And
there was poison on their clothes and on their hands and their feet, and
on everything they touched. And Finn asked them who were they. And they
said they were three sons of Uar, son of Indast of the Tuatha de Danaan;
and it was by a man of the Fianna, Caoilte son of Ronan, their father
was killed in the battle of the Tuatha de Danaan on Slieve nan Ean, the
Mountain of Birds, in the east. "And let Caoilte son of Ronan give us
the blood-fine for him now," they said. "What are your names?" said
Finn. "Aincel and Digbail and Espaid; Ill-wishing and Harm and Want are
our names. And what answer do you give us now, Finn?" they said. "No one
before me ever gave a blood-fine for a man killed in battle, and I will
not give it," said Finn. "We will do revenge and robbery on you so,"
said they. "What revenge is that?" said Finn. "It is what I will do,"
said Aincel, "if I meet with two or three or four of the Fianna, I will
take their feet and their hands from them." "It is what I will do,"
said Digbail, "I will not leave a day without loss of a hound or a
serving-boy or a fighting man to the Fianna of Ireland." "And I myself
will be always leaving them in want of people, or of a hand, or of an
eye," said Espaid. "Without we get some help against them," said
Caoilte, "there will not be one of us living at the end of a year."
"Well," said Finn, "we will make a dun and stop here for a while, for I
will not be going through Ireland and these men following after me, till
I find who are the strongest, themselves or ourselves.
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