Then the men of Ireland considered what man should be sent to fight with Cú Chulainn in the hour of early morning on the morrow. They all said that it should be Fer Diad mac Damáin meic Dáire, the brave warrior from Fir Domnand. For similar and equal was their power of fighting and combat. With the same fostermothers, Scáthach and Úathach and Aífe, had they learnt the arts of valour and arms, and neither of them had any advantage over the other save that Cú Chulainn possessed the feat of the ga bulga. However, to counterbalance this Fer Diad had a horn-skin when fighting with a warrior on the ford.
Then messengers and envoys were sent for Fer Diad. Fer Diad refused and denied and again refused those messengers and he did not come with them, for he knew what they wanted of him, which was, to fight with his friend and companion and fosterbrother, Cú Chulainn mac Sualtaim, and so he came not with them. Then Medb sent the druids and satirists and harsh bands for Fer Diad that they might make against him three satires to stay him and three lampoons, and that they might raise on his face three
As Medb made these promises, she spoke the following words and Fer Diad answered her:
Then Medb took sureties from Fer Diad that he should fight with six heroes on the morrow, or if he deemed it preferable, fight with Cú Chulainn alone. And Fer Diad took sureties from her, as he believed, that she should send those six heroes to fulfil the conditions that had been promised to him if Cú Chulainn were to fall at his hands.Medb
You shall have a reward of many bracelets and your share of plain and forest together with freedom for your posterity from to-day for ever, O Fer Diad mac Damáin. You shall have beyond all expectation (?). Why should you not accept what others accept?
Fer Diad
I shall not accept it without surety, for no warrior without skill in casting am I. It will be an oppressive task for me to-morrow, great will be the exertion. A Hound called also of Culann, hard is the task, it is not easy to resist him. Great will be the disaster.
Medb
You shall have warriors as guarantee. You shall not go to assemblies. Into your hand shall be given fine steeds and their bridles. O valo
urous Fer Diad, since you are a fearless man, you shall be my confidant before all others and free of all tribute.Fer Diad
I shall not go without sureties to engage in the battle of the ford. Its memory will live on till doomsday in full vigour and strength. I shall not accept guarantees other than sun and moon, sea and land [gap: text untranslated/extent: 6 words].
{line 2671-2724}Medb
What avails you to delay it? Bind it, as may please you, by the right hand of kings and princes who will go surety for you [gap: text untranslated/extent: 4 words]. You shall have all that you ask, for it is certain that you will kill the man who comes to encounter you.
Fer Diad
Without six sureties—let it not be less— I shall not accept these conditions before performing my exploits there where there are hosts. Were I to have my wish, I shall decide, though I am not equal, to fight with brave Cú Chulainn.
Medb
Domnall or Cairbre or bright Niamán of plundering, even the bardic folk, you will have as sureties however. Take Morand as a security, if you wish for its fulfilment, take gentle Cairbre Manand and take our two sons.
Fer Diad
O Medb, great in boastfulness! the beauty of a bridegroom does not touch you. You are assuredly the master in Crúachu of the mounds. Loud your voice, great your fierce strength. Bring me satin richly variegated, give me your gold and your silver, for you have offered them to me.
Medb
¶8] Are you not the chief hero to whom I shall give my circular brooch? From to-day until Sunday, no longer shall the respite be. O strong and famous warrior, all the finest treasures on earth shall thus be given to you, you shall have them all.
Finnabair of the champion, the queen of the West of Inis Elga, when the hound of the Smith has been slain, you shall have, O Fer Diad.
Then his horses were harnessed for Fergus and his chariot yoked and he came forward to where Cú Chulainn was that he might tell him how matters were. Cú Chulainn made him welcome. ‘Welcome is your coming, my master Fergus’ said Cú Chulainn. ‘I deem that welcome trustworthy, my fosterling’ said Fergus.
Fergus
¶1] O Cú Chulainn—clear covenant— I see that it is time for you to rise. Fer Diad mac Demáin of the ruddy countenance comes here to meet you in his wrath.
Cú Chulainn
¶2] I am here—no easy task—strongly holding back the men of Ireland. I never retreated a step to avoid encounter with a single opponent.
Fergus
¶3] Fierce is the man who wreaks his anger with his blood- red sword. Fer Diad of the many followers has a horn-skin against which no fight or combat can prevail.
Cú Chulainn
¶4] Be silent, argue not this matter, O Fergus of the mighty weapons. Over every land and territory, there is not fight against odds for me.
Fergus
¶5] Fierce is the man—scores of deeds of valour—it is not easy to overcome him. there is the strength of a hundred in his body, brave is the hero. The points of weapons pierce him not, the edge of weapons cuts him not.
Cú Chulainn
¶6] If I and Fer Diad of well-known valour were to meet at a ford, it would not be a fight without fierceness (?); our sword- fight would be wrathful.
{line 2763-2802}Fergus
¶7] I should prefer above reward, O Cú Chulainn of the red sword, that you should be the one to take the spoils of proud Fer Diad eastwards.
Cú Chulainn
¶8] I vow and promise, though I am not good in vaunting, that I shall be the one to triumph over the son of Damán mac Dáre.
Fergus
¶9] It was I who, in requital for the wrong done me by Ulstermen, collected the forces from the east. With me their heroes and warriors came from their own lands.
Cú Chulainn
¶10] Were Conchobor not in his debility, the meeting would be hard. Medb of Mag in Scáil has never come on a more uproarious march.
Fergus
¶11] A greater deed now awaits your hand—the fight with Fer Diad mac Damáin. Have with you O Cú Chulainn, a weapon harsh and hard and famed in son.
Fergus came forward to the encampment. Fer Diad went to his tent and his followers and told them how Medb had obtained from him a covenant whereby he would fight and encounter six heroes on the morrow or else fight and encounter Cú Chulainn alone if he should prefer. He told them too that he had obtained from Medb a covenant whereby she should send the same six heroes to fulfil the promises that had been made to him if Cú Chulainn should fall by him.
That night the men in Fer Diad's tent were not cheerful, tranquil, joyful or merry, but they were sad, sorrowful and downhearted. For they knew that when the two heroes, the two battle-breaches of a hundred, encountered each other, one of them would fall or both would fall, and if it were one of them, they believed that it would be their own lord, for no easy matter was it to fight and encounter Cú Chulainn on the Foray of Cúailnge.
Fer Diad slept heavily at the beginning of the night and when the end of the night was come, his sleep departed from him and his drunkenness left him, and anxiety concerning the fight preyed upon him. He ordered his charioteer to harness his horses and to yoke his chariot. The charioteer began to dissuade him. ‘It were better for you to stay here than to go there’ said the driver. ‘Hold
Fer Diad's horses were harnessed and his chariot was yoked, and he came forward to the ford of combat though as yet day with its full brightness had not come. ‘Well, lad’ said Fer Diad, ‘spread the coverings and rugs of my chariot beneath me that I may sleep a heavy fit of slumber here, for I did not sleep during the last part of the night with anxiety about the fight’. The servant unharnessed the horses and unyoked the chariot, and Fer Diad slept his heavy fit of slumber on it.Fer Diad
Let us go to this encounter to contend with this man, until we reach the ford above which the war-goddess will shriek. Let us go to meet Cú Chulainn, to wound him through his slender body, that a spear-point may pierce him so that he may die thereof.
Charioteer
It were better for you to stay here. No smooth speech will ye exchange. There will be one to whom sorrow will come. Your fight will be short. An encounter with a noble of the Ulstermen is one from which harm will come. Long will it be remembered. Woe to him who goes on that course!
Fer Diad
Not right is what you say, for diffidence is not the business of a warrior and we must not show timidity. We shall not stay here for you. Be silent, lad. We shall presently be brave. Better is stoutness than cowardice. Let us go to the encounter.
As for Cú Chulainn now, he rose not until day had dawned on him with its full brightness lest the men of Ireland should say that it was fear or cowardice that caused him to do so if he rose early. But when day came with its full brightness, he bade his charioteer harness his horses and yoke his chariot. ‘Good my lad’ said Cú Chulainn, ‘harness our horses for us and yoke our chariot, for an early riser is the warrior appointed to meet us, namely, Fer Diad mac Damáin meic Dáire’. ‘The horses are harnessed, the chariot is yoked. Mount the chariot then. There is no reproach to your valour’.
Then Cú Chulainn mac Sualtaim mounted his chariot, the blow-dealing, feat-performing, battle-winning, red-sworded hero, and
Not long was Fer Diad's charioteer there when he heard something: a noise and a clamour and an uproar, a tumult and thunder, a din and a great sound, namely, the clash of shields, the rattle of spears, the mighty blows of swords, the loud noise of helmet, the clang of breastplate, the friction of weapons, the violence of feats of arms, the straining of ropes, the rumble of wheels and the creaking of the chariot, the hoof-beats of the horses and the deep voice of the hero and warrior as he came to the ford to meet him.
The servant came and laid his hand upon his master. ‘Well, Fer Diad’ said the servant, ‘arise for they are coming to you at the ford’. And the servant spoke these words:
Charioteer
¶1] I hear the sound of a chariot with fair yoke of silver; I perceive the form of a man of great size rising above the front of the strong chariot. Past Bregros and past Braine they advance along the road, past the tree-stump at Baile in Bile, victorious is their triumph.
¶2] A clever Hound drives, a bright chariot-fighter harnesses, a noble hawk lashes his steeds towards the south. Blood-stained is the Hound. It is sure that he will come to us. We know—let there not be silence about it—that he comes to give us battle.
¶3] Woe to him who is on the hill awaiting the worthy Hound. Last year I foretold that he would come at some time, the Hound of Emain Macha, the Hound with shape of every colour, the Hound of spoils, the Hound of battle. I hear him and he hears us.
‘Well, lad’ said Fer Diad, ‘why have you praised that man ever since you left your house? It is almost a cause of strife that you should have praised him so highly. But Ailill and Medb have prophesied to me that that man would fall by me, and since is for reward, he shall be destroyed shortly by me. And now it is time for help’. And he spoke these words and the servant answered him:
Fer Diad
¶1] It is time now for help. Be silent, do not praise him. It was no deed of friendship, for he is not doom over the brink (?). If you see the hero of Cúailnge with his proud feats, since it is for reward, he shall soon be destroyed.
Charioteer
¶2] If I see the hero of Cúailnge with his proud feats, he does not flee from us but towards us he comes. Though skilful, he is not grudging. He runs and not slowly, like water from a high cliff or like a swift thunderbolt.
Fer Diad
¶3] So much have you praised him that it is almost a cause of a quarrel. Why have you chosen him since you came forth from your house? Now they appear, now they are challenging him. None come to attack him save cowardly churls.
Not long was Fer Diad's charioteer there when he saw something: a beautiful, five-edged, four-wheeled chariot approaching with strength and swiftness and skill, with a green awning, with a framework of narrow campact opening, in which feats were exhibited, a framework tall as a sword-blade, fit for heroic deeds, behind two horses, swift, high-springing, big eared, beautiful, bounding, with flaring nostrils, with broad chests, with lively heart, high-groined, wide-hoofed, slender-legged, mighty and violent. In one shaft of the chariot was a grey horse, broad-thighed, small stepping, long-maned. In the other shaft a black horse, flowing maned, swift-coursing, broad-backed. Like a hawk to its prey (?) on a day of harsh wind, or like a gust of the stormy spring wind on a March day across a plain, or like a furious stag newly roused by hounds in the first chase—so were the two horses of Cú Chulainn in the chariot, as if they were on a bright, fiery flagstone, so that they shook the earth and made it tremble with the speed of their course.
Cú Chulainn arrived at the ford. Fer Diad remained on the southern side of the ford, Cú Chulainn stayed on the northern side. Fer Diad made Cú Chulainn welcome. ‘Welcome is your coming Cú Chulainn’ said Fer Diad. ‘Until now I trusted that welcome’ said Cú Chulainn, ‘but today I trust it no more. And Fer Diad’ said Cú Chulainn, ‘it were fitter that I should welcome you rather than that you should welcome me, for it is you who have come to the country and province in which I dwell, and it was not right for you to come and fight with me, rather should I have gone to fight with you, for driven before you are my womenfolk and youths
And then each of them reproached the other bitterly as they renounced their friendship, and Fer Diad spoke these words and Cú Chulainn answered him:
Fer Diad
¶1] What has led you, little Hound, to fight with a strong champion? Your flesh (?) will be blood-red above the steam of your horses. Woe to him who comes as you do! It will be as vain as the kindling of a fire from a single stick of firewood. If you reach your home, you will be in need of healing.
Cú Chulainn
¶2] I have come, a wild boar of the herd, before warriors, before troops, before hundreds, to thrust you beneath the waters of the pool. In anger against you and to prove you in a many- sided encounter so that harm may come to you as you defend your life.
Fer Diad
¶3] There is here on who will crush you. It is I who will slay you, for it is I who can. The defeat of their hero in the presence of the Ulstermen, may it long be remembered, may it be to them loss.
Cú Chulainn
¶4] How shall we meet? Shall we groan over corpses? On what pool shall we fight as we meet on the ford? Shall it be with hard swords or with strong spear-points that you will be slain before your hosts if the time has come?
Fer Diad
¶5] Before sunset, before night, if you are in straits, you attack. When you fight at Bairche, the battle will not be bloodless. The Ulstermen are calling you. A cancer (?) has attacked them. Evil will be the sight for them. They will be utterly defeated.
{line 2986-3036}Cú Chulainn
¶6] You have come to the gap of danger. The end of your life is at hand. Sharp weapons will be wielded on you, it will be no gentle purpose. It will be a great champion who will slay you. We two shall meet. You shall not be the leader of three men from now until Doomsday.
Fer Diad
¶7] Leave off your warning. You are the most boastful man on earth. You shall have neither reward nor remission for you are no hero overtopping others. I it is who know you, you with the heart of a bird. You are but a nervous lad without valour or force.
Cú Chulainn
¶8] When we were with Scáthach, by dint of our usual valour we would fare forth together and traverse every land. You were my loved comrade, my kin and kindred. Never found I one dearer. Sad will be your death.
Fer Diad
¶9] Too much you neglect your honour that we may not do battle, but before the cock crows, your head will be impaled on a spit. O Cú Chulainn of Cúailnge, frenzy and madness have seized you. All evil shall come to you from us for yours is the guilt.
‘Well, Fer Diad’ said Cú Chulainn, ‘it was not right for you to come and fight with me by reason of the strife and dissension stirred up by Ailill and Medb, and all who came thus got neither success or profit but they fell by me, and neither shall you have success or profit from it and you will fall at my hands’. As he spoke, he said these words and Fer Diad hearkened to him:
‘Fer Diad’ said Cú Chulainn, ‘that is why it was not right for you to come and fight with me. For when we were with Scáthach and Úathach and Aífe, we used to go together into every battle and field of contest, into every fight and combat, into every wood and wasteland, every secret place and hidden spot’. And as he spoke he said these words:Cú Chulainn
Do not draw near me, O valiant warrior, Fer Diad son of Damán. You will fare the worse for it. It will bring sorrow to many.
By just truth, come not near me, for I am the one destined to bring you to your grave. Why was not my prowess directed solely against you?
Let not many feats overcome (?) you, though you the hornskinned are bloodstained. The maid of whom you boast will not be yours, O son of Damán.
{line 3037-3079}Findabair, the daughter of Medb, though great her beauty, that maid though fair, you shall not wed.
Findabair, the king's daughter, when the truth of the matter is told, she played many men false, she destroyed such as you.
Break not unknowing your oath to me. Break not compact, break not friendship. Break not word an promise. Come not towards me, O valiant warrior.
To fifty warriors the maid was pledged—a wise pledge indeed. Their death came through me, from me they got only justice dealt by a spear.
Though fierce and proud was Fer Báeth with his household of goodly warriors, yet I soon quelled his pride and slew him with one cast.
Bitter was the lessening of Srubdaire's valiant deeds, Srubdaire who was the darling of a hundred women. Once his renown was great but neither gold nor fine raiment saved him.
If it were to me that she had been affianced, the woman in whom all the fair province delights
"in ... delights", reading C.
, I would not wound your breast, in the south or in the north, in the west or in the east.
Cú Chulainn
We were loving friends. We were comrades in the wood. We were men who shared a bed. We would sleep a deep sleep after our weary fights in many strange lands. Together we would ride and range through every wood when we were taught by Scáthach.
{line 3080-3116}Fer Diad
‘O accomplished Cú Chulainn’ said Fer Diad, ‘we have learnt the same art. They have overcome the bonds of friendship. Your wounds have been paid for. Remember not our fosterage together. O Hound, it is of not avail to you’.
‘Too long have we been like this now’ said Fer Diad, ‘and what weapons shall we use today, Cú Chulainn?’ ‘Yours is the choice of weapons until night today’ said Cú Chulainn, ‘for you were the first to reach the ford’. ‘Do you remember at all’ said Fer Diad, ‘the choice feats of arms which we practised with Scáthach and Úathach and Aífe?’ ‘I remember them indeed’ said Cú Chulainn. ‘If you do, let us have recourse to them’.
They had recourse to their choicest feats of arms. They put on two shields marked with emblems and took their eight ocharcles and their eight javelins and their eight ivory-hilted blades and their eight battle-darts. These would fly from them and to them like bees on a fine day. They cast no weapon which found not its aim. Each of them began to cast these weapons at the other from the twilight of early morning until the middle of the day, and they blunted their many weapons against the curved surfaces and bosses of the shields. Despite the excellence of the casting, the defence was so good that neither of them wounded or drew blood from the other during that time. ‘Let us lay aside these weapons now, Cú Chulainn’ said Fer Diad, ‘since not by them comes the decision between us’. ‘Let us do so indeed if the time has
‘What weapons shall we use now, Cú Chulainn?’ said Fer Diad. ‘Yours is the choice of weapons until night’ said Cú Chulainn, ‘since you were the first to reach the ford’. ‘Let us take then’ said Fer Diad, ‘to our polished, sharpened, hard, smooth spears with their thongs of hard flax’. ‘Let us do so indeed’ said Cú Chulainn. Then they took on them two hard, equally strong shields and they had recourse to the polished, sharpened, hard, smooth spears with their thongs of hard flax. Each of them fell to casting the spears at the other from the middle of the day till the evening. Despite the excellence of the defence, so good was their mutual casting that during that time each of them bled and reddened and wounded the other. ‘Let us cease from this now, Cú Chulainn’ said Fer Diad. ‘Let us do so indeed if the time has come’ said Cú Chulainn. They ceased then and gave their weapons into the hands of their charioteers.
Then each of them went towards the other and put an arm around the other's neck and kissed him thrice. That night their horses were in one paddock and their charioteers at one fire, and their charioteers made litter-beds of fresh rushers for them and on them pillows for wounded men. Then came folk of healing and curing to heal and cure them, and they put herbs and healing plants and a curing charm into their wounds and cuts, their gashes and many stabs. Of every herb and healing plant and curing charm which was applied to the wounds and cuts, the gashes and many stabs of Cú Chulainn, an equal amount was sent westwards by him across the ford to Fer Diad lest the men of Ireland should say, if Fer Diad fell by him, that it was because of the advantage Cú Chulainn had over him in healing. Of every food and every palatable, pleasant, strong drink which was brought from the men of Ireland to Fer Diad, an equal portion was sent northwards from him across the ford to Cú Chulainn, for the purveyors of food to Fer Diad were more numerous than those of Cú Chulainn. All the men of Ireland were purveyors of food to Fer Diad that he might ward off Cú Chulainn from them. The men of Bregia were purveyors to Cú Chulainn. They used to come to him daily, that is, every night.
They remained there that night. They arose early on the morrow and came forward to the ford of combat. ‘What weapons shall we use today, Fer Diad?’ said Cú Chulainn. ‘Yours is the choice of weapons until night’ said Fer Diad, ‘since I had choice of weapons on the day that is past’. ‘Let us then’ said Cú Chulainn, ‘take to our great long spears today, for we think that thrusting with the spears today will bring us nearer to a decisive victory than the casting of missiles did yesterday. Let our horses be harnessed for us and our chariots yoked that we may fight from our horses and chariots today’. ‘Let us do so indeed’ said Fer Diad. Then they put on two broad, strong shields that day. They had recourse to the great long spears that day. Each of them began to pierce and wound, to overthrow (?) and cast each other down (?) from the twilight of early morning until sunset. If it were usual for birds in flight to pass through men's bodies, they would have gone through their bodies that day and carried lumps of flesh and blood through their wounds and cuts into the clouds and the air outside. And when evening came their horses were weary and their charioteers tired, and the heroes and champions themselves were weary
Cú Chulainn
¶1] We are not bound to endure the swaying of the chariots, said he, straining against giants. Let their spancels be put on the horses, for the noise of battle is over.
‘Let us cease indeed if the time for it has come’ said Fer Diad. They ceased. They gave over their weapons into the hands of their charioteers. Each of them came towards the other. Each put an arm around the others's neck and kissed him thrice. That night their horses were in one paddock, their charioteers at one fire. Their charioteers made for them litter-beds of fresh rushers with the pillows of wounded men on them. Physicians and doctors came to examine and watch them and to attend on them that night for, because of the dreadfulness of their wounds and gashes, of their cuts and many stabs, all they could do for them was to apply spells and incantations and charms to them to staunch the bleeding and haemorrhage and to keep the dressings in place. Of all the spells and incantations and charms which were applied to the wounds and gashes of Cú Chulainn, and equal portion was sent by him westwards across the ford to Fer Diad. Of all the food and palatable, pleasant, strong drink which was brought from the men of Ireland to Fer Diad, an equal amount was sent by him northwards across the ford to Cú Chulainn. For Fer Diad's purveyors of food were more numerous than those of Cú Chulainn as all the men of Ireland were purveyors of food to Fer Diad for warding off Cú Chulainn from them, but only the men of Bregia were purveyors of food to Cú Chulainn. They used to come and converse with him daily, that is, every night.
They remained there that night. They rose early on the morrow and came forward to the ford of combat. Cú Chulainn saw that Fer Diad had an ill and gloomy appearance on that day. ‘Your appearance is not good today, Fer Diad’ said Cú Chulainn. ‘Your hair has grown dark today and your eye dull, and you are changed from your usual form and figure’. ‘Not because I fear or dread you am I thus today however’ said Fer Diad, ‘for there is not in Ireland today a warrior I shall not repel’. And Cú Chulainn was lamenting and pitying him, and he spoke these words and Fer Diad answered:
Cú Chulainn
O Fer Diad, if this is you, sure I am that you are one utterly doomed, that you should come at a woman's behest to fight with your fosterbrother.
Fer Diad
O Cú Chulainn—wise fulfilment—O great hero, great warrior! A man must make this journey to the sod whereon is his grave.
Cú Chulainn
Findabair the daughter of Medb, however beautiful her form, was given to you not for love of you but to prove your noble might.
Fer Diad
My might is long since proven, O Hound of the gentle rule. None braver has been heard of or found until today.
Cú Chulainn
You are the cause of all that happens, O son of Damán mac Dáire, that you should come at woman's behest to cross swords with your fosterbrother.
Fer Diad
Should I part from you without a fight, O gentle Hound, though we are fosterbrothers, my word and my name would be held in ill esteem by Ailill and Medb of Crúachu.
Cú Chulainn
He has not yet put food to his lips nor has he yet been born of king or bright queen for whom I would consent to do you harm.
Fer Diad
O Cú Chulainn—many deeds of valour—not you but Medb betrayed us. You will have victory and fame. Not on you is our guilt.
Cú Chulainn
My brave heart is a clot of blood. My life has almost left me. No equal fight do I deem it to encounter you, Fer Diad.
‘However much you belittle me today’ said Fer Diad, ‘what weapons shall we use?’ ‘You have the choice of weapons until night today’ said Cú Chulainn, ‘for it was I who chose them yesterday’. ‘Let us then’ said Fer Diad, ‘take our heavy, hardsmiting swords today, for we think that the mutual striking with swords today will bring us nearer to a decisive victory than did the thrusting with spears yesterday’. ‘Let us do so indeed’
They remained there that night. Then Fer Diad rose early on the morrow and came alone to the ford of combat, for he knew that this was the decisive day of the fight, and he knew too that one of them would fall in the fight that day or that both would fall. Then before Cú Chulainn came to meet him, he put on his battle equipment. Of that battle equipment was his filmy satin apron with its border of variegated gold which he wore next to his fair skin. Outside that he put on his apron of supple brown leather, and outside that a great stone as big as a millstone, and outside that stone, through fear and dread of the ga bulga that day, he put his strong, deep, iron apron made of smelted iron. On his head he put his crested helmet of battle which was adorned with forty carbuncle-gems, studded with red enamel and crystal and carbuncle and brilliant stones from the eastern world. In his right hand he took his fierce, strong spear. He set at his left side his curved battle-sword with its golden hilt and guards of red gold. On the arching slope of his back he put his huge, enormous fair shield with its fifty bosses into each boss of which a show boar could fit, not to speak of the great central boss of red gold. That day Fer Diad exhibited many and wonderful and brilliant feats of arms which he had not learned from anyone before that, neither from fostermother nor fosterfather, not from Scáthach nor Úathach nor Aífe, but he invented them himself on that day to oppose Cú Chulainn.
Cú Chulainn too came to the ford and he saw the many brilliant, wonderful feats of arms performed by Fer Diad. ‘You see yonder, my friend Láeg, the many brilliant, wonderful feats performed by Fer Diad, and in due course now all those feats will be directed
Then Cú Chulainn too put on his battle-equipment and performed that day many brilliant, wonderful feats which he had not learned from any other, not from Scáthach nor from Úathach nor from Aífe.
Fer Diad saw these feats and knew that they would in due course be directed against him. ‘What feat of arms shall we perform today, Fer Diad?’ said Cú Chulainn. ‘Yours is the choice until nightfall’ said Fer Diad. ‘Let us perform the "feat of the ford" then’ said Cú Chulainn. ‘Let us do so indeed’ said Fer Diad. But though he said that, it was the feat he deemed it hardest to encounter for he knew that it was at the "feat of the ford" that Cú Chulainn overthrew every champion and every warrior he encountered. Great was the deed that was done on the ford that day, the two heroes, the two champions and the two chariot-fighters of western Europe, the two bright torches of valour of the Irish, the two bestowers of gifts and rewards and wages in the northwestern world, the two mainstays of the valour of the Irish coming from afar to encounter each other through the sowing of dissension and the stirring up of strife by Ailill and Medb. Each of them began to cast these weapons at each other from the twilight of early morning until midday, and when midday came, the rage of the combatants grew fiercer and they drew closer to each other.
Then for the first time Cú Chulainn sprang from the brink of the ford on to the boss of Fer Diad's shield, trying to strike his head from above the rim of the shield. Fer Diad gave the shield a blow with his left elbow and cast Cú Chulainn off like a bird on to the brink of the ford. Again Cú Chulainn sprang from the brink of the ford on to the boss of Fer Diad's shield, seeking to strike his head from above the rim of the shield. Fer Diad gave the shield a blow with his left knee and cast Cú Chulainn off like a child on to the brink of the ford. Láeg noticed what was happening. ‘Alas!’ said Láeg, ‘your opponent has chastised you as a fond mother chastises her child. He had belaboured you as flax (?) is beaten in a pond. He had ground you as a mill grinds malt. He has pierced you as a tool pierces an oak. he has bound you as a twining plant binds trees. He has attacked you as a
Then for the third time Cú Chulainn rose up as swift as the wind, as speedy as the swallow, as fierce as the dragon, as strong as the air, and landed on the boss of Fer Diad's shield, seeking to strike his head from above the rim of the shield. Then the warrior shook the shield and cast off Cú Chulainn into the bed of the ford as if he had never leapt at all (?).
Then occurred Cú Chulainn's first distortion. He swelled and grew big as a bladder does when inflated and became a fearsome, terrible, many-coloured, strange arch, and the valiant hero towered high above Fer Diad, as big a fomóir or a pirate.
Such was the closeness of their encounter that their heads met above, their feet below and their hands in the middle over the rims and bosses of the shields. Such was the closeness of their encounter that they clove and split their shields from rims to centres. Such was the closeness of their encounter that they caused their spears to bend and turn and yield to pressure from points to rivets. Such was the closeness of their encounter that sprites and goblins and spirits of the glen and demons of the air screamed from the rims of their shields and from the hilts of their swords and from the butt-ends of their spears. Such was the closeness of their encounter that they forced the river from its usual course and extent, and a couch might have been prepared for king or queen on the floor of the ford for not a drop of water remained there except what might drip there with the wrestling and trampling of the two heroes and champions on the floor of the ford. Such was the closeness of their encounter that the horses of the Irish went mad and frenzied and broke their spancels and shackles, their ropes and traces, and women and boys and children and those unfit to fight and the mad among the men of Ireland broke out through the camp south-westwards.
By this time the two combatants were at the edge-feat of swords. Then Fer Diad caught Cú Chulainn unguarded and dealt him a blow with his ivory-hilted blade which he plunged into Cú Chulainn's breast. And Cú Chulainn's blood dripped into his belt and the ford was red with the blood from the warrior's body. Cú Chulainn brooked not this wounding for Fer Diad attacked him with a succession of deadly stout blows, and he asked Láeg for the ga bulga.—Such was the nature of the ga bulga: it used to be set downstream and cast from between the toes: it made
And when Fer Diad heard the mention of the ga bulga, he thrust down the shield to shelter the lower part of his body. Cú Chulainn cast the fine spear from off the palm of this hand over the rim of the shield and over the breast- piece of the horn-skin so that its farther half was visible after it had pierced Fer Diad's heart in his breast. Fer Diad thrust up the shield to protect the upper part of his body but that was help that came too late. The charioteer sent the ga bulga downstream. Cú Chulainn caught it between his toes and made a cast of it at Fer Diad. And the ga bulga went through the strong, thick apron of smelted iron and broke in three the great stone as big as a millstone and entered Fer Diad's body through the anus and filled every joint and limb of him with its barbs. ‘That suffices now’ said Fer Diad. ‘I have fallen by that cast. But indeed strongly do you cast from your right foot. And it was not fitting that I should fall by you’. As he spoke, he uttered these words:
Then Cú Chulainn hastened towards him and clasped him in his arms and lifted him up with his weapons and armour and equipment and took him northwards across the ford so that his spoils might be to the north of the ford and not to the west with the men of Ireland. Cú Chulainn laid Fer Diad on the ground there and as he stood over Fer Diad a swoon and faintness and weakness came upon him. Láeg saw that and he feared that all the men of Ireland would come and attack Cú Chulainn. ‘Come, little Hound’ said Láeg, ‘arise now for the men of Ireland will come to attack us and it will not be single combat that they will grant us since Fer Diad mac Damáin meic Dáire has fallen at your hands’. ‘What avails it me to arise now, fellow’ said Cú Chulainn,Fer Diad
O Hound of the fair feats, it was not fitting that you should slay me. Yours is the guilt which clung to me. On you my blood was shed.
Doomed men who reach the gap of betrayal do not flourish. Sad is my voice. Alas! heroes (?) have been destroyed.
My ribs like spoils are broken. My heart is gore. Would that I had not fought! I have fallen O Hound.
Charioteer
Arise, O war-hound of Emain. High courage befits you more than ever. You have cast off Fer Diad of the hosts, God's doom! Your fight was hard.
Cú Chulainn
What avails me high courage? Madness and grief have hemmed me in, after the deed I have done and the body that I have wounded harshly with my sword.
Charioteer
It was not fitting for you to mourn him. Fitter for you to boast in triumph. The strong man armed with spears has left you mournful, wounded, bleeding.
Cú Chulainn
Even had he cut off a leg from me or a hand, I still grieve that Fer Diad who rode on steeds is not living for ever.
Charioteer
The maidens of the Red Branch are better pleased at what has been done, that he should die and you should live, though they do not deem it a small thing that you two should be parted for ever.
Since the day you left Cúailnge in pursuit of the brilliant Medb, all that you have killed of her fighters she deems indeed a famous carnage.
You have not slept peacefully in pursuit of your great herd. Though your company was few, yet many a morning you rose early.
Cú Chulainn began to lament for and commiserate with Fer Diad then and he spoke these words:
‘Alas, Fer Diad, sad for you that you spoke not with one of the company who knew of my great deeds of valour and arms before we met together in conflict!’
‘Sad for you that Láeg mac Riangbra did not put you to shame with counsel about our comradeship!’
‘Sad for you that you did not agree to the clear advice of Fergus!’
‘Sad for you that Conall the fair, triumphant, exultant, victorious Conall, did not help you!’
‘For those men do not follow the messages or desires or sayings or the false promises of the fairhaired women of Connacht. For those men know that there will not be born among the Connachtmen a being to perform deeds equal to yours, in the wielding of shields and bucklers, of spears and swords, in the playing of chess and draughts, in the driving of horses and chariots’.
‘There will not be a hero's hand to hack warrior's flesh like that of Fer Diad, the shapely scion. The breach made by the red-mouthed war-goddess will not be dug up (?) for encampments full of shimmering shields. It will not be Crúachain that will contend for or obtain covenants equal to yours till the very end of life now, O red-cheeked son of Damán!’ said Cú Chulainn.
Then Cú Chulainn rose and stood over Fer Diad. ‘Ah Fer Diad’ said Cú Chulainn, ‘greatly did the men of Ireland betray and abandon you when they brought you to fight and do combat with me, for to contend and do battle with me on the Foray of Cúailnge was no easy task’.
As he spoke, he said these words:
Cú Chulainn
O Fer Diad, you have been betrayed. Alas for your last meeting where you have died while I remain! Alas for ever for our long parting!
When we were yonder with Scáthach the victorious, we thought that till great doomsday our friendship would not end.
Dear to me was your splendid blush, dear your perfect and fair form, dear your bright clear eye, dear your bearing and your speech.
There never strode to flesh-rending fight, there never grew wrathful in his manliness, there never held shield upon the wide slope, one like unto you, warlike son of Damán.
I have never met such as you until now, since the only son of Aífe fell; your peer in deeds of battle I found not here, O Fer Diad.
Findabair, the daughter of Medb, though great her beauty, it is as vain to show her now to you, O Fer Diad, as to bind a withe around sand or gravel.
Then Cú Chulainn began to gaze at Fer Diad. ‘Well now, my friend Láeg’ said Cú Chulainn, ‘strip Fer Diad and take off his armour and his clothes that I may see the brooch for the sake of which he did battle’. Láeg came and stripped Fer Diad. He took his armour and clothing from him and Cú Chulainn saw the brooch and began to mourn for Fer Diad and to commiserate him, and he spoke these words:
Cú Chulainn
Alas for the golden brooch
"Alas ... brooch", translating ST
, O Fer Diad of the hosts! O strong and valiant smiter, victorious was your arm.Your thick yellow hair was curly—a fair jewel. Your girdle, supple and ornamented, was around you until your death.
Our true comradeship was a delight for the eye of a nobleman. Your shield with its golden rim, your chess-board worth much treasure.
That you should fall by my hand I acknowledge was not just. Our fight was not gentle. Alas for the golden brooch!
"Alas ... brooch", translating ST
‘Well, my friend Láeg’ said Cú Chulainn, ‘cut open Fer Diad now and remove the ga bulga for I cannot be without my weapon’. Láeg came and cut open Fer Diad and removed the ga bulga. And Cú Chulainn saw his bloodstained, crimson weapon lying beside Fer Diad and spoke these words:
Cú Chulainn
¶1] O Fer Diad, it is sad that I should see you thus, bloodstained yet drained of blood, while I have not as yet cleansed my weapon of its stains and you lie there in a bed of gore.
¶2] When we were yonder in the east with Scáthach and with Úathach, there would not be pale lips between us and weapons of battle.
¶3] Sharply Scáthach spoke her strong firm command: ‘Go ye all to the swift battle. Germán Garbglas will come.’
{line 3503-3550}¶4] I said to Fer Diad and to generous Lugaid and to Fer Báeth the son of fair Báetán that we should go to meet Germán.
¶5] We went to the rocks of battle above the sloping shore of Loch Lindfhormait. Four hundred we brought out from the Islands of the Victorious.
¶6] When I and valiant Fer Diad stood before the fort of Germán, I killed Rind mac Níuil and he slew Fúad mac Forníuil.
¶7] On the battle-field Fer Báeth killed Bláth son of Colba of the red sword, and Lugaid, the stern and swift, slew Mugairne from the Tyrrhene Sea.
¶8] After going in I slew four hundred wrathful men. Fer Diad slew Dam Dreimed and Dam Dílend—a stern company.
¶9] We laid waste the fort of wise Germán above the wide, many-coloured sea. We brought Germán alive to Scáthach of the broad shield.
¶10] Our fostermother imposed on us a pact of friendship and agreement that we should not grow angry with the tribe of fair Elg.
¶11] Sad was the battle, that slaughtering battle in which the son of Damán was struck down in weakness. Alas! the friend to whom I served a drink of red blood has fallen.
¶12] Had I seen you die amidst the warriors of great Greece, I should not have survived you, we should have died together.
¶13] Sad what befalls us, the fosterlings of Scáthach. I am wounded and covered with red gore while you no longer drive chariots.
¶14] Sad what befalls us, the fosterlings of Scáthach. I am wounded and covered with red gore while you lie dead.
¶15] Sad what befalls us, the fosterlings of Scáthach, you dead. I alive and strong. Valour is an angry combat.
‘Well, O little Cú’ said Láeg, ‘let us leave this ford now. Too long have we been here’. ‘We shall leave it indeed, friend Láeg’ said Cú Chulainn. ‘But to me every battle and contest I have fought seems but play and sport compared with my fight against Fer Diad’. And as he spoke, he said these words:
Cú Chulainn
¶1] Game was all and sport was all until it came to my meeting with Fer Diad on the ford. The same instruction we had, the same power of guarantee (?). The same tender foster-mother we had whose name is beyond all others.
¶2] All was play and sport compared with my meeting with Fer Diad on the ford. The same nature we had, the same fearsomeness, the same weapons we used to wield. Scáthach once gave two shields to me and to Fer Diad.
¶3] All was play and sport compared with my meeting with Fer Diad on the ford. Beloved was he, the golden pillar, whom I laid low on the ford. O strong one of the tribes, you were more valiant than all others.
¶4] All was play and sport compared with my meeting with Fer Diad on the ford, the furious, fiery lion, the wave, wild and swelling, like the day of doom.
¶5] All was play and sport compared with my meeting with Fer Diad at the ford. I thought that beloved Fer Diad would live after me for ever. Yesterday he was huge as a mountain, today only his shadow remains.
¶6] Three uncountable bands there fell by my hand on the Foray. The finest men, the finest cattle and horses I slaughtered on every side.
¶7] Though numerous the army which came from stout Crúachu, yet I slew more than a third of them and less than half with the rough plying of my weapons.
¶8] There has not come into the centre of battle, nor has Banba ever nurtured, nor has there travelled over land or sea any king's son more famous than Fer Diad.
Thus far the Tragic Death of Fer Diad.