Gods and Fighting Men, Lady I. A Gregory [best e books to read TXT] 📗

praise him that his courage may be the

greater," said Finn. "It is right to praise him," said Fergus, "and the

foreigners running before him on every side as they would run from a

heavy drenching of the sea." So Fergus praised him for a while, and he

went back then to Finn.

 

"Who is best in the battle now?" said Finn. "It is Osgar is best in it

now," said Fergus, "and he is fighting alone against two hundred Franks

and two hundred of the men of Gairian, and the King of the Men of

Gairian himself. And all these are beating at his shield," he said, "and

not one of them has given him a wound but he gave him a wound back for

it." "What way is Caoilte, son of Ronan?" said Finn. "He is in no great

strait after the red slaughter he has made," said Fergus. "Go to him

then," said Finn, "and bid him to keep off a share of the foreigners

from Osgar." So Fergus went to him. "Caoilte," he said, "it is great

danger your friend Osgar is in under the blows of the foreigners, and

let you rise up and give him some help," he said.

 

Caoilte went then to the place where Osgar was, and he gave a straight

blow of his sword at the man who was nearest him, that made two halves

of him. Osgar raised his head then and looked at him. "It is likely,

Caoilte," he said, "you did not dare redden your sword on any one till

you struck down a man that was before my sword. And it is a shame for

you," he said, "all the men of the great world and the Fianna of Ireland

to be in the one battle, and you not able to make out a fight for

yourself without coming to take a share of my share of the battle. And I

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 shield in Finn's hand, he knew those were the

weapons that were to bring him to his death, and great dread came on

him, and his comeliness left him, and his fingers were shaking, and his

feet were unsteady, and the sight of his eyes was weakened.

 

And then the two fought a great fight, striking at one another like two

days of judgment for the possession of the world.

 

But the king, that had never met with a wound before, began to be

greatly weakened in the fight. And Finn gave great strokes that broke

his shield and his sword, and that cut off his left foot, and at the

last he struck off his head. But if he did, he himself fell into a faint

of weakness with the dint of the wounds he had got.

 

Then Finnachta of the Teeth, the first man of the household of the King

of the World, took hold of the royal crown of the king, and brought it

where Conmail his son was, and put it on his head.

 

"That this may bring you success in many battles, my son," he said. And

he gave him his father's weapons along with it; and the young man went

through the battle looking for Finn, and three fifties of the men of the

Fianna fell by him. Then Goll Garbh the Rough, son of the King of Alban,

saw him and attacked him, and they fought a hard fight. But the King of

Albain's son gave him a blow under the shelter of the shield, in his

left side, that made an end of him.

 

Finnachta of the Teeth saw that, and he made another rush at the royal

crown, and brought it to where Ogarmach was, the daughter of the King of

Greece. "Put on that crown, Ogarmach," he said, "as it is in the

prophecy the world will be owned by a woman; and it will never be owned

by any woman higher than yourself," he said.

 

She went then to look for Finn in the battle, and Fergus of the True

Lips saw her, and he went where Finn was. "O King of the Fianna," he

said then, "bring to mind the good fight you made against the King of

the World and all your victories before that; for it is a great danger

is coming to you now," he said, "and that is Ogarmach, daughter of the

King of Greece."

 

With that the woman-fighter came towards him. "O Finn," she said, "it is

little satisfaction you are to me for all the kings and lords that have

fallen by you and by your people; but for all that," she said, "there is

nothing better for me to get than your own self and whatever is left of

your people." "You will not get that," said Finn, "for I will lay your

head in its bed of blood the same as I did to every other one." Then

those two attacked one another like as if there had risen to smother

one another the flooded wave of Cliodna, and the seeking wave of Tuaigh,

and the big brave wave of Rudraighe. And though the woman-warrior fought

for a long time, a blow from Finn reached to her at last and cut through

the royal crown, and with a second blow he struck her head off. And then

he fell himself in his bed of blood, and was the same as dead, but that

he rose again.

 

And the armies of the World and the Fianna of Ireland were fallen side

by side there, and there were none left fit to stand but Cael, son of

Crimthan of the Harbours, and the chief man of the household of the King

of the World, Finnachta of the Teeth. And Finnachta went among the dead

bodies and lifted up the body of the King of the World and brought it

with him to his ship, and he said: "Fianna of Ireland," he said,

"although it is bad this battle was for the armies of the World, it was

worse for yourselves; and I am going back to tell that in the East of

the World," he said. Finn heard him saying that, and he lying on the

ground in his blood, and the best men of the sons of Baiscne about him,

and he said: "It is a pity I not to have found death before I heard the

foreigner saying those words. And nothing I myself have done, or the

Fianna of Ireland, is worth anything since there is left a man of the

foreigners alive to go back into the great world again to tell that

story. And is there any one left living near me?" he said. "I am," said

Fergus of the True Lips. "What way is the battle now?" said Finn. "It is

a pity the way it is," said Fergus, "for, by my word," he said, "since

the armies met together to-day, no man of the foreigners or of the men

of Ireland took a step backward from one another till they all fell foot

to foot, and sole to sole. And there is not so much as a blade of grass

or a grain of sand to be seen," he said, "with the bodies of fighting

men that are stretched on them; and there is no man of the two armies

that is not stretched in that bed of blood, but only the chief man of

the household of the King of the World, and your own foster-son, Cael,

son of Crimthan of the Harbours." "Rise up and go to him," said Finn. So

Fergus went where Cael was, and asked what way was he. "It is a pity the

way I am," said Cael, "for I swear by my word that if my helmet and my

armour were taken from me, there is no part of my body but would fall

from the other; and by my oath," he said, "it is worse to me to see that

man beyond going away alive than I myself to be the way I am. And I

leave my blessing to you, Fergus," he said; "and take me on your back to

the sea till I swim after the foreigner, and it is glad I would be the

foreigner to fall by me before the life goes out from my body." Fergus

lifted him up then and brought him to the sea, and put him swimming

after the foreigner. And Finnachta waited for him to reach the ship, for

he thought he was one of his own people. And Cael raised himself up when

he came beside the ship, and Finnachta stretched out his hand to him.

And Cael took hold of it at the wrist, and clasped his fingers round it,

and gave a very strong pull at him, that brought him over the side. Then

their hands shut across one another's bodies, and they went down to the

sand and the gravel of the clear sea.

 

CHAPTER XIII. (CREDHE'S LAMENT)

Then there came the women and the musicians and the singers and the

physicians of the