Lough Akeen

What a shame it's not Thursday for there was plenty of abstraction going on at Lough Akeen this afternoon. It not actually being raining, we decided on a walk and went out to the end - this is the very tip of the peninsula, a walk that ends at a lighthouse. It's the most popular of the Sheep's Head walks and is usually heaving but today we saw one other human and a lot of sheep - all this to ourselves. There was a big swell in the sea although little wind and the colours were wonderful. Lough Akeen is nearly right at the end, a large deep silent lough, oddly mysterious. Himself announced he was going to swim in it next summer. We walked down to see if it was possible to get to the lough edge and it was, The reeds looked wonderful, russet with wiggly  reflections. The water was exceptionally cold. I shall await next summer with interest.
I thought of the old Irish myth Labhraidh Loingseach, a High King of Ireland who unfortunately had horses' ears,  a bit like King Midas. He had his hair cut every year and then killed his barber! When the son of a widow was chosen she begged and pleaded with the king to spare her son. The king agreed providing the young man told no one of his humiliating secret. Well that was tough and a druid advised the son to unburden his secret at the first tree he saw. In one version of events he went down to a lake's edge and whispered the truth to the reeds. The reeds of course whispered their own truths and eventually it came out about the king. In another version the barber tells the secret to a willow. The willow is eventually made into a harp which sings about the King's misfortune. In both versions the king rather magnanimously revealed the truth and all was good (ish).  There are many twists and turns to the story of Labhraidh Loingseach, some quite bizarre. But here's how to pronounce his name , rathe unglamorously translated in English as Larry Long Ears. 
The reeds kept their secrets today.