The Executioner of John the Baptist

Askelon, the royal seat,
In which the great deed was done;
There, not lasting was the fame,
John the noble was slain.
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'What evil woman among you
Will take in hand my beheading?
Not one from east or west,
Of the blood of Foreigners or Gaels.
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'Thou handsome yellow-haired John,
Yonder is a Gael beyond all others;
His abode is far away in the west,
In the lands of the western men.'
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'I ask a boon from Christ who loves me,'
Said John the noble,
'That no comely Gael may get
Food nor rainment in any case.'
==
Said Mogh Ruith without grace,
'Give to me even his rainment,
And I shall cut off his head
For the weal of the men of Ireland.'

--
Then was John beheaded,
The Gael will suffer therefrom;
Much silver and gold
Was put under the head east in Askelon.

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"The Executioner of John the Baptist" trans. & ed. by Prof. MacKinnon. The Celtic Review. vol. VIII. Edinburgh: William Hodge & Co. 1912-1913.

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