had offered the most liberal rewards for the prize she so much coveted;
and the courier soon arranged with Dare, a noble of large estates, who
possessed one of the valuable breed. A drunken quarrel, however,
disarranged his plans. One of the men boasted that if Dare had not given
the bull for payment, he should have been compelled to give it by force.
Dare's steward heard the ill-timed and uncourteous boast. He flung down
the meat and drink which he had brought for their entertainment, and
went to tell his master the contemptuous speech. The result may be
anticipated. Dare refused the much-coveted animal, and Meav proceeded to
make good her claim by force of arms. But this is only the prologue of
the drama; the details would fill a volume. It must suffice to say, that
the bulls had a battle of their own. Finnbheannach and Donn Chuailgne
(the Leinster bull) engaged in deadly combat, which is described with
the wildest flights of poetic diction.[86] The poor "white horn" was
killed, and Donn Chuailgne, who had lashed himself to madness, dashed
out his brains.[87]

[Illustration: FLINT SPEAR-HEAD, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A.]

Meav lived to the venerable age of a hundred. According to Tighernach,
she died A.D. 70, but the chronology of the Four Masters places her
demise a hundred years earlier. This difference of calculation also
makes it questionable what monarch reigned in Ireland at the birth of
Christ. The following passage is from the Book of Ballymote, and is
supposed to be taken from the synchronisms of Flann of Monasterboice:
"In the fourteenth year of the reign of Conaire and of Conchobar, Mary
was born; and in the fourth year after the birth of Mary, the expedition
of the Tain bo Chuailgne took place. Eight years after the expedition of
the Tain, Christ was born."

The Four Masters have the following entry after the age of the world
5194:--

THE AGE OF CHRIST.

"The first year of the age of Christ, and the eighth year of the reign
of Crimhthann Niadhnair." Under the heading of the age of Christ 9,
there is an account of a wonderful expedition of this monarch, and of
all the treasures he acquired thereby. His "adventures" is among the
list of Historic Tales in the Book of Leinster, but unfortunately there
is no copy of this tract in existence. It was probably about this time
that a recreant Irish chieftain tried to induce Agricola to invade
Ireland. But the Irish Celts had extended the fame of their m