When they were on the shore of Loch Cuan,42 they beheld two birds on the sea. Cuchulaind put a stone in his sling and aimed at the birds. The men ran up to them after having hit one of the birds. When they came up to them this is what they saw, two women, the most beautiful in the world. These were Derbforgaill, the daughter of Ruad, and her handmaid. ‘Evil is the deed thou hast done, oh Cuchulaind,’ said she. ‘It was to meet thee we came, though thou hast hurt us.’ Cuchulaind sucked the stone out