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Laoiseach Mac an Bhaird
Courtier and Rebel

O man who follows English ways, who cut your thick-clustering hair .... you are not Donnchadh's good son.

If you were, you would not give up your hair for an artificial English mode--the fairest ornament in the land of Fódla!--and your head would not be tonsured.

You think the yellow head of hair unfashionable--he detests both wearing locks and going bald after the English style--your characters are different indeed.

A man who never loved English ways is Eoghan Bán, beloved of noble ladies. To English ways he never gave his heart: a savage life he chose.

Your mind is nothing to Eoghan Bán, a man who would give breeches for a trifle, who asked no cloak but a rag, who had no wish for coat and leggings.

He would hate to carry at his ankle a jewelled spur on a boot, or stockings in the English style; he will have no locks upon him.

A blunt rapier that would not kill a fly, the weight of an awl sticking out behind as one goes to a hill of assembly--the son of Donnchadh sees no beauty in that!

Little he cares for a mantle gold-embroidered, or a [high Dutch collar] or a gold ring that would only be irksome, or a satin scarf down to the heels.

He has no longing for a feather bed, he had rather lie upon rushes. Pleasanter to Donnchadh's good son is a hut of rough poles than the [battlements] of a tower.

A troop of horse at the brink of a gap, a fierce fight, a struggle with foot-soldiers, these are some of the desires of Donnchadh's son--and seeking battle against the foreigners.

How unlike are you to Eoghan Bán--they laugh at your foot on the stepping-stone.
Pity that you have not seen your fault, O man who follows English ways.


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