And Fergus went to where Finn was, and told him the
son of the High King of Ireland was come with him; and all the Fianna
rose up before the young man and bade him welcome. And Finn said: "Young
man," he said, "we would sooner see you coming at a time when there
would be musicians and singers and poets and high-up women to make
pleasure for you than at the time we are in the straits of battle the
way we are now." "It is not for playing I am come," said the young man,
"but to give you my service in battle." "I never brought a lad new to
the work into the breast of battle," said Finn, "for it is often a lad
coming like that finds his death, and I would not wish him to fall
through me." "I give my word," said the young man, "I will do battle
with them on my own account if I may not do it on yours." Then Fergus of
the Fair Lips went out to give a challenge of battle from the son of the
High King of Ireland to the King of the World.
"Who will answer the King of Ireland's son for me?" said the King of the
World. "I will go against him," said Sligech, King of the Men of Cepda;
and he went on shore, and his three red battalions with him. And the
High King's son went against them, and his comrades were near him, and
they were saying to him: "Take a good heart now into the fight, for the
Fianna will be no better pleased if it goes well with you than if it
goes well with the foreigner." And when the High King's son heard that,
he made a rush through the army of the foreigners, and began killing and
overthrowing them, till their chief men were all made an end of.
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