Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/52



similar to the tale of Diarmuid at Dubhros, partly to that of Cod in the Forest of Wonders, is the old Highland poem by Blind O'Cloan entitled Bàs Fhraoich or 'The Death of Fraoch.' It tells how Mai loved Fraoch but, becoming jealous of her own daughter Geal-cheann or 'Fair-head,' plotted his destruction.

A rowan tree stood in Loch Mai, We see its shore there to the south; Every quarter every month, It bore its fair, well-ripened fruit; There stood the tree alone, erect, Its fruit than honey sweeter far; That precious fruit so richly red, Did suffice for a man's nine meals; A year it added to man's life,— The tale I tell is very truth. Health to the wounded it could bring, Such virtue had its red-skinned fruit. One thing alone was to be feared By him who sought men's ills to soothe: A monster fierce lay at its root, Which they who sought its fruit must fight. A heavy, heavy sickness fell On Athach's daughter, of liberal horn;