ated him that he might be suffered to go himself to the
dwelling of Murtach the herd, promising that the King's son should be
then restored to him, "or if not," said he, "let me then be slain
there without more ado." With great difficulty Cormac was moved to
consent to this, for he believed it was but a subterfuge of Flahari's
to put off the evil day or perchance to find a way of escape. But next
day Flahari was straitly bound and set in a chariot, and, with a guard
of spearmen about him and Cormac himself riding behind, they set out
for Dun Flahari. Then Flahari guided them through the wild wood till
at last they came to the clearing where stood the dwelling of Murtach
the swineherd, and lo! there was the son of Cormac playing merrily
before the door. And the child ran to his foster-father to kiss him,
but when he saw Flahari in bonds he burst out weeping and would not be
at peace until he was set free.

Then Murtach slew one of the boars of his herd and made an oven in the
earth after the manner of the Fianna, and made over it a fire of
boughs that he had drying in a shed. And when the boar was baked he
set it before the company with ale and mead in methers of beechwood,
and they all feasted and were glad of heart.

Cormac then asked of Flahari why he had suffered himself to be
brought into this trouble. "I did so," said Flahari, "to prove the
four counsels which my father gave them ere he died, and I have proved
them and found them to be wise. In the first place, it is not wise for
any man that is not a king to take the fosterage of a king's son, for
if aught shall happen to the lad, his own life is in the king's hands
and with his life he shall answer for it. Secondly, the keeping of a
secret, said my father, is not in the nature of women in general,
therefore no dangerous secret should be entrusted to them. The third
counsel my father gave me was not to raise up or enrich the son of a
serf, for such persons are apt to forget benefits conferred on them,
and moreover it irks them that he who raised them up should know the
poor estate from which they sprang. And good, too, is the fourth
counsel my father gave me, not to entrust my treasure to my sister,
for it is the nature of most women to regard as spoil any valuables
that are entrusted to them to keep for others."

VII

THE JUDGMENT CONCERNING CORMAC'S SWORD

When Cormac, son of Art, son of Conn of the Hundred Battles, was High
King in Erinn, great was the