Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 3 (Celtic and Slavic).djvu/247

Rh him, but these he slew; and then, turning his back against a hill, his heart was rent with his mighty exertions. Thus ended the Táin.$40$

Cúchulainn was now seventeen years old, and to the few years which ensued before his death probably belong his amour with the goddess Fand and that with Bláthnat, since Curoi intended to oppose him during the Táin but was sent back by Medb.

The slaying of Cúroi, of Cairbre Niaper in fair fight at Ros na Righ, and of Calatin, as well as his twenty-seven sons and his sister's son, during the Táin, led to the hero's death. Calatin's wife bore posthumously three monstrous sons and three daughters who were nurtured by Medb and studied magic arts in order to compass Cúchulainn's death. Joining at last with Lugaid, Cúroi's son, and Ere, Cairbre's son, they marched toward Ulster while its men were in their debility. Mighty efforts were made to restrain Cúchulainn from a combat which all knew would be fatal to him, and he was at last concealed in the Glen of the Deaf; but Calatin's daughters discovered this and created a phantasmal army out of puff-balls andi withered leaves, as Lug's witches transformed into soldiers' trees, sods, and stones, and Gwydion trees and sedges.$41$ This army and other eldritch things filled the glen with strange noises, and Cúchulainn thought that enemies were harassing Ulster, though Cathbad told him that this was merely magic illusion. Then one of the weird daughters took the form of Niamh, daughter of Celtchar, and speaking in her name, bade Cúchulainn attack the foes who were overwhelming Ulster. Neither the protestations of the real Niamh, nor of Dechtire, nor of Conchobar, nor the assurances of Cathbad that the hosts were illusions could withhold him. On his way to Emain he saw Badb's daughter washing blood from a warrior's gear—the "Washer at the Ford," a prophecy of his own death—but he was resolute and cheerful in face of the desperate fight to which he bound himself. During the