Lir of Shee Finnaha, the father of the four "Children of Lir," and Bove
Derg of Shee Bove, of whom we know little more than what is told of them
in the "Fate of the Children of Lir." Shee Finnaha is supposed to have
been situated near Newtown Hamilton, in Armagh; and Shee Bove was on the
shore of Lough Derg, on the Shannon.
Luga of the Long Arms, who imposed the eric-fine on the three sons of
Turenn for slaying his father Kian. (See note 7 for a further account of
this Luga.)
Dianket, the great physician, of whose powers of cure extraordinary
stories are told. He had a son Midac, and a daughter Armedda, more
skilful than himself. The old legend relates that Midac took off the
silver arm which his father Dianket had put on Nuada (see note 4), and,
having procured the bones of the real arm, he clothed them with flesh
and skin, and fixed the arm in its place as well as ever "in three
moments." Dianket was so enraged at being outdone by his son that he
slew him. After Midac had been buried for some time, three hundred and
sixty-five healing herbs grew up from his grave, one from every joint
and sinew of his body--each herb to cure disease in that part of the
human body from which it grew--all which were gathered by his sister
Armedda, and placed carefully in her cloak in their proper order. But
before she had time to study their several virtues fully, her father
Dianket mixed them all up in utter confusion. (O'Curry, _Atlantis_, vii.
and viii. 158.) Were it not for this churlish proceeding, Armedda would
have found out, and we should now know, the exact herb to cure each
particular disease of the human frame.
NOTE 2.--_The Feast of Age._
This was also called the Feast of Gobnenn the Dedannan smith. It was
instituted by Mannanan Mac Lir, and whoever was present at it, and
partook of the food and drink, was free ever after from sickness, decay,
and old age.
NOTE 3.--_The Druids._
The ancient Irish druids do not appear to have been _priests_ in any
sense of the word. They were, in popular estimation, men of knowledge
and power--"Men of science," as they were often designated; they knew
the arts of healing and divination; and they were skilled above all in
magic. In fact, the Irish druids were magicians, neither more nor less;
and hence the Gaelic word for "druidical" is almost always applied where
we should use the term "magical"--to spells, incantations,
metamorphoses, etc. (See O'Curry, "Lectures on the Manners and Customs
of the Ancient Irish," Lecture ix.)
NOTE 4.--_Nuada of the Silver Hand._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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