THE SICK-BED OF CUCHULAIN

TRANSCRIBED FROM THE LOST YELLOW BOOK OF SLANE.

By Maelmuiri mac Ceileachair into the Leabhar na h-Uidhri in the Eleventh Century.

EVERY year the men of Ulster were accustomed to hold festival together; and the time when they heldit was for three days before Samhain, the Summer-End, and for three days after that day, and uponSamhain itself. And the time that is spoken of is that when the men of Ulster were in the Plain of Murthemne, and there they used to keep that festival every year; nor was there an thing in the worldthat they would do at that time except sports, and marketings, and splendours, and pomps, andfeasting and eating; and it is from that custom of theirs that the Festival of the Samhain hasdescended, that is now held throughout the whole of Ireland.Now once upon a time the men of Ulster held festival upon the Murthemne Plain, and the reason thatthis festival was held was that every man of them should then give account of the combats he hadmade and of his valour every Summer-End. It was their custom to hold that festival in order to giveaccount of these combats, and the manner in which they gave that account was this: Each man used tocut off the tip of the tongue of a foe whom he had killed, and he bore it with him in a pouch. Moreover,in order to make more great the numbers of their contests, some used to bring with them the tips of the tongues of beasts, and each man publicly declared the fights he had fought, one man of them afterthe other. And they did this also--they laid their swords over their thighs when they declared thestrifes, and their own swords used to turn against them when the strife that they declared was false;nor was this to be wondered at, for at that time it was customary for demon beings to scream from the weapons of men, so that for this cause their weapons might be the more able to guard them.To that festival then came all the men of Ulster except two alone,and these two were Fergus the son of Róg, and Conall the Victorious. "Let the festival be held!" cried the men of Ulster."Nay," said Cuchulain, "it shall not be held until Conall andFergus come," and this he said because Fergus was the foster-father of Cuchulain, and Conall was his comrade. Then saidSencha: "Let us for the present engage in games of chess; and letthe Druids sing, and let the jugglers play their feats;" and it wasdone as he had said.Now while they were thus employed a flock of birds came downand hovered over the lake; never was seen in Ireland more beautiful birds than these. And a longing that these birds should be given to them seized upon the women who were there; andeach of them began to boast of the prowess of her husband at bird-catching. "How I wish," said Ethne Aitencaithrech, Conor's wife, "that I could have two of those birds, one of them upon each of my twoshoulders." "It is what we all long for," said the women; and "If any should have this boon, I should be

the first one to have it," said Ethne Inguba, the wife of Cuchulain."What are we to do now?" said the women. "'Tis easy to answer you," said Leborcham, the daughter of Oa and Adarc; "I will go now with a message from you, and will seek for Cuchulain." She then went toCuchulain, and "The women of Ulster would be well pleased," she said, "if yonder birds were given tothem by thy hand." And Cuchulain made for his sword to unsheathe it against her: "Cannot the lassesof Ulster find any other but us," he said, "to give them their bird-hunt to-day?" "'Tis not seemly forthee to rage thus against them," said Leborcham, "for it is on thy account that the women of Ulsterhave assumed one of their three blemishes, even the blemish of blindness." For there were three blemishes that the women of Ulster assumed, that of crookedness of gait, and that of a stammering intheir speech, and that of blindness. Each of the women who loved Conall the Victorious had assumed acrookedness of gait; each woman who loved Cuscraid Mend, the Stammerer of Macha, Conor's son,stammered in her speech; each woman in like manner who loved Cuchulain had assumed a blindnessof her eyes, in order to resemble Cuchulain; for he, when his mind was angry within him, wasaccustomed to draw in the one of his eyes so far that a crane could not reach it in his head, and wouldthrust out the other so that it was great as a cauldron in which a calf is cooked."Yoke for us the chariot, O Laeg!" said Cuchulain. And Laeg yoked the chariot at that, and Cuchulain went into the chariot, and he cast his sword at the birds with a cast like the cast of a boomerang, sothat they with their claws and wings flapped against the water. And they seized upon all the birds, andthey gave them and distributed them among the women; nor was there any one of the women, exceptEthne alone, who had not a pair of those birds. Then Cuchulain returned to his wife; and "Thou artenraged," said he to her. "I am in no way enraged," answered Ethne, "for I deem it as being by me thatthe distribution was made. And thou hast done what was fitting," she said, "for there is not one of these woman but loves thee; none in whom thou hast no share; but for myself none hath any share inme except thou alone." "Be not angry," said Cuchulain, "if in the future any birds come to the Plain of Murthemne or to the Boyne, the two birds that are the most beautiful among those that come shall bethine." A little while after this they saw two birds flying over the lake, linked together by a chain of red gold.They sang a gentle song, and a sleep fell upon all the men who were there; and Cuchulain rose up topursue the birds. "If thou wilt hearken to me," said Laeg, and so also said Ethne, "thou shalt not goagainst them; behind those birds is some especial power. Other birds may be taken by thee at somefuture day." "Is it possible that such claim as this should be made upon me?" said Cuchulain. "Place astone in my sling, O Laeg!" Laeg thereon took a stone, and he placed it in the sling, and Cuchulainlaunched the stone at the birds, but the cast missed. "Alas!" said he. He took another stone, and helaunched this also at the birds, but the stone flew past them. "Wretched that I am," he cried, "since the very first day that I assumed arms, I have never missed a cast until this day!" And he cast his spear atthem, and the spear went through the shield of the wing of one of the birds, and the birds flew away,and went beneath the lake. After this Cuchulain departed, and he rested his back against a stone pillar, and his soul was angry within him, and a sleep fell upon him. Then saw he two women come to him; the one of them had agreen mantle upon her, and upon the other was a purple mantle folded in five folds. And the woman inthe green mantle approached him, and she laughed a laugh at him, and she gave him a stroke with ahorsewhip. And then the other approached him, and she also laughed at him, and she struck him inthe like manner; and for a long time were they thus, each of them in turn coming to him and strikinghim until he was all but dead; and then they departed from him.Now the men of Ulster perceived the state in which Cuchulain was in; and they cried out that heshould be awakened; but "Nay," said Fergus, "ye shall not move him, for he seeth a vision;" and a littleafter that Cuchulain came from his sleep. "What hath happened to thee?" said the men of Ulster; buthe had no power to bid greeting to them. "Let me be carried," he said, "to the sick-bed that is in TeteBrecc; neither to Dun Imrith, nor yet to Dun Delga." "Wilt thou not be carried to Dun Delga to seek forEmer?" said Laeg. "Nay," said he, "my word is for Tete Brecc;" and thereon they bore him from thatplace, and he was in Tete Brecc until the end of one year, and during all that time he had speech withno one.Now upon a certain day before the next Summer-End, at the end of a year, when the men of Ulster were in the house where Cuchulain was, Fergus being at the side-wall, and Conall Cernach at his head,and Lugaid Red-Stripes at his pillow, and Ethne Inguba at his feet; when they were there in this

manner, a man came to them, and he seated himself near the entrance of the chamber in whichCuchulain lay. "What hath brought thee here?" said Conall the Victorious. "No hard question toanswer," said the man. "If the man who lies yonder were in health, he would be a good protection toall of Ulster; in the weakness and the sickness in which he now is, so much the more great is theprotection that they have from him. I have no fear of any of you," he said, "for it is to give to this man agreeting that I come." "Welcome to thee, then, and fear nothing," said the men of Ulster; and the manrose to his feet, and he sang them these staves:

Ah! Cuchulain, who art under sickness still,Not long thou its cure shouldst need;Soon would Aed Abra's daughters, to heal thine ill,To thee, at thy bidding, speed.Liban, she at swift Labra's right hand who sits,Stood up on Cruach's Plain, and cried:"'Tis the wish of Fand's heart, she the tale permits,To sleep at Cuchulain's side."'If Cuchulain would come to me,' Fand thus told,'How goodly that day would shine!Then on high would our silver be heaped, and gold,Our revellers pour the wine."'And if now in my land, as my friend, had beenCuchulain, of Sualtam son,The things that in visions he late hath seenIn peace would he safe have won."'In the Plains of Murthemne, to south that spread,Shall Liban my word fulfil:She shall seek him on Samhain, he naught need dread,By her shall be cured his ill.'"

"Who art thou, then, thyself?" said the men of Ulster. I am Angus, the son of Aed Abra," he answered;and the man then left them, nor did any of them know whence it was he had come, nor whither he went.Then Cuchulain sat up, and he spoke to them. "Fortunate indeed is this!" said the men of Ulster; "tellus what it is that hath happened to thee." "Upon Samhain night last year," he said, "I indeed saw a vision;" and he told them of all he had seen. "What should now be done, Father Conor?" saidCuchulain. "This hast thou to do," answered Conor, "rise, and go until thou comest to the pillar wherethou wert before."Then Cuchulain went forth until he came to the pillar, and then saw he the woman in the green mantlecome to him. "This is good, O Cuchulain!" said she. "'Tis no good thing in my thought," saidCuchulain. "Wherefore camest thou to me last year?" he said. "It was indeed to do no injury to theethat we came," said the woman, "but to seek for thy friendship. I have come to greet thee," she said,"from Fand, the daughter of Aed Abra; her husband, Manannan the Son of the Sea, hath released her,and she hath thereon set her love on thee. My own name is Liban, and I have brought to thee amessage from my spouse, Labraid the Swift, the Sword-Wielder, that he will give thee the woman inexchange for one day's service to him in battle against Senach the Unearthly, and against EochaidJuil,and against Yeogan the Stream." "I am in no fit state," he said, "to contend with men to-day.""That will last but a little while," she said; "thou shalt be whole, and all that thou hast lost of thy strength shall be increased to thee. Labraid shall bestow on thee that boon, for he is the best of all warriors that are in the world.""Where is it that Labraid dwelleth?" asked Cuchulain."In Mag Mell, the Plain of Delight," said Liban; "and now I desire to go to another land," said she.