Conachúr gave a great laugh.
“Fergus and I went to bed, and the girl went to bed between us, and we all had our clothes on. My bed is small enough for me when I am alone, but to pack a large girl into it with all her clothes on, and then to pack an overgrown vast bullock of a man like Fergus into it also, cannot be done. I made but one resolve that night, that on no account would I be pushed out of my own bed, and I was not; but every time that Fergus closed an eye he fell on the floor and the girl woke up and screamed.”
Lavarcham let out a shrill titter, and begged the king’s pardon.
“How did Emer behave?” she asked.
“She went to sleep,” said Conachúr sourly. “She slept hard and kicked hard for seven long hours; and this I know, that if she has the round knee of a woman, which she has, for it was thudded into my back a thousand times, she has also the sharp elbows of a girl, so that after a time it seemed to me that there was a bundle of live bodkins in the bed. I never knew how long a night could be until that night: and we had even to prolong it out of courtesy to the lady! I shall keep a painful memory of that sweet girl until I die, and the Cú is welcome to every royal remittance he can desire on her behalf. But now, about the banquet. Is everything in order?”
“Everything, master.”
“The brewers, the bakers, the cooks, they have their equipment and instructions?”
“Your butlers must answer for that, master.”
“True, but as you went among these people how did they seem? What do they say about the feast?”
“They are excited and delighted. All their talk is of the famous people and the great retinues that are coming, and of how Ulster will show the Five Kingdoms what a real feast is like.”