And he was not long there till he
saw coming from the east a very big man, ugly and gloomy and deformed;
and it is how he was, a dark-coloured shield on his back, a wide sword
on his crooked left thigh, two spears on his shoulder, a torn loose
cloak over his limbs, that were as black as a quenched coal. A sulky
horse he had with him that had no good appearance, bony and thin as to
body, and weak in the legs, and he leading it with a rough iron halter;
and it was a great wonder the head was not pulled from the horse's body,
or the arms pulled out of his owner, with the sudden stands and stops
and the jerks it made. And the big man was striking blows on the horse
with an iron cudgel to try and knock some going out of him, and the
sound of the blows was like the breaking of strong waves.
And when Finnbane saw all that, he thought to himself it would not be
right to let the like of that stranger go up unknown to Finn and the
Fianna, and he ran back in haste to where they were and told them all he
had seen.
And when he had told his story, they saw the big man coming towards
them; but as short as he was from them he was long in coming, from the
badness of his walk and his going.
And when he came into Finn's presence he saluted him, and bowed his head
and bent his knee, making signs of humility.
Finn raised his hand over his head then, and asked news of him, and if
he was of the noble or of the mean blood of the great world.
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