elt in the province of Leinster a wealthy
hospitable lord named Mesroda, son of Datho. Two possessions had he;
namely, a hound which could outrun every other hound and every wild
beast in Erinn, and a boar which was the finest and greatest in size
that man had ever beheld.

Now the fame of this hound was noised all about the land, and many
were the princes and lords who longed to possess it. And it came to
pass that Conor, King of Ulster, and Maev, Queen of Connacht, sent
messengers to mac Datho to ask him to sell them the hound for a price,
and both the messengers arrived at the Dun of mac Datho on the same
day. Said the Connacht messenger, "We will give thee in exchange for
the hound six hundred milch cows, and a chariot with two horses, the
best that are to be found in Connacht, and at the end of a year thou
shalt have as much again." And the messenger of King Conor said, "We
will give no less than Connacht, and the friendship and alliance of
Ulster, and that will be better for thee than the friendship of
Connacht."

Then Mesroda mac Datho fell silent, and for three days he would not
eat nor drink, nor could he sleep o' nights, but tossed restlessly on
his bed. His wife observed his condition, and said to him, "Thy fast
hath been long, Mesroda, though good food is by thee in plenty; and at
night thou turnest thy face to the wall, and well I know thou dost not
sleep. What is the cause of thy trouble?"

"There is a saying," replied mac Datho, "'Trust not a thrall with
money, nor a woman with a secret.'"

"When should a man talk to a woman," said his wife, "but when
something were amiss? What thy mind cannot solve perchance another's
may."

Then mac Datho told his wife of the request for his hound both from
Ulster and from Connacht at one and the same time, "and whichever of
them I deny," he said, "they will harry my cattle and slay my people."

"Then hear my counsel," said the woman. "Give it to both of them, and
bid them come and fetch it; and if there be any harrying to be done,
let them even harry each other; but in no way mayest thou keep the
hound."

On that, mac Datho rose up and shook himself, and called for food and
drink, and made merry with himself and his guests. Then he sent
privately for the messenger of Queen Maev, and said to him, "Long have
I doubted what to do, but now I am resolved to give the hound to
Connacht. Let ye send for it on such a day with a train of your nobles
or warriors and bea