Heroic Romances of Ireland Part 55

di: befind conide asbert:

to her: fair-haired lady, so that thence he said:

a be find in raga lim

O fair-haired lady, wilt thou come with me

i tir n-ingnad hi fil rind

into a land marvellous, that is music?

Is barr sobarche folt and

(thus) is the top of the head, of primrose the hair there,

is dath snechta corp co ind:

is colour of snow the body to the head:

Is and nad bi mui na tai,

It is there not will be 'mine' or 'thine,'

gela det and, dubai brai,

white teeth there, black eyebrows,

Is li sula lin ar sluag,[FN#135]

is colour of eyes number of our hosts,

[FN#135] A conjecture by Windisch. Text gives sluaig the genitive singular, which does not rhyme.

[FN#136]no is brece is dath sion and cech gruad:

or is many-coloured is hue of foxglove there each cheek:

[FN#136] The three glosses are interesting. It may be noted that the last two certainly follow the word (above the line in which it occurs) that they seem to gloss: it is therefore probable that the first does so too; the two lines of a couplet are on the same line in the ma.n.u.script. It {footnote p. 156} seems then possible that the gloss "it is many-coloured" refers, not to the foxglove, but to the preceding line, "the colour of eyes is number of our hosts," and that the writer of this gloss gave the same meaning to the rather hard description of the colour of the eyes as is given in the verse translation (vol. i. p.

26), i.e. that the eyes had changing lights and shapes. We must hope, for the credit of his taste, that he did not think of the cheeks as many-coloured or freckled, but his gloss of lossa does not seem happy.

The meaning "growth" is taken from O'Reilly's Dictionary.

no lossa Is corcair maige cach muin,[FN#137]

or growth?

is purple of a plain each neck,

[FN#137] A conjecture (Str.), main, treasure, is in the text: this does not rhyme, nor give good sense; note, however, that muin has no accent-the text gives one.

no is dath is li sula ugai luin:

or is hue is colour of eyes (that of) eggs of a blackbird:

cid cain deicsiu maigi Fail

though pleasant (is) seeing plains of Fal (isle of Destiny)

annam iar gnais maige mair.

a wilderness[FN#138] after knowledge of the Great Plain.

[FN#138] This meaning for annam is doubtful; the sense of "seldom" is established for the word; the line possibly means "it will seldom be so after," &c.

Cid mesc lib coirm inse Fail,

Though intoxicating to you (is) ale of the island Fal,