Early Irish Myths and Sagas - Jeffrey Gantz [12]
What is surprising, though, is that these tales – which betray a natural and unmistakable bias towards the Ulaid and against the Connachta – do not more consistently depict Ulster society at its zenith. Cú Chulaind is the only true hero in the Ulster Cycle, and his deeds are more often superhuman than heroic; Conchubur, as early as ‘The Boyhood Deeds of Cú Chulaind’, serves notice that he will be largely a roi fainéant; and among the Ulaid warriors there is, ‘The Cattle Raid of Cúailnge’ excepted, more talk than action. Odder still, in many of the best-known and most important tales, there are clear instances of parody. In ‘The Death of Aífe’s Only Son’, the Ulaid are awestruck by the feats of a seven-year-old boy; in ‘The Tale of Macc Da Thó’s Pig’, Ulaid and Connachta are reduced to fighting over a dog (at least, in ‘The Cattle Raid of Cúailnge’, the bone of contention is a bull), and the Ulaid are ridiculed and put to shame by the Connachta champion; in ‘The Intoxication of the Ulaid’, Cú Chulaind loses his way and leads the Ulaid on a drunken spree across Ireland, while the two druids guarding Cú Ruí’s stronghold bicker and quarrel; and in ‘Bricriu’s Feast’, the wives of the Ulaid warriors squabble over precedence in entering the drinking hall, while Bricriu is accidentally flung out of his house and on to a garbage dump. Conchubur’s treachery (equivalent to Arthur’s murdering Lancelot) in ‘The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu’ eliminates any doubt: the society of the Ulster Cycle, for all the splendour that attaches to it, is a society in decline.
This Translation
The purpose of this translation is to offer accurate, idiomatic renderings of a representative sample of early Irish stories. For reasons of space I have had, unfortunately, to limit my selection to tales from the Mythological and Ulster cycles, which often seem earlier in feeling and more characteristically Celtic. Two prominent stories from the represented cycles have also had to be omitted. ‘The Second Battle of Mag Tured’ is a valuable enumeration of the Túatha Dé Danand, but as a tale it is of less interest, and it stands somewhat apart from the mythological tales presented here. The centrepiece of the Ulster Cycle, ‘The Cattle Raid of Cúailnge’, could fill a small volume by itself; and though the Book of Leinster version opens very promisingly, the narrative quickly deteriorates. Moreover, modem translations are available elsewhere.
As in my translation of the Welsh Mabinogion, I have not attempted to be absolutely literal. Where a scribe has written ‘et reliqua’, I have expanded; where repetitions and duplications and irrelevant interpolations appear, I have removed them. Where the manuscripts are obscure or corrupt, I have had to guess. Most tales are translated entire; but where an archaic rhetorical section is hopelessly obscure, or where a long poetic passage seemed expendable, I have omitted it. Some flaws, unfortunately, are irreparable: there is a puzzling non sequitur near the beginning of ‘The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel’, and the Book of Leinster and Lebor na huidre fragments of ‘The Intoxication of the Ulaid’ do not quite meet. The stories are arranged chronologically (so far as one can tell).
All Celtic proper names are spelt in their Old Irish forms, which seemed preferable to anglicizations and modernizations; this should not cause undue concern, but the reader may want to glance at the note on geographic names. The pronunciation guide is an approximation; Old Irish is more phonetic (and thus easier) than English, but a few inconsistencies persist. The map indicates the location of the major strongholds and natural features (to show every place name would have been impractical); the bibliography, while not exhaustive, will afford a useful