108 THE KING'S MIRROR 



and there approaching the shore sometimes so near that 

 one may step out upon it; and this occurs most fre- 

 quently on Sundays. And such is the property of this 

 islet that if one who is ill steps out upon it and partakes 

 of the herbs that grow there, he is healed at once, no 

 matter what his ailment may be. Another singular fact 

 is this, that never more than one can come upon it at 

 one time, though many may wish to do so; for as soon 

 as one has landed, the island immediately floats away. 

 It also has this peculiarity that it floats constantly about 

 in the lake for seven winters; but as soon as the seventh 

 winter is past, it floats to the shore somewhere and 

 unites with the other land, as if it had always been 

 joined to it. But when that moment has come, a crash 

 like a peal of thunder is heard, and, when the din is past, 

 another island can be seen in the lake of the same size 

 and character as the earlier one. Thus it happens regu- 

 larly every seventh year that, as soon as the one island 

 has joined the mainland, another appears, though no 

 one knows whence it comes.* 



There is another little island in that country, which 

 the natives call Inhisgluer.f There is a large village on 

 this island and also a church; for the population is about 

 large enough for a parish. But when people die there, 

 they are not buried in the earth but are set up around 

 the church along the churchyard fence, and there they 



* See riu, IV, 6. Kuno Meyer knows of no such story in Irish folklore, but 

 refers to similar tales told of floating islands in Wales and Scotland, 

 f Inhisgluair, now Inishglory, is on the west coast of Ireland in county Mayo. 

 Giraldus mentions the legend but assigns it to a different locality; see Opera, 

 V, 83 and note. The Irish Nennius (193) adds that the nails and hair grow 

 and that unsalted meat does not decay on the island. The island is also re- 

 ferred to in the Reliquiae Antiquae, II, 103. 



