Play was each, pleasure each, Till Ferdia faced the beach, One had been our wonted ways, One the praise for feat of fields, Scathach gave two victor shields— Equal prize to each. Play was each, pleasure each, Till Ferdia faced the beach; Dear that pillar of pure gold, Who fell cold beside the ford. Hosts of heroes felt his sword First in battle’s breach. Play was each, pleasure each, Till Ferdia faced the beach; Lion, fiery, fierce, and bright, Wave whose might nothing withstands, Sweeping, with the shrinking sands, Horror o’er the beach. Play was each, pleasure each, Till Ferdia faced the beach; Loved Ferdia, dear to me; I shall dree his death for aye, Yesterday a mountain he,— But a shade to-day. Queen Meve with her army ravaged the province of Ulster and secured the Donn Chuailgne. Ultimately, through the recovery of the Ultonians from their temporary debility, she was thoroughly defeated. Yet, notwithstanding the loss of so many warriors, the masterful woman congratulates herself on having accomplished the two great objects of her expedition—the securing of the brown bull and the chastisement of her former husband, King Conchobar. The story of the Táin ends in an anti-climax, relating in the most ludicrous and fantastic manner the tragic fate of the bulls,[19] the unwitting cause of all this frenzy. But Queen Meve was determined to avenge herself on Cuchulinn, and in the course of time collected another large army. Among all his foes none was more venomous than were the descendants of the wizard Cailatin, who, with his twenty-seven sons, had been killed at the ford combat. The malignant efforts of these sorcerers to get the warrior into their power are vividly described. For a time he was kept and entertained in the royal palace by his wife Eimer and the ladies of Emania, and poets, and musicians, and wise men. The wizards made noise as of battle, and when Cuchulinn looked out he imagined he saw battalions drawn up upon the plains smiting each other unsparingly. It was with difficulty he was withheld from going out.