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Téighim ann do shur na niath, 
Dus an bhfhuasceolainn mo thriath ; 
Da éissin go Temraigh thaile, 
Tucas liom coma Chormaic. 
Tucasa leam in geilt garg, 
Is in gribh ingneach imard, 
Is da fhiach Fheada an da bheann ; 
Di lachain Locha Saileann. 
Da shinnach a Sliabh Cuilinn 
Da dhamh allaidh a Boirinn 
Da ghéis a Fidh Gabrain guill 
Is da chai Feadha fhordruim, 
Da thoghmall 6 Chailltib craebh, 
Do leath taebh dha raen, 
Is da dhobran iarsain, 
A carraic donnbhan Dobhair. 
Da fhailenn Thraighli alle, 
Di ruiligh a Purt Lairge 
1 Geilt.—According to O'Reilly, this word means, “a wild man or woman—one 
living in woods”—a maniac. It may, however, have been figuratively applied to some 
very fierce or untameable creature, either quadruped or bird, which inhabited the woods. 
But that the s¢mi@, or monkey tribe, were not likely to have at any time inhabited so 
cold a country, one would have seen, in the term, an exceedingly apt expression for 
“the wild man of the woods.” 
2 Grib.—Swift, quick ; also applied to “‘ the feathers on the feet of birds.” The term 
occurs in Cormac’s Glossary. But for the expressions—tall and with talons—employed 
in reference to this creature, it might be Anglicized into the Swift; but it is, in this 
poem, used in all probability to designate the Osprey, or sea-eagle. Cambrensis, in his 
'“'Topographia Hiberniz,” mentions among the birds of prey the eagle, osprey, hawk, 
falcon, and sparrow-hawk : and his observations on natural history and the habits and 
manners of animals are curious and interesting, and in many respects truthful and ori- 
ginal. In some instances, however, he fell into the usual popular delusions of the day— 
as, for example, when describing the osprey in the chapter devoted to the consideration 
of birds of that description, he says it has one foot armed with talons wide open, and 
adapted to seizing its prey, while the other is of a more peaceful nature, and used for 
swimming. 
3 Lough Sheelin.—A well-known lake on the borders of Cavan, Longford, and 
Meath. From the expression in the text, one is induced to think that two particular 
ducks were specified—such as, perhaps, the ducks of St. Colman, of Shanboth, enume- 
rated among the wonders of Ireland in Nennius, which could not be boiled, “although 
all the woods of the earth were burnt under that pot.” There are many similar legends 
related even at thisday. See Lover’s legend of the Trout in Cong Cave. 
4 Slieve Cuilinn, or Gullion.—A mountain in the barony of Upper Orier, in the 
county of Armagh, which took its name from Cuileann, an artificer who lived here in the 
reign of Conchobar Mac Nessa, King of Ulster, and by whom the celebrated hero, Ca- 
chulainn, was fostered. This mountain, which is also mentioned in MacPherson’s 
‘* Ossian,” may be seen from the northern railway between Dundalk and Newry. 
° Boirenn, or Burren.—A wild district, in Thomond, county of Clare, in which herds of 
cattle were, very likely, common at the time referred to, Inthe ‘‘ Leabhar na g-Ceart,” 
