Chapter X: Introduction

This tale is given by the same two manuscripts that give the Tain bo Dartada and the Tain bo Regamon; namely the Yellow Book of Lecan, and Egerton 1782. The text of both is given by Windisch, Irische Texte, II. pp. 239-254; he gives a translation of the version in the Yellow Book, with a few insertions from the Egerton MS., where the version in Y.B.L. is apparently corrupt: Miss Hull gives an English translation of Windisch's rendering, in the Cuchullin Saga, pages 103 to 107. The prose version given here is a little closer to the Irish than Miss Hull's, and differs very little from that of Windisch. The song sung by the Morrigan to Cuchulain is given in the Irish of both versions by Windisch; he gives no rendering, as it is difficult and corrupt: I can make nothing of it, except that it is a jeering account of the War of Cualgne.

The title Tain bo Regamna is not connected with anything in the tale, as given; Windisch conjectures "Tain bo Morrigna," the Driving of the Cow of the Great Queen (Morrigan); as the woman is called at the end of the Egerton version. The Morrigan, one of the three goddesses of war, was the chief of them: they were Morrigan, Badb, and Macha. She is also the wife of the Dagda, the chief god of the pagan Irish. The Yellow Book version calls her Badb in this tale, but the account in the Tain bo Cualnge (Leabhar na h-Uidhri facsimile, pp. 74 and 77), where the prophecies are fulfilled, agrees with the Egerton version in calling the woman of this tale the Morrigan or the Great Queen.

THE APPARITION OF THE GREAT QUEEN TO CUCHULAIN

(ALSO CALLED "TAIN BO REGAMNA")

FROM THE YELLOW BOOK OF LECAN (FOURTEENTH CENTURY)

AT Dun Imrid lay Cuchulain,[FN#104] and slept, when a cry rang out; And in fear he heard from the north-land come ringing that terrible shout: He fell, as he woke from his slumber, with the thud of a weight, to the ground, From his couch on that side of the castle that the rising sun first found. He left his arms in the castle, as the lawns round its walls he sought, But his wife, who followed behind him, apparel and arms to him brought: Then he saw his harnessed chariot, and Laeg,[FN#105] his charioteer, From Ferta Laig who drave it: from the north the car drew near: "What bringeth thee here?" said Cuchulain: said Laeg, "By a cry I was stirred, That across the plain came sounding." "And whence was the cry thou hast heard?" "From the north-west quarter it travelled, it crossed the great Cayll[FN#106] Cooen road!" "Follow on, on that track," said Cuchulain, "till we know what that clamour may bode!"

[FN#104] Pronounced Cu-hoolin.

[FN#105] Pronounced Layg.

[FN#106] Spelt Caill Cuan.

At the ford of the Double Wonder, at Ah[FN#107] Fayrta, the car made stand For a chariot rattled toward them, from the clay-soiled Coolgarry[FN#108] land And before them came that chariot; and strange was the sight they saw: For a one-legged chestnut charger was harnessed the car to draw; And right through the horse's body the pole of the car had passed, To a halter across his forehead was the pole with a wedge made fast: A red woman sat in the chariot, bright red were her eyebrows twain A crimson cloak was round her: the folds of it touched the plain: Two poles were behind her chariot: between them her mantle flowed; And close by the side of that woman a mighty giant strode; On his back was a staff of hazel, two-forked, and the garb he wore Was red, and a cow he goaded, that shambled on before.

[FN#107] Spelt Ath Ferta, or more fully Ath da Ferta, the ford of the two marvels.

[FN#108] Spelt Culgaire.

To that woman and man cried Cuchulain, "Ye who drive that cow do wrong, For against her will do ye drive her!" "Not to thee doth that cow belong," Said the woman; "no byre of thy comrades or thy friends hath that cow yet barred." "The kine of the land of Ulster," said Cuchulain, "are mine to guard!" "Dost thou sit on the seat of judgment?" said the dame, "and a sage decree On this cow would'st thou give, Cuchulain?--too great is that task for thee!" Said the hero, "Why speaketh this woman? hath the man with her never a word?" "'Twas not him you addressed," was her answer, "when first your reproaches we heard." "Nay, to him did I speak," said Cuchulain, "though 'tis thou to reply who would'st claim!" 'Ooer-gay-skyeo-loo-ehar-skyeo[FN#109] is the name that he bears," said the dame.

[FN#109] Spelt Uar-gaeth-sceo-luachair-sceo

"'Tis a marvellous name!" said Cuchulain, "if from thee all my answer must come, Let it be as thou wishest; thy comrade, this man, as it seemeth, is dumb. Tell me now of thine own name, O woman." "Faebor-bayg-byeo-ill,"[FN#110] said the man. "Coom-diewr-folt-skayv-garry-skyeo-ooa is her name, if pronounce it you can!" Then Cuchulain sprang at the chariot: "Would ye make me a fool with your jest?" He cried, as he leapt at the woman; his feet on her shoulders he pressed, And he set on her head his spear-point: "Now cease from thy sharp weapon-play!" Cried the woman. Cuchulain made answer: Thy name to me truth fully say!" "Then remove thyself from me!" she answered: I am skilled in satirical spells; The man is called Darry I mac Feena[FN#111]: in the country of Cualgne[FN#112] he dwells; I of late made a marvellous poem; and as fee for the poem this cow Do I drive to my home." "Let its verses," said Cuchulain," be sung to me now!" "Then away from me stand!" said the woman: "though above me thou shakest thy spear, It will naught avail thee to move me." Then he left her, but lingered near, Between the poles of her chariot: the woman her song then sang; And the song was a song of insult. Again at the car he sprang, But nothing he found before him: as soon as the car he had neared, The woman, the horse, and the chariot, the cow, and the man disappeared.

[FN#110] Spelt Faebor-begbeoil-cuimdiuir-folt-seenb-gairit-sceo-uath.

[FN#111] Spelt Daire mac Fiachna: he is the owner of the Dun of Cualgne in the Great Tain.

[FN#112] Pronounced Kell-ny.

At a bird on a bough, as they vanished, a glance by Cuchulain was cast, And he knew to that bird's black body the shape of the woman had passed: As a woman of danger I know you," he cried, "and as powerful in spell!" From to-day and for ever," she chanted, "this tale in yon clay-land shall dwell!" And her word was accomplished; that region to-day is the Grella Dolloo,[FN#113] The Clay-land of Evil: its name from the deeds of that woman it drew.

[FN#113] Spelt Grellach Dolluid.

"Had I known it was you," said Cuchulain, "not thus had you passed from my sight!" And she sang, "For thy deed it is fated that evil shall soon be thy plight!" Thou canst. do naught against me," he answered. "Yea, evil in sooth can I send; Of thy Bringer of Death I am guardian, shall guard it till cometh thine end: From the Under-world Country of Croghan this cow have I driven, to breed By the Dun Bull of Darry[FN#114] Mae Feena, the Bull that in Cualgne doth feed. So long as her calf be a yearling, for that time thy life shall endure; But, that then shall the Raid have beginning, the dread Raid of Cualgne, be sure."

[FN#114] Spelt Daire mac Fiachna.

"Nay, clearer my fame shall be ringing," the hero replied," for the Raid: All bards, who my deeds shall be singing, must tell of the stand that I made, Each warrior in fight shall be stricken, who dares with my valour to strive: Thou shalt see me, though battle-fields thicken, from the Tain Bo returning alive!"

"How canst thou that strife be surviving?" the woman replied to his song, "For, when thou with a hero art striving, as fearful as thou, and as strong, Who like thee in his wars is victorious, who all of thy feats can perform, As brave, and as great, and as glorious, as tireless as thou in a storm, Then, in shape of an eel round thee coiling, thy feet at the Ford I will bind, And thou, in such contest when toiling, a battle unequal shalt find."

"By my god now I swear, by the token that Ulstermen swear by," he cried; "On a green stone by me shall be broken that eel, to the Ford if it glide: From woe it shall ne'er be escaping, till it loose me, and pass on its way!" And she said: "As a wolf myself shaping, I will spring on thee, eager to slay, I will tear thee; the flesh shall be rended from thy chest by the wolf's savage bite, Till a strip be torn from thee, extended from the arm on thy left to thy right! With blows that my spear-shaft shall deal thee," he said, "I will force thee to fly Till thou quit me; my skill shall not heal thee, though bursts from thy head either eye!" I will come then," she cried, "as a heifer, white-skinned, but with ears that are red, At what time thou in fight shalt endeavour the blood of a hero to shed, Whose skill is full match for thy cunning; by the ford in a lake I will be, And a hundred white cows shall come running, with red ears, in like fashion to me:

As the hooves of the cows on thee trample, thou shalt test 'truth of men in the fight': And the proof thou shalt have shall be ample, for from thee thy head they shall smite!" Said Cuchulain: "Aside from thee springing, a stone for a cast will I take, And that stone at thee furiously slinging, thy right or thy left leg will break: Till thou quit me, no help will I grant thee." Morreegan,[FN#115] the great Battle Queen, With her cow to Rath Croghan departed, and no more by Cuchulain was seen. For she went to her Under-World Country: Cuchulain returned to his place. The tale of the Great Raid of Cualgne this lay, as a prelude, may grace.

[FN#115] Spelt Morrigan.

THE APPARITION OF THE GREAT QUEEN TO CUCHULAIN

LITERAL TRANSLATION

When Cuchulain lay in his sleep at Dun Imrid, there he heard a cry from the north; it came straight towards him; the cry was dire, and most terrifying to him. And he awaked in the midst of his sleep, so that he fell, with the fall of a heavy load, out of his couch,[FN#116] to the ground on the eastern side of his house. He went out thereupon without his weapons, so that he was on the lawns before his house, but his wife brought out, as she followed behind him, his arms and his clothing. Then he saw Laeg in his harnessed chariot, coming from Ferta Laig, from the north; and "What brings thee here?" said Cuchulain. "A cry," said Laeg, "that I heard sounding over the plains. "On what side was it?" said Cuchulain. "From the north-west it seemed," said Laeg, "that is, across the great road of Caill Cuan."[FN#117] "Let us follow after to know of it (lit. after it, to it for us)," said Cuchulain.

[FN#116] Or "out of his room." The word is imda, sometimes rendered "bed," as here by Windisch sometimes also "room," as in the Bruidne da Derga by Whitley Stokes.

[FN#117] Lough Cuan was the old name for Strangford Lough.

They went out thereupon till they came to Ath da Ferta. When they were there, straightway they heard the rattle of a chariot from the quarter of the loamy district of Culgaire. Then they saw the chariot come before them, and one chestnut (lit. red) horse in it. The horse was one footed, and the pole of the chariot passed through the body of the horse, till a wedge went through it, to make it fast on its forehead. A red[FN#118] woman was in the chariot, and a red mantle about her, she had two red eye-brows, and the mantle fell between the two ferta[FN#119] of her chariot behind till it struck upon the ground behind her. A great man was beside her chariot, a red[FN#120] cloak was upon him, and a forked staff of hazel at his back, he drove a cow in front of him.

[FN#118] The above is the Egerton text: the text of Y.B.L. gives "A red woman there, with her two eyebrows red, and her cloak and her raiment: the cloak fell," &c.

[FN#119] It is not known certainly what the ferta were: Windisch translates "wheels," but does not give this meaning in his Dictionary: the ferta were behind the car, and could be removed to sound the depth of a ford. It is suggested that they were poles, projecting behind to balance the chariot; and perhaps could be adjusted so as to project less or farther.

[FN#120] This is the Egerton text; the Y.B.L. text gives "a tunic forptha on him the meaning of forptha is unknown.

"That cow is not joyful at being driven by you!" said Cuchulain. "The cow does not belong to you," said the woman, "she is not the cow of any friend or acquaintance of yours." "The cows of Ulster," said Cuchulain, "are my proper (care)." "Dost thou give a decision about the cow?" said the woman; "the task is too great to which thy hand is set, O Cuchulain." "Why is it the woman who answers me?" said Cuchulain, "why was it not the man?" "It was not the man whom you addressed," said the woman. "Ay," said Cuchulain, "(I did address him), though thyself hath answered for him:" "h-Uar-gaeth-sceo-luachair-sceo[FN#121] is his name," said she.

[FN#121] Cold-wind-and-much-rushes.

"Alas! his name is a wondrous one," said Cuchulain. "Let it be thyself who answers,[FN#122] since the man answers not. What is thine own name?" said Cuchulain. "The woman to whom thou speakest," said the man, "is Faebor-begbeoil-cuimdiuir-folt-scenbgairit-sceo-uath."[FN#123] "Do ye make a fool of me?" cried Cuchulain, and on that Cuchulain sprang into her chariot: he set his two feet on her two shoulders thereupon, and his spear on the top of her head. "Play not sharp weapons on me!" "Name thyself then by thy true name!" said Cuchulain. "Depart then from me!" said she: "I am a female satirist in truth," she said, "and he is Daire mac Fiachna from Cualnge: I have brought the cow as fee for a master-poem." "Let me hear the poem then," said Cuchulain. "Only remove thyself from me," said the woman; "it is none[FN#124] the better for thee that thou shakest it over my head." Thereon he left her until he was between the two poles (ferta) of her chariot, and she sang to him[FN#125] . . . . . . Cuchulain threw a spring at her chariot, and he saw not the horse, nor the woman, nor the chariot, nor the man, nor the cow.

[FN#122] Y.B.L. corrupt; Egerton version adopted here.

[FN#123] Little-mouthed-edge-equally-small-hair-short-splinter-much-clamour.

[FN#124] Not is it better for thee that" is in Egerton alone.

[FN#125] See the introduction for the omission of the poem.

Then he saw that she had become a black bird upon a branch near to him. "A dangerous[FN#126] (or magical) woman thou art," said Cuchulain: "Henceforward," said the woman, "this clay-land shall be called dolluid (of evil,)" and it has been the Grellach Dolluid ever since. "If only I had known it was you," said Cuchulain, "not thus should we have separated." "What thou hast done," said she, "shall be evil to thee from it." "Thou hast no power against me," said Cuchulain. "I have power indeed," said the woman; "it is at the guarding of thy death that I am; and I shall be," said she. "I brought this cow out of the fairy-mound of Cruachan, that she might breed by the Black Bull[FN#127] of Cualnge, that is the Bull of Daire Mae Fiachna. It is up to that time that thou art in life, so long as the calf which is in this cow's body is a yearling; and it is this that shall lead to the Tain bo Cualnge." "I shall myself be all the more glorious for that Tain," said Cuchulain: "I shall slay their warriors: I shall break their great hosts: I shall be survivor of the Tain."

[FN#126] Windisch is doubtful about the meaning of this word. He gives it as "dangerous" in his translation; it may also mean "magical," though he thinks not. In a note he says that the meaning "dangerous" is not certain.

[FN#127] In Egerton "the Dun of Cualnge."

"In what way canst thou do this?" said the woman, "for when thou art in combat against a man of equal strength (to thee), equally rich in victories, thine equal in feats, equally fierce, equally untiring, equally noble, equally brave, equally great with thee, I will be an eel, and I will draw a noose about thy feet in the ford, so that it will be a great unequal war for thee." "I swear to the god that the Ulstermen swear by," said Cuchulain, "I will break thee against a green stone of the ford; and thou shalt have no healing from me, if thou leavest me not." "I will in truth be a grey wolf against thee," said she, "and I will strip a stripe[FN#128] from thee, from thy right (hand) till it extends to thy left."

[FN#128] This word is left doubtful in Windisch's translation. The word is breth in Y.B.L. and breit in Egerton. Breit may be a strip of woollen material, or a strip of land; so the meaning of a strip of flesh seems possible.

"I will beat thee from me," said he, "with the spear, till thy left or thy right eye bursts from thy head, and thou shalt never have healing from me, if thou leavest me not." "I shall in truth," she said, "be for thee as a white heifer with red ears, and I will go into a lake near to the ford in which thou art in combat against a man who is thine equal in feats, and one hundred white, red-eared cows shall be behind me and 'truth of men' shall on that day be tested; and they shall take thy head from thee." "I will cast at thee with a cast of my sling," said Cuchulain, "so as to break either thy left or thy right leg from under thee; and thou shalt have no help from me if thou leavest me not."

They[FN#129] separated, and Cuchulain went back again to Dun Imrid, and the Morrigan with her cow to the fairy mound of Cruachan; so that this tale is a prelude to the Tain bo Cualnge.

[FN#129] All this sentence up to "so that this tale" is from the Egerton version. The Yellow Book of Lecan gives "The Badb thereon went from him, and Cuchulain went to his own house, so that," &c.

TEXT OF LEABHAR NA H-UIDHRI

GIVING THE CONCLUSION OF THE "COURTSHIP OF ETAIN"