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 Fergus was very angry when he heard this message.

"Doesn't Fionn know very well that the one thing in this world I dislike more than another is a dog?" he said. "I am surprised that he should send one to me. However, as he has never quartered any on me before I will take care of her, and guard her as well as I can."

Uchtdealb departed, thinking that poor enchanted Tuirenn would not have much comfort or happiness with Fergus. But Fergus grew to love the hound very much; she was so swift that no animal, however fleet it was, escaped her when she went hunting, and her intelligence was so great that Fergus was often astonished at the manner in which she seemed to understand every word he uttered.

The weeks passed by, and when the hound had been with Fergus for about two months she gave birth to two puppies; little white and black things, that rolled and tumbled over each other in a quaint, helpless manner, which Fergus was never tired of watching.

In the meantime it came to Fionn's know-