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

many in it,

and they saw three brave armies of the one size. "It would be a great

vexation to me," said Aedh Nimbrec, the Speckled, then, "we to get our

death and Lir's people to take the hill." "Did you never hear, Aedh,"

said Caoilte, "that the wild boar escapes sometimes from both hounds and

from wolves, and the stag in the same way goes away from the hounds with

a sudden start; and what man is it you are most in dread of in the

battle?" he said. "The man that is the best fighter of all the Men of

Dea," said they all, "and that is Lir of Sidhe Fionnachaidh." "The

thing I have done in every battle I will not give up to-day," said

Caoilte, "to meet the best man that is in it hand to hand." "The two

that are next to him in fighting," they said then, "are Donn and Dubh."

"I will put down those two," said Derg.

 

Then the host of the Sidhe went out to the battle, and the armies

attacked one another with wide green spears and with little casting

spears, and with great stones; and the fight went on from the rising of

the day till midday. And then Caoilte and Lir met with one another, and

they made a very fierce fight, and at the last Lir of Sidhe Fionnachaidh

fell by the hand of Caoilte.

 

Then the two good champions Dubh and Donn, sons of Eirrge, determined to

go on with the battle, and it is how they fought, Dubh in the front of

the whole army, and Donn behind all, guarding the rear. But Derg saw

that, and he put his finger into the thong of his spear and made a cast

at the one that was nearest him, and it broke his back and went on into

the body of the other, so that the one cast made an end of the two. And

that ended the battle, and all that was left of the great army of Lir

went wearing away to the north. And there was great rejoicing in the

hill at Ess Ruadh, and Ilbrec took the spoils of the beaten army for his

people, and to Caoilte he gave the enchanted spear of Fiacha, together

with nine rich cloaks and nine long swords with hilts and guards of

gold, and nine hounds for hunting. And they said farewell to one

another, and Caoilte left his blessing to the people of the hill, and he

brought their thanks with him. And as hard as the battle had been, it

was harder again for Derg to part from his comrade, and the day he was

parted from Finn and from all the Fianna was no sadder to him than this

day.

 

It was a long time after that Caoilte went again to the hill of Ilbrec

at Ess Ruadh, and this is the way it happened.

 

It was in a battle at Beinn Edair in the east that Mane, son of the King

of Lochlann, made a cast at him in the middle of the battle with a

deadly spear. And he heard the whistling of the spear, and it rushing to

him; and he lifted his shield to protect his head and his body, but that

did not save him, for it struck into his thigh, and left its poison in

it, so that he had to go in search of healing. And it is where he went,

to the hill of the Sidhe at Ess Ruadh, to ask help of Bebind, daughter

of Elcmar of Brugh na Boinne, that had the drink of healing of the

Tuatha de Danaan, and all that was left of the ale of Goibniu that she

used to be giving out to them.

 

And Caoilte called to Cascorach the Musician, son of Caincenn, and bade

him bring his harp and come along with him. And they stopped for a night

in the hill of the Sidhe of Druim Nemed in Luigne of Connacht, and from

that they went forward by Ess Dara, the Fall of the Oaks, and Druim

Dearg na Feinne, the Red Ridge of the Fianna, and Ath Daim Glas, the

Ford of the Grey Stag, and to Beinn Gulbain, and northward into the

plain of Ceitne, where the Men of Dea used to pay their tribute to the

Fomor; and up to the Footstep of Ess Ruadh, and the High Place of the

Boys, where the boys of the Tuatha de Danaan used to be playing their

hurling. And Aedh of Ess Ruadh and Ilbrec of Ess Ruadh were at the door

of the hill, and they gave Caoilte a true welcome. "I am glad of that

welcome," said Caoilte. And then Bebind, daughter of Elcmar of Brugh na

Boinne, came out, and three times fifty comely women about her, and she

sat down on the green grass and gave three loving kisses to the three,

to Caoilte and to Cascorach and to Fermaise, that had come with them out

of the hill of the Sidhe in Luigne of Connacht. And all the people of

the hill welcomed them, and they said: "It is little your friendship

would be worth if you would not come to help us and we in need of help."

"It was not for bravery I was bade come," said Cascorach; "but when the

right time comes I will make music for you if you have a mind to hear

it." "It is not for deeds of bravery we are come," said Fermaise, "but

we will give you our help if you are in need of it." Then Caoilte told

them the cause of his journey. "We will heal you well," said they. And

then they all went into the hill and stayed there three days and three

nights at drinking and pleasure.

 

And indeed it was good help Caoilte and Cascorach gave them after that.

For there was a woman-warrior used to come every year with the ships of

the men of Lochlann to make an attack on the Tuatha de Danaan. And she

had been reared by a woman that knew all enchantments, and there was no

precious thing in all the hills of the Sidhe but she had knowledge of

it, and would bring it away. And just at this time there came a

messenger to the door of the hill with news that the harbour was full of

ships, and that a great army had landed, and the woman-warrior along

with it.

 

And it was Cascorach the Musician went out against her, having a shield

he got the loan of from Donn, son of Midhir; and she used high words

when she saw so young a man coming to fight with her, and he alone. But

he made an end of her for all her high talk, and left her lying on the

strand with the sea foam washing up to her.

 

And as to Caoilte, he went out in a chariot belonging to Midhir of the

Yellow Hair, son of the Dagda, and a spear was given him that was called

Ben-badb, the War-Woman, and he made a cast of the spear that struck the

King of Lochlann, that he fell in the middle of his army, and the life

went from him. And Fermaise went looking for the king's brother, Eolus,

that was the comeliest of all the men of the world; and he knew him by

the band of gold around his head, and his green armour, and his red

shield, and he killed him with a cast of a five-pronged spear. And when

the men of Lochlann saw their three leaders were gone, they went into

their ships and back to their own country. And there was great joy

through the whole country, both among the men of Ireland and the Tuatha

de Danaan, the men of Lochlann to have been driven away by the deeds of

Caoilte and Fermaise and Cascorach.

 

And that was not all they did, for it was at that time there came three

flocks of beautiful red birds from Slieve Fuad in the north, and began

eating the green grass before the hill of the Sidhe. "What birds are

those?" said Caoilte. "Three flocks they are that come and destroy the

green every year, eating it down to the bare flag-stones, till they

leave us no place for our races," said Ilbrec. Then Caoilte and his

comrades took up three stones and threw them at the flocks and drove

them away. "Power and blessings to you," said the people of the Sidhe

then, "that is a good work you have done. And there is another thing you

can do for us," they said, "for there are three ravens come to us every

year out of the north, and the time the young lads of the hill are

playing their hurling, each one of the ravens carries off a boy of them.

And it is to-morrow the hurling will be," they said.

 

So when the full light of day was come on the morrow, the whole of the

Tuatha de Danaan went out to look at the hurling; and to every six men

of them was given a chess-board, and a board for some other game to

every five, and to every ten men a little harp, and a harp to every

hundred men, and pipes that were sharp and powerful to every nine.

 

Then they saw the three ravens from the north coming over the sea, and

they pitched on the great tree of power that was on the green, and they

gave three gloomy screeches, that if such a thing could be, would have

brought the dead out of the earth or the hair off the head of the

listeners; and as it was, they took the courage out of the whole

gathering.

 

Then Cascorach, son of Caincenn, took a man of the chessmen and made a

cast at one of the ravens that struck his beak and his throat, and made

an end of him; and Fermaise killed the second of them, and Caoilte the

third of them in the same way.

 

"Let my cure be done now," said Caoilte, "for I have paid my fee for it,

and it is time." "You have paid it indeed," said Ilbrec. "And where is

Bebind, daughter of Elcmar?" he said. "I am here," said she.

 

"Bring Caoilte, son of Ronan, with you into some hidden place," he said,

"and do his cure, and let him be well served, for he has driven every

danger from the Men of Dea and from the Sons of the Gael. And let

Cascorach make music for him, and let Fermaise, son of Eogabil, be

watching him and guarding him and attending him."

 

So Elcmar's daughter went to the House of Arms, and her two sons with

her, and a bed of healing was made ready for Caoilte, and a bowl of pale

gold was brought to her, and it full of water. And she took a crystal

vessel and put herbs into it, and she bruised them and put them in the

water, and gave the bowl to Caoilte, and he drank a great drink out of

it, that made him cast up the poison of the spear that was in him. Five

drinks of it he took, and after that she gave him new milk to drink; but

with the dint of the reaching he was left without strength through the

length of three days and three nights.

 

"Caoilte, my life," she said then, "in my opinion you have got relief."

"I have got it indeed," he said, "but that the weakness of my head is

troubling me." "The washing of Flann, daughter of Flidais, will be done

for you now," she said, "and the head that washing is done for will

never be troubled with pain, or baldness, or weakness of sight." So that

cure was done to him for a while; and the people of the hill divided

themselves into three parts; the one part of their best men and great

nobles, and another of their young men, and another of their women and

poets, to be visiting him and making mirth with him as long as he would

be on his bed of healing. And everything that was best from their

hunting, it was to him they would bring it.

 

And one day, when Elcmar's daughter and her two sons and Cascorach and

Fermaise were with Caoilte, there was heard a sound of music coming

towards them from the waters of Ess Ruadh, and any one would leave the

music of the whole world for that music. And they put their harps on the

corners of the pillars and went out, and there was wonder on Caoilte

that they left him. And he took notice that his