Long will it be remembered:
Woe is he who goeth that journey."
Ferdiad would not be persuaded. He had made guarantee to fight, and he would. He answered the charioteer:—
"What thou sayest is not right;
A brave champion should not refuse:
It is not our inheritance:
Be silent, then, my servant:
We will be brave in the field of battle;
Valor is better than timidity;
Let us go to the challenge."
Ferdiad, in his chariot, arrived first at the ford, which gave him the choice of weapons. While he waited, he lay down on the cushions, and slept.
Meanwhile, Cucludaind had ordered his chariot to be prepared, saying: "He is an early-rising champion who cometh to meet us to-day."
When Cuchulaind sprang into his chariot, there shouted round him Bocanachs and Bananachs, and Geniti Glindi, and demons of the air; for the Tuatha Dé Danann were used to set up their shouts around him, so that the hatred and fear and abhorrence and terror of him should be the greater in every battle. And soon the awful rattle and roar of his chariot was heard coming; and Ferdiad's servant awoke his lord. "Good, O Ferdiad," he cried, "arise; here they come to
