give my oath," he said, "I would be glad to see you put down in your bed
of blood on account of that thing." Caoilte's mind changed when he heard
that, and he turned again to the army of the foreigners with the redness
of anger on his white face; and eighty fighting men fell in that rout.

"What way is the battle now?" said Finn. "It is a pity," said Fergus,
"there never came and there never will come any one that can tell the
way it is now. For by my word," he said, "the tree-tops of the thickest
forest in the whole of the western world are not closer together than
the armies are now. For the bosses of their shields are in one another's
hands. And there is fire coming from the edges of their swords," he
said, "and blood is raining down like a shower on a day of harvest; and
there were never so many leaves torn by the wind from a great forest as
there are locks of long golden hair, and of black curled hair, cut off
by sharp weapons, blowing into the clouds at this time. And there is no
person could tell one man from another, now," he said, "unless it might
be by their voices." With that he went into the very middle of the fight
to praise and to hearten the men of the Fianna.

"Who is first in the battle now, Fergus?" said Finn, when he came back
to him. "By my oath, it is no friend of your own is first in it," said
Fergus, "for it is Daire Donn, the King of the World; and it is for you
he is searching through the battle," he said, "and three times fifty of
his own people were with him. But two of the men of your Fianna fell on
them," he said, "Cairell the Battle Striker, and Aelchinn of Cruachan,
and made an end of them. But they were not able to wound the King of the
World," he said, "but the two of them fell together by him."

Then the King of the World came towards Finn, and there was no one near
him but Arcallach of the Black Axe, the first that ever brought a wide
axe into Ireland. "I give my word," said Arcallach, "I would never let
Finn go before me into any battle." He rose up then and made a terrible
great blow of his axe at the king, that went through his royal crown to
the hair of his head, but that did not take a drop of blood out of him,
for the edge of the axe turned and there went balls of fire over the
plain from that blow. And the King of the World struck back at
Arcallach, and made two halves of him.

Then Finn and the King of the World turned on one another. And when the
king saw the sword and the