Early Irish Myths and Sagas - Jeffrey Gantz [0]
ADVISORY EDITOR: BETTY RADICE
These early Irish stories, probably first written down around the eighth century, represent the foremost written repository of the oral tradition of the Iron Age Celts who flourished in Europe during the seven centuries before Christ. As well as creating economic, social and artistic foundations throughout the continent, their myths and tales have been said to be the earliest voices from the dawn of western civilization. But later, with the growth of Viking and Roman empires, the Celtic influence declined until it was only in Ireland, on the fringes of Europe and less exposed to the new traditions, that their original culture was preserved in a beautiful and elusive language with themes foreshadowing those still current in the inspiration of Yeats, Synge and Joyce.
JEFFREY GANTZ received a doctorial degree in Celtic Languages and Literatures from Harvard University in 1972. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he works as a newspaper editor and journalist. He has also translated The Mabinogion for Penguin Classics.
EARLY IRISH MYTHS AND SAGAS
Translated with an introduction and notes by
Jeffrey Gantz
Penguin Books
PENGUIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
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First published 1981
27
Translation, introduction and notes copyright © Jeffrey Gantz, 1981
All rights reserved
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
ISBN: 978-0-141-93481-5
Contents
Introduction
Early Irish Myths and Sagas
The Celts
The Irish
Irish Storytelling
The Irish Manuscripts
The Irish Material
This Translation
Bibliography
A Note on the Pronunciation of Irish Words and Names
A Note on Irish Geography
Map: Early Ireland
EARLY IRISH MYTHS AND SAGAS
The Wooing of Étaín
The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel
The Dream of Óengus
The Cattle Raid of Fróech
The Labour Pains of the Ulaid & The Twins of Macha
The Birth of Cú Chulaind
The Boyhood Deeds of Cú Chulaind
The Death of Aífe’s Only Son
The Wasting Sickness of Cú Chulaind & The Only Jealousy of Emer
The Tale of Macc Da Thó’s Pig
The Intoxication of the Ulaid
Bricriu’s Feast
The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu
Notes
Index
Introduction
Early Irish Myths and Sagas
One day, in winter, Derdriu’s foster-father was outside, in the snow, flaying a weaned calf for her. Derdriu saw a raven drinking the blood on the snow, and she said to Lebarcham ‘I could love a man with those three colours: hair like a raven, cheeks like blood and body like snow.’
‘The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu’ (p. 260)
This passage, from one of the finest stories ever written in Ireland, evinces much of what Irish literature is: romantic, idealistic, stylized and yet vividly, even appallingly, concrete. Most of all, it exemplifies the tension between reality and fantasy that characterizes all Celtic art. In Ireland, this art has taken many forms: illumination (the books of Durrow and Kells), metal work (the Ardagh Chalice and the Tara Brooch), sculpture (the stone crosses at Moone and Clonmacnois), architecture