_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 is no doubt
meant to honour him, as indicating that the fulfilment of his monastic
duties were yet more precious in his eyes. Moling forgot his book when
reading by the sea-shore, and though the tide arose and covered it, it
remained uninjured (VSH, ii, 191). There are numerous illustrations
of the paramount need of attending to guests scattered through the
saints' Lives.
The story of the grain cast into the breast of a poor man has come
down to us in confusion: it is not clear why the chariot is introduced
at all. Probably we have a conflation of two incidents. In the one
(which is the version followed by LA, for which see § 26 of that
document) Ciaran gave to a pauper a chariot and horses which the
prince Oengus son of Cremthann had given him: as that prince belongs
to the boyhood stories, it is probable that this incident should be
transferred to that section of the Life. In the other incident, which
may belong to the Isel period, Ciaran flings grain into the breast of
the poor man, where it turns into gold: and we may suppose that the
pointless re-transformation of the gold to grain did not take place. A
similar tale is told of Saint Aed (VSH, ii, 308). The weird story of
the jester who stopped the funeral of Guaire, king of Connacht, famous
for his abounding liberality, and demanded a gift of the dead man, is
of the same type; we are told that the dead king scooped up some earth
with his hand, and flung it into the jester's lap, where it became
pure gold.[21]