drew nearer to each other. And then it was that Cuchulaind sprang from the brink of the ford, and hung on the boss of the shield of Ferdiad for the purpose of striking him on the head over the upper rim of the shield. And Ferdiad gave the shield a blow of his right elbow and cast Cuchulaind from him like a kid from the brink of the ford. Cuchulaind sprang from the brink and again clung to the boss of the shield, and was again flung off, Ferdiad striking the shield with his left knee.
Then Laeg, the charioteer of Cuchulaind, reproached his master, who, with a mighty spring, again leaped at Ferdiad, caught the boss of his shield, and was flung headforemost into the middle of the ford.
A dreadful close-fight followed, in which the very shields were unriveted and bent, and the Bocanachs and Bananachs and wild people of the glens and demons of the air "screamed from the rims of the shields and the hilts of the swords, and hafts of the spears." The champions fought with heavy swords, and at length Ferdiad buried his blade in Cuchulaind's body, making a deep but not deadly wound; and still he rained on Cuchulaind his great strokes.
"Cuchulaind could not endure this; and he asked Laeg, son of Riangabra, for the gae-bolg."
