In the Book of Ballymote there is a list and description of twelve different kinds of ordeal used by the ancient Hibernians. Among these were the following :-
"Morann's Collar"
of which the common version of the legend is this - The great brehon or judge, Morann, had a collar, which, if placed round his neck, or round the neck of any judge, contracted on his throat if he delivered a false or unjust judgment, and continued to press more tightly, ever till he delivered a righteous one. Placed on the neck of a witness, if he bore false testimony it acted similarly, until it forced him to acknowledge the truth.
"The Adze of Mochta"
the metal head of an adze was made red-hot in a fire of blackthorn or of tlie quicken-tree, "and the [tongue of the accused] was passed over it: it would burn the person who had falsehood: but would not burn the person who was innocent."
The "Three Dark Stones"
A bucket was filled with bog-dust, charcoal, and other kinds of black stuff, and three little stones, white, black, and speckled, were put into it, buried deep in the black mass, into which the accused thrust down his hand: if he drew the white stone, he was innocent: if the black one, he was guilty: and if he drew the speckled one, he was half guilty."
The "Caldron of Truth"
was a vessel of silver and gold. "Water was heated in it till it was boiling; into which the accused plunged his hand: if he was guilty, the hand was burned: if not, it was uninjured.
"Lot-casting"
- in several forms-was very common as an ordeal.
"Luchta's Iron"
the druids having first uttered an incantation over a piece of iron, put it in a fire till it was red-hot. It was then placed in the hand of the accused: and "it would burn him if he had guilt: but would not injure him if innocent."
"Waiting at an altar"
The person was to go nine times round the altar, and afterwards to drink water over which a druid's incantations had been uttered. "If the man was guilty, the sign of his transgression was made manifest in him [by some bodily disfigurement]: if innocent, he remained unharmed."
The Tale of the Second Battle of Moytura relates how he came by his evil eye. When he was a boy, his father's druids used to concoct their spells in a room carefully closed, 'cooking sorcery' over a fire in a caldron, from some horrible ingredients, like Shakespeare's witches in "Macbeth." The boy, curious to know what the druids were at, climbed up and peeped through an opening, when a whiff of foul steam from the caldron blew into his eye, and communicated to it all the baleful influence of the hellish mixture. But this eye, powerful as it was, was not proof against the tathium or sling-ball of his grandson Lug of the Long Arms. At the Second Battle of Moytura, Baler was present, prepared to use his eye on the Dedannan army. But Lug, who was on the side of the Dedannans, kept on watch ; and the moment the lid of the Cyclopean eye was raised, and before the glare had time to work bale, he let fly the bard ball from his sling, which struck the open eye with such force as to go clean through eye, brain, and skull.
These observations may be brought to a close by the remark that the superstition of the evil eye has remained among our people - as among others - down to this day.
The most interesting of the geasa were those imposed on kings: of which the object of some was obviously to avoid unnecessary personal danger or loss of dignity. For example, it was a geis to the king of Emain (i.e. of Ulster) to attack alone a wild boar in his den : a sensible restriction. According to the Book of Acaill and many other authorities, it was geis for a king with a personal blemish to reign at Tara: so that when king Cormac mac Art lost one eye by an accident, he at once abdicated. The reason of these two geasa is plain enough. But there were others which it is not so easy to explain. They appear to be mere superstitions - obviously from pagan times - meant to avoid unlucky days, evil omens, &C Some kings, were subject to geasa from which others were free. The king of Emain was forbidden to listen to the singing of the birds of Lough Swilly, or to bathe in Lough Foyle on a May Day. The king of Ireland and the provincial kings had each a series of geasa. To the king of Ireland it was forbidden that the sun should rise on him while lying in bed in Tara, i.e. he should be up before sunrise; he was not to alight from his chariot on Moy Breagh, on a Wednesday; and he was not to go round North Leinster left-hand-wise under any circumstances.