'I do not care,' said Medb, 'provided they are not gathered as they are.'
Then this was done; the Leinstermen were distributed among the host.
They set out next morning to Moin Choiltrae, where eight score deer fell in with them in one herd. They surrounded them and killed them then; wherever there was a man of the Leinstermen, it was he who got them, except five deer that all the rest of the host got. Then they came to Mag Trego, and stopped there and prepared their food. They say that it is there that Dubthach sang this song:
'Grant what you have not heard hitherto,
Listening to the fight of Dubthach.
A hosting very black is before you,
Against Findbend of the wife of Ailill.
[Note: Findbennach, the Whitehorned; i.e. the other of the two
bulls in whom the rival swineherds were reincarnated.]
'The man of expeditions will come
Who will defend (?) Murthemne.
Ravens will drink milk of —— [Note: Some kenning for blood?]
From the friendship of the swineherds.
'The turfy Cronn will resist them;
[Note: i.e. the river Cronn. This line is a corruption of a
reference which occurs later, in the account of the flooding of the
Cronn, as Professor Strachan first pointed out to me.]
He will not let them into Murthemne
Until the work of warriors is over
In Sliab Tuad Ochaine.
'"Quickly," said Ailill to Cormac,
"Go that you may —— your son.
The cattle do not come from the fields
That the din of the host may not terrify them(?).
'"This will be a battle in its time
For Medb with a third of the host.
There will be flesh of men therefrom
If the Riastartha comes to you."'
Then the Nemain attacked them, and that was not the quietest of nights for them, with the uproar of the churl (i.e. Dubthach) through their sleep. The host started up at once, and a great number of the host were in confusion, till Medb came to reprove him.
Then they went and spent the night in Granard Tethba Tuascirt, after the host had been led astray over bogs and over streams. A warning was sent from Fergus to the Ulstermen here, for friendship. They were now in the weakness, except Cuchulainn and his father Sualtaim.