Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition

The Metrical Dindshenchas (Author: [unknown])

poem 35

Mag Raigne

1. I have heard of a brave man, leader of troops,
   whose name was Raigne the Roman,
   how he came with desired fame swiftly
   into the powerful territory of Narbonensis.
2. 5] Three tasks they put on Raigne,
   the populace of Gaul splendid and vast:
   to pile clay on wains,
   to level a wood with tangled roots,
3. To spread the mighty inlet of the sea
   10] that the pure impetuous Ligir visiteth,
   so that there should be a kind of island
   by the stately side of Torinis.
4. Raigne of the noble spade completed the tasks —
   (he was free from poverty and misadventure,
   15] a man whom want did not visit — )
   in just three full days.
5. The warrior escaped from them,
   with his excellences ever-manifest,
   that he might not stay there under strict bondage;
   20] he took with him hatchet, bill-hook, and spade.
6. He fared to the seat of Fotla
   without warning, without kingly proclamation;
   he settled, the noble fiery scion,
   in cheerful Imlech Mecconn.

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7. 25] The keen commanding prince felled
   The conspicuous royal-branching forest:
   so it is called the Plain of Raigne the champion,
   rich in prosperity and in noble qualities.
8. The son of Ugaine, with hostages unnumbered,
   30] Raigne the poetic, the royal-generous,
   held the populous plain a while;
   I have heard that he was a brave man.

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