Matheson Collection > Aislinge Meic Conglinne

Notes. 151
Then said Mac C:
" A vision that appeared to me," etc.,
as on p. 34 — p. 38, 25.
" Thereupon we went on to a causeway of curds, into a copse-
wood of lard, into a field of old bacon. A dark lardy mist arose
around us, 30 that we could see neither heaven nor earth, nor any
place to which we might fairly go, so that I struck with my back
against a tombstone of . . . curds. It almost shattered the bones
of my skull to pieces. I stretched out my hand to raise myself
again, and fell between pats of fresh butter up to the bend of my
elbows. Then I saw Egg-pillow, the gillie of the Wizard Doctor,
catching fish in a full lake of new milk," etc., as on p. 90, 20-2S.
Where do you come from V said the lad. ' From afar, from
near,' said I to him. 'What do you seek?' said he. 'I seek
the Hermit,' said I to him. 'Wretch,' he said, 'you do not
know your way. You will not reach the Hermit to-night. But
camp between Butter-mount and Milk-lake, your face towards
Butter-mount and your back towards Cheese-mount, at the foot
of the Tree of Cream, in the Trenches of the Round Dish (Altar?),
in the Hollow of the Field of Wheat. Send messengers to the
chiefs of the Tribes of Food, that they may protect you against
the heavy waves of the Gravy, lest they drown yon. They will
come to attend you on an evil journey, ^ as you are the first face
that appears in this isle to which you have come.'
"I encamped as I was told. It was not 'a night in thorns',
what with the white-meats. Early in the morning I arose and
went to the well of lard that was near me, and washed my hands,
and smoothed my hair. And I went to the well of trtmanta that
was on the other side, and drank thirty draughts out of it, so that
my heart might not fail me on the road. And I set out on my
road until I saw before me Beccnat the Smooth and Juicy, the
daughter of Betan the Monstrous Eater, the grandam of the
Tribes of Food, with her short garron of lard under her, with
two pleasant eyes of cheese in its head, with a seven-peaked
bridle of good white salt, with her mantle of corned beef, with
her girdle of salmon-roe, with a coif of the caul of a stomach on
her head, with a necklace from her neck, in which were seven
score seven beads of ... . pigs' marrow.
1 Here again doth seems out of place.