Part 21 (1/2)
FOOTNOTES:
[LXX.] There were several tribes named Owenaght in the south of Ireland.
This particular tribe were called, as in the text, the Owenaght of Ninus, and also, according to an interlined gloss in the ”Book of the Dun Cow,” the Owenaght of the Aras, _i.e._ of the Aran Islands. Their territory was situated in the north-west of the county Clare, opposite the Islands of Aran.
[LXXI.] Corcomroe, an ancient territory, now a barony in the north-west of the county Clare. (For the meaning and history of this name, see the author's ”Origin and History of Irish Names of Places,” Series I. Part i. Chapter ii.)
CHAPTER II.
THE FIRST ISLAND. TIDINGS OF THE PLUNDERERS.
They sailed that day and night, as well as the whole of next day, till darkness came on again; and at midnight they saw two small bare islands, with two great houses on them near the sh.o.r.e. When they drew near, they heard the sounds of merriment and laughter, and the shouts of revellers intermingled with the loud voices of warriors boasting of their deeds.
And listening to catch the conversation, they heard one warrior say to another--
”Stand off from me, for I am a better warrior than thou; it was I who slew Allil Ocar Aga, and burned Dooclone over his head; and no one has ever dared to avenge it on me. Thou hast never done a great deed like that!”
”Now surely,” said Germane and Diuran to Maildun, ”Heaven has guided our s.h.i.+p to this place! Here is an easy victory. Let us now sack this house, since G.o.d has revealed our enemies to us, and delivered them into our hands!”
While they were yet speaking, the wind arose, and a great tempest suddenly broke on them. And they were driven violently before the storm, all that night and a part of next day, into the great and boundless ocean; so that they saw neither the islands they had left nor any other land; and they knew not whither they were going.
Then Maildun said, ”Take down your sail and put by your oars, and let the curragh drift before the wind in whatsoever direction it pleases G.o.d to lead us;” which was done.
He then turned to his foster brothers, and said to them, ”This evil has befallen us because we took you into the curragh, thereby violating the druid's directions; for he forbade me to go to sea with more than sixty men for my crew, and we had that number before you joined us. Of a surety more evil will come of it.”
His foster brothers answered nothing to this, but remained silent.
CHAPTER III.
THE ISLAND OF THE MONSTROUS ANTS.
For three days and three nights they saw no land. On the morning of the fourth day, while it was yet dark, they heard a sound to the north-east; and Germane said--
”This is the voice of the waves breaking on the sh.o.r.e.”
As soon as it was light they saw land and made towards it. While they were casting lots to know who should go and explore the country, they saw great flocks of ants coming down to the beach, each of them as large as a foal. The people judged by their numbers, and by their eager and hungry look, that they were bent on eating both s.h.i.+p and crew; so they turned their vessel round and sailed quickly away.
Their mult.i.tudes countless, prodigious their size; Were never such ants seen or heard of before.
They struggled and tumbled and plunged for the prize, And fiercely the famine-fire blazed from their eyes, As they ground with their teeth the red sand of the sh.o.r.e!
CHAPTER IV.