the sun, and they sat beside the springs. And behold two daughters of Loegaire,[1] Ethne the fair, and Fedelm the ruddy, came to the spring in the morning, after the custom of women, to wash,[2] and they found a holy synod of bishops with Patrick by the spring.[3] And they did not know from whence they were, or of what shape, or of what people, or of what region. But they thought that they were men of the side, or of the terrestrial gods, or an apparition.[4] And the daughters said to them—
'Whence are ye, and whence have ye come?'
And Patrick said to them—
'It were better that you would confess our true God than to inquire about our race.'
The first daughter said, 'Who is God? And where is God? And of what is God? And where is His dwelling-place? Has your God sons and daughters, gold and silver? Is He ever-living? Is He beautiful? Have many fostered His Son? Are His daughters dear and beautiful to the men or the world? Is He in heaven or on earth? In the sea? in the rivers? in the mountains? in the valleys? Tell us how is He seen? How is He loved? How is He found? Is He in youth? or in age?'[5]
But holy Patrick, full of the Holy Spirit, answering, said—
- ↑ 'Loegaire, son of Niall.' (Trip.)
- ↑ 'to wash their hands.' (Trip.)
- ↑ 'the maidens found beside the well the assembly of clerics in white garments, with their books before them.' (Trip.)
- ↑ 'And they wondered at the shape of the clerics, and thought that they were men of the elves or apparitions.' (Trip.) Dr. Whitley Stokes' note on Tírechán is, 'Firu síde, "males of the síde" or terrestrial gods, corresponding, perhaps, with the θεοὶ χθόνιοι or Inferi.'
- ↑ The questions are somewhat transposed in the Tripartite Life, but are substantially identical.
