the owner had most need of it himself. Not daring to refuse, he presented it in a way that proved instantly fatal to the recipient; but even so, it hastened Cúchulainn's fall. Now Conchobar chose as his emissary to pick quarrels with his neighbours the poet Aitherne, who is represented as notoriously the most unreasonable and avaricious of men; but it is to be remembered that his story, treated, of course, as a narration of facts, comes to us from the Book of Leinster, written by the scribes of the hereditary foes of Ulster. So it has to be discounted very considerably in so far as regards the poet's private character; and I think you will, as we proceed, see that it does not belong to history, but that Conchobar and Aitherne are Irish reflexes of Mâth and Gwydion, when the latter (pp. 243-6) got possession by stealth or cunning of certain animals from Hades.
Having premised this much, one may proceed to make an abstract of Aitherne's story.[1] He first made for the northern part of Connaught, where nothing is recorded of him. He then proceeded to the court of a king called Echaid mac Luchtai, near the Shannon. This king was one-eyed; so the only gift that would satisfy Aitherne was the king's eye, and the latter, pulling it out at once, gave it him. His servant then led the king to the bank of the lake that was hard by, and therein he washed the blood from his face. Hence the lake, so goes the story, was named Loch Dergdeirc,[2] or Red-eye's Lake. In consideration of the value Echaid attached to his honour,
