The Tain Bo Culaigne
The Agitation of Celtchar
It was then that Celtchar in his sleep uttered these words in the midst of
the men of Ulster in Iraird Cuillinn that night:
"Thirty hundred chariot-men;
An hundred horse-companions
stout;
An hundred with an hundred druids!
To lead us will not
fail
The hero of the land,
Conchobar with hosts around him!
Let the
battle line be formed!
Gather now, ye warriors!
Battle shall be
fought
At Garech and Ilgarech
On aftermorrow's morn!"
On that same night Cormac Conlongas, Conchobar's son, spake these words to
the men of Erin at Slemain Mide that night:
"A wonder of a morning,
A wondrous I time!
When hosts will
be confused,
Kings turned back in flight!
Necks will be broken,
The
sand made red,
When forth breaks the battle, the seven chieftains
before,
Of Ulster's host round Conchobar!
Their women will they
defend,
For their herds will they fight
At Garech and Ilgarech,
On
the morning after the morrow! "
On that same night, Dubthach Doel ('the Scorpion') of Ulster uttered these
words in his sleep among the men of Erin at Slemain Mide that night:
"Great be the morn,
The morn of Meath!
Great be the
truce
The truce of Culenn!
"Great be the fight,
The fight Of Clartha!
Great, too, the
steeds,
The steeds of Assal!
"Great be the plague,
The plague of Tuath-Bressi!
Great be
the storm,
Ulster's battle-storm round Conchobar!
"Their women will they defend,
For their herds will they
fight
At Garech and Ilgarech,
On the morning after the
morrow!"
Dubthach was awakened from his sleep, so that Nemain brought confusion on the
host and they fell trembling in their arms under the points of their spears and
weapons, so that an hundred warriors of them fell dead in the midst of their
camp and quarters at the fearfulness of the shout they heard on high. Be that as
it would, that night was not the calmest for the men of Erin that they passed
before or since, because of the forebodings and predictions and because of the
spectres and visions that were revealed to them.
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