Maca lister — Temair Br eg : Remains and Traditions of Tar a. 311 



glas cut down the hazel-thicket of Temair; and we may now turn aside to 

 follow up this thread in the tangle. 



The name Fiachu occurs several times in the roll of the kings of Ireland. 

 Resides the two of whom we have already heard, we find the following in the 

 more legendary period : — 

 A.M. 



i. 3728 Fiachu Labruinne father of Oengus Oll-mucach. 



ii. .'iS4S Fiachu Find-scothach, father of Eochu Ollom Fodla. 



iii. 4395 Fiachu Tolgrach. 



iv. (did not reign) Fiachu Fer-mara, son of Oengus Tuirmech Temrach. 



v. a.d. 56 Fiachu Find-Iolach. 



Of these, Fiachu Tolgrach seems to be independent of the rest, and need 

 not again be referred to. Fiachu Find-Iolach and his successor Elim are 

 evidently borrowed from the Ulidian dynasty as padding, inserted before the 

 doubtless historical king Tuathal Techtmar. Coir Anmann 1 tells the same 

 story of his connexion with white cattle, which is enough to settle his identity 

 with the other kings of the same name. Fiachu Find-scothach, father of Ollom 

 Fodla, is a doublet of Elim Finnachta, son of Ollom Fodla ; for the same 

 peculiar story is told of him — that snow (in his case flowers) with the taste of 

 wine appeared in his reign. This is important, as it shows that doublets can 

 reverse their genealogical connexions; that is to say, if we have pairs of 

 doublets, A, A', and B, B', we may find in one story that A is a son of B, 

 though in the other story A' may be the father of B'. The point of this 

 observation appears when we consider the two remaining names of the list. 

 Fiachu Labrainne is the father of an Oengus ; Fiachu Fer-mara is the son of 

 another Oengus, who is called by the suggestive name Tuirmech Temrach, 

 which seems to mean " the reckoner" or "the apportioner " of Temair — a 

 fitting name for someone who had to do with the foundation of a sanctuary. 

 We are reminded of the name given in VD iii 123 to the holy well called 

 Caprach Cormaic — Topur Tuirme Gland, " the well of numbering of elans"; 

 and we must not forget that this well also bore the name of Tipra 1>6 Finde, 

 " the well of the white cow," which recalls to our minds the peculiarity of 

 the cows in the reign of Fiachu. 



Of Fiachu Fer-mara we are told that he was begotten by his father 

 Oengus on his own daughter, when drunken ; and that Oengus was so much 

 ashamed of what he had done that he put the infant adrift on the sea, with a 

 purple royal robe and a gold pin upon him. The child was rescued by 

 fishermen, who gave him the name Fer-mara, " man of the sea," in com- 



R.I.A, 



' IrUche Texte, iii, 332. 



PROC, VOL. XXXIV, SECT. c. [43] 



