gether, and then he beat
them on his head, and then he looked at them and at everything about,
and he could not tell what anything was or where anything was, for his
mind was clouded and his wits had gone astray.

"Why do you bind these woes on me?" he pleaded.

"I wish to find out if you truly love me."

"But I do," said the king. "I love you madly and dearly, and with all my
faculties and members."

"That is the way! love you," said Duv Laca. "We shall have a notable
year of courtship and joy. And let us go now," she continued, "for I am
impatient to be with you."

"Alas!" said Branduv, as he followed her. "Alas, alas!" said the King of
Leinster.

CHAPTER XIII

"I think," said the Flame Lady, "that whoever lost that woman had no
reason to be sad."

Mongan took her chin in his hand and kissed her lips.

"All that you say is lovely, for you are lovely," said he, "and you are
my delight and the joy of the world."

Then the attendants brought him wine, and he drank so joyously of that
and so deeply, that those who observed him thought he would surely burst
and drown them. But he laughed loudly and with enormous delight, until
the vessels of gold and silver and bronze chimed mellowly to his peal
and the rafters of the house went creaking.

Said he:

Mongan loved Duv Laca of the White Hand better than he loved his life,
better than he loved his honour. The kingdoms of the world did not weigh
with him beside the string of her shoe. He would not look at a sunset
if he could see her. He would not listen to a harp if he could hear her
speak, for she was the delight of ages, the gem of time, and the wonder
of the world till Doom.

She went to Leinster with the king of that country, and when she had
gone Mongan fell grievously sick, so that it did not seem he could ever
recover again; and he began to waste and wither, and he began to look
like a skeleton, and a bony structure, and a misery.

Now this also must be known.

Duv Laca had a young attendant, who was her foster-sister as well as her
servant, and on the day that she got married to Mongan, her attendant
was married to mac an Da'v, who was servant and foster-brother to
Mongan. When Duv Laca went away with the King of Leinster, her servant,
mac an Da'v's wife, went with her, so there were two wifeless men
in Ulster at that time, namely, Mongan the king and mac an Da'v his
servant.

One day as Mongan sat in the sun, brooding lamentably on his fate