-
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
his seven-and-twenty sons formed, as it were, but one being, the sons being organs of their father, and what
any one of them did they all did alike. They were all poisonous, so that any weapon which one of them used
would kill in nine days the man who was but grazed by it. When this multiform creature met Cuchulain each
hand of it hurled a spear at once, but Cuchulain caught the twenty-eight spears on his shield and not one of
them drew blood. Then he drew his sword to lop off the spears that bristled from his shield, but as he did so
the Clan Calatin rushed upon him and flung him down, thrusting his face into the gravel. At this Cuchulain
gave a great cry of distress at the unequal combat, and one of
[215]
the Ulster exile; Fiacha son of Firaba, who was with the host of Maev, and was looking on at the fight, could
not endure to see the plight of the champion, and he drew his sword and with one stroke he lopped off the
eight-and-twenty hands that were grinding the face of Cuchulain into the gravel of the Ford. Then Cuchulain
arose and hacked the Clan Calatin into fragments, so that none survived to tell Maev what Fiacha had done,
else had he and his thirty hundred followers of Clan Rury heen given by Maev to the edge of the sword.
Ferdia to the Fray
Cuchulain had now overcome all the mightiest of Maev's men, save only the mightiest of them all after
Fergus, Ferdia son of Daman. And because Ferdia was the old friend and fellow pupil of Cuchulain he had
never gone out against him; but now Maev begged him to go, and he would not. Then she offered him her
daughter, Findabair of the Fair Eyebrows, to wife, if he would face Cuchulain at the Ford, but he would not.
At last she bade him go, lest the poets and satirists of Erin should make verses on him and put him to open
shame, and then in wrath and sorrow he consented to go, and bade his charioteer make ready for to-morrow's
fray. Then was gloom among all his people when they heard of that, for they knew that if Cuchulain and their
master met, one of them would return alive no more.
Very early in the morning Ferdia drove to the Ford, and lay down there on the cushions and skins of the
chariot and slept till Cuchulain should come. Not till it was full daylight did Ferdia's charioteer hear the
Chapter V: Tales of the Ultonian Cycle 103
Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race
thunder of Cuchulain's war-car approaching, and then he woke his master, and the two friends faced each
[216]
other across the Ford. And when they had greeted each other Cuchulain said: "It is not thou, O Ferdia, who
shouldst have come to do battle with me. When we were with Skatha did we not go side by side in every
battle, through every wood and wilderness ? were we not heart-companions, comrades, in the feast and the
assembly ? did we not share one bed and one deep slumber ?" But Ferdia replied : "O Cuchulain, thou of the
wondrous feats, though we have studied poetry and science together, and though I have heard thee recite our
deeds of friendship, yet it is my hand that shall wound thee. I bid thee remember not our comradeship, O
Hound of Ulster; it shall not avail thee, it shall not avail thee."
They then debated with what weapons they should begin the fight, and Ferdia reminded Cuchulain of the art
of casting small javelins that they had learned from Skatha, and they agreed to begin with these. Back-wards
and forwards, then, across the Ford, hummed the light javelins like bees on a summer's day, but when
noonday had come not one weapon had pierced the defence of either champion. Then they took to the heavy
missile spears, and now at last blood began to flow, for each champion wounded the other time and again. At
last the day came to its close. "Let us cease now," said Ferdia, and Cuchulain agreed. Each then threw his
arms to his charioteer, and the friends embraced and kissed each other three times, and went to their rest.
Their horses were in the same paddock, their drivers warmed themselves over the same fire, and the heroes
sent each other food and drink and healing herbs for their wounds.
Next day they betook themselves again to the Ford, and this time, because Ferdia had the choice of weapons
the day before, he bade Cuchulain take it
[217]
now. [Together with much that is wild and barbaric in this Irish epic of the "Tain" the reader will be struck by
the ideals of courtesy and gentleness which not infrequently come to light in it. It must be remembered that,
as Mr. A. H. Leahy points out in his " Heroic Romances of Ireland," the legend of the Raid of Quelgny is, at
the very latest, a century earlier than all other known romances of chivalry Welsh or Continental. It is found
in the "Book of Leinster," a manuscript of the twelfth century, as well as in other sources, and was doubtless
considerably older than the date of its transcription there. "The whole thing," says Mr. Leahy, "stands at the
very beginning of the literature of modern Europe."] Cuchulain chose then the heavy, broad-bladed spears
for close fighting, and with them they fought from the chariots till the sun went down, and drivers and horses [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
- doc.pisz.pl
- pdf.pisz.pl
- zambezia2013.opx.pl