"Go to him
then," said Finn, "and bid him to keep off a share of the foreigners
from Osgar." So Fergus went to him. "Caoilte," he said, "it is great
danger your friend Osgar is in under the blows of the foreigners, and
let you rise up and give him some help," he said.
Caoilte went then to the place where Osgar was, and he gave a straight
blow of his sword at the man who was nearest him, that made two halves
of him. Osgar raised his head then and looked at him. "It is likely,
Caoilte," he said, "you did not dare redden your sword on any one till
you struck down a man that was before my sword. And it is a shame for
you," he said, "all the men of the great world and the Fianna of Ireland
to be in the one battle, and you not able to make out a fight for
yourself without coming to take a share of my share of the battle. And I
give my oath," he said, "I would be glad to see you put down in your bed
of blood on account of that thing." Caoilte's mind changed when he heard
that, and he turned again to the army of the foreigners with the redness
of anger on his white face; and eighty fighting men fell in that rout.
"What way is the battle now?" said Finn. "It is a pity," said Fergus,
"there never came and there never will come any one that can tell the
way it is now. For by my word," he said, "the tree-tops of the thickest
forest in the whole of the western world are not closer together than
the armies are now. For the bosses of their shields are in one another's
hands.
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