Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 4, 1893.djvu/382

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Telltown being, so to say, the religious, and Tara the political headquarters of the Irish kings. This exquisite quatrain is only found in Lecan, and is thus absent from Mr. O'Grady's pages, the chief object of which is to bring the beauty of Irish romance home to the English reader!

The next passage is of greater importance and of special interest to folk-lorists as presenting the oldest example of a familiar incident of Gaelic story-telling—the counterspell. It is told how Cummascach, son of the high-king of Ireland,, starts forth on a "free circuit of youth" throughout Ireland. It was the custom of the free circuiter to "sleep one night with the wife of every king of Erin", whence it may be gathered that the "free circuit" was not an institution favourably beheld of the under-kings. Cummascach comes to the court of Leinster's king, Brandub, and, to quote from Mr. Whitley Stokes' version (Rev. Celt., xii, p. 59): "Then said the king of Erin's son, 'Where is Brandub's wife?' A message was sent by him to the queen. The queen came to converse with him, and bade welcome to the king of Erin's son.

["Then the king of Erin's son said to Brandub's wife, 'Let a boon be granted by thee to me.' 'What boon dost thou ask?' says the lady. 'Not hard to say,' quoth he. 'Thou to stay with me that I may sleep with thee.'"]

"'Grant thou a boon to me,' she saith. 'What boon doth thou ask?' says the king of Erin's son.

"'Not hard to say,' she replied. 'A respite, not to detain me until I have finished distributing food to the host, so that I may purchase my honour from them.'"

Of course the queen escapes, and Cummascach is slain by Brandub's men.

The bracketed passage in above extract is omitted by