since been called the Finnghlais or White Brook.[1] The sequel was that Cúchulainn entered Cúroi's fort unopposed, and slew its owner, who happened to be asleep with his head on Bláthnat's lap. Cúchulainn took away Bláthnat, with the famous cows and cauldron; but he was not long to have possession of his new wife, for Cúroi's poet and harper, called Ferceirtne, resolved to avenge his master; so he paid a visit to Cúchulainn and Bláthnat in Ulster, where he was gladly received by them; but one day, when the Ultonian nobles happened to be at a spot bordering on a high cliff, Ferceirtne suddenly clasped his arms round Bláthnat, and flinging himself with her over the cliff, they died together.[2]
This story may perhaps be regarded as presenting the difficulty, that the treachery more usually characteristic of the dark powers is here ascribed to the Sun-hero, somewhat as if Lleu and Goronwy had changed places in the story of Blodeueᵭ's infidelity; but it is impossible to make Cúchulainn one of the dark beings, among
- ↑ Bk. of Leinster, 169b. What passes as Cúroi's cairn is known on the shoulder of the mountain; but no remains of his cathair or fort have ever been found, and O'Curry (iij. 80), looking for the remains of walls, would not identify it with the height now called Caher Conree, which O'Donovan found to be no wall, but 'a natural ledge of rocks' (Battle of Magh Rath, note, p. 212). In 1883, I travelled past the foot of the mountain to Dingle, and returned the same way, but failed both times to get a good view of the top on account of the mist, which seemed to render it a fitting abode for a god resembling the Welsh Gwyn ab Nûᵭ or the Manx Manannán.
- ↑ With the exception of a short paragraph in the Bk. of Leinster, 169b, the author is indebted for this story to O'Curry. ij. 97, iij. 79-82, and Keating's History of Ireland (O'Connor's ed., Dublin, 1865), pp. 220-5; they differ, however, in detail.
