Ind ráith di éis cach ríg iar n-óir…

Ind ráith di éis
cach ríg iar n-óir,
ocus int tslóig,
foait i n-úir.

(the * fortress * after
each * king * in turn
and * the * crowd
they-sleep * in * earth)

The royal residence stands
after every king in turn,
and as for that lot,
they lie in the ground.

This quatrain is actually a coda to another, possibly earlier, strophe:

Ind ráith hi comair in dairfhedo,
ba Bruidigi, ba Cathauail,
ba hAído, ba hAillelo,
ba Conaing, ba Cúilíni
ocus ba Maele Dúin.

The fort facing the oak wood,
it was Bruidgi’s, it was Cathail’s,
it was Aed’s, it was Ailill’s,
it was Conaing’s, it was Cúilíní’s
and it was Mael Dúin’s.

James Carney edited and discussed these verses in “Aspects of Archaic Irish” in Éigse, vol. XVII, part IV.

Topics: Verse