Unfairly I'm slain!
Thy guilt clings to me;
My blood falls on thee!

"No meed for the wretch[a]
Who treads treason's gap.
Now weak is my voice;
Ah, gone is my bloom!

"My ribs' armour bursts,
My heart is all gore;
I battled not well;
I'm smitten, O Cu!

[4]"Unfair, side by side,
To come to the ford.
'Gainst my noble ward[b]
Hath Medb turned my hand!

"There'll come rooks and crows
To gaze on my arms,
To eat flesh and blood.
A tale, Cu, for thee!"[4]

[a] Reading _taobh re taobh_.

[b] Omitting _seng_; the line has a syllable too many in the original.

[4-4] Eg. 106 (_Revue Celtique_, tome xi, p. 327).

[W.3964.] Thereupon Cuchulain hastened towards Ferdiad and clasped his two
arms about him, and bore him with all his arms and his armour and his dress
northwards over the ford, that so it should be [1]with his face[1] to the
north[a] of the ford the triumph took place and not to the west[b] of the
ford with the men of Erin. [LL.fo.87b.] Cuchulain laid Ferdiad there on the
ground, and a cloud and a faint and a swoon came over Cuchulain there by
the head of Ferdiad. Laeg espied it, and the men of Erin all arose for the
attack upon him. "Come, O Cucuc," cried Laeg; "arise now [2]from thy
trance,[2] for the men of Erin will come to attack us, and it is not single
combat they will allow us, now that Ferdiad son of Daman son of Dare is
fallen by thee." "What availeth it me to arise, O gilla," moaned Cuchulain,
"now that this one is fallen by my hand?" In this wise the gilla spake and
he uttered these words and Cuchulain responded:--

Laeg: "Now arise, O Emain's Hound;
Now most fits thee courage high.
Ferdiad hast thou thrown--of hosts--
God's fate! How thy fight was hard!"

Cuchulain: "What avails me courage now?
I'm oppressed with rage and grief,
For the deed that I have done
On his body sworded sore!"

Laeg: "It becomes thee not to weep;
Fitter for thee to exult!
Yon red-speared one thee hath left
Plaintful, wounded, steeped in gore!"

Cuchulain: "Even had he cleaved my leg,
And one hand had severed too;
Woe, that Ferdiad--who rode steeds--
Shall not ever be in life!"

Laeg: [W.3993.] "Li