light
coming to her, and he leaves his birdskin on the floor of the house, and
went to her and possessed her, and said: "They are coming to thee from
the king to wreck thy house and to bring thee to him perforce. And thou
wilt be pregnant by me, and bear a son, and that son must not kill
birds[4]. And 'Conaire, son of Mess Buachalla' shall be his name," for
hers was Mess Buachalla, "the Cowherds' fosterchild."

[Footnote 4: This passage indicates the existence in Ireland of totems,
and of the rule that the person to whom a totem belongs must not kill
the totem-animal.--W.S.]

And then she was brought to the king, and with her went her fosterers,
and she was betrothed to the king, and he gave her seven _cumals_ and to
her fosterers seven other _cumals_. And afterwards they were made
chieftains, so that they all became legitimate, whence are the two
Fedlimthi Rechtaidi. And then she bore a son to the king, even Conaire
son of Mess Buachalla, and these were her three urgent prayers to the
king, to wit, the nursing of her son among three households, that is,
the fosterers who had nurtured her, and the two Honeyworded Maines, and
she herself is the third; and she said that such of the men of Erin as
should wish to do aught for this boy should give to those three
households for the boy's protection.

So in that wise he was reared, and the men of Erin straightway knew this
boy on the day he was born. And other boys were fostered with him, to
wit, Fer Le and Fer Gar and Fer Rogein, three great-grandsons of Donn
Desa the champion, an army-man of the army from Muc-lesi.

Now Conaire possessed three gifts, to wit, the gift of hearing and the
gift of eyesight and the gift of judgment; and of those three gifts he
taught one to each of his three fosterbrothers. And whatever meal was
prepared for him, the four of them would go to it. Even though three
meals were prepared for him each of them would go to his meal. The same
raiment and armour and colour of horses had the four.

Then the king, even Eterscele, died. A bull-feast is gathered by the men
of Erin, in order to determine their future king; that is, a bull used
to be killed by them and thereof one man would eat his fill and drink
its broth, and a spell of truth was chanted over him in his bed.
Whosoever he would see in his sleep would be king, and the sleeper would
perish if he uttered a falsehood.

Four men in chariots were on the Plain of Liffey at their game, Conaire
h