431 



Again, in the battle of Alniha (or the Hill of Allen, near Kildare), 

 fought in the year 722, between Murchadh, king of Leinster, and 

 Ferghal, monarch of Eriu, where " the red-mouthed, sharp-beaked 

 badb croaked over the head of Ferghal" (" ro lao badb belderg biorach 

 iolach um cenn Fergaile"), we are told that nine persons became thus 

 affected. The Four Masters (a. d. 718) represent them as "fleeing 

 in panic and lunacy" (do lotar hi faindeal ocus i ngealtacht). Other 

 annalists describe them in similar terms. Mageoghegan, in his trans- 

 lation of the u Annals of Clonmacnoise," says " they flyed in the air as 

 if they were winged fowle." O'Donovan (in notes to the entries in his 

 edition of the Four Masters, and Fragments of Annals) charges Mageo- 

 ghegan with misrepresenting the popular idea ; but Mageoghegan repre- 

 sented it correctly. 



A further statement in the same battle of Ventry Harbour furnishes 

 additional evidence as to the currency of this notion. The writer asserts 

 that all wondered how those who saw the landing of the invaders' 

 army, and heard their shouts, could avoid going with the wind and with 

 geltacht (lunacy). 



In the Chron. Scotorum the panic-stricken at the battle of Allen 

 are called " volatiles," or gealta. May we not seek, in this vulgar 

 notion, the origin of the word " flighty," as applied to persons of eccen- 

 tric mind ? 



But although, as we have seen, the assistance given to Cuchullain 

 by the Neman was both frequent and important, the intervention 

 of Morrigan in his behalf is more constant. Nay, he appears to be the 

 object of her special care. She is represented as meeting him some- 

 times in the form of a woman, but generally in the shape of a bird — 

 most probably a crow. Although apparently his tutelary goddess, the 

 Morrigan seems to have been made the instrument, through the decree 

 of a cruel fate, of his premature death. The way was thus : — 



In the hills of Cuailnge, near the Fews Mountains, dwelt a 

 famous bull, called the Donn Cuailnge (or Brown [bull] of Cuailnge), 

 a beast so huge that thrice fifty youths disported themselves on his 

 back together. A certain fairy, living in the cave of Cruachan, in 

 the county of Roscommon, had a cow, which she bestowed on her 

 mortal husband JSTera, and which the Morrigan carried off to the great 

 Donn Cuailnge, and the calf that issued from this intimacy was fated to 

 be the cause of the Tain bo Cuailnge. The event is told in the tale 

 called Tain Be Aingen, one of the prefatory stories to the great epic, 

 which speaks thus of the Morrigan. " Berid in Morrigan iarum boin a 

 mic sium cen bai seom ina cotlad, condarodart in Donn Cuailgne tair i 

 Cuailgne. Do timet cona boin doridise anair. Nostaertend Cucullain i 

 Mag Murthemne oc tuiecht tairis, ar ba do gesaib Conculaind ce teit ban 



as a thir manib urdairc les 



Da thairthe Cucullain in Morrigan cona boin, ocus isbert ni berthar in 

 nimerce, ol Cuchullain," i. e. "The Morrigan afterwards carried off his 

 [Nera's] son's cow whilst he was asleep, so that the Donn Cuailnge 



K. T. A. PROC VOL. X. 3 M 



