The Feast of Bricriu

(Fled Bricrend, translated by George Henderson)

• Chapter I
• Chapter II
• Chapter III
• Chapter V
• Chapter VI
• Chapter VII
• Chapter VIII
• Chapter IX
• Chapter X
• Chapter XI
• Chapter XII.
• Chapter XIII
• Chapter XIV
• Chapter XV.
• Chapter XVI
• Foot notes

Chapter I

Here beginneth the Feast of Bricriu, and the Champion’s Portion of
Emain, and the Ulster Women’s War-of-Words, and the Hosting of the
Men of Ulster to Cruachan, and the Champion’s Wager in Emain.

Chapter I

§ 1. Bricriu of the Evil Tongue held a great feast for Conchobar mac
Nessa and for all the Ultonians. The preparation of the feast took a
whole year. For the entertainment of the guests a spacious house was
built by him. He erected it in Dun Rudraige after the likeness [of the
palace] of the Red Branch in Emain. Yet it surpassed the buildings of that
period entirely for material and for artistic design, for beauty of
architecture—its pillars and frontings splendid and costly, its carving and
lintel-work famed for magnificence.
§ 2. The House was made on this wise: on the plan of Tara’s
Mead-Hall, having nine compartments from fire to wall, each fronting of
bronze thirty feet high, overlaid with gold. In the fore part of the palace
a royal couch was erected for Conchobar high above those of the whole
house. It was set with carbuncles and other precious stones which shone
with a lustre of gold and of silver, radiant with every hue, making night
like unto day. Around it were placed the twelve couches of the twelve
heroes of Ulster. The nature of the workmanship was on a par with the
material of the edifice. It took a waggon team to carry each beam, and
the strength of seven Ulster men to fix each pole, while thirty of the chief
artificers of Erin were employed on its erection and arrangement.
§ 3. Then a balcony^[1]was made by Bricriu on a level with the couch of
Conchobar [and as high as those] of the heroes of valour. The
decorations of its fittings were magnificent. Windows of glass were
placed on each side of it, and one of these was above Bricriu’s couch, so
that he could view the hall from his seat, as he knew the Ulster men
would not suffer him within.
§ 4. When Bricriu had finished building the hall and balcony,
supplying it both with quilts and blankets, beds and pillows, providing
meat and drink, so that nothing was lacking, neither furnishings nor
food, he straightway went to Emain to meet Conchobar and the nobles
of Ulster.
§ 5. It fell upon a day there was in Emain a gathering of the Ulster
men. He was anon made welcome, and was seated by the shoulder of
Conchobar. Bricriu addressed himself to him as well as to the body of
the Ulster men. “Come with me,” quoth Bricriu, “to partake of a banquet
with me.” “Gladly,” rejoined Conchobar, “if that please the men of
Ulster.” Fergus mac Rôig and the nobles of Ulster also made answer:
“No; for if we go our dead will outnumber our living, when Bricriu has
incensed us against each other.”
§ 6. “If ye come not, worse shall ye fare,” quoth Bricriu. “What then,”
asked Conchobar, “if the Ulster men go not with thee?” “I will stir up
strife,” quoth Bricriu, “between the kings, the leaders, the heroes of
valour, and the yeomen, till they slay one another, man for man, if they
do not come with me to share my feast.” “That we shall not do to please
thee,” quoth Conchobar. “I will stir up enmity between father and son
so that it will come to mutual slaughter. If I do not succeed in doing so, I
will make a quarrel between mother and daughter. If that does not
succeed, I will set each of the Ulster women at variance, so that they
come to deadly blows till their breasts become loathsome and putrid.”
“Sure ’tis better to come,” quoth Fergus. “Do ye straightway take counsel
with the chief Ultonians,” said Sencha, son of Ailill. “Unless we take
counsel against this Bricriu, mischief will be the consequence,” quoth
Conchobar.
§ 7. Thereupon all the Ulster nobles assembled in council. In
discussing the matter Sencha counselled them thus: “Take hostages from
Bricriu, since ye have to go with him, and set eight swordsmen about
him so as to compel him to retire from the house as soon as he has laid
out the feast.” Furbaide Ferbenn, son of Conchobar, brought Bricriu
reply, and showed him the whole matter. “It is happily arranged,” quoth
Bricriu. The men of Ulster straightway set out from Emain, host,
battalion and company, under king, chieftain and leader. Excellent and
admirable the march of the brave and valiant heroes to the palace.

Chapter II

§ 8. The hostages of the braves had gone security on his behalf, and
Bricriu accordingly bethought him how he should manage to set the
Ulster men at variance. His deliberation and self-scrutiny being ended,
he betook himself to the company of Loigaire the Triumphant, son of
Connad mac Ilîach. “Hail now, Loigaire the Triumphant, thou mighty
mallet of Bregia, thou hot hammer of Meath, flame-red thunderbolt, thou
victorious warrior of Ulster, what hinders the championship of Emain
being thine alway?” “If I so choose, it shall be mine,” quoth Loigaire. “Be
thine the sovranty of the braves of Erin,” quoth Bricriu, “if only thou act
as I advise.” I will indeed,” quoth Loigaire.
§ 9. “Sooth, if the champion’s portion of my house be thine, the
championship of Emain is thine for ever. The champion’s portion of my
house is worth contesting, for it is not the portion of a fool’s house,”
quoth Bricriu. “Belonging to it is a caldron full of generous wine, with
room enough for three of the valiant braves of Ulster; furthermore, a
seven-year-old boar; nought has entered its lips since it was little save
fresh milk and fine meal in springtime, curds and sweet milk in summer,
the kernel of nuts and wheat in autumn, beef and broth in winter; a
cow-lord full seven-year-old; since it was a little calf neither heather nor
twig-tops have entered its lips, nought but sweet milk and herbs,
meadow hay and corn. [Add to this] fivescore cakes of wheat, cooked in
honey withal. Five-and-twenty bushels, that is what was supplied for
these fivescore cakes—four cakes from each bushel. Such is the
champion’s portion of my house. And since thou art the best hero among
the men of Ulster, it is but just to give it thee, and I so wish it. By the end
of the day, when the feast is spread out, let thy charioteer get up, and it
is to him the champion’s portion will be given.” “Among them shall be
dead men if it is not done so,” quoth Loigaire. Bricriu laughed at that,
for it liked him well.
§ 10. When he had done inciting Loigaire the Triumphant to enmity,
Bricriu betook himself into the company of Conall the Victorious. “Hail
to thee, Conall the Victorious, thou art the hero of victories and of
combats; great are the victories thou hast already scored over the heroes
of Ulster. By the time the Ulster men go into foreign bounds thou art a
distance of three days and three nights in advance over many a ford;
thou protectest their rear when returning, so that [an assailant] may not
spring past thee, nor through thee nor over thee; what then should
hinder the champion’s portion of Emain being thine alway?” Though
great his treachery with regard to Loigaire, he showed twice as much in
the case of Conall the Victorious.
§ 11. When he had satisfied himself with inciting Conall the Victorious
to quarrel, he hied to the presence of Cuchulainn. “Hail to thee,
Cuchulainn, thou victor of Bregia (ie. Bray), thou bright banner of the
Liffey, darling of Emain, belov’d of wives and of maidens, for thee
to-day Cuchulainn is no nickname, for thou art the champion of the
Ulster men, thou wardest off their great feuds and frays, thou seekest
justice for each man of them; thou attainest alone to what all the Ulster
men fail in; all the men of Ulster acknowledge thy bravery, thy valour
and thine achievements surpassing theirs. What meaneth therefore thy
leaving of the champion’s portion for some one else of the men of Ulster,
since no one of the men of Erin is capable of contesting it against thee?”
“By the god of my tribe,” quoth Cuchulainn, “his head shall he lose
whoso comes to contest it with me.” Thereafter Bricriu severed himself
from them and followed the host as if no contention had been made
among the heroes.
§ 12. Whereupon they entered the palace, and each one occupied his
couch therein, king, prince, noble, yeoman, and young brave. The half of
the palace was set apart for Conchobar and his retinue of valiant Ulster
heroes; the other half [was reserved] for the ladies of Ulster attending on
Mugan, daughter of Eochaid Fedlech, wife of King Conchobar. The
following were those who attended upon Conchobar in the fore-part of
the palace, namely, Fergus mac Rôig, Celtchar son of Uthechar, Eogan
son of Durthact, and the two sons of the king, namely, Fiacha and
Fîachaig, Fergna son of Findchôim, Fergus son of Leti, Cûscraid
the-stuttering-of-Macha, son of Conchobar, Sencha son of Ailill, the three
sons of Fiachach, namely, Rus and Dâre and Imchad, Muinremur son of
Geirrgind, Errge Echbêl, Amorgene son of Ecit, Mend son of Salchad,
Dubtach Dôel Ulad, Feradach Find Fectnach, Fedelmid mac Ilair Chêtaig,
Furbaide Ferbend, Rochad son of Fathemon, Loigaire (Leary) the
Triumphant, Conall the Victorious, Cuchulainn, Connad son of Mornai,
Erc son of Fedelmid, Illand son of Fergus, Fintan son of Nial, Ceternd
son of Fintan, Factna son of Sencad, Conla the False, Ailill the
Honey-tongued, Bricriu himself, the chief Ultonian warriors, with the
body of youths and artistes.
§ 13. While the feast was being spread for them, the musicians and
players performed. The moment Bricriu spread the feast with its
savouries, he was ordered by the hostages to leave the hall. They
straightway got up with drawn swords in their hands to expel him.
Whereupon Bricriu and his followers went out to the balcony. Arrived at
the threshold of the palace, he called out, “That Champion’s Portion, such
as it is, is not the portion of a fool’s house; do ye give it to the Ulster
hero ye prefer for valour.” He thereupon left them.
§ 14. Anon the spencers rose up to serve the food. The charioteer of
Loigaire the Triumphant, to wit, Sedlang mac Riangabra, then rose up
and said to the distributors: “Do ye assign to Loigaire the Triumphant
the Champion’s Portion which is by you, for he alone is entitled to it
before the other young braves of Ulster.” Then Id mac Riangabra,
charioteer to Conall the Victorious, got up and spake to the like effect.
And Loig mac Riangabra spake thus: “Do ye bring that to Cuchulainn; it
is no disgrace for all the Ulster men to give it to him; it is he who is most
valiant among you.” “That’s not true,” quoth Conall the Victorious and
Loigaire the Triumphant.
§ 15. They then got up upon the floor and donned their shields and
seized their swords. At one another they hewed till the half of the palace
was an atmosphere of fire with the [clash of] sword- and spear-edge, the
other half one white sheet from the enamel of the shields. Great alarm
gat hold upon the palace; the valiant heroes shook; Conchobar himself
and Fergus mac Rôig got furious on seeing the injury and the injustice of
two men surrounding one, namely, Conall the Victorious and Loigaire
the Triumphant attacking Cuchulainn. There was no one among the
Ultonians who dared separate them till Sencha spake to Conchobar: “Part
the men,” quoth he. [For at that period, among the Ultonians, Conchobar
was a god upon earth.]^[2]
§ 16. Thereupon Conchobar and Fergus intervened, [the combatants]
immediately let drop their hands to their sides. “Execute my wish,”
quoth Sencha. “Your will shall be obeyed,” they responded. “My wish,
then,” quoth Sencha, “is to-night to divide the Champion’s Portion there
among all the host, and after that to decide with reference to it according
to the will of Ailill mac Mâgach, for it is accounted unlucky among the
men of Ulster to close this assembly unless the matter be adjudged in
Cruachan.” The feasting was then resumed; they made a circle round the
fire and got ‘jovial’ and made merry.

Chapter III

§ 17. Bricriu, however, and his queen were in their soller. From his
couch the condition of the palace was observable to him, and how things
were going on withal. He exercised his mind as to how he should
contrive to get the women to quarrel as he had likewise incited the men.
When Bricriu had done examining his mind, it just chanced as he could
have wished that Fedelm-of-the-fresh-heart came from the palace with
fifty women in her train, in mood hilarious. Bricriu observed her coming
past him. “Hail to thee to-night, wife of Loigaire the Triumphant!
Fedelm-of-the-fresh-heart is no nickname for thee with respect to thine
excellency of form and of wisdom and of lineage. Conchobar, king of a
province of Erin, is thy father, Loigaire the Triumphant thy husband; I
should deem it but small honour to thee that any of the Ulster women
should take precedence of thee in entering the banqueting hall; only at
thy heel should all Ultonian women tread. If thou comest first into the
hall to-night, the sovranty of queenship shalt thou enjoy for ever over all
the ladies of Ulster.” Fedelm anon takes a leap over three ridges from
the hall.
§ 18. Thereafter came Lendabair, daughter of Eogan mac Derthacht,
wife of Conall the Victorious. Bricriu addressed her and spake: “Hail to
thee, Lendabair; for thee that is no nickname; thou art the darling and
pet of all mankind on account of thy splendour and of thy lustre. As far
as thy spouse hath surpassed all the heroes of mankind in valour and in
comeliness, so far hast thou distinguished thyself above the women of
Ulster.” Though great the deceit he applied in the case of Fedelm, he
applied twice as much in the case of Lendabair.
§ 19. Emer came out anon with half-a-hundred women [in her train].
“Greeting and hail to thee, Emer, daughter of Forgall Manach (F. the
tricky or shifty), wife of the best wight in Erin! Emer of the Fair Hair is
for thee no nickname; Erin’s kings and princes contend for thee in jealous
rivalry. As the sun surpasseth the stars of heaven, so far dost thou
outshine the women of the whole world in form and shape and lineage,
in youth and beauty and elegance, in good name and wisdom and
address.” Though great his deceit in the case of the other ladies, in that
of Emer he applied thrice as much.
§ 20. The three companies thereupon went out till they met at one
spot, to wit, three ridges from the hall. None of them wot that Bricriu
had incited them one against another. To the hall they straightway
return. Even and graceful and easy their carriage on the first ridge;
scarcely did one of them raise a foot before the other. But on the ridge
following, their steps were shorter and quicker. Moreover, on the ridge
next the house it was with difficulty each kept up with the other; so they
raised their robes to the rounds of their limbs to compete in the attempt
to go first into the hall. For what Bricriu said to each of them regarding
the other was, that whosoever should first enter should be queen of the
whole province. The amount of confusion then occasioned by the
competition to enter the hall first was as it were the noise of fifty chariots
approaching. The whole palace shook and the warriors sprang to their
arms and made essay to kill one another within.
§ 21. “Stay,” quoth Sencha, “they are not enemies who have come; it
is Bricriu who has set a-quarrelling the women who have gone out. By
the god of my tribe, unless the hall be closed against them our dead will
outnumber our living.” Thereupon the doorkeepers close the doors.
Emer, daughter of Forgall the Wily, wife of Cuchulainn, by reason of her
speed, outran the others and put her back against the door, and
straightway called upon the doorkeepers ere the other ladies [came], so
that the men within got up, each of them to open for his own wife that
she might be the first to come within. “Bad [look-out] to-night,” quoth
Conchobar. He struck the silver sceptre that was in his hand against the
bronze pillar of the couch and the folks gat seated. “Stay,” quoth Sencha,
“’tis not a warfare of arms that shall be held here; it will be a warfare of
words.” Each woman went out under the protection of her spouse, and
then followed the Ulster women’s war-of-words.
The Women’s War of Words.
§ 22. Fedelm of the fresh heart, wife of Loigaire the Triumphant,
made speech:—
“Born of a mother in freedom, one in rank and in race mine elders;
Sprung from loins that are royal, in the beauty of peerless breeding;
Lovely in form I am reckoned, and noted for figure and comely,
Fostered in warrior virtues, in the sphere of goodly demeanour:
Loigaire’s hand, all-noble, what triumphs it scoreth for Ulster!
Ulster’s marches from foemen, ever equal in strength, ever hostile—
All by himself were they holden: from wounds a defence and
protection,
Loigair(e), more famous than heroes, in number of victories greater,
Why should not Fedelm the lovely step first in the mead-hall so
festive,
Shapelier than all other women, triumphant and jealous of conquest?”
§ 23. Thereupon spake Lendabair, daughter of Eogan mac Derthacht,
wife of Conall Cernach, son of Amorgen:—
“Mine is a mien too of beauty, of reason, with grace of deportment,
Finely and fairly stepping in front of the women of Ulster,
See me step to the mead-hall, my spouse and my darling the Conall.
Big is his shield and triumphant, majestic his gait and commanding,
Up to the spears of the conflict, in front of them all as he strideth:
Back to me comes he proudly, with heads in his hands as his trophies;
Swords he getteth together for the clashing in conflict of Ulster;
Guardian of every ford-way, he destroyeth them too at his pleasure;
Fords he defendeth from foemen, the wrongful attack he avengeth,
Holdeth himself as a hero upon whom shall be raisèd a tombstone:
Son of Amorgen noble, his is the courage that speaketh;
Many the arts of the Conall and therefore he leadeth the heroes.
Lendabair, great is her glory, in every one’s eye is her splendour;
Why not the first when she enters the hall of a king so queenly?”
§ 24. Emer, daughter of Forgall the tricky, wife of Cuchulainn, made
speech:—
I am the standard of women, in figure, in grace and in wisdom;
None mine equal in beauty, for I am a picture of graces.
Mien full noble and goodly, mine eye like a jewel that flasheth;
Figure, or grace, or beauty, or wisdom, or bounty, or chasteness,
Joy of sense, or of loving, unto mine has never been likened.
Sighing for me is Ultonia,—a nut of the heart I am clearly—
(Now were I welcoming wanton, no husband were yours
to-morrow.) My spouse is the hound of Culann, and not a hound that is feeble;
Blood from his spear is spurting, with life-blood his sword is
dripping;
Finely his body is fashioned, but his skin is gaping with gashes,
Wounds on his thigh there are many, but nobly his eye looks
westward; ^[3]
Bright is the dome he supporteth and ever red are his eyen,
Red are the frames of his chariot, and red are also the cushions;
Fighting from ears of horses and over the breaths of men-folk,
Springing in air like a salmon when he springeth the spring of the
heroes, Rarest of feats he performeth, the leap that is birdlike he leapeth,
Bounding o’er pools of water, he performeth the feat cless nonbair; ^[4]
Battles of bloody battalions, the world’s proud armies he heweth,
Beating down kings in their fury, mowing the hosts of the foemen.
Others to crôn ^[5] I liken, shamming^[6] the travail of women,
Ulster’s precious heroes compared with my spouse Cuchulainn.
He unto blood may be likened, to blood that is clear and noble,
They to the scum and the garbage, as crôn their value I reckon;
Shackled and shaped like cattle, ^[7]
as kine and oxen and horses,
§ 25. Thus did the men in the hall behave on having heard the
laudatory addresses of the women—to wit, Loigaire and Conall; each
sprang into his hero’s light, and broke a stave of the palace at a like level
with themselves, so that in this way their wives came in. Moreover,
Cuchulainn upheaved the palace just over against his bed, till the stars of
heaven were to be seen from underneath the wattle. By that opening
came his own wife with half a hundred women attendants in her train, as
also half a hundred in waiting upon the other twain. Other ladies could
not be compared with Emer, while no one at all was to be likened unto
her spouse. Thereupon Cuchulainn let the palace down till seven feet of
the wattle entered the ground; the whole dún shook, and Bricriu’s
balcony was laid flat to the earth, in such wise that Bricriu and his queen
toppled down till they fell into the fosse in the middle of the courtyard
among the dogs. “Woe is me,” cried Bricriu, as he hastily got up,
“enemies have come into the palace.” He took a turn round and
perceived how it was lop-sided and inclined entirely to one side. He
wrung his hands, then betook himself within, so bespattered that none of
the Ulster folk could recognise him. From his manner of speech only did
they do so.
§ 26. Then from off the floor of the house Bricriu made speech: “Alas!
that I have prepared you a feast, O Ultonians. My house is more to me
than all my other possessions. Upon you, therefore, it is geis to drink, or
to eat, or to sleep till ye leave my house as ye found it on your arrival.”
Thereupon all the valiant Ulstermen went out of the house and tried to
tug it, but they did not raise it so much as that even the wind could pass
between it and the earth. That matter was a difficulty for the Ulstermen.
“I have no suggestion for you,” quoth Sencha, “save that ye entreat of
him who has left it lop-sided to set it upright.”
§ 27. Whereupon the men of Ulster told Cuchulainn to restore the
house to its upright position, and Bricriu made speech withal: “Oh king
of the heroes of Erin, if thou set it not straight and erect, none in the
world can do so.” All the Ulstermen then entreated of Cuchulainn to
solve the matter. That the banqueters might not be lacking for food or
for ale, Cuchulainn got up and anon tried to lift the house at a tug and
failed. A distortion thereupon gat hold of him, whilst a drop of blood
was at the root of each single hair, and he absorbed his hair into his
head, so that, looked on from above, his dark-yellow curls seemed as if
they had been shorn by scissors, and taking upon him the motion of a
millstone he strained himself till a warrior’s foot could find room
between each pair of ribs.
§ 28. His natural resources and fiery vigour returned to him, and he
then heaved the house aloft and set it so that it reached its former level.
Thereafter the consumption of the feast was pleasant to them, with the
kings and the chieftains on the one side round about Conchobar the
illustrious, the noble, high-king of Ulster. Moreover, the queens were on
the other side: Mugain Aitencaetrech, daughter of Eochaid Fedlech, wife
of Conchobar mac Nessa, Fedelm of the nine-shapes, daughter of
Conchobar,—nine “shapes” she could assume, and each shape more
lovely than the other; also Fedelm of the Fair Hair, another daughter of
Conchobar, wife of Loigaire the Triumphant; Findbec, daughter of
Eochaid, wife of Cethirnd, son of Fintan; Brîg Brethach, wife of Celtchar,
son of Uthichar; Findige, daughter of Eochaid, wife of Eogan mac
Durthacht; Findchaem, daughter of Cathbad, wife of Amargin of the Iron
Jaw, and Derborcall (Devorgilla), wife of Lugad of the Red Stripes, son
of Tri Find Emna; Emer of the Fair Hair, daughter of Forcall Manach,
wife of Cuchulainn, son of Sualdam; Lendabair, daughter of Eogan mac
Durthacht, wife of Conall the Victorious; Niab, daughter of Celtchar mac
Uthechar, wife of Cormac Condlongus, son of Conchobar. It would be
overmuch to recount and to declare who of noble dames besides

Chapter V

§ 29. Once more the hall became a babel of words, the women lauding
their men. Then essayed Conall and Loigaire and Cuchulainn to stir up
dissension. Sencha, son of Ailill, got up and shook his sceptre. To him the
Ultonians gave ear, and then to restrain the ladies he made speech:—
“I restrain ye, ladies of Ulster, noble in name and in glory;
Cease ye your words of contention, lest the mien of men folk be paler,
In keenness of conflict striving, amid vainglorious combat;
Through guile of women, meseemeth, men’s shields are wont to be
splintered,
In frays the hosts of the heroes are oft contending in anger;
To woman’s whims it is owing this use and wont among men folk—
They bruise what there’s no upbinding, and attack what they have
not attained to:
Heroines gallant and glorious, and noble ones, I restrain ye.”
§ 30. Then Emer spake and made answer:—
“Fitting for me, meseemeth, to speak as the wife of a hero
Who combineth in natural union graces of mind and of body,
Since ever his teaching was finished and learning to him came easy. ^[8]
.................
None will be found who will equal his age, his growth, and his splendour:
Of a line that is long descended, he speaketh with grace and with order;
A brave and a valiant hero, like a fury he fights in the tumult,
Dexterous of aim and so agile, and quick and sure at the hunting;
And find ye a man among men folk, a mould that may match with
Cuchulainn!”
§ 31. “Sooth, lady,” quoth Conall the Victorious, “let that famous
fellow (lit. gillie of feats) come here that we may inquire of him.” “No,”
quoth Cuchulainn. “I am to-day weary and done up. I will not hold a
duel till after I have had food and sleep.” In sooth that was really so,
inasmuch as it was the day on which he had fallen in with [his steed] the
Grey of Macha by the side of the Grey Linn at Sliav Fuait. On its having
come out of the loch, Cuchulainn crept up to it and put his two hands
around the steed’s neck till they twain got a-wrestling, and on that wise
they made a circuit of Erin, until on that night Cuchulainn came chasing
with his steed (lit. driving horse) to Emain. He got the Black Sainglenn in
like wise from Lough Dubh Sainglenn.
§ 32. It was then Cuchulainn spake thus: “To-day have the Grey and I
visited the great plains of Erin, namely, Bregia of Meath, the seashore
marsh of Muirthemne Macha, Moy Medba, Currech Cleitech Cerna, Lia
of Linn Locharn, Fea Femen Fergna, Urros Domnand, Ros Roigne (? ...)
Eô. And to sleep and to eat it liketh me better than everything. By the
god of my folk I swear ’twould be but fun and frolic for me to fight a
duel had I my fill of food and of sleep.” [“Well,” quoth Bricriu, “this has
lasted long enough. The Feast of Bricriu has to be celebrated; let meat
and drink (lit. food and ale) be got at once, and let the women’s warfare
be put a stop to till the feast be over.” This was done, and it was a
pleasant (time) for them till the end of three days and three nights.]^[9]

Chapter VI

§ 33. Again it was their hap to quarrel about the Champion’s Portion.
Conchobar with the nobles of Ulster interposed with the view of settling
upon the adjudication of the heroes. “Go to Curoi mac Dairi, the man
who will undertake to intervene,” quoth Conchobar. It was then he
spake:
“Entreat ye of him the hardy; in the rede which he dealeth for all men
Curoí mac Dairi surpasseth; and true the judgment he giveth.
He is fair, not given to falsehood, but good and a lover of justice,
Noble in mind and a guest-friend, skilful of hand like a hero,
And like to a high king in leading; he will adjudge ye truly.
To ask him demandeth courage.”

Chapter VII

§ 34. “I accept that then,” quoth Cuchulainn. “I agree (lit. I allow it)
then,” quoth Loigaire. “Let us go then,” quoth Conall the Victorious.
“Let horses be brought us and thy chariot yoked, O Conall,” quoth
Cuchulainn. “Woe is me!” cried Conall. “Every one,” quoth Cuchulainn,
“knows well the clumsiness of thy horses and the unsteadiness of thy
going and of thy turnout; thy chariot’s movement is most heavy; each of
the two wheels raiseth turf every way thy big chariot careers, so that for
the space of a year there is a well-marked track easily recognised by the
warriors of Ulster.”
§ 35. “Dost thou hear that, Loigaire?” said Conall. “Woe is me,” quoth
Loigaire. “But I am not to blame or to reproach. I am nimble at crossing
fords, and more, to breast the storm of spears, outstripping the warriors
of Ulster. Put not on me the precedence of kings till I practise faring
before kings and champions against single chariots in strait and difficult
places, in woods and on confines, till the champion of a single chariot
essay not to career before me.”
§ 36. Thereupon Loigaire had his chariot yoked and he leapt therein.
He drove over the Plain-of-the-Two-Forks, over the Gap-of-the-Watch,
over the Ford of Carpat Fergus, over the Ford-of-the-Môrrigan to the
Rowan Meadow of the Two Oxen in the Fews of Armagh (Clithar
Fidbaidi), by the Meeting of the Four Ways past Dundalk, across Mag
Slicech, westwards to the slope of Bregia. A dim, dark, heavy mist
overtook him, confusing him in such wise that it was impossible for him
to fare farther on the way. “Let us stay here,” quoth Loigaire to his
charioteer, until the mist clear up.” Loigaire alighted from his chariot,
and his gillie put the horses into the meadow that was near at hand.
§ 37. While there, the gillie saw a huge giant approaching him. Not
beautiful his appearance: broad (of shoulder) and fat of mouth, with sack
eyes and a bristly face; ugly, wrinkled, with bushy eyebrows; hideous
and horrible and strong; stubborn, violent and haughty; fat and puffing;
with big sinews and strong forearm, bold and audacious and uncouth. A
shorn black patch of hair on him, a dun covering about him, a tunic over
it to the ball of his rump; on his feet old tattered brogues, on his back a
ponderous club like unto the wheel-shaft of a mill.
§ 38. “Whose horses are these, gillie?” he asked, as he gazed furiously
at him. “The horses of Loigaire the Triumphant.” “Yes! a fine fellow he!”
And as he thus spake he brought down his club on the gillie and gave
him a blow from top to toe. The gillie gave a cry, whereupon Loigaire
came up. “What is this you are doing to the lad?” asked Loigaire. “’Tis
by way of penalty for damage to the meadow,” quoth the giant. “I will
come myself then,” quoth Logaire. They struggle together ... Loigaire
anon fled till he reached Emain, after having left his horses and gillie and
arms.
§ 39. Not long thereafter Conall the Victorious took the same way
and arrived at the plain where the druidical^[10] mist overtook Loigaire.
The like hideous black, dark cloud overtook Conall the Victorious, so
that he was unable to see either heaven or earth. Conall thereon leapt out
and the gillie unharnessed the horses in the same meadow. Not long
thereafter he saw the same giant [coming] towards him. He asked him
whose servant he was. “I am servant to Conall the Victorious,” he quoth.
“A good man he,” quoth the giant, as he raised his hands till they gave a
blow to the gillie from top to toe. The fellow yelled. Anon came Conall.
He and the giant got to close quarters. Stronger were the wrestling turns
of the giant. Conall fled, as Loigaire had done, having left behind his
charioteer and his horses and came to Emain.
§ 40. Cuchulainn then went by the same way till he came to the same
stead. The like dark mist overtook him as fell upon the twain preceding.
Cuchulainn sprang down, and Laig brought the horses into the meadow.
He had not long to wait till he saw the same man coming towards him.
The giant asked him whose servant he was. “Servant (companion) to
Cuchulainn.” “A good man he,” quoth the giant, plying him with the
club. Laig yelled. Anon Cuchulainn arrived. He and the giant came to
close quarters and either pounded the other. The giant got worsted. He
forfeited horses and charioteer, and Cuchulainn brought along with him his
fellows’ horses, charioteers and accoutrements, till he reached Emain
in triumph. He gave them to their rightful owners.
§ 41. “Thine is the Champion’s Portion,” quoth Bricriu to Cuchulainn.
“Well I wot from your deeds ye are not a whit on a par with
Cuchulainn.” “Not true, Bricriu,” quoth they, “for we know it is one of
his friends from Faëry that came to him to play us mischief and deal with
us perforce as to the championship. We shall not forego our claim on that
account.” The men of Ulster, with Conchobar and Fergus, failed to effect
a settlement. They sent them either to go to Curoi mac Dairi, or else to
go to Cruachan, to Ailill and to Mève.^[11]

Chapter VIII

§ 42. [Thus to the one stead the men of Ulster assembled in council
concerning the heroes. The three alike haughty and overweening. The
conclusion the Ulster nobles in Conchobar’s following arrived at was, to
accompany the heroes and have the difficulty adjudged at the abode of
Ailill mac Magach and of Mève of Cruachan Ai] ^[12] with reference to the
Champion’s Portion and the mutual rivalry of the women. Fine and
lovely and majestic the march of the Ultonians to Cruachan. Cuchulainn,
however, remained behind the host entertaining the Ulster ladies,
[performing] nine feats with apples, nine with javelins and nine with
knives, in such wise that one did not interfere with the other.
§ 43. Loig mac Riangabra then went to speak with him to the
feat-stead and said: “You sorry simpleton (squinter?), your valour and
bravery have passed away, the Champion’s Portion has gone from ye;
the Ultonians have reached Cruachan long since.” “Forsooth we have not
at all perceived it, my Loig. Yoke us the chariot then,” quoth Cuchulainn.
Loig accordingly yoked it and off they started on their march. By that time
the Ulstermen had reached Magh Breg. Cuchulainn having been
incited by his charioteer, marched with such speed from Dun Rudraige,
the Grey of Macha and the Black Sainglenn racing in such wise with his
chariot across the whole province of Conchobar, across Sliav Fuait (the
country around the Fews) and across the Plain of Bregia, that the third
chariot arrived first in Cruachan.
§ 44. In virtue then of the swiftness and the impetuous speed with
which all the valiant Ultonians reached Cruachan under [the lead of]
Conchobar and the body of princes, a great shaking seized Cruachan, till
the war-arms fell from the partitions to the ground, seizing likewise the
entire host of the hold, till the men in the royal keep were like unto
rushes in a stream. Mève thereupon spake: “Since the day I took up home
in Cruachan I have not until now heard thunder, there being no clouds.”
Thereupon Findabair, daughter of Ailill and of Mève, went to the soller
over the high porch of the hold. “Mother dear,” she said, “I see a chariot
coming along the plain.” “Describe it,” quoth Mève, “its form,
appearance and style; the colour of the horses; how the hero looks and
how the chariot courses.”
§ 45. “Truly, I see,” quoth Findabair, “the two horses that are in the
chariot. Two fiery dappled greys, alike in colour, shape and excellence,
alike in speed and swiftness, prancing side by side. Ears pricked, head
erect, of high mettle and strangely bounding pace. Nostril fine, mane
flowing, forehead broad, full dappled; full slim of girth and broad of
chest, manes and tails curled, they career along. A chariot of fine wood
with wicker-work, having two black revolving wheels [and two beautiful
pliant reins.^[13]] Its
fertsi hard and straight as a sword. Its body of
wicker-work new and freshly polished, its curved yoke silver-mounted.
Two rich yellow looped reins. In the chariot a fair man with long curling
hair; his tresses tri-coloured: brown at the skin, blood-red at the middle,
as a diadem of yellow gold the hair at the tips. Three halos encircle his
upturned head, each merging into the other. About him a soft crimson
tunic, having five stripes of glittering gold. A shield spotted and indented,
with a bright edge of bronze. A barbed five-pronged javelin
flames at his wrist. An awning of the rare plumage of birds over his
chariot’s frame.”
§ 46. “We recognise that man,” quoth Mève, “from his description.”
“Compeer of kings, an old disposer of conquest,
A fury of war, a fire of judgment,
A flame of vengeance; in mien a hero,
In face a champion, in heart a dragon;
The long knife of proud victories which will hew us to pieces;
The all-noble, red-handed Loigaire;
His the vigour that cuts the leek with the sword-edge—
The back-stroke of the wave to the land.”
“By the god of my people,” quoth Mève, “I swear if it be with fury of
hostile feeling Loigaire the Triumphant comes to us, that like as leeks are
cut to the ground by a sharp knife, such will be the nicety of the
slaughter he will inflict on us, whatever our number at Cruachan Ai,
unless his glowing fury, wrath and high-dudgeon are guarded against
and assuaged in accordance with his very wish.”
§ 47. “Mother dear,” quoth the daughter, “I see anon another chariot
coming along the plain, not a whit inferior to the first.” “Describe it,”
said Mève. “Sooth I see,” she quoth, “in the chariot, on the one hand, a
roan spirited steed, swift, fiery and bounding, with broad hoof and
expanded chest, taking strong vigorous strides across fords and
estuaries, over obstacles and winding roads, scouring plains and vales,
raging with triumph. Judge it from the likenesses of soaring birds,
among which my very quick eye gets lost from their most smooth
careering in emulous course. On the other a bay horse, with broad
forehead, heavy locks and wavy tresses; of light and long dashing pace;
of great strength; full swiftly he courses the bounds of the plain, between
stone enclosures and fastnesses. He finds no obstacle in the land of oaks,
careering on the way. A chariot of fine wood with wicker-work, on two
bright wheels of bronze; its pole bright with silver mounting; its frame
stripes of bronze in the arching of the house, which was of oak, with a
covering of shingles. It had twelve windows with glass in the openings.
The dais of Ailill and of Mève in the centre of the house, with silver
frontings and stripes of bronze round it, with a silver wand by the
fronting facing Ailill, that would reach the mid “hips” of the house so as
to check the inmates unceasingly. The Ulster heroes went round from
one door of the palace to the other, and the musicians played while the
guests were being prepared for. Such was the spaciousness of the house
that it had room for the hosts of valiant heroes of the whole province in
the suite of Conchobar. Moreover, Conchobar and Fergus mac Rôich
were in Ailill’s compartment with nine valiant Ulster heroes besides.
Great feasts were then prepared for them and they were there until the
end of three days and of three nights.
§ 56. Thereafter Ailill inquired of Conchobar with his Ultonian
following what was the purport of his march. Sencha narrated the matter
on account of which they had come, viz., the three heroes’ rivalry as to
the Champion’s Portion, and the ladies’ rivalry as to precedence at feasts
“They could not stand being judged anywhere else than here by thee.”
At that Ailill was silent and was not in a happy mood. “Indeed,” quoth
he, “it is not to me this decision should be given as to the Champion’s
Portion, unless it be done from hatred.” “There is really no better judge.”
“Well,” said Ailill, “I require time to consider.” “We really require our
heroes,” quoth Sencha, “for great to timid folks is their value.” “For that
then three days and three nights suffice for me,” quoth Ailill. “That
would not forfeit friendship,” answered Sencha. The Ultonians
straightway bade farewell; being satisfied, they left their blessing with
Ailill and Mève and their curse with Bricriu, for it was he who had
incited them to strife. They then departed from the territory of Mève,
having left Loigaire and Conall and Cuchulainn to be judged by Ailill.
The like supper as before was given to each of these heroes every night

Chapter IX

§ 57. One night as their portion was assigned them, three cats from
the Cave of Cruachan were let loose to attack them, i.e. three beasts of
magic. Conall and Loigaire made for the rafters, having left their food
with the beasts. In that wise they slept till the morrow. Cuchulainn fled
not from his place from the beast which attacked him. But when it
stretched its neck out for eating, Cuchulainn gave a blow with his sword
on the beast’s head, but [the blade] glided off as ’twere from stone. Then
the cat set itself down. In the circumstances Cuchulainn neither ate nor
slept. As soon as it was early morning the cats were gone. In such
condition were the three heroes found (lit. seen) on the morrow. “Does
not that trial suffice for adjudging ye?” asked Ailill. “By no means,”
quoth Conall and Loigaire, “it is not against beasts we are striving, but
against men.”

Chapter X

§ 58. Ailill having gone to his chamber, set his back against the wall.
He was disquieted in mind, for he took the difficulty that faced him to be
fraught with danger. He neither ate nor slept till the end of three days
and three nights. “Coward!” Mève then called him, “if you don’t decide,
I will.” “Difficult for me to adjudge them,” Ailill said; “it is a misfortune
for one to have to do it.” “There is no difficulty,” quoth Mève, “for
Loigaire and Conall Cernach are as different as bronze and
findruini;^[14] Conall Cernach and Cuchulainn as different as findruini and red gold.”
§ 59. It was then, after she had pondered her advice, that Loigaire the
Triumphant was summoned to Mève. “Welcome, O Loigaire the
Triumphant,” she quoth; “it is meet to give thee a Champion’s Portion.
We assign to thee the sovranty of the heroes of Erin from this time forth,
and the Champion’s Portion, and a cup of bronze with a bird chased in
white metal on its bottom. In preference to every one else, take it with
thee as a token of award. No one else is to see it till, at the day’s end,
thou hast come to the Red Branch of Conchobar. On the Champion’s
Portion being exhibited among you, then shalt thou bring forth thy cup in
the presence of all the Ultonian nobles. Moreover, the Champion’s
Portion is therein. None of the valiant Ultonian heroes will dispute it
further with thee. For the thing thou art to take away with thee shall be a
token of genuineness in the estimation of all the Ultonians.” Thereupon
the cup with its full of luscious wine was given to Loigaire the
Triumphant. There and then^[15]
he quaffs the contents at a draught. “Now
you have the feast of a champion,” quoth Mève. “I wish you may enjoy it
a hundred hundred years at the head of all Ulster.”
§ 60. Loigaire thereupon bade farewell. Then Conall Cernach in like
wise was summoned into the royal presence. “Welcome,” quoth Mève,
“O Conall Cernach; meet it is to give thee a Champion’s Portion, with a
cup of white-metal besides, having a bird on the bottom of it chased in
gold.” Thereafter the cup was given to Conall with its full of luscious
wine.
§ 61. Conall bade farewell. A herald was then sent to fetch
Cuchulainn. “Come to speak with the king and queen,” quoth the
messenger. Cuchulainn at the time was busy playing chess with Loig, son
of Riangabair, his own charioteer. “No mocking,” he quoth; “you might
try your lies on some other fool.” Having hurled one of the chessmen, it
pierced the centre of the herald’s brain. He got his death-blow
therefrom, and fell between Ailill and Mève. “Woe is me,” quoth Mève;
“sorely doth Cuchulainn work on us his fury when his fit of rage is upon
him.” Thereupon Mève got up and came to Cuchulainn, and put her two
arms round his neck. “Try a lie upon another,” quoth Cuchulainn.
“Glorious son of the Ultonians and flame of the heroes of Erin, ’tis no lie
that is to our liking where thou art concerned. Were all Erin’s heroes to
come, to thee by preference would we grant the quest, for, in regard to
fame, bravery and valour, to distinction, youth and glory, the men of
Erin acknowledge thy superiority.”
§ 62. Cuchulainn got up. He accompanied Mève into the palace, and
Ailill bade him warm welcome. A cup of gold was given him full of
luscious wine, and having on the bottom of it birds chased in precious
stone. With it, and in preference to every one else, there was given him a
lump, as big as his eyes twain, of dragon-stone. “Now you have the feast
of a champion,” quoth Mève. “I wish you may enjoy it a hundred
hundred years at the head of all the Ultonian heroes.” “Moreover, it is
our verdict,” quoth Ailill and Mève, “inasmuch as thou thyself art not to
be compared with the Ultonian warriors, neither is thy wife to be
compared with their women. Nor is it too much, we think, that she
should always precede all the Ultonian ladies when entering the Mead
Hall.” At that Cuchulainn quaffed at one draught the full of the cup, and
then bade farewell to the king, queen, and household all.

Chapter XI

[Thereafter he followed his charioteer. “My plan,” quoth Mève to
Ailill, “is to keep those three heroes with us again to-night, and to
further test them.” “Do as thou deemest right,” quoth Ailill. The men
were then detained and brought to Cruachan and their horses
unyoked.]^[16]
§ 63. Their choice of food was given them for their horses. Conall and
Loigaire told them to give oats two years old to theirs. But Cuchulainn
chose barley grains for his. They slept there that night. The women were
apportioned among them. Findabair, with a train of fifty damsels, was
brought into the stead of Cuchulainn. Sav the Eloquent (Sadb Sulbair),
another daughter of Ailill and of Mève, with fifty maids in attendance,
was ushered into the presence of Conall Cernach. Conchend, daughter of
Ceit mac Magach, with fifty damsels along with her, was brought into
the presence of Loigaire the Triumphant. Moreover, Mève herself was
wont to resort to the stead of Cuchulainn. They slept there that night.
§ 64. On the morrow they arose early in the morning and went into
the house where the youths were performing the wheel-feat. Then
Loigaire seized the wheel and tossed it till it reached half up the side
wall. Upon that the youths laughed and cheered him. It was in reality a
jeer, but it seemed to Loigaire a shout of applause. Conall then took the
wheel; it was on the ground. He tossed it as high as the ridge-pole of the
palace. The youths raised a shout at that. It seemed to Conall it was a
shout of applause and of victory. To the youths it was a shout of scorn.
Then Cuchulainn took the wheel—it was in mid-air he caught it. He
hurled it aloft till it cast the ridge-pole from off the place; the wheel went
a man’s cubit into the ground in the outside enclosure. The youths raised
a shout of applause and of triumph in Cuchulainn’s case. It seemed to
Cuchulainn, however, it was a laugh of scorn and of ridicule they then
gave vent to.
§ 65. Cuchulainn anon sought out the womenfolk, and took thrice
fifty needles from them. These he tossed up one after the other. Each
needle went into the eye of the other, till in that wise they were joined
together. He returned to the women, and gave each her own needle into
her hand. The young braves praised Cuchulainn. Whereupon they bade
farewell to the king, the queen, and household as well.

Chapter XII.

§ 66. “Go to the abode of my foster-father and to that of my
stepmother,” quoth Mève—viz., Ercol and Garmna—“and there put up as
guests to-night.” They kept on their way, and after running a race at the
Cruachan Gathering, thrice did Cuchulainn win the victory of the games.
They then went to the abode of Garmna and of Ercol, who bade them
welcome. “For what are ye come?” asked Ercol. “To be adjudged by
thee,” they quoth. “Go to the abode of Samera; he will adjudge ye.” They
went accordingly and guides were sent with them. They were welcomed
by Samera, whose daughter Buan fell in love with Cuchulainn. They told
Samera it was in order to be judged they had come to him. Samera
despatched them as they were (lit. in their order) to the Amazons of the
Glen.
§ 67. Loigaire went first, but left his accoutrements (arms) and
clothing with them.^[17]
Conall also went, and left his spears with them, but
took his chief weapon, to wit, his sword, away with him. On the third
night Cuchulainn went. The Amazons shrieked at him. He and they
fought each other till his spear was splintered, his shield broken, his
raiment torn off. The Amazons were beating and overpowering him. “O
Cuchulainn,” said Loig, “you sorry coward, you squinting savage! gone
are your valour and your bravery when it is sprites that beat you.” Then
Cuchulainn was enraged at the sprites. He turned back upon the
Horrors, and cut and gashed them till the glen was filled with their
blood. He brought off his company’s brave banner with him and turned
back in triumph to the seat of Samera, the place where his companions
were.
§ 68. Samera bade him welcome; ’twas then he made speech:—
“Not right to share the champion’s fare of the cooking pit,
Fatted kine, well-fed swine, honey and bread;
Through ladies’ cunning take not his share
From Culann’s Hound, of name and fame.
Cleaver of shields, raven of prey,
That bravery wields, eager for fray—boar of battle.
As wood takes fire, strikes his ire Emain’s foes;
Of victory-loving women belov’d—plague of death.
A judge in deeming, not in seeming, eye flashing far—
Hostile ports where ships resort his tributes know;
His chariot rides the mountain-side,
Pride of his clan, he leads the van, an eagle of war.
Why to Loigaire, lion of fences, liken him?
Why unto Conall, rider of fame?
Why should not Emer, of mantle shining—it is our pleasure through
grace divining—
Of Ultonian ladies high-born and all, enter first the merry Mead-Hall.
Cuchulainn’s share, well I wot,
It is not just [elsewhere] to allot.
“My verdict to ye then: the Champion’s Portion to Cuchulainn, and to
his wife the precedence of the ladies of Ultonia—Cuchulainn’s valour to
rank above that of every one else, Conchobar’s excepted.”
§ 69. After that they went to the abode of Ercol, who bade them
welcome. They slept there that night. Ercol challenged them to combat
with himself and with his horse. Whereupon Loigaire and his horse went
against them. The gelding of Ercol killed the horse of Loigaire, who was
himself overcome by Ercol, before whom he fled. He took his way to
Emain across Assaroe, and brought tidings with him of his comrades
having been killed by Ercol. Conall likewise fled, his horse having been
killed by Ercol’s; the way he went was across Snâm Râthaind (Rathand’s
Pool) on the route to Emain. Moreover, Conall’s gillie, Râthand, was
drowned in the river there, and after him Snâm Râthaind takes its name
since.
§ 70. The grey of Macha, however, killed the horse of Ercol, and
Cuchulainn took Ercol himself bound behind his chariot along with him
to Emain. Buan, daughter of Samera, went on the track of the three
chariots. She recognised the track of Cuchulainn’s framed chariot,
inasmuch as it was no narrow track it used to take, but undermining
walls, either enlarging or else leaping over breaches. The girl at last leapt
a fearful leap, following him behind in his chariot’s track till she struck
her forehead on a rock, whereof she died. From this is named Buan’s
Grave. When Conall and Cuchulainn reached Emain, they found the
Ultonians holding a keen for them, inasmuch as they felt certain they were
killed. Such the report Loigaire brought. They then related their
adventures and told their news to Conchobar and to the Ultonian nobles
generally. But the chiefs of chariots and the men of valour as a body
were reproaching Loigaire for the lying story he told concerning his
fellows.
§ 71. Then Cathbath made speech to this effect:—
“A tale inglorious! Base
Outlaw, black and false,
For shame! thy face from sight!
Ultonia’s Champion’s Portion
Unhappily didst thou dispute,
Nor won it by right,
—Thy lying upset—
Cuchulainn with Ercol has coped,
Victor in battle-fight;
Tied at the tail of his car,
Hercules strong he held;
Nor do men conceal his feats,
His great havoc they tell.
A champion glorious, battle-victorious,
When rageth the fray,
Slaughter-head of the hosts,
A lord that careers in might,
Zealous of valour and stout;
With him to dispute
The Champion’s Portion,
Unworthy a hero’s repute.

Chapter XIII

§ 72. The heroes ceased their discussions and their babblings and fell
to eating and enjoying themselves. It was Sualtam mac Rôig, father of
Cuchulainn himself, who that night attended upon the Ultonians.
Moreover, Conchobar’s ladder-vat was filled for them. Their portion
having been brought to their presence, the spencers came to serve, but at
the outset they withheld the Champion’s Portion from distribution.
“Why not give the Champion’s Portion,” quoth Duach of the Chafer
Tongue, “to some one of the heroes; those three have not returned from
the King of Cruachan, having no sure token with them, whereby the
Champion’s Portion may be assigned to one of them?”
§ 73. Thereupon Loigaire the Triumphant got up and lifted on high
the bronze cup having the silver bird [chased] on the bottom. “The
Champion’s Portion is mine,” he quoth, “and none may contest it with
me.” “It is not,” quoth Conall Cernach. “Not alike are the tokens we
brought off with us. Yours is a cup of bronze, whereas mine is a cup of
white metal (findruini). From the difference between them the
Champion’s Portion clearly belongs to me.” “It belongs to neither of
you,” quoth Cuchulainn as he got up and spoke. “Ye have brought no
token that procures you the Champion’s Portion. Yet the king and queen
whom ye visited were loath in the thick of distress to intensify the strife.
But no less than your deserts have ye received at their hands. The
Champion’s Portion remains with me, seeing I brought a token
distinguished above the rest.”
§ 74. He then lifted on high a cup of red gold having a bird chased on
the bottom of it in precious dragon-stone, the size of his eyes twain. All
the Ultonian nobles in the suite of Conchobar mac Nessa saw it.
“Therefore it is I,” he quoth, “who deserve the Champion’s Portion,
provided I have fair play.” “To thee we all award it,” quoth Conchobar
and Fergus and the Ulster nobles as well. By the verdict of Ailill and of
Mève the Champion’s Portion is yours.” “I swear by my people’s god,”
said Loigaire and Conall the Victorious, “that the cup you have brought
is purchased. Of the jewels and of the treasures in your possession have
you given to Ailill and to Mève for it in order that a defeat might not be
on record against you, and that the Champion’s Portion might be given
to no one else in preference. By my people’s god, that judgment shall not
stand; the Champion’s Portion shall not be yours.” They then sprang up
one after the other, their swords drawn. Straightway Conchobar and
Fergus intervened, whereupon they let down their hands and sheathed
their swords. “Hold!” quoth Sencha, “do as I bid.” “We will,” they
quoth

Chapter XIV

§ 75. “Go forth to the ford of Yellow, son of Fair. He will adjudge
ye.” Accordingly the three heroes went to the abode of Yellow (Budi).
They told their wants and the rivalries which brought them. “Was not
judgment given you in Cruachan by Ailill and by Mève?” said Yellow. “In
sooth there was,” quoth Cuchulainn, “but those fellows don’t stand by
it.” “Stand by it,” quoth the other men, “we will not; what has been
given us is no decision at all.” “It is not easy for another to adjudge ye
then,” quoth Yellow, “seeing ye did not abide by Mève and Ailill’s
arrangement. I know,” he continued, “one who will venture it, viz.,
Terror, son of Great Fear (Uath mac Imomain), at yonder loch. Off then
in quest of him; he will adjudge ye.” A big powerful fellow was Terror,
son of Great Fear. He used to shift his form into what shape he pleased,
was wont to do tricks of magic and such like arts. He in sooth was the
wizard from whom Muni, the Wizard’s Pass, is named. He used to be
called “wizard” from the extent to which he changed his divers shapes.
§ 76. To Terror at his loch they accordingly went. Yellow had given
them a guide. To Terror they told the cause for which they had sought
him out. He said he should venture on adjudgment provided only they
would adhere to it. “We will adhere to it,” they quoth; whereupon he
solemnly pledges them. I have a covenant to make with you,” he quoth,
and whoever of you fulfils it with me, he is the man who wins the
Champion’s Portion.” “What is the covenant?” they said. “I have an axe,
and the man into whose hands it shall be put is to cut off my head
to-day, I to cut off his to-morrow.”
§ 77. Thereupon Conall and Loigaire said they would not agree to
that arrangement, for it would be impossible for them to live after
having been beheaded, although he might. Therefore they declined
(shirked) that: [although other books narrate that they agreed to the
bargain, to wit, Loigaire to, cut off Terror’s (Uath’s) head the first day,
and (on the giant’s returning) that Loigaire shirked his part of the
bargain and that Conall likewise behaved unfairly]. ^[18] Cuchulainn,
however, said he would agree to the covenant (bargain) were the
Champion’s Portion given to him. Conall and Loigaire said they would
allow him that if he agreed to a wager with Terror. Cuchulainn solemnly
pledged them not to contest the Champion’s Portion if he made covenant
with Terror. And they then pledged him to ratify it. Terror, having put
spells on the edge of the axe, lays his head upon the stone for
Cuchulainn. Cuchulainn with his own axe gives the giant a blow and cuts
off his head. He then went off from them into the loch, his axe and his
head on his breast.
§78. On the morrow he comes back on his quest. Cuchulainn
stretches himself out for him on the stone. The axe with its edge reversed
he draws down thrice on Cuchulainn’s neck. “Get up,”quoth Terror; “the
sovranty of the heroes of Erin to Cuchulainn, and the Champion’s
Portion without contest.” The three heroes then hied them to Emain. But
Loigaire and Conall disputed the verdict given in favour of Cuchulainn
and the original contest as to the Champion’s Portion continued. The
Ultonians advised them to go for judgement unto Curoi. To that too they
agreed

Chapter XV.

§ 79. On the morning of the morrow the three heroes, Cuchulainn,
Conall and Loigaire, then set off to Fort Curoi. They unyoked their
chariot at the gate of the hold, then entered the court. Whereupon
Blathnat, Mind’s daughter, wife of Curoi mac Dairi, bade them warm
welcome. That night on their arrival Curoi was not at home. But
knowing they would come, he counselled his wife regarding the heroes
until he should return from his oriental expedition into Scythian
territory. From the age of seven years, when he took up arms, until his
demise, Curoi had not reddened his sword in Erin, nor ever had the
food of Erin passed his lips. Nor could Erin contain him for his
haughtiness, renown and rank, overbearing fury, strength and gallantry.
His wife acted according to his wish in the matter of bathing and of
washing, 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 take
his 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 night
o’er the fort he chaunted a spell, till the fort revolved as swiftly as a
mill-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 the
later part of the night, he saw a giant (Scath) approaching him far as his
eyes could see from the sea westwards. Exceeding huge and ugly and
horrible he thought him, for in height, it seemed to him, he reached unto
the sky, and the sheen (broad expanse) of the sea was visible between his
legs. Thus did he come, his hands full of stripped oaks, each of which
would form a burden for a waggon-team of six, at whose root not a
stroke had been repeated after the single sword-stroke. One of the
stakes he cast at Loigaire, who let it pass him. Twice or thrice he
repeated it, but the stake reached neither the skin nor the shield of
Loigaire. Then Loigaire hurled a spear at him and it hit him not.
§ 82. The giant stretched his hand towards Loigaire. Such its length
that it reached across the three ridges that were between them as they
were 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 the
clutch of his opponent, who then ground him in his grasp^[19] as a chessman
is turned in a groove. In that state, half-dead, the giant tossed him out
over the fort, till he fell into the mire of the fosse at the palace-gate. The
fort had no opening there, and the other men and inmates of the hold
thought he had leapt outside over the fort, as a challenge for the other
men to do likewise.
§ 83. There they were until the day’s end. When the night-watch
began, Conall went out on sentry, for he was older than Cuchulainn.
Everything occurred as it did to Loigaire the first night. The third night
Cuchulainn went on sentry (lit. into the seat of watch). That night the
three Goblins (Greys) of Sescind Uairbeoil, the three Ox-feeders (?) of
Bregia and the three sons of Big-Fist the Siren met by appointment to
plunder the hold. This too was the night of which it was foretold, that
the Spirit of the Lake by the fort would devour the whole host of the
hold, man and beast.
§ 84. Cuchulainn while watching through the night had many uneasy
forebodings. When midnight was come he heard a terrific noise drawing
nigh to him. “Holloa, Holloa, Cuchulainn shouted, “who is there? If
friends they be, let them not stir; if foes, let them flee.” Then they raised
a terrific shout at him. Whereupon Cuchulainn sprang upon them, so that
the nine of them fell dead to the earth. He heaped their heads in
disorder into the seat of watching and resumed sentry. Another nine
shouted at him. In like manner he killed the three nines, making one
cairn of them, heads and accoutrements.
§ 85. While he was there far on into the night, tired and sad and
weary, he heard the rising of the loch on high, as it were the booming of
a very heavy sea. How deep soever his dejection, his spirit could not
brook his not going to see what caused the great noise he heard. He then
perceived the upheaving monster, and it seemed to him to be thirty
cubits 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 palaces
could go into its gullet.
§ 86. Then he called to mind his swooping feat, sprang on high, and
was as swift as a winnowing riddle right round the monster. He
entwined his two arms about its neck, stretched his hand till it reached
into its gullet, tore out the monster’s heart, and cast it from him on the
ground. Then the beast fell from the air till it rested on the earth, having
sustained a blow on the shoulder. Cuchulainn then plied it with his
sword, hacked it to atoms, and took the head with him into the
sentry-seat along with the other heap of skulls.
§ 87. While there, depressed and miserable in the morning dawn, he
saw the giant approaching him westwards from the sea. “Bad night,”
says he. “’Twill be worse for you, you uncouth fellow,” quoth
Cuchulainn. Then the giant cast one of the branches at Cuchulainn, who
let it pass him. He repeated it two or three times, but it reached neither
the skin nor the shield of Cuchulainn. Cuchulainn then hurled his spear at
the giant, but it reached him not. Whereupon the giant stretched his hand
towards Cuchulainn to grip him as he did the others. Cuchulainn leapt
the hero’s “salmon leap,” and called to mind his swooping-feat,^[20] with
his drawn sword over the monster’s head. As swift as a hare he was, and
in mid-air circling round the monster, till he confused it by making it
giddy (lit. till he made a water wheel of him). “Life for life, O
Cuchulainn,” 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 mine
The Champion’s Portion without dispute
The Precedence to my wife o’er Ultonia’s ladies forever.”
“It shall be thine, he at once quoth. Then he who had been conversing
with him vanished he knew not whither.
§ 88. He then mused within himself as to the leap his fellows leapt
over the fort, for their leap was big and broad and high. Moreover, it
seemed to him it was by leaping it that the valiant heroes had gone over
it. He essayed it twice and failed. “Alas!” Cuchulainn quoth, “my
exertions hitherto about the Champion’s Portion have exhausted me, and
now I lose it through being unable to take the leap the others took.” As
he thus mused, he essayed the following feats: He would keep springing
backwards in mid-air a shot’s distance from the fort, and then he would
rebound from there until his forehead would strike the fort. Anon he
would 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 the
pressure of his vehemence and violence. At another time he would not
take the dew from off the tip of the grass by reason of his buoyancy of
mood, vehemence of nature, and heroic valour. What with the fit and
fury that raged upon him he stepped over the fort outside and alighted
in the middle at the door of the palace. His two footprints are in the flag
on the floor of the hold at the spot where was the royal entrance. He
thereafter 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 of
Cuchulainn’s evil plight that night. They were not long there when they
beheld Curoi coming towards them, carrying into the house with him the
standard of the “three nines” slain by Cuchulainn, along with their heads
and that of the monster. He put the heads from off his breast on to the
floor of the stead, and spoke: “The gillie whose one night’s trophies are
these 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, truly
belongs to Cuchulainn. The bravest of them, were he here, could not
match 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 all
the 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 gat
seated in Emain ere the day closed. When the spencers came to deal and
to divide, they took the Champion’s Portion with its share of ale out of
the distribution that they might have it apart. “Sooth, sure are we,”
quoth Duach of the Chafer Tongue, “ye think not to-night of contending
as to the Champion’s Portion? The man ye sought out mayhap has
undertaken your adjudging.” Whereupon quoth the other folk to
Cuchulainn: “The Champion’s Portion was not assigned to one of you in
preference 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. For
the loss thence resulting to the winner would be on a par with the profit
got from it. The championship was therefore not fully assigned until the
advent of the Champion’s Covenant in Emain.

Chapter XVI

The Champion’s Covenant.

§ 91. Once upon a time as the Ultonians were in Emain, fatigued after
the gathering and the games, Conchobar and Fergus mac Rôig, with
Ultonia’s nobles as well, proceeded from the sporting field outside and
gat seated in the Royal Court (lit. Red Branch) of Conchobar. Neither
Cuchulainn nor Conall the Victorious nor Loigaire the Triumphant were
there that night. But the hosts of Ultonia’s valiant heroes were there. As
they were seated, it being eventide, and the day drawing towards the
close, they saw a big uncouth fellow of exceeding ugliness drawing nigh
them into the hall. To them it seemed as if none of the Ultonians would
reach half his height. Horrible and ugly was the carle’s guise. Next his
skin he wore an old hide with a dark dun mantle around him, and over
him a great spreading club-tree (branch) the size of a winter-shed, under
which thirty bullocks could find shelter. Ravenous yellow eyes he had,
protruding from his head, each of the twain the size of an ox-vat. Each
finger as thick as another person’s wrist. In his left hand a stock, a
burden for twenty yoke of oxen. In his right hand an axe weighing thrice
fifty glowing molten masses [of metal]. Its handle would require a
plough-team (a yoke of six) to move it. Its sharpness such that it would
lop off hairs, the wind blowing them against its edge.
§ 92. In that guise he went and stood by the fork-beam beside the
fire. “Is the hall lacking in room for you,” quoth Duach of the Chafer
Tongue to the uncouth clodhopper, “that ye find no other place than by
the fork-beam, unless ye wish to be domestic luminary?—only sooner
will a blaze be to the house than brightness to the household.” “What
property soever may be mine, sooth ye will agree, no matter how big I
am, that the household as a whole will be enlightened, while the hall will
not be burnt.
§ 93. “That, however, is not my sole function; I have others as well.
But neither in Erin nor in Alba nor in Europe nor in Africa nor in Asia,
including Greece, Scythia, the Isles of Gades, the Pillars of Hercules, and
Bregon’s Tower (Brigantium), have I found the quest on which I have
come, nor a man to do me fairplay regarding it. Since ye Ultonians have
excelled all the folks of those lands in strength, prowess, valour; in rank,
magnanimity, dignity; in truth, generosity and worth, get ye one among
you to give me the boon I crave.”
§ 94. “In sooth it is not just that the honour of a province be carried
off,” quoth Fergus mac Rôich, “because of one man who fails in keeping
his word of honour. Death, certainly, is not a whit nearer to him than to
you.” “Not that I shun it,” quoth he. “Make thy quest known to us then,”
quoth Fergus mac Rôich. “If but fairplay be vouchsafed me, I will tell it.”
“It is right also to give fairplay,” quoth Sencha, son of Ailill, “for it
beseemeth not a great clannish folk to break a mutual covenant over any
unknown individual. To us too it seemeth likely, if at long last you find
such a person, you will find here one worthy of you.” “Conchobar I put
aside,” he quoth, “for sake of his sovranty, and Fergus mac Rôich also on
account of his like privilege. These two excepted, come whosoever of you
that may venture, that I may ^[23]
cut off his head to-night, he mine
to-morrow night.”
§ 95. “Sure then there is no warrior here,” quoth Duach, “after these
two.” “By my troth there will be this moment,” quoth Fat-Neck, son of
Short Head, as he sprang on to the floor of the hall. The strength then of
yon Fat Neck was as the strength of a hundred warriors, each arm
having the might of a hundred “centaurs.” “Bend down, bachlach,”
quoth Fat-Neck, “that I may cut your head off to night, you to cut off
mine to-morrow night.” “Were that my quest, I could have got it
anywhere,” quoth the bachlach. “Let us act according to our covenant,”
he quoth, “I to cut off your head to-night, you to avenge it to morrow
night.” “By my people’s god,” quoth Duach of the Chafer Tongue, “death
is thus for thee no pleasant prospect should the man killed to-night attack
thee on the morrow. ^[24] It is given to you alone if you have the power,
being killed night after night (lit. to be killed every night), to avenge it
next day.” “Truly I will carry out what you all as a body agree upon by
way of counsel,^[25] strange as it may seem to you,” quoth the bachlach. He
then pledged the other to keep his troth in this contention as to fulfilling
his tryst on the morrow.
§ 96. With that Fat-Neck took the axe from out of the bachlach’s hand.
Seven feet apart were its two angles. Then did the bachlach put his neck
across the block. Fat-Neck dealt a blow across it with the axe till it stuck
in the block underneath, cutting off the head till it lay by the base of the
fork-beam, the house being filled with the blood. Straightway the
bachlach rose, recovered himself, clasped his head, block and axe to his
breast, thus made his exit from the hall with blood streaming from his
neck. It filled the Red Branch on every side. Great was the folk’s horror,
wondering at the marvel that had appeared to them. “By my people’s
god,” quoth Duach of the Chafer Tongue, “if the bachlach, having been
killed to-night, come back tomorrow, he will not leave a man alive in
Ultonia.” The following night, however, he returned, and Fat-Neck
shirked him. Then began the bachlach to urge his pact with Fat-Neck.
“Sooth it is not right for Fat-Neck not to fulfil his covenant with me.”
§ 97. That night, however, Loigaire the Triumphant was present.
“Who of the warriors that contest Ultonia’s Champion’s Portion will
carry out a covenant to-night with me? Where is Loigaire the
Triumphant?” quoth he. “Here,” said Loigaire. He pledged him too, yet
Loigaire kept not his tryst. The bachlach returned on the morrow and
similarly pledged Conall Cernach, who came not as he had sworn.
§ 98. The fourth night the bachlach returned, and fierce and furious
was he. All the ladies of Ultonia came that night to see the strange
marvel that had come into the Red Branch. That night Cuchulainn was
there also. Then the fellow began to upbraid them. “Ye men of Ultonia,
your valour and your prowess are gone. Your warriors greatly covet the
Champion’s Portion, yet are unable to contest it. Where is yon poor mad
wight that is hight Cuchulainn? Fain would I know if his word be better
than the others’.” “No covenant do I desire with you,” quoth Cuchulainn.
“Likely is that, you wretched fly;^[26] greatly thou dost fear to die.”
Whereupon Cuchulainn sprang towards him and dealt him a blow with
the axe, hurling his head to the top rafter of the Red Branch till the whole
hall shook. Cuchulainn again caught up the head and gave it a blow with
the axe and smashed it. Thereafter the bachlach rose up.
§ 99. On the morrow the Ultonians were watching Cuchulainn to see
whether he would shirk the bachlach as the other heroes had done. As
Cuchulainn was awaiting the bachlach, they saw that great dejection
seized him. It had been fitting had they sung his dirge. They felt sure his
life would last only till the bachlach came. Then quoth Cuchulainn with
shame to Conchobar:^[27]
“Thou shall not go until my pledge to the
bachlach is fulfilled; for death awaits me, and I would rather have death
with honour.”
§ 100. They were there as the day was closing when they saw the
bachlach approaching. “Where is Cuchulainn?” he quoth. “Here am I,” he
answered. “You’re dull of speech to-night, unhappy one; greatly you fear
to die. Yet, though great your fear, death you have not shirked.”
Thereafter Cuchulainn went up to him and stretched his neck across the
block, which was of such size that his neck reached but half-way. “Stretch
out your neck, you wretch,” the bachlach quoth. “You keep me in
torment,” quoth Cuchulainn. “Despatch me quickly; last night, by my
troth, I tormented you not. Verily I swear if you torment me, I shall
make myself as long as a crane above you.” “I cannot slay you,” quoth
the bachlach, “what with the size of the block and the shortness of your
neck and of your side” (sic!).
§ 101. Then Cuchulainn stretched out his neck so that a warrior’s
full-grown foot would have fitted between any two of his ribs; his neck
he distended till it reached the other side of the block. The bachlach
raised his axe till it reached the roof-tree of the hall. The creaking of the
old hide that was about the fellow and the crashing of the axe—both his
arms being raised aloft with all his might—were as the loud noise of a
wood tempest-tossed in a night of storm. Down it came then ... on his
neck, its blunt side below,—all the nobles of Ultonia gazing upon them.
§ 102. “O Cuchulainn, arise! ... Of the warriors of Ultonia and Erin, no
matter their mettle, none is found to be compared with thee in valour,
bravery and truthfulness. The sovranty of the heroes of Erin to thee from
this hour forth and the Champion’s Portion undisputed, and to thy lady
the precedence alway of the ladies of Ultonia in the Mead Hall. And
whosoever shall lay wager against thee from now, as my folks swear I
swear, while on life he will be in [sore scathe].” Then the bachlach
vanished. It was Curoi mac Dairi who in that guise had come to fulfil the
promise he had given to Cuchulainn.

And the Ulster Women’s War of Words
And the Champion’s Wager in Emain
And the Hosting of the Ultonians
To Cruachan.

Foot notes

1. lit.soller.
2. Gloss of the Christian scribe.
3. This is a mythic reference to Cuchulainn as sun-hero.
4. lit. feat of nine.
5. Some metal of inferior value.
6. Emer, who is represented as coming from the Celtic province of Meath, alludes to the Ultonian couvade. She implies those Ulster heroes were shams.
7. bodelbae = cow-shapes, may refer to some old practice of cow worship; cf. the Burghead stones.
8. Here follows an enumeration of Cuchulainn’s feats. It is not easy to figure them mentally with accuracy, so that we can be sure we know what we are speaking about: word for word they mean:—both over-breath-feat, apple-feat, ghost- (or sprite-) feat, screw-feat, cat-feat, valiant-champion’s whirling-feat, barbed spear, quick stroke, mad roar, heroes’ fury, wheel-feat, sword-edge-feat, climbing against spike-pointed things (or places) and straightening his body on each of them.
9. After Eg and H, which represent a different recension and pass on at once to § 42.
10. magic
11. The scribe of LU was harmonising two written accounts; he is not sure which to follow.
12. For the section in square brackets read: Then after three days and three nights the Ultonians as a body went to be adjudged to Ailill mac Magach to Cruachan Ai.— Eg and H, where this comes at once after § 32 and represents a different recension.
13. Wrongly inserted, from a different recension.
14. White metal.
15. Lit. on the floor of the palace.
16. This passage in brackets is clearly the work of the compiler of
    LU. The reading in H is: And he went till he arrived at Emain Macha at the end of day, and there was none of the Ultonians who would venture to ask news as to any of the three until the time came to eat and to drink in the Mead Hall. The narrative in H passes on to § 72, which seems in sequence.
17. i.e.with the Amazons.
18. Evidently an interpolation of the compiler of LU. He expressly refers to other books (araili libair).
19. Lit. between his two palms.
20. The circling motion of a bird of prey suggests itself.
21. it. Thou hast them as they will come to thee with thy breath.
    The three things were to be got for asking, provided they were asked at one breath. Thus, too, they were incitements to strife. In a Welsh fairy story, also, a woman gets all the animals she can count at one breath.
22. A cumal had the value of three cows.
23. LU ends; tale continued by Edinburgh MS. In this clause LU, Eg, and Ed were at one. But there is no confusion in the tale, for according to § 76 the giant agrees to be beheaded first; and this form of the giant's covenant is resumed in § 96, and continued to the end. The giant in § 94 is dissembling for the nonce. His real mind is seen from § 95.
24. “You do not care for death, then, if the man whom you slay to-night clings to you on the morrow.” Professor Kuno Meyer renders it thus, but I take this clause to be addressed to Fat-Neck, the following to the giant.
25. The natural plan would be to behead the giant the first night. It is on this the story turns; it is what “seemeth strange.” It thus becomes clear he is a supernatural being.
26. Cuil, “fly” conveys a pun upon Cuchulainn's name incapable of being reproduced.

According to the textual reading, it is Conchobar that addresses Cuchulainn. I have altered the translation to suit the context. The scribe is inaccurate.