Conal has it. The best man has it.
CUCHULAIN.
Silence, all of you. What is all this uproar, Laeg, and who began it?
[The Scullions and the Horseboys point at LAEG and cry, ‘He began it.’ They keep up an all but continual murmur through what follows.
LAEG.
A man with a red beard came where we were sitting, and as he passed me he cried out that they were taking a golden helmet or some such thing from you and denying you the championship of Ireland. I stood up on that and I cried out that you were the best of the men of Ireland. But the others cried for Leagerie or Conal, and because I have a big voice they got down the horns to drown my voice, and as neither I nor they would keep silent we have come here to settle it. I demand that the Helmet be taken from Conal and be given to you.
[The Horseboys and the Scullions shout, ‘No, no; give it to Leagerie,’ ‘The best man has it,’ etc.
CUCHULAIN.
It has not been given to Conal or to anyone. I have made it into a drinking-cup that it may belong to all. I drank and then Conal drank. Give it to Leagerie, Conal, that he may drink. That will make them see that it belongs to all of us.
A SCULLION OR HORSEBOY.