The Latin & Irish Lives of Ciaran Part 12

I have found no parallel to this most remarkable story. It displays the following noteworthy points--

1. It belongs to the Ciaran-tradition which places the home of the family in Cenel Fiachach.

2. It preserves what has every appearance of being an authentic tradition of a prohibition against the presence of males, even of tender years, when dyeing was being carried on.[12]

3. Most likely the saint's curse--indeed, the whole a.s.sociation of the tale with Ciaran--is a late importation into the story: it was probably originally a [Pagan] tale, told as a warning of what would happen if males were allowed to be present at the mystery. The different colours which the garments a.s.sumed are perhaps not without significance; Sullivan, in his introduction to O'Curry's _Manners and Customs_ (i, p. 405), says "the two failures ... are simply the failures which result from imperfect fermentation and over-fermentation of the woad-vat."

4. There is an intentionally droll touch given to the end of the _Marchen_.

5. The independence of parental control which the youthful Ciaran displays will not escape notice.

_The Stanza._--This is written in a peculiar metre; two seven-syllable lines, with trisyllabic rhymes, followed by two rhyming couplets of five-syllable lines with monosyllabic rhymes.

_Iarcain_ is a word of uncertain meaning: it probably denotes the waste stuff left behind in the vat.

IX. HOW CIARAN RESTORED A CALF WHICH A WOLF HAD DEVOURED (LA, LB, LC, VG)

_Parallels._--Practically the same story is told of Abban (VSH, i, 24; CS, 508) and of Colman (CS, 828). A similar story is told of Saint Patrick (LL, 91), but it is not quite identical, inasmuch as here the wolf voluntarily restored a sheep which it had carried off. Something like this, however, is indicated in the Latin verse rendering of the story (No. 2 of the Latin verse fragments at the end of LB). More nearly parallel is the tale of Brigit (LL, 1250; CS, 19) who gave bacon which she was cooking to a hungry dog; it was miraculously replaced. A converse of this miracle is to be found in the Life of Ailbe, who first restored two horses killed by lions, and then miraculously provided a hundred horses for the lions to devour (CS, 239). Aed gave eight wethers to as many starving wolves, and they were miraculously restored to save him from the indignation of his maternal aunt (VSH, ii, 296). It is obvious, but hypercritical, to complain that in these artless tales the kindness shown to the beasts is illogically one-sided!

_The Process of Resuscitation._--The important point in the tale, though the versions do not all recognise this, is the collection of the bones of the calf. VG preserves the essential command to the wolf not to break these. Colum Cille reconst.i.tuted an ox from its bones (LL, 1055). Coemgen gave away to wayfarers the dinner prepared for the monastic harvestmen, and when the latter naturally protested, he collected the bones and re-clothed them with flesh, at the same time turning water to wine (VSH, i, 238). Aed performed a similar miracle in the nunnery at Clonmacnois, replacing Ciaran's dinner which he himself had eaten (VSH, i, 39). There is here no mention of the bones, but very likely this has become lost in the process of transmission.

By all these tales we are reminded of the boar Saehrimnir, on whose flesh the blessed ones in Valhalla feast daily--sodden every evening and reconst.i.tuted from its bones every morning.[13] In a Breton folk-tale, _La princesse Trool_, the hero has been burnt by the wiles of his enemy, but his sorceress fiancee seeks among the ashes till at last she finds a tiny splinter of bone. With this she is able to restore her betrothed; without it she would have been powerless.[14]

Very probably the practice of "secondary interment" of human bones, which we find so far back as the later stages of the Palaeolithic age, is based upon the same belief; that if the bones are preserved, their owner has a chance of a fresh lease of life.

There is a curious variant of the story in the Life of Coemgen.

Here the cow is driven home, and Coemgen, called upon to soothe its lamentations, fetches, not the bones of the eaten calf, but the culprit wolf, which comes and plays the part of the calf to the satisfaction of all concerned (VSH, i, 239). It is evident that in this case there is another element of belief indicated: the personality of the calf has pa.s.sed into the wolf which has devoured it--in fact, the wolf _is_ the calf re-incarnate.

_Resurrection of Beasts._--Calling dead animals back to life is a not infrequent incident in the lives of Irish saints. We have already seen Ciaran resuscitating a horse. Mo-Chua restored twelve stags (VSH, ii, 188); but perhaps the most remarkable feat was that of Moling, who, having watched a wren eating a fly, and a kestrel eating the wren, revived first the wren and then the fly (VSH, ii, 200). Saint Brynach's cow having been slain by a tyrannical king, was restored to life by the saint (_Cambro-British Saints_, pp. 11, 297).

_The Stanza in VG._--The metre is _ae freslige_. The rendering in the text is close to the literal sense.

_The e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n "Mercy on us"_--or, more literally, "mercy come to us." The sentence recording this habitual e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n, in VG, breaks so awkwardly into the sense of the pa.s.sage in which it is found, that it must be regarded as a marginal gloss which has become incorporated with the text. It has dislodged a sentence that must have legitimately belonged to the text, restored in the foregoing translation by conjecture. Probably the lost sentence, like the intrusive one, ended with the word _trocuire_, "mercy," which, indeed, may have suggested the interpolation; this might easily have caused the scribe's eye to wander. An habitual expletive is also attributed to St. Patrick (_modebroth_, apparently "My G.o.d of Judgment!").

Here, again, the versions in LB and LC are very closely akin.

X. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM ROBBERS (LA, LC, VG)

_Parallels._--Robbers were smitten with blindness (cf. Genesis xix.

II) by Darerca (CS, 179) and restored on repentance. The same fate befell a man who endeavoured to drive Findian from a place where he had settled (CS, 198). Robbers who attempted to attack Cainnech (CS, 364, 389; VSH, i, 153), Colman (VSH, i, 264), and Flannan (CS, 669), were struck motionless. The story before us is a conflation of the two types of incident, blindness and paralysis being acc.u.mulated on the robbers. The same acc.u.mulation befell a swineherd who attempted to slay Saint Cadoc (_Cambro-British Saints_, pp. 31, 321).

Note that this incident, like No. VIII, belongs to the Cenel Fiachach tradition. We have already seen that it was known to the compiler of the _Annals of Clonmacnois_, though he ignores the miraculous element.

XI.-XIII. HOW CIARAN GAVE CERTAIN GIFTS (LA): XIV. HOW CIARAN GAVE THE KING'S CAULDRON TO BEGGARS AND WAS ENSLAVED (LA, LC, VG)

These four incidents may be considered together: they are all variants of one formula.

_Parallels_.--Brigit took "of her father's wealth and property, whatsoever her hands would find, ... to give to the poor and needy"

(LL, 1308). A story is told in the Life of Aed which is evidently a combination of our incidents XII and XIII: to the effect that when ploughing he made a gift of one of his oxen and of the coulter, and continued to plough without either (VSH, i, 36).

The angels grinding for Ciaran reappear in incident XVIII: this is a frequent type of favour shown to saints. Angels ground for Colum Cille at Clonard (LL, 850), swept out a hearth for Patrick (LL, 121), and harvested for Ailbe (CS, 241).

_Beoit an Uncle._--This is an important link between incidents XII and XIII in LA. Its bearing upon the question of the origin of Ciaran's family has already been noticed.

_The Oxen ploughing._--Incident XIII would be meaningless if we did not understand from it that at the time of the formation of the story it was not customary to use horses in the plough. This is an ill.u.s.tration of the way in which these doc.u.ments, unhistorical though they may be in the main, yet throw occasional sidelights, which may be accepted as authentic, on ancient life.

_King Furbith._--I have not succeeded in tracing this personage, who reappears in incident XXVII. But the story of his cauldron is found in the Life of Ciaran of Saigir (CS, 815), in a rather different form--to the effect that he deposited his considerable wealth for safe-keeping with Ciaran, who was already abbot of Clonmacnois. Ciaran promptly distributed it to the poor. Furbith was human enough to be annoyed at this breach of trust, and ordered Ciaran to be summoned before him in bonds. This done, he addressed him "insultingly," as the hagiographer puts it, in these words: "Good abbot, if thou wilt be loosed from bonds, thou must needs bring me seven white-headed red hornless kine:[15] and if thou canst not find them, thou shalt pay a penalty for my treasures which thou hast squandered." Ciaran undertook to provide the required cattle, "not to escape these thy bonds, which are a merit unto me, but to set forth the glory of my G.o.d"; and therefore he was set free to obtain them. Another variant of these stories--a common type, in which the saint gives away the property of other people in alms, but has his own face miraculously saved--is ill.u.s.trated by the tale of Coemgen, who, when a boy was pasturing sheep. He gave four of them to beggars, but when the sheep were led home at night the number was found complete "so that the servant of Christ should not incur trouble on account of his exceeding charity"

(VSH, i, 235).

The site of _Cluain Cruim_ (LA) is unknown (perhaps Clooncrim, Co.

Roscommon). The _Desi_ (VG), or Dessi, were a semi-nomadic pre-Celtic people once established in the barony of Deece, Co. Meath, but afterwards in the baronies of Decies in Waterford: both these baronies still bear their name. A branch of them settled in Wales. Evidently the donors of the cauldrons which purchased the freedom of the saint were of the Decies; they are said to have been Munster folk (the name of the province is variously spelled).

XV. HOW CIARAN REPROVED HIS MOTHER (LA, LC)

I have found no parallel to this story; it contains no miraculous element, and may quite possibly be at least founded on fact. Its chief importance is the prominence given to the _materfamilias_.

XVI. THE BREAKING OF THE CARRIAGE-AXLE (LA, LC)

Unlike LA, LC seems to imply that the injury to the axle was not repaired. This would be parallel to the story of Aed, who, when his carriage met with a similar mishap, was able to continue his journey on one wheel only (CS, 336; VSH, i, 36).

XVII. HOW CIARAN WENT WITH HIS COW TO THE SCHOOL OF FINDIAN (LA, LB, LC, VG)

_The blessing of the Cow._--In this story we again note the prominence of the _materfamilias_: it is she who in most of the versions withholds the desired boon. Note how LB endeavours to tone down the disobedience of the saint by making the cow follow him of her own accord, or, rather, upon a direct divine command. The _Annals of Clonmacnois_ presents the story in a similar form: "He earnestly entreated his parents that they would please to give him the cow [which had been stolen and recovered; _ante_, p. 108], that he might go to school to Clonard to Bishop Finnan, where Saint Colum Cille ...

and divers others were at school: which his parents denied: whereupon he resolved to go thither as poor as he was, without any maintenance in the world. The cow followed him thither with her calf; and being more given to the cause of his learning than to the keeping of the cows, having none to keep the calf from the cow, [he] did but draw a strick of his bat between the calf and cow. The cow could not thenceforth come no nearer [_sic_] the calf than to the strick, nor the calf to the cow, so as there needed no servant to keep them one from another but the strick." A totally different version of the story of the cow is recorded in the glosses to the _Martyrology of Oengus_ (9th September). Here Ciaran applied to his _father_, who, so far from refusing his request, bade him go through the herd and take whatever beast would follow him. "The Dun Cow of Ciaran" yielded to the test.

Further, the same cow followed him when he left Clonard, instead of remaining with Ninned as in the _Lives_ before us.

Note how the author of LA has been unable to keep a very human touch out of his arid record: _matri displicebat, uolebat enim eum sec.u.m semper habere_. This is our last glimpse of poor Darerca, and it does much to soften the rather lurid limelight in which our homilists place her.

_The Division of Kine and Calves._--This miracle is one of the most threadbare commonplaces of Irish hagiographical literature; it is most frequently, as here, performed by drawing a line on the ground between the animals with the saint's wonder-working staff. It is attributed, _inter alia_, to Senan (LL, 1958), Fintan (CS, 229), Ailbe (with swine, CS, 240), and Finan (CS, 305).

_A miraculous abundance of milk_ was also given by kine belonging to Brigit (CS, 44) and to Samthann (VSH, ii, 255).

_The Hide of the Cow._--Plummer quotes other ill.u.s.trations of such mechanical pa.s.sports to the Land of the Blessed (VSH, i, p. xciii).

The main purpose of this whole incident is doubtless to explain the origin of a precious relic, preserved at Clonmacnois. Its history is involved in some doubt: it is complicated by the fact that there exists a well-known ma.n.u.script, now preserved in the library of the Royal Irish Academy, written at Clonmacnois about A.D. 1100, and called the _Book of the Dun Cow_, from the animal of whose hide the vellum is said to have been made. But whether this book has any connexion with the Dun Cow of Ciaran may be considered doubtful. For down to the comparatively late date at which our homilies were put together, the hide of Ciaran's Dun was evidently preserved _as a hide_, on or under which a dying man could lie: therefore it cannot have been made into a book. Yet _Imtheacht na Tromdhaimhe_ (p. 124 of the printed text) tells us, for what it may be worth, that Ciaran wrote the great epic tale called _Tain Bo Cualnge_ upon the hide of the Dun Cow. There is actually a copy of this tale in the existing book; but the book was written not long after the time when our homilists were describing the relic as an unbroken hide. Either there were two dun cows, or the name of the Ma.n.u.script has arisen from a misunderstanding.

_The stanza in VG_ is another example of _ae freslige_ metre. The literal translation is "Fifty over a hundred complete / the Dun of Ciaran used to feed, // guests and lepers / people of the refectory and of the parlour."

_The School of Findian._--Findian was born in the fifth century. He went to Tours for study, and afterwards to Britain; he then felt a desire to continue his studies in Rome, but an angel bade him return to Ireland and there continue the work begun by Patrick. After spending some time with Brigit at Kildare, and establishing various religious houses, he settled at Cluain Iraird, in the territory of Ui Neill: now called Clonard, in Co. Meath. His establishment there became the chief centre of instruction in Ireland in the early part of the sixth century. He died in 549, at an advanced age: indeed, he is traditionally said to have lived 140 years. Nothing now remains of the monastery, though there were some ruins a hundred years ago.

XVIII. THE ANGELS GRIND FOR CIARAN (LA, LC, VG)

The angels grinding have already been seen in incident XIV.