Servant

Nay, thy threats show no meekness;
Yet here thou should’st stay;
For on thee shall come weakness,
Woe waits on thy way: 
For by Ulster’s Rock broken
This battle may be,
And it long shall be spoken
How ill ’twas to thee.

Ferdia

An ill word art thou saying;
It fits not our race
That a champion, delaying
From fight, should thee grace. 
Then thy speech, my friend, fetter,
No foe will we fear;
But, since valour is better,
His challenge we near.

Then Ferdia’s horses were harnessed for him, and his chariot was yoked, and he came forward to the ford of battle; but when he had come there he found that the full light of the day had not yet dawned, and “O my servant!” said Ferdia, “spread out for me the cushions and skins that are upon my chariot, that I may rest upon them till I take the deep repose of refreshing sleep, for during the latter part of this night have I taken no rest, on account of the care that I had for this combat and fight.”  And the servant unharnessed his horses, and he placed together the cushions and the skins that were upon the chariot, so that Ferdia might rest upon them, and he sank into the deep repose of refreshing sleep.

Now in this place I will tell of the acts of Cuchulain.  He rose not at all from his couch until the full light of the day; and this he did in order that the men of Ireland should not be able to say that it was from fear or from dread that he rose, if it had been early that he had arisen.  And when the full daylight had come, he commanded his charioteer to harness for him his horses, and to yoke his chariot:  “O my servant!” said Cuchulain, “harness for us our horses, and put the yoke to our chariot, for early rises the champion who cometh to meet us this day:  even Ferdia, the son of Daman, the son of Dare.”  “The horses are harnessed,” said the charioteer, “and the chariot is yoked; step thou into it, for it will bring no shame on thy valour.”  Then did Cuchulain, the fighter of battles, the skilful in feats, the winner of victory, that red-sworded hero, the son of Sualtam, leap into his chariot.  All around him screamed the Bocanachs, and the Bananachs, and the wild people of the glens, and the demons of the air; for it was the custom of the people of the wizard race of Danu to raise their cries about him in every battle, on every stricken field, in every duel, and in every fight to which he went, that thereby in such fight the hatred, and the fear, and the avoidance, and the terror that men felt for him should be increased.  In no short time the charioteer of Ferdia heard the roar of Cuchulain’s approach; the clamour, and the hissing, and the tramp; and the thunder, and the clatter, and the buzz:  for he heard the shields that were used as missiles clank together as they touched; and he heard the spears hiss, and the swords clash, and the helmet tinkle, and the armour ring; and the arms sawed one against the other, and the javelins swung, and the ropes strained, and the wheels of the chariot clattered, and the chariot creaked, and the hoofs of the horses trampled on the ground as that warrior and champion came forward in triumph to the ford, and approached him.