Chapter 11
He had received all that he could get from Finegas. His
education was finished and the time had come to test it, and to try
all else that he had of mind and body. He bade farewell to the
gentle poet, and set out for Tara of the Kings.
It was Samhain-tide, and the feast of Tara was being held, at
which all that was wise or skilful or well-born in Ireland were
gathered together.
This is how Tara was when Tara was. There was the High King's
palace with its fortification; without it was another fortification
enclosing the four minor palaces, each of which was maintained by
one of the four provincial kings; without that again was the great
banqueting hall, and around it and enclosing all of the sacred hill
in its gigantic bound ran the main outer ramparts of Tara. From i
