For the assembly of the Gamanrad were with Ailill, and each of the men
of Domnan who had bidden himself to come to him to aid him: they were
in the same place assembled in his castle; for he knew that the exiles
from Ulster and Ailill and Medb with their army would come to him to
demand the surrender of Fergus, for Fergus was under their protection.
This was the third race of heroes in Ireland, namely the Clan Gamanrad
of Irross Donnan (the peninsula of Donnan), and (the other two were)
the Clan Dedad in Temair Lochra, and the Clan Rudraige in Emain Macha.
But both the other clans were destroyed by the Clan Rudraige.
But the men of Ulster arise, and with them the people of Medb and of
Ailill; and they laid waste the castle, and take Flidais out of the
castle with them, and carry off the women of the castle into captivity;
and they take with them all the costly things and the treasures that
were there, gold and silver, and horns, and drinking cups, and keys,
and vats; and they take what there was of garments of every colour, and
they take what there was of kine, even a hundred milch-cows, and a
hundred and forty oxen, and thirty hundred of little cattle.
And after these things had been done, Flidais went to Fergus mac Rog
according to the decree of Ailill and Medb, that they might thence have
sustenance (lit. that their sustenance might be) on the occasion of the
Raid of the Cows of Cualgne. As[FN#101] a result of this, Flidais was
accustomed each seventh day from the produce of her cows to support the
men of Ireland, in order that during the Raid she might provide them
with the means of life. This then was the Herd of Flidais.
[FN#101] L.L. and Egerton give "For him used every seventh day," &c.
In consequence[FN#102] of all this Flidais went with Fergus to his
home, and he received the lordship of a part of Ulster, even Mag
Murthemni (the plain of Murthemne), together with that which had been
in the hands of Cuchulain, the son of Sualtam. So Flidais died after
some time at Trag Bàli (the shore of Bali), and the state of Fergus'
household was none the better for that. For she used to supply all
Fergus' needs whatsoever they might be (lit. she used to provide for
Fergus every outfit that he desired for himself). Fergus died after
some time in the land of Connaught, after the death of his wife, after
he had gone there to obtain knowledge of a story. For, in order to
cheer himself, and to fetch home a grant of cows from Ailill and Medb,
he had gone westwards to Cruachan, so that it was in consequence of
this journey that he found his death in the west, through the jealousy
of Ailill.
[FN#102] L.L. and Egerton give "thereafter," adopted in verse
translation.
This, then, is the story of the Tain bo Flidais; it[FN#103] is among
the preludes of the Tain bo Cualnge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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