viii THE BATTLE OF VENTRY. 



of the story of Gelges seeking the body of her husband among the slain, 

 as well as her lament^ To give an idea of the variants of these later 

 versions, and at the same time to supply the gaps in Rawl. mentioned 

 above, I have selected the copy contained in the British Museum MS. 

 Egerton 149, pp. 109 seqq., which, though written as late as 1821, yet on 

 the whole gives the best text among these later copies. 



Beside these prose versions there exists, in the Book of the Dean of 

 Lismore, also a poetic account of the Battle of Ventry in the form of a 

 dialogue between Ossian and Patrick ; see M'Lauchlan's editlon, pp. 7 

 seqq. The chief discrepancies with our version are the following. Daire 

 Donn is introduced as king of Lochlann [Daor Done reitli LocJilin), though 

 later on he is also called King of the World. Conn, and not Cormac mac 

 Airt, is mentioned as monarch of Erinn at the time. There is no mention 

 of the Tuatha De Danand, though the hne hanytJi ith chawr zar tvane 

 twoa dey hng ass gi knok, which MXauchlan thus gives in modern GaeHc : 

 thainig de chabhar ddr Feinn slnagh do tJnigas gacJi cnoc, seems to be a 

 reminiscence of the old tradition. Cairbre Lifechair [CarbrytJi LoaecJir) 

 comes to the rescue with four ' bands ; ' Conncrithir {Cownkrer) 'slays 

 the men of India, and raises their king's head on the mountain-side ' {rnk 

 sloyg nyn Jiynea zeive, is di Jiog ea kenni reitJi er knok). The son of the 

 king of Ulster is called Conn {Cozun w' reith WllitJt). While none of the 

 men of the world escape from the slaughter, except the king of France, 

 who flees before Oscur like a swallow to Glen Baltan, there survive two 

 ' ordered bands ' of the Fenians, one band of the clanna Baiscne {catJi di 

 clanni Bisskyni) and one of the clanna Morna {catJi di clanni MornytJi). 



The numerous copies of our tale as well as frequent references to it in 

 modern Irish literature^ show that it was one of the favourite romantic 

 compositions of the Irish, and indeed its memory still lingers on among 



T. C.D., H. 2, 5, the oldest of these paper copies, ends thus, after the narrative of 

 the death of Cdel and Finnachta Fiaclach : Is and sin tangadar .i. aois ceoil agtis 

 oirjide agus bandala tia feine d' adhlacadh corp a d-triath agus a itiaghearnagha agus 

 do bhreith an mheid do budh anleighis diobh teo agus budh do bheg do bhi 7nar sin 

 diobh gur be sin Cath Fiontragha gojtuige sin an meid do frith lind de. Finis per me 

 Derniitius Connur pro Tho7natio Dnmidivile. 



E.g. in the Caoidh Oisin a n-diaigh na feinne, ed. 0'Grady, p. 242 : 

 ^uch/ dd m-biainn-se a neart 's a tuith, 

 mar bhios gan phudhair a g-cuan Fhionnt7-dgha! 



