Page:Irish Fairy Tales (Stephens).djvu/366

292 to waste and wither, and he began to look like a skeleton, and a bony structure, and a misery.

Now this also must be known.

Duv Laca had a young attendant, who was her foster-sister as well as her servant, and on the day that she got married to Mongan, her attendant was married to mac an Dáv, who was servant and foster-brother to Mongan. When Duv Laca went away with the King of Leinster, her servant, mac an Dáv's wife, went with her, so there were two wifeless men in Ulster at that time, namely, Mongan the king and mac an Dáv his servant.

One day as Mongan sat in the sun, brooding lamentably on his fate, mac an Dáv came to him.

"How are things with you, master?" asked mac an Dáv.

"Bad," said Mongan.

"It was a poor day brought you off with Manannán to the Land of Promise," said his servant.

"Why should you think that?" inquired Mongan.

"Because," said mac an Dáv, "you learned nothing in the Land of Promise except how to eat a lot of food and how to do nothing in a deal of time."

"What business is it of yours?" said Mongan angrily.

"It is my business surely," said mac an Dáv, "for my wife has gone off to Leinster with your wife, and she wouldn't have gone if you hadn't made a bet and a bargain with that accursed king."

Mac an Dáv began to weep then.

"I didn't make a bargain with any king," said he, "and yet my wife has gone away with one, and it's all because of you."

"There is no one sorrier for you than I am," said Mongan.

"There is indeed," said mac an Dáv, "for I am sorrier myself."