[FN#108] Spelt Culgaire.
To that woman and man cried Cuchulain, "Ye who drive that cow do wrong,
For against her will do ye drive her!" "Not to thee doth that cow
belong,"
Said the woman; "no byre of thy comrades or thy friends hath that cow
yet barred."
"The kine of the land of Ulster," said Cuchulain, "are mine to guard!"
"Dost thou sit on the seat of judgment?" said the dame, "and a sage
decree
On this cow would'st thou give, Cuchulain?—too great is that task for
thee!"
Said the hero, "Why speaketh this woman? hath the man with her never a
word?"
"'Twas not him you addressed," was her answer, "when first your
reproaches we heard."
"Nay, to him did I speak," said Cuchulain, "though 'tis thou to reply
who would'st claim!"
'Ooer-gay-skyeo-loo-ehar-skyeo[FN#109] is the name that he bears," said
the dame.
[FN#109] Spelt Uar-gaeth-sceo-luachair-sceo
"'Tis a marvellous name!" said Cuchulain, "if from thee all my answer
must come,
Let it be as thou wishest; thy comrade, this man, as it seemeth, is
dumb.
Tell me now of thine own name, O woman."
"Faebor-bayg-byeo-ill,"[FN#110] said the man.
"Coom-diewr-folt-skayv-garry-skyeo-ooa is her name, if pronounce it you
can!"
Then Cuchulain sprang at the chariot: "Would ye make me a fool with
your jest?"
He cried, as he leapt at the woman; his feet on her shoulders he
pressed,
And he set on her head his spear-point: "Now cease from thy sharp
weapon-play!"
Cried the woman. Cuchulain made answer: Thy name to me truth fully say!"
"Then remove thyself from me!" she answered: I am skilled in satirical
spells;
The man is called Darry I mac Feena[FN#111]: in the country of
Cualgne[FN#112] he dwells;
I of late made a marvellous poem; and as fee for the poem this cow
Do I drive to my home." "Let its verses," said Cuchulain," be sung to
me now!"
"Then away from me stand!" said the woman: "though above me thou
shakest thy spear,
It will naught avail thee to move me." Then he left her, but lingered
near,
Between the poles of her chariot: the woman her song then sang;
And the song was a song of insult. Again at the car he sprang,
But nothing he found before him: as soon as the car he had neared,
The woman, the horse, and the chariot, the cow, and the man disappeared.
[FN#110] Spelt Faebor-begbeoil-cuimdiuir-folt-seenb-gairit-sceo-uath.
[FN#111] Spelt Daire mac Fiachna: he is the owner of the Dun of
Cualgne in the Great Tain.
[FN#112] Pronounced Kell-ny.
At a bird on a bough, as they vanished, a glance by Cuchulain was cast,
And he knew to that bird's black body the shape of the woman had passed:
As a woman of danger I know you," he cried, "and as powerful in spell!"
From to-day and for ever," she chanted, "this tale in yon clay-land
shall dwell!"
And her word was accomplished; that region to-day is the Grella
Dolloo,[FN#113]
The Clay-land of Evil: its name from the deeds of that woman it drew.
[FN#113] Spelt Grellach Dolluid.
"Had I known it was you," said Cuchulain, "not thus had you passed from
my sight!"
And she sang, "For thy deed it is fated that evil shall soon be thy
plight!"
Thou canst. do naught against me," he answered. "Yea, evil in sooth can
I send;
Of thy Bringer of Death I am guardian, shall guard it till cometh thine
end:
From the Under-world Country of Croghan this cow have I driven, to breed
By the Dun Bull of Darry[FN#114] Mae Feena, the Bull that in Cualgne
doth feed.
So long as her calf be a yearling, for that time thy life shall endure;
But, that then shall the Raid have beginning, the dread Raid of
Cualgne, be sure."