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030 - Hy-Brasail - The Isle of the Blest - The Phantom Isle · Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty nine of Fairy and Folk Tales of the
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  Speaker 1: Irish Peasantry. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Fairy and Folk Tales of
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  Speaker 1: the Irish Peasantry, edited and selected by W. B. Yeats.
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  Speaker 1: Section twenty nine Hybrisail the Isle of the Blest by
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  Speaker 1: jailed Griffin. On the ocean that hollows the rocks where
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  Speaker 1: ye dwell, a shadowy land has appeared, As they tell.
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  Speaker 1: Men thought it a region of sunshine and rest, and
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  Speaker 1: they called it hy Bersail, the Isle of the Blest.
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  Speaker 1: From year unto year, on the ocean's blue rim, the
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  Speaker 1: beautiful specter showed lovely and dim. The golden clouds curtained
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  Speaker 1: the deep where it lay, and it looked like an Eden,
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  Speaker 1: away far away. A peasant who heard the wonderful tale
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  Speaker 1: in the breeze of the Orient, loosened his sail. From
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  Speaker 1: Arra the Holy, he turned to the west, For though
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  Speaker 1: Arra was holy, Hybersail was blest. He heard not the
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  Speaker 1: voices that called from the shore. He heard not the
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  Speaker 1: rising wind's menacing roar home, kindred and safety. He left
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  Speaker 1: on that day, and he sped to hybersail away far away.
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  Speaker 1: Morn rose on the deep, and that shadowy isle o'er
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  Speaker 1: the faint rim of distance reflected its smile. Noon burned
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  Speaker 1: on the wave, and that shadowy shore seemed lovely, distant
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  Speaker 1: and faint as before lone evening came down on the
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  Speaker 1: wanderer's track and to Arra again. He looked timidly back,
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  Speaker 1: oh far on the verge of the ocean it lay,
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  Speaker 1: Yet the Isle of Blest was away far away. Rash
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  Speaker 1: dreamer return o ye winds of the main bear him
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  Speaker 1: back to his own peaceful Ara again, rash for vision
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  Speaker 1: of fanciful bliss, to barter thy claim life of labor
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  Speaker 1: and peace. The warning of reason was spoken in vain.
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  Speaker 1: He never revisited Ara again. Night fell in the deep
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  Speaker 1: amidst tempest and spray, and he died on the waters
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  Speaker 1: away far away end of high Bricille. The Isle of
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  Speaker 1: the Blest by Jailed Griffin, the phantom Isle by Giraldus Cambrensis.
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  Speaker 1: Among the other islands is one newly formed, which they
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  Speaker 1: call the phantom Isle, which had its origin in this manner.
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  Speaker 1: One calm day, a large mass of earth rose to
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  Speaker 1: the surface of the sea, where no land had ever
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  Speaker 1: been seen before, to the great amazement of islanders who
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  Speaker 1: observed it. Some of them said that it was a
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  Speaker 1: whale or other immense sea monster. Others, remarking that it
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  Speaker 1: continued motionless, said no, it is land. In order therefore,
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  Speaker 1: to reduce their doubts to certain some picked young men
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  Speaker 1: of the island determined to approach nearer the spot in
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  Speaker 1: a boat. When, however, they came so near to it
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  Speaker 1: that they thought they should go on shore, the island
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  Speaker 1: sank in the water and entirely vanished from sight. The
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  Speaker 1: next day it reappeared, and again mocked the same youths
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  Speaker 1: with this like delusion at length. On their rowing towards it.
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  Speaker 1: On the third day, they followed the advice of an
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  Speaker 1: older man and let fly an arrow barbed with red
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  Speaker 1: hot steel against the island, and then, landing, found it
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  Speaker 1: stationary and habitable. This adds one to many proofs that
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  Speaker 1: fire is the greatest of enemies to every sort of phantom,
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  Speaker 1: and so much that those who have seen apparitions fall
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  Speaker 1: into a spoon as soon as they are sensible of
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  Speaker 1: the brightness of fire, for fire, both from its position
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  Speaker 1: and nature, is the noblest of the elements, being a
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  Speaker 1: witness of the secrets of the heavens. The sky is fiery,
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  Speaker 1: the planets are fiery. The bush burnt with fire but
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  Speaker 1: was not consumed. The Holy Ghost sat upon the apostles
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  Speaker 1: in tongues of fire. End of Section twenty nine.