Читать книгу Кельтские сумерки. Уровень 1 / The Celtic Twilight - Уильям Батлер Йейтс - Страница 17

One day, a woman I know, had met a beautiful woman. The woman was standing by the window, looking towards Knocknarea, where Queen Maive is buried. She saw, as she told me, “the most stunning[140] woman traveling from the mountain straight towards her.” The woman had a sword by her side and a raised dagger in her hand. She was dressed in white, with bare arms and feet. The old woman covered her eyes with her hands, and when she uncovered them, the beautiful woman was gone. The neighbors thought it was Queen Maive, who often reveals herself to the locals. The other day, a friend of mine questioned an old woman in a Galway workhouse about Queen Maive and was told that “Queen Maive was beautiful and defeated all her enemies with a stick, as the hazel stick[141] is blessed and the best weapon one can have. You could travel the world with it.” However, the old woman said that Queen Maive became “very disagreeable in the end – oh, very disagreeable. It’s best not to talk about it. It’s best to keep it between the book and the listener.”

Once, I met a young man in the Burren Hills who knew an old poet. The poet used to write his poems in Irish and had met someone named Maive when he was young. She said she was a queen “among them” and asked the poet if he wanted money or pleasure. He chose pleasure, and she loved him for a while before leaving him. From then on, he was always very sad. The young man had heard the poet sing a poem many times, but he could only remember that it was “very sad” and that the poet called Maive the “most beautiful of all beauties.”

1902.