"Then came Brigit and her mother with her to her father's house. Thereafter Duffy (her father) and his consort were minded to sell the holy Brigit into bondage, for Duffy liked not his cattle and his wealth to be dealt out to the poor, and that is what Brigit used to do. So Duffy fared in his chariot, and Brigit along with him. Said Duffy to Brigit, 'Not for honour or reverence to thee art thou carried in a chariot, but to take thee and sell thee, and to grind the quern for Dunlang Mac Enda, King of Leinster.' When they came to the King's fortress, Duffy went in to the King, and Brigit remained in her chariot at the fortress door. Duffy had left his sword in the chariot near Brigit. A leper came to Brigit to ask alms. She gave him Duffy's sword. Said Duffy to the King, 'Wilt thou buy a bondmaid, namely, my daughter?' says he. Said Dunlang, 'Why sellest thou thine own daughter?' Said Duffy, 'She stayeth not from selling my wealth and giving it to the poor.' Said the King, 'Let the maiden come into the fortress.' Duffy went for Brigit, and was enraged against her because she had given his sword to the poor man. When Brigit came into the King's presence, the King said to her, 'Since it is thy father's wealth that thou takest, much more if I buy thee, wilt thou take of _my_ wealth and _my_ cattle, and give them to the poor.' Said Brigit, 'The Son of the Virgin knoweth if I had thy might with all Leinster and with all thy wealth, I would give them to the Lord of the Elements.' Said the King to Duffy, 'Thou art not fit on either hand to bargain for this maiden, for her merit is higher before God than before men.' And he gave Duffy for her an ivory-hilted sword. So was St Brigit saved from bondage." The idea of giving a sword to a poor crippled leper because she had nothing else to give could hardly have entered into the head of any saint but an Irish one.