*
The Ulstermen were drinking in the house
of Connavor’s Bard, Fedlimed mac Dall.
Fedlimed’s wedd-woman, who happened
to be full with child, was also in attendance.
She passed round meat and drink and, when the
house reached drunken uproar, made for her bed.
As she crossed the floor of the house
the child shrieked in her womb.
The shriek was heard by all.
*
“Woman,” said Fedlimed, “what is
that troubled sound from your womb,
the weird screaming at your waist
hurts the ears of those who hear it.
My heart is trembling as at the
portent of some great terror.”
*
Fedlimed’s wedd-woman turned,
at a loss, to Carva-the-Druid:
“Fair-faced prince, precious and pure
crowned in glory by a surfeit of lore
no words of light have I to shed
for my fine wedd-man Fedlimed;
though ‘twas the hollow of my belly
that howled, and brought me to tears,
no woman kens what her own womb bears.”
*
Carva placed his hand on the woman’s belly
and the baby wriggled under it, “there is a girl
there,” he said, “Deirdru her name, she brings grief.”
Just then the pangs of birth came on the
woman… sure enough a daughter was born.
*
“O Deirdru,” said Carva looking into
the face of the little child, “much damage
will follow your high fame, and fair visage.”
“Kill the child!” Cried the Ulstermen.
“The child shall not be killed,” said
Connavor,“ she will be taken away and
reared for me. I’m weary of other mens’
wedd-fare, this woman I’ll have to myself.”
None of the Ulstermen dared reproach their high-king…
***
***
Songs of the Stone
*
“To regain the Ulster Spoil,
Seek out the Nine Chief Culdees of Erin…
Then journey with them to the Ogham Stone of Fergus Mac Roy,
And there fast for three nights and three days.
*
If the question, given to each Culdee in turn,
during their fast, be spoken to the Stone of Fergus
as if to that mighty man himself…
*
Then, ‘The Spoil’, will be again revealed
in plain and perfect form
for the instruction of the ages.”
– A Hag Load of Lard
*
Cover artwork – Sue Vincent
France & Vincent 
I love this. The voice, the story. Just everything about it.
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😉
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This story is dark and mysterious, Sue and Stuart.
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Irish mythology often is… 😉
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I am a Celt I really am not sure about this story. I mean I do not really understand it . Yet it has the ring of fact about it. 🌹
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It does carry a sense of foreboding. It is one of the three tragic tales…and also one of the fore tales to the Ulster Spoil… 😉
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Thank you Stuart I shall have to look this up 💜
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I would very much like to hear the rest of this story …
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Yes, this seems a rather terrifying story and tragic as well. But I am interested in the symbolism, and so I must think on it a bit . . .
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Reblogged this on Stuart France.
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Very eerie. Nice use of alternate language. Wedd-Woman sets a certain tone, doesn’t it? Is this an intentionally spooky start to the pre-Halloween season? Or is that just a lucky coincidence?
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Possibly coincidence. Halloween has been ‘cancelled’ over here… x
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Sadly, in America, apparently we are pretending all is well with the world and completely oblivious to the consequences of exposure. (That said, I am not taking my kid out trick-or-treating and or handing out candy. And not just because he’s 16 and ridiculously big.)
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Very intriguing. Interesting how wife and husband translated to Wedd-man and Wedd-woman. Was that your translation?
Oh… I just read the story of Deirdre – I enjoyed your telling.
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Yes, that was my interpretation… 😉
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I liked it 😉
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Cool… 😉
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