A._H._LEAHY-HEROIC_ROMANCES_OF_IRELAND_VOLUME_2(2).pdf

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HEROICROMANCESOFIRELAND
VOLUME2
A.H.LEAHY
PREFACETOVOL.II
ItseemstohavebeencustomaryinancientIrelandtoprecedeby
shorterstoriestherecitaloftheGreatTain,thecentralstoryofthe
IrishHeroicAge.Alistoffourteenofthese”lesserTains,”threeof
whicharelost,isgiveninMissHull’s”CuchullinSaga”;those
preservedaretheTainboAingen,Dartada,Flidais,Fraich,Munad,
Regamon,Regamna,Ros,Ruanadh,Sailin,andEre.Ofthese,fiveonly
havebeenedited,viz.theTainboDartada,Flidais,Fraich,Regamon,
andRegamna;allthesefivearegiveninthisvolume.
Thelastfourtalesareallshort,andperhapsaremoretruly
”preludes”(remscela)thantheTainboFraich,whichhasindeedenough
ofinterestinitselftomakeitanindependenttale,andisaslongas
thefourputtogether.Allthefivetaleshavebeenrenderedinto
verse,withaproseliteraltranslationoppositetotheverse
rendering,forreasonsalreadygivenintheprefacetothefirst
volume.Ashortintroduction,describingthemanuscriptauthority,is
prefixedtoeach;theyallseemtogobackindatetothebestliterary
period,butappeartohavebeenatanyrateputintotheirpresentform
laterthantheGreatTain,inordertoleaduptoit.Apossible
exceptiontothismaybefoundattheendoftheTainboFlidais,which
seemstogiveadierentaccountoftheendofthewarofCualgne,and
toclaimthatCuchulainwasdefeated,andthatConnaughtgainedhis
landforitsallies.Itmaybementionedthatthelastfourtalesare
expresslystatedinthetexttobe”remscela”totheGreatTain.
INTRODUCTIONINVERSE
WhentoanIrishcourtofold
Camemen,whoflockedfromnearandfar
Toheartheancienttalethattold
Cuchulain’sdeedsinCualgne’sWar;
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Oft,erethatfamoustalebegan,
Beforetheirchiefestbardtheyhail,
Amidthethrongsomelesserman
Arose,totellalightertale;
He’dfellhowMaevandAilillplanned
Theirmightyhostsmightbestbefed,
WhentheytowardstheCualgneland
AllIrelandsswarmingarmiesled;
HowMaevtheyouthfulprincessent
ToharrywarlikeRegamon,
Howthey,whotrembling,fromherwent,
Hisdaughtersandhiscattlewon;
HowAilill’sguilegainedDarla’scows,
Howvengefulfairiesmarkedthatdeed;
HowFerguswonhisroyalspouse
WhosekineallIreland’shostscouldfeed;
How,inaformgrotesqueandweird,
CuchulainfoundaPowerDivine;
Orhowinshapesofbeastsappeared
TheMagicMen,whokepttheSwine;
Orhowtherowan’sguardiansnake
Wasrousedbyorderoftheking;
Orhow,fromoutthewater,Fraech
ToFinnabarrestoredherring.
Andthough,ingreatertales,theychose
Speechmiredwithsong,men’sheartstosway,
Suchthemesasthesetheytoldinprose,
Likespeakersatthe”Feis”to-day.
TomenwhospaketheIrishtongue
ThatformofProsewaspleasingwell,
Whileotherlandsinballadssung
Suchtalesasthesehavelovedtotell:
Sowe,whonowinEnglishdress
TheseIrishtaleswouldfain
Andseektheirspirittoexpress,
Havesetthemdowninballadverse;
And,thoughtoCeltstheformbestrange,
Seeknottoomuchthechangetoblame;
’Tisbuttheformalonewechange;
Thesense,thespiritrestthesame.
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CONTENTS
THEPRELUDESTOTHERAIDOFCUALGNE
TAINBOFRAICH-Page1
THERAIDFORDARTAID’SCATTLE-Page69
THERAIDFORTHECATTLEOFREGAMON-Page83
THEDRIVINGOFTHECATTLEOFFLIDAIS-Page101
THEAPPARITIONOFTHEGREATQUEENTOCUCHULAIN-Page
127
APPENDIX
IRISHTEXTANDLITERALTRANSLATIONOFPARTOFTHECOURTSHIP
OFETAIN-
Page143
TAINBOFRAICH
INTRODUCTION
TheTainboFraich,theDrivingoftheCattleofFraech,hasapparently
onlyoneversion;thedierentmanuscriptswhichcontainitdiering
inverysmallpoints;mostofwhichseemtobeduetoscribalerrors.
Practicallythetaleconsistsoftwoquiteseparateparts.Thefirst,
thelongerportion,givestheadventuresofFraechatthecourtof
AilillandMaevofConnaught,hiscourtshipoftheirdaughter,
Finnabar,andcloseswithapromisedbetrothal.Thesecondpartisan
accountofanexpeditionundertakenbyFraechtotheAlps”inthenorth
ofthelandoftheLongBeards,”torecoverstolencattle,aswellas
hiswife,”whoisstatedbyO’BeirneCrowe,ontheauthorityofthe
”CourtshipofTrebland”intheBookofFermoy,tohavebeenTrebland,a
semi-deity,likeFraechhimself.ExceptthatFraechisthechiefactor
inbothparts,andthatthereisoneshortreferenceattheendofthe
secondparttothefactthatFraechdid,ashehadpromisedinthe
firstpart,joinAilillandMaevupontheWarofCualnge,thereisno
connectionbetweenthetwostories.Butthedierencebetweenthetwo
partsisnotonlyinthesubject-matter;thedierenceinthestyleis
evenyetmoreapparent.Thefirstparthas,Ithink,themost
complicatedplotofanyIrishromance,itaboundsinbrilliant
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descriptions,and,althoughtheoriginalisinprose,itis,in
feeling,highlypoetic.Thesecondpartresemblesinitssimplicity
andrapidactiontheother”foretales”orpreludestotheWarof
Cualngecontainedinthisvolume,andisofastylerepresentedin
Englishbythenarrativeballad.
Inspiteofthevariouscharactersofthetwoparts,thestoryseemsto
havebeenregardedasoneinallthemanuscriptswhichcontainit;and
thequestionhowthesetworomancescametoberegardedasonestory
becomesinteresting.Thenaturalhypothesiswouldbethatthelast
partwastheoriginalversion,whichwasinitsearlierpartre-written
byamanofgenius,possiblydrawinghisplotfromsomebriefstatement
thatFinnabarwaspromisedtoFraechinreturnforthehelpthatheand
hisrecoveredcattlecouldgiveintheGreatWar;butadiculty,
whichpreventsusfromregardingthesecondpartasanoriginallegend,
atoncecomesin.Thesecondpartofthestoryhappenstocontainso
manyreferencestonationsoutsideIrelandthatitsdatecanbepretty
wellfixed.Fraechandhiscompanionsgo,overtheseafromUlster,
i.e.toScotland;thenthrough”northSaxon-land”totheseaofIcht
(i.e.theseaofWightortheEnglishChannel);thentotheAlpsinthe
northofthelandoftheLong-Beards,orLombards.TheLong-Beardsdo
notappearinItalyuntiltheendofthesixthcentury;thesuggestion
ofNorthSaxon-LandreachingdowntotheseaofWightsuggeststhat
therewasthenaSouthSaxon-Land,familiartoanIrishwriter,dating
thispartofthestoryasbeforetheendoftheeighthcentury,when
bothSaxonsandLong-BeardswereovercomebyCharlemagne.Thesecond
partofthestoryis,then,nooriginallegend,butbelongstothe
seventhoreighthcentury,ortheclassicalperiod;anditlooksasif
thereweretwowriters,oneofwhom,liketheauthoroftheEgerton
versionofEtain,embellishedthelove-storypartoftheoriginal
legend,leavingtheendalone,whileanotherauthorwroteanaccountof
thelegendaryjourneyofthedemi-godFraechinsearchforhisstolen
cattle,addingthegeographicalandhistoricalknowledgeofhistime.
Thewholewasthenputtogether,likethetwopartsoftheEtainstory;
thedierencebetweenthetwostoriesinthematterofthewifedoes
notseemtohavetroubledthecompilers.
TheoldestmanuscriptauthorityfortheTainboFraichistheBookof
Leinster,writtenbefore1150.Thereareatleasttwoothermanuscript
authorities,one;inEgerton,1782(publishedbyProfessorKunoMeyer
intheZeitschriftf¨urCelt.Philologie,1902);theotherisinMS.XL.,
Advocates’Library,Edinburgh(publishedintheRevueCeltique,Vol.
XXIV.).ProfessorMeyerhaskindlyallowedmetocopyhiscomparison
ofthesemanuscriptsandhisrevisionofO’BeirneCrowe’stranslation
oftheBookofLeinstertext.Thetextoftheliteraltranslation
givenherefollows,however,inthemainO’BeirneCrowe’stranslation,
whichisintheProceedingsoftheRoyalIrishAcademyfor1870;afew
insertionsaremadefromtheotherMSS.;whensomadetheinsertionis
indicatedbyanote.
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ForthosewhomaybeinterestedinthesubsequenthistoryofFraech,it
maybementionedthathewasoneofthefirstoftheConnaught
championstobeslainbyCuchulaininthewarofCualnge;seeMiss
Faraday’stranslation(GrimmLibrary,page35).
PERSONSINTHESTORY
MORTALS
Ailill,KingofConnaught.
Medb(orMaev),QueenofConnaught.
Findbar(orFinnabar),theirdaughter.
Froech(orFraech),(pronouncedFraych);sonofaConnaughtmananda
fairymother.
ConallCernach(ConalltheVictorious),championofUlster.
TwoIrishwomen,incaptivityintheAlps,northofLombardy.
Lothar(orLothur),afollowerofFraech.
Bicne,afollowerofConall.
IMMORTALS
Befind,Fraech’sfairymother.
Boand(pronouncedlike”owned”),sistertoBefind;QueenoftheFairies.
Threefairyharpers.
TAINBOFRAICH
THERAIDFORTHECATTLEOFFRAECH
NowthenewsoftheloveofthatmaidtoFraech,athishomewherehe
dwelt,wasbrought,
Andhecalledhisfolk,andwithallhespoke,andforspeechwiththe
maidhesought:
Andtheycounselledhimthus:”Letamessagefromtheebesenttothy
fairykin
Toentreattheiraidwhenweseekthatmaid;aboonwemaychanceto
win:
Forthewondrousrobesofthefairyland,andforgiftsfromthe
fairiesplead;
Andsurethymother’ssister’shandwillgivetotheeallthyneed.”
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