Heroic Romances of Ireland Part 19

Naught this strife avails thee, Glory fades, and fails thee; c.o.c.k-crow loudly hails thee, High on stake thy head!

Cualgne's[FN#55] Hound, Cuchulain!

Faults thy soul bear rule in: Thee to bitter schooling Frantic grief hath led.

[FN#55] p.r.o.nounced Kell-ny.

"O my friend Ferdia!" said Cuchulain, "it was not right for thee to have come to the combat and the fight with me, at the instigation and the meddling of Ailill and Maev: none of those who came before thee have gained for themselves victory or success, and they all fell at my hand; neither shalt thou win victory or success from this battle, by me shalt thou fall." And it was in this manner that he was speaking, and he recited these words, and Ferdia hearkened to him:

Come not near, thou powerful man![FN#56]

O Ferdia mac Daman: Worst of woe on thee is hurled, Though thy fate shall grieve the world.

[FN#56] The metre is that of the Irish.

Come not near, nor right forget In my hand thy fate is set: Those recall, whom late I fought, Hath their fall no wisdom taught?

Thou for gifts wert pa.s.sed in sale, Purple sash, firm coat of mail; Never maid, O Daman's son!

In this war of thine is won.

Findabar, Maev's lovely child, With her form thy sense beguiled: Brightly though her beauty glows, She no love on thee bestows.

Wouldst thou win the prize they bring, Findabar, the child of king?

Many ere now that maid could cheat Here, like thee, their wounds to meet.

Thou hast sworn, and plighted. troth, Ne'er to fight me: keep thine oath: Friends.h.i.+p's tie thee firm should hold, Come not nigh me, champion bold.

Fifty chiefs, who sought that maid, Fought me, fell, in earth are laid; Well I know that tempting bait, All have found, and earned their fate.

Ferbay fell, though bold his boast, Him obeyed a valiant host; Quickly here his rage I stilled; Cast my spear but once, and killed.

Cruel fate Srub Darry slew, Tales of hundred dames he knew; Great his fame in days of yore; Silver none, 'twas gold he wore.

Though that maid, whom Erin's best Hope to gain, my heart would charm; South and north, and east and west I would keep thee safe from harm.

"And, O my friend Ferdia!" said Cuchulain "this is the cause why it was not thy part to come here to the combat and the fight with me. It is because that when with Scathach, with Uathach, and with Aife we abode, it was the custom with us that together we should go to every battle, and to every field of battle; to every fight and to every skirmish; to every forest and to all wildernesses; to all things dark and difficult." These were the words of his speech, and it was in that place that he recited these staves:

Tuned our hearts were beating, We, where chiefs were meeting, Brotherly went: when slumbering One was our couch: we sought Fierce fights, and fought.

Oft in woods that are far away Joined we stood in our skilful play; Scathach our feats had taught.

And Ferdia replied to him thus:

O Cuchulain! for beautiful feats renowned, Though together we learned our skill; Though thou tellest of friends.h.i.+p that once we found, From me shall come first thine ill; Ah, recall not the time of our friends.h.i.+p's day: It shall profit thee nothing, O Hound, I say.

"For too long now have we thus waited," said Ferdia; "tell me now O Cuchulain! to what weapons shall we resort?" "Thou hast the choice of the weapons till the night," said Cuchulain, "because thou wert the first to reach the Ford." "Hast thou any remembrance," said Ferdia, "of the weapons for casting, that we were accustomed to practise the use of when we were with Scathach, with Uathach, and with Aife?" "I do indeed remember them," said Cuchulain." "If thou rememberest them, let us resort to them now," said Ferdia. Then they resorted to their weapons used for the casting. They took up two s.h.i.+elds for defence, with devices emblazoned upon them, and their eight s.h.i.+elds with sharp edges such that they could hurl, and their eight javelins, and their eight ivory-hilted dirks, and their eight little darts for the fight.

To and fro from one to the other, like bees upon a sunny day, flew the weapons, and there was no cast that they threw that did not hit. Each of them then continued to shoot at the other with their weapons for casting, from the dawn of the morning to the full middle of the day, until all of their weapons had been blunted against the faces and the bosses of their s.h.i.+elds; and although their casting was most excellent, yet so good was the defence that neither of them wounded the other nor drew the other's blood during all that time. "Cease now from these feats, O Cuchulain!" said Ferdia, "for it is not by means of these that the struggle between us shall come." "Let us cease indeed," said Cuchulain, "if the time for ceasing hath arrived." And they ceased from their casting, and they threw the weapons they had used for it into the hands of their charioteers.

"To what weapons shall we next resort, O Cuchulain?" said Ferdia.

"Thou hast the choice of weapons until the night," said Cuchulain, "because thou wert the first to reach the Ford." "Then," said Ferdia, "let us turn to our straight, well-trimmed, hard, and polished casting-spears with tough cords of flax upon them." "Let us do so indeed," said Cuchulain. Then they took two stout s.h.i.+elds of defence, and they turned to their straight, well-trimmed, hard, and polished casting-spears with the tough cords of flax upon them, and each of them continued to hurl his spears at the other from the middle of midday until the ninth hour of the evening: and though the defence was most excellent that each of them made, yet so good was the casting of the spears that each of them wounded the other at that time, and drew red blood from him. "Let us desist from this now, O Cuchulain!" said Ferdia. "Let us desist indeed," said Cuchulain, "if the time has come."

They ceased, and they threw away their weapons into their charioteers'

hands; and each of them at the end of that fight sought the other, and each threw his arms about the other's neck, and gave him three kisses.

Their horses were in the same paddock that night, the men who had driven their chariots sat by the same fire, moreover the charioteers of both those warriors spread couches of fresh rushes for the two, and supplied them with such pillows as are needed by wounded men. And such folk as can heal and cure came to heal and to cure them, and they applied soothing and salving herbs and plants to their bruises, and their cuts, and their gashes, and to all their many wounds. And of every soothing and salving herb and plant that was brought for the bruises, the cuts, and the gashes, and all the wounds of Cuchulain, he used to send an equal portion westward across the ford to Ferdia, so that in case Ferdia fell at his hand the men of Ireland should not be able to say that it was owing to superiority in leech-craft that he had done it. And of each kind of food, and of pleasant, palatable, intoxicating drink that the men of Ireland brought to Ferdia, he would send a fair half northward across the ford to Cuchulain; for the men who provided food for Ferdia were more in number than they who provided food for Cuchulain. All the army of the men of Ireland helped to provide Ferdia with food, because he was their champion to defend them against Cuchulain; yet to Cuchulain also food was brought by the people who dwell in the Breg. And it was the custom with these that they came to converse with him at the dusk of each night.

Thus they remained that night, but early in the morning they arose, and repaired to the Ford of Combat. "What weapons shall we turn to to-day, O Ferdia?" said Cuchulain. "Thou hast the choice of weapons until the night," answered Ferdia, "because it is I who had my choice of them in the day that is past." "Let us then," said Cuchulain, "resort to our great, broad-bladed, heavy spears this day, for nearer shall we be to our battle by the thrusting of our spears this day than we were by the throwing weapons of yesterday: let our horses be harnessed for us, and our chariots yoked, that upon this day from our chariots and our horses we may fight." "Let us turn to these indeed," said Ferdia. They then took to them two exceedingly stout, broad s.h.i.+elds, and they resorted to their great, broad-bladed, heavy spears that day. And each of them continued to thrust at, and to pierce through, and to redden, and to tear the body of the other from the dawn of the morning until the ninth hour of the evening; and if it were the custom for birds in their flight to pa.s.s through the bodies of men, they could have pa.s.sed through the bodies of those warriors that day, carrying with them pieces of their flesh from their wounds into the clouds and to the sky around them. So when the ninth hour of the evening was come, the horses were weary, and the charioteers were weak; and they themselves, champions and heroes of valour as they were, had themselves become weary; and "Let us cease now from this, O Ferdia!" said Cuchulain, "for our horses are weary, and our charioteers are weak; and now that these are weary, why should not we be weary too?" and then it was that he sang this stave:

Not like Fomorians, men of the sea, Stubborn, unending our struggle should be; Now that the clamour of combat must cease, Quarrels forget, and between us be peace.

Let us cease now indeed," said Ferdia, "if the time for it hath come."

They ceased, and they threw away their weapons into their charioteers'

hands, and each of them at the end of that fight sought the other, and each threw his arms about the other's neck, and gave him three kisses.

Their horses were in the same paddock that night, the men who had driven their chariots sat by the same fire, moreover the charioteers of both those warriors spread couches of fresh rushes for the two, and supplied them with such pillows as are needed by wounded men. And such folk as can heal and cure came to examine into their wounds and to tend them that night, for they could do nothing more for them, so severe and so deadly were the stabs and the thrusts, and the gashes of the many wounds that they had, than to apply to them spells and incantations and charms, in order to staunch their blood, and their bleeding mortal wounds. And for every spell and incantation and charm that was applied to the stabs and the wounds of Cuchulain, he sent a full half westward across the ford to Ferdia; and of each kind of food, and of pleasant, palatable, intoxicating drink that the men of Ireland brought to Ferdia, he sent a half across the ford to Cuchulain, in the north. For the men who brought food to Ferdia were more in number than they who brought food to Cuchulain, for all the army of the men of Ireland helped to provide Ferdia with food, because he was their champion to defend them against Cuchulain; yet to Cuchulain also food was brought by the people who dwell in the Breg. And it was the custom with these that they came to converse with him at the dusk of each night.

Thus they rested that night: but early in the morning they arose, and repaired to the Ford of Combat; and Cuchulain saw that an evil look and a lowering cloud was on the face of Ferdia that day. "Ill dost thou appear to me to-day, O Ferdia!" said Cuchulain. "Thy hair hath been darkened to-day, and thine eye hath been dimmed, and the form and the features and the visage that thou art wont to have are gone from thee."

"'Tis from no fear or from terror of thee that I am what I am to-day,"

said Ferdia, "for there is not in Ireland to-day a champion that I am not able to subdue." And Cuchulain complained and lamented, and he spoke the words that follow, and thus did Ferdia reply:

Cuchulain

Is't indeed Ferdia's face?[FN#57]

Sure his meed is dire disgrace; He, to war by woman led, Comes his comrade's blood to shed.

[FN#57] The metre is that of the Irish.

Ferdia

Thou who warrior art indeed, Champion tried! who wounds dost breed, I am forced the sod to see Where my final grave shall be.

Cuchulain

Maev her daughter, Findabar, Who all maids excelleth far, Gave thee, not at love's behest, She thy kingly might would test.

Ferdia

Gently ruling Hound, I know That was tested long ago; None so great is known to fame, None, till now, to match it came.