y whole carcass! And I heard somebody saying--'twas a
voice I knew too--'Get up, you drunken brute, off o' that'; and with
that I woke up, and there was Judy with a tub full of water, which she
was splashing all over me--for, rest her soul, though she was a good
wife, she could never bear to see me in drink, and had a bitter hand of
her own.

"'Get up,' said she again; 'and of all places in the parish, would no
place _sarve_ your turn to lie down upon but under the _ould_ walls of
Carrigapooka? An uneasy resting I am sure you had of it.' And, sure
enough, I had, for I was fairly bothered out of my senses with eagles,
and men of the moons, and flying ganders, and whales, driving me through
bogs and up to the moon, and down to the bottom of the green ocean. If I
was in drink ten times over, long would it be before I'd lie down in the
same spot again, I know that!"

T. CROFTON CROKER.

Cuchulain of Muirthemne

(The Birth of Cuchulain.)

In the long time ago, Conchubar, son of Ness, was King of Ulster, and he
held his court in the palace of Emain Macha. And this is the way he came
to be King. He was but a young lad, and his father was not living, and
Fergus, son of Rogh, who was at that time King of Ulster, asked his
mother Ness in marriage.

Now Ness, that was at one time the quietest and kindest of the women of
Ireland, had got to be unkind and treacherous because of an unkindness
that had been done to her, and she planned to get the kingdom away from
Fergus for her own son. So she said to Fergus, "Let Conchubar hold the
kingdom for a year, so that his children after him may be called the
children of a king; and that is the marriage portion I will ask of you."

"You may do that," the men of Ulster said to him; "for even though
Conchubar gets the name of being king, it is yourself that will be our
King all the time." So Fergus agreed to it, and he took Ness as his
wife, and her son Conchubar was made King in his place.

But all through the year Ness was working to keep the kingdom for him,
and she gave great presents to the chief men of Ulster to get them on
her side. And though Conchubar was but a young lad at the time, he was
wise in his judgments and brave in battle, and good in shape and in
form, and they liked him well. And at the end of the year, when Fergus
asked to have the kingship back again, they consulted together; and it
is what they agreed, that Conchubar was to keep it. And they said, "It
i