ineherds of the gods of the under-world. The story is told in
_Irische Texte_, iii, i, pp. 230-275.

[5-5] LU. 198-205.

[a] Literally, 'the Contorted one'; that is, Cuchulain.

Then Nemain, [1]the Badb to wit,[1] attacked them, and that was not the
quietest of nights they had, with the noise of the churl, namely Dubthach,
in their[b] sleep. Such fears he scattered amongst the host straightway,
and he hurled a great stone at the throng till Medb came to check him. They
continued their march then till they slept a night in Granard Tethba in the
north,[9] [2]after the host had made a circuitous way across sloughs and
streams.[2]

[1-1] Gloss in YBL. 211.

[b] 'his' Eg. 1782.

[9-9] YBL. and LU. 206-215. With this passage YBL. begins, fo. 17a.

[2-2] LU. 215.

[W.547.] It was on that same day, [3]after the coming of the warning from
Fergus[3] [4]to the Ulstermen,[4] that Cuchulain son of Sualtaim, [5]and
Sualtaim[5] Sidech ('of the Fairy Mound'), his father, [6]when they had
received the warning from Fergus,[6] came so near [7]on their watch for the
host[7] that their horses grazed in pasture round the pillar-stone on Ard
Cuillenn ('the Height of Cuillenn'). Sualtaim's horses cropped the grass
north of the pillar-stone close to the ground; Cuchulain's cropped the
grass south of the pillar-stone even to the ground and the bare stones.
"Well, O master Sualtaim," said Cuchulain; "the thought of the host is
fixed sharp upon me [8]to-night,[8] so do thou depart for us with warnings
to the men of Ulster, that they remain not in the smooth plains but that
they betake themselves to the woods and wastes and steep glens of the
province, if so they may keep out of the way of the men of Erin." "And
thou, lad, what wilt thou do?" "I must go southwards to Temair to keep
tryst with the [W.556.] maid[a] of Fedlimid Nocruthach ('of the Nine
Forms') [1]Conchobar's daughter,[1] according to my own agreement, till
morning." "Alas, that one should go [2]on such a journey,"[2] said
Sualtaim, "and leave the Ulstermen under the feet of their foes and their
enemies for the sake of a tryst with a woman!" "For all that, I needs must
go. For, an I go not, the troth of men will be held for false and the
promises of women held for true."

[3-3] LU. 218

[4-4] Eg. 1782.

[5-5] _Sualtach_, in LL.

[6-6] Eg. 1782.

[7-7] Eg. 1782.

[8-8] LU. and YBL. 220.

[a] "Who was secretly