Chapter XV: Book XIII

From out of Ulster some few men arrived
To help Cucullin, and console and aid
And ease him. These were Shennel Ooaha
And the two sons of Gaega—Muridah
And Cotreb. These men carried him away
To bathe his wounds and make clear water strike
Against his gashes, plunged in brooks and streams
Of Connallia Mweerhevna. For his friends,
The unseen Thooaha Dae Danann, then
Were strowing plants and herbs of health and healing
On each pure stream of Connallia Mweerhevna,
To help Cucullin; so that each bright stream
Was greenly checkered with them. Now, the names
Of those bestrown, bright streams which helped Cucullin
Are these:—the Sawss, the Booan, the Billawn,
The Finnglass, the light Glore, the Glenawin,
The Baeg, the Tahg, the Telamet, the Rind,
The Bir, the Brenid, the Deehaem, the Mooah,
The Meelic, the cramped Cumung, and the Cullin,
The Ganawin, the Drong, the Delt, the Dooglass.
And so the soilure and the dangerous venom
Were laved from out his wounds. And, after that,
Dry wisps and pads of grass and moss were placed
Against those wounds. And supple willow-wands
Were arched above him to sustain his bratt;
Because his wounds and gashes were so great
That he might not endure it if his raiment
Should reach his skin. And thus that day his life
Was kept within Cucullin; yet it wanted
Only a little, and he would have died
Despite that help, so bitter were his hurts
After that awful combat with Faerdeeah.
And while Cucullin thus was bathed and tended
The Four Great Fifths of Erin went south-west
From Ath Faerdeeah; and they drew nigh Taltin—
The burial-field of Ulster kings and queens
And kingly princes; and they drove with them
Their captives and their droves of Ulster kine,
Thinking to drive them through the wide west ford,
And into Connaught, ere the men of Ulster
Should rise from out their Kesh; and Maev sent forth
Mac Roth her messenger, e’en to the hills
And crags and green-grassed summits of Slieve Foo-id,
To watch the north, that thus in Avvin Maha
The men of Ulster might not rise in arms
Without her having swift advice and warning.

This is the time wherein the charioteers
Of Ulster—three times fifty charioteers—
Accoutering themselves with warlike arms,
Came south against the hosts. There fell by them
Thrice their own number, ere those charioteers
From Ulster in the field themselves fell slain.

This is the time when aged Illiah
The son of Cass the son of Bac the son
Of Ross the Red-haired son of Rury More,
Resting in old-age maintenance—maintained
In green Rath Immil, by his son’s famed son,
By Laery the Victorious—was informed
How, throughout all the cold, dark winter months,
Even from Sowin till the opening spring,
The Four Great Fifths of Erin had been spoiling,
And laying waste and ravaging and burning,
All Ulster and all Crithny. Illiah
Took counsel with his folk. “What counsel now,”
Said he, “would seem to you more wise than this,
Namely, that I should travel south forthwith
To attack the men of Erin, and to take
Spoils from their armies, and avenge a little
The honour of all Ulster? If thereafter
I fall myself and die, that is all one.”
His folk approved of that. They caught for him
His two old, yellow, withered, wasted steeds,
Which were upon the shore beside the doon.
They brought his old-time, antique chariot out,
That was without cushion or coverlet,
And yoked it on the steeds. His rough, grey shield
Of iron, with its hard encircling rim
Of hardened silver, he took up. He took
His rough, grey-hilted sword on his left side.
He took his two blunt spears with shaking heads
Into his chariot; and his folk arranged
Round stones and pillar-stones and great, flat flags
About him in his chariot. Furnished so
He travelled south against the men of Erin.
Ere long the hosts perceived him. Then the men,
Seeing that agéd, naked warrior come,
His spittle of old age down through the gaps
In the old osier-woven chariot-floor
Slow-dripping, laughed aloud their mocking laugh.
“Good would it seem to us,” they said, “if such
Were the description of each man from Ulster
Who e’er should come against us!” In that hour
Dōha the son of Mahga passed that way.
Full quickly he restrained the rabble-crowd.
He went to Illiah, and welcomed him.
“Welcome thy coming, noble Illiah!”
Said Dōha. “What man is it who thus greets me?”
Old Illiah queried. “’Tis the friend and comrade
Of Laery the Victorious,” Dōha said.
“’Tis Dōha son of Mahga.” “Dear to me
Thy welcome is, then,” Illiah replied;
“Therefore draw near me after some short while,
When all my valour shall have withered up,
And all my weapons shall have been expended,
That thou thyself and not some other man
Among the men of Erin mayst be he
Who strikes my head from me. And let my sword
Be kept by thee for Laery.” The old man
Then with his weapons wrought upon the hosts
Until his weapons had been all expended;
And when his weapons had been all expended,
He wrought upon them with his rocky weights—
Round stones and pillar-stones and great, flat flags,
Which he had there—till these had been expended.
And when his flags and stones had been expended,
He wrought upon them with his arms. He seized
Whichever man among the men of Erin
Came near; and ’twixt his forearms and his fists
Compressed and chafed him till he made of him
A marrow-mass, wherein formless were mingled
Sinews and skin and bones and hair and flesh.
One of the three chief wonders of the Táin
Is the great number whom he wrought on so,
Ere all his old-age valour was expended;
And when his strength and valour were expended,
Descrying Dōha, he called out to him:
“Come to me now, O Dōha son of Mahga!
Now strike my head from me; but let my sword
Be kept by thee for Laery.” Dōha came.
With one swift sword-blow he struck off the head
From the old warrior; and in this way ended
“The stone-attack of agéd Illiah.”
Now—though the king and chiefs in Avvin Maha
Arose not yet out of their blinding Kesh,
Which had been paining them and blinding them—
Yet, by degrees, in other parts of Ulster,
Some few great Ulster chiefs arose with life,
And came to attack the hosts.
The first of these
Was the famed warrior-poet, Avver-guin
The son of Cass the son of Bac the son
Of Ross the Red-haired son of Rury More.
He was the father of great Conall Carna,
Who at this time was gathering rent and tribute
For Ulster, in the isles beyond the sea.
Avver-guin reached the hosts as they were passing
With all their throngs to westward over Taltin,
The ancient burial-field of Ulster kings
And princes; and he drove them back once more
Before him over Taltin, toward the north.
He put his firm left elbow under him
In Taltin, and his folk provided him
With stones and pillar-stones, and great flat flags;
And with these missiles he assailed the hosts
Throughout the space of three days and three nights.
This was the time when, in the far south-west,
In Caher Conroi, Cooroi son of Dawra,
Having returned from warfare in far Scythia,
Was told how through those long, dark, winter months,
Even from Sowin till the opening spring,
The Four Great Fifths of Erin had been stayed
And held in check and hindered and delayed
By one man all alone. Now, as for Cooroi,
Since first he had taken arms, he had not reddened
His sword in Erin; for there was not room
In Erin for his pride and haughtiness
And warrior-fulness; and he e’er had reddened
His sword in distant lands. But when he heard
How the Four Fifths of Erin had been hindered
By one man all alone, he said: “That man,
Indeed, gives worthy matter for a combat.”
And Cooroi son of Dawra went forthwith
To seek hard battle-combat with Cucullin.
Then, when he came to the lone forest-hiding
Wherein Cucullin was, and saw Cucullin
Crying with bitter pain, and full of wounds,
And pierced and hurt, it did not seem to him
Noble or hero-like or full of honour
To seek a combat with him. “For,” he said,
“It would not be the wounds given by me,
Which would now cause his death; ’twould be the wounds
Which he obtained in combat with Faerdeeah.”
Cooroi the son of Dawra therefore left
Cucullin; and he went to join the hosts,
And to have speech with his own household people
Who were upon that hosting. When he came
And joined the hosts, he perceived Avver-guin,
Westward of Taltin, hurling at the hosts,
With his left elbow under him. Then Cooroi
Passed round the men of Erin toward the north
Of Taltin; and his folk provided him
With stones and pillar-stones and great, flat flags;
And face to face he assailed Avver-guin,
So that the rocks and pillar-stones and flags
Answered each other in the air, and clashed
Amidst the clouds and in the air above
The heads of all those hosts. A hundred stones
Were made of every separate stone of them
Amidst the clouds and winds above their heads.
“Upon the truth of valour which thou hast,
O Cooroi,” Maev said, “cease from this thy hurling:
’Tis not good help that comes to us therefrom,
But evil help.” “I give my word,” said Cooroi,
“I will not cease until the Breast of Doom,
Or until Avver-guin shall cease.” Thereon
Avver-guin said: “I will cease verily;
And bind thyself to come again no more
To help these hosts of Erin.” Cooroi then
Accepted that; and went upon his road
To his own folk and his own high-walled doon—
To Caher Conroi in the far south-west.
During this time the hosts of Erin passed
O’er Taltin toward the west. “It was not this,”
Said Avver-guin, “which Cooroi bound on me
Namely, that I should ne’er begin again
To hurl against yon hosts.” Therefore, again
He went to westward of them, and he drove them
Before him over Taltin toward the north;
And he began to hurl, and hurled at them
For a long while and a great space of time.
And then it was that all the men of Erin
Said it would not dishonour Avver-guin,
If they should leave their camp in Taltin empty,
And if their hosts should go for one day’s journey
Back toward the north, so that they might be stayed
And be delayed upon their road to Connaught;
And if, on his part, Avver-guin should stay
His deeds of valour from the hosts of Erin,
Until the day when, in a powerful battle,
The Five Great Fifths of Erin should be met
Upon the fields of Gawrig and Ilgawrig,
As now their druids and their seers and prophets
Were prophesying they should meet. He said
He would accept that. Then the hosts went back
One full day’s journey toward the north; and he,
Keeping in Taltin, stayed his deeds of valour
Against the men of the Four Fifths of Erin.

The next of the great Ulster chiefs to come
To do his deeds against the hosts of Erin
Was Rōhee son of Faha-win, who came
From Reedonn in the north. He brought with him
Thrice fifty warriors; and he seized a hill
Facing the hosts of the Four Fifths of Erin.
Findabair daughter of Maev and Al-yill
Saw Rōhee on that hill not far from them;
And he was thus:—a hero than whom none
Could be more comely or more beautiful;
For on his head there was a bushy grove
Of hair red-yellow; and his pure-skinned face
Was broad above and narrowed toward the chin;
His eyes were very blue, keen with high pride,
Like laughing candles in his head; his lips
Were rosy, thin; his teeth gleamed like clear pearls;
His figure was erect and tall and even,
Broad at the shoulder, narrow-hipped, white-skinned.
He wore a layna made of royal srōl
With margin-hems of gold. His bratt of crimson
Was fastened with a princely yō of gold.
He wore a white-bright shield, whereon were beasts
Of twisted gold. His dazzling warrior-sword
Was golden-hilted; and his spear was long,
Grey-edged, and done with rivets of findrinny.
In all wide Erin there had ne’er been seen
A hero-chief more beautiful; and maidens
Throughout wide Erin loved him for the tales
Which were related of his shape and beauty.
Findabair daughter of Maev and Al-yill,
When she perceived that warrior Rōhee there,
Grew rosy and then pale; and ere the eve
She to her mother, even to Maev, spake all
Her whisper and her secret. “O dear mother,”
She said, “’tis yonder hero whom I love;
And who (since I have seen him) e’er will be
The man to whom my thoughts will cleave—the man
Whom I would choose to be my love and wooer.”
And Maev replied: “Dear child, if thou dost love him,
He shall be thine. Sleep with him, then, this night;
But, first of all, ask of him that he stay
His deeds of valour from these hosts of Erin,
Until the day when, in a powerful battle,
The Five Great Fifths of Erin shall be met
Upon the fields of Gawrig and Ilgawrig,
As now our druids and our seers and prophets
Are prophesying they shall meet.” And Rōhee
The son of Faha-win accepted that;
And Findabair daughter of Maev and Al-yill
Went to the tent of Rōhee that same night.
Now one among the seven under-kings
Of Munster who had come upon that hosting
Was told of this. He spake unto his people:
“That maid was promised to myself,” he said,
“Long before this. That was indeed the reason
Why I came forth upon this war and hosting.”
Each of the seven under-kings of Munster
Said the same words; and that that was the reason
Why he himself had come upon the hosting.
“And wherefore should we not now go,” they said,
“To avenge our honour on those seven men,
Those seven Mahn-yas, sons of Maev and Al-yill,
Who now keep guard to rearward of these hosts,
In the low-lying Im-lee of Glendomna?”
This was the counsel which they deemed the best.
Then they arose—each with his warrior-cantred.
And, on the other part, Al-yill and Maev
And all the seven sons of Mahga rose
With their own people and their warrior-cantreds.
And it was then that Fergus son of Roy
Rose with his cantred to make intercession
And peace between them. But to make that peace
Was putting hand to a great work; for ere
That peace was made, and all sat down in quiet
Beside their comrades and beside their arms,
Hundreds of very valiant men had fallen
On both those sides. And this, indeed, was one
Of three uncounted slaughters on the Táin,
Which were: the Shessra of the Bressla More,
This “Imlee of Glendomna,” and the battle
Upon the fields of Gawrig and Ilgawrig,
The battle of the Táin.
And Findabair
Daughter of Maev and Al-yill heard these tidings,
Namely, that those unnumbered men had fallen
Through her occasion. And she had not known
Of all the promises which had been made
Before the Táin. Then, when she heard these tidings,
Her heart within her breast broke and was cloven
With shame and generous feeling towards those men.
And she found death; and she was buried straightway.
And that red, heath-grown, very lonely hill,
Wherein that day with grief they buried her,
After that time was called Slieve Findabair.
And on that heath-grown hill they wailed above her
Her death-wail, and her loud, long burial-cry—
E’en as in old, old, very far-back days,
Brigit the daughter of the mighty Dagda
Had ordered and ordained; for it was Brigit,
That woman-poet and that woman-druid,
The goddess whom all poets love and worship,
Who had ordained that in all time to come
There should be wailing o’er the dead in Erin.
The hosts of Erin said: “White was this fight
For Rōhee son of Faha-win—unnumbered
Full-valiant men to fall through his occasion,
And he without a redness or a wound.”

The hosts of Erin travelled toward the west,
And made their camps that night in Slane of Meath.

Of “Sooaltim’s Repeated Warning” now
We next must tell. Sooaltim had been told
How his young son, the son of Dectora,
Namely, Cucullin, was in hard oppression
Of very wrongful and unequal combat
With Calateen of many dangerous arts
Together with his seven and twenty sons,
And his young grandson, Glass the son of Delga.
Then, after some delaying, Sooaltim
Went forth to find Cucullin; and he found him
In wounds and pain, wounded well-nigh to death
After his awful combat with Faerdeeah.
And Sooaltim began to wail above him,
And to cry out with pity and with woe.
Then to Cucullin it seemed loss of honour
That Sooaltim should wail above him—seeing
That, though he was in wounds and grief and pain,
This Sooaltim could not avenge him. Thus
Was Sooaltim:—no mighty, wondrous warrior,
And yet no bad, mean warrior; but a good,
Plain, homely, ordinary man-at-arms.
Cucullin then spake unto Sooaltim:
“Good, now, my father Sooaltim,” he said,
“Cease from thy wailing; and away with thee
To Avvin Maha to the men of Ulster.
Say to them that they now must come themselves
After their wives and babes and driven kine.
I am unfit to guard them any longer
Amidst the gaps and passes of the land
Of Connallia Mweerhevna. All alone
I have been facing the Four Fifths of Erin
Since Sowin, until now, when Spring begins.
And I have slain one warrior at a ford
Each day, or else each night one hundred men.
The Faith of Men has not been kept with me
In single combat at the battle-ford;
For they sent many men to fight with one.
They are bent willow-wands which hold my bratt
Above me, that it may not touch my skin.
They are dry wisps of moss which dress my wounds.
E’en from my crown unto my soles there is
No place whereon a needle-point might rest,
Which is without some gash or hurt or wound.
There is not on me e’en one single hair
Without its dew-like drop of deep red blood
Held on its point—save on my left hand only,
Wherewith I held my shield; and my left hand
Has thrice ten wounds. Unless they come to avenge
These things forthwith, they never will avenge them
Until the Breast of Judgment and of Doom.”
Then Laeg led up the wondrous Leea Maha,
Cucullin’s steed, who once from the Grey Lake
On lone Slieve Foo-id had come forth to him,
So that he cast his arms about his neck
And wrestled with him, making him his own.
(And now that steed would love him till his death.)
And Sooaltim upon the Leea Maha,
Cucullin’s steed, rode north to Avvin Maha,
With warnings unto Ulster. When he reached
The side of Avvin, he cried out the words:
“In Ulster men are slain, O men of Ulster!
Women are carried captive! Kine are driven!”
Howbeit, he found not from the men of Ulster
The answer which he would have deemed sufficient.
And, since he found it not, he went yet further,
E’en to the top of the high, girdling rampart
Of Avvin; and he called the same words there:
“In Ulster men are slain, O men of Ulster!
Women are carried captive! Kine are driven!”
And still he found not from the men of Ulster
The answer which he would have deemed sufficient.
For thus the men of Ulster were:—’twas gass
To all of them to speak before their king
Should speak; and to the king himself ’twas gass
To speak before the druids who were with him
Should speak. And Sooaltim went further yet,
E’en to the Flagstone of the Hostages
’Midst Avvin; and he called the same words there;
“In Ulster men are slain, O men of Ulster!
Women are carried captive! Kine are driven!”
Then Cathbad, the great Druid, spake—yet spake
As one who still was dreaming:—“Who has slain?”
He said, “and who has captured? Who has driven?”
“Al-yill and Maev have come despoiling you,”
Cried Sooaltim, “and they have seized your women,
Your youths, your tender lads and little ones,
Your horses and your troops of mares, your kine,
Both milch and dry, your bulls, your numerous herds.
Cucullin all alone has stayed and hindered
And held in check the Four Great Fifths of Erin,
Amid the gaps and passes and defiles
Of Conallia Mweerhevna. In his combats
They broke the Faith of Men with him. No man
From Ulster goes to aid him or to help him.
The lad was wounded. He is crushed and broken.
They are bent willow-wands which hold his bratt
Above him that it may not touch his skin.
There is not on him any single hair
Without its dew-like drop of deep red blood
Held on its point—save on his left hand only,
Wherewith he held his shield; and his left hand
Has thrice ten wounds. Unless ye go to avenge
These things forthwith, ye never will avenge them
Until the Breast of Judgment and of Doom.”
“The man who thus incites his own high-king
Is fit for death,” said Cathbad the great Druid.
“That which is said by Sooaltim is true,”
Said Conor. “It is true,” said all the men
In Avvin all together; but they spake
As men who still were dreaming. Sooaltim,
Because he found not from the men of Ulster
The answer which he would have deemed sufficient,
Went from them, then, in anger and great rage
And very venomous ire and fierce wrath,
And spake no further warning. It was then
That the dear steed, Cucullin’s Leea Maha,
Who loved Cucullin and who grieved for him,
Reared beneath Sooaltim; but Sooaltim
Rode on o’er the high rampart-mound of Avvin
Unheeding of that sign. Then his own shield
Turned against Sooaltim; and the sharp rim
Of his own shield struck at his neck, and struck
The head from Sooaltim, whereat the steed,
Cucullin’s steed, the loving Leea Maha,
Himself went back to Avvin; and the shield
Was on the steed, and in the hollow shield
Was the swayed head of Sooaltim. The head
Of Sooaltim cried out the self-same words:
“In Ulster men are slain, O men of Ulster!
Women are carried captive! Kine are driven!”
Then Conor heard the cry of the dead head
Of Sooaltim. He rose and spake, yet spake
As one who still was dreaming: he was dulled
By his confusion in his Kesh and sleep.
“That cry of lamentation is a little
Too mournful and too great,” he said, “because
The heaven is above us and the earth
Is underneath us, and the blue-rimmed sea
Is round us in a circuit. And unless
The firmament with all its showers of stars
Shall fall upon the firm face of the earth—
Unless the many-furrowed, blue-rimmed sea
Shall veil the thick-haired forehead of the world—
Unless the earth shall break and yawn beneath us—
I will bring back each of those captured women
To her own place and her own Ulster dwelling,
I will bring back each of those driven kine
To her own stead and her own field for grazing,
By victory of battle and of conflict,
Of combat and of contest and of war.”
And it was then that Conor saw his son,
Finn-ha Faerbend. (And he was called “Faerbend,”
“The Man of Horns,” because he used to wear
Horns of bright silver on his head.) And Conor
Bade him go forth to muster and to gather
The men of Ulster; and he named to him
The men whom he should summon; and he named
In equal way the living and the dead:
He yet was one part dream-blind, and was dulled
By his confusion in his Kesh and sleep.
He said: “O Finn-ha, go from me. Go forth
To Conall Carna son of Avver-guin
At Meedlougher; to Mend son of Sal-colgan
Beside the white-bright Boyne; to the three sons
Of Feeacna who own the Donn of Cooley,
Namely, to Dawra, Ross, and Im-ha, south
In Cooley; to great Connud son of Morna,
Beside the Callan; to wise Avver-guin
The poet, by the Bush in the far north.
To Laery the Victorious son of Connud,
By his own loch at Immil; to wise Finguin
The leech of Finngower; to Cooscree Mend,
The son of Conor, in green Innish Cooscree;
To Foorbee Faerbenn son of Conor, at Seel
On green Moy Innish; to renowned Cucullin
The son of Sooaltim, on Moy Mweerhevna;
To Owen son of Door-ha King of Farney;
To Blai the brewy, in the Ards of Ulster;
To Avver-guin of white-foamed Assaroe;
To huge, thick-necked Munnrower son of Guerkind,
From out of Mourne; to Kehern son of Finntan,
At Carrloig; to great-spirited Folloon,
Conor’s young son, who heads the lads in Avvin;
To Illann son of Fergus son of Roy,
In Gower; to strong Broo-aher, in Slawnga;
To Shenca, the sweet-worded one of Ulster,
In his own house; to Muridah and Cotreb
And Shennel Ooaha; to the great queen,
Namely, Findmore the warrior-wife of Keltar,
In strong Dunseverick by the northern sea;
To Rōhee, in bright Reedonn; to great Keltar
The son of Oo-hider, in Doon Le-Glass;
To Aerrga Ecbael, in his own Bree Aerrga.”
These are a few of those great kings and princes
And hero-chiefs whom Conor named that day.
But many more he named. Not difficult
Indeed to Finn-ha was that mustering,
That congregating and that war-assembling,
Which Conor gave to him to make. For those
Who then were west or north or east of Avvin
Came, without pause, unto the Green of Avvin,
Under obedience to their ruling kings,
And at the words of their own chiefs and princes,
To serve this rising and this war of Conor.
But those who then were south of smooth-bright Avvin,
Went without pause along the track and road
Of the great hosts of the Four Fifths of Erin.
The first day’s travel which the men of Ulster
Made around Conor brought them ere night fell
To high Ardcullin. “Wherefore halt we here,
O men?” said Conor. “We halt here,” said they,
“Awaiting thy two sons, Feeaha, namely,
And Feeacna, who went from us to Tara,
To fetch therefrom thy little grandson Erc,
The son of Fedilmid, the Blooming One,
Thy daughter. For, although he be the son
Of Carpry Neea Faer, of Al-yill’s brother,
Who sides with Maev upon this war and hosting,
They ask him now to come, with the full strength
Which he can muster forth on this occasion,
To help his mother’s father.” Conor said:
“I will no longer halt upon Ardcullin;
Because the men of Erin have not heard
That I have risen from that darkening pain
And Kesh wherein we were; they have not heard
That I am yet alive after that pain.”
And it was then that Conor son of Fahtna
And Keltar son of Oo-hider went forward
With three times fifty well-armed chariot-heroes,
Till they reached Ath Neermeeda. Nigh that ford
They saw eight twenties of huge, powerful men
Of the especial folk of Maev and Al-yill;
And with them were eight twenties of the women
Of Ulster in hard bondage and oppression.
This was their share of the rich spoil of Ulster:—
A woman in the hand of every man.
Conor and Keltar took from those huge men
Their eight times twenty heads; and they delivered
Those women from their bondage and oppression.
After that time, that ford was called Ath Fayna,
“Ford of the Warriors,” because thus the warriors
Of east and west encountered there that day.
Conor and Keltar turned again and stayed
On high Ardcullin nigh their hosts that night.

That night on high Ardcullin ’midst his sleep
Keltar the son of Oo-hider was troubled
And stirred by visions, and he sang these words:
“Gather yourselves, ye warriors and ye heroes!
A mighty battle will be fought by you.
The heavy-sodded earth will shake with you.
Thick showers of spears will be hurled forth by you.
Deep, vengeful wounds shall be thick-dealt by you.
Ye shall inflict horror and fear and dread.
Ye shall inflict pale death and lasting shame.
Gather yourselves, ye warriors and ye heroes!
A very mighty battle will be fought
Upon the fields of Gawrig and Ilgawrig
At morn upon a day which now is near us.”

That night on Slane of Meath amidst his sleep
Cormac Conlingish son of Conor son
Of Fahtna Fahee was perturbed and troubled
And stirred by visions; and he sang the words:
“Wondrous the morn! Wondrous the time of meeting!
Hosts will be mixed. Hosts will be turned in flight.
Throats will be broken, sand and earth be reddened.
The kings of Ulster will arise round Conor.
They will contend for their own Ulster women.
They will contend for their own driven herds,
Upon the fields of Gawrig and Ilgawrig,
At morn upon a day which now is near us.”

That night on Slane of Meath amidst his sleep
Rough Duffa Dael from Ulster lands was troubled
And stirred by visions; and he sang the words:
“Great are the hosts—the hosts on high Ardcullin.
Great is the morn—the morn on wide, fair Meath.
Great are the hosts of steeds—the hosts of steeds
Which shall be seen on the long road of Assal.
Great is the fight—the fight not far from Clahra.
Great is the battle-storm—the battle-storm
Of men of Ulster round their king, round Conor.
They will contend for their own Ulster women.
They will contend for their own driven herds,
Upon the fields of Gawrig and Ilgawrig,
At morn upon a day which now is near us.”

And this indeed is truth, and not a lie:
To men of Ulster and to men of Erin
This night was not the calmest and the gentlest
Which they had ever known upon a hosting,
Or e’er would know in any time to come—
Because of all the songs and prophecies
Which they thus uttered in their time of sleeping,
And all the spectres and the loathly shapes,
And all the apparitions and the visions
Which in the darkness and the doleful gloom
Appeared to them amidst their sleep that night.

BOOK XIV