I found in Munster, unfettered of any, Kings, and queens, and poets a many-- Poets well skilled in music and measure, Prosperous doings, mirth and pleasure.
I found in Connaught the just, redundance Of riches, milk in lavish abundance; Hospitality, vigour, fame, In Cruachan's[154-1] land of heroic name.
I found in Ulster, from hill to glen, Hardy warriors, resolute men; Beauty that bloomed when youth was gone, And strength transmitted from sire to son.
I found in Leinster the smooth and sleek, From Dublin to Slewmargy's[154-2] peak; Flourishing pastures, valour, health, Long-living worthies, commerce, wealth.
I found in Meath's fair principality, Virtue, vigour, and hospitality; Candour, joyfulness, bravery, purity, Ireland's bulwark and security.
I found strict morals in age and youth, I found historians recording truth; The things I sing of in verse unsmooth, I found them all--I have written sooth.
[153-1] It was translated very exactly into prose in 1832 by the great Irish scholar Dr. John O'Donovan: the Irish poet James Clarence Mangan turned this prose with very little change into verse, part of which is given here.
[154-1] Cruachan or Croghan in the north of the present Co. Roscommon, the ancient palace of the kings of Connaught: see page 52.
[154-2] Slewmargy, now Slievemargy, a low range of hills in Queen's County.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE ADVENTURES OF MAILDUNE[155-1] AND HIS CREW, AND OF THE WONDERFUL THINGS THEY SAW DURING THEIR VOYAGE OF THREE YEARS AND SEVEN MONTHS, IN THEIR CURRAGH, ON THE WESTERN SEA.
In that part of Thomond[155-2] lying opposite the Aran Islands there once lived a young chief named Maildune. When he was an infant, a band of marauders landed on the coast, and plundered the whole district, and slew his father by burning the house over his head. Maildune grew up knowing nothing of all this, for his mother concealed it from him. But one day, when he was now a young man, he was contending in certain games of strength with a number of young persons of his own age, and he obtained the victory in every contest. At last it came to throwing the handstone: and when he had thrown it farther than all the others, an envious foul-tongued fellow who was standing by said to him:--