Mr. Petrie on the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill. 227 



Uai^re ceno Copppe cam pi, Buried was the head of Cairbre the just king, 



Do aippciu echoach i Uecbat. With the neck of Eochaidh in Teffia. 



The origin of the monument, or, perhaps, monuments, of Mai and Miodna, 



has been ascertained from an ancient Irish romantic tale called Dearg-Ruathar 



Chonaill Cearnaigh, or, the Bloody Rout of Connell Cearnach, a tale usually 



appended to the popular romance, called Brisleac Mor Muighe Muirtheimne, 



or the Great Breach of the Plain of Muirtheimne, which was the ancient name 



of the level country on either side of Dundalk. It is stated in this tale that, at 



the time when Cuchullin was slain and beheaded in the battle of Muirtheimne — 



his cousin, the celebrated Connell Cearnach, being " beyond the sea" — the wife 



of Cuchullin, Eimer, sent Lavarcaim, the slender-waisted, the female messenger 



of the heroes of the Red Branch, to discover where he was, and acquaint him 



with the death of her husband, in order that he should return to revenge it, as 



he was bound to do by a previous agreement. It happened that Lavarcaim, on 



coming to the sea-shore at Invermore, near Dundalk, descried and recognised 



the ship of Connell, named the JEangach, approaching to the shore ; and, on his 



landing, she acquainted him with the subject of her message, which Connell 



heard with the deepest sorrow, and immediately resolved to discover who of the 



men of Ireland had slain him, that he might wreak his vengeance on them. 



Accordingly, having got his carbad, or chariot, ready, he drove at once to the 



plain of Muirtheimne, where he found the headless body of Cuchullin, over 



which he wept, and recited a dirge in which he expressed his sorrow, extolled 



the valour of his companion and foster-son, and repeated his determination to 



revenge his untimely death. He afterwards proceeded to Tara, where he found 



Mai and Miodna, two of the chiefs of Ere, the Irish monarch, engaged at the 



game of hurling, their ball being a human head ! " What is this you are 



hurling ?" inquired Connell. "Did you not hear," it was answered, "of 



the death of Cuchullin by the men of Ireland, and do you not know that this 



is his head ?" " I did," replied Connell, uttering an exclamation of grief, " and 



you shall be headless for treating his head with such indignity ;" on which he 



slew and beheaded both. 



The tale, from which the preceding notice has been obtained, is one of a 



very numerous class of romantic stories, partly historical and partly fabulous — 



but certainly anterior in age to the tenth century — which are still preserved in 



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