Westeopp — The Earthworks, <$-c, of S. E. Co. Limerick. 161 



Echtghe the horrible. 1 There are a number of variant tales 2 — the Coir 

 Anmann 3 tells how Duach Dallta Degad, son of Cairbre Lusc (the lame) 

 and ancestor of the Dergthene, had two sons, Duach and Degad (B.C. 168). 

 The latter, being the popular candidate for the kingship, was blinded by 

 Duach. Another story tells how Duach fell by the Ulstermen and Degad, 

 son of Sen, King of the Ernai. The hero Finn descended 1 from Daire, son 

 of Deda; while his mother, Murni, was derived from Tadg, son of Nuada, 

 son of Achi. Claim Deda held all Luachair 5 to Curoi Mac Daire's fort on 

 Cen Febrat. Though Deda is nowhere (to my knowledge) called a god, he 

 seems ancestor and father-in-law of a number of eponyuii, mountain gods, 

 and connexions of gods. His fame grew on no mortal soil, but is all mythic 

 and superhuman ; we need hardly look for a nucleus of fact, if such ever 

 existed. Deda's issue, Corco Deda and Corca Muige (both in western Co. 

 Limerick), are in the list of the Aithech Tuafcha. 6 Probably the pre-Milesian 

 tribe had its own divine beings and ancestry which later scribes tried to 

 euhemerize and connect with those of other tribes. 



Febra, son of Sen, Deda's brother, was slain by Cain Derccdualach, 

 husband of the goddess Aife, sister of Aine and Fer Fi ; from these heroes 

 the mountain derived two of its names, Cenn Febrat and Sliabh Cain. 

 Garban, son of Dedad, slew his uncle's murderer, and he and Febra, when 

 the gods became mortal, were reputed to lie under two of the pre-historic 

 mounds in Temair Erann cemetery, probably those to the south-west of the 

 spring at the gorge of Glounacroghera. 7 South from them, Lugaid Laigde, 

 the eponymus of the Corca Laigde, was buried. Garbau's other grave, the 

 source of Wexford estuary, we have already noted ; he is called " Garman 

 Glas MacDegann," so his identity is well established. Eithne and three 

 other ladies lay in the conjoined rings of Couloughtragh. She was niece of 

 Curoi. Ere of Irluacra probably lay in the mound in L'allinvreena. 9 This 



1 Metr. Dind S., x, p, 305. The " Cath Ruis na Rig " (Todd Lect., iv, p. 23) names 

 a contemporary of Curoi, Eochu, son of Luchta, king of North Munster, and the Recar- 

 taig Dedad, at Temair Luchra. 



- The genealogists ring many changes on Sen, Deda, Daire, MaeNiadh, Lugaid, 

 MacCon, and Lugaid Laegde, and move their period over a space of thirteen or fourteen 

 centuries in some instances. 



3 Irische Teste Ser. iii, pt. ii, p. 292. 



4 " Duanaire Fionn " (Ir. Texts Soc), introd. ; Yellow Book of Lecan, col. 708; 

 Ossianic Soc, iv, p. 284 ; Silva Gad., ii, p. 245. 



5 Mesca Ulad, pp. 17-19. 



6 Rev. Celt., xx, p. 336. 



7 Metr. Dind S., x, p. 231, p. 247 ; Rennes Dind S., Rev. Celt., xv, pp. 115, 442 : 

 supra, xxxiii, pp. 460-406. 



5 Possibly Ere, sou of Feidhlimidh, drowned in a lake (Miscellany, p. 61). 



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