Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/523

 The Bodleian Dinnshenchas. 5 1 5

He went under the buoyant stream, Roga's son with great gifts."

Also in LL. 169 a 50 ; BB. 404 b 31 ; H. 65 a ; Lee. 514 b; and R. 120 a i.

Sruthair Matha is not identified. It must have been somewhere near "the Meeting of the Three Waters" (Suir, Nore, and Barrow), i.e., near Waterford.

Cathdir Mdr, over-king of Ireland, .-\.u. 120-122. Conn of the Hundred Battles^ A.D. 123-157.

[52. Mag n-Itha.] — Mag n-Itha, cid dia ta ? Ni ansa .1. Mag [n-Itha] o Ith maco. Breogain romarbad ann i cath ir\ ssluag siabra 3 fri Tuatha De Danand.

N[6] dial-luidh Ith xwaco. Breogain a hEspain xxx. [long] co )x\xxus Corco-duibne i w^xinn dolluid iar fud Y,xenn fo tuaidh^ [co hAilech] Neit, ait a mbatar tri ri[g] Y^xeiui im Nectain Laim- derg rig na Fomore .1. Mace Cu ill, Mao: Cecht, Mace Gxent. O robatar ag tnuth ^ ag format fri hith ar amaindsi, co timnais celeabradh doib co ndolluid'-' uaidib co Mag n-Itha ^ a marbad ara febas ^ ara indrac^/^-. Conid dia digail'^ dolluid Lug xnacc m//a Itha .XXX. long. Unde dicitur :

IT[H] xna'-Q Breogfl'/;/, buaid ni bladh,

im-Maigh Itha romarbadh'*:

dofuccsat'' fir i cruth cacht

ar tnuth ociis ar format. Mag n-Itha, the Plain of Ith, from Ith, son of Breogan, who was killed there in battle against a host of spectres and against the Tuatha De Danann.

Or when Ith, son of Breogan, went out of Spain with thirty ships to Irrus Corco-duibne, in Erin, he fared throughout Ireland northwards to Ailech Neit, a place wherein, with Nechtain Red- hand, King of the Fomorians, were three kings of Ireland, to wit. Mace Cuill, Mace Cecht, and Mace Grene. Since out of bitterness they were spiteful and envious towards Ith, he bade them farewell, and went on to Mag n-Itha, where he was killed, because of his goodness and his worth. Wherefore, to avenge him, Lugh, son of Ith's wife, sailed (to Ireland) with thirty ships. Whence is said :

Ith, son of Breogan, a victory not fame.

In Mag n-Itha was killed.

Men in the form of slaves despatched him

For spite and for envy.

Also in BB. 399 a 48 ; H. 58 a ; Lee. 507 a ; and R. 116 a 2.

Mag nitha seems the plain along the river Finn, in the bai-ony of Raphoc, CO. Donegal, now ealled the Lagan, rather than Magh Itha Fothairt, in the CO. Wexford. Aikch Nitt, the palace of the northern Irish kings, on a hill near Derry. Corco Duibne, now Corcaguiny, in Munster.

Ith, son of Breogan, one of the Spanish invaders of Ireland. Keating, p. 180.

Mae Cuill, Mac Ceeht, and Mac Gri^ne, were the three last kings of the Tuatha D6 Danann. ?>&& Four Masters, A.M. 3471, 3500.

1 MS. tuaigh. '^ MS. dolluig. ^ mS. digai il.


 * MS. romarbagh. ^ MS. repeats dofucsat.