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Then Cuchulain made a threat in Methe that wherever he saw Medb he would cast a stone at her and that it would not go far from the side of her head. That he also fulfilled. In the place where he saw Medb west of the ford he cast a stone from his sling at her, so that it killed the pet bird that was on her shoulder. |
Andsain bágais Cuchulaind, port i faicied Meidb
dobérad chloich furri, & ni bad chían o
lethchind. Fír do-som, port indas-facca Meidb
focheird chloich assa thabaill furri, co ros ort in petta n |
Medb passed over the ford eastwards, and again he cast a stone from his sling at her east of the ford, so that it killed the tame squirrel that was on her shoulder. Hence the names of those places are still, Meide in Togmail ('Squirrel's Neck') and Meide ind Eoin ('Bird's Neck'). And Ath Srethe ('Ford of the Throw') is the name of the ford over which Cuchulain cast the stone from his sling. |
Luid Medb dar áth sair, & dobretha cloich assa thabaill béus furri, go ro ort in petta togmallain bá for a gualaind fri ath anair, conid Meide in Togmaill & Mede ind Eoin a n-anmand na n-inad sin beus, & conid Ath Srethe comainm ind atha dar a sredestar Cuchulaind in cloich assa thabaill. |
Then did the men of Erin deliberate about going to ravage and lay waste Mag Breg and Meath and the plain of Conall and the land of Cuchulain; and it was in the presence of Fergus macRoig they discussed it. |
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The four grand provinces of Erin moved out on the morrow, and began to harry the plains of Breg and Murthemne. And the sharp, keen-edged anxiety for Cuchulain came over his fosterer Fergus. And he bade the men of Erin be on their guard that night, for that Cuchulain would come upon them. And here again he sang in his praise, as we wrote it before, and he uttered the lay:-- |
Tancatar cethri ollchoiceda hErend arnabarach, gabsatar
argain Maigi Breg & Maigi Murthemne. Ocus tanic
gérmenma géribrach Conculaind da aiti, do F |
"If Cuchulain, Cualnge's Hound, |
Damb-ró Cuchulaind Cualnhge |
After this lay, that was the day that Donn ('the Brown Bull') of Cualnge came into the land of Marginè to Sliab Culinn and with him fifty heifers of the heifers of Ulster; and there he was pawing and digging up the earth in that place, in the land of Marginè, in Cualnge; that is, he flung the turf over him with his heels. |
Aithle na laide sin. Is hé in lá
cétna tanic in Dond Cualnge co crích
Margíni, ocus cóica sams |
It was on the same day that the Morrigan, daughter of Ernmas, the prophetess of the fairy-folk, came in the form of a bird, and she perched on the standing-stone in Temair of Cualnge giving the Brown Bull of Cualnge warning end lamentations before the men of Erin. Then she began to address him and what she said was this: "Good, now, O luckless one, thou Brown Bull of Cualnge," so spake the Morrigan; "take heed; for the men of Erin are on thy track and seeking thee and they will come upon thee, and if thou art taken they will carry thee away to their camp like any ox on a raid, unless thou art on thy guard." And she commenced to give warning to him in this fashion, and she delivered this judgement and spake these words aloud:-- |
Is é in lá cetna tanic in Mórrigu
ingen Ernmais a sídib co m-bói for in chorthi
i Temair Chualn |
"Knows not the restless Brown of the truly deadly fray that is not uncertain?-- A raven's croak-- The raven that doth not conceal-- Foes range your checkered plain-- Troops on raids-- I have a secret-- Ye shall know. . . The waving fields-- The deep-green grass . . . and rich, soft plain-- Wealth of flowers' splendour-- Badb's cow-lowing-- Wild the raven-- Dead the men-- A tale of woe-- Battle-storm on Cualnge evermore, to the death of mighty sons-- Kith looking on the death of kin!" |
In fitir in dub dusáim can eirc n-echdaig dál désnad fiacht fíach nadeól ceurtid namaib ar tuáith brega bíth indáinib tathum rún ro fíastar dub díanísa maí muin tonna fér forglass forlaich lilestai aéd ág asamag meldait slóig scoith nía boidb bó geimnech feochair fíach fir mairm rád n-ingir cluiph Cualngi coigde día bas mórmacni . . . iar féic muintire do écaib.
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When the Brown Bull of Cualnge heard those words he moved on to Glenn na Samaisce ('Heifers' Glen') in Sliab Culinn ('Hollymount'), and fifty of his heifers with him. |
Tanic iarum Dond Cualnge. Urtha reme go Glend na Samaisce i Sléib Chulind & coica samaisce leis dia shamascib. |
This was one of the magic virtues of the Brown Bull of Cualnge: Fifty heifers he would cover every day. These calved before that same hour on the next day and such of them that calved not at the due time burst with the calves, because they could not suffer the begetting of the Brown Bull of Cualnge. One of the magic virtues of the Brown Bull of Cualnge were the fifty grown youths who engaged in games, who on his fine back found room every evening to play. Another of the magic virtues of the Brown Bull of Cualnge was the hundred warriors he screened from the heat and the cold under his shadow and shelter. |
Aill do buadaib Duind Cualnge and-so: .i. Cóica
samaisce no daired cach lái. Bertís laegu
riasin trath arnabarach, ocus do neoch no bered lóegu
dib, no scáiltis imma loegu, dáig ni fhuln |
Another of the magic virtues of the Brown Bull of Cualnge was that no goblin nor boggart nor sprite of the glen dared come into one and the same cantred with him. Another of the magic virtues of the Brown Bull of Cualnge was his musical lowing every evening as he returned to his haggard, his shed and his byre. It was music enough and delight for a man in the north and in the south, in the east and the west, and in the middle of the cantred of Cualnge, the lowing he made at even as he came to his haggard, his shed, and his byre. These, then, are some of the magic virtues of the Brown Bull of Cualnge. |
Ba do buadaib Duind Cualnge, na laimed bánanach no
bócanach no genit glinni tascud d'oentrichait chet
friss. Ba do buadaib Duind Cualnge crandord dogníd
cacha nóna ic tiachtain ar ammus a liss & a
léis & a machaid. Ba leór ceúil
& airfiti dond f |
Thereupon on the morrow the hosts proceeded among the rocks and dunes of the land of Conalle Murthemni. And Medb ordered a canopy of shields to be held over her head in order that Cuchulain might not strike her from the hills or hillocks or heights. Howbeit on that day, no killing nor attack came from Cuchulain upon the men of Erin, in the land of Murthemne among the rocks and dunes of Conalle Murthemni. |
Dollotar na slúaig iarum im ailib & im
airtraigib críchi Conaille Murthemne
arnabárach. Ocus radis Medb ara tarta amdabach do
sciathaib os a cind nachas diburged Cuchulaind de chnoccaib
no chétib no thulchaib. Ocus trá ni roacht
Cuchulaind guin no athf |
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