together all the young men, a thousand and twenty of them that were in it.  And they asked no leave and no advice from the High King, but they set out and went on till they came to Finntraigh.  And Fergus went to where Finn was, and told him the son of the High King of Ireland was come with him; and all the Fianna rose up before the young man and bade him welcome.  And Finn said:  “Young man,” he said, “we would sooner see you coming at a time when there would be musicians and singers and poets and high-up women to make pleasure for you than at the time we are in the straits of battle the way we are now.”  “It is not for playing I am come,” said the young man, “but to give you my service in battle.”  “I never brought a lad new to the work into the breast of battle,” said Finn, “for it is often a lad coming like that finds his death, and I would not wish him to fall through me.”  “I give my word,” said the young man, “I will do battle with them on my own account if I may not do it on yours.”  Then Fergus of the Fair Lips went out to give a challenge of battle from the son of the High King of Ireland to the King of the World.

“Who will answer the King of Ireland’s son for me?” said the King of the World.  “I will go against him,” said Sligech, King of the Men of Cepda; and he went on shore, and his three red battalions with him.  And the High King’s son went against them, and his comrades were near him, and they were saying to him:  “Take a good heart now into the fight, for the Fianna will be no better pleased if it goes well with you than if it goes well with the foreigner.”  And when the High King’s son heard that, he made a rush through the army of the foreigners, and began killing and overthrowing them, till their chief men were all made an end of.  Then Sligech their king came to meet him, very angry and destroying, and they struck at one another and made a great fight, but at the last the King of Ireland’s son got the upper hand, and he killed the King of the Men of Cepda and struck off his head.

CHAPTER X. THE KING OF LOCHLANN AND HIS SONS

And the fighting went on from day to day, and at last Finn said to Fergus of the Sweet Lips:  “Go out, Fergus, and see how many of the Fianna are left for the fight to-day.”  And Fergus counted them, and he said:  “There is one battalion only of the Fianna left in good order; but there are some of the men of it,” he said, “are able to fight against three, and some that are able to fight against nine or thirty or a hundred.”  “If that is so,” said Finn, “rise up and go to where the King of the World is, and bid him to come out to the great battle.”