'I do not know it,' said Fer Diad.
'At the house of Scathach's steward,' said the lad, 'and you went
---- and haughtily before us into the house first. The churl gave
you a blow with the three-pointed flesh-hook in the small of your
back, so that it threw you out over the door like a shot.
Cuchulainn came into the house and gave the churl a blow with his
sword, so that it made two pieces of him. It was I who was steward
for you while you were in that place. If only for that day, you
should not say that you are a better warrior than Cuchulainn.'
'What you have done is wrong,' said Fer Diad, 'for I would not have
come to seek the combat if you had said it to me at first. Why do
you not pull the cushions [Note: LL _fortchai_. YBL has _feirtsi_,
'shafts.'] of the chariot under my side and my skin-cover under my
head, so that I might sleep now?'
'Alas!' said the lad, 'it is the sleep of a fey man before deer and
hounds here.'
'What, O lad, are you not fit to keep watch and ward for me?'
'I am fit,' said the lad; 'unless men come in clouds or in mist to
seek you, they will not come at all from east or west to seek you
without warning and observation.
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