THE SONG OF CARROLL'S SWORD
- (a.d. 909)
Hail, sword of Carroll! Oft hast thou been in the
great woof of war,
Oft giving battle, beheading high princes.
Oft hast thou gone a-raiding in the hands of kings
of great judgments,
Oft hast thou divided the spoil with a good king
worthy of thee.
Oft where men of Leinster were hast thou been in
a white hand,
Oft hast thou been among kings, oft among great
bands.
Many were the kings that wielded thee in fight,
Many a shield hast thou cleft in battle, many a
head and chest, many a fair skin.
Forty years without sorrow Enna of the noble
hosts had thee,
Never wast thou in a strait, but in the hands of a
very fierce king.
Enna gave thee—'twas no niggardly gift—to his
own son, to Dunling,
For thirty years in his possession, at last thou
broughtest ruin to him.
Many a king upon a noble steed possessed thee
unto Dermot the kingly, the fierce:
Sixteen years was the time Dermot had thee.
At the feast of Allen Dermot the hardy-born
bestowed thee,
Dermot, the noble king, gave thee to the man of
Mairg, to Murigan.
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