[193]. For a less detailed account of Saint Kevin and the wonderful willow, see Giraldus, Opera, V, 113. Cf. Ériu, IV, 9.
[194]. Themar was the ancient royal seat Temhair, now Tara. It seems to be alluded to in Reliquiae Antiquae, II, 105. Cf. Ériu, IV, 10.
[195]. Saint Patrick.
[196]. See the poem on the “Wonders of Ireland” (Reliquiae Antiquae, II, 105), where this transformation is alluded to. Stories of men who have become wolves are also told in Giraldus, Opera, V, 101, and in the Irish Nennius, 205; but these differ widely from the account given above. Stories of werewolves and lycanthropy are found in folklore everywhere.
[197]. Gelt (gjalti) is evidently a Celtic loanword, a form of the Irish geilt, meaning mad or madman. Cf. the Adventures of Suibhne Geilt, translated by J. G. O’Keefe. Suibhne was an Irish king who lost his reason in battle and for years afterwards led a wild life in the woods. O’Keefe thinks that the author of the King’s Mirror must have heard the tale of Suibhne (pp. xxxiv-xxxv). See also Ériu, IV, 12.
[198]. Kuno Meyer identifies Cloena with Clonmacnois. Ériu, IV, 12. Clonmacnois is in King’s county eight miles southwest of Athlone.
[199]. St. Ciaran (Kiranus) of Clonmacnois was the founder of a great monastery there. The year of his death is given as 547.
[200]. In the Irish Nennius (211-213) the following version of this tale appears. “Congalach, son of Maelmithig, was at the fair of Teltown on a certain day, when he saw a ship (sailing) along in the air. One of the crew cast a dart at a salmon. The dart fell down in the presence of the gathering, and a man came out of the ship after it. When he seized its end from above, a man from below seized it from below. Upon which the man from above said: ‘I am being drowned,’ said he. ‘Let him go,’ said Congalach; and he is allowed to go up, and then he goes from them swimming.” The translation is by Kuno Meyer: Ériu, IV, 13. Congalach was an Irish king (944-956); Teltown is in county Meath. The legend is alluded to in Reliquiae Antiquae, II, 105, with some difference in details.
[201]. A somewhat different version of this tale is found in the poem on the “Wonders of Ireland” (Reliquiae Antiquae, II, 105). See also Ériu, IV, 14.
[202]. An ell was approximately eighteen inches.