And on the first day none of the kings or princes went into the battle,
but only the common fighting men, and they fierce and proud enough.
And the battle went on like that from day to day with no great advantage
to one or the other side. But there was wonder on the Fomor on account
of one thing. Such of their own weapons as were broken or blunted in the
fight lay there as they were, and such of their own men as were killed
showed no sign of life on the morrow; but it was not so with the Tuatha
de Danaan, for if their men were killed or their weapons were broken
to-day, they were as good as before on the morrow.
And this is the way that happened. The well of Slaine lay to the west
of Magh Tuireadh to the east of Loch Arboch. And Diancecht and his son
Octruil and his daughter Airmed used to be singing spells over the well
and to be putting herbs in it; and the men that were wounded to death in
the battle would be brought to the well and put into it as dead men, and
they would come out of it whole and sound, through the power of the
spells. And not only were they healed, but there was such fire put into
them that they would be quicker in the fight than they were before.
And as to the arms, it is the way they were made new every day. Goibniu
the Smith used to be in the forge making swords and spears, and he would
make a spear-head by three turns, and then Luchta the Carpenter would
make the shaft by three cuts, and the third cut was a finish, and would
set it in the ring of the spear.
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