Matheson Collection > Aislinge Meic Conglinne

52 The Vision of MacCo7iglinne.
large in his head as a heath-poult's i^^g. And he
pressed his back against the side of the palace, so
that he left neither rafter, nor pole, nor wattle, nor
wisp of thatch, nor post, that was not displaced.
5 And he sat down in his seat.
" Thy foot and thy cheek under thee, King ! "
said MacConglinne. " Curse me not, and cut me not
off from Heaven!"
"What has caused thee to act so, son of learn-
10 ing ?" said Cathal.
" Good reason have I," said MacConglinne. " I
had a quarrel last night with the monks of Cork,
and they gave me their malediction. This is the
cause of my behaving thus towards thee."
15 " Go to, MacConglinne," said Cathal. "ByEmly-
Ivar, if it were my custom to kill students, either
thou wouldst not have come, or thou shouldst not
depart."
(Now, the reason why Emly-Ivar was an oath with
20 him was, because it was there he used to get his fill
of small bread ; and he iised to be there, dressed in a
dun-coloured soft cloak, his hard straight-bladed
sword in his left hand, eating broken meats from one
cell to another.
25 One day he went into the cell of a certain student,
and got his fill of broken meats. He examined
the bits. The student examined the page that lay
before him ; and when he had finished studying the
page, he thrust out his tongue to turn over the
30 leaf.
' What has caused thee to do that, student ?"
asked Cathal.
"Great cause have I," said be. " I have been