Page 25 - Demo

Chapter One 25
I am the ninth* wave of eternal return
I am the grave of every vain hope
Who knows the path of the sun, the periods of the moon Who gathers the divisions, enthralls the sea,
sets in order the mountains. the rivers, the peoples
The Milesians, a martial and cultural race, did not exterminate nor expel the people whom they found in Ireland before them. The older population remained, but, henceforth, the Milesians were masters. They found the conquered Dé Dananns valuable; because as we know from the old tales they were highly skilled in the arts and crafts, and experts in metal work, so much so that as we have seen, they came to be fabled as men of magic. Indeed, there is one extant custom which professes that the origin of the Irish fairies, our Fairy Line- age, can be traced back to the vanquished Dé Dananns who, hiding themselves in the hills and caves, and emerging from their places of concealment by ‘moonlight or in the gloaming,’ the evening twilight, in course of time gave rise to the belief of a mystical race of little peo- ple, living for eternity in corporeal form under the emerald hills of Ireland, from where they practiced their abstruse and esoteric arts. The conquering Milesians have become identiied with the Celts, whose arrival marks the beginning of the Iron Age in Ireland.
The Coming of the Milesians
(A Poem by Thomas Moore)
They came from a land beyond the sea, And now o’er the western main.
Set sail in their good ships, gallantly, From the sunny lands of Spain.
“Oh, where’s the isle we’ve seen in dreams, Our destined home or grave?”
Thus sang they, as by the morning beams They swept the Atlantic wave.
And lo, where afar o’er ocean shines A sparkle of radiant green,