The Tain

Ailill and Medb are talking in their royal bed in Connacht. When Ailill boasts that Medb’s life has improved since marrying him, Medb replies, “I was well enough off without you” (52), enumerating her family’s resources and warriors, then recalling that she asked for the most difficult wedding gift from Ailill: “the absence of meanness and jealousy and fear” (53). She emphasizes the importance of equality in the marriage union—in spirit, generosity, energy—which she feels she found in Ailill. She concludes instead that he is the “kept” man, but Ailill refutes this, and they begin to compare all their belongings, from their iron pots and tubs to their livestock. Eventually they discover that Finnbennach, the White Horned, though born from one of Medb’s cows, has gone over to Ailill’s side, and Medb is discouraged “as though she hadn’t a single penny” (55).

Mac Roth informs Medb that a match for Finnbennach exists—the Brown Bull of Cuailnge. She sends a messenger to Ulster to ask Dáire mac Fiachna to loan the bull for a year, promising him 50 yearling heifers, a portion of the Plain of Ai, a fine chariot, and a night with Medb. At first Dáire is happy to accept the offer, but he rescinds when the messengers are overheard boasting that while the host and Conchobor are good men, Ailill and Medb (and Fergus) are more powerful, and they could simply take the bull by force and cunning.