Part 5

"[2]If thou showest our foemen love, No more shalt thou lead our troops; Haply someone else we'll find To direct us on our way![2]"

[1-1] Reading with LU. and YBL. 252.

[a] That is, Cuchulain.

[2-2] Eg. 1782.

"I will be in the van of the troops no longer," cried Fergus; "but do thou find another to go before them." For all that, Fergus kept his place in the van of the troops.

The four mighty provinces of Erin passed that night on Cul Silinne. The sharp, keen-edged anxiety for Cuchulain came upon Fergus and he warned the men of Erin to be on their guard, because there would come upon them the rapacious lion, and the doom of foes, the vanquisher of multitudes, and the chief of retainers, the mangler of great hosts, the hand that dispenseth [3]treasures,[3] and the flaming [W.502.] torch, even Cuchulain son of Sualtaim.[a] And thus he foreshowed him and chanted a lay, and Medb responded:--

Fergus: "Well for ye to heed and watch, With array of arms and men. He will come, the one we fear, Murthemne's great, deedful youth!"

Medb: "How so dear, this battle-rede, Comes from thee, [LL.fo.58a.] Roig's son most bold. Men and arms have I enough To attend Cuchulain here!"

Fergus: "Thou shalt need them, Medb of Ai, Men and arms for battle hard, With the grey steed's[b] horseman brave. All the night and all the day!"

Medb: "I have kept here in reserve Heroes fit for fight and spoil; Thirty hundred hostage-chiefs, Leinster's bravest champions they.

Fighting men from Cruachan fair, Braves from clear-streamed Luachair, Four full realms of goodly Gaels Will defend me from this man!"

Fergus: "Rich in troops from Mourne and Bann, Blood he'll draw o'er shafts of spears; He will cast to mire and sand These three thousand Leinstermen.

With the swallow's swiftest speed, With the rush of biting wind, So bounds on my dear brave Hound, Breathing slaughter on his foes!"

Medb: "Fergus, should he come 'tween us, To Cuchulain bear this word: He were prudent to stay still; Cruachan holds a check in store."

Fergus: "Valiant will the slaughter be Badb's wild daughter[c] gloats upon. For the Blacksmith's Hound will spill Showers of blood on hosts of men!"

[3-3] Stowe and Add.

[a] MS.: _Sualtach._

[b] _Liath Mache_ ('the Roan of Macha'), the name of one of Cuchulain's two horses.

[c] That is, the goddess or fury of battle.

[W.540.] After this lay the men of the four grand provinces of Erin marched [1]on the morrow[1] over Moin Coltna ('the Marsh of Coltain') eastwards that day; and there met them eight score deer [2]in a single herd.[2] The troops spread out and surrounded and killed them so that none of them escaped.

[1-1] LU. 195.

[2-2] Stowe and Add.

But there is one event to add: Although the division of the Galian had been dispersed [3]among the men of Erin,[3] [4]wherever there was a man of the Galian, it was he that got them, except[4] five deer only which was the men of Erin's share thereof, so that one division took all the eight score deer.

[3-3] Stowe and Add.

[4-4] LU. 196.

[5]Then they proceed to Mag Trega and they unyoke there and prepare their food. It is said that it is there that Dubthach recited this stave:--

"Grant ye have not heard till now, Giving ear to Dubthach's fray: Dire-black war upon ye waits, 'Gainst the Whitehorned of Queen Medb![a]

"There will come the chief of hosts,[b] War for Murthemne to wage. Ravens shall drink garden's milk,[c] This the fruit of swineherds' strife (?)[d]

"Turfy Cron will hold them back, Keep them back from Murthemne,[5] [9]Till the warriors' work is done On Ochainè's northern mount!

"'Quick,' to Cormac, Ailill cries; 'Go and seek ye out your son, Loose no cattle from the fields, Lest the din of the host reach them!'

"Battle they'll have here eftsoon, Medb and one third of the host. Corpses will be scattered wide If the Wildman[a] come to you!"

[a] Literally, 'of Ailill's spouse.'

[b] That is, Cuchulain.

[c] A kenning for 'blood.'

[d] Referring to the two bulls, the Brown and the Whitehorned, which were the re-incarnations through seven intermediate stages of two divine swineherds of the gods of the under-world. The story is told in _Irische Texte_, iii, i, pp. 230-275.

[5-5] LU. 198-205.

[a] Literally, 'the Contorted one'; that is, Cuchulain.

Then Nemain, [1]the Badb to wit,[1] attacked them, and that was not the quietest of nights they had, with the noise of the churl, namely Dubthach, in their[b] sleep. Such fears he scattered amongst the host straightway, and he hurled a great stone at the throng till Medb came to check him. They continued their march then till they slept a night in Granard Tethba in the north,[9] [2]after the host had made a circuitous way across sloughs and streams.[2]

[1-1] Gloss in YBL. 211.

[b] 'his' Eg. 1782.

[9-9] YBL. and LU. 206-215. With this passage YBL. begins, fo. 17a.

[2-2] LU. 215.

[W.547.] It was on that same day, [3]after the coming of the warning from Fergus[3] [4]to the Ulstermen,[4] that Cuchulain son of Sualtaim, [5]and Sualtaim[5] Sidech ('of the Fairy Mound'), his father, [6]when they had received the warning from Fergus,[6] came so near [7]on their watch for the host[7] that their horses grazed in pasture round the pillar-stone on Ard Cuillenn ('the Height of Cuillenn'). Sualtaim's horses cropped the grass north of the pillar-stone close to the ground; Cuchulain's cropped the grass south of the pillar-stone even to the ground and the bare stones. "Well, O master Sualtaim," said Cuchulain; "the thought of the host is fixed sharp upon me [8]to-night,[8] so do thou depart for us with warnings to the men of Ulster, that they remain not in the smooth plains but that they betake themselves to the woods and wastes and steep glens of the province, if so they may keep out of the way of the men of Erin." "And thou, lad, what wilt thou do?" "I must go southwards to Temair to keep tryst with the [W.556.] maid[a] of Fedlimid Nocruthach ('of the Nine Forms') [1]Conchobar's daughter,[1] according to my own agreement, till morning." "Alas, that one should go [2]on such a journey,"[2] said Sualtaim, "and leave the Ulstermen under the feet of their foes and their enemies for the sake of a tryst with a woman!" "For all that, I needs must go. For, an I go not, the troth of men will be held for false and the promises of women held for true."

[3-3] LU. 218

[4-4] Eg. 1782.

[5-5] _Sualtach_, in LL.

[6-6] Eg. 1782.

[7-7] Eg. 1782.

[8-8] LU. and YBL. 220.

[a] "Who was secretly as a concubine with Cuchulain"; gloss in LU. and YBL. 222 and Eg. 1782.

[1-1] Eg. 1782.

[2-2] Stowe and Add.

Sualtaim departed with warnings to the men of Ulster. Cuchulain strode into the wood, and there, with a single blow, he lopped the prime sapling of an oak, root and top, and with only one foot and one hand and one eye he exerted himself; and he made a twig-ring thereof and set an ogam[b] script on the plug of the ring, and set the ring round the narrow part of the pillar-stone on Ard ('the Height') of Cuillenn. He forced the ring till it reached the thick of the pillar-stone. Thereafter Cuchulain went his way to his tryst with the woman.

[b] The old kind of writing of the Irish.

Touching the men of Erin, the account follows here: They came up to the pillar-stone at Ard Cuillenn, [3]which is called Crossa Coil to-day,[3] and they began looking out upon the province that was unknown to them, the province of Ulster. And two of Medb's people went always before them in the van of the host, at every camp and on every march, at every ford and every river [LL.fo.58b.] and every gap. They were wont to do so [4]that they might save the brooches and cushions and cloaks of the host, so that the dust of the multitude might not soil them[4] and that no stain might come on the princes' raiment in the crowd or the crush of the hosts or the throng;--these were the two sons of Nera, who was the son of Nuathar, [W.575.] son of Tacan, two sons of the house-stewards of Cruachan, Err and Innell, to wit. Fraech and Fochnam were the names of their charioteers.

[3-3] Eg. 1782.

[4-4] LU. and YBL. 245-246.

The nobles of Erin arrived at the pillar-stone and they there beheld the signs of the browsing of the horses, cropping around the pillar, and they looked close at the rude hoop which the royal hero had left behind about the pillar-stone. [1]Then sat they down to wait till the army should come, the while their musicians played to them.[1] And Ailill took the withy in his hand and placed it in Fergus' hand, and Fergus read the ogam script graven on the plug of the withy, and made known to the men of Erin what was the meaning of the ogam writing that was on it. [2]When Medb came, she asked, "Why wait ye here?" "Because of yonder withy we wait," Fergus made answer; "there is an ogam writing on its binding and this is what it saith: 'Let no one go past here till a man be found to throw a withy like unto this, using only one hand and made of a single branch, and I except my master Fergus.' Truly," Fergus added, "it was Cuchulain threw it, and it was his steeds that grazed this plain." And he placed the hoop in the hands of the druids,[2] and it is thus he began to recite and he pronounced a lay:--

"What bespeaks this withe to us, What purports its secret rede? And what number cast it here, Was it one man or a host?

"If ye go past here this night, And bide not [3]one night[3] in camp. On ye'll come the tear-flesh Hound; Yours the blame, if ye it scorn!

"[4]Evil on the host he'll bring,[4] If ye go your way past this. [W.596.] Find, ye druids, find out here, For what cause this withe was made!"

[1]A druid speaks[1]:

"Cut by hero, cast by chief, As a perfect trap for foes. Stayer of lords--with hosts of men-- One man cast it with one hand!

"With fierce rage the battle 'gins Of the Smith's Hound of Red Branch.[a] Bound to meet this madman's rage; This the name that's on the withe!

[2]"Would the king's host have its will-- Else they break the law of war-- Let some one man of ye cast, As one man this withe did cast![2]

"Woes to bring with hundred fights On four realms of Erin's land; Naught I know 'less it be this For what cause the withe was made!"

[1-1] LU. and YBL. 250.

[2-2] LU. and YBL. 252-258.

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

[4-4] Reading with LU. and YBL. 261.

[1-1] LU., marginal note.

[a] The name of the festal hall of the kings of Ulster.

[2-2] Eg. 1782.

After that lay: "I pledge you my word," said Fergus, "if so ye set at naught yon withy and the royal hero that made it, [3]and if ye go beyond[3] without passing a night's camp and quarterage here, or until a man of you make a withy of like kind, using but one foot and one eye and one hand, even as he made it, [4]certain it is, whether ye be[4] under the ground or in a tight-shut house, [5]the man that wrote the ogam hereon[5] will bring slaughter and bloodshed upon ye before the hour of rising on the morrow, if ye make light of him!" "That, surely, would not be pleasing to us," quoth Medb, "that any one should [6]straightway[6] spill our blood or besmirch us red, now that we are come to this unknown province, even to the province of Ulster. More pleasing would it be to us, to spill another's blood and redden him." "Far be it from us to set this [W.618.] withy at naught," said Ailill, "nor shall we make little of the royal hero that wrought it, rather will we resort to the shelter of this great wood, [1]that is, Fidduin, ('the Wood of the Dûn')[1] southwards till morning. There will we pitch our camp and quarters."

[3-3] LU. 270.

[4-4] Reading with Stowe.

[5-5] LU. 271.

[6-6] LU. and YBL. 273.

[1-1] A gloss in YBL. 274; found also in Eg. 1782.

Thereupon the hosts advanced, and as they went they felled the wood with their swords before their chariots, so that Slechta ('the Hewn Road') is still the by-name of that place where is Partraige Beca ('the Lesser Partry') south-west of Cenannas na Rig ('Kells of the Kings') near Cul Sibrille.

[2]According to other books, it is told as follows: After they had come to [3]Fidduin[3] they saw a chariot and therein a beautiful maiden. It is there that the conversation between Medb and Fedelm the seeress took place that we spoke of before, and it is after the answer she made to Medb that the wood was cut down: "Look for me," said Medb, "how my journey will be." "It is hard for me," the maiden made answer, "for no glance of eye can I cast upon them in the wood." "Then it is plough-land this shall be," quoth Medb; "we will cut down the wood." Now, this was done, so that this is the name of the place, Slechta, to wit.[2]

[2-2] YBL. 276-283.

[3-3] '_Fedaduin_,' MS.

[4]They slept in Cul Sibrille, which is Cenannas.[4] A heavy snow fell on them that night, and so great it was that it reached to the shoulders[a] of the men and to the flanks of the horses and to the poles[b] of the chariots, so that all the provinces of Erin were one level plane from the snow. But no huts nor bothies nor tents did they set up that night, nor did they [LL.fo.59.] prepare food nor drink, nor made they a meal nor repast. None of the men of Erin [W.630.] wot whether friend or foe was next him until the bright hour of sunrise on the morrow.

[4-4] Eg. 1782.

[a] 'Girdles,' LU. and YBL. 284; 'shields,' Eg. 1782.

[b] 'Wheels,' LU. and YBL. 285 and Eg. 1782.

Certain it is that the men of Erin experienced not a night of encampment or of station that held more discomfort or hardship for them than that night [1]with the snow[1] at Cul Sibrille. The four grand provinces of Erin moved out early on the morrow [2]with the rising of the bright-shining sun glistening on the snow[2] and marched on from that part into another.

[1-1] LU. and YBL. 287.

[2-2] Reading with Stowe.

Now, as regards Cuchulain: It was far from being early when he arose [3]from his tryst.[3] And then he ate a meal and took a repast, and [4]he remained until he had[4] washed himself and bathed on that day.

[3-3] LU. and YBL. 288.

[4-4] LU. and YBL. 289.

He called to his charioteer to lead out the horses and yoke the chariot. The charioteer led out the horses and yoked the chariot, and Cuchulain mounted his chariot. And they came on the track of the army. They found the trail of the men of Erin leading past them from that part into another. "Alas, O master Laeg," cried Cuchulain, "by no good luck went we to our tryst with the woman last night. [5]Would that we had not gone thither nor betrayed the Ultonians.[5] This is the least that might be looked for from him that keeps guard on the marches, a cry, or a shout, or an alarm, or to call, 'Who goes the road?' This it fell not unto us to say. The men of Erin have gone past us, [6]without warning, without complaint,[6] into the land of Ulster." "I foretold thee that, O Cuchulain," said Laeg. "Even though thou wentest to thy woman-tryst [7]last night,[7] such a disgrace would come upon thee." "Good now, O Laeg, go thou for us on the trail of the host and make an estimate of them, and discover [W.649.] for us in what number the men of Erin went by us."

[5-5] LU. and YBL. 290.

[6-6] Stowe.

[7-7] Stowe.

Laeg came on the track of the host, and he went to the front of the trail and he came on its sides and he went to the back of it. "Thou art confused in thy counting, O Laeg, my master," quoth Cuchulain. "Confused I must be," Laeg replied. [1]"It is not confusedly that I should see, if I should go," said Cuchulain.[1] "Come into the chariot then, and I will make a reckoning of them." The charioteer mounted the chariot and Cuchulain went on the trail of the hosts and [2]after a long while[2] he made a reckoning of them. [3]"Even thou, it is not easy for thee.[3] Thou art perplexed in thy counting, my little Cuchulain," quoth Laeg. "Not perplexed," answered Cuchulain; [4]"it is easier for me than for thee.[4] [5]For I have three magical virtues: Gift of sight, gift of understanding, and gift of reckoning.[5] For I know the number wherewith the hosts went past us, namely, eighteen cantreds. Nay more: the eighteenth cantred has been distributed among [6]the entire host of[6] the men of Erin, [7]so that their number is not clear, namely, that of the cantred of Leinstermen."[7] [8]This here is the third cunningest [9]and most difficult[9] reckoning that ever was made in Erin. These were: The reckoning by Cuchulain of the men of Erin on the Táin, the reckoning by Lug Lamfota ('Long-hand') of the host of the Fomorians [10]in the Battle of Moytura,[10] and the reckoning by Incel of the host in the Hostel of Da Derga.[8]

[1-1] LU. and YBL. 294-295.

[2-2] LU. and YBL. 297.

[3-3] LU. and YBL. 297.

[4-4] LU. and YBL. 297-298.

[5-5] LU. and YBL. 298-299.

[6-6] LU. and YBL. 302.

[7-7] LU. and YBL. 302.

[8-8] Stowe.

[9-9] LU. fo. 58a, in the margin.

[10-10] LU. fo. 58a, in the margin.

Now, many and divers were the magic virtues that were in Cuchulain [11]that were in no one else in his day.[11] Excellence of form, excellence of shape, excellence of build, excellence [W.661.] in swimming, excellence in horsemanship, excellence in chess and in draughts, excellence in battle, excellence in contest, excellence in single combat, excellence in reckoning, excellence in speech, excellence in counsel, excellence in bearing, excellence in laying waste and in plundering from the neighbouring border.

[11-11] Stowe, and LU. fo. 58a, 24, marginal note.

"Good, my friend Laeg. Brace the horses for us to the chariot; lay on the goad for us on the horses; drive on the chariot for us and give thy left[a] board to the hosts, to see can we overtake the van or the rear or the midst of the hosts, for I will cease to live unless there fall by my hand this night a friend or foe of the men of Erin."

[a] A sign of enmity.

Then it was that the charioteer gave the prick to the steeds. He turned his left board to the hosts till he arrived at Turloch[b] Caille More ('the Creek of the Great Wood') northwards of Cnogba na Rig ('Knowth of the Kings') which is called Ath Gabla ('the Ford of the Fork'). [1]Thereupon Cuchulain went round the host till he came to Ath Grenca.[1] He went into the wood at that place and sprang out of his chariot, and he lopped off a four-pronged fork, root and top, with a single stroke [2]of his sword.[2] He pointed and charred it and put a writing in ogam on its side, and he gave it a long throw from the hinder part of his chariot with the tip of a single hand, in such wise that two-thirds of it sank into the ground and only one-third was above it [3]in the mid part of the stream, so that no chariot could go thereby on this side or that.[3]

[b] _Belach_ ('the Pass'), Eg. 1782.

[1-1] Eg. 1782.

[2-2] LU. and YBL. 304.

[3-3] LU. and YBL. 305.

Then it was that the same two striplings surprised him, namely, the two sons of Nera son of Nuathar son of Tacan, while engaged in that feat. And they vied which of the twain [4]would be the first to fight and contend with Cuchuain, which of them[4] would inflict the first wound upon [W.680.] him and be the first to behead him. Cuchulain turned on them, and straightway he struck off their four heads [1]from themselves [2]Eirr and Indell[2] and [3]from Foich and Fochlam,[3] their drivers,[1] and he fixed a head of each man of them on each of the prongs of the pole. And Cuchulain let the horses of the party go back in the direction of the men of Erin, to return by the same road, their reins loose [4]around their ears[4] and their bellies red and the bodies of the warriors dripping their blood down outside on the ribs of the chariots. [5]Thus he did,[5] for he deemed it no honour nor deemed he it fair to take horses or garments or arms from corpses or from the dead. And then the troops saw the horses of the party that had gone out in advance before them, and the headless bodies of the warriors oozing their blood down on the ribs of the chariots ([6]and their crimsoned trappings upon them[6]). The van of the army waited for the rear to come up, and all were thrown into confusion of striking, that is as much as to say, into a tumult of arms.

[4-4] Stowe.

[1-1] Stowe.

[2-2] LU. and YBL. 306.

[3-3] LU. and YBL. 306.

[4-4] Stowe.

[5-5] Stowe.

[6-6] LU. and YBL. 310.