224 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Leinster, and the graves of heroes who were killed hy them. Among 

 the great achievements recorded in this poem to the credit of the 

 Leinstermen is the trampling to death of some sort of monster called 

 Luchtigem in the month of this cave. The quatrain is as follows : — 



•Ro conAig in jmAT> caII/i^, 

 •RofbATO pop l,A|\ nA bepbA; 

 ■RofALcAip fop in Lucagepn, 

 llTOOpUf 'Oepci TejMiA. 



They detained the Ruad Chaillech, 



They drowned her in the middle of the Berba ; 



They trampled upon the Luchthigern, 



In the door of Derc Ferna (Cave of Fema). 



Uac1i 11 Am a Cpu[A]cAn. — " Cave of the Cavern of Crua- 

 chan." 



I am not aware of any existing copy of this tale. 0' Curry believed 

 it to he the story in the Tain Bo Aingen above noticed. There are, 

 however, several other legends and tales of the cave of Cruachan, 

 which may be also considered under this head. One is preserved in the 

 Bindsenchas of Loch Erne, now Lough Erne, which sets forth how Erne, 

 daughter of Bare Buiredach, who held the office of mistress of the 

 maidens, and keeper of the combs, caskets, and robes of Queen Medb, 

 and her maidens, were frightened by a contentious man named Ulchai 

 (which simply means beardy), who came forth from the cave of 

 Cruachan. He gnashed his teeth and shook his beard at them, and so 

 hideous was he that Erne and her maidens fled precipitately from him 

 till they were overwhelmed in the waters of Loch Erne : whence the 

 name. 



There is a poem in the Ossianic style, preserved in the O'Curry 

 manuscripts in the Catholic University, which gives an account of a 

 foot-race between Find AlacCumall and an unknown knight who chal- 

 lenged him to a foot-race. The challenge was accepted, and the race 

 terminated in the stranger running into the cave of Cruachan, pur- 

 sued by Caoilte, son of Ronan, one of the swiftest of Find's famous 

 captains, who found a gang of smiths at work in the cave. 



1mp.Mn& &nn|-o .1. — "Navigations heke, i.e." 



Imp Am CupMT) lyi&itmnn [m&it/ouAin, in orig.]. — "Navi- 

 gation of Maeldun's boat." 



This tale gives an account of the adventures and discoveries of 

 Maeldun, the son of a Munster chieftain, who, with a company of 

 young men, set out from the territory of Corcomroe (in Clare), and 

 made a voyage of three years and seven months on the Atlantic. The 

 tale is preserved in the Yellow Book of Lecan (Lib. T. C. D.), and in 

 Brit. Mus., MS. Harl. 5280. A still older but imperfect copy will be 

 found in Leahhar na h- TJidhri. 



\_Imram Curui TJa Corra. — "Navigation of the boat of the sons of 



