The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Táin Bó Cúalnge, page 49 by Unknown
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"There will come the chief of hosts,[b]
War for Murthemne to wage.
Ravens shall drink garden's milk,[c]
This the fruit of swineherds' strife (?)[d]
"Turfy Cron will hold them back,
Keep them back from Murthemne,[5]
[9]Till the warriors' work is done
On Ochainè's northern mount!
"'Quick,' to Cormac, Ailill cries;
'Go and seek ye out your son,
Loose no cattle from the fields,
Lest the din of the host reach them!'
"Battle they'll have here eftsoon,
Medb and one third of the host.
Corpses will be scattered wide
If the Wildman[a] come to you!"
[a] Literally, 'of Ailill's spouse.'
[b] That is, Cuchulain.
[c] A kenning for 'blood.'
[d] Referring to the two bulls, the Brown and the Whitehorned, which were the re-incarnations through seven intermediate stages of two divine swineherds 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 past