body-guard[13] at one and the same time to assail Cuchulain. Cuchulain
attacked them all, so that they fell by his hand [14]at Ath Ceit Cuilè
('Ford of the First Crime').[14] "It is a dishonour for us that our people
are slaughtered in this wise," quoth Medb. "It is not the first destruction
that has befallen us from that same man," replied Ailill. Hence Cuilenn
Cind Duni ('The Destruction of the Head [W.2426.] of the Dûn') is
henceforth the name of the place where they were,[1] the mound whereon Medb
and Ailill tarried that night.[1] Hence Ath Cro ('Gory Ford') is the name
of the ford where they were, [2]and Glass Cro ('River of Gore') the name of
the stream.[2] And fittingly, too, because of the abundance of gore and
blood that went with the flow of the river.
[12-12] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[13-13] LU. 1768.
[14-14] LU. 1769.
[1-1] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[2-2] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17, and, similarly, LU. 1771.
* * * * *
[Page 180]
XVII
THE GREAT ROUT ON THE PLAIN OF MURTHEMNE FOLLOWETH HERE BELOW
[W.2431.] [1]That night[1] the warriors of four of the five grand provinces
of Erin pitched camp and made their station in the place called Breslech
Mor ('the Great Rout') in the Plain of Murthemne. Their portion of cattle
and spoils they sent on before them to the south to the cow-stalls of
Ulster. [LL.fo.76a.] Cuchulain took station at Ferta ('the Gravemound') at
Lerga ('the Slopes') hard by them. And his charioteer kindled him a fire on
the evening of that night, namely Laeg son of Riangabair. Cuchulain saw far
away in the distance the fiery glitter of the bright-golden arms over the
heads of four of the five grand provinces of Erin, in the setting of the
sun in the clouds of evening. Great anger and rage possessed him at their
sight, because of the multitude of his foes, because of the number of his
enemies [2]and opponents, and because of the few that were to avenge his
sores and his wounds upon them.[2]
[1-1] Eg. 93.
[2-2] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[3]Then Cuchulain arose and[3] he grasped his two spears and his shield and
his sword. He shook his shield and brandished his spears and wielded his
sword and sent out the hero's shout from his throat, so that the fiends and
goblins and sprites of the glens and demons of the air gave answer for the
fearfulness of the shout [4]that he lifted on [W.2444.] high,[4] until
Nemain, [1]which is Badb,[1] brought confusion on the host. The warriors of
the four provinces of Erin made such a clangour of arms with the points of
their spears and their weapons that an hundred [2]strong, stout-sturdy[2]
warriors of them fell dead that night of fright and of heartbreak in the
middle of the camp and quarters [3]of the men of Erin at the awfulness of
the horror and the shout which Cuchulain lifted on high.[3]
[3-3] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[4-4] Translating from Stowe, H. 2. 17 and Eg. 93.
[1-1] Stowe, and LL., in the margin.
[2-2] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[3-3] Eg. 93.
As Laeg stood there he descried something: A single man coming from the
north-eastern quarter athwart the camp of the four grand provinces of
Erin making directly for him. "A single man here cometh towards us now,
Cucucan," cried Laeg. "But what manner of man is he?" Cuchulain asked.
"Not hard to say," [4]Laeg made answer.[4] "A great, well-favoured man,
then. Broad, close-shorn hair upon him, and yellow and curly his back
hair. A green mantle wrapped around him. A brooch of white silver[a] in
the mantle over his breast. A kirtle of silk fit for a king, with red
interweaving of ruddy gold he wears trussed up on his fair skin and
reaching down to his knees. [5]A great one-edged sword in his hand.[5] A
black shield with hard rim of silvered bronze thereon. A five-barbed spear
in his hand. A pronged bye-spear beside it. Marvellous, in sooth, the feats
and the sport and the play that he makes. But him no one heeds, nor gives
he heed to any one. [6]No one shows him courtesy nor does he show courtesy
to any one,[6] like as if none saw him in the camp of the four grand
provinces of Erin." "In sooth, O fosterling," answered Cuchulain, "it is
one of my friends of fairy kin [7]that comes[7] to take pity upon me,
because they know the great distress wherein I am now all alone against the
four grand provinces of Erin on the Plunder of the Kine of [W.2463.]
Cualnge, [1]killing a man on the ford each day and fifty each night, for
the men of Erin grant me not fair fight nor the terms of single combat from
noon of each day."[1]
[4-4] Eg. 93.
[a] 'Of gold,' Eg. 93.
[5-5] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[6-6] Stowe.
[7-7] Stowe.
[1-1] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
Now in this, Cuchulain spoke truth. When the young warrior was come up to
Cuchulain he bespoke him and condoled with him [2]for the greatness of his
toil and the length of time he had passed without sleep.[2] [3]"This is
brave of thee, O Cuchulain," quoth he. "It is not much, at all," replied
Cuchulain. "But I will bring thee help," said the young warrior. "Who then
art thou?" asked Cuchulain. "Thy father from Faery am I, even Lug son of
Ethliu." "Yea, heavy are the bloody wounds upon me; let thy healing be
speedy."[3] "Sleep then awhile, O Cuchulain," said the young warrior, "thy
heavy fit of sleep by Ferta in Lerga ('the Gravemound on the Slopes') till
the end of three days and three nights and I will oppose the hosts during
that time." [4]He examined each wound so that it became clean. Then he sang
him the 'men's low strain' till Cuchulain fell asleep withal. It was then
Lug recited[4] [5]the Spell-chant of Lug.[5]
[2-2] Stowe.
[3-3] LU. 1803-1807, and, similarly, Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[4-4] LU. 1810-1811.
[5-5] LU. fo. 78a, in the margin; also in H. 2. 17. and Eg. 93.
Accordingly Cuchulain slept his heavy fit of sleep at 'the Gravemound on
the Slopes' till the end of three days and three nights. And well he might
sleep. Yet as great as was his sleep, even so great was his weariness. For
from the Monday before Samain[a] ('Summer-end') even to the Wednesday after
Spring-beginning,[b] Cuchulain slept not for all that space, except for a
brief snatch after mid-day, leaning against his spear, and his head on his
[W.2475.] fist, and his fist clasping his spear, and his spear on his knee,
[LL.fo.76b.] but hewing and cutting, slaying and destroying four of the
five grand provinces of Erin during that time.
[a] Hallowtide, the first of November and the beginning of winter.
[b] I.e. Candlemas. Stowe contains a Christian addition: 'to the feast
of Brigit;' that is, the first of February.
Then it was that the warrior [1]from Faery[1] laid plants from the
fairy-rath and healing herbs and put a healing charm into the cuts and
stabs, into the sores and gaping wounds of Cuchulain, so that Cuchulain
recovered during his sleep without ever perceiving it.
[1-1] LU. 1826.
* * * * *
[Page 184]
XVIIa
THE SLAUGHTER OF THE YOUTHS OF ULSTER[a]
[W.2482.] That was the time the youths came out of the north from Emain
Macha [1]to the help of Cuchulain.[1] Thrice fifty boys of the sons of the
kings of Ulster, accompanying Follomain, Conchobar's son, and three battles
they offered to the hosts, so that thrice their number fell and the youths
also fell, save Conchobar's son Follomain. Follomain vowed that never till
the very day of doom and of life would he return to Emain unless he should
bring Ailill's head with him together with the diadem of gold that was on
it. That was no easy thing for him to achieve, for the two sons of Bethè
son of Ban--the two sons of Ailill's foster-mother and foster-father [2]to
whom King Ailill's diadem had been entrusted[2]--attacked and wounded
[3]Follomain,[3] so that he fell by their hands. This then is the Massacre
of the youths of Ulster and of Follomain son of Conchobar.
[a] The LU. version of this episode was given above under XIIe, page
143.
[1-1] Stowe.
[2-2] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[3-3] Eg. 93.
Touching Cuchulain, he remained in his sound, heavy sleep till the end of
three days and three nights at the 'Gravemound on the Slopes.' Thereafter
Cuchulain arose from his sleep. He passed his hand over his face and he
became as a wild[b] wheel-thunder (?) from his crown to the ground, and he
felt his courage strengthened, and he would have [W.2497.] been able to
go into an assembly or on a march or to a tryst with a woman or to an
ale-house or into one of the chief assemblies of Erin. "How long am I
asleep now, young warrior?" Cuchulain asked. "Three days and three nights,"
the young warrior made answer. "Woe is me for that!" quoth Cuchulain. "Why
so?" asked the young warrior. "For that the hosts have not been attacked in
that time," answered Cuchulain. "Nay, not so were they spared," the young
warrior made answer. "I would fain inquire who then attacked them?"
Cuchulain asked. "The youths came hither out of the north from Emain Macha,
thrice fifty boys accompanying Follomain, Conchobar's son, and they the
sons of the kings of Ulster. And three battles they offered the hosts in
the space of the three days and three nights wherein thou wast till now
asleep, and thrice their number are fallen at their hands and the youths
themselves are fallen except Follomain [1]alone,[1] Conchobar's son. And
Follomain vowed that never till the very day of doom and of life [3]would
he return [2]north[2] to Emain Macha till he carried off Ailill's head with
the diadem of gold which was on it. Howbeit not such was his luck, for he
fell at the hands of the two sons of Bethè son of Ban, after engaging in
battle with them."[3]
[b] Literally, 'crimson.'
[1-1] Eg. 93.
[2-2] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[3-3] Stowe.
"Alas, that I was not [4]there[4] in my strength!" cried Cuchulain; "for
had I been in my strength the youths would not have fallen, as now they
have, and Follomain would not have perished." "But this avow, O Cucan,"[a]
[5]said the young warrior;[5] "it is no reproach to thine honour and no
disgrace to thy valour." "Bide here this night with us, young warrior,"
said Cuchulain, "that together we avenge the youths on the hosts." "Nay
then, I may not tarry," answered the [W.2515.] young warrior. [1]"Why so?"
asked Cuchulain. "Easy to say," replied the young warrior;[1] "for however
prodigious the deeds of valour and skill in arms one may perform in thy
company, not on him will fall the glory nor the honour nor the fame but on
thyself. For this reason will I not tarry with thee, but do thou thyself
try thy feats of arms [2]and the strength of thy hands[2] alone on the
hosts, for not with them is the power over thy life on this occasion."
[4-4] Stowe.
[a] A pet name for Cuchulain.
[5-5] Eg. 93.
[1-1] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[2-2] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[3]Then the young warrior from Faery went from him and they knew not what
way he had gone. "Good, O my master Laeg," said Cuchulain; "together we
will go to avenge the youths on the hosts." "I will go with thee," Laeg
made answer.[3] "And the scythed chariot, my friend Laeg," said Cuchulain.
"Canst thou get it ready? If thou canst get it ready and hast its
equipment, make it ready, and if its equipment is not at hand, make it not
ready."
[3-3] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
* * * * *
[Page 187]
XVIIb
THE SCYTHED CHARIOT
[W.2525.] Thereupon the charioteer arose and donned his yeoman's suit for
charioteering. Of this [LL.fo.77a.] yeoman's suit for charioteering, this
is what he put on him: His soft kirtle of skin which was light and airy,
which was smooth and sparkling, which was stitched and of buckskin, so that
it hindered not the movements of his arms outside. Over that he put outside
an over-mantle of raven's feathers, which Simon Magus had made [1]as a
gift[1] [2]for Darius[2] [3]Nero,[3] king of the Romans. Darius bestowed it
upon Conchobar; Conchobar gave it to Cuchulain; Cuchulain presented it to
[4]Laeg son of Riangabair,[4] his charioteer. The same charioteer took the
crested, plated, four-bordered battle-cap with variety of every colour
and every figure, reaching [5]down[5] over the middle of his shoulders
behind. It was an adornment for him and not an encumbrance. With his hand
he placed the red-yellow frontlet--like one red-golden strip of glowing
gold smelted over the edge of an anvil--on his forehead as a token of
charioteering, to distinguish him from his master. He opened the hobbles
that fastened his steeds and grasped his gold-mounted goad in his right
hand. In his left hand he seized the lines, that is, the bridle-reins of
his horses for restraining his steeds before performing his charioteering.
[1-1] Eg. 93.
[2-2] Stowe and LU. 1874.
[3-3] H. 2. 17 and Eg. 93, instead of, 'Darius.'
[4-4] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[5-5] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[W.2542.] He next threw the iron-sheathed gold-bedecked coats of mail over
his horses, so that they covered them from forehead to forehand. [1]The
chariot was[1] [2]studded with[2] dartlets, lancelets, spearlets, and
hardened spits, so that every portion of the frame bristled with points in
that chariot and every corner and end and point and face of that chariot
was a passage of laceration.
[1-1] There is a gap in the MS., and these words are supplied from the
context.
[2-2] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
Then cast he a spell of concealment over his horses and over his fellow, so
that they were not visible to any one in the camp, while all in the camp
were visible to them, [3]and over this veil of protection he wounded each
one and through it and behind it.[3] Well indeed was it that he cast that
charm, for on that day the charioteer had to perform the three gifts of
charioteership, namely leaping over a cleft in the ranks, unerring driving,
and the handling of the goad.
[3-3] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
Then [4]arose[4] the champion and battle-warrior and the instrument of
Badb's corpse-fold[a] among the men of the earth,[c] Cuchulain son of
Sualtaim, and he donned his war-dress of battle and fight and combat. To
that war-dress of battle and fight and combat which he put about him
belonged seven and twenty[b] waxed, board-like, equally close skin-tunics
which were girded by cords and swathings and ropes on his fair skin, to the
end that his wit and reason might not become deranged when the violence of
his nature came over him.
[4-4] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[a] That is, the piled up bodies of the slain.
[c] 'Of Erin,' Eg. 93.
[b] 'Eight and twenty,'. Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
Over him he put on the outside his battle-girdle of a champion, of tough,
tanned, stout leather cut from the forequarters of seven ox-hides of
yearlings, so that it reached from the slender parts of his waist to the
stout part under [W.2562.] his arm-pits. He was used to wear it to keep off
spears and points and irons and lances and arrows. For in like manner they
would bound back from it as if from stone or rock or horn they rebounded.
Then he took his silken, glossy trews with their band of spotted pale-gold
against the soft lower parts of his loins. His brown, well-sewn kilt of
brown leather from the shoulders of four ox-hides of yearlings, with his
battle-girdle of cow-skins, he put underneath over the shining silken trews
on the outside, [1]so that it covered him from the slender part of his
waist to the thick part of his thighs and reached up to the battle-belt of
the hero.[1] Then the king-hero [LL.fo.77a.] [2]and king-warrior[2] seized
his battle-arms of battle and fight and combat. This is what belonged to
those warlike weapons of battle: He took his eight little swords together
with the bright-faced, tusk-hilted straightsword [3]along with his
quiver;[3] he took his eight little spears besides his five-pronged
spear; he took his eight little darts together with his javelin with its
walrus-tooth ornaments; he took his eight little shafts along with his
play-staff; he took his eight shields for feats together with his dark-red
bent-shield, whereon a show-boar could lie in its hollow boss, with its
very sharp, razor-like, keen-cutting, hard [4]iron[4] rim all around it, so
that it would cut a hair against the stream because of its sharpness and
fineness and keenness. When the young warrior would perform the edge-feat
withal, it was the same whether he cut with his shield or his spear or his
sword. Next he put round his head his crested war-helm of battle and fight
and combat, [5]wherein were four carbuncle-gems on each point and each end
to adorn it,[5] whereout was uttered the cry of an hundred young warriors
with the long-drawn wail from each of its angles and corners. [W.2583.]
For this was the way that the fiends, the goblins and the sprites of the
glens and the demons of the air screamed before and above and around him,
what time he went forth for the shedding of blood of heroes and champions,
[1]exulting in the mighty deeds wrought underneath it[1]. His veil of
concealment was thrown over him then, of raiment from Tir Tairngirè ('the
Land of Promise') which had been brought to him [2]as a gift[2] by Manannan
son of Ler ('the Sea') from the king of Tir na Sorcha ('the Land of
Light'), [3]his foster-father in magic[3]. [4]His fair, purple-red fan was
placed in front of his face. Past it and through it and over it everything
was visible to him and no one wounded him past it nor through it nor over
it[4].
[1-1] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[2-2] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[3-3] LU. 1914.
[4-4] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[5-5] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[1-1] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[2-2] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[3-3] Stowe and LU. 1927.
[4-4] Eg. 93.
Then took place the first twisting-fit [5]and rage[5] of [6]the royal
hero[6] Cuchulain, so that he made a terrible, many-shaped, wonderful,
unheard of thing of himself. His flesh trembled about him like a pole
against the torrent or like a bulrush against the stream, every member and
every joint and every point and every knuckle of him from crown to ground.
He made a mad whirling-feat of his body within his hide. His feet and his
shins and his knees slid so that they came behind him. His heels and his
calves and his hams shifted so that they passed to the front. The muscles
of his calves moved so that they came to the front of his shins, so that
each huge knot was the size of a soldier's balled fist. He stretched the
sinews of his head so that they stood out on the nape of his neck, and as
large as the head of a month-old child was each of the hill-like lumps,
huge, incalculable, vast, immeasurable.
[5-5] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[6-6] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
He next made a ruddy bowl of his face and his countenance. He gulped down
one eye into his head so that it [W.2603.] would be hard work if a wild
crane succeeded in drawing it out on to the middle of his cheek from the
rear of his skull. Its mate sprang forth till it came out on his cheek,
[1]so that it was the size of a five-fist kettle, and he made a red berry
thereof out in front of his head.[1] His mouth was distorted monstrously
[2]and twisted up to his ears[2]. He drew the cheek from the jaw-bone so
that the interior of his throat was to be seen. His lungs and his lights
stood out so that they fluttered in his mouth and his gullet. He struck a
mad lion's blow with the upper jaw [3]on its fellow[3] so that as large as
a wether's fleece of a three year old was each [4]red,[4] fiery flake
[5]which his teeth forced[5] into his mouth from his gullet. There was
heard the loud clap of his heart against his breast like the yelp of a
howling bloodhound or like a lion going among bears. [LL.fo.78a.] There
were seen the [a]torches of the Badb,[a] and the rain clouds of poison, and
the sparks of glowing-red fire, [6]blazing and flashing[6] in hazes and
mists over his head with the seething of the truly-wild wrath that rose up
above him. His hair bristled all over his head like branches of a redthorn
thrust into a gap in a great hedge. Had a king's apple-tree laden with
royal fruit been shaken around him, scarce an apple of them all would have
passed over him to the ground, but rather would an apple have stayed stuck
on each single hair there, for the twisting of the anger which met it as it
rose from his hair above him. The Lon Laith ('Champion's Light') stood out
of his forehead, so that it was as long and as thick as a warrior's
whetstone, [7]so that it was as long as his nose, till he got furious
handling the shields, thrusting out the charioteer, destroying the
hosts.[7] As high, as thick, as strong, as steady, as long as the sail-tree
of some huge [W.2623.] prime ship was the straight spout of dark blood
which arose right on high from the very ridgepole of his crown, so that a
black fog of witchery was made thereof like to the smoke from a king's
hostel what time the king comes to be ministered to at nightfall of a
winter's day.
[1-1] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[2-2] Stowe.
[3-3] Reading with Stowe.
[4-4] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[5-5] Reading with Eg. 93.
[a-a] A kenning for 'swords.'
[6-6] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[7-7] LU. 1958-1959.
When now this contortion had been completed in Cuchulain, then it was that
the hero of valour sprang into his scythed war-chariot, with its iron
sickles, its thin blades, its hooks and its hard spikes, with its hero's
fore-prongs, with its opening fixtures, with its stinging nails that were
fastened to the poles and thongs and bows and lines of the chariot,
[1]lacerating heads and bones and bodies, legs and necks and shoulders.[1]
[1-1] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
It was then he delivered [2]over his chariot[2] the thunder-feat of a
hundred and the thunder-feat of two hundred and the thunder-feat of three
hundred and the thunder-feat of four hundred, and he ceased at the
thunder-feat of five hundred. For he did not deem it too much that such
a great number should fall by his hand at his first onset and first
battle-assault on four of the five grand provinces of Erin, [3]while
avenging on them the slaughter of the youths and of Follomain son of
Conchobar,[3] In such wise fared he forth for to seek his foes, and he
drove his chariot in a wide circuit round about the hosts of the four grand
provinces of Erin. And he led his chariot a heavy way. The chariot's iron
wheels sank into the ground so that [4]the earth dug up by the iron
wheels[4] might have served for a dûn and a fortress, so did the chariot's
iron wheels cut into the ground. For in like manner the clods and boulders
and rocks and the clumps and the shingle of the earth arose up outside on a
height with the iron wheels. It was for this cause he made this circling
[5]hedge[5] of the Badb [W.2646.] round about the hosts of four of the five
grand provinces of Erin, that they might not escape him nor get away before
he would come on them to press a reprisal for the boys. And he went into
the midst of the ranks and mowed down huge walls of the corpses of his foes
[1]and enemies and opponents[1] in a great circle round about the host. And
he made the onslaught of a foe amongst foes upon them, so that they fell
sole to sole, neck to neck, [2]arm to arm, elbow to elbow, and rib to rib,
[3]such was the closeness of their bodies,[3] and there were pools of ruddy
blood where they moved.[2] Thrice again in this manner he circled them
round, so that he left them in beds of six in a great ring around them,
even the soles of three to the backs of three men in a circle around the
camp. Hence Sessrech Bresligè ('Great sixfold Slaughter')[a] is the name of
this event on the Táin, and it is one of the three unreckonable events of
the Táin, which were, to wit, Sessrech Bresligè, Immsligè Glennamnach ('the
Mutual Slaying at Glennamain'), and the battle of Garech [LL.fo.78b.] and
Ilgarech; only that here, hound and horse and man were one to him [4]in the
great rout on Mag Murthemni that night avenging the youths on four of the
five grand provinces of Erin.[4]
[2-2] Eg. 93.
[3-3] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[4-4] Stowe.
[5-5] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[1-1] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[2-2] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[3-3] LU. 1996.
[a] Or, 'Ploughland of the Great Slaughter.'
[4-4] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
What others say is that Lug son of Ethliu fought on Cuchulain's side at the
Sessrech Bresligè.
Their number is not known and it cannot be reckoned how many fell there of
the rabble rout, but only their chiefs have been counted. Here below are
their names, to wit:--
The two Cruad, two Calad, two Cir, two Ciar, two Ecell, three Cromm, three
Cur, three Combirgè, four Feochar, four Furachar, four Cassè, four Fota,
five Caur, five Cerman, [W.2679.] five Cobtach, six Saxan, six Duach, six
Darè, [1]six Dunchadh, six Daimiach,[1] seven Rochad, seven Ronan, seven
Rurthech, eight Rochlad, eight Rochtad, eight Rindach, [2]eight Corprè,[2]
eight Malach, nine Daigith, nine Darè, nine Damach, ten Fiach, ten Fiacach,
ten Fedlimid.
[1-1] Eg. 93 and H. 2. 17.
[2-2] LU. and YBL. 2010.