Naked are the spears he bears,
And he hooks a red cloak round!
"Noblest face is his, I see;
He respects all womankind.
Young the lad and fresh his hue,
With a dragon's form in fight!
"I know not who is the Hound,
Culann's hight,[b] [1]of fairest fame[1];
But I know full well this host
Will be smitten red by him!
"Four small swords--a brilliant feat--
He supports in either hand;
These he'll ply upon the host,
Each to do its special deed!
"His Gae Bulga,[c] too, he wields,
With his sword and javelin.
Lo, the man in red cloak girt
Sets his foot on every hill!
"Two spears [2]from the chariot's left[2]
He casts forth in orgy wild.
And his form I saw till now
Well I know will change its guise!
"On to battle now he comes;
If ye watch not, ye are doomed.
This is he seeks ye in fight
Brave Cuchulain, Sualtaim's son!
"All your host he'll smite in twain,
Till he works your utter ruin.
[W.291.] All your heads ye'll leave with him.
Fedelm, prophet-maid, hides not!
"Gore shall flow from warriors' wounds;
Long 'twill live in memory.
[LL.fo.56b.] Bodies hacked and wives in tears,
Through the Smith's Hound[a] whom I see!"
[a] The Eg. 1782 version of this poem differs in several details
from LL.
[b] That is, Cu Chulain, 'the Hound of Culann.'
[1-1] Tranlating from LU. 65, Stowe and Add.
[c] The _Gae Bulga_, 'barbed spear,' which only Cuchulain could wield.
[2-2] Translating from LU. 72, Add. and Stowe; 'from the left,' as a
sign of enmity.
[a] That is, Cuchulain. See page 17.
Thus far the Augury and the Prophecy and the Preface of the Tale, and the
Occasion of its invention and conception, and the Pillow-talk which Ailill
and Medb had in Cruachan. [1]Next follows the Body of the Tale itself.[1]
[1-1] Stowe and Add.
* * * * *
[Page 19]
V
THIS IS THE ROUTE OF THE TAIN
[W.301.] and the Beginning of the Expedition and the Names of the Roads
which the hosts of the four of the five grand provinces of Erin took into
the land of Ulster. [1]On Monday after Summer's end[1] [2]they set forth
and proceeded:[2]
[1-1] LU. 81.
[2-2] Eg. 1782.
[3]South-east from Cruachan Ai,[3] by Mag Cruimm, over Tuaim Mona ('the
Hill of Turf'), by Turloch Teora Crich ('the Creek of thre
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