a new one out of the very willow the barber had told his secret to. Whenever he played it, the harp sang "Labraid Lorc has horse's ears". Labraid repented of all the barbers he had put to death and admitted his secret. In the oral folklore surrounding St Brigid, there is a tale of a King of Leinster who always wore his hair long to hide his ears, which were those of an ass. The afflicted king sent word to St Brigid, who came to him and told him to sit in a chair and place his head in her lap. When she rubbed his ears, they immediately became short again. Although the Leinster king is not named, the details of the story share common themes with the story of Labraid Lorc. Reign He ruled for ten, nineteen or thirty years, depending on the source consulted, and took vengeance on Cobthach's children, before being killed by Cobthach's son Meilge Molbthach. The Lebor Gabála dates Cobthach's death and Labraid's accession to Christmas Eve, 307 BC, and also synchronises his reign to that of Ptolemy III Euergetes (246–222 BC). The chronology of Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn dates his reign to 379–369 BC, the Annals of the Four Masters to 542–523 BC. References Legendary High Kings of Ireland Cycles of the Kings 4th-century BC rulers 4th-century BC murdered monarchs