falls before acorns. It is a child who is aged. It is grievous his shortness of life.’
‘I would be most satisfied if he came here,’ said Ingcél. ‘It would be one destruction for another. This destruction would be no more difficult for me than was the destruction of my mother and my father and my seven brothers and the king of the country that I did for you as my part of the bargain.’ ‘True, true,’ said the evil-doers who had accompanied the raiders. The raiders started out from Trácht Fuirbthen, then, and each man took with him a stone for the making of the cairn, for this is the distinction that the fiana instituted between a destruction and a rout: they erected a pillar stone for a rout but built a cairn for a destruction. Since this was to be a destruction, the raiders made a cairn, and they built it far from the house lest they be seen or heard.
After that, the raiders held a council, in the place where they had made the cairn. ‘Well then,’ said Ingcél to those who knew the country, ‘what is nearest to us?’ ‘Not difficult that: the hostel of Da Derga, the royal hospitaller of Ériu,’ these men answered. ‘A good chance, then, that chieftains will be seeking their fellows in that hostel tonight,’ said Ingcél. It was decided, then, that one of the plunderers should go and look to see how things were in the house.‘Who should go to look?’ it was asked. ‘Who but I?’ said Ingcél. ‘For it is to me that the debt is owed.’
Ingcél then went to spy upon the hostel with one of the three pupils in his eye, and he adjusted his eye so as to cast a baleful look upon the king and the youths about him, and he looked through the wheels of the chariots. He was perceived from the house, however, and so he hurried away until he rejoined the raiders. They had formed circles, one about the other, in order to hear the news, and in the centre of the circles were the six chieftains: Fer Gel, Fer Gar, Fer Rogel, Fer Rogain, Lomnae Drúth and Ingcél Cáech.
‘What is there, Ingcél?’ asked Fer Rogain. ‘Whatever it is,’ answered Ingcél, ‘the customs are regal, the tumult is that of a host and the noise is that of princes. Whether or not there is a king there, I will take the house in payment of the debt, and I will plunder there.’ ‘We leave it to you, Ingcél,’ said Conare’s foster-brothers, ‘save that we should not destroy the house until we know who is inside.’ ‘Did you look the house over well, Ingcél?’ Fer Rogain asked. ‘My eye made a quick circuit, and I will accept it in payment just as it is,’ said Ingcél. ‘Although you take the house, it is yours by right,’ said Fer Rogain. ‘Our foster-father is inside, the high king of Ériu, Conare son of Eterscélae. Whom did you see in the champion’s seat, the one facing the king?’ ‘I saw a huge, bright-faced man,’ said Ingcél, ‘with clear, shining eyes and straight teeth and a face narrow below and broad above. Fair, flaxen, golden hair he had, and a proper hood over it, and a silver brooch in his mantle. In his hands a gold-hiked sword and a shield with five concentric circles of gold and a five-pointed spear. A fair, ruddy complexion he had, with no beard, and a modest bearing. On his left and on his right and in front of him I saw three men, and you would think that all nine had the same father and the same mother. They were of the same age, and all were equal in appearance andhandsomeness. All had long hair and green mantles with gold pins; all bore in their hands round shields of bronze and ridged spears and ivory-hilted swords. All performed the same trick: each man would take the point of his sword between his two fingers and wind it about his fingers, and the sword would straighten out by itself afterwards. Explain that, Fer Rogain.’
‘Not difficult that,’ said Fer Rogain. ‘Cormac Cond Longes son of Conchubur he, the best warrior to hold a shield in Ériu. Of modest bearing he. Little does
‘I would be most satisfied if he came here,’ said Ingcél. ‘It would be one destruction for another. This destruction would be no more difficult for me than was the destruction of my mother and my father and my seven brothers and the king of the country that I did for you as my part of the bargain.’ ‘True, true,’ said the evil-doers who had accompanied the raiders. The raiders started out from Trácht Fuirbthen, then, and each man took with him a stone for the making of the cairn, for this is the distinction that the fiana instituted between a destruction and a rout: they erected a pillar stone for a rout but built a cairn for a destruction. Since this was to be a destruction, the raiders made a cairn, and they built it far from the house lest they be seen or heard.
After that, the raiders held a council, in the place where they had made the cairn. ‘Well then,’ said Ingcél to those who knew the country, ‘what is nearest to us?’ ‘Not difficult that: the hostel of Da Derga, the royal hospitaller of Ériu,’ these men answered. ‘A good chance, then, that chieftains will be seeking their fellows in that hostel tonight,’ said Ingcél. It was decided, then, that one of the plunderers should go and look to see how things were in the house.‘Who should go to look?’ it was asked. ‘Who but I?’ said Ingcél. ‘For it is to me that the debt is owed.’
Ingcél then went to spy upon the hostel with one of the three pupils in his eye, and he adjusted his eye so as to cast a baleful look upon the king and the youths about him, and he looked through the wheels of the chariots. He was perceived from the house, however, and so he hurried away until he rejoined the raiders. They had formed circles, one about the other, in order to hear the news, and in the centre of the circles were the six chieftains: Fer Gel, Fer Gar, Fer Rogel, Fer Rogain, Lomnae Drúth and Ingcél Cáech.
‘What is there, Ingcél?’ asked Fer Rogain. ‘Whatever it is,’ answered Ingcél, ‘the customs are regal, the tumult is that of a host and the noise is that of princes. Whether or not there is a king there, I will take the house in payment of the debt, and I will plunder there.’ ‘We leave it to you, Ingcél,’ said Conare’s foster-brothers, ‘save that we should not destroy the house until we know who is inside.’ ‘Did you look the house over well, Ingcél?’ Fer Rogain asked. ‘My eye made a quick circuit, and I will accept it in payment just as it is,’ said Ingcél. ‘Although you take the house, it is yours by right,’ said Fer Rogain. ‘Our foster-father is inside, the high king of Ériu, Conare son of Eterscélae. Whom did you see in the champion’s seat, the one facing the king?’ ‘I saw a huge, bright-faced man,’ said Ingcél, ‘with clear, shining eyes and straight teeth and a face narrow below and broad above. Fair, flaxen, golden hair he had, and a proper hood over it, and a silver brooch in his mantle. In his hands a gold-hiked sword and a shield with five concentric circles of gold and a five-pointed spear. A fair, ruddy complexion he had, with no beard, and a modest bearing. On his left and on his right and in front of him I saw three men, and you would think that all nine had the same father and the same mother. They were of the same age, and all were equal in appearance andhandsomeness. All had long hair and green mantles with gold pins; all bore in their hands round shields of bronze and ridged spears and ivory-hilted swords. All performed the same trick: each man would take the point of his sword between his two fingers and wind it about his fingers, and the sword would straighten out by itself afterwards. Explain that, Fer Rogain.’
‘Not difficult that,’ said Fer Rogain. ‘Cormac Cond Longes son of Conchubur he, the best warrior to hold a shield in Ériu. Of modest bearing he. Little does
Similar Books
