saw
there through a rift in the mist. It seemed to him it was a flight of many,
varied, wonderful, numerous birds [1]that he[a] saw in the same mist,[1] or
the constant sparkling of shining stars [LL.fo.96a.] on a bright, clear
night of hoar-frost, or sparks of red-flaming fire. He heard something: A
rush and a din and a hurtling sound, a noise and a thunder, a tumult and a
turmoil, [2]and a great wind that all but took the hair from his[b] head
and threw him[c] on his[b] back, and yet the wind of the day was not
great.[2] He hastened on to impart these tidings at the place where were
Ailill and Medb and Fergus and the nobles of the men of Erin. He reported
the matter to them.

[5-5] YBL. 45b, 40-41.

[6-6] Stowe.

[7-7] YBL. 45b, 41.

[a] MS.: 'I.'

[1-1] Stowe and H. 1. 13.

[2-2] YBL. 45b, 46-46a, 1.

[b] MS. 'my.'

[c] MS. 'me.'

"But what was that, O Fergus?" asked Ailill. "Not hard to say," Fergus made
answer. "This was the great, grey mist that he saw which filled the space
between the heavens and earth, namely, the streaming breath both of horses
and men, the smoke of the earth and the dust of the roads as it rose over
them with the driving of the wind, so that it made a heavy, deep-grey misty
vapour thereof in the clouds and the air.

"These were the islands over lakes that he saw there, and the tops of hills
and of heights over the sloping valleys of mist, even the heads of the
champions and battle-heroes over the chariots and the chariots withal.
These were the wide-yawning caverns that he saw there leading into that
mist, even the mouths and the nostrils of the horses and champions exhaling
and inhaling the sun and the wind with the speed of the host. These were
the all-white, flax-like cloths that he saw there or the streaming
[W.5066.] snow a-falling, to wit the foam and the froth that the bridles of
the reins flung from the bits of strong, stout steeds with the stress,
[1]with the swiftness and strength and speed[1] of the host.

[1-1] H. 1. 13.

"These were the flights of many, various, wonderful, numerous birds that he
saw there, even the dust of the ground and the top of the earth [2]and the
sods[2] which the horses flung from their feet and their hoofs and arose
[3]over the heads of the host[3] with the driving of the wind.

[2-2] Stowe.

[3-3] Stowe.

"This was the rush and the crash and the hurtling sound, the din and the
thunder, the