l be a gathering
and parade of all my host, and the chariot shall be there, and ye
shall see it if ye have a mind."

So the next day the steeds were yoked and the chariot was driven round
a great plain before the King and his lords. Now these steeds could
run as well on sea as on dry land, and they were swifter than the
winds of March. As the chariot came round the second time, Brian and
his brothers seized the horses' heads, and Brian took the charioteer
by the foot and flung him out over the rail, and they all leaped into
the chariot and drove away. Such was the swiftness of their driving
that they were out of sight ere the King and his men knew rightly
what had befallen. And thus ended the fourth quest of the Sons of
Turenn.

Next they betook themselves to the court of Asal, King of the Golden
Pillars, to get the seven swine which might be eaten every night and
they would be whole and well on the morrow morn.

But it had now been noised about every country that three young heroes
from Erinn were plundering the kings of the world of their treasures
in payment of a mighty eric; and when they arrived at the Land of the
Golden Pillars they found the harbour guarded and a strait watch kept,
that no one who might resemble the Sons of Turenn should enter.

But Asal the King came to the harbour-mouth and spoke with the heroes,
for he was desirous to see those who had done the great deeds that he
had heard of. He asked them if it were true that they had done such
things, and why. Then Brian told him the story of the mighty eric
which had been laid upon them, and what they had done and suffered in
fulfilling it. "Why," said King Asal, "have ye now come to my
country?"

"For the seven swine," said Brian, "to take them with us as a part of
that eric."

"How do you mean to get them?" asked the King.

"With your goodwill," replied Brian, "if so it may be, and to pay you
therefore with all the wealth we now have, which is thanks and love,
and to stand by your side hereafter in any strait or quarrel you may
enter into. But if you will not grant us the swine, and we may not be
quit of our eric without them, we shall even take them as we may, and
as we have beforetime taken mighty treasures from mighty kings."

Then King Asal went into counsel with his lords, and he advised that
the swine be given to the Sons of Turenn, partly for that he was moved
with their desperate plight and the hardihood they had shown, and
partly tha