us that he began to prophesy in 550. As Ciaran is said to have
died in 548, the statement that Becc mac De foretold his coming is
anachronistic. The prophecy here attributed to him does not appear
in the list of prognostications attributed to him (given in the MS.
Harleian 5280, British Museum, edited in _Zeitschrift fuer Celtische
Philologie_, ix, 169), or in _Leabhar Breac_, p. 260, where some
further particulars about him are given.

I have ventured to emend the passage regarding Becc mac De slightly,
restoring the verse form which the prophecy seems to have had
originally. As it appears in the _Lismore Lives_ printed text it is
given in prose; an insignificant transposition of the words, and the
taking of the word _andsin_ out of the inverted commas is all that
is necessary.[5] In the rendering in the text an attempt is made to
reproduce to some extent the elaboration of alliteration, but the
end-rhymes and the vowel-assonances cannot be imitated without
sacrificing the sense. The metre resembles that known as _mibhasc_
(four-syllable and six-syllable lines alternating, but with
trisyllabic rhyme in the short lines).

The person to whom Colum Cille uttered his prophecy was Aed mac
Brenainn, Prince of Tethba (Teffia), the region comprising various
baronies in the modern Co. Westmeath and part of Co. Longford. This
Aed gave Dermag (Durrow) to Colum Cille a few years before the
latter's departure for Scotland. There is, however, no record of
the prophecy in the lives of Colum Cille; probably his visit to
Clonmacnois from Durrow is in the writer's mind. Ard Abla, identified
by O'Donovan with Lissardowlin, Co. Longford, was in the territory
of Tethba. The Lismore scribe has written the name of Aed's father
incorrectly (Brandub); the correction ("or Brenainn") is a marginal
note.

II. THE ORIGIN AND BIRTH OF CIARAN: THE WIZARD'S PROPHECIES (LA, LB,
LC, VG)

_The Pedigree_ (VG).--The pedigree in VG traces Ciaran's descent from
Tigernmas, fabled to have reigned in Tara 3580-3657 _Anno Mundi_
(1620-1543 B.C.).[6] Through Tigernmas the line is traced to Mil of
Spain, the eponymous ancestor of the "Milesians," or Celtic-speaking
inhabitants of Ireland.

There is another pedigree, totally different, which connects the
saint, not with the Tara kings, but with those of the Ulaid or Ulster
folk, through the dethroned Fergus who figures so prominently in the
epic tale _Tain Bo Cualnge_. This pedigree appears in the _Book