Early Irish Myths and Sagas - Jeffrey Gantz [67]
‘Yoke the chariot for us, Lóeg,’ said Cú Chulaind. Lóeg did that, and Cú Chulaind sprang into the chariot, and he dealt the birds such a stunning blow with his sword that claws and wings floated on the water. Then he returned with the birds and distributed them so that each woman had a pair – each woman save Eithne Ingubai. When he came to his wife, he said ‘Angry you are.’ ‘I am not,’ she replied, ‘for it is by me that the birds were distributed. You did right, for every one of those women loves you or gives you a share of her love, but I share my love with you alone.’ ‘Then do not be angry,’ said Cú Chulaind. ‘When birds come to Mag Muirthemni or the Bóand, you will have the most beautiful pair.’
Not long afterwards, they saw flying over the lake two birds coupled by a red-gold chain; these birds sang a little, and sleep fell upon the host. Cú Chulaind rose to go after them, but Eithne said ‘If you listen to me, you will not go, for those birds possess some kind of power. Other birds can be caught for me.’ ‘Am I likely to be denied?’ answered Cú Chulaind. ‘Lóeg, put a stone in my sling.’ Lóeg did so and Cú Chulaind cast at the birds, but he missed. ‘Alas!’ he said. He cast a second stone and missed with that also. ‘Now I am doomed,’ he said, ‘for since the day I first took up arms I have never missed my target.’ He threw his javelin, but it only pierced the wing of one bird. The creatures then flew along the water.
Cú Chulaind walked on until he sat down with his back against a stone; he was angry, but then sleep overcame him. While sleeping he saw two women approach: one wore a green cloak and the other a crimson cloak folded five times, and the one in green smiled at him and began to beat him with a horsewhip. The other woman then came and smiled also and struck him in the same fashion, and they beat him for such a long time that there was scarcely any life left in him. Then they left.
The Ulaid perceived the state he was in, and they attempted to rouse him. But Fergus said ‘No! Do not disturb him – it is a vision.’ Then Cú Chulaind awoke. ‘Who did this to you?’ asked the Ulaid, but he was unable to speak. He was taken to his sickbed in An Téte Brecc, and he remained there a year without speaking to anyone.
At the end of that year, just before Samuin, the Ulaid were gathered round Cú Chulaind in the house: Fergus by the wall, Conall Cernach by the bedrail, Lugaid Réoderg by the pillow and Eithne Ingubai at his feet; and, as they were thus, a man entered the house and sat at the foot of the bed. ‘What brings you here?’ asked Conall Cernach. ‘Not difficult that. If this man were healthy, he would guarantee my safety here; and, since he is weak and wounded, his guarantee is that much stronger. So I fear none of you, and it is to speak to him that I have come.’ ‘Have no fear,’ said the Ulaid.
Then the man rose and recited these verses:
Cú Chulaind, sick as you are,
waiting will be no help.
If they were yours, they would heal you,
the daughters of Áed Abrat.
Standing to the right of Labraid Lúathlám,
in Mag Crúaich, Lí Ban said
‘Fand has expressed her desire
to lie down with Cú Chulaind:
‘ “A joyous day it would be
were Cú Chulaind to come to my land.
He would have gold and silver
and plenty of wine to drink.
‘ “Were he my friend now,
Cú Chulaind son of Súaltaim,
perhaps he could relate what he saw
in his sleep, apart from the host.
‘“There at Mag Muirthemni in the south
no misfortune will befall you this Samuin.
I will send Lí Ban to you,
Cú Chulaind, sick as you are.” ’
‘Who are you?’ the Ulaid asked. ‘I am Óengus son of Áed Abrat,’ said the man, and then he left, and the Ulaid knew neither whence he had come nor where he had gone. But Cú Chulaind sat up and spoke. ‘About