tear his enemy with beak and claws.

It was the Cat that reached the ground. As the Eagle went to strike at
him he sprang again and tore the Eagle's breast. Then the Eagle-Emperor
caught the King of the Cats in his claws and flew up again, screaming
his battle-scream. Drops of blood from both fell on the ground. The
Eagle had not a conqueror's grip on his enemy and the King of the Cats
was able to tear at him.

It happened that Curoi, King of the Munster Fairies, was marching at the
head of his troop to play a game of hurling with the Fianna of Ireland,
captained by Fergus, and for the hand of Aine', the daughter of
Mananaun, the Lord of the Sea. Just when the ball was about to be thrown
in the air the Eagle-Emperor and the King of the Cats were seen mixed
together in their struggle. One troop took the side of the Eagle and the
other took the side of the Cat. The men of the country came up and took
sides too. Then the men began to fight amongst themselves and some were
left dead on the ground. And this went on until there were hosts of the
men of Ireland fighting each other on account of the Eagle-Emperor
and the King of the Cats. The King of the Fairies and the Chief of the
Fianna marched their men away to a hill top where they might watch the
battle in the air and the battles on the ground. "If this should go
on," said Curoi, "our troops will join in and men and Fairies will be
slaughtered. We must end the combat in the air." Saying this he took up
the hurling-ball and flung it at the Cat and Eagle. Both came down on
the ground. The Cat was about to spring, the Eagle was about to pounce,
when Curoi darted between them and struck both with his spear. Eagle and
Cat became figures of stone. And there they are now, a Stone Eagle with
his wings outspread and a Stone Cat with his teeth bared and his paws
raised. And the Eagle-Emperor and the King of the Cats will remain like
that until Curoi strikes them again with his fairy-spear.

When the Cat and the Eagle were turned into stone the men of the country
wondered for a while and then they went away. And the Fairies of Munster
and the Fianna of Ireland played the hurling match for the hand of Aine'
the daughter of Mananaun who is Lord of the Sea, and what the result of
that hurling match was is told in another book.

And that ends my history of the coming into Ire-land of the King of the
Cats.

The King of Ireland's Son left Art and went into an unused room in the
Cas