Page:Irish Fairy Tales (Stephens).djvu/375



met him near the place where the games were played.

"Good my soul, Tibraidè!" cried the King of Leinster, and he gave Mongan a kiss. Mongan kissed him back again.

"Amen, amen," said mac an Dáv.

"What for?" said the King of Leinster.

And then mac an Dáv began to sneeze, for he didn't know what for.

"It is a long time since I saw you, Tibraidè," said the king, "but at this minute I am in great haste and hurry. Go you on before me to the fortress, and you can talk to the queen that you'll find there, she that used to be the King of Ulster's wife. Kevin Cochlach, my charioteer, will go with you, and I will follow you myself in a while."

The King of Leinster went off then, and Mongan and his servant went with the charioteer and the people.

Mongan read away out of the book, for he found it interesting, and he did not want to talk to the charioteer, and mac an Dáv cried, amen, amen, every time that Mongan took his breath. The people who were going with them said to one another that mac an Dáv was a queer kind of clerk, and that they had never seen any one who had such a mouthful of amens.