And the first of the fish that was cooked Coirpre divided between his men, but he put no bit into the mouth of the head.  And then he made a second division in the same way.  Now that was against the law of the Fianna, and the head spoke, and it said:  “A speckled white-bellied salmon that grows from a small fish under the sea; you have shared a share that is not right; the Fianna will avenge it upon you, Coirpre.”  “Put the head outside,” said Coirpre, “for that is an evil word for us.”  Then the head said from outside:  “It is in many pieces you will be; it is great fires will be lighted by Finn in Luigne.”

And as it said that, Finn came in, and he made an end of Coirpre, and of his men.

CHAPTER VII.  ILBREC OF ESS RUADH

One time Caoilte was hunting on Beinn Gulbain, and he went on to Ess Ruadh.  And when he came near the hill of the Sidhe that is there, he saw a young man waiting for him, having a crimson fringed cloak about him, and on his breast a silver brooch, and a white shield, ornamented with linked beasts of red gold, and his hair rolled in a ball at the back, and covered with a golden cup.  And he had heavy green weapons, and he was holding two hounds in a silver chain.

And when Caoilte came up to him he gave him three loving kisses, and sat down beside him on the grass.  “Who are you, young champion?” said Caoilte.  “I am Derg, son of Eoghan of the people of Usnach,” he said, “and foster-brother of your own.”  Caoilte knew him then, and he said:  “And what is your life with your mother’s people, the Tuatha de Danaan in Sidhe Aedha?” “There is nothing wanting to us there of food or of clothing,” said the young man.  “But for all that,” he said, “I would sooner live the life of the worst treated of the serving-boys of the Fianna than the life I am living in the hill of the Sidhe.”  “Lonely as you are at your hunting to-day,” said Caoilte, “it is often I saw you coming to the Valley of the Three Waters in the south, where the Siuir and the Beoir and the Berba come together, with a great company about you; fifteen hundred young men, fifteen hundred serving-boys, and fifteen hundred women.”  “That was so,” said Derg; “and although myself and my gentle hound are living in the hill of the Sidhe, my mind is always on the Fianna.  And I remember well the time,” he said, “when you yourself won the race against Finn’s lasting black horse.  And come now into the hill,” he said, “for the darkness of the night is coming on.”

So he brought Caoilte into the hill with him, and they were set down in their right places.