James Branch Cabell

geas n.	1921 J. B. Cabell Figures of Earth 5 ‘Because my mother, sir, was always very anxious for me to make a figure in the world, and when she lay a-dying I promised her that I would do so, and then she put a geas upon me to do it.’ ‘Ah, to be sure! but are you certain it was this kind of figure she meant?’ ‘Yes, for I have often heard her say that, when I grew up, she wanted me to make myself a splendid and admirable young man in every respect. So it is necessary that I make the figure of a young man, for my mother was not of these parts, but a woman of Ath Cliath, and so she put a geas upon me—’ ‘Yes, yes, you had mentioned this geas, and I am wondering what sort of a something is this geas.’ ‘It is what you might call a bond or an obligation, sir, only it is of the particularly strong and unreasonable and secret sort which the Firbolg use.’