Book: The Cattle Raid of Cualnge (Tain Bo Cualnge)

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'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.

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