Chapter 10

'It is a sea over rivers who has so come, truly,' said Fergus; 'it is a fierce glow of fire; his rage towards foes is insupportable: Furbaidi Ferbend is that,' said Fergus.

'Another company has come there to the hill, to Slemon Midi,' said Mac Roth. 'Very heroic, innumerable,' said Mac Roth; 'strange garments, various, about them, different from other companies. Famously have they come, both in arms and raiment and dress. A great host and fierce is that company. A lad flame red before it; the most beautiful of the forms of men his form; ... a shield with white boss in his hand, the shield of gold and a rim of gold round it; a spear sharp, light, with in his hand; a cloak purple, fringed, folded about him; a brooch of silver in the cloak, on his breast; a shirt white, hooded, with red ornamentation, about him; a sword gold-hilted over his dress outside.'

Therewith Fergus is silent.

'I do not know indeed,' said Fergus, 'the like of this lad in Ulster, except that I think it is the men of Temair about a lad proper, wonderful, noble: with Erc, son of Coirpre Niafer and of Conchobar's daughter. They love not one another; ---- without his father's leave has that man come, to help his grandfather. It is through the combat of that lad,' said Fergus, 'that you will be defeated in the battle. That lad knows not terror nor fear at coming to you among them into the midst of your battalion. It would be like men that the warriors of the men of Ulster will roar in saving the calf their heart, in striking the battle. There will come to them a feeling of kinship at seeing that lad in the great battle, striking the battle before them. There will be heard the rumble of Conchobar's sword like the barking of a watch-dog in saving the lad. He will throw three walls of men about the battle in seeking the lad. It will be with the affection of kinsmen that the warriors of Ulster will attack the countless host,' said Fergus.

'I think it long,' said Mac Roth, 'to be recounting all that I have seen, but I have come meanwhile (?) with tidings to you.'

'You have brought it,' said Fergus.

'Conall Cernach has not come with his great company,' said Mac Roth; 'the three sons of Conchobar with their three cantreds have not come; Cuchulainn too has not come there after his wounding in combat against odds. Unless it is a warrior with one chariot,' said Mac Roth, 'I think it would be he who has come there. Two horses ... under his chariot; they are long-tailed, broad-hoofed, broad above, narrow beneath, high-headed, great of curve, thin-mouthed, with distended nostrils. Two wheels black, ----, with tyres even, smooth-running; the body very high, clattering; the tent ... therein; the pillars carved. The warrior in that chariot four-square, purple-faced; hair cropped short on the top, curly, very black has he, down to his shoulders; ... a cloak red about him; four thirties of feat-poles (?) in each of his two arms. A sword gold-hilted on his left; shield and spear has he, and twenty-four javelins about him on strings and thongs. The charioteer in front of him; the back of the charioteer's head towards the horses, the reins grasped by his toes (?) before him; the chessboard spread between them, half the men of yellow gold, the others of white metal; the _buanfach_ [Note: the name of a game; probably in the nature of chess or draughts.] under their thighs. Nine feats were performed by him on high.'

'Who is that, O Fergus?' said Ailill.

'An easy question,' said Fergus. 'Cuchulainn Mac Sualtaim from the _Sid_, [Note: Cuchulainn was of fairy birth.] and Loeg Mac Riangabra his charioteer. Cuchulainn is that,' said Fergus.

'Many hundreds and thousands,' said Mac Roth, 'have reached the camp of Ulster. Many heroes and champions and fighting-men have come with a race to the assembly. Many companies,' said Mac Roth, 'were reaching the same camp, of those who had not reached or come to the camp when I came; only,' said Mac Roth, 'my eye did not rest on hill or height of all that my eye reached from Fer Diad's Ford to Slemon Midi, but upon horse and man.'

'You saw the household of a man truly,' said Fergus.

Then Conchobar went with his hosts and took camp near the others. Conchobar asked for a truce till sunrise on the morrow from Ailill, and Ailill ratified it for the men of Ireland and for the exiles, and Conchobar ratified it for the Ulstermen; and then Conchobar's tents are pitched. The ground between them is a space, ----, bare, and the Ulstermen came to it before sunset. Then said the Morrigan in the twilight between the two camps: [Note: Rhetoric, seven lines]

***

Now Cuchulainn was at Fedan Chollna near them. Food was brought to him by the hospitallers that night; and they used to come to speak to him by day.

He did not kill any of them to the left of Fer Diad's Ford.

'Here is a small herd from the camp from the west to the camp to the east,' said the charioteer to Cuchulainn. 'Here is a troop of lads to meet them.'

'Those lads shall come,' said Cuchulainn. 'The little herd shall come over the plain. He who will not ---- (?) shall come to help the lads.'

This was done then as Cuchulainn had said.

'How do the lads of Ulster fight the battle?'

'Like men,' said the charioteer.

'It would be a vow for them, to fall in rescuing their herds,' said Cuchulainn. 'And now?'

'The beardless striplings are fighting now,' said the charioteer.

'Has a bright cloud come over the sun yet?'

'Not so,' said the charioteer.

'Alas, that I had not strength to go to them!' said Cuchulainn.

'There will be contest without that to-day,' said the charioteer, 'at sunrise; haughty folk fight the battle now,' said the charioteer, 'save that there are not kings there, for they are still asleep.'

Then Fachna said when the sun rose (or it is Conchobar who sang in his sleep):

'Arise, Kings of Macha, of mighty deeds, noble household, grind your weapons, fight the battle,' etc.

'Who has sung this?' said every one.

'Conchobar Mac Nessa,' said they; 'or Fachtna sang it,' said they. 'Sleep, sleep, save your sentinels.'

Loegaire the Victorious was heard: 'Arise, Kings of Macha,' etc.

'Who has sung that?' said every one.

'Loegaire the Victorious, son of Connad Buide Mac Ilech. Sleep, sleep, except your sentinels.'

'Wait for it still,' said Conchobar, 'till sunrise ... in the glens and heights of Ireland.'

When Cuchulainn saw the kings from the east taking their crowns on their heads and marshalling (?) the companies, Cuchulainn said to his charioteer that he should awaken the Ulstermen; and the charioteer said (or it is Amairgen, son of Eccet the poet, who said):

'Arise, Kings of Macha,' etc.

'I have awakened them,' said the charioteer. 'Thus have they come to the battle, quite naked, except for their arms only. He, the door of whose tent is east, has come out through it west.'

'It is a "goodly help of necessity,"' said Cuchulainn.

The adventures of the Ulstermen are not followed up here now. As for the men of Ireland, Badb and Net's wife and Nemain [Note: Nemain was the wife of Net, the war-god, according to Cormac.] called upon them that night on Garach and Irgarach, so that a hundred warriors of them died for terror; that was not the most peaceful of nights for them.

THE MUSTER OF THE MEN OF IRELAND HERE

Ailill Mac Matae sang that night before the battle, and said: 'Arise, arise,' etc [Note: Here follows a list of names.]

As for Cuchulainn, this is what is told here now.

'Look for us, O my friend, O Loeg, how the Ulstermen are fighting the battle now.'

'Like men,' said the charioteer.

'Though I were to go with my chariot, and Oen the charioteer of Conall Cernach with his chariot, so that we should go from one wing to the other along the dense mass, neither hoofs nor tyres shall go through it.'

'That is the stuff for a great battle,' said Cuchulainn. 'Nothing must be done in the battle,' said Cuchulainn to his charioteer, 'that we shall not know from you.'

'That will be true, so far as I can,' said the charioteer. 'The place where the warriors are now from the west,' said the charioteer, 'they make a breach in the battle eastwards. Their first defence from the east, they make a breach in the battle westwards.'

'Alas! that I am not whole!' said Cuchulainn; 'my breach would be manifest like the rest.'

Then came the men of the bodyguard to the ford of the hosting. Fine the way in which the fightingmen came to the battle on Garach and Irgarach. Then came the nine chariot-men of the champions of Iruath, three before them on foot. Not more slowly did they come than the chariot-men. Medb did not let them into the battle, for dragging Ailill out of the battle if it is him they should defeat, or for killing Conchobar if it is he who should be defeated.

Then his charioteer told Cuchulainn that Ailill and Medb were asking Fergus to go into the battle; and they said to him that it was only right for him to do it, for they had done him much kindness on his exile.

'If I had my sword indeed,' said Fergus, 'the heads of men over shields would be more numerous with me than hailstones in the mire to which come the horses of a king after they have broken into the land (?).'

Then Fergus made this oath: 'I swear, etc., there would be broken by me cheeks of men from their necks, necks of men with their (lower) arms, arms of men with their elbows, elbows of men with their arms, arms of men with their fists, fists of men with their fingers, fingers of men with their nails, [nails] of men with their skull-roofs, skull-roofs of men with their middle, middle of men with their thighs, thighs of men with their knees, knees of men with their calves, calves of men with their feet, feet of men with their toes, toes of men with their nails. I would make their necks whizz (?) ---- as a bee would move to and fro on a day of beauty (?).'

Then Ailill said to his charioteer: 'Let there come to me the sword which destroys skin. I swear by the god by whom my people swear, if you have its bloom worse to-day than on the day on which I gave it to you in the hillside in the boundary of Ulster, though the men of Ireland were protecting you from me, they should not protect you.'

Then his sword was brought to Fergus, and Ailill said: 'Take thy sword,' etc. [Note: Rhetoric, twelve lines.]

'A pity for thee to fall on the field of battle, thick [with slain ?],' said Fergus to Ailill.

The Badb and Net's wife and the Nemain called on them that night on Garach and Irgarach; so that a hundred warriors of them died for terror. That was not the quietest of nights for them.

Then Fergus takes his arms and turns into the battle, and clears a gap of a hundred in the battle with his sword in his two hands. Then Medb took the arms of Fergus (?) and rushed into the battle, and she was victorious thrice, so that she was driven back by force of arms.

'I do not know,' said Conchobar to his retinue who were round him, 'before whom has the battle been broken against us from the north. Do you maintain the fight here, that I may go against him.'

'We will hold the place in which we are,' said the warriors, 'unless the earth bursts beneath us, or the heaven upon us from above, so that we shall break therefrom.'

Then Conchobar came against Fergus. He lifts his shield against him, i.e. Conchobar's shield Ochan, with three horns of gold on it, and four ----- of gold over it. Fergus strikes three blows on it, so that even the rim of his shield over his head did not touch him.

'Who of the Ulstermen holds the shield?' said Fergus.

'A man who is better than you,' said Conchobar; 'and he has brought you into exile into the dwellings of wolves and foxes, and he will repel you to-day in combat in the presence of the men of Ireland.'

Fergus aimed on him a blow of vengeance with his two hands on Conchobar, so that the point of the sword touched the ground behind him.

Cormac Condlongas put his hands upon him, and closed his two hands about his arm.

'----, O my friend, O Fergus,' said Cormac. '... Hostile is the friendship; right is your enmity; your compact has been destroyed; evil are the blows that you strike, O friend, O Fergus,' said Cormac.

'Whom shall I smite?' said Fergus.

'Smite the three hills ... in some other direction over them; turn your hand; smite about you on every side, and have no consideration for them. Take thought for the honour of Ulster: what has not been lost shall not be lost, if it be not lost through you to-day (?).

'Go in some other direction, O Conchobar,' said Cormac to his father; 'this man will not put out his rage on the Ulstermen any more here.'

Fergus turned away. He slew a hundred warriors of Ulster in the first combat with the sword. He met Conall Cernach.

'Too great rage is that,' said Conall Cernach, 'on people and race, for a wanton.'

'What shall I do, O warriors?' said he.

'Smite the hills across them and the champions (?) round them,' said Conall Cernach.

Fergus smote the hills then, so that he struck the three Maela [Note: i.e. flat-topped hills.] of Meath with his three blows. Cuchulainn heard the blows then that Fergus gave on the hills or on the shield of Conchobar himself.

'Who strikes the three strong blows, great and distant?' said Cuchulainn.

... Then Loeg answered and said: 'The choice of men, Fergus Mac Roich the very bold, smites them.' ...

Then Cuchulainn said: 'Unloose quickly the hazeltwigs; blood covers men, play of swords will be made, men will be spent therefrom.'

Then his dry wisps spring from him on high, as far as ---- goes; and his hazel-twigs spring off, till they were in Mag Tuag in Connaught ... and he smote the head of each of the two handmaidens against the other, so that each of them was grey from the brain of the other. They came from Medb for pretended lamentation over him, that his wounds might burst forth on him; and to say that the Ulstermen had been defeated, and that Fergus had fallen in opposing the battle, since Cuchulainn's coming into the battle had been prevented. The contortion came on him, and twenty-seven skin-tunics were given to him, that used to be about him under strings and thongs when he went into battle; and he takes his chariot on his back with its body and its two tyres, and he made for Fergus round about the battle.

'Turn hither, O friend Fergus,' said Cuchulainn; and he did not answer till the third time. 'I swear by the god by whom the Ulstermen swear,' said he, 'I will wash thee as foam [Note: Reading with L.L.] (?) is washed in a pool, I will go over thee as the tail goes over a cat, I will smite thee as a fond mother smites her son.'

'Which of the men of Ireland speaks thus to me?' said Fergus.

'Cuchulainn Mac Sualtaim, sister's son to Conchobar,' said Cuchulainn; 'and avoid me,' said he.

'I have promised even that,' said Fergus.

'Your promise falls due, then,' said Cuchulainn.

'Good,' said Fergus, '(you avoided me), when you are pierced with wounds.'

Then Fergus went away with his cantred; the Leinstermen go and the Munstermen; and they left in the battle nine cantreds of Medb's and Ailill's and their seven sons.

In the middle of the day it is that Cuchulainn came into the battle; when the sun came into the leaves of the wood, it is then that he defeated the last company, so that there remained of the chariot only a handful of the ribs about the body, and a handful of the shafts about the wheel.

Cuchulainn overtook Medb then when he went into the battle.

'Protect me,' said Medb.

'Though I should slay thee with a slaying, it were lawful for me,' said Cuchulainn.

Then he protected her, because he used not to slay women. He convoyed them westward, till they passed Ath Luain. Then he stopped. He struck three blows with his sword on the stone in Ath Luain. Their name is the Maelana [Note: i.e., flat-topped hills] of Ath Luain.

When the battle was broken, then said Medb to Fergus: 'Faults and meet here to-day, O Fergus,' said she.

'It is customary,' said Fergus, 'to every herd which a mare precedes; ... after a woman who has ill consulted their interest.'

They take away the Bull then in that morning of the battle, so that he met the White-horned at Tarbga in Mag Ai; i.e. Tarbguba or Tarbgleo.[Note: 'Bull-Sorrow or Bull-Fight,' etymological explanation of Tarbga.] The first name of that hill was Roi Dedond. Every one who escaped in the fight was intent on nothing but beholding the two Bulls fighting.

Bricriu Poison-tongue was in the west in his sadness after Fergus had broken his head with his draughtmen [Note: This story is told in the _Echtra Nerai_. (See _Revue Celtique_, vol. x. p. 227.)] He came with the rest then to see the combat of the Bulls. The two Bulls went in fighting over Bricriu, so that he died therefrom. That is the Death of Bricriu.

The foot of the Dun of Cualnge lighted on the horn of the other. For a day and a night he did not draw his foot towards him, till Fergus incited him and plied a rod along his body.

''Twere no good luck,' said Fergus, 'that this conbative old calf which has been brought here should leave the honour of clan and race; and on both sides men have been left dead through you.' Therewith he drew his foot to him so that his leg (?) was broken, and the horn sprang from the other and was in the mountain by him. It was Sliab n-Adarca [Note: Mountain of the Horn.] afterwards.

He carried them then a journey of a day and a night, till he lighted in the loch which is by Cruachan, and he came to Cruachan out of it with the loin and the shoulder-blade and the liver of the other on his horns. Then the hosts came to kill him. Fergus did not allow it, but that he should go where he pleased. He came then to his land and drank a draught in Findlethe on coming. It is there that he left the shoulderblade of the other. Findlethe afterwards was the name of the land. He drank another draught in Ath Luain; he left the loin of the other there: hence is Ath Luain. He gave forth his roar on Iraird Chuillend; it was heard through all the province. He drank a draught in Tromma. There the liver of the other fell from his horns; hence is Tromma. He came to Etan Tairb. [Note: The Bull's Forehead.] He put his forehead against the hill at Ath Da Ferta; hence is Etan Tairb in Mag Murthemne. Then he went on the road of Midluachair in Cuib. There he used to be with the milkless cow of Dairi, and he made a trench there. Hence is Gort Buraig. [Note: The Field of the Trench.] Then he went till he died between Ulster and Iveagh at Druim Tairb. Druim Tairb is the name of that place.

Ailill and Medb made peace with the Ulstermen and with Cuchulainn. For seven years after there was no wounding of men between them. Findabair stayed with Cuchulainn, and the Connaughtmen went to their country, and the Ulstermen to Emain Macha with their great triumph. Finit, amen.