Now those harpers were wondrous men, by their sides they had sacks of
the otter's skin,
And about their bodies the sacks were tied, and they carried their
harps within,
With stitches of silver and golden thread each case for a harp was
sewed;
And, beneath the embroidery gleaming red, the shimmer of rubies showed!

The skin of a roe about them in the middle, it was as white as snow;
black-grey eyes in their centre. Cloaks of linen as white as the tunic
of a swan around these ties.[FN#4] Harps of gold and silver and
bronze, with figures of serpents and birds, and hounds of gold and
silver: as they moved those strings those figures used to run about the
men all round.


[FN#4] This is the Egerton version, which is clearly right here. The
Book of Leinster gives: "These figures accordingly used to run," &c.,
leaving out all the first part of the sentence, which is required to
make the meaning plain.


They play for them then so that twelve of the people[FN#5] of Ailill
and Medb die with weeping and sadness.


[FN#5] The Book of Leinster omits "of Ailill and Medb."


Gentle and melodious were the triad, and they were the Chants of