Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/491

 The Bodleian Dinnshenchas. 483

[15. Berba.] — Berba, cidh dia ta ?

Ni ansa .\} Berba his inti ro laitea na \.r\ natracha batar a cndi[b] Meich[i] xviaic na Morigna, iarna bass do M^c Cecht im- Maig Meichi. Mag Fertaigi da;/^-* ainm [12b 2] in maige sin pri?;^. Delba- tri cenn natrach batar for[s]na tn cridib'^ batar im-Meichi/ ^ mina tairsedh a bas no oirbeordais na nathra^Z'rt ina broind conTx. facbadais anmanna beo i nErind. Coron loisc Myzc Cecht iarna marb^^ i Maig Luadat,-^ ^ coro la a luaith lasin sruth ut, co rom-berb 3 coro dileag each n-ainmidi'^ do anmandaib bai inti. Ctfwadh [de]sin ata Magh Lu[ad]at j Magh Meichi' 3 Berba. Unde poeta dzVr/t :

Cridi Meichi," cruaidh in cned,

isin Berba ro baided :

a luaith iarna loscadh lib

rocuir Mac Cecht cetguinigh.

Berba, into it were cast the three adders that abode in the hearts of Meche, son of the Morri'gain, after his death by Mac Cecht in Mag Mechi (Mag Fertaigi, now was the name of that plain formerly). The shapes of three adders' heads were on the three hearts that were in Meche, and, unless his death had occurred, the adders would have grown in his breast till they would not have left an animal alive in Ireland. So after slaying him on Mag Luadat, Mac Cecht burnt them (the hearts) and cast their ashes with yon stream, and it boiled, and it dissolved every one of the animals that were therein. Wherefore thence are " Mag Luadat", and " Mag Mechi", and "Berba". Hence said the poet :

Meche's hearts, hard the wound, Have been drowned in the Barrow ; Their ashes, after being burnt by you, Mac Cecht, slayer of a hundred, cast in.

Also in LL. 159b 40 ; BB. 3^8 a ; H. 17 b ; and R. 95 a 2.

Berba, now the river Barrow. Ma^ Luadat, "probably the ancient name of the plain now called Maghera cregan, situated near Newtown Stuart, in the barony of Omagh and the co. of Tyrone." Four Masters, A.D. 1160, note a.

The Morrigain, v. supra, s.v. Mag Breg.

A Mac Cecht, one of the three kings of the Tuatha d6 Danann, is slain by Airem. Another Mac Cecht, King Conaire's champion, plays a great part in the Bruden da Derga, LU. 89a, 97b, 98a.

[16. Mag Femin.] — Magh Fem?;/, cid dia da? Ni ansa .1.

Femen canas ro hainmnight[he]a ?

Ni ansa .1. Femen da;/^ ;j Fera, da derbrathair .1. da mac Moagaib x^aic Dachair do claind Bratha Ttxaic Deatha. Oen bacc S oen sluasat iairinn etur[r]u andis. In trath nobid Femean ic

1 MS. repeats, putting cid dia for cidh diata. - MS. Dlelb.

3 MS. cri idib. ■* MS. meithchi. * MS. luagat, « MS.

nanaiwmidi, "^ MS. Meithe,