The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Tain Bo Cualnge Part 17

[8-8] LU. and YBL. 702.

[9-9] LU. and YBL. 703.

[10-10] Stowe.

[11-11] LU. and YBL. 703.

[12-12] LU. and YBL. 704.

[13-13] LU. and YBL. 706.

[1-1] LU. and YBL. 707.

[2-2] Stowe.

[3-3] LU. and YBL. 708.

[4-4] Stowe.

[5-5] LU. and YBL. 709-711.

[6-6] H. 2. 17.

"[7]Thereupon[7] they went on till [8]bravely, boldly, battle-victoriously, boastingly, blade-redded,[8] they reached [9]the fair plain of[9] Emain. It was then Lebarcham, [10]the watch in Emain Macha,[10] [11]came forth and[11] discerned them, she, the daughter of Aue ('Ear') and of Adarc ('Horn') [12]and she hastened to Conchobar's house, her eye restless in her head and her tongue faltering in her jaw.[12] "A single chariot-fighter is here, [13]coming towards Emain Macha,"[13] cried Lebarcham, "and his coming is fearful. The heads of his foes all red in his chariot with him.

Beautiful, all-white birds he has hovering around in the chariot. With him are wild, untamed deer, bound and fettered, shackled and pinioned. And [14]I give my word,[14] if he be not attended to this night, [15]blood will flow over Conchobar's province by him and[15] the youths of Ulster will fall by his hand." "We know him, that chariot-fighter," spake Conchobar; "[16]belike it is[16] the little gilla, my sister's son, who went to the edge of the marches [17]at the beginning of the day,[17] [W.1355.] who has reddened his hands and is still unsated of combat, and unless he be attended to, all the youths of Emain will fall by his hand." [1]Soon he turned the left[a] side of his chariot towards Emain, and this was geis for Emain. And Cuchulain cried, "I swear by the G.o.d by whom the Ulstermen swear, if a man be not found to engage with me, I will spill the blood of every one in the dun!"[1]

[7-7] H. 2. 17.

[8-8] H. 2. 17.

[9-9] H. 2. 17.

[10-10] LU. and YBL. 713.

[11-11] H. 2. 17.

[12-12] H. 2. 17.

[13-13] H. 2. 17.

[14-14] H. 2. 17.

[15-15] H. 2. 17.

[16-16] H. 2. 17.

[17-17] H. 2. 17.

[1-1] LU. and YBL. 715-718.

[a] To turn the left side was an insult and sign of hostility.

"And this was the counsel they agreed to follow: to let out the womenfolk to meet the youth, namely, thrice fifty women, even ten and seven-score bold, stark-naked women, at one and the same time, and their chieftainess, Scannlach ('the Wanton') before them, to discover their persons and their shame[b] to him. [2]"Let the young women go," said Conchobar, "and bare their paps and their b.r.e.a.s.t.s and their swelling bosoms, and if he be a true warrior he will not withstand being bound, and he shall be placed in a vat of cold water until his anger go from him."[2] [3]Thereupon[3] the young women all [4]arose and[4] marched out, [5]and these are the names of those queens: Sgamalus and Sgannlach and Sgiathan, Feidlim and Deigtini Finnchas, and Finngheal and Fidniam and Niam, daughter of Celtchar son of Uthechar[5]; and they discovered their nakedness and all their shame to him. [6]"These are the warriors that will meet thee to-day," quoth Mugain, wife of Conchobar son of Ness.[6] The lad hid his face from them and turned his gaze on the chariot, that he might not see the nakedness or the shame of the women.[c] Then the lad was lifted out of the chariot. He was placed in three vats of cold water to extinguish his wrath; and the first vat into which he was put burst its staves and its hoops like the cracking of nuts around him. [W.1367.] The next vat [1]into which he went[1] [2]boiled with bubbles as big as fists[2] therefrom. The third vat [3]into which he went,[3] some men might endure it and others might not. Then the boy's wrath went down.

[b] 'b.r.e.a.s.t.s,' LU. and YBL. 720.

[2-2] H. 2. 17.

[3-3] H. 2. 17.

[4-4] H. 2. 17.

[5-5] H. 2. 17.

[6-6] LU. and YBL. 720-721.

[c] This exposure was a powerful magico-religious symbol and had a quasi-sacred or ritual character.

[1-1] Stowe.

[2-2] Translating from Stowe and H. 2. 17.

[3-3] H. 2. 17.

"[4]Thereupon he came out,[4] and his [5]festive[5] garments were put on him [6]by Mugain the queen.[6] His comeliness appeared on him [LL.fo.68a.]

and he made a crimson wheel-ball of himself from his crown to the ground. [7]A shout was raised at the bluish purple about him.[7]

[8]Beautiful then was the lad[8] [9]that was raised up in view.[9] Seven toes he had to each of his two feet, and seven fingers to each of his two hands, and seven pupils to each of his two kingly eyes, and seven gems of the brilliance of the eye was each separate pupil. Four spots of down on either of his two cheeks: a blue spot, a purple spot, a green spot, a yellow spot. Fifty strands of bright-yellow hair from one ear to the other, like to a comb of birch twigs or like to a brooch of pale gold in the face of the sun. A clear, white, shorn spot was upon him, as if a cow had licked it. A [10]fair, laced[10] green[a] mantle about him; a silver pin therein [11]over his white breast, so that the eyes of men could not look at it for its gleam and its brightness.[11] A [12]hooded[12] tunic of thread of gold about him. [13]A magnificent, fair-coloured, dark purple s.h.i.+eld he bore.

Two hard, five-pointed spears in his hand. A diadem of gold round his head.[13] And the lad was seated between the two feet of Conchobar, [14]and that was his couch ever after,[14] and the king began to stroke his close-shorn hair.

[4-4] LU. and YBL. 726.

[5-5] Stowe.

[6-6] LU. 726.

[7-7] H. 2. 17. Thurneysen, _Zeitschrift fur Celtische Philologie_, Bd.

VIII, S. 538, note 13, understands this to mean, 'a bluish purple cloak was thrown around him.'

[8-8] Stowe and H. 2. 17.

[9-9] H. 2. 17.

[10-10] H. 2. 17.

[a] 'Blue,' LU. and YBL. 727 and Eg. 1782.

[11-11] H. 2. 17.