalach, who was sitting near the chieftain. He was easy to spot amid the chieftain's brunette daughters because his hair had been recently bleached with lye.

     Ire moved along the edge of the round-house until she was able to deposit herself behind Conalach, who didn't seem to notice her. Ire wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings either, and it wasn't until one of the chieftain's daughters roughly tugged her sash out from under Ire that she realized she'd nearly sat on the girl.

     Ire muttered an apology that neither she nor the young daughter of the chieftain seemed to hear. Like everyone else, they were spellbound by the bard's song and the music of his lute. When the bard's song ended, there was a long pause. The silence erupted into cheers, and the men nearest the bard clapped him on the back.

     "Ah, I've heard many a bard sing and tell tales in my years," said Chieftain Eagnaidh, "but you are by far the best I've ever heard."

     "Thank you, chieftain. I am glad that I have been able to provide sufficient entertainment," the bard said humbly.

     Conalach laughed.

     "Don't be so humble. The last so-called bard that came through here put everyone to sleep with his monotonous voice and boring renditions old tales," he said.

     The bard blushed slightly and mumbled a thanks. Tuimtepoit, the chieftain's cook, entered the round-house just then and announced that the food was ready. A youth and two maids helped the cook serve everyone, and the round-house was filled with the sounds of people eating and chatting happily. Ire listened to the chatter around her without joining in. Her eyes lingered on the bard throughout the meal.

     She was surprised that he was a traveling bard. He looked frail and sickly. Other bards had come through the village in less-than-perfect health, but none of them had looked as sickly as this man did. Ire wondered why a man of his talent hadn't found a place with a king in Tara or Ulster. It surely wouldn't be difficult for him to settle down in any place he should desire.

     "Did you hear me, Ire?" Conalach said sharply.

     Ire blew a low sigh and turned her eyes to her brother.

     "I'm sorry, Conalach. What did you say?" she said.

     "I've been trying to ask you about the mushrooms you said you were going to collect earlier," he said gazing at her with some concern now.

     Ire shook her head slightly.

     "I hung them since I figured the meal would be all but ready by time I got back here," she explained.

     "Go and fetch them please. Tuimtepoit said that he'd put them in tomorrow's meal. Your infatuation with the bard must have clogged your ears," Conalach said.