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Books: Heroic Romances of Ireland Volumes 1 and 2 Combined

A >> A. H. Leahy >> Heroic Romances of Ireland Volumes 1 and 2 Combined




The whole tale is much more like an old Border riding ballad than are
the other three Preludes; it resembles the tone of Regamon, but differs
from it in having a good deal of slaughter to relate, though it can
hardly be called tragic, like Deirdre and Ferb, the killing being taken
as a matter of course. There is nothing at all supernatural about the
story as contained in the old manuscripts, but a quite different'
version of the story given in the Glenn Masain Manuscript, a fifteenth
century manuscript now in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, gives
another complexion to the tale.

The translation of this manuscript is at present being made in the
Celtic Review by Professor Mackinnon; the version it gives of the story
is much longer and fuller than that in the Leabhar na h-Uidhri, and its
accompanying manuscripts. The translation as printed in the Celtic
Review is not as yet (July 1905) completed, but, through Professor
Mackinnon's kindness, an abstract of the general features of the end of
the story may be given here.

The Glenn Masain version makes Bricriu, who is a subordinate character
in the older version, one of the principal actors, and explains many of
the allusions which are difficult to understand in the shorter version;
but it is not possible to regard the older version as an abridgment of
that preserved in the Glenn Masain MS., for the end of the story in
this manuscript is absolutely different from that in the older ones,
and the romance appears to be unique in Irish in that it has versions
which give two quite different endings, like the two versions of
Kipling's The Light that Failed.

The Glenn Masain version commences with a feast held at Cruachan, when
Fergus and his exiles had joined their forces with Connaught as a
result of the murder of the Sons of Usnach, as told in the earlier part
of the manuscript. At this feast Bricriu. engages in conversation with
Fergus, reproaching him for his broken promises to the Ulstermen who
had joined him, and for his dalliance with Queen Maev. Bricriu, who in
other romances is a mere buffoon, here appears as a distinguished poet,
and a chief ollave; his satire remains bitter, but by no means
scurrilous, and the verses put into his mouth, although far beneath the
standard of the verses given to Deirdre in the earlier part of the
manuscript, show a certain amount of dignity and poetic power. As an
example, the following satire on Fergus's inability to keep his
promises may be cited:--


Fergus, hear thy friend lamenting!
Blunted is thy lofty mind;
Thou, for hire, to Maev consenting,
Hast thy valour's pride resigned.

Ere another year's arriving,
Should thy comrades, thou didst vow,
Three-score chariots fair be driving,
Shields and weapons have enow!

When thy ladies, bent on pleasure,
Crowd towards the banquet-hall,
Thou of gold a goodly measure
Promised hast to grant to all!

Ill to-night thy friends are faring,
Naught hath Fergus to bestow;
He a poor man's look is wearing,
Never yet was greater woe!


After the dialogue with Fergus, Bricriu, with the poets that attend
him, undertakes a journey to Ailill the Fair, to obtain from him the
bounty that Fergus had promised but was unable to grant. He makes a
fairly heavy demand upon Ailill's bounty, but is received hospitably,
and gets all he had asked for, as well as honour for his poetic
talents. He then asks about Ailill's wife Flidais, and is told about
her marvellous cow, which was able to supply milk to more than three
hundred men at one night's milking. Flidais returns from a journey, is
welcomed by Bricriu, who produces a poem in honour of her and her cow,
and is suitably recompensed.

A long conversation is then recorded between Flidais and Bricriu in
which Bricriu extols the great deeds of Fergus, supplying thereby a
commentary on the short statement at the beginning of the older
version, that Flidais' love to Fergus was on account of the great deeds
which had been told her that he had done. Flidais declares to Bricriu
her love for Fergus, and Bricriu, after a vain attempt to dissuade the
queen from her purpose, consents to bring a message to Fergus that
Flidais and her cow will come to him if he comes to her husband's
castle to seek her. He then returns to Connaught laden with gifts.

The story now proceeds somewhat upon the lines of the older version.
Bricriu approaches Fergus on his return, and induces him to go in the
guise of an ambassador to Ailill the Fair, with the secret intention of
carrying off Flidais. Fergus receives the sanction of Maev and her
husband for his errand, and departs, but not as in the older version
with a few followers; all the Ulster exiles are with him. Dubhtach, by
killing a servant of Maev, embroils Fergus with the queen of Connaught;
and the expedition reaches Ailill the Fair's castle. Fergus sends
Bricriu, who has most unwillingly accompanied him, to ask for
hospitality; he is hospitably received by Ailill, and when under the
influence of wine reveals to Ailill the plot. Ailill does not, as in
the older version, refuse to receive Fergus, but seats him beside
himself at a feast, and after reproaching him with his purpose
challenges him to a duel in the morning. The result of the duel, and
of the subsequent attack on the castle by Fergus' friends, is much as
stated in the older version, but the two stories end quite differently.
The L.U. version makes Flidais assist in the War of Cualgne by feeding
the army of Ailill each seventh day with the produce of her cows; she
dies after the war as wife of Fergus; the Glenn Masain version, in the
"Pursuit of the Cattle of Flidais," makes the Gamanrad clan, the
hero-clan of the West of Ireland, pursue Maev and Fergus, and rescue
Flidais and her cow; Flidais then returns to the west with Muiretach
Menn, the son of her murdered husband, Ailill the Fair.

The comparison of these two versions, from the literary point of view,
is most interesting. The stress laid on the supernatural cow is
peculiar to the version in the later manuscript, the only analogy in
the eleventh century version is the semi-supernatural feeding of the
army of Ireland, but in this it is a herd (buar), not a single animal,
that is credited with the feat, and there is really nothing
supernatural about the matter; it is only the other version that
enables us to see the true bearing of the incident. The version in the
Glenn Masain Manuscript looks much more ancient in idea than that in
the older texts, and is plainly capable of a mythic interpretation. It
is not of course suggested that the Glenn Masain version is ancient as
it stands: there are indeed enough obvious allusions in the text to
comparatively late works to negative such a supposition, independently
of linguistic evidence, but it does look as if the author of the
eleventh century text had a super natural tale to work upon, some of
whose incidents are preserved in the Glenn Masain version, and that he
succeeded in making out of the traditional account a story that
practically contains no supernatural element at all, so that it
requires a knowledge of the other version to discover the slight trace
of the supernatural that he did keep, viz. the feeding of the army of
Ireland by the herd (not the cow) of Flidais.

It is possible that the common origin of the two versions is preserved
for us in another place, the Coir Annam, which, though it as it stands
is a Middle Irish work, probably keeps ancient tradition better than
the more finished romances. In this we find, following Stokes'
translation, given in Irische Texte, III. P. 295, the following
entries:--

"Adammair Flidaise Foltchain, that is Flidais the Queen, one of the
tribe of the god-folk (the Tuatha de Danaan), she was wife of Adammair,
the son of Fer Cuirp, and from her cometh the name Buar Flidaise, the
Cattle of Flidais.

"Nia Segamain, that is seg (deer) are a main (his treasure), for in his
time cows and does were milked in the same way every day, so that he
had great wealth in these things beyond that of all other kings. The
Flidais spoken of above was the mother of Nia Segamain, Adammair's son,
for two kinds of cattle, cows and does, were milked in the days of Nia
Segamain, and by his mother was that fairy power given to him."

It seems, then, not impossible that the original legend was much as
stated in the Coir Annam, viz. that Flidais was a supernatural being,
milking wild deer like cows, and that she was taken into the Ulster
Cycle and made part of the tale of Fergus.

This adoption was done by an author who made a text which may be
regarded as the common original of the two versions; in his tale the
supernatural character of Flidais was retained. The author of the L.U.
version cut out the supernatural part, and perhaps the original embassy
of Bricriu; it may, however, be noted that the opening of the older
version comes from the L.L. text, which is throughout shorter than that
in L.U., and the lost opening of L.U. may have been fuller. The author
of the Glenn Masain version kept nearer to the old story, adding,
however, more modern touches. Where the new character of Bricriu comes
from is a moot point; I incline to the belief that the idea of Bricriu
as a mere buffoon is a later development. But in neither version is
the story, as we have it, a pre-Christian one. The original
pre-Christian idea of Flidais was, as in the Coir Annam, that of a
being outside the Ulster Cycle altogether.




THE DRIVING OF THE CATTLE OF FLIDAIS


FROM THE LEABHAR NA H-UIDHRI (ELEVENTH-CENTURY MS.), THE BEGINNING AND
A FEW ADDITIONS FROM THE BOOK OF LEINSTER (TWELFTH CENTURY)


A land in West Roscommon, as Kerry known of old,
Was ruled by Ailill Fair-haired; of him a tale is told:
How Flidais,[FN#80] Ailill's[FN#81] consort, each week, and near its
end,
To Ro's great son, to Fergus, her herald still would send;
'Twas Fergus' love she sought for; the deeds by Fergus done,
In glorious tales recited, had Flidais' fancy won.


[FN#80] Pronounced Flid-das.

[FN#81] Pronounced Al-ill.


When Fergus fled from Ulster, and Connaught's land he sought,
To Ailill, king of Connaught, this tale of love he brought:
"Now give me rede," said Fergus, "how best we here should act,
That Connaught's fame and honour by none may stand attacked;
Say, how can I approach them, and strip thy kingdom bare,
And yet the fame of Ailill, that country's monarch, spare?"
"'Tis hard indeed to teach thee," cried Ailill, sore perplexed;
"Let Maev come nigh with counsel what course to follow next!"

"Send thou to Ailill Fair-haired to ask for aid!" said Maev,
"He well may meet a herald, who comes his help to crave
Let Fergus go to crave it: no harm can there be seen;
And better gifts from Ailill shall Fergus win, I ween!"


So forth to Ailill Fair-haired went Fergus, son of Ro;
And thirty, Dubhtach[FN#82] leading, he chose with him to go;
And yet another Fergus his aid to Fergus brought;
Mac Oonlama[FN#83] men called him; his sire one-handed fought.


[FN#82] Pronounced Doov-ta.

[FN#83] Spelt Mac Oenlama, son of the one-handed one.


Beside the Ford of Fenna, in Kerry's north they came,
They neared the hold, and from it rang welcome's loud acclaim:
"What quest," said Ailill Fair-haired, "hath brought these warriors
here?"
"Of Ailill, son of Magach, we stand," they said, "in fear;
A feud we hold against him; with thee would fain abide!"
"For each of these," said Ailill, "who Fergus march beside,
If they were foes to Connaught, for long they here might stay,
And ne'er till peace was granted, I'd drive these men away:
For Fergus, naught I grant him a tale of him men tell
That Fergus 'tis whom Flidais, my wife, doth love too well!"

"It is kine that I ask for," said Fergus, "and hard is the task on me
set:
For the men who have marched here beside me, the means to win life I
must get."
"I will give no such present," said Ailill," thou comest not here as my
guest:
Men will say, 'twas from fear that I gave it, lest my wife from my arms
thou should'st wrest:
Yet an ox of my herds, and some bacon, if thou wilt, shall my hand to
thee give;
That the men who have marched here beside thee on that meat may be
stayed, and may live!"

"I eat no bread thus thrown me!" fierce Fergus straight replied:
"I asked a gift of honour; that gift thine hand denied."
"Avoid my house," said Ailill in wrath, "now get thee hence!
"We go indeed," said Fergus; "no siege we now commence:
Yet here," he cried, "for duel beside yon ford I wait,
If thou canst find a champion to meet me at thy gate."

Then up and answered Ailill: "'Tis mine this strife must be
And none shall hurt mine honour, or take this task from me:
None hold me back from battle!"--the ford for fight he sought:
"Now Dubhtach, say," said Fergus, "to whom this war is brought!
Or thou or I must meet him." And Dubhtach said, "I go;
For I am younger, Fergus, and bolder far with foe."

To the ford for the battle with Ailill he hies,
And he thrust at him fiercely, and pierced through his thighs;
But a javelin by Ailill at Dubhtach was cast,
And right through his body the shaft of it passed:
And a shield over Dubhtach, laid low in the dust,
Spread Fergus; and Ailill his spear at him thrust;
And through Fergus' shield had the spear made its way,
When Fergus Mae Oonlama joined in the fray,
And his shield he uplifted, his namesake to guard;
But at Fergus Mac Oonlama Ailill thrust hard,
And he brake through the fence of Mac Oonlama's shield;
And he leaped in his pain; as they lay on the field,
On his comrades he fell: Flidais forth to them flew,
And her cloak on the warriors to shield them she threw.

Then against all the comrades of Fergus turned Ailill the Fair-haired
to fight,
And he chased them away from his castle, and slew as they scattered in
flight;
A twenty he reached, and he slew them: they fell, on that field to
remain;
And but seven there were of that thirty who fled, and their safety
could gain:
They came to the palace of Croghan, they entered the gates of that hold,
And to Maev and to Ailill of Connaught the tale of the slaughter they
told.

Then roused himself King Ailill, of Connaught's land the king,
With Maev to march to battle, their aid to friends to bring:
And forth from Connaught's kingdom went many a lord of worth,
Beside them marched the exiles who gat from Ulster birth:
So forward went that army, and reached to Kerry's land,
And near the Ford of Fenna they came, and there made stand.

While this was done, the wounded three
Within the hold lay still,
And Flidais cared for all, for she
To heal their wounds had skill.

To Ailill Fair-Haired's castle the Connaught host was led,
And toward the foeman's ramparts the Connaught herald sped;
He called on Ailill Fair-haired to come without the gate,
And there to meet King Ailill, and with him hold debate.
"I come to no such meeting," the angry chief replied;
"Yon man is far too haughty: too grossly swells his pride!"

Yet 'twas peaceful meeting,
So the old men say,
Ailill willed; whose greeting
Heralds bore that day.
Fergus, ere he perished,
First he sought to aid
He that thought who cherished
Friendship's claims obeyed:
Then his foe he vainly
Hoped in truce to bind:
Peace, 'tis said, was plainly
Dear to Connaught's mind!

The wounded men, on litters laid,
Without the walls they bore
To friendly hands, with skill to aid,
And fainting health restore.

At the castle of Ailill the Fair-Haired the Connaught-men rushed in
attack,
And to win it they failed: from his ramparts in defeat were his foes
driven back:
For long in that contest they struggled, yet naught in the fight they
prevailed -
For a week were the walls of the castle of Ailill the Fair-Haired
assailed,
Seven score of the nobles of Connaught, and all of them warriors of
might,
For the castle of Ailill contended, and fell as they strove in the
fight.

"'Tis sure that with omen of evil this castle was sought by our folk!"
Thus Bricroo,[FN#84] the Poisonous Scoffer, in mockery, jeering them,
spoke:
"The taunt," answered Ailill Mae Mata, "is true, and with grief I
confess
That the fame of the heroes of Ulster hereafter is like to be less,
For a three of the Ulstermen's champions in stress of the fight have
been quelled;
And the vengeance we wait for from Ulster hath long been by Ulster
withheld;
As a pillar of warfare each hero, 'twas claimed, could a battle sustain;
Yet by none of the three in this battle hath a foeman been conquered,
or slain!
In the future for all of these champions shall scorn and much mocking
befall:
One man hath come forth from yon castle; alone he hath wounded them
all--
Such disgrace for such heroes of valour no times that are past ever saw,
For three lords of the battle lie conquered by mannikins, fashioned of
straw!"


[FN#84] Spelt Bricriu. The usual epithet of Bricriu, "Bricriu of the
Poison Tongue," is indicated in the verse rendering.


"Ah! woe is me," said Bricroo, "how long, thus stretched on ground,
The length of Father Fergus hath here by all been found!
But one he sought to conquer; a single fight essayed,
And here he met his victor, and low on land is laid."

Then rose the men of Ulster a hardy war to wage,
And forward rushed, though naked, in strong and stubborn rage:
Against the castle gateway in wrathful might they dashed,
And down the shattered portal within the castle crashed.
Then close by Ulster's champions was Connaught's battle formed;
And Connaught's troops with Ulster by might the castle stormed;
But fitly framed for battle were men whom there they met,
Wild war, where none showed pity between the hosts was set:
And well they struck; each hero commenced with mighty blows
To crush and slay, destruction was heaped by foe on foes.

Of the wounding at length and the slaughter all weary the champions had
grown,
And the men who the castle of Ailill had held were at length over
thrown:
Of those who were found in that castle, and its walls had defended so
well,
Seven hundred by warriors of Ulster were smitten to death, and they
fell:
And there in his castle fell Ailill the Fair-haired, and fighting he
died,
And a thirty of sons stood about him, and all met their death by his
side.

The chief of those who perished, by Ailill's side who stood
Within his hold, were Noodoo;[FN#85] and Awley[FN#86] named the Good;
And Feeho[FN#87] called the Broad-backed; and Corpre Cromm the Bent;
An Ailill, he from Breffny to help of Ailill went;
A three whose name was Angus-fierce was each warrior's face;
Three Eochaid, sea-girt Donnan[FN#88] had cradled erst their race;
And there fell seven Breslen, from plains of Ay[FN#89] who came;
And fifty fell beside them who all had Donnell's name.


[FN#85] Spelt Nuado.

[FN#86] Spelt Amalgaid.

[FN#87] Spelt Fiacho.

[FN#88] Irross Donnan, the promontory of Donnan (now Mayo).

[FN#89] Mag Ai, a plain in Roscommon.


For to Ailill the Fair-Haired for warfare had marched all the
Gamanra[FN#90] clan,
And his friends from the sea-girded Donnan had sent to his aid every
man;
All these had with Ailill been leaguered, their help to him freely they
brought,
And that aid from them Ailill. took gladly, he knew that his hold would
be sought;
He knew that the exiles of Ulster his captives from prison would save,
And would come, their surrender demanding; that Ailill mac Mata and Maev
Would bring all Connaught's troops to the rescue: for Fergus that aid
they would lend,
And Fergus the succour of Connaught could claim, and with right, as a
friend.


[FN#90] Spelt Gamanrad.


Hero clans in Erin three of old were found;
One in Irross Donnan, oceans Donnan bound,
Thence came Clan Gamanra; Deda's warlike clan
Nursed in Tara Loochra[FN#91] many a fighting man.
Deda sprang from Munster; far in Ulster's north
Oft from Emain Macha Rury's[FN#92] clan went forth:
Vainly all with Rury strove to fight, the twain
Rury's clan hath vanquished; Rury all hath slain!


[FN#91] Temair Luachra, an ancient palace near Abbeyfeale, on the
borders of the counties of Limerick and Kerry. "Tara," as is well
known, is a corruption of Temair, but is now established.

[FN#92] Spelt Rudraige.


Then rose up the warriors of Ulster, the hold they had conquered to
sack;
And the folk of Queen Maev and King Ailill followed close on the
Ulstermen's track:
And they took with them captives; for Flidais away from her castle they
tore;
And the women who dwelt in the castle away to captivity bore:

And all things therein that were precious they seized on as booty; the
gold
And the silver they seized, and the treasures amassed by the men of
that hold:
The horns, and the goblets for drinking, the vats for the ale, and the
keys,
The gay robes with all hues that were glowing lay there for the raiders
to seize:
And much cattle they took; in that castle were one hundred of milk
giving kine;
And beside them a seven score oxen; three thousand of sheep and of
swine.

Then Flidais went with Fergus, his wedded wife to be;
For thus had Maev and Ailill pronounced their high decree:
They bade that when from Cualgne to drive the kine they went,
From those who then were wedded should aid for war be sent.
And thus it fell thereafter: when Ireland went that Raid,
By milk from cows of Flidais, the lives of all were stayed;
Each seventh day she sent it; and thus fulfilled her vows,
And thus the tale is ended, men tell of Flidais' Cows.

Then, all that Raid accomplished, with Fergus Flidais dwell
And he of Ulster's kingdom a part in lordship held:
He ruled in Mag I Murthemne[FN#92], yea, more than that, he won
The land where once was ruler Cuchulain, Sualtam's son:
And by the shore of Bali thereafter Flidais died,
And naught of good for Fergus did Flidais' death betide:
For worse was all his household; if Fergus aught desired,
From Flidais' wealth and bounty came all his soul required.

In the days that followed, when his wife was dead,
Fergus went to Connaught; there his blood was shed:
There with Maev and Ailill he a while would stay;
Men had made a story, he would learn the lay!
There he went to cheer him, hearing converse fair:
Kine beside were promised; home he these would bear:
So he went to Croghan, 'twas a deadly quest,
There he found his slaughter, death within the west:
Slain by jealous Ailill, Fergus low was laid:
Flidais' tale is ended: now comes Cualgne's Raid!


[FN#92] Pronounced Maw Moortemmy




THE DRIVING OF THE CATTLE OF FLIDAIS



LITERAL TRANSLATION


Flidais was the wife of Ailill Finn (the Fair-haired) in the district
of Kerry.[FN#93] She loved Fergus the son of Rog on account of the
glorious tales about him; and always there went messengers from her to
him at the end of each week.


[FN#93] Kerry is the district now called Castlereagh, in the west of
the present county of Roscommon.


So, when he came to Connaught, he brought this matter before[FN#94]
Ailill: "What[FN#95] shall I do next in this matter?" said Fergus: "it
is hard for me to lay bare your land, without there being loss to thee
of honour and renown therewith." "Yes, what shall we do next in the
matter?" said Ailill; "we will consider this in counsel with Maev."
"Let one of us go to Ailill Finn," (said Maev), "that he may help us,
and as this involves a meeting of some one with him, there is no reason
why it should not be thyself who goest to him: the gift will be all the
better for that!"


[FN#94] i.e. Ailill of Connaught.

[FN#95] This sentence to the end is taken from the Egerton version,
which seems the clearer; the Book of Leinster gives: "What shall I do
next, that there be no loss of honour or renown to thee in the matter?"


Then Fergus set out thereon, in number thirty men; the two Ferguses
(i.e. Fergus mac Rog, and Fergus mac Oen-lama) and Dubhtach; till they
were at the Ford of Fenna in the north of the land of Kerry. They go
to the burg, and welcome is brought to them.[FN#96] "What brings you
here?" said Ailill Finn. "We had the intention of staying with you on
a visit, for we have a quarrel with Ailill the son of Magach."


[FN#96] The Book of the Dun Cow (Leabhar na h-Uidhri) version begins
at this point.


"If it were one of thy people who had the quarrel, he should stay with
me until he had made his peace. But thou shalt not stay," said Ailill
Finn, "it has been told me that my wife loves thee!" "We must have a
gift of cows then," said Fergus, "for a great need lies on us, even the
sustenance of the troop who have gone with me into exile." "Thou shalt
carry off no such present from me," he said, "because thou art not
remaining with me on a visit. Men will say that it is to keep my wife
that I gave thee what thou hast required. I[FN#97] will give to your
company one ox and some bacon to help them, if such is your pleasure."
"I will eat not thy bread although offered (lit. however)," said
Fergus, "because I can get no present of honour from thee!"


[FN#97] L.L. and Egerton make the end of this speech part of the
story: "There was given to them one ox with bacon, with as much as they
wished of beer, as a feast for them."


"Out of my house with you all, then!" said Ailill.