Matheson Collection > Death-tales of the Ulster heroes

THE DEATH OF CELTCHAR MAC UTHECHAIR 27
4. ' This is bad, Conchobar ! ' said the men of Ulster. ' This
means the ruin^f the Déisi. It was enough that we should lose the zh*>
man who has died, and let Celtchar come (back) to his land,' said the
men of Ulster. ' Let him come, then,' said Conchobar ; ' and let his
son go for him, and let him be his safeguard.' At that time with the
men of Ulster a father's crime was not laid upon his son, nor a son's
crime upon the father. So he went to summon him until he was in
the south.
5. ' Wherefore hast thou come, my son?' said Celtchar. ' That thou
mayst come to thy land,' said the lad. ' What is my safeguard ? '
' I,' said the lad. ' True,' said he. ' Subtle is the treachery which
the men of Ulster practise upon me, that I should go on my son's
guarantee.' ' Subtle shall be his name and the name of his offspring,'
said the druid. ' Wait, lad,' said Celtchar, ' and I will go (with thee).'
6. This is done, and hence is Semuine a in the land of the
Déisi.
7. However, this is the fine which was demanded for Blái the
Hospitaller, to free them from the three worst pests that would come
into Ulster in his time.
8. Then Conganchnes b mac Dedad went to avenge his brother,
even Curoi son of Daire mac Dedad, upon the men of Ulster.
He devastated Ulster greatly. Spears or swords hurt him not, but
sprang from him as from horn.
9. ' Free us from this pest, Celtchar ! ' said Conchobar. ' Surely
I will,' said Celtchar. And on a certain day he went to converse
with the Horny-skin so that he beguiled him, promising to him his
daughter, even Niam daughter of Celtchar, as well as a dinner for
a hundred every afternoon to be supplied to him. Then the woman
beguiled him, saying to him : ' Tell me,' she said, • how you may be
killed.' 'Red-hot iron spits have to be thrust into my soles and
breic) frise L 26 Niam E 27 co tarat L 28 co n-erbairt frie in
n-innas no niair . . . L 29 [bera] iairn it eat derga tri . . . Here the
fragment in L ends.
a A tribal territory of the Déssi, so called, according to the ' Expulsion of the
Déssi' (p. 122), from Semon mac Oenguso maic Celtchair maic Uithecbair.
b i.e. Horn-skin.