heel-shaped brooch of
silver therein;[6] a grey shield he bore [7]on his left arm;[7] a slender,
blue lance above him; [8]a bright, hooded shirt tucked around him that
reached down to his knees;[8] [9]a sword with silver hilt at his hip; a
spear remarkable for keenness in his revengeful right hand;[9] a
blood-smeared, becrimsoned company [W.5414.] around him; himself covered
with wounds and blood in their midst."

[5-5] YBL. 48b, 47.

[6-6] YBL. 48b, 49-50.

[7-7] YBL. 48b, 51.

[8-8] YBL. 48b, 52-49a, 1.

[9-9] YBL. 48b, 51-52.

"Now who might he be?" asked Ailill of Fergus. "Well do we know him,"
Fergus made answer. "He is the bold, the ruthless, [1]the swift-moving
eagle;[1] the eager lance; the goring beast; [2]the torrent[2] of the
Colbtha; [3]the border-gate of the north of Erin;[3] the triumphant hero
from Baile; he is the shaft (?); [a] he is the bellowing hero from Bernas
('the Gap'); the furious bull; Menn son of Salcholga, from Rena ('the
Waterways') of the Boyne [4]in the north; he hath come to take vengeance on
ye for his bloody wounds and his sores which ye inflicted on him afore."[4]

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

[2-2] Stowe and H. 1. 13.

[3-3] YBL. 49a, 7.

[a] A word has fallen out in the MS.

[4-4] Stowe and H. 1. 13.

"Yet another company came thither to the same mound in Slane of Meath,"
continued macRoth. [5]"High spirited and worthy of one another.[5] A
long-jawed, sallow-faced warrior, [6]huge, broad, and tall,[6] at the head
of that company; black hair on his head; long limbs are his legs; a cloak
of red curly wool about him; a brooch of white silver in the cloak over his
breast; an [7]all-white,[7] linen shirt next to his skin; a gory-red shield
with a boss [8]of gold[8] he bore; a sword with hilt of [9]white[9] silver
on his left side; a sharp-cornered, gold-socketed spear he held over him;
[10]a broad, grey, interwoven spear-head, fairly set on an ashen shaft, in
his hand."[10] "But, who might he be?" Ailill asked of Fergus. "Truly, we
know him," Fergus made answer. [11]"The man of three stout blows has
come;[11] the man of three highways is he; the man of three roads, the
man of three paths, the man of three [W.5431.] ways; the man of three
victories, the man of three triumphs; [1]the man of three shouts; the
man that breaks battles on foes in another province;[1] Fergna son of
Findchoem, king of Burach, [2]from Coronn,[2]