Early Irish Myths and Sagas (33 page)
Read Early Irish Myths and Sagas Online
Authors: Jeffrey Gantz
The sons of Uisliu were waiting in the centre of the green; the women of Emuin were sitting along the ramparts; Éogan was crossing the green with his troops. Fíachu came up to join Noísiu. Éogan, however, greeted Noísiu with the point of his spear and broke his back. At that, Fíachu put his arms round Noísiu and pulled him down and covered him, so that thereafter Noísiu was struck from above through the son of Fergus. The sons of Uisliu were then hunted from one end of the green to the other, and no one escaped save by point of spear and edge of sword. Derdriu was taken to stand beside Conchubur, her hands tied behind her.
This news reached Fergus and Dubthach and Cormac, and at once they went to Emuin and performed great deeds. Dubthach killed Conchubur’s son Mane and dispatched Fíachnae, the son of Conchubur’s daughter Fedelm, with a single blow; Fergus killed Traigthrén son of Traiglethan and his brother. Conchubur was outraged, and a battle ensued: in one day, three hundred Ulaid fell, and Dubthach slew the young women of the province, and Fergus fired Emuin. Afterwards, Fergus and Dubthach and Cormac and their followers went to Connachta, for they knew that Ailill and Medb would maintain them, though Connachta was no refuge of love for men from Ulaid. Three thousand was the number of the exiles, and, for sixteen years, these people saw that there was weeping and trembling in Ulaid every night.
Derdriu spent the year following Noísiu’s death with Conchubur, and, during that time, she neither laughed nor smiled, nor did she ever have her fill of food or sleep. She never lifted her head from her knee, and, whenever musicians were brought to her, she recited this poem:
Fair to you the ardent warriors
who march into Emuin after an expedition;
more nobly did they march to their dwelling,
the three very heroic sons of Uisliu.
Noísiu with fine hazel mead
(I would wash him by the fire),
Arddán with a stag or fine pig,
Tall Aindle with a load on his back.
Sweet to you the fine mead
that battle-glorious Conchubur drinks;
but often I had before me, across the ocean,
food that was sweeter.
When modest Noísiu spread out
the cooking hearth on the wild forest floor,
sweeter than any honeyed food
was what the son of Uisliu prepared.
Melodious always to you
your pipers and trumpeters;
yet today I tell you
I have heard music that was sweeter.
Melodious to Conchubur, your king,
his pipers and trumpeters;
sweeter to me – fame of hosts –
the singing of the sons of Uisliu.
A wave the sound of Noísiu’s voice –
his singing was always sweet;
Arddán’s baritone was good,
and Aindle’s tenor from his hunting lodge.
Noísiu’s grave has now been made,
and the accompaniment was mournful.
For him I poured out – hero of heroes –
the deadly drink that killed him.
Dear his short shining hair,
a handsome man, even very beautiful;
sad that I cannot await him today,
cannot expect the son of Uisliu.
Dear his desire, right and proper,
dear this modest noble warrior;
after his going to the forest’s edge,
dear his company in the early morning.
Dear the grey eyes that women loved;
fierce they were to foes.
After a circuit of the forest – a noble union –
dear his tenor through the great dark wood.
I do not sleep now,
nor do I brighten my nails:
there is no joy for me
since the son of Tindell will not come.
I do not sleep
but lie awake half the night;
my thoughts flee from these hosts,
I neither eat nor smile.
I have today no cause for joy
in the assembly of Emuin – throng of chieftains –
no peace, no delight, no comfort,
no great house, no fine adornments.
And whenever Conchubur tried to comfort her, she would recite this poem to him:
Conchubur, be quiet!
You have brought me grief upon sorrow;
as long as I live, surely,
your love will be of no concern to me.
You have taken from me – a great crime –
the one I thought most beautiful on earth,
the one I loved most.
I will not see him again until I die.
His absence is my despair,
the absence of the son of Uisliu.
A jet black cairn over his white body
once so well known among men.
Brighter than a river meadow his glistening cheeks,
red his lips, beetle-black his brows;
the noble colour of snow
his shining, pearly teeth.
Well known his bright garb
among the warriors of Albu;
fair and brilliant his mantle – a noble union –
with its fringe of red gold.
A true treasure his satin tunic
with its hundred gems – a gentle number –
and for decoration, clear and shining,
fifty ounces of white gold.
A gold-hiked sword in his hand,
two steely spears with javelin points;
a shield with a rim of yellow gold
and a boss of silver.
Fair Fergus betrayed us
after bringing us across the great sea;
he sold his honour for beer,
his great deeds are no more.
Although the Ulaid might gather
about Conchubur upon the plain,
I would forsake them all, openly,
for the company of Noísiu son of Uisliu.
Break no more my heart today –
I will reach my early grave soon enough.
Sorrow is stronger than the sea
if you are wise, Conchubur.
‘What do you hate most that you see?’ asked Conchubur. ‘Yourself, surely, and Éogan son of Durthacht,’ she replied. ‘Then you will spend a year with Éogan,’ Conchubur said. He took her to Éogan. The following day they went to a fair at Emuin Machae, Derdriu standing behind Éogan in his chariot. She had sworn that she would never see her two companions together in the same place. ‘Well, Derdriu,’ said Conchubur, ‘it is the eye of a ewe between two rams you make between myself and Éogan.’ There was a great boulder before Derdriu. She let her head be driven against it, and the boulder made fragments of her head, and she died.
1.
Myles Dillon and Nora Chadwick,
The Celtic Realms
(New York: New American Library, 1967), pp. 1–2, 214.
2.
Leon E. Stover and Bruce Kraig, Stonehenge:
The Indo-European Heritage
(Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1978), p. 141.
3.
Herodotos, 2:33.
4.
Strabo,
Ceographia
, 4.4.4 (translation by Timothy Gantz).
5.
Diodorus Siculus, 5:31.2, 4–5 (translation by Timothy Gantz).
6.
Proinsias Mac Cana,
Celtic Mythology
(London: Hamlyn, 1970), p. 127.
7.
Julius Caesar, De bello gallico, 6. 17.
8.
Lucian,
Herakles
, 1. 1.
9.
Lucan,
De bello civili
, 1. 444–6.
10.
Frank O’Connor,
The Backward Look: A Survey of Irish Literature
(London: Macmillan, 1967), p. 242.
11.
A rhetoric is a dense, archaic poetic passage.
12.
James Delargy,
The Gaelic Story-teller
(London: G. Cumber-Iege, 1947), p. 32.
13.
K. H. Jackson,
The Oldest Irish Tradition: A Window on the Iron Age
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964).
1.
Frank O’Connor,
The Backward Look
, p. 43.
2.
Bóand: ‘white cow’; Bóand is also the Old Irish name for the river Boyne. Echu: ‘horse’.
3.
Macc Oc: ‘young son’.
4.
Cumal: a female slave, worth three milch cows or six heifers.
5.
Síde: the people of the otherworld, often equated with the Túatha Dé Danand (the People of the Goddess Danu). An otherworld mound is called a síd.
6.
Feis: originally, a feast during which the tribe’s king was married to its tutelary goddess; the meaning later became generalized. The word
feis
is formed from an Irish verb meaning ‘to sleep with’; it is not related to the Latin word
festa
or the English
feast
.
7.
Fidchell: ‘wood sense’ – a board game, similar to chess, in which one side’s king attempts to escape to the edge of the board while the other side’s men attempt to prevent him.
8.
Airem: ‘ploughman’.
9.
Bé Find: ‘fair woman’.
1.
Fían (pl. fíana): a band of roving warriors.
2.
Geiss (pl. gessa): a taboo, usually religious in origin.
3.
Bretain: the British isle, perhaps the southern part
4.
Deirg: like the name in the title, this means ‘red’.
5.
Dond: probably the chthonic god Dond.
6.
Popa: a term of affection and respect used in addressing an elder.
7.
Third time’: there is no second time.
8.
‘Ant of the ancient earth’: a wolf.
1.
Bé Find: in ‘The Wooing of Étaín’ this name appears as an epithet for Etain rather than as the name of Bóand’s sister.
2.
‘Candle of a king’s house’: a spear.
1.
Ríastarthae: Cú Chulaind’s special battle fury.
2.
Féni: the Irish word for the Irish.
3.
Del chliss: one of Cú Chulaind’s spear-thrusting feats.
1.
Gáe bolga: Cú Chulaind’s ultimate spear-thrusting feat; the name may mean ‘lightning spear’.
1.
Crúadin: Cú Chulaind’s sword.
1.
Úaig Búana: Búan’s Grave.
Aband Úa Cathbad,
196
Adarc,
156
Admlithe,
101
Áed Abrat,
158
–60,
166
,
169
,
172
,
175
Africa,
252
Agam,
76
Agnoman son of Curir Ulad,
128
–129
Aidche,
102
Ailbe (place),
48
Ailill Angubae,
49
–52
Ailill son of Máelchlód,
97
,
149
,
191
,
193
–4,
197
–8,
210
,
212
,
222
,
225
–6,
230
,
237
,
252
,
258
Ailill of Mag nInis,
43
–4,
46
–7,
51
Ailill son of Mata Murisc,
49
Ailill husband of Medb,
72
,
111
–112,
115
–24,
181
–3,
187
,
199
,
203
–12,
214
,
216
–18,
226
,
234
,
237
–41,
244
,
263
Ailill Miltenga,
225
Airbe Roflr,
165
Airdgeme,
148
Airgdech,
135
Albu,
68
,
73
,
91
,
93
,
103
,
114
–15,
124
,
192
,
204
,
214
,
261
–2,
266
Amatt,
74
Amnas,
44
Amorgen,
88
,
105
–6,
149
,
192
,
206
,
225
Amorgen Glúnmár son of Mil,
190
Amorgen farngiunnach,
230
Áne Chliach,
197
Anlúan,
186
Anni Éo,
231
Araid,
183
Ard Úa nEchach,
126
Art of Áth Clíath,
92
Asia,
252
Áth Carpait Fergussa,
232
Áth Chind Chon,
187
Áth na Forare,
196
Áth Lúain,
187
Áth Macc Lugnai,
187
Áth Midbine,
187
Áth na Mórrígna,
232
Bain,
245
Baithse,
101
Banda,
94
Bé Find (1),
see
Étaín Échrade
Bé Find (2),
114
Belach Mugna,
187
Belach Muni in tSiriti,
245
Belgan,
190