And Oisin
thought it would not be worthy of him to refuse any man his place of
fighting. So they went into the water together, and they were trying to
drown one another till they came to the sand and the gravel of the clear
sea. And it was a torment to the heart of the Fianna, Oisin to be in
that strait. "Rise up, Fergus of the Sweet Lips," said Finn then, "and
go praise my son and encourage him." So Fergus went down to the edge of
the sea, and he said: "It is a good fight you are making, Oisin, and
there are many to see it, for the armies of the whole world are looking
at you, and the Fianna of Ireland. And show now," he said, "your ways
and your greatness, for you never went into any place but some woman of
high beauty or some king's daughter set her love on you." Then Oisin's
courage increased, and anger came on him and he linked his hands behind
the back of the foreigner and put him down on the sand under the sea
with his face upwards, and did not let him rise till the life was gone
from him. And he brought the body to shore then, and struck off his head
and brought it to the Fianna.
But there was great grief and anger on Dolar Durba, the eldest of the
sons of Garb, that had stopped in the ship, and he made a great oath
that he would have satisfaction for his brothers. And he went to the
High King, and he said: "I will go alone to the strand, and I will kill
a hundred men every day till I have made an end of the whole of the
armies of Ireland; and if any one of your own men comes to interfere
with me," he said, "I will kill him along with them.
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