“Ulster’s over-king, my first husband, I forsook for Naoise’s love. Short my life after them: I will perform their funeral game. “After them I shall not be alive— Three that would go into every conflict, Three who liked to endure hardships, Three heroes who refused not combats. * * * * * * * * * * “O man, that diggest the tomb And puttest my darling from me, Make not the grave too narrow: I shall be beside the noble ones.” It was a poor triumph for Conchobar. Deirdre in all her beauty had escaped him by death. His own chief followers never forgave it. Fergus, when he returned from Borrach’s feast, and found out what had been done, gathered his own people, slew Conchobar’s son and many of his warriors, and fled to Ulster’s bitterest enemies, Ailill and Medb of Connaught. And Cathbad the Druid cursed both king and kingdom, praying that none of Conchobar’s race might ever reign in Emain Macha again. So it came to pass. The capital of Ulster was only kept from ruin by Cuchulainn’s prowess. When he perished, it also fell, and soon became what it is now—a grassy hill. ----- Footnote 216: The romance of the _Wooing of Emer_, a fragment of which is contained in the Book of the Dun Cow, has been translated by Dr. Kuno Meyer, and published by him in the _Archæological Review_, Vol. I, 1888. Miss Hull has included this translation in her _Cuchullin Saga_. Another version of it from a Bodleian MS., translated by the same scholar, will be found in the _Revue Celtique_, Vol. XI. Footnote 217: This story, known as the _Sick-Bed of Cuchulainn_, translated into French by M. d’Arbois de Jubainville, will be found in his _L’Épopée Celtique en Irlande_, the fifth volume of _Cour de Littérature Celtique_. Another translation, into English, by Eugene O’Curry is in _Atlantis_, Vols. I and II. Footnote 218: For the full story of Baile and Ailinn see Dr. Kuno Meyer’s translation in Vol. XIII of the _Revue Celtique_. Footnote 219: There are not only numerous translations of this romance, but also many Gaelic versions. The oldest of the latter is in the Book of Leinster, while the fullest are in two MSS. in the Advocates’ Library at Edinburgh. The version followed here is from one of these, the so-called Glenn Masáin MS., translated by Dr. Whitley Stokes, and contained in Miss Hull’s _Cuchullin Saga_. Footnote 220: Pronounced _Naisi_. Footnote 221: Pronounced _Usna_. Footnote 222: It will be found in full in Miss Hull’s _Cuchullin Saga_. The version there given was first translated into French by M. Ponsinet from the Book of Leinster. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XIV FINN AND THE FENIANS[223]