This is the Death of Dermot son of Fergus
Cerrbeoil
as the
Book of Sligo tells it.
It was when by Tuathal Maelgarb once Fergus Cerrbeoil’s son
Dermot was driven into banishment on Loch Ree and on
Shannon :—Now in that same time it was that
Ciarán
mac an tsaoir came
to Druim
tibrat (the
spot where Clonmacnoise stands to-day) to found his
monastery. With eight upon the loch Kieran travelled, but
with twelve hundred on land. A fire is kindled by the
clergy.
Where Dermot in his banishment was just then was at
snámh
dá én (that is
to say: two birds that Nar son of Conall Cernach’s son
Finncha killed there on Eistine the Amazon’s shoulder,
whence it is named snámh
dá én, i.e.
‘two birds’ swimming-place'). Said his wizards to Dermot:
“the purpose for which yon fire is kindled to-night is such
that it never will be quenchcd.” “Verily it shall be even
now [that the quenching will be done],” Dermot said, as the
boats came to Port-grencha,
where Tipra Finghin is to-day.
There it was that the cleric was in act to plant a church.
“What is the work thou doest?” Dermot asked. “To build a
little church,” Kieran answered. “That might as well be its
name: eglais
bheg, i.e.
‘little church.”’ “Thrust in the upright with me,” Kieran
said to Dermot, “and [as we do it] suffer my hand to be put
over thine; so shall thy hand and thy royal rule are this
time after to-morrow have been imposed on the men of
Ireland.” “How will that be effected; for Tuathal rules
over Ireland and I am driven out?” Kieran replied: “that is
a matter for God.”
Dermot’s foster-brother, Maelmór ú Argata, went [at the
time predicted] to the place where Tuathal was, at
Grellach-elite south east of Ros-ech, and into Tuathal’s
breast drove a spear so that be left him lifeless: a deed
for which Maelmór is himself killed presently, and hence
the tale called echtra Mhaellmhóir, i.e. ‘the romance of
Maelmór’ (now Maelmór was of the Hy-Conall of Murthemny,
and third foster-brother to Dermot: Luchta of Athfrena and
Enna mac ú Laighse were the others). Hereupon, before it
was a week’s end, the men of Ireland inaugurated Dermot
king.
By Dermot and by the men of Ireland the great congregation
of Usnach is held now at Beltane; for at that time
Ireland’s three high gatherings were these: the
congregation of Usnach, at Beltane; the convention of
Tailite, at Lammas; the feast of Tara, at samhain
[All-Hallows]; and whosoever of the men of Ireland should
have transgressed these, the same [I say] that should have
violated this their ordinance, was guilty of death.
From Dermot to Kieran comes a message procuring him to join
the gathering, and the king himself proceeds to
Cnoc-brecáin to receive him; there he made halt to wait,
whence tulack na comnaidke [i.e. ‘hill of halting’] is
denominated. Kieran repaired to him accordingly. “Why, how
now,” Dermot said: “since here it is that, for the first
time since I by thy benediction attained to the kingdom, we
are met now; be this stretch of land as it is (with its
oxen and with its kine) made over to thee by way of
‘altar-sod.”’ But in this same plain was one that was an
enemy to the king: Flann, son of Dima (from whom tulach
Dhíma or tulach Fhlainn is named), The king [finding
himself in the neighbourhood] has Dima’s house burnt, and
within it the owner is wounded sore; which warrior [seek
ing to evade the flames] gets into a bathing-vat that is in
the dwelling, and there expires. “Right soon thou hast
transgressed thy covenant,” Kieran said to Dermot, “seeing
that in the matter of the land thou grantedst us thou hast
already done us violence. Yet in any case,” he went on,
“nor from thyself nor from thy children will I take either
Heaven or Earth [i.e. joys of the one, temporal possessions
of the other]; but the violent death which he there bath
gotten by thee, that shall be the very one which thou too
shalt have: to be wounded, and drowned, and burnt.”
“Cleric,” said Dermot, “I am terrified thine own assessment
I award thee in satisfaction of the deed.” “Nay,” the
cleric answered: “the missile that I have delivered by that
same I may myself be hurt to death if it fall not out so”
And hence it was that Dermot’s death was indeed brought
about as had been promised.
The two of them, king and cleric, repaired to Usnach,
joined the congregation of the men of Erin, and there they
were for a fortnight. In which meeting a mighty thirst
[i.e. drought] afflicted them; so that their human were in
strait peril, and their four-footed perished largely. Then
they had recourse to Kieran to find them succour. Kieran
made prayer, and there came then a wet [i.e. rain] that in
token of the miracle left twelve main streams in Ireland;
whence it is that Kieran is entitled to a general cess
throughout Ireland. In presence of the men of Ireland there
Dermot made obeisance to Kieran, and settled on him his own
service and his children’s for ever.
Following which again at Lammastide Kieran was in the
convention of Tailite, where he worked wonders many, and
miracles exceeding great. There too it was that this
prodigy was operated, viz, a man that took a perjured oath:
and in consequence there came a running ulcer in his neck,
whereby his head fell off him; so that in presence of the
Men of Ireland he went about in the gathering and he
without a head. Which man was the bacuc whom for a length
of time (for seven years, that is to say) the monks had in
Cluain.
After this, for a long period Dermot reigned in Ireland
neither came there in those times a king that was grander,
that was more revered, or that in figure and in face, in
wisdom, in speech, in royal rule, was more excellent than
he.
It was once upon a time that Dermot feasted:-- Mughain,
daughter of Concraidh mac Duach of the Eoganacht of Cashel,
was at his hand — she that was mother of Dermot’s son Aedh,
which same Aedh Slaine she carried at the time. They then,
so many as had been at the carouse, stepped abroad upon the
green to cool themselves and, as they were there, saw draw
near them on the sward Dermot’s nephew, Suibne son of
Colman More. A hundred riders, that was his number: dark
grey mantles with clasps of silver wrapped one half of the
troop, and about the other were crimson cloaks with fringes
of gold and silver; under one half of the band were dark
grey horses, and white under the other; fifty greyhounds
they had with bronze chains on them, and all had bossy
shields slung. Even as Suibne entered the assembly, the
woman (Mughain namely) uttered a loud inarticulate cry that
was heard throughout all the company. “Woman, what may this
be?" Dermot asked: “is it on the lad just come thy mind is
bent?” Said Beg mac Dé: “thou art indeed no prophet; but
thou hast a seer.” “Discover the matter then, since thou
art a prophet.” “I know it,” said Beg: “the son that the
woman carries, he it is that shall slay yonder stripling.”
That was true: Aedh Slaine did [afterwards] kill Suibne,
who left a son (Conall mac Suibne) and he again slew Aedh
Slaine. It was concerning this that a quatrain was uttered
“Not
aright do some of the young men
cast up their accounts:
it was Conall that slew Aedh Slaine
because Aedh Slaine had slain Suibne.”
That is
to say: Conall mac Suibne, he killed Aedh Slaine at Loch
Sewdy; Aedh Gustan, he in the one day slew Aedh Buie king
of Teffia, and Aedh Róin king of Offaly in bruidhen
Dáchoga; and this was the first fratricide of clan-Colman
and of Aedh Slaine’s seed, i.e. Aedh Slaine to kill his
kinsman, Suibne son of Colman; and Suibne’s son Conall to
kill him in lieu of it.
Now that same Beg mac Dé, ‘tis he was the best seer that
was in his time; he too it was that to certain three just
issued out of Tara said a cunning thing: “good now,” the
three had said, “so hither Beg comes to us; we will e’en
say something to him: Beg, all hail!” “‘Tis well,” quoth
Beg. “How long will there be dwellers in the fort out of
which we come?” asked the first man of them. “What is the
river’s depth?” said the second. “What is the thickness of
bacon-fat this year?” asked the third man.
“Pas
go tom arndrach,”
answered Beg. He it was that spoke with nine at once, and
delivered them a single discourse that satisfied [i.e.
answered and resolved] their nine discourses addressed to
him. Yet again he it was that in Tara enunciated to Dermot
son of Cerbhall (what time the official panegyrists lauded
the king, his peace and his good ways) as thus: Black Aedh
son of Suibne, i.e. son of the king of Dalaradia, was in
front of Beg mac Dé (now it was Dermot that had slain that
Suibne, and taken his son Aedh mac Suibne to rear), and Beg
said: “I see the gallant wolfdog that shall spoil the
brilliant mansion.” “What hound is that, Beg?" asked Aedh.
“A cú
ruadh [wolf] —
some cú
or other
— it might well be thyself,” Beg replied. “How could that
be?” queried Dermot. “Easily said: that hand of Black
Aedh’s it is in sooth that in the house of Banbhan the
hospitaller shall make a poisoned draught to enter thy
mouth, there being about thee at the same time a shirt
derived from a single flax-seed, with a mantle produced
from a single sbeep; in thy horn : ale brewed from a single
grain of corn; on thy plate: bacon of a pig that never was
farrowed; while ‘tis the main beam of the house—the
ridgepole—that (after thy foemen shall have as good as done
thee to death) shall fall on thy head.” “Black Aedh to the
slaughter!” all cried out. “Not so,” said Dermot: “but be
he removed forth out of Ireland, and so long as I live he
shall not revisit it.” By Dermot thereupon Black Aedh is in
exile relegated to the land of Scotland nor, so long as
Dermot lived, was he re-admitted into Ireland.
Dermot’s tribute, and discipline, and law prevailed in
Ireland generally: his stewards and his managers, also his
regular soldiers in their billets, were throughout Ireland
up and down. At this particular time the king’s stewards
and sergeants accompanied him into Connacht; also the
king’s herald, that used to precede them and to make
proclamation to any such house at which in quest of guestly
entertainment they arrived. And thus it was that the crier
heralded them, viz, to the effect that the town’s gate, or
the castle’s, into which they had to pass must be
demolished be fore them so that Dermot’s spear should pass
in athwartwise; a thing which (for the king’s fear) there
was none dared but to perform before them. But Diabolus —
he it was that violently possessed [lit. ‘jumped into’] the
crier now to urge the following evil thing upon him, to the
end evil greater yet should come of it.
For they came once to Aedh Guaire’s house in the land of Hy
Many in Connacht, whose castle must needs be breached
before them and the king’s spear. Then anger took Aedh; he
slew ‘the lad of the spear’ (the crier namely) and anon, to
escape Dermot, fled into the land of Muskerry and under
protection of bishop Senach, for the bishop’s mother and
Aedh Guaire’s were two sisters. Subsequently Senach the
bishop brought him to Ruadhan of Lorrha and committed him
to his safeguard; for two sisters that Ruadhan had: Cael
and Ruadhnait, it was they that had reared bishop Senach.
By Ruadhan Aedh Guaire was bestowed among the Britons
however, for by reason of Dermot he might not be anywhere
in Ireland. But such was Dermot’s influence and power over
others that because of him Aedh ultimately could not be
either in Scotland or with the Britons; so that he returned
to Ireland to Ruadhan, who had him hidden under ground.
Where Ruadhan was then was at the spot in which
poll
Ruadháin [i.e.
‘Ruadhan’s Pit’] is to-day. It was told to the king that
Aedh Guaire was come to Ireland again, and that Ruadhan
held him concealed in the earth. Then Dermot repaired to
Ruadhan, and despatched his charioteer to recover Aedh
Guaire from him forcibly. The young man entered into the
sanctuary, but on the instant was deprived of his eyes. The
king being now wroth at this, he came to Ruadhan and
enquired of him (for he knew that Ruadhan would not tell a
lie) where was Aedh Guaire. Ruadhan made answer: “verily I
know not where he is, if he be not under thee even where
thou art.” The king departed out of the sanctuary then, nor
any more heeded that which the cleric had said; but in his
mind afterwards he recalled to memory Ruadhan’s utterance,
and recognised that in the ground under him where he had
stood Aedh Guaire was. He deputed a man of his people
(Donnan was his name) to go down to Aedh, over whose head
the same fell to dig away the earth; but his arms were left
of their power presently. Thereupon he came to Ruadhan and
made obeisance to him; the man also that previously was
blinded made obeisance, and thenceforth they abode with
Ruadhan: which two it is that to-day are reputed saints at
Pollruane. Now came Dermot himself into the church and took
Aedh Guaire out of the hole in the ground, which to-day is
called Pollruane. By the king Aedh was brought in bonds to
Tara, where in recompense of all his contrivance Dermot
would have had him hanged.
Ruadhan in the mean time had sought out Brendan of Birr for
the purpose of taking him with him to retrieve his protégé,
and the pair went on to Tara. There they demanded of the
king to have him whose safety Ruadhan had guaranteed; but
Dermot answered that to him who should have infringed royal
law the Church had no right to extend immunity, for that in
so doing a violation of right both human and divine was
inherent.
The clerics chanted psalms of commination now, and rang
their bells against the king. That night, and in the one
instant, died in Tara twelve Sons of chiefs that were
twelve in pupilage to the king; whose respective guardians
came to the clergy and with persistence exhorted them to
resuscitate the youths. The saints prayed, and the lads
were recalled to life.
For a full year after this they anathematised Dermot and
plied him with miracles, he giving them back prodigy for
prodigy. But in the long run they prevailed nothing over
him until to the house-steward, by way of procuring him to
tell the king that now at last the clergy partook of a
refection, they made promise of Heaven. The house-steward
went to Dermot and told him that the clergy ate a meal, so
that in this wise [for it was not true] they in the matter
of fasting won an advantage over him. That night Dermot saw
a dream: that in Tara was a great tree, the top of which
reached to the clouds of heaven and its shade over all
Ireland. Fifty foreigners he saw (and among them two
leading strangers) that felled the tree, but all that which
they chopped from it was continually made good again
forthwith; they put him from the tree and laid it
prostrate, so that it was the falling tree’s crash that
awoke him. “Even so,” Dermot said: “I am the tree; the
foreigners that chop it are the clergy cutting short my
life, and by them also am I fallen.”
On the morrow the king rose and went to the place where the
clergy were: “ill have ye done,” he said, “to undo my
kingdom for that I maintained the righteous cause. At all
events,” he went on, “be thy diocese the first one that is
ruined in Ireland and, Ruadhan, may thy monks desert thee!”
The saint retorted: “may thy kingdom droop speedily!”
Dermot said: “thy see shall be empty, and swine shall root
up thy churchyards.” “Tara shall be desolate,” Ruadhan
said, “ arid therein shall no dwelling be for ever.” Dermot
said: “may shameful blemish affect thy person,” and
straightway one of Ruadhan’s eyes burst. Ruadhan said: “be
thy body mangled by enemies, and thy limbs disintegrated so
that they be not found in the one place.” Dermot said: “may
there a wild boar come that he grub up the hill on which
thou shalt be buried, and that thy relics be scattered;
also at nones continually be there in thy churchyard
howling of ‘wild hounds’ [i.e. wolves], and the alarm-cry
every evening; neither be they its own monks that shall
dwell in it.” Ruadban said: “the knee that was not lifted
in reverence before me, be not the same sepulchred with thy
body.” Then upon the royal hearth Ruadhan imprecated the
blackness of darkness: that nevermore in Tara should smoke
issue from roof-tree.
Just then it was that Dermot looked at the ridgebeam. “That
beam is hostile to thee; that roof-tree it is that shall
yet be hurled upon thy face as thou lookest up at it, after
that by them from over sea thou shalt have been stricken
down.” “Cleric, take all thy will!” the king cried. Then
their prisoner is enlarged for them, and both parties make
peace; whereupon Dermot said this
“Alas for him that to the clergy of the churches showeth
fight; woe to him that would contend, with giving cut for
cut; through this — through my dissension and Ruadhan’s —
Tara shall be desolate and dean swept.”
He went on: “evil is that which ye have worked, clerics —
my kingdom’s ruination; for in the latter times Ireland
shall not be better off than at this present she will have
been. But in any wise may it be so that bad chiefs, their
heirs-apparent, and their men of war shall quarter
themselves in your churches then; and be it their own [i.e.
the inhabitants’] selves that in your houses shall pull off
such people’s brogues for them, ye being the while
powerless to rid yourselves of them.”
The clergy (their prisoner with them) started for home, and
so to Pollruane; but first they perceived thirty dark-grey
horses, super-excellent in shape, that issued from the sea
and came towards them. These they presented to the king;
their running was tried [against his other horses] and they
proved the speedier; but said horses then re-assumed the
identical form [which they had worn in the sea] and so
returned to the same place out of which at first they came.
After which Dermot and the clergy were at peace.
It was when Dermot was of a right, and he sees two draw
near him: the one man, as he deems, wears a cleric’s
semblance; the other one a layman’s. They come up to him,
take off his king’s diadem, make of it a diadem apiece
(either man of them having one half, for so they divide it
between them), and with that depart from him. Dermot starts
out of his sleep then, and tells his vision. “Just so,”
said Beg mac be and said Cairidh son of Finnchaemh [his
mother] that was Dermot’s poet: “thy dream’s interpretation
we have for thee: Thy kingdom is determined, of thy reign
there is an end, and for the future thy princely grasp of
Ireland is cast off: division between Church and Lay
namely, that is what shall subsist nor:; and that which thy
royal diadem’s partition forbodes is even such another
apportioning of Ireland’s sovereignty betwixt Church and
State.” He proceeded : “a time will come when Church shall
be enslaved by State, and when privilege of church-lands
shall not exist; but they shall be obnoxious to free
quartering at the hands of all. In lieu of this, however,
evil shall overtake the State : so that the son, the
father, the kinsman [of what degree soever], shall kill
each other, and every man’s weapon be red with anothers
blood. By perfidy of all men [fruits of] the earth shall
perish, and mast of trees, and produce of the waters.”
Tara’s festival is held by Dermot now: at the actual
banquet Curnan (son of Aedh son of Eochaid tirmcharna, a
quo síol Maeilruain in Connacht) kills a man, and places
himself under protection of Muirchcrtach mac Erca’s two
Sons: Fergus and Donall, who in turn put him under
Columbkill’s guarantee. The king has him slain in expiation
of his misdemcanour, and Con nacht turns on Dermot:
impleading him for slaughter of their king’s son Curnan.
Dermot proceeds to ravage Connacht, and reaches cúil
sibrinne hard by cúil dreimne. In order to avenge on Dermot
his violated guarantee, Columbkill gathers clan-Neill of
the North. Along with him Fergus and Donall (Muirchertach
mac Erca’s two sons), Ainmire son of Sedna king of
Kinelconnell, Muiredach mac Duach, and Eochaid tirmcharna’s
son Aedh, proceed into Connacht. But between the two armies
Frechan son of Tenesan (Dermot’s wizard) set up ‘a magic
barrier,’ and then it was that Columbkill uttered:--
“Wherefore,
O God, dost Thou not fend off from us...
Tuatán
(son of Dímán son of Sarán son of Cormac son of Eoghan son
of Niall) comes then, capsizes the barrier and clears it at
one jump; but on the other side a spear meets him, enters
him, and he is killed. Now of all Columbkill’s people he
was the only man whom death reached. Then Dermot is
defeated. “It is fri feínnidh ndremain, i.e. a case of [a
barrier] opposed to a warrior that would not be denied,”
said Columbkill; whence the name cúil
dreimne,
otherwise call dreimfhéinne,
has prevailed.
Dermot went to Tara and again said to Beg; “let me have
certain knowledge what manner of death it is that shall
carry me off.” Beg said : “that is not matter of doubt in
Beg’s rath thou shalt drink a malt-drink of a single grain;
and there it is that thou shalt be laid, Dermot.”
“My kingdom after me — after what fashion shall it be?”
asked Dermot; and then it was that Beg enunciated this:--
“An evil world is now at hand: in which men shall be in
bondage, women free; mast wanting, woods smooth, blossom
bad; winds many, wet summer, green corn; much cattle, scant
milk; dependants burdensome in every country, hogs lean,
chiefs wicked; bad faith, chronic killing; a world
withered, raths in number.
“These be the princes that shall succeed thee:--
“[The kingdom shall revolve] from Niall to Niall, from land
to land: a Niall by sea; a Niall in slaying; a Niall in
fire; a Niall to hew down in every night, after the
wrecking of Ailech.”
“Be our magicians brought to us,” Dermot said, “that we
ascertain whether it be the one thing that they and Beg
forbode for us.” “He doubts me does he,” says Beg; and
thereupon in great anger and in vindictive dudgeon goes out
from Dermot, having after him a great crowd that begged of
him a prophecy, and so on until he saw Columbkill that
awaited him. He saluted him, and Columbkill said: “it is a
marvellous prophecy; from God comes this great
foreknowledge that is vouchsafed thee.” “God we thank for
the same,” Beg an swered. Columbkill enquired then:
“knowest thou thine own death’s day?” “Cleric, I know it
well,” quoth Beg: “there are yet seven years of my life.”
“That is a grand thing for him to whom it is so done; if
indeed it be true,” said Columbkili. “It is not true,” Beg
said: “there are but seven months of my life.” “Good again,
if it be true,” said Columbkill. “It is not true,” Beg
said: “there are of my life but seven hours of the day —
speedily let me have communion and the sacrifice!" Then the
cleric tonsured him, gave him communion and sacrifice, and
he went [presently] to Heaven. Now it had stood prophesied
for Beg that before he attained to death he must utter
three falsehoods [as above]; for up to that hour he never
had told a lie. For the same reason also it was that
Columbkill sought him out, for he knew that in that day he
had to die incontinently.
His magicians [as aforesaid] were brought to Dermot, and he
enquired of them what manner of death he should encounter.
“Slaughter,” said the first magician: “and ‘tis a shirt
grown from a single flax-seed, with a mantle of one sheep’s
wool, that on the night of thy death shall be about thee.”
“A light matter it is for me to evade that,” Dermot said.
“Drowning,” said the second magician: “and it is ale brewed
of one grain of corn that thou shalt despatch that night.”
“Burning,” quoth the third wizard “and bacon of swine that
never was farrowed — that is what shall be on thy dish.”
Dermot said : “all this is unlikely.”
Then on his regal circuit Dermot [set out and] travelled
right-handed [i.e. south and west about] round Ireland,
that is to say: from Tara into Leinster; thence into
Munster; thence into Connacht, and athwart Ulster’s
province; so that at the end of a year’s progress he would
by santkain again reach Tara in time to perform his
samhain-tide office and to meet the men of Ireland at
Tara’s festival.
One day then as Dermot was on this circuit, he saw a
warrior enter the house to him and: “whence comest thou?"
he asked. “Not from any distance,” he replied: “come along
and spend with me a night of guestly entertainment.”
“Good,’ said Der mot, “tell Mughain.” “Not so,” she
answered: “so long as I live, never will 1 go on an
invitation; and if thou eat [with him], it is in my
despite: for to go upon an invitation will [so ‘tis
prophesied] have an ill event for thee.”
With Banbhan [that bade him] Dermot goes to Rathbeg, and
when they were set down in the house they saw a graceful
young woman enter, with raiment that was rarely fine.
“Whence the woman?" Dermot queried. Banbhan made answer: “a
daughter to me she is and, to spite Mughain because she
came not with me, the girl shall this night be thy wife.”
“I am well pleased,” quoth the king.
Pending the preparation of meat a bed was made for them,
and [the meal being now ready] Banbhan said: “Well, girl,
hast thou brought raiment for the king?” “I have,” she
said, and handed shirt and mantle, which the king took and
put on. “‘Tis a good shirt,” said all. “It is one worthy of
thee,” said Banbhan, “being the shirt of one flax-seed: a
fanciful girl is that one there, and she it was that sowed
a single seed of flax and made a strike of it, which then
became a ridge-full.” “‘Tis a good mantle,” cried all.
“Good it is,” said Banbhan : “of a single sheep’s wool ‘tis
made.”
Then meat and liquor were supplied to them, and said
Banbhan: “the bacon that never was farrowed is good.” “How
so?” asked Dermot. “It was pigs that were with young: they
took knives to them so that their piglings (and they alive)
were extracted from them, and fattened afterwards.” “‘Tis
good ale!” said all. “Good it is,” said Banbhan, “ale
brewed of a single grain of corn: it was one day that I
went out to survey my tillage, and I killed a ringdove; in
whose crop was found one grain, but of what cereal was
unknown. It was committed to a ridge however, and its yield
was a sickle-full. This again was sown, and this is its
produce in the shape of ale” [lit. ‘this is its corn and
its ale.’]
After this Dermot looked upwards, and said: “the lower part
of the house is new, but its upper-work is not recent.”
Banbhan answered: “it was once upon a time that in currachs
we went to take fish, and we saw towards us the ridgebeam
of a house that floated on the sea. For the curiosity of
the thing I had a house made with it.” Dermot said now:
“truthfully was Beg’s prophecy uttered!" and with that
sprang to get out. “This is thy way!” said Black Aedh in
the doorway, giving him at the same a spear in the breast
that pierced him through and so broke his spine. Then
Dermot turns back into the house; on the outside, Ulster
surrounds the dwelling, and the same is burnt upon them
[that are in it]. Dermot himself [seeking refuge from the
flames] entered the ale-vat, and anon the mansion’s
roof-tree fell on his head so that he died [lit. ‘so that
he was dead of it.’]
Thus perished the king; and his body was consumed all but
the head, which with his relics was carried to Clonmacnoise
and buried in [the slope called] the claen ferta, or
otherwise the céite; for there it was that he (what time he
fasted in eglais
bheg,
whereby he was healed of his head-sickness after he had
done his fasting against the saints of Ireland, his cure
having previously been denied him) had elected to be laid.
Concerning which death it was that this was pronounced:--
“The
spell of shelter in Rathbeg—loss of Dermot that was . . . —
extinction of a prince — abundance of battles — alas for
him that shall contrive his utter destruction.”
And this
is the death of Dermot son of Cerbhall (which is as much as
to say cerrbhall, i.e. ceirrbheal, i.e. bél cerr).