Matheson Collection > Measgra dánta

76 NOTES
MS. Readings. 4 ghealla. The repetition éartha : éara in h. 6, 8,
is suspicious. 9 bélbhlasta. 19 aw cleasuighe. 22 gheallidh. 26 gur]
^adh. 27 rachása.
The allusion in 11. 23-24 is to the legend which tells how a man, on
visiting a house where he was not welcome, was persuaded by his host
to assist in weaving a straw rope {súgán) ; as the rope grew longer, the
visitor, holding one end of it and moving backwards, gradually ap-
proached the open door, and when at last he crossed the threshold, the
door was banged in his face. The same legend is alluded to in a folk-
song pubUshed by Hardiman (Ir. Minstrelsy, i. 195) :
Tháinic me steach 's an teach [a] raibh grádh geal mo chleibh,
'S chuir an chailleach amach air chasadh an tsúgáin me.
See further Hyde's ' Love Songs of Connacht,' p. 74.
The spar an na sgillinne of 1. 29 is the magic purse of folklore whose
contents never lessened no matter how much might be taken out of it.
It is thus alluded to by Eon Rua Ó Súileabháin :
Ba mhath an áise é ag Fortunátus,
Do chuireadh a lámh go dána ann sios
Chun or bui is pláta do bhronna ar bhábaibh,
'S nior bh'fholamh go brách é ach lán go snuim.
Earher we find mention of it in connection with one Maolmuire mac
Suibhne, legendary ancestor of the Mac Suibhne family, who was called
Maolmuire an Sparáin because a fairy lover had presented him with
a magic purse, in which, whenever one chose to open it, " a small penny
and a shilling " (pinginn beg agus sgilling) would always be found
(Walsh's Lr. Chi. Suibhne, p. 4).
21
On one whose store of lying promises was inexhaustible.
Source. O'Conor Don's MS., fo. 27a. The poem consists of 9
qq., but unfortunately the three last qq. are imperfect in the MS. owing
to part of the leaf having been torn away.
MS. Readings. 6 sin. 12 chaithemh. The mutilated quatrains
are as follows (I retain the MS. spelling) :