40 



at the well, and they had a bronze chain between them. When they 

 saw the woman coming towards them, they went under the well. She 

 went after them under the well, when she saw a wondrous thing in the 

 Sidh, viz., a bright vessel. If a man uttered three false words over it, 

 it separated into three parts in his hand ; if a man uttered three truth- 

 ful words over it, the parts became united again. Badhurn's wife then 

 begged this vessel of the household. The article was given to her ; so 

 that it was this vessel that distinguished between falsehood and truth 

 with Badhurn." 



This article is precisely similar to the Cuach Cor mate, or Cormac's 

 Cup, which forms the twelfth in the list. The account given by Hero- 

 dotus of the cup which fell from heaven in the country of the Scythians, 

 and was religiously preserved by them, is not sufficiently explicit to 

 enable us to compare it with Badhurn's Goblet; but the magical cup 

 of Cham Chit, mentioned in the " Shah ISTameh," is probably of cognate 

 character, although the Persian cup had the power of imparting a fore- 

 knowledge of events, and may have been the origin of the practice of 

 cup tossing. 



The next is the 



Cpelia TTio^aip .i. lain bo Itnca bo bubpoca i bo ^ual i bo cac 

 cenel buib oleeana, ~| pocepcicip epi I15 ant> .i. lia pmb 1 lia t>ub 

 -] lia bpec. "No pi^eo bin neac a laim ino, ~| do bepea& in I15 pint) 

 laip Oambec ptp occa ; 00 bepeao in ouib oamao 50, 00 bepeb m 

 mbpic oamao lee cmcac. 



" Trelia Mothair (Three Stones of Blackness), i. e., a pan that was 

 wont to be filled with dubh-rota (black ryestuff) and coal, and every 

 kind of black stuff besides ; and they put three stones into it, viz. : — 

 a white stone, and a black stone, and a speckled stone. One would 

 then put his hand into it, and he would take out the white stone if he 

 had truth ; he would bring the black if he had falsehood ; he would 

 bring the speckled stone if half guilty." 



I have not been able to find any parallel for this test. 

 The following is the eighth form : — 



Coipi pip .1. lepcap aip^io 1 oip bo bio 05a ppi bealocao pfpinbi 

 1 56a .1. no ceigci upci anb combio ap piucab 1 po cucca lam anb 

 lapum ; bamab cmcac bo loipccea m laim ; mmabec, imoppo, cin 

 05a, nt beanab upcoib bo. Qp ba he in cpebi lp mo no gnacaice 

 o ^enncib .1. copa pfp. 1 epanbeup cucpinna, 1 aipipium im alcoip. 

 lp 6 pin, bin bo pap cpanb bo cop a peclaib beup 1 gaebel. 



" Coiri fir ('true cauldron'), i.e., a vessel of silver and gold 

 they had to distinguish between truth and falsehood, viz. : — water was 

 heated in it until it was boiling, and a hand was afterwards introduced 

 into it. If the person was guilty, the hand was burned ; but if he had 

 not guilt, it injured him not. For the three things most used by the 



