Chapter I: Preface

The following poem, on which I have spent the careful and ardent labour of the past ten years, is an attempt to tell the whole story of the Táin in a complete and artistic form.

The great tale of the Táin Bó Cúalnge has come down to us in two widely differing recensions. Both of these are in prose with poetry interspersed. One of these recensions (L.L.) is found in the Book of Leinster, a manuscript dating from the middle of the twelfth century. The other recension (L.U.) is found partly in the _Leabhar na h-Uidhri_, a manuscript written by a scholar who died in Clonmacnoise in 1106, and who—we are told—“wrote and shaped this book from various books”; and part of the same recension is found in the Yellow Book of Lecan, a manuscript which, although later, contains some very archaic material. For a comparison of these two recensions, and for a consideration of the various and very interesting critical problems to which they give rise, I must refer my readers to the delightful _Einleitung und Vorrede_ which Dr. Windisch has given us in his edition of the Book of Leinster text of the Táin: to No. 5 of Prof. Zimmer’s _Celtische Studien_; and to Miss Faraday’s short introduction to her translation of the texts of the L.U. recension. It suffices for me to say here that, while L.L. is the more literary, and L.U. the more scholarly, of the two versions, from the purely artistic point of view both of them are unsatisfactory and incomplete.

My general method of working has been this. As a rule, but not invariably, I have taken the L.L. recension as my basis. Having, as I have dared to believe, grasped the essential human facts of the story, I began by some re-arrangement of the material. Then I omitted all material that was either irrelevant to my conception or tedious in itself; and, finally, I completed the narrative by working into its texture a rather large amount of matter from other related sources. An enumeration of the more important of these sources will be found in Appendix D. To give all my lesser sources would not be possible; for the same principles of re-arrangement, and selection, and introduction of new material have been carried out, not only in the broad masses, but even in the smallest portions, each part being considered in relation to the whole.

In the main I have tried to work much as I imagine some scholarly Irish shanachie of a thousand years ago might have worked, if he had had the same object in view. And, in so far as the resources of the English language will allow, I have tried to preserve the Gaelic spirit, and to present a poem from which the modern spirit is as completely absent as would necessarily have been the case with my supposed old shanachie. In so far as I have succeeded, my readers will find themselves really transported into our old Irish epic world.

With regard to the vexed question of the anglicisation of the names, a word of explanation must be offered. The movement of the verse is sometimes intended to be very rapid. Nothing would more surely impede this movement than a doubt existing in the mind of the reader as to how the frequently recurring names are to be pronounced. It will not do for him to halt till he ascertains the pronunciation from an appendix. Therefore, in the verse, names are always spelt in such a way as to suggest their pronunciation; and in the various appendices I have given their most usual Middle-Irish spelling. For example, “Faerdeeah” is so spelt in order to show at a glance that there is a strongly accented ee sound in the second syllable—a bit of knowledge which is essential to the right reading of the verse. In Appendix C the reader may learn, if he wishes, that in Middle Irish this name is spelt in two words: _Fer Diad_.

In anglicising Old Gaelic names some writers will prefer to adopt the earliest, presumably unaspirated forms; others will prefer the modern aspirated forms. In some cases I have adopted the one, and in some the other; and I have had practically no rule in the matter except the pleasing of my own ear in relation to the verse. Where there happens to be a thoroughly established modern form, such as “Conor,” I have generally adopted it. In the case of some other names such as “Findabair,” where the old unaspirated spelling gives a beautiful sequence of sounds, I have left them to be pronounced as they are spelt. In modern Irish we should call “Findabair,” “Finn´-oor.”

All the place-names have been anglicised as frankly as the personal names, the important point in all cases being to suggest a definite and not too difficult pronunciation. It matters little that some one else might have suggested a different pronunciation. It will be remembered that St. Bernard of Clairvaux, in writing the Life of our own St. Malachy, said in relation to a certain miracle which Malachy performed:—“This occurred at a place the name of which we do not mention, for its pronunciation is too barbarous.” I could not wish that my non-Gaelic readers should have to echo these words of St. Bernard in the midst of a passage of my verse.

The word _Táin_ alone I have not anglicised. It should be pronounced approximately _Tahn_.

In Appendix A brief notes will be found on all the Irish terms used. Sometimes I have used these untranslated forms simply because they are beautiful in themselves, and so bring an element of beauty into the verse. Sometimes I have used them because their meaning is not certain enough to make it wise to venture on an English equivalent; and sometimes because the nearest English equivalent would suggest an entirely wrong set of mental associations.

In Appendix B I have given an alphabetical list of all the place-names introduced, with notes on all those which have been identified, or towards the identification of which I have been able to make suggestions. There are about 250 of these names. To us who are Irish and who live in the old country, it is a source of intense pleasure to be able to associate our heroes and their heroic deeds with certain definite places, and to think of them when there. I have spared no pains in the endeavour to identify these place-names; and various suggestions of my own will be found scattered amongst the notes. But many places I have failed to identify at all.

In Appendix C I give an alphabetical list of the names of persons which occur in the narrative.

These first three divisions of the Appendix, though arranged in alphabetical order, are not indices. They are meant only for reference. In every case the usual Middle-Irish spelling of the word, or else the spelling in a more modern text which I have happened to use, is given in square brackets.

A word, perhaps, must be said about the verse. It has certain characteristics of its own, which have arisen naturally and almost unconsciously out of my long and close study of our early Irish literature. Those of my readers who are interested in the technique of verse will notice these characteristics for themselves. There is, perhaps, only one point in this connexion which I need mention, and that is the frequency with which I allow two very short syllables, such as “of his,” “in her,” to scan as one syllable. This is done with a freedom which far exceeds the practice of most writers of English blank verse. In this matter I have had no rule but the pleasing of my own ear.

To conclude, let me express my hope, and, indeed, my belief, that before long there will be amongst us many able writers who will endeavour to re-create for us the ancient and glorious literature of our country, not in English, but in the language of the Gael.

M. A. H.

_Belfast, October, 1907._

CONTENTS

PAGE

The Finding of the Táin 3

THE TÁIN

Book I 11

Book II 41

Book III 81

Book IV 101

Book V 127

Book VI 163

Book VII 187

Book VIII 211

Book IX 239

Book X 259

Book XI 293

Book XII 323

Book XIII 357

Book XIV 383

Book XV 411

The Writing of the Táin 447

APPENDIX A:

Irish Terms used in the Verse 453

APPENDIX B:

The Place-names occurring in the Verse 460

APPENDIX C:

Names of Persons, Tribes, and Animals
occurring in the Verse 479

APPENDIX D:

The Principal Sources from which the
Narrative has been drawn 487