his words. Then said Concobar:

"Many are the prophecies which came wandering down upon the mouths
of men, but they are not all to be trusted alike. Of those which
have passed thy lips, O Cathvah, we utterly reject the last, and
think the less of thee for having reported it. But the former
which concerns the child of promise hath been ever held a sure
prophecy, and as such passed down through all the diviners from
the time of Amargin, the son of Milesius, who first prophesied for
the Gael. And now being arch-king of the Ultonians, I command thee
to divine for us when the coming of the child shall be."

Then Cathvah, the Ard-Druid, put on his divining apparel and took
his divining instruments in his hands, and made his symbols of
power upon the air. And at first he was silent, and, being in a
trance, stared out before him with wide eyes full of wonder and
amazement, directing his gaze to the east. In the end he cried out
with a loud voice, and prophesying, sang this lay:

"Yea, he is coming. He draweth nigh.
Verily It is he whom I behold--
The predicted one--the child of many prophecies--
Chief flower of the Branch that is over all--
The mainstay of Emaiti Macha--the battle-prop of the Ultonians--
The torch of the valour and chivalry of the North--
The star that is to shine for ever upon the forehead of the Gael.
It is he who slumbers upon Slieve Fuad--
The child who is like a star--
Like a star upon Slieve Fuad.
There is a light around him never kindled at the hearth of Lu,