MONSTER 191 



The awesome spectre hideous and crooked 

 Thus was called the mighty apparition — 

 The red, stammering, sinister Muileartach ; 

 His dark grey face the colour of coal, 

 A red bent tooth within his jaw. 

 Swifter than any lobster spawned ; 

 With grey black bristles upon his head 

 Shaking like badly rotted wood. 



A truly awful combatant to engage, which, however, the Feirni 

 did, and slew. 



The word "Beist" is also applied to this, as Gillies says 

 "Liodair a bheist a chneas ban, Liodair e a lamh gu' leoin." 

 The monster tore his fair skin, it tore his hand to its hurt. He 

 also uses the word " Uile-bheist '* as follows, "Mharbhadh leis 

 an uile-bheist. He slew with it the monster — or the monster 

 was slain by him. See under " Animal " for a proverb or saying 

 as to the " Cirean-croin." The Tarbh-coill is used in this saying, 

 "Thuit an Tarbh-coill orra," the wood-bull fell on them, i.e., a 

 great fear or awe. " Mir am bial na beiste," a bite in the monster's 

 mouth, speaks for itself. " Urbheisd " again is said to mean the 

 original or greatest monster. 



Here mention must be made of the " Beast " that killed Fraoch 

 when he went for the second time to get the rowans for Maidh 

 from Castle Cro. This hero's body, after and before death, is 

 described as : — 



Bu duibhe na fiach a ghruag, 

 Bu deirge ghruaidh na full laogh, 

 Bu mhin 'e na cobhar an t-sruth, 

 Bu ghill na sneachd corp Fhraoich ; 

 Bu mhaise na 'n caisein fholt, 

 Bu ghuirme rosg na eir leac, 

 Bu deirge na cruban a bheul 

 'S bu ghile dheud na cailc. 



Darker than raven was his hair, 



Redder his cheeks than the blood of calf. 



Softer — more gentle — than the foam of stream. 



Whiter than snow was the body of Fraoch ; 



More beautiful than curls (?) his hair. 



Bluer his eyes than the vaulted plain (the sky). 



Redder than crab his mouth. 



Whiter than chalk his teeth. 



The term "beist" is something more, in Gaelic, than mere 

 animal, "Loch-na-beiste" meaning, for instance, the monster's loch, 

 cu-bheist, dog-beast or dog-monster in shape of a wolf. The Griffin 

 which enters into heraldry, etc., is a monster, half hen half eagle. 



MORSE (see Seal). 



