Irische Texte : mit ersetzungen und Wterbuch

224 The Irish Ordeals, Cormac's Adventure in the Land of Promise,
/(Uquv ?/ nijyrf av dl xp8vói]zai, zb vScdq o^y/^^Tft/, xal dva^alvei ^isyQi
trjq Sé^QTiq, xal to yQUfiixaislov éxáXv\].'ev.
See Cormac's glossary, s. v. Sin: H. 3. 18, fo. 391a; and Ancient
Laws, I. 24.
§ 17. The closest parallel to the ordeal of the red-hot adze is
that of the iron ladle used by the Bedouins , and thus described by
Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Bechtsaltertiimer, 2. Ausg. 936—937: Bei den
nomadischen Arabern wird ein groszer eisenloffel gegltiht, und der Cadi,
nachdem er zwei- oder dreimal dariiber geblasen hat, stellt ihn dem
angeschuldigten zu, der ihn an beiden enden belecken musz. verbrennt
er sich die zunge, so wird er straffallig erkannt, sonst aber freigespro-
chen. The ordeal of carrying a red-hot axe (paragu) is mentioned in
the Chandogya Upanishad: see E. Schlagintweit, Die Gottesurteile der
Indier, Miinchen 1866, pp. 21, 22. The licking of a red-hot plough-
share (phála) is mentioned by Hiuen Thsang, ibid, p. 23.
The Welsh, also, had the ordeal (poen) of the hot iron (y hayarn
tivymyn), Welsh Laws IL 622.
§ 18. The ordeal of lot-casting is mentioned in the Ancient Laws,
vol. IV, p. 24: ni cobranaide finntJiea condatuice fir caire no cranncuir,
which is thus rendered: "They (the dub -fine) receive no share of the
family land until they have tendered the proof of the caldron or of the lot."
§ 19. gaid act. perf. sg. 3 of guidim. The vessel mentioned in this
ordeal resembles in its behaviour the Cuach Cormaic infra. If we
regard the three Collars of Morann as variants of a single ordeal, and
Badurn's Vessel and Cormac's Cup as substantially identical, the number
of Irish ordeals is reduced to nine, which is precisely the number of the
divydni pramánáni recognised by the later Hindu law-books. They are
thus enumerated by Emil Schlagintweit, Die Gottesurteile der Indier,
p. 6: Wage, Feuer, Wasser, Gift, Weihwasser, Reiskornerkauen, das
heisse Goldstuck, die Pflugschaar und das Loos.
§ 20. mothair: cogn. with mothar A. dorcha, O'Dav. 105.
dub-rota is rendered by Hennessy 'black ryestuff'. But cf. LL. 169»
28, where it clearly means 'dark-red stuif from bogs'.
The ordeal mentioned in this paragraph resembles the Thibetan
process thus described by Grimm (Deutsche Bechtsaltertiimer, p. 936):
In Thibet wird der keszelfaug folgendergestalt vollfiihrt: man wirft einen
weiszen und einen schwarzen stein in das siedende wasser, beide parteien
tauchen ihren arm zugleich in den kessel, und der gewinnt, welcher den weiszen
stein herauszieht. See as to this ordeal in Kamaon, Schlagintweit, p. 24.
It seems to survive in the south of India as a juggler's trick which
I have witnessed — three handfuls of sand, each handful of a different
colour, being thrown separately, in a certain order, into a vessel of
water and then taken out separately, in the same order, and dry. So