THE CATTLE-RAID OF CUALNGE (TAIN BO CUAILNGE)

 

THE CATTLE-RAID OF CUALNGE (TAIN BO CUAILNGE)

An Old Irish Prose-Epic

Translated for the first time from Leabhar na h-Uidhri
and the Yellow Book of Lecan by

L. WINIFRED FARADAY, M. A.

London

Published by David Nutt
At the Sign of the Phoenix
Long Acre

1904



CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
THE CATTLE-RAID OF CUALNGE (from Leabhar na h-Uidhri)
Cuchulainn's Boyish Deeds
The Death of Fraech
The Death of Orlam
The Death of the Meic Garach
The Death of the Squirrel
The Death of Lethan
The Death of Lochu
The Harrying of Cualnge (first version)
The Harrying of Cualnge (second version)
Mac Roth's Embassy
The Death of Etarcomol
The Death of Nadcrantail
The Finding of the Bull
The Death of Redg
The Meeting of Cuchulainn and Findabair
The Combat of Munremar and Curoi
The Death of the Boys (first version)
The Woman-fight of Rochad
The Death of the Princes
The Death of Cur
The Number of the Feats
The Death of Ferbaeth
The Combat of Larine Mac Nois
The Conversation of the Morrigan with Cuchulainn
The Death of Long Mac Emonis
The Healing of the Morrigan
The Coming of Lug Mac Ethlend
The Death of the Boys (second version)
The Arming of Cuchulainn
CONTINUATION (from the Yellow Book of Lecan)
The Combat of Fer Diad and Cuchulainn
The Long Warning of Sualtaim
The Muster of the Ulstermen
The Vision of Dubthach
The March of the Companies
The Muster of the Men of Ireland
The Battle on Garach and Irgarach
The Meeting of the Bulls
The Peace





INTRODUCTION

The Cattle-Raid of Cualnge [Note: Pronounce _Cooley_] is the chief
story belonging to the heroic cycle of Ulster, which had its centre
in the deeds of the Ulster king, Conchobar Mac Nessa, and his
nephew and chief warrior, Cuchulainn Mac Sualtaim. Tradition places
their date at the beginning of the Christian era.

The events leading up to this tale, the most famous of Irish
mythical stories, may be shortly summarised here from the Book of
Leinster introduction to the _Tain_, and from the other tales
belonging to the Ulster cycle.

It is elsewhere narrated that the Dun Bull of Cualnge, for whose
sake Ailill and Medb [Note: Pronounce _Maive_.], the king and queen
of Connaught, undertook this expedition, was one of two bulls in
whom two rival swineherds, belonging to the supernatural race known
as the people of the _Sid_, or fairy-mounds, were re-incarnated,
after passing through various other forms. The other bull,
Findbennach, the White-horned, was in the herd of Medb at Cruachan
Ai, the Connaught capital, but left it to join Ailill's herd. This
caused Ailill's possessions to exceed Medb's, and to equalise
matters she determined to secure the great Dun Bull, who alone
equalled the White-horned. An embassy to the owner of the Dun Bull
failed, and Ailill and Medb therefore began preparations for an
invasion of Ulster, in which province (then ruled by Conchobar Mac
Nessa) Cualnge was situated. A number of smaller _Tana_, or
cattle-raids, prefatory to the great _Tain Bo Cuailnge_, relate
some of their efforts to procure allies and provisions.

Medb chose for the expedition the time when Conchobar and all the
warriors of Ulster, except Cuchulainn and Sualtaim, were at their
capital, Emain Macha, in a sickness which fell on them periodically,
making them powerless for action; another story relates the cause
of this sickness, the effect of a curse laid on them by a fairy
woman. Ulster was therefore defended only by the seventeen-year-old
Cuchulainn, for Sualtaim's appearance is only spasmodic.
Cuchulainn (Culann's Hound) was the son of Dechtire, the king's
sister, his father being, in different accounts, either Sualtaim,
an Ulster warrior; Lug Mac Ethlend, one of the divine heroes
from the _Sid_, or fairy-mound; or Conchobar himself. The
two former both appear as Cuchulainn's father in the present
narrative. Cuchulainn is accompanied, throughout the adventures
here told, by his charioteer, Loeg Mac Riangabra.

In Medb's force were several Ulster heroes, including Cormac
Condlongas, son of Conchobar, Conall Cernach, Dubthach Doeltenga,
Fiacha Mac Firfebe, and Fergus Mac Roich. These were exiled from
Ulster through a bitter quarrel with Conchobar, who had caused the
betrayal and murder of the sons of Uisnech, when they had come to
Ulster under the sworn protection of Fergus, as told in the _Exile
of the Sons of Uisnech_. [Note: 1 Text in Windisch and Stokes's
_Irische Texte_; English translation in Miss Hull's _Cuchullin
Saga_.] The Ulster mischief-maker, Bricriu of the Poison-tongue,
was also with the Connaught army. Though fighting for Connaught,
the exiles have a friendly feeling for their former comrades, and a
keen jealousy for the credit of Ulster. There is a constant
interchange of courtesies between them and their old pupil,
Cuchulainn, whom they do not scruple to exhort to fresh efforts for
Ulster's honour. An equally half-hearted warrior is Lugaid Mac Nois,
king of Munster, who was bound in friendship to the Ulstermen.

Other characters who play an important part in the story are
Findabair, daughter of Ailill and Medb, who is held out as a bribe
to various heroes to induce them to fight Cuchulainn, and is on one
occasion offered to the latter in fraud on condition that he will
give up his opposition to the host; and the war-goddess, variously
styled the Nemain, the Badb (scald-crow), and the Morrigan (great
queen), who takes part against Cuchulainn in one of his chief
fights. Findabair is the bait which induces several old comrades of
Cuchulainn's, who had been his fellow-pupils under the sorceress
Scathach, to fight him in single combat.

The tale may be divided into:--

1. Introduction: Fedelm's prophecy.

2. Cuchulainn's first feats against the host, and the several
_geis_, or taboos, which he lays on them.

3. The narration of Cuchulainn's boyish deeds, by the Ulster exiles
to the Connaught host.

4. Cuchulainn's harassing of the host.

5. The bargain and series of single combats, interrupted by
breaches of the agreement on the part of Connaught.

6. The visit of Lug Mac Ethlend.

7. The fight with Fer Diad.

8. The end: the muster of the Ulstermen.


The MSS.

The _Tain Bo Cuailnge_ survives, in whole or in part, in a
considerable number of MSS., most of which are, however, late. The
most important are three in number:--

(1) Leabhar na h-Uidhri (LU), 'The Book of the Dun Cow,' a MS.
dating from about 1100. The version here given is an old one,
though with some late additions, in later language. The chief of
these are the piece coming between the death of the herd Forgemen
and the fight with Cur Mac Dalath (including Cuchulainn's meeting
with Findabair, and the 'womanfight' of Rochad), and the whole of
what follows the Healing of the Morrigan. The tale is, like others
in this MS., unfinished, the MS. being imperfect.

(2) The Yellow Book of Lecan (YBL), a late fourteenth-century MS.
The _Tain_ in this is substantially the same as in LU. The
beginning is missing, but the end is given. Some of the late
additions of LU are not found here; and YBL, late as it is, often
gives an older and better text than the earlier MS.

(3) The Book of Leinster (LL), before 1160. The _Tain_ here is
longer, fuller, and later in both style and language than in LU or
YBL. It is essentially a literary attempt to give a complete and
consistent narrative, and is much less interesting than the older
LU-YBL recension.

In the present version, I have collated LU, as far as it goes, with
YBL, adding from the latter the concluding parts of the story, from
the Fight with Fer Diad to the end. After the Fight with Fer Diad,
YBL breaks off abruptly, leaving nearly a page blank; then follow
several pages containing lists, alternative versions of some
episodes given in LU (Rochad's Woman-fight, the Warning to
Conchobar), and one or two episodes which are narrated in LL. I
omit about one page, where the narrative is broken and confused.

The pages which follow the Healing of the Morrigan in LU are
altogether different in style from the rest of the story as told in
LU, and are out of keeping with its simplicity. This whole portion
is in the later manner of LL, with which, for the most part, it is
in verbal agreement. Further, it is in part repetition of material
already given (i.e. the coming of the boy-host of Ulster, and
Cuchulainn's displaying himself to the Connaught troops).


COMPARISON OF THE VERSIONS

A German translation of the Leinster text of the _Tain Bo Cuailnge_
will soon be accessible to all in Dr. Windisch's promised edition
of the text. It is therefore unnecessary to compare the two
versions in detail. Some of the main differences may be pointed
out, however.

Of our three copies none is the direct ancestor of any other. LU
and YBL are from a common source, though the latter MS. is from an
older copy; LL is independent. The two types differ entirely in aim
and method. The writers of LU and YBL aimed at accuracy; the
Leinster man, at presenting an intelligible version. Hence, where
the two former reproduce obscurities and corruptions, the latter
omits, paraphrases, or expands. The unfortunate result is that LL
rarely, if ever, helps to clear up textual obscurities in the older
copy.

On the other hand, it offers explanations of certain episodes not
clearly stated in LU. Thus, for example, where LU, in the story of
the sons of Nechta Scene, simply mentions 'the withe that was on
the pillar,' LL explains that the withe had been placed there by
the sons of Nechta Scene (as Cuchulainn placed a similar with in
the path of the Connaught host), with an ogam inscription
forbidding any to pass without combat; hence its removal was an
insult and a breach of _geis_. Again, the various embassies to
Cuchulainn, and the terms made with him (that he should not harass
the host if he were supplied daily with food, and with a champion
to meet him in single combat), are more clearly described in LL.

Some of the episodes given in LU are not told in the Leinster
version. Of the boyish deeds of Cuchulainn, LL tells only three:
his first appearance at Emain (told by Fergus), Culann's feast (by
Cormac), and the feats following Cuchulainn's taking of arms (by
Fiacha). In the main narrative, the chief episodes omitted in LL
are the fight with Fraech, the Fergus and Medb episode, and the
meeting of Findabair and Cuchulainn. The meeting with the Morrigan
is missing, owing to the loss of a leaf. Other episodes are
differently placed in LL: e.g. the Rochad story (an entirely
different account), the fight of Amairgen and Curoi with stones,
and the warning to Conchobar, all follow the fight with Fer Diad.

A peculiarity of the LU-YBL version is the number of passages which
it has in common with the _Dinnsenchas_, an eleventh-century
compilation of place-legends. The existing collections of
_Dinnsenchas_ contain over fifty entries derived from the _Tain_
cycle, some corresponding with, others differing from those in LU.

This version has also embodied a considerable number of glosses in
the text. As many of these are common to LU and YBL, they must go
back to the common original, which must therefore have been a
harmony of previously existing versions, since many of these
passages give variants of incidents.


AGE OF THE VERSIONS

There is no doubt that the version here translated is a very old
one. The language in LU is almost uniformly Middle Irish, not more
than a century earlier than the date of the MS.; thus it shows the
post-thetic _he_, _iat_, etc. as object, the adverb with _co_, the
confusion of _ar_ and _for_, the extension of the _b_-future, etc.
But YBL preserves forms as old as the Glosses:--

(1) The correct use of the infixed relative, e.g. _rombith_, 'with
which he struck.' (LU, _robith_, 58a, 45.)

(2) The infixed accusative pronoun, e.g. _nachndiusced_, 'that he
should not wake him.' (LU, _nach diusced_, 62a, 30.)

(3) _no_ with a secondary tense, e.g. _nolinad_, 'he used to fill.'
(LU, _rolinad_, 60b, 6.)

(4) Very frequently YBL keeps the right aspirated or non-aspirated
consonant, where LU shows a general confusion, etc.

LL has no very archaic forms, though it cultivates a pseudo-archaic
style; and it is unlikely that the Leinster version goes back much
earlier than 1050. The latter part of the LU _Tain_ shows that a
version of the Leinster type was known to the compiler. The style
of this part, with its piling-up of epithets, is that of
eleventh-century narrative, as exemplified in texts like the _Cath
Ruis na Rig_ and the _Cogadh Gaidhil_; long strings of alliterative
epithets, introduced for sound rather than sense, are characteristic
of the period. The descriptions of chariots and horses in the Fer
Diad episode in YBL are similar, and evidently belong to the same
rescension.

The inferences from the facts noted in the foregoing sections may
be stated as follows: A version of the _Tain_ goes back to the
early eighth, or seventh century, and is preserved under the YBL
text; an opinion based on linguistic evidence, but coinciding
with the tradition which ascribes the 'Recovery of the _Tain_' to
Senchan Torpeist, a bard of the later seventh century. This version
continued to be copied down to the eleventh century, gradually
changing as the language changed. Meanwhile, varying accounts of
parts of the story came into existence, and some time in the
eleventh century a new redaction was made, the oldest representative
of which is the LL text. Parts of this were embodied in or added
to the older version; hence the interpolations in LU.


THE FER DIAD EPISODE

There is much difference between the two versions of this episode.
In YBL, the introductory portion is long and full, the actual fight
very short, while in LL the fight is long-drawn-out, and much more
stress is laid on the pathetic aspect of the situation. Hence it is
generally assumed that LL preserves an old version of the episode,
and that the scribe of the Yellow Book has compressed the latter
part. It is not, however, usual, in primitive story-telling, to
linger over scenes of pathos. Such lingering is, like the painted
tears of late Italian masters, invariably a sign of decadence. It
is one of the marks of romance, which recognises tragedy only when
it is voluble, and prodigal of lamentation. The older version of
the _Tain_ is throughout singularly free from pathos of the feebler
sort; the humorous side is always uppermost, and the tragic
suggestions interwoven with it.

But it is still a matter of question whether the whole Fer Diad
episode may not be late. Professor Zimmer thinks it is; but even
the greatest scholar, with a theory to prove, is not quite free. It
will of course be noticed, on this side, that the chief motives of
the Fer Diad episode all appear previously in other episodes (e.g.
the fights with Ferbaeth and with Loch). Further, the account even
in YBL is not marked by old linguistic forms as are other parts of
the tale, while much of it is in the bombastic descriptive style of
LL. In the condition in which we have the tale, however, this
adventure is treated as the climax of the story. Its motive is to
remove Cuchulainn from the field, in order to give the rest of
Ulster a chance. But in the account of the final great fight in
YBL, Cuchulainn's absence is said to be due to his having been
wounded in a combat against odds (_crechtnugud i n-ecomlund_).
Considering, therefore, that even in YBL the Fer Diad episode is
late in language, it seems possible that it may have replaced some
earlier account in which Cuchulainn was so severely wounded that he
was obliged to retire from the field.


PREVIOUS WORK ON THE '_TAIN_'

Up to the present time the _Tain_ has never been either printed or
translated, though the LU version has been for thirty years easily
accessible in facsimile. Dr. Windisch's promised edition will
shortly be out, containing the LL and LU texts, with a German
translation of the former. The most useful piece of work done
hitherto for the _Tain_ is the analysis by Professor Zimmer of the
LU text (conclusion from the Book of Leinster), in the fifth of his
_Keltische Studien (Zeitschrift für vergl. Sprachforschung_, xxviii.).
Another analysis of the story, by Mr. S. H. O'Grady, appeared in
Miss Eleanor Hull's _The Cuchullin Saga_; it is based on a late
paper MS. in the British Museum, giving substantially the same
version as LL. This work contains also a map of ancient Ireland,
showing the route of the Connaught forces; but a careful working-out
of the topography of the _Tain_ is much needed, many names being
still unidentified. Several of the small introductory _Tana_ have
been published in Windisch and Stokes's _Irische Texte_; and
separate episodes from the great _Tain_ have been printed and
translated from time to time. The Fight with Fer Diad (LL) was
printed with translation by O'Curry in the _Manners and Customs of
the Ancient Irish_. The story of the Two Swineherds, with their
successive reincarnations until they became the Dun Bull and the
White-horned (an introductory story to the _Tain_ ), is edited with
translation in _Irische Texte_, and Mr. Nutt printed an abridged
English version in the _Voyage of Bran_.

The Leinster version seems to have been the favourite with modern
workers, probably because it is complete and consistent; possibly
its more sentimental style has also served to commend it.


AIM OF THIS TRANSLATION

It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the present version is
intended for those who cannot read the tale in the original; it is
therefore inadvisable to overload the volume with notes, variant
readings, or explanations of the readings adopted, which might
repel the readers to whom it is offered.

At the present time, an enthusiasm for Irish literature is not
always accompanied by a knowledge of the Irish language. It seems
therefore to be the translator's duty, if any true estimate of this
literature is to be formed, to keep fairly close to the original,
since nothing is to be gained by attributing beauties which it does
not possess, while obscuring its true merits, which are not few.
For the same reason, while keeping the Irish second person singular
in verses and formal speech, I have in ordinary dialogue
substituted the pronoun _you_, which suggests the colloquial style
of the original better than the obsolete _thou_.

The so-called rhetorics are omitted in translating; they are
passages known in Irish as _rosc_, often partly alliterative, but
not measured. They are usually meaningless strings of words, with
occasional intelligible phrases. In all probability the passages
aimed at sound, with only a general suggestion of the drift. Any
other omissions are marked where they occur; many obscure words in
the long descriptive passages are of necessity left untranslated.
In two places I have made slight verbal changes without altering
the sense, a liberty which is very rarely necessary in Irish.

Of the headings, those printed in capitals are in the text in the
MS.; those italicised are marginal. I have bracketed obvious
scribal glosses which have crept into the text. Some of the
marginal glosses are translated in the footnotes.


GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

As a considerable part of the _Tain_ is occupied by connecting
episodes with place-names, an explanation of some of the commonest
elements in these may be of use to those who know no Irish:

Ath=a ford; e.g. Ath Gabla (Ford of the Fork), Ath Traiged (Ford of
the Foot), Ath Carpat (Ford of Chariots), Ath Fraich (Fraech's
Ford), etc.

Belat=cross-roads; e.g. Belat Alioin.

Bernas=a pass, or gap; e.g. _Bernas Bo Ulad_ or _Bernas Bo Cuailnge_
(Pass of the Cows of Ulster, or of Cualnge).

Clithar=a shelter; e.g. Clithar Bo Ulad (shelter of the Cows of
Ulster).

Cul=a corner; e.g. Cul Airthir (eastern corner).

Dun= a fort; e.g. Dun Sobairche.

Fid=a wood; e.g. Fid Mor Drualle (Great Wood of the Sword-sheath).

Glass=a brook, stream; e.g. Glass Chrau (the stream of Blood),
Glass Cruind, Glass Gatlaig (gatt=a withe, laig=a calf).

Glenn=a glen; e.g. Glenn Gatt (Glen of the Withe), Glenn Firbaith
(Ferbaeth's Glen), Glenn Gatlaig.

Grellach=a bog; e.g. Grellach Doluid.

Guala=a hill-shoulder; e.g. Gulo Mulchai (Mulcha's shoulder).

Loch=a lake; e.g. Loch Reoin, Loch Echtra.

Mag=a plain; e.g. Mag Ai, Mag Murthemne, Mag Breg, Mag Clochair
(cloch=a stone).

Methe, explained as if from meth (death); Methe Togmaill (death of
the Squirrel), Methe n-Eoin (death of the Bird).

Reid, gen. Rede=a plain; e.g. Ath Rede Locha (Ford of Locha's Plain).

Sid=a fairy mound; e.g. Sid Fraich (Fraech's Mound).

Sliab=a mountain; e.g. Sliab Fuait.

I need perhaps hardly say that many of the etymologies given in
Irish sources are pure invention, stories being often made up to
account for the names, the real meaning of which was unknown to the
mediaeval story-teller or scribe.

In conclusion, I have to express my most sincere thanks to
Professor Strachan, whose pupil I am proud to be. I have had the
advantage of his wide knowledge and experience in dealing with many
obscurities in the text, and he has also read the proofs. I am
indebted also to Mr. E. Gwynn, who has collated at Trinity College,
Dublin, a number of passages in the Yellow Book of Lecan, which are
illegible or incorrect in the facsimile; and to Dr. Whitley Stokes
for notes and suggestions on many obscure words.

LLANDAFF, November 1903.





THIS IS THE CATTLE-RAID OF CUALNGE

I

A great hosting was brought together by the Connaughtmen, that is,
by Ailill and Medb; and they sent to the three other provinces. And
messengers were sent by Ailill to the seven sons of Magach: Ailill,
Anluan, Mocorb, Cet, En, Bascall, and Doche; a cantred with each of
them. And to Cormac Condlongas Mac Conchobair with his three
hundred, who was billeted in Connaught. Then they all come to
Cruachan Ai.

Now Cormac had three troops which came to Cruachan. The first troop
had many-coloured cloaks folded round them; hair like a mantle (?);
the tunic falling(?) to the knee, and long(?) shields; and a broad
grey spearhead on a slender shaft in the hand of each man.

The second troop wore dark grey cloaks, and tunics with red
ornamentation down to their calves, and long hair hanging behind
from their heads, and white shields (?), and five-pronged spears
were in their hands.

'This is not Cormac yet,' said Medb.

Then comes the third troop; and they wore purple cloaks and hooded
tunics with red ornamentation down to their feet, hair smooth to
their shoulders, and round shields with engraved edges, and the
pillars [Note: i.e. spears as large as pillars, etc.] of a palace
in the hand of each man.

'This is Cormac now,' said Medb.

Then the four provinces of Ireland were assembled, till they were
in Cruachan Ai. And their poets and their druids did not let them
go thence till the end of a fortnight, for waiting for a good omen.
Medb said then to her charioteer the day that they set out:


'Every one who parts here to-day from his love or his friend will
curse me,' said she, 'for it is I who have gathered this hosting.'

'Wait then,' said the charioteer, 'till I turn the chariot with the
sun, and till there come the power of a good omen that we may come
back again.'

Then the charioteer turned the chariot, and they set forth. Then
they saw a full-grown maiden before them. She had yellow hair, and
a cloak of many colours, and a golden pin in it; and a hooded tunic
with red embroidery. She wore two shoes with buckles of gold. Her
face was narrow below and broad above. Very black were her two
eyebrows; her black delicate eyelashes cast a shadow into the
middle of her two cheeks. You would think it was with _partaing_
[Note: Exact meaning unknown. It is always used in this
connection.] her lips were adorned. You would think it was a shower
of pearls that was in her mouth, that is, her teeth. She had three
tresses: two tresses round her head above, and a tress behind, so
that it struck her two thighs behind her. A shuttle [Note: Literally,
a beam used for making fringe.] of white metal, with an inlaying
of gold, was in her hand. Each of her two eyes had three pupils.
The maiden was armed, and there were two black horses to her chariot.

'What is your name?' said Medb to the maiden.

'Fedelm, the prophetess of Connaught, is my name,' said the maiden.

'Whence do you come?' said Medb.

'From Scotland, after learning the art of prophecy,' said the
maiden.

'Have you the inspiration(?) which illumines?' [Note: Ir. _imbas
forasnai_, the name of a kind of divination.] said Medb.

'Yes, indeed,' said the maiden.

'Look for me how it will be with my hosting,' said Medb.

Then the maiden looked for it; and Medb said: 'O Fedelm the
prophetess, how seest thou the host?'

Fedelm answered and said: 'I see very red, I see red.'

'That is not true,' said Medb; 'for Conchobar is in his sickness at
Emain and the Ulstermen with him, with all the best [Note:
Conjectural; some letters missing. For the Ulster sickness, see
Introduction.] of their warriors; and my messengers have come and
brought me tidings thence.

'Fedelm the prophetess, how seest thou our host?' said Medb.

'I see red,' said the maiden.

'That is not true,' said Medb; 'for Celtchar Mac Uithichair is in
Dun Lethglaise, and a third of the Ulstermen with him; and Fergus,
son of Roich, son of Eochaid, is here with us, in exile, and a
cantred with him.

'Fedelm the prophetess, how seest thou our host?' said Medb.

'I see very red, I see red,' said the maiden.

'That matters not,' said Medb; 'for there are mutual angers, and
quarrels, and wounds very red in every host and in every
assembly of a great army. Look again for us then, and tell us the
truth.

'Fedelm the prophetess, how seest thou our host?'

'I see very red, I see red,' said Fedelm.

'I see a fair man who will make play
With a number of wounds(?) on his girdle;
[Note: Unless this is an allusion to the custom of carrying an
enemy's head at the girdle, the meaning is obscure. LL has quite a
different reading. The language of this poem is late.]
A hero's flame over his head,
His forehead a meeting-place of victory.

'There are seven gems of a hero of valour
In the middle of his two irises;
There is ---- on his cloak,
He wears a red clasped tunic.

'He has a face that is noble,
Which causes amazement to women.
A young man who is fair of hue
Comes ----
[Note: Five syllables missing.]

'Like is the nature of his valour
To Cuchulainn of Murthemne.
I do not know whose is the Hound
Of Culann, whose fame is the fairest.
But I know that it is thus
That the host is very red from him.

'I see a great man on the plain
He gives battle to the hosts;
Four little swords of feats
There are in each of his two hands.

'Two _Gae-bolga_, he carries them,
[Note: The Gae-bolga was a special kind of spear, which only
Cuchulainn could use.]
Besides an ivory-hilted sword and spear;
---- [Note: Three syllables missing] he wields to the host;
Different is the deed for which each arm goes from him.

'A man in a battle-girdle (?), of a red cloak,
He puts ---- every plain.
He smites them, over left chariot wheel (?);
The _Riastartha_ wounds them.
[Note: The Riastartha ('distorted one') was a name given to
Cuchulainn because of the contortion, described later, which came
over him.]
The form that appeared to me on him hitherto,
I see that his form has been changed.

'He has moved forward to the battle,
If heed is not taken of him it will be treachery.
I think it likely it is he who seeks you:
Cuchulainn Mac Sualtaim.

'He will strike on whole hosts,
He will make dense slaughters of you,
Ye will leave with him many thousands of heads.
The prophetess Fedelm conceals not.

'Blood will rain from warriors' wounds
At the hand of a warrior--'twill be full harm.
He will slay warriors, men will wander
Of the descendants of Deda Mac Sin.
Corpses will be cut off, women will lament
Through the Hound of the Smith that I see.'

The Monday after Samain [Note: Samain, 'summer-end,' about the
beginning of November.] they set forth, and this is the way they
took: south-east from Cruachan Ai, i.e. by Muicc Cruimb, by Teloch
Teora Crich, by Tuaim Mona, by Cul Sibrinne, by Fid, by Bolga, by
Coltain, by Glune-gabair, by Mag Trego, by North Tethba, by South
Tethba, by Tiarthechta, by Ord, by Slais southwards, by Indiuind,
by Carnd, by Ochtrach, by Midi, by Findglassa Assail, by Deilt, by
Delind, by Sailig, by Slaibre, by Slechta Selgatar, by Cul
Sibrinne, by Ochaind southwards, by Uatu northwards, by Dub, by
Comur southwards, by Tromma, by Othromma eastwards, by Slane, by
Gortslane, by Druim Licce southwards, by Ath Gabla, by Ard Achad,
by Feraind northwards, by Findabair, by Assi southwards, by Druim
Salfind, by Druim Cain, by Druim Mac n-Dega, by Eodond Mor, by
Eodond Bec, by Methe Togmaill, by Methe Eoin, by Druim Caemtechta,
by Scuaip, by Imscuaip, by Cend Ferna, by Baile, by Aile, by Bail
Scena, by Dail Scena, by Fertse, by Ross Lochad, by Sale, by
Lochmach, by Anmag, by Deind, by Deilt, by Dubglaiss, by Fid Mor,
by Colbtha, by Cronn, to Cualnge.



From Findabair Cuailnge, it is thence the hosts of Ireland were
divided over the province to seek the Bull. For it is past these
places that they came, till they reached Findabair.

(Here ends the title; and the story begins as follows:--

THIS IS THE STORY IN ORDER

When they had come on their first journey from Cruachan as far as
Cul Sibrinne, Medb told her charioteer to get ready her nine
chariots for her, that she might make a circuit in the camp, to see
who disliked and who liked the expedition.

Now his tent was pitched for Ailill, and the furniture was
arranged, both beds and coverings. Fergus Mac Roich in his tent was
next to Ailill; Cormac Condlongas Mac Conchobair beside him; Conall
Cernach by him; Fiacha Mac Fir-Febe, the son of Conchobar's
daughter, by him. Medb, daughter of Eochaid Fedlech, was on
Ailill's other side; next to her, Findabair, daughter of Ailill and
Medb. That was besides servants and attendants.

Medb came, after looking at the host, and she said it were folly
for the rest to go on the hosting, if the cantred of the
Leinstermen went.

'Why do you blame the men?' said Ailill.

'We do not blame them,' said Medb; 'splendid are the warriors. When
the rest were making their huts, they had finished thatching their
huts and cooking their food; when the rest were at dinner, they had
finished dinner, and their harpers were playing to them. It is
folly for them to go,' said Medb; 'it is to their credit the
victory of the hosts will be.'

'It is for us they fight,' said Ailill.

'They shall not come with us,' said Medb.

'Let them stay then,' said Ailill.

'They shall not stay,' said Medb. 'They will come on us after we
have gone,' said she, 'and seize our land against us.'

'What is to be done to them?' said Ailill; 'will you have them
neither stay nor go?'

'To kill them,' said Medb.

'We will not hide that this is a woman's plan,' said Ailill; 'what
you say is not good!'

'With this folk,' said Fergus, 'it shall not happen thus (for it is
a folk bound by ties to us Ulstermen), unless we are all killed.'

'Even that we could do,' said Medb; 'for I am here with my retinue
of two cantreds,' said she, 'and there are the seven Manes, that
is, my seven sons, with seven cantreds; their luck can protect
them,' (?) said she; 'that is Mane-Mathramail, and Mane-Athramail,
and Mane-Morgor, and Mane-Mingor, and Mane-Moepert (and he is
Mane-Milscothach), Mane-Andoe, and Mane-who-got-everything: he got
the form of his mother and of his father, and the dignity of both.'

'It would not be so,' said Fergus. 'There are seven kings of
Munster here, and a cantred with each of them, in friendship with
us Ulstermen. I will give battle to you,' said Fergus, 'in the
middle of the host in which we are, with these seven cantreds, and
with my own cantred, and with the cantred of the Leinstermen. But I
will not urge that,' said Fergus, 'we will provide for the warriors
otherwise, so that they shall not prevail over the host. Seventeen
cantreds for us,' said Fergus, 'that is the number of our army,
besides our rabble, and our women (for with each king there is his
queen, in Medb's company), and besides our striplings. This is the
eighteenth cantred, the cantred of the Leinstermen. Let them be
distributed among the rest of the host.'

'I do not care,' said Medb, 'provided they are not gathered as they
are.'

Then this was done; the Leinstermen were distributed among the host.

They set out next morning to Moin Choiltrae, where eight score deer
fell in with them in one herd. They surrounded them and killed them
then; wherever there was a man of the Leinstermen, it was he who
got them, except five deer that all the rest of the host got. Then
they came to Mag Trego, and stopped there and prepared their food.
They say that it is there that Dubthach sang this song:

'Grant what you have not heard hitherto,
Listening to the fight of Dubthach.
A hosting very black is before you,
Against Findbend of the wife of Ailill.
[Note: Findbennach, the Whitehorned; i.e. the other of the two
bulls in whom the rival swineherds were reincarnated.]

'The man of expeditions will come
Who will defend (?) Murthemne.
Ravens will drink milk of ---- [Note: Some kenning for blood?]
From the friendship of the swineherds.

'The turfy Cronn will resist them;
[Note: i.e. the river Cronn. This line is a corruption of a
reference which occurs later, in the account of the flooding of the
Cronn, as Professor Strachan first pointed out to me.]
He will not let them into Murthemne
Until the work of warriors is over
In Sliab Tuad Ochaine.

'"Quickly," said Ailill to Cormac,
"Go that you may ---- your son.
The cattle do not come from the fields
That the din of the host may not terrify them(?).

'"This will be a battle in its time
For Medb with a third of the host.
There will be flesh of men therefrom
If the Riastartha comes to you."'

Then the Nemain attacked them, and that was not the quietest of
nights for them, with the uproar of the churl (i.e. Dubthach)
through their sleep. The host started up at once, and a great
number of the host were in confusion, till Medb came to reprove
him.

Then they went and spent the night in Granard Tethba Tuascirt,
after the host had been led astray over bogs and over streams. A
warning was sent from Fergus to the Ulstermen here, for friendship.
They were now in the weakness, except Cuchulainn and his father
Sualtaim.

Cuchulainn and his father went, after the coming of the warning
from Fergus, till they were in Iraird Cuillend, watching the host
there.

'I think of the host to-night,' said Cuchulainn to his father. 'Go
from us with a warning to the Ulstermen. I am forced to go to a
tryst with Fedelm Noichride, [Note: Gloss incorporated in the text:
that is, with her servant,' etc.] from my own pledge that went out
to her.'

He made a spancel-withe [This was a twig twisted in the form of two
rings, joined by one straight piece, as used for hobbling horses
and cattle.] then before he went, and wrote an ogam on its ----,
and threw it on the top of the pillar.

The leadership of the way before the army was given to Fergus. Then
Fergus went far astray to the south, till Ulster should have
completed the collection of an army; he did this for friendship.
Ailill and Medb perceived it; it was then Medb said:

'O Fergus, this is strange,
What kind of way do we go?
Straying south or north
We go over every other folk.

'Ailill of Ai with his hosting
Fears that you will betray them.
You have not given your mind hitherto
To the leading of the way.

'If it is in friendship that you do it,
Do not lead the horses
Peradventure another may be found
To lead the way.'

Fergus replied:

'O Medb, what troubles you?
This is not like treachery.
It belongs to the Ulstermen, O woman,
The land across which I am leading you.

'It is not for the disadvantage of the host
That I go on each wandering in its turn;
It is to avoid the great man
Who protects Mag Murthemne.

'Not that my mind is not distressed
On account of the straying on which I go,
But if perchance I may avoid even afterwards
Cuchulainn Mac Sualtaim.'

Then they went till they were in Iraird Cuillend. Eirr and Indell,
Foich and Foclam (their two charioteers), the four sons of Iraird
Mac Anchinne, [Marginal gloss: 'or the four sons of Nera Mac Nuado
Mac Taccain, as it is found in other books.'] it is they who were
before the host, to protect their brooches and their cushions and
their cloaks, that the dust of the host might not soil them. They
found the withe that Cuchulainn threw, and perceived the grazing
that the horses had grazed. For Sualtaim's two horses had eaten the
grass with its roots from the earth; Cuchulainn's two horses had
licked the earth as far as the stones beneath the grass. They sit
down then, until the host came, and the musicians play to them.
They give the withe into the hands of Fergus Mac Roich; he read the
ogam that was on it.

When Medb came, she asked, 'Why are you waiting here?'

'We wait,' said Fergus,' because of the withe yonder. There is an
ogam on its ----, and this is what is in it: "Let no one go past
till a man is found to throw a like withe with his one hand, and
let it be one twig of which it is made; and I except my friend
Fergus." Truly,' said Fergus, 'Cuchulainn has thrown it, and they
are his horses that grazed the plain.'


And he put it in the hands of the druids; and Fergus sang this song:

'Here is a withe, what does the withe declare to us?
What is its mystery?
What number threw it?
Few or many?

'Will it cause injury to the host,
If they go a journey from it?
Find out, ye druids, something therefore
For what the withe has been left.

'---- of heroes the hero who has thrown it,
Full misfortune on warriors;
A delay of princes, wrathful is the matter,
One man has thrown it with one hand.

'Is not the king's host at the will of him,
Unless it breaks fair play?
Until one man only of you
Throw it, as one man has thrown it.
I do not know anything save that
For which the withe should have been put.
Here is a withe.'

Then Fergus said to them: 'If you outrage this withe,' said he, 'or
if you go past it, though he be in the custody of a man, or in a
house under a lock, the ---- of the man who wrote the ogam on it
will reach him, and will slay a goodly slaughter of you before
morning, unless one of you throw a like withe.'

'It does not please us, indeed, that one of us should be slain at
once,' said Ailill. 'We will go by the neck of the great wood
yonder, south of us, and we will not go over it at all.'

The troops hewed down then the wood before the chariots. This is
the name of that place, Slechta. It is there that Partraige is.
(According to others, the conversation between Medb and Fedelm the
prophetess took place there, as we told before; and then it is
after the answer she gave to Medb that the wood was cut down; i.e.
'Look for me,' said Medb, 'how my hosting will be.' 'It is
difficult to me,' said the maiden; 'I cannot cast my eye over them
in the wood.' 'It is ploughland (?) there shall be,' said Medb; 'we
will cut down the wood.' Then this was done, so that Slechta was
the name of the place.)


They spent the night then in Cul Sibrille; a great snowstorm fell
on them, to the girdles of the men and the wheels of the chariots.
The rising was early next morning. And it was not the most peaceful
of nights for them, with the snow; and they had not prepared food
that night. But it was not early when Cuchulainn came from his
tryst; he waited to wash and bathe.

Then he came on the track of the host. 'Would that we had not gone
there,' said Cuchulainn, 'nor betrayed the Ulstermen; we have let
the host go to them unawares. Make us an estimation of the host,'
said Cuchulainn to Loeg, 'that we may know the number of the host.'

Loeg did this, and said to Cuchulainn: 'I am confused,' said he, 'I
cannot attain this.'

'It would not be confusion that I see, if only I come,' said

Cuchulainn.

'Get into the chariot then,' said Loeg.

Cuchulainn got into the chariot, and put a reckoning over the host
for a long time.

'Even you,' said Loeg, 'you do not find it easy.'

'It is easier indeed to me than to you,' said Cuchulainn; 'for I
have three gifts, the gifts of eye, and of mind, and of reckoning.
I have put a reckoning [Marginal gloss: 'This is one of the three
severest and most difficult reckonings made in Ireland; i.e.
Cuchulainn's reckoning of the men of Ireland on the _Tain_; and
ug's reckoning of the Fomorian hosts at the battle of Mag Tured;
and Ingcel's reckoning of the hosts at the Bruiden Da Derga.'] on
this,' said he; 'there are eighteen cantreds,' said he, 'for their
number; only that the eighteenth cantred is distributed among all
the host, so that their number is not clear; that is, the cantred
of the Leinstermen.'

Then Cuchulainn went round the host till he was at Ath Gabla.
[Note: LU has Ath Grena.] He cuts a fork [Note: i.e. fork of a
tree.] there with one blow of his sword, and put it on the middle
of the stream, so that a chariot could not pass it on this side or
that. Eirr and Indell, Foich and Fochlam (their two charioteers)
came upon him thereat. He strikes their four heads off, and throws
them on to the four points of the fork. Hence is Ath Gabla.

Then the horses of the four went to meet the host, and their
cushions very red on them. They supposed it was a battalion that
was before them at the ford. A troop went from them to look at the
ford; they saw nothing there but the track of one chariot and the
fork with the four heads, and a name in ogam written on the side.
All the host came then.

'Are the heads yonder from our people?' said Medb.

'They are from our people and from our choice warriors,' said
Ailill.

One of them read the ogam that was on the side of the fork; that
is: 'A man has thrown the fork with his one hand; and you shall not
go past it till one of you, except Fergus, has thrown it with one
hand.'

'It is a marvel,' said Ailill, 'the quickness with which the four
were struck.'

It was not that that was a marvel,' said Fergus; 'it was the
striking of the fork from the trunk with one blow; and if the end
was [cut] with one blow, [Note: Lit. 'if its end was one cutting.']
it is the fairer for it, and that it was thrust in in this manner;
for it is not a hole that has been dug for it, but it is from the
back of the chariot it has been thrown with one hand.'

'Avert this strait from us, O Fergus,' said Medb.

Bring me a chariot then,' said Fergus, 'that I may take it out,
that you may see whether its end was hewn with one blow.' Fergus
broke then fourteen chariots of his chariots, so that it was from
his own chariot that he took it out of the ground, and he saw that
the end was hewn with one blow.

'Heed must be taken to the character of the tribe to which we are
going,' said Ailill. 'Let each of you prepare his food; you had no
rest last night for the snow. And something shall be told to us of
the adventures and stories of the tribe to which we are going.'

It is then that the adventures of Cuchulainn were related to them.
Ailill asked: 'Is it Conchobar who has done this?'

'Not he,' said Fergus; 'he would not have come to the border of the
country without the number of a battalion round him.'

'Was it Celtchar Mac Uithidir?'

'Not he; he would not have come to the border of the country
without the number of a battalion round him.'

'Was it Eogan Mac Durtacht?'

'Not he,' said Fergus; 'he would not have come over the border of
the country without thirty chariots two-pointed (?) round him. This
is the man who would have done the deed,' said Fergus, 'Cuchulainn;
it is he who would have cut the tree at one blow from the trunk,
and who would have killed the four yonder as quickly as they were
killed, and who would have come to the boundary with his charioteer.'

'What kind of man,' said Ailill, 'is this Hound of whom we have
heard among the Ulstermen? What age is this youth who is famous?'

'An easy question, truly,' said Fergus. 'In his fifth year he went
to the boys at Emain Macha to play; in his sixth year he went to
learn arms and feats with Scathach. In his seventh year he took
arms. He is now seventeen years old at this time.'

'Is it he who is hardest to deal with among the Ulstermen?' said
Medb.

'Over every one of them,' said Fergus. 'You will not find before
you a warrior who is harder to deal with, nor a point that is
sharper or keener or swifter, nor a hero who is fiercer, nor a
raven that is more flesh-loving, nor a match of his age that can
equal him as far as a third; nor a lion that is fiercer, nor a
fence(?) of battle, nor a hammer of destruction, nor a door of
battle, nor judgment on hosts, nor preventing of a great host that
is more worthy. You will not find there a man who would reach his
age, and his growth, and his dress, and his terror, his speech, his
splendour, his fame, his voice, his form, his power, his hardness,
his accomplishment, his valour, his striking, his rage, his anger,
his victory, his doom-giving, his violence, his estimation, his
hero-triumph, his speed, his pride, his madness, with the feat of
nine men on every point, like Cuchulainn!'

'I don't care for that,' said Medb; 'he is in one body; he endures
wounding; he is not above capturing. Therewith his age is that of a
grown-up girl, and his manly deeds have not come yet.'

'Not so,' said Fergus. 'It would be no wonder if he were to do a
good deed to-day; for even when he was younger his deeds were
manly.'


HERE ARE HIS BOYISH DEEDS

'He was brought up,' said Fergus, 'by his mother and father at the
---- in Mag Murthemne. The stories of the boys in Emain were
related to him; for there are three fifties of boys there,' said
Fergus, 'at play. It is thus that Conchobar enjoys his sovereignty:
a third of the day watching the boys; another third playing chess;
[Note: _Fidchill_, usually so translated, but the exact nature of
the game is uncertain.] another third drinking beer till sleep
seizes him therefrom. Although we are in exile, there is not in
Ireland a warrior who is more wonderful,' said Fergus.

'Cuchulainn asked his mother then to let him go to the boys.


'"You shall not go," said his mother, "until you have company of
warriors."

'"I deem it too long to wait for it," said Cuchulainn. "Show me on
which side Emain is."

'"Northwards so," said his mother; "and the journey is hard," said
she, "Sliab Fuait is between you."

'"I will find it out," said Cuchulainn.

'He goes forth then, and his shield of lath with him, and his
toy-spear, and his playing-club, and his ball. He kept throwing his
staff before him, so that he took it by the point before the end
fell on the ground.

'He goes then to the boys without binding them to protect him. For
no one used to go to them in their play-field till his protection
was guaranteed. He did not know this.

'"The boy insults us," said Follomon Mac Conchobair, "besides we
know he is of the Ulstermen. ... Throw at him!"

'They throw their three fifties of toy-spears at him, and they all
remained standing in his shield of lath. Then they throw all the
balls at him; and he takes them, each single ball, in his bosom.
Then they throw their three fifties of hurling-clubs at him; he
warded them off so that they did not touch him, and he took a
bundle of them on his back. Then contortion seized him. You would
have thought that it was a hammering wherewith each little hair had
been driven into his head, with the arising with which he arose.
You would have thought there was a spark of fire on every single
hair. He shut one of his eyes so that it was not wider than the eye
of a needle. He opened the other so that it was as large as the
mouth of a meadcup. He laid bare from his jawbone to his ear; he
opened his mouth to his jaw [Note: Conjectured from the later
description of Cuchulainn's distortion.] so that his gullet was
visible. The hero's light rose from his head. Then he strikes at
the boys. He overthrows fifty of them before they reached the door
of Emain. Nine of them came over me and Conchobar as we were
playing chess. Then he springs over the chessboard after the nine.
Conchobar caught his elbow.

'"The boys are not well treated," said Conchobar.

'"Lawful for me, O friend Conchobar," said he. "I came to them from
my home to play, from my mother and father; and they have not been
good to me."

'"What is your name?" said Conchobar.


'"Setanta Mac Sualtaim am I," said he, "and the son of Dechtere,
your sister. It was not fitting to hurt me here."

'"Why were the boys not bound to protect you?" said Conchobar.

'"I did not know this," said Cuchulainn. "Undertake my protection
against them then."

'"I recognise it," said Conchobar.

'Then he turned aside on [Note: i.e. to attack them.] the boys
throughout the house.

'"What ails you at them now?" said Conchobar.

'"That I may be bound to protect them," said Cuchulainn.

'"Undertake it," said Conchobar.

'"I recognise it," said Cuchulainn.

'Then they all went into the play-field, and those boys who had
been struck down there arose. Their foster-mothers and foster-fathers
helped them.


'Once,' said Fergus, 'when he was a youth, he used not to sleep in
Emain Macha till morning.

'"Tell me," said Conchobar to him, "why you do not sleep?"

'"I do not do it," said Cuchulainn, "unless it is equally high at
my head and my feet."

'Then a stone pillar was put by Conchobar at his head, and another
at his feet, and a bed was made for him separately between them.


'Another time a certain man went to awaken him, and he struck him
with his fist in his forehead, so that it took the front of his
forehead on to the brain, and so that he overthrew the pillar with
his arm.'

'It is known,' said Ailill, 'that it was the fist of a warrior and
that it was the arm of a hero.'

'From that time,' said Fergus, 'no one dared to waken him till he
awoke of himself.


'Another time he was playing ball in the play-field east of Emain;
he alone apart against the three fifties of boys; he used to defeat
them in every game in this way always. The boys lay hold of him
therewith, and he plied his fist upon them until fifty of them were
killed. He took to flight then, till he was under the pillow of
Conchobar's bed. All the Ulstermen rise round him, and I rise, and
Conchobar himself. Then he rose under the bed, and put the bed from
him, with the thirty heroes who were on it, till it was in the
middle of the house. The Ulstermen sit round him in the house. We
arrange and make peace then,' said Fergus, 'between the boys and
him.


'There was contention between Ulster and Eogan Mac Durtacht. The
Ulstermen went to the battle. He was left asleep. The Ulstermen
were defeated. Conchobar was left [on the field], and Cuscraid Mend
Macha, and many more beside. Their lament awoke Cuchulainn. He
stretched himself then, so that the two stones that were about him
broke; in the presence of Bricriu yonder it was done,' said Fergus.
'Then he arose. I met him in the door of the fort, and I wounded.

'"Alas! God save you, friend Fergus," said he, "where is Conchobar?"

'"I do not know," said I.

'Then he went forth. The night was dark. He made for the
battlefield. He saw a man before him, with half his head on, and
half of another man on his back.

'"Help me, O Cuchulainn," said he; "I have been wounded and I have
brought half of my brother on my back. Carry it for me a while."

'"I will not carry it," said he.

'Then he throws the burden to him; he throws it from him; they
wrestle; Cuchulainn was overthrown. I heard something, the
Badb from the corpses: "Ill the stuff of a hero that is under the
feet of a phantom." Then Cuchulainn rose against him, and strikes
his head off with his playing-club, and begins to drive his ball
before him across the plain.

'"Is my friend Conchobar in this battlefield?"

'He answered him. He goes to him, till he sees him in the trench,
and there was the earth round him on every side to hide him.

'"Why have you come into the battlefield," said Conchobar, "that
you may swoon there?"

'He lifts him out of the trench then; six of the strong men of
Ulster with us would not have brought him out more bravely.

'"Go before us to the house yonder," said Conchobar; "if a roast
pig came to me, I should live."

'"I will go and bring it," said Cuchulainn.

'He goes then, and saw a man at a cooking-hearth in the middle of
the wood; one of his two hands had his weapons in it, the other was
cooking the pig.

'The hideousness of the man was great; nevertheless he attacked him
and took his head and his pig with him. Conchobar ate the pig then.

'"Let us go to our house," said Conchobar.

'They met Cuscraid Mac Conchobair. There were sure wounds on him;
Cuchulainn took him on his back. The three of them went then to
Emain Macha.


'Another time the Ulstermen were in their weakness. There was not
among us,' said Fergus, 'weakness on women and boys, nor on any one
who was outside the country of the Ulstermen, nor on Cuchulainn and
his father. And so no one dared to shed their blood; for the
suffering springs on him who wounds them. [Gloss incorporated in
text: 'or their decay, or their shortness of life.']

'Three times nine men came to us from the Isles of Faiche. They
went over our back court when we were in our weakness. The women
screamed in the court. The boys were in the play-field; they come
at the cries. When the boys saw the dark, black men, they all take
to flight except Cuchulainn alone. He plies hand-stones and his
playing-club on them. He kills nine of them, and they leave fifty
wounds on him, and they go forth besides. A man who did these deeds
when his five years were not full, it would be no wonder that he
should have come to the edge of the boundary and that he should
have cut off the heads of yonder four.'


'We know him indeed, this boy,' said Conall Cernach, 'and we know
him none the worse that he is a fosterling of ours. It was not long
after the deed that Fcrgus has just related, when he did another
deed. When Culann the smith served a feast to Conchobar, Culann
said that it was not a multitude that should be brought to him, for
the preparation which he had made was not from land or country, but
from the fruit of his two hands and his pincers. Then Conchobar
went, and fifty chariots with him, of those who were noblest and
most eminent of the heroes. Now Conchobar visited then his
play-field. It was always his custom to visit and revisit them at
going and coming, to seek a greeting of the boys. He saw then
Cuchulainn driving his ball against the three fifties of boys, and
he gets the victory over them. When it was hole-driving that they
did, he filled the hole with his balls and they could not ward him
off. When they were all throwing into the hole, he warded them off
alone, so that not a single ball would go in it. When it was
wrestling they were doing, he overthrew the three fifties of boys
by himself, and there did not meet round him a number that could
overthrow him. When it was stripping that they did, he stripped
them all so that they were quite naked, and they could not take
from him even his brooch out of his cloak.

'Conchobar thought this wonderful. He said "Would he bring his
deeds to completion, provided the age of manhood came to them?"
Every one said: "He would bring them to completion." Conchobar said
to Cuchulainn: "Come with me," said he, "to the feast to which we
are going, because you are a guest."

'"I have not had enough of play yet, O friend Conchobar," said the
boy; "I will come after you."

'When they had all come to the feast, Culann said to Conchobar: "Do
you expect any one to follow you?" said he.

'"No," said Conchobar. He did not remember the appointment with his
foster-son who was following him.

'"I'll have a watch-dog," said Culann; "there are three chains on
him, and three men to each chain. [Gloss incorporated in text: 'He
was brought from Spain.'] Let him be let slip because of our cattle
and stock, and let the court be shut."

'Then the boy comes. The dog attacks him. He went on with his play
still: he threw his ball, and threw his club after it, so that it
struck the ball. One stroke was not greater than another; and he
threw his toy-spear after them, and he caught it before falling;
and it did not hinder his play, though the dog was approaching him.
Conchobar and his retinue ---- this, so that they could not move;
they thought they would not find him alive when they came, even
though the court were open. Now when the dog came to him, he threw
away his ball and his club, and seized the dog with his two hands;
that is, he put one of his hands to the apple of the dog's throat;
and he put the other at its back; he struck it against the pillar
that was beside him, so that every limb sprang apart. (According to
another, it was his ball that he threw into its mouth, and brought
out its entrails through it.)

'The Ulstermen went towards him, some over the wall, others over
the doors of the court. They put him on Conchobar's knee. A great
clamour arose among them, that the king's sister's son should have
been almost killed. Then Culann comes into the house.

'"Welcome, boy, for the sake of your mother. Would that I had not
prepared a feast! My life is a life lost, and my husbandry is a
husbandry without, without my dog. He had kept honour and life for
me," said he, "the man of my household who has been taken from me,
that is, my dog. He was defence and protection to our property and
our cattle; he was the protection of every beast to us, both field
and house."

'"It is not a great matter," said the boy; "a whelp of the same
litter shall be raised for you by me, and I will be a dog for the
defence of your cattle and for your own defence now, until that dog
grows, and until he is capable of action; and I will defend Mag
Murthemne, so that there shall not be taken away from me cattle nor
herd, unless I have ----."

'"Then your name shall be Cu-chulainn," said Cathbad.

'"I am content that it may be my name," said Cuchulainn.

'A man who did this in his seventh year, it would be no wonder that
he should have done a great deed now when his seventeen years are
completed,' said Conall Cernach.


'He did another exploit,' said Fiacha Mac Fir-Febe. 'Cathbad the
Druid was with his son, Conchobar Mac Nessa. A hundred active men
were with him, learning magic from him. That is the number that
Cathbad used to teach. A certain one of his pupils asked of him for
what this day would be good. Cathbad said a warrior should take
arms therein whose name should be over Ireland for ever, for deed
of valour, and his fame should continue for ever. Cuchulainn heard
this. He comes to Conchobar to ask for arms. Conchobar said, "Who
has instructed you?"

'"My friend Cathbad," said Cuchulainn.

'"We know indeed," said Conchobar.

'He gave him spear and shield. He brandished them in the middle of
the house, so that nothing remained of the fifteen sets of armour
that were in store in Conchobar's household against the breaking of
weapons or taking of arms by any one. Conchobar's own armour was
given to him. That withstood him, and he brandished it, and blessed
the king whose armour it was, and said, "Blessing to the people and
race to whom is king the man whose armour that is."

'Then Cathbad came to them, and said: "Has the boy taken arms?"
said Cathbad.

'"Yes," said Conchobar.

'"This is not lucky for the son of his mother," said he.

'"What, is it not you advised it?" said Conchobar.

'"Not I, surely," said Cathbad.

'"What advantage to you to deceive me, wild boy?" said Conchobar to
Cuchulainn.

'"O king of heroes, it is no trick," said Cuchulainn; "it is he who
taught it to his pupils this morning; and I heard him, south of
Emain, and I came to you then."

'"The day is good thus," said Cathbad; "it is certain he will be
famous and renowned, who shall take arms therein; but he will be
short-lived only."

'"A wonder of might," said Cuchulainn; "provided I be famous, I am
content though I were but one day in the world."

'Another day a certain man asked the druids what it is for which
that day was good.

'"Whoever shall go into a chariot therein," said Cathbad, "his name
shall be over Ireland for ever."

'Then Cuchulainn heard this; he comes to Conchobar and said to him:
"O friend Conchobar," said he, "give me a chariot." He gave him a
chariot. He put his hand between the two poles [Note: The _fertais_
were poles sticking out behind the chariot, as the account of the
wild deer, later, shows.] of the chariot, so that the chariot
broke. He broke twelve chariots in this way. Then Conchobar's
chariot was given to him. This withstood him. He goes then in the
chariot, and Conchobar's charioteer with him. The charioteer (Ibor
was his name) turned the chariot under him. "Come out of the
chariot now," said the charioteer.

'"The horses are fine, and I am fine, their little lad," said
Cuchulainn. "Go forward round Emain only, and you shall have a
reward for it."

'So the charioteer goes, and Cuchulainn forced him then that he
should go on the road to greet the boys "and that the boys might
bless me."

'He begged him to go on the way again. When they come, Cuchulainn
said to the charioteer: "Ply the goad on the horses," said he.

'"In what direction?" said the charioteer.

'"As long as the road shall lead us," said Cuchulainn.

'They come thence to Sliab Fuait, and find Conall Cernach there. It
fell to Conall that day to guard the province; for every hero of
Ulster was in Sliab Fuait in turn, to protect any one who should
come with poetry, or to fight against a man; so that it should be
there that there should be some one to encounter him, that no one
should go to Emain unperceived.

'"May that be for prosperity," said Conall; "may it be for victory
and triumph."

'"Go to the fort, O Conall, and leave me to watch here now," said
Cuchulainn.

'"It will be enough," said Conall, "if it is to protect any one
with poetry; if it is to fight against a man, it is early for you
yet."

'"Perhaps it may not be necessary at all," said Cuchulainn. "Let us
go meanwhile," said Cuchulainn, "to look upon the edge of Loch
Echtra. Heroes are wont to abide there."

'"I am content," said Conall.

'Then they go thence. He throws a stone from his sling, so that a
pole of Conall Cernach's chariot breaks.

'"Why have you thrown the stone, O boy?" said Conall.

"To try my hand and the straightness of my throw," said Cuchulainn;
"and it is the custom with you Ulstermen, that you do not travel
beyond your peril. Go back to Emain, O friend Conall, and leave me
here to watch."

'"Content, then," said Conall.

'Conall Cernach did not go past the place after that. Then
Cuchulainn goes forth to Loch Echtra, and they found no one there
before them. The charioteer said to Cuchulainn that they should go
to Emain, that they might be in time for the drinking there.

'"No," said Cuchulainn. "What mountain is it yonder?" said
Cuchulainn.

'"Sliab Monduirn," said the charioteer.

'"Let us go and get there," said Cuchulainn. They go then till
they reach it. When they had reached the mountain, Cuchulainn
asked: "What is the white cairn yonder on the top of the
mountain?"

'"Find Carn," said the charioteer.

'"What plain is that over there?" said Cuchulainn.

'"Mag Breg," said the charioteer. He tells him then the name of
every chief fort between Temair and Cenandas. He tells him first
their meadows and their fords, their famous places and their
dwellings, their fortresses and their high hills. He shows [Note:
Reading with YBL.] him then the fort of the three sons of Nechta
Scene; Foill, Fandall, and Tuachell were their names.

'"Is it they who say," said Cuchulainn, "that there are not more
of the Ulstermen alive than they have slain of them?"

'"It is they indeed," said the charioteer.

'"Let us go till we reach them," said Cuchulainn.

'"Indeed it is peril to us," said the charioteer.

'"Truly it is not to avoid it that we go," said Cuchulainn.

'Then they go forth and unharness their horses at the meeting of
the bog and the river, to the south above the fort of the others;
and he threw the withe that was on the pillar as far as he could
throw into the river and let it go with the stream, for this was a
breach of _geis_ to the sons of Nechta Scene. They perceive it
then, and come to them. Cuchulainn goes to sleep by the pillar
after throwing the withe at the stream; and he said to the
charioteer: "Do not waken me for few; but waken me for many."

'Now the charioteer was very frightened, and he made ready their
chariot and pulled its coverings and skins which were over
Cuchulainn; for he dared not waken him, because Cuchulainn told him
at first that he should not waken him for a few.

'Then come the sons of Nechta Scene.

'"Who is it who is there?" said one of them.

'"A little boy who has come to-day into the chariot for an
expedition," said the charioteer.

'"May it not be for his happiness," said the champion; "and may it
not be for his prosperity, his first taking of arms. Let him not be
in our land, and let the horses not graze there any more," said the
champion.

'"Their reins are in my hands," said the charioteer.


'"It should not be yours to earn hatred," said Ibar to the
champion; "and the boy is asleep."

'"I am not a boy at all," said Cuchulainn; "but it is to seek
battle with a man that the boy who is here has come."

'"That pleases me well," said the champion.

'"It will please you now in the ford yonder," said Cuchulainn.

'"It befits you," said the charioteer, "take heed of the man who
comes against you. Foill is his name," said he; "for unless you
reach him in the first thrust, you will not reach him till
evening."

'"I swear by the god by whom my people swear, he will not ply his
skill on the Ulstermen again, if the broad spear of my friend
Conchobar should reach him from my hand. It will be an outlaw's
hand to him."

'Then he cast the spear at him, so that his back broke. He took
with him his accoutrements and his head.

'"Take heed of another man," said the charioteer, "Fandall [Note:
i.e. 'Swallow.'] is his name. Not more heavily does he traverse(?)
the water than swan or swallow."

'"I swear that he will not ply that feat again on the Ulstermen,"
said Cuchulainn. "You have seen," said he, "the way I travel the
pool at Emain."

'They meet then in the ford. Cuchulainn kills that man, and took
his head and his arms.

'"Take heed of another man who comes towards you," said the
charioteer. "Tuachell [Note: i.e. 'Cunning.'] is his name. It is no
misname for him, for he does not fall by arms at all."

'"Here is the javelin for him to confuse him, so that it may make
a red-sieve of him," said Cuchulainn.

'He cast the spear at him, so that it reached him in his ----. Then
He went to him and cut off his head. Cuchulainn gave his head and
his accoutrements to his own charioteer. He heard then the cry of
their mother, Nechta Scene, behind them.

'He puts their spoils and the three heads in his chariot with him,
and said: "I will not leave my triumph," said he, "till I reach
Emain Macha." 'then they set out with his triumph.

'Then Cuchulainn said to the charioteer: "You promised us a good
run," said he, "and we need it now because of the strife and the
pursuit that is behind us." They go on to Sliab Fuait; and such was
the speed of the run that they made over Breg after the spurring of
the charioteer, that the horses of the chariot overtook the wind
and the birds in flight, and that Cuchulainn caught the throw that
he sent from his sling before it reached the ground.

'When they reached Sliab Fuait, they found a herd of wild deer
there before them.

'"What are those cattle yonder so active?" said Cuchulainn.

'"Wild deer," said the charioteer.

'"Which would the Ulstermen think best," said Cuchulainn, "to bring
them dead or alive?"

'"It is more wonderful alive," said the charioteer; "it is not
every one who can do it so. Dead, there is not one of them who
cannot do it. You cannot do this, to carry off any of them alive,"
said the charioteer.

'"I can indeed," said Cuchulainn. "Ply the goad on the horses into
the bog."

'The charioteer does this. The horses stick in the bog. Cuchulainn
sprang down and seized the deer that was nearest, and that was the
finest of them. He lashed the horses through the bog, and overcame
the deer at once, and bound it between the two poles of the chariot.

'They saw something again before them, a flock of swans.

'"Which would the Ulstermen think best," said Cuchulainn, "to have
them dead or alive?"

'"All the most vigorous and finest(?) bring them alive," said the
charioteer.

'Then Cuchulainn aims a small stone at the birds, so that he struck
eight of the birds. He threw again a large stone, so that he struck
twelve of them. All that was done by his return stroke.

"Collect the birds for us," said Cuchulainn to his charioteer. "If
it is I who go to take them," said he, "the wild deer will spring
upon you."

'"It is not easy for me to go to them," said the charioteer. "The
horses have become wild so that I cannot go past them. I cannot go
past the two iron tyres [Interlinear gloss, _fonnod_. The _fonnod_
was some part of the rim of the wheel apparently.] of the chariot,
because of their sharpness; and I cannot go past the deer, for his
horn has filled all the space between the two poles of the chariot."

'"Step from its horn," said Cuchulainn. "I swear by the god by whom
the Ulstermen swear, the bending with which I will bend my head on
him, and the eye that I will make at him, he will not turn his head
on you, and he will not dare to move."


'That was done then. Cuchulainn made fast the reins, and the
charioteer collects the birds. Then Cuchulainn bound the birds from
the strings and thongs of the chariot; so that it was thus he went
to Emain Macha: the wild deer behind his chariot, and the flock of
swans flying over it, and the three heads in his chariot. Then they
come to Emain.

"A man in a chariot is coming to you," said the watchman in Emain
Macha; "he will shed the blood of every man who is in the court,
unless heed is taken, and unless naked women go to him."

'Then he turned the left side of his chariot towards Emain, and
that was a _geis_ [Note: i.e. it was an insult.] to it; and
Cuchulainn said: "I swear by the god by whom the Ulstermen swear,
unless a man is found to fight with me, I will shed the blood of
every one who is in the fort."

'"Naked women to meet him!" said Conchobar.

'Then the women of Emain go to meet him with Mugain, the wife of
Conchobar Mac Nessa, and bare their breasts before him. "These are
the warriors who will meet you to-day," said Mugain.

'He covers his face; then the heroes of Emain seize him and throw
him into a vessel of cold water. That vessel bursts round him. The
second vessel into which he was thrown boiled with bubbles as big
as the fist therefrom. The third vessel into which he went, he
warmed it so that its heat and its cold were rightly tempered. Then
he comes out; and the queen, Mugain, puts a blue mantle on him, and
a silver brooch therein, and a hooded tunic; and he sits at
Conchobar's knee, and that was his couch always after that. The man
who did this in his seventh year,' said Fiacha Mac Fir-Febe, 'it
were not wonderful though he should rout an overwhelming force, and
though he should exhaust (?) an equal force, when his seventeen
years are complete to-day.'


(What follows is a separate version [Note: The next episode, the
Death of Fraech, is not given in LL.] to the death of Orlam.)

'Let us go forth now,' said Ailill.

Then they reached Mag Mucceda. Cuchulainn cut an oak before them
there, and wrote an ogam in its side. It is this that was therein:
that no one should go past it till a warrior should leap it with
one chariot. They pitch their tents there, and come to leap over it
in their chariots. There fall thereat thirty horses, and thirty
chariots are broken. Belach n-Ane, that is the name of that place
for ever.


_The Death of Fraech_

They are there till next morning; then Fraech is summoned to them.
'Help us, O Fraech,' said Medb. 'Remove from us the strait that is
on us. Go before Cuchulainn for us, if perchance you shall fight
with him.'

He set out early in the morning with nine men, till he reached Ath
Fuait. He saw the warrior bathing in the river.

'Wait here,' said Fraech to his retinue, 'till I come to the man
yonder; not good is the water,' said he.

He took off his clothes, and goes into the water to him.

'Do not come to me,' said Cuchulainn. 'You will die from it, and I
should be sorry to kill you.'

'I shall come indeed,' said Fraech, 'that we may meet in the water;
and let your play with me be fair.'

'Settle it as you like,' said Cuchulainn.

'The hand of each of us round the other,' said Fraech.

They set to wrestling for a long time on the water, and Fraech was
submerged. Cuchulainn lifted him up again.

'This time,' said Cuchulainn, 'will you yield and accept your
life?' [Note: Lit. 'will you acknowledge your saving?']

'I will not suffer it,' said Fraech.

Cuchulainn put him under it again, until Fraech was killed. He
comes to land; his retinue carry his body to the camp. Ath Fraich,
that was the name of that ford for ever. All the host lamented
Fraech. They saw a troop of women in green tunics [Note: Fraech was
descended from the people of the Sid, his mother Bebind being a
fairy woman. Her sister was Boinn (the river Boyne).] on the body
of Fraech Mac Idaid; they drew him from them into the mound. Sid
Fraich was the name of that mound afterwards.

Fergus springs over the oak in his chariot. They go till they reach
Ath Taiten; Cuchulainn destroys six of them there: that is, the six
Dungals of Irress.

Then they go on to Fornocht. Medb had a whelp named Baiscne.
Cuchulainn throws a cast at him, and took his head off. Druim was
the name of that place henceforth.

'Great is the mockery to you,' said Medb, 'not to hunt the deer
of misfortune yonder that is killing you.'

Then they start hunting him, till they broke the shafts of their
chariots thereat.


_The Death of Orlam_

They go forth then over Iraird Culend in the morning. Cuchulainn
went forward; he overtook the charioteer of Orlam, son of Ailill
and Medb, in Tamlacht Orlaim, a little to the north of Disert
Lochait, cutting wood there. (According to another version, it is
The shaft of Cuchulainn's chariot that had broken, and it is to cut
a shaft that he had gone when he met Orlam's charioteer. It is the
charioteer who cut the shafts according to this version.)

'It is over-bold what the Ulstermen are doing, if it is they who
are yonder,' said Cuchulainn, 'while the host is behind them.' He
goes to the charioteer to reprove him; he thought that he was of
Ulster, and he saw the man cutting wood, that is the chariot shaft.

'What are you doing here?' said Cuchulainn.

'Cutting chariot-shafts,' said the charioteer. 'We have broken our
chariots hunting the wild deer Cuchulainn yonder. Help me,' said
the charioteer. 'Look only whether you are to select the shafts, or
to strip them.'

'It will be to strip them indeed,' said Cuchulainn.

Then Cuchulainn stripped the shafts through his fingers in the
presence of the other, so that he cleared them both of bark and
knots.

'This cannot be your proper work that I put on you,' said the
charioteer; he was greatly afraid.

'Whence are you?' said Cuchulainn.

'The charioteer of Orlam, son of Ailill and Medb,' said he. 'And
you?' said the charioteer.

'My name is Cuchulainn,' said he.

'Alas!' said the charioteer.

'Fear nothing,' said Cuchulainn. 'Where is your master?' said he.

'He is in the trench yonder,' said the charioteer.

'Go forth then with me,' said Cuchulainn, 'for I do not kill
charioteers at all.'

Cuchulainn goes to Orlam, kills him, cuts his head off, and shakes
his head before the host. Then he puts the head on the charioteer's
back, and said to him:

'Take that with you,' said Cuchulainn, 'and go to the camp thus. If
you do not go thus, a stone will come to you from my sling.'

When he got near the camp, he took the head from his back, and told
his adventures to Ailill and Medb.

'This is not like taking birds,' said she.

And he said, 'Unless I brought it on my back to the camp, he would
break my head with a stone.'


_The Death of the Meic Garach_

Then the Meic Garach waited on their ford. These are their names:
Lon and Ualu and Diliu; and Mes-Ler, and Mes-Laech, and Mes-Lethan
were their three charioteers. They thought it too much what
Cuchulainn had done: to slay two foster-sons of the king, and his
son, and to shake the head before the host. They would slay
Cuchulainn in return for him, and would themselves remove this
annoyance from the host. They cut three aspen wands for their
charioteers, that the six of them should pursue combat against him.
He killed them all then, because they had broken fair-play towards
him.

Orlam's charioteer was then between Ailill and Medb. Cuchulainn
hurled a stone at him, [Note: Apparently because the charioteer had
not carried Orlam's head into the camp on his back. Or an
alternative version.] so that his head broke, and his brains came
over his ears; Fertedil was his name. (Thus it is not true that
Cuchulainn did not kill charioteers; howbeit, he did not kill them
without fault.)


_The Death of the Squirrel_

Cuchulainn threatened in Methe, that wherever he should see Ailill
or Medb afterwards he would throw a stone from his sling at them.
He did this then: he threw a stone from his sling, so that he
killed the squirrel that was on Medb's shoulder south of the ford:
hence is Methe Togmaill. And he killed the bird that was on
Ailill's shoulder north of the ford: hence is Methe n-Eoin. (Or it
is on Medb's shoulder that both squirrel and bird were together,
and it is their heads that were struck from them by the casts.)


Reoin was drowned in his lake. Hence is Loch Reoin.


'That other is not far from you,' said Ailill to the Manes.

They arose and looked round. When they sat down again, Cuchulainn
struck one of them, so that his head broke.

'It was well that you went for that: your boasting was not
fitting,' said Maenen the fool. 'I would have taken his head off.'

Cuchulainn threw a stone at him, so that his head broke. It is thus
then that these were killed: Orlam in the first place on his hill;
the Meic Garach on their ford; Fertedil in his ---; Maenan in his
hill.

'I swear by the god by whom my people swear,' said Ailill, 'that
man who shall make a mock of Cuchulainn here, I will make two
halves of him.'

'Go forth for us both day and night,' said Ailill, 'till we reach
Cualnge. That man will kill two-thirds of the host in this way.' It
is there that the harpers of the _Cainbili_ [Note: Reference
obscure. They were wizards of some sort.] from Ossory came to them
to amuse them. They thought it was from the Ulstermen to spy on
them. They set to hunting them, till they went before them in the
forms of deer into the stones at Liac Mor on the north. For they
were wizards with great cunning.


_The Death of Lethan_


Lethan came on to his ford on the Nith (?) in Conaille. He waited
himself to meet Cuchulainn. It vexed him what Cuchulainn had done.
Cuchulainn cuts off his head and left it, hence it is Ath Lethan on
the Nith. And their chariots broke in the battle on the ford by
him; hence it is Ath Carpat. Mulcha, Lethan's charioteer, fell on
the shoulder of the hill that is between them; hence is Gulo
Mulchai. While the hosts were going over Mag Breg, he struck(?)
their ---- still. [Note: 2 Something apparently missing here. The
passage in LL is as follows: 'It is the same day that the Morrigan,
daughter of Ernmas, came from the Sid, so that she was on the
pillar in Temair Cuailnge, taking a warning to the Dun of Cualnge
before the men of Ireland, and she began to speak to him, and
"Good, O wretched one, O Dun of Cualnge," said the Morrigan, "keep
watch, for the men of Ireland have reached thee, and they will take
thee to their camp unless thou keepest watch"; and she began to
take a warning to him thus, and uttered her words on high.' (The
Rhetoric follows as in LU.)]

Yet that was the Morrigan in the form of a bird on the pillar in
Temair Cuailnge; and she spoke to the Bull:

'Does the Black know,' etc. [Note: A Rhetoric.]

Then the Bull went, and fifty heifers with him, to Sliab Culind;
and his keeper, Forgemen by name, went after him. He threw off the
three fifties of boys who used always to play on him, and he killed
two-thirds of his boys, and dug a trench in Tir Marcceni in Cualnge
before he went.


_The Death of Lochu_

Cuchulainn killed no one from the Saile ind Orthi (?) in the
Conaille territory, until they reached Cualnge. Cuchulainn was then
in Cuince; he threatened then that when he saw Medb he would throw
a stone at her head. This was not easy to him, for it is thus that
Medb went and half the host about her, with their shelter of
shields over her head.

Then a waiting-woman of Medb's, Lochu by name, went to get water,
and a great troop of women with her. Cuchulainn thought it was
Medb. He threw two stones from Cuince, so that he slew her in her
plain(?). Hence is Ath Rede Locha in Cualnge.

From Findabair Cuailnge the hosts divided, and they set the country
on fire. They collect all there were of women, and boys, and
maidens; and cattle, in Cualnge together, so that they were all in
Findabair.

'You have not gone well,' said Medb; 'I do not see the Bull with
you.'

'He is not in the province at all,' said every one.

Lothar the cowherd is summoned to Medb.

'Where is the Bull?' said she. 'Have you an idea?'

'I have great fear to tell it,' said the herd. 'The night,' said
he, 'when the Ulstermen went into their weakness, he went with
three twenties of heifers with him, so that he is at the Black
Corrie of Glenn Gatt.'

'Go,' said Medb, 'and carry a withe [Note: Ir. _gatt_, a withe.]
between each two of you.'

They do this: hence this glen is called Glenn Gatt. Then they bring
the Bull to Findabair. The place where he saw the herd, Lothar, he
attacked him, so that he brought his entrails out on his horns; and
he attacked the camp with his three fifties of heifers, so that
fifty warriors were killed. And that is the death of Lothar on the
Foray.

Then the Bull went from them out of the camp, and they knew not
where he had gone from them; and they were ashamed. Medb asked the
herd if he had an idea where the Bull was.

'I think he would be in the secret places of Sliab Culind.'

When they returned thus after ravaging Cualnge, and did not find
the Bull there. The river Cronn rose against them to the tops of
the trees; and they spent the night by it. And Medb told part of
her following to go across.

A wonderful warrior went next day, Ualu his name. He took a great
stone on his back to go across the water; the stream drove him
backwards with the stone on his back. His grave and his stone are
on the road at the stream: Lia Ualand is its name.

They went round the river Cronn to the source, and they would have
gone between the source and the mountain, only that they could not
get leave from Medb; she preferred to go across the mountain, that
their track might remain there for ever, for an insult to the
Ulstermen. They waited there three days and three nights, till they
dug the earth in front of them, the Bernas Bo Cuailnge.

It is there that Cuchulainn killed Crond and Coemdele and ----
[Note: Obscure.]. A hundred warriors ---- [Note: Obscure.] died with
Roan and Roae, the two historians of the Foray. A hundred and
forty-four, kings died by him at the same stream. They came then
over the Bernas Bo Cuailnge with the cattle and stock of Cualnge,
and spent the night in Glenn Dail Imda in Cualnge. Botha is the
name of this place, because they made huts over them there. They
come next day to Colptha. They try to cross it through heedlessness.
It rose against them then, and it carries a hundred charioteers
of them to the sea; this is the name of the land in which they
were drowned, Cluain Carptech.

They go round Colptha then to its source, to Belat Alioin, and
spent the night at Liasa Liac; that is the name of this place,
because they made sheds over their calves there between Cualnge and
Conaille. They came over Glenn Gatlaig, and Glass Gatlaig rose
against them. Sechaire was its name before; Glass Gatlaig
thenceforth, because it was in withes they brought their calves;
and they slept at Druim Fene in Conaille. (Those then are the
wanderings from Cualnge to Machaire according to this version.)


_This is the Harrying of Cualnge_

(Other authors and books make it that another way was taken on
their journeyings from Findabair to Conaille, as follows:

Medb said after every one had come with their booty, so that they
were all in Findabair Cuailnge: 'Let the host be divided,' said
Medb; 'it will be impossible to bring this expedition by one way.
Let Ailill go with half the expedition by Midluachair; Fergus and I
will go by Bernas Ulad.' [Note: YBL. Bernas Bo n-Ulad.]

'It is not fine,' said Fergus, 'the half of the expedition that has
fallen to us. It will be impossible to bring the cattle over the
mountain without dividing it.'

That was done then, so that it is from that there is Bernas Bo n-Ulad.)

It is there then that Ailill said to his charioteer Cuillius: 'Find
out for me to-day Medb and Fergus. I know not what has brought them
to this union. I shall be pleased that a token should come to me by
you.'

Cuillius came when they were in Cluichre. The pair remained behind,
and the warriors went on. Cuillius came to them, and they heard not
the spy. Fergus' sword happened to be beside him. Cuillius drew it
out of its sheath, and left the sheath empty. Cuillius came to
Ailill.

'So?' said Ailill.

'So indeed,' said Cuillius; 'there is a token for you.'

'It is well,' said Ailill.

Each of them smiles at the other.

'As you thought,' said Cuillius, 'it is thus that I found them, in
one another's arms.'

'It is right for her,' said Ailill; 'it is for help on the Foray
that she has done it. See that the sword is kept in good condition,'
said Ailill. 'Put it under your seat in the chariot, and a cloth of
linen around it.'

Fergus got up for his sword after that.

'Alas!' said he.

'What is the matter with you?' said Medb.


'An ill deed have I done to Ailill,' said he. 'Wait here, while I
go into the wood,' said Fergus; 'and do not wonder though it be
long till I come.'

It happened that Medb knew not the loss of the sword. He goes
thence, and takes the sword of his charioteer with him in his hand.
He makes a wooden sword in the wood. Hence there is Fid Mor Drualle
in Ulster.

'Let us go on after our comrades,' said Fergus. All their hosts
meet in the plain. They pitch their tents. Fergus is summoned to
Ailill to play chess. When Fergus went to the tent, Ailill began to
laugh at him. [Note: Here follows about two columns of rhetoric,
consisting of a taunting dialogue between Ailill, Fergus and Medb.]

***

Cuchulainn came so that he was at Ath Cruinn before them.

'O friend Loeg,' said he to his charioteer, 'the hosts are at hand
to us.'

'I swear by the gods,' said the charioteer, 'I will do a mighty
feat before warriors ... on slender steeds with yokes of silver,
with golden wheels ...'

'Take heed, O Loeg,' said Cuchulainn; 'hold the reins for great
victory of Macha ... I beseech,' said Cuchulainn, 'the waters to
help me. I beseech heaven and earth, and the Cronn in particular.'

The (river) Cronn takes to fighting against them; it will not let
them into Murthemne until the work of heroes be finished in Sliab
Tuath Ochaine.

Therewith the water rose up till it was in the tops of the trees.

Mane, son of Ailill and Medb, went before the rest. Cuchulainn
smites them on the ford, and thirty horsemen of Mane's retinue were
drowned in the water. Cuchulainn overthrew two sixteens of warriors
of them again by the water.

They pitch their tents at that ford. Lugaid Mac Nois, descendant of
Lomarc Allchomach, came to speak to Cuchulainn, with thirty
horsemen.

'Welcome, O Lugaid,' said Cuchulainn. 'If a flock of birds graze
upon Mag Murthemne, you shall have a duck with half of another; if
fish come to the estuaries, you shall have a salmon with half of
another. You shall have the three sprigs, the sprig of watercress,
and the sprig of marshwort, and the sprig of seaweed. You shall
have a man in the ford in your place.' [Note: This and the
following speech are apparently forms of greeting. Cuchulainn
offers Lugaid such hospitality as lies in his power. See a similar
speech later to Fergus.]

'I believe it,' said Lugaid. 'Excellence of people to the boy whom
I desire.'

'Your hosts are fine,' said Cuchulainn.

It would not be sad for you alone before them,' said Lugaid.

'Fair-play and valour will support me,' said Cuchulainn. 'O friend
Lugaid, do the hosts fear me?'

'I swear by God,' said Lugaid, 'one man nor two dare not go out of
the camp, unless it be in twenties or thirties.'

'It will be something extra for them,' said Cuchulainn, 'if I take
to throwing from the sling. Fitting for you will be this fellow-vassal,
O Lugaid, that you have among the Ulstermen, if there come to me
the force of every man. Say what you would have,' said Cuchulainn.

'That I may have a truce with you towards my host.'

'You shall have it, provided there be a token on it. And tell my
friend Fergus that there be a token on his host. Tell the
physicians, let there be a token on their host. And let them swear
preservation of life to me, and let there come to me provision
every night from them.'

Then Lugaid goes from him. Fergus happened to be in the tent with
Ailill. Lugaid called him out, and told him this. Something was
heard, namely Ailill. ... [Note: Rhetoric, six lines, the substance
of which is, apparently, that Ailill asks protection also.]

'I swear by God I cannot do it,' said Lugaid, 'unless I ask the boy
Again.'

'Help me, [Note: Spoken by Fergus?] O Lugaid, go to him to see
whether Ailill may come with a cantred into my troop. Take an ox
with bacon to him and a jar of wine.'

He goes to Cuchulainn then and tells him this.

'I do not mind though he go,' said Cuchulainn.

Then their two troops join. They are there till night. Cuchulainn
kills thirty men of them with the sling. (Or they would be twenty
nights there, as some books say.)

'Your journeyings are bad,' said Fergus. 'The Ulstermen will come
to you out of their weakness, and they will grind you to earth and
gravel. "The corner of battle" in which we are is bad.'

He goes thence to Cul Airthir. It happened that Cuchulainn had gone
that night to speak to the Ulstermen [Note: In LL and Y BL this
incident occurs later, and the messenger is Sualtaim, not
Cuchulainn. LU is clearly wrong here.]

'Have you news?' said Conchobar.

'Women are captured,' said Cuchulainn, 'cattle are driven away, men
are slain.'

'Who carries them off? who drives them away? who kills them?'

'... Ailill Mac Matae carries them off, and Fergus Mac Roich
very bold ...' [Note: Rhetoric.]

'It is not great profit to you,' said Conchobar, 'to-day, our
smiting has come to us all the same.'

Cuchulainn goes thence from them; he saw the hosts going forth.

'Alas,' said Ailill, 'I see chariots' ..., etc [Note: Rhetoric,
five lines.]

Cuchulainn kills thirty men of them on Ath Duirn. They could not
reach Cul Airthir then till night. He slays thirty of them there,
and they pitch their tents there. Ailill's charioteer, Cuillius,
was washing the chariot tyres [Note: See previous note on the word
_fonnod_; the word used here is _fonnod_.] in the ford in the
morning; Cuchulainn struck him with a stone and killed him. Hence
is Ath Cuillne in Cul Airthir. They reach Druim Feine in Conaille
and spent the night there, as we have said before.

Cuchulainn attacked them there; he slays a hundred men of them
every night of the three nights that they were there; he took a
sling to them from Ochaine near them.

'Our host will be short-lived through Cuchulainn in this way,' said
Ailill. 'Let an agreement be carried from us to him: that he shall
have the equal of Mag Murthemne from Mag Ai, and the best chariot
that is in Ai, and the equipment of twelve men. Offer, if it
pleases him better, the plain in which he was brought up, and three
sevens of cumals [Note: The _cumal_ (bondmaid) was a standard of
value.]; and everything that has been destroyed of his household (?)
and cattle shall be made good, and he shall have full compensation (?),
and let him go into my service; it is better for him than the
service of a sub king.'


'Who shall go for that?'

'Mac Roth yonder.'

Mac Roth, the messenger of Ailill and Medb, went on that errand to
Delga: it is he who encircles Ireland in one day. It is there that
Fergus thought that Cuchulainn was, in Delga.

'I see a man coming towards us,' said Loeg to Cuchulainn. 'He has
a yellow head of hair, and a linen emblem round it; a club of
fury(?) in his hand, an ivory-hilted sword at his waist; a hooded
tunic with red ornamentation on him.'

'Which of the warriors of the king is that?' said Cuchulainn.

Mac Roth asked Loeg whose man he was.

'Vassal to the man down yonder,' said Loeg.

Cuchulainn was there in the snow up to his two thighs, without
anything at all on him, examining his shirt.

Then Mac Roth asked Cuchulainn whose man he was.

'Vassal of Conchobar Mac Nessa,' said Cuchulainn.

'Is there no clearer description?'

'That is enough,' said Cuchulainn.

'Where then is Cuchulainn?' said Mac Roth.

'What would you say to him?' said Cuchulainn.

Mac Roth tells him then all the message, as we have told it.

'Though Cuchulainn were near, he would not do this; he will not
barter the brother of his mother for another king.'

He came to him again, and it was said to Cuchulainn that there
should be given over to him the noblest of the women and the cows
that were without milk, on condition that he should not ply his
sling on them at night, even if he should kill them by day.

'I will not do it,' said Cuchulainn; 'if our slavewomen are taken
from us, our noble women will be at the querns; and we shall be
without milk if our milch-cows are taken from us.'

He came to him again, and he was told that he should have the
slave-women and the milch-cows.

'I will not do it,' said Cuchulainn; 'the Ulstermen will take their
slave-women to their beds, and there will be born to them a servile
offspring, and they will use their milch-cows for meat in the
winter.'

'Is there anything else then?' said the messenger.

'There is,' said Cuchulainn; 'and I will not tell it you. It shall
be agreed to, if any one tell it you.'

'I know it,' said Fergus; 'I know what the man tried to suggest;
and it is no advantage to you. And this is the agreement,' said
Fergus: 'that the ford on which takes place (?) his battle and
combat with one man, the cattle shall not be taken thence a day and
a night; if perchance there come to him the help of the Ulstermen.
And it is a marvel to me,' said Fergus, 'that it is so long till
they come out of their sufferings.'

'It is indeed easier for us,' said Ailill, 'a man every day than a
hundred every night.'


_The Death of Etarcomol_

Then Fergus went on this errand; Etarcomol, son of Edan [Note: Name
uncertain. YBL has Eda, LL Feda.] and Lethrinne, foster-son of
Ailill and Medb, followed.

'I do not want you to go,' said Fergus, 'and it is not for hatred
of you; but I do not like combat between you and Cuchulainn. Your
pride and insolence, and the fierceness and hatred, pride and
madness of the other, Cuchulainn: there will be no good from your
meeting.'

'Are you not able to protect me from him?' said Etarcomol.

'I can,' said Fergus, 'provided only that you do not treat his,
sayings with disrespect.'

They go thence in two chariots to Delga. Cuchulainn was then
playing chess [Note: _Buanfach_, like _fidchell_, is apparently a
game something like chess or draughts.] with Loeg; the back of his
head was towards them, and Loeg's face.

'I see two chariots coming towards us,' said Loeg; 'a great dark
man in the first chariot, with dark and bushy hair; a purple cloak
round him, and a golden pin therein; a hooded tunic with gold
embroidery on him; and a round shield with an engraved edge of
white metal, and a broad spear-head, with rings from point to
haft(?), in his hand. A sword as long as the rudder of a boat on
his two thighs.'

'It is empty, this great rudder that is brought by my friend
Fergus,' said Cuchulainn; 'for there is no sword in its sheath
except a sword of wood. It has been told to me,' said Cuchulainn;
'Ailill got a chance of them as they slept, he and Medb; and he
took away his sword from Fergus, and gave it to his charioteer to
take care of, and the sword of wood was put into its sheath.'

Then Fergus comes up.

'Welcome, O friend Fergus,' said Cuchulainn; 'if a fish comes
into the estuary, you shall have it with half of another; if a
flock comes into the plain, you shall have a duck with half of
another; a spray of cress or seaweed, a spray of marshwort; a drink
from the sand; you shall have a going to the ford to meet a man, if
it should happen to be your watch, till you have slept.'

'I believe it,' said Fergus; 'it is not your provision that we have
come for; we know your housekeeping here.'

Then Cuchulainn receives the message from Fergus; anti Fergus goes
away. Etarcomol remains looking at Cuchulainn.

'What are you looking at?' said Cuchulainn.

'You,' said Etarcomol.

'The eye soon compasses it indeed,' said Cuchulainn.

'That is what I see,' said Etarcomol. 'I do not know at all why you
should be feared by any one. I do not see terror or fearfulness, or
overwhelming of a host, in you; you are merely a fair youth with
arms of wood, and with fine feats.'

'Though you speak ill of me,' said Cuchulainn, 'I will not kill you
for the sake of Fergus. But for your protection, it would have been
your entrails drawn (?) and your quarters scattered, that would
have gone from me to the camp behind your chariot.'

'Threaten me not thus,' said Etarcomol. 'The wonderful agreement
that he has bound, that is, the single combat, it is I who will
first meet you of the men of Ireland to-morrow.'

Then he goes away. He turned back from Methe and Cethe and said to
his charioteer:

'I have boasted,' said he, 'before Fergus combat with Cuchulainn
to-morrow. It is not possible for us [Note: YBL reading.] to wait
for it; turn the horses back again from the hill.'

Loeg sees this and says to Cuchulainn: 'There is the chariot back
again, and it has put its left board [Note: An insult.] towards us.'

'It is not a "debt of refusal,"' said Cuchulainn. 'I do not wish,'
said Cuchulainn, 'what you demand of me.'

'This is obligatory to you,' said Etarcomol.

Cuchulainn strikes the sod under his feet, so that he fell
prostrate, and the sod behind him.

'Go from me,' said Cuchulainn. 'I am loath to cleanse my hands in
you. I would have divided you into many parts long since but for
Fergus.'


'We will not part thus,' said Etarcomol, 'till I have taken your
head, or left my head with you.'

'It is that indeed that will be there,' said Cuchulainn.

Cuchulainn strikes him with his sword in his two armpits, so that
his clothes fell from him, and it did not wound his skin.

'Go then,' said Cuchulainn.


'No,' said Etarcomol.

Then Cuchulainn attacked him with the edge of his sword, and took
his hair off as if it was shaved with a razor; he did not put even
a scratch (?) on the surface. When the churl was troublesome then
and stuck to him, he struck him on the hard part of his crown, so
that he divided him down to the navel.

Fergus saw the chariot go past him, and the one man therein. He
turned to quarrel with Cuchulainn.

'Ill done of you, O wild boy!' said he, 'to insult me. You would
think my club [Note: Or 'track'?] short,' said he.

'Be not angry with me, O friend Fergus,' said Cuchulainn ... [Note:
Rhetoric, five lines.] 'Reproach me not, O friend Fergus.'

He stoops down, so that Fergus's chariot went past him thrice.

He asked his charioteer: 'Is it I who have caused it?'

'It is not you at all,' said his charioteer.

'He said,' said Cuchulainn, 'he would not go till he took my head,
or till he left his head with me. Which would you think easier to
bear, O friend Fergus?' said Cuchulainn.

'I think what has been done the easier truly,' said Fergus, 'for it
is he who was insolent.'

Then Fergus put a spancel-withe through Etarcomol's two heels and
took him behind his own chariot to the camp. When they went over
rocks, one-half would separate from the other; when it was smooth,
they came together again.

Medb saw him. 'Not pleasing is that treatment of a tender whelp, O
Fergus,' said Medb.

'The dark churl should not have made fight,' said Fergus, 'against
the great Hound whom he could not contend with (?).'

His grave is dug then and his stone planted; his name is written in
ogam; his lament is celebrated. Cuchulainn did not molest them that
night with his sling; and the women and maidens and half the cattle
are taken to him; and provision continued to be brought to him by day.


_The Death of Nadcrantail_

'What man have you to meet Cuchulainn tomorrow?' said Lugaid.

'They will give it to you to-morrow,' said Mane, son of Ailill.

'We can find no one to meet him,' said Medb. 'Let us have peace
with him till a man be sought for him.'

They get that then.

'Whither will you send,' said Ailill, 'to seek that man to meet
Cuchulainn?'

'There is no one in Ireland who could be got for him,' said Medb,
'unless Curoi Mac Dare can be brought, or Nadcrantail the warrior.'

There was one of Curoi's followers in the tent. 'Curoi will not
come,' said he; 'he thinks enough of his household has come. Let a
message be sent to Nadcrantail.'

Mane Andoi goes to him, and they tell their tale to him.

'Come with us for the sake of the honour of Connaught.'

'I will not go,' said he, 'unless Findabair be given to me.'

He comes with them then. They bring his armour in a chariot, from
the east of Connaught till it was in the camp.

'You shall have Findabair,' said Medb, 'for going against that man
yonder.'

'I will do it,' said he.

Lugaid comes to Cuchulainn that night.

'Nadcrantail is coming to meet you to-morrow; it is unlucky for
you: you will not withstand him.'

'That does not matter,' said Cuchulainn. ... [Note: Corrupt.]

Nadcrantail goes next morning from the camp, and he takes nine
spits of holly, sharpened and burned. Now Cuchulainn was there
catching birds, and his chariot near him. Nadcrantail throws a
spear at Cuchulainn; Cuchulainn performed a feat on to the point of
that spear, and it did not hinder him from catching the birds. The
same with the eight other spears. When he throws the ninth spear,
the flock flies from Cuchulainn, and he went after the flock. He
goes on the points of the spears like a bird, from each spear to
the next, pursuing the birds that they should not escape. It seemed
to every one, however, that it was in flight that Cuchulainn went
before Nadcrantail.

'Your Cuchulainn yonder,' said he, 'has gone in flight before me.'

'That is of course,' said Medb; 'if good warriors should come to
him, the wild boy would not resist ----.'

This vexed Fergus and the Ulstermen; Fiacha Mac Fir-Febe comes from
them to remonstrate with Cuchulainn.

'Tell him,' said Fergus, 'it was noble to be before the warriors
while he did brave deeds. It is more noble for him,' said Fergus,
'to hide himself when he flees before one man, for it were not
greater shame to him than to the rest of Ulster.'

'Who has boasted that?' said Cuchulainn.

'Nadcrantail,' said Fiacha.

'Though it were that that he should boast, the feat that I have
done before him, it was no more shame to me,' (?) said Cuchulainn.
'He would by no means have boasted it had there been a weapon in
his hand. You know full well that I kill no one unarmed. Let him
come to-morrow,' said Cuchulainn, 'till he is between Ochaine and
the sea, and however early he comes, he will find me there, and I
shall not flee before him.'

Cuchulainn came then to his appointed meeting-place, and he threw
the hem [of his cloak] round him after his night-watch, and he did
not perceive the pillar that was near him, of equal size with
himself. He embraced it under his cloak, and placed it near him.

Therewith Nadcrantail came; his arms were brought with him in a
wagon.

'Where is Cuchulainn?' said he.

'There he is yonder,' said Fergus.

'It was not thus he appeared to me yesterday,' said Nadcrantail.

'Are you Cuchulainn?'

'And if I am then?' said Cuchulainn.

'If you are indeed,' said Nadcrantail, 'I cannot bring the head of
a little lamb to camp; I will not take the head of a beardless
boy.'

'It is not I at all,' said Cuchulainn. 'Go to him round the hill.'

Cuchulainn comes to Loeg: 'Smear a false beard on me,' said he;
'I cannot get the warrior to fight me without a beard.' It was done
for him. He goes to meet him on the hill. 'I think that more
fitting,' said he.

'Take the right way of fighting with me,' said Nadcrantail.

'You shall have it if only we know it,' said Cuchulainn.

'I will throw a cast at you,' said Nadcrantail, 'and do not avoid
it.'

'I will not avoid it except on high,' said Cuchulainn.

Nadcrantail throws a cast at him; Cuchulainn leaps on high before
it.

'You do ill to avoid my cast,' said Nadcrantail.

'Avoid my throw then on high,' said Cuchulainn.

Cuchulainn throws the spear at him, but it was on high, so that
from above it alighted in his crown, and it went through him to the
ground.

'Alas! it is you are the best warrior in Ireland!' said Nadcrantail.
'I have twenty-four sons in the camp. I will go and tell them what
hidden treasures I have, and I will come that you may behead me,
for I shall die if the spear is taken out of my head.'

'Good,' said Cuchulainn. 'You will come back.'

Nadcrantail goes to the camp then. Every one comes to meet him.

'Where is the madman's head?' said every one.

'Wait, O heroes, till I tell my tale to my sons, and go back that I
may fight with Cuchulainn.'

He goes thence to seek Cuchulainn, and throws his sword at
Cuchulainn. Cuchulainn leaps on high, so that it struck the pillar,
and the sword broke in two. Then Cuchulainn went mad as he had done
against the boys in Emain, and he springs on his shield therewith,
and struck his head off. He strikes him again on the neck down to
the navel. His four quarters fall to the ground. Then Cuchulainn
said this:

'If Nadcrantail has fallen,
It will be an increase to the strife.
Alas! that I cannot fight at this time
With Medb with a third of the host.'


HERE IS THE FINDING OF THE BULL ACCORDING TO THIS VERSION:

It is then that Medb went with a third of the host with her to Cuib
to seek the Bull; and Cuchulainn went after her. Now on the road of
Midluachair she had gone to harry Ulster and Cruthne as far as Dun
Sobairche. Cuchulainn saw something: Bude Mac Bain from Sliab
Culinn with the Bull, and fifteen heifers round him; and his force
was sixty men of Ailill's household, with a cloak folded round
every man. Cuchulainn comes to them.

'Whence have you brought the cattle?' said Cuchulainn.

'From the mountain yonder,' said the man.'

'Where are their cow-herds?' said Cuchulainn.

'He is as we found him,' said the man.

Cuchulainn made three leaps after them to seek speech with them as
far as the ford. It is there he said to the leader:

'What is your name?' said he.

'One who fears you not(?) and loves you not; Bude Mac Bain,' said
he.

'This spear at Bude!' said Cuchulainn. He hurls at him the javelin,
so that it went through his armpits, and one of the livers broke in
two before the spear. He kills him on his ford; hence is Ath Bude.
The Bull is brought into the camp then. They considered then that
it would not be difficult to deal with Cuchulainn, provided his
javelin were got from him.


_The Death of Redg the Satirist_

It is then that Redg, Ailill's satirist, went to him on an errand
to seek the javelin, that is, Cuchulainn's spear.

'Give me your spear,' said the satirist.

'Not so,' said Cuchulainn; 'but I will give you treasure.'

'I will not take it,' said the satirist.

Then Cuchulainn wounded the satirist, because he would not accept
from him what he offered him, and the satirist said he would take
away his honour unless he got the javelin. Then Cuchulainn threw
the javelin at him, and it went right through his head.

'This gift is overpowering (?),' said the satirist. Hence is Ath
Tolam Set.

There was now a ford east of it, where the copper of the javelin
rested; Humarrith, then, is the name of that ford. It is there that
Cuchulainn killed all those that we have mentioned in Cuib; i.e.
Nathcoirpthe at his trees; Cruthen on his ford; the sons of the
Herd at their cairn; Marc on his hill; Meille on his hill; Bodb in
his tower; Bogaine in his marsh (?).

Cuchulainn turned back to Mag Murthemne; he liked better to defend
his own home. After he went, he killed the men of Crocen (or
Cronech), i.e. Focherd; twenty men of Focherd. He overtook them
taking camp: ten cup-bearers and ten fighting-men.

Medb turned back from the north when she had remained a fortnight
ravaging the province, and when she had fought a battle against
Findmor, wife of Celtchar Mac Uthidir. And after taking Dun
Sobairche upon her, she brought fifty women into the province of
Dalriada. Wherever Medb placed a horse-switch in Cuib its name is
Bile Medba [Note: i.e. Tree of Medb]; every ford and every hill by
which she slept, its name is Ath Medba and Dindgna Medba.

They all meet then at Focherd, both Ailill and Medb and the troop
that drove the Bull. But their herd took their Bull from them, and
they drove him across into a narrow gap with their spear-shafts on
their shields(?). [Note: A very doubtful rendering.] So that the
feet of the cattle drove him [Note, i.e. Forgemen.] through the
ground. Forgemen was the herd's name. He is there afterwards, so
that that is the name of the hill, Forgemen. There was no annoyance
to them that night, provided a man were got toward off Cuchulainn
on the ford.

'Let a sword-truce be asked by us from Cuchulainn,' said Ailill.

'Let Lugaid go for it,' said every one.

Lugaid goes then to speak to him.

'How am I now with the host?' said Cuchulainn.

'Great indeed is the mockery that you asked of them,' said Lugaid,
'that is, your women and your maidens and half your cattle. And
they think it heavier than anything to be killed and to provide you
with food.'

A man fell there by Cuchulainn every day to the end of a week.
Fair-play is broken with Cuchulainn: twenty are sent to attack him
at one time; and he killed them all.

'Go to him, O Fergus,' said Ailill, 'that he may allow us a change
of place.'

They go then to Cronech. This is what fell by him in single combat
at this place: two Roths, two Luans, two female horse messengers,
[Note: Or 'female stealers.' (O'Davoren.)] ten fools, ten
cup-bearers, ten Ferguses, six Fedelms, six Fiachras. These then
were all killed by him in single combat. When they pitched their
tents in Cronech, they considered what they should do against
Cuchulainn.

'I know,' said Medb, 'what is good in this case: let a message be
sent from us to ask him that we may have a sword-truce from him
towards the host, and he shall have half the cattle that are here.'

This message is taken to him.

'I will do this,' said Cuchulainn, 'provided the compact is not
broken by you.'


_The Meeting of Cuchulainn and Findabair_

'Let an offer go to him,' said Ailill, 'that Findabair will be
given to him on condition that he keeps away from the hosts.'

Mane Athramail goes to him. He goes first to Loeg.

'Whose man are you?' said he.

Loeg does not speak to him. Mane spoke to him thrice in this way.

'Cuchulainn's man,' said he, 'and do not disturb me, lest I strike
your head off.'

'This man is fierce,' said Mane, turning from him. He goes then to
speak to Cuchulainn. Now Cuchulainn had taken off his tunic, and
the snow was round him up to his waist as he sat, and the snow
melted round him a cubit for the greatness of the heat of the hero.

Mane said to him in the same way thrice, 'whose man was he?'

'Conchobar's man, and do not disturb me. If you disturb me any
longer, I will strike your head from you as the head is taken from
a blackbird.'

'It is not easy,' said Mane, 'to speak to these two.'

Mane goes from them then and tells his tale to Ailill and Medb.

'Let Lugaid go to him,' said Ailill, 'and offer to him the maiden.'

Lugaid goes then and tells Cuchulainn that.

'O friend Lugaid,' said Cuchulainn, 'this is a snare.'

'It is the king's word that has said it,' said Lugaid; 'there will
be no snare therefrom.'

'Let it be done so,' said Cuchulainn.

Lugaid went from him therewith, and tells Ailill and Medb that
answer.

'Let the fool go in my form,' said Ailill, 'and a king's crown on
his head, and let him stand at a distance from Cuchulainn lest he
recognise him, and let the maiden go with him, and let him betroth
her to him, and let them depart quickly in this way; and it is
likely that you will play a trick on him thus, so that he will not
hinder you, till he comes with the Ulstermen to the battle.'

Then the fool goes to him, and the maiden also; and it was from a
distance he spoke to Cuchulainn. Cuchulainn goes to meet them. It
happened that he recognised by the man's speech that he was a fool.
He threw a sling stone that was in his hand at him, so that it
sprang into his head and brought his brains out. Then he comes to
the maiden, cuts her two tresses off, and thrusts a stone through
her mantle and through her tunic, and thrusts a stone pillar
through the middle of the fool. There are their two pillars there:
the pillar of Findabair, and the fool's pillar.

Cuchulainn left them thus. A party was sent from Ailill and Medb to
seek out their folk, for they thought they were long; they were
seen in this position. All this was heard throughout the camp.
There was no truce for them with Cuchulainn afterwards.


_The Combat of Munremar and Curoi_

When the hosts were there in the evening; they saw that one stone
lighted on them from the east, and another from the west to meet
it. They met in the air, and kept falling between Fergus's camp,
and Ailill's, and Era's. [Note: Or Nera?] This sport and play went
on from that hour to the same hour next day; and the hosts were
sitting down, and their shields were over their heads to protect
them against the masses of stones, till the plain was full of the
stones. Hence is Mag Clochair. It happened that Curoi Mac Daire did<