'
'It would not be so,' said Fergus. 'There are seven kings of
Munster here, and a cantred with each of them, in friendship with
us Ulstermen. I will give battle to you,' said Fergus, 'in the
middle of the host in which we are, with these seven cantreds, and
with my own cantred, and with the cantred of the Leinstermen. But I
will not urge that,' said Fergus, 'we will provide for the warriors
otherwise, so that they shall not prevail over the host. Seventeen
cantreds for us,' said Fergus, 'that is the number of our army,
besides our rabble, and our women (for with each king there is his
queen, in Medb's company), and besides our striplings. This is the
eighteenth cantred, the cantred of the Leinstermen. Let them be
distributed among the rest of the host.'
'I do not care,' said Medb, 'provided they are not gathered as they
are.'
Then this was done; the Leinstermen were distributed among the host.
They set out next morning to Moin Choiltrae, where eight score deer
fell in with them in one herd. They surrounded them and killed them
then; wherever there was a man of the Leinstermen, it was he who
got them, except five deer that all the rest of the host got.
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