The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Táin Bó Cúalnge. Anonymous

son," said his mother; "wait till there go with thee a champion of the champions of W. 880. Ulster, or some of the attendants of Conchobar to enjoin thy protection and thy safety on the boy-troop." "I think it too long for that, my mother," the little lad answered, "I will not wait for it. But do thou show me what place lies Emain ¹Macha."^{1 2}"Northwards, there;² it is far away from thee," said his mother, "the place wherein it lies, ³and the way is hard.³ Sliab Fuait lies between thee and Emain." "At all hazards, I will essay it," he answered.

      "The boy fared forth and took his playthings with him. ⁴His little lath-shield⁴ he took, and his hurley of bronze and his ball of silver; and he took his little javelin for throwing; and his toy-staff he took with its fire-hardened butt-end, and he began to shorten the length of his journey with them. He would give the ball a stroke ^*LL. fo. 62b. with the hurl-bat, so that he sent it a long distance from him. Then with a second throw he would cast his hurley so that it went a distance no shorter than the first throw. He would hurl his little darts, and let fly his toy-staff, and make a wild chase after them. Then he would catch up his hurl-bat and pick up the ball and snatch up the dart, and the stock of the toy-staff had not touched the ground when he caught its tip which was in the air.

      "He went his way to the mound-seat of Emain, where was the boy-troop. Thrice fifty youths were with Folloman, Conchobar's son, at their games on the fair-green of Emain.

      "The little lad went on to the play-field into the midst of the boys, and he whipped the ball between his two legs away from them, nor did he suffer it to travel higher up than the top of his knee, nor did he let it lower down than his ankle, and he drove it and held it between his two legs and not one of the boys was able to get a prod nor a stroke nor a blow nor a shot at it, so that he carried it over the W. 904. brink of the goal away from them. ¹Then he goes to the youths without binding them to protect him. For no one used to approach them on their play-field without first securing from them a pledge of protection. He was weetless thereof.¹

      "Then they all gazed upon him. They wondered and marvelled. "Come, boys!" cried Folloman, Conchobar's son, ²"the urchin insults us.² Throw yourselves all on yon fellow, and his death shall come at my hands; for it is geis among you for any youth to come into your game, without first entrusting his safety to you. And do you all attack him together, for we know that yon wight is some one of the heroes of Ulster; and they shall not make it their wont to break into your sports without first entrusting their safety and protection to you."

      "Thereupon they all set upon him together. They cast their thrice fifty hurl-bats at the poll of the boy's head. He raises his single toy-staff and wards off the thrice fifty hurlies, ³so that they neither hurt him nor harm him,^{3 4}and he takes a load of them on his back.⁴ Then they throw their thrice fifty balls at the lad. He raises his upper arm and his forearm and the palms of his hands ⁵against them⁵ and parries the thrice fifty balls, ⁶and he catches them, each single ball in his bosom.⁶ They throw at him the thrice fifty play-spears charred at the end. The boy raises his little lath-shield ⁷against them⁷ and fends off the thrice fifty play-staffs, ⁸and they all remain stuck in his lath-shield.^{8 9}Thereupon contortions took hold of him. Thou wouldst have weened it was a hammering wherewith each hair was hammered into his head, with such an uprising it rose. Thou wouldst have weened it was a spark of fire that was on every single hair there. He closed one of his eyes so that it was no wider than the eye of a needle. He opened the other wide so that it was as big as the mouth of a mead-cup.^a He stretched his mouth from his jaw-bones to his ears; he opened his mouth wide to his jaw so that his gullet was seen. The champion's light rose up from his crown.⁹

      W. 919. "It was then he ran in among them. He scattered fifty king's sons of them over the ground underneath him ¹before they got to the gate of Emain.¹ Five^b of them," Fergus continued, "dashed headlong between me and Conchobar, where we were playing chess, even on Cennchaem ('Fair-head') ²the chessboard of Conchobar,² on the mound-seat of Emain. The little boy pursued them to cut them off. ³Then he sprang over the chessboard after the nine.³ Conchobar seized the little lad by the wrists. "Hold, little boy. I see 'tis not gently thou dealest with the boy-band." "Good reason I have," quoth the little lad. ⁴"From home, from mother and father I came to play with them, and they have not been good to me.⁴ I had not a guest's honour at the hands of the boy-troop on my arrival, for all that I came from far-away lands." "How is that? Who art thou, ⁵and what is thy name?"⁵ asked Conchobar. "Little Setanta am I, son of Sualtaim. Son am I to Dechtirè, thine own sister; and not through thee did I expect to be thus aggrieved." "How so, little one?" said Conchobar. "Knewest thou not that it is forbidden among the boy-troop, that it is geis for them for any boy to approach them in their land without first claiming his protection from them?" "I knew it not," said the lad. W. 932. "Had I known it, I would have been on my guard against them." "Good, now, ye boys," Conchobar cried; "take ye upon you the protection of the little lad." "We grant it, indeed," they made answer.

      "The little lad went ^*LL. fo. 63a. ¹into the game again¹ under the protection of the boy-troop. Thereupon they loosed hands from him, and once more he rushed amongst them ²throughout the house.² He laid low fifty of their princes on the ground under him. Their fathers thought it was death he had given them. That was it not, but stunned they were with front-blows and mid-blows and long-blows. "Hold!" cried Conchobar. "Why art thou yet at them?" "I swear by my gods whom I worship" (said the boy) "they shall all come under my protection and shielding, as I have put myself under their protection and shielding. Otherwise I shall not lighten my hands off them until I have brought them all to earth." "Well, little lad, take thou upon thee the protection of the boy-troop." "I grant it, indeed," said the lad. Thereupon the boy-troop went under his protection and shielding.

      "³Then they all went back to the play-field, and the boys whom he had overthrown there arose. Their nurses and tutors helped them.

      "Now, once upon a time," continued Fergus, "when he was a gilla, he slept not in Emain Macha till morning." "Tell me," Conchobar said to him, "why sleepest thou not ⁴in Emain Macha, Cuchulain?"⁴ "I sleep not, unless it be equally high at my head and my feet." Then Conchobar had a pillar-stone