Cuchulain desires Arms of the King
So a chariot of two horses was brought to Cuchulain, and every way he tried its strength, driving it furiously round and round the green, goading the horses and turning suddenly. But for this usage the chariot was not fit, and it broke beneath him. Twelve chariots were brought to him, and he tested them all in this manner, but all of them he reduced to fragments. “These chariots of thine, O Conor, are no good at all, they serve me not, nor are they worthy of me, thy own foster-son.”
Then the King cried: “Fetch me here Ivar, my own charioteer, and let him harness my steeds into the kingly chariot, and bring it here to serve Cuchulain.” Then the kingly chariot of war was brought and Cuchulain mounted, testing it every way; and well it served him at every test. “The chariot is good, and the steeds are good, they are worthy of me,” said the boy; “it is my worthy match.”
“Well, boy, it is time that thou wert satisfied at last; now I will take the horses home and put them out to graze,” said Ivar.
“Not yet awhile,” said Cuchulain. “Drive but the horses round the kingly fort.” Ivar did so, and then he said again: “Be satisfied now, my lad; I go to turn the horses out to grass.” For it was but seldom that King Conor went forth in his war-chariot, because the men of Ulster willed not that the King should expose his person in battle; so Ivar was grown idle, and fat through his idleness, and he liked not at all the unwonted exertion that the wee boy asked of him.
“Not yet awhile,” said Cuchulain again; “too early is it to turn in; drive now towards the playing-fields that the boy-corps may salute me on this the first day of my taking arms.” They did so, and the boy-corps gathered round. “These are a warrior’s arms that thou hast taken!” cried they all, surprised to see him thus equipped in the King’s own warrior-gear, and driving in the chariot of the King. “Just so, indeed,” replied the boy. Then they wished him well in his warrior-career. “May success in winning of spoils, and in blood-drawing, be thine,” they cried. “But all too soon it is thou leavest us and our boyish sports for deeds of war.” “In no way do I wish to part with the beloved boy-corps,” replied the lad; “but it was a sign of luck and good fortune that I should take arms to-day; therefore I thought not well to miss my luck.”
Then Ivar urged the child again, for he was growing tired of the thing, to let him take the horses out to graze. “’Tis early yet, O Ivar,” said the boy; “whither then goes this great High-road I see?” “That is the High-road to the borders of the Province, and to the Ford of Watching or the Look-out Ford,” replied the charioteer. “Why is it called the Look-out Ford?” asked then the boy. “Because there, on the extreme limits of the Province, a watcher who is a prime warrior of Ulster always stands, prepared to challenge any stranger, before he pass the ford, of his business in the Province: if he who comes be a bard or peaceful man, to grant him protection and entertainment; but if he be a foe, to challenge him to combat at the ford. And seldom,” said the charioteer, “does a day pass, but at the ford some enemy is slain. As to the bards who pass in peace, no doubt it is the kindness of that warrior they will praise when once they come to Emain, and stand before the King.” “Who guards the ford this day, if thou dost know?” inquired Cuchulain. “Conall the Victorious, Ulster’s foremost man of war, it is who holds the ford this day.” “Away then,” cried the lad, “goad on thy steeds, for we will seek the ford and Conall.”
“The horses are already tired, we have done enough for this one day,” quoth Ivar. “The day is early yet, and our day’s labours hardly yet begun,” replied the youth; “away with you along this road.”
They come at last to the ford’s brink, and there beside the Ford of Watching stood young Conall, at that time Ulster’s foremost man of war.