r him forth nobly and proudly, for he is worth it;
and ye shall all have drink and food and royal entertainment in my
Dun." So the messenger departed, well pleased.

To the Ulster messenger mac Datho said, "After much perplexity I have
resolved to give my hound to Conor. Let the best of the Ulstermen come
to fetch him, and they shall be welcomed and entertained as is
fitting." And for these he named the same day as he had done for the
embassy from Connacht.

When the appointed day came round, the flower of the fighting men of
two provinces of Ireland were assembled before the Dun of the son of
Datho, and there were also Conor, King of Ulster, and Ailill, the
husband of Maev, Queen of Connacht. Mac Datho went forth to meet them.
"Welcome, warriors," he said to them, "albeit for two armies at once
we were not prepared." Then he bade them into the Dun, and in the
great hall they sat down. Now in this hall there were seven doors, and
between every two doors were benches for fifty men. Not as friends
bidden to a feast did the men of Ulster and of Connacht look upon one
another, since for three hundred years the provinces had ever been at
war.

"Let the great boar be killed," said mac Datho, and it was done. For
seven years had that boar been nourished on the milk of fifty cows;
yet rather on venom should it have been nourished, such was the
mischief that was to come from the carving of it.

When the boar was roasted it was brought in, and many other kinds of
food as side dishes, "and if more be wanting to the feast," said mac
Datho, "it shall be slain for you before the morning."

"The boar is good," said Conor.

"It is a fine boar," said Ailill; "and now, O mac Datho, how shall it
be divided among us?"

There was among the Ulster company one Bricru, son of Carbad, whose
delight was in biting speeches and in fomenting strife, though he
himself was never known to draw sword in any quarrel. He now spoke
from his couch in answer to Ailill:

"How should the boar be divided, O son of Datho, except by appointing
to carve it him who is best in deeds of arms? Here be all the valiant
men of Ireland assembled; have none of us hit each other a blow on the
nose ere now?"

"Good," said Ailill, "so let it be done."

"We also agree," said Conor; "there are plenty of our lads in the
house that have many a time gone round the border of the Provinces."

"You will want them to-night, Conor," said an old warrior from Conlad
in th