The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Táin Bó Cúalnge

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, 3and if ye go beyond3 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, 4certain it is, whether ye be4 under the ground or in a tight-shut house, 5the man that wrote the ogam hereon5 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 6straightway6 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, 1that is, Fidduin, ('the Wood of the Dûn')1 southwards till morning. There will we pitch our camp and quarters."

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.

2According to other books, it is told as follows: After they had come to 3Fidduin3 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

4They 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 shouldersa of the men and to the flanks of the horses and to the polesb 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.

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 1with the snow1 at Cul Sibrille. The four grand provinces of Erin moved out early on the morrow 2with the rising of the bright-shining sun glistening on the snow2 and marched on from that part into another.

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. 5Would 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, 6without 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 7last 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."

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 2after a long while2 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 5For 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 6the entire host of6 the men of Erin, 7so that their number is not clear, namely, that of the cantred of Leinstermen."7 8This here is the third cunningest 9and most difficult9 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 10in the Battle of Moytura,10 and the reckoning by Incel of the host in the Hostel of Da Derga.8

Now, many and divers were the magic virtues that were in Cuchulain 11that 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.

"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 lefta 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."

Then it was that the charioteer gave the prick to the steeds. He turned his left board to the hosts till he arrived at Turlochb 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'). 1Thereupon 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 2of 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 3in the mid part of the stream, so that no chariot could go thereby on this side or that.3

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 4would be the first to fight and contend with Cuchuain, which of them4 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 1from themselves 2Eirr and Indell2 and 3from 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 4around their ears4 and their bellies red and the bodies of the warriors dripping their blood down outside on the ribs of the chariots. 5Thus 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 (6and their crimsoned trappings upon them6). 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.

Medb and Fergus and the Manè and the sons of Maga drew near. For in this wise was Medb wont to travel, and nine chariots with her alone; two of these chariots before her, and two chariots behind, and two chariots at either side, and her own chariot in the middle between them. This is why Medb did so, that the turves from the horses' hoofs, or the flakes of foam from the bridle-bits, or the dust of the mighty host or of the numerous throng might not reach the queen's diadem of gold 7which she wore round her head.7 "What have we here?" queried Medb. "Not hard to say," each and all made answer; *LL. fo. 60. "the horses of the band that went out before us are here and their bodies lacking their heads in their chariots." They held W. 702. a council and they felt certain it was the sign of a multitude and of the approach of a mighty host, and that it was the Ulstermen that had come 1and that it was a battle that had taken place before them on the ford.1 And this was the counsel they took: to despatch Cormac Conlongas, Conchobar's son, from them to learn what was at the ford; because, even though the Ulstermen might be there, they would not kill the son of their own king. Thereupon Cormac Conlongas, Conchobar's son, set forth and this was the complement with which he went, ten hundred in addition to twenty hundred armed men, to ascertain what was at the ford.

And when he was come, he saw naught save the fork in the middle of the ford, with four heads upon it dripping their blood down along the stem of the fork into the stream of the river, 2and a writing in ogam on the side,2 and the signs of the two horses and the track of a single chariot-driver and the marks of a single warrior leading out of the ford going therefrom to the eastward. 3By that time,3 the nobles of Erin had drawn nigh to the ford and they all began to look closely at the fork. They marvelled and wondered who had set up the trophy. 4"Are yonder heads those of our people?" Medb asked. "They are our people's, and our chosen ones'," answered Ailill. One of their men deciphered the ogam-writing that was on the side of the fork, to wit: 'A single man cast this fork with but a single hand; and go ye not past it till one man of you throw it with one hand, excepting Fergus.'4 "What name have ye men of Ulster for this ford till now, Fergus?" asked Ailill. "Ath Grenca,"a answered Fergus; "and Ath Gabla ('Ford of the Fork') shall now be its name forever from this fork," said Fergus. And he recited the lay:—