well to us both."
Line 22. For the incident compare Bodleian Dinnshenchas (Nutt, p. 27):
the introduction of Crochen is a human touch which seems to be
characteristic of the author of this version. The Dinnshenchas account
seems to be taken from the romance, but it gives the name of Sinech as
Mider's entertainer at Mag Cruachan.
Line 25. "The Fairy Mound of Croghan." Irish, co sith sínighe Cruachan;
for sínighe read Maighe, "to the sid of Mag C."
PAGE 21
Line 2. Until the same day upon the year, &c.," on lo cu cele, "from
that day to its fellow," i.e. "till the same day next year."
Line 10. "Three wands of yew." This looks like an early case of a
divining-rod.
Line 21. "Hath smitten thee," rotirmass for ro-t-ormaiss, "hath hit
thee."
Line 29. "They ruined," "docuas ar," an idiomatic phrase; "they
overcame," an idiomatic phrase. Compare Annals of Ulster under years
1175, 1315, 1516.
PAGE 22
Line 2. "Messbuachalla." This makes Etain the great-grandmother of
Conary, the usual account makes her the grandmother, so that there is
here an extra generation inserted. Yet in the opening she and Eochaid
Airem are contemporary with kings who survived Conary!
Line 4. "The fairy host, &c." The order of the words in the original
is misleading and difficult sithchaire and Mider are the subjects to ro
choillsiut and to doronsat.
PAGE 23
Line 12. That there should be adjusted)" fri commus, lit. "for
valuation," but commus has also the sense of "adjusting."
PAGE 24
Line 4. "Since he for a long time, &c.," fodaig dognith abairt dia
sirsellad. See Meyer's Contributions, s.v. abairt.
Line 23. "To gaze at her." Up to this point the L.U. version
(exclusive of the Prologue) bears the character of an abstract,
afterwards the style improves.
PAGE 25
Line 2. "But it shall not be in the abode, &c." Windisch seems to
have mimed the point here, he considers these lines to be an
interpolation.
PAGE 26
Line 5. Following Windisch's suggestion, this poem has been placed
here instead of the later place where it occurs in the text. This
famous poem has been often translated; but as there appear to be points
in it that have been missed, a complete literal rendering is appended:
O fair-haired woman, will you come with me
into a marvellous land wherein is music (?);
the top of the head there is hair of primrose,
the body up to the head is colour of snow.
In that country is no "mine" and no "thine";
white are teeth there, black are eyebrows,
the colour of the eyes is the number of our hosts,
each cheek there the hue of the foxglove.
The purple of the plain is (on) each neck,
the colour of the eyes is (colour of) eggs of blackbird;
though pleasant to the sight are the plains of Fal (Ireland),
they are a wilderness (7) for a man who has known the Great Plain.
Though intoxicating to ye the ale of the island of Fal,
the ale of the Great Country is more intoxicating
a wonder of a land is the land I speak of,
a young man there goes not before an old man.
Stream smooth and sweet flow through the land,
there is choice of mead and wine;
men handsome (?) without blemish,
conception without sin, without crime.
We see all on every side,
and yet no one seeth us,
the cloud of the sin of Adam it is
that encompasses us from the reckoning.
O woman, if thou wilt come to my strong people,
it is top of head of gold shall be on thy head,
unsalted pork, new milk and mead for drink
shalt thou have with me there, O fair-haired woman.
Line 2. Hi fil rind. The meaning of rind (?) music) is uncertain.
Line 3. Is barr sobarche folt and. This line is often translated as
"hair is wreathed with primrose": the image would be better, but it is
not the Irish. Barr is "top of head," and folt is "hair."
Line 4. Is and nad bi mui na tai. Muisse is in old Irish the
possessive of the first sing when followed by a noun it becomes mo,
when not so followed it is mui; tai is also found for do. O'Curry gave
this line as "there is no sorrow nor care."
Lines 7 and 10. Is li sula lin ar sluag and is li sula ugai luin are
so similar that is li sula must mean the same in both, and cannot mean
"splendour of eyes" in the first case unless it does so in the second.
The idea in the first case seems to be that the hosts are reflected in
the eyes; it is so rendered in the verse translation. A blackbird's
egg has a blue ground, but is so thickly powdered with brown spots of
all shapes that it looks brown at a distance. At first I was inclined
to take the idea to be "hazel" eyes, but comparing line 7, it seems
more likely that the idea is that all sorts of shapes appear in the
pupil.
Line 12. The translation of annam as a "wilderness" is very doubtful,
it more probably is "seldom"; and the line should be "seldom will it be
so after knowledge of, &c."
Line 16. This has always been rendered "no youth there grows to old
age." But the Irish is ni thecht oac and re siun, and re siun can only
mean "before an old (man)." The sense possibly is, that as men do not
become feeble with advancing years, the younger man has not the same
advantage over his elders in the eyes of women that he has in this
world.
Line 17. Teith millsi, "smooth and honey-sweet" (Meyer, MacCongl., p.
196).
Line 24. Compare a story of some magical pigs that could not be
counted accurately (Revue Celtique, vol. xiii. p. 449).
Line 31. Muc ur, "unsalted pork"; see Glossary to Laws, p. 770; also
MacConglinne (Kuno Meyer), p, 99.
PAGE 27
Line 23. "He ascended." Fosrocaib for sosta: fosrocaib is an unknown
compound (=fo-sro-od-gaib). Perhaps frisocaib for sosta, "mounted on
the heights."
Line 29. Co brainni a da imdae, "to the edges of his two shoulders";
see braine, in Meyer's Contributions.
PAGE 28.
Line 19. "Casting their light on every side," cacha air di = cacha
airidi, "in every direction."
Line 25. "If thou dost obtain the forfeit of my stake," mad tu beras
mo thocell. For tocell see Zimmer, Kuhn's Zeitsch., xxx. 80.
Line 29. "Eager" (?), femendae. See Bruiden da Derga (Stokes), 50, 51.
Line 30. "Easily stopped," so-ataidi suggested for sostaidi in the
text: cf. Bruiden da Derga. The conjecture has not Strachan's
authority.
PAGE 29
Line 19. Literal translation of rhetoric: "Put it in hand, place it
close in hand, noble are oxen for hours after sunset, heavy is the
request, it is unknown to whom the gain, to whom the loss from the
causeway."
Line 28. "Over the chariot-pole of life" seems to be a literal
rendering of for fertas in betha. Strachan renders "on the face of the
world," which is of course the meaning of the simile.
Line 30. "High was he girt," ard chustal. The meaning of custal is
not known; it was used of some arrangement of the dress. See Ir.
Text., iii. 226; also L.U. 79a, 35, L.L. 97a, 40; 98a, 51; 253a, 30.
Line 31. "Eochaid arose," Atrigestar Eochaid. Strachan thinks it much
more likely that this is "Eochaid feared him," the verb coming from
atagur. It is, however, just possible that the word might be a
deponent form from atregaim, "I arise." Eochaid does not elsewhere
show any fear of Mider, the meaning given agrees better with the tone
of the story, and is grammatically possible.
PAGE 30
Line 1. "All things that seemed good, &c.," lit. "I have been
accustomed to get what seemed good to thee," adethaind ni bad maith.
Line 3. "Anger for anger," bara fri bure. Compare the word bura in
Meyer's Contributions.
Line 25. "In order that Eochaid should stand in his debt," lit. "that
there might be cause of reproach for him to Eochaid."
Line 32. "Forest that is over Breg." MS. fid dar bre, with mark of
abbreviation. This is read to be dar Breg. Professor Rhys (Arthurian
Legend, p. 28) renders "to cover Darbrech with trees."
Line 33. "As it is written in the book of Drom Snechta. "This is a
conjecture by Mrs. Hutton as a restoration of the words in L.U., which
is torn just here: the words appear to be amal atbert lebor drums.
PAGE 31
Line 1. This rhetoric is very obscure; much of it cannot be
translated. The text seems to be as follows, according to Strachan:
Cuisthe illand tochre illand airderg damrad trom inchoibden clunithar fír
ferdi buidni balc-thruim crandchuir forderg saire fedar sechuib
slimprib snithib scítha lama indrosc cloina fo bíth oen mna. Duib in dígail
duib in trom daim tairthim flatho fer ban fomnis fomnis in fer mbranie
cerpiae fomnis diad dergae fer arfeid soluig fria iss esslind fer bron
for-tí ertechta in de lamnado luachair for di Thethbi dílecud (? diclochud)
Midi in dracht coich les coich amles ? thocur ? dar c? moin.
Apparent rendering: "Place on the land, place close on the land, very
red oxen, heavy troop which hears, truly manlike ? troops, strong heavy
placing of trees, very red . . . is led past them with twisted wattles,
weary hands, the eye slants aside (squints) because of one woman. To
you the vengeance, to you the heavy ? oxen ? splendour of sovereignty
over white men, . . . man sorrow on thee . . . of childbirth, rushes
over Tethba, clearing of stones from Meath . . . where the benefit
where the evil, causeway over . . . moor." It seems that the oxen were
transformed people of Mider's race; this appears from fír-ferdi, which is
taken to mean "really men"; and duib in digail duib in trom-daim, which
is taken to mean "to you the vengeance, to you heavy oxen."
Professor Strachan disagrees with this, as daim, to be "oxen," should
not have the accent, he makes trom-daim "heavy companies." He also
renders clunithar fír ferdi buindi, as "which hears truth, manly troops."
The rest of the translation he agrees to, most of it is his own.
The passage from fomnis fomnis to lamnado seems untranslatable.
PAGE 32
Line 1. Lit. "no evil wedding feast (banais, text banas) for thee?
MAC DATHO'S BOAR
PAGE 37
Line 3. The Rawlinson version gives, instead of "who was the guardian
of all Leinster," the variant "who would run round Leinster in a day."
This semi-supernatural power of the hound is the only supernatural
touch in either version of the tale.
Line 6. The verse "Mesroda son of Datho" is from the Rawlinson MS.
The literal version of it is in Anecdota Oxoniensia, Mediaeval Series,
part viii. p. 57. (This reference will in future be given as A.O., p.
57.)
Line 20. The list of the hostelries or guest-houses of Ireland
includes the scene of the famous Togail Da Derga, in the sack of which
Conaire, king of Ireland, was killed. Forgall the Wily was the father
of Emer, Cuchulain's wife. The tale of the plunder of da Choca is in
the MS. classed as H. 3, 18 in the Trinity College, Dublin, Library.
PAGE 38
The literal version of the dialogue between Mac Datho and his wife is
given in A.O., p. 58, following the Leinster text (there are only two
lines of it given in the Rawlinson MS.); but I note a few divergencies
in the literal version from which the verse translation was made.
Verse 3, line 1. Asbert Crimthann Nia Nair, "Crimthann Nia Nair has
said" (A.O.). Nia is "sister's son," and has been so rendered. Nia is
a champion, and this is the meaning given in the Coir Anmann; but nia
has no accent in either the Leinster or Harleian manuscripts of the
text. The Coir Anmann (Ir. Tex., iii. 333) says that Nar was a witch.
Verse 4, lines 1, 2. Cid fri mnai atbertha-su Mani thesbad ní aire, "Why
wouldest thou talk to a woman if something were not amiss?" (A.O.).
"Why dost thou speak against a woman unless something fails on that
account" seems as good a translation, and fits the sense better.
Verse 7, line 2. Leis falmag dar sin tuaith, "By him Ireland (shall be
roused) over the people." The omitted verb is apparently "to be," as
above. Line 4 of the same verse is left untranslated in A.O., it is
ata neblai luim luaith. It seems to mean "There is nothing on the
plain for bareness (luim) of ashes," more literally, "There is a
no-plain for, &c."
Verse 9, lines 2, 3. Isi ním dení cutal. Ailbe do roid dia. "It does not
make sorrow for me; as for Ailbe, "God sent him" seems to be the sense;
but the meaning of cutal is obscure.
PAGE 41
Line 8. "Forty oxen as side-dishes," lit. "forty oxen crosswise to it"
(dia tarsnu). The Rawlinson MS. gives "sixty oxen to drag it" (dia
tarraing).
Line 33. "The son of Dedad." Clan Dedad was the Munster hero clan,
having their fortress in Tara Luachra; they correspond to the more
famous Clan Rury of Ulster, whose stronghold was Emain Macha. Curoi of
Munster seems to have been a rival hero to Cuchulain.
PAGE 42
Line 20. "Pierced through with a spear." The different ways in which
Ket claims to have conquered his rivals or their relations may be
noted; the variety of them recalls the detailed descriptions of wounds
and methods of killing so common in Homer. There are seven victories
claimed, and in no two is the wound the same, a point that
distinguishes several of the old Irish romances from the less elaborate
folk-tales of other nations. Arthur's knights in Malory "strike down"
each other, very occasionally they "pierce through the breast" or
"strike off a head," but there is seldom if ever more detail. In the
Volsunga Saga men "fall," or are "slain," in a few cases of the more
important deaths they are "pierced," or "cut in half," but except in
the later Niebelungenlied version where Siegfried is pierced through
the cross embroidered on his back, a touch which is essential to the
plot, none of the Homeric detail as to the wounds appears. The same
remark applies to the saga of Dietrich and indeed to most others; the
only cases that I have noticed which resemble the Irish in detail are
in the Icelandic Sagas (the Laxdale Saga and others), and even there
the feature is not at all so prominent as here, in the "Tain be
Cuailnge," and several other Irish romances, though it is by no means
common to all of them. It may be noted that the Irish version of the
"Tale of Troy" shows this feature, and although it is possible that the
peculiarity is due to the great clearness and sharpness of detail that
characterises much of the early Irish work, it may be that this is a
case of an introduction into Irish descriptions of Homeric methods.
It may be also noted that six of Ket's seven rivals are named among the
eighteen Ulster chiefs in the great gathering of Ulster on the Hill of
Slane before the final battle of the Tain, Angus being the only one
named here who is not in the Hill of Slane list. Two others in the
Hill of Slane list, Fergus mac Lets and Feidlimid, are mentioned
elsewhere in this tale. Several of these are prominent in other tales:
Laegaire (Leary) is a third with Cuchulain and Conall in the Feast of
Bricriu, and again in the "Courtship of Emer;" Cuscrid makes a third
with the same two principal champions in the early part of the
"Sick-bed;" Eogan mac Durthacht is the slayer of the sow of Usnach in
the old version of that tale; and Celtchar mac Uitechar is the Master
of the Magic Spear in the "Bruiden da Derga," and has minor romances
personal to himself.
PAGE 45
The literal translation of the rhetoric seems to be: Ket. "Welcome,
Conall! heart of stone: wild glowing fire: sparkle of ice: wrathfully
boiling blood in hero breast: the scarred winner of victory: thou, son
of Finnchoem, canst measure thyself with me!" Conall. "Welcome, Ket!
first-born of Mata! a dwelling place for heroes thy heart of ice: end
of danger (7); chariot chief of the fight: stormy ocean: fair raging
bull: Ket, Magach's son! That will be proved if we are in combat: that
will be proved if we are separated: the goader of oxen (?) shall tell
of it: the handcraftsman (?) shall testify of it: heroes shall stride
to wild lion-strife: man overturns man to-night in this house."
PAGE 46
The literal translation of the quatrain is in A.O., p. 63. The
quatrain does not occur in the Leinster version.
PAGE 47
Line 4. "A great oak-tree." After the plucking up of the oak-tree by
Fergus, the Rawlinson MS. adds: "Others say that it was Curoi mac Dari
who took the oak to them, and it was then that he came to them, for
there was no man of Munster there (before) except Lugaid the son of
Curoi and Cetin Pauci. When Curoi had come to them, he carried off all
alone one half of the Boar from all the northern half of Ireland."
This exploit attributed to Curoi is an example of the survival of the
Munster account of the Heroic Age, part of which may be preserved in
the tales of Finn mac Cumhail.
PAGE 48
The Rawlinson manuscript adds, after mentioning the rewards given to
Ferloga But he did not get the serenade (cepoca), though he got the
horses." Literal translation of the final poem:
O lads of Connaught, I will not fill
your heaviness with a lying tale;
a lad, small your portion,
divided the Boar of Mac Datho.
Three fifties of fifty men
are gone with troops of heroes;
combat of pride for that Ailbe,
small the fault in the matter of the dog.
Victorious Conor came (?),
Ailill of the hosts, and Ket;
Bodb over the slaughters after the fight,
Cuchulain conceded no right.
Congal Aidni there from the east,
Fiamain the man of harmony from the sea,
(he who) suffered in journeys after that
Eogan the son of dark Durthacht.
three sons of Nera (famous) for numbers of battle-fields,
three sons of Usnach, fierce shields:
Senlaech the charioteer,
he was not foolish, (came) from high Conalad Cruachan;
Dubhtach of Emain, high his dignity;
Berba Baither of the gentle word;
Illan glorious for the multitude of his deeds;
fierce Munremur of Loch Sail;
Conall Cernach, hard his valour;
Marcan . . .
Celtchar the Ulsterman, man over man;
Lugaid of Munster, son of three dogs.
Fergus waits great Ailbe,
shakes for them the . . . oak,
took hero's cloak over very strong shield;
red sorrow over red shield.
By Cethern the son of Finntan they were smitten,
single his number at the ford (i.& he was alone);
the men of Connaught's host
he released not for the time of six hours.
Feidlimid with multitude of troops,
Loegaire the Triumphant eastwards,
was half of complaint about the dog
with Aed son of Morna not great.
Great nobles, mighty (?) deeds,
hard heroes, fair companions in a house,
great champions, destruction of clans,
great hostages, great sepulchres.
@@line x2?
In this poem may be noted the reference to Cuchulain in line x2 in
close connection with that to Bodb the Goddess of War, as indicating
the original divine nature of Cuchulain as a war-god also the epithet
of Lugaid, "son of three dogs." Two of the dogs are elsewhere stated
to be Cu-roi and Cu-chulain, the third seems uncertain.
Line 26, describing Marcan, seems untranslatable; the Irish is Marcan
sinna set rod son. The epithet of the oak in line 32 is also obscure,
the Irish is dairbre n-dall.
THE SICK-BED OF CUCHULAIN
PAGE 57
Line 2. "Samhain." Samhain was held on November 1st, and on its eve,
"Hallow-e'en".
The exhibition of tips of tongues, on the principle of Indian scalps,
has nothing at all to do with the story, and is not mentioned in the
usual descriptions of the romance. It is a piece of antiquarian
information, possibly correct, and should serve to remind us that the
original form of these legends was probably of a barbaric kind, before
they were taken in hand by the literary men who gave to the best forms
of the romances the character they now have.
Line 23. For the demons screaming from the weapons of warriors compare
the Book of Leinster version of the "Combat at the Ford": pages 126,
143 in this volume.
PAGE 58
Line 4. The delay of Conall and Fergus leads to nothing, it is perhaps
an introduction from some third form of the story.
Line 19. Leborcham is, in the story of Deirdre, Deirdre's nurse and
confidant.
Line 26. "Their three blemishes."
This disfigurement of the women of Ulster in honour of their chosen
heroes seems to point to a worship of these heroes as gods in the
original legend. It may, however, be a sort of rough humour
intentionally introduced by the author of the form of the story that we
call the Antiquarian form; there are other instances of such humour in
this form of the story.
PAGE 59
Line 2. "Like the cast of a boomerang." This is an attempt to
translate the word taithbeim, return-stroke, used elsewhere (L.U.,
63a., 4) for Cuchulain's method of capturing birds.
Line 8. "I deem it as being by me that the distribution was made."
The words "I deem it" are inserted, they are not in the text. It
appears that what Ethne meant was that the distribution by Cuchulain
was regarded by her as done by her through her husband.
PAGE 60
Line 9. "Dun Imrith nor yet to Dun Delga." Dun Imrith is the castle in
which Cuchulain was when he met the War-Goddess in the "Apparition of
the Morrigan," otherwise called the "Tain bo Regamna." Dun Delga or
Dundalk is the residence usually associated with Cuchulain. The
mention of Emer here is noticeable; the usual statement about the
romance is that Ethne is represented as Cuchulain's mistress, and Emer
as his wife; the mention here of Emer in the Antiquarian form may
support this; but this form seems to be drawn from so many sources,
that it is quite possible that Ethne was the name of Cuchulain's wife
in the mind of the author of the form which in the main is followed.
There is no opposition between Emer and Ethne elsewhere hinted at.
Line 15. The appearance of Lugaid Red-Stripes gives a reason for his
subsequent introduction in the link between the two forms of the story.
Line 18. "Near the entrance of the chamber in which Cuchulain lay."
It does not yet seem certain whether imda was a room or a couch, and it
would seem to have both meanings in the Antiquarian form of this story.
The expression forsind airiniuch na imdai which occurs here might be
rendered "at the head of the bed"; but if we compare i n-airniuch ind
rigthige which occurs twice in "Bricriu's Feast," and plainly means "at
the entrance of the palace," it seems possible that airinech is here
used in the same sense, in which case imda would mean "room," as
Whitley Stokes takes it in the "Bruiden da Derga." On the other hand,
the word imda translated on page 63, line 11, certainly means "couches."
Line 27. "Ah Cuchulain, &c." Reference may be made for most of the
verses in this romance to Thurneysen's translation of the greater part
of it in Sagen aus dem alten Irland but, as some of his renderings are
not as close as the verse translations in the text, they require to be
supplemented. The poem on pp. 60, 61 is translated by Thurneysen, pp.
84 and 85; but the first two lines should run:--
Ah Cuchulain, under thy sickness
not long would have been the remaining.
And lines 7 and 8 should be:
Dear would be the day if truly
Cuchulain would come to my land.
The epithet "fair" given to Aed Abra's daughters in line 4 by
Thurneysen is not in the Irish, the rest of his translation is very
close.
Line 32. "Plain of Cruach." Cromm Cruach is the name of the idol
traditionally destroyed by St. Patrick in the "Lives." Cromm Cruach is
also described In the Book of Leinster (L.L. 213b) as an idol to whom
human sacrifices were offered. The name of this plain is probably
connected with this god.
PAGE 61
Line 30. "Hath released her," Irish ros leci. These words are usually
taken to mean that Manannan had deserted Fand, and that she had then
turned to Cuchulain, but to "desert" is not the only meaning of lecim.
In the second form of the story, Fand seems to have left Manannan, and
though of course the two forms are so different that it is not
surprising to find a contradiction between the two, there does not seem
to be any need to find one here; and the expression may simply mean
that Manannan left Fand at liberty to pursue her own course, which
divine husbands often did in other mythologies. Manannan is, of course,
the Sea God, the Celtic Poseidon.
PAGE 62
Line 3. Eogan Inbir (Yeogan the Stream) occurs in the Book of Leinster
version of the Book of Invasions as one of the opponents of the Tuatha
De Danaan, the Folk of the Gods (L.L. 9b, 45, and elsewhere).
Line 15. "Said Liban." The text gives "said Fand." This seems to be
a scribal slip: there is a similar error corrected on page 79, line 21,
where the word "Fand" is written "Emer" in the text.
Line 16. "A woman's protection." The "perilous passage," passed only
by a woman's help, occurs elsewhere both in Irish and in other early
literatures. See Maelduin, para. 17; Ivain (Chretien de Troyes), vv.
907 sqq.; and Mabinogion, "Lady of the Fountain" (Nutt's edition, p.
177).