Ferdia

Overview

How he is bought

The four provinces agree that the next man to send against Cúchulainn at the ford is Ferdia, the horn-skinned warrior from Irrus Domnann, Cúchulainn's own foster-brother. He has every feat Cúchulainn has except the gae bolga, and they think the horn around him will save him from that. Kinsella's notes say the Fir Domnann were the people Ferdia belonged to.

Medb sends messengers and he will not come. She sends poets, bards and satirists to shame him, and for dread of their mockery he comes. Finnabair is put beside him in the tent. She hands him cups with three kisses for every cup, and offers him sweet apples at the neck of her shirt, and tells him he is her darling and her chosen beloved of the whole world. When he is full and in good humour Medb lays out the price: a chariot, a share of the Plain of Ai, a place in Cruachan with his wine supplied, a brooch of gold, Finnabair for his wife, and her own friendly thighs on top if needed.

He says he would sooner leave all that with her than fight his foster-brother. Medb, as though she had not heard him, says Cúchulainn said he would not count it any great triumph if his greatest feat of arms were Ferdia's downfall. The text says she knew well how to stir up strife and dissension. Ferdia swears by the gods to be first at the ford in the morning, asks for six princes as sureties, and takes the brooch.

The night before

Fergus hears of the bargain, goes out to Cúchulainn at the ford and warns him. Cúchulainn says he does not want the meeting, not because he fears Ferdia but because he loves him so much. In his tent Ferdia is gloomy with his followers. If he does not fight Cúchulainn he must fight the six champions, and he knows his life and his head will never again be in his own hands if he once appears at the ford before him.

At dawn his charioteer tells him to stay. Ferdia has the chariot turned round three times to bid farewell to the men of Ireland, and passes close to Medb as she is making water on the floor of the tent. She tells Ailill the man will not come back on his own feet. Ailill says it is all the same to them if both die, though it might be better if Ferdia escaped.

At the ford the charioteer reminds him of Germán Garblas, whose army Cúchulainn crossed to bring back Ferdia's lost sword, and of the night Scáthach's steward knocked Ferdia out through a door with a flesh-fork while Cúchulainn cut the steward in two. Ferdia says he would not have come had he been reminded before. He tries to sleep and cannot.

The four days

They meet in the middle of the ford. Ferdia reminds Cúchulainn that under Scáthach, Uathach and Aife he was only a body-servant who fixed spears and made beds. Cúchulainn answers that he was young and small then. Ferdia calls him Little Bush and a chicken-hearted trembling boy, and Cúchulainn calls him Squinter.

On the first day they use the last feats they learned together, then spears, and each draws nothing but wounds. At night they kiss three times, their horses share a paddock, and each sends the other half his healing herbs and half his food. On the second day they stab from chariots, and birds could have flown through their bodies. On the third day, with swords, Cúchulainn sees a shadow on Ferdia's hair and a dull eye. Ferdia says it is not for fear of him. He admits that Medb has ruined them both. That night the horses and charioteers do not share a paddock.

On the fourth day Ferdia is at the ford alone before Cúchulainn, armoured against the gae bolga, and does a thousand feats nobody taught him. Cúchulainn chooses fighting in the water, which Ferdia knows is the worst thing for him. Ferdia knocks him off his shield-knob with an elbow and a knee, and shakes him off a third time. Then they fight until they have driven the river out of its bed. Ferdia gets his sword into Cúchulainn's breast. Cúchulainn calls for the gae bolga, Ferdia drops his shield to cover his lower body, and Cúchulainn's javelin goes in over the rim and through his heart. The gae bolga comes down the stream, Cúchulainn catches it in the fork of his foot, and it breaks the stone in three and fills every joint with barbs.

Ferdia says he will die of that and that Cúchulainn has killed him unfairly. Cúchulainn carries him north across the ford so the spoils will not lie westward with the men of Ireland, and faints beside his head. He mourns him, has Laeg strip him and show him the brooch, and has Laeg cut Ferdia open to get the gae bolga back.