“And now,” went on Conall, “rise up from the boar and give me place.”

“Why so?” replied Ket.

“Dost thou seek a contest from me?” said Conall; “verily thou shalt have it.  By the gods of my nation I swear that since I first took weapons in my hand I have never passed one day that I did not slay a Connachtman, nor one night that I did not make a foray on them, nor have I ever slept but I had the head of a Connachtman under my knee.”

“I confess,” then, said Ket, “that thou art a better man than I, and I yield thee the boar.  But if Anluan my brother were here, he would match thee deed for deed, and sorrow and shame it is that he is not.”

“Anluan is here,” shouted Conall, and with that he drew from his girdle the head of Anluan and dashed it in the face of Ket.

Then all sprang to their feet and a wild shouting and tumult arose, and the swords flew out of themselves, and battle raged in the hall of mac Datho.  Soon the hosts burst out through the doors of the Dun and smote and slew each other in the open field, until the Connacht host were put to flight.  The hound of mac Datho pursued them along with the Ulstermen, and it came up with the chariot in which King Ailill was driving, and seized the pole of the chariot, but the charioteer dealt it a blow that cut off its head.  When Ailill drew rein they found the hound’s head still clinging to the pole, whence that place is called Ibar Cinn Chon, or the Yew Tree of the Hound’s Head.

Now when Conor pursued hard upon King Ailill, Ferloga, the charioteer of Ailill, lighted down and hid himself in the heather; and as Conor drove past, Ferloga leaped up behind him in the chariot and gripped him by the throat.

“What will thou have of me?” said Conor.

“Give over the pursuit,” said Ferloga, “and take me with thee to Emania,[19] and let the maidens of Emania so long as I am there sing a serenade before my dwelling every night.”

   [19] The ancient royal residence of Ulster, near to the present
   town of Armagh.

“Granted,” said Conor.  So he took Ferloga with him to Emania, and at the end of a year sent him back to Connacht, escorting him as far as to Athlone; and Ferloga had from the King of Ulster two noble horses with golden bridles, but the serenade from the maidens of Ulster he did not get, though he got the horses instead.  And thus ends the tale of the contention between Ulster and Connacht over the Carving of mac Datho’s Boar.

CHAPTER VI

The Vengeance of Mesgedra