king of a cantred, whom
each man takes from bosom to bosom.

"So he is with a blue silvery chair under his seat in the midst of the
house, and he always a-wailing. Truly then, sad are his household
listening to him! Three heads of hair on that boy, and these are the
three: green hair and purple hair and all-golden hair. I know not
whether they are many appearances which the hair receives, or whether
they are three kinds of hair which are naturally upon him. But I know
that evil is the thing he dreads to-night. I beheld thrice fifty boys on
silvern chairs around him, and there were fifteen bulrushes in the hand
of that red-freckled boy, with a thorn at the end of each of the rushes.
And we were fifteen men, and our fifteen right eyes were blinded by him,
and he blinded one of the seven pupils which was in my head" saith
Ingcel. "Hast thou his like, O Fer rogain?"

"Easy for me to liken him!" Fer rogain wept till he shed his tears of
blood over his cheeks. "Alas for him!" quoth he. This child is a 'scion
of contention' for the men of Erin with the men of Alba for hospitality,
and shape, and form and horsemanship. Sad is his slaughter! 'Tis a
'swine that goes before mast,' 'tis a babe in age! the best crown-prince
that has ever come into Erin! The child of Conaire son of Eterscel, Le
fri flaith is his name. Seven years there are in his age. It seems to me
very likely that he is miserable because of the many appearances on his
hair and the various hues that the hair assumes upon him. This is his
special household, the thrice fifty lads that are around him."

"Woe," says Lomna, "to him that shall wreak the Destruction, were it
only because of that boy!"

"Ye cannot," says Ingcel. "Clouds of weakness are coming on you, etc."
"And after that whom sawest thou there?"

THE ROOM OF THE CUPBEARERS

"There I saw six men in front of the same room. Fair yellow manes upon
them: green mantles about them: tin brooches at the opening of their
mantles. Half-horses (centaurs) are they, like Conall Cernach. Each of
them throws his mantle round another and is as swift as a millwheel.
Thine eye can hardly follow them. Liken thou those, O Fer rogain!"

"This is easy for me. Those are the King of Tara's six cupbearers,
namely Uan and Broen and Banna, Delt and Drucht and Dathen. That feat
does not hinder them from their skinking, and it blunts not their
intelligence thereat. Good are the warriors that are there! Thrice their
number will