Early Irish Myths and Sagas - Jeffrey Gantz [74]
I will go with my own husband, now,
for he will not deny me.
Lest you say I left in secret,
look now, if you wish.
Fand set out after Manandán, then, and he greeted her and said ‘Well, woman, are you waiting for Cú Chulaind or will you go with me?’ ‘By my word, there is a man I would prefer as husband. But it is with you I will go; I will not wait for Cú Chulaind, for he has betrayed me. Another thing, good person, you have no other worthy queen, but Cú Chulaind does.’
When Cú Chulaind perceived that Fand was leaving with Manandán, he asked Lóeg ‘What is this?’ ‘Not difficult that – Fand is going away with Manandán son of Ler, for she did not please you.’ At that, Cú Chulaind made three high leaps and three southerly leaps, towards Lúachair; he was a long time in the mountains without food or water, sleeping each night on Slige Midlúachra.
Emer went to Conchubur in Emuin and told him of Cú Chulaind’s state, and Conchubur ordered the poets and artisans and druids of Ulaid to find Cú Chulaind and secure him and bring him back. Cú Chulaind tried to kill the artisans, but the druids sang spells over him until his hands and feet were bound and he came to his senses. He asked for a drink; the druids brought a drink of forgetfulness, and, when he drank that, he forgot Fand and everything he had done. Since Emer was no better off, they brought her a drink that she might forget her jealousy. Moreover, Manandán shook his cloak between Cú Chulaind and Fand, that they might never meet again.
The Tale of Macc Da Thó’s Pig
Introduction
Although ‘The Tale of Macc Da Thó’s Pig’, with its feasting and fighting, may seem the quintessential Ulster Cycle story, its antiquity is open to doubt. Every other important figure of the Ulster Cycle – Aillill, Medb and Cet of the Connachta; Conchubur, Fergus, Lóegure, Conall Cernach and all the Ulaid warriors – is present; but Cú Chulaind is not only absent, he is not even mentioned. One could argue that Cú Chulaind is a late addition to the traditions of the Ulaid and that this story predates his arrival.
There are, however, other puzzling elements. The pig of the title is so large that forty oxen can be laid across it; such a beast could be mythic in origin, but it could also be satiric. In ‘The Cattle Raid of Cúailnge’, Ulaid and Connachta go to war over a mythic beast, the finest bull in Ireland; in this tale, the two provinces fall out over a dog. Macc Da Thó promises the dog to both Ulaid and Connachta, then feigns innocence when they show up to collect on the same day. During the bragging contest for the right to carve the pig, the Ulaid warriors – the heroes of any ordinary Ulster Cycle story – not only are shamed but are made to look ridiculous: Lóegure has been speared and chased from the border, Óengus’s father has had his left hand cut off, Éogan has had an eye put out, and so on. And Fer Loga’s demand that the nubile women of Ulaid sing ‘Fer Loga Is My Darling’ to him every night is so comical its inclusion cannot possibly be inadvertent. Some of the rhetorical verse is old and obscure; but it is hard to resist the conclusion that ‘The Tale of Macc Da Thó’s Pig’ is at later story, a parody of the Ulster Cycle in general and of ‘The Cattle Raid of Cúailnge’ in particular.
The Story of Macc Da Thó’s Pig
There was once a famous king of Lagin named Macc Da Thó, and he possessed a hound. This dog, whose name was Ailbe, protected all of Lagin, so that its fame grew throughout Ériu. Messengers from Ailill and Medb came to ask for Ailbe; at the same time, however, arrived messengers from Conchubur and the Ulaid, and with the same request.
A welcome was given to all, and they were shown into Macc Da Thó’s hostel. This was one of the five hostels in Ériu at that time, this and Da Derga’s hostel in the territory of Cúalu and Forgall Manach’s and Macc Da Réo’s in Bréifne and Da Choca’s in western Mide. Seven doors had Macc Da Thó’s hostel, and seven entrances and seven hearths and seven cauldrons. Each cauldron contained beef and salted pork, and as each man passed by he