Page:Celtic Stories by Edward Thomas.djvu/20

 to it and took away with them the three heads of Nechtan's sons.

On their way towards Emania they saw a herd of what Cohoolin thought were very restless cattle. They were the wild deer of that country. The boy was eager to catch them, but the fat chariot horses could not come up with the wild deer. So he dismounted, and ran down two of the great stags and fastened them unhurt to his chariot. Further on they saw a flock of wild swans. Cohoolin asked if they were tame swans or wild, and, learning that they were wild, wanted to know whether it would be more creditable to bring them back dead or alive. 'Any one may bring them back dead,' said Jubar. So Cohoolin fitted a small stone into his sling and hurled it and entangled eight of the swans together. At another cast he caught twice as many, and he fastened all of them to his chariot.

Under the full moon Cohoolin drove into the palace courts with the heads of the sons of Nechtan bumping on his chariot sides, the deer racing at the back, and the swans flying behind them. The calling of the swans, with their long trumpet necks, awakened the palace, and the king's messenger called out:

'Behold a warrior coming in his chariot, O King. He is alone. He is beautiful and terrible to see, and the bleeding heads of his enemies hang on his chariot. Stags of the mountain follow behind and white birds fly after him, because they must.'

By this Conachoor knew that Cohoolin had returned from his first day's adventure, and had shown himself worthy of the sword, the spear, the shield, and the chariot. 'Old Morann was right,' thought the king, 'when he prophesied at the boy's birth that the praise of him should be on the lips of kings, warriors, and