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

poem/story 103

SLEMAIN MIDE

¶1] Slemain Mide, whence the name? Not hard to say. When all were bidden by the king of Ireland to the feast of Tara, a feast used to be celebrated by the king of Meath likewise on this hill. For the king of Meath was under a gess to keep the feast of Samain on


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the hill yonder, when the feast of Tara was held by the king of Ireland. It was violation of a gess for the king of Ireland if the feast of Slemain were not celebrated by the king of Meath, when he himself held the feast of Tara. Hence the place is called Slemain, that is, ‘mountain of wealth’; for it was great wealth for the king of Meath, alone among the kings of Erin, not to contribute to the feast of Tara, 5et cetera.

¶2] Slemain, that is, ‘the mountain of Maen’, that is, Maen, the fosterer of Morann son of Cairpre Cend Cait, dwelt there when the Peasant Tribes held sway over Erin.