AN GAODHAL.
857
All these forces met at Cruachain ; and after
consulting her Druid, and a Bean sidhe (pron.
nearly banshee), who appeared to her, Meav set
out at the head of her troops, crossed the Shannon
at Athlone, and marched through ancient Meath,
till she had arrived at the place now called Kells
(within a few miles of the borders of the modern
county of Louth, in Uster, where she encamped
her army. Meav's consort, Ailill, and their dau¬
ghter, Finnabhair (the Fairbrowed), accompanied
the expedition. When they had encamped for the
night, the queen invited all the leaders of the army
to least with her, and in the course of the evening
contrived to enter into a private conversation with
each of the most brave and powerful amongs
them, exhorting them to valor and fidelity, in her
cause, and secretly promising to each the hand of
her beautiful daughter in marriage. So far the plot
of the tale as regards Queen Meav's movements.
Although the Ulstermen had sufficient notice of
the approach of such a formidable invasion, the
exhibited no signs of defensive preparation. This
singular inaction on their part is accounted for in
another tale so often spoken of as the Ceasnaidh¬
ean Uladh, or Child-birth-debility of the Ulton¬
ians.
It happened that Meav's expedition into Louth
occurred at the very time that Conor and all the
warriors of Emania were suffering under the ef¬
fect of the curse described in that tale, so that the
border lay quite unguarded except by one youth.
This youth was the renewed Cuchulainn, whose
patrimony was the first part of Ulster that the
hostile forces entered upon, and within it the own¬
er of Donn Chuailgne resided.
This part of the tale relates many wonderful and
various stories of Cuchulainn's youthful achieve¬
ments, which complicate it to no small extent, but
on the other hand, make no small addition to its
interest.
Cuchulainn confronts the invaders of his prov¬
ince, demands single combat, and conjures his op¬
ponents by the laws of Irish chivalry (the Fir
comhlainn) not to advance farther until they con¬
quered him. This demand, in accordance with
the Irish laws of warfare, is granted, and then the
whole contest is resolved into a succession of sin¬
gle combats, in each of which Cuchulain was
victorious.
Soon, however, Meav, impatient of this slow
mode of proceeding, broke through the compact
with Cuchulainn, marched forward herself at the
head of a section of her army, and burned and
ravaged the province up to the very precincts of
Conor's palace at Emania. She had by this time
secured the Donn Chuailgne, and she now march-
her forces back into Meath and encamped at Clar¬
tha (pron. Clarha, — now Clare Castle in the mod¬
ern county of Westmeath.)
In the meantime th Ulstermen having recovered
from the temporary state of debility to which the
curse above alluded to had subjected them, Conor
summoned all the chiefs of his province to muster
their forces and join his standard in pursuit of the
army of Connacht. This done, they marched in
separate bodies, under their respective chiefs, and
took up a position in the immediate neighbor¬
hood of Meav's camp. The march and array of
these troops, including Cuchulainn's — the disting¬
uishing description of their horses, chariots, arms,
ornaments and vesture, — even their size and com¬
plexion, and the color of their hair, — are described
with great vividness and power. In the story the
description of all these details is delivered by
Meav's courier, Mac Roth, to her and her husband;
and the recognition of the various chiefs of Ulster
as they arrived at Conor's camp is ascribed to Fer¬
gus Mac Roigh, the exiled prince already spoken
of. I may quote the following short passages,
merely as specimens of the kind of description
thus given by Mac Roth to Meav and Ailill —
"There came another company there, said Mac
Roth, no champion could be found more comely
than he who leads them. His hair is of a deep red
yellow, and bushy, his forehead broad and his face
tapering, sparkling blue laughing eyes, — a man
regularly formed all and tapering, thin red lips
pearly, shiny teeth, a white, smooth body. A red
and white cloak flutters about him, a golden brooch
in that cloak at his breast, a short of white, king¬
ly linen, with gold embroidery at his skin, a
white shield, with gold fastenings at the shoulder
a gold hilted long sword at his left side, a long,
sharp, dark green spear, together with a short,
sharp spear, with a rich band and carved silver
rivets in his hand. Who is he, O Fergus, said
Ailill? The man who has come there is in himself
half a battle, the valor of combat, the fury of
the slaughter hound. His is Reochaid Mac Fath¬
eman (pron. Faheman) from Rigdonn [or Rach¬
lainn] in the north [said Fergus.] And again-
"Another company have come to the same hill-
at Slemain of Meath, said Mac Roth, with a long,
faced, dark-complexioned champion at their head.
(a champion) with blach hair and long limbs, i.e.
long legs, wearing a red shaggy cloak wrapped
round him, and a white silver brooch in his cloak
over his heart, a linen shirt to his skin, a blood red
shield with devices at his shoulder, a silver hilted
sword at his left side, an elbowed gold-socketed
spear to his shoulder. Who is he, O Fergus?
said Ailill to Fergus. We know him well, indeed,
said Fergus, he is Fergna, the son of Finneona,
chief of Burach, in Ulster.
And again — "Another company have come to
the same hill in Slemain of Meath, said Mac
Roth. It is wild, and unlike the other companies.
Some are with red cloaks, others with light blue
cloaks, others with deep blue cloaks, others with
green, or blay, or white, or yellow cloaks, bright
and fluttering about them. There is a young red-
freckled lad, with a crimson cloak, in their midst,
a golden brooch in that cloak at his breast, a shirt
of kingly linen, with fastenings of red gold at his
skin, a white shield with hooks of red gold at his
shoulder, faced with gold and with a golden rim,
a small gold-hilted sword at his side, a light, sharp
shining spear to his shoulder. Who is he, my
dear Fergus? said Ailill. I don't remember in¬
deed, said Fergus, having left any such person¬
ages as these in Uster, when leaving it, — and I
can only guess that they are the young princes
and nobles of Tara, led by Erc the son of Coner's
daughter Feidilim Nuachuthach, (or of the ever
new form), and of Carbry Niafear (the king of
Tara.)
With descriptions like these, more or less pic¬
turesque, the whole tale abounds. The most re¬
markable of these, but it is too long for insertion
here, is that of Cuchulainn, his chariot, his
horses, and his charioteer, at the battle of Ath
Firdiadh, where he killed Ferdiadh in single com¬
bat, a circumstance from which the place derived
its name of Ath Ferdiadh, or Ferdiad's Ford (pron.
Ardee,) in the modern county of Louth.
The armies of Queen Meav and Conor, her form¬
er husband, met in battle at the hill of Gairech,
