Fergus.

Brave is the man, I say, in battles fierce,
  Him it will not be easy to subdue,
Swords cut him not, nor can the sharp spear pierce,
  Strong as a hundred men to dare and do.

Cuchullin.

Well, should we chance to meet beside the Ford,
  I and this chief whose valour ne’er has failed,
Story shall tell the fortune of each sword,
  And who succumbed and who it was prevailed.

Fergus.

Ah! liefer than a royal recompense
  To me it were, O champion of the sword,
That thine it were to carry eastward hence
  The proud Ferdiah’s purple from the Ford.

Cuchullin.

I pledge my word, I vow, and not in vain,
  Though in the combat we may be as one,
That it is I who shall the victory gain
  Over the son of Daman, Dare’s son.

Fergus.

’Twas I that gathered eastward all the bands,
  Revenging the foul wrong upon me wrought
By the Ultonians.  Hither from their lands
  The chiefs, the battle-warriors I have brought.

Cuchullin.

If Conor’s royal strength had not decayed,
  Hard would have been the strife on either side: 
Mave of the Plain of Champions had not made
  A foray then of so much boastful pride.

Fergus.

To-day awaits thy hand a greater deed,
  To battle with Ferdiah, Daman’s son. 
Hard, bloody weapons with sharp points thou’lt need,
  Cuchullin, ere the victory be won.

Then Fergus to the court and camp went back,
While to his people and his tent repaired
Ferdiah, and he told them of the pact
Made that same night between him and the queen.

The dwellers in Ferdiah’s tent that night
Were scant of comfort, a foreboding fear
Fell on their spirits and their hearts weighed down;
Because they knew in whatsoever fight
The mighty chiefs, the hundred-slaying two
Met face to face, that one of them must fall,
Or both, perhaps, or if but only one,
Certain were they it would their own lord be,
Since on the Tain Bo Cuailgne, it was plain
That no one with Cuchullin could contend.

Nor was their chief less troubled; but at first
The fumes of the late revel overpowered
His senses, and he slept a heavy sleep. 
Later he woke, the intoxicating steam
Had left his brain, and now in sober calm
All the anxieties of the impending fight
Pressed on his soul and made him grave.[47] He rose
From off his couch, and bade his charioteer
Harness his pawing horses to the car. 
The boy would fain persuade his lord to stay,
Because he loved his master, and he felt
He went but to his death; but he repelled
The youth’s advice, and spoke to him these words—­
“Oh! cease, my servant.  I will not be turned
By any youth from what I have resolved.” 
And thus in speech and answer spoke the two—­