Maurya

Maurya is an old woman who learns that she has lost her son Michael to the ocean. She has white, tossed hair and wears a shawl.

Maurya has lost six sons - Shawn and Stephen, lost in the great wind, and discovered in the Bay of Gregory of the Golden Mouth; Sheamus, lost in a dark night without a trace; Patch, who drowned when a curagh turned over; Bartley, who is brought to her after the gray pony knocks him off and into the great surf of the sea; and Michael, whose clothing is given back as a way of identifying his remains.

Her grief is so all-consuming that she announces she won't live through it. After sprinkling holy water, Maurya says no man can live forever, and they must be satisfied.

Bartley

Bartley is one of Maurya's six sons.

He takes a length of rope and makes...