St Columba wanted the text of the Gospels. Since this anecdote takes place in 6th century Ireland, he borrowed the only such book around, which belonged to Finnian of Druim, and made a copy. But when Finnian found out, he demanded not only the return of his text, but the copy as well. The king, when called upon the arbitrate, decided for Finnian: "As the calf belongs to the cow, so the copy belongs to its book." And so St Columba went to war with Finnian, and won, thus retrieving what he considered to be his copy of the sacred book.

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