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THE CATTLE-RAID OF CUALNGE (TAIN BO CUAILNGE)

An Old Irish Prose-Epic

Translated for the first time from Leabhar na h-Uidhri
and the Yellow Book of Lecan by

L. WINIFRED FARADAY, M. A.

London

Published by David Nutt
At the Sign of the Phoenix
Long Acre

1904







CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
THE CATTLE-RAID OF CUALNGE (from Leabhar na h-Uidhri)
Cuchulainn's Boyish Deeds
The Death of Fraech
The Death of Orlam
The Death of the Meic Garach
The Death of the Squirrel
The Death of Lethan
The Death of Lochu
The Harrying of Cualnge (first version)
The Harrying of Cualnge (second version)
Mac Roth's Embassy
The Death of Etarcomol
The Death of Nadcrantail
The Finding of the Bull
The Death of Redg
The Meeting of Cuchulainn and Findabair
The Combat of Munremar and Curoi
The Death of the Boys (first version)
The Woman-fight of Rochad
The Death of the Princes
The Death of Cur
The Number of the Feats
The Death of Ferbaeth
The Combat of Larine Mac Nois
The Conversation of the Morrigan with Cuchulainn
The Death of Long Mac Emonis
The Healing of the Morrigan
The Coming of Lug Mac Ethlend
The Death of the Boys (second version)
The Arming of Cuchulainn
CONTINUATION (from the Yellow Book of Lecan)
The Combat of Fer Diad and Cuchulainn
The Long Warning of Sualtaim
The Muster of the Ulstermen
The Vision of Dubthach
The March of the Companies
The Muster of the Men of Ireland
The Battle on Garach and Irgarach
The Meeting of the Bulls
The Peace





INTRODUCTION

The Cattle-Raid of Cualnge [Note: Pronounce _Cooley_] is the chief
story belonging to the heroic cycle of Ulster, which had its centre
in the deeds of the Ulster king, Conchobar Mac Nessa, and his
nephew and chief warrior, Cuchulainn Mac Sualtaim. Tradition places
their date at the beginning of the Christian era.

The events leading up to this tale, the most famous of Irish
mythical stories, may be shortly summarised here from the Book of
Leinster introduction to the _Tain_, and from the other tales
belonging to the Ulster cycle.

It is elsewhere narrated that the Dun Bull of Cualnge, for whose
sake Ailill and Medb [Note: Pronounce _Maive_.], the king and queen
of Connaught, undertook this expedition, was one of two bulls in
whom two rival swineherds, belonging to the supernatural race known
as the people of the _Sid_, or fairy-mounds, were re-incarnated,
after passing through various other forms. The other bull,
Findbennach, the White-horned, was in the herd of Medb at Cruachan
Ai, the Connaught capital, but left it to join Ailill's herd. This
caused Ailill's possessions to exceed Medb's, and to equalise
matters she determined to secure the great Dun Bull, who alone
equalled the White-horned. An embassy to the owner of the Dun Bull
failed, and Ailill and Medb therefore began preparations for an
invasion of Ulster, in which province (then ruled by Conchobar Mac
Nessa) Cualnge was situated. A number of smaller _Tana_, or
cattle-raids, prefatory to the great _Tain Bo Cuailnge_, relate
some of their efforts to procure allies and provisions.

Medb chose for the expedition the time when Conchobar and all the
warriors of Ulster, except Cuchulainn and Sualtaim, were at their
capital, Emain Macha, in a sickness which fell on them periodically,
making them powerless for action; another story relates the cause
of this sickness, the effect of a curse laid on them by a fairy
woman. Ulster was therefore defended only by the seventeen-year-old
Cuchulainn, for Sualtaim's appearance is only spasmodic.
Cuchulainn (Culann's Hound) was the son of Dechtire, the king's
sister, his father being, in different accounts, either Sualtaim,
an Ulster warrior; Lug Mac Ethlend, one of the divine heroes
from the _Sid_, or fairy-mound; or Conchobar himself. The
two former both appear as Cuchulainn's father in the present
narrative. Cuchulainn is accompanied, throughout the adventures
here told, by his charioteer, Loeg Mac Riangabra.

In Medb's force were several Ulster heroes, including Cormac
Condlongas, son of Conchobar, Conall Cernach, Dubthach Doeltenga,
Fiacha Mac Firfebe, and Fergus Mac Roich. These were exiled from
Ulster through a bitter quarrel with Conchobar, who had caused the
betrayal and murder of the sons of Uisnech, when they had come to
Ulster under the sworn protection of Fergus, as told in the _Exile
of the Sons of Uisnech_. [Note: 1 Text in Windisch and Stokes's
_Irische Texte_; English translation in Miss Hull's _Cuchullin
Saga_.] The Ulster mischief-maker, Bricriu of the Poison-tongue,
was also with the Connaught army. Though fighting for Connaught,
the exiles have a friendly feeling for their former comrades, and a
keen jealousy for the credit of Ulster. There is a constant
interchange of courtesies between them and their old pupil,
Cuchulainn, whom they do not scruple to exhort to fresh efforts for
Ulster's honour. An equally half-hearted warrior is Lugaid Mac Nois,
king of Munster, who was bound in friendship to the Ulstermen.

Other characters who play an important part in the story are
Findabair, daughter of Ailill and Medb, who is held out as a bribe
to various heroes to induce them to fight Cuchulainn, and is on one
occasion offered to the latter in fraud on condition that he will
give up his opposition to the host; and the war-goddess, variously
styled the Nemain, the Badb (scald-crow), and the Morrigan (great
queen), who takes part against Cuchulainn in one of his chief
fights. Findabair is the bait which induces several old comrades of
Cuchulainn's, who had been his fellow-pupils under the sorceress
Scathach, to fight him in single combat.

The tale may be divided into:--

1. Introduction: Fedelm's prophecy.

2. Cuchulainn's first feats against the host, and the several
_geis_, or taboos, which he lays on them.

3. The narration of Cuchulainn's boyish deeds, by the Ulster exiles
to the Connaught host.

4. Cuchulainn's harassing of the host.

5. The bargain and series of single combats, interrupted by
breaches of the agreement on the part of Connaught.

6. The visit of Lug Mac Ethlend.

7. The fight with Fer Diad.

8. The end: the muster of the Ulstermen.


The MSS.

The _Tain Bo Cuailnge_ survives, in whole or in part, in a
considerable number of MSS., most of which are, however, late. The
most important are three in number:--

(1) Leabhar na h-Uidhri (LU), 'The Book of the Dun Cow,' a MS.
dating from about 1100. The version here given is an old one,
though with some late additions, in later language. The chief of
these are the piece coming between the death of the herd Forgemen
and the fight with Cur Mac Dalath (including Cuchulainn's meeting
with Findabair, and the 'womanfight' of Rochad), and the whole of
what follows the Healing of the Morrigan. The tale is, like others
in this MS., unfinished, the MS. being imperfect.

(2) The Yellow Book of Lecan (YBL), a late fourteenth-century MS.
The _Tain_ in this is substantially the same as in LU. The
beginning is missing, but the end is given. Some of the late
additions of LU are not found here; and YBL, late as it is, often
gives an older and better text than the earlier MS.

(3) The Book of Leinster (LL), before 1160. The _Tain_ here is
longer, fuller, and later in both style and language than in LU or
YBL. It is essentially a literary attempt to give a complete and
consistent narrative, and is much less interesting than the older
LU-YBL recension.

In the present version, I have collated LU, as far as it goes, with
YBL, adding from the latter the concluding parts of the story, from
the Fight with Fer Diad to the end. After the Fight with Fer Diad,
YBL breaks off abruptly, leaving nearly a page blank; then follow
several pages containing lists, alternative versions of some
episodes given in LU (Rochad's Woman-fight, the Warning to
Conchobar), and one or two episodes which are narrated in LL. I
omit about one page, where the narrative is broken and confused.

The pages which follow the Healing of the Morrigan in LU are
altogether different in style from the rest of the story as told in
LU, and are out of keeping with its simplicity. This whole portion
is in the later manner of LL, with which, for the most part, it is
in verbal agreement. Further, it is in part repetition of material
already given (i.e. the coming of the boy-host of Ulster, and
Cuchulainn's displaying himself to the Connaught troops).


COMPARISON OF THE VERSIONS

A German translation of the Leinster text of the _Tain Bo Cuailnge_
will soon be accessible to all in Dr. Windisch's promised edition
of the text. It is therefore unnecessary to compare the two
versions in detail. Some of the main differences may be pointed
out, however.

Of our three copies none is the direct ancestor of any other. LU
and YBL are from a common source, though the latter MS. is from an
older copy; LL is independent. The two types differ entirely in aim
and method. The writers of LU and YBL aimed at accuracy; the
Leinster man, at presenting an intelligible version. Hence, where
the two former reproduce obscurities and corruptions, the latter
omits, paraphrases, or expands. The unfortunate result is that LL
rarely, if ever, helps to clear up textual obscurities in the older
copy.

On the other hand, it offers explanations of certain episodes not
clearly stated in LU. Thus, for example, where LU, in the story of
the sons of Nechta Scene, simply mentions 'the withe that was on
the pillar,' LL explains that the withe had been placed there by
the sons of Nechta Scene (as Cuchulainn placed a similar with in
the path of the Connaught host), with an ogam inscription
forbidding any to pass without combat; hence its removal was an
insult and a breach of _geis_. Again, the various embassies to
Cuchulainn, and the terms made with him (that he should not harass
the host if he were supplied daily with food, and with a champion
to meet him in single combat), are more clearly described in LL.

Some of the episodes given in LU are not told in the Leinster
version. Of the boyish deeds of Cuchulainn, LL tells only three:
his first appearance at Emain (told by Fergus), Culann's feast (by
Cormac), and the feats following Cuchulainn's taking of arms (by
Fiacha). In the main narrative, the chief episodes omitted in LL
are the fight with Fraech, the Fergus and Medb episode, and the
meeting of Findabair and Cuchulainn. The meeting with the Morrigan
is missing, owing to the loss of a leaf. Other episodes are
differently placed in LL: e.g. the Rochad story (an entirely
different account), the fight of Amairgen and Curoi with stones,
and the warning to Conchobar, all follow the fight with Fer Diad.

A peculiarity of the LU-YBL version is the number of passages which
it has in common with the _Dinnsenchas_, an eleventh-century
compilation of place-legends. The existing collections of
_Dinnsenchas_ contain over fifty entries derived from the _Tain_
cycle, some corresponding with, others differing from those in LU.

This version has also embodied a considerable number of glosses in
the text. As many of these are common to LU and YBL, they must go
back to the common original, which must therefore have been a
harmony of previously existing versions, since many of these
passages give variants of incidents.


AGE OF THE VERSIONS

There is no doubt that the version here translated is a very old
one. The language in LU is almost uniformly Middle Irish, not more
than a century earlier than the date of the MS.; thus it shows the
post-thetic _he_, _iat_, etc. as object, the adverb with _co_, the
confusion of _ar_ and _for_, the extension of the _b_-future, etc.
But YBL preserves forms as old as the Glosses:--

(1) The correct use of the infixed relative, e.g. _rombith_, 'with
which he struck.' (LU, _robith_, 58a, 45.)

(2) The infixed accusative pronoun, e.g. _nachndiusced_, 'that he
should not wake him.' (LU, _nach diusced_, 62a, 30.)

(3) _no_ with a secondary tense, e.g. _nolinad_, 'he used to fill.'
(LU, _rolinad_, 60b, 6.)

(4) Very frequently YBL keeps the right aspirated or non-aspirated
consonant, where LU shows a general confusion, etc.

LL has no very archaic forms, though it cultivates a pseudo-archaic
style; and it is unlikely that the Leinster version goes back much
earlier than 1050. The latter part of the LU _Tain_ shows that a
version of the Leinster type was known to the compiler. The style
of this part, with its piling-up of epithets, is that of
eleventh-century narrative, as exemplified in texts like the _Cath
Ruis na Rig_ and the _Cogadh Gaidhil_; long strings of alliterative
epithets, introduced for sound rather than sense, are characteristic
of the period. The descriptions of chariots and horses in the Fer
Diad episode in YBL are similar, and evidently belong to the same
rescension.

The inferences from the facts noted in the foregoing sections may
be stated as follows: A version of the _Tain_ goes back to the
early eighth, or seventh century, and is preserved under the YBL
text; an opinion based on linguistic evidence, but coinciding
with the tradition which ascribes the 'Recovery of the _Tain_' to
Senchan Torpeist, a bard of the later seventh century. This version
continued to be copied down to the eleventh century, gradually
changing as the language changed. Meanwhile, varying accounts of
parts of the story came into existence, and some time in the
eleventh century a new redaction was made, the oldest representative
of which is the LL text. Parts of this were embodied in or added
to the older version; hence the interpolations in LU.


THE FER DIAD EPISODE

There is much difference between the two versions of this episode.
In YBL, the introductory portion is long and full, the actual fight
very short, while in LL the fight is long-drawn-out, and much more
stress is laid on the pathetic aspect of the situation. Hence it is
generally assumed that LL preserves an old version of the episode,
and that the scribe of the Yellow Book has compressed the latter
part. It is not, however, usual, in primitive story-telling, to
linger over scenes of pathos. Such lingering is, like the painted
tears of late Italian masters, invariably a sign of decadence. It
is one of the marks of romance, which recognises tragedy only when
it is voluble, and prodigal of lamentation. The older version of
the _Tain_ is throughout singularly free from pathos of the feebler
sort; the humorous side is always uppermost, and the tragic
suggestions interwoven with it.

But it is still a matter of question whether the whole Fer Diad
episode may not be late. Professor Zimmer thinks it is; but even
the greatest scholar, with a theory to prove, is not quite free. It
will of course be noticed, on this side, that the chief motives of
the Fer Diad episode all appear previously in other episodes (e.g.
the fights with Ferbaeth and with Loch). Further, the account even
in YBL is not marked by old linguistic forms as are other parts of
the tale, while much of it is in the bombastic descriptive style of
LL. In the condition in which we have the tale, however, this
adventure is treated as the climax of the story. Its motive is to
remove Cuchulainn from the field, in order to give the rest of
Ulster a chance. But in the account of the final great fight in
YBL, Cuchulainn's absence is said to be due to his having been
wounded in a combat against odds (_crechtnugud i n-ecomlund_).
Considering, therefore, that even in YBL the Fer Diad episode is
late in language, it seems possible that it may have replaced some
earlier account in which Cuchulainn was so severely wounded that he
was obliged to retire from the field.


PREVIOUS WORK ON THE '_TAIN_'

Up to the present time the _Tain_ has never been either printed or
translated, though the LU version has been for thirty years easily
accessible in facsimile. Dr. Windisch's promised edition will
shortly be out, containing the LL and LU texts, with a German
translation of the former. The most useful piece of work done
hitherto for the _Tain_ is the analysis by Professor Zimmer of the
LU text (conclusion from the Book of Leinster), in the fifth of his
_Keltische Studien (Zeitschrift fuer vergl. Sprachforschung_, xxviii.).
Another analysis of the story, by Mr. S. H. O'Grady, appeared in
Miss Eleanor Hull's _The Cuchullin Saga_; it is based on a late
paper MS. in the British Museum, giving substantially the same
version as LL. This work contains also a map of ancient Ireland,
showing the route of the Connaught forces; but a careful working-out
of the topography of the _Tain_ is much needed, many names being
still unidentified. Several of the small introductory _Tana_ have
been published in Windisch and Stokes's _Irische Texte_; and
separate episodes from the great _Tain_ have been printed and
translated from time to time. The Fight with Fer Diad (LL) was
printed with translation by O'Curry in the _Manners and Customs of
the Ancient Irish_. The story of the Two Swineherds, with their
successive reincarnations until they became the Dun Bull and the
White-horned (an introductory story to the _Tain_ ), is edited with
translation in _Irische Texte_, and Mr. Nutt printed an abridged
English version in the _Voyage of Bran_.

The Leinster version seems to have been the favourite with modern
workers, probably because it is complete and consistent; possibly
its more sentimental style has also served to commend it.


AIM OF THIS TRANSLATION

It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the present version is
intended for those who cannot read the tale in the original; it is
therefore inadvisable to overload the volume with notes, variant
readings, or explanations of the readings adopted, which might
repel the readers to whom it is offered.

At the present time, an enthusiasm for Irish literature is not
always accompanied by a knowledge of the Irish language. It seems
therefore to be the translator's duty, if any true estimate of this
literature is to be formed, to keep fairly close to the original,
since nothing is to be gained by attributing beauties which it does
not possess, while obscuring its true merits, which are not few.
For the same reason, while keeping the Irish second person singular
in verses and formal speech, I have in ordinary dialogue
substituted the pronoun _you_, which suggests the colloquial style
of the original better than the obsolete _thou_.

The so-called rhetorics are omitted in translating; they are
passages known in Irish as _rosc_, often partly alliterative, but
not measured. They are usually meaningless strings of words, with
occasional intelligible phrases. In all probability the passages
aimed at sound, with only a general suggestion of the drift. Any
other omissions are marked where they occur; many obscure words in
the long descriptive passages are of necessity left untranslated.
In two places I have made slight verbal changes without altering
the sense, a liberty which is very rarely necessary in Irish.

Of the headings, those printed in capitals are in the text in the
MS.; those italicised are marginal. I have bracketed obvious
scribal glosses which have crept into the text. Some of the
marginal glosses are translated in the footnotes.


GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

As a considerable part of the _Tain_ is occupied by connecting
episodes with place-names, an explanation of some of the commonest
elements in these may be of use to those who know no Irish:

Ath=a ford; e.g. Ath Gabla (Ford of the Fork), Ath Traiged (Ford of
the Foot), Ath Carpat (Ford of Chariots), Ath Fraich (Fraech's
Ford), etc.

Belat=cross-roads; e.g. Belat Alioin.

Bernas=a pass, or gap; e.g. _Bernas Bo Ulad_ or _Bernas Bo Cuailnge_
(Pass of the Cows of Ulster, or of Cualnge).

Clithar=a shelter; e.g. Clithar Bo Ulad (shelter of the Cows of
Ulster).

Cul=a corner; e.g. Cul Airthir (eastern corner).

Dun= a fort; e.g. Dun Sobairche.

Fid=a wood; e.g. Fid Mor Drualle (Great Wood of the Sword-sheath).

Glass=a brook, stream; e.g. Glass Chrau (the stream of Blood),
Glass Cruind, Glass Gatlaig (gatt=a withe, laig=a calf).

Glenn=a glen; e.g. Glenn Gatt (Glen of the Withe), Glenn Firbaith
(Ferbaeth's Glen), Glenn Gatlaig.

Grellach=a bog; e.g. Grellach Doluid.

Guala=a hill-shoulder; e.g. Gulo Mulchai (Mulcha's shoulder).

Loch=a lake; e.g. Loch Reoin, Loch Echtra.

Mag=a plain; e.g. Mag Ai, Mag Murthemne, Mag Breg, Mag Clochair
(cloch=a stone).

Methe, explained as if from meth (death); Methe Togmaill (death of
the Squirrel), Methe n-Eoin (death of the Bird).

Reid, gen. Rede=a plain; e.g. Ath Rede Locha (Ford of Locha's Plain).

Sid=a fairy mound; e.g. Sid Fraich (Fraech's Mound).

Sliab=a mountain; e.g. Sliab Fuait.

I need perhaps hardly say that many of the etymologies given in
Irish sources are pure invention, stories being often made up to
account for the names, the real meaning of which was unknown to the
mediaeval story-teller or scribe.

In conclusion, I have to express my most sincere thanks to
Professor Strachan, whose pupil I am proud to be. I have had the
advantage of his wide knowledge and experience in dealing with many
obscurities in the text, and he has also read the proofs. I am
indebted also to Mr. E. Gwynn, who has collated at Trinity College,
Dublin, a number of passages in the Yellow Book of Lecan, which are
illegible or incorrect in the facsimile; and to Dr. Whitley Stokes
for notes and suggestions on many obscure words.

LLANDAFF, November 1903.





THIS IS THE CATTLE-RAID OF CUALNGE

I

A great hosting was brought together by the Connaughtmen, that is,
by Ailill and Medb; and they sent to the three other provinces. And
messengers were sent by Ailill to the seven sons of Magach: Ailill,
Anluan, Mocorb, Cet, En, Bascall, and Doche; a cantred with each of
them. And to Cormac Condlongas Mac Conchobair with his three
hundred, who was billeted in Connaught. Then they all come to
Cruachan Ai.

Now Cormac had three troops which came to Cruachan. The first troop
had many-coloured cloaks folded round them; hair like a mantle (?);
the tunic falling(?) to the knee, and long(?) shields; and a broad
grey spearhead on a slender shaft in the hand of each man.

The second troop wore dark grey cloaks, and tunics with red
ornamentation down to their calves, and long hair hanging behind
from their heads, and white shields (?), and five-pronged spears
were in their hands.

'This is not Cormac yet,' said Medb.

Then comes the third troop; and they wore purple cloaks and hooded
tunics with red ornamentation down to their feet, hair smooth to
their shoulders, and round shields with engraved edges, and the
pillars [Note: i.e. spears as large as pillars, etc.] of a palace
in the hand of each man.

'This is Cormac now,' said Medb.

Then the four provinces of Ireland were assembled, till they were
in Cruachan Ai. And their poets and their druids did not let them
go thence till the end of a fortnight, for waiting for a good omen.
Medb said then to her charioteer the day that they set out:


'Every one who parts here to-day from his love or his friend will
curse me,' said she, 'for it is I who have gathered this hosting.'

'Wait then,' said the charioteer, 'till I turn the chariot with the
sun, and till there come the power of a good omen that we may come
back again.'

Then the charioteer turned the chariot, and they set forth. Then
they saw a full-grown maiden before them. She had yellow hair, and
a cloak of many colours, and a golden pin in it; and a hooded tunic
with red embroidery. She wore two shoes with buckles of gold. Her
face was narrow below and broad above. Very black were her two
eyebrows; her black delicate eyelashes cast a shadow into the
middle of her two cheeks. You would think it was with _partaing_
[Note: Exact meaning unknown. It is always used in this
connection.] her lips were adorned. You would think it was a shower
of pearls that was in her mouth, that is, her teeth. She had three
tresses: two tresses round her head above, and a tress behind, so
that it struck her two thighs behind her. A shuttle [Note: Literally,
a beam used for making fringe.] of white metal, with an inlaying
of gold, was in her hand. Each of her two eyes had three pupils.
The maiden was armed, and there were two black horses to her chariot.

'What is your name?' said Medb to the maiden.

'Fedelm, the prophetess of Connaught, is my name,' said the maiden.

'Whence do you come?' said Medb.

'From Scotland, after learning the art of prophecy,' said the
maiden.

'Have you the inspiration(?) which illumines?' [Note: Ir. _imbas
forasnai_, the name of a kind of divination.] said Medb.

'Yes, indeed,' said the maiden.

'Look for me how it will be with my hosting,' said Medb.

Then the maiden looked for it; and Medb said: 'O Fedelm the
prophetess, how seest thou the host?'

Fedelm answered and said: 'I see very red, I see red.'

'That is not true,' said Medb; 'for Conchobar is in his sickness at
Emain and the Ulstermen with him, with all the best [Note:
Conjectural; some letters missing. For the Ulster sickness, see
Introduction.] of their warriors; and my messengers have come and
brought me tidings thence.

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