When the ceremony was done, the chief druid, whose
name was Moylann, spoke to Cormac and said: "Why, O Cormac, didst thou
not bow down and adore the golden image of the god like the rest of
the people?"
And Cormac said: "Never will I worship a stock[36] that my own
carpenter has made. Rather would I worship the man that made it, for
he is nobler than the work of his hands."
[36] The image was doubtless of wood overlaid with gold.
Then it is told that Moylann by magic art caused the image to move and
leap before the eyes of Cormac. "Seest thou that?" said Moylann.
"Although I see," said Cormac, "I will do no worship save to the God
of Heaven and Earth and Hell."
Then Cormac went to his own home at Sletty on the Boyne, for there he
lived after he had given up the kingdom to his son Cairbry. But the
druids of Erinn came together and consulted over this matter, and they
determined solemnly to curse Cormac and invoke the vengeance of their
gods upon him lest the people should think that any man could despise
and reject their gods, and suffer no ill for it.
So they cursed Cormac in his flesh and bones, in his waking and
sleeping, in his down sitting and his uprising, and each day they
turned over the Wishing Stone upon the altar of their god,[37] and
wove mighty spells against his life.
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