“Duv Laca, of course,” said the King of Leinster.

“Do you mean,” said Mongan, “that you would exchange this herd of fifty pure white cows having red ears—”

“And their fifty calves,” said the King of Leinster—

“For Duv Laca, or for any woman in the world?”

“I would,” cried the King of Leinster, and he thumped his knee as he said it.

“Done,” roared Mongan, and the two kings shook hands on the bargain.

Mongan then called some of his own people, and before any more words could be said and before any alteration could be made, he set his men behind the cows and marched home with them to Ulster.

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CHAPTER XI

Duv Laca wanted to know where the cows came from, and Mongan told her that the King of Leinster had given them to him. She fell in love with them as Mongan had done, but there was nobody in the world could have avoided loving those cows: such cows they were! such wonders! Mongan and Duv Laca used to play chess together, and then they would go out together to look at the cows, and then they would go in together and would talk to each other about the cows. Everything they did they did together, for they loved to be with each other.