Oenach indiu luid in rí
An edition of the three known versions of
‘Today the king went to a fair’
or Finn and the phantoms
with translation and textual notes
Marieke van Kranenburg (9923209)
MA thesis
July 2008
Celtic Studies
University of Utrecht
Supervisor : Mícheál Ó Flaithearta
Contents
Abbreviations
2
Introduction
3
The manuscripts
4
Three known versions
4
Dating these manuscripts
5
Comparing these manuscripts
6
Four previously unknown references
9
Comparing these manuscripts
10
Echtra Finn
11
Agallamh na senórach
13
The poem
16
The title
16
Oenach
16
The locations in the poem
18
Cullen Craeslethan
19
Metre
22
Finn and the phantoms
25
Notes
82
Works cited
87
2
Abbreviations
BL
Bodleian Library
DIL
Dictionary of the Irish language: Based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials,
Compact Edition (Dublin 1983)
F
Duanaire Finn (Dublin, University College Dublin, A 20 b)
i
(after page-number) = towards the foot of the page
ITS
Irish Texts Society
L22
Agallamh na senórach (Dublin, RIA, 23 L 22)
L34
(Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, 23 L 34)
LL
Leabhar na Núachongbála or An Leabhar Laighneach, (Dublin, Trinity College
Dublin, MS 1339)
m
(after page-number) = about the middle of the page
M
(Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, 24 M 2)
P
Agallamh na seanórach (Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, 24 P 5)
R
(Maynooth, St. Patrick’s College, R 69)
RC
Revue Celtique
RIA
Royal Irish Academy
TLS
Todd Lecture Series
UCD University College Dublin
V
(Leiden, Codex Vossianus, lat. qu. 7)
3
Introduction
There are three ‘known’ versions of the poem which starts with Oenach indiu luid in rí
‘Today the king went to a fair’, which is also known as Finn and the phantoms. Of these three
versions, only two have been translated before.1 The third version can be found in a version of
the Agallamh na senórach which has been edited before.2 For this thesis I have made a
transcription and a translation of these three versions.
There are other versions of this story, but they are either prose summaries, with only
two or three lines in other Agallamh versions, or an incomplete prose version called Echtra
Finn.3 But I will show that four more versions of this poem have survived.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my parents for their patience and daily
support. I also wish to thank my friends for understanding my neglecting them these last
couple of months. Last but not least I wish to thank my supervisor Mícheál Ó Flaithearta for
his help and guidance during the writing of this thesis.
Whitley Stokes, ‘Find and the phantoms’, Revue Celtique [RC] 7 (1886) 289-307 and Eoin MacNeill, et al.,
Duanaire Finn: The book of the lays of Fionn, 3 vols, Irish Texts Society [ITS] 7, 28 and 43 (London 1904
[1908], 1926 [1933] and Dublin 1941 [1953]) i 28-30 = i 127-30.
2
Nessa Ní Shéaghdha, Agallamh na seanórach, vol. 1 (Dublin 1942) 173-182.
3
Ludwig-Christian Stern, “Le manuscrit Irlandais de Leide”, RC 13 (1892) 1-32.
1
4
The manuscripts
Three known versions
There are three ‘known’ versions of the poem Oenach indiu luid in rí ‘Today the king went to
a fair’, one of the oldest Ossianic poems that came down to us. One of these three versions
can be found in the Leabhar na Núachongbála ‘Book of Noughaval’, which is also known as
An Leabhar Laighneach ‘The Book of Leinster’, Dublin, Trinity College Dublin [TCD], MS
1339 [LL], p. 206b - 207b 4, a manuscript from the twelfth century.4 That the poem is perhaps
even older than the twelfth century becomes clear on page 313 of the manuscript where a
scribe identifies himself and states that he collected the contents of the manuscript from other
books: Aed mac meic Crimthaind ro scrib in leborso 7 ra thinoil a llebraib imdaib ‘Áed Húa
Crimthaind wrote this book and collected it from many books’.5
The second version of the poem can be found in a copy of the Agallamh na senórach
‘The colloquy with the ancients’ in Dublin, Royal Irish Academy [RIA], 24 P 5 [P], p. 129, 19
- p. 135, 4, a paper manuscript from the seventeenth century. Before this poem there is a prose
version of the story, where Oisín tells the story to Dearg mac Eóghain.6 Around 1803 a
transcript was made of P by Samual Bryson. This transcript is now known as Dublin, RIA, 23
L 22 [L22].7
The final version can be found in the Duanaire Finn ‘The book of the lays of Finn’,
Dublin, UCD, A 20 b [F], f. 12v 29-14r 16, a paper manuscript from the seventeenth century.
This Duanaire is the second half of the manuscript. The first part, Dublin, UCD, A 20 a,
contains a version of the Agallamh and an incomplete tale about Finn and Oscar.8
4
See for more information about this manuscript: T.K. Abbott and E.J. Gwynn, Catalogue of the Irish
manuscripts in the library of Trinity College, Dublin (Dublin and London 1921) 158-61; Myles Dillon, Canice
Mooney and Pádraig de Brún, Catalogue of Irish manuscripts in the Franciscan Library Killiney (Dublin 1969)
5-10; R.I. Best et al., The book of Leinster formerly Lebar na Núachongbála, 6 vols (Dublin 1954-1983); and W.
O’Sullivan, ‘Notes on the scripts and make-up of the Book of Leinster’, Celtica 7 (1966) 1-31.
5
Best, et. al., The book of Leinster, i xv.
6
See for more information about this manuscript: Thomas F. O’Rahilly, et al., Catalogue of Irish manuscripts in
the Royal Irish Academy, 30 vols (Dublin 1926-1970) 275-7; Douglas Hyde,‘The Reeves manuscript of the
Agallamh na senorach’, RC 38 (1920-1921) 289-95; and Ní Shéaghdha, Agallamh.
7
O’Rahilly, et al., Catalogue, 321-3.
8
See for more information about this manuscript: Dillon, Mooney and de Brún, Catalogue, 39-43; MacNeill, et
al., Duanaire Finn; and John Carey (ed.), Duanaire Finn: Reassessments, ITS Subsidiary Series 13 (London
2003).
5
Dating these manuscripts
These manuscripts come from the twelfth century [LL], from the seventeenth century [P and
F] and from the nineteenth century [L22] respectively. About the age of the poem itself much
has been written. If LL had not existed, Murphy would have dated F, based on the language,
later than the twelfth century:
‘The presence of words rare after the Middle Irish period, the inflection of the copula
in 14a and 21d [20d], and the inflection of the predicative adjective in 14a […] the
non-inflection of the copula in 14b, 18b [17b], and 38c [37c], the non-inflection of the
predicative adjective in 14b and 38c [37c], and the occurrence of independent
accusative pronouns in 19c [18c] and 38b [37c], would suggest that it was not written
before the second half of the 12th century’.9
John Carey would have dated F not earlier than the thirteenth century or even later, if LL had
not existed:
‘[…] I am not sure there would be any reason to suppose, in the absence of earlier
versions, that this poem was of Middle Irish date: inflection both of the copula and of
predicative adjectives is attested for the Early Modern period. Further indications of
lateness are the falling silent of lenited g in genitive singular rí (: lí) 1a, the ending (a)ir in 2 sg. future ragair 8c, and the loan-word sporais ‘spurred’ 15b: each of these
features is first attested in the later Middle Irish period, and the occurrence of all of
them together here seems suggestive of an even later date. This impression is further
strengthened by the phrase caoga fail ‘fifty rings’ 12a: such use of a nominative
singular noun after a numeral appears to belong to Early Modern Irish’.10
Because of the version in LL, Murphy dated the poem at 1100 AD. A couple of years later, he
changed his mind about this date, as he wrote that ‘[t]his date is not to be insisted on; a date
between 1100 and 1140 is consonant with the evidence’.11 Kuno Meyer dates the LL version
of the poem to the eleventh century.12 Carey also thinks it likely that the poem may be older
than Murphy dated, as he writes that ‘Murphy’s dates may often have been too late,
sometimes a century or more: several of the poems may well date from the eleventh century,
and some may conceivably be as old as the later tenth’.13
9
MacNeill, et al., Duanaire Finn, iii 24-5.
John Carey, ‘Remarks on dating’, in Carey, Duanaire Finn: Reassessments, 1-18: 17.
11
Gerard Murphy [Gearóid Ó Murchadha], Fianaíocht agus rómánsaíocht…: The ossianic lore and romantic
tales of medieval Ireland…, 2nd and revised edition, Irish Life and Culture 11 (Cork 1971), 20 n. 19.
12
Kuno Meyer, Fianaigecht: Being a collection of hitherto inedited Irish poems and tales relating to Finn and
his fiana, with an English translation, RIA Todd Lecture Series 16 (Dublin and London 1910) xxv.
13
John Carey, ‘Remarks on dating’, 18.
10
6
Comparing these manuscripts
For the following analysis of the structure of the poem, I have taken LL, being the oldest and
the longest of the three versions, as the main structure of the poem. I have based the order of
the other two versions, P and F, on that of LL. All the stanzas of P and F correspond more or
less with those of LL. Except for P 35 which has no equivalent in LL. The stanzas that are in a
different order than in LL, are given in italics.
Besides the fact that the stanzas are, sometimes, in a different order, the individual
lines can be in a different order as well. So, line LL 22a, Lam ri Fleisc, sech fhid in Chairn,
corresponds more or less with line P 19a, A Magh Fleiscce a Magh-an-Chairn, and with line
F 16a, Tar Magh Fleisge, tar Magh Cairn. Stanzas P 19 and F 16a-d correspond entirely with
each other, and they correspond for the rest of their lines with LL 19b-d, and are thus put next
to each other in the schedule.
stanzas LL stanzas P stanzas F
1-2
1-2
1-2
3
3
4-6
4-6
3-5
7
7
8-9
8-9
6-7
10
10
11-15
11-15
8-12
16
17
16
13
18-19
18-19
15-16
20
21
17
14
22
20
16e-f
23-29
21-27
17-23
30
31
28
24
32
33-35
29-31
25-27
36
33
28
37
32
29
38
34
30
35
39
36
40-49
37-46
31-40
50
47
42
51-52
53
48
41
54
49
43
7
There is an abnormal stanza in F, namely stanza 16. This stanza has six lines instead of
the normal four, as every other stanza has. The extra lines of F 16e-f, Tar Druim Edhair, tar
Druim Chaoín/ tar Druim Dha Fhíach, tar Formaoíl, correspond with P 20a-b, Tar Dhruim
Eadoir, tar Chlúain Caoin/ tar Thracht-dhá-Fhian, a bFormhaol, but they do not correspond
with any of the lines in LL.
P has one unique stanza (35) and LL has six (16; 20; 30; 32; and 51-52). F does not
have unique stanzas. LL and P also have three stanzas in common (3; 7; 10; and LL 39 and P
36) which do not occur in F. F does not have any stanzas which are the same as stanzas in
either only LL or P. Although it does have the ‘extra’ part of stanza 16 in common with P
20a-b, which does not correspond to any of the stanzas in LL, as seen above.
The order of the stanzas in P and F do not always correspond to the order in LL. The
first time P’s order (18, 19, -, 17) differs from LL (18, 19, 20, 21), it differs in F as well (15,
16, -, 14), but the order of the stanzas in P and F correspond to each other. The second time
the order of P (33, 32) differs from LL (36, 37), F (28, 29) has the same order as LL. And the
second time F (42, -, 41) has another order as LL (50-53), P (47, -, 48) has the same order as
LL. So P and F do not always correspond to each other when their stanzas are in a different
order as LL.
Sometimes the same thing can be said in three different ways, in these three versions
of the poem. The line ‘Not a spit of those was cooked’ is a good example of this. In LL 41a it
is written as Nochor bruthi bir díb sein, in P 38a as Nírbh inneónta bior dhiobh sin and in F
32a as Níorbh ionmhuinte bior dhíbh sin. Three different verbs with the meaning ‘ to cook’
have been used, namely bruithid in LL, indeónaid in P and fo-noí in F. Another example of
using different verbs with the same meaning, can be found in line LL 29c dúnaid comlaid a
thaige ‘He closes the door of his house’, in line P 27c íadhois an ccomhluidh soinne ‘He
closed this door’, and in line F 23c cuiridh in chómhla sunn de ‘He shuts this door’. In LL
dúnaid has been used for the verb ‘to close’, in P íadaid and in F cuirid. Although this last
verb has the more subtle meaning of closing the door by throwing it shut.
It is hard to say which of these three versions resemble each other the most. The
biggest difference, and resemblance, is that in LL a hag is one of the phantoms in the giant’s
house, and in P and F the hag is not mentioned at all, furthermore there are three phantoms
mentioned in LL and nine in P and F. In this respect P and F resemble each other the most.
But by examining stanza 1, one can see that it is more complicated. LL and P 1a are the same
and F 1a differs:
8
LL 1a Oenach indiu luid in rí
P 1a
Aonach anú luidh an righ
‘Today the king went to a fair’
F 1a
Áonach so a Moigh Eala in rí
‘This [is] the fair in Mag Eala of the king’
But if we examine line 1c it is the other way around. Here LL and F are the same and P
differs:
LL 1c aebind do cech oen téit and
F 1c
aoíbhinn da gach áon téid ann
‘Pleasant for every one who goes there’
P 1c
gairit lais gach aon téid ann
‘Pleasant to every one who goes there’
The differences between P and F show that they are not copies of each other, but the
similarities between them do point to a common source, ß. But because there are so many
differences between P and F, I think that there must have been a step between them and ß, I
call these γ and ð. ß is not a copy of LL, because of the differences, but they probably do have
a common source, α, because of the similarities. A stemma for these three, or rather four
versions, including P’s transcript, would probably look like this, with O as the original text:
9
Four previously unknown references
I have found four other references of Oenach indiu luid in ri in the catalogues of Irish
manuscripts, which have not been noticed before by any of the other scholars who have
worked on this poem. One of these previously unknown versions can be found in Maynooth,
St. Patrick’s College, R 69 [R], p. 267m - p. 270i.14 The entry in the catalogue is as follows:
‘idem [Oissin]. Lonnach (leg. A-) aniu lúidh an rígh. 47r. “A nEanach Life a
Laígheanuibh, a dtuirse croídhe 7 é ’na chaocharán bocht cianaosda 7 cách a’ fonoid
faoi ag gairim Guaire Dáll dhedh.”15
R was written, in its entirety, by Mícheál Ó Raghallaigh in Ennistymon, County Clare (Inis
Díomáin, An Clár), in the period of 1848-1853.16
The other three versions are to be found in two manuscripts of the Royal Irish
Academy. One version can be found in Dublin, RIA, 23 L 34 [L34], p. 276m - p. 280m, a
paper manuscript from the early eighteenth century.17 Here, the entry is as follows:
‘idem [Oisín]. Lonnach aniu luidh an righ. 47 qq. “Oisin cc. A n-aonach Liffe a
Laighnibh a ttuirse chroidhe, 7 é na chaocharán bocht cianaosta, 7 cách a
bhfhonoghádh ag gairm Guaire Dall de.” The word Oénach has been written above
Lonnach by a later hand.’18
L34 consists of two parts. The second part, where the poem can be found, belonged at one
time to Mícheál Ó Raghallaigh.19
The final manuscript, which contains two versions of the poem, is Dublin, RIA, 24 M
2 [M], p. 76m - p. 82m and p. 245 - p. 257, a paper manuscript from the nineteenth century.20
The entries for these two versions are:
‘Oisin. Lonnach [elsewhere Aonach] ariu luidh an rígh. 47 qq. “…ar aonach Life a
Laigheannaibh…” A note on first word followed by scribal signature occurs at foot of
p. 76.
(…)
14
Pádraig Ó Fiannachta, Lámhscríbhinní Gaeilge Choláiste Phádraig Má Nuad, vol. 4 (Má Nuad 1967) 50-70.
Ibid., 63.
16
Ibid., 50.
17
O’Rahilly, et al., Catalogue, 2867-76.
18
Ibid., 2874.
19
Ibid., 2867-8.
20
Ibid., 1900-4.
15
10
Oisín. Aonach aniu luidh in Righ. 47 qq. “Ar aonach Life a Laigheannaibh…” See
also p. 76m.’21
Three or four different hands can be distinguished in this manuscript. Two of these scribes
were John O’Daly (Seaghan Ó Dálaigh) [1855] and Standish Hayes O’Grady (Stainndis Aodh
Ó Gráda) [1851]. There is also a scribe with the initials J.G. or S.G. but this could possibly
also stand for O’Grady. The last hand is unknown, but it resembles that of Nicholas
Kearney.22
Comparing these manuscripts
These three manuscripts come from the eighteenth [L34] and nineteenth [R and M] century.
The version in R is probably a copy of the version in L34, because part of L34 has at one time
belonged to the scribe of R, Mícheál Ó Raghallaigh. The other two versions, in M, are
probably also connected, in one way or another, to L34 and R. Because all four versions have
exactly 47 stanzas and they all, except for the second version of M, have the same scribal
error at the beginning of the poem; Lonnach instead of Aonach.23
Are these four previously unknown versions related to any of the three versions which
were already known? It is hard to tell with only the catalogue descriptions. But if I have to
make a guess, on the opening lines only, I would say that they probably resemble P the most.
‘known’ versions
previously unkown
versions
[LL] Oenach indiu luid in rí
(12th C.)
[P] Aonach anú luidh an righ [L34] Lonnach aniu luidh an
(17th C.) and its transcript righ (18th C.)
[L22] (19th C.)
[R] Lonnach aniu lúidh an
rígh (19th C.)
[M1] Lonnach ariu luidh an
rígh (19th C.)
[M2] Aonach aniu luidh in
righ (19th C.)
[F] Áonach so a Moigh Eala
in rí (17th C.)
21
Ibid., 1901 and 1904.
Ibid., 1900.
23
This scribal error can probably be explained by the fact that sometimes an a in front of an o resembles an l.
22
11
But P has 49 stanzas and the ‘new’ versions all have 47 stanzas. So one can not make a hard
case out of it. One has to fully examine these ‘new’ versions before one is able to make any
judgement about the relationships between all the different versions of the poem. A stemma
including these four ‘new’ versions would probably look like this:
Echtra Finn
An incomplete prose version of Finn and the phantoms can be found in the story known as
Echtra Finn ‘Finn’s journey’, Leiden, Codex Vossianus, lat. qu. 7 [V], f. 1r - f. 2r.24 In the
Bibliography of Irish philology and of printed Irish literature Ludwig Christian Stern’s article
is mentioned at the manuscript section,25 but there is no mention of the translated text in the
bibliography. In the Bibliography of Irish philology and manuscript literature: Publications
1913-1941 the text is mentioned, and is called [Echtra Finn] [‘Finn’s journey’].26 The title is
placed between square brackets, because the title has been made up; the original title is not
24
See for more information about this manuscript: K.A. de Meyier, Codices Vossiani Latini, vol. 2 (Leiden
1975) 18-9; and Stern, ‘Le manuscrit’.
25
R.I. Best, Bibliography of Irish philology and of printed Irish literature (Dublin 1913) 61.
26
Idem, Bibliography of Irish philology and manuscript literature: Publications 1913-1941 (Dublin 1942) 82.
12
known. I shall use Best’s suggested title of Echtra Finn in this thesis, as the text is commonly
known under this ‘invented’ title.
The story of Echtra Finn can be divided into three parts; the first part (ll. 1-66) is an
incomplete version of the episode which is known as Finn and the phantoms, the second part
(ll. 67-148) is the episode of The origins of Snám-dá-én ‘The swimming of the two birds’, and
the third part (ll. 149-166) is the episode of The vision of the coming of Ciarán. The first part
of the story of Finn and the phantoms is lacking, because the manuscript is damaged. It
begins with a description of the giant, when Finn, Oisín and Cailte come to his house, thus
omitting the whole of the so-called ech dub ‘black horse’ episode.
Stern dates V to the sixteenth century, because the writing resembles that of the
sixteenth century, and two capitals resemble closely the writing of Mac-Aegan in the Leabhar
Breac ‘The Speckled Book’, and because the language is slightly modernized Middle Irish.27
But Kuno Meyer thinks that the tale itself comes from the tenth century and perhaps ‘it is as
old as the ninth century’.28 Thus according to him, the prose version may be older than the
poem, as he dated the LL version of the poem to the eleventh century.
V has, like LL, three phantoms of Ibarglenn who avenge their sister, instead of nine,
like P and F. V also has the hag episode, like LL, while P and F omit this episode. A stemma
for the manuscripts, including the prose version would probably look like this:
27
28
Stern, ‘Le manuscrit’, 1-2 and 5.
Meyer, Fianaigecht, xxiii.
13
Agallamh na senórach
The Agallamh na senórach ‘The colloquy with the ancients’ is a compilation of Fenian stories
which are connected to each other by a framework of dindshenchas ‘placename lore’ and
Patrician hagiography.29 There are three different recensions of the Agallamh na senórach,
known as AS1, the Agallamh bheag ‘The little colloquy’ and AS2. This last recension was
assembled from both the other recensions, probably in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth
century. ‘The version included also a richer selection of those short narrative poems that
subsequently became the generic norm for the transmission of Fenian story tradition’.30
Recension AS1 is also known as the Agallamh mhor ‘The big colloquy’. Three
manuscripts from the fifteenth century belong to AS1, namely Oxford, Bodleian Library [BL],
29
30
Ann Dooley and Harry Roe, Tales of the elders of Ireland (Acallam na senórach) (Oxford etc. 1999) ix.
Ibid., xxxi.
14
MS Laud Misc. 610;31 Oxford, BL, MS Rawlinson B 487;32 and Chatsworth, Book of
Lismore.33 Dublin, UCD, A 4, a sixteenth century manuscript;34 and Dublin, UCD, A 20 a, a
manuscript from the seventeenth century,35 also belong to this recension. In this recension the
episode of the ech dub is told by Cailte to Derg mac Eógan. In the Book of Lismore, f. 170a 1
- ff.,36 there is, for example a small prose version which also contains four stanzas, namely:
Ech dubh ac Dil mac dá crec
in gach cluiche ro chuirset
ocon carraic ós loch gair
ruc trí lánbhuada an aenaig37
‘A black horse Dil mac dá creaca had: in all sports that they set on foot at the rock
which dominates loch Guir [on the Hill of Doon over loch Gur] he clean swept off the
three prizes of the meeting’.
This stanza corresponds with LL/P 5 and F 4. The second stanza is:
Trí cét bó is trí cét brat
trí cét cloidem ba comnart
do rad Fionn fiach a lenna
do Chatháir mac Ailella38
‘Three hundred kine, three hundred mantles, three hundred swords of solid temper,
Finn gave (as honorarium for his liquor) to Cahir son of Ailill’.
This stanza corresponds with LL/P 12 and F 12. The third stanza is:
Ac súd duitse in tech dub dian
ar Fiacha re flaith na fian
31
See for more information about this manuscript: Falconer Madan, et al., A summary catalogue of western
manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford which have not hitherto been catalogued in the Quarto series, 7
vols in 8 (Oxford 1895-1953) ii/i 48-9; and Brian Ó Cuív, Catalogue of Irish language manuscripts in the
Bodleian Library at Oxford and Oxford College libraries, vol. 1 (Dublin 2001) 62-87.
32
See for more information about this manuscript: Madan, et al., Summary catalogue, iii 203; and Ó Cuív,
Catalogue, 135-41.
33
See for more information about this manuscript: Whitley Stokes (ed.), Lives of saints from the Book of
Lismore (Oxford 1890); and Brian Ó Cuív, ‘Observations on the Book of Lismore’, Proceedings of the Royal
Irish Academy 83C (1983) 269-92.
34
Dillon, Mooney and de Brún, Catalogue, 10-13.
35
Ibid., 39-43.
36
ll. 1595-1618 in Whitley Stokes (ed.), ‘Acallamh na senorach’, Irische Texte, vol. 4 part 1 (Leipzig 1900) 1438: 45-6 and Standish O’Grady (ed.), Silva Gadelica: A collection of tales in Irish, 2 vols (London and
Edinburgh 1892) i 128-9 = ii 140-1.
37
Ibid., i 128 = ii 140.
38
Ibid., i 129 = ii 140.
15
ac sút mo chloidem go mblaid
ocus ech uaim dot araid39
“Take thou here the headlong black horse,” quoth Fiacha to the Fianna’s chief: “here
is my sword with its renown, and for thy charioteer here is another horse from me”.
This third stanza corresponds with LL/P 8 and F 6. And the first two lines of the last stanza
correspond with LL 17, P 16 and F 13:
Luid Fionn d’imluad a[n] eich duib
gusin tráig ós Berramuin
is teichimse dif ó trí
ór bam luaithe iná gach ní40
‘Off to the strand that’s over Berramhan Finn went to make a trial of the black horse;
and three times I ran clear away from him, for I was swifter than any [mortal] thing’.
The Agallamh bheag can be found in Chatsworth, Book of Lismore, f. 152a 1 – f.
158b 1. There is also a fragment of this text at another place in this manuscript, namely on f.
92b 1 - f. 92b m.41 In this version of the Agallamh the episode of Finn and the phantoms does
not occur.42
P, and its transcript L22, are known as AS2. In this recension, as written above, there is
a prose version of Finn and the phantoms, in which Oisín tells the story to Derg mac Eógan,
followed by Oisín’s poem Aonach anú luidh an righ.
39
Ibid.
Ibid.
41
Stokes, Lives of saints, xxv-xxvi and xliii.
42
See for the Middle Irish - Modern Irish translation: Douglas Hyde [an Craoibhín], ‘An agallamh bheag’, Lia
Fáil 1 (1927) 79-107; and for an English translation: Walter Pennington, ‘The little colloquy’, Philological
Quarterly 9/2 (1930) 97-110.
40
16
The poem
The title
Because many of the poems that came down to us do not have a title, one usually refers to it
by the first line of the poem, which is in this case Oenach indiu luid in rí [LL], Aonach anú
luidh an righ [P] ‘Today the king went to a fair’, and Áonach so a Moigh Eala in rí [F] ‘This
[is] a fair in Mag Eala of the king’. Both Gerard Murphy and Nessa Ní Shéaghda use part the
first line of the poem when they refer to the poem as Óenach in-diu, ‘A fair today’,43 and
Aonach indiu,44 respectively.
But the poem is also known under several different titles, given to it by the various
translaters. John Anster named the poem The rath of Badamar; or the enchantment in his free
metrical translation of the LL version.45 Whitley Stokes named it Find and the phantoms in
his edition of the same version,46 and Lady Gregory used the title Finn and the phantoms as
well, when she recounted LL in prose.47 Eoin MacNeill named it, in his edition of F, The
headless phantoms.48 And Ní Shéaghdha calls the prose and verse episode of Finn and the
phantoms in the Agallamh: Díoghaltas na bhfuath (nó An rioth is doilghe do-rinne Oisín)
‘The vengeance of the phantoms (or The most difficult run Oisín did)’.49
Oenach
In the poem Oenach indiu luid in rí ‘Today the king went to a fair’, Finn and his Fiana visit
an oenach. But what is an oenach exactly? According to the dictionary an oenach is:
‘in primary sense “a reunion”, hence a popular assembly or gathering, generally
(though not exclusively) for games, races, and similar contests, as distinguished from
an “airecht” or assembly for communal business; commonly transld. “fair”, though it
does not seem to have been intended for commercial purposes. The chief oenaige were
43
Murphy, Fianaíocht, 20.
Ní Shéaghdha, Agallamh, xxxiv.
45
[John Martin Anster], ‘The rath of Badamar; or the enchantment’, The Dublin University Magazine 39 (1852)
325-8 and 513-7.
46
Stokes, ‘Find and the phantoms’, 289-307.
47
[Augusta] Gregory, Gods and fighting men: The story of the Tuatha De Danaan and of the Fianna of Ireland,
2nd ed. (Gerrards Cross 1970) 237-9.
48
MacNeill, et al., Duanaire Finn, i 28-30 = i 127-30.
49
Ní Shéaghdha, Agallamh, vi.
44
17
held periodically at fixed places. The word is often used of the place where the
assembly was held and hence figures in many place-names’.50
Diarmuid Ó Murchadha writes further about the word oenach that it ‘generally denotes an
assembly of people, its derivation from óen (one) reflecting the notion of uniting people on a
ritual occasion’.51 Francis J. Byrne writes that an oenach was:
‘an important event in the calendar of a rural society, and was at once political
assembly, market-fair (which is the sense of Modern Irish aonach), and an occasion
for general jollification. (…) Games and horse-racing were an essential element of the
óenach. There is little doubt that these were funerary in origin, and that the “fair” was
held on the site of an ancient tribal cemetery (…)
At the óenach the king could promulgate certain specific emergency measures and
ordinances, for instance in time of plague, defeat or foreign invasion’.52
There was also settling of disputes and the calculation, and perhaps also the collection, of
tribute. It was a reaffirmation of the social order:
‘[Oenaige were] periodic gatherings at which a formalized spatial mapping of sociopolitical relationships was manifested, reproducing as a microcosm those relations
which occurred within the political unit as a whole. The ideological motive behind this
may have been that it reinforced relations of power between the participants and, in
particular, between a king and his subjects’.53
Some of these activities return in the poem; such as the horse-races that are being held and
there is the politics when Fiacha gives Finn, besides the ech dub ‘black horse’ and the other
gifts, a pledge for hundreds.
Máire MacNeill writes about the difference between the ancient oenach and the
modern aonach:
‘In modern Irish the word used for a fair is aonach, identical with oenach, the term for
the regional festive assemblies of ancient Ireland, but there is a vast difference
between these two kinds of events. The ancient oenach was a unitive religious,
political and social assembly. The modern aonach or fair is a gathering usually in a
country town for the sale of farm animals and produce of the surrounding countryside
(…) [For the oenach] commercial activity would be secondary and accessory. The real
50
E.G. Quin (ed.), Dictionary of the Irish language: Based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials [DIL],
Compact Edition (Dublin 1983) O. 103.
51
Diarmuid Ó Murchadha, ‘Carman, site of Óenach Carmain: A proposed location’, Éigse 33 (2002) 57-70: 57.
52
Francis J. Byrne, Irish kings and high-kings, 2nd ed. (Dublin and Portland, OR, 2001) 30-1.
53
N.B. Aitchison, Armagh and the royal centres in early Medieval Ireland: Monuments, cosmology, and the past
(Woodbridge and Rochester, NY, 1994) 62.
18
importance of the oenach, after the religious rite, was in the enactments and
amusements, the gossip and the excitement.’54
Although ‘fair’ is actually the translation of the modern aonach, I do use it as a
translation for the ancient oenach, because it is commonly translated with ‘fair’, instead of
with the more appropriate ‘assembly’.
The locations in the poem
Most of the places that are mentioned in the poem lie in or are near an area called Luachair,
which lies in West Munster, the other places are situated in Leinster. The place in this poem,
about which the most discussion has been, is Oenach Life. Edmund Hogan equates Oenach
Life with Oenach Colmáin in Mag Life and Oenach Clochair. Oenach Colmáin was a burial
place of the Munster and/or Leinster princes.55 Ó Murchadha equates Oenach Life with
Oenach Colmáin as well. He writes about the location:
‘Óenach Colmaín may have been in the Curragh of Kildare, being associated with
horse-racing: Fidgenid…fecit equum ligneum in Circio Colmáin hi lLiphu (Rawl. B
502); each crainn…a nÁenach Colmán a Maig Life (Lec.). (“Fidgenid…made a
wooden horse in the racecourse of Colmán in Life”; “a wooden horse in Óenach
Colmáin in Mag Life”)’.56
But he also states that no exact site has ever been identified.57 In F it is also equated with Mag
Eala. And in the dindshenchas ‘placenamelore’ of Slíab nEchtga there is mention of an
Óenach Find.58
Charles Johnston on the other hand, seems of the impression that all the places which
Finn visits in the poem are well known, including the place where the fair was held; in his
case the ‘rath of Badamar’. He writes very colourful about all the places Finn visits in the
poem:
54
Máire MacNeill, The Festival of Lughnasa: A study of the survival of the Celtic festival of the beginning of
harvest (London etc. 1962) 288.
55
Edmund Hogan, Onomasticon Goedelicum: locorum et tribuum Hiberniae et Scotiae: An index, with
identifications, to the Gaelic names of places and tribes (Dublin and London 1910) 558-9.
56
Ó Murchadha, ‘Carman’, 65-6.
57
Ibid., 66.
58
Edward Gwynn, The metrical dindshenchas, 5 vols, Royal Irish Academy [RIA] Todd Lecture Series [TLS] 812 (Dublin and London 1903-1935) iii 304, 5.
19
‘The scenes of all the happenings in the story are well known: the rath of Badamar is
near Caher on the Suir, in the midst of the Golden Vale, a plain of wonderful richness
and beauty, walled in by the red precipices of the Galtee Mountains, and the KnockMealdown Hills. From the rath of Badamar Find could watch the western mountains
reddening and glowing in front of the dawn, as the sun-rays shot level over the
burnished plain. Clocar is thirty miles westward over the Golden Vale, near where
Croom now stands; and here were run the races; here Find gained the gift of the coalblack steed. It is some forty miles still westwards to the Strand of Tralee; the last half
of the way among hills carpeted with heather; and the Strand itself, with the tide out,
leaves a splendid level of white sand as far as the eye can reach, tempting Find to try
his famous courser. The race carried them southwards some fifteen miles to the
beautiful waters of Lough Leane, with its overhanging wooded hills, the Lake of
Killarney, southward of which rises the huge red mass of Mangerton, in the midst of a
country everywhere rich in beauty. The Hill of Barnec is close by, but the site of the
magic dwelling, who can tell? Perhaps Find, or Cailté, or golden-tongued Ossin
himself’.59
Cullen Craeslethan
At the end of the poem we learn that Finn, Oisín and Cailte had to endure their hardships,
because the phantoms wanted to avenge their sister Cullen Craeslethan ‘Holly Broadmouth’.
But who was this Cullen? There are many theories. According to Stokes she was ‘some ogress
or female evil spirit whom Find, Oisin and Cailte had destroyed’.60 MacNeill explains in his
summary of the poem that the phantoms ‘were malignant phantoms whose sister had been
slain by the Fiana in the Cave of Ceis Corann’.61 Murphy also thinks that the Cullen of the
poem is the same as the Cullen who was killed by the cave of Keshcorran.62 In the story of
Bruidhen chéise Chorainn ‘The cave of Keshcorran’,63 Conaran son of Imidel, a chief of the
Tuatha Dé Danann, orders his three daughters, Caemhóg, Cullen Redhead and Iaran ní
Chonaráin, to catch Finn and his men. These daughters are described as being very ugly and
evil:
a dtrí fuilt fhíorgarba forscaeilte forru. a sé súile siltecha caeirdherga leo. a dtrí beoil
duba drochchuma. ocus fiacla fírghéra fírneimnecha fóchama i gcarbaid gach
drochmná díob. ocus a dtrí muinéil chnámaltacha ac congbáil a gcenn ar na
laechchaillechaib sin ||. a sé lama lánfhada leo. ocus ba shamail re hadairc
buinremair barrchaeil buabail cach ionga fhíorgránda fherchonta bhí ar cach mér
59
Charles Johnston, Ireland: Historic and picturesque (Philadelphia, PENN, 1902) 161-2.
Stokes, ‘Find and the phantoms’, 305 n. 212.
61
MacNeill, et al., Duanaire Finn, i xi.
62
Ibid., iii 84 n. 119d.
63
O’Grady, Silva Gadelica, i 306-10 = ii 343-7.
60
20
díob. ocus sé cosa fóchama foltchlúmacha caeilméracha fútha. ocus trí coigéla
cruaidghéra ina lámaib leo.64
‘[T]heir three coarse heads of hair all dishevelled; their eyes rheumy and redly
bleared; their three mouths black and deformed, and in the gums of each evil woman
of them a set of sharpest venomous and curved fangs; their three bony-jointed [i.e.
scraggy] necks maintaining their heads upon those formidable beldames; their six
arms extraordinarily long, while the hideous and brutish nail that garnished every
finger of them resembled the thick-butted sharp-tipped ox-horn; six bandy legs thickly
covered with hair and fluff supported them, and in their hands they had three hard and
pointed distaffs’.
They catch Finn and his men, but they are defeated by Goll mac Morna. He first kills
Caemhóg and Cullen, then he forces Iaran ní Chonaráin to free Finn and his men. But Iaran ní
Chonaráin wants to avenge her sisters, so she wants to fight Finn and his men in single
combat. Goll mac Morna volunteers and he kills her as well.
Anster equates the hag in the poem with Cullen herself, but this can not be, because
Cullen is dead, and the hag alive. He writes that:
‘[i]t is not improbable that the witch is the same who is mentioned in the poem entitled
“The Chase,” given in English by Miss Brooke and Dr. Drummond, in which she is
called Gullen, or Guillen, apparently a different form of the same word’.65
But in both Charlotte Brooke’s66 as William Hamilton Drummond’s67 translation of Laoidh
na Sealga ‘The lay of the chase of Slieve Guillin’,68 the Cullen of whom is spoken of is a
man. He is the father of an enchantress who puts a spell on Finn. This Cullen can be identified
as Cullen Cuailgne of the Tuatha dé Danann.69 To be honest, Brooke has:
‘May never from this hill (he cry’d)
Our homeward steps depart,
But Guillen dearly shall abide
Her dark and treacherous art!’70
64
Ibid., i 306-7 = ii 343-4.
[Anster], ‘The rath of Badamar’, 515.
66
[Charlotte] Brooke, Reliques of Irish poetry (Dublin 1789) 73-115 = 278-88.
67
William Hamilton Drummond, Ancient Irish minstrelsy (Dublin 1852) 45-60.
68
See for a more recent edition of this poem: Sean Ó Tuama and Thomas Kinsella, An Duanaire 1600-1900:
Poems of the dispossessed (Portlaoise 1981) 46-61.
69
Brooke, Reliques, 112 n. f.
70
Ibid., 113.
65
21
And in a note she writes that ‘[h]er name, as we have seen, was Miluachra, though she is here
called Guillen as being daughter to the Enchantress Guillen’.71 But she made a very free
metrical translation, which does not correspond to the Irish version of the poem, which she
also provides in her book. According to Sean Ó Tuama and Thomas Kinsella Cullen, or as
they have Cuileann, is the ‘chief of a band of the fairy-people, associated with Slieve Gullion,
Co. Armagh’.72 So I am of the opinion that the one who is referred to as Cullen in this poem is
a man, and has nothing to do with the Cullen of our poem.
Lady Gregory expands her version of the story to fit an explanation of who Cullen
Craeslethan was:
‘Now as to Cuillen, she was a daughter of the King of Munster, and her husband was
the King of Ulster’s son. And they had a son that was called Fear Og, the Young Man;
and there was hardly in Ireland a man so good as himself in shape and in courage and
in casting a spear. And one time he joined in a game with the Fianna, and he did better
than them all, and Finn gave him a great reward. And after that he went out to a hunt
they made, and it was by him and by none of the Fianna the first blood was got of pig
or deer. And when they came back, a heavy sickness fell on the young man through
the eyes and the envy of the Fianna, and it left him without life at the end of nine days.
And he was buried under a green hill, and the shining stone he used to hold in his
hand, and he doing his feats, was put over his head.
And his mother, Cuillen, came to his grave keening him every day through the
length of a year. And one day she died there for grief after her son, and they put her
into the same green hill’.73
Unfortunately Lady Gregory does not give an explanation of where she got her information.
She gives as her source for her translation of Finn and the phantoms ‘Kuno Meyer, Revue
Celtique’.74 This is probably a slip of the pen as it should be Whitley Stokes instead of Kuno
Meyer. But this source does not explain her addition at the end of the story. But she does give
an excuse for this before she lists her authorities:
‘The following is a list of the authorities I have been chiefly helped by in putting these
stories together and in translation of the text. But I cannot make it quite accurate, for I
have sometimes transferred a mere phrase, sometimes a whole passage from one story
to another, where it seemed to fit better. I have sometimes, in the second part of the
book, used stories preserved in the Scottish Gaelic, as will be seen by my references. I
71
Ibid., 113 n. f.
Ó Tuama and Kinsella, An Duanaire, 375.
73
Gregory, Gods and fighting men, 239.
74
Ibid., 363.
72
22
am obliged to write these notes away from libraries, and cannot verify them, but I
think they are fairly correct.’75
Thus, in the end, after all these different possibilities, I can only conclude that I do not know
exactly who Cullen Craeslethan was. Or, as Anster wrote: ‘Who she is, or whom she
symbolises, is lost in the mists of pagan antiquity’.76 But if I have to make a guess, I would
say that she probably is the same character as the Cullen in Bruidhen chéise Chorainn.
Metre
The metre of the poem is deibide.77 In this metre, line a rhymes with line b and line c with
line d. There are two different metres of the deibide-type being used in this poem, namely
deibide scaílte (7x 7x
+ 1 or 2
, 7x 7x
+ 1 or 2
) and deibide nguilbnech (7x 7x, 7x 7x).78 Deibide
nguilbnech has fully-stressed rhymes, and deibide scaílte has rinn ‘stressed’ and airdrinn
‘unstressed’ rhymes.79 An example of deibide nguilbnech is LL 1:
Oenach indiu luid in rí
Oenach Life cona li
aebind do cech oen téit and
ni hinund is Guaire Dall
71
71
71
71
And an example of deibide scaílte is P 20:
Tar Dhruim Eadoir, tar Chlúain Caoin,
tar Thracht-dhá-Fhian, a bFormhaol,
agus ni riacht Fionn da each,
gusan ccnoc dan hainm Buireach.
71
72
71
72
According to Murphy a ‘deibide nguilbnech couplet often opens a stanza which ends with an
ordinary deibide scaílte couplet’.80 Stanza F 20 is an example of this mixture:
75
Ibid., 361.
[Anster], ‘The rath of Badamar’, 515.
77
According to Murphy the word deibide comes from ‘*de-bíthe ‘cut in two’, Gerard Murphy, Early Irish
metrics (Dublin 1961) 46 n. 2; but G.R. Isaac is of the opinion that it should be analysed as deibe + de
‘differentiated, disagreeing (form)’, G.R. Isaac, ‘Varia I: Deibide’, Ériu 49 (1998) 161-3: 163.
78
Murphy, Early Irish metrics, 65 and 68.
79
Ibid., 68.
80
Ibid.
76
23
Is ann adubhairt Cáoilte,
aithesc tenn narbo maoídhte:
’gus anocht ní fhaca teach
san glionn so, gidh um eólach.
72
72
71
72
Besides endrhyme deibide has internal rhyme, like assonance, alliteration, etc., as
well.81 As Stokes has already made a study of the internal rhyme of LL, I will not deal with
that subject in this thesis.82
Almost every line, in the poem, has seven syllables, and if it has more than seven, this
can be mended by elision, which became more and more common during the Middle Irish
period. With elision ‘an unstressed vowel may (or may not) be elided when another vowel
precedes it (…) In addition to such elision (…) which scribes ignore in their orthography,
certain other droppings of vowels are either normal or permissible, and scribes frequently
indicate them’.83 This is done multiple times in the poem. In F 20c, as seen above, agus is
abbreviated to ’gus to fit the number of syllables. A scribe could do that as well, for example,
by ‘the dropping (at least in Middle Irish), even in the beginning of a line, of the initial i of the
copula-form is’,84 as in P 13d ’seadh lodamhar as an aonach ‘It is [there] we went from the
fair’. Or by ‘the omission, even in Old Irish, of the vowel of the possessive adjectives mo and
do, which can appear as m and t before vowels’,85 as in F 2a Nír Ghúaire Dall m’ainm go fíor
‘Guaire Dall was not truly my name’.
In several instances chevilles are used in the poem.86 There are four instances of
chevilles in LL, namely LL 20b, 24b, 39b and 46c, two instances in P, namely P 22b and 40c,
and there is a cheville in F 18b. Of all these instances, only lines LL 24b, P 22b and F 18b are
the same.
LL 20b dar inber Lemna, ni brec
LL 24b ar Find fein, ní himmargó
P 22b
do raidh Fionn, ni hiomarghó
F 18b
do ráidh Fionn, ní hiomarghó
81
Ibid., 66.
Stokes, ‘Find and the phantoms’, 305-7.
83
Murphy, Early Irish metrics, 39-40.
84
Ibid., 40
85
Ibid.
86
A cheville is ‘a parenthetical phrase or remark (…) which often has little connection with what precedes or
follows’. It is used to attain the correct number of syllables in a line and/or to get the correct endrhyme. See
Vernam Hull, ‘The quarrel between Finn and Oisin’, Modern Language Notes 57/6 (1942) 434-6: 436.
82
24
LL 39b ar Find fein, cen immargái
P 40c
fuiccfithí, a Fhinn, mor an modh
LL 46c ropsar marba, mor in mod
25
Finn and the phantoms
In my transcription I lengthen every abbreviation and I put everything that is written
subscript, superscript and everything which is abbreviated in italics. I show all the letters that
are written in capitals at the beginning of a stanza. I have edited my transcription by writing
names of people and places with a capital, and I have inserted punctuation marks. I have put a
hyphen between an n or a t, which are caused by mutations, and words that start with a vowel.
When I can not read what is written in the manuscripts, I look what others have read, and I put
their transcription between [square brackets]. If I think that a reading in a manuscript is
wrong, I write the ‘correct’ word, and I put the original reading of the manuscript in a
footnote.
To facilitate comparison between the three versions of the poem I have put them
beside each other on the same page, along with their translation. I have put the numbers of the
stanzas of P and F that are originally in a different order than LL in italics. My numbering of
the stanzas of F differs to that of Eoin MacNeill and Gerard Murphy, as they see the abnormal
stanza 16 as two stanzas, with their stanza 16 consisting of four lines, and their stanza 17 of
two lines. Whereas I see stanza 16 as one stanza consisting of six lines as in the manuscript.
But because I am comparing the different versions with each other I have split stanza 16 into
two parts; I have put F 16a-d next to LL/P 19, and I have put stanza F 16e-f next to LL 22a-b
and P 20a-b.
In the translation I use capitals for the beginning of a line, and for personal names and
place names. I do not always translate the word mac ‘son; boy’. When it is in the context of x
mac y, I do not translate it, but when it is in the context of mac y, I translate it with ‘y’s son’.
[Square brackets] are used when extra information is given which was not in the original text,
and if I translate a word that is in the original text, but does not fit in my translation, I put it
between (brackets).
In the footnotes I give the different transcriptions, including the differing addenda and
corrigenda, from the scholars who have worked with these three poems before I did. I give the
different transcriptions of LL from Whitley Stokes87 and R.I. Best and M.A. O’Brien.88 I also
87
88
Stokes, ‘Find and the phantoms’, 289-307.
Best et al., The book of Leinster, 994-1000.
26
give the different transcriptions of P from Nessa Ní Shéaghdha,89 and the different
transcriptions of F from MacNeill,90 and Murphy.91
89
Ní Shéaghdha, Agallamh, 173-182.
MacNeill et. al, Duanaire Finn, i lxi and i 27-29 = i 432-3
91
Ibid., iii 27-29 and 432-3.
90
27
TCD, MS 1339 [LL] p. 206b-207b 4
1.
(206b) Oenach indiu luid in rí,
RIA, 24 P 5 [P] p. 129, 19-135, 4
1.
(129, 19) Aonach [anú]92 luidh an
UCD, A 20 b [F] f. 12v 29-14r 16
1.
(12v 29) Áonach so a Moigh Eala in rí,
righ,
92
Oenach Life cona li,93
Aonach Life go lán lí,
Áonach Liffe gona lí,
aebind94 do cech oen téit and,
gairit lais gach aon téid ann,
aoíbhinn da gach áon téid ann,
ni hinund is Guaire Dall.
ní hionann is Guaire Dall.
ní hionann is Gúaire Dall.
Today the king went to a fair,
Today the king went to a fair,
This [is] a fair in Mag Eala of the king,
The fair of Liffey with its lustre.
The fair of Liffey with full lustre.
The fair of Liffey with its lustre.
Pleasant for every one who goes there,
Pleasant to every one who goes there,
Pleasant for every one who goes there,
Unlike Guaire Dall.
Unlike Guaire Dall.
Unlike Guaire Dall.
I can not read what is written here, but Ní Shéaghdha has anú at this place.
Stokes, Best et al.: lí.
94
Stokes: æbind.
93
28
LL
2.
Ní Guaire Dall gairthea dím,
(130) Ni Guaire Dall goirthí dhíom,
2.
NÍr Ghúaire Dall m’ainm go fíor,
tan lodamar go tigh an riogh,95
tan do bhinn a ttigh in ríogh,
co tech Fiachu fairrged96 gail,
go teach Fhiachaidh97 ficheadh goil,
a ttig Fergusa go ffeibh,
cosin ráith os Badammair.
gusan traigh ós Bodhamar.98
issin tráigh os Berramain.99
I was not called Guaire Dall,
I was not called Guaire Dall,
Guaire Dall was not truly my name,
[The] day we went at the king’s call,
When we went to the king’s house,
When I used to be in the king’s house,
To the house of Fiachu who overcame
To the house of Fiachu who fought
In the house of excellent Fergus,
To the fort over Badammar.
Ní Shéaghdha: ríogh.
Stokes: fairged.
97
Ní Shéaghdha: Fhíachoidh.
98
Ní Shéaghdha: Bhodhama[i]r.
99
MacNeill: berramhain.
96
2.
F
lá lodmar fo gairm in ríg,
valour,
95
P
[with] valour,
To the strand over Badammar.
In the strand over Berraman.
29
LL
3.
Oenach Clochair ro mór Find,
3.
Aonach Clochair do mhór Fionn,
is Fianna Fail is cech dind,
is Fiana Fail,100 cionn ar chionn,
ra morsat Mumnig din maig,
’s do mhorsad Muimhnigh don mhoigh,
ocus Fiachu mac Eogain.
agus Fíacha mac Eoghain.
The fair of Clochar that Finn assembled,
The fair of Clochar that Finn assembled,
And the Fiana of Fáil and every hill,
And the Fiana of Fáil, face to face,
[And] they assembled the Munster men
And they assembled the Munster men
of the plain,
And Fiachu mac Eogan.
100
P
Ní Shéaghdha: Fáil.
from the plain,
And Fiachu mac Eogan.
30
LL
4.
Tucait eich na Fían ro fess,
Ruccadh eich na bhFían san treas,
3.
(13r) Tigdís eich na fFían101 sa tres,
is eich Muimhneach na mór leas,
is eich Mhuimhneach102 na móirthres,
ro fhersat tri graffne glana
fearsad teora103 graiffne iar104 soin
fersat105 trí graiffne glana
for faichthe maic106 Maireda.
for fhaithche deigh107 mheic Eoghain.
ar faithche mac Muiredha.
The horses of the Fiana were brought, it
The horses of the Fiana were brought
The horses of the Fiana came into the race,
And the horses of the Munster men into
the great race.
into the race,
And the horses of the Munster men of
the great haunches.
And the horses of the Munster men of the
the great races.
They held three complete races
They held three races then
They held three complete races
On the green of Mairid’s son.
On the green of Eogan’s noble son.
On the green of Mairid’s son.
MacNeill: fFian.
MacNeill: Mhuimhnech.
103
Ní Shéaghdha: teóra.
104
Ní Shéaghdha: íar.
105
MacNeill: fersad.
106
Best et al.: meic.
107
Ní Shéaghdha: dheigh.
102
4.
F
is eich Mumnech ’sin morthres,
is known,
101
P
31
LL
5.
Ech dub re Díl mac Dá Chrec108
Each dubh ag Dil mac Dha Chreacc
4.
Each dubh ag Dil mac Dha Creg109
as gach graiffne ro chuireadh,
in gach cluithe ro fersat,110
cusin carraic uas Loch Gair
isin ccarroicc os Loch Gair,
isin carraic os Loch Gair
ruc trí lanbuada ind oenaig.
rucc tri111 lánbhuadha an aonaigh.
rug trí lanbhúadha in áonaigh.
Dil mac Da Chrec had a black horse
Dil mac Da Chrec had a black horse
Dil mac Da Chrec had a black horse
That was in every game they played.
From every race that was run,
In every game they played.
To the rock above Loch Gair
At the rock above Loch Gair,
At the rock above Loch Gair
It won the three chief prizes of the
It won the three chief prizes of the
It won the three chief prizes of the fair.
Stokes: Dá-chrech.
MacNeill: Chreg.
110
MS.: fershat. MacNeill: fersat.
111
Ní Shéaghdha: trí.
109
5.
F
bái in cach cluchi ro fersat,
fair.
108
P
fair.
32
LL
6.
Cuinchis Fiachu in n-ech iar sain
Cuingheas Fíacha an t-each iar soin
5.
Cuingis Fíachra in t-each íer112 soin
ar an draoí, ar a sheanathair,
ar in draoí, a shenathair,
gellais cét dó do cech crud
taircceas cead113 do gach crodh,
do rat dó céd da gach crodh
dia tabairt i tuarastul.
cco ttugadh a ttuarosdol.
día tabairt114 a ttúarustal.115
Then Fiachu asked [for] the horse
Then Fiachu asked [for] the horse
Then Fiachu asked [for] the horse
From the king, from his grandfather.
From the druid, from his grandfather.
From the druid, his grandfather,
He promised a hundred to him of each
He offered a hundred [to him] of each
He gave to him a hundred of each herd
To be given in compensation.
MacNeill: t-ech ier.
Ní Shéaghdha: céad [dó].
114
MacNeill: tabhairt.
115
MacNeill: ttúarastal.
113
6.
F
ar in ríg, ara shenathair,
herd
112
P
herd,
So that he might give in compensation.
To be given in compensation.
33
LL
7.
Ro ráid in druí116 and iar sain
P
7.
Adubairt117 an draí go mblaidh
aithesc maith ra mac Eogain:
d’aitheascc maith re mac Eogain:118
‘ber mo bennacht, ber in n-ech,
‘beir mo beannacht,119 beir an t-each,
ocus tidnaic rit ænech.’120
agus tiodhlaic íar [t]h’eineach.’121
Then the druid said
The famous druid offered
A good answer to Eogan’s son:
(To him) a good answer to Eogan’s son:
‘Take my blessing, take the horse,
‘Take my blessing, take the horse,
And grant [it] for your honour[’s sake].’
And grant [it] according to your
honour[’s sake].’
116
Stokes: drúi.
Ní Shéaghdha: Adubhairt.
118
Ní Shéaghdha: Eōghain.
119
Ní Shéaghdha: bheannacht.
120
Best et al.: aenech.
121
MS: heineach. Ní Shéaghdha: í ar h’eineach.
117
34
LL
8.
‘Ashiút duitsiu int ech dub dían,’
8.
‘Acc súd duitsi an t-each dubh dían,’
6.
‘Ag súd duit in t-each122 dubh dían,’
ar Fíacha re flaith na bhFían,
ar Fíachra re flaith na fFíen,
‘ashiút mo charpat co mblaid,
‘acc súd mo chlaidhiomh go mblaidh,
‘ag sin mo cloidhiomh124 go mblaidh,
is ashiút ech dot araid.’
acc sud125 each uaim, dott araidh.’
agus each uaim, dot araidh.’
‘There is for you the swift black horse,’
‘There is for you the swift black horse,’
‘There is for you the swift black horse,’
Said Fiachu to the prince of the Fiana,
‘Said Fiachu to the prince of the Fiana,
Said Fiachu to the prince of the Fiana,
‘There is my famous chariot,
‘There is my famous sword,
‘There is my famous sword,
And there is a horse for your
There is a horse from me, for your
And a horse from me, for your charioteer.’
charioteer.’
MS.: in teac. MacNeill: t-ech.
I can not read what is written here, but Stokes, Best et al. have flaith at this place.
124
MacNeill: chloidhiomh.
125
Ní Shéaghdha: súd.
123
F
ar Fiachu ri flai[th]123 na Fían,
charioteer.’
122
P
35
LL
9.
‘Asiút claideb is gell cét,
9.
‘Acc súd cathbharr as geall céad,
7.
‘Beir mo catbharr is geall céd,
ag súd sgiath a thiribh Grecc,129
beir mo sgieth a ttiribh Grég,
asiut sleg co mbricht neme,
bhiodh130 accad mo shleagh neimhe,
beir mo slegha neimhe,131
ocus m’idnu airgdid[e].132
re cois mh’iodhna airrcceidhe.’133
maráon is mh’íodhna airghidhe.’134
‘There is a sword and a pledge for
‘There is a helmet and a pledge for
‘Take my helmet and a pledge for
There is a shield from the lands of the
Greeks,
hundreds,
There is a shield from the lands of the
Greeks,
hundreds,
Take my shield from the lands of the
Greeks,
There is a spear with a spell of venom,
Have my venomous spear,
Take my poisoned spears,
And my silver weapons.’
Besides my silver weapons.’
Together with my silver weapons.’
Best et al.: scíath.
Best et al.: tíríb.
128
I can not read what is written here, but Stokes, Best et al. have Gréc at this place.
129
Ní Shéaghdha: thíribh Grécc.
130
Ní Shéaghdha: bīodh.
131
MacNeill: nimhe. Murphy: neimhe.
132
I can not read what is written here, but Stokes, Best et al. have airgdide at this place.
133
Ní Shéaghdha: m’iodhna airrcc[d]eidhe.
134
MacNeill: airgidhe.
127
F
asiut sciath126 a tirib127 G[ré]c,128
hundreds,
126
P
36
LL
10. ‘Asiút tri coin, cæm135 a ndath,
135
P
10. ‘Acc sud tri136 coin as coemh dath,
Feirne is Derchaem137 is Duala[t]h,138
Deirdre agus Dachaoin,139 Dúalach,
cona muncib140 óir buidi,
go mbuinceadhaibh oir bhuidhe,
co slabradaib findruini.’
go slabhradhuibh fionndhruine.’
‘There are three dogs, fair their colour,
‘There are three dogs whose colour is fair,
Feirne and Derchaem and Dualath,
Deirdre and Dachaoin [and] Dualach,
With their collars of yellow gold,
With collars of yellow gold,
With chains of white bronze.’
With chains of white bronze.’
Best et al.: caem.
Ní Shéaghdha: súd trí.
137
Stokes: Derchæm.
138
I can not read what is written here, but Stokes, Best et al. have Dualath at this place.
139
Ní Shéaghdha: Da[th]chaoin.
140
Stokes: con a-muincib.
136
37
LL
11. ‘Mad ferr duit na beith cen ní,
P
11. (131) ‘Mad fearr141 leat na dul gan ní,
F
8.
‘Mad ferr let no beith gan ní,
a maic Cumaill, a ardrí,
a mhic Cumhaill142 Almhuiní,
a flaith na bFien, a chaoímhrí,
na digis can ascid ass,
na deachais143 gan aisgidh as,
ní ragair gan aisgidh as,
a fhlaith na Fían firamnas!’
a fhlaith na bhFian bhfaobar ghlas!’
a flaith144 na fFíen ffáobharghlas!’
‘If you prefer than to be without a
‘If you prefer than to go without a thing,
‘If you prefer than to be without a thing,
O son of Cumall, o great king!
O son of Cumall of Almain!
O prince of the Fiana, o noble king!
You shall not leave from it without a
You shall not leave from it without a
You shall not leave from it without a gift,
thing,
gift,
O prince of the very keen Fiana!’
141
Ní Shéaghdha: Madh feárr.
MS.: Amhaill. Ní Shéaghdha: Cumhaill.
143
Ní Shéaghdha: deachois.
144
MacNeill: fhlaith.
142
gift,
O prince of the blue-bladed Fiana!’
O prince of the blue-bladed Fiana!’
38
LL
12. Atraacht Find suas ar sain,
145
12. Imthaighis Fionn féin iar sain,
F
9.
Ro eirigh fein Fionn iar soin,
buidech é do mac Eogain,
buidheach e145 do mac146 Eoghuin,
buidheach147 é do mhac Eógain,148
bendachais cach da cheli,
ceileabhras cach da cheile,149
bennaighit150 cach día chéile,
ba curata a coméirge.
nochar chiuin ar ccoimheirghe.
nior bho151 ciúin a ccoimheirghe.
Then Finn rose up,
Then Finn himself departed,
Then Finn himself arose,
He [was] thankful to Eogan’s son,
He [was] thankful to Eogan’s son,
He [was] thankful to Eogan’s son,
Each of the two saluted the other,
Each of the two said goodbye to the other,
Each of the two salute the other,
Gallant was their rising together.
It was not calm after rising together.
It was not calm their rising together.
Ní Shéaghdha: é.
Ní Shéaghdha: mhac.
147
MacNeill: buidhech.
148
MacNeill: Eóghain.
149
Ní Shéaghdha: chéile.
150
MacNeill: bennaighid.
151
MacNeill: bhó.
146
P
39
LL
P
13. IAr152 sain luid Find róinn153 ar sét,
13. Do chuaidh Fionn romhuinn ar
F
10. Riachtais Fionn romhainn ar in séd,
sead,154
lodsam leis, tri fichit cét,
ticcmid155 lais, tri156 fichid cead,
tegmaid leis, trí fichid céd,
co Cachér, co clúain da loch,
co Caicher, go cluain157 os loch,
go Cathair, go dún os loch,
lodsam uile assinn oenoch.
’seadh lodamhar158 as an aonach.
isedh lodmar ón áonach.
Then Finn went before us on a journey,
Finn went before us on a journey,
Finn went before us on the journey,
We went with him, three score hundred,
We go with him, three score hundred,
We go with him, three score hundred,
To Cacher, to the meadow of the lake,
To Cacher, to [the] meadow above [the]
To Cathar, to [the] fort above [the] lake,
Oenach.
lake,
We all went from the fair.
It is [there] we went from the fair.
A fair.
152
Best et al.: Iar.
Stokes: róinn.
154
Ní Shéaghdha: séad.
155
Ní Shéaghdha: ticcmíd.
156
Ní Shéaghdha: trí.
157
Ní Shéaghdha: Clúain.
158
Ní Shéaghdha: lodamar.
153
It is [there] we went from the fair.
40
LL
14. Trí lá is tri aidche ba leith,
11. Trí lá is trí hoidhche go mblaidh,
ro bhamar161 a ttigh Chaichir,
ro bhádhmar a ttigh Cathair,
cen esbaid lenna na bíd,
gan easbhaidh leanna ina bídh,
gan easbaidh lenna no162 bídh,
ar na sluagaib ’man163 ardrig.
ar mac Cumhaill, ar an righ.
ar mhac Cumhaill, ón áirdrígh.
Three days and three nights it was a
Three glorious days [and] three glorious
Three glorious days and three glorious
nights,
nights,
We were all in Cacher’s house,
We were in Cacher’s house,
We were in Cathar’s house,
Without lack of ale or food,
Without lack of ale or food,
Without lack of ale or food,
For the hosts together around the great
For Cumall’s son, for the king.
For Cumall’s son, from the great king.
king.
Ní Shéaghdha: Trí lá.
Stokes, Best et al.: bámmar.
161
Ní Shéaghdha: bhámar.
162
MacNeill: nó.
163
Stokes, Best et al.: mán.
160
14. Tri la159 teora hoidhche ar bhlaidh,
F
bammar160 uile i tig Cachir,
feast,
159
P
41
LL
15. Coica falach tucad dó,
P
15.
Trí cead164 bó is trí chead brat165
F
12. Cáoga166 fail do rad Fionn dó,
coíca167 ech is coíca168 bó,
do rad Fionn, nirbh169 eccomhnairt,
cáoga each is cáoga bó,
do rat Find fiach a lenna
flaith fhear na170 ruaimneadh reanna,
do rad Fionn lúach a lenna171
do Chachiur mac Cairella.
do Chaicher mac Oilealla.
do Catháoir172 mac Oililla.
Fifty rings were given to him,
Three hundred cows and three hundred
Fifty rings Finn gave to him,
mantles
Fifty horses and fifty cows.
Finn gave, it was not outside his powers,
Fifty horses and fifty cows,
Finn gave the payment of his ale
Rightful prince of the reddening
Finn gave the value of his ale
spearpoint,
To Cacher mac Cairill.
164
Ní Shéaghdha: chēad.
MS.: brath. Ní Shéaghdha: brat.
166
MacNeill: Caoga.
167
Stokes: cóica.
168
Stokes: cóica.
169
Ní Shéaghdha: nírbh.
170
Ní Shéaghdha: ’na[r].
171
MS: lenn. Murphy and MacNeill: lenn[a].
172
MacNeill: Cathaoir.
165
To Cacher mac Oilill.
To Cathar mac Oilill.
42
LL
16. Luid Find for Luachair iar sain,
cosin traig ac173 Berramain,
anais Find co Fiannaib Fáil,
os or in locha lindbáin.
Then Finn went over Luachar,
To the strand at Berraman.
Finn stayed with the Fiana of Ireland,
Over the bank of the fair-watered lake.
173
Best et al.: oc.
43
LL
17. Luid Find d’imlúad a eich duib
175
16. Luidh Fionn d’iomluadh174 eich duibh
F
13.
Luidh Fiond d’iomlúadh in eich duibh
forsin traig175 oc Berramuin,
gusan traigh os Bodhamuir,176
gussin traigh177 os Berramair,
misse ocus Cailte tri baís,178
leanoimsi agus Caoilte tre bhaois,179
lenuimsi180 agus Cáoilte tría bháois,
raithmít ris, rabo thogáis.181
agus riothmaoid tre thoghaois.
agus rethmáoíd182 tría togháois.
Finn went to ride his black horse
Finn went to ride [the] black horse
Finn went to ride the black horse
On the strand at Berraman.
To the strand over Badammar.
To the strand over Berraman.
I and Cailte through folly,
I and Cailte follow through folly,
I and Cailte follow through folly,
We race against him, it was deception.
And we race through deception
And we race through deception.
Ní Shéaghdha: d’iomhlúadh.
Stokes, Best et al.: tráig.
176
Ní Shéaghdha: Bhodhamuir.
177
MacNeill: tráigh.
178
Stokes: báis.
179
Ní Shéaghdha: bhaoís.
180
MacNeill: lenuimse.
181
Best et al.: thogaís.
182
MacNeill: reathmáoid.
174
P
44
LL
18. IMmar atchondairc in rí,
P
18. Iar183 sin mothaigheas an rí,
F
15. IN tan ro airigh in rí,
búalid a ech co Tráig Lí,
búaleas184 a each tar Traigh Lí,
sporais a each go Tráigh Lí,
o Tráig Lí co lLeirgg Daim Glaiss,
tar Thraigh185 Lí, tar Thraigh Duin186
ó Thráigh Lí tar Tráigh Dhoimhghlais,
Glais,
dar Fraechmag187 is dar Findnais.
tar Fhraochmhagh is tar Fhionnais.
tar Fráochmhoigh is tar Fionnghlais.
As the king saw us,
After that the king became aware of [us],
When the king discovered [us],
He spurs his horse to Tráig Lí,
He spurred his horse across Tráig Lí,
He spurred his horse on to Tráig Lí,
From Tráig Lí to Lerg Daim Glas,
Across Tráig Lí, across Tráig Dúin Glas,
From Tráig Lí across Tráig Daim Glas,
Across Fraíchmag and across
Across Fraíchmag and across Findnas.
Across Fraíchmag and across Findglas.
Findnas.
183
Ní Shéaghdha: Íar.
MS.: búaleash. Ní Shéaghdha: búaleas.
185
Ní Shéaghdha: Thráigh.
186
Ní Shéaghdha: Dúin.
187
Stokes: Fræchmag.
184
45
LL
19. Dar Mag-da-Éo, dar Móin-Cend,
P
19. A Magh Fleiscce, a Magh-an-Chairn,
F
16. Tar Magh Fleisge, tar Magh Cairn,
co Sen-Ibar, dar Sen-Glend,
tar Shein-Iubhar mac Maoil Ghairbh,
tar Seanumair Droma Gairbh,
co hinber Flesci finni,
tar urchar Fleiscce finne,
tar ulcha Fleisge finne,
co colomnaib Crohinni.
tar cholamnaibh188 Coichrinde.
tar colbha na Cochruinne.
Across Mag-dá-Éo, across Móin-Cend,
From Mag Flesc, from Mag-an-Cairn,
Across Mag Flesc, across Mag Cairn,
To Sen-Ibar, across Sen-Glend,
Across Sen-Ibar of the son of Mail
Across Sen-Ibar of the Druim Garbh,
Gairbh,
188
To the estuary of fair Flesc,
Across the length of fair Flesc,
Over the brink of fair Flesc,
To the pillars of Crofin.
Across the pillars of Cochrainn.
Across the border of the Cochrainn.
Ní Shéaghdha: cholamhnaibh.
46
LL
20. Dar Sruth-Muinne, dar Moin-Cet,189
dar inber Lemna, ni190 brec,191
otá Lemain co Loch Lein,192
etir reid193 ocus amréid.
Across Sruth-Muinne, across Móin-Cét,
Across the estuary of Lemain, it is no
falsehood,
From Lemain to Loch Léin,
Both are smooth and unsmooth.
189
Stokes, Best et al.: Cét.
Stokes: ní.
191
Stokes, Best et al.: bréc.
192
Stokes, Best et al.: Léin.
193
Stokes, Best et al.: réid.
190
47
LL
21. Cid sinni nirsar malla,
14. Giodh sinne niorsam malla,
robsad luatha ar leimeanda,194
ba lór lúath ar leimionna,
fer úan da chlí, fer da deis,
fear úainn da chli,195 fear da dheis,
fer uainn da chlí,196 fer dhá dheis,
ni fhil fiad arna bermis.197
ní biadh198 fiadh nach ffoirghemis.
ní bhí fíadh nach fhágmais.
Although we were not slow,
Although we were not slow,
Although we were not slow,
Swift were our leaps,
Swift were our leaps,
Swift enough were our leaps,
One of us [on] his left, one [on] his
One of us [on] his left, one [on] his
One of us [on] his left, one [on] his right,
There is no deer that we would not
catch.
Ní Shéaghdha: léimeanda.
Ní Shéaghdha: chlí.
196
MS.: clí. MacNeill: clí.
197
Stokes, Best et al.: bermís.
198
Ní Shéaghdha: bhiadh.
195
17. Giodh sinne niormho malla,
F
ropsat lúatha ar lémmenna,
right,
194
P
right,
There would be no deer we would not
get.
There is no deer we would not get.
48
LL
22. Lam ri Fleisc, sech fhid in Chairn,
P
20.
(132) Tar Dhruim Eadoir, tar Chlúain
Caoin,199
sech Mungairit meic Scail Bailb,
tar Thracht201-dhá-Fhian, a
F
16e.
Tar Druim Edhair,200 tar Druim
Chaoín,
tar Druim Dha Fhíach, tar Formaoíl,
bFormhaol,202
nocho ragaib Find ra ech
agus ni203 riacht Fionn da each,
cosin cnocc diarb ainm Bairnech.
gusan ccnoc204 dan hainm Buir[n]each.205
Near Flesc, past the wood of the
Across Druim Eadair, across Clúan Cain,
Cairn,
Past Mungairit of the son of Scál
Cain,
Across Tracht-dá-Fiana, over Formail,
Balb,
199
And Finn [and] his horse did not arrive
Until the hill whose name was
At the hill which is named Bairnech.
Ní Shéaghdha: Chaoin.
MacNeill: Eadair.
201
Ní Shéaghdha: Thrácht.
202
Ní Shéaghdha: bhFormhao[i]l.
203
Ní Shéaghdha: ní.
204
MS.: ccnoch. Ní Shéaghdha: ccnoc.
205
MS.: Buireach. Ní Shéaghdha: Búir[n]each.
200
Across Druim-dá-Fíach, across
Formaíl,
Finn did not take to [his] horse
Bairnech
Across Druim Eadair, across Druim
49
LL
23. Mar ro chuammar ’sin cnocc,
206
21. IAR rochtoin duinn isin ccnoc,
F
17. IAR ríachtain dhúine sa chnoc,
sinni ba toisciu ’cá thocht,
sinne budh luaithe206 cen locht,
ba lúaithe sinne fa hocht,
cid sinni ba taisciu and,
ciodh sinde ba luaithe207 and,
gidh sinne ba lúaithe sinn ann,
ech in ríg nirbo romall.
each an rí nirbho208 romhall.
each in rígh nirbhó rómhall.
As we arrived at the hill,
After we arrived at (in) the hill,
After we arrived at the hill,
We came there first.
We should be faster without faults.
We were faster by eight [times].
Although we were there first,
Although we were there faster,
Although we were (we) there faster,
The king’s horse was not very slow.
The king’s horse was not very slow.
The king’s horse was not very slow.
Ní Shéaghdha: lúaithe.
Ní Shéaghdha: lúaithe.
208
Ní Shéaghdha: nírbho.
207
P
50
LL
24. ‘Adaig seo, dered din ló,’
P
22. ‘Adhoigh so, deireadh don ló,’
do raidh210 Fionn, ni211 hiomarghó,
do ráidh Fionn, ní hiomarghó,
‘triar tancammar ille,
‘as baois212 do rad sinn ale,
‘is báos do rad sinne ille,
tǽit213 róinn d’iarraid fhianbothe.’
eirgheam d’iarraidh fíanbhoithe.’
eirgiom d’iarraidh fíanbhoithe.’
‘This [is] night, the end of the day,’
‘This [is] night, the end of the day,’
‘This [is] night, the end of [the] day,’
Said Finn [to] himself, it is no error,
Said Finn, it is no error,
Said Finn, it is no error,
‘We three have come here,
‘It is folly that has brought us
‘It is folly [that] has brought us
Let us go to seek a hunting-hut.’
Stokes, Best et al.: féin.
Ní Shéaghdha: ráidh.
211
Ní Shéaghdha: ní.
212
Ní Shéaghdha: baoís.
213
Best et al.: táeit.
210
18. ‘Adhoigh so, deiredh do ló,’
ar Find fein,209 ní himmargó,
here,
209
F
Let us go to seek a hunting-hut.’
here,
Let us go to seek a hunting-hut.’
51
LL
P
F
25. Déccain214 ra déch úad in rí,
23. Silleadh ro shill seacha an rí,
forsin carraic da laim216 chlí,
ar an cconair da leith chlí,217
ar in ccarraic da leith chlí,218
co facca in tech cona thein,
co nfhaca an teach co ndaighne,
(13v) go ffhacaidh219 tegh mór go ttein,
issin glind ar ar mhbelaib.220
san nglionn ar air mbhealoiphne.221
issin ghlionn ar a bhéloip.
The king looked a look from him,
The king looked a look past him,
The king gave a look past him,
To the rock to his left hand,
To the road to his left side,
To the rock to his left side,
He saw the house with its fire,
He saw the house with a fire,
He saw a big house with a fire,
In the glen before us.
In the glen before us.
In the glen before him.
Stokes: D’éccain.
MacNeill: secha.
216
Stokes, Best et al.: láim.
217
MS: clí. Ní Shéaghdha: chlí.
218
MS: clí. MacNeill: clí.
219
MacNeill: ffacaidh.
220
Stokes: ararmhbélaib. Best et al.: mhbélaib.
221
Ní Shéaghdha: mbéaloiph-ne.
214
215
19. Silledh da ttug seacha215 in rí,
52
LL
26. Atrubairt Find flaith na Fian:222
20. IS ann adubhairt Cáoilte,
mac Cumhaill, fear gon mifri:224
aithesc tenn narbo maoídhte:
a Chailti, ni chuala thech
‘gus anu225 ní fhaco teach
‘gus anocht ní fhaca teach226
isin glind sea, cid am eolach.’
san nglionn sa, gearbham eolach.’
san glionn so, gidh um eólach.’
Finn the prince of the Fiana said:
Then said the king,
It is then [that] Cailte said,
‘There is a house I have not seen before,
Son of Cumall, truly with sadness:
A stout answer that was no boasting:
O Cailte, I have not heard of a house
‘Till today I have not seen a house
‘Till tonight I have not seen a house
In this glen, although I am acquainted
In this glen, although I am
In this glen, although I am acquainted
Stokes: fían. Best et al.: Fían.
Ní Shéaghdha: adubhairt.
224
Ní Shéaghdha: mifrí.
225
Ní Shéaghdha: anú.
226
MacNeill: tech.
223
24. An sin adubairt223 an rí,
F
‘assiut tech nach fhacca riam,
with [it].’
222
P
acquainted with [it].’
with [it].’
53
LL
27. ‘IS ferr dúin dula dia fhiss,
P
25. ‘Tair riúin,’ ar Caoílte,227 ‘da fhios,
F
21. ‘Eirg uainn,’ ar Cáoilte, ‘día fios,
atá mór neich ’nar n-anfis,
mor228 tteach atá ’nar n-ainfhios,
mór neite attú na n-ainffhios,229
(207a) is firt féli, is ferr cach ní,
uair230 as úait as fearr231 gach ní,
bert fáilte ferr no gach ní,
a maic Cumaill, a airdrí!’
a meic232 Cumhaill Almhuini!’
do mac Chumhaill Almhuiní!’
‘We better go to find it out.
‘Come with us,’ said Cailte, ‘to find out.
‘Go from us,’ said Cailte, ‘to find out.
There are great things in our
[The] big house is in our unknowing,
A great thing it is in his unknowing,
Cold it is from you, it is better than
A deed of welcome is better than
unknowing,
It is a miracle of generosity, it is better
than everything,
O son of Cumall, o great king!’
227
MS.: Caoílthe. Ní Shéaghdha: Caoílte.
Ní Shéaghdha: mór.
229
MacNeill: n-ainffios.
230
Ní Shéaghdha: úair.
231
Ní Shéaghdha: feárr.
232
Ní Shéaghdha: mheic.
228
everything,
O son of Cumall of Almain!’
everything,
To the son of Cumall of Almain!’
54
LL
28. Dochuammar ar triar ’sin tech,
P
26. Iar233 sin do chuamar asteach,
F
22. ÍAR sin do chúadhmar asteach,
terus aidche rab aithrech,
ar tturus duinne234 dob aithreach,
turus oídhche rob aithreach,
dia fríth gol is gréch is gáir,
fuairsiom grech,235 gol is gair,236
frith gréch agus gol is gáir,
is munter díscir dígair.
is muinntear dhisgir dhíghair.237
is muinntir dhísgir diogháir.
We three went into the house,
Then we went inside,
Then we went inside,
A night’s journey [that] was regrettable,
Our dark journey [which was]
A night’s journey that is regrettable,
regrettable for us,
By which was found wailing and
We found scream, wailing and shout,
Scream and wailing and shout was found,
And a fierce vehement household.
And a fierce vehement household.
scream and shout,
And a fierce vehement household.
233
Ní Shéaghdha: Íar.
Ní Shéaghdha: dúinne.
235
Ní Shéaghdha: gréch.
236
MS.: fuairsiom grech, gol, is gair.
237
Ní Shéaghdha: dhísgir dhígháir.
234
55
LL
29. Aithech líath fora lár thair,
P
27. Aitheach líath for lar astoigh,
F
23. Aithech líath ar lár asttigh,
gebid ar n-eich co escaid,
gabhois each Finn go hesccaidh,238
geibhidh each Finn go hésgaidh,
dúnaid comlaid a thaige
íadhois an ccomhluidh soinne
cuiridh in chómhla sunn de
de baccanaib iarnaide.239
for chorranaib iarnaidhe.
día corránaibh íarnoighe.
A grey giant on its floor in front [of the
A grey giant on [the] floor inside,
A grey giant on [the] floor inside,
He takes our horses swiftly,
He took Finn’s horse swiftly,
He takes Finn’s horse swiftly,
He closes the door of his house
He closed this door
He shuts this door
With iron hooks.
With iron hooks.
With its iron hooks.
house],
238
239
Ní Shéaghdha: hésccaidh.
Stokes: íarnaide.
56
LL
30. ‘IS mochen, a Fhind co mblaid,’
ar int aithech co harnaid,
‘fota co tanac ille,
a maic240 Cumaill Almaine!’
‘Welcome, o famous Finn!’
Said the giant cruelly,
‘[It is] long until you came here,
O son of Cumall of Almain!’
240
Best et al.: meic.
57
LL
31. Suidmít ar in cholbu chrúaid,
P
28.
Suidhmaoid ar an ccolbha ccruaidh,
Suidhmíd ar in gcolbha gcruáidh,
do ni ar n-aidhsi re hénúair,
do gní ar n-ossaig ré hénuair,
láid connud truimm fora thein,
an ccúail tthruim241 ro baoi242 ar an tteine,
an gcúail243 ttrúim do bhí for tein,
súail naron much don dethaig.
is uaill nach rus mhuch do244 deataigh.
suaill nachar much in teinidh.
We sit down [on] the steel bedrail,
We sit down [on] the steel bedrail,
We sit down [on] the steel bedrail,
He attends us immediately,
He attends us immediately.
He attends us immediately.
He throws firewood of elder on his
The firewood of elder [that] was on the fire,
The firewood of elder [that] was on
It almost smothered us with the
smoke.
Ní Shéaghdha: ttruim.
Ní Shéaghdha: bhaoi.
243
MacNeill: gcuail.
244
Ní Shéaghdha: rus-mhúch do[n].
242
24.
doní ar n-ósaic ri óenuair,
fire,
241
F
[the] fire,
Almost smothered it with smoke.
Almost smothered the fire.
58
LL
32. Baí245 callech isin taig mór,
tri cind for a caelmuneol,246
fer can chend ’sin leith aile,
oenshúil asa ucht saide.
There was a hag in the big house,
[With] three heads on her thin neck.
A man without a head on the other side,
One eye [sticking] out of his breast.
245
246
Stokes: Bái.
Stokes: cælmuneol.
59
LL
33. ‘Denaid airfitiud don ríg,’
P
29. (133) Do raidh247 an t-aitheach d’airde248
F
25. Ro ráidh in t-aitheach249 nár bhinn
a chinn
ar int athech250 cen imshním,
aitheascc nachar lanbhinn251 linn:
aithesc narbhó lánmaith linn:
‘érgid, a lucht atá is tig,
‘eirccidh,252 a lucht ata253 astoicch,
‘éirgidh, a lucht atá asttigh,
canaid ceol don rigfhennid!’
canaidh ceol254 don rífheinnidh!’255
canaidh ceol don ríghfhéindhidh!’
‘Make music for the king!’
The giant spoke loudly the following
The giant spoke not pleasing,
Said the giant without sorrow,
Speech that [was] not fully pleasing with
A speech that was not fully good with us:
us:
247
‘Arise, o people who are inside!
‘Arise, o people who are inside!
‘Arise, o people who are inside!
Sing a song for the king of the Fiana!’
Sing a song for the king of the Fiana!’
Sing a song for the king of the Fiana!’
Ní Shéaghdha: ráidh.
Ní Shéaghdha: d’áirde.
249
MacNeill: taithech.
250
Stokes: int-athrech.
251
Ní Shéaghdha: lán-bhinn.
252
Ní Shéaghdha: éircchidh.
253
Ní Shéaghdha: atá.
254
Ní Shéaghdha: ceól.
255
Ní Shéaghdha: rí-fhéinnidh.
248
60
LL
34. Ergit noí256 colla assin chúil
256
30. Eircchid naoí257 ccolla as an ccúil
F
26. Eirgidh naoí gcolla asin gcúil
assin leith ba nessu dúin,
as an leith fa foixe dhúinn,
assin leith bá nesa dhúin,
is noí258 cind issin leith aile,
naoi ccin as an leith oile,
naoi ccinn assin leith oile,
forsin cholbo iarnaide.
ar cholbhadhuibh íarnaidhe.
ar in gcolbha n-íarnoidhe.
Nine bodies arise out of the corner
Nine bodies arise out of the corner,
Nine bodies arise out of the corner
From the side that was nearest to us,
From the side [that] was nearest to us.
From the side that was nearest to us.
And nine heads from the other side,
Nine heads from the other side,
Nine heads out of the other side,
On the iron bedrail.
On [the] iron bedrail.
On the iron bedrail.
Stokes: nói.
Ní Shéaghdha: naoi.
258
Stokes: nói.
257
P
61
LL
35. Tocbait noí259 ngrécha260 garba,
27. Léigit naoí ngreacha262 garga,
go comuir, níor chaomhlaphra,
ger commhór, nir chomhlábhra,263
frecraid in challech fó sech,
freagrois an t-aitheach fa seach,
fregrais in t-aitheach264 fa seach,
ocus frecraid in méidech.
agus freagrais an méidheach.
agus fregrais in méidheach.
They raise nine harsh cries,
They raise nine harsh cries,
They raise nine harsh cries,
It was not harmonious, although it was
Although equal, it was not uttered
Although it was equal, it was not uttered
together.
together.
The hag answered in turn,
The giant answered in turn,
The giant answered in turn,
And the headless body [also] answered.
And the headless body [also] answered.
And the headless body [also] answered.
Stokes: nói.
Best et al.: ngrecha.
261
Ní Shéaghdha: ngréacha.
262
MacNeill: Léigid naoi ngrecha.
263
MacNeill: chomhlabhra.
264
MacNeill: t-aithech.
260
31. Légoid naoi ngreacha261 garbha,
F
nir chuibde, ciar chomlabra,
uttered together.
259
P
62
LL
36. Ciarbo ro garb, céol cach fhir,
P
33.
GEARbh265 olc gach aoncheol díobh
F
28. Gérbh olc gach gairbhcheól díbh sin,
soin,
ba gairbe céol in médig,
fa measa ceól an mheidhigh,266
fa267 mesa ceól in mhéidigh,
ca céol díb narbo dúla,
ni268 raibhe ceol nar dhúla,
ni269 raibhe ceól nár dhúla,
acht céol fhir na oenshúla?
acht fead fhir na hénshúla?
acht fed fir na henshula?
Although it was very harsh, the song
Although every single song of them was
Although every harsh song of them was
of every one,
Harsher was the song of the headless
body.
265
The song of the headless body was
bad,
The music of the headless body was worse.
worse.
What song of them was not desirable,
What song [of them] was not desirable,
What song [of them] was not desirable,
Save the song of the one-eyed man?
Save the voice of the one-eyed man?
Save the voice of the one-eyed man?
Ní Shéaghdha: Géarbh.
Ní Shéaghdha: mhéidhigh.
267
MacNeill: fá.
268
Ní Shéaghdha: ní.
269
MacNeill: ní.
266
bad,
63
LL
37. IN ceol sain ro canad dúin,
P
32. IN ceol do chanadar dúinn,
F
29. IN céol270 ro chansattar dhuinn,
do dúsechad marbu a húir,
do dhuiseochadh271 mairbh a huir,272
do duisgeaóchadh273 mairph a húir,
súail na ro briss cnáma ar cind,
suaill274 nachar bhris cnamha ar
suaill nar sgoilt cnámha ar ccinn,
ccinn,
270
nírbe in cocetul ceolbind.
nírbhe275 an coicceadal ceolbhinn.
nírbhé276 in coigedal ceóilbhinn.
That song [which] was sung for us,
The song they sang for us,
The song they sang for us,
Would waken the dead out of the grave.
Would waken the dead out of the grave.
Would waken the dead out of the grave.
It almost broke the bones of our heads.
It almost broke the bones of our heads.
It almost split the bones of our heads.
The harmony was not melodious.
The harmony was not melodious.
The harmony was not melodious.
MacNeill: ceol.
Ní Shéaghdha: dhūiseōchadh.
272
Ní Shéaghdha: húir.
273
MacNeill: duisgeóchadh.
274
Ní Shéaghdha: súaill.
275
Ní Shéaghdha: nírbh ē.
276
MacNeill: nírbé.
271
64
LL
38. Gebid int aithech uain277 sair,
277
34.
Eirghios an t-aitheach iar sain,
F
30.
Eirgis in t-aitheach278 ier soin,
tócbaid fair in túaig connaid,
agus gabhois a thuaidh cconnaidh,
is geibhidh a thúaidh chunnaidh,
bualaid co hathlam ar n-ech,
búailis is marbhus ar n-each,
tig agus marbhaidh ar n-each,279
fennaid coscraid can fhuirech.
fendois280 is cosccras gan fhuireach.
fennaidh cosgraith an éinfheacht.281
The giant goes in front of us,
Then the giant stood up,
Then the giant stood up,
He lifts up (on him) the wood-hatchet.
And he took his wood-hatchet.
And takes his wood-hatchet.
He quickly strikes our horses,
He struck and killed our horses,
He goes and kills our horses,
Flays [and] slaughters without delay.
He flayed and slaughtered without delay.
Flays [and] slaughters at the same time.
Stokes, Best et al.: úain.
MacNeill: t-aithech.
279
MacNeill: nech.
280
Ní Shéaghdha: feandois.
281
MacNeill: anéinfhecht.
278
P
65
P
35. Idubairt282 Caoilte re Fionn,
aitheascc nachar lanmhaith283 liom:
‘an t-aitheach ro mharbh ar n-each,
dighelam air cen fhuireach.’
Cailte said to Finn,
A speech that was not fully good with me:
‘The giant has killed our horses,
Let us punish him without delay.’
282
283
Ní Shéaghdha: Idubhairt.
MS.: lanmhait. Ní Shéaghdha: lán-mhaith.
66
LL
39. ‘Bí tost, a Chaílti,284 mar tái,’
P
36. ‘BÍ ad thosd, a Chaoílte,’ bhar Fionn,
ar Find fein, cen immargái,
mearghlóir nach ttuillionn a ccionn,
‘maith lind dia ndama duin féin,
do ghébhtha forlonn a fhir:
damsa ocus duitsiu is d’Ossín.
fa chomhlonn ris na fuathaibh.
‘Be silent, o Cailte, as you are!’
‘Be silent, o Cailte!’ said Finn,
Said Finn himself, without error,
The leader does not deserve great
splendour,
284
‘[It is] good for us if he grants [life] to us,
Illtreatment took away the truth:
To me and to you and to Ossín.’
He was a match to (him) the phantom.
Stokes: Cháilti.
67
LL
40. Coica bera ara mbaí285 rind
31. Cáoga bior ara mbí ruinn,
tucc lais do bhearuibh caorthainn,
in neoch ba bera cáorthainn,
tuc ága ar cach mhbir287 fo sech,
ar gach mbior aighe dar n-each,
cuiris dhá áighe fa seach,288
is ra choraig fon tellach.
agus saidhidh bhan teallach.
agus saithidh mon tteallach.
Fifty spits that were pointed
Fifty spits that were pointed
Fifty spits that were pointed,
He brought with him of spits of rowan,
He brought with him of spits of rowan,
Those were spits of rowan,
He put a joint on each spit one by one,
On every spit a joint of our horses,
He put two joints one by one,
And arranged [them] around the
And he plants [them] around the
And he plants [them] around the
Stokes: mbái.
Stokes, Best et al.: cáirthind.
287
Stokes: mbir.
288
MacNeill: sech.
286
37. Coécca bir ara mbí rinn
F
tuc leis do beraib cairthind,286
fireplace.
285
P
fireplace.
fireplace.
68
LL
41. Nochor bruthi bir díb sein
289
38.
Nírbh inneónta bior dhiobh289 sin
F
32.
Níorbh ionmhuinte290 bior dhíbh sin
in tráth tucait ón tenid,
in tan do thocc291 on tteinidh,
ag a ttogbháil don teinidh,
tuc leis i fiadnaisi Find
(134) is tucc i ffiadhnuisi292 Fhinn,
is tug a ffiadhnuise Fhinn,
feóil293 om ar beraib carthind.294
feoil a eich ar bheáruibh caorthinn.
feóil295 eich ar bearaibh296 cáorthainn.
Not a spit of those was cooked
Not a spit of those was cooked
Not a spit of those was cooked
When they were taken from the fire.
When he took [them] from the fire.
At their taking from the fire.
He brought with him before Finn,
And he brought before Finn,
And he brought before Finn,
Raw flesh on spits of rowan.
Flesh of his horse on spits of rowan.
Horsh flesh on spits of rowan.
Ní Shéaghdha: dhíobh.
MacNeill: Níor bh’ionmhuinte.
291
Ní Shéaghdha: thócc.
292
Ní Shéaghdha: ffíadhnuisi.
293
Stokes: féoil.
294
Stokes: ca[e]rthind.
295
MacNeill: feoil.
296
MacNeill: bhearaibh. Murphy: bearaibh.
290
P
69
LL
42. ‘Beir lett, a athig, do bíad,
33.
‘A aithigh, beir let do bhiadh,297
a aithghin ní dúadhas ríamh,
feóil298 eich nochar iothas ríamh,
ni chathiub ondiu co bráth,
agus nochan íos go brath,’
agus ní iosad fóss go bráth,
ar aí299 beith can bíad oentráth.’
fa mo bheith gan bhíadh aontráth.’
ar son beit gan bíadh éntráth.’
‘Take with you, o giant, your food!
‘O giant, take with you your food!
‘O giant, take with you your food!
For I never ate raw food.
The equivalent I never ate,
Horse flesh I never ate,
I will not eat it [from] today till the
And I will not eat [it] till the last
And I will continue not to eat it till the
Because of being without food [for] one
day.’
MacNeill: bhíadh.
MacNeill: feoil.
299
Stokes: arái.
298
39. ‘A aithigh, beir leat do bhíadh,
F
uair ní dúadus biad om riam,
last Judgement,
297
P
Judgement.’
It was my being without food [for] one
day.
last Judgement,
Because of being without food [for] one
day.’
70
LL
43. ‘Mas aire thanac ’nar tech,
34. ‘Mas uime tanguis300 um tech,
d’obadh bidh,’ ar an t-aitheach,
d’obadh bídh,’ ar in t-aitheach,
‘is derb doraga302 rib féin,
‘fuiccfithí, a Fhinn, mor an modh,
‘ros tiucfa ribhsi go n-áoibh,
a Chailti, a Fhind, a Ossín!’
bar303 ccinn ar bhar ccosccar!’
a Cháoilte, a Fhinn, a Oissín!’
‘If it is for this you have come into my
‘If it is for this you have come into
‘If it is for this you came into [my] house,
[my] house,
To refuse my food,’ said the giant,
To refuse [my] food,’ said the giant,
To refuse [my] food,’ said the giant,
‘It is certain it will go against
‘I will leave [behind], o Finn, great the
‘It will come against you vigorously,
yourselves,
O Cailte, o Finn, o Ossín!’
MacNeill: tangus; Murphy: tanguis.
Stokes, Best et al.: d’obba.
302
Stokes: doraga[m].
303
Ní Shéaghdha: bhar.
301
40. ‘Mas uime teaccthaoi um theach,
F
dh’obba301 ar mhbíd,’ ar int athech,
house,
300
P
deed,
Your heads after your defeat!’
O Cailte, o Finn, o Ossín!’
71
LL
44. Iar sein ro ergemmar súas,
304
305
P
41. Ann sin ro eirgheamor súas,
F
35. IAR sin ro eirgiomar súas,
gabmait ar claidbe co crúas,
gabhmaoid ar ccloidhme304 go ccruas,
dochom305 ar ccloidhemh go ccrúas,
gebid cach cend araile,
ionnsaigheas cách aroile,
do gabh cách cend aroile,
ropo mana dorngaile.
ro budh manadh dornghoile.
ro ba mana dornghaile.
After that we rose up,
Then we rose up,
Then we rose up,
We seize our swords bravely.
We seize our swords bravely.
Towards our swords bravely.
Each grabs another head,
Every one attacked [one] another,
Each grabbed another head,
It was an omen of a fist-fight.
It would be an omen of a fist-fight.
It was an omen of a fist-fight.
Ní Shéaghdha: ccloidhmhe.
MS.: do com. MacNeill: do com.
72
LL
45. Muchthair in tene baí306 thís,
36. Báidhter307 in tene bói tshís,
co nair leir308 lasair na grís,
go nar léir lasoir na grís,
timmaircther cul309 dorcha dub,
tiomairccthear cúil ndoirche nduibh
(14r) tiomaircther cúil dhorcha dhubh
orn, ar triúr i n-oen inud.
oirn, ar ttriúr a n-ein ionpaidh.310
oirn, ar ttriúr a n-éin ionadh.
The fire that was down is quenched,
The fire [that was] down was quenched,
The fire that was down is quenched,
[So that] its flame or embers were not
So that flame or embers were not
So that flame or embers were not visible.
visible.
A dark black corner is pressed
A dark black corner is pressed
A dark black corner is pressed
Upon us, we three in one place.
Upon us, we three in one place.
Upon us, we three in one place.
Stokes: bái.
MacNeill: Báidhtear.
308
Ní Shéaghdha: léir.
309
Stokes, Best et al.: cúl.
310
Ní Shéaghdha: n-éin-ionphaidh.
307
42. Ro baidheadh an teine thís,
F
nar léir a lassar no grís,
visible.
306
P
73
LL
46. IN n-uair do bímmis cind ar chind,
P
43. In uar do bhámar cionn ar chionn,
cia do fhoirfeadh311 sin acht312 Fionn,
cía do fhoirfedh sin acht Fionn,
ropsar marba, mor313 in mod,
do marbadh sinn uile dhe,
ba ro marbh314 sinne dhe,
meni beth Find a oenor.
muna bheith Fionn na Feine.315
muna bheith Fionn na Féine.
When we were at grips [with one
When we were at grips [with one
When we were at grips [with one another],
another],
Who would help us but Finn?
Who would help us but Finn?
Who would help us but Finn?
We would have died, great the deed,
We would all have been killed of it
We were killed of it,
If it had not been [for] Finn alone.
If it had not been [for] Finn of the
If it had not been [for] Finn of the Fiana.
Fiana.
Ní Shéaghdha: fhóirfeadh.
MS.: ar. Ní Sheághdha suggests acht as well.
313
Stokes, Best et al.: mór.
314
MacNeill: mharbh.
315
Ní Shéaghdha: Féine.
312
37. Mar do bhádhmar cionn ar chionn,
cianar cobrad acht mád Find,
another],
311
F
74
LL
47. Bammar cind ar chind istaig,
P
44. Ceann ar cheann, duinne mar316 sin,
F
38. Cionn ar cionn, dhuinne sa treibh,
fat na haidche co matain,
o thús oidhche go maidin,
fad na hoídhche317 go maidin,
co ro shollsig grian in tech,
no go ttanoicc grían san teach,
no318 go ttainic gríen asteach,319
im thrath320 eirgi ar na barach.
a ttráth eircche ar no321 mharoch.
um trath eirge ar na mharach.
We were at grips [with one another]
At grips [with one another], one [was]
At grips [with one another], one [was] in
inside,
The length of the night till morning,
like that,
From the beginning of the night till
the house,
The length of the night till morning,
morning,
316
Until the sun lighted up the house,
Until the sun came in the house,
Until [the] sun came inside,
At the time of rising the next day.
At the time of rising the next day.
At the time of rising the next day.
Ní Shéaghdha: mur.
MS.: hoídhce.
318
MacNeill: nó.
319
MS.: asteac. MacNeill: astech.
320
Best et al.: tráth.
321
Ní Shéaghdha: arna.
317
75
LL
48. IN n-uair do erig322 in grían,
45. An trath ro éirghe an ghrian,
39. IN tan ro eirigh in grían,
tuitidh gach fear soir is siar,
tuitis gach fer soir is síar,
tuittid nél i cend cach fhir,
tainic neull a ccionn gach fir,
tig duibhnell a ccinn gach fir,
co mbaí324 marb ar in lathir.
ro bhamar marbh ar aon lathoir.
go mbadar marbh in uair sin.
When the sun rose,
When the sun rose,
When the sun rose,
Every man falls backwards and
Every man falls backwards and
Every man fell backwards and forwards.
forwards.
A mist falls into each man’s head,
A mist came into each man’s head.
A black mist goes into each man’s head,
So that he was dead on the spot.
We were dead on one spot.
Till they were dead at that time.
Stokes: doérig.Best et al.: do érig.
MS: is íar. I agree with Stokes, Best et al. who suggest is [s]íar here.
324
Stokes: com-bái.
323
F
tuittid cach fer sair is [s]íar,323
forwards.
322
P
76
LL
49. Garit ro bammar ’nar tam,325
40. Gairit do bhamar326 ’nar ttám,
gur eirgheamor is sinn slan,
eirgidmáoid súas327 go hóghlán,
celtair orn in tech iar sain;
ceiltear an teach óirn iar soin,
do ceileadh orainn in treabh,
celtair cech nech din muntir.
is ceiltear an mhuinntir.
agus ceilter oirn in muinnter.
A short time we were in our stupor.
A short time we were in the stupor,
A short time we were in our stupor.
We rise up, and we [are] sound!
Till we arose and we [were] sound!
We rise up and perfectly sound!
The house is concealed from us
The house isconcealed from us
The house was concealed from us,
Every one of the household is
concealed.
Stokes, Best et al.: tám.
MacNeill: bhámar.
327
MacNeill: eirghidmáoid suas.
326
46. Gearr ro bhámar isin ttámh,
F
ergimmít súas, is sind slán,
after that;
325
P
after that,
And the household is concealed.
And the household is concealed from
us.
77
LL
42. Amlaidh ro eirigh Fionn Fáil,
ocus a ech fein329 na laim,330
is srían a eich ina láimh,
is arádha eich na láimh,
slan331 uile, etir chend iss choiss,
slán uile, eidir chenn332 is chois,
ba slán, eidir cenn is chois,
bai333 cach anim na écmais.
ro baoi334 gach aiscc nar n-éccmois.
boí gach ainiom335 na féghmois.
This is how Finn of Fáil arose,
Then [the] prince of Fáil arose,
In this way Finn of Fáil arose,
And his own horse[‘s reins] in his hand.
And his horse’s bridle in his hand.
And [his] horse’s reins in his hand.
Sound [was] every one, both head and
Sound [was] every one, both head and
It was sound, both head and foot,
foot.
Every blemish was absent.
Ní Shéaghdha: éirigh.
Stokes, Best et al.: féin.
330
Stokes, Best et al.: láim.
331
Stokes, Best et al.: slán.
332
Ní Shéaghdha: cheann.
333
Stokes: bái. Best et al.: baí.
334
Ní Shéaghdha: bhaoi.
335
MacNeill: ainiomh.
329
F
47. Ann sin ro eirigh328 flaith Fáil,
50. IS amlaid atracht Find Fáil,
328
P
foot,
Every blemish was absent.
Every blemish was absent.
78
LL
51. Lodsam co scíth anfand ass,
tucsam aichne ar ar n-eolass,
lodmar, ciarbo chían iar sain,
cosin traig ic Berramair.
We went wearily [and] feeble from it,
We took recognition on account of our
knowledge.
We went, although it was long after that,
To the strand at Berramar.
79
LL
52. Ro iarfaiged din scela,336
ní baí337 duin338 dluig a shena,339
‘fuarammar,’ ar Find, ‘diar fecht,
imned ar ar n-oígidecht.’340
We were asked tidings,
We had no desire to reject it.
‘We found,’ said Finn, ‘on our journey,
Tribulation for our entertainment.’
336
Best et al.: scéla.
Stokes: bái.
338
Stokes, Best et al.: dúin.
339
Stokes, Best et al.: shéna.
340
Stokes: óigidecht.
337
80
LL
53. IS iat sin dorala rind:
P
48.
(135) IS iad341 sin ro throid rinn:
F
41.
IS íad buidhion do troid342 rinn:
na tri fuatha a hIbarglind,
na naoí ffuatha343 a hIobharghlionn,
na naoí bfúatha344 a hlubharglinn,
(207b) do dígail345 fhoirn a sethar,
do dhighail oirn a seathair,
do dioghail346 oirn a setar,
diarb ainm Cullend [Craesl]ethan.347
darbh ainm Cuilleand Chraosleathan.
diarb ainm348 Cuillionn Cráoisleathan.349
It is they that came against us:
It is they [that] fought against us:
It is they [the] band [that] fought against
us:
341
The three phantoms from Ibarglenn,
The nine phantoms from Ibarglenn,
The nine phantoms from Ibarglenn,
To avenge on us their sister,
To avenge on us their sister,
To avenge on us their sister,
Whose name was Cullenn Craeslethan.
Whose name was Cullenn Craeslethan.
Whose name was Cullenn Craeslethan.
Ní Shéaghdha: íad.
MacNeill: throid.
343
Ní Shéaghdha: naoi ffúatha.
344
MacNeill: naoi bfuatha.
345
Stokes: digail.
346
MacNeill: dhioghail.
347
I can not read what is written here, but Stokes has cræslethan and Best et al. have craeslethan at this place.
348
MacNeill: diar b’ainm.
349
MacNeill: coisleathan.
342
81
LL
P
54. Lodsamar ar cuaird selgga,
F
49. Os misi Oisin mac Finn,
43. IS missi Cáoilte croídhe,
morthimchell insi [El]gga,350
tarraidh mé creidiomh Tailginn,
deis na láoch go lánghloine,
sirmís mór sliab is mór mag,
gearsam calma ag cur na ccath,
mor shirim amoigh ’sa mach,
mór n-amreid [is]351 mór n-oenach.
nocha cumhghoim352 an t-áonach.
nocha ffaicim an t-áonach.
Oenach.
Aonach.
AONACH.
We went on a hunting round,
I am Oisín mac Finn.
I am [the] beloved Cailte,
All around the isle of Elga,
Save me religion of Tailcend!
Of the band of the warriors with full
clearness,
We wandered through many mountains
and many plains,
Although I have been bravely waging
battles,
Many rough races and many fairs.
I am unable [for] the fair.
A fair.
350
I can not read what is written here, but Stokes, Best et al. have Elgga at this place.
I can not read what is written here, but Stokes, Best et al. have is at this place.
352
Ní Shéaghdha: chumhghoim.
351
Greatly I seek for [it] in the plain,
I do not see the fair.
A fair.
A fair.
82
Notes
LL 1b/P 1b/F 1b See also: Currech Lifi cona li/ in cach(?) rígh dia rodamair/ rucad uad a
cenn a cein/ gusan tsleib os Bodamair ‘Currech Lifi with his splendour,/ …king to whom he
yielded,/ His head was taken from him far/ To the mountain over Badamair’, ll. 13-16 of
Bruiden Atha from Kuno Meyer, ‘Two tales about Finn’, RC 14 (1893) 241-9: 242 = 244. The
first (1b) and the last (2d) line of this stanza occur almost identically in our poem.
LL 1d/P 1d/F 1d Guaire Dall ‘Blind Guaire’ is another name for Oisín.
P 1d Ni is written at the bottom of the folio. It is the first word of the next stanza.
LL 2c In the text in the MS fairrged is written fairrged. But in the right margin a † refers
to the upper margin where it is also written as fairrged.
LL 2d/P 2d/F 2d The places of Badammar and Berraman are interchangable in this poem.
See also lines LL 17b/P 16b/F 13b.
P 2d In the dindshenchas of Currech Life there is mention of a Bodamair. According to
Gwynn this is near Cahir, County Tipperary. Gwynn, Metrical dindshenchas, iii 234, 4 and 11
and v 183.
LL 3a/P 3a Or: ‘The fair of Clochar that Finn praised’.
LL 3a/P 3a In the dindshenchas of Slíab nEchtga there is mention of a Clochar nGuill and
in the dindshenchas of Tailtiu there is mention of a Clochar. Gwynn, Metrical dindshenchas,
iii 304, 5 and iv 148, 20.
LL 3a/P 3a In the dindshenchas of Slíab nEchtga there is mention of an Óenach Find.
Gwynn, Metrical dindshenchas, iii 304, 5.
LL 3b/P 3b Fáil (Fál) is another name for Ireland. DIL, F. 36f.
LL 3c/P 3c Or: ‘The Munster men of [LL]/ from [P] the plain assembled’. Because
Mumnig/ Muimhnigh can be both subject or object in this line. See for the convergencein the
plural of the nominative and accusative forms in o-stems: Liam Breatnach, ‘An MheánGhaeilge’, Stair na Gaeilge: in ómós do Pádraig Ó Fiannachta, ed. Kim McCone, et al.
(Maigh Nuad 1994) 221-333: 241-3.
LL 4d/ F 3d Mairid mac Caireda was king of Munster and had two sons; Rí and Eochaid.
See further: Gwynn, Metrical dindshenchas, iii 240, 450-8, and v 172.
P 6b A faulty line follows in the manuscript: crodh go ttuccadh a ttuarasdol.
P 7a The line is preceded by a faulty line in the manuscript: Inn an draoi.
83
LL 10b Derchaem ‘Fair Eye’.
P 11b Almain (Almu) ‘Hill of Allen, County Kildare’. DIL, A. 291.
LL 11c/P 11c On this use of ná ‘not’ in Middle Irish, see Breatnach, ‘An MheánGhaeilge’, 281.
LL 13c/P 13c/F 10c Cathair: There is a town called Cahir in County Tipperary.
LL 14d ’man ardrig: See also: (…) 7 ragab ar faisdine dona Gregaib, co tangadar uili a
n-eninad ’mon airdrig ’ma Adraist do denam a comairli (…) ‘(…) and he [Thiodamas] began
a prophesy to the Greeks, so that they all came into one place round the high-king Adrastus to
follow his counsel (…)’, ll. 3911-2 in George Calder (ed.), Togail na Tebe: The Thebaid of
Statius, (Cambridge 1922) 252 = 253.
LL 18b/P 18b/F 15b Tráig Lí ‘Tralee’.
LL 20b Bréc ‘falsehood, lie, deception’ is common in chevilles. DIL, B. 166f.; see also my
paragraph on the metre.
LL 20c There is a dindshenchas of Loch Léin, which is also known as ‘The lakes of
Killarney’. Gwynn, Metrical dindshenchas, iii 260-5 and v 195.
LL 22a Lit.: ‘A hand towards Flesc...’. Lám re ‘beside’ is a fixed idiom. DIL, L. 36f.
F 16e A faulty word follows in the manuscript.: fíach.
LL 22b Scál Balb ‘Stammering Hero’ or ‘Dumb Phantom’? DIL, B. 23 and S. 72.
F 16f In the dindshenchas of Tipra Sen-Garmna there is mention of a Formael, which is
apperently near Síd Fer Femin. Gwynn, Metrical dindshenchas, iii 244, 28 and v 191. There
is also mention of a Formael in the dindshenchas of Snám Dá Én, and according to Gwynn
this is the same place as Slíab Formaíle in Roscommon. Ibid., iv 364, 189 and v 191.
LL 23b Lit.: ‘We were first at the coming to it’.
LL 24b/P 22b/F 18b Immargó ‘(great) lie, error’ is common in chevilles. DIL, I. 131; see
also my paragraph on the metre.
LL 24c/P 22c/F 18c As to whether or not ille could sometimes be illé, see Liam Breatnach,
‘On words ending in a stressed vowel in Early Irish’, Ériu 53 (2003) 137; and Rudolf
Thurneysen, A grammar of Old Irish, revised and enlarged ed., transl. D.A. Binchy and
Osborn Bergin (Dublin 1946) 32.
LL 25a/P 23a Here we find a figura etymologica, on which see Ruairí Ó hUiginn, ‘On the
Old Irish figura etymologica’, Ériu 34 (1983) 123-33; and Breatnach, ‘An Mheán-Ghaeilge’,
332.
LL 26c Ni chuala thech: On lenition of the direct object after a verb in Middle Irish, see
84
Breatnach, ‘An Mheán-Ghaeilge’, 237-8.
LL 27a Lit.: ‘It is better for us to go to find it out’.
LL 27a Dul ‘going, to go’ is the verbal noun of téit ‘goes, proceeds’. In Old Irish it was
used with the object genitive and it represented the transitive use of téit. But here it is used
with the subject genitive and it represents the intransitive use of téit. DIL, D. 444 and T. 124f.
LL 28a Ar triar: On the use of the dative in apposition, see Thurneysen, Grammar, 160-1;
and Breatnach, ‘An Mheán-Ghaeilge’, 240-1.
LL 29a Or: ‘A grey giant in the middle before [the house]’.
P 27a Or: ‘A grey giant in the middle inside [of the house]’.
F 23a Or: ‘A grey giant in [the] middle inside [of the house]’.
LL 31a/P 28a/F 24a On the Middle Irish 1 plural ending in –mit (-mít)/-mait (-maít/maoid), see Breatnach, ‘An Mheán-Ghaeilge’, 295.
LL 33a Or: ‘Entertain for the king’. Lit: ‘Do entertaining for the king’.
LL 33c In the manuscript tig is written as taig with an expunctuation mark under the a.
LL 36 For some reason this stanza is omitted by Best et al. in their edition of LL.
P 33c/F 28c Lit.: ‘There was no song that was not desirable’.
LL 37b/P 32b/F 29b See also: Do dhúisgeóbhthá mairb a huaigh ‘You would waken the
dead from the grave’, l. 5 of poem nr. 5 from Thomas F. O’Rahilly, Measgra Dánta:
Miscellaneous Irish Poems, vol. 1 (Corcaigh 1927) 5; or Do dhúisceochadh mairbh a huaigh
‘The dead would wake in their graves’, l. 5 of poem nr. 16 Ní binn do thorann lem thaoibh
‘Ugly your uproar at my side’ from Ó Tuama and Kinsella, An Duanaire, 34 = 35. These two
editions of the same poem are about the snoring sound that someone makes.
LL 38c/P 34c/F 30c Ech ‘horse’ can only be an accusative singular here, although it has to
be translated as a plural in this case. Perhaps it is to be understood as a collective noun like
echra, and echrad, echraid ‘steeds’, or graig ‘horses’. DIL E. 27f., 31f. and G. 154.
P 35c In Middle Irish the compound verb do-fich ‘to punish, to avenge’ has become the
simple verb díglaid. DIL, D. 93 and 264f. Dighelam has a conjunct ending, thus I understand
it to be a 1 plural imperative. But see Ocus is uimi do ceiled gach sealg ele oruinn, ūair do bī
a tairrngeri dūin comracc risin muic-sin 7 díghēlum a[r] n-anfolta fuirri ‘And it is for this
that every other chase has failed us, because it was prophesied to us to encounter that swine,
and we will avenge our wrongs upon it’, from The chase of Síd na mBan Finn and the death
of Finn in Meyer, Fianaigecht, 54 = 55. Here díghēlum is to be understood as 1 plural future,
but I do not think this to be the case in our poem, because one would expect to find díghélmít
85
as the 1 plural future absolute. See further: Breatnach, ‘An Mheán-Ghaeilge’, 314-5.
LL 40a/P 37a/F 31a Lit.: ‘Fifty spits on which were points’.
F 32a I take ionmhuinte to be the past participle of fo-noí ‘to cook’. DIL, F. 292f.
P 38b This time nothing is written at the bottom of the page.
LL 42/P 39Dúadus/ dúadhas 1 singular preterite of ithid ‘to eat’. For this preterite, see
Stefan Schumacher, ‘The preterite of ithid “eats”’, Ériu 49 (1989) 149-60.
LL 43a/b Although -ar is actually 1 plural, I translate it here as 1 singular, because it fits
better in the translation, and in poetry 1 plural can stand for 1 singular.
P 40c Mod ‘deed, performance, achievement’ is common in chevilles. DIL, M. 155f.; see
also my paragraph on the metre.
LL 44c/F 35c For the expression gabaid cách cend araile, see further: Cuirid fir ar fud
fairrge/ go rainic Ceann na Cairrge/ gur gabh cách ceann a chéile/ a ttracht Oirir
Uirshleibhe ‘They send men over the sea as far as Ceann na Cairgge, and each seized the
other’s head (?) on the beach of Oirear Uirshléibhe’, stanza 15 of The naming of Dún Gáire
poem 38 from MacNeill, et al., Duanaire Finn, ii 24 = ii 25. Murphy thinks ‘that the general
meaning is “to come to grips”, Ibid., iii 28-9 n. 36c.
LL 45a/P 42a/F 36a See further the Modern Irish: tine a chur síos ‘to set, light, a fire’.
Niall Ó Dónaill and Tomás de Bhaldraithe (ed.), Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla (Dublin 1977) 1235.
P 42d IN is written in the right margin. This is the first word of the next stanza.
LL 46a/P 43a/P 37a Lit.: ‘When we were head to head’.
LL 46b Or: ‘However there was no help unless it be Finn’.
LL 46c Marb ‘with cop. often as periphrasis for vb. to die’. DIL, M. 59f. See further:
Proinsias MacCana, ‘Ir. ba marb, W. bu farw “he died”’, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie
49-50 (1997) 469-81.
LL 47d/P 44d/F 38d Lit.: ‘At the time of rising on the morrow’.
P 45c/F 39c Nél ‘cloud, mist, swoon, faintness, stupor’. In Middle Irish the form néll with
double l is common. DIL, N. 26f.
F 40a In the manuscript bhamar is written as bhattar with the t’s expunctuated and
replaced by an m which is written above it.
P 47d IS is written at the bottom of the page. This is the first word of the next stanza on the
next page.
LL 51d In the manuscript there stood originally beramain., but this is corrected into
beramair . The i with the stroke for the n has been erased, but the stop has been left, and the a
86
has been altered into air. Perhaps there was confusion between the two placenames of
Badammair and Berramain which are interchangable in this poem. See for example lines LL
2d/P 2d/F 2d and lines LL 17b/P 16b/F 13b.
LL 52b Lit.: ‘Not was to us [the] desire [for] its rejection’.
F 41c In the manuscript a faulty word follows do: doigli which is expunctuated. The g is
written under the l, but there is no upper stroke on the letter, so it can also be an S.
LL 54b Elgga is another name for Ireland. DIL, E. 108.
P 49b Tailcend is another name for St. Patrick. DIL, T. 62.
87
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