Ossian Collection > Reliquiae Celticae > Volume 2

THE TALE OF DEIRDBE. Ì25
lier ; and Concliobar jnit her into a fort apart, with ^ a tutor and
nurse to rear her ; and no one in - the Province durst go into her
})resence except her tutor and her nurse and Concliobai-'s converaa-
tion-woman, who was called Lebarcham. She continued under
this rule until she was marriageable ; and grew in beauty above
the woQien of her own time.
It happened on a certain day, in time of snow, that her tutor
killed a calf for food for her ; •' and when the calf's blood was
spilled on the snow, a black raven lighted ^ to drink it. And
when Deirdre observed this, she said to Lebai'cham that she would
like to have a husband having the three colours she saw — that is,
his hair of the colour of the raven, his cheeks of the colour of the
calf's blood, and his skin of the colour of snow. " There is such a
man of Conchobar's household, whose name is Naesi, the son of
Uisnech, son of Congal Claringnech, son of Rudhraighe Mor,"
from whom came Conchobar, as we have said above. " If that be
so, Lebarcham," said Deirdre, " I beseech thee, send him to con-
verse with me ])rivately." Lebarcham disclosed that matter to
Naesi. Then came Naesi secretly to meet Deirdre. And Deirdre
told him how much she loved him from the report she had heard
of him, and asked him to take her away by stealth from Con-
chobar. Naesi consented, J but reluctantlj , for fear of Conchobar.
Then Naesi and his two brothers, namely, Ainnle and Ardan, and
three times fifty warriors along with them, journeyed to Alba,**
where they obtained a holding ~ for military service from the King
of Alba, until he had received an account of the beauty of Deirdre,
and sought her as wife to himself. Great wrath took hold of
Naesi on account of this, and he departed with his brothers from
Alba, and came to an isle of the sea,* having fled with Deirdre
after they and the King's forces had engaged in many conflicts.
On a certain day thereafter, a feast of great magnificence was
prepared by Conchobar in the softly beautiful Emain Macha, at
which the people were joyful, in high spirits, and very merry.
The musicians, singers, and poets arose to sing their songs, and
strains, and famed incantations, and (to repeat) their trees of
affinity and branches of genealogy in presence of the king and the
nobles of the Province. And the following are the bards who
then arose, namely, Cathbad, the generous druid, and Genan of
the shining countenance, son of Cathbad, Misdeadha, son of
Aimbergin, Fercertue the bard, and Breicne the son of Cairbre of
the grey head.
^ Lit. " and a tutor," etc. " Lit. " of the Province." " Lit. " On a certain
(lay, it happened to her tutor to kill a calf [on] a snowy day for food for her."
"• Lit. "stooped down." ^ Lit. "Naesi gave his consent to" that." '^ "Alba,"
gen. "Alban," dat. and ace. " Albain." '' t.c, " Land of maintenance" in
return for military service. * i.e., " sea-girt."