"Tochomlad na NiaFer", The Progress of NiaFer.
by MacMorna

How did they come here, the NiaFer clan?
How did they come to Inver Colpa,
To the place where the Boyne meets the sea?
It is a story easy to tell, and I will tell the story now!

When the Ancients were in their early days,
A land and holding was granted the NiaFer.
Far to the west and south it was,
Near to the bay of Galway,
And on the rocky Burren it was.

There they prospered for a time,
But their destiny was elsewhere.
NiaFer knew their place,
And that place was in the east,
Nearby to Temhair, the Hill of Tara.
Guardians of the hill they were.
The guardians of the Hill of Tara.

And so they took their leave of that place.
Left the rocky rath on the Burren.
Gathered all they could of their goods.
Cattle and sheep and swine they took.
Clothing and food and weapons,
In packs and sacks and carts.
And little was left behind.
The old and young, the warrior and bard,
Gathered at the gates and formed a line,
And they made a progress to their new home.

Another Broom, ancestor of our current Rian,
Led the procession with her harper and guard.
Donovan, he was called and his voice was sweet,
And his sword-arm was strong as any.
With Oweena her Bard and Ruarc her Druid,
Rian Broom led the progress to Inver Colpa.

Gwalchmai was War Chief of the clan.
The Hawk of May he was called,
Mighty muscled and keen of strategy.
And Feargal was his commander.
With Eoghan and Cormac,
With scout groups and warriors,
They protected the progress of the clan.

Front and sides warded by scouting groups.
Aesta and Sorcha were there,
And Goroien, "Fawn of Heart",
On a horse named Myst.
With Kier and Aidan, they were the first,
To face the bandits and brigands.
To protect the column from depredation.
And bandits aplenty they found.
One with a fingerbone necklace,
Who died for his cruel ways.
Another skirmish left Sorcha, sorely wounded,
And killed Kier’s horse from beneath him.

Six and twenty days they took,
Following the tracks through hills,
Following banks of the rivers.
Camping where nightfall found them.
Quickly eating. Quickly sleeping.
Then off again at first light.

Some could not stand the strain,
Could not make the whole journey,
Though Etain, the Healer, tried to comfort.
They were buried with ceremony
By the wayside with a marker cairn.

Down through the valley of Boyne they came
On the last days of their trek.
Rich and fertile was that plain.
Farmers and herdsmen stopped there
Homesteads to establish in the rich soil.
Warriors marked a spot near Tara.
A Citadel they would build there,
To protect the hill, as was their duty.

Others continued on the track
Along the south bank of the Boyne
To a fishing village of small huts
And an Inn, warm and comfortable
With an old friend, Scathach, as keeper.
There they rested and recovered
Until they could build their houses and halls
Until they could raise a fort and walls
To keep out the pirates and unfriends.

And so they came to Inver Colpa,
Tired and hungry and weary of the road,
To the Inn of Scathach, who welcomed them.
And they built up the village into a strong city.
Built homes and shops and a great hall.
And they prospered and grew,
In the shadow of the Hill of Amergin.
Amergin, son of the Mil.
Amergin, who with his brothers,
First brought the Gaels to this fair land.