'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.'