the men of the land of Lochlann did homage to
Oireal, and the other half to Iarlaid. And they governed their kingdoms
as they would, and in a few years they became grown men with beards on
their chins; and Iarlaid married the daughter of the king of Greece, and
Oireal the daughter of the king of Orkney. The next year sons were born
to Oireal and Iarlaid; and the son of Oireal was big and strong, but the
son of Iarlaid was little and weak, and each had six foster brothers who
went everywhere with the princes.

One day Manus, son of Oireal, and his cousin, the son of Iarlaid, called
to their foster brothers, and bade them come and play a game at shinny
in the great field near the school where they were taught all that
princes and nobles should know. Long they played, and swiftly did the
ball pass from one to another, when Manus drove the ball at his cousin,
the son of Iarlaid. The boy, who was not used to be roughly handled,
even in jest, cried out that he was sorely hurt, and went home with his
foster brothers and told his tale to his mother. The wife of Iarlaid
grew white and angry as she listened, and thrusting her son aside,
sought the council hall where Iarlaid was sitting.

'Manus has driven a ball at my son, and fain would have slain him,' said
she. 'Let an end be put to him and his ill deeds.'

But Iarlaid answered:

'Nay, I will not slay the son of my brother.'

'And he shall not slay my son,' said the queen. And calling to her
chamberlain she ordered him to lead the prince to the four brown
boundaries of the world, and to leave him there with a wise man, who
would care for him, and let no harm befall him. And the wise man set the
boy on the top of a hill where the sun always shone, and he could see
every man, but no man could see him.

Then she summoned Manus to the castle, and for a whole year she kept him
fast, and his own mother could not get speech of him. But in the end,
when the wife of Oireal fell sick, Manus fled from the tower which was
his prison, and stole back to his on home.

For a few years he stayed there in peace, and then the wife of Iarlaid
his uncle sent for him.

'It is time that you were married,' she said, when she saw that Manus
had grown tall and strong like unto Iarlaid. 'Tall and strong you are,
and comely of face. I know a bride that will suit you well, and that is
the daughter of the mighty earl of Finghaidh, that does homage for his
lands to me. I myself will go with a grea