friend
Than you whose name has gone about the world
As if it had been the wind, but Aoife'd say
I had turned coward.

CUCHULLAIN.

I'll give you gifts
That Aoife'll know and all her people know
To have been my gifts. Mananan son of the sea
Gave me this heavy purple cloak. Nine Queens
Of the Land-under-Wave had woven it
Out of the fleeces of the sea. O! tell her
I was afraid, or tell her what you will.
No! tell her that I heard a raven croak
On the north side of the house and was afraid.

AN OLD KING.

Some witch of the air has troubled Cuchullain's mind.

CUCHULLAIN.

No witchcraft, his head is like a woman's head
I had a fancy for.

SECOND OLD KING.

A witch of the air
Can make a leaf confound us with memories.
They have gone to school to learn the trick of it.

CUCHULLAIN.

But there's no trick in this. That arm-ring, boy.

THIRD OLD KING.

He shall not go unfought, I'll fight with him.

FOURTH OLD KING.

No! I will fight with him.

FIRST OLD KING.

I claim the fight,
For when we sent an army to her land--

SECOND OLD KING.

I claim the fight, for one of Aoife's galleys
Stole my great cauldron and a herd of pigs.

THIRD OLD KING.

No, no, I claim it, for at Lammas' time--

CUCHULLAIN.

Back! Back! Put up your swords! Put up your swords!
There's none alive that shall accept a challenge
I have refused. Laegaire, put up your sword.

YOUNG MAN.

No, let them come, let any three together.
If they've a mind to, I'll try it out with four.

CUCHULLAIN.

That's spoken as I'd spoken it at your age,
But you are in my house. Whatever man
Would fight with you shall fight it out with me.
They're dumb. They're dumb. How many of you would meet
(drawing his sword)
This mutterer, this old whistler, this sand-piper,
This edge that's greyer than the tide, this mouse
That's gnawing at the timbers of the world,
This, this--Boy, I would meet them all in arms
If I'd a son like you. He would avenge me
When I have withstood for the last time the men
Whose fathers, brothers, sons, and friends I have killed
Upholding Ullad; when the four provinces
Have gathered with the ravens over them.
But I'd need no avenger. You and I
Would scatter them like water from a dish.

YOUNG MAN.

We'll stand by one another from this out.