J. F. Campbell Collection > Transactions of the Ossianic Society > Volume 5

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be forfeited for it he would not give a kiss to the scabby-
fellow. The professors declared they would return to Guaire
again, and that they would not accompany him unless he
would give a kiss to the leper. Shanchan thereupon gave
a kiss to the scabby man, though loathsome it was to him.'
They came to the gate of the fortress and they knocked
(with) the hand-wood.'^ The porter asked who was at the
door. The leper replied that it was Shanchan with his
professors that was there. The door-keeper asked " had
they a poem for the king of Leinster?" "They have,"
said the leper, " and I am its reciter."' " Bad is your
appearance as a reciter," said Shanchan, " and it is worse
for us to have you along with us. They went into
the Dun^, and the king of Leinster bid them a hearty wel-
come, and asked them " to what place they desired to go."
" To Alban," they replied, " and we wish to obtain a ship
and stores from thee." The king of Leinster asked them
if they had a poem in praise of himself? " They surely
have," answered the leper, " and I am to deliver it," and
he recited the poem.
Connra Caech,^ son of Dairbre of the strand,
Thou friend of the fair-haired women of Inis Fail ;
tied to the door by a cord or iron chain, for we once heard an old Shanachee
describe it. He stated that it was a piece of shapened wood (probably in the
form of a policeman's baton), which was placed in a niche or hole in the wall,
from whence it was to be taken and used by any person seeking admittance
into the fortress. See also Vol. III., p. 162, of our Transactions.
3 Repetitor. The word in the Mac Carthy Riagh MS. is tteACAitte, and in
the more modern copies t^eAccAiTie, which is erroneous, as it signifies not a
repetitor, but a king, judge, or lawgiver. The word given by O'Brien (and
from him by O'Reilly) is tiACAiTie, which he explains thus : — " Racai»ij, to
rehearse or repeat, ex. fiACFAO ieAfSA t>ao le tJjA, I will henceforth repeat
a Hj'ran to God. Hence RACAitte, the poet's repetitor." It appears that this
was an official attendant on the bard who wrote and recited his compositions.
* Di'N'. See Appendix V.
s Conra Coerk or Cnnra the Blind. The term Caech has been usuallv applied