"
"Pursue and run down those deer," said Cuculain.
"There is fear upon me," said Laeg.
"Alive or dead thou shalt come with me on this adventure, though
it lead us into the mighty realms of the dead," cried Cuculain.
Laeg relaxed his hands upon the reins and let the steeds go, and
they chased the enchanted herd of Slieve Fuad. There was no
hunting seen like that before in Erin. So vehement was the chase
that a twain of the herd was run down and they upon their knees
and sobbing. Cuculain sprang from the chariot and he made fast one
of the deer to the pole of the chariot to run before, and on to
the hinder part of it to run behind. So they went northward again
with a deer of the herd of Hell running before them and another
following behind.
"What are those birds whiter than snow and more brilliant than
stars," said then Cuculain, "which are before us upon the plain,
as if Heaven with its astral lights and splendour were outspread
before us there?"
"They are the wild geese of the enchanted flocks of Lir," answered
Laeg. "From his vast and ever-during realms beneath the sea they
have come up through the dim night to feed on Banba's plains.
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