Rumunn, son of Colman, son of King Laegaire, of the race of Niall, royal poet of Ireland, 'tis he that made this song, and láid lúascach (see-saw song) is the name of the measure in which it was made. The reason, however, of his making it is this: — In a time of great famine he came on his pilgrimage to Rathen. The townspeople were the less pleased that he should come to the town, and they said to the master-wright, who was building the great oratory, that he should refuse admittance to the poet. So then the wright said to one of his people: ‘Go to meet Rumunn and tell him not to enter the town until he make a quatrain which shall contain the number of all the planks that are here for the building of the oratory.’ And then it was that he made this quatrain:
That was the very number of planks there, viz. one thousand planks; and after that he could not be refused, since God had revealed to him, through his poet's craft, the number of planks which the architect had.
Rumunn
- 1] O My Lord: what shall I do
2] About these great materials?
3] When will these ten hundred planks
4] Be a structure of compact beauty?
Immediately afterwards he made a great poem for the Vikings of Dublin, and the Vikings said that they would not give him the price of his poem, whereupon he made the celebrated quatrain, when he said:
Upon this his own award was given him, and this is the award he made: a penny from every bad Viking, and two pence from every good Viking, so that there was not found among them a Viking who did not give him two pence, for none of them thought it right that he should be called a bad Viking. Then the Vikings told him to praise the sea, that they might know whether he possessed original poetry. Thereupon he praised the sea, he being drunk, and he said:
Rumunn
- 1] To refuse me,
2] If anyone so wishes, let him do it!
3] And after that I will carry off
4] The honour of the man that has done so.
- 1] A great tempest on the plain of Ler.
However, he carried that wealth with him to Cell Belaig on the Plain of Constantine, for that church was one of the churches belonging to the Hui Suanaig, as well as the whole of the Plain of Constantine. For every plain and every land which Constantine had cleared belonged to Mochuta, and the plain is named after Constantine. At that time Cell Belaig had seven streets of Vikings in it, and [...]6 for its size. And Rumunn gave one-third of his wealth to it, and one-third to the school, and one-third he took with him to Rathen, where he died, and where he was buried in one grave with Hua Suanaig, on account of his great honour with God and men.