They are found in numerous MSS., and their date is fixed by Dr Meyer about the ninth century.

With some other Irish matter of the same description they constitute, says Mr Alfred Nutt, "the oldest body of gnomic wisdom" extant in any European vernacular.

(_FOLK-LORE_, Sept.

30, 1909.) The story of Cormac's adventures in Fairyland has been published with a translation by Standish Hayes O'Grady in the _TRANSACTIONS OF THE OSSIANIC SOCIETY_, vol.iii., and is also given very fully by d'Arbois de Jubainvilie in his CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS.

The tale is found, among other MSS., in the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, but is known to have been extant at least as early as the tenth century, since in that year it figures in a list of Gaelic tales drawn up by the historian Tierna.
The ingenious story of the _Judgment concerning Cormac's Sword_ is found in the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, and is printed with a translation by Dr Whitly Stokes in _IRISCHE TEXTE_, iii.