ne blow; and if the end
was [cut] with one blow, [Note: Lit. 'if its end was one cutting.']
it is the fairer for it, and that it was thrust in in this manner;
for it is not a hole that has been dug for it, but it is from the
back of the chariot it has been thrown with one hand.'

'Avert this strait from us, O Fergus,' said Medb.

Bring me a chariot then,' said Fergus, 'that I may take it out,
that you may see whether its end was hewn with one blow.' Fergus
broke then fourteen chariots of his chariots, so that it was from
his own chariot that he took it out of the ground, and he saw that
the end was hewn with one blow.

'Heed must be taken to the character of the tribe to which we are
going,' said Ailill. 'Let each of you prepare his food; you had no
rest last night for the snow. And something shall be told to us of
the adventures and stories of the tribe to which we are going.'

It is then that the adventures of Cuchulainn were related to them.
Ailill asked: 'Is it Conchobar who has done this?'

'Not he,' said Fergus; 'he would not have come to the border of the
country without the number of a battalion round him.'

'Was it Celtchar Mac Uithidir?'

'Not he; he would not have come to the border of the country
without the number of a battalion round him.'

'Was it Eogan Mac Durtacht?'

'Not he,' said Fergus; 'he would not have come over the border of
the country without thirty chariots two-pointed (?) round him. This
is the man who would have done the deed,' said Fergus, 'Cuchulainn;
it is he who would have cut the tree at one blow from the trunk,
and who would have killed the four yonder as quickly as they were
killed, and who would have come to the boundary with his charioteer.'

'What kind of man,' said Ailill, 'is this Hound of whom we have
heard among the Ulstermen? What age is this youth who is famous?'

'An easy question, truly,' said Fergus. 'In his fifth year he went
to the boys at Emain Macha to play; in his sixth year he went to
learn arms and feats with Scathach. In his seventh year he took
arms. He is now seventeen years old at this time.'

'Is it he who is hardest to deal with among the Ulstermen?' said
Medb.

'Over every one of them,' said Fergus. 'You will not find before
you a warrior who is harder to deal with, nor a point that is
sharper or keener or swifter, nor a hero who is fiercer, nor a
raven that is more flesh-loving, nor a match of his age that can
equal him as far as a third; no