Now swelling, now descending. Strong albeit
The immortal steeds staggered. Cuchullain cried,
‘What! children of the tempest-wakened lakes
Saw ye till now no billows? Yours they are!
Exult ye in your native element,
And waft your lord to vengeance!’ They obeyed:
They reached Ilgairig’s summit.
On he sped
Mantled with sunset. Terrible he shone!
Both armies saw him--knew him! Onward yet;
While from his golden arms and golden car
Lightnings went forth incessant. In his van
Victory and Fear their pinions spread. He reached
Ilgairig’s southern verge: he reined his steeds:
High in his car he stood; with level hand
Screening his eyes he scanned that battle-field,
His future course decreeing.
On and on
Adown that slope he flashed and o’er that plain
Like zigzag sunshaft o’er the autumnal world;
And ever where he came the host of Meave
Gave way before him. On and ever on!
And now the nearest of those bulwarks three
He reached, and o’er its ruins swept, back driving
The conquerors late now conquered. On and on!
And ever through that foe thick-packed he clave
A lane of doom and death. Ere long was reached
The second rampart. There it was he slew
The great ones of Clan Libna, and the clans
Guairé and Murdoc. Fiery faces thronged
The air around him, and the voice of Gods
Made smooth his way triumphant.
On and on--
Nor ceased he ever hurling left and right
Destruction from his sling; nor slackened sleet
Of javelins winged with fate. That brazen urn
With death-stones heaped exhausted not its store,
Replenished ever as by hand unseen
Work of some God! That brazen cirque, not less
Where stood his javelins ranged was never void;
Work of some God! The on-rolling wheels devoured
Those serried ranks; the war-steeds trampled down:
Reached was that rampart furthest of the three;
There in her war-car sat the queen; in front
The Maineys seven were ranged: his sword forth flashed:
Four perished of the seven. Then faced the queen
Westward, and fled amazed.
He marked her flight:
Eastward he turned. As on he carved his course
Not now a lane alone of doom and death
But ever widening valleys ruin-strewn
Bore witness of his transit, for behind
Closed ever up Cuchullain’s household clans
Murthemné’s, and Cuailgné’s. Perished there
The Ossorians, and the Olnemacian chiefs,
And many a champion famed from Slaney’s bank
To Lee and Laune, from Caiseal’s crested rock[37]
To Beara’s strand. Who died not, fled and left
Yet ampler ’twixt the bristling flanks of war
That vacant space; and as the dolphin oft
Raptured by gladness of clear summer seas
While flames the noon on purple billows, swims
All round and round some ship full-sailed, so he
Circled on foot at times that car wind-swift
Mocking its slowness; then with airy bound
Once more within it beamed. His boyhood’s mirth
Returned upon him. On the chariot’s floor
He marked those brazen balls, the sport that time
Of men way-faring, snatched them up, tossed high
While yet careering round the blood-stained field,
Then caught them as they fell:--a glittering ring
They girt that glittering head. Not less his eye
Watchful pursued the flying foe; his hand
Brought down to earth the fleetest.
From the crests
Of those twinned hills down rushed the total strength
At last of Uladh. Universal flight
Shook the vast field. The bravest men and best
Caught by its current on were dragged like trees
The sport of winter flood. Chieftain and king
Sought, each, his home. Meave, with a remnant small
Reached Shenan’s bridgeless tide; and there had fallen
Stretching to towered Ath-Luain helpless hands,
Save that Cuchullain, ’mid the narrower way
Standing with arms extended, terrible,
Abashed that host pursuing; ‘Stand ye back!
One day I shared her feast: she shall not die!’
He spake, and set by Shenan’s wave his shield.
Next morn the Ulidians where that shield had stood
In silence stern planted three pillar-stones,
White daughters of the tempest-beaten hills,
In Ogham graved, ‘Vanquished by Uladh’s sons
Here fled the invader, Meave.’
Fergus alone
The Exile-King, and they, the Exile Band,
Fled not that day. Though few and bleeding fast
Fearless upon a cloudy crag they stood,
Phalanx prepared to die, prepared not less
Dearly to sell their lives, while past them streamed
That panic-stricken throng. The host pursuing
Looked up, yet swerved not from their course. Once more
Returning from the vengeance they looked up;
Then passed in silence by.
That eve, men say,
While slowly paced Cuchullain t’ward the camp,
Lamenting strains of Goddesses were heard,
For whatsoe’er was female loved the man,
If earthly female, with a human love,
If heavenly, with a love compassionate,
Lamenting strains that, ere his youth had passed,
That starry head must lie by Fate’s decree
Amid the dust of death. Cuchullain turned;
Softly he answered; ‘Goddesses benign!
Why weep ye? I was Uladh’s Mastiff-Hound:
The mastiff lives not long. What better lot
For him than this;--the bandits chased, to die
Beside his master’s gate?’
So ends the _Tain_:
Not less, in mirth or spleen, that legend old
Primeval battle-chaunt of Erin’s race,
Adds yet a second close.
Cuchullain led
That host Ulidian home; while Meave made oath
Northward to send, and range round Eman’s walls
Her spoil, the war’s sole triumph, countless flocks,
The herds milk-yielding of the large-eyed kine,
The horses, and the asses, and the goats,
The household stuffs, rich vests, and precious dyes,
The hinds laborious, and the men age-bent,
And maidens skilled in work; but, first, and chief
That sable Bull, the cause of all the war.
Fulfilled were all these pledges save the last;
For Meave upon that fatal day, while hung
Doubtful the battle-scales, had given command
To lead the Donn to Cruachan. Ill-pleased
He on his keepers turning slew a score,
Yet peaceful paced at last betwixt their ranks,
At each side fifty spears. Next day, far south,
Forth rolled the roar of Ailill’s Bull snow-white,
Fionbannah. Bursting through his guard, the Donn
Rushed t’ward the sound. Upon the midway plain
The rivals met. All day that battle raged
While wood to wood thunder on thunder hurled,
And all the bulls of Erin sent reply.
Shepherds, through wood-skirts peering, saw the end,
The Donn, at sunset, rushing t’ward the north,
And, on his conqueror’s back--their horns entwined--
Fionbannah dead! All night that conqueror rushed
O’er hill and plain and prone morass. When dawn
Looked coldly forth through mist along the meads
Far off he kenned a rock: that rock he deemed
A second bull: collecting all his might
Thereon he hurled his giant bulk, and died.
Northward thus marched from Cruachan the kings;
Then back. The Foray of Queen Meave thus far.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES.
PREFACE
Footnote 1:
_Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History_, p. 41.
Footnote 2:
_Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History_, p. 30.
Footnote 3:
_Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish_, vol. iii. p. 403.
Footnote 4:
Author of _The Collegians_.
Footnote 5:
More correctly written Uisnach. See _Loch Etive and the Sons of
Uisnach_, Macmillan & Co.
Footnote 6:
Advertisement to ‘Inisfail,’ p. 52.
Footnote 7:
1. Lays of the Western Gael. 2. Congal. 3. Poems. By Sir Samuel
Ferguson. Bell and Sons.
THE SONS OF USNACH
Footnote 8:
Ulster.
Footnote 9:
Eman, also called Emania, stood nearly on the present site of Armagh.
Footnote 10:
Page 9. _He taught her all the Ogham Signs to read._ The Ogham
characters are a species of alphabet, or as some call them cypher, cut
upon stones, or wooden staves. They are found in many parts of
Ireland; and much has been written on them by the most learned Irish
antiquarians of recent times, especially by Bishop Graves.
Footnote 11:
The Irish, originally ‘Scoti,’ were so called from Scota.
Footnote 12:
Ballyshannon.
Footnote 13:
Howth.
Footnote 14:
Page 38. _By Geisa bound._ These _Gesa_, or _Geisa_, often as trivial
in character as they were rigidly enforced, have a large place in the
legends of the Irish pre-Christian times. Sometimes they applied to
particular individuals alone: thus, in the case of Cuchullain, it was
a _Gesa_ that no one should wake him out of his sleep. Sometimes they
were self-imposed: thus Fergus Mac Roy and Cuchullain also, had bound
themselves in youth never to refuse an invitation to the feast of a
good man, however humble. The most remarkable illustrations of the
_Gesa_ will be found in ‘Conary,’ the noble poem of my friend, Sir
Samuel Ferguson, who speaks of them as ‘certain sacred injunctions,
the violation of which was attended with temporal punishment. The
agents in inflicting such retribution appear in the form of Fairies.’
(Poems by Sir Samuel Ferguson, p. 61. McGee, Dublin; George Bell,
London.)
Footnote 15:
Page 39. _Deirdré and he were playing chess together_: Chess was a
favourite game with the Irish, and is frequently alluded to in the
earliest tales.
THE CHILDREN OF LIR
Footnote 16:
Page 73. _The ‘Lia Fail,’ and Ogham lore revered._ The ‘Lia Fail,’ or
‘Stone of Destiny,’ was the stone on which the Irish ‘Chief Kings,’ or
Ard-Righs, were crowned at Tara. It was subsequently used for the same
purpose during many centuries in Scotland, to which it had been
brought by the Dalriad Irish recorded by Bede, at the coronation of
her Kings of Irish race. It was removed by Edward the First from Scone
to Westminster Abbey, where it still supports the chair of Edward the
Confessor. (See ‘Hist. of Scotland’ by Sir Walter Scott, vol. i. p.
34.)
Footnote 17:
Bamba, Fodhla, and Eire.
Footnote 18:
The current running between Cantire, in Scotland, and the northern
coast of Ireland.
Footnote 19:
Achill Island, on the coast of Connaught.
Footnote 20:
The ‘Tonsured One,’ _i.e._ St. Patrick.
Footnote 21:
‘The term _Mael_, Mull (or Moyle, as Moore calls it), does not
properly apply to the current itself, but to the _Mael_, or bald
headland by which it runs.’--_Professor Eugene O’Curry._
Footnote 22:
‘They met a young man of good family whose name was Aibhric, and his
attention was often attracted to the birds, and their singing was
sweet to him, so that he came to love them greatly, and that they
loved him; and it was this young man that afterwards arranged in order
and narrated all their adventures.’--_The Fate of the Children of
Lir_, prose version by Professor O’Curry.
Footnote 23:
Page 105. _Or Acaill_; Now Achill Head.
THE FORAY OF QUEEN MEAVE
Footnote 24:
Now Connaught.
Footnote 25:
Now Ulster.
Footnote 26:
Chief King.
Footnote 27:
Now Dundalk.
Footnote 28:
Armagh.
Footnote 29:
_Cu_ in Irish means hound.
Footnote 30:
Page 146. _Hail Eric just._ The fine exacted for various offences by
the Brehon law.
Footnote 31:
Page 151. _The dread Mor Reega._ The War Goddess of the ancient Irish.
An account of this divinity will be found in the admirable essay
contributed to the ‘Revue Celtique’ (May 1870), by W. M. Hennessy,
Esq.
Footnote 32:
Page 153. _Among the Sidils._ The Fairy Hills.
Footnote 33:
Page 181. _There shone the torque of Meave._ ‘Take off his armour that
I may see the Brooch for the sake of which he undertook the combat.
Leagh came, and stripped Ferdīa.... Cuchullain saw the brooch; and he
began to lament and moan for him.’ (MS. translation, by Professor
O’Looney.)
Footnote 34:
Page 191. _And, southward next, that lake._ Lough Derg in Donegal, a
place of pilgrimage still frequented. To this island properly belongs
the legend illustrated by Calderon in his ‘Purgatory of St. Patrick,’
so admirably presented to the English reader by my lamented friend,
the late Denis Florence MacCarthy.
Footnote 35:
The Shannon.
Footnote 36:
Page 201. _Beside Ath-Luain._ Now Athlone.
Footnote 37:
Page 226. _From Caiseal’s crested rock._ Now Cashel.
LONDON: PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STREET
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transcriber’s Notes
This file uses _underscores_ to indicate italic text. New original cover
art included with this ebook is granted to the public domain.
The original printed book included both footnotes and endnotes. In this
edition, all notes have been converted to sequentially numbered
endnotes.
De Vere consistently spells the Irish title “ollamh” as “ollamb”; this
and other non-standard spellings of Irish words have not been corrected.
There are some errors and inconsistencies in the rendering of single and
double quotation marks in nested dialogue, especially in the long
narration by Fergus starting on page 138. These have been silently
corrected.
The following changes and corrections have been made:
• p. vi: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “a famous
scribe named Maelmire, who was killed there in 1106.”
• p. 1: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “goodlier is
this child / Than e’er till now on proudest parent smiled!”
• p. 16: Added opening single quotation mark before phrase “Ever at
Uladh’s feasts the clansmen say,” change internal opening single
quotation mark in this stanza to double quotation mark, and add
closing double quotation mark to end of stanza.
• p. 17: Added opening single quotation mark before phrase “Their
singing is the best all Uladh boasts” and at the start of the
following stanza.
• p. 28: Added opening single quotation mark before phrase “Lay first
that head, and march we hence this night!”
• p. 69: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “A woman’s
hand one day shall strike him dead!”
• p. 78: Replaced “Finōla” with “Finola” in phrase “Finola paced the
high-arched alleys green.”
• p. 80: Added period and closing single quotation mark after phrase
“if not--my hate.”
• p. 81: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “Their voices
too are voices of the Gael!”
• p. 89: Added exclamation mark and closing single quotation mark after
phrase “Farewell, my little Conn!”
• p. 90: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “Thou hear’st
the charge: how makest thou reply?”
• p. 114: Added period after phrase “Through Faith the birthright,
though the younger son.”
• p. 145: Changed “bou” to “boughs” in phrase “Bird-song by autumn
chilled, that brake through boughs.”
• p. 153: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “My strength
must lessen day by day.”
• p. 155: Changed “o er” to “o’er” in phrase “o’er the axle bent.”
• p. 164: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “this Island
should be theirs!”
• p. 190: Changed “Fionbannagh” to “Fionbannah” in phrase “the Bulls
that shake this day our land, / Fionbannah, and the Donn.”
• p. 203: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “Is past
since northward to the war we marched.”
• p. 227: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “One day I
shared her feast: she shall not die!”
• p. 228: Added comma after phrase “The household stuffs, rich vests,
and precious dyes.”