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

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'Welcome your coming, O my friend, O Fergus,' said Cuchulainn.

'I believe your welcome,' said Fergus.

'You may believe it,' said Cuchulainn; 'if a flock of birds come to
the plain, you shall have a duck with half of another; if fish come
to the estuaries, you shall have a salmon with half of another; a
sprig of watercress, and a sprig of marshwort, and a sprig of
seaweed, and a drink of cold sandy water after it.'

'That portion is that of an outlaw,' said Fergus.

'That is true, it is an outlaw's portion that I have,' said
Cuchulainn, 'for I have been from the Monday after Samain to this
time, and I have not gone for a night's entertainment, through
strongly obstructing the men of Ireland on the Cattle-Foray of
Cualnge at this time.'

'If it were for this we came,' said Fergus, 'we should have thought
it the better to leave it; and it is not for this that we have
come.'

'Why else have you come to me?' said Cuchulainn.

'To tell you the warrior who comes against you in battle and combat
to-morrow morning,' said he.

'Let us find it out and let us hear it from you then,' said
Cuchulainn.

'Your own foster-brother, Fer Diad Mac Damain.'

'On our word, we think it not best that it should be he we come to
meet,'said Cuchulainn, 'and it is not for fear of him but for the
greatness of our love for him.'

'It is fitting to fear him,' said Fergus, 'for he has a skin of
horn in battle against a man, so that neither weapon nor edge will
pierce it.'

'Do not say that at all,' said Cuchulainn, 'for I swear the oath
that my people swear, that every joint and every limb of him will
be as pliant as a pliant rush in the midst of a stream under the
point of my sword, if he shows himself once to me on the ford.'

It is thus they were speaking, and they made a song:

'O Cuchulainn, a bright meeting,' etc.

After that, 'Why have you come, O my friend, O Fergus?' said
Cuchulainn.

'That is my purpose,' said Fergus.

'Good luck and profit,' said Cuchulainn, 'that no other of the men
of Ireland has come for this purpose, unless the four provinces of
Ireland all met at one time. I think nothing of a warning before a
single warrior.'

Then Fergus went to his tent.

As regards the charioteer and Cuchulainn:

'What shall you do to-night?' said Loeg.

'What indeed?' said Cuchulainn.

'It is thus that Fer Diad will come to seek you, with new beauty of
plaiting and haircutting, and washing and bathing, and the four
provinces of Ireland with him to look at the fight. It would please
me if you went to the place where you will get the same adorning
for yourself, to the place where is Emer of the Beautiful Hair, to
Cairthend of Cluan Da Dam in Sliab Fuait.'

So Cuchulainn went thither that night, and spent the night with his
own wife. His adventures from this time are not discussed here now.
As to Fer Diad, he came to his tent; it was gloomy and weary that
Fer Diad's tent-servants were that night. They thought it certain
that where the two pillars of the battle of the world should meet,
that both would fall; or the issue of it would be, that it would be
their own lord who would fall there. For it was not easy to fight
with Cuchulainn on the Foray.

There were great cares on Fer Diad's mind that night, so that they
did not let him sleep. One of his great anxieties was that he
should let pass from him all the treasures that had been offered
to him, and the maiden, by reason of combat with one man. If he did
not fight with that one man, he must fight with the six warriors on
the morrow. His care that was greater than this was that if he
should show himself once on the ford to Cuchulainn, he was certain
that he himself would not have power of his head or life
thereafter; and Fer Diad arose early on the morrow.

'Good, my lad,' said he, 'get our horses for us, and harness the
chariot.'

'On our word,' said the servant, 'we think it not greater praise to
go this journey than not to go it.'

He was talking with his charioteer, and he made this little song,
inciting his charioteer:

'Let us go to this meeting,' etc.

The servant got the horses and yoked the chariot, and they went
forth from the camp.

'My lad,' said Fer Diad, 'it is not fitting that we make our
journey without farewell to the men of Ireland. Turn the horses
and the chariot for us towards the men of Ireland.'

The servant turned the horses and the chariot thrice towards the
men of Ireland. ...


'Does Ailill sleep now?' said Medb.

'Not at all,' said Ailill.

'Do you hear your new son-in-law greeting you?'

'Is that what he is doing?' said Ailill.

'It is indeed,' said Medb, 'and I swear by what my people swear,
the man who makes the greeting yonder will not come back to you on
the same feet.'

'Nevertheless we have profited by(?) the good marriage connection
with him,' said Ailill; 'provided Cuchulainn fell by him, I should
not care though they both fell. But we should think it better for
Fer Diad to escape.'


Fer Diad came to the ford of combat.

'Look, my lad,' said Fer Diad; 'is Cuchulainn on the ford?'

'He is not, indeed,' said the servant.

'Look well for us,' said Fer Diad.

'Cuchulainn is not a little speck in hiding where he would be,'
said the lad.

'It is true, O boy, until to-day Cuchulainn has not heard of the
coming of a good warrior [Note: Gloss incorporated in the text: 'or
a good man.'] against him on the Cattle Foray of Cualnge, and when
he has heard of it he has left the ford.'

'A great pity to slander Cuchulainn in his absence! For do you
remember how when you gave battle to German Garbglas above the
edge-borders of the Tyrrhene Sea, you left your sword with the
hosts, and it was Cuchulainn who killed a hundred warriors in
reaching it, and he brought it to you; and do you remember where we
were that night?' said the lad.

'I do not know it,' said Fer Diad.

'At the house of Scathach's steward,' said the lad, 'and you went
---- and haughtily before us into the house first. The churl gave
you a blow with the three-pointed flesh-hook in the small of your
back, so that it threw you out over the door like a shot.
Cuchulainn came into the house and gave the churl a blow with his
sword, so that it made two pieces of him. It was I who was steward
for you while you were in that place. If only for that day, you
should not say that you are a better warrior than Cuchulainn.'

'What you have done is wrong,' said Fer Diad, 'for I would not have
come to seek the combat if you had said it to me at first. Why do
you not pull the cushions [Note: LL _fortchai_. YBL has _feirtsi_,
'shafts.'] of the chariot under my side and my skin-cover under my
head, so that I might sleep now?'

'Alas!' said the lad, 'it is the sleep of a fey man before deer and
hounds here.'

'What, O lad, are you not fit to keep watch and ward for me?'

'I am fit,' said the lad; 'unless men come in clouds or in mist to
seek you, they will not come at all from east or west to seek you
without warning and observation.'

The cushions [Note: LL _fortchai_. YBL has _feirtsi_, 'shafts.']
of his chariot were pulled under his side and the skin under his
head. And yet he could not sleep a little.


As to Cuchulainn it is set forth:

'Good, O my friend, O Loeg, take the horses and yoke the chariot;
if Fer Diad is waiting for us, he is thinking it long.'

The boy rose and took the horses and yoked the chariot.

Cuchulainn stepped into his chariot and they came on to the ford.
As to Fer Diad's servant, he had not long to watch till he heard
the creaking of the chariot coming towards them. He took to waking
his master, and made a song:

'I hear a chariot,' etc.

(This is the description of Cuchulainn's chariot: one of the three
chief chariots of the narration on the Cattle Foray of Cualnge.)

'How do you see Cuchulainn?' said he, said Fer Diad, to his
charioteer.

'I see,' said he, 'the chariot broad above, fine, of white crystal,
with a yoke of gold with ---- (?), with great panels of copper,
with shafts of bronze, with tyres of white metal, with its body
thin-framed (?) dry-framed (?), feat-high, sword-fair (?), of a
champion, on which there would be room for seven arms fit for a
lord (?). A fair seat for its lord; so that this chariot,
Cuchulainn's chariot, would reach with the speed of a swallow or of
a wild deer, over the level land of Mag Slebe. That is the speed
and ---- which they attain, for it is towards us they go. This
chariot is at hand on two horses small-headed, small-round,
small-end, pointed, ----, red-breasted, ----, easy to recognise,
well-yoked. ... One of the two horses is supple(?), swift-leaping,
great of strength, great of foot, great of length, ----. The other
horse is curly-maned, slender-footed, narrow-footed, heeled, ----.
Two wheels dark, black. A pole of metal adorned with red enamel, of
a fair colour. Two bridles golden, inlaid. There is a man with fair
curly hair, broad cut (?), in the front of this chariot. There is
round him a blue mantle, red-purple. A spear with wings (?), and it
red, furious; in his clenched fist, red-flaming. The appearance of
three heads of hair on him, i.e. dark hair against the skin of his
head, hair blood-red in the middle, a crown of gold covers the
third hair.

'A fair arrangement of the hair so that it makes three circles
round about his shoulders down behind. I think it like gold thread,
after its colour has been made over the edge of the anvil; or like
the yellow of bees on which the sun shines in a summer day, is the
shining of each single hair of his hair. Seven toes on each of his
feet, and seven fingers on each of his hands, and the shining of a
very great fire round his eye, ---- (?) and the hoofs of his
horses; a hero's ---- in his hands.

'The charioteer of the chariot is worthy of him in his presence:
curly hair very black has he, broad-cut along his head. A cowl-dress
is on him open; two very fine golden leaf-shaped switches in his
hand, and a light grey mantle round him, and a goad of white silver
in his hand, plying the goad on the horses, whichever way the
champion of great deeds goes who was at hand in the chariot.

'He is veteran of his land (?): he and his servant think little of
Ireland.'

'Go, O fellow,' said he, said Fer Diad; 'you praise too much
altogether; and prepare the arms in the ford against his coming.'

'If I turned my face backwards, it seems to me the chariot would
come through the back of my neck.'

'O fellow,' said he, 'too greatly do you praise Cuchulainn, for it
is not a reward for praising he has given you'; and it is thus he
was giving his description, and he said:

'The help is timely,' etc.

It is not long afterwards that they met in the middle of the ford,
and Fer Diad said to Cuchulainn:

'Whence come you, O Cua?' said he (for [Note: An interpolation.]
_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 shield; 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 shield below.
Cuchulainn thrust at him with the spear over the shield, 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 shield with the rim of
gold, thy sword was dear. Thy ring of white silver round thy noble
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
shield 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 shield 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 shield, so that the
engraved edge of the shield cut his head off. His head is brought
back into Emain into the house on the shield, 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 shield 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 assemblies 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.
It is there that Ailill said:

'Go, O Mac Roth,' said Ailill, 'and look for us whether the men are
all(?) in the plain of Meath in which we are. If they have not
come, I have carried off their spoil and their cows; let them give
battle to me, if it suits them. I will not await them here any
longer.'

Then Mac Roth went to look at and to watch the plain. He came back
to Ailill and Medb and Fergus The first time then that Mac Roth
looked from the circuit of Sliab Fuait, he saw that all the wild
beast came out of the wood, so that they were all in the plain.

'The second time,' said Mac Roth, 'that I surveyed the plain, I saw
a heavy mist that filled the glens and the valleys, so that it made
the hills between them like islands in lakes. Then there appeared
to me sparks of fire out of this great mist: there appeared to me a
variegation of every different colour in the world. I saw then
lightning and din and thunder and a great wind that almost took my
hair from my head, and threw me on my back; and yet the wind of the
day was not great.'

'What is it yonder, O Fergus?' said Ailill. 'Say what it means.'
[Note: Literally, 'is like.']

'That is not hard; this is what it means,' said Fergus: 'This is
the Ulstermen after coming out of their sickness. It is they who
have come into the wood. The throng and the greatness and the
violence of the heroes, it is that which has shaken the wood; it is
before them that the wild beasts have fled into the plain. The
heavy mist that you saw, which filled the valleys, was the breath
of those warriors, which filled the glens so that it made the hills
between them like islands in lakes. The lightning and the sparks of
fire and the many colours that you saw, O Mac Roth,' said Fergus,
'are the eyes of the warriors from their heads which have shone to
you like sparks of fire. The thunder and the din and the noise(?)
that you heard, was the whistling of the swords and of the
ivory-hilted weapons, the clatter of arms, the creaking of the
chariots, the beating of the hoofs of the horses, the strength of
the warriors, the roar of the fighting-men, the noise of the
soldiers, the great rage and anger and fierceness of the heroes
going in madness to the battle, for the greatness of the rage and
of the fury(?). They would think they would not reach it at all,'
said Fergus.

'We will await them,' said Ailill; 'we have warriors for them.'

'You will need that,' said Fergus, 'for there will not be found in
all Ireland, nor in the west of the world, from Greece and Scythia
westward to the Orkneys and to the Pillars of Hercules and to the
Tower of Bregon and to the island of Gades, any one who shall
endure the Ulstermen in their fury and in their rage,' said Fergus.

Then Mac Roth went again to look at the march of the men of Ulster,
so that he was in their camp at Slemon Midi, and Fergus; and he
told them certain tidings, and Mac Roth said in describing them:

'A great company has come, of great fury, mighty, fierce, to the
hill at Slemon Midi,' said Mac Roth. 'I think there is a cantred
therein; they took off their clothing at once, and dug a mound of
sods under their leader's seat. A warrior fair and tall and long
and high, beautiful, the fairest of kings his form, in the front of
the company. Hair white-yellow has he, and it curly, neat, bushy (?),
ridged, reaching to the hollow of his shoulders. A tunic curly,
purple, folded round him; a brooch excellent, of red-gold, in his
cloak on his breast; eyes very grey, very fair, in his head; a face
proper, purple, has he, and it narrow below and broad above: a
beard forked, very curly, gold-yellow he has; a shirt white,
hooded, with red ornamentation, round about him; a sword gold-hilted
on his shoulders; a white shield with rivets(?) of gold; abroad
grey spear-head on a slender shaft in his hand. The fairest of the
princes of the world his march, both in host and rage and form and
dress, both in face and terror and battle and triumph, both in
prowess and horror and dignity.

'Another company has come there,' said Mac Roth; 'it is next to the
other in number and quarrelling and dress and terror and horror. A
fair warrior, heroic, is in the front of this company. A green
cloak folded round him; a brooch of gold over his arm; hair curly
and yellow: an ivory-hilted sword with a hilt of ivory at his left.
A shirt with ---- to his knee; a wound-giving shield with engraved
edge; the candle of a palace [Note: i.e. spear.] in his hand; a
ring of silver about it, and it runs round along the shaft forward
to the point, and again it runs to the grip. And that troop sat
down on the left hand of the leader of the first troop, and it is
thus they sat down, with their knees to the ground, and the rims of
their shields against their chins. And I thought there was
stammering in the speech of the great fierce warrior who is the
leader of that company.

'Another company has come there,' said Mac Roth; 'its appearance is
vaster than a cantred; a man brave, difficult, fair, with broad
head, before it. Hair dark and curly on him; a beard long, with
slender points, forked, has he; a cloak dark-grey, ----, folded
round him; a leaf-shaped brooch of white metal over his breast; a
white, hooded shirt to his knees; a hero's shield with rivets on
him; a sword of white silver about his waist; a five-pointed spear
in his hand. He sat down in front of the leader of the first
troop.'

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

'I know indeed,' said Fergus, 'those companies. Conchobar, king of
a province of Ireland, it is he who has sat down on the mound of
sods. Sencha Mac Aililla, the orator of Ulster, it is he who has
sat down before him. Cuscraid, the Stammerer of Macha, son of
Conchobar, it is he who has sat down at his father's side. It is
the custom for the spear that is in his hand in sport yonder before
victory ---- before or after. That is a goodly folk for wounding,
for essaying every conflict, that has come,' said Fergus.

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