The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Tain Bo Cualnge Part 79

[11-11] YBL. 51b, 36.

[W.5956.] Ferloga went his way, and he brought the sword with him in the flower of its safe-keeping, and fair flaming as a candle. And the sword was placed in Ailill's hand, and Ailill put it in Fergus' hand, and Fergus offered welcome to the sword:[a] "Welcome, O Calad Colg[b] ('Hardblade'), Lete's sword!" said he. "Weary, O champion of Badb! On whom shall I ply this weapon?" Fergus asked. "On the men-of-war around thee," Medb answered.

"No one shall find indulgence nor quarter from thee to-day, unless some friend of thy bosom find it!"

[a] Here follows in YBL. 51b, 38-57 a difficult pa.s.sage in _rosc_ which I have omitted in the translation. Only a portion of it has been preserved in LL. and is here translated.

[b] Reading with Stowe, II. 1. 13, Add. and YBL. 51b, 45.

Whereupon, Fergus took his arms and went forward to the battle, [1]and he cleared a gap of an hundred in the battle-ranks with his sword in his two hands.[1] Ailill seized his weapons. Medb seized her weapons and entered the battle. [2]The Mane seized their arms and came to the battle. The macMagach seized their arms and came to the battle,[2] so that thrice the Ulstermen were routed before them from the north, till Cualgae[c] and sword drove them back again. [3]Or it was Cuchulain that drove the men of Erin before him, so that he brought them back into their former line in the battle.[3]

[1-1] YBL. 52a, 6-8.

[2-2] Stowe, and, similarly, Add.

[c] The name of the wheeled towers described above, page 338 fl.

[3-3] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

Conchobar heard that from his place in the line of battle, that the battle had gone against him thrice from the north. Then he addressed his bodyguard, even the inner circle of the Red Branch: "Hold ye here a while, ye men!" cried he; "even in the line [4]of battle[4] where I am, that I may go and learn by whom the battle has been thus forced against us thrice from the north." Then said his household: "We will hold out," said they, [5]"in the place wherein we are:[5] [W.5974.] for the sky is above us and the earth underneath and the sea round about us, [1]and[1] unless the heavens shall fall with their showers of stars on the man-face of the world, or unless the furrowed, blue-bordered ocean break o'er the tufted brow of the earth, or unless the ground yawns open, will we not move a thumb's breadth backward from here till the very day of doom and of everlasting life, till thou come back to us!"

[4-4] Stowe.

[5-5] YBL. 52a, 14.

[1-1] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

Conchobar went his way to the place where he heard the battle had gone three times [LL.fo.102b.] against him from the north. [2]Then Conchobar made a rush at Fergus,[2] and he lifted s.h.i.+eld against s.h.i.+eld there, namely against Fergus mac Roig, even Ochain ('the Fair-ear')[a] of Conchobar with its four ears of gold and its four bracings of red gold. Therewith Fergus gave three stout blows of Badb on the Ochain of Conchobar, so that Conchobar's s.h.i.+eld cried aloud on him [3]and the three chief waves of Erin gave answer, the Wave of Clidna, the Wave of Rudraige and the Wave of Tuag, to wit.[3] Whenever Conchobar's s.h.i.+eld cried out, the s.h.i.+elds of all the Ulstermen cried out. However great the strength and power with which Fergus smote Conchobar on the s.h.i.+eld, so great also was the might and valour wherewith Conchobar held the s.h.i.+eld, so that the ear of the s.h.i.+eld did not even touch the ear of Conchobar.

[2-2] YBL. 52a, 16-17.

[a] The name of Conchobar's s.h.i.+eld.

[3-3] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

"Hearken, ye men [4]of Erin!"[4] cried Fergus; "who opposes a s.h.i.+eld to me to-day on this day of battle when four of the five grand provinces of Erin come together on Garech and Ilgarech in the battle of the Cattle-raid of Cualnge?" "Why, then, a gilla that is younger and mightier [5]and comelier[5] than thyself is here," [6]Conchobar answered,[6] "and whose mother and father were [W.5995.] better! The man that hath driven thee out of thy borders, thy land and thine inheritance; the man that hath driven thee into the lairs of the deer and the wild hare and the foxes; the man that hath not granted thee to take the breadth [1]of thy foot[1] of thine own domain or land; the man that hath made thee dependent upon the bounty of a woman; the man that of a time disgraced thee by slaying the [2]three bright lights of the valour of the Gael,[2] the three sons of Usnech that were under thy safeguard [3]and protection;[3] the man that will repel thee this day in the presence of the men of Erin; Conchobar son of Fachtna Fathach son of Ross Ruad son of Rudraige, High King of Ulster and son of the High King of Erin; [4]and though any one should insult thee, there is no satisfaction nor reparation for thee, for thou art in the service of a woman!"[4]

[4-4] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

[5-5] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

[6-6] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

[1-1] Stowe and H. 1. 13.

[2-2] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

[3-3] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

[4-4] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

"Truly hath this happened to me." Fergus responded. And Fergus placed his two hands on Calad Colg ('Hardblade'), and he heaved a blow with it backwards behind him, so that its point touched the ground, and he thought to strike his three fateful blows of Badb on the men of Ulster, so that their dead would be more in number than their living. Cormac Conlongas son of Conchobar saw that and he rushed to [5]his foster-father, namely to[5]

Fergus, and he closed his two [6]royal hands[6] over him [7]outside his armour.[7] [8]"Ungentle, not heedful is this, Fergus my master! Full of hate, not of friends.h.i.+p is this,[8] O Fergus my master! Let not the Ulstermen be slain and destroyed by thee through thy destructive blows, but take thou thought for their honour to-day on this day of battle!"

[W.6013.] "Get thee away from me, boy! [1]Whom then should I strike?"[1]

exclaimed Fergus; "for I will not remain alive unless I deliver my three fateful strokes of Badb on the men of Ulster this day, till their dead be more in number than their living." "Then turn thy hand slantwise," said Cormac Conlongas, "and slice off the hill-tops over the heads of the hosts [2]on every side[2] and this will be an appeasing of thine anger." "Tell Conchobar also to fall [3]back again[3] to his place in the battle,"

[4]said Fergus; "and I will no longer belabour the hosts."[4] [5]Cormac told this to Conchobar:[5] [6]"Go to the other side, O Conchobar," said Cormac to his father, "and this man will not visit his anger any longer here on the men of Ulster."[6] So Conchobar went to his place in the battle. [7]In this manner Fergus and Conchobar parted.[7]

[5-5] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

[6-6] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

[7-7] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

[8-8] Following Windisch's emendation of the text. The MSS. are corrupt here.

[1-1] YBL. 52a, 35.

[2-2] YBL. 52a, 36.

[3-3] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

[4-4] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

[5-5] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

[6-6] YBL. 52a, 39-41.

[7-7] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

[8]Fergus turned away. He slew a hundred warriors of Ulster in the first onslaught with the sword. He met Conall Cernach. "Too great is this rage,"

said Conall, "upon people and kindred because of the whim of a wanton."

"What would ye have me do, ye warriors?" asked Fergus. "Smite the hills crosswise and the bushes around," Conall Cernach made answer.[8]

[8-8] YBL. 52a, 41-47.

Thus it was with that sword, which was the sword of Fergus: The sword of Fergus, the sword of Lete from Faery: Whenever he desired to strike with it, it became the size of a rainbow in the air. Thereupon Fergus turned his hand slantwise over the heads of the hosts, so that he smote the three tops of the three hills, so that they are still on the moor in sight of [9]the men of Erin.[9] And these are the three Maels ('the Balds') of Meath in that place, [1]which Fergus smote as a reproach and a rebuke to the men of Ulster.[1]

[9-9] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

[1-1] Stowe, H. 1. 13 and Add.

[W.6027.] Now as regards Cuchulain. He heard the Ochain of Conchobar smitten by Fergus macRoig. "Come, O Laeg my master," cried Cuchulain: "who dares thus smite [2]with those strong blows, mighty and far-away,[2] the Ochain of Conchobar my master, and I alive?" [3]Then Laeg made answer, saying: "The choice of men, Fergus macRoig, the very bold, smites it:--[3]

"Blood he sheds--increase of slaughter-- Splendid the hero, Fergus macRoig!

Hidden had lain Fairyland's chariot-sword!

Battle now hath reached the s.h.i.+eld, s.h.i.+eld of my master Conchobar!"

[2-2] YBL. 52a, 52.