The Testimony of Tradition

The site of the edifice was accordingly transferred to Taptillery, an eminence at some distance from the place where the building had been commenced." In this case the interruption merely took the shape of a warning, but the midnight work in the former instance is entirely in keeping with all that tradition says of the Pechts.[197]

Hugh Miller again points out a fairy locality, when referring to a boating excursion on Loch Maree, in 1823, on which occasion he learned from the boatman that one of the islands, Eilean Suthainn, was the annual rendezvous of the fairies, where they paid to their queen the yearly "kain" or tribute, due to "the Evil One." This reference is quoted by the author of "Gairloch,"[198] who also states:

"In Gairloch we have Cathair Mhor and Cathair Bheag, names applied to several places; and the Sitheanan Dubha on Isle Ewe and on the North Point. There is Cathair Mhor at the head of Loch Maree, and Cathair Bheag (the Gaelic name of the place) at Kerrysdale. These names mean respectively the big and little seats of the fairies....

"The name Sitheanan Dubha signifies the black knowes or hillocks of the fairies. It is applied to two places in Gairloch, viz., to the highest hill-tops at the north end of Isle Ewe, and to a low hill and small round loch a full mile due north of Carn Dearg house."

Further south than Loch Maree, and situated in the deer-forest of Mamore, in the Nether Lochaber district, there is an alleged "hollow hill" which is also exceptionally famous. It is thus described by a local gillie:—

"Coming up the Ulnach, sir, you saw a corrie away to the left? Well, that's Corrie-Vinnean; and the round hillock in the centre, which you must also have noticed, is a Shiän or fairy-knowe; and in all the garbh-chnochan (rough-bounds) around us, from Kinloch Leven to Ardverikie, there is no other shiän so famous as this shiän, and it is the chief palace of the fairies of all these upland wilds, and it is always occupied by a company of them. It is never altogether deserted even for a day, though many other shiäns are sometimes unoccupied for weeks together."[199]

CHAPTER XIV.

So numerous are the mounds that, owing to the traditions attaching to them, invite their own destruction at the hands of the archæologist, that only a limited number of them can be specified in these pages. Among these were, until recent years, two "fairy knowes," long known by that term in the adjoining countryside. They lie between the rivers Forth and Teith, about four miles to the south of Doune. One of them was broken into a good many years ago, and it is now known to antiquaries as the "Broch of Coldoch" (from the estate on which it is situated).[200] It appears to be one of those structures which form a connecting link between the open-air broch, such as that of Mousa, and the more visible "hill," such as Maes-how. It is circular in form, has the central chamber and three small chambers in the thickness of the wall; and the lower portion of a winding-stair, also in the wall, which shows it to be the remains of an inferior "Mousa." Its dimensions are like those of other "brochs," and these are such that, in this case, they evoked the remark from the writer's guide (a native of the district) that "it had never been built for men like him." This, indeed, is the remark that naturally falls from any visitor to such buildings; as the writer has noticed on several such occasions (nor can he forget that one, at any rate, of his companions, in a recent visit to "the hidden places of the Fians and fairies" in the valley of the Boyne, was debarred from inspecting these interesting works for the simple reason that the underground passage of entrance was so strait, in every way, that for him to worm himself along it, as all visitors must do, was a physical impossibility). The popular belief that such mounds were tenanted by dwarfs has no stronger testimony than the obvious fact that none but dwarfs would have thought of raising such structures; or could have properly utilized them when erected. And although the most famous of the Boyne mounds just referred to has been styled "the firm mansion of the 'Dagda'" in ancient records, and, by a modern singer,

yet such a "mansion" would be a most impracticable kind of abode for men of the ordinary height of modern Europeans, if any such felt disposed to imitate the "magnificence" of Angus Og.

Of this "Royal Brugh" the outward appearance is well delineated in the engraving which constitutes the Frontispiece. All that has been said as to the adaptability of Maes-how to any of the well-known fairy stories is equally applicable to this Irish "how." The Boyne mound, however, as will be seen from its measurements, is much larger than the Orkney one; though the stone structure in its interior is of much the same dimensions as the other. The interior of the "Broch of the Boyne," however, represents a much ruder and more primitive stage in such architecture, and compared with it, the Orkney "how" is a most finished and elaborate work.

This, then, is what a fairy hill, of the larger class, looks like to the outsider. And it is clear that, when its entrance is concealed, as it once was, no stranger, ignorant of such a thing as a mound-dwelling, would ever think that this innocent-looking hill was artificially made, and that the chambers within it were the residence of a family or families. One might well begin to build, and even to fell trees, upon the outer "walls" of such a "house," without knowing that such a proceeding might be resented by "the moody elfin king that won'd within the hill."

The entrance to this underground hall, which has been rediscovered for about two centuries, may be discerned almost at the base of the hill, slightly to the left of the figures of the man and boy in the foreground. This entrance or doorway is represented below, and, like the others of this series, it is the work of an artist who is also an eminent Irish archæologist, than whom no one possesses a more intimate acquaintance with the interior and exterior of the Boyne mounds. This, then, is an Irish illustration of what the Shetland boys used to call a "trow's door!"[201]

The (not too portly) explorer who enters this doorway and creeps, sometimes laterally, along the passage, at one point very low and narrow, works his way at length into the comparatively large chamber that forms the main part of the structure. The relation which this passage and chamber bear to the mound which was heaped over them will be seen from the transverse sectional view of the "hill," which is represented in the accompanying plate. The dimensions and general appearance of this underground gallery and "hall" will also be fully understood by an examination of this and the other designs. And one point will be noticed, namely, that no access to the top of the mound, as in such a case as Finn's dwelling in Sylt, or the Orkney Maes-how, is here visible. But it must be borne in mind that, over those portions of the mound which are represented as solid, the word "Unexplored" might fitly be written. If this is like some of the "fairy hills" of tradition, it ought to have a channel, or passage, leading upward to the summit, and, indeed, the lower end of such a passage, though at present choked up, is suggested at one side of the inner chamber (on the right hand of the explorer), as may be seen in the plan of the year 1889.

It is necessary, however, to discriminate between one kind of "fairy hill" and another. Maeshow and the Sylt Denghoog appear to closely resemble the modern Lapp gamme, as regards the upper portion of the structure, for access to both of these may be gained from the roof. The "trap-door" to which Mr. Black refers in the Sylt instance appears to have always existed in one shape or another; and its original use may be guessed from the following notice of the same portion of a Lapp gamme. The gamme "is generally circular, or oblong, having the appearance of a large, rounded hillock, which indeed it may be termed," says a Lapland traveller of sixty years ago.[202] And he further states that "an opening in the roof, nearly over the fire-place, served to let out the smoke; and might be covered at times with a kind of trap-door, to retain the internal warmth, when the fire is burnt out. This is always let down at night." That this was the usage in the dwelling of Finn, or whatever may have been the name of the Sylt dwarf whose bones were found in the Denghoog, seems very probable. But to such chambered mounds as the Broch of the Boyne, another traditionary egress, whether for the dwellers or for the smoke, seems more applicable. It has already been noticed that "pits on the top of hills were supposed to lead to the subterranean habitations of the Fairies."

But another version says that "pits on the tops of mountains are regarded in the border [i.e., the Anglo-Scottish Borders] with a degree of superstitious horror, as the porches or entrances of the subterraneous habitations of the fairies; from which confused murmurs, the cries of children, moaning voices, the ringing of bells, and the sounds of musical instruments are often supposed to be heard. Round these hills the green fairy circles are believed to wind in a spiral direction, till they reach the descent to the central cavern."[203] Assuming that "mountains" ought to read "hillocks," and that the spiral passages are akin to those which wind down the interior of the walls of such a "broch" as that of Mousa, this tradition would lead one to believe that the Broch of the Boyne has a winding passage to the upper air. A recent visitor has observed that "on the exterior top of the mound there appears to be a small crater-like depression,"[204] which he attributes to a subsidence of the structure, but which, on the other hand, may have always been there. The suggestion of an upward passage in the interior has just been referred to. This latter is not indicated at all in the plan of the year 1724; but as a matter of fact, this detail was not known until quite recently, when the displacement of a slab revealed this cavity (as well as some additional spiral incisions on the slab).

It will be observed that the plans of 1724 and 1889 differ considerably as to the dimensions and outline of the central chamber. Although the earlier one was "delineated with care and accuracy, upon the place," by "Mr. Samuel Molyneux, a young gentleman of the college of Dublin," one must rather accept the testimony of so experienced and careful an archæologist as Mr. Wakeman. But the plan of 1724 has this great merit, that it was executed only twenty-nine years after the re-opening of the "brugh"; and, consequently, it shows (marked with the letter H) "a pyramid stone now fallen, but formerly set up erect in the middle of the cave." Moreover, Mr. Molyneux was able to give a sketch of the carvings above the right hand, or eastern recess, when these were much fresher than at any period during this century. A fac-simile of this picture is here given; and if the artistic style of the draughtsman is not very admirable it will at least be admitted that his work possesses a high archæological value. But before quitting the subject of the drawing of 1724, it must be pointed out that although Mr. Molyneux shows, in the northern recess of his ground-plan, a rude basin similar to those still occupying the eastern and western recesses, yet the account of Mr. Edward Llhwyd, stated to have been written in 1699,[205] distinctly says that that recess was then vacant. If Mr. Llhwyd's statement is correct the plan of 1724 is obviously misleading in this respect.

The statements of those early writers are deserving of full consideration, for they wrote before the effects of the outside air and the unscientific tourist could have appreciably altered the appearance of the chamber, since it was entered in 1695. Their accounts, therefore, are quoted afterwards at greater length.[206] But, from what has been said, and from an inspection of these illustrations, a good idea may be gained of the exterior and interior appearance of the habitation in which tradition states that Angus Og "magnificently dwelt."

Something may here be said regarding this personage, and the race to which he belonged. He is said to have been the King of the Tuatha De Danann, a race traditionally believed to have been the immediate precursors of the Gaels in Ireland. They are sometimes spoken of as "the Dananns" or "Danaans"; sometimes also as "the Tuatha De, or Dea." Tuatha merely signifies "people"; but the two other names do not seem to have received any definite interpretation. It is said that they migrated from "Lochlin" (Scandinavia, or perhaps also Northern Germany) to the north-eastern Lowlands of Scotland; and Dr. Skene notes that the topography of that district supports the theory in several details.[207]

After living there for several generations, they are understood to have crossed to Ireland, then inhabited by the race of the "Fir-Bolgs," whom they subdued.[208] Two centuries later the Gaels (or Milesians) came to Ireland—from Spain, it is said. It was at this period that "Aonghus Mac an Daogha," otherwise Angus, son of "the Dagda," was king of the Tuatha De Danann. The story goes that the Dananns, recognizing that the Gaels came as powerful and warlike invaders, and as colonizers, told them on their first arrival that if they could effect a landing in open day, and in spite of the Dananns, then one-half of Ireland would be ceded to the new-comers. The Gaels were successful; but the two parties could not agree as to the division of Ireland,—apparently because the Tuatha De Danann, while willing to surrender one-half of the island, wished to retain the sovereignty of the whole. Then, after the simple fashion of the heroes of ancient chronicles, the rival forces came to the agreement that the matter should be laid before the first person whom a party of deputies from either side should happen to encounter at the outskirts of a certain town, on an appointed day, and this man's decision should be held as final. Now, although the Dananns are remembered as "adepts in all Druidical and magical arts," the Gaels also had a druidh (i.e., wizard or magus) among their number; who proved more than a match for the Dananns. For, between him and the leaders of his party it was arranged that the man whom the deputies should accidentally meet at the appointed place should be no other than this druidh of the Gaels, whose person was unknown to their opponents. The unsuspecting Dananns walked into the trap. The first man that the delegates met was a strolling harper. "It is a great thing thou hast to do to-day, good master of the sciences!" was the greeting of Angus Mac Dagda, who was one of the company. "What have I to be doing to-day?" quoth the wise man, "except to go about with my harp, and learn who shall best reward me for my music."[209] "Thy task is far greater than that," answered Angus, "thou hast to divide Ireland into two equal portions." Thereupon the druidh, having obtained the promise of either side that they would abide by his decision, pronounced as follows:—"This, then, is my decision. As ye, O magical Dananns, have for a long period possessed that half of Ireland which is above ground, henceforth the half which is underneath the surface shall be yours, and the half above ground shall belong to the Sons of Miledh (the Milesians, or Gaels). To thee, O Angus, son of the Dagda, as thou art the king of the Tuatha De Danann, I assign the best earth-house in Ireland, the white-topped brugh of the Boyne.[210] As for the rest, each one can select an earth-house for himself." Against this grotesque decision there was, obviously, no appeal, and the Dananns surrendered the surface of Ireland to the Gaels; "and retaining only the green mounds, known by the name of Sidh, and then being made invisible by their enchantments, became the Fir Sidhe, or Fairies, of Ireland."[211]

In this legend of the "halving" of Ireland, Dr. Skene recognizes the memory of a historical fact,—the conquest of Ireland by the Gaels, and the terms meted out by them to the natives. The tradition has of course its defects, like most traditions. The "earth-houses" referred to[212] must have already been in existence before they could be spoken of, and particularized, by the magician of the Gaels.

The inference to be drawn from the story is that the Tuatha De Danann were themselves mound-dwellers, and that the terms imposed upon them by the Gaels restricted the conquered people to their own habitations, presumably with the reservation of a small portion of the adjoining territory. That, in short, the Gaelic conquest denoted a state of things analogous to the European conquest and settlement of North America, where the native races, having once submitted, were allowed to live on "reservations," scattered here and there throughout the country. Thus, as in America, the two races would live side by side, though perhaps, as in America, presenting the most opposite characteristics.

The above story states that the Fir Sidhe, or Dananns, were confined to those "hollow hills" by the Gaels, through the instrumentality of their druidh. The version which Mr. William Black indicates as current in Southern Ireland, ascribes this act to the saints. In his novel of Shandon Bells, he introduces the hero and heroine as standing in "the very headquarters of the elves and the pixies"; and the girl asks "'Is this where you said the saints shut up Don Fierna and the pixies?' 'No,' he said, 'that was away over there in the mountains. But they say the little people can get out into this valley; and you won't catch many of the Inisheen natives about here after dark!'" Here, then, it is a Gaelic saint and not a Gaelic druidh who was instrumental in confining "the little people" to their homes; but, after all, there is perhaps not much difference between saint and druidh. The Fierna here referred to, it may be remarked, is that King of the Sidhfir of Munster, who has been spoken of on a previous page,[213] and whose dwelling, according to tradition, was the hill of Knockfierin, in the neighbourhood of Limerick.

The Tuatha De Danann, therefore, are the Sidhfir, or Fairies, of Irish tradition. But the Tuatha De Danann have been already referred to in these pages.[214] "Who were the Feinne of tradition, and to what country and period are they to be assigned?" This is the question put by Dr. Skene. And after considering the various Irish traditions relating to "the Feinne," his conclusion is this: "The Feinne, then, belonged to the pre-Milesian races, and were connected, not only with Ireland, but likewise with Northern and Central Scotland, England and Wales, and the territory lying between the Rhine and the Elbe. [This last-named territory, being "Lochlin," ought perhaps to be held as including the whole of Scandinavia.] Now, there are just two people mentioned in the Irish records who had settlements in Ireland, and who yet were connected with Great Britain and 'Lochlin.' These were the people termed the Tuatha De Danann, and the Cruithne.... These two tribes were thus the prior race in each country [Ireland and North and Central Scotland]. Both must have been prior to the Low German population of Lochlan. The Cruithne were the race prior to the Scots [Gaels] in North and Central Scotland, and the Tuatha De Danann the prior colony to the Milesian Scots in Ireland. The Feinne are brought by all the old historic tales into close contact with the Tuatha De Danann; a portion of them were avowedly Cruithne; and if they were, as we have seen, in Ireland, not of the Milesian race, but of the prior population, and likewise connected with Great Britain and the region lying between the Rhine and the Elbe, the inference is obvious, that, whether a denomination for an entire people or for a body of warriors, they belonged to the previous population which preceded the Germans in Lochlan and the Gaels in Ireland and North and Central Scotland. This view is corroborated by the fact, that in the old poems and tales the Feinne appear, as we have said, in close connection with the Tuatha De Danann. They are likewise connected with the Cruithne.... In answering, then, the preliminary questions of who were the Feinne? and to what period do they belong? we may fairly infer that they were of the population who immediately preceded the Gaels in Ireland and in North and Central Scotland."[215]

The Feinne, then, belonged to the population which comprised the Cruithne and the Tuatha De Danann, or Sidhfir, or Fairies. But the Cruithne, as we have seen,[216] were the Picts of history, and the "Pechts" of Scottish folk-lore. Thus, the Feinne were of the population of "Pechts and Fairies." It has already been shown that to draw a hard and fast line between these two divisions is impossible. Nevertheless, there seems to have been once some kind of distinction between the two. And if the Feinne must necessarily have been "Pechts or Fairies" (as the above conclusions of Dr. Skene's seem to warrant), then they appear to have belonged to the former division. Or, in other words, they were Cruithne rather than Tuatha De Danann. It may be remembered that in such a Fenian ballad as the Dan an Fhir Shicair, or Song of the Fairy Man,[217] the Feinne are represented as associating with the Sidhfir (say Tuatha De Danann), but yet not as identical with them. Again, the same dubiety was seen in the references to the hoards of treasure obtained by the ninth-century Danes from "the hidden places belonging to Fians or to Fairies,"[218] in the valley of the Boyne.

The Brugh of the Boyne is several times spoken of by Professor Eugene O'Curry in his "Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History."[219] For example, as an illustration of the use of the word sidh to denote "a hall or residence" of the sidh-folk Mr. O'Curry cites a stanza "taken from an ancient poem by Mac Nia, son of Oenna (in the Book of Ballymote, fol. 190, b.) on the wonders of Brugh (or Brog) na Boinne (the Palace of the Boyne), the celebrated Hall of the Daghda Mór, who was the great king and oracle of the Tuata Dé Danann. This poem," continues Mr. O'Curry, "begins: 'A Chaemu Bregh Brig nad Breg' ('Ye Poets of Bregia, of truth, not false,') and this is the second stanza of that poem:

In the same work we read of an incident, placed in the time of St. Patrick and subsequent to the Battle of Gawra, when the conquered "Fianns" were only represented by a few straggling survivors, one of whom was the well-known Caeilté (as the name is here spelt). "Saint Patrick, with his travelling missionary retinue, including Caeilté we are told, was one day sitting on the hill which is now well known as Ard-Patrick, in the county of Limerick." Questioning Caeilté as to the former name of this hill, St. Patrick learned that it had been called Tulach-na-Feiné, and obtained also an anecdote suggested by it. "One day that we were on this hill," says Caeilté, speaking of himself and his brother "Fianns," "Finn observed a favourite warrior of his company, named Cael O'Neamhain, coming towards him, and when he had come to Finn's presence, he asked him where he had come from. Cael answered that he had come from Brugh in the north (that is the fairy mansion of Brugh, on the Boyne).[221] 'What was your business there?' said Finn. 'To speak to my nurse, Muirn, the daughter of Derg,' said Cael. 'About what?' said Finn. 'Concerning Credé, the daughter of Cairbré, King of Kerry (Ciarraighe Luachra),' said Cael?" And so on. At another place[222] the dialogue goes thus:—"'Where hast thou come from, Cael?' said Finn. 'From the teeming Brugh, from the North,' said Cael. ('As in Brug Braenach atuaid,' ar Cael)." And so on, to the same purpose as in the other version. In this story, then, we see the "Fians and Fairies" associated with each other, as in The Ballad of the Fairy Man; and the nurse of one of the Fians is described as living in the "brugh" which was built by the celebrated chief of the Tuatha De Danann, and was afterwards tenanted by his son, Angus Og.

Among Mr. O'Curry's notes there is this reference to Angus Og:[223] "In the Dinnsenchus it is stated that 'Eóin Bailé' were Four Kisses of Aengus of Brugh na Boinné (son of the Daghda Mor, the great necromancer and king of the Tuatha Dé Danann), which were converted by him into 'birds which haunted the youths of Erinn.' This allusion," remarks Mr. O'Curry, "requires more investigation than I have yet been able to bestow on the passage." Whatever the "Eóin Bailé" may have been, or have been assumed to be, this passage brings into prominence the fact that the people known as Tuatha De Danann, or Fir-Sidhe, were regarded by other races as possessed of supernatural power, and were indeed actually revered as gods at one era. As the biographer of St. Patrick says of him:—

(Here, of course, the Fir Sidhe, or people of the "sidhs" are denoted; the word being sometimes used to indicate the dwellers, sometimes the dwellings.) And the exalted character of the inmates of the Brugh of the Boyne is indicated also in a verse of a Gaelic poem entitled Baile Suthain Sith Eamhna, which dates back to the year 1457 at least. The subject of the verse referred to is thus apostrophized:—

This exalted position "the little people" seem to have retained in some measure long after their subjugation, and even the household drudge or "brownie" was feared for his alleged "supernatural" power. The fact that the common people of Ireland at the present day speak of the inhabitants of the "brughs" or "sheeans" as "the gentry," may also be regarded as a witness to the superior rank once held by that caste whose mound-dwellings are exemplified by this "Brugh of the Boyne" and others in its neighbourhood.

Of the undoubtedly historic spoliation of those Boyne "hillocks" in the ninth century, something more may be said here. "We have on record," says Lady Ferguson,[226] "both in the Irish chronicles and the Norse Sagas, that in the year 861 the three earls, Olaf, Sitric, and Ivar, opened, for purposes of plunder, the sepulchral mounds of New Grange, Dowth, and Knowth on the Boyne, and the mound of the wife of the Gobaun Saer,[227] the mythic builder, or Wayland Smith of the Irish Celts, still a conspicuous object at Drogheda."

One of the Irish chronicles referred to by Lady Ferguson is that known as the "Annals of Ulster" ("compiled in the year 1498," says Dr. Skene), and the passage is as follows: "Aois Cr. ocht cced seascca a haon, ... Amlaoibh, Iomhair, 7[228] h Uailsi, tri toisigh Gall. 7 Lorcain me Cathail tigerna Midhe, do ionnradh ferainn Floinn me Conaing. Uaimh Ach Alda hi Mugdhornaibh Maighen, Uaimh Cnoghbhai, Uaimh Feirt Bodan os Dubath, 7 Uaimh mna an Gobhand ag Drochat atha do croth 7 d orggain las na Gall cedna."[229]

This is rendered into Latin by Dr. O'Conor thus: "Ætas Christi DCCCLXI..... Amlafus, Imarus et Magnates trium Ducum Alienigenarum, et Lorcanus filius Cathaldi Princeps Midiæ, vastant terras Flanni filii Conangi. Crypta subterranea campi Alda in regione Mugdornorum planitiei, Crypta Cnovæ, Cryptæ miraculorum Bodani supra Dubath, et Crypta fœminæ fabri apud Droghedam, vastatæ et destructæ ab Alienigenis iisdem."

Neither Dr. Todd nor Dr. Skene, however, have a high opinion of O'Conor's translation.[230] And his rendering of "Uailsi" by "Magnates" is palpably a blunder based upon the acceptance of that word as uaillse or uaisle, a nobleman; whereas, Uailsi, Oisli, Oisill, &c., was the name of a comrade (some accounts say a brother) of the Olaf and Ivor referred to.[231] Thus, the Annals state that in 861, Olaf (or Anlaf, or Aulay), Ivor and Uailsi (or Oisli), three chiefs of the Foreigners, and Lorcan, son of Cathal, lord of Meath,[232] devastated the lands of Flann, son of Conang; in other words, the territory of "Bregia,—a district including the counties of Meath, Westmeath, Dublin (north of the Liffey), and part of Louth."[233] And these same "foreigners" pillaged and destroyed certain underground chambers, which O'Conor refers to as "crypts." The term is correct enough, signifying, as it does, an underground place of concealment. But the Gaelic term is more suitable, if the quickened pronunciation which in many parts of Scotland has occasioned the spelling "weem" (i.e., uaim) be adopted. For by "weem" is understood the subterranean gallery previously described, if it is not at any time applied to the actual "hollow hill."[234] Of the "weems" in the territory of Flann, which the Annals state were plundered, three are easily recognized;—viz., that of "Cnoghbha," the modern "Knowth" (which is portrayed in the accompanying plate), the still more celebrated "Uaimh Feirt Bodan," described as "above Dubath,"[235] now known as Dowth, which is also here represented, and thirdly, the "weem" of the wife of the Gobban Saor, or "noble smith," at Drogheda. The first-named of all is said to be that of the "Brugh of the Boyne," at New Grange; and no doubt there is evidence for this identification, although the term "Mugdhornaibh Maighen" would otherwise lead one to place this "weem" at "Mugornn or Mugdhorn, now Cremorne,"[236] in the county of Monaghan.

Two of these "weems" are mentioned in the Gaelic poem of Sith Eamhna, wherein, as has been seen, "the son of noble Sabia" was assumed to be equally the son of some god "from Bru of the Boyne." In this poem, whose meaning is somewhat obscure, there are several references to the Boyne and to various "broghs," of which one is "the cave of Ferna, the fair cave of Knowth (uaim fhearna, uaim chaomh cnodhbha, or chnoghdha)." This Sith Eamhna itself appears to have been of the same order, and not improbably was that Eamhain which was "the ancient palace of the kings of Ulster." "The ruins of Eamhain, or, as it is now corruptly called, the Navan Fort, are to be seen about two miles to the west of Armagh," says Mr. O'Donovan, in a note to his "Book of Rights."[237] This is certainly farther north than the territory of Flann Mc Conang, ravaged by the "foreigners" in 861, as defined on a previous page; but one writer states that that territory of "Bregia" (or Breagh) extended into Ulster, in the eighth century;[238] and if the plundered "weem" first-named in the Annals was really in county Monaghan, that would show that a portion of "Breagh" was situated in Ulster in 861.

Eamhain, or Emania (in the Latinized form), appears to have given its name to all Ulster, but in its proper application the term refers to the stronghold itself. Dr. Skene speaks of "the fall of the great seat of the Cruithnian kingdom called Emania, before an expedition, led by a scion of the Scottish (i.e., Gaelic) royal race, who established the kingdom of Orgialla on its ruins."[239] It is this place that is associated with Oscar, the hero of the "Fians," at the time of the Battle of Gawra; and it may be remembered that, in a poem describing that battle, a chief of one section of the "Fian" confederacy is made to exclaim:—

And as Oscar is stated to have been slain at the Battle of Gawra, and the power of the "Fians" destroyed, one is tempted to believe that the legendary battle of Gawra coincides with the historical capture of Oscar's stronghold of Emhain, and the downfall of the historical Cruithné of Ulster. However, Sith Eamhna has been mentioned here not for its own sake, but for the casual references in that poem to the "Brugh of the Boyne" and "the cave of Ferna, the fair cave of Knowth."

The Gaelic records as well as the Scandinavian have many tales of "how-breaking" exploits. For, although the accounts of the Feenic "heroes" have been preserved to us in the Gaelic language, as those of the Longobards have been preserved in Latin, it does not follow in the one case more than in the other, that the language of the chronicle was the language of the chronicled. Whatever may have been wrought eventually, by time and intercourse, the Gaelic-speaking people appear originally as the plunderers of "the hidden places of the Fians and Fairies." Professor O'Curry states that among the Historic Tales in the Book of Leinster, there are many which deal specially with adventures in "caves" or, otherwise, "weems." Tales of this class are called Uatha.[240] "These are tales respecting various occurrences in caves; sometimes the taking of a cave, when the place has been used as a place of refuge or habitation,—and such a taking would be, in fact, a sort of Toghail [the Toghail having been previously defined as a history 'which details the taking of a fort or fortified palace or habitation by force ... the term always implies the destruction of the buildings taken.']; sometimes the narrative of some adventure in a cave; sometimes of a plunder of a cave." Mr. O'Curry gives a list of the uatha in the "Book of Leinster"; and of these the most noteworthy is the Uath Uama Cruachan, or the Plundering of the Weem of Cruachan. This is referred to as "a very curious story," and the ravagers are said to have been "the men of Connacht, in the time of Ailill and Meadhbh, as told in the old tale of Táin Bo Aingen." This Meadhbh, or Maev, of Cruachan, "the Semiramis of Irish history," as Lady Ferguson calls her, has herself been identified with the "Queen Mab" of fairy tradition. She appears to have occupied this "Uama Cruachan" after it had been plundered; for it is stated that her husband "re-edified the Rath of Cruachan, employing for the purpose a fierce tribe of Firbolgic origin, the Gowanree, who were compelled to labour unremittingly at the earthworks, and are said to have completed the dyke in one day."[241] Mr. O'Curry has another reference to this place. "I have in my possession," he says, "a poem in the Ossianic style, which gives an account of a foot race between Cailté, the celebrated champion of Finn Mac Cumhaill, and an unknown knight who had challenged him. The race terminated by the stranger running into the Cave of Cruachain, followed by Cailté, where he found a party of smiths at work, etc. No copy of the full Tale has come down to us." This incident is remarkable for its association of one of the "Fians" with the underground smiths of tradition. Another uath mentioned by Mr. O'Curry is the Uath Dercce Ferna, regarding which he says:—"There is an allusion to the trampling to death of some sort of monster, in the mouth of this cave, by a Leinsterwoman, in a poem on the Graves of Heroes who were killed by Leinstermen, preserved in the Book of Leinster (H. 2. 18, fol. 27, Trin. Coll. Dubl.)."

The same place is the scene of the tale Echtra Find an Deircfearna, "The Adventures of Finn in Derc Fearna"; but unfortunately Mr. O'Curry has to add "This tale is now lost." It is not clear why he should identify "Derc Fearna" with the "Cave of Dunmore in the county Kilkenny." One would naturally, considering its association with Finn and "Heroes who were killed by Leinstermen," assume that this was the same as "the cave of Ferna, the fair cave of Knowth."[242]