nd any man that was then living in Erinn. Among the
bushes, close to the women, Ket hid himself, and lay still but
watchful.

Now Conor, seeing none but womenfolk close to him at this point, and
being willing to show them his splendour, drew near to the bank on his
side of the stream. Then Ket leaped up, whirling his sling, and the
bullet hummed across the river and smote King Conor on the temple. And
his men carried him off for dead, and the men of Connacht broke the
battle on the Ulstermen, slaying many, and driving the rest of them
back to their own place. This battle was thenceforth called the Battle
of the Ford of the Sling-cast, or Athnurchar; and so the place is
called to this day.

When Conor was brought home to Emania his chief physician, Fingen,
found the ball half buried in his temple. "If the ball be taken out,"
said Fingen, "he will die; if it remain he will live, but he will bear
the blemish of it."

"Let him bear the blemish," said the Ulster lords, "that is a small
matter compared with the death of Conor."

Then Fingen stitched the wound over with a thread of gold, for Conor
had curling golden hair, and bade him keep himself from all violent
movements and from all vehement passions, and not to ride on
horseback, and he would do well.

After that Conor lived for seven years, and he went not to war during
that time, and all cause of passion was kept far from him. Then one
day at broad noon the sky darkened, and the gloom of night seemed to
spread over the world, and all the people feared, and looked for some
calamity. Conor called to him his chief druid, namely Bacarach, and
inquired of him as to the cause of the gloom.

The druid then went with Conor into a sacred grove of oaks and
performed the rites of divination, and in a trance he spoke to Conor,
saying, "I see a hill near a great city, and three high crosses on it.
To one of them is nailed the form of a young man who is like unto one
of the Immortals. Round him stand soldiers with tall spears, and a
great crowd waiting to see him die."

"Is he, then, a malefactor?"

"Nay," said the druid, "but holiness, innocence, and truth have come
to earth in him, and for this cause have the druids of his land doomed
him to die, for his teaching was not as theirs. And the heavens are
darkened for wrath and sorrow at the sight."

Then Conor leaped up in a fury, crying, "They shall not slay him,
they shall not slay him! Would I were there with the host o