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The roots of poetry are inextricably entwined with the mantic
arts of invocation, memory and the inner realms. The high art
of poetry as practised by the fili, the master-poets,
brought them into a similar alignment with the wisdom practised
by the druids. The sheer weight of training, of honing the
memory and refining concentration, brought the fili to a
pitch of magical dexterity. These skills were normally employed
in evoking and portraying the ancestral stories of the tribe,
in praising tribal leaders and heroes, and in aligning their
listeners with the Otherworld. But these powers could also
function in other, less pleasant ways.
The poet's chief power was primarily that of the world.
Within the limits of natural justice, the poet was at liberty
to make a satire if his fee had been unlawfully witheld or if
his person had been subjected to insult or dishonour. Since
the poet's prime function was to uphold honour by means of
praise, or the recitation of ancestral wisdom and story which
rebounded to the tribal honour, his worlds were carefully noted
and his satires feared.
A poet could create magical changes in the landscape or in
beasts, making both barren or his words could cause blisters
on the face of his enemy. His satires might be no worse than
a fiece lampoon which would be gleefully spread by gossips and
so work its eventual result : to punish anyone who slighted him
in a dishonourable and mocking light.
"Three things that come unbidden : fear, jealousy, and love."
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