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She blamed him in the court before his people, and complained that he had taken away her cow, and that she had not been paid the four cows he had gone bail for, and she demanded judgement from him and justice. "If you will consider it to be justice, I will give you twenty cows myself," said Fiachna. "I would not take all the cows in Ulster," she screamed.
Said Mongan: There was an attendant in Fiachna Finn's palace who was called An Da'v, and the same night that Fiachna's wife bore a son, the wife of An Da'v gave birth to a son also. This latter child was called mac an Da'v, but the son of Fiachna's wife was named Mongan. "Ah!" murmured the Flame Lady. The queen was angry.
Fiachna Fim was also sitting in a tree, very high up, and he was disconsolate. "We are disgraced," said he. "It is very lucky," said the man in the branch below, "that a sheep cannot climb a tree." "We are disgraced for ever," said the King of Ulster. "If those sheep learn how to climb, we are undone surely," said the man below. "I will go down and fight the sheep," said Fiachna.
There are some who say, however, that Fiachna the Black was killed in the year 624 by the lord of the Scot's Dal Riada, Condad Cerr, at the battle of Ard Carainn; but the people who say this do not know what they are talking about, and they do not care greatly what it is they say. "There is nothing to marvel about in this Duv Laca," said the Flame Lady scornfully.
Although she questioned and cross-questioned Cairide', her story-teller, she could discover nothing about a lady who had been known as the Black Duck. But one night when Mongan seemed to speak with Duv Laca he mentioned her father as Fiachna Duv mac Demain, and the story-teller said that king had been dead for a vast number of years.
She said it was unjust and presumptuous that the servant should get a child at the same time that she got one herself, but there was no help for it, because the child was there and could not be obliterated. Now this also must be told. There was a neighbouring prince called Fiachna Duv, and he was the ruler of the Dal Fiatach.
For a long time he had been at enmity and spiteful warfare with Fiachna Finn; and to this Fiachna Duv there was born in the same night a daughter, and this girl was named Duv Laca of the White Hand. "Ah!" cried the Flame Lady. "You see!" said Mongan, and he drank anew and joyously of the fairy wine.
Now the Black Hag was not only those things that have been said; she was also whiskered and warty and one-eyed and obstreperous, and she was notorious and ill-favoured in many other ways also. They offered her a cow in the place of her own cow, but she refused to give it. Then they offered a cow for each leg of her cow, but she would not accept that offer unless Fiachna went bail for the payment.
Then he did bring Mongan back, and by his means peace was made between Mongan and Fiachna Duv, and Mongan was married to his cradle-bride, the young Duv Laca. One day Mongan and Duv Laca were playing chess in their palace. Mongan had just made a move of skill, and he looked up from the board to see if Duv Laca seemed as discontented as she had a right to be.
He agreed to do so, and they drove the beast away. On the return journey he was met by messengers who brought news from Ireland. They said that the King of Ulster was dead, and that he, Fiachna Finn, had been elected king in the dead king's place. He at once took ship for Ireland, and found that all he had been told was true, and he took up the government of Ulster.
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