The Tain Quotes

The Tain Quotes

"Then Cathbad said: 'A woman with twisted yellow tresses,/ green-irised eyes of great beauty / and cheeks flushed like the foxglove / howled in the hollow of your womb. / I say that whiter than the snow / is the white treasure of her teeth; / Parthian-red, her lip's lustre. / Ulster's chariot-warriors / will deal many a blow for her. / [...] Heroes will contend for her, / high kings beseech on her account. / [...] High queens will ache with envy / to see those lips of Parthian-red / opening on her pearly teeth / and see her pure perfect body.'
Cathbad placed his hand on the woman's belly and the baby wriggled under it.
'Yes,' he said, 'there is a girl there. Derdriu shall be her name. She will bring evil.'" (9-10)

"Cuchulainn met and fought Aife on the rope of feats. Aife smashed Cuchulainn's weapon. All she left...
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