‘Are the heads yonder from our people?’ said Medb.

‘They are from our people and from our choice warriors,’ said Ailill.

One of them read the ogam that was on the side of the fork; that is:  ’A man has thrown the fork with his one hand; and you shall not go past it till one of you, except Fergus, has thrown it with one hand.’

‘It is a marvel,’ said Ailill, ’the quickness with which the four were struck.’

It was not that that was a marvel,’ said Fergus; ’it was the striking of the fork from the trunk with one blow; and if the end was [cut] with one blow, [Note:  Lit. ‘if its end was one cutting.’] it is the fairer for it, and that it was thrust in in this manner; for it is not a hole that has been dug for it, but it is from the back of the chariot it has been thrown with one hand.’

‘Avert this strait from us, O Fergus,’ said Medb.

Bring me a chariot then,’ said Fergus, ’that I may take it out, that you may see whether its end was hewn with one blow.’  Fergus broke then fourteen chariots of his chariots, so that it was from his own chariot that he took it out of the ground, and he saw that the end was hewn with one blow.

’Heed must be taken to the character of the tribe to which we are going,’ said Ailill.  ’Let each of you prepare his food; you had no rest last night for the snow.  And something shall be told to us of the adventures and stories of the tribe to which we are going.’

It is then that the adventures of Cuchulainn were related to them.  Ailill asked:  ‘Is it Conchobar who has done this?’

‘Not he,’ said Fergus; ’he would not have come to the border of the country without the number of a battalion round him.’

‘Was it Celtchar Mac Uithidir?’

’Not he; he would not have come to the border of the country without the number of a battalion round him.’

‘Was it Eogan Mac Durtacht?’

‘Not he,’ said Fergus; ’he would not have come over the border of the country without thirty chariots two-pointed (?) round him.  This is the man who would have done the deed,’ said Fergus, ’Cuchulainn; it is he who would have cut the tree at one blow from the trunk, and who would have killed the four yonder as quickly as they were killed, and who would have come to the boundary with his charioteer.’

‘What kind of man,’ said Ailill, ’is this Hound of whom we have heard among the Ulstermen?  What age is this youth who is famous?’

‘An easy question, truly,’ said Fergus.  ’In his fifth year he went to the boys at Emain Macha to play; in his sixth year he went to learn arms and feats with Scathach.  In his seventh year he took arms.  He is now seventeen years old at this time.’

‘Is it he who is hardest to deal with among the Ulstermen?’ said Medb.