Now there was a hound in the place that was going to have her first whelps, and Oisin said to the boy who was tending him: "Do you mind and get the first whelp she'll have and drown the others."
Next morning the boy found three whelps, and coming back to Oisin, said: "There are three whelps and 'tis unknown which of them is the first."
At Saint Patrick's house they had slaughtered an ox the day before, and Oisin said: "Go now and bring the hide of the ox and hang it up in this room." When the hide was hung up Oisin said, "Bring here the three whelps and throw them up against the hide." The boy threw up one of the whelps against the oxhide. "What did he do?" asked Oisin.
"What did he do," said the boy, "but fall to the ground."
"Throw up another," said Oisin. The boy threw another. "What did he do?" asked Oisin.
"What did he do but to fall the same as the first."
The third whelp was thrown and he held fast to the hide,—didn't fall. "What did he do?" asked Oisin.
"Oh," said the boy, "he kept his hold."
"Take him down," said Oisin; "give him to the mother: bring both in here; feed the mother well and drown the other two."
The boy did as he was commanded, and fed the two well, and when the whelp grew up the mother was banished, the whelp chained up and fed for a year and a day. And when the year and a day were spent, Oisin said, "We'll go hunting to-morrow, and we'll take the dog with us."