us eyes, the supposed leper charms her enemies. One brother
follows her into a remote part of the forest, where by guile she
effects the binding of him hand and foot. Returning to the camp, she
successively lures the remaining brothers into the woods in the same
manner and with the same result. She brought them "tied together" to
Emhain. There, in a council of the tribe, womanly sentiment prevailed
over sanguinary counsels, and, instead of being condemned to death,
the prisoners were given over to slavery in the queen's following; and
with the romantic ideas common to her sex, she had them build her a
fortress "which shall be forever henceforth the capital city of this
province." With her golden brooch she measured the bounds of the
future castle, and it received the name "the Palace of Macha's
Brooch." So runs the legend, and so is fixed by the brooch of Macha
the first date in Irish history, at a period, however, when dates have
little significance, for time meant but duration, and not economy or
expenditure of force.

The romance of another of Ireland's early queens centres about the
possession of a bull whose marvellously good points had awakened the
queen's envy; the pastoral relates the contest which arose therefrom.
This queen was the daughter of the King of Connaught, Ecohaidh by
name, and her mother was the handmaid of his wife, the Lady Edain, who
herself was a leader of great beauty and courage. The contest for the
throne resulted in the elevation of Meave to the royal dignity. Before
this, she had contracted marriage with a prince, with whom she
lived unhappily. She returned to her father's court, and, after
her coronation, married the powerful chief Ailill. The death of her
husband and that of her father, which occurred at about the same time,
left her solitary. The queen's misfortune in marriage did not deter
her from seeking a further union. One day, the court of Ross-Ruadh,
King of Leinster, was thrown into a great stir by the arrival of
the heralds of Meave dressed in "yellow silk shirts and grass-green
mantles," who announced that the famous queen was on a royal progress
throughout the land in quest of a husband suited to one of her state
and character. She was feted and catered to in every way, and finally
fixed her choice upon the seventeen-year-old son of Ross-Ruadh, whose
character promised enough meekness to insure the dominance over him of
his much older spouse.

The event which the chroniclers