"For that lady," said Fraech, "she is none of my She is fickle, no trust from me yet did she win: But on thee we rely, thou art trusty, we know; Never yet to an Ulsterman Ulster was foe." "Is it men out of Ulster," she said, "I have met?" "And is Conall," said Fraech, "thus unknown to you yet? Of all heroes from Ulster the battle who faced Conall Cernach is foremost." His neck she embraced, And she cried, with her arms around Conall: "Of old Of the conquering Conall our prophets have told; And 'tis ruin and doom to this hold that you bring; For that Conall shall sack it, all prophecies sing." "Hear my rede," she told him: "When at fall of day Come the kine for milking, I abroad will stay; I the castle portal every eve should close: Ye shall find it opened, free for tread of foes: I will say the weakling calves awhile I keep; 'Tis for milk, I'll tell them: come then while they sleep; Come, their castle enter, all its wealth to spoil; Only rests that serpent, he our plans may foil: Him it rests to vanquish, he will try you most; Surely from that serpent swarms a serpent host!" "Trust us well," answered Conall, "that raid will we do! And the castle they sought, and the snake at them flew: For it darted on Conall, and twined round his waist; Yet the whole of that castle they plundered in haste, And the woman was freed, and her sons with her three And away from her prison she went with them free: And of all of the jewels amassed in that dun The most costly and beauteous the conquerors won. Then the serpent from Conall was loosed, from his belt It crept safely, no harm from that serpent he felt: And they travelled back north to the Pictish domains, And a three of their cattle they found on the plains; And, where Olla Mae Briuin[FN#38] his hold had of yore, By Dunolly their cattle they drove to the shore. [FN#38] Pronounced "Brewin." It chanced at Ard Uan Echach,[FN#39] where foam is hurled on high, That doom on Bicne falling, his death he came to die: 'Twas while the cows were driven that Bicne's life was lost: By trampling hooves of cattle crushed down to death, or tossed; To him was Loegaire[FN#40] father, and Conall Cernach chief And Inver-Bicne's title still marks his comrades' grief. [FN#39] Pronounced "Ard Oon Ay-ha," [FN#40] Pronounced "Leary." Across the Stream of Bicne the cows of Fraech have passed, And near they came to Benchor, and there their horns they cast: 'Tis thence the strand of Bangor for aye is named, 'tis said: The Strand of Horns men call it; those horns his cattle shed. To his home travelled Fraech, with his children, and And his cattle, and there with them lived out his life, Till the summons of Ailill and Maev he obeyed; And when Cualgne was harried, he rode on the Raid. TAIN BO FRAICH PART II LITERAL TRANSLATION