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The fated children of Gad Glas sailed from Egypt into the Black Sea, and thence through the waters which filled the Riphean Valley, [b] and made a temporary lodgement in the southern part of Scandinavia. Their next voyage was to Spain; and at last, the great-grandchildren of those who had quitted Egypt temp. Phar.) determined to make their permanent abode in the green island, which Breogan, their chief, had discovered from a watch-tower on Cape Ortegal. The brave old historians occasionally omitted details: they have left no account of the construction of the telescope used in the operation.
The Danaan Princes, either through negligence or design, allowed the invaders to land without opposition, and then a parley ensued. They demanded of the newcomers their objects and conditions, and received an answer similar to that given by themselves to the poor Firbolgs some generations back. They rejoined that it was a most unhandsome thing to take people by surprise in that fashion; but if they only re-embarked, and withdrew nine waves from the land, they would then receive them in a manner meet for warlike visitors, and their own relations in the twentieth degree. The simple Milesians consented; and by the time that the nine waves were passed, a druidic fog had fallen between them and the shore. Occasionally a luminous rift was made in this dark curtain, and the island was seen in the guise of the back of a black swine, weltering on the waters, and shooting up huge spear-like bristles. A mighty storm next swept the vessels round the rocky shores. Some effected a landing in Kerry, others in Louth, and the rest on the bleak western coast. The wise and valiant Danaans at last found their spells and their arms too weak before the resistless might of the Milesians, and a new dynasty began.
Mrs. K--, of Cromogue, in the "Duffrey," is the only authority we have for the veracity of the following very ancient tradition. A version of it is to be found in Keating; but we have several reasons for believing that she and her authorities had got their legend through an oral channel. It is out of our power to settle the question of the navigability of the Slaney to Enrmiscorthy at the date of the story. The corrachs, as may be supposed, drew but few feet of water. Another admirer of past things, who only remembered a small portion of the story, placed this fortress some miles lower.
[a] Island of the Pig.
[b] The maps used by Homer, and the romantic annalists of Ireland, exhibited a sea (part of the great Ocean Stream) covering the sites now occupied by South Russia, Poland, and North Germany, thus connecting the Euxine with the Baltic.