"One day the young poet Nede fared forth till he stood on the margin of the sea, for the poets believed the brink of water to be the place of poetic revelation. He heard a sound in the wave, even a chant of wailing and sadness, and he marvelled thereat.
"So the youth cast a spell upon the wave, that it might reveal to him the cause of its moaning."—Book of Leinster, 186a.
[THE SOURCE OF POETIC INSPIRATION]
A Colloquy between the Old Poet and the Young Poet. Time: The beginning of the Christian era.
"Who is this sage around
whom is wrapped the robe of splendour?
and whence comes he?"
The young poet answered: