Page 35 - Demo

Chapter One 35
bolg or pouch to be used when occasion required. There is no mention in earlier times of bows and arrows.
The lia lamha laic, or, champion’s handstone, sometimes called a ‘celt,’ resembled an axe in shape, and was thrown with great skill. The taball, or sling, was in use from the earliest times and it is written that the great Queen Meadhbh was killed by a stone cast from one. The claidem, or broad-sword, was wielded with both hands, while the sciath, or shield, was made of metal either wholly or in part, sometimes of wood, and this was often covered with skins. Numerous specimens of all the aforementioned may be viewed in our National Museums.
Of course the laws and customs and ways of living did not remain ixed and unchanged through the centuries. But changes occurred more slowly everywhere in those early times than in more recent ones. And in Ireland, perhaps, changes came about even more slowly than in other countries, because as we have seen, Ireland was left more to herself than Brit- ain, or the other countries on the Continent of Europe, most of which were subjected to many diferent waves of conquering invaders. It is probably true to say that there have been more changes in Ireland during the last ifty to a hundred years, than there were during the four centuries that elapsed between the coming of Christianity to these shores and the irst attacks of the Lochlannaigh, those invaders from the north that we now call the Norsemen or Vikings. Furthermore, just as the family life of an ordinary Irish household in the time of Brian Boru did not difer as much from the lives of their ancestors in the days of Colmcille, as our life difers from that of our great-great- grandparents.
But back to the kings of the ive Cúigí of Ireland.
The ancient tales, which before the introduction of writing chronicled the island’s his-
tory tell of several great pagan kings who held sway in Ireland, before, about, and shortly after the time of Christ.
Conchubhar Mór, ‘Conor the Great,’ some say was the noted man who ruled Ireland at the time Christ was born. His thirty year reign was marked by peace, justice, and joy and it is recounted that in his reign the cattle needed not keepers, and throughout the land the trees bent from the abundance of their fruit. Other records assert that Crimthann Nia Ná, ‘Crimthann the Nephew of Nár,’ the Abashed Hero, was the High-King about the time of Christ-a king famous for his expeditions to foreign shores, from one of which he brought