So he did, so he did. But he ran too wild, and Conchubar is coming to-day to put an oath upon him that will stop his rambling and make him as biddable as a house-dog and keep him always at his hand. He will sit in this chair and put the oath upon him. FOOL. How will he do that? BLIND MAN. You have no wits to understand such things. [_The BLIND MAN has got into the chair._] He will sit up in this chair and he’ll say: ‘Take the oath, Cuchulain. I bid you take the oath. Do as I tell you. What are your wits compared with mine, and what are your riches compared with mine? And what sons have you to pay your debts and to put a stone over you when you die? Take the oath, I tell you. Take a strong oath.’ FOOL. [_Crumpling himself up and whining._] I will not. I’ll take no oath. I want my dinner. BLIND MAN. Hush, hush! It is not done yet. FOOL. You said it was done to a turn. BLIND MAN. Did I, now? Well, it might be done, and not done. The wings might be white, but the legs might be red. The flesh might stick hard to the bones and not come away in the teeth. But, believe me, Fool, it will be well done before you put your teeth in it. FOOL. My teeth are growing long with the hunger. BLIND MAN. I’ll tell you a story—the kings have story-tellers while they are waiting for their dinner—I will tell you a story with a fight in it, a story with a champion in it, and a ship and a queen’s son that has his mind set on killing somebody that you and I know. FOOL. Who is that? Who is he coming to kill? BLIND MAN. Wait, now, till you hear. When you were stealing the fowl, I was lying in a hole in the sand, and I heard three men coming with a shuffling sort of noise. They were wounded and groaning. FOOL. Go on. Tell me about the fight. BLIND MAN. There had been a fight, a great fight, a tremendous great fight. A young man had landed on the shore, the guardians of the shore had asked his name, and he had refused to tell it, and he had killed one, and others had run away. FOOL. That’s enough. Come on now to the fowl. I wish it was bigger. I wish it was as big as a goose. BLIND MAN. Hush! I haven’t told you all. I know who that young man is. I heard the men who were running away say he had red hair, that he had come from Aoife’s country, that he was coming to kill Cuchulain. FOOL. Nobody can do that. [_To a tune._] Cuchulain has killed kings, Kings and sons of kings, Dragons out of the water, And witches out of the air, Banachas and Bonachas and people of the woods. BLIND MAN. Hush! hush! FOOL. [_Still singing._] Witches that steal the milk, Fomor that steal the children, Hags that have heads like hares, Hares that have claws like witches, All riding a-cockhorse [_Spoken._] Out of the very bottom of the bitter black north. BLIND MAN. Hush, I say! FOOL. Does Cuchulain know that he is coming to kill him? BLIND MAN.