Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
The Metrical Dindshenchas (Author: [unknown])

poem 2

Boand I

  1. Sid Nechtain is the name that is on the mountain here,
    the grave of the full-keen son of Labraid,
    from which flows the stainless river
    whose name is Boand ever-full.
  2. 5] Fifteen names, certainty of disputes,
    given to this stream we enumerate,
    from Sid Nechtain away
    till it reaches the paradise of Adam.
  3. Segais was her name in the Sid
    10] to be sung by thee in every land:
    River of Segais is her name from that point
    to the pool of Mochua the cleric.
  4. From the well of righteous Mochua
    to the bounds of Meath's wide plain,
    15] the Arm of Nuadu's Wife and her Leg are
    the two noble and exalted names.
  5. From the bounds of goodly Meath
    till she reaches the sea's green floor
    she is called the Great Silver Yoke
    20] and the White Marrow of Fedlimid.
  6. Stormy Wave from thence onward
    unto branchy Cualnge;
    River of the White Hazel from stern Cualnge
    to the lough of Eochu Red-Brows.

    7. p.29

  7. 25] Banna is her name from faultless Lough Neagh:
    Roof of the Ocean as far as Scotland:
    Lunnand she is in blameless Scotland —
    or its name is Torrand according to its meaning.
  8. Severn is she called through the land of the sound Saxons,
    30] Tiber in the Romans' keep:
    River Jordan thereafter in the east
    and vast River Euphrates.
  9. River Tigris in enduring paradise,
    long is she in the east, a time of wandering
    35] from paradise back again hither
    to the streams of this Sid.
  10. Boand is her general pleasant name
    from the Sid to the sea-wall;
    I remember the cause whence is named
    40] the water of the wife of Labraid's son.
  11. Nechtain son of bold Labraid
    whose wife was Boand, I aver;
    a secret well there was in his stead,
    from which gushed forth every kind of mysterious evil.
  12. 45] There was none that would look to its bottom
    but his two bright eyes would burst:
    if he should move to left or right,
    he would not come from it without blemish.

    13. p.31

  13. Therefore none of them dared approach it
    50] save Nechtain and his cup-bearers:
    — these are their names, famed for brilliant deed,
    Flesc and Lam and Luam.
  14. Hither came on a day white Boand
    (her noble pride uplifted her),
    55] to the well, without being thirsty
    to make trial of its power.
  15. As thrice she walked round
    about the well heedlessly,
    three waves burst from it,
    60] whence came the death of Boand.
  16. They came each wave of them against a limb,
    they disfigured the soft-blooming woman;
    a wave against her foot, a wave against her perfect eye,
    the third wave shatters one hand.
  17. 65] She rushed to the sea (it was better for her)
    to escape her blemish,
    so that none might see her mutilation;
    on herself fell her reproach.
  18. Every way the woman went
    70] the cold white water followed
    from the Sid to the sea (not weak it was),
    so that thence it is called Boand.
  19. Boand from the bosom of our mighty river-bank,
    was mother of great and goodly Oengus,
    75] the son she bore to the Dagda — bright honour!
    in spite of the man of this Sid.

    20. p.33

  20. Or, Boand is Bo and Find
    from the meeting of the two royal streams,
    the water from bright Sliab Guaire
    80] and the river of the Sids here.
  21. Dabilla, the name of the faithful dog
    who belonged to the wife of Nechtain, great and noble,
    the lap-dog of Boand the famous,
    which went after her when she perished.
  22. 85] The sea-current swept it away,
    as far as the stony crags;
    and they made two portions of it,
    so that they were named therefrom.
  23. They stand to the east of broad Breg,
    90] the two stones in the blue waters of the lough:
    Cnoc Dabilla is so called from that day to this
    from the little dog of the Sid.

    24. p.35