Heroic Legends Of Ireland Part 10

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 r, "unsalted pork"; see Glossary to Laws, p. 770; also MacConglinne (Kuno Meyer), p, 99.

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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 imd, "to the edges of his two shoulders"; see braine, in Meyer's Contributions.

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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 thcell. For tcell see Zimmer, Kuhn's Zeitsch. , x.x.x. 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.

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Line 19. Literal translation of rhetoric: "Put it in hand, place it close in hand, n.o.ble 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.

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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 bre. 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 br, 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 .

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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 fr ferdi buidni balc-thruim crandchuir forderg saire fedar sechuib slimprib snithib sctha lma indrosc clina fo bth en mna. Duib in dgail duib in trom dim tairthim flatho fer ban fomnis fomnis in fer mbranie cerpi fomnis did dergae fer arfeid soluig fria iss esslind fer brn for-t ertechta in de lmnado luchair for di Thethbi dlecud (? diclochud) Midi in dracht cich 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 fr-ferdi, which is taken to mean "really men"; and duib in digail duib in trom-dim, 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-dim "heavy companies." He also renders clunithar fr ferdi buindi, as "which hears truth, manly troops." The rest of the translation he agrees to, most of it is his own.

The pa.s.sage from fomnis fomnis to lmnado seems untranslatable.

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Line i. Lit. "no evil wedding feast (banais, text banas ) for thee?

MAC DATHO'S BOAR.

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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, Medival 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. cla.s.sed as H. 3, 18 in the Trinity College, Dublin, Library.

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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 ma.n.u.scripts 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 n 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 taith, "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 laith. 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 nm dn cutal. Ailbe do roid dia . "It does not make sorrow for me; as for Ailbe, "G.o.d sent him" seems to be the sense; but the meaning of cutal is obscure.

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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.

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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 princ.i.p.al 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.

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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."

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The literal translation of the quatrain is in A.O., p. 63. The quatrain does not occur in the Leinster version.

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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 c.u.mhail.

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The Rawlinson ma.n.u.script adds, after mentioning the rewards given to Ferloga But he did not get the serenade (cepca), 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 mult.i.tude 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 mult.i.tude of troops, Loegaire the Triumphant eastwards, was half of complaint about the dog with Aed son of Morna not great.

Great n.o.bles, mighty (?) deeds, hard heroes, fair companions in a house, great champions, destruction of clans, great hostages, great sepulchres.

In this poem may be noted the reference to Cuchulain in line x2 in close connection with that to Bodb the G.o.ddess of War, as indicating the original divine nature of Cuchulain as a war-G.o.d 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.

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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 G.o.ds 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.

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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.

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Line 9. "Dun Imrith nor yet to Dun Delga." Dun Imrith is the castle in which Cuchulain was when he met the War-G.o.ddess in the "Apparition of the Morrigan," otherwise called the "Tain bo Regamna." Dun Delga or Dundalk is the residence usually a.s.sociated 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 G.o.d.

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Line 30. "Hath released her," Irish ros lci. 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 lcim. 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 G.o.d, the Celtic Poseidon.

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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 G.o.ds (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 pa.s.sage," pa.s.sed only by a woman's help, occurs elsewhere both in Irish and in other early literatures. See Maelduin, para. 17; Ivain (Chrtien de Troyes), vv. 907 sqq.; and Mabinogion, "Lady of the Fountain" (Nutt's edition, p. 177).

Line 28. "Labra." Labraid's usual t.i.tle, as given to him by Liban in both forms of the romance and once by Laeg in the second description of Fairyland, is Labraid Luath lamar-claideb, the t.i.tle being as closely connected with him as {Greek boh'n a?gao's Mene'laos }with Menelaus in Homer. It is usually translated as "Labraid quick-hand-on-sword," but the Luath need not be joined to lam, it is not in any of the places in the facsimile closely joined to it, and others than Liban give to Labraid the t.i.tle of Luath or "swift," without the addition.

The literal translation of the short pieces of rhetoric on pages 62, 63 are, "Where is Labraid the swift hand-on-sword, who is the head of troops of victory?

(who) triumphs from the strong frame of his chariot, who reddens red spear-points."

"Labraid the son of swiftness is there, he is not slow, abundant shall be the a.s.sembly of war, slaughter is set when the plain of Fidga shall be full."

"Welcome to thee, O Laeg!

for the sake of her with whom thou hast come; and since thou hast come, welcome to thee for thyself!"

The metre of the first two pieces is spirited and unusual. The second one runs: At Labraid luithe cland, ni b mall bid immda tinol catha, cuirther r, da b Ian Mag Fidgae.

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