Ossian Collection > Poems of Oisin, bard of Erin

THE BATTLE OF VENTRY HARBOUR. 279
Said Fergus, " Truly I have heard and it is a
burning to my heart." " How fares the battle
now?" said Fionn.
" I can give you but a melancholy account, for
from the beginning of this day's battle the Fenii
and the foreigners have fought for every inch of
ground ; the battle has been so valiant and so
sharp that they are all lying on the strand dead
or wounded to death : the streams of blood which
are now flowing into the sea are greater than the
floods which run down from the mountains after a
violent torrent of rain. There is now not one
man of the Irish forces standing on the strand
but your fosterer, Beul mac Cronntainn." Fionn
said, "Go instantly, and tell him to silence the
foreigner."
Fergus went to Beul mac Cronntainn and said,
" How do you fare after this great conflict ?"
He replied, "My bones would fall asunder were
it not that my battle-armour keeps them together;
and yet, what gives me more grief than the pain
I suffer is to hear what the foreigner says aboard
his ship ; Fergus, take me on your back to the
edge of the water, so that I may put a stop to his
proceedings."
Fergus took him to the water, and Beul swam
to the ship and reached out his hand to the
foreigner, who came to take him up, thinking