There was a fierce man of the men of Ulster, Conall the Victorious, the son of Amargen, the best warrior that was in Ireland. Great was his hardihood. He was a man who never from his childhood so long as there was a spear in his hand went without the head of a Connaughtman with him.Compare the description of Conall Cernach in LL p. 107a, 18 sqq. He was in deadly feuddorala fri Connacht co mór. Compare the phrase dorala itir in the following passages: dorala eturru ic imbert fidchilli &ersir; Fergus 'he and Fergus fell out while playing fidchell', LL 103b, 39; noco-tarla etorro i Temair Lúachra immon muic Slanga 'until they fell out about the pig of Slánga in Temair Lúachra', Fotha Catha Chnuacha, 8; dorala itir Luicet &ersir; Aed mac Morna isin chath 'Luicet and Aed met in hostile encounter in the battle', Macgnim. Finn, 2. against the men of Connaught, for they had killed his brothers. However, there was not a man of the men of Connaught, whose son or whose brother or whose father he had not slain. And he killed three sons of Ailill and Medb, and it is he also who killed Belchú of BrefneBelchú of Brefne. Cf. the following lines in Cinaed úa Hartacáin's poem, LL p. 31b, 25: Belchu Breifne cona chlaind Góita da cherddaib Conaill, and see Jubainville, , p. 180. and his three sons, and it is he who killed the seven sons of Magu of Connaught, even Anluan son of Magu, and DochaDocha. His name is written Dóche in LL. 55a, 40. son of Mágu, and Mac Corb son of Mágu, and Find son of Mágu, and ScandlánScandlán. He is called Scandal in LL55a, 40, and in the following quatrain from Egerton 1782, fo. 52a, 1: Conall Cernach clu tria cath robi secht macu Magach: Mug-Corb, Cett, Doch rosding, Scannal, En, AnnlÚan, Ailill. son of Mágu, and Cet, and Ailill son of Mágu. And it is he who killed Ailill son of Mata Muresc of Connaught, for Mata Muresc was his (i. e. Ailill's) mother, and he was the son of Ross the Red of Leinster. And he (i. e. Ailill) went eastward to contest the kingship of Leinster, and he seized the kingship of Connaught in the west on behalf of his mother, and from the land of his mother the son's namesluinned an maic, lit. 'the cognomen of the son' = patronymic. Cf. Rawlinson B502, fo. 73a, 2: Buchet a ainm, mac hui Inblæ a slonnud. (i. e. mac Mata) was bestowed upon him in the west.

At last however, debility and sadness fell upon Conall the Victorious, after his foster-brothers Conchobar and Cuchulinn had been slain, so that great sorrow and misery and leprosy fell upon him, so that there was no strength in his feet to go about. And he considered with himself to which household he should go to be cherished and to be fed.

Ailill and Medb, truly, says he; they are the couple that are abledia ticfa mo lesugud. The phrase tic dím in older Irish has the same meaning as the modern tig liom 'I am able', 'I can'. Cf. ní thic dím a n-áirim uli 'I cannot count them all, LU 39a, 12. ní thig dún a rád, 'we cannot tell', LL.29 b, 2. ni thicfad don domun uli L Br. 145a, etc. to provide for me. But then my enmity towards them is great. However, great as it is, I must needs go there.

Thereupon alone he went until he reached Rath Cruachan, and went into the rath where Ailill and Medb were. And Ailill bids him welcome. 'Tis welcome to thee, says Medb, O Conall ..... Welcome indeed shalt thou have, says Medb. A house shall be made (for thee) upon the rampart of the rath.

A house is made for him, and a pig and a bullock-calf and the leavings of Medb and Ailill and twelve cakes and a wether and the caldron of brothcoire anbruithi. Cf. anbruich .i. an uisci &ersir; broth Harl. 5280, fo. 11b. anbruith 'broth' is a living word. See Hyde, , p. 8, 31. are taken (to him), and he consumed all that at one sitting. He makes ... the rampart of the rath, and he has his fill every night from the men of Connaught, and before morning he would come home.

In that wise were they feeding him a full year, and giving him the same feast as that. This was what used to amuse the men of Connaught every day, he to relate to them how he had killed their sons and their brothers and their fathers. The men of Connaught would bring their spears to him to be setindsma. See Index s. v. and to be chipped,snaide, verbal noun of snaidim 'I chip, cut', Windisch . and he would set them before any cow arose.

Now, great was the power and the honour and dignity of Medb, and great was her desire about every thing, to wit, she used to change thirty men every day,Cf. Medb's own words in LL 54a, 9: dáig ni raba-sa riam can fer ar scáth araile ocum 'for I have never been without having one man after another with me'. or go with Fergus once. Her husband, however, was of the same age as she, even Ailill, a man without blemish, to wit, without jealousy, without fear, without niggardliness.Taken from TBC, LL 53b, 35: fer cen neóit, cen ét, cen omun. Good was the shape and the strength and the judgment of that man, viz. when a man was playing against Ailill, a servant of Medb's would come to summon him to a meeting with her. And this is what Ailill used to say: Wait a little till the play is ended. He also used to have meetings with other women in disregard of his wife, and she was jealous on that score, so that she took Conall Cernach into her household (as a watch) on Ailill, lest he should do such a thing against her permission.

One day early in the morning on May-day Ailill was meeting a woman at the side of the fortress. Conall however was setting spears on the rath. Medb also went out, for she knew their keeping company.cétlud. The meaning of this word, in which cét- is evidently of the same origin as in cétbuid, cétmuinter, seems to be 'keeping company, companionship', as in the , p. 210, 19: cetlud do fri ríg, which Stokes renders by 'companionship with a king'. According to the Tecosca Cormaic (LL 344b), cétlud fri cách 'keeping company with everybody' is a sign of folly. The word is also used of sexual relation, or cohabitation, and that seems its sense in our passage. Cf. LL 84a, 17: in ingen, cid cáem a cruth, nochostibrea re cétluth Saltair na Rann, l. 5979: feib ba bés bith i cétlud dogréss dóib fo áinétgud. There was a hazel-bush by the side of the couple moving, and Medb saw that. Well, Conall, says Medb, Conall the Victorious has been thy name till to-day. Hence forth thy name shall be Conall the Wicked Wretch.Clóentrúag. H 2 17 has clamtruag, referring to the claime which had fallen on Conall. But cf. in siartha (leg. siabartha? claontruad (leg. claontrúag) ucad Cennach ind Rúanado, 98. While thou wast Conall the Victorious, no one would have dared to violate thy guarantee.ráthaigecht evidently the same meaning as ráthaiges (Windisch ) and ráthachas, 13, p. 123. To-day that outrage yonder is close to thee.H. has 'To-day thou hast allowed it. Yon outrage is plain to thee.' Then said Conall: Truly, here is a revenge for Fergus! says he, and aimscertaigim 'I bring into the right position, I poise, aim'. Cf. raboc &ersir; rabertaig hí [i.e. in sleig] rachroth &ersir; rachertaig &ersir; tarlaic rout n-urchair di 'no, LL 177b, 7. See also LL 64b, 29. the spear at them so that it passed into Ailill from one side to the other, or maybe he wounded him in an empty house through the thatch above.H. has 'so that it reached his lungs.' Every one came to him, and they carry him with them into the house.

Who has done it? all say. Conall did it, says Ailill. Woe! it is not true! says Conall. It is true, says Medb. If it is true then, says he, there is revenge for Fergus in it. Evil for thee what thou hast done, says Ailill. to do evil to me.Here H has: 'That was not what I intended, to do evil to thee.' Take thyself away from my face before I die. For after my death the men of Connaught will kill thee. Enough for me, says Conall, if I reach my chariot in front of the fortress. I shall not die till then, says Ailill.

He went into his chariot. Forthwith Ailill dies yonder (in the house). Then however the men of Connaught hurled their spears at him vehemently. He slays a great number of them. There was a geis on him to go into a ford without its being strained after him. There were miners washing ore in the river above him, and the troubled water reached him, so that it held him fast before every body. Then he fell by them after having wrought a slaughter of Connaughtmen. The three Red-wolves of MartineAs to the three Red-wolves see 15, p. 473. of the Fir Maige (Fermoy) it was who cut off his head; they were from Erne, and they were in the household of Ailill. And in revenge for Curoi they cut off his head. And while they were slaying him, Medb arrived in the pursuit. It was then Medb said: O pale head, which after the decision (of the battle) The three Red-wolves of Martine carry off, It is the face of a hero ..., The head of Conall, son of Amargen. They took the head of Conall with them in revenge for Cúrói, whose head the men of Ulster had carried with them northward. According to LL 31 b, 6, Cúrói's grave is on Slemish, a mountain in Kerry (lecht Conrúi i Sléib Mis And the head is still in the west. Four one-year old calves would fit in it, or four men playing fidchell, or a couple on a litter.cossair 'litter'. See Index s. v. and add crandscíath ... forsatalla certchossair cethri n-drong n-decenbair, LU 88b, 38. failet trí écis cen ail isind firt sa i n-oenchossair, LU, 38 marg. sup. There is a prophecy for the men of Ulster that it shall be taken south again, and the same strength shall come to them again, if they drink milkPerhaps the as as of the Edinburgh MS is merely dittography. out of it. And hence is the saying: 'The destruction of Ulster by the destruction of Ulster.H. has 'Ulstermen they shall be, Ulstermen they were'. The Deaths of Ailill and of Conall the Victorious as far as that.