feet; but the water was so dirty that he could not see the bottom. He
was very hungry, for he had not eaten all that day; so he did not
waste much anger upon the tub, but took up the black loaf, and bit
into it, and then spat out the bite, for the bread was hard and
mouldy. Still he did not give way to his anger, for he had not
drunken these many hours; having a hope of heath beer or wine at his
day's end, he had left the brooks untasted, to make his supper the
more delightful. Now he put the jug to his lips, but he flung it from
him straightway, for the water was bitter and ill-smelling. Then he
gave the jug a kick, so that it broke against the opposite wall, and
he took down the blanket to wrap it about him for the night. But no
sooner did he touch it than it was alive with skipping fleas. At
this, beside himself with anger, he rushed to the door of the guest-
house, but the lay brother, being well accustomed to such outcries,
had locked it on the outside; so he emptied the tub and began to beat
the door with it, till the lay brother came to the door and asked
what ailed him, and why he woke him out of sleep. 'What ails me!'
shouted Cumhal, 'are not the sods as wet as the sands of the Three
Rosses? and are not the fleas in the blanket as many as the waves of
the sea and as lively? and is not the bread as hard as the heart of a
lay brother who has forgotten God? and is not the water in the jug as
bitter and as ill-smelling as his soul? and is not the foot-water the
colour that shall be upon him when he has been charred in the Undying
Fires?' The lay brother saw that the lock was fast, and went back to
his niche, for he was too sleepy to talk with comfort. And Cumhal
went on beating at the door, and presently he heard the lay brother's
foot once more, and cried out at him, 'O cowardly and tyrannous race
of friars, persecutors of the bard and the gleeman, haters of life
and joy! O race that does not draw the sword and tell the truth! O
race that melts the bones of the people with cowardice and with