"Nach tu bráthair Áine as Aoife A's mic an Deaghadh do b' árd-fhlaith ar tíorthaibh, A's móir-mhic Lir do ritheadh an mhín-mhuir Dhoinn Chnuic-na-ndos agus Dhoinn Chnuic Fírinn'? Nach tu gan doirbhe do h-oileadh 'san ríogh-bhrogh Ag Aongus óg na Bóinne caoimhe, Do bhi tu ag Lugha ad' chongnamh i gcaoinsgir [cath] Ag claoidh Balair a dhanar 's a dhraoithe. Do bhi tu ag maidhm anaghaidh mic Mhiledh Ag teacht asteach thar neart na gaoithe: 'S na dhiaigh sin i gciantaibh ag Naoise; Do bhi tu ag Conall 'san gcosgar do bh' aoirde Ag ceann de'n ghad de cheannaibh righteadh: Budh thaoiseach treasa i gcathaibh Chuinn thu."
The allusion in the last line but one is to the heads that Conall Cearnach strung upon the gad or rod, to avenge the death of Cuchulain, for which see later on.
Curtin finally asks Donn to let him into his fairy mansion, if not as a poet to enliven his feasts, then at least as a horse-boy to groom his horses.
"Munar bhodhar thu o throm ghuth na taoide No mur bhfuarais bás mar chách a Dhoinn ghil," &c.
_I.e._, "unless thou hast grown deaf by the constant voice of the tide, or unless, O bright Donn, thou hast died like everybody else!"
[12] Hellanikus, one of the best known of these, went so far as to give the very year, and even the very day of the capture of Troy.
[13] Mac Firbis, in his great MS. book of genealogies, marks the mythical character of these personages still more clearly, for in his short chapter on the Tuatha De Danann he describes them as of light yellow hair, etc. [_monga finbuidhe orra_], and gives the names of their three Druids and their three distributors, who were called Enough, Plenty, Filling [_Sáith, Leór, Línad_]; their three gillies, three horses, three hounds, three musicians; Music Sweet and Sweetstring [Ceól Bind Tetbind], and so on, all evidently allegorical. _See_ facsimile of the Book of Leinster, p. 30, col. 4, l. 40, and p. 187, col. 3, l. 55, for the oldest form of this.
[14] The following is the whole quotation from O'Mahony's Keating (for an account of this book see below, p. 556): "Here follows an enumeration of the most famous and noble persons of the Tuatha Da Danann, viz., Eochaidh the Ollamh called the Dagda, Ogma, Alloid, Bres, and Delbaeth, the five sons of Elathan, son of Niad, and Manannán, son of Alloid, son of Delbaeth. The six sons of Delbaeth, son of Ogma, namely, Fiachadh, Ollamh, Indaei, Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba. Aengus Aedh Kermad and Virdir, the four sons of the Dagda. Lughaidh, son of Cian, son of Diancécht, sons of Esary, son of Niad, son of Indaei. Gobnenn the smith, Credni the artist, Diancécht the physician, Luchtan the mason, and Carbni the poet, son of Tura, son of Turell. Begneo, son of Carbni, Catcenn, son of Tabarn, Fiachadh, son of Delbaeth, with his son Ollamh, Caicer and Nechtan, the two sons of Namath. Eochaidh the rough, son of Duach Dall. Sidomel, the son of Carbri Crom, son of Elcmar, son of Delbaeth. Eri Fodhla and Banba, the three daughters of Fiachadh, son of Delbaeth, son of Ogma, and Ernin, daughter of Edarlamh, the mother of these women. The following are the names of their three goddesses, viz., Badhbh, Macha, and Morighan. Béchoil and Danaan were their two Ban-tuathachs, or chief ladies, Brighid was their poetess. Fé and Men were the ladies or ban-tuathachs of their two king-bards, and from them Magh Femen in Munster has its name. Of them also was Triathri Torc, from whom Tretherni in Munster is called. Cridinbhél, Brunni, and Casmael were their three satirists."