Ireland and her people ; a library of Irish biography : together with a popular history of ancient and modern Erin, to which is added an appendix of copious notes and useful tables ; supplemented with a dictionary of proper names in Irish mythology, geography, genealogy, etc. ...

Front matter

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Book I Prepac E

In preparing the present narrative the constant aim has been to present a faithful picture of Irish history, unimpaired by bias or prejudice, and to omit nothing of importance bearing on the subject which would be of general interest. A perusal of the work will, we believe, convince the reader that every period of Erin’s history has been treated concisely and thoroughly, and that the narrative has not been interrupted by extraneous matter or the text burdened by a list of authorities. Copious notes on disputed points and frequent reference to the later and better authorities will be found in the Appendix to Volume V. A systematic plan has been followed throughout, making reference easy, and the search for facts in Irish history, it is believed, more of a pleasure than a task.

There is, probably, no country the truthful story of which presents so many dramatic and exciting scenes as that of Ireland. The true history of Ireland is indeed ‘‘an entertaining and instructive narrative of stirring events, abounding with episodes thrilling, glorious and beautiful.”

Dry details of unimportant events, or names and dates of no special interest to the general reader, have been carefully excluded from the text. These, however, are not omitted, but will be found in the full Chronological Tables at the end of the work. ‘The whole aim, in brief, has been to produce a vivid, clear-flowing, impartial narrative of the admitted facts in the history of a remarkable people, together with such legends and traditions of Irish lore as appear most interesting, typical and suggestive.

CONTENTS VOLUME IV.

Chapter XI

The First Welsh-Norman eae ee na ipo on ae hake CHAPTER XT: The Welsh-Norman Invaston—Continued - -

CHAPTER DOLLS King oe Tene eland ee Aare

CHAPTER | XIV.

From the Return of Henry II. to EE Till the Death of Strongbow - -

CHAPTER xy:

The Last Years of Roderic O’Conor + = - CHAPTER (NI.

Events of the Thirteenth Century - + + = CHAPTER XVII.

Edward Bruce Crowned King of Ireland - - CHAPTER XVIII.

Fusion of the Milesians and the Normans - - CHAPTER XIX.

Art MacMurrough, King of Leinster-- - -

CHAPTER, XX.

The Earls of Ormond, Desmond and Kildare

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Contents CHAPTER XXI.

Poynings’ Parliament and Battle of Knockdoe CHAPTER XXII.

Revolt of Silken Thomas (FitzGerald) + - CHAPTER XXIII. | The Act of Supremacy - - - - - - - =

CHAPTER XXIV.

The Reformation and First Plantation - - - - CHAPTER XXV.

Shane O'Neill, King of Ulster - - - - - Sp Ore SVT.

The Revolt of Sir James Fitzmaurice FitzGerald

CHAPTER XXVIII.

War with the Earl of Desmond - - - - -

CHAPTER XXVIII.

federacy - - - - - -

CHAPTER XXIX.

Battles of the Yellow Ford and Curlieu GH NIGHIS in enon oe ee ea Cee ats CHAPTER XXX.

End of the War with Hugh oa a Death of Queen Elizabeth - - -

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Contents

CHAPTER XXXI.

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The Flight of the Earls—The Plantations of Ulster and Letnster - - - - - = = - 237

CHAPTER I. THE LEGENDS AND FIRST INHABITANTS B.C. 2100 TO BE Co.1105

The earliest colonization of Ireland, like that of most other countries, is wrapped in a cloud of fable. It was peopled, according to the ancient Irish chronicles, in the fourth century after the Deluge by the Partholanians; afterwards by the Nemedians, the Fomorians, the Firbolgs and the Tuatha De Dananns. All those shadowy colonies, according to the most reliable native authorities, were either swept from the earth in punishment for their iniquities or forced to submit to the brave sons of Milesius, whose posterity remained masters of the island over two thousand years.

The higher we ascend towards the source of Irish history the more obscure and doubtful it becomes. ‘The ancient Irish, as well as their contemporaries, were prone to record the marvelous or impossible and readily accepted as true many things which modern criticism deems fabulous. But if we ought not to believe implicitly, neither should we reject altogether those curious traditions, wonderful legends and antique tales which have come down to us from the bards and story-tellers of ancient Erin. From those doubtful sources the most legitimate and reliable histories of Ireland have taken their rise ‘‘as pure rivers may be traced up the fens and mantled pools of amorass.”’

In these chapters on Pagan Ireland we venture to dip lightly into the enchanted fountain of old Irish chronicles, not, of course, claiming for those curious records the authenticity of modern history, yet giving nothing which has not in the judgment of many respectable authorities at least an historical foundation.

Some romantic stories are related of Queen Ceasair, who came from the east of Europe to Ireland thirty years before the Deluge (2379 B. C.) with fifty women and three men—Bith, Ladra and Fintan. ‘The historic flood soon swept over ‘‘this curiously proportioned colony,’’ but this far-away primitive legend is generally rejected by the judicious old annalists as unworthy of serious consideration.

Most ancient authorities agree that the Partholanians ‘‘of the stock of Japhet’’ were the first colonists of Ireland. Accompanied by his sons and many followers, according to the legend, the parricide Partholan, fleeing from his native Greece ‘‘in the 60th year of the age of Abraham,’’ voyaged down the Mediterranean, passed the sunny isles of that historic sea, gazed upon the ‘‘Pillars of Hercules’’ in the Strait of Gibraltar, and after escaping the dangers of the rough Spanish coast, at length, when well-nigh in despair of reaching that far-off Sacred Isle, he heard the welcome cry of land. ‘The billows dashed wildly along the shore, leaving a long line of foam upon the wild coast of Munster. The noble Kenmare river rolled its silver tide between wooded hills and sunny slopes. The picturesque Reeks pointed their blue summits in clear outline against the distant sky. Mangerton and Carrantuel, clad in royal beauty, greeted the eyes and cheered the hearts of Partholan and his companions.

The little colony landed B. C. 2100 where the town of Kenmare now stands, amid the beautiful scenery of County Kerry. ‘Then Partholan divided the land which he had discovered among his four sons. The new colonists set themselves vigorously to clear the plains of timber; they cut down a prodigious number of trees and drove the wild boar and stag into deeper recesses of the well-wooded island. ‘They brought with them a practical knowledge of sowing, reaping and other farming arts,’’ and began to cultivate the land. ‘Thirty years after landing in Erin, Partholan, being full of years, sickened and died, and his body was interred with royal honors. He was, it is said, a double parricide, having killed both parents before leaving his native country. For this unnatural crime, say the sage chroniclers, his posterity was fated not long to possess the land; and, after three hundred years’ residence in Erin, the entire colony, then numbering 9,000 persons, was cut off by a dreadful pestilence, and the mound which is believed to cover their remains is still pointed out at Tallaght, near Dublin.

During the next thirty-nine years Ireland is represented as uninhabited; then the Nemedians, under their leader, Nemedius, arrived from the shores of the Black Sea. Nemedius, who was a distant relative of Partholan, having learned by repeated dreams of the fatal end of his kinsmen in Ireland, resolved to go there and take possession of the country. Accordingly, with thirty-four transport vessels he set sail for the Western isles, accompanied by his wife, his four sons and a thousand followers. ‘They soon after landed on the Wooded Island, B. C. 1761, and immediately ‘‘cleared twelve plains of wood,’’ and afterwards built two royal forts.

Nemedius, it seems, was not permitted to enjoy his new kingdom very long, when his peace was disturbed by a warlike race of giants which swarmed over from Africa. ‘Those savage sea-kings, called Fomorians, were, according to the legend, men of enormous size and strength, who “‘lived by piracy and spoil of other nations, and were in those days very troublesome to the whole world.”’

Nemedius fought the Fomorians successfully in many engagements, but at last he suffered a total defeat in the great battle of Tory Island, where his army was totally destroyed and his two favorite sons were slain. Unable to stand so great a misfortune, Nemedius soon after died of grief and the Fomorians became masters of the whole island.

The Nemedians who had survived the last defeat, finding themselves unable to bear the tyranny of their cruel masters, resolved to abandon the country. One party fled to the north of Belgium to become the ancestors of the Firbolgs or Bagmen; some wandered to Greece to give a parentage to the Tuatha De Dananns; and others escaped to the neighboring island of Britain, which, it is said, took its name from Briotan, the Nemedian leader, who, with his posterity, settled there.

The Firbolgs, kept in cruel bondage in Belgium, determined to escape; they for this purpose seized the ships of their masters and set sail for the Western isle, where, in due time, under their chiefs, the five sons of Dela, they landed in different parts of Ireland (B. C. 1397). They, however, united their forces at the hill of Tara, which they called ‘he Beautiful Eminence.’’ In the decisive battle of Tara, which quickly followed this landing, the Fomorian forces were nearly annihilated, and the savage sea-kings were soon reduced to submission in all parts of the island.

Then the Firbolgs divided the country into five provinces, governed by their five leaders. Slane, the eldest of the five brothers, dwelt at Tara as head ruler of the provinces and supreme monarch of

Ireland. The Firbolgs were in their turn disturbed of so tempting a prize, eighty years after their conquest, by a wonderful people who came from Greece, called the Tuatha De Dananns. ‘‘These heroes,’’ we read, ‘‘landed on the coast of Wexford, and then, having burnt their fleet to cut off their retreat, they wrapped themselves in the dark cloud of invisibility and drifted like a mighty mist to the Iron Mountains on the border of Leitrim.’’

They were led by their king, Nuada, who took up a strong position on a hill, at a place called South Moytura, near the present village of Cong, County Mayo, where he was immediately attacked by his Firbolg kinsmen, under their monarch, Eocha. The attack was fierce and bloody, but after six days of terrible destruction—‘‘the greatest slaughter that was ever heard of in Erin’’—by their enchantments and by the power of their Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny, according to the legend, victory remained with the Tuatha De Dananns; and thus this decisive First Battle of Moytura, or the Battle of South Moytura, as it is sometimes called, in one day brought the reign of the Firbolgs to an end, reducing them to the condition of a subject-race. Eocha, the last of their kings, escaped from the fatal field only to meet his doom near Ballysadare, County Sligo. A cave on the Sligo strand is still pointed out as his burial place, and there is a curious tradition that the tide can never cover it. ‘‘On the plain where this great Battle of South Moytura was fought there may yet be seen a great number of cromlechs and other sepulchral monuments.”’

In the: time of her last Firbolg king Erin was in a position almost without parallel in her early history, for, say the bardic historians: ‘‘Good were the days of the reign of Eocha; there was no wet or stormy weather in Erin nor any unfruitful year.”’ This happy state, however, was soon rudely brought to a close by the De Dananns, who were also, like the Firbolgs, of Nemedian descent.

The new conquerors, it appears, came from Greece, where, by long residence, they had become deeply skilled in all those mystic arts for which the Greeks were then famous. Before their invasion of Ireland the Tuatha De Dananns had passed through the northern countries of Europe, where, according to the legend, ‘‘their magical science procured them respect.’? From those parts they brought the famous Lia Fail. This stone, which gave to Ireland the name of Inisfail, or the Island of Destiny, was used at the coronation of their kings. During the ceremony an astonishing noise is said to have issued from it, and, according to tradition, wherever this stone should be preserved a king of the Irish race would reign. We are told that among other rare gifts the Tuatha De Dananns could forge magical weapons, cure malignant diseases, quell storms, and even raise the dead to life. By these wonderful arts they were enabled to crush the brave Firbolgs into submission and to exercise sovereignty over all Ireland.

Nuada, the Tuatha De Danann king, lost his right hand in the last great battle with the Firbolgs, and, in consequence, came near losing his kingship, for his warlike subjects refused to recognize a mutilated sovereign. Nuada in this dilemma applied to Cert, his artificer (a man renowned for mechanical skill), to help him out of his difficulty. Cert fashioned for his royal master a silver hand of great beauty and wonderful workmanship, and the king’s physician, according to the legend, then took it off and infused feeling and motion into every joint and finger of it, as if it were a natural hand, and henceforth the monarch became known as Nuada of the Silver Hand.

While Nuada’s hand was being made the throne was occupied by a chief named Breas. The new king soon became very unpopular. He was not hospitable, he tried to oppress the nobles and had the bad taste to slight the bards. Discontent came © to.a climax when a popular bard visiting the royal court was rudely received by King Breas. The indignant bard soon left the palace, but not before pronouncing a terrible satire on the king—“‘the first satire,’’ we are told, ‘‘that ever had been pronounced in Erin.’? The consequences were dire to Breas, who was immediately called on to resign, which he did with the worst possible grace. The silver hand of Nuada being now finished, he at once re-ascended the throne. In wrath Breas withdrew to the Hebrides, where he roused up a vast army and navy under Balor of the Mighty Blows, a Fomorian chief of great renown.

Balor and Breas, after effecting a landing on the northern coast, marched their formidable army to a place called North Moytura, in the present County of Sligo, and there the two leaders awaited the attack of the Tuatha De Danann forces, which soon appeared and promptly gave them battle. The magical skill or superior fortune of the Tuatha De Dananns proved equal to this crisis, and the invaders were totally defeated. ‘Their renowned chief, Balor of the Mighty Blows, slew Nuada of the Silver Hand, but Balor himself was killed by the great Tuatha De Danann hero, Luga Long Arms, who, after the battle, was proclaimed monarch of all Ireland. The Plain of the Fomorian Towers is still pointed out to the curious as the place where this decisive Second Battle of Moytura, or Battle of North Moytura, was fought, and ruins of sepulchral monuments yet mark the site of that ancient battlefield. ‘“I'he Three Sorrowful Tales of Erin”’ are among the most famous of Ireland’s poetic legends. The first of these belongs to the reign of

Nuada of the Silver Hand—‘‘The Tale of the Fate of the Sons of Turenn.”’

The three sons of Turenn—Brian, Ur and Urcar—slew Kian, father of the renowned De Danann hero, Luga Long Arms. Kian and the sons of Turenn had long been at deadly feud, and when the latter chanced to meet him alone on the plain of Louth they cruelly stoned him to death, turning a deaf ear to his pleading to spare his life.

“Giy times the sons of T'urenn buried the body of their victim, and six times the earth cast it up again, but on the seventh burial the body remained in the grave. As the sons of Turenn rode from the spot a faint voice came from the ground, warning them that the blood they had spilled would follow them to the fulfillment of their doom.

“Tuga Long Arms, seeking for his father, came to the grave, and there the stones of the earth took voice and told him that his father lay beneath. Luga unearthed the body and vowed vengeance on the sons of Turenn over it. He then hastened to Tara, to the court of Nuada of the Silver Hand, and denounced the sons of Turenn. In those days the friends of any murdered person might either receive a fine, called ‘eric,’ in compensation, or might seek the death of the murderer. Luga called for the ‘eric.’ He demanded three apples, the skin of a | pig, a spear, two steeds and a chariot, seven pigs, a hound-whelp, a cooking-spit and three shouts on a hill. ‘Tio this ‘eric’? the sons of Turenn agreed readily enough before all the court. Then Luga explained himself more fully. The three apples were to be plucked from the garden of Hisberna, in the east of the world. ‘They were the color of burnished gold, and of the taste of honey, and cured wounds and all manner of sickness, and had many other wonderful qualities. ‘The garden of Hisberna was carefully guarded and none were allowed to take its precious fruit. The pig-skin belonged to the King of Greece and possessed the power of healing whosoever touched it. The spear was a venomed weapon with a blazing head, belonging to the King of Persia. The two steeds and chariot belonged to the King of Sicily. The seven pigs were the delight of Asal, King of the Golden Pillars, for they could be killed and eaten one day, and become alive and well the next. The hound-whelp belonged to the King of Iroda, and every wild beast of the forest fell powerless before it. The cooking-spit belonged to the warlike women of the island of Fincara, who never yet gave a cooking-spit to any one who did not overcome them in battle. The hill on which the three shouts had to be given was the hill of Midkena, in the north of Lochlann, the country of the Danes, which was always guarded by Midkena and his sons, who never allowed any one to shout on it.

‘‘The sons of Turenn were much daunted by this terrible ‘eric,’ but they were bound to fulfill it. They set sail in an enchanted canoe, the Wave Sweeper, to the garden of Hisberna, and succeeded, by turning themselves into hawks, in carrying off the apples. They then visited Greece in the guise of learned poets from Erin, and after a desperate fight overcame the King of Greece and his champions and carried off the pig-skin. Leaving the shores of Greece ‘and all its blue streams,’ they sailed to Persia, where they had to fight another battle with the king before they could carry off the blazing weapon in triumph. ‘They then voyaged to Sicily, overcame its monarch, and drove off the famous chariot and horses. Next came the turn of Asal, King of the Golden Pillars, but their fame had gone before them, and Asal gave up his seven pigs without a contest. He even accompanied them to Iroda, and aided them to obtain the hound-whelp.

‘‘Meanwhile the fame of the successes of the sons of T'urenn had come to Erin, and Luga Long Arms cast a magical spell over them, so that they quite forgot the cooking-spit and the three shouts on a hill, and came back to Erin thinking that they had fulfilled their ‘eric.’ But when Luga saw their spoils he reminded them of the unfulfilled part of the compact, and the heroes had to set out again with heavy hearts, for they knew that Luga desired their death. When Brian got to the island of Fincara, which lies beneath the sea, his beauty so pleased the warlike women that they gave him a ccooking-spit without any trouble. Now all that was left to the heroes to do was to shout the three shouts on Midkena’s hill. They sailed out into the north till they came to it, and there they fought desperately with Midkena and his sons and overcame and killed them. But they were wounded themselves nigh unto death, and with the greatest difficulty they raised three feeble shouts on Midkena’s hill. Then, wounded as they were, they sailed back to Erin and implored Luga to let them taste of the apples of Hisberna, that they might recover. But - Luga taunted them with their murder of his father and would be content with nothing short of their death; so they died, and the blood of Kian was avenged.’’

The Tuatha De Dananns remained in power in Erin nearly two hundred years. Three brothers— Ethur, Cethur and Fethur—were their last kings. These reigned alternately a year each during thirty years. Since the Tuatha De Danann conquest Ireland had been called Inisfail, but when the three brothers became kings it was named alternately Banba, Fola and Hire—in honor of the reigning king’s wife.

CHAPTER II. THE MILESIAN CONQUEST (B. c. 1120)

The last conquerors of Pagan Ireland were at different periods of their history called Gael or Gaddians, from Gaddas, one of their remote rulers; Phenicians, from King Phenius; and Scots, from Scota, the wife of Milesius, a king of Spain. The ancestors of the Milesians, according to the old annalists, in remote antiquity established themselves on the borders of the Red Sea. When Moses was preparing to liberate his people from cruel bondage Gadelas, king of the colony, having been bitten by a serpent, was presented to the great leader, who healed him by a touch of his wand. Weare told that Moses foretold, on curing Gadelas, that the land which should be inhabited by the Gadelians would be free from serpents and all venomous reptiles, ‘‘which,’’? says a discreet historian, ‘‘has been verified in regard to Ireland.’’ In gratitude for this great cure Gadelas supplied Moses and the children of Israel with provisions after their passage of the Red Sea. This act so incensed the Egyptians that they afterwards expelled the Gadelians from the country. ‘The latter, after some time, settled on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, which country in time became known as Phenicia, from Phenius, one of the most famous of the Gadelian kings.

Some centuries later a colony of the Phenicians left their own country and settled in Spain. Under the able command of Breogan the new-comers fought the Spaniards successfully and became masters of the northwestern province, where Breogan built a city, which he called Braganza, from his own name.

King Breogan had two sons, Ith and Bile. The latter was the father of Milesius, who in his turn became king of the colony. Soon after ascending the throne Milesius extended and strengthened his dominions (called Galicia) by diplomacy and successful wars and then concluded an advantageous peace with his enemies.

Milesius now resolved to visit the land of his ancestors for the purpose of learning those abstruse arts and sciences for which Egypt was then celebrated above all other nations. On his arrival King Pharaoh gave him the chief command of the royal army in a war in which he was engaged against the Ethiopians. The Spanish hero acquitted himself with such skill and success that the war was brought to a speedy close. As a reward for his services Pharaoh gave Milesius his beautiful daughter Scota in marriage. Before leaving Egypt Milesius caused twelve young men of his suite to be instructed in all the arts, sciences and mysteries of the Egyptians, so that they might instruct his subjects on their return to Spain. The great object of his journey being ended, Milesius bade farewell to the king and all his court, and accompanied by his nobles, his wife and attendants, he returned to Spain.

A dreadful drought now cast its gloom over all Galicia. King Milesius summoned all his chief men to assemble at Braganza to deliberate on the grave situation. It was unanimously resolved by the assembly to abandon Spain and seek the most western island of Europe, which one of their famous druids had long before prophesied would be possessed by the posterity of Milesius for all time.

The important discovery of this island was intrusted to Ith (son of Breogan and uncle of Milesius), who was a man of great wisdom and prudence. Ith having accepted the commission, set sail for the unknown isle with his son Louy and a large force of warriors and sailors.

The enterprising Spaniards soon landed on the Irish coast, but before advancing far inland they were attacked by the Tuatha De Dananns, and after a sharp struggle Ith fell mortally wounded, and the men from Spain were forced to retire. Louy barely escaped with a few companions and immediately embarked for home. In the meantime Milesius, after reigning thirty-six years in Galicia, died, universally mourned by all his people.

The Milesians, on the return of the expedition, without delay prepared themselves not only to avenge the death of Ith but also to conquer the Western isle, of which Louy had given a glowing account. Accordingly, a fleet of sixty vessels was equipped with all things necessary for so important an enterprise, and the entire colony embarked, under forty leaders, among whom were the eight sons of Milesius, their mother, Scota, and Louy, the son of Ith. After coasting along a part of Spain, France and England, they at length arrived off the coast of fair Inisfail, B. C. 1120.

While the invaders were preparing to land the Tuatha De Dananns were not idle; but, according to the legend, surrounded themselves and their beloved island with magic-made tempests and terrors. They darkened the heavens and wrapped the Milesian fleet in thick folds of impenetrable mist; they shook the invading ships with terrific storms, scattering and destroying most of them on the raging waves. But the Milesians had their druids or magicians also. Amergin, one of the sons of Milesius and a druid by profession, as soon as he suspected the agency which caused the storm began practicing counter-acts of magic, in which he soon succeeded, but not before five of his brothers had perished.

The remaining sons of Milesius—Heber, Heremon and Amergin—with all their attendants, effected a landing at last near Slieve Mish Mountain, in Kerry, but they were immediately attacked by a large force of the natives, commanded by Queen Eire, wife of Fethur, the Tuatha De Danann king. The warlike queen, after losing a thousand men, was put to flight by the invaders. The latter lost three hundred warriors in the battle, besides Scota, some druids and many chiefs. Queen Scota was buried beneath a royal cairn at the foot of Slieve Mish Mountain, near the ‘‘sad sea waves,’’ and her grave is still pointed out in a valley near Tralee, called from her, Glen Scota.

After this first advantage the Milesians laid plans for a decisive campaign. In a few days the hostile armies met on the plain of Tailton (now Teltown, in Meath). A well-contested and bloody battle followed, the issue of which was for a long time doubtful, prodigies of valor being performed on either side. ‘Towards evening, when their three kings—Ethur, Cethur and Fethur—and their three queens, together with their principal chiefs, had fallen, the brave Tuatha De Dananns were thrown into irrevocable confusion and hopeless rout. ‘This great battle was decisive: by its result the sovereignty of Ireland passed into the hands of the Milesian conquerors.

And thus the Tuatha De Danann dynasty passed away, leaving many a curious legend of magic and mystery among the people. After their overthrow they retired to the fastnesses of the wooded hills and mountains, and in those secluded places they were believed for centuries to have practiced diabolic arts befitting such accomplished magicians. A very curious ancient Irish MS. states that some of them lived as spirits and fairies, with human and material forms, but endowed with immortality. The Tuatha

De Dananns are believed by many to have left in Ireland numerous evidences of their existence in the form of raths, or forts, and monumental pillars.

‘*To this heroic period belongs the second sorrowful tale of Erin, the tale of the Fate of the Children of Lir. After the victory at Tailton, in which the Milesians conquered Ireland, the defeated Tuatha De Dananns from all the provinces assembled together and chose Bove Derg supreme king. Lir alone among the chieftains refused to acknowledge the new monarch and sullenly retired to his own territory. Some of the chiefs called for vengeance on Lir, but Bove Derg resolved to win his allegiance by friendship. For this purpose the king offered Lir the choice of his three foster daughters—Eve, Eva and Alva—in marriage. On this Lir relented, recognized the authority of Bove Derg, and married Eve, who bore him one daughter, Finola, and three sons, Fed, Ficia and Conn. Eve died. Lir for a time was inconsolable, but on the advice of Bove Derg he married the second foster daughter, Eva. The new stepmother grew jealous of Lir’s love for his children and wickedly turned them into swans. This, however, did not satisfy her. She laid this further doom on the children: that they must pass 300 years on Lake Darvan, 300 years on the Sea of Moyle, and yet 300 more on the Western Sea. Nor was the spell to be loosened until the sound of a Christian bell was first heard in Erin. ‘The only mitigation of their sufferings was the privilege of retaining their human voices. ‘The wicked stepmother was punished by Bove Derg by being turned into a demon of the air, but the children of Lir had to endure their sad fate for the nine appointed centuries until the coming of Christianity, when they were disenchanted by St. Kemoc. In their human form they were very old. ‘The saint baptized them and they died and went to heaven.’’