"Tell me, in English, Ivor," I said, after
a silence, wherein I pondered the Gaelic words,
" what is the meaning of —

'And mayjhere be no calling in the Flow, this Sriith-

m^ra,
And may there be no burden in the Ebb?' "

" Yes, I will be telling you what is the
meaning of that. When the great tide that
wells out of the hollow of the sea, and sweeps
toward all the coasts of the world, first stirs,
when she will be knowing that the Ebb is not
any more moving at all, she sends out nine
long waves. And I will be forgetting what
these waves are: but one will be to shepherd
the sea-weed that is for the blessing of man,
and another is for to wake the fish that sleep
in the deeps, and another is for this, and an-
other will be for that, and the seventh is to
rouse the Wave-Haunter and all the creat-
ures of the water that fear and hate man, and
the eighth no man knows, though the priests
69



The Ninth Wave

say it is to carry the Whisper of Mary, and
the ninth — "

"And the ninth, Ivor?"

" May it be far from us, from you and from
me and from those of us ! An' I will be say-
in' nothing against it, not I ; nor against any-
thing that is in the sea ! An' you will be not-
ing that!

" Well, this ninth wave goes through the
water on the forehead of the tide. An' wher-
ever it will be going it calls. An' the call of
it is, ' Come away, come away, the sea waits!
Follow!. 