A renewal of tribal warfare in the second year after this, when this same Aed the king was attacked by Flann the lord of Breag in Meath, called forth certain battle-verses full of the fire and fervor of the time.
A poet sang:
"At Kiladerry this day the ravens shall taste sips of blood:
A victory shall be gained over the magic host of the Gentiles
and over Flann."
The mother of Flann sang:
"Happiness! Woe! Good news! Bad news! The gaining of a great
triumphant battle.
Happy the king whom it makes victorious; unhappy the king who
was defeated.
Unhappy the host of Leat Cuin, to have fallen by the sprites
of Slain;
Happy the reign of great Aed, and unhappy the loss of Flann."
Aed the victorious king sang:
"The troops of Leinster are with him, with the added men of
swift Boyne;
This shows the treachery of Flann: the concord of Gentiles
at his side."
After ten years, a bard thus sings the dirge of Aed:
"Long is the wintry night, with rough gusts of wind;
Under pressing grief we meet it, since the red-speared king
of the noble house lives not.
It is fearful to watch how the waves heave from the bottom;
To them may be compared all those who with us lament him.
A generous, wise, staid man, of whose renown the populous
Tara was full.
A shielded oak that sheltered the palace of Milid's sons.
Master of the games of the fair hilled Taillten,
King of Tara of a hundred conflicts;
Chief of Fodla the noble, Aed of Oileac who died too soon.
Popular, not forgotten, he departed from this world,
A yew without any blemish upon him was he of the long-flowing
hair."