A Literary History of Ireland, from Earliest Times to the Present DayHyde, Douglas
History
A Literary History of Ireland, from Earliest Times to the Present Day
Hyde, Douglas
Civilization, Celtic, in literature; Irish literature -- History and criticism; Language and culture -- Ireland
"Nach tu bráthair Áine as Aoife
A's mic an Deaghadh do b' árd-fhlaith ar tíorthaibh,
A's móir-mhic Lir do ritheadh an mhín-mhuir
Dhoinn Chnuic-na-ndos agus Dhoinn Chnuic Fírinn'?
Nach tu gan doirbhe do h-oileadh 'san ríogh-bhrogh
Ag Aongus óg na Bóinne caoimhe,
Do bhi tu ag Lugha ad' chongnamh i gcaoinsgir [cath]
Ag claoidh Balair a dhanar 's a dhraoithe.
Do bhi tu ag maidhm anaghaidh mic Mhiledh
Ag teacht asteach thar neart na gaoithe:
'S na dhiaigh sin i gciantaibh ag Naoise;
Do bhi tu ag Conall 'san gcosgar do bh' aoirde
Ag ceann de'n ghad de cheannaibh righteadh:
Budh thaoiseach treasa i gcathaibh Chuinn thu."
The allusion in the last line but one is to the heads that Conall
Cearnach strung upon the gad or rod, to avenge the death of Cuchulain,
for which see later on.
Curtin finally asks Donn to let him into his fairy mansion, if not as a
poet to enliven his feasts, then at least as a horse-boy to groom his
horses.
"Munar bhodhar thu o throm ghuth na taoide
No mur bhfuarais bás mar chách a Dhoinn ghil," &c.
_I.e._, "unless thou hast grown deaf by the constant voice of the tide,
or unless, O bright Donn, thou hast died like everybody else!"
[12] Hellanikus, one of the best known of these, went so far as to give
the very year, and even the very day of the capture of Troy.
[13] Mac Firbis, in his great MS. book of genealogies, marks the
mythical character of these personages still more clearly, for in
his short chapter on the Tuatha De Danann he describes them as of
light yellow hair, etc. [_monga finbuidhe orra_], and gives the
names of their three Druids and their three distributors, who were
called Enough, Plenty, Filling [_Sáith, Leór, Línad_]; their three
gillies, three horses, three hounds, three musicians; Music Sweet and
Sweetstring [Ceól Bind Tetbind], and so on, all evidently allegorical.
_See_ facsimile of the Book of Leinster, p. 30, col. 4, l. 40, and p.
187, col. 3, l. 55, for the oldest form of this.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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