The abbot and the friars came to him in the morning, and bade him get
ready to be crucified, and led him out of the guest-house. And while he
still stood upon the step a flock of great grass-barnacles passed high
above him with clanking cries. He lifted his arms to them and said, 'O
great grass-barnacles, tarry a little, and mayhap my soul will travel
with you to the waste places of the shore and to the ungovernable sea!'
At the gate a crowd of beggars gathered about them, being come there to
beg from any traveller or pilgrim who might have spent the night in the
guest-house. The abbot and the friars led the gleeman to a place in the
woods at some distance, where many straight young trees were growing,
and they made him cut one down and fashion it to the right length, while
the beggars stood round them in a ring, talking and gesticulating. The
abbot then bade him cut off another and shorter piece of wood, and nail
it upon the first. So there was his cross for him; and they put it upon
his shoulder, for his crucifixion was to be on the top of the hill where
the others were. A half-mile on the way he asked them to stop and see
him juggle for them; for he knew, he said, all the tricks of Aengus
the Subtle-hearted. The old friars were for pressing on, but the young
friars would see him: so he did many wonders for them, even to the
drawing of live frogs out of his ears. But after a while they turned on
him, and said his tricks were dull and a shade unholy, and set the cross
on his shoulders again. Another half-mile on the way, and he asked them
to stop and hear him jest for them, for he knew, he said, all the jests
of Conan the Bald, upon whose back a sheep's wool grew. And the young
friars, when they had heard his merry tales, again bade him take up
his cross, for it ill became them to listen to such follies. Another
half-mile on the way, he asked them to stop and hear him sing the story
of White-breasted Deirdre, and how she endured many sorrows, and how the
sons of Usna died to serve her. And the young friars were mad to hear
him, but when he had ended they grew angry, and beat him for waking
forgotten longings in their hearts. So they set the cross upon his back
and hurried him to the hill.