When the people of the dun saw
that, they brake forth west-ward and fled. Then Cuculain and Laeg
invaded the dun, and they burst open the doors of the strong
chambers, and of the dungeons beneath the earth, and let loose the
prisoners and the hostages and the prepared victims, and they
broke the idols and the instruments of sorcery, and filled in the
well. After that they replenished the vacant places of the war-car
with things the most precious and such as were portable, and gave
all the rest to the liberated captives for a prey. Last of all
they applied fire to the vast dun, and quickly the devouring
flames shot heavenward, fed with pine and red yew, and rolled
forth a mighty pillar of black smoke, reddened with rushing sparks
and flaming embers. The men of Tara saw it, and the men of Tlatga,
and of Tailteen, and of Ben-Eadar, and they consulted their
prophets and wizards as to what this portent might mean, for it
was not a little smoke that the burning of Dun-Mic-Nectan sent
forth that day.
CHAPTER XVI
THE RETURN OF CUCULAIN
"The golden gates of sleep unbar
When strength and beauty met together
Kindle their image like a star
In a sea of glassy weather.
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