"
Concobar made answer--"Dear foster-father, the high gods in their
wisdom have fashioned us each man to illustrate some virtue. To
thee they have given strength, courage, and magnanimity above all
others; and to me, in small measure, the vision of justice, and
the perception of her beautiful laws. A man can only excel in what
he loves, and verily I love well the known laws of the Ultonians."
A great man just then entered the hall. His mantle was black. In
the breast of it, instead of a brooch, he wore an iron pin. He
came swiftly and without making the customary reverences. His face
was pale, and his garments torn, his dark-grey tunic stained with
blood. He stood in the midst and cried--
"O high King of the Ultonians, and you the wise men and sages of
the children of Rury, to all of you there is now need of some
prudent resolution. A great deed has been done in Ulla."
"What is that?" said the King.
"The abduction of the Beautiful Woman by Naysi, son of Usna.
Verily, she is taken away and may not be recovered, for the Clan
Usna came last night with a great company to the dun and they
stormed it in their might and their valour, and their irresistible
fury, and they have taken away Deirdre in their swift chariots,
and have gone eastwards to the Muirnicht with intent to cross the
sea northwards, and abide henceforth with their prize in the land
of the Picts and of the Albanah, beyond the stormy currents of the
Moyle.
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