38 THE BATTLE OF VENTRY. 



Fidhach mac rig Breatan 7 adubert : ' Tairre do ma molad, a Fearghus Finnbel,' 

 ar se ' co n-deachainn do comrac risan allmurach innas gumadh moidi mo menma 

 7 m' aignedh 7 gumadh calmaidi mo comlann thu do ma molad.' ' Urusa do 

 molad, a mic,' ar Feargus 7 do bhi re hatha fada 'ga molad. 



690 Ro machtaighedar imoro an dias sin a cheile co briatharbhorb barbarrdha baeth- 

 eicciallaz^? 7 is ann sin do thoghaib Mongach an mara an suisti imremar iarna/^^ie 

 7 tuc beim co talchar tinneasnach d' innsaighi mhic righ Breatan 7 rug mac rig 

 Breatan saibhleim luith a n-airde do lethtaib chle an allmuraig 7 tuc beim cloidim don 

 allmurach co tarrla tar ceal a dha lamh gur choimtheasc in da laim^ni hacu roanastczr 



695 an ghormk^c/z gerloinnearrdha.acht ro roinn co cudruma an cathmhilid fa certmedon 



7 ag tuitim do tarrla ubhall iarnazy/ze do tsuisti cona dhealgaib nemi ar dedhbh^l mic 



righ Breatan co rug an teanga 7 na fiacla 7 finnchaebh chro don inchinn tre chul a 



chinn siar gur chomtuitedar an dis sin bonn re bonn 7 bel re bel ar an lathair sin. 



Is ann sin ro eirigh seinnser na clainni sin righ Lochlann 7 ba he sin an brath 



700 nach fuilangthi 7 an dubdhorthadh dilann 7 an chliath bearna ced 7 an brath 

 tar bruachaibh 7 an tonn rabharta 7 an fear nach ruc ceim ar cul riam roim 

 uathad na sochaigi .i. Caiseal Clumach airdrigh Lochlann fein, uair ni tainic 

 dithugud daine no uathugudh aicme mar sin a n-Eirinn riamh 7 do bhi sciath neime 

 ar dearglasadh aigi dorinne gabha [fo. 8 a. 2.] ifrinn do 7 da curthai fo muir he 



of the king of the Bretons, and he said : ' Come and praise me, O F^ergus Finnbel,' said 

 he, ' that I may go and fight thc foreigner, and that my courage and my spirits may be 

 greater and my fighting braver when thou art praising me.' ' Easy is it to praise thee, 

 O son,' said Fergus, and he kept praising him for a long time. 



Then those twocontemplated each otherwith their Iooks,with fierce words, barbarously, 

 arrogantly. And then JNIongach of the sea raised the strong iron flail, and dealt a blow 

 against the son of the king of the Bretons firmly, vehemently, and the son of the king of 

 the Bretons made a quick leap on high to the left side of the foreigner, and gave him a blow 

 of his sword, so that it went across the joint of his two hands, in such wise, that he cut 

 off the two hands together. And the renowned sharp-shining hero did not stop at them, 

 but he divided the warrior in two right in his midst. And as he fell, an iron apple of the 

 flail with its venomous thorns went into the fair mouth of the son of the king of the 

 Bretons, and took the tongue, and the teeth, and the white bloody clod of the brain out 

 through his backhead behind, so that those two fell together sole against sole, and lip 

 against lip, on that spot. 



Then arose the eldest of the children of the king of Norway, and he was intolerable 

 destruction and the spilling of a black deluge, and the filling up of a breach of a hundred, 

 and destruction over the borders, and the wave of overwhelming, and the man that never 

 took a step backward before one or many, to wit, Caisel Clumach, the high-king of 

 Norway himself. For thcre never came destruction of men, or diminution of people like 

 that into Erinn before, and he had a venomous shield with red flames, which the smith 



