No. 1, Peat. A fuel of bog turf and decayed roots, used for fires in Ireland.
No. 2, Finn MacCoul (Finn MacCumhail). According to the
Irish historians Finn MacCoul lived at the time of King
Cormac MacArt, who came to the throne about
No. 3, The Feast of Sowain. Now celebrated as Hallow Eve.
No. 4, The Children of Lir. The people mentioned in this story belong to a very ancient period in Irish history, but the story was put into its present form after Saint Patrick had brought Christianity into Ireland in the year 432.
No. 5, Ogham Letters. A particular kind of stenography, or writing in cipher, practiced by the ancient Irish.
No. 6, Besoms. Brooms for sweeping.
No. 7, Daniel O'Connell. The leader of the movement which led to the abolition of the Penal Laws in 1829, when Catholic Emancipation was granted. The Penal Laws were in force from the surrender of Limerick (1691) to the time of Daniel O'Connell, who was born in 1775; the laws against Catholics were a violation of the treaty of the articles of which guaranteed toleration to the Catholics, with security of their estates and the right to enter the professions.
No. 8, King Niall. was he who brought St.
Patrick into Ireland as a captive. He began to reign in
the year
No. 9, King Laery (Laeghaire). He reigned
from
No. 10, Twenty-third of June. St. John's Eve. The twenty-fourth of June is Midsummer Day.
No. 11, King Brian. He won his first great victory over the Norse in 968. In the year 998 he and King Malachi divided Ireland between them. In the year 1002 he became High King. In the year 1014 he defeated the Norse at the battle of Clontarf. He was killed after this battle.
No. 12, The Normans. They came into Ireland in 1170.
No. 13, Hugh O'Donnell and Hugh O'Neill. Hugh O'Donnell was made a captive in 1587. He and Hugh O'Neill began their war against the English in 1595 and won the battle of the Yellow Ford in 1598. They were defeated at the battle of Kinsale in 1602.
No. 14, Owen Roe O'Neill. The war in which he took part began in 1641. He won the battle of Benburb in 1646. He died in 1649. This war ended in 1652.
No. 15, Patrick Sarsfield. The war in which he was one of the leaders began in 1690. The Irish were defeated at the battle of Aughrim in 1691. In the same year the Irish surrendered the city of Limerick in accordance with a treaty by which the Irish Catholics would have religious freedom and the right to hold their estates. The treaty was broken by the English. The Irish soldiers then took service abroad with France and Austria and were the means of defeating English armies on the continent. At home the Irish Catholics were very severely oppressed under the Penal Laws.
No. 16, The Irish Play. This is a dramatic arrangement of the saga, "The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel"; it was put into this form in order that it might be acted by school boys.
Connery, King of Ireland, was fostered with the grandsons of Donn Desa, and "whatever meal was prepared for him, the four of them would go to it. . . . The same raiment and armour and colour of horses had the four." When he was given the kingship certain prohibitions were placed on Connery, one of the prohibitions being that no rapine should be wrought in his reign. The grandsons of Donn Desa took to marauding, and thieved from a man every year for three years. Finally they were seized and brought to Tara. To avoid condemning them to death the King banished them to the seas. The outlaws met Ingkel, a man banished out of Britain, and made an alliance with him. The confederates raided Britain, and in the raid Ingkel's father and seven brothers were slain. Ingkel claimed the spoil of Ireland as a recompense.
Now Connery had gone into Thomond to settle a quarrel between two chiefs, thereby breaking one of his prohibitions. On the return to Tara, other prohibitions were broken, and Connery's cavalcade journeyed towards the Hostel of Da Derga, ill-omened figures going with them. In the meantime the pirates had landed, and Ingkel claimed the spoil of the Hostel as his due. A spy was sent to the Hostel. Two of the foster-brothers, Ferrogain and Lomna Dru, were loth to attack, but Fergobar and Ingkel were steadfast for the raid. The attack was made, the Hostel was burnt, and the King of Tara slain.
The place where the outlaws landed was Fuirbthe, the Merrion Strand of today. The Hostel was situated on the Dodder, probably near the present Donnybrook Bridge. The date was about the time of Our Lord.
The dramatic version is based on the translation by Whitley Stokes, published in the Revue Celtique, Vol. 22. In many of the speeches the actual words of the saga as translated by Stokes have been used. Something has also been taken from Ferguson's fine poem, "Conary."