We
could not hope to be rich or happy while the whole country was in such
distress as it's been sometimes, yet there were always many that were
worse off than we, and when I think of those days of '47 and '48 it
makes the sorrows seem light that we're suffering now. And I always
know that whatever comes, there'll be some good for me and mine while
I live. I've told you how I know that, but you always forget, and I
must tell you again."
They had not forgotten. They knew the story that was coming by heart,
but they knew that the old woman liked to tell it, so they let her go
on and said not a word.
For a little while, too, the old woman said not a word. She sat with
her eyes closed, and smiling, as if she were in a dream. Then she
began to speak softly, as if she were still only just waking out of a
dream. "Blessed days there were," she said--"blessed days for Ireland
once--long ago--many hundreds of years. O'Donoghue--it was he was the
good King, and happy were his people. A fierce warrior he was to guard
them from their enemies, and a just ruler to those who minded his
laws.
Pages:
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27