For the immature scions of the Red Branch, boys and tender
youths, awakened out of slumber, heard them, and from remote
dormitories responded to their sires, and they cried aloud
together and shouted. The trees of Ulster shed their early leaves
and buds at that shout, and birds fell dead from the branches.
Concobar struck the brazen canopy with his silver rod. The smitten
brass rang like a bell, and the Ultonians in silence hearkened for
the words of their clear-voiced king.
"No ruler of men," he said, "however masterful and imperious,
could withstand this torrent of martial ardour which rolls to-
night through the souls of the children of Rury, still less I,
newly come to this high throne, having been but as it were
yesterday your comrade and equal, till Fergus, to my grief,
resigned the sovereignty, and caused me, a boy, to be made king of
Ulla and captain of the Red Branch. But now I say, ere we consider
what province or territory shall first see the embattled Red
Branch cross her borders, let us enquire of Cathvah the Ard-Druid,
whether the omens be propitious, and whether through his art he is
able to reveal to us some rite to be performed or prohibition to
be observed.
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