Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
The Metrical Dindshenchas (Author: [unknown])

poem/story 92

INIS SAMER

¶1] Inis Samer, whence the name? Not hard to say. When Partholon lived in that island with his wife, Delgnat, and his servant, Toba, and his dog, Samer, Partholon went off alone to explore the land. Now in his absence his wife and his servant came together,


p.291

and they both drank out of a cup that Partholon had. Then Partholon came home and asked for a drink, and his cup was brought to him, and he drank a draught through the golden pipe that projected from it. And he noticed thereby that the pair had drunk from it, and divined that they had behaved amiss. Then his dog comes up to him, and he gives it a blow with his open hand and kills it. So that was the first jealousy in Erin: and from this dog the island was called Inis Samer, and the river was called the Samer: so this was the first jealousy and the first lust in Erin. Thereafter the servant escaped, fleeing at random, and was eaten by dogs and birds. It was sixteen years from that time to the death of Partholon.