Then Cathbad laid his hand upon the body of the woman; and the little child moved beneath his hand:  “Aye, indeed,” he said, “it is a woman child who is here:  Deirdre shall be her name, and evil woe shall be upon her.”

Now some days after that came the girl child into the world; and then thus sang Cathbad: 

O Deirdre! of ruin great cause thou art;
Though famous, and fair, and pale: 
Ere that Felim’s hid daughter from life shall part,
All Ulster her deeds shall wail.

Aye, mischief shall come, in the after-time,
Thou fair shining maid, for thee;
Hear ye this:  Usna’s sons, the three chiefs sublime,
To banishment forced shall be.

While thou art in life, shall a fierce wild deed
In Emain, though late, be done: 
Later yet, it shall mourn it refused to heed
The guard of Rog’s powerful son.

O lady of worth!  It is to thee we owe
That Fergus to exile flies;
That a son of king Conor we hail in woe,
When Fiachna[FN#41] is hurt, and dies.

O lady of worth!  It is all thine the guilt! 
Gerrc, Illadan’s son, is slain;
And when Eogan mac Doorha’s great life is spilt,
Not less shall be found our pain.

Grim deed shalt thou do, and in wrath shalt rave
Against glorious Ulster’s king: 
In that spot shall men dig thee thy tiny grave;
Of Deirdre they long shall sing.

[FN#41] Pronounced Feena.

“Let that maiden be slain!” cried out the young men of Ulster; but “Not so!” said Conor; “she shall in the morning be brought to me, and shall be reared according to my will, and she shall be my wife, and in my companionship shall she dwell.”

The men of Ulster were not so hardy as to turn him from his purpose, and thus it was done.  The maiden was reared in a house that belonged to Conor, and she grew up to be the fairest maid in all Ireland.  She was brought up at a distance from the king’s court; so that none of the men of Ulster might see her till the time came when she was to share the royal couch:  none of mankind was permitted to enter the house where she was reared, save only her foster-father, and her foster-mother; and in addition to these Levorcham, to whom naught could any refuse, for she was a witch.

Now once it chanced upon a certain day in the time of winter that the foster-father of Deirdre had employed himself in skinning a calf upon the snow, in order to prepare a roast for her, and the blood of the calf lay upon the snow, and she saw a black raven who came down to drink it.  And “Levorcham,” said Deirdre, “that man only will I love, who hath the three colours that I see here, his hair as black as the raven, his cheeks red like the blood, and his body as white as the snow.”  “Dignity and good fortune to thee!” said Levorcham; “that man is not far away.  Yonder is he in the burg which is nigh; and the name of him is Naisi, the son of Usnach.”  “I shall never be in good health again,” said Deirdre, “until the time come when I may see him.”