Ossian Collection > Poems of Oisin, bard of Erin

THE BATTLE OF VENTRY HARBOUR. 277
three of the bravest. Conan Maol came with great
bravery and courage to fight the foreigner who was
invulnerable, therefore Conan's sword could not
wound him ; then all the children of Morni struck
the champion, but to no purpose, for he struck
Conan a blow so terrible that it made his whole
body to groan ; when Osgur heard that groan he
came with a furious run to his assistance.
At the very moment when Fionn mac Luisgin
Lomaghluinig was lifting his sword to give the
finishing stroke to Conan, Osgur seized him, and
gave him such a very strong squeeze that he was
obliged to part with his intended victim. He and
Osgur then attacked each other wáth such won-
derful fury that their swords broke and flew into
the air ; when Osgur saw that anns could not
wound him and that blows were ineffectual, being
greatly cut himself and the foreigner in no dan-
ger from steel, he seized him with main strength
by the middle of his body, and gave him a strong,
truly venomous squeeze, which broke his back in
the middle of the skin, and he died on the spot.
When the steward saw what was done he went
with the royal crown to the king of Greece's
daughter, a heroine who was on board, and whose
father had been killed, as already mentioned, and
told her that it had been foretold that a woman
should rule the world, and that, seeing she was