‘Easy for me to liken him!’ Fer rogain wept till he shed60 his tears of blood over his cheeks. ‘Alas for him!’ quoth he. ‘This child is a ‘scion of contention’ for the men of Erin with the men of Alba for hospitality, and shape, and form and horsemanship. Sad is his slaughter! 'Tis a ‘swine that goes before mast,’ 'tis a babe in age! the best crown-prince that has ever come into Erin! The child of Conaire son of Eterscél, Lé fri flaith is his name. Seven years there are in his age. It seems to me very likely that he is miserable because of the many appearances on his hair and the various hues that the hair assumes upon him. This is his special household, the thrice fifty lads that are around him.’
‘Woe,’ says Lomna, ‘to him that shall wreak the Destruction, were it only because of that boy!’
‘Ye cannot,’ says Ingcél. ‘Clouds of weakness are coming on you, etc. And after that whom sawest thou there?’