ainn went to
Senan for confession. They were received with fitting honour, but the
steward of Inis Cathaigh told his superior that he had no provision to
set before the guests. "The Lord will provide," answered Senan; and
in point of fact, a prince for whom a feast was at the time being
prepared on the mainland was divinely inspired to send it as a gift
to the sacred island. The saints partook of the banquet thus bestowed
upon them; and while they were doing so, a small bell fell from heaven
into their midst. None of the three was willing to assert a claim to
this gift over the other two; and after discussion they agreed to
advance in different directions, and he who should continue longest to
hear the sound of the bell was to be its possessor. This test assigned
the bell to Senan. The shrine of this sacred relic (the bell itself
is lost) is now preserved in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy,
having been acquired from the last hereditary keeper by a generous
donor.[20]

_The Geographical Names._--Besides "the island of Cathi" (Inis
Cathaigh, Scattery) LA refers to "Luim-nich" (Limerick), Kiarraighi
(properly _Ciarraige_, [North] Kerry), and Corco Baiscind (the
southern barony of Co. Clare), now spelt "Corcovaskin."

XXXV. CIARAN IN ISEL (LA, LB, VG)

_Cobthach son of Brecan_.--This person, who is said in VG to have
made over Isel to Ciaran, was probably a local chieftain; but he has
escaped the notice of the Annalists. In any case the statement that he
made over Isel to Ciaran is so obviously incongruous with the sense of
the passage, that it can be safely rejected as an interpolation. Its
purpose is to claim for Clonmacnois the possession of the land called
Isel, the site of which is no longer known, though it cannot have
been far from Clonmacnois. Conn of the Poor, the great and charitable
benefactor of Clonmacnois in the early years of the eleventh century,
established an almshouse at Isel; and some fifty-six years later,
in the year 1087, his son Cormac, then abbot, purchased Isel in
perpetuity from the king of Meath.

_Parallels._--We have already (incident XXI) seen an example of the
rescue of a book from rain; compare also incident XLI. The garment of
Finan (CS, 316) and of Cainnech (CS, 371) were preserved from rain,
and snow did not injure a book belonging to Abban (CS, 530). The
forgetfulness attributed to the saint with regard to his precious
volume is a regular feature of this type of incident: it