Chapter XV.

§ 79. On the morning of the morrow the three heroes, Cuchulainn,Conall and Loigaire, then set off to Fort Curoi. They unyoked theirchariot at the gate of the hold, then entered the court. WhereuponBlathnat, Mind’s daughter, wife of Curoi mac Dairi, bade them warmwelcome. That night on their arrival Curoi was not at home. Butknowing they would come, he counselled his wife regarding the heroesuntil he should return from his oriental expedition into Scythianterritory. From the age of seven years, when he took up arms, until hisdemise, Curoi had not reddened his sword in Erin, nor ever had thefood of Erin passed his lips. Nor could Erin contain him for hishaughtiness, renown and rank, overbearing fury, strength and gallantry.His wife acted according to his wish in the matter of bathing and ofwashing, providing them with refreshing drinks and beds most excellent.And it liked them well.§ 80. When bedtime was come, she told them that each was to takehis night watching the fort until Curoi should return. “And, moreover,thus said Curoi—that ye take your turn watching according to seniority.”In what airt soever of the globe Curoi should happen to be, every nighto’er the fort he chaunted a spell, till the fort revolved as swiftly as amill-stone. The entrance was never to be found after sunset.§ 81. The first night, Loigaire the Triumphant took the sentry,inasmuch as he was the eldest of the three. As he kept watch into thelater part of the night, he saw a giant (Scath) approaching him far as hiseyes could see from the sea westwards. Exceeding huge and ugly andhorrible he thought him, for in height, it seemed to him, he reached untothe sky, and the sheen (broad expanse) of the sea was visible between hislegs. Thus did he come, his hands full of stripped oaks, each of whichwould form a burden for a waggon-team of six, at whose root not astroke had been repeated after the single sword-stroke. One of thestakes he cast at Loigaire, who let it pass him. Twice or thrice herepeated it, but the stake reached neither the skin nor the shield ofLoigaire. Then Loigaire hurled a spear at him and it hit him not.§ 82. The giant stretched his hand towards Loigaire. Such its lengththat it reached across the three ridges that were between them as theywere throwing at each other, and thus in his grasp he seized him.Though Loigaire was big and imposing, he fitted like a year old into theclutch of his opponent, who then ground him in his grasp[19] as a chessmanis turned in a groove. In that state, half-dead, the giant tossed him outover the fort, till he fell into the mire of the fosse at the palace-gate. Thefort had no opening there, and the other men and inmates of the holdthought he had leapt outside over the fort, as a challenge for the othermen to do likewise.§ 83. There they were until the day’s end. When the night-watchbegan, Conall went out on sentry, for he was older than Cuchulainn.Everything occurred as it did to Loigaire the first night. The third nightCuchulainn went on sentry (lit. into the seat of watch). That night thethree Goblins (Greys) of Sescind Uairbeoil, the three Ox-feeders (?) ofBregia and the three sons of Big-Fist the Siren met by appointment toplunder the hold. This too was the night of which it was foretold, thatthe Spirit of the Lake by the fort would devour the whole host of thehold, man and beast.§ 84. Cuchulainn while watching through the night had many uneasyforebodings. When midnight was come he heard a terrific noise drawingnigh to him. “Holloa, Holloa, Cuchulainn shouted, “who is there? Iffriends they be, let them not stir; if foes, let them flee.” Then they raiseda terrific shout at him. Whereupon Cuchulainn sprang upon them, so thatthe nine of them fell dead to the earth. He heaped their heads indisorder into the seat of watching and resumed sentry. Another nineshouted at him. In like manner he killed the three nines, making onecairn of them, heads and accoutrements.§ 85. While he was there far on into the night, tired and sad andweary, he heard the rising of the loch on high, as it were the booming ofa very heavy sea. How deep soever his dejection, his spirit could notbrook his not going to see what caused the great noise he heard. He thenperceived the upheaving monster, and it seemed to him to be thirtycubits in curvature above the loch. It raised itself on high into the air,sprang towards the fort, opened its mouth so that one of the palacescould go into its gullet.§ 86. Then he called to mind his swooping feat, sprang on high, andwas as swift as a winnowing riddle right round the monster. Heentwined his two arms about its neck, stretched his hand till it reachedinto its gullet, tore out the monster’s heart, and cast it from him on theground. Then the beast fell from the air till it rested on the earth, havingsustained a blow on the shoulder. Cuchulainn then plied it with hissword, hacked it to atoms, and took the head with him into thesentry-seat along with the other heap of skulls.§ 87. While there, depressed and miserable in the morning dawn, hesaw the giant approaching him westwards from the sea. “Bad night,”says he. “’Twill be worse for you, you uncouth fellow,” quothCuchulainn. Then the giant cast one of the branches at Cuchulainn, wholet it pass him. He repeated it two or three times, but it reached neitherthe skin nor the shield of Cuchulainn. Cuchulainn then hurled his spear atthe giant, but it reached him not. Whereupon the giant stretched his handtowards Cuchulainn to grip him as he did the others. Cuchulainn leaptthe hero’s “salmon leap,” and called to mind his swooping-feat,[20] withhis drawn sword over the monster’s head. As swift as a hare he was, andin mid-air circling round the monster, till he confused it by making itgiddy (lit. till he made a water wheel of him). “Life for life, OCuchulainn,” he quoth. “Give me my triad of wishes,” quoth Cuchulainn.At a breath [21]they are thine,” he said.“The Sovranty of Erin’s Heroes be henceforth mineThe Champion’s Portion without disputeThe Precedence to my wife o’er Ultonia’s ladies forever.”“It shall be thine, he at once quoth. Then he who had been conversingwith him vanished he knew not whither.§ 88. He then mused within himself as to the leap his fellows leaptover the fort, for their leap was big and broad and high. Moreover, itseemed to him it was by leaping it that the valiant heroes had gone overit. He essayed it twice and failed. “Alas!” Cuchulainn quoth, “myexertions hitherto about the Champion’s Portion have exhausted me, andnow I lose it through being unable to take the leap the others took.” Ashe thus mused, he essayed the following feats: He would keep springingbackwards in mid-air a shot’s distance from the fort, and then he wouldrebound from there until his forehead would strike the fort. Anon hewould spring on high till all that was within the fort was visible to him,while again he would sink up to his knees in the earth owing to thepressure of his vehemence and violence. At another time he would nottake the dew from off the tip of the grass by reason of his buoyancy ofmood, vehemence of nature, and heroic valour. What with the fit andfury that raged upon him he stepped over the fort outside and alightedin the middle at the door of the palace. His two footprints are in the flagon the floor of the hold at the spot where was the royal entrance. Hethereafter entered the house and heaved a sigh.§ 89. Then Mind’s daughter, Blâthnat, wife of Curoi, made speech:“Truly, not the sigh of one dishonoured, but a victor’s sigh of triumph.”The daughter of the king of the Isle of the Men of Falga knew full well ofCuchulainn’s evil plight that night. They were not long there when theybeheld Curoi coming towards them, carrying into the house with him thestandard of the “three nines” slain by Cuchulainn, along with their headsand that of the monster. He put the heads from off his breast on to thefloor of the stead, and spoke: “The gillie whose one night’s trophies arethese is a fit lad to watch a king’s keep for aye. The Champion’s Portion,over which you have fallen out with the gallant youths of Erin, trulybelongs to Cuchulainn. The bravest of them, were he here, could notmatch him in number of trophies.” Curoi’s verdict upon them was:“The Champion’s Portion to be Cuchulainn’s.With the sovranty of valour o’er all the Gael.And to his wife the precedence on entering the Mead Hall before allthe ladies of Ultonia.”And seven cumals [22]of gold and of silver he gave him in reward for his one night’s performance.§ 90. They straightway bade Curoi farewell and kept on till they gatseated in Emain ere the day closed. When the spencers came to deal andto divide, they took the Champion’s Portion with its share of ale out ofthe distribution that they might have it apart. “Sooth, sure are we,”quoth Duach of the Chafer Tongue, “ye think not to-night of contendingas to the Champion’s Portion? The man ye sought out mayhap hasundertaken your adjudging.” Whereupon quoth the other folk toCuchulainn: “The Champion’s Portion was not assigned to one of you inpreference to the other. As to Curoi’s judgment also upon those three,not a whit did he concede to Cuchulainn upon their arriving at Emain.”Cuchulainn then declared he by no means coveted the winning of it. Forthe loss thence resulting to the winner would be on a par with the profitgot from it. The championship was therefore not fully assigned until theadvent of the Champion’s Covenant in Emain.