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252 What was your business there? said Finn. To speak to my nurse, Muirn, the daughter of Derg, said Cael. About what? said Finn. Concerning Credé, the daughter of Cairbré, king of Kerry [Ciaraighe Luachra], said Cael. Do you know, said Finn, that she is the greatest deceiver [flirt, coquette] among all the women of Erinn; that there is scarcely a precious gem in all Erinn that she has not obtained as a token of love; and that she has not yet accepted the hand of any of her admirers? I know it, said Cael; but do you know the conditions on which she would accept a husband? I do, said Finn: whoever is so gifted in the art of poetry as to write a poem descriptive of her mansion and its rich furniture, will receive her hand. Good, said Cael; I have with the aid of my nurse composed such a poem; and if you will accompany me, I will now repair to her court and present it to her." They went there, and the sequel relates that Crede was so charmed with Cael's genius that she gave him her hand and left off her life of flirtation.

O'Curry also gives the substance of a story which may be regarded as the Irish parallel to Gweir's captivity, of which Welsh literature tells us so little: it even relates what happened to the captive; or, to be more accurate, the meaning of the original incident having been clean forgotten, no captive or prisoner figures in O'Curry's version, but only a poet who failed to meet with due hospitality. It will be remembered that Nuada of the Silver Hand had lost his hand and arm in a conflict with the mythic race of the Fir Bolg or the Bagmen, and that on account of that blemish he had to give up his throne, when it was taken possession of by Bres