222 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Claon, a. d. 634, and in it the latter -was defeated. This tale was pub- 

 lished by the Irish Archaeological Society in 1842, and edited, with an 

 English translation and notes, by the late Dr. O'Donovan. 



C&ch Co-|\mivo. — "Battle of Corand." 



Caxli CUijM.— "Battle of Claire.". 



Caxh bonroe. — "Battle of the Boind." 



C&ch Uemp&ch. — "Battle of Teamair." 



tk\d-u\ imo]i|io inirpo .1. — "Caves now here, i.e." 



tl&uh A-inget^. — " Cave of Ainged." 



This story is preserved in T. CD. in the Book of Leinster, and 

 in the Yellow Book of Lecan, under the title of Tain Bo (or Be) 

 Aingen. Though Tain Bo (or Be) Aingen is not mentioned in this list 

 of Tales, or in that published by 0' Curry, it is nevertheless referred to 

 in all the old copies of the Tain Bo Cuailnge, and generally presumed 

 to be one of the oldest tales of its class. It is included in my transla- 

 tions of the Tain Series of Historic Tales. It is one of those mytholo- 

 gical tales in which the personages and incidents of life are mixed 

 up with the supernatural agencies and attributes of the Sid. 



It sets forth how Ailell and Medb King and Queen of Connaught, 

 were celebrating the feast of Samain one November night, in their 

 palace of Cruachan, in the present county of Boscommon. 



Two culprits were hung upon a tree at Cruachan on the previous 

 day, and left suspended from it till the night of Samain should have 

 passed off — for on that night it is stated that all the Sid of Erin were 

 left open for ingress and egress to aU. It was then, as now, supposed 

 to be a wicked and a dangerous thing to meddle with the remains of 

 the dead, as the demons and the people of the Sid were at large over 

 the world on the night of Samain (or November), and both were sup- 

 posed to pay particular attention to the bodies of the dead and to sur- 

 round the places of their deposit. 



To test the valour of his household, A Hell offered a reward of a 

 gold-hilted sword — the emblem of knighthood — to any young warrior 

 who would go out and tie a gad, (or coil of twisted twigs), upon the 

 leg of one of the culprits who were still hanging from the gallows-tree. 

 Several ambitious young men tried the test and failed, being all dis- 

 heartened by the legions of the demons and men of the Sid. At length 

 JYera went out and performed the feat, and thus commenced the 

 " Adventures of Kera." 



The culprit, we are told, came to life, and imposed a variety of 

 injunctions on JNera, with all of which he had to comply. On his 

 return, however, he saw the palace of Cruachan all in a blaze, and 

 met a host of strange men on the way ; those being the mysterious 

 host of the Sid, who were after plundering and burning the palace of 

 Cruachan. He was anxious to know who they were, and followed 

 them till he went into the cave of Cruachan, and into the Sid of the 

 cave. The nobles of the Sid observing the stranger — JS r era— had him 



