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"Did you ever hear about one Fin M'Cool who was a great buffer in his day, and how his wife put the trick upon a big bosthoon of a giant that came down from Munster to bother Fin? Did you ever hear that, sir?" "No; neither do I wish to hear it just now." "Nor the song of Beal Derg O'Donnel, sir, nor the 'Fairy River, nor 'the Life and Adventures of Larry Dorneen's Ass, plaise your reverence."
A south window was added close to the east end, and it, too, was a sun-dial; it told the hour of angelus, the mid-day, when the bell was rung and a calm reverence fell on all within its hearing. Such churches can still be seen at Aran and Inismurray, on the islands of Lough Derg, Lough Ri, and in many other places.
Owen looked about him rather vacantly; but soon collected himself, and implied in a mournful and touching tone of voice "I'm one of your honor's tenants from Tubber Derg; my name is Owen M'Carthy, your honor that is, if you be Mr. "And pray, what brought you to town, M'Carthy?" "I wanted to make an humble appale to your honor's feelins, in regard to my bit of farm.
As for that solemn, humble, and heartfelt sense of God's presence, which Christian prayer demands, its existence in the mind would not only be a moral but a physical impossibility in Lough Derg.
On the blue waters of Lake Darvra dwell Finola, Aed, Fiacra, and Conn, and thence come I that I may avenge their doom. A silence as the silence of death fell upon the three, and all was still save that Eva trembled greatly. But ere long Bove Derg spake. Fierce and angry did he look, as, high above his foster-daughter, he held his magic wand. Awful was his voice as he pronounced her doom.
When the messengers came there, and told their errand, great was the grief of the father. And in the morning with a heavy heart he summoned a company of the Dedannans, and together they set out for the palace of Bove Derg. And it was not until sunset as they reached the lone shore of Lake Darvra, that they slackened speed. Lir alighted from his chariot and stood spellbound.
And Bove Derg loved them well-nigh as did Lir himself. Ofttimes would he come to see them, and ofttimes were they brought to his palace by the Great Lake. And through all the Green Isle, where dwelt the Dedannan people, there also was spread the fame of the beauty of the children of Lir. Time crept on, and Finola was a maid of twelve summers.
In this trim did I return to my friends a goose stripped of my feathers; a dupe beknaved and beplundered having been almost starved to death in the "island," and nearly cudgelled by one of the priests. As soon as I crossed the threshold at home, the whole family were on their knees to receive my blessing, there being a peculiar virtue in the Lough Derg blessing.
"Now," said he, "you must cut me into four quarters, and mince my body into small bits, then cast them into the air, and let them go with the wind." The priest, after much entreaty, complied with his wishes, and returned to Lough Derg, where he afterwards lived twelve years upon one meal of bread and water per diem.
Beal Derg an' his men are then to waken up, an' by their aid the Valley of the Black Pig is to be set free forever." "An' what is the Black Pig, Barney?" "The Prospitarian church, that stretches from Enniskillen to Darry, an' back again from Darry to Enniskillen." "Well, well, Barney, but prophecy is a strange thing, to be sure! Only think of men livin' a thousand years!"
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