How joy was found a fantasy

[_Enter the Carpenter, unperceived by Finn._] CARPENTER Good day! FINN [_Starting violently._] Good day! CARPENTER It’s a fine day. FINN [_Gloomily._] It’s fine as long as this breeze lasts, but I’m thinking it’ll not be long before there’s a shower coming over from Badenoch. CARPENTER Ay! It’s soft; but it’ll not be much with the sun where it is. FINN The sun may be as high as it likes, it’ll not make much difference to the shadow on my mind. CARPENTER What sort of a shadow is on your mind? FINN A shadow like the one across the breast Of Kinlochleven when the sun goes west, And the Bidean, that great serious Ben, Stoops to consider men. CARPENTER That’s a long shadow. FINN It’s a shadow of crosses and spells and seven fairy fetters of travelling and straying, to be with the one that considers me before I shall eat food, or drink a draught, or close an eye in sleep. CARPENTER It’s a long shadow, but maybe I can help you to the one that considers you if you’ll consider me. FINN What are you good at to help me? CARPENTER I am a good carpenter. FINN How good are you at carpentry? CARPENTER With three strokes of this axe I can make a large capacious complete ship of the alder-stock over yonder. FINN [_Eagerly._] You are good enough then, carpenter, for I am wanting a ship To go on this trip. Can you prove me your skill? CARPENTER Ay, with a will. [_The Carpenter goes to the alder-stock, strikes it with his axe thrice, and, as he says, the ship is ready in the sea waiting for them._] FINN [_Delighted._] It is a very beautiful wide ship; what can it do? CARPENTER It can take you to the one that considers you, If rightly handled, and, as far’s I see, Brings such a one again to you and me. FINN [_Eagerly._] Will you lend her to me? CARPENTER [_Pawkily._] Ay, if you are willing to engage My brother too for a trifling wage. I’ll not can manage her alone. FINN [_Impatiently._] Come on! Come on! Call me your brother; He’ll do as well as any other. [_The Carpenter whistles shrilly on his fingers, and the Tracker enters._] CARPENTER You’re wanted for the boat the now; He needs you at the bow. TRACKER [_To Finn._] What is your will? FINN What are you good at? TRACKER I am a good tracker. FINN How good are you at tracking? TRACKER I can track the wild duck over the crests of the nine waves within nine days. FINN Then you are good enough to track The one that considers me, and bring him back. TRACKER That will I blindfold; But I need another to hold The tiller, in case we’re called to the sheets together. Call me that man there, coming across the heather. [_The Gripper is seen approaching over the hillside._] GRIPPER Good day! FINN Good day! What are you good at? GRIPPER I am a good gripper. FINN How good are you? GRIPPER The hold I once get I will not let go until my two arms come from my shoulder, or until my hold comes with me. FINN Then you are good enough to hold until The one that considers me comes with your hold? GRIPPER That will I, sitting still; But as my hand’s apt to grow cold, I’ll need that lassie there to keep my mind Off thinking of it. [_The Climber has suddenly swung herself down by a golden rope at Finn’s side._] FINN [_Astonished._] Why, how did you find Your way down here? [_He takes off his cap politely._] CLIMBER I climbed down. FINN [_Aside._] I don’t see any stair. I wonder if she’s quite all there! CLIMBER [_Answering his thought._] No, just at present I am mostly here. FINN [_Aside._] Her answer isn’t very clear. [_Aloud._] And what are you good at? CLIMBER I am a good climber. FINN I see that. How good are you at climbing? CLIMBER I could climb on a filament of silk to the stars if you were to tie it there. FINN [_Looking at her dreamily._] Will you be good enough then, please, to stare Into each star and tell me if He’s there. [_He collects himself, and adds hastily._] The one that considers me, I mean. CLIMBER I’ll be your go-between With pleasure, but I’m young to come alone; Call me that woman there as a chaperon. [_The Thief and the Listener have entered hand in hand. Finn beckons to the Thief, taking off his cap again politely._] FINN What are you good at, dame? THIEF I am a good thief. FINN How good are you at thieving? THIEF I can steal the egg from the heron while her two eyes are looking at me. FINN Then if you’ll come with me and steal The one that considers me, I’ll feel Greatly obliged to you, there is no doubt. THIEF I’ll take you by a pretty roundabout If you are also able to employ My boy. FINN What is he good at? LISTENER I am a good listener. FINN How good are you at listening? LISTENER I can hear what the people are saying at the extremity of the uttermost world. FINN You are good enough, then. Maybe you can hear Whether the one that considers me is near? LISTENER [_Putting his hand to his ear._] You’re very hot! [_Finn, who has been standing beside the Climber, moves forward hastily._] No, now you’re colder! I’ll find Him ere I am much older, Only some people are so narrow, I’ll need that man with the bow and arrow [_Enter Marksman._] To bear me out ere they’ll agree That seeing’s believing what I see. FINN [_To Marksman._] What are you good at? MARKSMAN I am a good marksman. FINN How good are you? MARKSMAN I could hit an egg as far off in the sky as bowstring could send or bow could carry. FINN If you can hit the place where He Is hidden who considers me, We need no longer tarry. For I am drawn by an insatiable desire, I am consumed in an impetuous fire, And I am denied all rest Until my quest Is ended. Would that I could find A lodge for my soul, where I might leave behind All longing for ever, slumbering complete At His feet. Would I could rest in that bright place where I In spirit lie. Its light has cast a shadow on the brow Of this fair “Now.” Why did He make that garden-place so fair? My soul, a bird, is there, With limed wings fast to that apple-bough. MARKSMAN [_Putting his hand kindly on his shoulder._] Come, then, and let’s be gone. Your fellows will come after you anon. [_They launch the ship, and the Gripper takes the helm. The Tracker, who is at the bow, is seen telling him now to go this way and now to go that way, and the ship obeys his hand beautifully. The waves begin to rise as the ship gets farther from sight, but the Tracker still finds a smooth path through the waters. The Listener leans over the side, and sings a song as the boat slips out to sea. It is a wild and beautiful song, haunting, sweet, and long-drawn-out._] LISTENER’S SONG I made a little song, and it was true, Though nobody heeded it in the press of things; I left it alone a thousand years, and it grew, And I heard it again one day in the mouth of kings. All as I went I joyed me a mighty joy. They laughed at me; they said: “You’re still very young”; But I knew better than that when I was a boy, And when I was old I found the song I’d sung. FOOTNOTES: [1] The Highland “Echo.” ACT III. SCENE 1 A BEAUTIFUL HIGHLAND SHORE: AFTERNOON _In the distance up the glen there is seen smoke evidently rising from a house hidden somewhere in the trees. In the foreground there are heather and rocks and a beautiful alder-tree with thick foliage. Curlews and sea-gulls are crying, and a breeze is tossing the waves into white horses. At this moment Finn enters, looking rather wretched and storm-tossed. He sits down on a boulder, with a weary sigh._ FINN [_Yawning._] Heigh-ho!—Hay-hum-harry! This box is a weary weight to carry. CLIMBER’S VOICE [_Calling from the alder-tree._] I wish you’d let me take a share! FINN [_Starting violently, and looking up._] Certainly not! What are you doing up there? CLIMBER [_Pushing her head out through the leaves._] I went up after a squirrel. FINN At your age that’s not proper for a girl. CLIMBER [_Singing._] Oh, to-day I’m twenty-seven! What delight to rhyme with Heaven! I’m as happy as can be, Here inside the alder-tree. All my life’s a song that flows With the river and the rose,