Heroic Romances of Ireland Part 32

C. Should we happen to meet at a ford (i.e. a field of battle), I and Ferdiad of well-known valour, the separation shall not be without history, fierce shall be our edge-combat.

F. Better would it be to me than reward, O Cuchulain of the blood-stained sword, that it was thou who carried eastward the spoils (coscur, not corcur) of the proud Ferdiad.

C. I give thee my word with boasting, though I am not good at bragging, that it is I who shall gain the victory over the son of Daman, the son of Dare.

F. It is I who gathered the forces eastwards in revenge for my dishonour by the men of Ulster; with me they have come from their lands, their champions and their battle warriors.

C. If Conor had not been in his sickness hard would have been his nearness to thee; Medb of Magh in Scail had not made an expedition of so loud boastings.

F. A greater deed awaits thy hand, battle with Ferdiad son of Daman, hardened b.l.o.o.d.y weapons, friendly is my speech, do thou have with thee, O Cuchulain!

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Line 7 of O'Curry's rendering of the first stanza should run: "So that he may take the point of a weapon through him."

Stanza 2 of the poem should run thus:

It would be better for thee to stay, thy threats will not be gentle, there will be some one who shall have sickness on that account, distressful will be thy departure to encounter the Rock of Ulster; and ill may this venture turn out; long will be the remembrance of it, woe shall be to him who goeth that journey.

Line 4 of the next stanza, "I will not keep back to please you."

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The literal rendering of the poem seems to be:

I hear the creaking of a chariot with a beautiful silver yoke, the figure of a man with perfection (rises) from the wheels of the stout chariot; over Breg Row, over Braine they come (?), over the highway beside the lower part of the Burg of the Trees; it (the chariot?) is triumphant for its victories.

It is a heroic (?) hound who drives it, it is a trusty charioteer who yokes it, it is a n.o.ble hawk who scourges his horses to the south: he is a stubborn hero, he is certain (to cause) heavy slaughter, it is well-known that not with indexterity (?) is the bringing of the battle to us.

Woe for him who shall be upon the hillock waiting for the hound who is fitly framed (lit. in harmony"); I myself declared last year that there would come, though it be from somewhere, a hound the Hound of Emain Macha, the Hound with a form on which are hues of all colours, the Hound of a territory, the Hound of battle; I hear, we have heard.

As a second rendering of the above in a metre a little closer to the original than that given in the text, the following may be suggested:

Shrieks from war-car wake my hearing, Silver yokes are nigh appearing; High his perfect form is rearing, He those wheels who guides!

Braina, Braeg Ross past it boundeth, Triumph song for conquests soundeth, Lo! the roadway's course it roundeth, Skirting wooded sides.

Hero Hound the scourge hard plieth, Trusty servant yoke-strap tieth, Swift as n.o.ble hawk, he flieth, Southward urging steeds!

Hardy chief is he, and story Soon must speak his conquests gory, Great for skilful war his glory; We shall know his deeds!

Thou on hill, the fierce Hound scorning, Waitest; woe for thee is dawning; Fitly framed he comes, my warning Spoke him thus last year: "Emain's Hound towards us raceth, Guards his land, the fight he faceth, Every hue his body graceth:"

Whom I heard, I hear.

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In O'Curry's rendering of the dialogue between Ferdia and his servant, line 3 should be, "That it be not a deed of prophecy," not "a deferred deed"; and line 6, With his proud sport."

Last stanza of the poem:

It seems thou art not without rewards, so greatly hast thou praised him; why else hast thou extolled him ever since I left my house?

they who now extol the man when he is in their sight come not to attack him, but are cowardly churls.

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Line 34. "As a hawk darts up from the furrow." O'Curry gives "from the top of a cliff." The word in the Irish is claiss.

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The metre of this poem, which is also the metre of all the preceeding poems except the second in this romance, but does not occur elsewhere in the collection, may be ill.u.s.trated by quoting the original of the fifth verse, which runs as follows:

Re funiud, re n-aidchi Madit eicen airrthe, Comrac dait re bairche, Ni ba ban in gleo: Ulaid acot gairmsiu, Ra n-gabartar aillsiu, Bud olc doib in taidbsiu Rachthair thairsiu is treo.

Literal translation of the first two stanzas:

What has brought thee here, O Hound, to fight with a strong champion?

crimson-red shall flow thy blood over the breaths of thy steeds; woe is thy journey: it shall be a kindling of fuel against a house, need shalt thou have of healing if thou reach thy home (alive).

I have come before warriors who gather round a mighty host-possessing prince, before battalions, before hundreds, to put thee under the water, in anger with thee, and to slay thee in a combat of hundreds of paths of battle, so that thine shall the injury as thou protectest thy head.

Line 2 of the fifth stanza, "Good is thy need of height."

Line 8 of the seventh stanza, "Without valour, without strength."

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Line 3. Literally: "Whatever be the excellence of her beauty." A similar literal translation for page 138, line 10, of the dialogue; the same line occurs in verse 3 on page 148, but is not rendered in the verse translation.

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Line 18. "O Cuchulain! for beautiful feats renowned." O'Curry gives this as prose, but it is clearly verse in the original.

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