When you look out across the fields
And you both see the same star
Pitching its tent on the point of the steeple -
That is the time to set out on your journey,
With half a loaf and your mother's blessing.
Leave behind the places that you knew:
All that you leave behind you will find once more,
You will find it in the stories;
The sleeping beauty in her high tower
With her talking cat asleep
Solid beside her feet - you will see her again.
When the cat wakes up he will speak in Irish and Russian
And every night he will tell you a different tale
About the firebird that stole the golden apples,
Gone every morning out of the emperor's garden,
And about the King of Ireland's Son and the Enchanter's
Daughter.
The story the cat does not know is the Book of Ruth
And I have no time to tell you how she fared
When she went out at night and was afraid,
In the beginning of the barley harvest,
Or how she trusted to strangers and stood by her word:
You will have to trust me, she lived happily ever after.
Copyright © Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin 2009
