And there was
a bath there, and heated stones going in and out of the water of
themselves, and Cormac bathed himself in it.
"Rise up, man of the house," the woman said after that, "for this is a
comely traveller is come to us; and if you have one kind of food or meat
better than another, let it be brought in." The man rose up then and he
said: "I have but seven pigs, but I could feed the whole world with
them, for the pig that is killed and eaten to-day, you will find it
alive again to-morrow."
Another man came into the house then, having an axe in his right hand,
and a log in his left hand, and a pig behind him.
"It is time to make ready," said the man of the house, "for we have a
high guest with us to-day."
Then the man struck the pig and killed it, and he cut the logs and made
a fire and put the pig on it in a cauldron. "It is time for you to turn
it," said the master of the house after a while. "There would be no use
doing that," said the man, "for never and never will the pig be boiled
until a truth is told for every quarter of it." "Then let you tell yours
first," said the master of the house. "One day," said the man, "I found
another man's cows in my land, and I brought them with me into a cattle
pound. The owner of the cows followed me, and he said he would give me a
reward to let the cows go free. So I gave them back to him, and he gave
me an axe, and when a pig is to be killed, it is with the axe it is
killed, and the log is cut with it, and there is enough wood to boil the
pig, and enough for the palace besides.
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