Thence Laeg
showed him the green plain of Meath extending far and wide, and
the great streams of Meath where they ran, the Boyne and the
Blackwater, the Liffey and the Royal Rye, and his own stream the
Nanny Water, clear and sparkling, which was very dear to Laeg,
because he had snared fish there and erected dams, and had done
divers boyish feats upon its shores.
Cuculain said, "I see a beautiful green hill, shaped like an
inverted ewer, on the south shore of the Boyne. There is a noble
palace there. I see the flashing of its lime-white sides, and the
colours of the variegated roof and around it are other beautiful
houses. How is that city named O Laeg, and who dwells there?"
"That is the hill of Temair," answered Laeg, "Tara's high citadel.
Well may that city be beautiful, for the seat of Erin's high
sovereignty is there. The man who holds it is Arch-king of all
Erin."
"Westward by south," said Cuculain, "I see another city widely
built, and unenclosed by ramparts and defensive works, and hard by
there is a most smooth plain. At one end of the plain I see a
glittering, and also at the other,"
And Laeg said, "That is the hill of Talteen, so named because the
mother of far-shooting Lu, the Deliverer, is worshipped there, and
every year, when the leaves change their colour, games and
contests of skill are celebrated there in her honour.
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