Читать книгу The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Táin Bó Cúalnge - Anonymous - Страница 22

"Grant ye have not heard till now,

Giving ear to Dubthach's fray:

Dire-black war upon ye waits,

'Gainst the Whitehorned of Queen Medb!^a

"There will come the chief of hosts,^b

War for Murthemne to wage.

Ravens shall drink garden's milk,^c

This the fruit of swineherds' strife (?)^d

"Turfy Cron will hold them back,

Keep them back from Murthemne,⁵

⁹Till the warriors' work is done

On Ochainè's northern mount!

"'Quick,' to Cormac, Ailill cries;

'Go and seek ye out your son,

Loose no cattle from the fields,

Lest the din of the host reach them!'

"Battle they'll have here eftsoon,

Medb and one third of the host.

Corpses will be scattered wide

If the Wildman^a come to you!"

Then Nemain, ¹the Badb to wit,¹ attacked them, and that was not the quietest of nights they had, with the noise of the churl, namely Dubthach, in their^b sleep. Such fears he scattered amongst the host straightway, and he hurled a great stone at the throng till Medb came to check him. They continued their march then till they slept a night in Granard Tethba in the north,^{9 2}after the host had made a circuitous way across sloughs and streams.²

W. 547. It was on that same day, ³after the coming of the warning from Fergus^{3 4}to the Ulstermen,⁴ that Cuchulain son of Sualtaim, ⁵and Sualtaim⁵ Sidech ('of the Fairy Mound'), his father, ⁶when they had received the warning from Fergus,⁶ came so near ⁷on their watch for the host⁷ that their horses grazed in pasture round the pillar-stone on Ard Cuillenn ('the Height of Cuillenn'). Sualtaim's horses cropped the grass north of the pillar-stone close to the ground; Cuchulain's cropped the grass south of the pillar-stone even to the ground and the bare stones. "Well, O master Sualtaim," said Cuchulain; "the thought of the host is fixed sharp upon me ⁸to-night,⁸ so do thou depart for us with warnings to the men of Ulster, that they remain not in the smooth plains but that they betake themselves to the woods and wastes and steep glens of the province, if so they may keep out of the way of the men of Erin." "And thou, lad, what wilt thou do?" "I must go southwards to Temair to keep tryst with the W. 556. maid^a of Fedlimid Nocruthach ('of the Nine Forms') ¹Conchobar's daughter,¹ according to my own agreement, till morning." "Alas, that one should go ²on such a journey,"² said Sualtaim, "and leave the Ulstermen under the feet of their foes and their enemies for the sake of a tryst with a woman!" "For all that, I needs must go. For, an I go not, the troth of men will be held for false and the promises of women held for true."

Sualtaim departed with warnings to the men of Ulster. Cuchulain strode into the wood, and there, with a single blow, he lopped the prime sapling of an oak, root and top, and with only one foot and one hand and one eye he exerted himself; and he made a twig-ring thereof and set an ogam^b script on the plug of the ring, and set the ring round the narrow part of the pillar-stone on Ard ('the Height') of Cuillenn. He forced the ring till it reached the thick of the pillar-stone. Thereafter Cuchulain went his way to his tryst with the woman.

Touching the men of Erin, the account follows here: They came up to the pillar-stone at Ard Cuillenn, ³which is called Crossa Coil to-day,³ and they began looking out upon the province that was unknown to them, the province of Ulster. And two of Medb's people went always before them in the van of the host, at every camp and on every march, at every ford and every river ^*LL. fo. 58b. and every gap. They were wont to do so ⁴that they might save the brooches and cushions and cloaks of the host, so that the dust of the multitude might not soil them⁴ and that no stain might come on the princes' raiment in the crowd or the crush of the hosts or the throng;—these were the two sons of Nera, who was the son of Nuathar, W. 575. son of Tacan, two sons of the house-stewards of Cruachan, Err and Innell, to wit. Fraech and Fochnam were the names of their charioteers.

The nobles of Erin arrived at the pillar-stone and they there beheld the signs of the browsing of the horses, cropping around the pillar, and they looked close at the rude hoop which the royal hero had left behind about the pillar-stone. ¹Then sat they down to wait till the army should come, the while their musicians played to them.¹ And Ailill took the withy in his hand and placed it in Fergus' hand, and Fergus read the ogam script graven on the plug of the withy, and made known to the men of Erin what was the meaning of the ogam writing that was on it. ²When Medb came, she asked, "Why wait ye here?" "Because of yonder withy we wait," Fergus made answer; "there is an ogam writing on its binding and this is what it saith: 'Let no one go past here till a man be found to throw a withy like unto this, using only one hand and made of a single branch, and I except my master Fergus.' Truly," Fergus added, "it was Cuchulain threw it, and it was his steeds that grazed this plain." And he placed the hoop in the hands of the druids,² and it is thus he began to recite and he pronounced a lay:—

"What bespeaks this withe to us,

What purports its secret rede?

And what number cast it here,

Was it one man or a host?

"If ye go past here this night,

And bide not ³one night³ in camp.

On ye'll come the tear-flesh Hound;

Yours the blame, if ye it scorn!

"⁴Evil on the host he'll bring,⁴

If ye go your way past this.

Find, ye druids, find out here,

For what cause this withe was made!"

W. 596. ¹A druid speaks¹:

"Cut by hero, cast by chief,

As a perfect trap for foes.

Stayer of lords—with hosts of men—

One man cast it with one hand!

"With fierce rage the battle 'gins

Of the Smith's Hound of Red Branch.^a

Bound to meet this madman's rage;

This the name that's on the withe!

²"Would the king's host have its will—

Else they break the law of war—

Let some one man of ye cast,

As one man this withe did cast!²

"Woes to bring with hundred fights

On four realms of Erin's land;

Naught I know 'less it be this

For what cause the withe was made!"

After that lay: "I pledge you my word," said Fergus, "if so ye set at naught yon withy and the royal hero that made it, ³and if ye go beyond³ without passing a night's camp and quarterage here, or until a man of you make a withy of like kind, using but one foot and one eye and one hand, even as he made it, ⁴certain it is, whether ye be⁴ under the ground or in a tight-shut house, ⁵the man that wrote the ogam hereon⁵ will bring slaughter and bloodshed upon ye before the hour of rising on the morrow, if ye make light of him!" "That, surely, would not be pleasing to us," quoth Medb, "that any one should ⁶straightway⁶ spill our blood or besmirch us red, now that we are come to this unknown province, even to the province of Ulster. More pleasing would it be to us, to spill another's blood and redden him." "Far be it from us to set this W. 618. withy at naught," said Ailill, "nor shall we make little of the royal hero that wrought it, rather will we resort to the shelter of this great wood, ¹that is, Fidduin, ('the Wood of the Dûn')¹ southwards till morning. There will we pitch our camp and quarters."

Thereupon the hosts advanced, and as they went they felled the wood with their swords before their chariots, so that Slechta ('the Hewn Road') is still the by-name of that place where is Partraige Beca ('the Lesser Partry') south-west of Cenannas na Rig ('Kells of the Kings') near Cul Sibrille.

²According to other books, it is told as follows: After they had come to ³Fidduin³ they saw a chariot and therein a beautiful maiden. It is there that the conversation between Medb and Fedelm the seeress took place that we spoke of before, and it is after the answer she made to Medb that the wood was cut down: "Look for me," said Medb, "how my journey will be." "It is hard for me," the maiden made answer, "for no glance of eye can I cast upon them in the wood." "Then it is plough-land this shall be," quoth Medb; "we will cut down the wood." Now, this was done, so that this is the name of the place, Slechta, to wit.²

⁴They slept in Cul Sibrille, which is Cenannas.⁴ A heavy snow fell on them that night, and so great it was that it reached to the shoulders^a of the men and to the flanks of the horses and to the poles^b of the chariots, so that all the provinces of Erin were one level plane from the snow. But no huts nor bothies nor tents did they set up that night, nor did they ^*LL. fo. 59. prepare food nor drink, nor made they a meal nor repast. None of the men of Erin W. 630. wot whether friend or foe was next him until the bright hour of sunrise on the morrow.

Certain it is that the men of Erin experienced not a night of encampment or of station that held more discomfort or hardship for them than that night ¹with the snow¹ at Cul Sibrille. The four grand provinces of Erin moved out early on the morrow ²with the rising of the bright-shining sun glistening on the snow² and marched on from that part into another.

Now, as regards Cuchulain: It was far from being early when he arose ³from his tryst.³ And then he ate a meal and took a repast, and ⁴he remained until he had⁴ washed himself and bathed on that day.

He called to his charioteer to lead out the horses and yoke the chariot. The charioteer led out the horses and yoked the chariot, and Cuchulain mounted his chariot. And they came on the track of the army. They found the trail of the men of Erin leading past them from that part into another. "Alas, O master Laeg," cried Cuchulain, "by no good luck went we to our tryst with the woman last night. ⁵Would that we had not gone thither nor betrayed the Ultonians.⁵ This is the least that might be looked for from him that keeps guard on the marches, a cry, or a shout, or an alarm, or to call, 'Who goes the road?' This it fell not unto us to say. The men of Erin have gone past us, ⁶without warning, without complaint,⁶ into the land of Ulster." "I foretold thee that, O Cuchulain," said Laeg. "Even though thou wentest to thy woman-tryst ⁷last night,⁷ such a disgrace would come upon thee." "Good now, O Laeg, go thou for us on the trail of the host and make an estimate of them, and discover W. 649. for us in what number the men of Erin went by us."

Laeg came on the track of the host, and he went to the front of the trail and he came on its sides and he went to the back of it. "Thou art confused in thy counting, O Laeg, my master," quoth Cuchulain. "Confused I must be," Laeg replied. ¹"It is not confusedly that I should see, if I should go," said Cuchulain.¹ "Come into the chariot then, and I will make a reckoning of them." The charioteer mounted the chariot and Cuchulain went on the trail of the hosts and ²after a long while² he made a reckoning of them. ³"Even thou, it is not easy for thee.³ Thou art perplexed in thy counting, my little Cuchulain," quoth Laeg. "Not perplexed," answered Cuchulain; ⁴"it is easier for me than for thee.^{4 5}For I have three magical virtues: Gift of sight, gift of understanding, and gift of reckoning.⁵ For I know the number wherewith the hosts went past us, namely, eighteen cantreds. Nay more: the eighteenth cantred has been distributed among ⁶the entire host of⁶ the men of Erin, ⁷so that their number is not clear, namely, that of the cantred of Leinstermen."^{7 8}This here is the third cunningest ⁹and most difficult⁹ reckoning that ever was made in Erin. These were: The reckoning by Cuchulain of the men of Erin on the Táin, the reckoning by Lug Lamfota ('Long-hand') of the host of the Fomorians ¹⁰in the Battle of Moytura,¹⁰ and the reckoning by Incel of the host in the Hostel of Da Derga.⁸

Now, many and divers were the magic virtues that were in Cuchulain ¹¹that were in no one else in his day.¹¹ Excellence of form, excellence of shape, excellence of build, excellence W. 661. in swimming, excellence in horsemanship, excellence in chess and in draughts, excellence in battle, excellence in contest, excellence in single combat, excellence in reckoning, excellence in speech, excellence in counsel, excellence in bearing, excellence in laying waste and in plundering from the neighbouring border.

"Good, my friend Laeg. Brace the horses for us to the chariot; lay on the goad for us on the horses; drive on the chariot for us and give thy left^a board to the hosts, to see can we overtake the van or the rear or the midst of the hosts, for I will cease to live unless there fall by my hand this night a friend or foe of the men of Erin."

Then it was that the charioteer gave the prick to the steeds. He turned his left board to the hosts till he arrived at Turloch^b Caille More ('the Creek of the Great Wood') northwards of Cnogba na Rig ('Knowth of the Kings') which is called Ath Gabla ('the Ford of the Fork'). ¹Thereupon Cuchulain went round the host till he came to Ath Grenca.¹ He went into the wood at that place and sprang out of his chariot, and he lopped off a four-pronged fork, root and top, with a single stroke ²of his sword.² He pointed and charred it and put a writing in ogam on its side, and he gave it a long throw from the hinder part of his chariot with the tip of a single hand, in such wise that two-thirds of it sank into the ground and only one-third was above it ³in the mid part of the stream, so that no chariot could go thereby on this side or that.³

Then it was that the same two striplings surprised him, namely, the two sons of Nera son of Nuathar son of Tacan, while engaged in that feat. And they vied which of the twain ⁴would be the first to fight and contend with Cuchuain, which of them⁴ would inflict the first wound upon W. 680. him and be the first to behead him. Cuchulain turned on them, and straightway he struck off their four heads ¹from themselves ²Eirr and Indell² and ³from Foich and Fochlam,³ their drivers,¹ and he fixed a head of each man of them on each of the prongs of the pole. And Cuchulain let the horses of the party go back in the direction of the men of Erin, to return by the same road, their reins loose ⁴around their ears⁴ and their bellies red and the bodies of the warriors dripping their blood down outside on the ribs of the chariots. ⁵Thus he did,⁵ for he deemed it no honour nor deemed he it fair to take horses or garments or arms from corpses or from the dead. And then the troops saw the horses of the party that had gone out in advance before them, and the headless bodies of the warriors oozing their blood down on the ribs of the chariots (⁶and their crimsoned trappings upon them⁶). The van of the army waited for the rear to come up, and all were thrown into confusion of striking, that is as much as to say, into a tumult of arms.

Medb and Fergus and the Manè and the sons of Maga drew near. For in this wise was Medb wont to travel, and nine chariots with her alone; two of these chariots before her, and two chariots behind, and two chariots at either side, and her own chariot in the middle between them. This is why Medb did so, that the turves from the horses' hoofs, or the flakes of foam from the bridle-bits, or the dust of the mighty host or of the numerous throng might not reach the queen's diadem of gold ⁷which she wore round her head.⁷ "What have we here?" queried Medb. "Not hard to say," each and all made answer; ^*LL. fo. 60. "the horses of the band that went out before us are here and their bodies lacking their heads in their chariots." They held W. 702. a council and they felt certain it was the sign of a multitude and of the approach of a mighty host, and that it was the Ulstermen that had come ¹and that it was a battle that had taken place before them on the ford.¹ And this was the counsel they took: to despatch Cormac Conlongas, Conchobar's son, from them to learn what was at the ford; because, even though the Ulstermen might be there, they would not kill the son of their own king. Thereupon Cormac Conlongas, Conchobar's son, set forth and this was the complement with which he went, ten hundred in addition to twenty hundred armed men, to ascertain what was at the ford. And when he was come, he saw naught save the fork in the middle of the ford, with four heads upon it dripping their blood down along the stem of the fork into the stream of the river, ²and a writing in ogam on the side,² and the signs of the two horses and the track of a single chariot-driver and the marks of a single warrior leading out of the ford going therefrom to the eastward. ³By that time,³ the nobles of Erin had drawn nigh to the ford and they all began to look closely at the fork. They marvelled and wondered who had set up the trophy. ⁴"Are yonder heads those of our people?" Medb asked. "They are our people's, and our chosen ones'," answered Ailill. One of their men deciphered the ogam-writing that was on the side of the fork, to wit: 'A single man cast this fork with but a single hand; and go ye not past it till one man of you throw it with one hand, excepting Fergus.'⁴ "What name have ye men of Ulster for this ford till now, Fergus?" asked Ailill. "Ath Grenca,"^a answered Fergus; "and Ath Gabla ('Ford of the Fork') shall now be its name forever from this fork," said Fergus. And he recited the lay:—

W. 719.

"Grenca's ford shall change its name,

From the strong and fierce Hound's deed.

Here we see a four-pronged fork,

Set to prove all Erin's men!

"On two points—as sign of war—

Are Fraech's head and Fochnam's head;

On its other points are thrust

Err's head and Innell's withal!

"And yon ogam on its side,

Find, ye druids, in due form,

Who has set it upright there?

What host drove it in the ground?"

(A druid answers:)

"Yon forked pole—with fearful strength—

Which thou seest, Fergus, there,

One man cut, to welcome us,

With one perfect stroke of sword!

"Pointed it and shouldered it—

Though this was no light exploit—

After that he flung it down,

To uproot for one of you!

"Grenca was its name till now—

All will keep its memory—

Fork-ford^a be its name for aye,

From the fork that's in the ford!"

After the lay, spake Ailill: "I marvel and wonder, O Fergus, who could have sharpened the fork and slain with such speed the four that had gone out before us." "Fitter it were to marvel and wonder at him who with a single stroke lopped the fork which thou seest, root and top, pointed and charred it and flung it the length of a throw from the hinder part of his chariot, from the tip of a single hand, so that it sank over two-thirds into the ground and that naught save one-third is above; nor was a hole first dug with his sword, but through a grey stone's flag it was thrust, and thus it is geis for the men of Erin to proceed to the bed of this ford till one of ye pull out the fork with the tip of one hand, even as he erewhile drove it down."

"Thou art of our hosts, O Fergus," said Medb; W. 753. ¹avert this necessity from us,¹ and do thou draw the fork for us from the bed of the ford." "Let a chariot be brought me," cried Fergus, ²"till I draw it out, that it may be seen that its butt is of one hewing."² And a chariot was brought to Fergus, and Fergus laid hold ³with a truly mighty grip³ on the fork, and he made splinters and ^*LL. fo. 61a. scraps of the chariot. "Let another chariot be brought me," cried Fergus. ⁴Another⁴ chariot was brought to Fergus, and Fergus made a tug at the fork and again made fragments and splinters of the chariot, ⁵both its box and its yoke and its wheels.⁵ "Again let a chariot be brought me," cried Fergus. And Fergus exerted his strength on the fork, and made pieces and bits of the chariot. There where the seventeen^a chariots of the Connachtmen's chariots were, Fergus made pieces and bits of them all, and yet he failed to draw the fork from the bed of the ford. "Come now, let it be, O Fergus," cried Medb; "break our people's chariots no more. For hadst thou not been now engaged on this hosting, ⁶by this time⁶ should we have come to Ulster, driving divers spoils and cattle-herds with us. We wot wherefore thou workest all this, to delay and detain the host till the Ulstermen rise from their 'Pains' and offer us battle, the battle of the Táin."

"Bring me a swift chariot," cried Fergus. And his own chariot was brought to Fergus, and Fergus gave a tug at the fork, and nor wheel nor floor nor one of the chariot-poles creaked nor cracked. Even though it was with his strength and prowess that the one had driven it down, with his might and doughtiness the other drew it out—the battle-champion, the gap-breaker of hundreds, the crushing sledge, the stone-of-battle for enemies, the W. 777. head of retainers, the foe of hosts, the hacking of masses, the flaming torch and the leader of mighty combat. He drew it up with the tip of one hand till it reached the slope of his shoulder, and he placed the fork in Ailill's hand. Ailill scanned it; he regarded it near. "The fork, meseems, is all the more perfect," quoth Ailill; "for a single stroke I see on it from butt to top." "Aye, all the more perfect," Fergus replied. And Fergus began to sing praise ¹of Cuchulain,¹ and he made a lay thereon:—