And by that time they had searched through the whole of Ireland, and
they did not find in the whole of it a hundred men that could match
their nine.
And as well as their banners, some of the Fianna had swords that had
names to them, Mac an Luin, Son of the Waves, that belonged to Finn; and
Ceard-nan Gallan, the Smith of the Branches, that was Oisin's; and
Caoilte's Cruadh-Chosgarach, the Hard Destroying One; and Diarmuid's
Liomhadoir, the Burnisher; and Osgar's Cosgarach Mhor, the Great
Triumphant One.
And it is the way they got those swords: there came one time to where
Finn and Caoilte and some others of the Fianna were, a young man, very
big and ugly, having but one foot and one eye; a cloak of black skins he
had over his shoulders, and in his hand a blunt ploughshare that was
turning to red. And he told them he was Lon, son of Liobhan, one of the
three smiths of the King of Lochlann. And whether he thought to go away
from the Fianna, or to bring them to his smithy, he started running, and
they followed after him all through Ireland, to Slieve-na-Righ, and to
Luimnech, and to Ath Luain, and by the right side of Cruachan of
Connacht, and to Ess Ruadh and to Beinn Edair, and so to the sea.
And wherever it was they found the smithy, they went into it, and there
they found four smiths working, and every one of them having seven
hands. And Finn and Caoilte and the rest stopped there watching them
till the swords were made, and they brought them away with them then,
and it is good use they made of them afterwards.
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