Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
The destruction of Da Derga's Hostel (Author: [unknown])

section 84

The Room of the Pipers.

‘There I beheld a room with nine men in it. Hair fair and yellow was on them: they all are equally beautiful. Mantles speckled


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with colour they wore, and above them were nine bagpipes, four-tuned43, ornamented. Enough light in the palace were the ornament on these four-tuned pipes. Liken thou them, O Fer rogain.’

‘Easy for me to liken them,’ says Fer rogain. ‘Those are the nine pipers that came to Conaire out of the Elfmound of Bregia, because of the noble tales about him. These are their names: Bind, Robind, Riarbind, Sibè, Dibè, Deichrind, Umall, Cumal, Ciallglind. They are the best pipers in the world. Nine enneads will fall before them, and a man for each of their weapons, and a man for each of themselves. And each of them will boast a victory over a king or a chief of the reavers. And they will escape from the Destruction; for a conflict with them will be a conflict with a shadow. They will slay, but they will not be slain, for they are out of an elfmound. Woe to him who shall wreak the Destruction, though it be only because of those nine!’

‘Ye cannot,’ says Ingcél. ‘Clouds of weakness come to you,’ etc. ‘And after that, whom sawest thou there?’


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