id Fergus, "for he and the last
man that was left of the foreigners, Finnachta Fiaclach, are after
drowning one another in the sea."
And at that time the waves had put Cael back on the strand, and the
women and the men of the Fianna that were looking for him raised him up,
and brought him to the south of the White Strand.
And Credhe came to where he was, and she keened him and cried over him,
and she made this complaint:--
"The harbour roars, O the harbour roars, over the rushing race of the
Headland of the Two Storms, the drowning of the hero of the Lake of the
Two Dogs, that is what the waves are keening on the strand.
"Sweet-voiced is the crane, O sweet-voiced is the crane in the marshes
of the Ridge of the Two Strong Men; it is she cannot save her nestlings,
the wild dog of two colours is taking her little ones.
"Pitiful the cry, pitiful the cry the thrush is making in the Pleasant
Ridge, sorrowful is the cry of the blackbird in Leiter Laeig.
"Sorrowful the call, O sorrowful the call of the deer in the Ridge of
Two Lights; the doe is lying dead in Druim Silenn, the mighty stag cries
after her.
"Sorrowful to me, O sorrowful to me the death of the hero that lay
beside me; the son of the woman of the Wood of the Two Thickets, to be
with a bunch of grass under his head.
"Sore to me, O sore to me Cael to be a dead man beside me, the waves to
have gone over his white body; it is his pleasantness that has put my
wits astray.
"A woeful shout, O a woeful shout the waves are making on the strand;
they that took hold of comely Cael, a pity it is he went to meet them.
"A woeful crash, O a woeful crash the waves are making on the strand to
the north, breaking against the smooth rock, crying after Cael now he is
gone.
"A sorrowful fight, O a sorrowful fight, the sea is making with the
strand to the north; my beauty is lessened; the end of my life is
measured.
"A song of grief, O a song of grief is made by the waves of Tulcha Leis;
all I had is gone since this story came to me. Since the son of
Crimthann is drowned I will love no one after him for ever; many a king
fell by his hand; his shield never cried out in the battle."
After she had made that complaint, Credhe laid herself down beside Cael
and died for grief after him. And they were put in the one grave, and
it was Caoilte raised the stone over them.
And after that great battle of the White Strand, that lasted a year and
a day, there was many
|