ACT II
The scene is Ian’s cottage. A wide fireplace with peats burning, and big chests along the walls. At a table sits Mairi Bain. Ian and Alastair come in.
Ian. Mairi put out more peats upon the fire,
For we have strangers in the house to-night.
For we have strangers in the house to-night.
Mairi. The blessings of our Lord be with you, stranger.
Alastair. Blessings be with you, woman of the house,
From older gods and greater lords than he.
From older gods and greater lords than he.
Mairi. Stranger, that is no luck-word to the house.
Alastair. Have you forgotten too, and do you bow,
Pale lily of Morven, to the beaten god,
Who should be following the mist of love
Over the hills beneath a summer moon?
Pale lily of Morven, to the beaten god,
Who should be following the mist of love
Over the hills beneath a summer moon?
Ian. Mairi the days of memory are on us,
For I have heard the coronach for Christ
Wail up the corries of the windy hills,
And high and clear above them Angus sang.
But the apostles’ souls fled crying, crying
Over the hills across the boundless sea.
I heard the noise of their lament grow faint,
As the waves stilled it; and on the hills of Morven,
For I have heard the coronach for Christ
Wail up the corries of the windy hills,
And high and clear above them Angus sang.
But the apostles’ souls fled crying, crying
Over the hills across the boundless sea.
I heard the noise of their lament grow faint,
As the waves stilled it; and on the hills of Morven,
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