Standish O'Grady; selected essays and passages

THE DEATH OF CUCULAIN.
More terrible than at any other time was the son of
Sualtam in those battles which he entered in the naked
majesty of his irresistible strength, shorn of his glory,
and having lost his magic attributes, for this time he went
to war like one who has devoted himself to death. Around
him the shadows thickened, but like a light in darkness,
his valour shone the brighter as before his fast-lessening
warriors he charged the armies of the great Queen. Over
the plains of Murthemney, between Dfln-dalgan and the
Boyne, pealed the voice of the son of Sualtam, shouting
amid his warriors, and ever the southern host gave way
before him, and their battalions were confused.
Then northward in the hills collected the people of
UUa, the unwarlike tribes, seeing afar that one hero, and
the fast-lessening ranks of the Ultonians, where the
great champion of the north fought on against the immense
overflowing host of the Four Provinces.
But as the Ultonians grew less in the dread conflict,
the southern warriors precipitated themselves upon
Cuculain, and like a great rock over which rolls some
mighty billow of the western sea, so was Cuculain often
submerged in their overflowing tide ; and as with the
down-sinking billow the same rock reappears in its
invincible greatness, and the white brine runs down its
Stubborn ribs so the son of Sualtam perpetually reappeared
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