Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

196 Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race[233]wound. Cuchulain drew out the spear from the horse's side, andthey bade each other farewell, and the Grey galloped away withhalf the yoke hanging to its neck.And a third time Cuchulain flung the spear to a satirist, andLewy took it again and flung it back, and it struck Cuchulain,and his bowels fell out in the chariot, and the remaining horse,Black Sainglend, broke away and left him.“I would fain go as far as to that loch-side to drink,” saidCuchulain, knowing the end was come, and they suffered him togo when he had promised to return to them again. So he gatheredup his bowels into his breast and went to the loch-side, and drank,and bathed himself, and came forth again to die. Now there wasclose by a tall pillar-stone that stood westwards of the loch, andhe went up to it and slung his girdle over it and round his breast,so that he might die in his standing and not in his lying down;and his blood ran down in a little stream into the loch, and anotter came out of the loch and lapped it. And the host gatheredround, but feared to approach him while the life was still in him,and the hero-light shone above his brow. Then came the Grey ofMacha to protect him, scattering his foes with biting and kicking.And then came a crow and settled on his shoulder.Lewy, when he saw this, drew near and pulled the hair ofCuchulain to one side over his shoulder, and with his sword hesmote off his head; and the sword fell from Cuchulain's hand,and smote off the hand of Lewy as it fell. They took the hand ofCuchulain in revenge for this, and bore the head and hand south toTara, and there buried them, and over them they raised a mound.But Conall of the Victories, hastening to Cuchulain's side on thenews of the war, met the Grey of Macha streaming with blood,and together they went to the loch-side and saw him headless andbound to the pillar-stone, and the horse came and laid its head onhis breast. Conall drove southwards to avenge Cuchulain, and hecame on Lewy by the river Liffey, and because Lewy had but onehand Conall tied one of his behind his back, and for half the day