The Cattle-Raid of Cualnge (Tain Bo Cualnge) Part 22

_cua_ was the name of squinting in old Gaelic; and there were seven pupils in Cuchulainn's royal eye, and two of these pupils were squinting, and the ugliness of it is no greater than its beauty on him; and if there had been a greater blemish on Cuchulainn, it is that with which he reproached him; and he was proclaiming it); and he made a song, and Cuchulainn answered:

'Whence art thou come, O Hound,' etc.

Then Cuchulainn said to his charioteer that he was to taunt him when he was overcome, and that he was to praise him when he was victorious, in the combat against Fer Diad. Then the charioteer said to him:

'The man goes over thee as the tail over a cat; he washes thee as foam is washed in water, he squeezes (?) thee as a loving mother her son.'

Then they took to the ford-play. Scathach's ---- (?)came to them both. Fer Diad and Cuchulainn performed marvellous feats.

Cuchulainn went and leapt into Fer Diad's s.h.i.+eld; Fer Diad hurled him from him thrice into the ford; so that the charioteer taunted him again ---- and he swelled like breath in a bag.

His size increased till he was greater than Fer Diad.

'Give heed to the _Gae bolga_,' said the charioteer; he sent it to him along the stream.

Cuchulainn seized it between his toes, and wielded it on Fer Diad, into his body's armour. It advances like one spear, so that it became twenty-four points. Then Fer Diad turned the s.h.i.+eld below.

Cuchulainn thrust at him with the spear over the s.h.i.+eld, so that it broke the shaft of his ribs and went through Fer Diad's heart.

[_Fer Diad_:] 'Strong is the ash from thy right hand! The ---- rib breaks, my heart is blood. Well hast thou given battle! I fall, O Hound.'

[_Cuchulainn_:] 'Alas, O golden brooch, O Fer Diad! ----, O fair strong striker! Thy hand was victorious; our dear foster brotherhood, O delight of the eyes! Thy s.h.i.+eld with the rim of gold, thy sword was dear. Thy ring of white silver round thy n.o.ble arm. Thy chess-playing was worthy of a great man. Thy cheek fair-purple; thy yellow curling hair was great, it was a fair treasure. Thy soft folded girdle which used to be about thy side.

That thou shouldst fall at Cuchulainn's hands was sad, O Calf! Thy s.h.i.+eld did not suffice which used to be for service. Our combat with thee is not fitting, our horses and our tumult. Fair was the great hero! every host used to be defeated and put under foot.

Alas, O golden brooch, O Fer Diad!'

THIS IS THE LONG WARNING OF SUALTAIM

While the things that we have related were done, Suallaith heard from Rath Sualtaim in Mag Murthemne the vexing of his son Cuchulainn against twelve sons of Gaile Dana [Note: LL, 'Twenty-seven sons of Calatin.' In the story as related earlier in YBL it is 'Gaile Dana with his twenty-seven sons.'] and his sister's son. It is then that Sualtaim said:

'Is it heaven that bursts, or the sea over its boundaries, or earth that is destroyed, or the shout of my son against odds?'

Then he comes to his son. Cuchulainn was displeased that he should come to him.

'Though he were slain, I should not have strength to avenge him. Go to the Ulstermen,' says Cuchulainn, 'and let them give battle to the warriors at once; if they do not give it, they will not be avenged for ever.'

When his father saw him, there was not in his chariot as much as the point of a rush would cover that was not pierced. His left hand which the s.h.i.+eld protected, twenty wounds were in it.

Sualtaim came over to Emain and shouted to the Ulstermen:

'Men are being slain, women carried off, cows driven away!'

His first shout was from the side of the court; his second from the side of the fortress; the third shout was on the mound of the hostages in Emain. No one answered; it was the practice of the Ulstermen that none of them should speak except to Conchobar; and Conchobar did not speak before the three druids.

'Who takes them, who steals them, who carries them off?' said the druid.

Ailill Mac Mata carries them off and steals them and takes them, through the guidance of Fergus Mac Roich,' said Sualtaim. 'Your people have been enslaved as far as Dun Sobairce; their cows and their women and their cattle have been taken. Cuchulainn did not let them into Mag Murthemne and into Crich Rois; three months of winter then, bent branches of hazel held together his dress upon him. Dry wisps are on his wounds. He has been wounded so that he has been parted joint from joint.'

'Fitting,' said the druid, 'were the death of the man who has spurred on the king.'

'It is fitting for him,' said Conchobar.

'It is fitting for him,' said the Ulstermen.

'True is what Sualtaim says,' said Conchobar; 'from the Monday night of Samain to the Monday night of Candlemas he has been in this foray.'

Sualtaim gave a leap out thereupon. He did not think sufficient the answer that he had. He falls on his s.h.i.+eld, so that the engraved edge of the s.h.i.+eld cut his head off. His head is brought back into Emain into the house on the s.h.i.+eld, and the head says the same word (though some say that he was asleep on the stone, and that he fell thence on to his s.h.i.+eld in awaking).

'Too great was this shout,' said Conchobar. 'The sea before them, the heaven over their tops, the earth under their feet. I will bring every cow into its milking-yard, and every woman and every boy from their house, after the victory in battle.'

Then Conchobar struck his hand on his son, Findchad Fer m-Bend.

Hence he is so called because there were horns of silver on him.

THE MUSTER OF THE ULSTERMEN

'Arise, O Findchad, I will send thee to Deda,' etc. [Note: Rhetoric, followed by a long list of names.]

It was not, difficult for Findchad to take his message, for they were, the whole province of Conchobar, every chief of them, awaiting Conchobar; every one was then east and north and west of Emain. When they were there, they all came till they were at Emain Macha. When they were there, they Beard the uprising of Conchobar in Emain. They went past Emain southwards after the host. Their first march then was from Emain to Irard Cuillend.

'What are you waiting for here?' said Conchobar.

'Waiting for your sons,' said the host. 'They have gone with thirty with them to Temair to seek Eirc, son of Coirpre Niafer and Fedelm Noicride. Till their two cantreds should come to us, we will not go from this place.'

'I will not remain indeed,' said Conchobar, 'till the men of Ireland know that I have awaked from the sickness in which I was.'

Conchobar and Celtchar went with three fifties of chariots, and they brought eight twenties of heads from Ath Airthir Midi; hence is Ath Fene. They were there watching the host. And eight twenties of women, that was their share of the spoil. Their heads were brought there, and Conchobar and Celtchar sent them to the camp. It is there that Celtchar said to Conchobar: [Note: Rhetoric.]

(Or it was Cuscraid, the Stammerer of Macha, son of Conchobar, sang this song the night before the battle, after the song which Loegaire Buadach had sung, to wit, 'Arise, kings of Macha,' etc., and it would be in the camp it was sung.)

It was in this night that the vision happened to Dubthach Doeltenga of Ulster, when the hosts were on Garach and Irgarach. It is there that he said in his sleep:

THE VISION OF DUBTHACH

'A wonder of a morning,' [Note: Rhetoric.] a wonder of a time, when hosts will be confused, kings will be turned, necks will break, the sun will grow red, three hosts will be routed by the track of a host about Conchobar. They will strive for their women, they will chase their flocks in fight on the morning, heroes will be smitten, dogs will be checked (?), horses will be pressed (?), ---- ----, ---- will drip, from the a.s.semblies of great peoples.'

Therewith they awoke through their sleep (?). The Nemain threw the host into confusion there; a hundred men of them died. There is silence there then; when they heard Cormac Condlongas again (or it is Ailill Mac Matae in the camp who sang this):

'The time of Ailill. Great his truce, the truce of Cuillend,' etc.

[Note: Rhetoric.]

THE MARCH OF THE COMPANIES

While these things were being done, the Connaughtman determined to send messengers by the counsel of Ailill and Medb and Fergus, to look at the Ulstermen, to see whether they had reached the plain.