Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
The Metrical Dindshenchas (Author: [unknown])
poem 80
Mag Tibra
- Mag Tibra, that fair dwelling-place,
do the vassals know its story?
brightness undimmed rests upon its wealth:
whence comes the name of the ancient plain?23
- 5] Tibir was a woman of renown,
from her comes the title of possession:
she was daughter of Cass Clothach, ruler of clans,
a woman of the Tuatha De Danann.
- Irial son of mighty Eremon
10] won Liathdruim by his valour:
he was a king with no lack of horses:
that woman was his nurse.
- Irial went on his royal journey
round fair noble Erin
15] till he came to the Dun of strong Tibra
to hold speech with his noble nurse.
- Then a brief sickness seized
the lordly high-king of Erin,
and he met a death that gave him no respite,
20] though it was grievous tidings for his nurse.
- All the men of Erin came
at the tidings of yellow-haired Irial's death,
to bear him to Cruachu of the clans,
the burying-ground of the Tuatha De Danann.
p.435
- 25] They bear with them the body of the noble king,
having Erin on the right and the sea-shore
on the left not joyous was their feast at all:
they leave Crich Breis for Borrach.
- Heavily went the men
30] round the body of the featful king,
till they dug the noble king's grave,
for the body of the king of Spanish blood.
- Tibir plunged into the sea
for grief of noble Irial,
35] and the solid wave buried with its force
the wife of Palap son of Eremon.
- Hapless Tibir was brought to land,
and the sight caused the people to break silence:
she had no lack of honour at her decease,
40] Irial
[...]
the sloping mound.
- Dun na Gairthe is the hill's name
from the cries of the folk of the encampment:
seven days they spent there
in holding races round Irial's grave.
- 45] Mag Glas was the name of the bright plain
from Borrach down to the shore:
but since the queen departed hence
the name of the smooth plain is Mag Tibra.
p.437