You would think it was
a shower of pearls that was set in his mouth, his lips were rubies,
his symmetrical body was as white as snow, his cheek was ruddy as the
berry of the mountain-ash, his eyes were like the sloe, his brows and
eye-lashes were like the sheen of a blue-black lance."
[34] Angus Og was really a deity or fairy king. He appears also
in the story of Midir and Etain. _q.v._
X
THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF CORMAC
Strange was the birth and childhood of Cormac strange his life and
strange the manner of his death and burial, as we now have to narrate.
Cormac, it is said, was the third man in Ireland who heard of the
Christian Faith before the coming of Patrick. One was Conor mac Nessa,
King of Ulster, whose druid told him of the crucifixion of Christ and
who died of that knowledge.[35] The second was the wise judge, Morann,
and the third Cormac, son of Art. This knowledge was revealed to him
by divine illumination, and thenceforth he refused to consult the
druids or to worship the images which they made as emblems of the
Immortal Ones.
[35] See the conclusion of the _Vengeance of Mesgedra_.
One day it happened that Cormac after he had laid down the kingship of
Ireland, was present when the druids and a concourse of people were
worshipping the great golden image which was set up in the plain
called Moy Slaught.
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