make the prominent one of her reign
had its origin in a heated dispute between the queen and her spouse as
to their respective possessions. The result of the controversy was an
actual inventory of their belongings. "There were compared before them
all their wooden and their metal vessels of value; and they were found
to be equal. There were brought to them their finger-rings, their
clasps, their bracelets, their thumb-rings, their diadems, and their
gorgets of gold; and they were found to be equal. There were brought
to them their garments of crimson and blue, and black and green, and
yellow and mottled, and white and streaked; and they were found to
be equal. There were brought before them their great flocks of sheep,
from greens and lawns and plains; and they were found to be equal.
There were brought before them their steeds and their studs, from
pastures and from fields; and they were found to be equal. There were
brought before them their great herds of swine, from forest and from
deep glens and from solitudes; their herds and their droves of cows
were brought before them, from the forests and most remote solitudes
of the province; and, on counting and comparing them, they were
found to be equal in number and excellence. But there was found among
Ailill's herds a young bull, which had been calved by one of Meave's
cows, and which, not deeming it honourable to be under a woman's
control, went over and attached himself to Ailill's herds."

Deeply chagrined that she had not in all her herds a bull to match
this one, which seems to have been a remarkable animal, she asked her
chief courier where in all the five provinces of Erin its counterpart
might be found. He replied that not only could he direct her to its
equal, but to its superior. The possessor of this animal was Dare, son
of Fachtna of the Cantred of Cualigne, in the province of Ulster.
Its name was the Brown Bull of Cualigne. Straightway was the courier,
MacRoth, sent to Dare with an offer of fifty heifers for the animal,
and the further assurance that, if he so desired, he and his people
might have the best lands of what are now the plains of Roscommon,
besides other valuable considerations, which included the permanent
friendship of the queen herself.

Swiftly upon his errand sped the courier, accompanied by an impressive
train of attendants. A friendly and hospitable reception and
entertainment awaited them, and Dare accepted the terms they offered.
One