He took the goads (?) of his horses, and his whip (?) inlaid in his right hand.  He took the reins to hold back his horses in his left hand. [Note:  Gloss incorporated in text:  ’i. e. to direct his horses, in his left hand, for the great power of his charioteering.’] Then he put the iron inlaid breastplates on the horses, so that they were covered from forehead to forefoot with spears and points and lances and hard points, so that every motion in this chariot was spear-near, so that every corner and every point and every end and every front of this chariot was a way of tearing.  It is then that he cast a spell of covering over his horses and over his companion, so that he was not visible to any one in the camp, and so that every one in the camp was visible to them.  It was proper that he should cast this, because there were the three gifts of charioteering on the charioteer that day, the leap over ——­, and the straight ——­, and the ——.

Then the hero and the champion and he who made the fold of the Badb [Note:  The Badb (scald-crow) was a war-goddess.  This is an expressive term for the piled-up bodies of the slain.] of the men of the earth, Cuchulainn Mac Sualtaim, took his battle-array of battle and contest and strife.  This was his battle-array of battle and contest and strife:  he put on twenty-seven skin tunics, waxed, like board, equally thick, which used to be under strings and chains and thongs, against his white skin, that he might not lose his mind nor his understanding when his rage should come.  He put on his hero’s battle-girdle over it outside, of hard-leather, hard, tanned, of the choice of seven ox-hides of a heifer, so that it covered him from the thin part of his sides to the thick part of his arm-pit; it used to be on him to repel spears, and points, and darts, and lances, and arrows.  For they were cast from him just as if it was stone or rock or horn that they struck (?).  Then he put on his apron, skin like, silken, with its edge of white gold variegated, against the soft lower part of his body.  He put on his dark apron of dark leather, well tanned, of the choice of four ox-hides of a heifer, with his battle-girdle of cows’ skins (?) about it over his silken skin-like apron.  Then the royal hero took his battle-arms of battle and contest and strife.  These then were his battle-arms of battle:  he took his ivory-hilted, bright-faced weapon, with his eight little swords; he took his five-pointed spear, with his eight little spears [Note:  In the margin:  ’and his quiver,’ probably an interpolation.]; he took his spear of battle, with his eight little darts; he took his javelin with his eight little javelins; his eight shields of feats, with his round shield, dark red, in which a boar that would be shown at a feast would go into the boss (?), with its edge sharp, keen, very sharp, round about it, so that it would cut hairs against the stream for sharpness and keenness and great sharpness; when the warrior did the edge-feat with it, he would cut equally with his shield, and with his spear, and with his sword.