"
So they went in, and supper was made ready for them, but they did not
use it. Bodb Dearg asked them then why was it they were using nothing.
"It is because our father has refused land to us," said they; "and there
are in Ireland but the two races, the Sons of the Gael and the Men of
Dea, and when the one failed us we are come to the other."
Then the Men of Dea consulted together. And the chief among them was
Midhir of the Yellow Hair, and it is what he said: "Let us give a wife
to every one of these three men, for it is from a wife that good or bad
fortune comes."
So they agreed to that, and Midhir's three daughters, Doirenn, and Aife,
and Aillbhe, were given to them. Then Midhir asked Bodb to say what
marriage portion should be given to them. "I will tell you that," said
Bodb. "We are three times fifty sons of kings in this hill; let every
king's son give three times fifty ounces of red gold. And I myself," he
said, "will give them along with that, three times fifty suits of
clothing of all colours." "I will give them a gift," said a young man of
the Tuatha de Danaan, from Rachlainn in the sea. "A horn I will give
them, and a vat. And there is nothing wanting but to fill the vat with
pure water, and it will turn into mead, fit to drink, and strong enough
to make drunken. And into the horn," he said, "you have but to put salt
water from the sea, and it will turn into wine on the moment." "A gift
to them from me," said Lir of Sidhe Fionnachaidh, "three times fifty
swords, and three times fifty well-riveted long spears.
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